Strings Read Online Free PDF Page B

this same Bagshaw character, wearing a standard business suit which amply confirmed his wrestler’s build. He was a human barrel. But he could not be in two places at once, so it was not a live transmission, and in any case the figures had the fixed-eyed look of people dictating. It was certainly Gran—a slim, imperious woman with white hair and enough determination to break rocks. Hubbard Agnes.
    “…in every respect. Com end ,” Gran concluded, and the two images vanished.
    “Huh?” Cedric said.
    “You heard,” Bagshaw said.
    “No, I didn’t. Com two, repeat that transmission .”
    Nothing happened.
    Bagshaw sighed. “Not coded to your voice, sonny. All right, we’ll try again; but I do wish you’d start behaving like a grownup.” He repeated the command, and the two images flashed into existence again in the middle of the bed.
    “Cedric, I am informed that you have departed from Meadowdale earlier than instructed. That was extremely foolish of you. I am very concerned for your safety. The man beside me is Dr. Bagshaw Barney, a personal security expert employed by the Institute. I have instructed him to locate you and bring you to HQ as soon as possible. You will obey his orders in every respect. Com end .”
    Cedric closed his mouth, which for some reason was hanging open. He turned back to face Bagshaw’s contemptuous amusement.
    “How do I know that was genuine?”
    The contempt faded slightly. “You don’t.”
    “You could have faked it.”
    “In about fifteen minutes, with the right equipment.”
    “Is that why you began by showing me I don’t have any choice?”
    For an instant Bagshaw seemed tempted to smile. “Naw, I just like hassling you. Which is it to be—force or cooperation?”
    Cedric shrugged. “Cooperation, I guess. But I wish you’d explain…”
    “You clean up, then, and I’ll talk. Is this your month for shaving?”
    Cedric squeezed between two of the percies and hobbled over to the basin. “I could call HQ and ask for confirmation that you’re genuine.”
    Bagshaw made a scornful noise. “It happens to be five in the morning, and you have no priority codes. Security never answers questions, even about the weather. Those guys won’t admit what day it is. You couldn’t get through to Old Mother Hubbard in less than two hours at the best of times, and even then it would only be if you could prove your relationship.”
    “I’ve called Gran dozens of—well, often.”
    Bagshaw sighed dramatically. “From Meadowdale—priority call.”
    “But if she’s really worried about me,” Cedric said with a feeling of triumph, “she’ll have told System to admit my calls!”
    “I wouldn’t let her.”
    “ You wouldn’t?”
    “Breach of security. If she’d done that, then who knows who might have learned that we had a cannon loose? Pardon me—popgun loose. No, you can’t call in. You can come willingly, or I take you by force. I don’t care. You may, but I won’t.”
    Still stroking his face with his shaver, Cedric peered around the percies. Bagshaw had seated himself in midair, as though there were an invisible chair under him. He looked quite relaxed and comfortable, so he must have locked his waldoes into position.
    “How did you get into this room?”
    “That’s my job. I can get into a bank vault, given time. Hotel rooms? Took me half a minute, all three locks.”
    “And you knew I was in here?”
    “Like I said, I tested for you with a gas detector—sucked some air from under the door and checked for human pheromones. Another half minute. Your exhalations are on file. They matched. Of course, you might have had a friend in here with you, but I didn’t give a damn about that, really.”
    He made it all sound infuriatingly easy. Cedric dropped shaver and shorts and stepped toward the shower pad.
    “Water first!” Bagshaw snapped.
    “Huh?”
    “Turn on the water before you get under it. Always. Elementary precaution.”
    Growling, Cedric complied. “And