Tiger! Tiger! Read Online Free PDF Page B

coordinates of latitude, longitude and elevation.
     
    At the moment when the bandaged man was gathering courage for his primer jaunte, the stage began to flicker with a sudden flurry of arrivals and departures. Figures appeared momentarily as they jaunted in, hesitated while they checked their surroundings and set new co-ordinates, and then disappeared as they jaunted off. At each disappearance there was a faint `Pop' as displaced sir rushed into the space formerly occupied by a body.
     
    `Wait, class,' Robin called. `There's a rush on. Everybody off the stage, please.' Laborers in heavy work clothes, still spattered with snow, were on their way south to their homes after a shift in the north woods. Fifty white-clad dairy clerks were headed west towards St Louis. They followed the morning from the Eastern Time Zone to the Pacific Zone. And from eastern Greenland where it was already noon, a horde of white-collar office workers was pouring into New York for their lunch hour.
     
    The rush was over in a few moments. `All right, class,' Robin called. `We'll continue. Oh dear, where is Mr. Foyle? He always seems to be missing.'
     
    'With a face like he's got, him, you can't blame him for hiding it, ma'am. Up in the cerebral ward we call him Boogey.'
     
    `He does look dreadful, doesn't he, Sgt. Logan? Can't they get those marks off?'
     
    'They're trying, Miss Robin, but they don't know how yet. It's called "tattooing" and it's sort of forgotten, is all.'
     
    `Then how did Mr. Foyle acquire his face?' `Nobody knows, Miss Robin. He's up in cerebral because he's lost his mind, him. Can't remember nothing. Me personal, if I had a face like that I wouldn't want to remember nothing too.'
     
    'It's a pity. He looks frightful. Sgt. Logan, d'you suppose I've let a thought about Mr. Foyle slip and hurt his feelings?' The little man with the platinum skull considered. `No, ma'am. You wouldn't hurt nobody's feelings, you. And Foyle ain't got none to hurt, him. He's just a big, dumb ox, is all."
     
    'I have to be so careful, Sgt. Logan. You see, no one likes to know what another person really thinks about him. We imagine that we do, but we don't. This telesending of mine makes me loathed. And lonesome. Please don't listen to me. I'm having trouble controlling my thinking. Ah! There you are Mr. Foyle. Where in the world have you been wandering?'
     
    Foyle had jaunted in on the stage and stepped off quietly, his hideous face averted. `Been practicing, me,' he mumbled.
     
    Robin repressed the shudder of revulsion in her and went to him sympathetically. She took his arm. `You really should be with us more. We're all friends and having a lovely time. Join in.' Foyle refused to meet her glance. As he pulled his arm away from her sullenly, Robin suddenly realized that his sleeve was soaking wet. His entire hospital uniform was drenched.
     
    `Wet? He's been in the rain somewhere. But I've seen the morning weather reports. No rain east of St Louis. Then he must have jaunted farther than that. But he's not supposed to be able. He's supposed to have lost all memory and ability to jaunte. He's malingering.'
     
    Foyle leapt at her. `Shut up, you!' The savagery of his face was terrifying.
     
    `Then you are malingering.'
     
    `How much do you know?'
     
    `That you're a fool. Stop making a scene.'
     
    `Did they hear you?'
     
    `I don't know. Let go of me.' Robin turned away from Foyle. `All right, class. We're finished for the day. All back to school for the hospital bus. You jaunte first, Sgt. Logan. Remember: L-E-S. Location. Elevation. Situation. . .
     
    `What do you want?' Foyle growled. `A shakedown, you?'
     
    'Be quiet. Stop making a scene. Now don't hesitate, Chief Harris. Step up and jaunte off.'
     
    `I want to tally to you.'
     
    `Certainly not. Wait your turn, Mr. Peters. Don't be in such a hurry.'
     
    `You going to report me in the hospital?'
     
    `Naturally.' `I want to talk to you.'
     
    `No.'
     
    `They gone now, all. We got