Trail of Bones Read Online Free PDF

perhaps gerk-skizzy is too unkind.
But I have had to rely on an old science project trick from Third
Step Elemental School.
    “Imagine you are in the arrak-du ,”
our teachers would tell us, “the lost lands, and you must confirm
the essential nature of a new specimen you have found. How would
you proceed?”
    One of the solutions to that problem is to
fashion a basic microscope lens out of a sheet of ice. It takes
much patience and long sitting, and adept use of one’s claws. Due
to the distortions that come with slight ice-melt, I have made
three of them over the last pair of days, in order to confirm my
results.
    I was prompted to do this for several
reasons, among them: the anomalous behavior of the Saurian
time-vessel, which resulted in abrupt ejection for my friends and
me from the Fifth Dimension; my return to Earth Orange, human year
sometime in their nineteenth century, but with no trace of my human
companions nearby; strange interjections from the lingo-spots,
which are suddenly operating on broader frequencies and seem to
want to participate in — and not merely translate — conversations;
and the fact that I am surrounded by vast tracts of snow and ice
and have little else to do at the moment but work on possible extra
credit.
    In fact, I may just fashion a fourth ice
lens, and take another small sample of the lingo-spot material from
behind my ear, to confirm these results once more.
    I have been consulting the National
Weekly Truth , one of the journals of news and logical deduction
distributed in Eli’s time. I have kept a crumpled copy in my
chrono-suit, the one with the heading LIZARD MAN
IN THE WOODS! , with an artist’s rendering that follows,
saved as an additional piece of evidence that my time here on Earth
Orange was real, and not the fevered imaginings of someone off in
an interdimensional arrak-du of their own.
    Though I wonder if now I’ve ended up in a
mammal arrak-du : of the few humans I’ve encountered here,
none seems to have heard of oranges.
    Meanwhile, the Weekly Truth provides
some helpful medical background:
     
    FIVE THINGS THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T
WANT YOU TO KNOW
    ABOUT SLOW POX!
     
    1. This isn’t the “slow pox” of the
Middle Ages — famously seen during the
    outbreak in Alexandria around the
year 400. This is a mutant strain
    that escaped from a government
lab!
    2. There is no cure — but if you
survive, you’re immune.
    Remember: this new form of slow pox
attacks not just the
    blood but brain function, too. You
might wind up a zombie
    subject to outside
control!
    3. Aliens don’t catch slow pox!
Could the sudden reappearance
    of the disease be the first attack
in an imminent invasion from
    outer space? Is our government
helping aliens turn taxpayers
    into zombies?
    4. The effects of slow pox
work…slowly! But the disease is
    still spreading, despite what you
hear from less reliable news sources!
    5. Government detention centers are
coming soon! Slow pox will
    be the excuse! Will you be
the victim? Not if you read the
    National Weekly Truth and
stay informed!
     
    This is my theory: Part of what makes
plasmechanics a “smart” technology is the material’s ability to
adapt and change according to prevailing conditions. Not just
through computation, but by incorporating biology. That’s how the
lingo-spot is able to interact with the vibrations and
synapse-firings of the wearer in order to translate.
    From what I know, slow pox acts on mammal
blood and brains: it causes much lobe confusion. It mimics the
cellular reproduction of nerve endings and makes a false version of
the nerve tissue, which reroutes and distorts the signals. This
often leads to paralysis. Similarly, in the bloodstream, real cells
are poorly replicated, so that the blood itself becomes a kind of
wasteland, unable to clean itself or run freely through vein
systems.
    A bad set of conditions, biologically
speaking. It makes Searing Scale Syndrome seem like a picnic, in
contrast.
    In fact, I