The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Matter of Proportion, by Anne Walker

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Title: A Matter of Proportion

Author: Anne Walker

Illustrator: Bernklau

Release Date: December 19, 2007 [EBook #23920]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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A
MATTER
OF
PROPORTION

_In order to make a man stop, you must
convince him that it's impossible to go on.
Some people, though, just can't be convinced._

BY ANNE WALKER

Illustrated by Bernklau

[Illustration]

In the dark, our glider chutes zeroed neatly on target--only Art
Benjamin missed the edge of the gorge. When we were sure Invader hadn't
heard the crashing of bushes, I climbed down after him. The climb, and
what I found, left me shaken. A Special Corps squad leader is not
expendable--by order. Clyde Esterbrook, my second and ICEG mate, would
have to mine the viaduct while my nerve and glycogen stabilized.

We timed the patrols. Clyde said, "Have to wait till a train's coming.
No time otherwise." Well, it was his show. When the next pair of
burly-coated men came over at a trot, he breathed, "Now!" and ghosted
out almost before they were clear.

I switched on the ICEG--inter-cortical encephalograph--planted in my
temporal bone. My own senses could hear young Ferd breathing, feel and
smell the mat of pine needles under me. Through Clyde's, I could hear
the blind whuffle of wind in the girders, feel the crude wood of ties
and the iron-cold molding of rails in the star-dark. I could feel, too,
an odd, lilting elation in his mind, as if this savage universe were a
good thing to take on--spray guns, cold, and all.

We wanted to set the mine so the wreckage would clobber a trail below,
one like they'd built in Burma and Japan, where you wouldn't think a
monkey could go; but it probably carried more supplies than the viaduct
itself. So Clyde made adjustments precisely, just as we'd figured it
with the model back at base. It was a tricky, slow job in the bitter
dark.

I began