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They know there's a pos-sibility that their kids might be worse off than they
are but won't be better off. Mostly it'll be hard to tell one stagnant age
from another. Deep down most know that or at least feel or sense it. It's why
life can be cheap here, and it's lit-tle wonder some turn to chemical escapes.
You mean you never tried some drugs out of curiosity or boredom or de-pression
or whatever?"
"Me? Not much. Some marijuana now and then I did it heavy in college, I admit,
but less once I got a job and some alcohol but nothing hard. I tried cocaine
once at a party and darn near choked. Never touched it or anything else again.
Why?"
"And these were all legal substances?"
"No. Alcoholic drinks, yes, but not marijuana or cocaine. Not in my lifetime,
anyway. But it's not the same."
"It is the same. Even legal, it's used for the same pur-poses. Illegal just
feeds the whole business. The same ones who got your illegal drugs in also
brought in the rest, of which you disapproved. Your money went to help them
fi-nance the ships and men like this one. I've not only been with them on this
level, I've fought the ugly side of the business, too, against the thoroughly
rotten people at the top. You might say that far back in the distant past I
saw the future of this as well, and nothing you see here can compare to the
depravity of what lies ahead."
"But it's a matter of degree. Some is harmful, some not."
Mavra Chang sighed. "I remember a people once in east Africa. Two tribes, same
ancestry, all that, but one of them lived by a great river and tilled the land
and mined gold and such from the nearby mountains that served as a barrier
separating them from the others. Those others, they lived on the other side, a
lot of the same geography and possibil-ities, but their home was in a virtual
cannabis forest. They were a far happier tribe and more content, but for
genera-tions they remained no more advanced than the People of the upper
Amazon. I don't judge. The tribe that remained in the forest was probably
happier than the other one that built a great city, but the happy ones were
stagnant, stuck, just like the Well World."
"You're one to talk!"
Mavra shrugged. "We used some drugs from the native forest, you know, and not
always as a practical thing. What can I say? After being kicked around for a
few thousand years I called a halt. I didn't like
Earth much, Lori. I didn't like it much at all. It was uglier and more
primitive than I could have imagined in ways I never dreamed it could be. I'm
sorry, but that is my perspective. I left it. I escaped where it wasn't so
ugly, and I remained there rather than come out to face more ugliness. One day
things would be different. There would be what considered real progress and
advancement, and they would discover
I
interstellar travel. By that time the rain forest would be cut down, and I'd
be able to get off that miserable planet. I do know that I'm not going back
there. Or if the Well somehow forces me back there, I am not going back as
Mavra Chang or anything remotely like her. If I can, I'm going to be
some-thing else."
"Yes? What, if I may ask?"
"I don't know. If what I believe is true, I won't have to face that problem.
If not I don't know, but I'll think of something."
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Since Mavra was in a talkative mood, there being little else to do aboard the
ship, Lori was about to go into just what Mavra thought of men at least, men
who hadn't been changed into women and vice versa.
It seemed to him as if she hated them in general, on a gut emotional level,
even if accepting them intellectually. That Portuguese ship and crew must have
been a holy horror, but had it, after so much experience elsewhere and even
before, in some former lifetime, driven her over an edge she hadn't been over
before? Or had she never liked men? Why had she separated from this Brazil guy
so long ago, and why did she seem to both hate and fear him now? According to
Tony and Anne Marie, this Nathan Brazil sounded like a pretty nice guy. He'd
saved two lives out of clear compas-sion; Mavra had put lives in
jeopardy, ruined one or two maybe, and waxed nostalgic for the days when she'd
been a drug runner.
He never got the chance.
"Ship! Port, fifty-one degrees,distance nine kilometers and closing at flank
speed!"
came a sharp shout from the bridge, where, in this high-tech hex, all the
technological gear was active.
The captain was in the wheelhouse in moments, looking at the scope. "I don't
like this. It's got the size and speed to be a privateer. How far is it to the
Dlubine border?"
"Twenty kilometers, sir!"
"Damn! So close and yet so far! Any attempt at commu-nications?"
"None yet, sir. Instructions?"
Captain Hjlarza thought for a brief moment. "Zitz! Hail them, then. Ask them
who they are and why they are bear-ing down on us. Warn them that we are an
armed ship and that we deal mercilessly with pirates."
The Zhonzhorpian was on the radio immediately, barking a challenge and
sounding doubly mean. With that crocodilelike throat and mouth, he could make
it sound very menacing indeed.
"No reply, sir!"
"They're stalling! Okay, we've given them a legitimate reason for us to turn
and run! Kill all lights!
Starboard thirty degrees! All ahead full! Zitz! Man the weapons board! Others
to arms stations! If they get in range, give 'em all you got! If they call us
now, you know the routine!"
"Aye, sir!"
Lori looked alarmed. "I think we better clear out and give them some room," he
said nervously.
Mavra returned a wry smile. "Just don't get in their way. These are pros."
The captain kept looking at his scopes. "They're closing a little, but they're
only a hair faster than we are.
At this heading and speed, we should still have a good two kilome-ters on them
when we cross the border.
As soon as we cross it, I'm going to give a sharp turn to starboard and full
speed into whatever's there.
We'll still be out of visual and off their instruments. When I do, I want
everybody at their sailing positions.
Engines, I want full until I tell you, then I want a dead stop. We will put on
sail the moment after I order an engine stop. Understand?"
There was a chorus of "Ayes," and the crew went to sta-tion.
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