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The blond lad knew enough Gered pelisse to clear his sword ar away fron of the quarrel, Beau had raised himself from the divan as quickly and silently as a - no, I won&039;t use that word - and slithered over to theet yourselves," he said sharply, off balance, supporting himself on the New Boy&039;s upraised arham&039;s Place of Entertainment and Recuperation There are ladies - "

With a contemptuous snarl, the New Boy shoved him off and snatched with his bare hand for his saber Beau reeled against the divan, it caught him in the shins and he fell toward the Maintainers Sid whisked them out of the way as if they were a couple of beach radios - si in the Place is nailed down - and had them back on the coffee table before Beau hit the floor Meanwhile, Erich had his saber out and had parried the New Boy&039;s first wild slash and lunged in return, and I heard the scream of steel and the rutch of his boot on the dia froer I kneas soun or even an Atropos Besides scaring htas naked as the Soldiers&039;, probably starting when the Spiders canceled all cosmic leaves twenty sleeps back

Sid shot Beau his look of command, rapped out, "I&039;ll handle this, you whoreson firebrand," and turned to the Minor Maintainer I noticed that the telltale on the Major was glowing a reassuring red again, and I found a moment to thank Ma up and down, cheering I don&039;t knohich - nor did she, I bet - and the New Girl hite and I saw that the sabers orking ain and ca a couple of red drops The blond lad lunged fiercely, Erich ju helplessly in the air, twisting like they had craravity in the Door and Stores sectors of the Place, leaving the rest of us firery sectors The Place has sectional gravity to suit our Extraterrestrial buddies - those crazy ETs so in for recuperation in very mixed batches

Froh but taking no nonsense, "All right, lads, you&039;ve had your fun Now sheathe those swords"

For a second or so, the two black hussars drifted and contorted Erich laughed harshly and neatly obeyed - the co, hesitated while he glared upside down at Erich and h he turned a slow soravity, slow enough so they wouldn&039;t get sprained landing

Erich laughed, lightly this time, and stepped out briskly toward us He stopped to clap the New Boy firet a good scar," he said

The other didn&039;t pull away, but he didn&039;t look up and Erich ca toward the New Boy, and as he passed Erich, he wagged a finger at hi Erich, "Liebchen! Doppchen!" - which was fine with ood lover and as er as he is

We had just pulled back froet a breath - his blue eyes looked so sweet in his worn face - when there was a thud behind us With the snapping of the tension, Doc had fallen off his bar stool and his top hat was over his eyes As we turned to chuckle at hiht up against the Void and wasa foot, like it does happen, his black uniforray

Maud and Beau rushed over to fish hiaain Sid supervised fro with hie Shock And he was nearest the stun guns His horse almost threw hi, Liebchen: the Nevsky Prospekt, the canals flying by like reception carpets of blue sky, a cavalry troop in blue and gold that blundered across our escape, fine wo tripod and his head under a hood - it gavepast and staring atthat soht be Snakes"

Our side in the Change War is the Spiders, the other side is the Snakes, though all of us - Spiders and Snakes alike - are Doublegangers and Demons too, because we&039;re cut out of our lifelines in the cosmos Your lifeline is all of you froers because we can operate both in the cosmos and outside of it, and De so - which the ghosts don&039;t Entertainers and Soldiers are all Deers, whichever side they&039;re on - though they say the Snake Places are sihastly Zombies are dead people whose lifelines lie in the so-called past

"What were you doing in Saint Petersburg before the ambush?" I asked Erich "That is, if you can talk about it"

"Why not? We were kidnapping the infant Einstein back froot hi the West&039;s whole victory over Russia"

" - which gave your dear little Hitler the world on a platter for fifty years and gottroops in the Liberation of Chicago - "

" - but which leads to the ultimate victory of the Spiders and the West over the Snakes and Communism, Leibchen, remember that Anyway, our counter-snatch didn&039;t work The Snakes had guards posted - was a great mess No wonder Bruce lost his head - not that it excuses hiot to hi with hooded eyes where Erich had left hie

"Ja, a lieutenant froathered that," I told Erich "Is he really effeminate?"

"Weibischer?" He s when he said I was a coward He&039;ll make a fine Soldier - only needs a little inal when you spat" I lowered one on and called hiot crooked "Who knows - about any of us? As Saint Petersburg showedcleverer than ours" The blue eyes didn&039;t look sweet now "Are you, Liebchen, really nothing ht, I went too fart - with Bruce and with you too We&039;re all hacked over these days, riding with one leg over the breaking edge"

Maud and Beau were supporting the Roht, with Sid stifi supervising and the New Boy still sulking by himself The New Girl should have been with him, of course, but I couldn&039;t see her anywhere and I decided she was probably having a nervous breakdown in the Refresher, the little jerk

"The Roh Got virtue, as his people say And our little starship girl will bring him back to life if anybody can and if

" you call this living," I filled in dutifully

He was right Maud had fifty-odd years of psychomedical experience, 23rd Century at that It should have been Doc&039;s job, but that was fifty drunks back

"Maud and Mark, that will be an interesting experi&039;s with the frozen irls"

"You are a filthy Nazi She&039;ll be using electrophoresis and deep suggestion, if I know anything"

"Hoill you be able to know anything, Liebchen, if she switches on the couch curtains, as I perceive she is preparing to do?"

"Filthy Nazi I said and meant"

"Precisely" He clicked his heels and bowed a millimeter "Erich Friederich von Hohenwald, Oberleutnant in the army of the Third Reich Fell at Narvi, where he was Recruited by the Spiders Lifeline strengthened by a Big Change after his first death and at latest report Commandant of Toronto, where he maintains extensive baby farms to provide him with breakfast round At your service

"Oh, Erich, it&039;s all so lousy," I said, touching his hand, reminded that he was one of the unfortunates Resurrected from a point in their lifeines well before their deaths - in his case, because the date of his death had been shifted forward by a Big Change after his Resurrection And as every Deine it beforehand, it is pure hell to remember your future, and the shorter the time between your Resurrection and your death back in the cosmos, the better Mine, bless Bab-ed-Din, was only an action-packed ten htly over e War, Liebchen At least I&039;ned to future operations - though e should have this monomania about our future personalities back there, I don&039;t know Mine is a stupid Oberst, thin as paper - and frightfully indignant at the voyageurs! But it helps et back to the cosularly Gott sei Dank, so I&039;m better off than you Entertainers"

I didn&039;t say aloud that a Changing cos a prayer to the Bonny Dew for htly across the lifeline of Anton A Forzane, professor of physiology, born in Norway and buried in Chicago Woodlawn Ceht, Erich," I said "We Entertainers Cot Mittens too"

He scowled around atwhether I had all my buttons on

"Mittens?" he said "What do youto say soloves - which incidentally seem to annoy him for some reason No, seriously, Greta, why do you Entertainers need et cold feet soht dawned in his Prussian puss He muttered, "Got mittens Gott mit uns God with us," and roared softly, "Greta, I don&039;t kno I put up with you the way you ot to take me as I am," I told him, "mittens and all, thank the Bonny Dew - " and hastily explained, "That&039;s French - le bon Dieu - the good God - don&039;t hitto tell you any

"Cheer up," I said "I won&039;t be here forever, and there are worse places than the Place"

He nodded grudgingly, looking around "You knohat, Greta, if you&039;ll promise not to make some dreadful joke out of it: on operations, I pretend I&039;ll soon be going backstage to court the world- faht about the backstage part The Place is a regular theater-in-the-round with the Void for an audience, the Void&039;s gray hardly disturbed by the screens h!), Refresher and Stores Between the last two are the bar and kitchen and Beau&039;s piano Between Surgery and the sector where the Door usually appears are the shelves and taborets of the Art Gallery The control divan is stage center Spaced around at a fair distance are six big low couches - one with its curtains now shooting up into the gray - and a few small tables It is like a ballet set and the crazy costumes and characters that turn up don&039;t ruin the illusion By no hilev would have hired ht, without even asking them whether they could keep time to music