ref: cde05f4187aed1c77b8efb57ee5dabe8d5d5106d
dir: /troff/005.ms/
\" This master file produces text suitable for a 6"x9" paperback. .ds CH \" turn off page numbering (top) .B .nr HM 1i \" header margin .nr FM 1i \" footer margin .nr LL 4.25i \" line length .pl 9i \" page length .po .87i \" page offset (from left) .nr PS 8 \" font point size \" .kern \" pairwise kerning (groff only) .hy 14 \" automatic hyphenation \" .nr VS 24 \" double space .fp 1 R GA \" URW Garamond .fp 2 I GI .fp 3 B GM .fp 4 BI GMI .fp 5 CW H \" Helvetica .LP \& .nr % 19 \ " start with this page number .ds CF [%] \" first numbered page (bottom) .ps 10 .ce .B LESS THAN STELLAR CARTOGRAPHY \& .ps 8 tags: 1961, mars2, fng, jerrymander_mold, tab1 .R .PP .ps 10 9 August. Late. .PP .ps 10 FNG's first day at the test site had proven somewhat anticlimactic. The very first thing TAB1 told him was not to get too comfortable, because the project would more than likely be winding down soon. This had elicited a snort from Jerrymander Mold. Or, maybe that was just the cocaine. .PP .ps 10 The serpents seemed fine. None had completed an actual test milestone, as of yet, but he could see from the fact people were riding around all over the range inside of them that the test program must be well and truly underway. Surely he hadn't been brought all the way out here only to be shipped right back home? .PP .ps 10 No. .PP .ps 10 TAB1 was in his ear every morning with a fresh itinerary. This, this, and that. FNG didn't understand the insistence on voice communications. Nothing was ever written down. How did they keep it all straight? .PP .ps 10 The visor was already gouging a deep canyon into the bridge of his nose. He always wanted to take it off, but likewise, he always found himself having to slip it back on again in order to accept a call from one of his coworkers. Finally, he just kept wearing it. .PP .ps 10 There had been little discussion of what he was and was not allowed to talk about with his neighbors back in the mancamp. FNG was appalled at the lack of protocol, in general, but who was there to complain to on Mars? He was the fucking new guy. People here just seemed to stumble around wherever they liked. Usually, it seemed to him, chaperoned solely by their vices, which were numerous and exotic far beyond Jerrymander's quaint Earth practices. .PP .ps 10 FNG had managed to get a pretty good look at this place from up in the air. .PP .ps 10 He decided to venture downrange. .PP .ps 10