ref: cde05f4187aed1c77b8efb57ee5dabe8d5d5106d
dir: /troff/014.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 % 45 \ " start with this page number .ds CF [%] \" first numbered page (bottom) .ps 10 .ce .B LOGIC OF ACCUMULATION \& .ps 8 tags: 1964, mars2, plinth_mold .R .PP .ps 10 31 October. Workplace realities. .PP .ps 10 All authority is contextual. Mold Industries, Inc., had occupied a full hangar at the test site since the middle 1950s. Increased operations tempo paid dividends, and by 1964 the corporation's real estate holdings on Mars exceeded that of its competitors by a substantial margin. Just as well, security requirements at the test site now called for even more space than would otherwise have been feasible, given the limited dimensions of the Federal land withdrawal, in order to sustain compartmentalization of diverse projects and personnel. Fortunately the U.S. government was sympathetic. By now the process of authorizing Mold Industries land for official use had streamlined appreciably. .PP .ps 10 Plinth Mold sat at his desk in the center of his company's original\(emnow temporarily empty\(emhangar. Big orange jack\-o'\-lantern full of candy placed on the desk in front of him. Both front and back doors had been rolled completely open, and he stared hard at the horizon, miles distant, as the sun began to set. A chill breeze harried the back of his neck. Children, both bewilderingly young and surprisingly old, trudged along the runway in front of his hangar, collectively disguised by a stupifying sediment of official merch and self\-made cosplay, nary an employee in sight. .PP .ps 10 Plinth tapped the colorful sign on his desk. Presently, a larger\-scale version of the same thing illuminated outside his hangar. .PP .ps 8 .CW RECYCLE\ CENTER, .R .ps 10 it read, just below the familiar Möbius strip designed in 1970 (and subsequently retconned back to 1964) especially for use here, on Plinth's building. .PP .ps 10 None of the children stopped by for treats, or even seemed to notice him sitting there. Curiously distracted by events further uprange. .PP .ps 10 But Plinth had another trick up his sleeve.