ref: cde05f4187aed1c77b8efb57ee5dabe8d5d5106d
dir: /troff/015.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 % 41 \ " start with this page number .ds CF [%] \" first numbered page (bottom) .ps 10 .ce .B THE BOOK THAT READS YOU \& .ps 8 tags: 1964, fng, mancamp, margaret, mars2, mars3, maude_mold, spiro_mold, tab2 .R .PP .ps 10 Previously, 1 October. .PP .ps 10 "Dad said the whole place is shutting down. They're moving everyone out of 'Las Vegas' and sending them somewhere else." .PP .ps 10 TAB2 to his mother. .PP .ps 10 "Yeah, I know, Ma, it makes no sense to me, either, what with the war on and all. Anyway, smell you later!" .PP .ps 10 He waved his hand in empty space, disconnecting the call. All right, he'd done what he'd been told to do. Now he was free to roam his new digs. Fresh from an extended stay down the silo back on Earth, he had issued himself a general warrant to stretch his legs anywhere they might carry him. Here on Mars, where the flowers didn't grow. .PP .ps 10 MARS3. DET\-87. The new test site. .PP .ps 10 Staff from MARS2 had been informed during today's morning call. New playset, redesigned uniforms and insignia, updated weapons and support equipment. Even new filecards, although the mini\-bios were still being written by that same guy, whoever he was (spoiler: no one here cared). Some of the staff had balked, but old hands accepted the changes as just another part of the job. They'd still be wrapped in the same bubbles and hung on the same pegs. Those with actual contracts had been well provided for. As a matter of logistics, families were being migrated first. If all went well the workers would eventually follow suit, spinning up their projects one by one on the new hardware, finally folding down the old test site to lay fallow until the next reboot. Any stragglers could always be restored from backup. Recovered from the store room and placed on the shelf, ready for customers, along with everyone else. .PP .ps 10 If TAB2 had been fine with all this, Spiro Mold was less sanguine. His father hadn't warned him of the impending upheaval, and of course he'd just started a new school year. Moving again. As birthday presents went, this one sucked. .PP .ps 10 FNG for his part had been served his walking papers. Victor Charley money, was how he referred to his next gig, which he'd booked midway through the morning call. He said nothing to anyone before he departed. .PP .ps 10 And Maude Mold was ready to get the Hel out of that apartment.