World's End

Page 43

JOAN D. VINGE

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myself talk to them--trying to establish some sort of communication, to turn their hostility into at least marginal cooperation. It was like talking to a herd of animals.

The only thing I could imagine these people relating to was their work, so I tried a few obvious questions about function, or process, or adjustment. They answered in monosyllables.

"You know," I said, studying a readout, "if you opened that line three quarters, and decreased your input by about ten percent, this would actually produce more efficiently."

Something like interest began to show on a few faces.

"That's slower," a man said, shaking his head.

"This class of machinery was designed to handle a maximum rate flow of about twenty-five. You only cause a backlog if you push it harder than that. Try it-- you'll find you only have to recalibrate one time in ten."

"Really?" He stared at me. "How do you know that?"

"He's a Tech," Ngeran said, looking at me as if he saw me for the first time. I smiled.

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Someone else touched my arm tentatively, to ask me about a different piece of equipment. I helped one worker and then another, answering their questions, offering suggestions when I could to make their work easier and more efficient. Most of them seemed grateful, unlike Ang.

Now Ngeran was waiting for me, but his patience matched my own when he had something to gain from it.

By the time we reached the storage area, he seemed to have forgotten any resentment he'd felt at showing me what he had. I read eagerly through the supply listings he called up on the warehouse terminal, but there was no grid in the size range that we needed. I queried over an dover, willing my eyes to see the listing I wanted.

"You don't have one," I said finally, hating to hear the words. My body suddenly felt heavy with fatigue.

52

WORLD S END

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