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Show Phrapp smiled and thought of Genisis, he thought of the naked Eve and Adam, leaving the tangled Garden behind them to start anew. Then he turned his mind back with an effort to the problem at hand, for the good Doctor Grant-Sheblem was waiting in the HighTartars, forsooth, and might do something "full simple if Phrapp get not to the Governor and finish the task fairly. He could mayhap break in with a chisel as he'd planned to do that first time, or he could spend the better part of a day in an obscure input room overloading the computer and causing another crash. But, marry, either one of these tasks would be full long and cumbersome! For the first time in his professional career, Phrapp wished he'd gone up in the hated hierarchy of the BauerNetwork a little farther. Even an insignificant Bauercrat like Brandon could get the Passthru chip to enter the Governor's PrivilegedRoom for special emergenices. Phrapp sighed heavily. Just at that point, Brandon sighed, too. He was carrying his furred cloak as well as his longdoublet, and was showing rather bandy legs clad in leggings of scarlet silk under a shortdoublet of scarlet and white striped jersey. And he was thinking of stripping down to his briefs and jerkin, he was that hot and frustrated. "Knowest thou, Phrapp," said Brandon, pensively, "there must needs be a better way to run this blessed planet." Phrapp looked down at the shorter man, astonished. "Meanest I this," Brandon went on, "all these meetings, all these memoes, all these planning sessions, all t h e s e . . . " Brandon's voice trailed away, and he shook his head. "What good do they all do? What good, I say, does this interminable running around in circles?" 199 |