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Show Acting Alone Page 147 squeaks and whirrs, the nearly imperceptible jerks of subtle silicone chip technology. Axelrad was the old man's favorite employee in many ways. The old man came close to saying so over the radio-phone sometimes. They shared certain special bits of knowledge with each other. That felt deeply satisfying. Mr. Cicerone was tall and silver haired and built like a Dona-tello statue that has somehow been given life and allowed to age with impeccable grace. It was good to enjoy the confidence of such a man. Just talking to Mr. Cicerone gave Axelrad a dope-like high that had only lost a part of its original intensity since he'd come here to work at the encampment. Even today, if he really concentrated when speaking to Mr. Cicerone over the radio-phone, Axelrad could still sometimes think himself into that sweet, light-headed, hypersuggestible high he used to get long ago, like on that first day when Mr. Cicerone told him the Parable of the Double- Pronged Earthly and Unearthly Good, all about that devil man, that super-ambitious Councillor-of-the-Parable. It was an indication of the power of the old man's storytelling skills that, even after so many strange months, Axelrad should still sometimes find himself thinking of that bad councillor as though he existed in real life. One can see why it felt like such a rare honor to be taken into the old man's confidence. But there was only one really important secret bit of intelligence that Axelrad cared to know, that he didn't know, that everybody except Axelrad seemed to know. What in the name of Christ were they doing here? |