1 |
|
STORY: Logan chases Brandith 2 on a ledge a building, a former glass
dancer. Logan had his gun set on Ripper which must be shot at close range unlike
the Homer. She kicks Logan and is about to kill him by tossing him off the ledge.
But Logan slashes up the heel of his left hand at her neck, crushing her windpipe
and she fell, gasping blood. Logan felt like a failure--he failed to Homer a quarry
and he lost his gun to a mere runner. Egypt was a bore. Logan was 8 and took a Robocamel
to the Pyramids with his best friend Evans 9. They had been to Japan earlier that
morning but Kyoto was dull with restored temples and fat dieties. Evans tells Logan
they should put up new temples and pyramids, "Old things aren't worth saving."
Logan agrees, "Old things are ugly." That night they took the maze car
to Uganda. Logan was sleeping with a girl of blond hair who wanted to pair bond with
him until the bond goes bad and then she'll leave. When she finds out he is a sandman
she shuts up. A Sandman cannot function effectively if he is pair bonded, no emotional
ties. The robot doctor asks Logan to show her his hand when Logan is 6 and in black
tights only. He is afraid to leave the nursery, he loves his talk puppet---the world
is so big and he is so little. He tells this to the Robot Doc. The Robot Doc wants
Logan to take a candee to make him feel good. They make him feel sleepy so he doesn't
want to take one. The robot yells at him and must report it to the Auto Governess
when he won't take one. He says, "I don't care!" The Auto Governess punishes
him and after it, he is to be given candee. Lacy asks Stile, the guard, how long
Logan has been under. Two days. Minor convulsions, slightly irregular heartbeat.
Francis teaches Logan to fight in the Angeles Complex , Logan admits Francis is better.
In the needle shower, Logan noticed Francis has hundreds of scars. Francis tells
Logan he doesn't party when Logan tells him there is a lift party at Stanhope's.
Logan is in a skin tight gray outfit, off duty. Francis tells him a Sandman is never
off duty..they can be called as backup. Logan tells Francis he is not quite human.
He gives up trying to have a good time with Francis. Logan wonders what he does in
his free time. Logan is with another and takes a hoverstick to get a dangerous runner
who has stolen a fuser. The other Sandman, a dark haired youth, leaves to get back
up. Missouri River: just past Jefferson: Logan flies and nitros the paravane. Logan
and Jess are waiting on the Dark Side where their rocket was being readied for the
jump to Argos. Jess thinks about living to 30, 45, even 50. Logan wants a son and
they plan to have one who will have his own children and they will be...Logan asks
her what they call them. Grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa. Logan cannot believe
this is all real. Jess wishes Ballard came with them. Jaq is 5--they gave him a special
party with only spaceborn children. The kids could never hear enough about Earth.
Logan tells a girl that the Sandman were really bad but they were taught to be and
that some of them were able to change. The girl asks Logan if he was bad. He tells
her for a little while. Jaq hugs him, "NO! Logan was never bad!" Another
boy asks, "Can we play now?" Logan is in a very deep sleep. Lacy wonders
what his gun will pay for on the Black Market. Stile tells her he will never trade
it. She tells him they will have to kill him. Logan has tetrahyde piped into his
lungs...ten minutes of life. Dia calls Logan telepathically and tells him to come
out of it. Logan has memories jambled all together, "And Jessica was, "Mother
loves you," said Ballard, Who was Francis, Who was Jaq only, five but he, kissed
her deeply knowing they were never going to." Dia's calls get Logan out. He
uses the gun to nitro blast his way out. Dia is in the street below the giant. Logan
tears Stile, the ex-Sandman, apart with a Ripper charge. Logan runs past Lacy who
yells, "Stop him!" Logan kicks one, punches another, and shoots another
dead. Another surprised Logan but missed. Logan shoots him dead. Jonath told Dia
where to find him and the man with Dia volunteered his paravane. Logan is very grateful.
The man shakes hands with Logan, "Will you be coming back? Jonath misses you."
Logan tells him Dia and he will be going west. Dia wants to take Logan home and her
passion radiated from her mind with each thought. Logan wonders if he can ever give
Dia more than gratitude. He still wants Jessica and Jaq. Liath was waiting on the
shore. The Pacific Ocean nearby the cliffs. When Logan thinks about how they can
navigate the cliffs, being blind, they answer him. He smiles, "You steal my
thoughts!" They go to a coral castle. A press of a section of coral and a fire
lights up in the center of the floor. The girls love Logan and are lonely. One of
them is almost always with their father. They alternate. They tell Logan they love
him. Logan finds joy again with the two girls, takes baths with them, naked. Dia
wants Logan to see with his inner eye but he has to remove a barrier to it. She tells
him to gaze upon the heat shield in the castle. Logan could not sleep that night.
He would not stare at the heat shield and lose his physical eyes. He wonders why.
Logan trusts them and in ten seconds more at the next noon, he will make himself
blind. He is about to do this when a paravane comes down, pulling Logan away from
the sun shield and Logan looks up. Jonath returns and tells him Jessica is alive.
Evans 9, an ex-Sandman told Jonath that Jessica is alive. He also told Jonath that
he became a runner because of Logan. Evans couldn't find Ballard's people so he was
hiding out when they penetrated the Sanctuary Line at Steinbeck. Later he teamed
up with a man named Gant. After the Thinker died, Evans 9 just gravitated back to
the only group he knew--Sand Men. Gant is the worse of the Sandmen. He hates Logan.
Gant was in charge of the Angeles Complex when Logan ran. His escape was a personal
embarrassment to Gant. Logan was the only Sandman to ever reach Sanctuary. Evans
left Gant's group. He wanted Jonath to know that Gant bought Jessica on the open
market. The Borgia bitch lied to him, Logan tells Jonath. The girls worry for Logan--Gant
will try to kill him. Logan tells them, "He can try." Logan wants to know
where Jessica is from Jonath. |