My Library

interested. But these thousands upon thousands … He turned to Ed. (Must be big stuff to make all of these want to do it again.) (We warn them. It’s all in the pre-brief rote.) (Must not be too clear.) (Here, run it yourself. I’ll scan for your friend.) Ed tossed a bulky rote at BB. He ran it quickly. Halfway through, there it was: … remain fully established freedom of will and consciousness at the entry point. This is guaranteed and is required by the compressed learning system in use.… A final note of caution: Certain aspects of the human experience may produce specific and general effects which may be harmful and unless controlled bring about habituation, with undesirable consequences. Your imprint affirms your understanding of this section. BB opened. (That doesn’t seem very clear to me.) Ed vibrated. (That’s as far as we can go. Otherwise it would ruin the learning process.) (What aspects, what effects?) (It would ruin the …) (Come on, Ed, it won’t ruin me. I’m not going to be a human. I’ll never touch the stuff.) Ed dulled, then closed. (Get your own rote.) BB vibrated. (All right, I will!) Both remained half closed, focusing on the stream of forms passing through the portal. Each appeared different from the others, yet possessed some human trait, however small. In a few, BB’s percept found a bright and intense radiation that made him confused and uncomfortable. It was his reaction to one of these that forced him open and smooth. (Ed, you’re just doing your job, and I’m pushed about my friend AA.) Ed opened. (Yeh, I got the percept. Problem is, events like this don’t happen often enough and I lose the rote.) BB blanked. (Lose the rote! Impossible. Nobody does that.) Ed indicated the massive bands of living forms. (They did, all of em.) (Lose what rote?)