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21 " Hello? Hello? Pantycar Twenty-seven? Report from Data Retrieval: a disturbance in Simbimatu Covered Market: Privacy infringement. PainCrime probability currently sixteen percent "
― Ian McDonald , Out on Blue Six
22 " Mulu the Rainforest: Pray for us. Mudmother, Soulsister: Pray for us. Green One, Patroness of Planted Things: Preserve us. "
23 " Watching three tons of Love Police pantycar traveling at eighty meters per second aim itself at her heart, Courtney Hall, renegade cartoonist, satirist, overweight, overheight, decided it would be a good time to take some violent exercise. She ran. "
24 " So I said, like, whazz new, I mean, like new new, not old new, yuh know, like last-week new, "
25 " Chiga-Chiga Sputnik-kid, Captain Elvis in neon skin-hugger and power-wheels, rides the high wires in the wee wee dawn hours when the cablecars sleep in their barns, when four A.M. TAOS gurls call the Scorpios from the high and the low places; silver-maned, forgotten samurai in a world with honor without swords; out on blue six through the vastnesses of Great Yu. "
26 " Desperation and nothing else sent her tumbling under the wheels of a tram. Sharp guillotine wheels ground past her head, then her fingers closed on a metal grille. She tore away the inspection cover. Metal steps spiked into the shaft of the personhole led down into anonymous oblivion. Head and shoulders went in. No more. “Too big, too big,” shrieked the utterly inappropriate voice of reason. "
27 " The Ministry of Pain does not judge, who are you to say what is normal and what is not? "
28 " you are committing a PainCrime. … "
29 " A low, bubbling moan of prehuman fear. Then, one birth-strong heave pushed her through, and she was tumbling headfirst into the welcoming darkness. "
30 " You know, Benji, I am definitely experiencing severe distress. "
31 " BeeJee &ersenn "
32 " I am still not happy about your decision to press ahead independently with these ideas for revamping Wee Wendy Waif, Nobody’s Child; you should have gone through the proper channels, the Department of Arts and Crafts, the Bureau of Media Affairs, the Office of Socially Responsible Literature … they are there to help you, you know. "
33 " One more Socially Responsible cheep out of you, doggy, and it’s back in the workbag for the rest of the afternoon. "
34 " it is technically a Category Two SoulCrime to remove or conceal a Ministry of Pain–assigned famulus from your immediate person. "
35 " it is technically a Category Two SoulCrime to remove or conceal a Ministry of Pain–assigned famulus from your immediate person.” Lightning flared again as, muttering and mouthing, Benji Dog was stuffed back into Courtney Hall’s bag. "
36 " Kilimanjaro West THREE DAYS HE HAD been watching the rain. Still he could not understand it. "
37 " Well?” “Well what?” “Did you tell them about me? Did you put my plans on the table, did you show the board my sketches, the new plotlines and characters, did you show them my storyboards, what did they think of my new idea? "
38 " And?” “Ah.” She was not certain whether it was the room’s heartbeat she was hearing, or her own. “Would you like to sit down?” Her voice sounded as if coming from kilometers away as she said, “No. Thank you. "
39 " We looked at your proposals. The entire editorial and directorial board studied them all carefully; and yes, we all agree, the plotlines are excellent, the new characters are wonderful, and the standard of the artwork is the finest we’ve ever seen from you since you joined us. However … satire is not a thing the Compassionate Society has a need for anymore. It’s good, it’s clever, damn it, it’s funny, but it’s not Socially Responsible.” She could hear the capitals slamming into place like steel teeth. "
40 " She had almost tripped over him as he watched the drops fall with idiot fascination. Somehow she could not hurry past with a brief flicker of nona dolorosa to indicate her annoyance "