âI mean the actual killing in the streets.â
âIt was the year everyone was using the words âparameterâ and âinterface.â But there wouldnât have been any problem if that fellow hadnât monopolized computer time.â
Billy was not interested in plotting the orbits of Jovian moons. If Hummerâs supposition was correctâthat theyâd brought him here to calculate a planetary path or the mass of a neo-electronâit was a waste of everybodyâs time. His kind of mathematics was undertaken solely to advance the art. In time to come, of course, what had been pure might finally be applied. He saw how the virginal circles of Eudoxus had led to a more coherent astronomy, how the conic sections of Apollonius had prefigured the spirit of universal gravitation. The world had itsuses, yes; ideas could be rotated to expedient planes. It wasnât his method to test the disposition of the physical universe but this didnât mean he reacted skeptically to those who drove hooks into nature. He considered the case of Archimedes, son of astronomer, floating body, lever adept, nude runner, catapulter, weigher of parabolas, tactician of solar power, sketcher of equations in sand and with fingernail on own body anointed in after-bath olive oil, killed by dreamless Romans.
âDo you ride?â Mimsy said.
âRide what?â
âWell, see, I was wondering about recreation. What sort of active things you do.â
âThe usual.â
âGolf, watercolors, growing pretty things?â
âThatâs not usual. Is that usual?â
âI guess it depends,â she said.
âIn handball thereâs a thing called a Chinese killer. Thatâs an active thing I do, hit Chinese killers. Itâs when the ball hits right where the wall meets the ground so that thereâs no bounce. Itâs impossible to return a Chinese killer. The ball just skids along the ground, impossible to return. They have courts here? I could show you.â
His voice seemed too big for his body. It was rough-edged and fairly deep, delivering every kind of statement with equally sneak bluntness, a dull abrupt impersonal voice that might have belonged to someone who called out names for a living.
âThe ball just skids, does it?â
âWhat kind of sex goes on in a place like this?â
âAll sorts, Iâd imagine,â Mimsy said.
âIn universities it gets pretty oral, going by what I hear. I was thinking about this place if itâs the same or similar.â
âMaybe I should poll the staff.â
âNice bit of imagery,â Cyril said.
âI suppose I should have said canvass the members.â
âIn my case, a good idea, however belated. My luck to cast my lot with a hyperfertile woman. Internal contradictions are at the very center of my life. Hooray for transitional logic. Helps expose the counterexamples that haunt our arguments.â
âWind chimes,â Hummer said.
More people came into the garden, indicating the shadow-presence was spreading through the building. Mimsy leaned toward the boy, speaking in a mock whisper.
âHowâs your genital organization?â
âRemind me to check.â
âYouâre already past your prime, sexually speaking. The golden age is early infancy. Soon after this the corruption of the erotic instinct takes place. In a very short time everything falls apart. The solidarity of opposites is completely shattered. Before youâve learned to put two words together, you are mired in an existence full of essential dichotomies. I feel free to speak, since you raised the subject yourself a moment ago.â
âFor the body to become unafraid,â Cyril said, âwe need to live beyond the brain and with less talkative genitals.â
âSomeoneâs installed wind chimes.â
Only the ashes on his forehead marred Hummerâs antiseptic manner. Cyril looked
Learning to Kill: Stories