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Converts
 I said: she isn t exactly what I expected. But then, none of us knew what to
expect, did we? I am &
shocked  and pleased, too. Such strength and presence warms my heart, Frank.
I can hardly feel amorously attracted to her, but naturally I m still viewing
her with the eyes of Now, not with the eyes of one transformed. Could a
pre-human hominid feel sexually attracted by a specimen of
Homo Sapiens?
Hardly! I recognize this, Frank. Perhaps you thought that I expected a
Primavera or an Aphrodite?
do
Rather than a titan?
Not necessarily.
You ve done remarkable work. Please tell Ohira and Shiba that I m pleased with
them. At the moment I can t like her. Yet there is admiration in my soul for
the prodigy she is.
 I m coming down in person, Frank. Anybody in the world may be ordinarily
handsome or clever or strong. But we seek the extraordinary, don t we? I
certainly do. I ll need a few days to rearrange my affairs at this end. I
don t think I m going to be very interested in my old life-style in a few
weeks time, but of course one must keep hold of the reins. I too shall be a
prodigy. We two will be the first of a new race.
 What about Jean? I mean Geneva.
 request her to stick around, till we can meet on equal terms. That s part of
her contract. Meanwhile, tell
Maccoby to redouble the security precautions.
 Will do.
As soon as Frank had clipped the phone inside his jacket again, he told the
two doctors of the Sponsor s pleasure. Immediately the Japanese abandoned all
restraint. For a whole minute and more they clapped each other and Frank on
the back. Luckily Geneva refrained from joining in. Indeed, she wore a
quizzical expression on her face.
 I d forgotten about him
, she said.
 He s part of the deal, Frank reminded her, gingerly.
 Ho, ho. He ll need to be superb, to bowl me over.
Frank couldn t visualize the Sponsor, or anybody else, bowling Geneva over and
taking her in rut.
Personally he would prefer a few inches of sheet steel between himself and any
tryst of the titans.
 Point taken. He ll need to be.
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Of course, McKinnon or Maccoby could always shoot a hypodermic dart into
Geneva  primed with something suitable for stunning a rhino, say  whereupon
Ohira could perform the task of conception by artificial insemination & Yet
Frank doubted that the Sponsor had any such sleight of sperm in mind.
Bruno King had sounded quite intoxicated by the coming wedding of the giants.
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Chapter 8
Duly robed and thong-sandalled, Geneva spent the following days sprinting
about the estate. She splashed through lakes. She scaled hills. She crashed
through thickets. Her amazing new body seemed quite tireless.
McKinnon and Maccoby did their best to keep track of her; and Frank was
relieved to learn that Geneva made no attempts on the electrified frontier
fence. Yet why should she? She wasn t particularly in prison, and if she took
it into her head to burst out, barrelling straight through the main gate,
where could she ever find a sufficiently plentiful supply of steaks and such
in the rural vicinity? Raw, on the hoof?
Doubtless the idea of roaming the countryside like some Grecian-attired
Bigfoot possessed little appeal.
Six days after Geneva s forceful exit from the changing room, Frank sat at the
wheel of the Mercedes as
Bruno King s helicopter, with its bold silver coronet motif painted on the
side, came down to land on the helipad.
He waited till the rotor blades had stopped turning before he hopped out and
opened the rear door of the limousine. McKinnon would be most annoyed if the
inside got filled with dust.
Bruno King descended from the helicopter. He was a weedy specimen of a man. Or
perhaps a wiry one, depending on one s point of view. Whenever Frank saw him,
before King s personality overwhelmed him, he couldn t help but think at first
(being a sucker for the obvious) of those classic advertisements for
body-building regimens, where the beach boy kicks sand in the face of the
runt. King had obviously developed his financial muscle to bursting point, but
when it came to making his body superhuman only science was going to help him,
not work-outs.
Actually, Bruno King had some trouble with his digestion, as a result of which
he subsisted on a diet of malted milk, oysters, soft-boiled eggs, honey and
vitamins; which, perhaps, was why he had trouble with his digestion.
The Sponsor s face was birdlike, with a beak of a nose and brown beady eyes.
Today he wore a deerstalker with a jaunty green feather stuck in it, and a
red-checked lumber jacket zipped up to his chin, as if it was his intention to
hunt Geneva through the woods of his estate. With approval he noted that the
flag was run up the pole (with a fluttering coronet on it).
 Where is she, Frank?
 Out roaming, sir.
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 I suppose I couldn t expect her to mount an honour guard. Where s Maccoby?
 Out keeping tabs.
King glanced sceptically at the waiting limousine, as though it had been
parked deliberately so as to get in his way. His eyes charted a tentative
course around the long Mercedes. Rejecting this option, he climbed into the
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back of the limousine, shuffled across to the far side and opened the other
door. His intended route led directly from helicopter to changing room, and he
did not intend to deviate an inch from it.
Climbing out, he set off on foot for the medical centre.
Frank had already shut the passenger door politely behind King and was back in
the driver s seat, with the engine on, before he noticed. Hastily abandoning
the Mercedes, he rushed after his master.
 I
can drive, you know! he protested.
 Sure you can. You always drive that thing like a hearse when I m in it. I
like some pizazz in my drivers.
Anyway, while we re walking over I want to outline the attorney situation. The [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]