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Updated: May 22, 2025
"I said, do you want to take the Undertube or the Overshoot? Or doesn't it matter to you what kind of transportation we take?" Alan shrugged. "One's as good as any other." Hawkes fished a coin out of his pocket and tossed it up. "Heads for Overshoot," he said, and caught the coin on the back of his left hand. He peered at it. "Heads it is. We take the Overshoot. This way."
Earth life, for all its squalor and brutality, was tremendously exciting compared with shipboard existence. It was with a momentary pang of something close to disappointment that he remembered he would have to report back to the Valhalla in several days; there were so many fascinating aspects of Earth life he still wanted to explore. The Undertube stopped at a station labelled Hasbrouck.
So you made sure you lost consistently for the final half hour or so, and that took the edge off your earlier winning in their minds." "That's the ticket!" The Undertube pulled out of the station and shot bullet-like through its dark tunnel. Silently, Alan thought about his night's experience. He saw he still had much, very much to learn about life on Earth. Hawkes had a gift the gift of winning.
The streets seemed a great deal less terrifying now that Alan had a companion, someone who knew his way around. He didn't have the feeling that all eyes were on him, any more; he was just one of the crowd. It was good to have Hawkes at his side, even if he didn't fully trust the older man. "The Directory Building's way across town," Hawkes said. "We can't walk it. Undertube or Overshoot?" "What?"
Shortly after noon, Hawkes and Alan left the apartment and boarded the Undertube, their destination the downtown section of York City where the World Reserve Bank was located. They reached the bank about 1230. The armored truck was parked outside, looking sleek and impregnable, and four massive roboguards stood watch, one by each wheel.
The gambler bought Alan new clothing, modern stuff with self-sealing zippers and pressure buttons, made of filmy clinging materials that were incredibly more comfortable than the rough cloth of his Valhalla uniform. York City seemed less strange to him with each passing hour; he studied Undertube routes and Overshoot maps until he knew his way around the city fairly well.
They took the Undertube back to the heart of the city and kept going, into the suburb of Upper York. Getting out at the 423rd Street terminal, they walked briskly through the narrow crowded streets toward 68th Avenue.
And he still had plenty of time to get back to the Valhalla after he saw Steve, even if he stayed in the city overnight. "Well?" Hawkes said. "Okay. I'll go with you." This time they took the Undertube, which they reached by following a glowing sign and then an underground passageway.
"There's an Undertube that takes us as far as Carhill Boulevard and the bridge," Hawkes said. "We can get a ground vehicle there that'll go on through the Enclave and out to the spacefield." The trip took nearly an hour. Steve sat propped up between Alan and Hawkes, and every now and then his head would loll to one side or another, and he would seem to be stirring; but he never woke.
"If you'd been born a couple of hundred years later, you'd be a lot smarter." "What is that supposed to mean?" Alan felt annoyed by Hawkes' remark. "Simply that I lost deliberately toward the end." They turned into the Undertube station and headed for the ticket windows. "It's part of a smart gambler's knowhow to drop a few credits deliberately now and then." "Why?"
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