The wrong end of time by John Brunner Page B

finished, and got splashed. The noise of running water aroused Danty, and he gave her a sleepy grin and said, "Hello, Loral" "Good-bye!" she snapped, and stormed out. The exit door gave a satisfactory slam.
     
     
That was what woke Magda. When she pushed aside the curtain, she found Danty at the window, watching Lora on the way to her car. She said, "Hi, Danty. Was it the Turbinate?"
     
"Hi, Magda." He didn't look around. "Yes."
     
"Slumming, hm?" She approached and gave him a peck on a cheek stubbly with new beard.
     
"Yes, I guess so. And apparently regretting it this morning. But last night she had a terrific time." He uttered a sad chuckle. "You'll never believe this, but it's gospel. She managed to have me photographed with Prexy!"
     
Magda drew back half a step, staring. Abruptly she burst into helpless laughter.
     
"Dantyl Oh, baby! That's the end, the ultimate end"
     
"Shit, you'll be a White House consultant yet, honey," Danty said. The car below moved off, and he turned back
     
     
from the window. "Fix some coffee, hm? I'll go take a shower. I need one. That kid has-uh-variegated tastes in BCT."
     
"She doesn't call it that, does she?" Magda demanded in disbelief.
     
"No, she doesn't. But she confided that her mother does -or did, at least, to explain her lovers to her kids when they were young. `Body contact therapy,' straight up." He yawned and stretched. "Tell you about it in a moment."
     
     
By the time he was through showering and shaving, there was coffee in big mugs and Magda had put on a robe. She said as Danty sat down, "Tell me, did it work out?"
     
"Yes." Sipping his coffee, he suddenly unfocused his eyes in the disconcerting fashion he had, which made him seem to be peering into another world.
     
"You don't sound very happy about it."
     
"Hell, no It gets bigger and more terrifying. It's like being in a car witl- 'he governor shorted out, and some crazy fool at the wheel who wants to prove he's as good as a machine at a hundred-fifty. I mean-hell! I knew I had to be at the scrap yard, but I didn't know why until I saw Josh and Shark and Potatohead getting ready to strip, and kill her. So I fish her out of trouble with this busted rifle, so she invites me to this party, so I meet this Canuck who's a house-guest of her father's. Says he's in timber up in Manitoba. Piss on that. He can quote the Gita. I heard him. Hell, I made him And I looked around the garage while Lora was getting out her car, and right next to it was her father's, and I saw it before. It was the car waiting to pick up the man from the sea."
     
"You think it's Holtzer."
     
"It's Holtzer, no shit." Danty drew a deep breath; when he let it out again she heard his teeth rattle. "Magda, I am goddamned scared now! I do weirder and weirder things for subtler and subtler reasons, and I daren't not do them, and what frightens me worst-"
     
He broke off. Magda reached across the table and clasped his hand.
     
"Well, this," he said after a pause. "What do I do when I reach the point where I feel what I must do, and I can't do it, because I'm like sick, or weak, or tired out? Won't I know I'm-well-trapped?"
     
"You ever felt that's come close to happening?" Magda asked in a commonsensical tone. Danty pondered for a moment.
     
"I guess not," he said eventually. "I guess with luck it may not. If I go on getting better at using the talent, I may be able to take precautions. I could avoid exhaustion, for instance. Illness, though . . . I don't know."
     
"The way I see it," Magda said firmly, "is that anything that made you sick and weak would probably screw up the talent anyway. It uses up a hell of a lot of your energy, that's for sure. I mean, look at you! You're not just lean, you're scrawny I can count your ribs."
     
Danty gave his body a self-conscious glance.
     
"I'll fix you a good big breakfast," Magda said, rising. "After that I'll have to stash you behind the curtain. I have a customer due at noon."
     
"No need for