People with disabilities -- Fiction; Science fiction
"Don't say you didn't try to make me mad," growled the pilot, lunging
after him. What he took hold of wasn't an imitation hand, delicately
molded and colored to duplicate skin. The hand he touched was real and
the muscles in it were more than a match for his own. It was surprise,
at first, that caused him to scream.
Docchi bent double and the dark figure on his back came over his head
like a knife from a sheath. The pilot was lifted off his feet and
slammed to the floor.
"Jordan," gurgled the pilot.
"It's me," said Jordan. He wrapped one arm around the pilot's throat
and clamped tight. With the other he felt for the toaster the pilot
still held but hadn't time to use. Effortlessly he tore it away and
hammered the man unconscious with the butt. He stopped just short of
smashing the skull. Docchi stood ineffectually by, kicking where he
could, but the action was fast and he had no arms.
But Jordan didn't need help. "Let there be light," he said when he was
finished, and there was--a feeble flickering illumination from Docchi.
Jordan balanced himself with his hands. He had a strong head and
massive powerful arms and shoulders. His body stopped below his chest,
there was no more. A round metal capsule contained his digestive
organs. Accidentals were indeed the odds and ends of creation, and of
Jordan one end was missing. But the part that remained made up for the
loss.
"Dead?" Docchi glanced down at the pilot.
Jordan rocked forward and listened for the heartbeat. "Nah," he said.
"I was going to clout him again but I remembered we can't afford to
kill anybody."
"See that you don't forget," said Docchi. He stifled an exclamation as
something coiled around his leg. Jumping forward he broke loose from
the thing that caught him.
"Repair robot," chuckled Jordan, looking around. "The place is lousy
with them."
Docchi blinked on and off in confusion and the robot rolled clumsily
toward him.
"Friendly creature," commented Jordan. "I think it wants to tinker with
your lighting system."
Docchi shook off the squat contrivance which, after it touched his
flesh, whirred puzzledly to itself. The job was beyond its capacity but
it didn't leave. "What'll we do with him?" asked Docchi, staring at the
pilot.
"He needs attention," said Jordan. "_Not_ the kind I gave him." He
balanced the toaster in his hand and burned a small hole in the little
wheeled monster. Extensibles emerged from the side of the machine and
carefully explored the damaged area. The extensibles slid back into
the machine and presently came out again with a small torch. It began
welding the hole.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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