bloodletting

The producers rejected the only underwriter the editorial staff approved of. If it didn’t go through them, it wasn’t going to happen. Like a circular firing squad, they all gave notice to each other. The government paperwork would be easier that way. On her way home, she wondered if she were sinking, or if the ground itself was shifting.

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stimulation murmur

She tracked the reabsorption rate over time, and found that it was not a continuous function. She hypothesized that the substance was spurring a reorganization within, analogous to cell mitosis, the different phases of which used up the fuel at different rates. She knew that the next question her sponsor would want her to investigate: during which phase was the mechanism most useful as a weapon? She intended to use the answer to that against him.

ordinal figure

Her aunt found the beads in her hair very pretty and insisted on asking more and more about them, until Lynn finally explained that on one of the islands she visited, there were stalls on the beach in which you could pay women to put these beads in your hair. Arranged correctly they depicted the same ancient pornographic scenes that were carved into the island’s cliffs. She undid the kerchief that she had wound through the beads to politely disguise them, and arranged her hair for her aunt’s view. “See?”

flop sweat

That song always triggered an embarrassing memory for him, as primally as a smell would. As soon as he heard its blending harmonies he began to sweat profusely. His rival had discovered this and planned to use it against him.

short supply

The bladder stiffened at the puncture, reducing the leak somewhat, but he knew he could no longer swim at the top. Before a mucous plug could form, water got in. He tried to remember the techniques to control the sinking, and it was quantized so that if he didn’t keep above a certain level he was sure to sink at least so much deeper.

enclosed quarters

Tom warned Jerry, “The last fool who was caught tampering with the ravens got his pinkies chopped off with an ax.” The only words he could hear of Jerry’s reply were meaningless jargon. He wondered again why they let captives like the two of them roam around. It was as if they were tempting them into infractions that would merit cruel treatment.

staffage

Rummaging again through the dregs of gossip, only enough here to make a few bitter sulks hiding behind the music stand. I don’t want to feel as if I am just an incidental figure at the corner of the picture depicting a planetoid crashing into the earth. It may be small, but I will raise a cry against the reelection of the deputy commissioner.

extol with a groan

I gnawed on the bark until the bone above my teeth ached. That my faults were normal was no consolation. I shouldn’t have passed the buck. I shouldn’t have bought in to the emasculating culture. I dreamed of stealing the jewel from the culture fund.

cast up in front

Forty three candidate paraded in front of the selection committee. The committee members tried to mimic the chairwoman’s neutrality. Between sessions she had to remove their confusion. Their job, she explained, was to raise them up to make them easier to sweep away.

oath of office

The organization was suspected of discrimination, but a careful review of their records going back two centuries failed to show any evidence of it. The directors were still concerned about the source of the suspicion and expanded their research. Their organization was operating fairly, but other external factors controlled the ratio of people with whom it had contact. The organizations charter stipulated several constraints on any countermeasures they could undertake, so that they reluctantly came to the conclusion that their only choice was to dissolve the current institution.