I lost no time on preparing my efforts, for there was none to be lost,
and set out immediately to remove the carpeting from the floor. Upon
examination I found that it was not attached to the ground at all, but
only fastened into a wooden frame at the walls that held it tightly in
place. It stretched in a circular fashion around the whole of the room
and into the center until it came to the stairs that led downward, so
that once removed it formed a circle about thirty feet in diameter with
a three foot circular hole in its center. In case I haven't mentioned
the type of the carpet yet, which I must confess that I cannot remember,
I will do so here: it was not a traditional carpet, that form being
apparently lost after the great wars, instead it was a silky sheet-like
carpet, no more than a quarter inch thick, and in fact greatly
resembling the sail of an old clipper ship, the painting on the glass
that I saw earlier probably attesting to the fact that it had been
designed with that appearance in mind. Like its prototype, the sail, it
caught a lot of wind and acted in the same general manner.
Using the bowie knife that was built into the large frontal buckle of
the anti-electron suit, which, by the way, I was still entirely wearing,
I cut the carpet down its center, making two semi-circular pieces, each
with a moon shaped appearance, much like a wing.
Pages:
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157