Warren Murphy Destroyer 048 Profit motive

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.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"I am happy for you," said Peter John."Would you like a ride?""I would like my skin cured.""Let's try washing it," said the doctor."I have some absolutely pure water that I keep for my car.You may use it on your skin, but not too much."John saw the doctor pointing to the back of the garage.He saw the water in plastic jars.He saw that it came from springs in France.The label read:"This water exclusive for use with Peugot and not to be wasted on eyewashes, etc., etc."Peter John poured the water over his arms.A soothing relief came to the burning little white spots.They even darkened a bit."It works," said Peter John."May I keep this pure water?""For your skin?""Yes.""That's awfully expensive stuff to use just for one's body," said the doctor."But all right.Come ride with me.I will take you home.I want to see your station wagon for myself.Maybe I will not want to buy it anymore if it is badly damaged."The doctor took the long route home to show Peter John how well a decent car ran.The route cut through the port of Peterburg, with the giant oil tanks.Everything on the island of St.Maarten's ran by oil, even the electric generators.But as they approached the giant oil tanks, a strange thing happened.With a gigantic crunching gurgle, the tank tops began to rise, and Peter John and the doctor could see that the tops were rising on a foam of the white waxy substance.Tons of it, pushing up the top, looking like frosting on a giant birthday cake.Slowly the lights of Peterburg dimmed.Windows opened as air conditioning stopped.People ran out into85the streets, looking for someone to blame about the electricity going off."Hurry," said Peter John.He was frightened, for it was evening, and darkness was coming soon to the little island, and there would be only candlelight, as there had been a century before when Peter John's ancestors came to the island as slaves, purchased by the doctor's ancestors.And then the doctor's car stopped.The doctor put aside the pain in his heart and opened the hood of his dead car.He examined the gas tank.The gas cap almost popped off.Whatever this white stuff was, it attacked the gasoline and changed it.That was why Peter John's car had stopped.And his too.Before his eyes, the doctor saw what was happening.The grease and lubrication of his car were moving.The doctor blinked.It was writhing as if it were alive, and then all the grease and oil turned white and waxy and still.A chemical process was happening before his eyes—possibly a bacteriological process.Whatever this bacterium was, it seemed to travel through the air and attacked all petroleum very quickly.And then it was still.Around them, Peter John and the doctor saw other cars rolling to a stop.Radios and television stopped.Suddenly the island was still.A cricket chirped in the rich green growth that had been drinking the bright Caribbean sun all day.Somewhere off on a dark hillside, a cow mooed."This is terrible," the doctor said."It's rather beautiful," said Peter John.In Peterburg, an American official was at the community long-distance telephone station called Landsra-dio.He had purchased his time for a telephone call to the United States, and he was describing what had happened."You have gas or oil anywhere, and it turns to wax.Something happens to it.No, it's not chemical, I don't86think.Maybe some kind of bacteria they manufacture here or something.I don't know.The ships in the harbor still have their lights on.Yeah.We can get you Page 42ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlall you want, but how do we get it off the island? Half the planes are grounded.Their fuel tanks are wax.I don't know what the shit is, for Christ's sake."He waited by the telephone for the return call from the States.He noticed that the receiver was becoming somewhat soft in his hand.His thumbprint was on the white plastic of the receiver.Then he remembered that plastic was made from a petroleum base.His shirt felt clammy, and he remembered that the synthetics of the shirt were made from a petroleum base.He pulled at his shirt.Instead of feeling like cloth, it felt like warm caramel.His callback was almost immediate.Yes, his superiors in the Department of Commerce were interested in the substance, and they wanted five tons of it."Five tons?" he asked incredulously."Why do you need so much for testing?""Well, everybody wants to test it.Defense.Agriculture.CIA.""No way.How can I get you five tons?""What can you get?""An oil can ML""Good.We'll fly in a píane."The first plane that came for the substance couldn't take off again.The second one immediately covered its engines with a fine gauze screen to protect anything in the air from getting to its fuel.It made the mistake, however, of taking off into an inland breeze.It got to 7,000 feet before the engines stopped and the controls became mush.Guests at the Mullet Bay Hotel stood on their verandas watching.Another plane took off and made it out seven miles before it dropped into the sea.Finally, the government employee wrapped a whole mess of the white waxy substance in a big tightly woven canvas bag so that it would not be carried by the wind, and went around to hangars at the airport looking for planes that might not have been affected [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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