SEATTLEHAMA: SPIN

Clasping my hands over the top of the wall at the back of the stage, I discovered that it wasn't one thick pane, but two, and that between them blew a powerful slipstream of air. I guessed the purpose was to keep the atrium warm and shielded, but this was the current holding the yarn aloft!

I hoisted myself up using the sticky soles of my Jacque 24 chameleon sneaks, and stood atop the wall. I didn't want to look over the edge, but that was the first thing I did. It was like balancing on the edge of a mile-tall rifle. The other buildings completed the barrel, and in the chamber, partly hidden in a filmy layer of cloud about halfway down, were the specks of the entervators set against the distant lights of the atrium. Even as I tore my eyes away, it was impossible not to imagine myself plummeting to a final instant of pure white pain.

"There's one on the wall!"

"Get him down!"

Above me, the yarn was spinning in the air jet four feet above my head. Jumping, I tried to snatch it, but missed. My right foot slipped over the edge. For an instant I was falling, but I smacked the glass with one of my Gecko gloves. It snapped on like Velcro, and I managed to haul myself back up.

"Terminate the intruder!"

Spotlights were turned on me. Shouting voices argued and ordered.

"He's the one who hugged Bunné!"

Meanwhile, eddies of air around my body seemed to push the ripped yarn farther away. Arms outstretched like a tightrope walker, I took four steps until I was under it and then jumped. I had it! I had the ripped yarn. I was complete.

A purple satin shoved one of the Choky Bears out of the way and stood below me. In the blazing light, he looked like a mannequin. His skin was a chalky orange, his hair looked hard and plasticott. In his right hand he held a 'tricity stick, trailing smoke from one the end. He raised it toward my leg. "You are prohibited!"

I turned toward the circular city, toward the pointed crystals and the hellishly deep lines of perspective. For an instant, I let my toes dangle over the edge of the glass wall. Then, before the satin could move, I leaned far forward, and jumped.