Taking more pains than necessary; I know, he told himself once more, as he watched his hands going through routine. Mind working on two levels about the subject. On top, right up against curve of skull, the old subvocal litany: Careful; have to be careful; weren’t born out here like some of them; until you get your wall-legs, better, smarter to be careful still. But underneath, not even words: fear, not caution, slowed his movements. As narrow and cramped as the confines of the bivouac sling were, it was at least something underneath him, a bowed floor of reinforced canvas and plastic beneath his knees as he knelt, or shoulder and hip when he slept, and the empty air beneath. That was as safe, he knew, as you got on the vertical. He could have stayed in the sling forever, hanging on the wall. Money, the lack of it, compelled otherwise. Eventually everything – not much – was packed into two panniers and a larger amorphous bundle. He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering strength, then stood up, the sling’s fabric stretching beneath his feet.
