Casal tamped down his momentary hesitation in the face of the Scarecrow. Flexible steel cloth formed its lumpy shirt. Shapeless pants were tied at waist and ankle. Carbon fibre gloves and shoes emerged from thickets of raw nanotubule wiring. Its head was a sack of carbon cloth with painted features, tied at the neck. Small whirring sounds, focusing camera lenses, microphones, speakers, or weapons, moved the lumpy suit, like mice in a bag, inviting an observer to worry about what lay beneath in a wholly illogical and visceral way.
