Gordon Dickson The Last Master (v1.1) (lit)

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to pound on official desks for them. To help them. Naturally, he s paid, but
you assume there must be some basic kindness in such an individual. You, on
the other hand, seem to enjoy putting on your shark-dolphin fights.
Mr. Erm, said Shu-shu, leaning far back on his float, I think you re
beginning to bore me. I don t believe I want to tell you what you and your pet
R-Master want to know, after all. The door s right behind you. Good-bye.
Rico, however, made no attempt to get up. Instead he turned to Ett.
Sir, he said in the same polite voice, this individual is obviously a
sadist. I assume he keeps his vices within regulations or the EC would have
picked him up long ago. But I think we can safely assume he wants to do
business more badly than we do, not for the dividend units involved, but
because he receives a certain stimulation from the purveying of information,
just as he received stimulations from managing the slaughter of sea creatures
that are all but human in their own right. On the other hand, our own schedule
is rather tight and he s already wasted some minutes of our time. I suggest we
leave.
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Ett stood up.
Wait, said Shu-shu, himself rising behind the desk. Just a minute.
Perhaps, sir Rico glanced at Ett we could give him another two minutes, no
more?
Ett sat down. Shu-shu dropped back onto his own grav float, almost panting.
All right, all right, he said. All right! Of course, I don t break
regulations. I don t have any information I shouldn t have. But I don t have
to. Being an ombudsman I hear things, from my clients and from others
Rico glanced at the chronometer on his left wrist.
All right, said Shu-shu hastily. Here it is. It seems to me I ve heard of
certain constructions, originally done very quietly about thirty years ago but
added to at intervals since, under theMuseum ofNatural History buildings
inManhattan,New York City. Of course I ve entirely forgotten how that
information came to me. It might have been part of something I dreamed one
night.
Rico and Ett got to their feet.
Now, if you d like to retain me for possible help as a free-lance ombudsman,
my retainer is five thousand units.
A voucher will be sent to you. Not from one of us, of course, murmured
Rico.
Just as long as I get paid, said Shushu. He reached out and touched a white
stud on his desk. Now, just for the record, if I could record the purpose of
this consultation the purpose for which you needed me as ombudsman?
Yes, said Ett, leaning forward. I d like to promote a regulation to make
dolphins a protected species as far as their use in any shows are concerned.
Shu-shu laughed and broke off laughing suddenly as Ett reached over to press
down the brown stud the other man had pointed out earlier. The button went
down under Ett s finger. The gates at the far ends of the section began to
open.
Shu-shu reached with both hands for Ett s finger.
Don t try it, Ett told him, unless you want to get your face rebuilt.
Shu-shu looked into Ett s brown eyes and sagged backwards into his seat, lips
pressed tightly together. Ett was no longer concerned with what the man might
see or think, and he felt his own lips draw back from his teeth as he stood up
and leaned over the desk, reaching for the fat man behind it.
Ett was breathing fast now, and his skin felt slightly warm. The fires he had
buried so long were coming to the surface, rising in his head like volcanic
lava, burying his restraint. He saw what was coming, in a vision flashing at
the back of his brain an anger that might very well consume the man before
him and he found himself welcoming it, eager for the release.
The fat man fell from his grav float chair, onto the concrete surface, and,
propping himself up with both arms, stared up at Ett. A large drop of spittle
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formed on his lower lip and began to run down his chin Ett saw it clearly as
he moved to the side and then around the desk.
Suddenly Rico was there, between them, obstructing Ett s view of
Shu-shu looking up into Ett s eyes, saying nothing. Ett moved sideways as if
to get around the smaller man, grasped him by the shoulders, and lofted him
lightly over the desk. It seemed to Ett as if everyone were moving in slow
motion, and in a preternatural silence; he could feel the play of the muscles
under the skin of his shoulders, and it exhilarated him. He laughed. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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