JК
The Lovers :: Фармер Филип Хосе
Страница: 10 из 127'I'll be busy until bed time. I have to catch up on my Sturch business before report to Olvegssen.'
'And I'll bet you're happy you have to,' she said. 'I was looking forward to a nice talk. After all, you haven't said a word of your trip to the Preserve.'
He did not reply.
She said, 'You needn't bite your lip at me!'
He took a portrait of Sigmen down from the wall and unfolded it on a chair. Then he swung down his projector-magnifier from the wall, inserted the letter in it, and set the controls. After putting on his unscrambling goggles and sticking the phone in his ear, he sat down in the chair. He grinned as he did so. Mary must have seen the grin, and she probably wondered what caused it, but she did not ask. If she had, she would not have been answered. He could not tell her that he got a certain amusement from sitting on the Forerunner's portrait. She would have been shocked or would have pretended to be, he was never sure about her reactions. In any event, she had no sense of humor worth considering, and he did not intend to tell her anything that would downrate his M.R.
Hal pressed the button that activated the projector and then sat back, though not relaxedly. Immediately, the magnification of the film sprang up on the wall opposite him. Mary, not having goggles on, could see nothing except a blank wall. At the same time, he heard the voice recorded on the film.
First, as always with an official letter, the face of the Forerunner appeared on the wall. The voice said 'Praise to Isaac Sigmen, in whom reality resides and from whom all truth flows! May he bless us, his followers, and confound his enemies, the disciples of the unshib Backrunner!'
There was a pause in the voice and a break in the projection for the viewer to send forth a prayer of his own. Then, a single word – woggle – flashed on the wall, and the speaker continued. 'Devout believer Hal Yarrow:
'Here is the first of a list of words that have appeared recently in the vocabulary of the American-speaking population of the Union. This word – woggle – originated in the Department of Polynesia and spread radially to all the American-speaking peoples of the departments of North America, Australia, Japan and China. Strangely, it has not yet made an appearance in the Department of South America, which, as you doubtless know, is contiguous to North America.'
Hal Yarrow smiled, though there was a time when statements of this type had enraged him.
'And I'll bet you're happy you have to,' she said. 'I was looking forward to a nice talk. After all, you haven't said a word of your trip to the Preserve.'
He did not reply.
She said, 'You needn't bite your lip at me!'
He took a portrait of Sigmen down from the wall and unfolded it on a chair. Then he swung down his projector-magnifier from the wall, inserted the letter in it, and set the controls. After putting on his unscrambling goggles and sticking the phone in his ear, he sat down in the chair. He grinned as he did so. Mary must have seen the grin, and she probably wondered what caused it, but she did not ask. If she had, she would not have been answered. He could not tell her that he got a certain amusement from sitting on the Forerunner's portrait. She would have been shocked or would have pretended to be, he was never sure about her reactions. In any event, she had no sense of humor worth considering, and he did not intend to tell her anything that would downrate his M.R.
Hal pressed the button that activated the projector and then sat back, though not relaxedly. Immediately, the magnification of the film sprang up on the wall opposite him. Mary, not having goggles on, could see nothing except a blank wall. At the same time, he heard the voice recorded on the film.
First, as always with an official letter, the face of the Forerunner appeared on the wall. The voice said 'Praise to Isaac Sigmen, in whom reality resides and from whom all truth flows! May he bless us, his followers, and confound his enemies, the disciples of the unshib Backrunner!'
There was a pause in the voice and a break in the projection for the viewer to send forth a prayer of his own. Then, a single word – woggle – flashed on the wall, and the speaker continued. 'Devout believer Hal Yarrow:
'Here is the first of a list of words that have appeared recently in the vocabulary of the American-speaking population of the Union. This word – woggle – originated in the Department of Polynesia and spread radially to all the American-speaking peoples of the departments of North America, Australia, Japan and China. Strangely, it has not yet made an appearance in the Department of South America, which, as you doubtless know, is contiguous to North America.'
Hal Yarrow smiled, though there was a time when statements of this type had enraged him.