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The Stars My Destination ( Tiger! Tiger! ) :: Bester Alfred
Страница: 140 из 164«Will this give the Outer Satellites pause, Yeovil?»
«It'll give us all pause.»
«It's the road to hell,» Jisbella said.
«Then let's find it and get off the road. Here's my idea, Yeovil. Foyle was tinkering with that hell brew in his lab in Old St. Pat's, trying to analyze it.»
«I told you that in strict confidence,» Jisbella said furiously.
«I'm sorry, dear. We're past honor and the decencies. Now look, Yeovil, there must be some fragments of the stuff lying about. . . as dust, in solution, in precipitates. . . We've got to detonate those fragments and blow the hell out of Foyle's circus.»
«Why?»
«To bring him running. He must have the bulk of the PyrE hidden there somewhere. He'll come to salvage it.»
«What if it blows up too?»
«It can't, not inside an Inert Lead Isotope safe.»
«Maybe it's not all inside.»
«Jiz says it is . . .at least so Foyle reported.»
«Leave me out of this,» Jisbella said.
«Anyway, we'll have to gamble.»
«Gamble!» Y'ang-Yeovil exclaimed. «On a Phoenix action? You'll gamble the solar system into a brand new nova.»
«What else can we do? Pick any other road . . and it's the road to destruction too. Have we got any choice?»
«We can wait,» Jisbella said.
«For what? For Foyle to blow us up himself with his tinkering?»
«We can warn him.»
«We don't know where he is.»
«We can find him.»
«How soon? Won't that be a gamble too? And what about that stuff lying around waiting for someone to think it into energy? Suppose a Jack-jaunter gets in and cracks the safe, looking for goodies? And then we don't just have dust waiting for an accidental thought, but twenty pounds.»
Jisbella turned pale. Dagenham turned to the Intelligence man. «You make the decision, Yeovil. Do we try it my way or do we wait?»
Y'ang-Yeovil sighed. «I was afraid of this,» he said. «Damn all scientists. I'll have to make my decision for a reason you don't know, Dagenham. The Outer Satellites are on to this too. We've got reason to believe that they've got agents looking for Foyle in the worst way. If we wait they may pick him up before us. In fact, they may have him now.»
«So your decision is . . .”
«The blow-up. Let's bring Foyle running if we can.»
«No!» Jisbella cried.
«How?» Dagenham asked, ignoring her.
«Oh, I've got just the one for the job. A one-way telepath named Robin Wednesbury.»
«When?»
«At once. We'll clear the entire neighborhood.
«It'll give us all pause.»
«It's the road to hell,» Jisbella said.
«Then let's find it and get off the road. Here's my idea, Yeovil. Foyle was tinkering with that hell brew in his lab in Old St. Pat's, trying to analyze it.»
«I told you that in strict confidence,» Jisbella said furiously.
«I'm sorry, dear. We're past honor and the decencies. Now look, Yeovil, there must be some fragments of the stuff lying about. . . as dust, in solution, in precipitates. . . We've got to detonate those fragments and blow the hell out of Foyle's circus.»
«Why?»
«To bring him running. He must have the bulk of the PyrE hidden there somewhere. He'll come to salvage it.»
«What if it blows up too?»
«It can't, not inside an Inert Lead Isotope safe.»
«Maybe it's not all inside.»
«Jiz says it is . . .at least so Foyle reported.»
«Leave me out of this,» Jisbella said.
«Anyway, we'll have to gamble.»
«Gamble!» Y'ang-Yeovil exclaimed. «On a Phoenix action? You'll gamble the solar system into a brand new nova.»
«What else can we do? Pick any other road . . and it's the road to destruction too. Have we got any choice?»
«We can wait,» Jisbella said.
«For what? For Foyle to blow us up himself with his tinkering?»
«We can warn him.»
«We don't know where he is.»
«We can find him.»
«How soon? Won't that be a gamble too? And what about that stuff lying around waiting for someone to think it into energy? Suppose a Jack-jaunter gets in and cracks the safe, looking for goodies? And then we don't just have dust waiting for an accidental thought, but twenty pounds.»
Jisbella turned pale. Dagenham turned to the Intelligence man. «You make the decision, Yeovil. Do we try it my way or do we wait?»
Y'ang-Yeovil sighed. «I was afraid of this,» he said. «Damn all scientists. I'll have to make my decision for a reason you don't know, Dagenham. The Outer Satellites are on to this too. We've got reason to believe that they've got agents looking for Foyle in the worst way. If we wait they may pick him up before us. In fact, they may have him now.»
«So your decision is . . .”
«The blow-up. Let's bring Foyle running if we can.»
«No!» Jisbella cried.
«How?» Dagenham asked, ignoring her.
«Oh, I've got just the one for the job. A one-way telepath named Robin Wednesbury.»
«When?»
«At once. We'll clear the entire neighborhood.