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The Stars My Destination ( Tiger! Tiger! ) :: Bester Alfred
Страница: 157 из 164Who are you to make demands at this moment?»
Presteign tightened his lips. «The law. . .» he began.
«What? Threats?» Foyle laughed. «Am I to be frightened into anything? Don't be imbecile. Speak to me the way you did New Year's Eve, Presteign, without mercy, without forgiveness, without hypocrisy.»
Presteign bowed, took a breath, and ceased to smile. «I offer you power,» he said. «Adoption as my heir, partnership in Presteign Enterprises, the chieftainship of clan and sept. Together we can own the world.»
«With PyrE?»
«Yes.»
«Your proposal is noted and declined. Will you offer your daughter?»
«Olivia?» Presteign choked and clenched his fists.
«Yes, Olivia. Where is she?»
«You scum!» Presteign cried. «Filth . . . Common thief . . . You dare to. . .»
«Will you offer your daughter for the PyrE?»
«Yes,» Presteign answered, barely audible.
Foyle turned to Dagenham. «Press your button, death's-head,» he said. «If the discussion's to be conducted on this level. . .» Dagenham snapped. «It is. Without mercy, without forgiveness, without hypocrisy. What do you offer?»
«Glory.»
«We can't offer money or power. We can offer honor. Gully Foyle, the man who saved the Inner Planets from annihilation. We can offer security. We'll wipe out your criminal record, give you an honored name, guarantee a niche in the hail of fame.»
«No,» Jisbella McQueen cut in sharply. «Don't accept. If you want to be a savior, destroy the secret. Don't give PyrE to anyone.»
«What is PyrE?»
«Quiet!» Dagenham snapped.
«It's a thermonuclear explosive that's detonated by thought alone by psychokinesis,» Jisbella said.
«What thought?»
«The desire of anyone to detonate it, directed at it. That brings it to critical mass if it's not insulated by Inert Lead Isotope.»
«I told you to be quiet,» Dageuham growled.
«If we're all to have a chance at him, I want mine.»
«This is bigger than idealism.»
«Nothing's bigger than idealism.»
«Foyle's secret is,» Y'ang-Yeovil murmured. «I know how relatively unimportant PyrE is just now.» He smiled at Foyle. «Sheffield's law assistant overheard part of your little discussion in Old St. Pat's. We know about the space-jaunting.»
There was a sudden hush.
«Space-jaunting,» Dagenham exclaimed. «Impossible. You don't mean it.»
«I do mean it. Foyle's demonstrated that space-jaunting is not impossible. He jaunted six hundred thousand miles from an O.S.
Presteign tightened his lips. «The law. . .» he began.
«What? Threats?» Foyle laughed. «Am I to be frightened into anything? Don't be imbecile. Speak to me the way you did New Year's Eve, Presteign, without mercy, without forgiveness, without hypocrisy.»
Presteign bowed, took a breath, and ceased to smile. «I offer you power,» he said. «Adoption as my heir, partnership in Presteign Enterprises, the chieftainship of clan and sept. Together we can own the world.»
«With PyrE?»
«Yes.»
«Your proposal is noted and declined. Will you offer your daughter?»
«Olivia?» Presteign choked and clenched his fists.
«Yes, Olivia. Where is she?»
«You scum!» Presteign cried. «Filth . . . Common thief . . . You dare to. . .»
«Will you offer your daughter for the PyrE?»
«Yes,» Presteign answered, barely audible.
Foyle turned to Dagenham. «Press your button, death's-head,» he said. «If the discussion's to be conducted on this level. . .» Dagenham snapped. «It is. Without mercy, without forgiveness, without hypocrisy. What do you offer?»
«Glory.»
«We can't offer money or power. We can offer honor. Gully Foyle, the man who saved the Inner Planets from annihilation. We can offer security. We'll wipe out your criminal record, give you an honored name, guarantee a niche in the hail of fame.»
«No,» Jisbella McQueen cut in sharply. «Don't accept. If you want to be a savior, destroy the secret. Don't give PyrE to anyone.»
«What is PyrE?»
«Quiet!» Dagenham snapped.
«It's a thermonuclear explosive that's detonated by thought alone by psychokinesis,» Jisbella said.
«What thought?»
«The desire of anyone to detonate it, directed at it. That brings it to critical mass if it's not insulated by Inert Lead Isotope.»
«I told you to be quiet,» Dageuham growled.
«If we're all to have a chance at him, I want mine.»
«This is bigger than idealism.»
«Nothing's bigger than idealism.»
«Foyle's secret is,» Y'ang-Yeovil murmured. «I know how relatively unimportant PyrE is just now.» He smiled at Foyle. «Sheffield's law assistant overheard part of your little discussion in Old St. Pat's. We know about the space-jaunting.»
There was a sudden hush.
«Space-jaunting,» Dagenham exclaimed. «Impossible. You don't mean it.»
«I do mean it. Foyle's demonstrated that space-jaunting is not impossible. He jaunted six hundred thousand miles from an O.S.