[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
room;
" 'Sorry to blackmail you, Mr. President. But I was at my wit's end. The press
room is a shambles. People have been sleeping, sleeping mind you, in every
corner.'
'You mean it's packed?' asked Heathstone, smiling a little.
'Packed,' Allymany confirmed.
Thomas Cordero Heathstone stepped into the press room unannounced. He choked
immediately on the several days' accumulation of sweat odours and the fog of
cigarette smoke. "
'Jesus Christ,' yelped someone, 'it's the President.'
The room erupted like a herd of cattle responding to a sudden lightning bolt
in its midst. Hector Allymany barely
335
had time to gain the podium in advance of Heathstone's relentless push through
the screaming crowd.
'Ladies and gentlemen of the press,' he shouted, 'the President of the United
States.'
Contrary to Allyman's expectation, the room instantly quieted as Heathstone
took his place and looked around.
'Sorry to have kept you waiting so long,' Heathstone began. 'I hope you have
been comfortable.'
A ripple of smiles first, then unified laughter broke the tense atmosphere
into shards. Almost everyone revived.
'Just tell us, Mr. President,' asked the representative of the Associated
Press, 'what the hell is going on! What happened to Omaha?'
'I have been in constant communication with Mr. Tosygen. He has been as
confused as I. But we have now concluded, and quite correctly I believe, that
a third force has become active between our two nations and has interfered
significantly in the balance of deterrent weapons. In order to prevent similar
interference with and misuse of strategic weapons, Mr. Tosygen and I have
begun, the orderly withdrawal of orbiting satellites carrying such weapons.
And Mr. Tosygen and I plan to meet as soon as possible and seek to extend our
disarmament programmes and attempt to localise and discover the exact nature
of this third force.'
Heathstone paused.
From somewhere in the audience, 'Is this third force another nation, Mr.
President?'
'We do not understand its nature very well, but we are working in that
direction.'
'Is it this third force that is threatening the destruction of San Francisco
and all those other cities?' demanded another voice.
'Those satellites will be withdrawn as requested by this third force.'
'But, Mr. President, what kind of third force could order such actions?'
'Again, I say, we do not know that yet.'
336
'What about all these rumours of some megapsychic... ?'
Thomas Cordero Heathstone quickly descended from the podium and, followed by
Hector Allymany, left the smoke-filled room pretending that he had not heard
the last question.
10.30 A.M.
General Harrah Judd and Dr Elizabeth Coogan staggered wearily into Judd's
office. Coogan sank gratefully into her now-familiar chair, relaxed her head
against its back, and immediately closed her eyes.
Lieutenant Abrams stood expectantly by Judd's desk.
'Anything to report, Abrams?' asked Judd, fatigue obvious in his voice.
'Not too much, sir. Sirius has not, as you expected, responded to any of Dr
Coogan's messages. During your flight back here, those two men up in New York
you wanted have been whisked to a very safe place in the Rocky Mountains. Dan
Merriweather has erased most of his childhood in Chicago. People remember him
well as the famous rock star, hut not as a youth. There are bits and pieces.
Do you think he can block out people's minds also? Astor Golderman seems to
have committed suicide, jumped to his death. That's all. Not much, is it,
sir?'
'Suicide?' asked Coogan. 'He didn't seem that nervous.'
'Could he erase minds, sir?' persisted Abrams.
'I don't know, Abrams. Anything is possible, I guess.'
'Well, people who should have known him, their minds seem to be too
conveniently blank on his past. And, sir, we are being spied on from every
direction. One intelligence service is trampling over the other in an effort
to get a breakthrough on this.'
'I understand, Abrams. I even noticed that weapons dealer, what's his name,
Nashirah himself, slinking in a car outside the New York hospital. Seems
strange to see him doing his own footwork.'
'Abrams, Coogan and I need to go grab some sleep.
337
Half an hour on the plane just wasn't enough. I want you to do two things. Get
us every institute, organisation, and group whose initials begin with TAU. But
also get everything that begins with IDC, FTO, you know, things like that, so
our stampeding intelligence friends and spies will be a little confused. When
you have all that, bring the TAU list over to my apartment. Can you do all
this without raising suspicion?'
'That's the simplest task in this mess so far, sir. But why don't I get a
couple of cots brought in here? I wouldn't put it past Nashirah to try to
kidnap you if he thought you knew anything.'
'No one will try that, yet, Abrams.'
'All right, sir. Final thing, the President has been trying to get hold of
you.'
'Give his office a ring. Tell him we have to sleep but will be in touch in a
couple of hours.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
room;
" 'Sorry to blackmail you, Mr. President. But I was at my wit's end. The press
room is a shambles. People have been sleeping, sleeping mind you, in every
corner.'
'You mean it's packed?' asked Heathstone, smiling a little.
'Packed,' Allymany confirmed.
Thomas Cordero Heathstone stepped into the press room unannounced. He choked
immediately on the several days' accumulation of sweat odours and the fog of
cigarette smoke. "
'Jesus Christ,' yelped someone, 'it's the President.'
The room erupted like a herd of cattle responding to a sudden lightning bolt
in its midst. Hector Allymany barely
335
had time to gain the podium in advance of Heathstone's relentless push through
the screaming crowd.
'Ladies and gentlemen of the press,' he shouted, 'the President of the United
States.'
Contrary to Allyman's expectation, the room instantly quieted as Heathstone
took his place and looked around.
'Sorry to have kept you waiting so long,' Heathstone began. 'I hope you have
been comfortable.'
A ripple of smiles first, then unified laughter broke the tense atmosphere
into shards. Almost everyone revived.
'Just tell us, Mr. President,' asked the representative of the Associated
Press, 'what the hell is going on! What happened to Omaha?'
'I have been in constant communication with Mr. Tosygen. He has been as
confused as I. But we have now concluded, and quite correctly I believe, that
a third force has become active between our two nations and has interfered
significantly in the balance of deterrent weapons. In order to prevent similar
interference with and misuse of strategic weapons, Mr. Tosygen and I have
begun, the orderly withdrawal of orbiting satellites carrying such weapons.
And Mr. Tosygen and I plan to meet as soon as possible and seek to extend our
disarmament programmes and attempt to localise and discover the exact nature
of this third force.'
Heathstone paused.
From somewhere in the audience, 'Is this third force another nation, Mr.
President?'
'We do not understand its nature very well, but we are working in that
direction.'
'Is it this third force that is threatening the destruction of San Francisco
and all those other cities?' demanded another voice.
'Those satellites will be withdrawn as requested by this third force.'
'But, Mr. President, what kind of third force could order such actions?'
'Again, I say, we do not know that yet.'
336
'What about all these rumours of some megapsychic... ?'
Thomas Cordero Heathstone quickly descended from the podium and, followed by
Hector Allymany, left the smoke-filled room pretending that he had not heard
the last question.
10.30 A.M.
General Harrah Judd and Dr Elizabeth Coogan staggered wearily into Judd's
office. Coogan sank gratefully into her now-familiar chair, relaxed her head
against its back, and immediately closed her eyes.
Lieutenant Abrams stood expectantly by Judd's desk.
'Anything to report, Abrams?' asked Judd, fatigue obvious in his voice.
'Not too much, sir. Sirius has not, as you expected, responded to any of Dr
Coogan's messages. During your flight back here, those two men up in New York
you wanted have been whisked to a very safe place in the Rocky Mountains. Dan
Merriweather has erased most of his childhood in Chicago. People remember him
well as the famous rock star, hut not as a youth. There are bits and pieces.
Do you think he can block out people's minds also? Astor Golderman seems to
have committed suicide, jumped to his death. That's all. Not much, is it,
sir?'
'Suicide?' asked Coogan. 'He didn't seem that nervous.'
'Could he erase minds, sir?' persisted Abrams.
'I don't know, Abrams. Anything is possible, I guess.'
'Well, people who should have known him, their minds seem to be too
conveniently blank on his past. And, sir, we are being spied on from every
direction. One intelligence service is trampling over the other in an effort
to get a breakthrough on this.'
'I understand, Abrams. I even noticed that weapons dealer, what's his name,
Nashirah himself, slinking in a car outside the New York hospital. Seems
strange to see him doing his own footwork.'
'Abrams, Coogan and I need to go grab some sleep.
337
Half an hour on the plane just wasn't enough. I want you to do two things. Get
us every institute, organisation, and group whose initials begin with TAU. But
also get everything that begins with IDC, FTO, you know, things like that, so
our stampeding intelligence friends and spies will be a little confused. When
you have all that, bring the TAU list over to my apartment. Can you do all
this without raising suspicion?'
'That's the simplest task in this mess so far, sir. But why don't I get a
couple of cots brought in here? I wouldn't put it past Nashirah to try to
kidnap you if he thought you knew anything.'
'No one will try that, yet, Abrams.'
'All right, sir. Final thing, the President has been trying to get hold of
you.'
'Give his office a ring. Tell him we have to sleep but will be in touch in a
couple of hours.' [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]