"DeChancie, John - Skyway 03 - Paradox Alley UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

"Carl," I said, "I can't take you anywhere."

"It's him," he answered flatly. "The voice that talked to me
aboard the flying saucer. He's the one that nabbed me."

"Can you be sure? After all, you never actually saw him.
Did you?"

Carl frowned and stared at the ground, thought a moment,
then turned to me. "No, but it has to be him. I'll never forget
that voice."

"Did the voice call itself Prime?"

"No. I don't remember it ever calling itself anything."

"Then you really can't be sure, can you?"

Carl shrugged, then grudgingly acknowledged the point
with a tilt of his head. "I guess. Maybe." Then, quickly and
with finality: "Nah. It's him."

"That's hardly the issue," said John Sukuma-Tayler behind
us.

We turned. John stepped away from the rest of our com-
panions, who were standing in a tight little knot. They were
all shocked by what Carl had done, eyes edgy and expectant. I
probably looked the same way, but was trying to hide it. Lori
still stood with her hands cupped over her mouth. Susan was
aghast; she looked ill. Sean was shaking his head. The rest of
them gazed silently at Prime.

John, however, was angry. "Carl, that was an extremely
stupid thing to do." He stopped and threw up his arms in
exasperation. "As if we hadn't enough problems! No, you
have to hit him. How could you? Carl, how could you do
something so..." He groped for the appropriate superlative.
"... so monumentally imbecilic? So..." He cast about for
words, then brought up his hand and slapped his forehead.
"Carl, you incredible idiot!"

It was slowly dawning on Carl. "Yeah. I guess it was a
dumb thing to do."

PARADOX ALLEY 3

" 'A dumb thing to do,'" John repeated hollowly. He turned
and appealed to the group. "'A dumb thing to do,'" he said
again, nodding in mock approval. I had never seen John this