"Stephen Goldin - The Last Ghost & Other Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

"Not as serious as all that? You're certainly taking it calmly. Why didn't you tell anybody about this
before?"
"Well, it never 'appened to me before."
Briston gulped.
"I think we'd better put in a call to that Mr. 'Awkins. 'E always seems to know what to do."
#

Sen. McDermott: You were the one who discovered all these goings-on, weren't you, General?
Gen. Bullfat: You're damn right I was. I'd suspected from the start that Hawkins had sent some girls up
there, but the Space Force never acts without absolute proof. So I held back my suspicions, gathering up
the evidence meticulously, waiting for the proper moment to take my findings to the President.
Sen. McDermott: In other words, then, your discovery was based on a long, careful investigation?
Gen. Bullfat: Exactly, Senator. That's the way the military does things.

#

As luck would have it, both Hawkins and Starling were out to lunch when the call came in. Since it was
labeled "urgent," a man from the communications room took it right over to Hawkins' office. The door
was locked.
General Bullfat, just then coming out of his office down the hall, found the messenger waiting in the
corridor for Hawkins' return. With typical Bullfat persuasion — and two hundred and fifty pounds
wearing five stars can be a lot of persuasion — he convinced the man that an urgent communication
could not wait on "the whims of a damned goldbricker like Hawkins."
Bullfat took the message into his office and opened it. He easily decoded the little five-word note, and
then stared at it for about a minute, eyes bulging. "Parks," he snapped to his secretary over the intercom,
"get me the President. No, on second thought, don't bother — I'll go see him myself."
He left his office just as Hawkins and his aide were returning from lunch. The general couldn't decide
whether to laugh triumphantly in Hawkins' face or to harangue him, so all he said was, "I've got you now,
Hawkins. At last I've got you."
Hawkins and Starling exchanged puzzled, worried glances. Entering the general's office, Hawkins found
the message on the desk, read it silently to himself, and sat down hard. His eyes gazed vacantly at the
wall across from him, and the message dropped loosely from his limp hand. Starling picked it up and
read aloud in disbelief.
"Sydney pregnant. What now? Briston."

#

Sen. McDermott: Ladies and gentlemen. Since yesterday, I have had occasion to communicate with the
President, and we came to the conclusion that further investigations along these lines appear fruitless.
Therefore, I wish to adjourn this hearing until further notice, and withhold publication of the official
transcript until such time as is deemed appropriate for release to the public. That will be all.

#

Filmore managed to meet Hawkins outside the building. "I think I detect your fine hand in this, Jess. How
did you ever pull that one out of the fire?"
"Well," Hawkins explained, "since the public hasn't heard about this affair yet, I simply made the
President realize that as long as he can't get rid of us, he might as well get used to us."
"Why can't he get rid of you?"
"Because the Director of the National Space Agency is appointed for a six-year term, of which I still