"Mack Reynolds - Ability Quotient" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

"John, I'll bet." For some reason this newcomer irritated Bert Alshuler.
Possibly it was a carry-over from his last visitor. He said, "Just a minute,"
and went over to the phone screen on the small desk of his
mini-apartment.

He sat down before it and said, "Professor Leonard Katz, please."

A robot voice said, "The number is restricted. Who is calling, please?"

"Albert Alshuler."

"Your name is listed. Thank you."

Professor Katz' face faded in, frowning.

Bert said, "You impressed me with all your hush-hush gobbledygook.
Kay. A character has shown up here calling himself Doctor Smith. Do you
want to identify him?"
 Smith came over and looked into the screen.

"Hello, Ralph," Katz said to him, then looked back to Bert. "The doctor
is one of your, ah, advisers. Anything else, Alshuler?"

"No, I suppose not, except that when I got back to my rooms here, I
caught a jittery type prowling my luggage. He wanted to know what it was
you wanted to see me about."

Leonard Katz looked startled. "What was his name?"

"He was a bit on the secretive side. But emphatic. He pulled a gun on
me and insisted I tell him."

The professor's eyes widened. "What did you do?"

"What could I do?" Bert said sarcastically. "I offered to take it away
from him if he didn't get the hell out."

Dr. Smith leaned over again and said, excitement in his voice, "As I
approached this place, I saw him coming out of Alshuler's apartment…"

"Hold it," Katz said. "We'll discuss it later. Anything else, my dear
Alshuler?"

"Listen, if this project of yours involves people who don't know how to
handle guns, I'd like to put it on the record that it makes me nervous."

"According to your Ability Quotient tests, you don't get nervous,"
Leonard Katz said. He looked at Dr. Smith. "Get him out of there," he said,
and evidently flicked off the phone.