"Russell, Eric Frank - Mindwarpers-V1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Eric Frank)

Bates, the head of his department, and Laidler, the chief security officer, summoned him for an interview. They were sitting side by side behind a big desk when he lumbered in and blinked at them through thick-lensed glasses. Bates put a sheet of paper on the desk and poked it forward.
"Mr. Haperny, I've had this passed to me. Your resignation. What's the idea?"
"I want to leave," said Haperny, fidgeting.
"Obviously! But why? Have you found a better position someplace else? If so, with whom? We are entitled to know."
Haperny shuffled his feet and looked unhappy. "No, I haven't got another job. Haven't looked for one, either. Not just yet. Later on perhaps."
"Then why have you decided to go?" Bates demanded.
"I've had enough."
"Enough?" Bates was incredulous. "Enough of what?"
"Of working here."
"Let's get this straight," said Bates. "You're a valuable man and you've been with us fourteen years. Up to now you appear to have been content. Your work has been first-class and nobody has criticized it or you. If you could maintain that record you'd be secure for the rest of your natural life. Do you really want to throw away a safe and rewarding job?"
"Yes," said Haperny, dully determined.
"And with nothing better in prospect?"
"That's right."
Leaning back in his chair, Bates stared at him speculatively. "Know what I think? I think you're feeling the wear and tear. I think you ought to see the medic."
"I don't want to," declared Haperny. "What's more, I don't have to. And I'm not going to."
"He might certify that you're suffering from the nervous strain of overwork. He might recommend that you be given a good, long rest," urged Bates. "You could then take an extended vacation on full pay. Go fishing somewhere quiet and peaceful and come back in due course feeling like a million dollars."
"I'm not interested in fishing."
"Then what the devil are you interested in? What do you intend to do after you've left here?"
"I want to amble around for a time. Wherever the fancy takes me. I want to be free to go where I please."
Frowning to himself, Laidler chipped in with, "Do you plan to leave this country?"
"Not immediately," said Haperny. "Not unless I have to."
"Have to? Any reason why you might have to?" Getting no answer, Laidler went on, "Your personal record shows that you have never been issued a passport. It's my duty to warn you that you may have to face some mighty awkward questions if ever you do apply for one. You possess information that could be useful to an enemy, and the government cannot afford to ignore that fact."
"Are you implying that I might be persuaded to sell what I know?" growled Haperny, showing ire.
"Not at all, not in present circumstances," said Laidler, evenly. "Right now your character is above reproach. Nobody doubts your loyalty. But-"
"But what?"
"Circumstances can change. A fellow wandering aimlessly around without a job, with no source of income, must eventually come to the end of his savings. He then experiences his first taste of poverty. His ideas start altering. He has second thoughts about a lot of things he once took for granted. See what I mean?"
"I don't contemplate becoming a hobo. I'll get a job sometime, when I'm good and ready."
"Is that so?" interjected Bates, raising a sardonic eyebrow. "What do you think the average employer is going to say when you walk in and ask could he use a high-vacuum physicist?"
My qualifications don't prevent me from washing dishes," Haperny pointed out. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be left to solve my own problems in my own way. This is a free country, isn't it?"
"We want to keep it that way," put in Laidler.
Bates let go a deep sigh and opined, "If a fellow insists on suddenly going crazy, I can't stop him. So I'll accept this resignation and pass it along to headquarters. No doubt they'll take a grim view of it. If they decide that you are to be shot at dawn it'll be up to them to tend to it." He waved a hand in dismissal. "All right, leave it with me."
Haperny departed and Laidler said, "Did you notice his expression when you made that crack about being shot at dawn? He knew you were kidding, of course, but all the same he seemed to go sort of strained looking. Maybe he's scared of something."
"Imagination," Bates scoffed. "I was watching him myself. He looked normal enough in his stubborn, owl-eyed way. I think he's belatedly jumpy because Nature's caught up with him."
"Meaning?"
"He's been sexually retarded but at last has outgrown it. Even at forty-two it's not too late to do something about it. Bet you he leaves here at full gallop, like an eager bull. He'll keep running until he finds a suitable mate. Then he'll get coupled and cool down and want his job back."
"You may be right," conceded Laidler, "but I wouldn't care to put money on it. I feel instinctively that Haperny is badly worried. It would be nice to know what's causing it."
"Not the worrying type," Bates assured. "Never has been and never will be. What he wants is a roll in the hay. No law against it, is there?"
"Sometimes I think there ought to be," said Laidler, mysteriously. "Anyway, when a high-grade expert suddenly decides to take off into the blue we can't safely assume that today's date marks the opening of his breeding season. There may be a deeper and more dangerous reason. We need to know about that."
"So?"
"He'll have to be watched until we're satisfied that he's doing no harm and intends none. A couple of counter-espionage agents will have to keep tab on him. That costs money."
"Will it come out of your wallet?"
"No."
"Then what do you care?"
"Since you put it that way," said Laidler, "I'll admit that I don't give a damn."
* * *
The news about Haperny drifted around the plant, causing a few raised eyebrows and some perfunctory discussion. In the canteen Richard Bransome, a green-area metallurgist, talked about it with his co-worker Arnold Berg. In the future both men were to be the unwilling subjects of greater mysteries, though, of course, neither suspected it at this time.
"Arny, have you heard that Haperny is getting out?"
"Yes. Told me so himself a few minutes ago."
"H'm! Has he become bored with the scenery? Or has someone offered him more money?"
"His story," said Berg, "is that he's become sick of regimentation and wants to run loose a while. It's the gypsy in him."