"A. E. Van Vogt - Recruiting Station (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

2. It seems plausible that they would be able to investigate your future actions.
3. Dr. Lell used phrases such as "atomic storm" and "gas immunization injections." The implication is that they are recruiting for an unimaginably great war.
4. I cannot see how the machine could act on you over a distance- unless there was some sort of radio-controlled intermediate. In your position, I would ask myself one question: Was there anything, any metal, anything, upon my person that might have been placed there by the enemy?


5. Some thoughts are so dimly held that they could not possibly be transmitted. Presumably, sharp, clear thoughts might be receivable. If you could keep your mind calm, as you say you did while deciding to write the letter-the letter itself is proof that you succeeded.
6. It is unwise to assume that here is greater basic intelligence, but rather greater development of the potential forces of the mind. If men ever learn to read minds, it will be because they train their innate capacity for mind reading; they will be cleverer only when new knowledge adds new techniques of training.
To become personal, I regret immeasurably having heard from you. I had a memory of a rather brave spirit, rejecting my proposal of marriage, determined to remain independent, ambitious for advancement in the important field of social services. Instead, I find a sorry ending, a soul disintegrated, a mind feeding on fantasia and a sense of incredible persecution. My advice is: go to a psychiatrist before it is too late, and to that end I inclose a money order for $200.00, and extend you my best wishes.
Yours in memory,
Jack Garson.

At least, there was no interference with her private life. No footsteps but her own ever mounted the dark, narrow flight of stairs that led to her tiny apartment. At night, after the recruiting shop closed, she walked the crowded streets; sometimes, there was a movie that seemed to promise surcease from the deadly strain of living; sometimes a new book on her old love, the social sciences, held her for a brief hour.
But there was nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, that could relax the burning pressure of the reality of the machine. It was there always like a steel band drawn tautly around her mind.
It was crazy funny to read about the war, and the victories and the defeats-when out there, somewhere, in the future another, greater wan was being fought; a war so vast that all the ages were being ransacked for manpower.
And men came! Dark men, blond men, young men, grim men, hard men, and veterans of other wars-the stream of them made a steady flow into that dimly lighted back room. And one day she looked up from an intent, mindless study of the pattern of the stained, old counter-and there was Jack Garson!
It was as simple as that. There he stood, not much older-looking after ten years, a little leaner of face perhaps, and there were tired lines all around his dark-brown eyes. While she stared ip dumb paralysis, he said:
"I had to come, of course. You were the first emotional tie I had, and also the last; when I wrote the letter, I didn't realize how strong that emotion still was. What's all this about?"
She thought with a flaming intensity: Often, in the past, Dr. Lell had


vanished for brief periods during the day hours; once she had seen hun disappear into the flamboyant embrace of the light shed by the machine. Twice, she had opened the door to speak to him, and found him gone!
All accidental observations! It meant he had stepped scores of times into his own world when she hadn't seen him and- Please let this be one of the times when he was away! A second thought came, so fierce, so sharply focused that it made a
stabbing pain inside her head: She must be calm. She must hold her mind away from give-away thoughts, if it was not already ages too late.
Her voice came into the silence like a wounded, fluttering bird, briefly stricken by shock, then galvanized by agony:
"Quick! You must go-till after six! Hurry! Hurry!"
Her trembling hands struck at his chest, as if by those blows she would set him running for the door. But the thrust of her strength was lost on the muscles of his breast, defeated by the way he was leaning forward. His body did not even stagger.
Through a blur, she saw he was staring down at her with a grim, set smile. His voice was hard as chipped steel as he said:
"Somebody's certainly thrown a devil of a scare into you. But don't worry! I've got a revolver in my pocket. And don't think I'm alone in this. I wired the Calonian embassy at Washington, then notified the police here of their answer: no knowledge of this place. The police will arrive in minutes. I came in first to see that you didn't get hurt in the shuffle. Come on-outside with you, because-"
It was Norma's eyes that must have warned him, her eyes glaring past him. She was aware of him whirling to face the dozen men who were trooping out of the back room. The men came stolidly, and she had time to see that they were short, squat, ugly creatures, more roughly built than the lean, finely molded Dr. Lell; and their faces were not so much evil as half dead with unintelligeri~ce.
A dozen pair of eyes lighted with brief, animal-like curiosity, as they stared at the scene outside the window; then they glanced indifferently at herself and Jack Carson and the revolver he was holding so steadily; finally, their interest fading visibly, their gazes reverted expectantly to Dr. Lell, who stood smiling laconically on the threshold of the doorway.
"Ah, yes, Professor Carson, you have a gun, haven't you? And the police are coming. Fortunately, I have something here that may convince you of the uselessness of your puny plans."
His right hand came from behind his back, where he had been half hiding it. A gasp escaped from Norma as she saw that in it he held a blazing ball, a globe of furious flame, a veritable ball of fire.
The thing burned there in his palm, crude and terrible in the illusion of incredible, destroying incandescence. The mockery in Dr. Lell's voice was utterly convincing, as he said in measured tones at her:
"My dear Miss Matheson, I think you will agree that you will not


offer further obstacles to our purpose, now that we have enlisted this valuable young man into the invincible armies of the Glorious-and, as for you, Carson, I suggest you drop that gun before it burns off your hand. It-"
His words were lost in the faint cry that came from Jack Carson. Amazed, Norma saw the gun fall to the floor, and lie there, burning with a white-hot, an abnormal violence.
"Good Heaven!" said Jack Garson; and Norma saw him stare at the weapon enthralled, mindless of danger, as it shrank visibly in that intense fire.
In seconds, there was no weapon, no metal; the fire blinked out-and where it had been the floor was not even singed.
From Dr. Lell came a barked command, oddly twisted, foreignish words that nevertheless sounded like: "Grab him!"
She looked up, abruptly sick; but there was no fight. Jack Garson did not even resist, as the wave of beast men flowed around him. Dr. Lell said:
"So far, professor, you haven't made a very good showing as a gallant rescuer. But I'm glad to see that you have already recognized the hopelessness of opposing us. It is possible that, if you remain reasonable, we will not have to destroy your personality. But now-"
Urgency sharpened his tone. "I had intended to wait and capture your burly policemen, but as they have not arrived at the proper moment-a tradition with them, I believe-I think we shall have to go without them. It's just as well, I suppose."
He waved the hand that held the ball of fire, and the men carrying Jack Carson literally ran into the back room. Almost instantly, they were out of sight. Norma had a brief glimpse of the machine blazing into wondrous life; and then there was only Dr. Lell striding forward, leaning over the bench, his eyes glaring pools of menace.
"Go upstairs instantly! I don't think the police will recognize you-but if you make one false move, he will pay. Co-quickly!"
As she hurried past the window on semiliquid legs, she saw his tall figure vanish through the door into the back room. Then she was climbing the stairs.
Halfway up, her movements slowed as if she had been struck. Her mirror told the story of her punishment. The lean face of a woman of fifty-five met her stunned gaze.
The disaster was complete. Cold, stiff, tearless, she waited for the police.