[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
when one of the vehicles had swerved up onto the sidewalk and almost crushed
the three of them against the building wall.
"And," she wailed, "I'm hungry and we don't know where the ship is and I've
got to sit down and and go someplace."
"So do I," Bernie said weakly.
So did Ross. He said, "Let's just go into this restaurant. I know we have no
money don't nag me please, Helena. We'll order, eat, not pay, and get
arrested." He held up his hand at the protests.
"I said, get arrested. The smartest thing we could do. Obviously somebody's
running this place and it's not the stoops we've seen. The quickest way I know
of to get to whoever's in charge is to get in trouble. And once they see us we
can explain everything."
It made sense to them. Unfortunately the first restaurant they tried was
corn-operated from the front door on. So were the second to seventh. Ross
tried to talk Bernie into slugging a pedestrian so they could all be jugged
for disturbing the peace, but failed.
Helena noted at last that the women's wear shops had live attendants who,
presumably, would object to trouble. They marched into one of the gaudy
places, each took a dress from a rack and methodically tore them to pieces.
A saleslady approached them dithering and asked tremu-
lously: "What for did you do that? Din't you like the dresses?"
"Well yes, very much," Helena began apologetically. "But you see, the fact
is "
"Shuddup!" Ross told her. He said to the saleslady: "No. We hated them. We
hate every dress here.
We're going to tear up every dress in the place. Why don't you call the
police?"
"Oh," she said vaguely. "All right," and vanished into the rear of the store.
She returned after a minute and said, "He wants to know your names."
"Just say 'three desperate strangers,' " Ross told her.
"Oh. Thank you." She vanished again.
The police arrived in five minutes or so. An excited elder man with many
stripes on his arms strode up to them excitedly as they stood among the
shredded-rums of the dresses. "Where'd they go?" he demanded. "Didja see what
they looked like?"
"We're them. We three. We tore these dresses up. You'd better take them along
for evidence."
"Oh," the cop said. "Okay. Go on into the wagon. And no funny business, hear
me?"
They offered no funny business. In the wagon Ross expounded on his theme that
there must be directing intelligences and that they must be at the top. Helena
was horribly depressed because she had never been arrested before and Bernie
was almost jaunty. Something about him suggested that he felt at home hi a
patrol wagon.
It stopped and the elderly stripe-wearer opened the door for them. Ross looked
on the busy street for anything resembling a station house and found none.
The cop said, "Okay, you people. Get going. An' let's don't have no trouble or
I'll run you in."
Ross yelled in outrage, "This is a frame-up! You have no right to turn us
loose. We demand to be arrested and tried!"
"Wise guy," sneered the cop, climbed into the wagon and drove off.
They stood forlornly as the crowd eddied and swirled around them. "There was a
plate of sandwiches
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/...0M.%20Kornbluth%20-%20Search%20
the%20Sky.txt (77 of 88) [2/24/2004 10:43:48 PM]
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Fold...%20Pohl%20&%2
0C.%20M.%20Kornbluth%20-%20Search%20the%20Sky.txt at that party," Helena
recalled wistfully. "And a ladies' room." She began to cry. "If only you
Page 81
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
hadn't acted so darn superior, Ross! I'll bet they would have let us have all
the sandwiches we wanted."
Bernie said unexpectedly, "She's right. Watch me."
He buttonholed a pedestrian and said, "Duh."
"Yeah?" asked the pedestrian with kindly interest.
Bernie concentrated and said, "Duh. I yam losted. I yam broke. I losted all my
money. Gimme some money, mister, please?"
The pedestrian beamed and said, "That is real tough luck, buddy. If I give you
some money will you send it to me when you get some more? Here is my name
wrote on a card."
Bernie said, "Sure, mister. I will send the money to you."
"Then," said the pedestrian, "I will give you some money because you will send
it back to me. Good luck, buddy."
Bernie, with quiet pride, showed them a piece of paper that bore the
interesting legend Twenty
Dollars.
"Let's eat," Ross said, awed.
A machine on a restaurant door changed the bill for a surprising heap of coins
and they swaggered hi, making beelines for the modest twin doors at the rear
of the place. Close up the doors were not very modest, but after the initial
shock Ross realized that there must be many on this planet who could not read
at all. The washroom attendant, for instance, who collected the "dimes" and
unlocked the booths. "Dime" seemed to be his total vocabulary.
By comparison the machines in the restaurant proper were intelligent. The
three of them ate and ate and ate. Only after coffee did they spare a thought
for Dr. Sam Jones, who should about then be .awakening with a murderous
hangover aboard the starship.
Thinking about him did not mean they could think of anything to do.
"He's hi trouble," Bernie said. "We're in trouble. First things first."
"What trouble?" asked Helena brightly. "You got twenty dollars by asking for
it and I suppose you can get plenty more. And I think we wouldn't have got
thrown out of that party if ah we hadn't gone swaggering around talking as if
we knew everything. Maybe these people here aren't very bright "
Ross snorted.
Helena went on doggedly, " not very bright, but they certainly can tell when
somebody's brighter than they are. And naturally they don't like it. Would you
like it? It's like a really old person talking to a really young person about
nothing but age. But here when you're bright you make everybody feel bad every
time you open your mouth."
"So," Ross said impatiently, "we can go on begging and drifting. But that's
not what we're here for. The answer is supposed to be on Earth. Obviously none
of the people we've seen could possibly know anything about genetics.
Obviously they can't keep this machine civilization going without guidance.
There must be people of normal intelligence around. In the government, is my
guess."
"No," said Helena, but she wouldn't say why. She just thought not.
The inconclusive debate ended with them on the street again. Bernie, who
seemed to enjoy it, begged a hundred dollars. Ross, who didn't, got eleven
dollars hi singles and a few threats of violence for acting like a wise guy.
Helena got no money and three indecent proposals before Ross
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]