"Alfred Bester - Demolished Man, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bester Alfred)

The Rebus game was going on in the living room. The Noyes girl was
busy building a camouflaged image with an old poem:

The vast,
sea and
is out Glimmering
calm in the stand,
tonight, tranquil bay England
The Come to the window of
tide sweet is the night cliffs
is air. Only the
full from the gone;
the long line is
moon of spray and
lies Gleams
fair light
Upon the straights;---on the French coast the

What the devil was that? An eye in a glass? Eh? Oh. Not a glass. A
stein. Eye in a stein. Einstein. Easy.
"What d'you think of Powell for the job, Ellery?" That was Chervil
with his phoney smile and his big fat pontifical belly.
"For Guild President?"
"Yes."
"Damned efficient man. Romantic but efficient. The perfect candidate
if only he'd get married."
"That's the romance in him. He's having trouble locating a girl."
"Don't all you deep peepers? Thank God I'm not a 1st."
And then a smash of glass crashing in the kitchen and Preacher Powell
again, lecturing that little snot, Gus Tate.
"Never mind the glass, Gus. I had to drop it to cover for you. You're
radiating anxiety like a nova."
"The devil I am, Powell."
"The devil you're not. What's all this about Ben Reich?"
The little man was really on guard. You could feel his mental shell
hardening.
"Ben Reich? What brought him up?"
"You did, Gus. It's been moiling in your mind all evening. I couldn't
help reading it."
"Not me, Powell. You must be tuning another TP."
Image of a horse laughing.
"Powell, I swear I'm not---"
"Are you mixed up with Reich, Gus?"
"No." But you could feel the blocks bang down into place.
"Take a hint from an old hand, Gus. Reich can get you into trouble. Be
careful. Remember Jerry Church? Reich ruined him. Don't let it happen to
you."
Tate drifted back to the living room; Powell remained in the kitchen,
calm and slow-moving, sweeping up broken glass. Church lay frozen against
the back door, suppressing the seething hatred in his heart. The Chervil