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

you like a relative. I don't pay enough for the privilege."
"Oh no, sir."
"Next time I yell at you, yell right back. Why should I have all the
fun?"
"Oh, Mr. Reich..."
"Do that and you get a raise." The smile again.
"That's all, Jonas. Thank you."
"Thank you, sir." The valet withdrew.
Reich arose from the bed and toweled himself before the cheval mirror,
practicing the smile. "Make your enemies by choice," he muttered, "not by
accident." He stared at the reflection: the heavy shoulders, narrow flanks,
long corded legs... the sleek head with wide eyes, chiseled nose, small
sensitive mouth scarred by implacability.
"Why?" he asked. "I wouldn't change looks with the devil. I wouldn't
change places with God. Why the screaming?"
He put on a gown and glanced at the clock, unaware that he was noting
the time panorama of the solar system with an unconscious skill that would
have baffled his ancestors. The dials read:

A.D. 2301

VENUS EARTH MARS
Mean Solar Day 22 February 15 Duodecember 35
Noon + 09 0205 Greenwich 2220 Central Syrtis

MOON IO GANYMEDE CALLISTO TITAN TRITON
2D3H 1D1H 6D8H 13D12H 15D3H 4D9H
(eclipsed) (transit)

Night, noon, summer, winter... without bothering to think, Reich could
have rattled off the time and season for any meridian on any body in the
solar system. Here in New York it was a bitter morning after a bitter night
of dreaming. He would give himself a few minutes of analysis with the Esper
psychiatrist he retained. The screaming had to stop.
"E for Esper," he muttered. "Esper for Extra Sensory Perception... For
Telepaths, Mind Readers, Brain Peepers. You'd think a mind-reading doctor
could stop the screaming. You'd think an Esper M.D. would earn his money
and peep inside your head and stop the screaming. Those damned mindreaders
are supposed to be the greatest advance since Homo sapiens evolved. E for
Evolution. Bastards! E for Exploitation!"
He yanked open the door, shaking with fury.
"But I'm not afraid!" he shouted. "I'm never afraid."
He stepped down the corridor, clacking his sandals sharply on the
silver floor, ke-tat-ke-tat-ke-tat-ke-tat, indifferent to the slumber of
his house staff, unaware that this early morning skeletal clack awakened
twelve hearts to hatred and dread. He thrust open the door of his analyst's
suite, entered and at once lay down on the couch.
Carson Breen, Esper Medical Doctor 2, was already awake and ready for
him. As Reich's staff analyst he slept the "nurse's sleep" in which he
remained en rapport with his patient and could only be awakened by his