"Bester, Alfred - Fondly Faranheit (txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bester Alfred)

УFind a weapon,Ф I called to the android.
УIt is forbidden to endanger life-.Ф
УThis is a fight for self-preservation. Bring me a weapon!Ф
He held the squirming mathematician with all his weight. I went at once to a cupboard where I knew a revolver was kept. I checked it. It was loaded with five cartridges. I handed it to Vandaleur. I took it, rammed the barrel against BlenheimТs head and pulled the trigger. He shuddered once. -
We had three hours before the cook returned from her day off. We looted the house. We took BlenheimТs money and jewels. We packed a bag with clothes. We took BlenheimТs notes, destroyed the newspapers, and we fled, carefully locking the door behind us. In BlenheimТs study we left a pile of crumpled papers under a half inch of burning candle. And we soaked the rug around it with kerosene. No, I did all that. The android refused. I am forbidden to endanger life or property.
All reet!
They took the tubes to Leicester Square, changed trains and rode to the British Museum. There they got off and went to a small Georgian house just off Russell Square. A shingle in the window read: NAN WEBB, PSYCHOMETRIC CONSUL-TANT. Vandaleur had made a note of the address some weeks earlier. They went into the house. The android waited in the foyer with the bag. Vandaleur entered Nan WebbТs office. -
She was a tall woman with gray shingled hair, very fineEnglish complexion and very bad English legs. Her features were blunt, her expression acute, She nodded to Vandaleur, finished a letter, sealed it and looked up.
УMy name,Ф I said, Уis Vanderbilt. James Vanderbilt.Ф
УQuite.Ф
УIТm an exchange student at London University.Ф
УQuite.Ф
УIТve been researching on the killer android, and I think
IТve discovered something very interesting. IТd like your advice
on it. What is your fee?Т - УWhat is your college at the university?Т
УWhy?Ф
УThere is a discount for students.Ф -
УMerton College.Ф -
УThat will be two pounds, please.Ф -
Vandaleur placed two pounds on the desk and added to the fee BlenheimТs notes. УThere is a correlation,Ф he said, Уbetween the crimes of the android and the weather. You will note that each crime was committed when the temperature rose above ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Is there a psychometric answer for this?Ф . -
Nan Webb nodded, studied the notes for a moment, put
down the sheets of paper and said: УSynesthesia, obviously.Ф
УWТhat?Ф
УSynesthesia,Ф she repeated. УWhen a sensation, Mr. Vanderbilt, is interpreted immediately in terms of a sensation from a different sense organ than the one stimulated, it is called synesthesia. For example: A sound stimulus gives rise to a simultaneous sensation of definite color. Or color gives rise to a sensation of taste. Or a light stimulus gives rise to a sensation of sound. There can be confusion or short circuiting of any sensation of taste, smell, pain, pressure, temperature -and so on. DТyou understand?Ф
УI think so.Ф
УYour research has probably uncovered the fact that the android most probably reacts to temperature stimulus above the ninety-degree level synesthetically. Most probably there is an endocrine response. Probably a temperature linkage with the android adrenal surrogate. High temperatute brings about a response of fear, anger, excitement and violent physical activity. . . all within the province of the adrenal gland.Ф
УYes. I see. Then if the android were to be kept in cold climates. . . .У
УThere would be neither stimulus nor response. There would be no crimes. Quite.Ф
УI see. What is psychotic projection?Т
УHow do you mean?Ф
УIs there any danger of projection with regard to the owner of the android?Ф
УVery interesting. Projection is a throwing forward. It is
the process of throwing out upon another the ideas or impulses that belong to oneself. The paranoid, for example, projects upon others his conflicts and disturbances in order to externalize them. He accuses, directly or by implication, other men of having the very sicknesses with which he is struggling himself.Ф
УAnd the danger of projection?Т
УIt is the danger of the victimТs believing what is implied. If you live with a psychotic who projects his sickness upon you, there is a danger of falling into his psychotic pattern and becoming virtually psychotic yourself. As, no doubt, is happening to you, Mr. Vandaleur.Ф
Vandaleur leaped to his feet.
УYou are an ass,Ф Nan Webb went on crisply. She waved the sheets of notes. УThis is no exchange studentТs writing. ItТs the unique cursive of the famous Blenheim. Every scholE in England knows this blind writing. There is no Merton College at London University. That was a miserable guess. Merton is one of the Oxford Colleges. And you, Mr. Vandaleur, are so obviously infected by association with your deranged android. . . by projection, if you will. . . that I hesitate between calling the Metropolitan Police and the Hospital for the Criminally Insane.Ф
I took the gun out and shot her.
Reet!

УAntares Two, Alpha Aurigae, Acrux Four, Pollux Nine,
Rigel Centaurus,Ф Vandaleur said. УTheyТre all cold. Cold as a witchТs kiss. Mean temperatures oI forty degrees Fahrenheit. Never get hotter than seventy. WeТre in business again. Watch that curve.Ф
The multiple-aptitude android swung the wheel with its accomplished hands. The car took the curve sweetly and-sped on through the northern marshes, the reeds stretching for miles, brown and dry, under the cold English sky. The sun was sinking swiffly. Overhead, a lone ifight of bustards flapped clumsily eastward. High above the flight, a lone helicopter drifted toward home and warmth.
УNo more warmth for us,Ф I said. УNo more heat. WeТre safe when weТre cold. WeТll hole up in Scotland, make a little money, get across to Norway, build a bankroll and then ship out. WeТll settle on Pollux. WeТre safe. WeТve licked it. We can live again.Ф
There was a startling bleep from overhead, and then a ragged roar: УATFENTION JAMES VANDALEUR AND ANDROiD. ATTENTION
JAMES VANDALEUR AND ANDROID.Ф
Vandaleur sta rted and looked up. The lone helicopter was floating above them. From its belly came amplified commands:
УYOU ARE SURROUNDED. THE ROAD IS BLOCKED. YOU ARE TO STOP YOUR CAR AT ONCE AND SUBMIT TO ARREST. STOP AT ONCE!Ф
I looked at Vandaleur for orders.
УKeep driving,Ф Vandaleur snapped.