"Blish, James - Beep" - читать интересную книгу автора (Blish James)

know. It's already too late to tell you that everything you
say may be held against you; all I can say now is, it's high
time you clammed up!"
"I thought so," she said, apparently not disturbed in the
least. "Then that liner is scheduled to hit those co-ordinates,
and the coded time co-ordinate corresponds with the predicted
Universal Time. Is it also true that the Brindisi will be
carrying a top-secret communication device?"
"Are you deliberately trying to make me imprison you?"
Weinbaum said, gritting his teeth. "Or is this just a stunt,
designed to show me that my own bureau is full of leaks?"
"It could turn into that," Dana admitted. "But it hasn't,
yet. Robin, I've been as honest with you as I'm able to be.
You've had nothing but square deals from me up to now.
I wouldn't yellow-screen you, and you know it. If this un-
known outfit has this information, it might easily have gotten
it from where it hints that it got it: from the field."
"Impossible."
"Why?"
"Because the information in question hasn't even reached
my own agents in the field yetit couldn't possibly have
leaked as far as Hammersmith II or anywhere else, let alone
to the Three Ghosts system! Letters have to be carried on
ships, you know that. If I were to send orders by ultrawave
to my Three Ghosts agent, he'd have to wait three hundred
and twenty-four years to get them. By ship, he can get them
in a little over two months. These particular orders have only
been under way to him five days. Even if somebody has
read them on board the ship that's carrying them, they
couldn't possibly be sent on to the Three Ghosts any faster
than they're traveling now."
Dana nodded her dark head. "All right. Then what are
we left with but a leak in your headquarters here?"
"What, indeed," Weinbaum said grimly. "You'd better tell
me who signed this letter of yours."
"The signature is J. Shelby Stevens."
Weinbaum switched on the intercom. "Margaret, look in
the business register for an outfit called Interstellar Informa-
tion and find out who owns it."
Dana Lje said, "Aren't you interested in the rest of the
prediction?"
"You bet I am. Does it tell you the name of this com-
munications device?"
"Yes," Dana said.
"What is it?"
"The Dirac communicator."
Weinbaum groaned and turned on the intercom again.
"Margaret, send in Dr. Wald. Tell him to drop everything
and gallop. Any luck with the other thing?"
"Yes, sir," the intercom said. "It's a one-man outfit,