"Dick,_Philip_K._The Philip K Dick Reader" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dick Phillip K)

The Cataloging-in-Publication Data for this title can be obtained from the Library of Congress





CONTENTS

FAIR GAME
THE HANGING STRANGER
The Eyes Have It
THE GOLDEN MAN
The Turning Wheel
THE LAST OF THE MASTERS
THE FATHER-THING
Strange EDEN
TONY AND THE BEETLES
Null-O
To SERVE THE MASTER
EXHIBIT PIECE
THE CRAWLERS
SALES PITCH
SHELL GAME
UPON THE DULL EARTH
FOSTER, YOU'RE DEAD
PAY FOR THE PRINTER
WAR VETERAN
THE CHROMIUM FENCE
WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR You WHOLESALE
THE MINORITY REPORT
PAYCHECK
Second VARIETY





FAIR GAME

Professor Anthony Douglas lowered gratefully into his red-leather easy chair and sighed. A long sigh, accompanied by labored removal of his shoes and numerous grunts as he kicked them into the corner. He folded his hands across his ample middle and lay back, eyes closed.
"Tired?" Laura Douglas asked, turning from the kitchen stove a moment, her dark eyes sympathetic.
"You're darn right." Douglas surveyed the evening paper across from him on the couch. Was it worth it? No, not really. He felt around in his coat pocket for his cigarettes and lit up slowly, leisurely. "Yeah, I'm tired, all right. We're starting a whole new line of research. Whole flock of bright young men in from Washington today. Briefcases and slide rules."
"Not --"
"Oh, I'm still in charge." Professor Douglas grinned expansively. "Perish the thought." Pale gray cigarette smoke billowed around him. "It'll be another few years before they're ahead of me. They'll have to sharpen up their slide rules just a little bit more. . ."
His wife smiled and continued preparing dinner. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the little Colorado town. The sturdy, impassive mountain peaks around them. The thin, chill air. The quiet citizens. In any case, her husband seemed utterly unbothered by the tensions and doubts that pressured other members of his profession. A lot of aggressive newcomers were swelling the ranks of nuclear physics these days. Old-timers were tottering in their positions, abruptly insecure. Every college, every physics department and lab was being invaded by the new horde of skilled young men. Even here at Bryant College, so far off the beaten track.
But if Anthony Douglas worried, he never let it show. He rested happily in his easy chair, eyes shut, a blissful smile on his face. He was tired -- but at peace. He sighed again, this time more from pleasure than fatigue.
"It's true," he murmured lazily. "I may be old enough to be their father, but I'm still a few jumps ahead of them. Of course, I know the ropes better. And --"
"And the wires. The ones worth pulling."
"Those, too. In any case, I think I'll come off from this new line we're doing just about. . ."