"Dickson, Gordon - Stranger Txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

"I just hand it to you, that's all," said the clerk. He turned and walked out of sight inside the cage.

Merlin stared at the second paper.

Termination Notice

As of the present date... the lines biurred in Merlin's vision, then came back into focus,... services no longer required. After advances and expenses of the Corporation, it has been determined that the balance of your employee account with Trans-Space Electronics shows an indebtedness ofS43.4I9.72. Payment should be made within three months, or arrangements must be made at the end of that time to repay any amount still outstanding...

"Come back here!" Merlin shouted through the windowЧand found himself seized from behind, his elbows pulled toward the small of his back and his whole body wrenched away from the window.

He was facing one of the gray-uniformed security guards. The other guard was holding Merlin's arms in a painful backlock. A dull throbbing had already begun in the socket of each shoulder.

"You subverts are all alike," said the security guard facing Merlin. "The minute things stop going your way, you start yelling and pretending you're being picked on. Well, you're fired and you're leaving. How do you want to go? It's up to you."

Merlin choked back the bubble of fury in his chest.

"I'll go easy," he said.

"Good," said the guard. He nodded, and the other guard released Merlin's arms. "Let's go."

They marched Merlin to the door of the building, put him in a gleaming white car bearing the Trans- Space emblem on its front doors and rode with him to the compound by the entrance gate where personnel on pass waited for the hover-bus into Ogden.

"Who've you got there, Gus?" called the guard at the gate.

"Another of them," Gus called back. He and his cohort walked a small distance off and stood together, talking and glancing at Merlin from time to time.

Merlin turned his back and stared out through the heavy wire mesh that fenced the compound. Beyond, he could see the warehouse buildings of the supply area, gray silhouettes in the morning sunlight.

"Merlin!"

He looked around, but saw no one.

"Merlin, over here!"

He looked down along the fence to his left. About ten meters away was a gate, now padlocked. Merlin glanced at the guards, but they seemed indifferent to the situation. He walked along the fence until he saw Sam Church's face looking between the vertical iron pipes that supported the gate-door.

"Merlin..." he said. "I got here as soon as I could..."

"I don't know what's happened. They're kicking me out without a chance to talk to anyone!" Merlin clung to the bars. "It has to be a computer error, or something like that. But how do I do anything about it when they're running me out like this, without a chance to talk to anyone?"

"You can't, of course..." Church began.

"Sam, listen! Try and get to someone! You're cadre. You can find out what went wrong and fix it, can't you? Sam... can't you?"

"Well..." said Church.

"You've got to! Don't you know what this means? It's not just this job. What outfit, anywhere, is going to hire me for anything but slave labor as long as the records here say I was a subvert? I've got to get it straightened out! What's the matter with you, Sam? Won't you even try?"

"Oh, I'li try," said Church.