"David Gerrold - Chtorr 3 - A Rage for Revenge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gerrold David)

you agreed to be, would you stand up please?"
A few more people stood up, then another and another. Finally, forty-two people were standing at their
places.
"Good, thank you." Foreman circled the dais, looking them over. "Would you come up here please? And
you? And you? Stand in a line please." One of those he picked was the large red-faced man who had
made such a scene with the Course Manager, another was one of the gray-haired colonels who never
stopped talking.
"The rest of you can sit down please. Thank you. Now, before we do this, I want all of you to know that
it could be any of you up here. I'm going to ask them some questions. I want you, in your seats, to look
at your own answers to these questions."
Foreman turned to the line of trainees. They looked nervous. "Can you keep your word?" he asked them.
They looked uncertain. Should they answer?
Foreman started at one end of the line. It was the chatterbox gray-haired colonel. He asked her, "Can
you keep your word?"
She said, "Yes, I keep my word all the time."
"That's bullshit. You didn't keep your word this morning. You weren't in your seat at nine A.M. No, the
evidence is that you don't keep your word. What I want to know is if you're able to keep your word.
Are you?"
She hesitated, then nodded.
Foreman looked at her. "That's what you'd like me to believe, isn't it? Well, we'll find out in a minute." He
looked to the back of the room, and signaled to the Course Manager. "Would you bring me the integrity
tester please?"
The Course Manager came up the aisle carrying a flat wooden box. Foreman opened it and took out a
deadly-looking black .45 caliber service revolver. "Can you all see this?" he asked, holding it over his
head. He circled the dais, so everybody could get a look at the gun. The overhead screens zoomed in for
a close-up. Out of sudden curiosity, I looked for the cameras. They were mounted behind glass slits at
the top of the walls.
I turned back to Foreman. He was pointing the gun at the gray-haired colonel.
"If I pulled this trigger, would you die?"
She couldn't take her eyes off the gun. "It's not loaded," she said. "You're just trying to scare me."
"I'm not trying," said Foreman. "Really." He turned away from her and faced the distant wall of the room.
He stepped forward and took a stance. He spread his legs slightly and gripped the gun in both hands,
raised it high and aimed for the farthest corner. He squinted and pulled the trigger. The gun popped like a
cannon! The bullet spanged off the ceiling, thwocked off the wall, spattered a small explosion of plaster
and dust, and then clattered to the shiny hardwood floor. The sound of the shot still echoed back and
forth across the room.
Foreman turned back to the lady. "Now, then," he asked her again, "if I pulled this trigger, would you
die?"
"You wouldn't," she said. She didn't look certain. The other trainees beside her looked nervous.
"You don't know that," said Foreman. "Are you willing to bet your life on it?"
"You're just trying to make a point," the woman guessed.
Foreman turned to face the rest of us. "As a matter of fact, I have the written permission of the President
of the United States to take any actions I deem appropriate-up to and including the termination of any
trainee in this room." He glanced to the back of the room. "Would you put the authorization up on the
screens, please? Just in case anyone is doubting."
The screens flashed to display an official-looking document. I recognized the presidential seal and
signature. "Thank you," said Foreman. "Now, I would prefer not to exercise that authority, for obvious
reasons, but that is one of the options available to me." He turned back to the gray-haired colonel. "So
you might be right that I'm only trying to make a point. The question is, how far will I go to make that
point? You really don't know if I would pull this trigger or not, do you?"