"Harrison, Harry- The Stainless Steel Rat for President" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)
8 The Stainless Steel Rat for President
"We'll need more identification than this picture," I said, handing it back to her. "Have the agent meet us here. I'll be back within the hour with everything that he will need for the investigation."
I slipped a toolkit into my pocket before leaving. The city morgue was not too distantЧwhich will give you a good idea of the kind of neighborhood this isЧand I went through a back window and three locked doors without slowing down. I pick locks the way others pick their teeth.
I slid out the drawer of the cooler and stared down at the corpse. The glimmering hope that he might be familiar in the frozen flesh vanished. The mystery remained. It took but seconds to scrape off fragments of skin, clip hair samplesЧ and extract dirt from under the man's nails. His clothes had been carefully filed and labeled by the police. I located them and took samples of these as well. And still more scrapings from his shoes. After this I went out the way that I had gotten inЧand no one knew of either my arrival or departure. This minor operation had gone so smoothly that I returned to the safe house just as the Special Corps agent was letting himself in through the public convenience.
"Nice weather today, Mr. diGriz," he said, adjusting his clothing.
"It's always nice on Blodgett, Charley. That's why I hate it. When is the next shipment going out to headquarters?" "A couple of hours. The weekly bag. I'm taking it myself." "Perfect. I want you to take along these containers. Tell the lab to use every possible test on these samples. Here's a picture of the late deceased that I took them from. Get me gene tests, pollen tests, blood groups, ethnotyping, everything and anything they can think of. I want to know who this
man isЧor was. If he can't be identified I want to know where he came from. He was looking for meЧand I'm very interested in finding out why. "
The answer came in a surprisingly short time. Just three days later the front door bell rang and I looked into the
scanner to see that the good and faithful Charley had returned. I let him in and reached out for the sealed case he was carrying. He pulled it away and chewed nervously at his lower lip. I growled deep in my throat and he cringed even more.
"I got orders, Mr. diGriz. From Inskipp, the supreme,.
our Commander-in-Chief."
The Stainless Steel Rat for President 9
"And what does that dear, sweet man have to say for himself?" "He says that you have forged some checks on the Corps secret account and he wants the seventy-five thousand credits back before he releases any more information to a depraved crook..." "You're calling me a depraved crook!"
He whinnied with fear as he scurried away from my grasping fingers.
"No! You got me wrong! I didn't say thatЧInskipp did. I'm just quoting him like he told me to."
"The bearer of ill-tidings should be killed as well," I snarled, my fingers still snapping in anger. I reached for him again but Angelina appeared suddenly and stepped between us. She held out a check to Charley.
"Here is the money we borrowed from the account. A simple error in bookkeeping, wouldn't you say?" "I sure would! I do the same thing myself sometimes." He wiped the sweat from his brow and passed over the case. "If
"This is it," I said, pressing my thumb on the security latch. The case fell open, a screen lifted up and glowed with life. Inskipp's depressing features looked out at me and I almost dropped the thing. Angelina must have seen my expression because she took the case from my hands and placed it on the end table. The imaged Inskipp glowered and snarled and shook a piece of paper in my direction.
"You've got to stop stealing this organization's money, diGriz. It sets a bad example for the troops. You will have paid back your last embezzlement by now or you wouldn't be listening to this message. It's only because of our interest in ParaisoAqui that I am talking to you now." "What is Paraiso-Aqui?" I said aloud.
The image nodded sagely. "By now you are asking yourself what is Paraiso-Aqui. " The smugness and self-assurance of the
man. How easy it is to hate your boss. Particularly when he is one jump ahead of you. "Well I'll tell you. It is the home world of the murdered man you asked the lab to track down. I want you to go there and have a look at this planet. Then come and report to me. If you will read the document enclosed hprp vnii will niiirklv
10 The Stainless Steel Rat for President
The image vanished and the screen went dark. I flipped the screen back into its well and took up the envelope that had been concealed beneath it.
"This is very interesting," I said, quickly flipping through the printed sheets. "In what way?"
"Because not only don't I know the man who was trying to
see meЧbut I have never in my life heard of his home world before."
"Well . . . we are just going to have to do something about that, aren't we?"
"We certainly are!" I said, smiling in return. "We are just going to have to grit our teeth and obey Inskipp's instructions. Like it or not we will have to visit this mysterious planet." Angelina nodded and we just stood there grinning like fools. KnowingЧwithout knowing how we knewЧthat the present period of peaceful boredom was at an end. The future was already looking brighter. I felt it in my bones. Something very unusual and highly interesting was about to begin.
The travel brochure was heavy and warm to the touch, the
copy on its cover glowing with self-importance. "Come to sunny perfection on the holiday world of Paraiso-Aqui," I read aloud.
Angelina, sitting at my side, was reading from a more sober and thinner volume, appropriately bound in black.
"Paraiso-Aqui is a planet that was settled during the first galactic expansion and only recently rediscovered. It is noteworthy for having the most corrupt form of government in the galaxy."
"A slight difference of opinion between these two sources," I said, rubbing my hands together with anticipatory glee.
"Afternoon bouillon, sir?" the steward-robot asked, bowing and scraping before us.
"Not even to bathe in, you mechanized toady," I said. "Ill have a large Altairian panther juice on the rocks. Better make that twoЧ" "One," Angelina said firmly. "Bouillon for me." "Yes, madam, delighted, perfect choice, wonderful," the obsequious machine salivated, bowing and nodding and rubbing its hands together as it writhed away. I hated it. Just as much as I hated everything else about this space-going cruise ship, the Luxurious Paradise Planet Tour, as well as all of the repulsive and loathsomely garbed tourists who gathered in shrieking throngs throughout the lounge.
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