"Frank Herbert - Tactful Saboteur" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

think he was being truthful, but ... ' Watt shrugged and some of the bursting energy seemed
to leave him. 'Well, the group ego's the only place where the Pan-Spechi show vanity, so ... '
Again he shrugged.
'My questioning of the other Pan-Spechi in the Bureau has had to be circumspect, of
course,' McKie said. 'But I did follow one lead clear to Achus.'
'And?'
McKie brought a white vial from his copious jacket, scattered a metallic powder on the
desktop.
Watt pushed himself back from the desk, eyeing the powder with suspicion. He took a
cautious sniff, smelled chalf, the quick-scribe powder. Still ...
'It's just chalf,' McKie said. And he thought: If he buys that, I may get away with this.
'So scribe it,' Watt said.
Concealing his elation, McKie held a chalf-memory stick over the dusted surface. A broken
circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf. At each break in the
circle stood a symbol - in one place the Pan-Spechi character for ego, then the delta for fifth
gender and, finally, the three lines that signified the dormant cr├иche-triplets.
McKie pointed to the fifth gender delta. 'I've seen a Pan-Spechi in this position who looks a
bit like Bildoon and appears to have some of his mannerisms. There's no identity response from
the creature, of course. Well, you know how the quasi-feminine fifth gender reacts.'
'Don't ever let that amorous attitude fool you,' Watt warned. 'In spite of your nasty
disposition I wouldn't want to lose you into a Pan-Spechi cr├иche.'
'Bildoon wouldn't rob a fellow agent's identity,' McKie said. He pulled at his lower lip, feeling
an abrupt uncertainty. Here, of course, was the most touchy part of the whole scheme. 'If it
was Bildoon.'
'Did you meet this group's ego holder?' Watt asked and his voice betrayed real interest.
'No,' McKie said. 'But I think the ego-single of this Pan-Spechi is involved with the Tax
Watchers.'
McKie waited, wondering if Watt would rise to the bait.
'I've never heard of an ego change being forced onto a Pan-Spechi,' Watt said in a musing
tone, 'but that doesn't mean it's impossible. If those Tax Watcher do gooders found Bildoon
sabotaging their efforts and ... Hmmm.'
'Then Bildoon was after the Tax Watchers,' McKie said.


Watt scowled. McKie's question was in extreme bad taste. Senior agents, unless joined on
a project or where the information was volunteered, didn't snoop openly into the work of their
fellows. Left hand and right hand remained mutually ignorant in the Bureau of Sabotage and
for good reason. Unless ... Watt stared speculatively at his saboteur extraordinary.
McKie shrugged as Watt remained silent. 'I can't operate on inadequate information,' he
said. 'I must, therefore, resign the assignment to search for Bildoon. Instead, I will now look
into the Tax Watchers.'
'You will not!' Watt snapped.
McKie forced himself not to look at the design he had drawn on the desktop. The next few
moments were the critical ones.
'You'd better have a legal reason for that refusal,' McKie said.
Watt swiveled sideways in his chair, glanced at the screenview, then addressed himself to
the side wall. 'The situation has become one of extreme delicacy, Jorj. It's well known that
you're one of our finest saboteurs.'
'Save your oil for someone who needs it,' McKie growled.
'Then I'll put it this way,' Watt said, returning his gaze to McKie. 'The Tax Watchers in the