"Frank Herbert - The Nothing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

flamed. I'm a good pyro when I want to be. Some men have been kind enough to say I could
start a fire without the talent. But with a prying father like mine how could I ever know?
 The fire got this fellow's attention. He knew I'd started it. He just glanced at me once and
turned away. 'Leave me alone,' 'he said. 'I'm a Nothing.'


I don't know what it was. Maybe I have a little of the tele like that doctor said once, but I
knew he was telling the truth. It wasn't one of those gags like you see in the feelies. You
know-where there are two comedians and one says, 'What's yours?' And the other one
answers, 'Nothing.'
Only all the time he's levitating the other guy's chair and juggling half a dozen things behind
his back, no hands. You know the gag. It's been run into the ground. Well, when he said that,
it kind of set me back. I'd never seen a real-life Nothing before. Oh, I knew there were some.
In the government preserves and such, but I'd never been like this-right next to one.
'Sorry,' I said. 'I'm a pyro.'
He glanced at the ashes in the tray and said, 'Yeah, I know.'
'There's not much work for pyros any more,' I said. 'It's the only talent I have.' I turned and
looked at him. Handsome in spite of being a Nothing. 'What did you do?' I asked.
'I ran away,' he said. 'I'm a fugitive from the Sonoma Preserve.'
That made my blood tingle. Not only a Nothing, but a fugitive, too. Just like in the feelies. I
said, 'Do you want to hide out at my place?'
That brought him around. He looked me over and he actually blushed. Actually! I'd never
seen a man blush before. That fellow certainly was loaded with firsts for me.
'People might get the wrong idea when I'm caught,' he said. 'I'm sure to be caught
eventually. I always am.'
I was really getting a feeling for that woman-of-the-world part. 'Why not enjoy your
freedom then?' I asked.
I let him see a little more through the circa-twenty slit. He actually turned away! Imagine!
That's when the police came. They didn't make any fuss. I'd noticed these two men
standing just inside the door watching us. Only I'd thought they were watching me. They
came across the room and one of them bent over this fellow.
'All right, Claude,' he said. 'Come quietly.'
The other took my arm and said, 'You'll have to come, too, sister.'
I jerked away from him. 'I'm not your sister,' I said.
'Oh, leave her alone, fellows,' said this Claude. 'I didn't tell her anything. She was just
trying to pick me up.'
'Sorry,' said the cop. 'She comes, too.'
That's when I began to get scared. 'Look,' I said. 'I don't know what this is all about.'
The man showed me the snout of a hypo gun in his pocket. 'Stop the commotion and come
quietly, sister, or I'll have to use this,' he said.
So who wants to go to sleep? I went quietly, praying we'd run into my father or someone I
knew so I could explain things. But no such luck.
The police had a plain old jet buggy outside with people clustered around looking at it. A
'porter in the crowd was having fun jiggling the rear end up and down off the ground. He was
standing back with his hands in his pockets, grinning.
The cop who'd done all the talking just looked toward this 'porter and the fellow lost his
grin and hurried away. I knew then the cop was a tele, although he hadn't touched my mind.
They're awfully sensitive about their code of ethics, some of those teles.
It was fun riding in that old jet buggy. I'd never been in one before. One of the cops got in
back with Claude and me. The other one drove. It was the strangest feeling, flying up over