"Herbert, Frank - Committee Of The Whole" - читать интересную книгу автора (Herbert Brian & Frank)

More guards were coming up outside the door now - Marines and Army. They carried rifles.
The colonel said something sharp to the guard, turned away from him and entered the committee room. All the cameras were tracking him now. He ignored them, crossed swiftly to Tiborough and spoke to him.
The senator shot a startled glance at Custer, accepted a sheaf of papers the colonel thrust at him. He forced his attention off Custer, studied the papers, leafing through them. Presently, he looked up, stared at Custer.
A hush fell over the room.
'I find myself at a loss, Mr Custer,' Tiborough said. 'I have here a copy of a report ... it's from the Special Services branch of the Army ... through the Pentagon, you understand. It was just handed to me by, ah ... the colonel here.'
He looked up at the colonel who was standing, one hand resting lightly on the bolstered .45. Tiborough looked back at Custer and it was obvious the senator was trying to marshall his thoughts.
'It is,' Tiborough said, 'that is ... this report supposedly ... and I have every confidence it is what it is represented to be ... here in my hands ... they say that ... uh, within the last, uh, few days they have, uh, investigated a certain device ... weapon they call it, that you are attempting to patent. They report ... ' He glanced at the papers, back to Custer, who was staring at hire steadily.' ... this, uh, weapon, is a thing that ... it is extremely dangerous.'
'It is,' Custer said.
'I ... ah, see.' Tiborough cleared his throat, glanced up at the colonel who was staring fixedly at Custer. The senator brought his attention back to Custer.
'Do you in fact have such a weapon with you, Mr Custer?' Tiborough asked.
'I have brought it as an exhibit, sir.'
'Exhibit?'
'Yes, sir.'
Wallace rubbed his lips, found them dry. He wet them with his tongue, wished for the water glass, but it was beyond Custer. Christ! That stupid cowpuncher! He wondered if he dared whisper to Custer. Would the senators and that Pentagon lackey interpret such an action as meaning he was part of Custer's crazy antics?
'Are you threatening this committee with your weapon, Mr Custer?' Tiborough asked. 'If you are, I may say special precautions have been taken ... extra guards in this room and we ... that is, we will not allow ourselves to worry too much about any action you may take, but ordinary precautions are in force.'

Wallace could no longer sit quietly. He tugged Custer's sleeve, got an abrupt shake of the head. He leaned close, whispered: 'We could ask for a recess, Bill. Maybe we ... '
'Don't interrupt me,' Custer said. He looked at Tiborough. 'Senator, I would not threaten you or any other man. Threats in the way you mean them are a thing we no longer can indulgs in.'
'You ... I believe you said this device is an exhibit,' Tiborough said. He cast a worried frown at the report in his hands. 'I fail ... it does not appear germane.'
Senator Plowers cleared his throat. 'Mr Chairman,' he said.
'The chair recognizes the senator from Nebraska,' Tiborough said, and the relief in his voice was obvious. He wanted time to think.
'Mr Custer,' Plowers said, 'I have not seen the report, the report my distinguished colleague alludes to; however, if I may ... is it your wish to use this committee as some kind of publicity device?'
'By no means, Senator,' Custer said. 'I don't wish to profit by my presence here ... not at all.'
Tiborough had apparently come to a decision. He leaned back, whispered to the colonel, who nodded and returned to the outer hall.
'You strike me as an eminently reasonable man, Mr Custer,' Tiborough said. 'If I may ... '
'May I,' Senator Plowers said. 'May I, just permit me to conclude this one point. May we have the Special Services report in the record?'
'Certainly,' Tiborough said. 'But what I was about to suggest.'
'May I,' Plowers said. 'May I, would you permit me, please, Mr Chairman, to make this point clear for the record?'
Tiborough scowled, but the heavy dignity of the Senate overcame his irritation. 'Please continue, Senator, I had thought you were finished.'
'I respect ... there is no doubt in my mind of Mr Custer's truthfulness,' Flowers said. His face eased into a grin that made him look grandfatherly, a kindly elder statesman. 'I would like, therefore, to have him explain how this ... ah, weapon, can be an exhibit in the matter before our committee.'
Wallace glanced at Custer, saw the hard set of the man's jaw, realized the cattleman had gotten to Flowers somehow. This was a set piece.
Tiborough was glancing at the other senators, weighing the advisability of high-handed dismissal ... perhaps a star chamber session. No ... they were all too curious about Custer's device, his purpose here.
The thoughts were plain on the senator's face.
'Very well,' Tiborough said. He nodded to Custer. 'You may proceed, Mr Custer.'

'During last winter's slack season,' Custer said, 'two of my men and I worked on a project we've had in the works for three years -to develop a sustained-emission laser device.'
Custer opened his briefcase, slid out a fat aluminium tube mounted on a pistol grip with a conventional appearing trigger.
'This is quite harmless,' he said. 'I didn't bring the power pack.'
'That is ... this is your weapon?' Tiborough asked.
'Calling this a weapon is misleading,' Custer said. 'The term limits and oversimplifies. This is also a brush-cutter, a substitute for a logger's saw and axe, a diamond cutter, a milling machine ... and a weapon. It is also a turning point in history.'
'Come now, isn't that a bit pretentious?' Tiborough asked.
'We tend to think of history as something old and slow,' Custer said. 'But history is, as a matter of fact, extremely rapid and immediate. A President is assassinated, a bomb explodes over a city, a dam break, a revolutionary device is announced.'
'Lasers have been known for quite a few years,' Tiborough said. He looked at the papers the colonel had given him. 'The principle dates from 1956 or thereabouts.'
'I don't wish it to appear that I'm taking credit for inventing this device,' Custer said. 'Nor am I claiming sole credit for developing the sustained-emission laser. I was merely one of a team. But I do hold the device here in my hand, gentlemen.'
'Exhibit, Mr Custer,' Flowers reminded him. 'How is this an exhibit?'
'May I explain first how it works?' Custer asked. 'That will make the rest of my statement much easier.'
Tiborough looked at Plowers, back to Custer. 'If you will tie this all together, Mr Custer,' Tiborough said. 'I want to ... the bearing of this device on our - we are hearing a particular bill in this room.'
'Certainly, Senator,' Custer said. He looked at his device. 'A ninety-volt radio battery drives this particular model. We have some that require less voltage, some that use more. We aimed for a construction with simple parts. Our crystals are common quartz. We shattered them by bringing them to a boil in water and then plunging them into ice water ... repeatedly. We chose twenty pieces of very close to the same size - about one gram, slightly more than fifteen grains each.'
Custer unscrewed the back of the tube, slid out a round length of plastic trailing lengths of red, green, brown, blue and yellow wire.
Wallace noticed how the cameras of the TV men centered on the object in Custer's hands. Even the senators were leaning forward, staring.