"Laurence M. Janifer - Count Down" - читать интересную книгу автора (Janifer Laurence M)

"YouтАФwhat? What does that have to do with . . ."
"I made those speeches," Freeman said into the silence; around them the gala went loudly on, but
even Freeman noticed that with no more than the corner of his eye. "I made everyone conscious of the
power of 'numbers. The superstition. Numerology. Thirteen." He gestured. "People who didn't care,
people who were unsure . . . I got them all thinking about numerology."
"And believing in it, damn it!" Hamsun broke in.
"Exactly," Freeman said. "Otherwise my bribe wouldn't have done any good, you see."
"ButтАФ"
 "Thirteen," Freeman went on, sententiously, "is an unlucky number. Correct?"
"Well, sure," Hamsun said. "But when it came out thatтАФ"
"ThatтАФthe sixth month, the thirteenth day, the year 2113тАФall that isn't nearly so unlucky. Attend: 6
and 13 and 21тАФfrom 2113тАФand then an extra 5тАФfor Friday, normally considered the fifth day of the
weekтАФadd up to 45. And 45 is the luckiest possible number. It was the number of a great and famous
weapon used by legendary heroes among the ancients. It was the yearтАФ1945тАФin which one of their
major wars ended. Look it up."
"Sure, I know that," Hamsun said. "The ancients thought 45 was the luckiest number there was."
Freeman smiled, very briefly. "But let me go on," he said. "It's also 9 times 5тАФ9 for the planets, and
5 for the planets known in deep-ancient times, before the telescope. It's also 21тАФthe age of maturity for
a long period during the history of the most civilized ancientsтАФplus 24, which is twice as lucky as a
simple dozen ... a dozen, of course being lucky because it was the number of the apostles. Among other
things." He paused to breathe. "Right so far?"
"WellтАФeverybody knows that," Hamsun said. "Sure. I meanтАФ"
"Everybody knows it," Freeman repeated. "Everybody knows it, and it isn't true. Not a word of it.
Not one word."
Hamsun nearly dropped his half-full glass. "ButтАФ"
"An archaeologist said it was true, over and over," Freeman went on. "And everyone else picked it
up, of course. There I was, making speeches about the silliness of numerology andтАФyour psychologist is
perfectly correctтАФthereby making more and more converts to the damned superstition. And there
everyone else wasтАФknowing that numerology made the Roubins shoot a marvel, a wonder and an
absolute delight, becauseтАФwithin days, in factтАФ`everyone knew it.' And all I did was bribe an
archaeologistтАФwith a grant for a future dig, incidentally, out of what we like to call a contingent fundтАФto
'discover' the entire good-luck superstition dealing with 45."
Silence surrounded the two men again. After a second Hamsun said: "You mean there never wasтАФ"
"Never," Freeman said. "It just happened to work that way. Because, of course, we made it just
happen. I'm afraid it will have to be a secret between us, sonтАФand because keeping that secret is in both
our interests, it will stay a secretтАФbut we've rewritten history."
This time Hamsun did drop the glass. It shattered. Neither man moved. "WellтАФtalk about just sheer
luck," Hamsun said after a while. "If it'd been some other numberтАФone you couldn't work with . . ."
"It could have been," Freeman said. "And it wouldn't have mattered: any number could have been
used. Let's see: 6 for the month, 13 for the day, 13 for the specific year: 31. Add 5 for Friday and get
36тАФthree dozen. Three times as lucky as a dozen. Then add the 21 and get 47тАФa fine number, has a
seven in it, which the ancients really did believe was lucky: we wouldn't have had to invent that part. For
that matter, we didn't invent the lucky dozen part, either. But, son: any number could have been used.
We just fiddled round with what we had available."
Hamsun tried to think it over. Obviously, the way to get people to do something was to make sure
you persuaded them not to do it, and thenтАФ"Politics," he said. "It's all politics."
"Exactly," Freeman said, and smiled very briefly indeed. "Politics: which is my science, I suppose.
The science of peopleтАФwhich is an art."
Hamsun tried it again. When you had all the pieces, it made sense. But without themтАФ
He stared at the face of the . . . the politician. The useless, talky politician. The . . . Good Lord. "But