"C M Kornbluth - The Silly Season" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kornbluth C M)

The flying saucers? I couldn't revive them; they'd been forgotten for years, except by newsmen. The
giant turtle ofLake Huronhad been quiet for years, too. If I started a chloroform bandit scare, every old
maid in the state would back me up by swearing she heard the bandit trying to break in and smelled
chloroform-but the cops wouldn't like it. Strange messages from space received at theStateUniversity's
radar lab? That might do it. I put a sheet of copy paper hi the typewriter and sat, glaring at it and hating
the silly season.

There was a slight reprieve-theWestern Uniontie-line printer by the desk dinged at me and its
sickly-yellow bulb lit up. I tapped out:



"ww GA PLS," and the machine began to eject yellow, gummed tape which told me this:

"WU CO62-DPR COLLECT-FT HICKS ARK AUG 22 105P- WORLDWIRELESS
OMAHA-TOWN MARSHAL PINKNEY CRAWLES DIED MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
FISHTRIPPING OZARK HAMLET RUSH CITY TODAY. RUSHERS PHONED HICKSERS
'BURNED DEATH SHINING DOMES APPEARED YESTERWEEK.' JEEPING BODY
HICKSWARD. QUERIED RUSH CONSTABLE P.C. ALLENBY LEARNING 'SEVEN GLASSY
DOMES EACHHOUSESIZECLEARINGMILESOUTHTOWN. RUSHERS UNTOUCHED,
UNAPPROACHED. CRAWLES WARNED BUT TOUCHED AND DIED BURNS.' NOTE
DESK-RUSH FONECALL 1.85. SHALL I UPFOLLOW?-BENSON- FISHTRIPPING RUSHERS
HICKSERS YESTERWEEK JEEPING HICKSWARD HOUSESIZE 1.85 428P CLR. . ."
 It was just what the doctor ordered. I typed an acknowledgment for the message and pounded out a
story, fast. I punched it and started the tape wiggling through the eastbound transmitter beforeNew York
could send any more irked notes. The news circuit printer fromNew Yorkclucked and began relaying my
story immediately: "ww72 (KICKER)

FORT HICKS, ARKANSAS, AUG 22-(WW)-MYSTERIOUS DEATH TODAY STRUCK
DOWN A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN A TINY OZARK MOUNTAIN HAMLET.
MARSHAL PINKNEY CRAWLES OFFORT HICKS,ARKANSAS, DIED OF BURNS WHILE
ON A FISHING TRIP TO THE LITTLEVILLAGEOFRUSHCITY. TERRIFIED NATIVES OF
RUSHCITYBLAMED THE TRAGEDY ON WHAT THEY CALLED 'SHINING DOMES.' THEY
SAID THE SO-CALLED DOMES APPEARED IN A CLEARING LAST WEEK ONE MILE
SOUTH OF TOWN. THERE ARE SEVEN OF THE MYSTERIOUS OBJECTS -EACH ONE THE
SIZE OF A HOUSE. THE INHABITANTS OFRUSHCITYDID NOT DARE APPROACH THEM.
THEY WARNED THE VISITING MARSHAL CRAWLES-BUT HE DID NOT HEED THEIR
WARNING.RUSHCITY'S CONSTABLE P.C. ALLENBY WAS A WITNESS TO THE
TRAGEDY. SAID HE: - "THERE ISN'T MUCH TO TELL. MARSHAL CRAWLES JUST
WALKED UP TO ONE OF THE DOMES AND PUT HIS HAND ON IT. THERE WAS A BIG
PLASH, AND WHEN I COULD SEE AGAIN, HE WAS BURNED TO DEATH.' CONSTABLE
ALLENBY IS RETURNING THE BODY OF MARSHAL CRAWLES TO FORT HICKS.
602P220M"

That, I thought, should hold them for a while. I remembered Ben-son's "note desk" and put through a
long distance call to Fort Hicks, person to person. The Omaha operator asked for Fort Hicks
information, but there wasn't any. The Fort Hicks operator asked whom she wanted. Omaha finally
admitted that we wanted to talk to Mr. Edwin C. Benson. Fort Hicks figured out loud and then decided
that Ed was probably at the police station if he hadn't gone home for supper yet. She connected us with