"Fritz Leiber - The Number of the Beast" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leiber Fritz)

be telepathic.

тАЬIf you come right out and tell them that your mind is absolutely deaf-dumb-and-blind to the thoughts of
others, they act as if youтАЩd made a dreadful social blunder and they cover up for you by pretending not to
have heard you. Talk about patronizingтАФ! Why, theyтАЩre like a woman who is forever expecting you to
know what it is sheтАЩs angry about without ever giving you a hint what it is.

TheyтАЩre likeтАФтАЬ

тАЬNow, now, IтАЩve dealt with a few telepaths in my time, Jim. I take it that the other prong of your
dilemma is that if you officially accuse one of them, and you hit it rights than he will up and confess like a
good little animal. using the ritual of speech to tell you who commissioned fee murder and all the rest of it,
and everything win be rosy.

тАЬBut if you hit it wrong, it will be a mortal insult to his whole raceтАФto all telepaths, for that matterтАФand
there will be whole solar systems moving to resign from the Union andтАЭ all manner of other devils to pay.
Because, continuing the telepathтАЩs fiction, that you are a telepath yourself, you must have known he was
innocent and yet you accused him.тАЭ

тАЬMost right, Sean,тАЭ the Young Captain admitted rue-

fully. *тАЩAs I said at the beginning, truth-tellers and silence-

keepersтАФintellectual prigs, all of them! Refusing to be-

tray each otherтАЩs thoughts to a non-telepath, I can under-

stand thatтАФthough just one telepathic stoolpigeon would

make police work ten mountains easier. But all these

other lofty idealistic fictions do get my goat! If I were

running the UnionтАФтАЬ

тАЬJim, your time is running short. I take it you want help in deciding which on& to accuse. That is, if you
do decide to chance it rather than shut your mouth, lose face and play for time.тАЭ

тАЬIтАЩve got to chance it, Sean Earth-side demands it. But As things stand, IтАЩll be backing no better than a
three-to-one shot. For you see, Sean, every single suspect of the (our is just as suspect as the others. In,
my book, they*re four equally bad boys.тАЭ

тАЬSketch me your suspects then, quickly.тАЭ The Old lieu-tenant closed his eyes.

тАЬThereтАЩs Tlik-Tcha the Martian,тАЭ the Young Captain began, ticking them off on his fingers. тАЬA nasty
black beetle, that one. Held his breath for twenty minutes and then belched it in my face. Kept printing
тАШNo CommentтАЩ white-on-black on his chest to whatever I asked him. In Garamond type!тАЭ

тАЬCheer up, Jim. It might have been Rustic Capitals.