"Barry N. Malzberg - Closing the Deal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Malzberg Barry N)

and I think that the flying business was the last straw in a marriage that frankly, was never very good."
He paused again, eyes rolling meditatively. "But that's neither here nor there," he said, "and you're not
over here to be burdened with my personal problems. The point is: what are you going to do? I brought
you here for your proposal."
"Um," the guest said, "isn't the point though what you want to do? What do you expect, sir? The
organization which I represent, you understand, is an exceptionally cooperative one and never makes
outright conditions. Rather, we're here to listen to what you thought you might have had in mind."
Carefully, the guest put a hand into his jacket pocket and fumbled for a pack of cigarettes, extracted
one, lit it hurriedly and then, in response to a long, poor glare from his host, put it out in a large, green
ashtray at his elbow. Little foul emanations stabbed at him like vipers and he choked. "Sorry," he said.
Sinus trouble again; nervous strain. Why did the caseload always turn out like this? By definition, parents
of the psionically gifted, particularly the levitators and telepaths, seemed to be at least mildly insane.
Maybe that was the biological secret: insanity transmuted itself to psionics in the second generation. Or
then again, maybe levitators and telepathy made parents insane. That was a thought, although, unhappily,
not a new one. He choked again. "I apologize," he said, motioning toward the cigarette, "I didn't realize
that smoke offendedтАФ"
"I will not tolerate smoking here," his host said. "That woman smoked, all she did was smoke; it took
me three years after she left to get the air cleared and the smell out of the house. Smoke also inhibits
Jessica's levitation."
"It shouldn't," the guest said firmly. "There is no connection."
"But it does." The man leaned forward, almost forehead to forehead now. "The time for amenities is
past, don't you think?" he said. "And I know you're a busy, responsible man. Now what I'd like to hear is
your offer."
The guest sighed. "It isn't that easy."
"And why not?"
"Everybody, all of the people, think in terms of offers, simple all-inclusive figures. But there are so
many other things involved: the terms, the conditions, and more importantly the strength of the talent and
the degree of its refinementтАФ"
"Flat offer," the man said, touching palms with himself. His face seemed tinted with sweat or
excitement; he had to work on his forehead again. "All inclusive. Everything. Full responsibility, full
control. Live-in."
"You wouldn't even want to retainтАФ"
"Nothing," the man said quickly. "I've done everything I can for my child. Now she ought to be in the
hands of people who can really develop her. I want an all-inclusive offer for total control."
"No subsidiary? How about participation in the secondary rights: performing, options, a
percentageтАФ"
The man cleared his throat. "I'll take it all on the front end, as much as I can get," he said.
"Ah," the guest said. "Ah." He opened his notebook again, extracted the pen, thought for a moment,
and then quickly wrote down a figure on a fresh, blank sheet, tore it past the reinforcements and handed
it to the man, who seized it. "That's really the best we can do," he said, "it's a nice little talent, but
levitation is far more common than you might think, and Jessica is completely untrained. She'd have to be
trained from the beginning; the first thing she would have to do is to unlearn levitation so that we could
start her from the beginning without any bad habits. The child has no body control at all."
He closed the book, sighed. "People think that all we do is go to work," he said, "but there's more
than you might think and the key issue is the training, which is incredibly complex and expensive. Believe
me, I have seen many who would cost more to train than they would eventually return, like doing heavy
repairs on old cars. Fortunately Jessica does show some ability, very raw, but she might be third-string
somewhere and there's a need for this."
The man closed his mouth finally and handed back the paper. "This is ridiculous," he said slowly, "I
mean it's robbery. It's less than a quarter of what the child is worth. A true levitator! A natural talent! Any