"Frederik Pohl - The Census Takers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pohl Frederick)

strange C.A. without a card from your own Area Boss,
and you're one In that's a cinch to be an Over. "What
kind of a crazy C.A. does he come from, without a blue
card?"
Witeck said, '"He don't come from any C.A., Chief.
He says"
"You mean he isn't from this country?"
"That's right, Chief. He-"
"Hold it!" I pushed away the rotary file and grabbed the
immigration roster. There were only a couple of dozen
names on it, of coursewe have enough trouble with our
own Overs, without taking on a lot of foreigners, but still
there were a handful every year who managed to get on
the quotas. "I.D. number?" I demanded.
"Well, Chief," Witeck began, "he doesn't have an I.D.
number. The way it looks to me"
Well, you can fool around with these irregulars for a
month, if you want to, but it's no way to get the work
done. I said: "Over him!" and hung up. I was a little
surprised, though; Witeck knew the ropes, and it wasn't
like him to buck an irregular on to me. In the old days,
when we were both starting out, I'd seen him Over a
whole family just because the spelling of their names on
their registry cards was different from the spelling on the
checklist.
But we get older. I made a note to talk to Witeck as
soon as the rush was past. We were old friends; I wouldn't
have to threaten him with being Overed himself, or any-
thing like that. He'd know, and maybe that would be all
he would need to snap him back. I certainly would talk
to him, I promised myself, as soon as the rush was over,
or anyway as soon as I got back from Point Loma.
I had to run up to Regional Control to take a little
talking-to myself just then, but I proved to them that we
were catching up and they were only medium nasty. When
I got back Witeck was on the phone again. "Chief," he
said, real unhappy, "this In is giving me a headache. I"
"Witeck," I snapped at him, "are you bothering me
with another In? Can't you handle anything by yourself?"
He said, "It's the same one. Chief. He says he's a kind
of ambassador, and"
"Oh," I said. "Well, why-the devil don't you get your
facts straight in the first place? Give me his name and I'll
check his legation."
"Well, Chief," he began again, "he, uh, doesn't have
any legation. He says he's from the" he swallowed
"from the middle of the earth."
"You're crazy." I'd seen it happen before, good men
breaking under the strain of census taking. They say in
cadets that by the time you process your first five hundred