"Tom Purdom-Research Project" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

Postri-Dem rolled out of his crouch. He turned away from her, with his head cocked to one side, so
she was shrieking at his left shoulder. He would have turned his back on her if he had let his instincts take
control of his muscles.
Maria's link rolled forward with its arms waving. Her amplified voice boomed Stridi-If's name. She
might have been half bored by the scholarly information I was exchanging with Postri-Dem, but she was
used to situations in which she had to move from sleepy semi-attention to full, intense participation. She
had cut her diplomatic teeth on the UN team that had defused the Thai-Taiwan naval confrontation.
Some of the assignments that had followed had been even tougher.
Stridi-If didn't have Maria's experience but she was a professional, too. She rose out of her crouch
and shrieked an order at Postri-Dem. He backed to one side and Stridi-If advanced on the barrier.
"I wish to point out that this situation is still fluid," Maria said. "The recording we have just transmitted
is marked with a code that will take it directly to our ultimate superior -- the Secretary General. No one
else on Earth will know about this unless he chooses to tell them. He will have to inform two of our
subcultures -- the Japanese and the Americans -- if you launch your missile. They control the missiles that
orbit Earth. But right now you and I can still discuss this in private."
It was an astonishing performance. She had determined the exact nature of her negotiating stance and
laid it out in sentences that sounded like they had been rehearsed for days. She had even made sure she
omitted an important bit of information. We couldn't keep track of the ifli missile without help from the
Japanese and the Americans. The equipment in the European Community couldn't do the job.
Later on she told me she had thought about situations in which we might be threatened with attack and
worked out some of the possibilities. She had never thought about a planetary jammer but that was the
kind of unexpected development she had learned to allow for.
"Orlando and I were sent here because billions of human beings want to establish peaceful relations
with you," Maria said. "But we can't control all the subcultures on our world. We've done our best to
make that clear to you. If the Japanese and the Americans learn anything about this, we can't promise
you we can control their response."
The I's were dotted. The important points were spelled out. I thought she had put too much emphasis
on the danger posed by the Japanese and the Americans until I realized Stridi-If probably wasn't used to
negotiations that included the threat of violence.
Stridi-If was standing in front of the barrier with her hands pressed against her legs. It occurred to me
she was probably faced with a personal problem, in addition to the professional crisis Postri-Dem had
forced on her. She should have demanded a translation as soon as Postri-Dem started using a language
she didn't understand.
Maria had already thought of that. "Is there any way we can work this out between us, Stridi-If? Just
the two of us?"
"You're asking us to reverse our decision -- to tell our engineers they can't deploy the Device.
Harap-If will have to bargain with you herself, Ambassador Lott."
***


Jinny feels a little niggle of curiosity when she scans the reference to the "Thai-Taiwan naval
confrontation" but this time she lets it pass. She is surprised to learn that the Japanese and the Americans
seemed to be working together in space during the period when all this happened.
Jinny's mother once tried to explain why she has to go away every month. One of the items she put on
the screen was a map that showed how the world was divided into five "competitive zones."
***


Postri-Dem had never felt more isolated. Stridi-If glanced at him once or twice while she talked to the
Chosen Presider on her communicator, but she acted, in general, as if he had disappeared.