"E. E. Doc Smith - Lensman 7 - Masters Of The Vortex" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

had happened. He knew.
'Bu ... buh... but, doctor,' Ryder began. 'Keep stillтАФdon't talk at all.' Fairchild ordered, bruskly. Then, in an ordinary
conversational tone, he went on: 'Until we have investigated this extraordinary occurrence thoroughlyтАФ sifted it to the
bottomтАФthe possibility of sabotage and spying cannot be disregarded. As the only eye-witnesses, your reports will be
exceedingly valuable; but you must not say a word until we are in a place which / know is proof against any and all spy-
rays. Do you understand?" 'Oh! Yes, we understand.'
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'Pull yourselves together, then. Act unconcerned, casual; particularly when we get to the Administration Building. Talk
about the weatherтАФor, better yet, about the honeymoon you are going to take on Chickladoria.'
Thus there was nothing visibly unusual about the group of three which strolled into the building and into Graves' private
office. The fat man raised an eyebrow.
'I'm taking them to the private laboratory,' Fairchild said, as he touched the yellow button and led the two toward the
private elevator. 'Frankly, young folks, I am a scaredтАФyes, a badly scared man."
This statement, so true and yet so misleading, resolved the young couple's inchoate doubts. Entirely unsuspectingly, they
followed the Senior Radiationist into the elevator and, after it had stopped, along a corridor. They paused as he unlocked
and opened a door; they stepped unquestioningly into the room at his gesture. He did not, however, follow them in. Instead,
the heavy metal slab slammed shut, cutting off Jackie's piercing shriek of fear.
'You might as well cut out the racket,' came from a speaker in the steel ceiling of the room. 'Nobody can hear you but me."
'But Mr. Graves, I thought ... Dr. Fairchild told us ... we were going to tell him about...'
'You're going to tell nobody nothing. You saw too much and know too much, that's all.'
'Oh, that's it!' Ryder's mind reeled as some part of the actual significance of what he had seen struck home. 'But listen!
Jackie didn't see anythingтАФshe had her eyes shut all the time тАФand doesn't know anything. You don't want to have the
murder of such a girl as she is on your mind, I know. Let her go and she'll never say a wordтАФwe'll both swear to itтАФor
you could...'
'Why? Just because she's got a face and a shape?' The fat man sneered. 'No soap, Junior. She's not that much of a ...' He
broke off as Fairchild entered his office.
'Well, how about it? How bad is it?' Graves demanded.
'Not bad at all. Everything's under control.'
'Listen, doctor!' Ryder pleaded. 'Surely you don't want to murder Jackie here in cold blood? I was just suggesting to Graves
that he could get a therapist...'
'Save your breath,' Fairchild ordered. 'We have important
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things to think about. You two die.'
'But why?' Ryder cried. He could as yet perceive only a fraction of the tremendous truth. 'I tell you, it's ...'
'We'll let you guess," said Fairchild.
Shock upon shock had been too much for the girl's overstrained nerves. She fainted quietly and Ryder eased her down to
the cold steel floor.
'Can't you give her a better cell than this?' he protested then. 'There's no ... it isn't decent!'
'You'll find food and water, and that's enough.' Graves laughed coarsely. 'You won't live long, so don't worry about
conveniences. But keep still. If you want to know what's going on, you can listen, but one more word out of you and I cut
the circuit. Go ahead, Doc, with what you were going to say.'
'There was a fault in the rock. Very small, but a little of the finest smoke seeped through. Barney must have been a sniffer
before to be able to smell the trace of the stuff that was drifting down the hill. I'm having the whole cave tested with a leak-
detector and sealed bottle-tight. The record can stand it that BarneyтАФhe was a snake-tender, you knowтАФdied of snake-
bite. That's almost the truth, too, by the way.'
'Fair enough. Now, how about these two?'
'Um ... m. We've got to hold the risk at absolute minimum.' Fairchild pondered briefly. 'We can't disintegrate them this
month, that's sure. They've got to be found dead, and our books are full. We'll have to keep them aliveтАФwhere they are
now is as good a place as anyтАФfor a week.'
'Why alive? We've kept stiffs in cold storage before now."