"George O. Smith - Counter Foil" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith George O)

COUNTER FOIL
by George O. Smith

It was near the close of a normal day in late July, if a day in late July can properly be ca
normal. The tempera-ture and the humidity were tied in the mid-nineties; a reporter from the N
fired the usual egg on the pavement while his photographer snapped the picture that would ad
tomorrow's front page. There had been three flying saucer sightings reported, and the Loch N
monster had made his appearance right on schedule. The cases of heat prostration were running
par, and nerves in the un-air-conditioned areas were fraying short. Still, the clock dis-played h
as it crawled on toward the end of the work day and promised freedom from bondage and the r
to pursue both internal and external liquid happiness.
Gertrude, the videophone receptionist, still looked crisp in her office. Her voice as
responded with the singy-songy, "Tele-por-TRAN-sit," had not lost its lilt. But it was obvious
the caller that Trudy sat in air-conditioned splendor. And either she loathed the idea of leaving
comfort and going home, or she despised him who called. For after the lilting greeting, her vo
dropped to a flat, "Oh, it's you again."
Johnny Peters smiled. "Show?"
"No."
"Swim?"
"No."
"Dinner?"
"No."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing!"
"Trudy, I'm not poison, you know. "
"Johnny, I know you're not poison. But you're not very ambitious, either."
"Now listen," he said sharply, "I'm only asking for a date. I'm not offering to have you share
frugal life, bed, and board as a lowly technician. A date I can afford; a wife I can't."
"You could try to get ahead."
"I've made my bid. I asked my illustrious leader for advanced training and an accelerated cou
so I could move along faster, and he said that moving too fast was bad for a young man. Sha
quit now and go elsewhere?"
"Where would you go?"
"That's the trouble, Trudy. I majored in teleportonics, and it's either teleportonics or I go back
school and start something new. Think the boss-man will move me faster in Greater Chicago
doubt it. So I might as well stay right here in Megapolis."
"I suppose you're right."
"All right, let's start over again. Show?"
"Johnny, not tonight. I'm busy."
"
Tomorrow?"
"If we're not all cooked by then. Call me, Johnny. " "Will do," he said with a growing smile.
Johnny Peters broke the connection and checked his instrument panel. The primary power
from Con Edison was running a tenth of a volt low; with bored, routine gesture he twitched a kn
watched the voltage rise, and then he settled back with little more to do until the end of his shif
duty.
 In the distant reaches of the city, the uneasy slumber of a napping woman was broken by a w
of pain. A gush of body-warm wetness brought a flash of things to mind that came and went as
as thought, far too rapidly to reproduce in any electromechanical medium of expres-sion.
thought, in turn: It was her firstborn. The doctor said there was little point in predicting the arriva