"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 29 - Angado" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

the table, the drawers. They yielded nothing and he dropped to
his knees and checked the underside of the bed, the chairs,
finally stripping the cot and examining the bare, wooden
structure.

Nothing aside from a few crumpled papers, some packets of
dried fruit, a book, a folder of bright pictures, a deck of cards.
These things he checked with minute attention, holding each of
the pasteboards to the light, running his fingers over their edges.
Finally he turned his attention to the room itself, scanning each
wall, the ceiling, the floor bared when he moved aside the rug.

Again he found nothing and stood, thoughtful, trying to put a
man into the chamber, trying to guess what that man would do.

Guessing, for he lacked data on which to base an
extrapolation. The essential ingredient to promote his honed
talent. Given a handful of facts he could predict the logical
outcome of any event; without them he could only make
assumptions. A man, alone on a strange worldтАФhow would he
have safeguarded his secret?

Again Avro checked the room, looking for the fifteen symbols
which would tell him all he needed to know: the sequence in
which the biomolecular units of the affinity twin had to be
assembled. The secret which would give the Cyclan galactic
domination.

But he looked for it without success.

A failure he had expected, yet to have ignored the possibility
of success would have been insane stupidity. An error equal in
magnitude to that made by Tron. To have had Dumarest in his
grasp and then to have lost him. Death had been a merciful
punishment.

Avro looked once more at the room. A small, bare place, cold,
featureless. One Dumarest had known as he must have known so
many others. Moving on to leave nothing of himself behind. And
yet there had to be more.

He found it at a local bank, the manager reluctant to
cooperate, finally yielding to logical persuasion. To refuse Avro's
demand was to ruin all hope of promotion.

"Yes," he admitted. "Dumarest did have money on deposit
here. Quite a large sum as a matter of fact."
 "Withdrawals?"

"None after the initial deposit."