"A. E. Van Vogt - The Players of Null-A" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

 A.E.vanVogt


ThePlayersofNull-A




A BERKLEY MEDALLION BOOK
published by
BERKLEY PUBLISHING CORPORATION
 I
NULL-ABSTRACTS

A normal human nervous system is potentially superior to that of any animal's. For the sake of sanity, and balanced
development, each individual must learn to orientate himself to the real world around him. There are methods of
training by which this can be done.

Shadows. A movement on the hill where the Games Machine had once stood, where all was now desolation. Two
figures, one curiously shapeless, walked by slowly among the trees. As they came out of the darkness, and into the light
of a street lamp that stood like a lonely sentinel on this height from which they could overlook the city--one of the
figures resolved into a normal two-legged man.
The other was a shadow, made of shadow stuff, made of blackness through which the street lamp was visible.
A man, and a shadow that moved like a man, but was not. A shadow man, who stopped as he reached the protective
fence that ran along the lip of the hill. Who stopped and motioned with a shadow arm at the city below, and spoke
suddenly in a voice that was not shadowy but very human,
'Repeat your instructions, Janasen.'
If the other man was awed by his strange companion, he did not show it. He yawned slightly.
'Kind of sleepy,' he said.
'Your instructions!'
The man gestured in irritation. 'Look, Mister Follower,' he said in an annoyed voice, 'don't talk like that to me. That
getup of yours doesn't scare me in the slightest. You know me. I'll do the job.'
'Your insolence,' said the Follower, 'will try my patience once too often. You know that there are time energies
involved in my own movements. Your delays are calculated to offend, and I will say this: If I am ever forced into an
unpleasant position because of that tendency on your part, I'll end our relationship.'
There was such a savage note in the Follower's voice that the man said no more. He found himself wondering why
he taunted this immeasurably dangerous individual, and the only answer he could think of was that it burdened his
spirit oppressively to realize that he was the paid agent of a being who was his master in every respect.
'Now, quick,' said the Follower, 'repeat your instructions.'
Reluctantly, the man began. The words were meaningless to the breeze that blew from behind them; they drifted on
the night air like phantasms out of a dream, or shadows that dissipated in sunlight. There was something about taking
advantage of the street fighting that would now shortly end. There would be a position open in the Institute of
Emigration. тАШThe false papers I have will give me the job during the necessary time.' And the purpose of the scheming
was to prevent a Gilbert Gosseyn from going to Venus until it was too late. The man had no idea who Gosseyn was,
what it was Gosseyn was to be late for--but the means were clear enough. 'I'll use every authority of the Institute, and
on Thursday, fourteen days from now, when the President Hardie leaves for Venus, I'll arrange for an accident to take
place at a certain time-- and you'll see to it that he's there for it to happen to him.'
'I don't see to anything of the kind,' said the Follower in a remote voice. 'I merely foresee that he will be there at the
proper instant. Now, what is the moment of the accident?'
'9:28 a.m., zone 10 time.'