"A. E. Van Vogt - The Silkie" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

The woman drew away from him, trembling. 'I can't,' she said. 'The boy forbids it.'

Cemp asked, 'What in you makes you feel insane?'

She shook her head. 'Something... connected with the boy,' she said. 'I don't know what.'

'Then you're his slave, not mine,' said Cemp coldly.

Her eyes begged him. 'Free me!' she whispered. 'I can't do it myself.'

'Where's Apartment One?' Cemp asked.

She told him. 'You can take the stairway or the elevator.'

Cemp went by the stairway. He needed a few minutes, just a few, to determine his course of action. He
decided...

See the boy! Determine his fate. Talk to Riber, the administrative officer of the ship. Punish Riber! Order
this ship to a check-in point!

These decisions were hardened in his mind as he reached the upper level and pressed the button beside
the door of Apartment One.

The door swung open noiselessly. Cemp walked in тАФ and there was the boy.

He was slightly under five feet tall, as fine-looking a human child as Cemp had ever seen. The youngester
was watching a TV screen set into one wall of the big room. When Cemp entered the boy turned lazily
and said, 'I was interested in seeing what you would do with that shark, in view of your condition.'

He knew!

The realisation hit Cemp hard. He braced himself and agreed within himself to die, to make no bargains
to avoid exposure, to come to his final decision with even greater care.

The boy said, 'You couldn't possibly do anything else.'
Cemp was recovering, and now he was curious. He had set up a complete no-signal condition within
himself. Yet the boy was reading detailed signals. How was he doing it?

Smiling faintly, the boy shook his head.

Cemp said, 'If you dare not tell, it isn't much of a method. I deduce that if I can find it out, I can defeat
it.'

The boy laughed, made a gesture of dismissal, and changed the subject 'Do you believe I should be
killed?'

Cemp looked into the bright gray eyes that regarded him with a boyish mischievousness and felt a qualm.
He was being played with by someone who regarded himself as untouchable. The question was, was the
boy fooling himself or was it real?