"Robin Wilson - To the Vector Belong..." - читать интересную книгу автора (Wilson Robin)

burning oil away from water sheтАЩs abandoned ship into. тАЬCome on, Arnie,тАЭ she
says. тАЬI knowтАЩs wellтАЩs you do someoneтАЩs going to eventually get our guy. But
Lindstrom, we тАФ Christ, the serviceтАФ is just trying to get your office to slow down
a little. The PentagonтАЩs convinced AlтАЩs the 21st century equivalent of the yellow peril
and screaming at the boss in Washington who is not even a little reluctant to let me
know of his discomfort, and everybody in the goddamn intelligence community and
NIH and NSF is hollering for a sample of this or a little piece of that. That bunch of
media creeps in L.A. are going to court this morning to enjoin us for a press
conference. Jeez, if I had two or three extraterrestrials I could saw тАШem up into one
ounce baggies and retire a rich woman. What is this, the third? And every time one
of these guys shows up and even before we try to grab тАШera they get sucked back
into that goddamn disgusting thing that brings тАШem and takes тАШem away, and other
than a little blood and skin frags from number one and all that goo from number two
weтАЩve got shit to report to Defense or Langley or the project down in Palo Alto.

тАЬWe fully appreciate,тАЭ she continues, looking to Lindstrom for confirmation
and getting a nod, тАЬthat you only got eleven-oh-three to work with. You canтАЩt make
an Enemy Alien case without a Hostile Power, you canтАЩt make Request for Asylum
without Clear Endangerment, but any way you look at it, we donтАЩt get a judge to go
along with a Hold for Deportation order and one of these outfits takes our guy out of
custody, whoever gets him is going to be top dog and every other outfit is going to
be after our ass for letting the one that got him, get him.тАЭ

Now Goldschmidt is really enjoying his clout. тАЬForget it, Janet. This is my call
and IтАЩm calling it. I want this yahoo off our hands and out of Turk Street by close of
business Friday and I donтАЩt want a ration of crap about it, either.

тАЬAnyway,тАЭ he says, supporting his delicious exercise of raw power with
irrefutable logic, тАЬIf we had a Hold for Deportation, what the hell would you enter in
Line 16, тАШNation of OriginтАЩ? Where you gonna deport him to?тАЭ

Janet is silent. The audience is over and they rise to leave. Lindstrom asks,
тАЬYou got a surveillance order on me, counselor? On Al?тАЭ

тАЬYou nuts Lindstrom? You seeing things? If youтАЩve picked up an escort, it
sure as hell ainтАЩt JusticeтАЩs.тАЭ

Lindstrom has no reason to believe or disbelieve the answer.

That night sleep evades Lindstrom, and because they have been married for
thirty-five years and lovers for thirty-seven, it evades Jan, too. тАЬThis alien thing?тАЭ she
says after a while of darkness in their small house in the Berkeley Hills.

тАЬYeah. But тАШalienтАЩ doesnтАЩt sound right. This is an interesting young guy and
probably more human than I am. Trained to a T. HeтАЩs smart and funny and likable.
Made me want to pet him like a puppy. Could have melted into the population
without a hitch except he arrived like he was advance man for a Michael Jackson
revival. God knows what heтАЩs here for. Maybe to subvert the republic or ravish our
maidens or prepare us for conquest by rapacious hordes of bug-eyed monsters, but
somehow I donтАЩt think so. I spent a whole afternoon with him, and heтАЩs a nifty