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Sarvin waited, puzzled now. Willard sipped his drink and paused to choose his
words. "You remember that proposition that those two people we brought in from
Berkeley came up with Brenner and the Polish professor?"
"They wanted to try for longer hops." Sarvin said. "The word from on-high was
no-go. Our problems are closer to home."
"Right." Willard nodded. "Well, after they were turned down, they came up with
a scheme to do it themselves on the side, in their own time. We were aware of
it, naturally from our surveillance. Anyway, Ed Kintner figured that letting
them go ahead would be the best way to get them motivated into producing what
Washington wanted and avoid internal hassles at the same time. It sounded good
to me. So I said what the hell and agreed."
Sarvin was frowning. "You mean you overrode policy? You let them do it?"
"Well, we didn't actually override anything. The official work went ahead as
directed. It was more a case of exercising discretion where judgment of
internal affairs was concerned." Willard saw that Sarvin might come around,
and pressed his point. "Scientists can be notoriously temperamental to handle.
I didn't want to go creating complications that would go bouncing up and down
the line& And it paid off, Leonard. We wouldn't be celebrating right now if
we'd gone the official route."
Sarvin considered the situation. Starting a fight now would only risk
appearing petty. He had always thought of himself as a practical land of man.
Wasn't it the results that were supposed to matter? "Who else out there
knows?" he asked.
"Just Ed Kintner and Calom. Five people are involved: Jantowitz and Brenner;
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Wallis, the Optronics man from England; his girlfriend, Sarah Pacey; and Sam
Phniangsak."
"Him again?" Sarvin breathed.
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"We've got everything on tape, and access into their files. They keep it to an
out-
of-the-way place downstairs that Ed arranged for them to use. As the proposal
said before it was turned down, all it needed was a few hardware changes and
some special software."
Sarvin worried at one of his front teeth with a knuckle. 'This whole MV thing
is going to get political now that the military are involved. We don't need
something like this in the closet, Jesse."
"I know. That's why I wanted to bring it up. It's gained us the immediate
objective. Now we can think about regularizing the longer-term situation."
Sarvin sat back and reflected for a while. Willard attended to his drink and
remained silent. At length Sarvin asked, "What kind of results are these
people getting?"
"Actually, quite remarkable," Willard replied. "To be frank, I think it would
be a tragedy to terminate what they're doing, just arbitrarily. It might not
be wise from the point of view of further productivity, either."
"I want to see all the surveillance material that you've collected, plus an
evaluation," Sarvin said. "And from now on I'm to be kept posted on new
developments as they happen, via encrypted transmissions direct to Washington.
I'll give you a decision on it when I've got a better idea what we're talking
about."
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"I'll get Calom onto it first thing," Willard promised.
He felt relieved. It could have gone a lot worse.
Calom appeared in one of the data analysis labs, where Sarah was sorting field
profiles on a screen according to the system of categories that Mulgrave and
Jantowitz had devised. It was the quiet period around early evening, when the
day workers had left and those who would be staying late disappeared for a
meal break. No one else was in the vicinity.
"Good evening, Ms. Pacey," he said.
"Oh& hello."
"Working late again. I'm glad that you are able to muster such dedication in
spite of your reservations."
Sarah shrugged. "Where else is there to go if you want to work on MV science?
Your people have seen to that." She appended a note to an index and filed it.
"Anyway, there isn't a lot else to do in this town."
"Where's David Wallis?" Calom inquired, looking around.
"Is our private life part of the official program to be checked up on too,
now?"
"Nothing official. I was just curious."
"Is there anything you're not curious about?"
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"It comes with the job." Calom smiled faintly. "But you ought to approve.
Isn't curiosity supposed to be a quality of good scientists too?" He came into
the room and moved across the floor to stand behind her.
"Dave will be helping Jantowitz downstairs later," Sarah said, keeping her
eyes ahead. "They're probably over in the cafeteria, getting something to
eat." She didn't know if Calom was staring at her, or contemplating the screen
over her shoulder with the routine inquisitiveness that he directed toward
everything.
When the silence had persisted for a while, she asked, "What happened in the
end with those itinerants?"
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It was a question that Calom had been expecting for some time. "I really can't
say," he replied. "It's a matter for the state authorities, so not something
I've made it my business to follow up." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]