Crompton Divided by Robert Sheckley Read Free Book Online Page B

immoral! It’s blatant corruption!’
    ‘On the contrary, the law prevents corruption by legitimatizing it.’
    ‘That makes no sense to me at all,’ Crompton said. ‘And anyhow, why would this Council Member want to help me?’
    ‘For the same reason that the desk clerk and I are helping you,’ the hunchback said. ‘For a bribe.’
    ‘I see,’ Crompton said coldly.
    ‘We’re very much into bribery this century,’ the hunchback explained. ‘It’s become quite a fad.’
    Crompton sat in a scornful silence.
    ‘I suppose you were expecting more godlike behavior?’
    ‘Well –’
    ‘Most tourists do. But we Aains got sick of the god-like thing many thousands of years ago. It wasn’t much fun, and it interfered with the Game.’
    ‘I see,’ Crompton said.
    They rode in silence for a while. Then the hunchback said, ‘I see that you’re wondering how come I, an Aaian with the power to take on any shape I desire, am currently walking around with a hunchback and tatty clothes.’
    ‘I really don’t like you reading my mind,’ Crompton snapped.
    ‘Sorry,’ the Aaian said.
    After a while Crompton asked, ‘Well, since you brought it up, why?’
    ‘It’s because of a bad move I made in the Game a few centuries ago. I’ve got to wear this body exactly as it is for another eighty years. The hunch isn’t so bad – I can store water in it, you know – but I’ve got dyspepsia so bad it would drive you crazy.’
    ‘Huh,’ Crompton said.
    ‘You’re really not a very interesting conversationalist,’ the hunchback told him. ‘Anyhow, here we are.’ The car came to a stop in front of a small green office building. ‘Go right down the central corridor and enter the first door on your right. Good luck.’
    Crompton got out. The car gibbered away, and Crompton entered the office building. He found the door that the hunchback had indicated. He knocked.
    ‘Come in,’ a voice said.
    Crompton opened the door and walked into a richly furnished office. At a desk, turning toward him now, was an Aaian with a familiar face and an unmistakable crew cut. It was Secuille.
     
     

 
    9
     
     
    Secuille looked at him as though seeing him for the first time. ‘Yes, what can I do for you?’ he asked in a pleasant, slightly harassed voice.
    ‘I’m Alistair Crompton. Don’t you remember me?’
    Secuille studied his face, then shook his head. ‘I’m afraid not. Perhaps you’ve mixed me up with someone else.’
    ‘Your name is Secuille,’ Crompton said. ‘We just met on a starship. We talked for about an hour, then you disappeared.’
    ‘You’re quite sure of that?’
    ‘It’s not the sort of thing I’d be likely to get wrong. You told me that you were playing the Game, or just about to begin playing it. You said that I was going to be a pawn in your Game.’
    ‘Damnation!’ Secuille struck his forehead with the flat of his hand. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said. ‘I’m going to check this out with Giant Computer.’
    He pressed a button on a small violet tabletop computer terminal situated just to the left of the blotter. He asked, ‘Did I happen to commit myself to the Game in the last few days? And was I out of temporal sequence for a part of that time?’ He studied the flashing lights on the readout panel, then said, ‘I see. Thank you, Giant Computer.’ He turned to Crompton. ‘What else did I tell you?’
    ‘You said that you thought it might be amusing to explain things to me out of temporal sequence. You said that you wouldn’t remember, however, and I would have to remind you.’
    ‘I see,’ Secuille said. ‘Yes, it’s just the sort of clownish stunt I’m likely to do. There was this party last week, and some pretty potent items were passed around. We Aaians take anything, you know, because we can’t be killed that way; maybe no way, but certainly not that way. So we drop it all down the old hatch, whatever it is. We’ve been doing this for untold millennia, and it takes quite a lot