Meeting at Infinity by John Brunner Read Free Book Online

greeted him curtly.
    “How is she?” he added. It was a meaningless question; there would be no change. No change was possible, except at a rate so slow the passage of a day was imperceptible.
    Knard didn’t answer directly. He said, getting out of the chair where he had been waiting, “What’s happened, Athlone? Something disastrous?”
    Athlone felt a shuddering wave work its way through his bowels, but contrived to keep his voice steady. “Do I lookas though there’s been a disaster?” he countered. He felt it was possible; Knard knew him well and was more astute than most people.
    But the doctor shook his head. “I didn’t get it from you,” he said. “I had it from—her.” And he jerked his head in the direction of the room next to the foyer.
    “What did she say?” Athlone snapped.
    “So there has been trouble.” Knard’s voice shook noticeably, and there was a movement behind his sterile mask which suggested he was passing his tongue over his lips. “You’d better hear what she said, then. Over here.”
    He turned to the corner which served him as an office, where he had his cupboards of equipment, his electronic desk, his diagnostic and therapeutic devices on racks almost to the ceiling. His quick, deft fingers touched a series of switches; a familiar, breathy, impersonal voice came from twin speakers mounted on the desk and aligned to give full stereo to Knard when he sat in his adjustable chair before it. Athlone felt that voice, all down his nape and back, like claws dipped in acid. He moved forward into the focus of the speakers, closing his hands to stop his fingers trembling.
    “—Tell you a thing or two about this man who’s hired you, doctor. Something you ought to know. This resounding title he makes so much play with—vice-sheriff of the Eastern Quarter! I’m sure you know why he hides behind it, don’t you?”
    Knard had presumably said something placatory but out of reach of the pickup; there was a brief interlude of hissing. Then there was a scornful interruption.
    “No! Behind it he’s no better than a dreg. He’s so petty and incompetent he has to have someone still more incompetent to take out his own inferiority on—this knuckleheaded man Benny, for example. I wonder how he’s going to find someone even stupider than Benny, now that he’s got rid of him. And even Benny was—”
    Athlone’s exclamation of horrified bewilderment caused Knard to switch off. The voice died. Knard uttered a silent question with his eyes.
    “How does that hellish machine of yours work?” Athlone demanded in a strangled voice.
    “You mean you have dismissed your bodyguard?” Knard seemed to be as much disturbed as Athlone.
    “Yes! But—but—damnation! I only decided to do it a short while ago; I only just gave instructions. I didn’t mention it to anyone except my staff—” He broke off, and his face hardened into a suspicious glare. “Knard, are you trying to hoax me? I warn you, it’s a dangerous pastime. If I find out that someone called you from my headquarters and told you—”
    Knard’s face, above the mask, remained impassive. Athlone broke off, spreading his hands.
    “All right. You wouldn’t. You haven’t any interest in doing a thing like that. Just tell me: how did
she
know?”
    Knard shut off the speakers. “There was more, but you’ll hear it direct,” he muttered as he turned away. “As to how she knew—look, Athlone, you’ve asked me twenty times how the rho function field perceptor works, and I’ve told you at least as often that unless you study the math involved, you
can’t
understand it. I suppose I’ve used it with a dozen patients before this case, at least. And even now I can’t say more than that the information comes from the analogue of reality which the perceptor supplies.”
    “But that’s just meaningless noise!”
    “So it’s noise!” The doctor’s nerves seemed to be frayed; he passed his hand across his face. “I’ve never