The Edge of Tomorrow by Howard Fast Read Free Book Online Page B

and unexpected place in the world. It was unexpected to have two other men waiting for me, along with Mr. Lieberman, in his office. Lieberman was a skinny, sharp-faced man of about sixty. The government man, Fitzgerald, was small, dark-eyed, and wore gold-rimmed glasses. He was very alert, but he never told me what part of the government he represented. He just said “we”, and it meant the government. Hopper, the third man, was comfortable-looking, pudgy, and genial. He was a United States senator with an interest in entomology, although before this morning I would have taken better than even money that such a thing not only wasn’t, but could not be.
    The room was large and square and plainly-furnished, with shelves and cupboards on all walls.
    We shook hands, and then Lieberman asked me, nodding at the creel, “Is that it?”
    â€œThat’s it.”
    â€œMay I?”
    â€œGo ahead,” I told him. “It’s nothing that I want to stuff for the parlor. I’m making you a gift of it.”
    â€œThank you, Mr. Morgan,” he said, and then he opened the creel and looked inside. Then he straightened up, and the other two men looked at him inquiringly.
    He nodded. “Yes.”
    The senator closed his eyes for a long moment. Fitzgerald took off his glasses and wiped them industriously. Lieberman spread a piece of plastic on his desk, and then lifted the thing out of my creel and laid it on the plastic. The two men didn’t move. They just sat where they were and looked at it.
    â€œWhat do you think it is, Mr. Morgan?” Lieberman asked me.
    â€œI thought that was your department.”
    â€œYes, of course. I only wanted your impression.”
    â€œAn ant. That’s my impression. It’s the first time I saw an ant fourteen, fifteen inches long. I hope it’s the last.”
    â€œAn understandable wish,” Lieberman nodded.
    Fitzgerald said to me, “May I ask how you killed it, Mr. Morgan?”
    â€œWith an iron. A golf club, I mean. I was doing a little fishing with some friends up at St. Regis in the Adirondacks, and I brought the iron for my short shots. They’re the worst part of my game, and when my friends left, I intended to stay on at our shack and do four or five hours of short putts. You see—”
    â€œThere’s no need to explain,” Hopper smiled, a trace of sadness on his face. “Some of our very best golfers have the same trouble.”
    â€œI was lying in bed, reading, and I saw it at the foot of my bed. I had the club—”
    â€œI understand,” Fitzgerald nodded.
    â€œYou avoid looking at it,” Hopper said.
    â€œIt turns my stomach.”
    â€œYes—yes, I suppose so.”
    Lieberman said, “Would you mind telling us why you killed it, Mr. Morgan.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œYes—why?”
    â€œI don’t understand you,” I said. “I don’t know what you’re driving at.”
    â€œSit down, please, Mr. Morgan,” Hopper nodded. “Try to relax. I’m sure this has been very trying.”
    â€œI still haven’t slept. I want a chance to dream before I say how trying.”
    â€œWe are not trying to upset you, Mr. Morgan,” Lieberman said. “We do feel, however, that certain aspects of this are very important. That is why I am asking you why you killed it. You must have had a reason. Did it seem about to attack you?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œOr make any sudden motion toward you?”
    â€œNo. It was just there.”
    â€œThen why?”
    â€œThis is to no purpose,” Fitzgerald put in. “We know why he killed it.”
    â€œDo you?”
    â€œThe answer is very simple, Mr. Morgan. You killed it because you are a human being.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œYes. Do you understand?”
    â€œNo, I don’t.”
    â€œThen why did you kill it?” Hopper put in.
    â€œI was scared to death. I still am,