the freezer?"
"Good. Give it here."
I dumped the pill in a sandwich-size plastic Baggy, sucked the air out the top, tied the end, and dropped it in the freezer. Vacuum and cold would help preserve the thing. It was something I should have done last night.
"So much for miracles," Morris said bitterly. "Let's get down to business. We'll have several men outside the place tonight, and a few more in here. You won't know who they are, but go ahead and guess if you like. A lot of your customers will be turned away tonight. They'll be told to watch the newspapers if they want to know why. I hope it won't cost you too much business."
"It may make our fortune. We'll be famous. Were you maybe doing the same thing last night?"
"Yes. We didn't want the place too crowded. The Monks might not like autograph hounds."
"So that's why the place was half empty."
Morris looked at his watch. "Opening time. Are we ready?"
"Take a seat at the bar. And look nonchalant, dammit."
Louise went to turn on the lights.
Morris took a seat to one side of the middle. One big square hand was closed very tightly on the bar edge. "Another gin and tonic. Weak. After that one, leave out the gin."
"Right."
"Nonchalant. Why should I be nonchalant? Frazer, I had to tell the President of the United States of America that the end of the world is coming unless he does something. I had to talk to him myself!"
"Did he buy it?"
"I hope so. He was so goddam calm and reassuring, I wanted to scream at him. God, Frazer, what if we can't build the laser? What if we try and fail?"
I gave him a very old and classic answer. "Stupidity is always a capital crime."
He screamed in my face. "Damn you and your supercilious attitude and your murdering monsters too!" The next second he was ice-water calm. "Never mind, Frazer. You're thinking like a starship captain."
"I'm what?"
"A starship captain has to be able to make a sun go nova to save the ship. You can't help it. It was in the pill."
Damn, he was right. I could feel that he was right. The pill had warped my way of thinking. Blowing up the sun that warms another race had to be immoral. Didn't it?
I couldn't trust my own sense of right and wrong! Four men tame in and took one of the bigger tables. Morris's men? No. Real estate men, here to do business.
"Something's been bothering me," said Morris. He grimaced. "Among all the things that have been ruining my composure, such as the impending end of the world, there was one thing that kept nagging at me."
I set his gin-and-tonic in front of him. He tasted it and said, "Fine. And I finally realized what it was, waiting there in the phone booth for a chain of human snails to put the President on. Frazer, are you a college man?"
"No. Webster High."
"See, you don't really talk like a bartender. You use big words."
"I do?"
"Sometimes. And you talked about 'suns exploding,' but you knew what I meant when I said 'nova.' You talked about 'H-bomb power,' but' you knew what fusion was."
"Sure."
"I got the possibly silly impression that you were learning the words the instant I said them. Parlez-vous français?"
"No. I don't speak any foreign languages."
"None at all?"
"Nope. What do you think they teach at Webster High?"
"Je parle la langue un peu, Frazer. Et tu?"
"Merde de cochon! Morris, je vous dit-oops."
He didn't give me a chance to think it over. He said, "What's fanac?"
My head had that clogged feeling again. I said, "Might be anything. Putting out a sine, writing to the lettercol, helping put on a Con-Morris, what is this?"
"That language course was more extensive than we thought."
"Sure as hell, it was. I just remembered. Those women on the cleaning team were speaking Spanish, but I understood them."
"Spanish, French, Monkish, technical languages, even Fannish. What you got was a generalized course in how to understand languages the instant you hear them. I don't see how it could work without telepathy."
"Reading minds? Maybe." Several times today,
"Good. Give it here."
I dumped the pill in a sandwich-size plastic Baggy, sucked the air out the top, tied the end, and dropped it in the freezer. Vacuum and cold would help preserve the thing. It was something I should have done last night.
"So much for miracles," Morris said bitterly. "Let's get down to business. We'll have several men outside the place tonight, and a few more in here. You won't know who they are, but go ahead and guess if you like. A lot of your customers will be turned away tonight. They'll be told to watch the newspapers if they want to know why. I hope it won't cost you too much business."
"It may make our fortune. We'll be famous. Were you maybe doing the same thing last night?"
"Yes. We didn't want the place too crowded. The Monks might not like autograph hounds."
"So that's why the place was half empty."
Morris looked at his watch. "Opening time. Are we ready?"
"Take a seat at the bar. And look nonchalant, dammit."
Louise went to turn on the lights.
Morris took a seat to one side of the middle. One big square hand was closed very tightly on the bar edge. "Another gin and tonic. Weak. After that one, leave out the gin."
"Right."
"Nonchalant. Why should I be nonchalant? Frazer, I had to tell the President of the United States of America that the end of the world is coming unless he does something. I had to talk to him myself!"
"Did he buy it?"
"I hope so. He was so goddam calm and reassuring, I wanted to scream at him. God, Frazer, what if we can't build the laser? What if we try and fail?"
I gave him a very old and classic answer. "Stupidity is always a capital crime."
He screamed in my face. "Damn you and your supercilious attitude and your murdering monsters too!" The next second he was ice-water calm. "Never mind, Frazer. You're thinking like a starship captain."
"I'm what?"
"A starship captain has to be able to make a sun go nova to save the ship. You can't help it. It was in the pill."
Damn, he was right. I could feel that he was right. The pill had warped my way of thinking. Blowing up the sun that warms another race had to be immoral. Didn't it?
I couldn't trust my own sense of right and wrong! Four men tame in and took one of the bigger tables. Morris's men? No. Real estate men, here to do business.
"Something's been bothering me," said Morris. He grimaced. "Among all the things that have been ruining my composure, such as the impending end of the world, there was one thing that kept nagging at me."
I set his gin-and-tonic in front of him. He tasted it and said, "Fine. And I finally realized what it was, waiting there in the phone booth for a chain of human snails to put the President on. Frazer, are you a college man?"
"No. Webster High."
"See, you don't really talk like a bartender. You use big words."
"I do?"
"Sometimes. And you talked about 'suns exploding,' but you knew what I meant when I said 'nova.' You talked about 'H-bomb power,' but' you knew what fusion was."
"Sure."
"I got the possibly silly impression that you were learning the words the instant I said them. Parlez-vous français?"
"No. I don't speak any foreign languages."
"None at all?"
"Nope. What do you think they teach at Webster High?"
"Je parle la langue un peu, Frazer. Et tu?"
"Merde de cochon! Morris, je vous dit-oops."
He didn't give me a chance to think it over. He said, "What's fanac?"
My head had that clogged feeling again. I said, "Might be anything. Putting out a sine, writing to the lettercol, helping put on a Con-Morris, what is this?"
"That language course was more extensive than we thought."
"Sure as hell, it was. I just remembered. Those women on the cleaning team were speaking Spanish, but I understood them."
"Spanish, French, Monkish, technical languages, even Fannish. What you got was a generalized course in how to understand languages the instant you hear them. I don't see how it could work without telepathy."
"Reading minds? Maybe." Several times today,
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