[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
friend, Ishrail s friend! You can t keep him here!
Shansfor stood up. His face, like Davi s, was pale. He said nothing, merely waiting for Davi to finish.
That was more ominous than words.
Look here, Davi said, unable to resist argument, although guessing already how useless it might be.
This tale Ishrail has told us about the great civilization of the galaxy the stress-fields of space the
interpenetratprs all the details of life on other planets strange animals and flowers you can t believe
he made it all up in his head? Some of these planets he talks about Droxy, Owlenj you surely don t
think they re just fictitious?
Mr. Dael, Shansfor said in a brittle voice, please credit us with knowing our business here. The
patient has a fertile imagination; it has finally collapsed under the stress of too much reading omnivorous
reading, I may add, which has encompassed both learned works and cheap trash.
But his story of this galactic war Davi protested,
Tell me, Shansfor said with dangerous calm. Do you believe a galactic war is now raging, Mr. Dael?
Pause. The engine yards outside were floating away on a tide of darkness in which isolated lights strove
to act as buoys. The sky was one big cloud, cozy over New Union. Supposing I do believe, Davi
thought, supposing I do believe the whole fantastic business, how can I prove I m sane any more easily
than Ishrail can? How can I prove to myself I m sane? Two months ago, I would have laughed at this
galactic rigmarole. It s just that the way Ishrail told it, it had the ring of truth. Unmistakable! And
yet why, it is all frighteningly far-fetched. But that s why I believe it: it s too tall not to be true. Believe?
So I do believe, hey? But I m not sure. If, I were really sure, they d lock me up too. Oh, Ishrail.... No,
better play safe; after all, I m no use to Ishrail once they have doubts about me. Before the cock crows
twice. . . .
Uh. . . . Oh, I don t know what to believe. ... he faltered miserably, ashamed of remaining
uncommitted, looking away from Shansfor. The yellow buttercup mocked his downcast eyes.
I actually came to tell you that the medical council is still in session, Shansfor said, his voice a shade
warmer than urbane. The Arch-Brother Inald Uatt, our director, is there, if you would care to speak to
him.
I suppose I d better.
Stop shaking, you old fool, Davi told himself. But he could not stop; directly he had denied Ishrail, he
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
knew he believed in him and in all he stood for. He knew further that nobody else believed. So it was up
to him, Davi Dael, whether Ishrail was released from what might be a life s confinement. Larger issues,
too, might depend on his efforts, for through Ishrail lay the way to bright, friendly worlds far beyond the
Sun s unwelcoming cluster of planets. All he had to do was to convince a board of experts, who had
apparently already made up their minds on the subject of Ishrail s sanity, that they were wrong. That was
all: but it would not be easy.
Can I see Ishrail first? Davi asked.
You force me to answer that question as I answered it before with a negative, Shansfor replied.
Now if you ll come with me, I think the council will see you. ...
They walked down the corridor to a lift, went up one deck to a more grandly appointed part of the ship,
and so into a fur-lined board room. Thick curtains had been drawn here, a fire burned, and on one wall
hung an original Wadifango, an anatomical drawing of a tiger.
A long table stood in the middle of the room, soft chairs ranged its walls, but the four men present stood
stretching their legs by the fire. As the round of intro-ductions disclosed, Arch-Brother Inald Uatt was a
small, stocky man with a bald head, clothed from neck to foot in tight blue flannel, his manner reserved,
his voice dry.
He shook hands with Davi, crossing to the table to get a bundle of notes secured by a plain silver clasp.
This is a very interesting case for us, Mr. Dael, he remarked conversationally.
It s more than a case to me, sir, Davi said.
Er yes. Of course; you and he became very friendly in the brief time you were together, I understand.
Be warned, though, against letting the matter become an obsession.
It s not becoming an obsession, Davi said. I take Ishrail s part, sir, because there is nobody else to
take it. I feel it would be easy for him to be victimized. The whole thing seemed pretty simple once, but
since he s been up here at New Union in your hands it seems to have got more and more complicated.
He was aware as he spoke of sounding less courteous than he had intended. He was confused. The
board room confused him, the rather restrained members of the council confused him; they differed so
greatly from the people of his home hills. Although in his own sphere of dairy farming and stock-breeding
Davi was well known and respected, here he felt out of his depth, too conscious of seeming the simple
countryman among the experts, aware his tunic colour was not theirs. A horrible feeling seized him that he
was about to make an ass of himself, and from then on it never left him; it got between him and his
reason, forcing him into saying always the wrong thing.
I mean this business is just a question of common sense, he added, making things worse instead of
better.
Inald Uatt smiled kindly as if covering his own em-barrassment.
There are problems, unfortunately, he said, where common sense is too blunt a tool to work with,
Mr. Dael, and Ishrail s problem is one such. Indeed, we have achieved results only by trying several
oblique approaches, as you shall hear.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]