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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
agreed.
"Glad to see you're back in your old habits. After that escape attempt, I
guess you're settling in, Doc, from what I've been hearing."
"Aye, noble Allan, that I am."
The security man shrugged. "Looks can be deceiving, though, can't they? I
mean, you know and I know that you're not exactly doing what the bosses think
you're doing, are you?"
"No, I am not." Doc flashed his teeth. "Nothing is ever what it seems."
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"They might have killed you instead of just limiting your access in the
redoubt, you know," Allan said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I was willing to take the risk. If I succeeded, to hell with them. If I
failed, well, I
am beyond caring whether I live or die. I have outlived all I knew, all my
friends, my " and his voice caught " my loved ones. My family. No, they did
not kill me. I remain too valuable. They yearn for my agreement."
"Agreement?" Allan looked puzzled. Doc put down the book and stared at the
flickering television set. "I am but a cog in a greater plan, Allan. Their
wishes are my own. They wish to send me back home to my proper time and
place."
"So, what's stopping them? Or you? I mean, that's what you want, right?"
"Yes& and no."
"So who's the hold up?"
Doc sighed. "I am."
"You?"
"Me. And my hesitation comes from what they call an 'alternate event horizon.'
See, if I had not been taken away from Omaha in 1896, I would have gone on to
become a very important man. I am not bragging about this, merely stating a
fact.
My studies and oratory would have influenced generations."
Allan whistled. "No shit?"
"None. Now, how this was to have occurred, I do not know, but I have been
assured that eventually I would have had access to the president's ear, and as
such, would have, could have, influenced national policy in times of great
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crisis. The two world wars I have read about? Those and other pivotal events
would have been substantially altered by my presence."
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"Damn. For better or for worse?"
"Who can say for sure? That's why they call it an alternate event horizon. The
flow of time the time line would have been different."
"So what? Go back anyway. What will be, will be."
"Que sera sera, Allan?"
The sec man showed off his own shining white teeth. "Damn straight. And fuck
Doris Day."
"I would risk doing as they wish, my friend, but with the knowledge I now
possess, who is to say how I might change things? My own guess is that if I go
back with their mental programming, the facts of the future I already know
consciously or subconsciously would assure them of occurring& at least, within
my sphere of influence. However, I would not be in full control of my actions.
They will not tell me how or why, only that my cooperation must be absolute
for the planned mental programming to work. To regain my wife and children, I
must become a pawn and follow a combination of predetermined maneuvers on the
chessboard. To take back what I have lost, I must give them my soul."
"Can you do that?"
"No, Allan, I cannot."
"Then you're going to need some help." Allan opened the door to Doc's cell,
stepping inside.
"Now, if I were to turn my back on you, like this, I might be accidentally
opening myself up to another one of your escape attempts, mightn't I?"
"Yes," Doc said, feeling his heart sing in response to Allan's ploy. He got to
his feet. "You just might, were I the type to betray your trust."
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"And there wouldn't be a damned thing I could do if you bashed me over the
head with that bookend next to the TV, would there?"
Doc reached over and picked up the object, hefting the heavy ceramic bookend
in both hands. "Not if you were taken by surprise, no."
"Two things before lights out, Doc."
"Yes?"
"Take my tunic and pull up the hood like I was wearing it before and you might
make it past the security cameras in this sector. Once you're past the cell
block, they won't be looking for you immediately, and you can move a bit more
freely."
"Very well. What is the other thing you wished to relate to me?"
"When you raise that bookend up and clobber my noggin, try not to kill me."
DRESSED IN THE SECURITY bodysuit with the hood pulled up over his head, Doc
hoped Allan was right in assuming he would escape detection from the security
video cameras scanning the hallways of the redoubt. He had quickly memorized
by rote the numbers to push for entry into the control room of the
Chronos mat-trans device, and was hoping against hope the chron-jump transport
was still using the same command codes.
As he already knew from his previous freer days, a skeleton crew would be on
duty inside the control room. Looking inside through an observation portal, he
spied three figures two men and a woman. Doc hovered outside the access door
for a moment, his fingers poised to tap in the entry code, and then he decided
to wait. He nimbly stepped into the nearby men's room and went into a stall
and sat.
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He knew the shift break would come soon, and if he were quick, he could go
inside with the advantage of having only a single technician watching over the
dormant equipment. Time-trawling tests were rarely done after daylight, and
those on watch inside were only there to run computer simulations, more or
less.
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Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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