Short Fiction Poul Anderson (reading a book .TXT) đ
- Author: Poul Anderson
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âI see. Now, when you graduatedâ ââ
Elizabeth entered from the kitchen with a tray. âPardon me,â she smiled. âI think refreshments are in order.â
Sagdahlâs face didnât change, but his eyes bugged slightly. Elizabeth put a coffee cup in his hand and a plate of cake on one knee. He looked unhappy, but mumbled dutiful thanks.
âOh, itâs a pleasure,â said Elizabeth blandly. âYou boys are doing your duty, and really, this is very exciting.â
Sagdahl got down a mouthful of cake. Valiantly, he tried to resume the staccato flow: âNow, when you graduated, Dr. Arch, you took a vacation, you say. Where was that?â
âUp in Quebec. About three months. Just driving around andâ ââ
âI see. Then you returned to school for a masterâs degree, right? Did you at this time know a Joseph Barrett?â
âWell, yes, I shared an office with him.â
âDid you ever discuss politics with him?â
âDrink your coffee before it gets cold,â said Elizabeth. âThereâs plenty more.â
âOhâ âthanks. Now, about this Barrett?â
âWe argued a lot. You see, Iâm frankly a reactionaryâ ââ
âWere you associated with any political-action group?â
âMr. Horrisford,â said Elizabeth reproachfully, âyou havenât touched your cake.â
âNo, I wasnât that interested,â said Arch. âDidnât even bother to vote in â50.â
âHere, Mr. Sagdahl, do have some more cake.â
âThanks!â âYou met some of Barrettâs friends?â
âYes, I was at some parties andâ ââ
âExcuse me, Iâll just warm your coffee.â
âDid you at this time know anyone who had worked in the Manhattan Project?â
âOf course. They were all over the place. But I never was told anything restricted, never asked forâ ââ
âPlease, Mr. Horrisford! Itâs my favorite recipe.â
âUmmm. Thank you, butâ ââ
âYou met your future wife when?â
âInâ ââ
âExcuse me, thereâs the phoneâ ââ ⊠Hello. Mrs. Arch speakingâ ââ ⊠Oh?â ââ ⊠Yes, Iâll seeâ ââ ⊠Pardon me. Thereâs a man from the Associated Press in town. He wants to see you, dear.â
Sagdahl flinched. âStall him off,â he groaned. âPlease.â
âCanât do that forever,â said Arch. âNot under the circumstances.â
âI realize that, Dr. Arch.â Sagdahl clenched his jaw. âBut this is unprecedented. As an American citizen, youâll want toâ ââ
âCertainly weâll cooperate,â said Elizabeth brightly. âBut what shall I tell the AP man? That weâre not supposed to say anything to anyone?â
âNo! That wonât do, not now. Butâ âare all the technical details of this public?â
âWhy, yes,â said Arch. âAnybody can make capacitite.â
âIf you issued a denialâ ââ
âToo late, Iâm afraid. Somebodyâs bound to try it anyway.â
Sagdahl looked grim. âYou can be held incommunicado,â he said. âThis is a very serious matter.â
âYes,â said Elizabeth. âThe AP man will think so too, if he canât get a story.â
âWellâ ââ
âOh, dear! My Russell Wright coffee cup!â
Nothing happened overnight. That was the hardest thing to believe. By all the rules, life should have been suddenly and dramatically transformed; but instead, there were only minor changes, day by day, small incidents. Meanwhile you ate, slept, worked, paid bills, made love and conversation, as you had always done.
The F.B.I. held its hand as yet, but some quiet men checked into the townâs one hotel, and there was usually one of them hanging around Archâs house, watching. Elizabeth would occasionally invite him in for a snackâ âshe grew quite fond of them.
The newspapers ran feature articles, and for a while the house was overrun with reportersâ âthen that too faded away. Editorials appeared, pointing out that capacitite had licked one of the Soviet Unionâs major problems, fuel; and a syndicated columnist practically called for Archâs immediate execution. He found some of his neighbors treating him coldly. The situation distressed him, too. âI never thoughtâ ââ he began.
âExactly,â rumbled Culquhoun. âPeople like you are one reason science is coming to be considered a Frankenstein. Dammit, man, the researcher has to have a social conscience like the rest of us.â
Arch smiled wearily. âBut I do,â he said. âI gave considerable thought to the social effects. I just imagined that theyâd be good. Thatâs been the case with every major innovation, in the long run.â
âYouâve committed a crime,â said Culquhoun. âIdealism. It doesnât fit the world we inhabit.â
Arch flushed angrily. âWhat was I supposed to do?â he snapped. âBurn my results and forget them? If the human race is too stupid to use the obvious advantages, thatâs its own fault.â
âYouâre making a common error, dear,â said Elizabeth. âYou speak of the human race. There isnât any. There are only individual people and groups of people, with their own conflicting interests.â
For a while, there was a big campaign to play down the effects of capacitite. It wasnât important. It meant nothing, as our eminent columnist has so lucidly shown. Then the attempt switched: capacitite was dangerous. So-and-so had been electrocuted working with it. There was cumulative poisoningâ ââ ⊠Such propaganda didnât work, not when some millions of people were seeing for themselves.
Petroleum stock began sagging. It didnât nosediveâ âthe S.E.C. and a valiantly buying clique saw to thatâ âbut it slipped down day by day.
Arch happened to drop in at Hinkelâs garage. The old man looked up from a car on which he was laboring and smiled. âHello, there,â he said. âHavenât seen you in a long time.â
âIâ âwellâ ââ Arch looked guiltily at the oil-stained floor. âIâm afraidâ âyour businessâ ââ
âOh, donât worry about me. Iâve got more business than I can handle. Everybody in town seems to want his car converted over to your type of engine. That young Bob is turning out the stuff like a printing press gone berserk.â
Arch couldnât quite meet his eyes. âButâ âarenât your gasoline sales dropping?â
âTo be sure. But cars still need lubrication andâ âLook, you know the old watermill down by Ronsonâs farm? Iâm buying that, putting in a generator and a high-voltage transformer and rectifier. Iâll be selling packaged power. A lot easier than running a gas pump, at my age.â
âWonât the power company be competing?â
âEventually. Right now, theyâre still waiting for orders from higher up, I guess. Some people can charge their capacitors right at home, but most would rather not
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