Citizen in Spase. Stories / Гражданин в Космосе. Рассказы. Книга для чтения на английском языке. Роберт Шекли
trouble was, he didn’t dare surrender this book.
Eldridge smiled, tapped his ear, and hastily went on reading.
It seemed that the brilliant young Eldridge had allowed Viglin to arrange all his contracts and papers. One day he found, to his surprise, that he had signed over all rights in The Time Traveler to Viglin, for a small monetary consideration. Eldridge brought the case to court. The court found against him. The case was appealed. Penniless and embittered, Eldridge embarked on his career of crime, stealing from Viglin —
“Sir!” the librarian said. “Deaf or not, you must leave at once. Otherwise I will call a guard.”
Eldridge put down the book, muttered, “Tattletale,” to the little girl, and hurried out of the Readery.
Now he knew why Viglin was so eager to arrest him. With the case still pending, Eldridge would be in a very poor position behind bars.
But why had he stolen?
The theft of his invention was an understandable motive, but Eldridge felt certain it was not the right one. Stealing from Viglin would not make him feel any better nor would it right the wrong. His reaction would be either to fight or to withdraw, to retire from the whole mess. Anything except stealing.
Well, he would find out. He would hide in Sector Two, perhaps find work. Bit by bit, he would —
Two men seized his arms from either side. A third took the Traveler away from him. It was done so smoothly that Eldridge was still gasping when one of the men showed a badge.
“Police,” the man said. “You’ll have to come with us, Mr. Eldridge.”
“What for?” Eldridge asked.
“Robbery in Sectors One and Two.”
So he had stolen here, too.
He was taken to the police station and into the small, cluttered ofifce of the captain of police. The captain was a slim, balding, cheerful-faced man. He waved his subordinates out of the room, motioned Eldridge to a chair and gave him a cigarette.
“So you’re Eldridge,” he said.
Eldridge nodded morosely.
“Been reading about you ever since I was a little boy,” the captain said nostalgically. “You were one of my heroes.”
Eldridge guessed the captain to be a good fifteen years his senior, but he didn’t ask about it. After all, he was supposed to be the expert on time paradoxes.
“Always thought you got a rotten deal,” the captain said, toying with a large bronze paperweight. “Still, I couldn’t understand a man like you stealing. For a while, we thought it might have been temporary insanity.”
“Was it?” Eldridge asked hopefully.
“Not a chance. Checked your records. You just haven’t got the potentiality. And that makes it rather dififcult for me. For example, why did you steal those particular items?”
“What items?”
“Don’t you remember?”
“I – I’ve blanked out,” Eldridge said. “Temporary amnesia.”
“Very understandable,” the captain said sympathetically. He handed Eldridge a paper.
“Here’s the list.”
ITEMS STOLEN BY THOMAS MONROE ELDRIDGE
Taken from Viglin’s Sporting Goods Store,
Sector One:
Credits
4 Megacharge Hand Pistols ............10,000
3 Lifebelts, Inflatable....................100
5 Cans, Ollen’s Shark Repellant...........400
Taken from Alfghan’s Specialty Shop,
Sector One:
2 Microflex Sets, World Literature . . . . . . .1,000
5 Teeny-Tom Symphonic Tape Runs .....2,650
Taken from Loorie’s Produce Store,
Sector Two:
4 Dozen Potatoes, White Turtle Brand.......5
9 Packages, Carrot Seeds (Fancy) . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Taken from Manori’s Notions Store,
Sector Two:
5 Dozen Mirrors, Silver-backed (hand-size)....95
Total Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,256
“What does it mean?” the captain asked. “Stealing a million credits outright, I could understand, but why all that junk?”
Eldridge shook his head. He could find nothing meaningful in the list. The megacharge hand pistols sounded useful. But why the mirrors, lifebelts, potatoes and the rest of the things that the captain had properly called junk?
It just didn’t sound like himself. Eldridge began to think of himself as two people. Eldridge I had invented time travel, been victimized, stolen some incomprehensible articles, and vanished. Eldridge II was himself, the person Viglin had found. He had no memory of the first Eldridge. But he had to discover Eldridge I’s motives and/or suffer for his crimes.
“What happened after I stole these things?” Eldridge asked.
“That’s what we’d like to know,” the captain said. “All we know is, you fled into Sector Three with your loot.”
“And then?”
The captain shrugged. “When we applied for extradition, the authorities told us you weren’t there. Not that they’d have given you up. They’re a proud, independent sort, you know. Anyhow, you’d vanished.”
“Vanished? To where?”
“I don’t know. You might have gone into the Uncivilized Sectors that lie beyond Sector Three.”
“What are the Uncivilized Sectors?” Eldridge asked.
“We were hoping you would tell us,” the captain said. “You’re the only man who’s explored beyond Sector Three.”
Damn it, Eldridge thought, he was supposed to be the authority on everything he wanted to know!
“This puts me in a pretty fix,” the captain remarked squinting at his paperweight.
“Why?”
“Well, you’re a thief. The law says I must arrest you. However, I am also aware that you got a very shoddy deal. And I happen to know that you stole only from Viglin and his afifliates in both Sectors. There’s a certain justice to it – unfortunately unrecognized by law.”
Eldridge nodded unhappily.
“It’s my clear duty to arrest you,” the captain said with a deep sigh. “There’s nothing I can do about it, even if I wanted to. You’ll have to stand trial and probably serve a sentence of twenty years or so.”
“What? For stealing rubbish like shark repellant and carrot seed? For stealing junk?”
“We’re pretty rough on time theft,” said the captain. “Temporal offense.”
“I see,” Eldridge said, slumping in his chair.
“Of course,” said the captain thoughtfully, “if you should suddenly turn vicious, knock me over the head with this heavy paperweight, grab my personal Time Traveler – which I keep in the second shelf of that cabinet – and return to your friends in Sector Three, there would really be nothing I could do about it.”
“Huh?”
The captain turned toward the window, leaving his paperweight within Eldridge’s easy reach.
“It’s really terrible,” he commented, “the things one will consider doing for a boyhood hero. But, of course, you’re a law-abiding man. You would never do such a thing and I have psychological reports to prove it.”
“Thanks,”