Paycheck (2003) Read Online Free Page B

it.’
    ‘Of course not! They’re fighting the Police. Anyone that’s fighting the Police is on our side.’
    ‘Really? I’ve heard that kind of logic before. Anyone fighting communism was automatically good, a few decades ago. Well, time will tell. As far as I’m concerned I’m an individual caught between two ruthless forces. Government and business. The Government has men and wealth. Rethrick Construction has its technocracy. What they’ve done with it, I don’t know. I did, a few weeks ago. All I have now is a faint glimmer, a few references. A theory.’
    Kelly glanced at him. ‘A theory?’
    ‘And my pocketful of trinkets. Seven. Three or four now. I’ve used some. They’re the basis of my theory. If Rethrick is doing what I think it’s doing, I can understand the SP’s interest. As a matter of fact, I’m beginning to share their interest.’
    ‘What is Rethrick doing?’
    ‘It’s developed a time scoop.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘A time scoop. It’s been theoretically possible for several years. But it’s illegal to experiment with time scoops and mirrors. It’s a felony, and if you’re caught, all your equipment and data becomes the property of the Government.’ Jennings smiled crookedly. ‘No wonder the Government’s interested. If they can catch Rethrick with the goods—’
    ‘A time scoop. It’s hard to believe.’
    ‘Don’t you think I’m right?’
    ‘I don’t know. Perhaps. Your trinkets. You’re not the first to come out with a little cloth sack of odds and ends. You’ve used some? How?’
    ‘First, the wire and the bus token. Getting away from the Police. It seems funny, but if I hadn’t had them, I’d be there yet. A piece of wire and a ten-cent token. But I don’t usually carry such things. That’s the point.’
    ‘Time travel.’
    ‘No. Not time travel. Berkowsky demonstrated that time travel is impossible. This is a time scoop, a mirror to see and a scoop to pick up things. These trinkets. At least one of them is from the future. Scooped up. Brought back.’
    ‘How do you know?’
    ‘It’s dated. The others, perhaps not. Things like tokens and wire belong to classes of things. Any one token is as good as another. There,
he
must have used a mirror.’
    ‘
He?’
    ‘When I was working with Rethrick. I must have used the mirror. I looked into my own future. If I was repairing their equipment I could hardly keep from it! I must have looked ahead, seen what was coming. The SP picking me up. I must have seen that, and seen what a piece of thin wire and a bus token would do - if I had them with me at the exact moment.’
    Kelly considered. ‘Well? What do you want me for?’
    ‘I’m not sure, now. Do you really look on Rethrick as a benevolent institution, waging war against the Police? A sort of Roland at Roncesvalles—’
    ‘What does it matter how I feel about the Company?’
    ‘It matters a lot.’ Jennings finished his drink, pushing the glass aside. ‘It matters a lot, because I want you to help me. I’m going to blackmail Rethrick Construction.’
    Kelly stared at him.
    ‘It’s my one chance to stay alive, I’ve got to get a hold over Rethrick, a big hold. Enough of a hold so they’ll let me in, on my own terms. There’s no other place I can go. Sooner or later the Police are going to pick me up. If I’m not inside the Plant, and soon—’
    ‘Help you blackmail the Company? Destroy Rethrick?’
    ‘No. Not destroy. I don’t want to destroy it - my life depends on the Company. My life depends on Rethrick being strong enough to defy the SP. But if I’m on the
outside
it doesn’t much matter how strong Rethrick is. Do you see? I want to get in. I want to get inside before it’s too late. And I want in on my own terms, not as a two-year worker who gets pushed out again afterward.’
    ‘For the Police to pick up.’
    Jennings nodded. ‘Exactly.’
    ‘How are you going to blackmail the Company?’
    ‘I’m going to enter the Plant and carry out