Selected Stories Read Online Free Page A

think I see.”
    “I wondered if I could maybe get a recording.”
    “I think so,” she said. “What kind of a reproducer have you got?”
    “Audiovid.”
    “A disk. Yes; we dubbed off a few. Wait, I’ll get you one.”
    She went inside, moving slowly. Pete watched her, spellbound. She was a silhouette, crowned and haloed; and then she was a framed picture, vivid and golden. He waited, watching the light hungrily. She returned with a large envelope, called good night to someone inside, and came out on the platform.
    “Here you are, Pete Mawser.”
    “Thanks very—” he mumbled. He wet his lips. “It was very good of you.”
    “Not really. The more it circulates, the better.” She laughed suddenly. “That isn’t meant quite as it sounds. I’m not exactly looking for new publicity these days.”
    The stubbornness came back. “I don’t know that you’d get it, if you put on that show in normal times.”
    Her eyebrows went up. “Well!” she smiled. “I seem to have made quite an impression.”
    “I’m sorry,” he said warmly. “I shouldn’t have taken that tack. Everything you think and say these days is exaggerated.”
    “I know what you mean.” She looked around. “How is it here?”
    “It’s O.K. I used to be bothered by the secrecy, and being buried miles away from civilization.” He chuckled bitterly. “Turned out to be lucky after all.”
    “You sound like the first chapter of One World or None. ”
    He looked up quickly. “What do you use for a reading list—the Government’s own ‘Index Expurgatorius’ ?”
    She laughed. “Come now—it isn’t as bad as all that. The book was never banned. It was just—”
    “Unfashionable,” he filled in.
    “Yes, more’s the pity. If people had paid more attention to it when it was published, perhaps this wouldn’t have happened.”
    He followed her gaze to the dimly pulsating sky. “How long are you going to be here?”
    “Until … as long as … I’m not leaving.”
    “You’re not?”
    “I’m finished,” she said simply. “I’ve covered all the ground I can. I’ve been everywhere that … anyone knows about.”
    “With this show?”
    She nodded. “With this particular message.”
    He was quiet, thinking. She turned to the door, and he put out his hand, not touching her. “Please—”
    “What is it?”
    “I’d like to … I mean, if you don’t mind, I don’t often have a chance to talk to—Maybe you’d like to walk around a little before you turn in.”
    “Thanks, no, Sergeant. I’m tired.” She did sound tired. “I’ll see you around.”
    He stared at her, a sudden fierce light in his brain. “I know where it is. It’s got a red-topped lever and a tag referring to orders of the commanding officer. It’s really camouflaged.”
    She was quiet so long that he thought she had not heard him. Then, “I’ll take that walk.”
    They went down the ramp together and turned toward the dark parade ground.
    “How did you know?” she asked quietly.
    “Not too tough. This ‘message’ of yours; the fact that you’ve been all over the country with it; most of all, the fact that somebody finds it necessary to persuade us not to strike back. Who are you working for?” he asked bluntly.
    Surprisingly, she laughed.
    “What’s that for?”
    “A moment ago you were blushing and shuffling your feet.”
    His voice was rough. “I wasn’t talking to a human being. I was talking to a thousand songs I’ve heard, and a hundred thousand blond pictures I’ve seen pinned up. You’d better tell me what this is all about.”
    She stopped. “Let’s go up and see the colonel.”
    He took her elbow. “No. I’m just a sergeant, and he’s high brass, and that doesn’t make any difference at all now. You’re a human being, and so am I, and I’m supposed to respect your rights as such. I don’t. You’re a woman, and—”
    She stiffened. He kept her walking, and finished, “—and that will make as much difference as I