John Brunner by Beyond Capella

Author:Beyond Capella [Capella, Beyond]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-08-26T23:06:44+00:00

"Ohl" She didn't look pleased. "Of course, you're in a hurry to get on your way. I should have realized that."

"I don't like free fall any more than you do, Miss Kramer. No one does. Over there"—he thumbed in the direction of the hospital—"they have a centrifuge as therapy for all platform personnel. Prolonged free fall is no good for anyone. You sound as if you had some reason to linger."

"It's Bernard. Dr. Kopal. He is back aboard now. He professes to be quite well, but the base medical officer advised us that it would be a help to him to be in free fall a day or two longer. They wanted to keep him, but he insisted on coming back, to be here, to explain—"

"Yes." Kane thought it over carefully. All his instincts told him that this affair was best kept within the ambience of the ship, for the moment. There was no doubt whatever in his own mind of Kopal's guilt—of his responsibility anyway —but he was entided to his chance to explain, to offer some kind of defense. There was no point in opening the door to the corrosive wind of a military court-martial until all the facts were in. "Very well, Miss Kramer," he said. "I won't try to clip it. You shall have the full span. The deadline is sixty-eight hours from now. Please convey to Dr. Kopal my wishes for his full recovery."

"I don't understand you."

"Don't try. It's a waste of your time. Better by far to understand the pattern of circumstances, rather than the inscrutable depths of the psyche. The pattern of events is all that matters. Those torpedomen may or may not have understood just why a warhead explodes at a certain signal but they did know how to operate the launchers. But the launchers didn't work, and those three men died. No thanks to Dr. Kopal that you and I are here, alive, to talk about it. Facts, Miss Kramer. All the understanding in the world about Daniel O'ConnelL Simon Aznyk, or Peter Greco—or me, or Dr. Kopal, or yourself even—can alter those facts now. The best I can do is to see that the same thing does not happen again. Do you question that?"

"So," she curled a lip, "you're a ritualistl"

"And you," he retorted coldly, "are a supematuralist, a devotee of that school of psychotherapy that maintains there are mysteries in the human mind beyond the reach of visible study, that the human mind is beyond human understanding, and all the rest of that nonsense. I've heard both sides, Miss Kramer, and all shades in between. I belong to no school. If you must pin a label on me, call me a realist. In posse if not in esse."

Something he had said slipped through her armor. She flushed red. "You think you're very clever, commander—"

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he snapped, suddenly irritable. "Stop trying to understand me, Miss Kramer. Circumstances rule here. Circumstances which impelled you to speak to me against your will.

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