SCI FI by William Marshall

Author:William Marshall [Marshall, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: caper, detective, Hong Kong, humor, mystery, police procedural, reflexive, SF
ISBN: 9780241105368
Google: jApXAAAAYAAJ
Amazon: 0030710634
Publisher: H. Hamilton
Published: 1981-01-15T19:25:55+00:00

*

In the ticket office, Spencer said earnestly to Klaus, “I think I’ve got it. I think that all the victims of the mugger got it wrong and that the Volkswagen kombi van wasn’t yellow at all.” He looked down at the console controlling the television cameras and gave it a stroke, “I’ve been trying to look at this logically, like a computer, and I’ve come to the conclusion that unless the Volkswagen doesn’t exist—that it has to be white.” He smiled at Klaus expectantly.

Klaus said, interested, “Oh?”

“Yes, I’ve put all the information through my mind like a computer and I’ve realised that one of the important factors I’d missed was that in each of the nine muggings the victim was just an ordinary person suddenly put under great stress and that therefore they might have made a mistake. I’ve then run through all the other bits of data at my disposal and come up with the fact that the one trained, reliable observer who saw the vehicle—not under stress but calmly and clearly here on the TV screen (Mr Auden)—saw it as white.” He paused, looking anxious, “So therefore I’ve come to the conclusion that the vehicle involved is a white Volkswagen kombi van and that everyone else made a mistake about it.” He glanced up in the direction of the ceiling, “Mr Auden’s on the second floor because that’s where he thinks the mugger will strike next and all we need now is one good sighting and it’ll be certain.” Spencer said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice, “Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t have fought the coming of the machine, he would have welcomed it.”

Klaus said, “I always thought myself that Holmes was really a bit of a nut on science rather than deduction.”

“You’re right of course.” Spencer said, “We all imagine the world the way we’d like it to be, but really, logically, data-wise there’s only one truth in it and that’s the truth the machines tell us, isn’t it?”

Klaus said happily, “Yeah, that’s right!”

Spencer grinned at him, “The only alternative to the inescapable conclusion that the vehicle is a white VW kombi is that—that it doesn’t exist at all.” He made a chuckling noise, “And then I’d be back to square one and the false wall and floor theory.”

Klaus said, “I think you’ve covered that one pretty fully already. If there was a false wall here I’d know about it.” He indicated a smaller console on the desk, “That’s a car counter. It counts how many cars go in and how many go out. If there was a false floor it’d show that not enough cars were parked in here when I pressed the CARPARK FULL button and the owners would be down on me like a ton of bricks.” He said with a grin, “If I find a carpark in Australia that doesn’t have one of those counters maybe I’ll brick up a floor, rent it out for a million dollars a year and claim the carpark’s full when it isn’t.

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