The Destroyer - 90 - The Destroyer 090 - Ghost in the Machine by Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir

Author:Warren Murphy & Richard Sapir [Murphy, Warren & Sapir, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pulp Action
ISBN: 9780451173263
Publisher: PINNACLE BOOKS
Published: 1992-10-18T23:00:00+00:00

"What do you want with the Soviet Embassy?" Rumpp asked suspiciously.

"I must give them present," the thing said flatly. "Grandfather Frost forgot them this year." "Christmas hasn't happened yet. In fact, it's only Halloween."

The thing started. "Excuse, please. What month this?"

"October."

"What year this?"

Before Randal Rumpp could answer the insane question, the operator was saying, "I'm sorry. There is no listing for a Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. Would you like me to try Washington state?"

"No Soviet Embassy? What happened to Soviet Union?"

"It dissolved," Randal Rumpp said flatly, just to see what response he'd get.

A dramatic one, as it turned out.

The blank-faced white creature dropped the telephone and began to moan.

"Soviet Union dissolve in nuclear fire! What about Georgia?"

"It's still down there between South Carolina and Alabama," Randal Rumpp said.

"I am not meaning U.S. Georgia. I am meaning Georgia in Soviet Union."

"Search me. I can't keep track of what's left of Russia."

The thing's bladder-like face regarded him. "It is gone completely?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Completely. And good riddance."

"I am homeless expatriate," it said, cabled shoulders falling. "Without family."

"Look," Rumpp said sharply, "we have some business to conduct here. Let's leave sentiment out of it."

"I am man without country, and you are without human feelings," the thing blubbered. "After all I have done for you."

"What have you done for me?"

"I have restored your building."

It was Randal Rumpp's turn to appear startled. "You have? Are you sure?"

"Am positive. If building were no more, I could not be standing on floor as I am now. Would fall through to death."

"Why not?"

"I am vibrating normally. Therefore, floor is vibrating normally."

Randal Rumpp raced to a window. He took up the Frank Lloyd Wright chair and started banging it against a big bronze solar panel, splintering the legs of the eighty-thousand-dollar original. But Rumpp didn't care.

The glass cracked and shattered, and pieces fell out.

He stuck his head out and watched them fall.

The largest pieces shattered into a million golden shards when they hit the pavement below.

At that moment, the electricity returned.

"It's true! It's true!" Rumpp said distractedly. "Not now! I haven't closed the megadeal of the century yet!"

He grabbed the slick creature and said, "Make it go back to the way it was."

"I cannot."

"Then tell me how it got that way in the first place."

"I am not sure. Was sucked into telephone, but number I dial did not pick up. I think I was tricked by American agents. I have been trapped in telephone system since I do not know how long ago. I think I became trapped in your building, and somehow it became as I was. A ghost."

"You're no more a ghost than I am," Rumpp insisted, giving the thing's arm a hard squeeze.

"True," it gasped, grabbing its shoulder.

"Explain it again. You got sucked into the phone?"

"Da. I mean, yes."

"Show me."

"Why should I?'

"I'll give you this Rolex if you show me."

The faceless thing hesitated. He accepted the watch, put it to the side of his head where his left ear should have been, and listened curiously. He brought the watch face up to what passed for his own.

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