Worlds Without End 01 Worlds Without End by Clifford D Simak

Author:Clifford D Simak [Simak, Clifford D]
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science fiction
Published: 2010-05-03T14:40:24.544000+00:00

8

He climbed the steps and rang the bell; a voice told Mm to come in.

Lucinda Silone sat hi a chair beside a window. There was only one light—a dim light—hi the far corner of the room, so that she sat hi shadow. "Oh, it's you," she said. "You do the investigating, too."

"Miss Silone ..."

"Coine hi and have a seat. I'm quite willing to answer any questions; you see, I am still convinced ..."

"Miss Silone," said Elaine, "I came to tell you not to take the Sleep. I came to warn you; I have ..."

"You fool," she said. "You utter, silly fool."

"But..."

"Get out of here," she told him.

"But it's ..."

She rose out of her chair and there was scorn in every line of her. "So I can't take a chance. Go ahead; tell me it's dangerous. Go on and tell me it's a trick. You fool—I knew all that before I ever came."

"You know ..."

They stood for a moment in tense silence, each staring at the other. "And now you know." And she said something else he had thought himself not half an hour before: "How about that dedication now?"

"Miss Silone, I came to tell you ..."

"Don't tell anyone," she said. "Go back home and forget you know it; you'll be more comfortable that way. Not dedicated, maybe, but much more comfortable. And you'll live a good deal longer."

"There is no need to threaten ..."

"Not a threat, Elaine; just a tip. If word should get to Farris that you know, you could count your life in hours. And I could see that the tip got round, to Farris. I know just the way to do it."

"But Farris ..."

"He's dedicated, too?"

"Well, no, perhaps not. I don't...!'

The thought was laughable. Paul Farris dedicated!

"When I come back to Center," she said, speaking evenly and calmly, "we'll proceed just as if this had never happened. You'll make it your personal business to see that my Sleep goes through, without a hitch. Because if you don't, word will get to Farris."

"But why is it so important that you take the Sleep, knowing what you do?"

"Maybe I'm Entertainment," she said. "You rule out Entertainment, don't you? You asked me if I was Entertainment and you were very foxy while you were doing it. You fob off Entertainment because you're afraid they'll steal your Dreams for solidiographs. They tried to do it once, and you've been jumpy ever since."

"You're not Entertainment."

"You thought so this morning. Or was that all an act?"

"It was an act," Elaine admitted miserably.

"But this tonight isn't an act," she said coldly, "because you're scared as you've never been before. Well, keep on being scared. You have a right to be."

She stood for a moment, looking at him in disgust. "And now get out."

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