Sixth Column by Heinlein Robert A
Author:Heinlein, Robert A. [Heinlein, Robert A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, War, Fantasy, Adventure, Classics
ISBN: 9780671578268
Amazon: 067157826X
Goodreads: 342062
Publisher: Baen
Published: 1949-12-07T08:00:00+00:00
Chapter Seven
âHello? Hello? Jeff, are you there? Can you hear me?â
âSure I can hear. you. Donât shout, Major.â
âI wish these damn rigs were regular telephones. I like to see a man Iâm talking to.â
âIf they were ordinary phones our Asiatic pals could listen in on us. Why donât you ask Bob and the colonel to whip up a vision circuit? Iâll bet they could do it.â
âBob has already done so, Jeff, but Scheer is so busy machining parts for altar installations that I donât like to ask him to make it. Do you suppose you could recruit some assistants for Scheer? A machinist or two, maybe, and a radio technician? The manufacturing end of this enterprise is getting out of hand and Scheer is going to crack up from overwork. Every night I have to go around and order him to go to bed.â
Thomas thought about it. âI have one man in mind. Used to be a watchmaker.â
âA watchmaker! Thatâs swell!â
âI donât know. Heâs a little bit balmy; his whole family was wiped out. A sad case, almost as sad as Frank Mitsui. Say, how. is Frank? Is he feeling any better?â
âSeems to be. Not down inside of course, but he seems happy enough at his work. Heâs taken over the kitchen and the clerical work you used to do for me, both.â
âGive him my best.â
âI will. Now about this watchmakerâyou donât have to be as careful in recruiting personnel for the Citadel as you have to be in picking field workers, since once they are inside they canât get out.â
âI know that, boss. I didnât use any special tests when I sent you Estelle Devens. Of course I wouldnât have sent her if she hadnât been about to be shipped out as a pleasure girl.â
âYou did all right. Estelle is a fine woman. She helps Frank in the kitchen, she helps Graham sew the robes, and Bob Wilkie is training her as a pararadio operator.â Ardmore chuckled. âSex is rearing its interesting head. I think Bob is sweet on her.â
Thomasâs voice was suddenly grave. âHow about that, boss? Is it likely to louse things up?â
âI donât think so. Bob is a gentleman and Estelle is a nice girl if I ever saw one. If biology starts getting in the way of their work, Iâll just up and marry them, in my capacity as high priest of the supercolossal god Mota.â
âBob wonât go for that. Heâs a bit of a puritan, if you ask me.â
âAll right then, in my capacity as chief magistrate of this thriving little village. Donât be stuffy. Or send me up a real preacher.â
âHow about sending up more women, Major? I sent Estelle on impulse, more or less, but there are many more young women just as badly in need of help as she was.â
There was a long wait before Ardmore replied, âCaptain, that is a very difficult question. Most reluctantly I am forced to say that this is a military organization at war, not a personal rescue mission.
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