The Nothing by Frank Herbert

Author:Frank Herbert [Herbert, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: beta
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Afterward, I let Claude kiss me once. I was having trouble realizing that I was married. Mrs. Claude Williams. But that’s the way it is with the inevitable, I guess.

The old man took my arm then and said there was one small precaution. I’d be going off the grounds from time to time and there’d always be the chance of some unethical tele picking my brains.

They put me under an anesthetube and when I came out of it I had a silver grid in my skull. It itched some, but they said that it would go away. I’d heard of this thing. They called it a blanket.

Mensor Williams said, ‘Now go home and get your things. You won’t need to tell your parents any more than that you have a government job. Come back as soon as you’re able.’

‘Get me a ‘porter,’ I said.

‘The grounds are gridded against teleporters,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to send you in a jet buggy.’

And so he did.

I was home in ten minutes.

I went up the stairs to my house. It was after nine o’clock by then. My father was waiting inside the door.

‘A fine time for an eighteen-year-old girl to be coming home!’ he shouted and he made a tele stab at my mind to see what I’d been up to. These teles and their ethics! Well, he ran smack dab into the blanket and maybe you think that didn’t set him back on his heels. He got all quiet suddenly.

I said, ‘I have a government job. I just came back for my things.’ Time enough to tell them about the marriage later. They’d have kicked up a fine rumpus if I’d said anything then.

Mama came in and said, ‘My little baby with a government job! How much does it pay?’

I said, ‘Let’s not be vulgar.’

Papa sided with me. ‘Of course not, Hazel,’ he said. ‘Leave the kid alone. A government job! What do you know! Those things pay plenty. Where is it, baby?’

I could see him wondering how much he could tap me for to pay his bills and I began to wonder if I’d have any money at all to keep up the pretense. I said, ‘The job’s at Sonoma Preserve.’

Papa said, ‘What they need with a pyro up there?’

I got a brilliant inspiration. I said, ‘To keep the Nothings in line. A little burn here, a little burn there. You know.’

That struck my father funny. When he could stop laughing he said, ‘I know you, honey. I’ve watched your think tank pretty close. You’ll take care of yourself and no funny business. Do they have nice safe quarters for you up there?’

‘The safest,’ I said.

I felt him take another prod at my blanket and withdraw. ‘Government work is top secret,’ I said.

‘Sure. I understand,’ he said.

So I went to my room and got my things packed. The folks made some more fuss about my going away so sudden, but they quieted down when I told them I had to go at once or lose the chance at the job.

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