[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"Thanks, Jackûyou needn't wait" At the hospital's door Kinnison rendered
tribute to fast service and strode along a corridor. An express elevator
whisked him up to the seventy-second floor, and there his haste departed
completely. This was Nurses' Quarters, he realized suddenly. He had no more
business there than... yes he did, too. He found Room 7295 and rapped upon its
door. Boldly, he intended, but the resultant sound was surprisingly small.
"Come in!" called a clear contralto. Then, after a moment: "Come in!" more
sharply; but the Lensman did not, could not obey the summons. She might be...
dammitall, he didn't have any business on this floor! Why hadn't he called her
up or sent her a thought or something...? Why didn't he think at her now?
The door opened, revealing the mildly annoyed sector chief. At what she saw
her hands flew to her throat and her eyes widened in starkly unbelieving
rapture.
"KIM!" She shrieked in ecstasy.
"Chris... my Chris!" Kinnison whispered unsteadily, and for minutes those
two uniformed minions of the Galactic Patrol stood motionless upon the room's
threshold, strong young arms straining; nurse's crisp and spotless white
crushed unregarded against Lensman's pliant gray.
"Oh... I've missed you so terribly, my darling," she crooned. Her voice,
always sweetly rich, was pure music.
"You don't know the half of it. This can't be realûnothing can feel this
good!"
"You did come back to me-you really did!" she lilted. "I didn't dare hope
you could come so soon."
"I had to." Kinnison drew a deep breath, "I simply couldn't stand it. It'll
be tough, maybe, but you were rightûhalf a loaf is better than no bread."
"Of course it is!" She released herselfûpartiallyûafter the first transports
of their first embrace and eyed him shrewdly. "Tell me, Kim, did Lacy have a
hand in this surprise?"
"Uh-uh," he denied. "I haven't seen him for agesûbut jet back! Haynes told
meûsay, what'll you bet those two old hard-heads haven't been giving us the
works?"
"Who are old hard-heads?" Haynesûin personûdemanded. So deeply immersed had
Kinnison been in his rapturous delirium that even his sense of perception was
in abeyance; and there, not two yards from the entranced couple, stood the two
old Lensmen under discussion!
The culprits sprang apart, flushing guiltily, but Haynes went on
imperturbably, quite as though nothing out of the ordinary had been either
said or done:
"We gave you fifteen minutes, then came up to be sure to catch you before
you flitted off to the celebration or somewhere. We have matters to discuss."
"QX. Come in, all of you." As she spoke the nurse stood aside in invitation.
"You know, don't you, that it's exceedingly much contra Regs for nurses to
entertain visitors of the opposite sex in their rooms? Fifty demerits per
offense. Most girls never get a chance at even one Gray Lensman, and here I've
got three!" She giggled infectiously. "Wouldn't it be one for the book for me
to get a hundred and fifty black spots for this? And to have Surgeon-Marshal
Lacy, Port Admiral Haynes, and Unattached Lensman Kimball Kinnison, all heaved
into the clink to boot? Boy, oh boy, ain't we got fun?"
"Lacy's too old and I'm too moral to be affected by the wiles even of the
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likes of you, my dear," Haynes explained equably, as he seated himself upon
the davenportûthe most comfortable thing in the room.
"Old? Moral? Tommyrot!" Lacy glared an "I'll-see-you-later" look at the
admiral, then turned to the nurse. "Don't worry about that, MacDougall. No
penalties accrueûRegulations apply only to nurses in the Service..."
"And what..." she started to blaze, but checked herself and her tone changed
instantly. "Go onûyou interest me strangely, sir. I'm just going to love
this!" Her eyes sparkled, her voice was vibrant with unconcealed eagerness.
"Told you she was quick on the uptake," Lacy gloated. "Didn't fox her for a
second!"
"But sayûlistenûwhat's this all about, anyway?" Kinnison demanded.
"Never mind, you'll learn soon enough," from Lacy, and:
"Kinnison, you are very urgently invited to attend a meeting of the Galactic
Council tomorrow afternoon," from Haynes.
"Huh? What's up now?" Kinnison protested. His arm tightened about the girl's
supple waist and she snuggled closer, a trace of foreboding beginning to dim
the eagerness in her eyes.
"Promotion. We want to make you somethingûgalactic coordinator, director,
something like thatûthe job hasn't been named yet. In plain language, the Big
Shot of the Second Galaxy, formerly known as Landmark's Nebula."
"But listen, chief! I couldn't handle such a job as thatûI simply haven't
got the jets!"
"You always yelp about a dynage deficiency whenever a new job is mentioned,
but you deliver the goods. Who else could we wish it onto?"
"Worsel," Kinnison declared with hesitation. "He's..."
"Balloon-juice!" snorted the older man.
"Well, then... ah... er..." he stopped. Clarrissa opened her mouth, then
shut it, ridiculously, without having uttered a word.
"Go ahead, MacDougall. You're an interested party, you know."
"No." She shook her spectacular head. "I'm not saying a word nor thinking a
thought to sway his decision one way or the other. Besides, he'd have to flit
around then as much as now."
"Some travel involved, of course," Haynes admitted. "All over that galaxy,
some in this one, and back and forth between the two. However, the
Dauntlessûor something newer, bigger, and fasterûwill be his private yacht,
and I don't see why it is either necessary or desirable that his flits be
solo."
"Say, I never thought of that!" Kinnison blurted; and as thoughts began to
race through his mind of what he could do, with Chris beside him all the time,
to straighten out the mess in the Second Galaxy:
"Oh, Kim!" Clarrissa squealed in ecstasy, squeezing his arm even tighter
against her side.
"Hooked!" Lacy chortled in triumph.
"But I'd have to retire!" That thought was the only thorn in Kinnison's
whole wreath of roses. "I wouldn't like that."
"Certainly you wouldn't," Haynes agreed. "But remember that all such
assignments are conditional, subject to approval, and with a very definite
cancellation agreement in case of what the Lensman regards as an emergency. If
a Gray Lensman had to give up his right to serve the Patrol in any way he
considered himself most able, they'd have to shoot us all before they could
make executives out of us. And finally, I don't see how the job we're talking
about can be figured as any sort of a retirement. You'll be as active as you
are nowûyes, more so, unless I miss my guess."
"QX. I'll be thereûI'll try it," Kinnison promised.
"Now for some more news," Lacy announced. "Haynes didn't tell you, but he
has been made president of the Galactic Council. You are his first
appointment. I hate to say anything good about the old scoundrel, but he has
one outstanding ability. He doesn't know much or do much himself, but he
certainly can pick the men who have to do the work for him!"
"There's something vastly more important than that," Haynes steered the
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acclaim away from himself.
"Just a minute," Kinnison interposed. "I haven't got this all straight yet.
What was the crack about active nurses awhile ago?"
"Why, Doctor Lacy was just intimating that I had resigned, goose," Clarrissa [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
"Thanks, Jackûyou needn't wait" At the hospital's door Kinnison rendered
tribute to fast service and strode along a corridor. An express elevator
whisked him up to the seventy-second floor, and there his haste departed
completely. This was Nurses' Quarters, he realized suddenly. He had no more
business there than... yes he did, too. He found Room 7295 and rapped upon its
door. Boldly, he intended, but the resultant sound was surprisingly small.
"Come in!" called a clear contralto. Then, after a moment: "Come in!" more
sharply; but the Lensman did not, could not obey the summons. She might be...
dammitall, he didn't have any business on this floor! Why hadn't he called her
up or sent her a thought or something...? Why didn't he think at her now?
The door opened, revealing the mildly annoyed sector chief. At what she saw
her hands flew to her throat and her eyes widened in starkly unbelieving
rapture.
"KIM!" She shrieked in ecstasy.
"Chris... my Chris!" Kinnison whispered unsteadily, and for minutes those
two uniformed minions of the Galactic Patrol stood motionless upon the room's
threshold, strong young arms straining; nurse's crisp and spotless white
crushed unregarded against Lensman's pliant gray.
"Oh... I've missed you so terribly, my darling," she crooned. Her voice,
always sweetly rich, was pure music.
"You don't know the half of it. This can't be realûnothing can feel this
good!"
"You did come back to me-you really did!" she lilted. "I didn't dare hope
you could come so soon."
"I had to." Kinnison drew a deep breath, "I simply couldn't stand it. It'll
be tough, maybe, but you were rightûhalf a loaf is better than no bread."
"Of course it is!" She released herselfûpartiallyûafter the first transports
of their first embrace and eyed him shrewdly. "Tell me, Kim, did Lacy have a
hand in this surprise?"
"Uh-uh," he denied. "I haven't seen him for agesûbut jet back! Haynes told
meûsay, what'll you bet those two old hard-heads haven't been giving us the
works?"
"Who are old hard-heads?" Haynesûin personûdemanded. So deeply immersed had
Kinnison been in his rapturous delirium that even his sense of perception was
in abeyance; and there, not two yards from the entranced couple, stood the two
old Lensmen under discussion!
The culprits sprang apart, flushing guiltily, but Haynes went on
imperturbably, quite as though nothing out of the ordinary had been either
said or done:
"We gave you fifteen minutes, then came up to be sure to catch you before
you flitted off to the celebration or somewhere. We have matters to discuss."
"QX. Come in, all of you." As she spoke the nurse stood aside in invitation.
"You know, don't you, that it's exceedingly much contra Regs for nurses to
entertain visitors of the opposite sex in their rooms? Fifty demerits per
offense. Most girls never get a chance at even one Gray Lensman, and here I've
got three!" She giggled infectiously. "Wouldn't it be one for the book for me
to get a hundred and fifty black spots for this? And to have Surgeon-Marshal
Lacy, Port Admiral Haynes, and Unattached Lensman Kimball Kinnison, all heaved
into the clink to boot? Boy, oh boy, ain't we got fun?"
"Lacy's too old and I'm too moral to be affected by the wiles even of the
Page 138
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
likes of you, my dear," Haynes explained equably, as he seated himself upon
the davenportûthe most comfortable thing in the room.
"Old? Moral? Tommyrot!" Lacy glared an "I'll-see-you-later" look at the
admiral, then turned to the nurse. "Don't worry about that, MacDougall. No
penalties accrueûRegulations apply only to nurses in the Service..."
"And what..." she started to blaze, but checked herself and her tone changed
instantly. "Go onûyou interest me strangely, sir. I'm just going to love
this!" Her eyes sparkled, her voice was vibrant with unconcealed eagerness.
"Told you she was quick on the uptake," Lacy gloated. "Didn't fox her for a
second!"
"But sayûlistenûwhat's this all about, anyway?" Kinnison demanded.
"Never mind, you'll learn soon enough," from Lacy, and:
"Kinnison, you are very urgently invited to attend a meeting of the Galactic
Council tomorrow afternoon," from Haynes.
"Huh? What's up now?" Kinnison protested. His arm tightened about the girl's
supple waist and she snuggled closer, a trace of foreboding beginning to dim
the eagerness in her eyes.
"Promotion. We want to make you somethingûgalactic coordinator, director,
something like thatûthe job hasn't been named yet. In plain language, the Big
Shot of the Second Galaxy, formerly known as Landmark's Nebula."
"But listen, chief! I couldn't handle such a job as thatûI simply haven't
got the jets!"
"You always yelp about a dynage deficiency whenever a new job is mentioned,
but you deliver the goods. Who else could we wish it onto?"
"Worsel," Kinnison declared with hesitation. "He's..."
"Balloon-juice!" snorted the older man.
"Well, then... ah... er..." he stopped. Clarrissa opened her mouth, then
shut it, ridiculously, without having uttered a word.
"Go ahead, MacDougall. You're an interested party, you know."
"No." She shook her spectacular head. "I'm not saying a word nor thinking a
thought to sway his decision one way or the other. Besides, he'd have to flit
around then as much as now."
"Some travel involved, of course," Haynes admitted. "All over that galaxy,
some in this one, and back and forth between the two. However, the
Dauntlessûor something newer, bigger, and fasterûwill be his private yacht,
and I don't see why it is either necessary or desirable that his flits be
solo."
"Say, I never thought of that!" Kinnison blurted; and as thoughts began to
race through his mind of what he could do, with Chris beside him all the time,
to straighten out the mess in the Second Galaxy:
"Oh, Kim!" Clarrissa squealed in ecstasy, squeezing his arm even tighter
against her side.
"Hooked!" Lacy chortled in triumph.
"But I'd have to retire!" That thought was the only thorn in Kinnison's
whole wreath of roses. "I wouldn't like that."
"Certainly you wouldn't," Haynes agreed. "But remember that all such
assignments are conditional, subject to approval, and with a very definite
cancellation agreement in case of what the Lensman regards as an emergency. If
a Gray Lensman had to give up his right to serve the Patrol in any way he
considered himself most able, they'd have to shoot us all before they could
make executives out of us. And finally, I don't see how the job we're talking
about can be figured as any sort of a retirement. You'll be as active as you
are nowûyes, more so, unless I miss my guess."
"QX. I'll be thereûI'll try it," Kinnison promised.
"Now for some more news," Lacy announced. "Haynes didn't tell you, but he
has been made president of the Galactic Council. You are his first
appointment. I hate to say anything good about the old scoundrel, but he has
one outstanding ability. He doesn't know much or do much himself, but he
certainly can pick the men who have to do the work for him!"
"There's something vastly more important than that," Haynes steered the
Page 139
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
acclaim away from himself.
"Just a minute," Kinnison interposed. "I haven't got this all straight yet.
What was the crack about active nurses awhile ago?"
"Why, Doctor Lacy was just intimating that I had resigned, goose," Clarrissa [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]