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Ultima Thule
Mack Reynolds
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eBook - ePub
Ultima Thule
Mack Reynolds
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At least he'd got far enough to wind up with a personal interview. It's one thing doing up an application and seeing it go onto an endless tape and be fed into the maw of a machine and then to receive, in a matter of moments, a neatly printed rejection. It's another thing to receive an appointment to be interviewed by a placement officer in the Commissariat of Interplanetary Affairs, Department of Personnel. Ronny Bronston was under no illusions. Nine out of ten men of his age annually made the same application. Almost all were annually rejected. Statistically speaking practically nobody ever got an interplanetary position. But he'd made step one along the path of a lifetime ambition...
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Sujet
LiteraturaSous-sujet
Ciencia ficciĂłnULTIMA THULE
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AT LEAST HEâD GOT FAR enough to wind up with a personal interview. Itâs one thing doing up an application and seeing it go onto an endless tape and be fed into the maw of a machine and then to receive, in a matter of moments, a neatly printed rejection. Itâs another thing to receive an appointment to be interviewed by a placement officer in the Commissariat of Interplanetary Affairs, Department of Personnel. Ronny Bronston was under no illusions. Nine out of ten men of his age annually made the same application. Almost all were annually rejected. Statistically speaking practically nobody ever got an interplanetary position. But heâd made step one along the path of a lifetime ambition.
He stood at easy attention immediately inside the door. At the desk at the far side of the room the placement officer was going through a sheaf of papers. He looked up and said, âRonald Bronston? Sit down. Youâd like an interplanetary assignment, eh? So would I.â
Ronny took the chair. For a moment he tried to appear alert, earnest, ambitious but not too ambitious, fearless, devoted to the cause, and indispensable. For a moment. Then he gave it up and looked like Ronny Bronston.
The other looked up and took him in. The personnel official saw a man of averages. In the late twenties. Average height, weight and breadth. Pleasant of face in an average sort of way, but not handsome. Less than sharp in dress, hair inclined to be on the undisciplined side. Brown of hair, dark of eye. In a crowd, inconspicuous. In short, Ronny Bronston.
The personnel officer grunted. He pushed a button, said something into his order box. A card slid into the slot and he took it out and stared gloomily at it.
âWhatâre your politics?â he said.
âPolitics?â Ronny Bronston said. âI havenât any politics. My father and grandfather before me have been citizens of United Planets. There hasnât been any politics in our family for three generations.â
âFamily?â
âNone.â
The other grunted and marked the card. âRacial prejudices?â
âI beg your pardon?â
âDo you have any racial prejudices? Any at all.â
âNo.â
The personnel officer said, âMost people answer that way at first, these days, but some donât at second. For instance, suppose you had to have a blood transfusion. Would you have any objection to it being blood donated by, say, a Negro, a Chinese, or, say, a Jew?â
Ronny ticked it off on his fingers. âOne of my greatgrandfathers was a French colon who married a Moroccan girl. The Moors are a blend of Berber, Arab, Jew and Negro. Another of my greatgrandfathers was a Hawaiian. Theyâre largely a blend of Polynesians, Japanese, Chinese and Caucasians especially Portuguese. Another of my greatgrandfathers was Irish, English and Scotch. He married a girl who was half Latvian, half Russian.â Ronny wound it up. âBelieve me, if I had a blood transfusion from just anybody at all, the blood would feel right at home.â
The interviewer snorted, even as he marked the card. âThat accounts for three greatgrandfathers,â he said lightly. âYou seem to have made a study of your family tree. What was the other one?â
Rocky said expressionlessly, âA Texan.â
The secretary shrugged and looked at the card again. âReligion?â
âReformed Agnostic,â Ronny said. This one was possibly where he ran into a brick wall. Many of the planets had strong religious beliefs of one sort or another. Some of them had state religions and you either belonged or else.
âIs there any such church?â the personnel officer frowned.
âNo. Iâm a one-man member. Iâm of the opinion that if there are any greater-powers-that-be Theyâre keeping the fact from us. And if thatâs the way They want it, itâs Their business. If and when They want to contact meâone of Their puppets dangling from a stringâthen I suppose Theyâll do it. Meanwhile, Iâll wait.â
The other said interestedly, âYou think that if there is a Higher Power and if It ever wants to get in touch with you, It will?â
âUm-m-m. In Its own good time. Sort of a donât call Me, thing, Iâll call you.â
The personnel officer said, âThere have been a few revealed religions, you know.â
âSo they said, so they said. None of them have made much sense to me. If a Super-Power wanted to contact man, it seems unlikely to me that itâd be all wrapped up in a lot of complicated gobbledegook. It would all be very clear indeed.â
The personnel officer sighed. He marked the card, stuck it back into the slot in his order box and it disappeared.
He looked up at Ronny Bronston. âAll right, thatâs all.â
Ronny came to his feet. âWell, what happened?â
The other grinned at him sourly. âDarned if I know,â he said. âBy the time you get to the outer office, youâll probably find out.â He scratched the end of his nose and said, âI sometimes wonder what Iâm doing here.â
Ronny thanked him, told him good-by, and left.
In the outer office a girl looked up from a card sheâd just pulled from her own order box. âRonald Bronston?â
âThatâs right.â
She handed the card to him. âYouâre to go to the office of Ross Metaxa in the Octagon, Commissariat of Interplanetary Affairs, Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation, Section G.â
In a lifetime spent in first preparing for United Planets employment and then in working for the organization, Ronny Bronston had never been in the Octagon Building. Heâd seen photographs, Tri-Di broadcasts and heâd heard several thousand jokes on various levels from pun to obscenity about getting around in the building, but heâd never been there. For that matter, heâd never been in Greater Washington before, other than a long ago tourist trip. Population Statistics, his department, had its main offices in New Copenhagen.
His card was evidently all that he needed for entry.
At the sixth gate he dismissed his car and let it shoot back into the traffic mess. He went up to one of the guard-guides and presented the card.
The guide inspected it. âSection G of the Bureau of Investigation,â he muttered. âEvery day, something new. I never heard of it.â
âItâs probably some outfit in charge of cleaning the heads on space liners.â Ronny said unhappily. Heâd never heard of it either.
âWell, itâs no problem,â the guard-guide said. He summoned a three-wheel, fed the co-ordinates into it from Ronnyâs card, handed the card back and flipped an easy salute. âYouâll soon know.â
The scooter slid into the Octagonâs hall traffic and proceeded up one corridor, down another, twice taking to ascending ramps. Ronny had read somewhere the total miles of corridors in the Octagon. He hadnât believed the figures at the time. Now he believed them. He must have traversed several miles before they got to the Department of Justice alone. It was another quarter mile to the Bureau of Investigation.
The scooter eventually came to a halt, waited long enough for Ronny to dismount and then hurried back into the traffic.
He entered the office. A neatly uniformed reception girl with a harassed and cynical eye looked up from her desk. âRonald Bronston?â she said.
âThatâs right.â
âWhereâve you been?â She had a snappy cuteness. âThe commissioner has been awaiting you. Go through that door and to your left.â
Ronny went through that door and to the left. There was another door, inconspicuously lettered Ross Metaxa, Commissioner, Section G. Ronny knocked and the door opened.
Ross Metaxa was going through a wad of papers. He looked up; a man in the middle years, sour of expression, moist of eye as though he either drank too much or slept too little.
âSit down,â he said. âYouâre Ronald Bronston, eh? What do they call you, Ronny? It says here youâve got a sense of humor. Thatâs one of the first requirements in this lunatic department.â
Ronny sat down and tried to form some opinions of the other by his appearance. He was reminded of nothing so much as the stereotype city editor you saw in the historical romance Tri-Ds. All that was needed was for Metaxa to start banging on buttons and yelling something about tearing down the front page, whatever that meant.
Metaxa said, âIt also says you have some queer hobbies. Judo, small weapons target shooting, mountain climbingââ He looked up from the reports. âWhy does anybody climb mountains?â
Ronny said, âNobodyâs ever figured out.â That didnât seem to be enough, especially since Ross Metaxa was staring at him, so he added, âPossibly we devotees keep doing it in hopes that someday somebodyâll find out.â
Ross Metaxa said sourly, âNot too much humor, please. You donât act as though getting this position means much to you.â
Ronny said slowly, âI figured out some time ago that every young man on Earth yearns for a job that will send him shuttling from one planet to another. To achieve it they study, they sweat, they make all out efforts to meet and suck up to anybody they think might help. Finally, when and if they get an interview for one of the few openings, they spruce up in their best clothes, put on their best party manners, present themselves as the sincere, high I.Q., ambitious young men that they areâand then flunk their chance. I decided I might as well be what I am.â
Ross Metaxa looked at him. âO.K.,â he said finally. âWeâll give you a try.â
Ronny said blankly, âYou mean Iâve got the job?â
âThatâs right.â
âIâll be damned.â
âProbably,â Metaxa said. He yawned. âDo you know what Section G handles?â
âWell no, but as for me, just so I get off Earth and see some of the galaxy.â
Metaxa had been sitting with his heels on his desk. Now he put them down and reached a hand into a drawer to emerge with a brown bottle and two glasses. âDo you drink?â he said.
âOf course.â
âEven during working hours?â Metaxa scowled.
âWhen occasion calls.â
âGood,â Metaxa said. He poured two drinks. âYouâll get your fill of seeing the galaxy,â he said. âNot that thereâs much to see. Man can settle only Earth-type planets and after youâve seen a couple of hundred youâve seen them all.â
Ronny sipped at his drink, then blinked reproachfully down into the glass.
Metaxa said, âGood, eh? A kind of tequila they make on Deneb Eight. Bunch of Mexicans settled there.â
âWhat,â said Ronny hoarsely, âdo they make it out of?â
âLord only knows,â Metaxa said. âTo get back to Section G. Weâre Interplanetary Security. In short, Department Cloak and Dagger. Would you be willing to die for the United Planets, Bronston?â
That curve had come too fast. Ronny blinked again. âOnly in emergency,â he said. âWhoâd want to kill me?â
Metaxa poured another drink. âMany of the people youâll be working with,â he said.
âWell, why? What will I be doing?â
âYouâll be representing United Planets,â Metaxa explained. âRepresenting United Planets in cases where the local situation is such that the folks youâre working among will be teed off at the organization.â
âWell, why are they members if they donât like the UP?â
âThatâs a good question,â Metaxa said. He yawned. âI guess Iâll have to go into my speech.â He finished his drink. âNow, shut up till I give you some background. Youâre probably full of a lot of nonsense you picked up in school.â
Ronny shut up. Heâd expected more of an air of dedication in the Octagon and in such ethereal departments a...