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imperturbability, it was as though a mountain had trembled. He .said, "I guess
so, doc."
"Damn it, you altered the thing you must know!" Reedeth blurted, then mastered
himself with an effort. "Sorry," he said. "I'm a bit on edge today. Okay, Mr.
Flamen, let's hear what you want to tell me."
"You've probably figured out already that I'm suffiworried about my wife to
have her independently packled by Dr. Conroy," Flamen said slowly. "I did warn
you that if she was prematurely discharged
I'd take some such steps, didn't I? But if it does turn out that she's
suffered at the hands of your director, I won't stop with a simple suit for
damages. I'll do my utmost to have him impeached and dismissed."
"No wonder you wanted to prevent that being reReedeth said. He gave a thin
smile. "Yes, I'd more or Jess figured that out. What are you trying to get me
to do bore from within to undermine him?
Forget it. But I wouldn't weep if someone else took over who was well let's
say less dogmatic than he is. It'd make working here a lot easier, and what's
more I think we'd do a better job." He ended on a note of defiance, looking
almost surprised at his own decisiveness.
"I'm sure Flamen wasn't asking you to turn traitor," Conroy said promptly.
"But it shouldn't be necessary to tell you, Jim, that I work much more happily
on the basis of personal reactions than computerized analyses. And every now
and again& "
It was his turn to hesitate, and his hearers looked at him in puzzlement as he
glanced from one to another of them, his gaze lingering longest of all on
Lyla.
"I'd better declare my interest," he said eventually, and gave a wry grin.
"Without intending the least disto Flamen's position and influence, on
reflection I can't believe that something as straightforward as inpackling of
Mrs. Flamen is going to afford the lever to topple your boss off his pedestal,
Jim. It could far too easily be discounted on grounds of perpique couldn't it?
And yet on the flight down from Manitoba I was thinking just how necessary it
is to get Mogshack out."
He leaned back in his chair, put the tips of his fingers together, and stared
at them musingly.
"You see& like it or not, and frankly I don't like it, this city of New York
has a prestige, a cachet, a quality of influence, left over from the days when
America really was on top of the world. There's this curious kind of envy I'm
sure you've noticed it which means that even people in Capetown and Accra and
the capitals of Asia have a nostalgic regard for what's done in New
York, much in the same way as the Goths and Franks venerated Rome even after
Alaric had sacked the
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John%20-%20The%20Jagged%20Orbit.txt city and the Romans had ceased to be a
major power. And here's Mogshack on top of the local heap, and I sinbelieve
he's doing things which are going to be disastrous. But they're being imitated
from Mexico to Moscow, and and I'm getting worried. Jim, do you appreciate at
all what I'm driving at?"
Reedeth had lowered himself into his chair again. He gave a wary nod.
"I do have to confess that I'm not happy about the system I work under," he
said. "Whether you, Prof, or anyone, can produce something better, though& "
"Me, I'm old and tired, and reduced to teaching a handful of not overly bright
students not even in the country of my birth," Conroy sighed. "But I think I
might conceivably be able to shift a dead weight off the minds of the next
generation, who will have to clear up the mess we leave behind. I'd like to
try, anyhow, and what I'm proposing is this. During the past few days, it
looks as though not just one but a whole complex of curious and questionable
events have taken place here, which combined will furnish Flamen with what he
wants. Excuse me," he added to the spoolpigeon. "But as I said, the case of
your wife on its own isn't enough. On the other hand, maybe if we took
everything towe might come up with a concerted attack. Let's start with
something which most people will find very strange no disrespect, Miss Clay,
but people do still mostly look on pythonesses with suspicion. How about this
matter of calling in a pythoness and then acting on her oracles?"
"We didn't," Reedeth said. "Not exactly. As I said, it was what the automatics
told us about the oracles which convinced us."
"Us?"
"Me and my colleague Ariadne Spoelstra. It was her idea to invite Miss Clay to
perform here."
"And Mogshack approved?"
"Of course. Though I understand he needed a lot of persuading."
"Good, there's our first line of approach. Here's our second." Conroy turned
to Madison. "I seem to be apolofor my own phrasing every minute or two, don't
I? But I've got to say that I'm sure people outside this hospital are going to
be astonished to learn you were servicing the automatics here for several
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