This could be just a job, a very good job while it lasted--say three or
four years--until they had learned all they need to know. Perhaps there
would be other men blended more scientifically than he had been. But he
could accumulate enough money to last the rest of his life, or perhaps
turn his many new talents to something else. There were many things he
would like to do, and he was ahead of everyone else now, even though in
three or four years he would no longer be unique.
Except, of course, in his body.
And there it was again. Was there nothing he could do to get away from
it?
He had no memory of Erica except for the one night, but it was enough
to convince him. What would their future be like in what was sure to
follow? After that broadcast, he would be a person of some note, but
would that stop laughter? Would she wait until he left the room before
she giggled?
He'd come to terms with _Interplanet_, but first he had to come to
terms with himself ... and he hadn't.
How good was his imaginary Wysocki's theorem? Could it take one last
extension? He counted what was left of the money Erica had given him.
It wasn't much, but with it he could leave the city. And he had to.
V
It was dusk when he slipped out of the room and later still when the
plane lifted away from the station. It was an ancient jet, long since
relegated to cheap overnight service where speed was not a factor and
price was.
He knew he was taking a chance and half expected to be stopped, but
apparently not many people had listened to the broadcast. Casual
glances slid off him and didn't linger. Partly, he suspected, because
he had pulled his hat over his face and thrust his hands in the jacket.
He'd gotten away in time, but by the morning there would be people on
the streets looking for him.
He stared at the approximation of a port. When this ship had been
built, there was some feeling against the practice and so the row of
picture tubes had been camouflaged as ports in the wall. There was a
station selector switch, but none for _on_ or _off_. He glowered at the
picture at his elbow and turned to the least annoying thing he could
find. Across the aisle, there were three other programs he could see
distinctly. The one directly opposite was a repeat of the broadcast
he had heard a few hours previously. He scowled and looked away. If
it hadn't been a night plane, in which people sought sleep, he would
certainly have been spotted. Apathy was his best protection. He hunched
down in his seat and dozed off.
When he awakened, the familiar _Interplanet_ program was at his elbow.
He reached to change stations, then on impulse let his hand continue
past the knob until he felt the ash tray. He unfastened the heavy
article and poked it through the screen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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