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1、Chapter 1The man behind the desk moved a heavy glass paper weight four inches to the right. His face was not so much thoughtful or abstracted as expressionless. He had the pale complexion that comes from living most of the day in artificial light. This man, you felt, was an indoor man. A man of desk
2、s and files. The fact that to reach his office you had to walk through long twisting underground corridors was somehow strangely appropriate. It would have been difficult to guess his age. He looked neither old nor young. His face was smooth and unwrinkled, and in his eyes was a great tiredness. The
3、 other man in the room was older. He was dark with a small military moustache. There was about him an alert nervous energy. Even now, unable to sit still, he was pacing up and down, from time to time throwing off a remark in a jerky manner. Reports! he said explosively. Reports, reports and more rep
4、orts, and none of them any damn good! The man at the desk looked down at the papers in front of him. On top was an official card headed, Betterton, Thomas Charles. After the name was an interrogation mark. The man at the desk nodded thoughtfully. He said, Youve followed up these reports and none of
5、them any good? The other shrugged his shoulders. How can one tell? he asked. The man behind the desk sighed. Yes, he said, there is that. One cant tell really. The older man went on with a kind of machine gun volley abruptness. Reports from Rome; reports from Touraine; seen on the Riviera; noticed i
6、n Antwerp; definitely identified in Oslo; positively seen in Biarritz; observed behaving suspiciously in Strasburg; seen on the beach at Ostend with a glamorous blonde; noticed walking in the streets in Brussels with a greyhound! Hasnt been seen yet in the Zoo with his arm round a zebra, but I dares
7、ay that will come! Youve no particular fancy yourself, Wharton? Personally I had hopes of the Antwerp report, but it hasnt led to anything. Of course by now. the young man stopped speaking and seemed to go into a coma. Presently he came out of it again and said cryptically, Yes, probably. and yet -
8、I wonder? Colonel Wharton sat down abruptly on the arm of a chair. But weve got to find out, he said insistently. Weve got to break the back of all this how and why and where? You cant lose a tame scientist every month or so and have no idea how they go or why they go or where! Is it where we think
9、- or isnt it? Weve always taken it for granted that it is, but now Im not so sure. Youve read all the last dope on Betterton from America? The man behind the desk nodded. Usual Left Wing tendencies at the period when everyone had them. Nothing of a lasting or permanent nature as far as can be found
10、out. Did sound work before the war though nothing spectacular. When Mannheim escaped from Germany Betterton was assigned as Assistant to him, and ended by marrying Mannheims daughter. After Mannheims death he carried on, on his own, and did brilliant work. He leaped into fame with the startling disc
11、overy of ZE Fission. ZE Fission was a brilliant and absolutely revolutionary discovery. It put Betterton absolutely tops. He was all set for a brilliant career over there, but his wife had died soon after their marriage and he was all broken up over it. He came to England. He has been at Harwell for
12、 the last eighteen months. Just six months ago he married again. Anything there? asked Wharton sharply. The other shook his head. Not that we can find out. Shes the daughter of a local solicitor. Worked in an insurance office before her marriage. No violent political affinities so far as weve been a
13、ble to discover. ZE Fission, said Colonel Wharton gloomily, with distaste. What they mean by all these terms beats me. Im old fashioned. I never really even visualised a molecule, but here they are nowadays splitting up the universe! Atom bombs, Nuclear fission, ZE fission, and all the rest of it. A
14、nd Betterton was one of the splitters in chief! What do they say of him at Harwell? Quite a pleasant personality. As to his work, nothing outstanding or spectacular. Just variations on the practical applications of ZEF. Both men were silent for a moment. Their conversation had been desultory, almost
15、 automatic. The security reports lay in a pile on the desk and the security reports had had nothing of value to tell. He was thoroughly screened on arrival here, of course, said Wharton. Yes, everything was quite satisfactory. Eighteen months ago, said Wharton thoughtfully. It gets em down, you know
16、. Security precautions. The feeling of being perpetually under the microscope, the cloistered life. They get nervy, queer. Ive seen it often enough. They begin to dream of an ideal world. Freedom and brotherhood, and pool-all-secrets and work for the good of humanity! Thats exactly the moment when s
17、omeone whos more or less the dregs of humanity, sees his chance and takes it! He rubbed his nose. Nobodys so gullible as the scientist, he said. All the phony mediums say so. Cant quite see why. The other smiled, a very tired smile. Oh, yes, he said, it would be so. They think they know, you see. Th
18、ats always dangerous. Now, our kind are different. Were humble minded men. We dont expect to save the world, only pick up one or two broken pieces and remove a monkey wrench or two when its jamming up the works. He tapped thoughtfully on the table with his finger. If I only knew a little more about
19、Betterton, he said. Not his life and actions, but the revealing, everyday things. What sort of jokes he laughed at. What made him swear. Who were the people he admired and who made him mad. Wharton looked at him curiously. What about the wife - youve tried her? Several times. Cant she help? The othe
20、r shrugged his shoulders. She hasnt so far. You think she knows something? She doesnt admit, of course, that she knows anything. All the established reactions: worry, grief, desperate anxiety, no cue or suspicion beforehand, husbands life perfectly normal, no stress of any kind - and so on and so on
21、. Her own theory is that hes been kidnapped. And you dont believe her? Im handicapped, said the man behind the desk bitterly. I never believe anybody. Well, said Wharton slowly, I suppose one has to keep an open mind. Whats she like? Ordinary sort of woman youd meet any day playing bridge. Wharton n
22、odded comprehendingly. That makes it more difficult, he said. Shes here to see me now. We shall go over all the same ground again. Its the only way, said Wharton. I couldnt do it, though. Havent got the patience. He got up. Well, I wont keep you. Weve not got much further, have we. Unfortunately, no
23、. You might do a special check up on that Oslo report. Its a likely spot. Wharton nodded and went out. The other man raised the receiver by his elbow and said: Ill see Mrs. Betterton now. Send her in. He sat staring into space until there was a tap on the door and Mrs. Betterton was shown in. She wa
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