Citizen in Spase. Stories / Гражданин в Космосе. Рассказы. Книга для чтения на английском языке

He was taken to the police station and into the small, cluttered ofifce of the captain of police. The captain was a slim, balding, cheerful-faced man. He waved his subordinates out of the room, motioned Eldridge to a chair and gave him a cigarette.

“So you’re Eldridge,” he said.

Eldridge nodded morosely.

“Been reading about you ever since I was a little boy,” the captain said nostalgically. “You were one of my heroes.”

Eldridge guessed the captain to be a good fifteen years his senior, but he didn’t ask about it. After all, he was supposed to be the expert on time paradoxes.

“Always thought you got a rotten deal,” the captain said, toying with a large bronze paperweight. “Still, I couldn’t understand a man like you stealing. For a while, we thought it might have been temporary insanity.”

“Was it?” Eldridge asked hopefully.

“Not a chance. Checked your records. You just haven’t got the potentiality. And that makes it rather dififcult for me. For example, why did you steal those particular items?”

“What items?”

“Don’t you remember?”

“I – I’ve blanked out,” Eldridge said. “Temporary amnesia.”

“Very understandable,” the captain said sympathetically. He handed Eldridge a paper.

“Here’s the list.”

ITEMS STOLEN BY THOMAS MONROE ELDRIDGE

Taken from Viglin’s Sporting Goods Store,

Sector One:

Credits

4 Megacharge Hand Pistols ............10,000

3 Lifebelts, Inflatable....................100

5 Cans, Ollen’s Shark Repellant...........400

Taken from Alfghan’s Specialty Shop,

Sector One:

2 Microflex Sets, World Literature . . . . . . .1,000

5 Teeny-Tom Symphonic Tape Runs .....2,650

Taken from Loorie’s Produce Store,

Sector Two:

4 Dozen Potatoes, White Turtle Brand.......5

9 Packages, Carrot Seeds (Fancy) . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Taken from Manori’s Notions Store,

Sector Two:

5 Dozen Mirrors, Silver-backed (hand-size)....95

Total Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,256

“What does it mean?” the captain asked. “Stealing a million credits outright, I could understand, but why all that junk?”

Eldridge shook his head. He could find nothing meaningful in the list. The megacharge hand pistols sounded useful. But why the mirrors, lifebelts, potatoes and the rest of the things that the captain had properly called junk?

It just didn’t sound like himself. Eldridge began to think of himself as two people. Eldridge I had invented time travel, been victimized, stolen some incomprehensible articles, and vanished. Eldridge II was himself, the person Viglin had found. He had no memory of the first Eldridge. But he had to discover Eldridge I’s motives and/or suffer for his crimes.

“What happened after I stole these things?” Eldridge asked.

“That’s what we’d like to know,” the captain said. “All we know is, you fled into Sector Three with your loot.”

“And then?”

The captain shrugged. “When we applied for extradition, the authorities told us you weren’t there. Not that they’d have given you up. They’re a proud, independent sort, you know. Anyhow, you’d vanished.”

“Vanished? To where?”

“I don’t know. You might have gone into the Uncivilized Sectors that lie beyond Sector Three.”

“What are the Uncivilized Sectors?” Eldridge asked.

“We were hoping you would tell us,” the captain said. “You’re the only man who’s explored beyond Sector Three.”

Damn it, Eldridge thought, he was supposed to be the authority on everything he wanted to know!

“This puts me in a pretty fix,” the captain remarked squinting at his paperweight.

“Why?”

“Well, you’re a thief. The law says I must arrest you. However, I am also aware that you got a very shoddy deal. And I happen to know that you stole only from Viglin and his afifliates in both Sectors. There’s a certain justice to it – unfortunately unrecognized by law.”

Eldridge nodded unhappily.

“It’s my clear duty to arrest you,” the captain said with a deep sigh. “There’s nothing I can do about it, even if I wanted to. You’ll have to stand trial and probably serve a sentence of twenty years or so.”

“What? For stealing rubbish like shark repellant and carrot seed? For stealing junk?”

“We’re pretty rough on time theft,” said the captain. “Temporal offense.”

“I see,” Eldridge said, slumping in his chair.