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diff --git a/24655-h/24655-h.htm b/24655-h/24655-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dcd47d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/24655-h/24655-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2016 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tinker's Dam, by Joseph Tinker + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1 {text-align: left; clear: both; padding-left: 4.5em; text-indent: -4.5em; margin-top: 0;} + h2 {text-align: center; clear: both; font-size: large;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 1em auto; visibility: hidden;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .figcenter {margin: 1em auto; width: 600px;} + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin: 1em 0 1em 1em; padding: 0; width: 139px;} + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin: 0 .75em .1em 0; padding: 0; width: 51px;} + .figleft img {border: double 3px;} + .fgcap {text-indent: -.5em;} + .trans1 {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + img {border: none;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .illo {font-size: small; font-weight: bold; text-align: right;} + .tease {font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + .theend {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 2em;} + .titl {background: url("images/001.png") top left no-repeat; width: 401px; height: 600px; margin: 0 auto 4em;} + .bk1 {padding: 225px 0 0 190px;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tinker's Dam, by Joseph Tinker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tinker's Dam + +Author: Joseph Tinker + +Illustrator: John Schoenherr + +Release Date: February 20, 2008 [EBook #24655] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TINKER'S DAM *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="titl"> +<div class="bk1"><h1>TINKER'S<br /> +DAM</h1> + +<h2>By JOSEPH TINKER</h2> + +<p class="tease">There is something very fundamental +indeed about the ancient showman's +trick—divert their attention from +the thing you're really doing ...</p> +<p class="illo">Illustrated by Schoenherr</p></div></div> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/004.png" width="45" height="45" alt="T" title="T" /> +</div><p class="fgcap"><span class="dcap">he</span> call on the TV-phone +came right in the middle +of my shaving. They +have orders not to call +me before breakfast for +anything less than a national calamity. +I pressed "Accept," too startled +to take the lather from my face.</p> + +<p>"Hi, Gyp," George Kelly said to +me from the screen. "Hurry it up, +boy." He made no reference to my +appearance on his screen. "Quit +draggin' your feet!"</p> + +<p>This I take from George Kelly. +First of all, he's Director of the +F.B.I. Even more important, he's +my boss. "Hey, George," I protested, +knowing he would not have +called on a routine matter. "I got up +before breakfast as it is. What's +up?" I hardly needed to ask. When +they call me, it's always the same +sickening kind of trouble.</p> + +<p>"Fred Plaice and his gang got +their hands on a telepath in the District +last night," George told me. +"It's been on the newscast already. +There'll be a damned ugly mob at +the office—a lynch mob. Listen, +Gyp, I want you to go through the +main entrance this morning."</p> + +<p>I nodded my willingness to fight +my way through the crowd that +would be gathering at the office. +Usually I have my taxi drop me on +the roof of the building. Call it a +petty vanity if you want. It's one of +the perquisites of being Washington +brass.</p> + +<p>"Swell, Gyp," George Kelly said, +as if there had been any question +about whether I'd come in through +the main entrance. "The public has a +world of confidence in you. Now, +damn it, Gyp, if they want to make +a fuss over you this morning, let +them. We've got to get that snake +out of the building alive!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," I protested. "You don't +mean Fred took a telepath to the +office?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so," George said, his +tone so neutral that I couldn't take +it as personal criticism. "See you +down there." His rugged features +faded from the screen as he cut the +image.</p> + +<p>I had my driver drop the skim-copter +to the street when we got to +Pennsylvania Avenue within a block +of the building, and he skimmed to +the outskirts of the crowd that was +pressing around the entrance. There +were four or five hundred people +there, milling around like a herd of +restless cattle. Tighter knots of humanity +were pressed around the +usual four or five firebrands who +were ranting and yelling for blood—telepathic +blood.</p> + +<p>The guards around the entrance, +apparently tipped by George Kelly, +started yelling, "Let him through!" +They charged the mob to open a +lane for me. The crowd drew back +sullenly. As I pressed toward the +guards, I could see the fear and panic +on the faces around me.</p> + +<p>Then a man recognized me. "God +bless Gyp Tinker!" he bellowed in a +voice loud enough to conjure an +echo out of a prairie. People started +jumping like so many animated pogo +sticks, trying to get a sight of me +over the heads of others. By the time +I reached the steps, the whole mob +was cheering and yelling, "Gyp!"</p> + +<p>As George Kelly had asked, I +paused on the steps and held up my +hands for a chance to speak. It's +flattering when they give you silence. +In the space of two breaths it +was like the inside of a morgue.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, friends," I called out to +them. "George Kelly and I have already +gotten the facts on the telepath +who was captured here in +Washington last night. There is absolutely +no cause for alarm. I hope +you'll go to your homes and offices +promptly. Let's not give the Russians +any more satisfaction than we +have to. And rest easy, friends. We'll +use the full summary powers conferred +by Congress."</p> + +<p>They gave me a terrific cheer. +You'd think I had said something. +At least they were reminded of the +summary powers granted the F.B.I. +to deal with telepaths, because of +the gruesome danger they are to all +of us.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Anita Hadley, my secretary, was +waiting for me in the outer office, +although it was a good hour before +we were supposed to open.</p> + +<p>"He's in there," she said, pointing +to the door to my private office.</p> + +<p>"The snake?" I asked, startled.</p> + +<p>"Fred Plaice," she said. "And he's +got the snake in there with him." +Her gray eyes flashed. She could +guess how I felt about that.</p> + +<p>"Come along," I said to her, and +went into my office.</p> + +<p>"Hi, Gyp," Fred Plaice greeted +me, grinning. "Got a present for +you." He gave his prisoner a shove, +making him stumble a couple steps +toward me. The telepath was a +stoop-shouldered balding gent with +large feet. He certainly didn't look +like a walking bubonic plague, but +then, they never do. Instinctively I +closed my thoughts to him.</p> + +<p>"What's this snake doing here, +Fred?" I asked my Section Chief +quietly.</p> + +<p>He flushed. He knew my policies. +"What did you expect me to do with +him?" he said hotly. "This isn't some +common snake we picked up out in +the country. We snagged this viper +right here in Washington, Gyp! I +suppose I should have spirited him +out of town on the midnight jet!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said. "That would have +been my idea. Do you realize that +all this publicity has gotten us a mob +of five hundred people around our +doors, a mob that's waiting to lynch +this prisoner of yours?"</p> + +<p>The man gulped and started to +say something, but Fred hit him +hard between the shoulder blades. +"Shut up," he said. "Nobody cares +what you think." He walked up close +to me. "Sure I know there's a mob +down there," he said. "And I know +why they're there. Plain scared to +death of what it means to have had +a telepath loose in Washington. +You're wrong to hustle this guy out +of town, Gyp. Look at this pathetic +case—does he look like a superman?"</p> + +<p>I looked at the snake. "No," I +agreed. "He looks like they roped +him somewhere in West Virginia a +few months ago, put shoes on him, +and brought him to town."</p> + +<p>"Right," Fred snapped. "Let the +mob get a look at him. The contrast +of you dragging him along by the +ear and him stumbling along behind +you is the sort of thing the public +laps up. It'll put you right in the +driver's seat."</p> + +<p>"I thought Congress had already +done that," I reminded him coldly. +No bureaucrat could want powers +more absolute than mine. "Unfortunately," +I growled at him. "I gave +orders that no snakes were to be +brought into this building without +my prior consent. This ineffective-looking +hill-billy has possibly read +a thousand minds since you dragged +him in here. How much of what he +has picked up around here this +morning will be peeped by some +Russian telepath before you get him +out of town?"</p> + +<p>"Relax," Fred scoffed. "He's a +short-range punk."</p> + +<p>That was too much. "I'll do my +own thinking, Fred," I said. "From +now on, you follow orders."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>I turned on the telepath. "Before +I sentence you," I said. "What have +you got to say?"</p> + +<p>"I never hurt nothin'," he grumbled.</p> + +<p>They're all alike, so help me. +"You are a telepath?" I asked him.</p> + +<p>"Shoah."</p> + +<p>"Prove it," I demanded, opening +a chink in my mind.</p> + +<p>His long red face twisted in a +crooked grin, showing poorly-cared-for +teeth scattered here and there in +his gums.</p> + +<p>"Yo' think I never had no orthodonture, +whatever <i>thet</i> is," he said.</p> + +<p>I shut my mind like a clam. If +there's anything I detest, it's the +ghastly creeping of a telepath into +my own thoughts. "Hello, Pete!" he +exclaimed. "Yo' done shet yo' +mind!" He shook his head. "Ain't +never seen a body could do <i>thet</i>!" +I'll bet he hadn't. There are only a +few of us who can keep telepaths +out of our thoughts. It takes a world +of practice. Well, I'd had that.</p> + +<p>"Can you do that?" I asked the +snake.</p> + +<p>He shook his head. "No, suh," he +admitted.</p> + +<p>"So here you are," I said, more +heatedly. "Wandering around in a +town full of <i>secrets</i>—Washington, +the capital of your country, where +the military, the diplomatic people, +the security people, all of them have +locked in their heads the things that +keep us one step ahead of the Russians. +Isn't that true?"</p> + +<p>"I reckon. But—"</p> + +<p>"But nothing," I snapped, getting +sore about it for the thousandth +time. "And you, you miserable +snake, you <i>can't</i> keep your thoughts +from being read by another telepath. +No telepath can. Your mind is open +<i>two</i> ways—to let thoughts in but, +damn it, equally to leak out anything +you know." I smiled coldly at +him. "Can you get my thoughts +now?"</p> + +<p>The telepath shook his head. +"Still got yo' mind closed," he said. +He sounded bitter about it.</p> + +<p>"You're right," I told him. "Something +that few can do, and that <i>no +telepath can do</i>! How can we let you +wander around Washington leaking +out thoughts of every secret your +mind might accidentally have overheard +from some ranking official? +How many Russian telepaths have +been accredited to their Embassy? +How many crypto-telepaths have +the Reds got in town? How many +secrets have you <i>already</i> given +away? How big a traitor have you +been?"</p> + +<p>That was the one that got him. +"Traitor!" he yelled at me, starting +across the office to where I stood +leaning against my desk. Fred +grabbed him and twisted his arm +cruelly to stop all movement.</p> + +<p>"Cut that out!" he snapped.</p> + +<p>"Cut it out yourself, Fred," I +said. "Just because you're sore at +me, you don't have to take it out on +the snake."</p> + +<p>The telepath was not to be silenced. +"My folks been in this country +over three hundred years," he +stormed at me. "And it takes someone +like you to call me a traitor!"</p> + +<p>I am very dark, and my hair is +black and curly. I don't mind. With +my heredity, it should be.</p> + +<p>"Under the power vested in me—" +I started.</p> + +<p>"Aw, shet up," he said, turning to +walk to the door. "I reckon I know +the rest!"</p> + +<p>Anita stayed behind after Fred +Plaice dragged the snake out with +him. "Better get me George Kelly +on the 'visor," I said to her.</p> + +<p>"Right away," Anita said, coming +over to my desk. "But first—"</p> + +<p>I looked up. "Yes?"</p> + +<p>"Fred Plaice is throwing you a +curve, Gyp."</p> + +<p>The instant she used my nickname, +<i>I</i> knew Anita felt that it was +important. She never did that unless +we were alone and talking seriously.</p> + +<p>"What the devil!"</p> + +<p>"Fred caught <i>another</i> telepath +last night, at the same time he got +the snake you just saw," Anita said. +"You didn't know that, did you, +Gyp?"</p> + +<p>"Hell, no," I growled. "Does +George Kelly know?"</p> + +<p>"No," she said.</p> + +<p>"How did you find out, Anita?"</p> + +<p>She shrugged. "I stand pretty +good with a couple of the guys in +Fred's section. One of them tipped +me on the 'visor at home before I +came to work. That's how I knew to +be down here, actually."</p> + +<p>I scowled over that one. "What +did your buddy tell you?"</p> + +<p>"Fred had said he'd have your +O.K. to execute the second snake by +noon and that everything about her +was top-secret."</p> + +<p>That was enough. "Get Fred and +this top-secret snake in here, Anita, +and right now! Forget about that +call to the Director."</p> + +<p>"Yes, <i>sir</i>!" she said, and went out +with a swish of skirts.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>But Fred came in alone. I decided +it was about time to get him +back on his heels. "Don't you give a +damn about my orders?" I growled +at him. His eyebrows shot up. "I +distinctly told Anita I wanted you to +bring that other snake in <i>with</i> you. +I know Anita got the message to +you."</p> + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/002.png" width="139" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>But it didn't shake him up. Fred +Plaice came right toward my desk, +leaned over and put his hands on it, +and looked me in the eye. "Gyp," +he said. "Gyp, this is once you're going +to let me have <i>my</i> way."</p> + +<p>"Not that it makes any difference," +I snapped. "But why?"</p> + +<p>"That's exactly what I'm not going +to tell you," he said. "Listen, +Gyp, have I ever tried to stick it in +you, in any form?"</p> + +<p>Fred's a hot-shot. He's the +hardest-charger among my Section +Chiefs. But I had never found his +ambitions extending to my own job +as head of the Division of Psychic +Investigation. "You're still here," I +conceded. "I guess I never caught +you at it, Fred."</p> + +<p>"And you never will, Gyp," he +said. "You've given me the greatest +breaks a guy ever got. This time +I'm returning the favor."</p> + +<p>"By <i>executing</i> a telepath?" I demanded. +"And a woman, at that!"</p> + +<p>He didn't ask me how I knew, but +I could see it annoyed him.</p> + +<p>"The biggest break you ever got," +he insisted. "This thing is so hot it +will burn you to death. Another +crypto-telepath, right here in the +District. I want to make summary +disposition of her, and I don't want +you to so much as look at the papers. +Just give me instructions to use +my own discretion."</p> + +<p>Talk about a blank check. "Fred," +I said, searching for words that +wouldn't offend him. "I have more +confidence in you than in any man +I've ever worked with. But <i>execution</i>! +Sure, three years ago, when +the President declared the psychic +emergency, we were killing the most +fatally dangerous ones. But that's a +couple years behind us. I just can't +go that far without more reason +than you've given me."</p> + +<p>"It's perfectly legal," Fred said +sullenly and beside the point. "Congress +has given you summary—"</p> + +<p>"Of course," I cut in. "What +F.B.I. man would suggest an illegal +course of action? But why should I +delegate? If this is so touchy, I +should handle it myself. Why delegate?"</p> + +<p>"Simply because, I ask it," he +said. "And because you trust me. +Listen, Gyp," he added, almost passionately. +"Don't ask me any more +questions. I've said too much already. +If you know <i>why</i>, it wouldn't +be right for you to delegate. Do as I +ask. Trust me. I'm saving you a +world of trouble."</p> + +<p>"Boy, oh boy!" I said. "This doesn't +sound like the way to stay out of +trouble. What is so dangerous about +this telepath?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing doing," Fred said. "I +know I'm asking for a blank check. +There's no other way for me to help +you play it."</p> + +<p>"This is your own idea, Fred?"</p> + +<p>"Sure."</p> + +<p>"Talked it over with Anita?"</p> + +<p>He shook his head furiously. "I +wouldn't compromise you, Gyp, and +not with <i>her</i>!"</p> + +<p>That settled it. I would trust Anita +with the crown jewels.</p> + +<p>"No dice, Fred," I said. "Give me +the facts."</p> + +<p>"Gyp," he pleaded. "<i>Don't</i> ask for +them!"</p> + +<p>"The facts!"</p> + +<p>He straightened up from where he +had hung over my desk during the +whole argument. "This cuts my guts +right out," he said. "Suspect apprehended +around two o'clock this +morning and now in detention at the +City Jail. Native white female, age +fifty-eight. Named Maude Tinker." +He stopped.</p> + +<p>I couldn't start. Maude Tinker! +My given name is Joseph Tinker—although +they all call me Gyp. +"What ..." I got out at last. +"What did she look...?"</p> + +<p>He nodded, looking sick. "She's a +gypsy, if that's what you mean, +Gyp," he said to me. "I'm sorry. +You <i>know</i> I'm sorry."</p> + +<p>"Has she made any statement, +Fred?" I asked softly, staring at the +surface of my desk.</p> + +<p>"She demanded to be taken at +once to the Chief of the Division of +Psychic Investigation, Mr. Joseph +Tinker," he said.</p> + +<p>"Give any reason?"</p> + +<p>He was quiet for a while, until I +looked up. "She said," Fred told me, +"she said Gyp Tinker was her son."</p> + +<p>I smiled wanly at him. "Obviously +I can't let a statement like that go +unchallenged, not in my position as +the man charged with extirpating +the danger of the snakes," I said.</p> + +<p>"Obviously," Fred agreed. "Now +that you know about it. If you had +done as I asked, Gyp ..."</p> + +<p>"Get her over here, Fred," I said. +"I'll see her at once. And send Anita +in as you leave."</p> + +<p>"Sure, Gyp," he said, starting for +the door.</p> + +<p>"And thanks, Fred," I said. "But +it never would have worked."</p> + +<p>"Maybe not," he conceded from +the door. "But the guy in the jam +would have been me, not you."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>I turned my swivel around and +stared out the window at the Mall +and didn't move until the light scent +of Anita's perfume reminded me +that I had asked her to come in.</p> + +<p>I swung around. "You watch out +for that Fred Plaice," Anita said, almost +scoldingly.</p> + +<p>"You mean, start watching my +back, like I never did before? How +did I get this far?"</p> + +<p>Her frown softened a little. "You +don't miss many bets," she said. "Not +my Gypper. But this thing of Fred's +holding back on the other telepath +he picked up last night has all the +earmarks of a real slippery move."</p> + +<p>"Did Fred tell you anything about +it on the way out?"</p> + +<p>"Just that he was bringing the +telepath from the City Jail right +back with him, and that you wanted +to see her at once."</p> + +<p>"This snake is a woman, aged +fifty-eight, Anita," I told her. "She +gave the name of Maude Tinker +and says she's my mother," I added, +without any particular expression.</p> + +<p>Anita laughed. "Oh, <i>no</i>!" she said. +"What they won't think of next!" +But her face sobered in an instant, +and she bent forward, almost whispering +the rest: "Gyp! You mean +that Fred Plaice took her seriously! +That he was trying to get <i>rid</i> of +her?"</p> + +<p>"He felt it would be better if I +never knew about it," I admitted. +"What do you think I should do, +Anita?"</p> + +<p>Her heart-shaped face grew more +solemn. "I think it would be bad to +try to cover it up," she decided. +"And I'm glad you didn't let Fred +do that to you. Some newscast +would be sure to get hold of the story +and there'd be snide accusations. +All this talk recently about the +heredity of psi powers is bad, too. +That's what she's trying to cash in +on. And if the public thought that +the man in charge of catching and +pulling the fangs of all the snakes +was a hereditary telepath, they'd be +after your scalp in no time."</p> + +<p>"So?"</p> + +<p>"Scotch it. See her, face her +down, prove her charge is ridiculous, +and ship her west."</p> + +<p>I smiled a little dimly. "Just one +complication."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Gyp?"</p> + +<p>"This Maude Tinker, says Fred, +is a gypsy."</p> + +<p>Anita's face did the most abrupt +change. I had never seen her furiously +angry. She's a typical high +echelon Washington secretary, cool, +extremely well-mannered, cheerful +without being bumptious. But this +time she was downright mad.</p> + +<p>"I told you," Anita said.</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"I told you to watch out for Fred +Plaice!"</p> + +<p>"It's not his fault," I protested. +"Catching telepaths is his job."</p> + +<p>"Within limits," she said scornfully. +"I thought it was just one +more of his screwball ideas! He had +his whole Section concentrating on +gypsies, for a couple of months. He +had a long story to go with it, Gyp! +How all the soothsayers and clairvoyants +and finders were really +short-range telepaths or pre-cogs."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it," I said. "You +mean that Fred started with my +nickname, and has been on this campaign +of looking for telepaths among +gypsies just in hopes he could embarrass +me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes!"</p> + +<p>You have to like loyalty, no matter +what the circumstances that incite +it.</p> + +<p>"I can't believe that of one of my +boys, Anita," I said. "Fred was all +broken up about it."</p> + +<p>"I bet I can call the turn," Anita +said, starting back for her own desk. +"Fred's next move is to tell you that +no one can blame you for disqualifying +yourself from this case. After +all, your own mother!"</p> + +<p>Well, the political implications +<i>were</i> deep. "I think I would agree," +I said at length. "Let's see what happens. +Send this Maude Tinker in as +soon as she gets here."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to take any +precautions, Gyp?" Anita demanded.</p> + +<p>"Against what?"</p> + +<p>"You're impossible," she snapped. +"I'll take care of the precaution department +myself. And don't you +dare let Fred get that woman in +here until I get back."</p> + +<p>"No what...?"</p> + +<p>"Joseph Tinker!" she cried. "Be +quiet!" She stormed out.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>In about twenty minutes the buzzer +on my pix-box sounded, and I +depressed the key. Anita's face was +tense on the small screen.</p> + +<p>"Just got a flash," she said. "Fred +has her in his 'copter and will let +down on the roof in about four or +five minutes. I'll need a couple minutes +more than that. Now don't you +let him in with her before I get there, +do you hear me?"</p> + +<p>I said I heard her. She beat Fred +at that. For all I know she had +booby-trapped them in getting down +from the roof. Anita has drag with +everybody in the building, and that +could have included the elevator +service man, who quite easily could +have loused service to the roof +enough to delay Fred.</p> + +<p>Anita came in. "Mr. Tinker," she +said crisply. "Meet Tony Carlucci."</p> + +<p>I stood up. Tony was a darned +good-looking chap, about my age, +with very dark hair, somewhat curly, +and a flash of white teeth for a smile. +I told him I was pleased to meet +him.</p> + +<p>"Move over," Anita directed, +stepping smartly around my desk +and giving my elbow a sharp yank. +"You sit behind the desk, Tony. +Now try to look like a big wheel, for +heaven's sake."</p> + +<p>"I <i>am</i> a big wheel," Tony protested. +"In the used 'copter racket."</p> + +<p>Anita was already reaching up to +push down on my shoulders. "Won't +you sit down?" she demanded. She +had me in one of the comfortable +chairs I have in my office for callers, +rather off to one side. She put herself +down in the chair across my +desk from Tony Carlucci, as though +she were getting instructions.</p> + +<p>He didn't need much hinting. +"Tell the bulls we're gonna clean up +the District," he started, waving his +hands around. "No more poker. +No more dice. No more Sneaky Pete." +I'd never heard of that.</p> + +<p>"Shut up!" Anita said. "He'll be +here any instant."</p> + +<p>Fred was as good as her word. +He was holding the door for his telepath +within seconds. Tony Carlucci +stopped hamming it up and straightened +importantly in my chair. I had +to admit that Anita had found a guy +who, superficially, resembled me +more than a little. No one who knew +either of us would ever mistake one +for the other, but our general descriptions +were quite similar.</p> + +<p>The woman who came in not only +was a gypsy, she was dressed as a +gypsy. Her blouse was white, and +quite frilly. She had on a billowing +red skirt, liberally encrusted with +embroidered beads of a darker red. +The tattered hem of a petticoat hung +below it. Her hair had been dark +once, but it was shot with threads of +silver. There was a lot of it, and piled +up high so that her ears were exposed. +They had pierced lobes, and +heavy gold rings hung from them.</p> + +<p>Instinctively I closed my mind as +tight as a clam. The mere sight of a +telepath triggers that reaction. Fred +closed the door behind him, continuing +to stand just behind his captive. +She glanced briefly at me and +then looked for a longer moment at +Tony Carlucci, behind my desk.</p> + +<p>"Joe," she said to him. "Joe, don't +let them do this to me!"</p> + +<p>I don't know how much coaching +Anita had given Carlucci, but he +knew enough to call her "mother." +And I knew enough to watch Fred +Plaice the instant Tony said: "Oh, +mother! Why the devil couldn't you +keep out of sight!"</p> + +<p>Fred was one mighty confused +looking boy. The two-bit word is +consternation. He had it. Anita had +given him the business.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, madame," I said +standing and walking over to where +Tony was emoting, with the back of +his hand pressed to his eyes. "We +threw you a curve. Meet Mr. Tony +Carlucci." Her eyebrows rose in surprise. +"And I, madame, am Joseph +Tinker."</p> + +<p>"Joe!" she cried, or wailed is a +better word, and threw herself +around the desk to seize me in her +arms. She smelled faintly of garlic, +oregano and some kind of incense, +maybe sandalwood. A nice clean +gypsy smell. Cleaner than a lot of +gypsies I can think of.</p> + +<p>Fred pulled her off me, not too +gently. I'd say he was a little sore +about something. Anita's eyes were +slits of fury.</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Tony," I said. "See you +around."</p> + +<p>"Honest Tony Carlucci," he said. +"If you need a used 'copter, Joe, jet +on down to my dock. Nothing down. +Listen, I got one that was never used +except in the spring by a little old +lady who gave up walking for Lent. +I'll tell you what I'll do—"</p> + +<p>"Wasting your time," Anita told +him. "The Government provides +Mr. Tinker with any kind of transportation +he needs. A thousand +thanks, Tony. I won't forget—" The +rest was cut off as she gave him one +of the more polite bum's rushes. I +think he would have liked to hang +around to see the rest of our little +amateur theatrical.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Fred had his grin going. "Couldn't +get the drift for a minute, Gyp," +he said, clapping me on the shoulder. +"Nice work! Now I know why I get +such a kick out of working for you!" +He whirled on Maude Tinker. "And +you, you foolish old biddy! How far +do you think you would get with an +act like this against another telepath?"</p> + +<p>She spat a curse at him in Romany. +"So smart!" she sneered. "There +isn't another telepath in the city of +Washington!"</p> + +<p>That was a laugh. For its own +safety the F.B.I. has its own gang of +tame TP's—they are all, of course, +exceptionally short-range telepaths, +and we practically keep them under +lock and key to make sure some important +thoughts don't leak in and +out of their diseased minds.</p> + +<p>"Send in Freeda Sayer," I said, +leaning down to press the intercommute. +Freeda is a thick-ankled, +thick-headed telepath. But stupid or +not, she is telepathic, and <i>is</i> an acid +test in these cases.</p> + +<p>"Is this woman a telepath?" I +asked Freeda, when she stumped in.</p> + +<p>Freeda looked at Maude Tinker, +her mouth hanging a little open. She +snuffled and walked quite close to +the gypsy woman. "Yeah," she said. +"She knows I'm thinking her hem is +torn." She turned her head with that +low-thyroid slowness to me. "Is that +all, Mr. Tinker?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Fred answered. "Swell, Freeda. +That's all."</p> + +<p>Freeda wandered out.</p> + +<p>Fred said: "O.K., Gyp. What'll I +do with her?"</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Mrs. ... it is Mrs., +isn't it? ... Mrs. Tinker, won't +you please?" I said in answer to his +question. She took the chair Anita +had been using when Tony was pretending +to be me, and I sat down in +my swivel across the desk from her.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Mrs. Tinker," I said. +"It's bad enough that you have deliberately +stayed in the District after +all telepaths were most stringently +warned to register with us so that we +could move them to less sensitive +areas. But I take it quite hard that +you have tried to embarrass me."</p> + +<p>"That would take a little doing," +she said. "You've got a heart like a +piece of flint. Let me see your +palm!" she demanded, reaching imperatively +across my desk. Fred +started to protest, but I passed my +hand across to her, leaning forward +so that she could reach it.</p> + +<p>Maude Tinker smoothed out my +palm, rubbing her thumb over it as +if to clear away a veil of mystery, +and bent close over it, her dark face +intense. She traced a line or two +with her fingernail, and dropped my +hand to the walnut. "You have no +mercy," she said. "You will use the +excuse that I tried to hinder the +work of your department as a reason +to punish me severely—and your +real reason is that you feel I might +have damaged you personally."</p> + +<p>Fred was moving around the desk. +He spoke softly in my ear while I +kept my eye on the gypsy. That was +silly. He can't close his mind the way +I can. She could read his thoughts +just as well as if he were screaming +them out loud.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/003.png" width="600" height="330" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>"That's a charge she may repeat, +Gyp," he said. "Nobody could blame +you, if you disqualified yourself +from this decision. I think we could +get the newscasts to see it as impeccable +public behavior. We'll paint +you as the administrator so devoted +to pure justice that even potential +resentment will be a barrier to your +personal decision. How's that sound +to you, Gyp?"</p> + +<p>"The day you have to start painting +a picture for them, I've had it, +Fred," I said. I felt sure Anita had +overheard his soft words in my ear, +but to be sure, I added, "I think it +would be suicide to disqualify myself +from this case. That's just the first +step to disqualifying myself from +the job. If there's any hint of telepathic +heredity in my case, ducking +this decision would be a public admission +that I'm sensitive in that +area. No. I'll handle it."</p> + +<p>Anita nodded slowly to me. Well, +she had called it. Maybe she <i>was</i> +right about Fred. "Tell you what," I +said. "Several things about this case +interest me. If we are to believe her, +this woman has had absolutely no +contact with any other telepath in +Washington—she thought she was +the only one who had escaped our +dragnet. Why don't all of you shoo—I +want to do a little survey in +depth here—a little motivational +work. I think I can get more frankness +out of her if there are no witnesses. +Beat it, kids."</p> + +<p>Anita left with Fred. Maude +Tinker and I were alone in my office. +I looked at her with a smile.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"Hello, Joe," she said.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Mother," I said. "You +look just wonderful."</p> + +<p>Mother smiled at me and reached +across the desk again to take both +my hands. "<i>Yosip</i>," she said in Romany. +"What a wonderful long way +you have come since you ran away. +A lawyer, and now a big man, a <i>very</i> +big man, in Washington. I am a very +proud gypsy."</p> + +<p>What I might have said to her +was interrupted by a racket outside +my office. Voices were raised. I +thought I heard what could only be +Anita yelling. That's another thing +that had never happened before.</p> + +<p>Fred burst back into the office, +with Anita right on his heels. His +face was livid. Mother turned in her +chair and looked coldly at him. A +gypsy woman can give you the snootiest +look in the world, right down +her aquiline nose, when she feels like +it. It stopped Fred Plaice in his +tracks.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Fred?" I said quietly.</p> + +<p>"If you don't mind, Tinker," he +said brusquely. "I'd like to be present +for this interview."</p> + +<p>"Tinker?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, Gyp," he said. "I'm +... I'm upset."</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you are, you sneak," +Anita said. "Chief," she told me. "He +was fit to be tied when you chased +us out. The first thing he wanted to +know was whatever had made you +decide to get Tony Carlucci in here +to trick his gypsy snake. I was so +mad that I flipped and told him it +was <i>my</i> idea."</p> + +<p>"Is that why you're back?" I +asked him.</p> + +<p>"Get this calf-eyed girl Friday of +yours off my back," he said stonily. +"Our security certainly doesn't permit +your confidential assistant to be +in love with you. We're supposed to +be checking each other constantly."</p> + +<p>I hardly knew which of his two +ideas to blast the hardest. I looked +at Anita first. She simply raised her +head and looked me straight in the +eye. It could mean almost anything.</p> + +<p>I tried Fred: "And you consider +it's your job to check on me?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Goes without saying," +he said. I shrugged. "At any +rate," he added, calming down. "I'm +staying. Nothing outside of a direct +order, which I will protest to George +Kelly, will get me to leave." The +last thing I wanted was trouble with +the Director.</p> + +<p>"Stay, Fred," I said. "But we'll +have some things to settle afterwards."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," he smiled. "It will depend. +Right now I'd like to get a +load of this motivational research +you've got cooked up."</p> + +<p>"Don't bother," Mother said. +"I've got more sense than to tie the +rope around my own neck. I'm not +saying a word." She crossed her +arms and sat back in her chair with +a granitic finality.</p> + +<p>"So much the quicker," Fred said. +"You can sentence her right now, +Gyp!"</p> + +<p>"Sure," I said. "Sure I can." I +wish I could say that my mind raced +to a quick decision. No—I <i>couldn't</i> +think. Or almost couldn't. One idea +percolated through. Mother had +made no "mistake" in calling Tony +by my name. She had read Fred's +mind in the 'copter on the way from +the jail, and Anita's as she was +ushered in. Her "mistake" could +only mean one thing—<i>Fred Plaice +was not sure she was my mother</i>.</p> + +<p>This much thought took time. +Fred knew I was stalling. "Come +on," he snapped in a tone he had +never dared to use to me before. +"Let's have the sentence!"</p> + +<p>He was right in one thing. He had +me over a barrel. I squeezed my +eyelids shut and did something I +hadn't done since that day twenty +years before when I had run away +from home. I opened my mind to +my mother.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Unless you have had the experience, +you can't imagine what it is +like to live with a telepath. It is disquieting +in the extreme. One of the +concomitants of consciousness is +that it is <i>private</i> consciousness. And +when this isn't true, when someone, +even a loved one, can creep into +your mind and know what you +think, your insides writhe. Caterpillars +course around under your skin. +And you resent. Sooner or later you +will hate. I ran away from home because +I couldn't stand Mother in my +mind, and couldn't bear the thought +of hating her.</p> + +<p>But now I <i>had</i> to know what I +should do to her. I let her into my +thoughts. <i>Give me some sign</i>, I +thought, as I waved a hand at Fred +for quiet. <i>Mother, tell me what to +do!</i></p> + +<p><i>Poor Joe</i>, she thought. <i>He loves +me in spite of it all. He can't bear to +do what he has to do. Joe!</i> her mind +shrieked at me. <i>You read my mind!</i></p> + +<p>I snapped upright in my chair and +grabbed its arms until I could hear +my knuckles crack. My mind snapped +shut with an almost audible crack. +<i>I was a damned snake!</i></p> + +<p>I could dimly hear Fred yammering +at me. With a sick fear I slowly +opened my mind again. His thoughts +surged into it. Well, Anita had been +right. And Anita!</p> + +<p><i>Yes</i>, Mother thought. <i>She does +love you, Joe. A lovely girl. You +lucky man.</i></p> + +<p>Fred had me by the shoulder, yelling +at me, shaking me, trying to get +me to speak. He was almost slavering +in his greed. I paid him no heed. +<i>All right</i>, I thought. <i>What's to be +done, Mother?</i></p> + +<p><i>Throw the book at me</i>, Mother +thought.</p> + +<p>"Shut up, Fred. And sit down." He +kept his tight grip on my shoulder. +"Sit down!" I yelled at him. "Three +strikes and out, Fred. This is the +third order you've resisted today!"</p> + +<p>"Now hear this," I said. "Under +the powers vested in me ..." I +sentenced Mother to indefinite detention +in Oklahoma. I threatened her +with worse—face it, the only worse +thing was death—if she were found +in a restricted area again.</p> + +<p>"Take her out, Fred," I said. He +hadn't counted on my being able to +do it, and it left him without a plan. +"Four times?" I asked him.</p> + +<p>"No. No, Gyp. On my way," he +said, taking Mother by the arm.</p> + +<p>Anita started to follow him. I +stopped her and waited until the +door had closed behind Fred and +Mother.</p> + +<p>"You were right about Fred, +Anita," I said. "Thank you for saving +my life."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Gyp," she said, tears trying +to brim over her eyelids. "He's such +a cutthroat!"</p> + +<p>"Sure," I said. "But now we know +it. Get me an appointment with +George Kelly, will you, Anita?"</p> + +<p>She compressed her lips. "That's +more like it!" she said angrily. "Get +Fred kicked clear out of the Bureau. +George Kelly is a great Director, +Gyp, and he'll do it if you insist."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," I said. I stewed over +what to tell the boss until Anita +came back in.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Kelly can see you now, Mr. +Tinker," she said, all calmed down +again.</p> + +<p>I got up and came around the desk +and took her by the elbow, standing +at my door. "Just in case," I +said, leaning down to kiss her lightly +on the lips. "I love you, too."</p> + +<p>"Too?" she said.</p> + +<p>I froze. It was the kind of slip +that sooner or later trips up every +snake. My grin was a sick one. I +walked out without another word.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The Director's office is on the +fourth floor, I climbed the single +flight, and his girl let me in. George +affects long slim cigars. I say affects. +He seldom lights them, but he waves +them like batons, conducting some +kind of a symphony of words and +ideas all day.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, stranger," he said, +calling on the fiddles for a little pizzicato. +"What's up, Gyp?"</p> + +<p>I sat down across from him at his +desk and tried to put a smile on my +face. "I want to submit my resignation, +George," I said. "Effective immediately."</p> + +<p>"Not accepted," he said, without a +second thought. Then his face grew +solemn. "What's this about?" he demanded. +"I can't lose <i>you</i>, Gyp. My +right bower!"</p> + +<p>"One favor," I said, not answering +him. "Don't move Fred Plaice +up to my old spot. Any of the other +Section Chiefs, but not Fred."</p> + +<p>"Well, well," George said, whipping +up the brasses with his cigar. +"This begins to sound like cause and +effect." He hushed the whole orchestra +to a whisper. "I thought +Fred was your fair-haired boy, Gyp. +You two get in a hassle?"</p> + +<p>I shook my head. "Not directly, +George," I told him. "I want you to +know two things. They'll explain +why I'm quitting. My mother is a +telepath. We arrested her early this +morning, here in the District. I just +sentenced her to transportation and +detention in Oklahoma."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens," he gasped. +"Your own mother! Gyp, no wonder +you're upset. Didn't you know she +was a snake?"</p> + +<p>My smile was a little tired. "Of +course I knew," I told him. "I ran +away from home at thirteen to get +away from having her inside my +head all the time. That's how I +learned to close my mind—closing +her out as much as I could. The +power got stronger as I grew older."</p> + +<p>"It's embarrassing," George said, +turning away from me to look out +the window. "To have you, of all +people, Gyp, with telepathic heredity. +Still, if no one knows, and since +you've never had the slightest manifestation +of psi powers yourself, +there may be some way we can preserve +your usefulness."</p> + +<p>"Today, within the last half hour, +George, my latent telepathic ability +became manifest. George, I'm a +snake."</p> + +<p>His face froze. Then the batonlike +cigar stopped its movement. He was +like a statue. The pose broke, and +he pressed a button.</p> + +<p>"Send Carol Lundgren in," he ordered. +I knew Carol, another short-range +telepath that George used as +his private lie-detector.</p> + +<p>Carol was at my elbow in a moment +or so. George wasted no +words. "Carol, is there a telepath in +this room?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Carol grinned. "Yep," he said to +the enforced silence. "There is." +George Kelly's face fell. "His name +is Carol Lundgren," the kid went on. +"Next question?"</p> + +<p>George looked as though he could +have brained him. "All right, you +Philadelphia lawyer," he grumbled. +"Besides yourself, Carol, is there a +telepath in this room?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Kelly, there is not."</p> + +<p>"Get out, and don't scare me like +that again." George told him.</p> + +<p>I didn't get it. I said so: "George, +I don't get it. I read my mother's +thoughts, and for that matter, Fred +Plaice's thoughts, too. That's why I +asked you not to give him my job. +I swear to you I can read thoughts."</p> + +<p>"So?"</p> + +<p>"If I <i>know</i> I'm a telepath, Carol +should be able to read the thought +that I know it," I protested.</p> + +<p>"You're like me," George Kelly +said. "You automatically close your +mind in the presence of a telepath. +It's pure reflex now. Carol couldn't +read a thing because you clammed +your thoughts the instant he walked +in."</p> + +<p>"That was <i>then</i>!" I yelled at him. +"<i>Before</i> my psi powers became +manifest. You know that a telepath +can't close his mind! Why couldn't +Carol read my thoughts?"</p> + +<p><i>Well</i>, George thought, <i>he couldn't +read mine either, could he?</i></p> + +<p><i>No</i>, I thought. <i>He couldn't. He +... George!</i> my mind shrieked at +him.</p> + +<p>Somebody kicked the props out +from under my world. <i>George Kelly +was a snake!</i></p> + +<p><i>Don't be silly</i>, he thought. <i>I'm no +more a snake than you are, Gyp.</i></p> + +<p><i>But you're a telepath!</i></p> + +<p><i>So are you, Gyp</i>, he thought. <i>The +only kind of telepath that really +counts. You can read minds, but +others can't read yours.</i></p> + +<p>I fell back on words, closing my +mind—it was rattling so I didn't +want George to read my thoughts: +"But a telepath <i>can't</i> close his +mind!" I protested.</p> + +<p>"I hope the Russians are as sure +of that as you are, Gyp," George +grinned. "The only agents we have +in Russia are closed-mind telepaths—telepaths +who don't automatically +give themselves away. Now <i>that</i> +kind of a telepath really <i>is</i> a usable +espionage agent or a safe link in a +communications net."</p> + +<p>"How long has this been going +on?"</p> + +<p>"About three years, Gyp. When +we discovered that certain training +could make some telepaths closed-mind +operators, we got the President +to promulgate the Executive +Orders that Congress later made +into law. We got all ordinary telepaths +out of circulation and put to +work those that we could train to +closed-mind operation. Now you +know why I won't take your resignation."</p> + +<p>I sputtered. "George, how can I +conscientiously crack down on these +poor people, if I'm a TP myself?"</p> + +<p>He grinned. "You won't. You'll +still be doing just what you've always +been doing, except now you'll +<i>know</i> that you're doing it. You'll be +recruiting telepaths for us. Where +do you think we train them?"</p> + +<p>"Oklahoma? The Detention area?"</p> + +<p>"Sure. Where else? Now relax. +But for heaven's sake, don't ever +leak this. We feel sure the Russians +haven't discovered this business of +closed-mind telepaths yet. Some day, +I suppose, they will. It may take a +long time. The self-realized closed-mind +telepath like you, Gyp, is a +rarity. Mostly we have to train people +rigorously for it. It took your +mother over two years to learn it."</p> + +<p>"My mother!"</p> + +<p>"Sure. Why did you think she was +in Washington? She's part of the +Sevastopol, Teheran and Cairo communications +network."</p> + +<p>"George," I insisted. "Something +is shaky. If she's on the inside, how +did she ever get picked up?"</p> + +<p>He laughed. "Just part of her +cover. Fred Plaice got too close. We +know what he is, Gyp. But we didn't +dare to have him guess what your +mother was. She's on her way to a +nice California vacation. New assignment +after that. Maybe middle +Europe. After all, she <i>is</i> a gypsy. +Ought to go well, say, in Bulgaria!"</p> + +<p class="theend">THE END</p> + +<div class="trans1"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br /> +This etext was produced from <i>Analog</i> July +1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and +typographical errors have been corrected without note.</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tinker's Dam, by Joseph Tinker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TINKER'S DAM *** + +***** This file should be named 24655-h.htm or 24655-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/5/24655/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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