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diff --git a/24655.txt b/24655.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1033361 --- /dev/null +++ b/24655.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1400 @@ +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: ASCII + +*** 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 + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + TINKER'S + DAM + +By JOSEPH TINKER + + + _There is something very fundamental + indeed about the ancient showman's + trick--divert their attention from + the thing you're really doing ..._ + + +Illustrated by Schoenherr + + +The 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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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!" + +"Oh, no," I protested. "You don't mean Fred took a telepath to the +office?" + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +"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." + +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. + + * * * * * + +Anita Hadley, my secretary, was waiting for me in the outer office, +although it was a good hour before we were supposed to open. + +"He's in there," she said, pointing to the door to my private office. + +"The snake?" I asked, startled. + +"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. + +"Come along," I said to her, and went into my office. + +"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. + +"What's this snake doing here, Fred?" I asked my Section Chief quietly. + +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!" + +"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?" + +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?" + +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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"Relax," Fred scoffed. "He's a short-range punk." + +That was too much. "I'll do my own thinking, Fred," I said. "From now +on, you follow orders." + + * * * * * + +I turned on the telepath. "Before I sentence you," I said. "What have +you got to say?" + +"I never hurt nothin'," he grumbled. + +They're all alike, so help me. "You are a telepath?" I asked him. + +"Shoah." + +"Prove it," I demanded, opening a chink in my mind. + +His long red face twisted in a crooked grin, showing poorly-cared-for +teeth scattered here and there in his gums. + +"Yo' think I never had no orthodonture, whatever _thet_ is," he said. + +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 _thet_!" 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. + +"Can you do that?" I asked the snake. + +He shook his head. "No, suh," he admitted. + +"So here you are," I said, more heatedly. "Wandering around in a town +full of _secrets_--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?" + +"I reckon. But--" + +"But nothing," I snapped, getting sore about it for the thousandth time. +"And you, you miserable snake, you _can't_ keep your thoughts from being +read by another telepath. No telepath can. Your mind is open _two_ +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?" + +The telepath shook his head. "Still got yo' mind closed," he said. He +sounded bitter about it. + +"You're right," I told him. "Something that few can do, and that _no +telepath can do_! 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 _already_ given away? How big a +traitor have you been?" + +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. + +"Cut that out!" he snapped. + +"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." + +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!" + +I am very dark, and my hair is black and curly. I don't mind. With my +heredity, it should be. + +"Under the power vested in me--" I started. + +"Aw, shet up," he said, turning to walk to the door. "I reckon I know +the rest!" + +Anita stayed behind after Fred Plaice dragged the snake out with him. +"Better get me George Kelly on the 'visor," I said to her. + +"Right away," Anita said, coming over to my desk. "But first--" + +I looked up. "Yes?" + +"Fred Plaice is throwing you a curve, Gyp." + +The instant she used my nickname, _I_ knew Anita felt that it was +important. She never did that unless we were alone and talking +seriously. + +"What the devil!" + +"Fred caught _another_ telepath last night, at the same time he got the +snake you just saw," Anita said. "You didn't know that, did you, Gyp?" + +"Hell, no," I growled. "Does George Kelly know?" + +"No," she said. + +"How did you find out, Anita?" + +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." + +I scowled over that one. "What did your buddy tell you?" + +"Fred had said he'd have your O.K. to execute the second snake by noon +and that everything about her was top-secret." + +That was enough. "Get Fred and this top-secret snake in here, Anita, and +right now! Forget about that call to the Director." + +"Yes, _sir_!" she said, and went out with a swish of skirts. + + * * * * * + +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 _with_ you. I know Anita got the message to you." + +[Illustration] + +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 _my_ way." + +"Not that it makes any difference," I snapped. "But why?" + +"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?" + +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." + +"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." + +"By _executing_ a telepath?" I demanded. "And a woman, at that!" + +He didn't ask me how I knew, but I could see it annoyed him. + +"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." + +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 _execution_! 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." + +"It's perfectly legal," Fred said sullenly and beside the point. +"Congress has given you summary--" + +"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?" + +"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 _why_, it wouldn't be right for +you to delegate. Do as I ask. Trust me. I'm saving you a world of +trouble." + +"Boy, oh boy!" I said. "This doesn't sound like the way to stay out of +trouble. What is so dangerous about this telepath?" + +"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." + +"This is your own idea, Fred?" + +"Sure." + +"Talked it over with Anita?" + +He shook his head furiously. "I wouldn't compromise you, Gyp, and not +with _her_!" + +That settled it. I would trust Anita with the crown jewels. + +"No dice, Fred," I said. "Give me the facts." + +"Gyp," he pleaded. "_Don't_ ask for them!" + +"The facts!" + +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. + +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...?" + +He nodded, looking sick. "She's a gypsy, if that's what you mean, Gyp," +he said to me. "I'm sorry. You _know_ I'm sorry." + +"Has she made any statement, Fred?" I asked softly, staring at the +surface of my desk. + +"She demanded to be taken at once to the Chief of the Division of +Psychic Investigation, Mr. Joseph Tinker," he said. + +"Give any reason?" + +He was quiet for a while, until I looked up. "She said," Fred told me, +"she said Gyp Tinker was her son." + +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. + +"Obviously," Fred agreed. "Now that you know about it. If you had done +as I asked, Gyp ..." + +"Get her over here, Fred," I said. "I'll see her at once. And send Anita +in as you leave." + +"Sure, Gyp," he said, starting for the door. + +"And thanks, Fred," I said. "But it never would have worked." + +"Maybe not," he conceded from the door. "But the guy in the jam would +have been me, not you." + + * * * * * + +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. + +I swung around. "You watch out for that Fred Plaice," Anita said, almost +scoldingly. + +"You mean, start watching my back, like I never did before? How did I +get this far?" + +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." + +"Did Fred tell you anything about it on the way out?" + +"Just that he was bringing the telepath from the City Jail right back +with him, and that you wanted to see her at once." + +"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. + +Anita laughed. "Oh, _no_!" 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 _rid_ of her?" + +"He felt it would be better if I never knew about it," I admitted. "What +do you think I should do, Anita?" + +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." + +"So?" + +"Scotch it. See her, face her down, prove her charge is ridiculous, and +ship her west." + +I smiled a little dimly. "Just one complication." + +"Yes, Gyp?" + +"This Maude Tinker, says Fred, is a gypsy." + +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. + +"I told you," Anita said. + +"What?" + +"I told you to watch out for Fred Plaice!" + +"It's not his fault," I protested. "Catching telepaths is his job." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"Yes!" + +You have to like loyalty, no matter what the circumstances that incite +it. + +"I can't believe that of one of my boys, Anita," I said. "Fred was all +broken up about it." + +"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!" + +Well, the political implications _were_ 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." + +"Aren't you going to take any precautions, Gyp?" Anita demanded. + +"Against what?" + +"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." + +"No what...?" + +"Joseph Tinker!" she cried. "Be quiet!" She stormed out. + + * * * * * + +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. + +"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?" + +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. + +Anita came in. "Mr. Tinker," she said crisply. "Meet Tony Carlucci." + +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. + +"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." + +"I _am_ a big wheel," Tony protested. "In the used 'copter racket." + +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. + +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. + +"Shut up!" Anita said. "He'll be here any instant." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Joe," she said to him. "Joe, don't let them do this to me!" + +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!" + +Fred was one mighty confused looking boy. The two-bit word is +consternation. He had it. Anita had given him the business. + +"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." + +"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. + +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. + +"Thanks, Tony," I said. "See you around." + +"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--" + +"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. + + * * * * * + +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?" + +She spat a curse at him in Romany. "So smart!" she sneered. "There isn't +another telepath in the city of Washington!" + +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. + +"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 _is_ an acid test in these cases. + +"Is this woman a telepath?" I asked Freeda, when she stumped in. + +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. + +Fred answered. "Swell, Freeda. That's all." + +Freeda wandered out. + +Fred said: "O.K., Gyp. What'll I do with her?" + +"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. + +"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." + +"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. + +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." + +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. + +[Illustration] + +"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?" + +"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." + +Anita nodded slowly to me. Well, she had called it. Maybe she _was_ +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." + +Anita left with Fred. Maude Tinker and I were alone in my office. I +looked at her with a smile. + + * * * * * + +"Hello, Joe," she said. + +"Hello, Mother," I said. "You look just wonderful." + +Mother smiled at me and reached across the desk again to take both my +hands. "_Yosip_," she said in Romany. "What a wonderful long way you +have come since you ran away. A lawyer, and now a big man, a _very_ big +man, in Washington. I am a very proud gypsy." + +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. + +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. + +"Yes, Fred?" I said quietly. + +"If you don't mind, Tinker," he said brusquely. "I'd like to be present +for this interview." + +"Tinker?" + +"I'm sorry, Gyp," he said. "I'm ... I'm upset." + +"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 _my_ +idea." + +"Is that why you're back?" I asked him. + +"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." + +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. + +I tried Fred: "And you consider it's your job to check on me?" + +"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. + +"Stay, Fred," I said. "But we'll have some things to settle afterwards." + +"Maybe," he smiled. "It will depend. Right now I'd like to get a load of +this motivational research you've got cooked up." + +"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. + +"So much the quicker," Fred said. "You can sentence her right now, Gyp!" + +"Sure," I said. "Sure I can." I wish I could say that my mind raced to a +quick decision. No--I _couldn't_ 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--_Fred Plaice was not sure she was my mother_. + +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!" + +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. + + * * * * * + +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 _private_ 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. + +But now I _had_ to know what I should do to her. I let her into my +thoughts. _Give me some sign_, I thought, as I waved a hand at Fred for +quiet. _Mother, tell me what to do!_ + +_Poor Joe_, she thought. _He loves me in spite of it all. He can't bear +to do what he has to do. Joe!_ her mind shrieked at me. _You read my +mind!_ + +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 +was a damned snake!_ + +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! + +_Yes_, Mother thought. _She does love you, Joe. A lovely girl. You lucky +man._ + +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. +_All right_, I thought. _What's to be done, Mother?_ + +_Throw the book at me_, Mother thought. + +"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!" + +"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. + +"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. + +"No. No, Gyp. On my way," he said, taking Mother by the arm. + +Anita started to follow him. I stopped her and waited until the door had +closed behind Fred and Mother. + +"You were right about Fred, Anita," I said. "Thank you for saving my +life." + +"Oh, Gyp," she said, tears trying to brim over her eyelids. "He's such a +cutthroat!" + +"Sure," I said. "But now we know it. Get me an appointment with George +Kelly, will you, Anita?" + +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." + +"Maybe," I said. I stewed over what to tell the boss until Anita came +back in. + +"Mr. Kelly can see you now, Mr. Tinker," she said, all calmed down +again. + +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." + +"Too?" she said. + +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. + + * * * * * + +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. + +"Welcome, stranger," he said, calling on the fiddles for a little +pizzicato. "What's up, Gyp?" + +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." + +"Not accepted," he said, without a second thought. Then his face grew +solemn. "What's this about?" he demanded. "I can't lose _you_, Gyp. My +right bower!" + +"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." + +"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?" + +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." + +"Good heavens," he gasped. "Your own mother! Gyp, no wonder you're +upset. Didn't you know she was a snake?" + +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." + +"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." + +"Today, within the last half hour, George, my latent telepathic ability +became manifest. George, I'm a snake." + +His face froze. Then the batonlike cigar stopped its movement. He was +like a statue. The pose broke, and he pressed a button. + +"Send Carol Lundgren in," he ordered. I knew Carol, another short-range +telepath that George used as his private lie-detector. + +Carol was at my elbow in a moment or so. George wasted no words. "Carol, +is there a telepath in this room?" he asked. + +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?" + +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?" + +"No, Mr. Kelly, there is not." + +"Get out, and don't scare me like that again." George told him. + +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." + +"So?" + +"If I _know_ I'm a telepath, Carol should be able to read the thought +that I know it," I protested. + +"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." + +"That was _then_!" I yelled at him. "_Before_ my psi powers became +manifest. You know that a telepath can't close his mind! Why couldn't +Carol read my thoughts?" + +_Well_, George thought, _he couldn't read mine either, could he?_ + +_No_, I thought. _He couldn't. He ... George!_ my mind shrieked at him. + +Somebody kicked the props out from under my world. _George Kelly was a +snake!_ + +_Don't be silly_, he thought. _I'm no more a snake than you are, Gyp._ + +_But you're a telepath!_ + +_So are you, Gyp_, he thought. _The only kind of telepath that really +counts. You can read minds, but others can't read yours._ + +I fell back on words, closing my mind--it was rattling so I didn't want +George to read my thoughts: "But a telepath _can't_ close his mind!" I +protested. + +"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 +_that_ kind of a telepath really _is_ a usable espionage agent or a safe +link in a communications net." + +"How long has this been going on?" + +"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." + +I sputtered. "George, how can I conscientiously crack down on these poor +people, if I'm a TP myself?" + +He grinned. "You won't. You'll still be doing just what you've always +been doing, except now you'll _know_ that you're doing it. You'll be +recruiting telepaths for us. Where do you think we train them?" + +"Oklahoma? The Detention area?" + +"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." + +"My mother!" + +"Sure. Why did you think she was in Washington? She's part of the +Sevastopol, Teheran and Cairo communications network." + +"George," I insisted. "Something is shaky. If she's on the inside, how +did she ever get picked up?" + +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 _is_ a gypsy. Ought to +go well, say, in Bulgaria!" + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Analog_ 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. + + + + + +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.txt or 24655.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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