What’s the matter with me today? he thought with fear and sadness, and tried to get himself in hand. The world was still subdued and his ears still rang, but at the same time Sandro had himself in full control. It was almost exactly ten o’clock, and he was very thirsty; but he no longer felt weak, and he had to complete his mission. He got up and saw that the man had come out on the path and stopped, looking in Sandro’s direction, and then the shaggy dog came out of the bushes and stood at the man’s feet and also looked at Sandro, and Sandro realized that it wasn’t a dog but a young Golovan. And Sandro raised his arm, not knowing why, either as a sign of greeting or to get their attention, but the man turned his back, and the world grew black before Sandro’s eyes and went off obliquely down and to the left.
When he regained consciousness yet again, he was sitting on a bench in the midst of the reset Rosalinda, next to the zero-cabin he had arrived in. He was still nauseated and thirsty, but the world was clear and welcoming. It was 10:42. Insouciant, festive people passed by, then looked at him anxiously and slowed down, and a robot waiter rolled over and brought him a beaded glass of something…
Hearing him out, Toivo was silent for a while and then spoke, choosing his words carefully.
“That has to be included in the report, for sure.”
“Let’s assume so,” Sandro said. “But in what accent?”
“Write it the way you told me.”
“I told you it as if I got sick in the heat and the whole thing was a delirium.”
“You’re not sure it was a delirium?”
“How should I know? But I could have told it as if I had been hypnotized, as if it had been an induced hallucination…”
“Do you think the Golovan induced the hallucination?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. But probably not He was too far from me — about seventy meters, at least — and he was too young for those tricks. And then: what for?”
They were silent. Then Toivo asked: “What did Big Bug say?”
“Oh, he didn’t even let me open my mouth, he didn’t even look at me. ‘I’m busy. You’re working for Glumov now.’ “
“Tell me,” Toivo said, “are you sure that you didn’t go down to the house even once?”
“I’m not sure of anything. I am sure that there’s something very dirty going on with these Val Winkles. I’ve been working on them since the beginning of the year, and nothing’s clear. On the contrary, things get darker with every incident… Well, there hasn’t been anything like today before, that was extra special…”
Toivo spoke through gritted teeth. “But don’t you see what it smells of, if it really happened?” He had a sudden thought. “Wait! How about your registrator? What does your registrator say?”
Sandra replied with a look of total submission to fate: “Nothing’s on my registrator. It wasn’t turned on.”
“Really, now!”
“I know. Except I remember distinctly recharging it and turning it on before I left.”
[End of Document 15.]
No.047/99 Urals-North
Date: 4 — 11 May 99
FROM: S. Mtbevari, Inspector
THEME: 101 “Rip Van Winkle”
CONTENTS: Result of the inspection on “Group of 80.”
I received your orders on the inspection the morning of May 4. I started immediately.
4 May at 22:40.
Astangov, Yuri Nikolaevich. Not at registered address. No new address left in the BVI. Questioned relatives, friends, and business associates, to no avail. General response: can’t tell you anything, haven’t been in contact the last few years. After his return in 95 he became even more of a hermit than before his disappearance. Checked with the cosmodrome network, the circumterrestrial zero-Ts, the system of HD enterprises (heightened danger): nothing. Suggestion: Yuri Astangov, like last time, has “secluded himself in the debris of the Amazon Basin to polish his new philosophical system.” (It would be interesting to talk to someone familiar with his previous philosophical system. Doctors deny it, but I think he’s a psycho.)
6 May, at 23:30
Lehair, Fernand. He saw me at his registered address at 11:05. I gave him my cover story, after which we chatted until 12:50. Lehair told me that he feels wonderful, is not experiencing any symptoms of illness, no consequences of his amnesia during the years 89-91, and therefore sees no need to be mentoscoped. He can add nothing new to what he said in 91, because he still remembers nothing. Transmantle engineering has not interested him in a long time, and for the last few yeas he has been inventing and researching multimeasure games. He spoke in a kindly but vague manner. Then he grew animated: he decided to teach me the game “snip-snap-snurre.” We parted on that (I later learned that F. Lehair really has become a major specialist in multimeasure games; he’s been dubbed “the joker for academicians.”)
Tuul, Albert Oskarovich. Not at registered address. New address in the BVI: Venusborg (Venus). Not at that address either. The data on his Venerian registration: A. Tuul never showed up on Venus. In 97, he told his mother that he wanted to work. with the Pathfinders in the Hius camp (on the planet Kala-i-Moog). Since then, she has been receiving cards from him rather regularly (the last this March). These are actually long letters with detailed and rather artistic descriptions of his searches for traces of the civilization of “werewolves.” Data from Hius camp: A. Tuul was never there, but he regularly calls on the zero-communicator the grounddigger of the group, E. Kapustin, who is absolutely certain that his good pal A. Tuul is living, on Earth at his registered address. Kapustin last spoke with Tuul on January 1. Check on the cosmodrome network reveals that since 96 (the year he reappeared) he’s gone into Deep Space several times, and returned from Resort the last time in October 98. Check on circumterrestrial zero-T: has visited the moon several times, also the “Greenhouses,” and BOP. Check on systems of HD enterprises: since December 96 through October 97 worked at the abyssal laboratory Tuskarora-16 as a gastronome. Supposition: A. Tuul is a very lighthearted person, with a low level of civic responsibility; the incident in 89 taught him nothing, and he still does not wish to admit the importance of such a trifle as precise personal address.
8 May 99, at 22:10.
Bagration, Mavrikii Amazaspovich. Not at registered address. No new address in the BVI. Due to his advanced age, he has no near living relatives with whom he is in steady contact. His business ties broke off a quarter-century ago. His two old friends, known horn the investigation of this disappearance in 81, are not at their registered addresses, and I have not yet been able to determine their whereabouts. Checks on the cosmodrome network, the circumterrestrial zero-T, and the HD enterprises systems: nothing. Data from the gerontological center: they haven’t been able to catch the object of this investigation for years… Supposition: an unregistered fatal accident. I would consider it proper to find his friends and let them know.
Jan, Martin. Not at registered address. New address in the BVI: Matrix base (Second, EN 7113). Sent to Matrix in January 93 by the Institute of Bioconfigurations (London) as an interpreter. At the present (since 98), has been on a long vacation; location unknown. Checks on cosmodrome network, circumterrestrial zero-T, and HD enterprises systems: nothing since December 98. A curiosity: S. Van, a neighbor of M. Jan’s at the registered address, maintains that he saw Jan in March of this year; Jan appeared before his very eyes in his yard in a glider and without going into the house began taking the glider apart; he replied casually to Jan’s greeting and avoided conversation; Van went off and when he returned several hours later, both Jan and the glider were gone, never to reappear. This story seems interesting, since the mystery of Jan’s first disappearance was in the fact that the registrator of the cosmodrome network did not have either his departure or his arrival. Question: are there organisms whose genetic code is not perceived or registered by existing registration?
TO THE HEAD OF THE UE DEPARTMENT FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Big Bug!
Can’t do anything about it. They’re putting me in the hospital for surgery. However, every cloud has a silver lining. G. Komov is adding my responsibilities to his own (starting tomorrow, I think). I passed your materials along to him. I won’t hide the fact that he was skeptical. But he knows me, and he knows you. Now he is prepared, so that you have a chance to convince him, especially if you have been able to obtain the materials you were hoping to get. And then you will be dealing not only with the president of Secor CC-2, but also with an influential member of the World Council. I wish you success, and you wish me success, too.