[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
before the murder. Why?"
Leebig said, "Is that important?"
"Everything is important till proven otherwise."
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Click here to buy
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"Look, if you want information from me as a roboticist, ask it. I
won't answer personal questions."
Baley said, "You were closely associated with both the
murdered man and the chief suspect. Don't you see that personal
questions are unavoidable? Why did you stop walking with Gladia?"
Leebig snapped, "There came a time when I ran out of things to
say; when I was too busy; when I found no reason to continue the
walks."
"When you no longer found her pleasant, in other words."
"All right. Put it so."
"Why was she no longer pleasant?"
Leebig shouted, "I have no reason."
Baley ignored the other's excitement. "You are still someone
who has known Gladia well. What could her motive be?"
"Her motive?"
"No one has suggested any motive for the murder. Surely Gladia
wouldn't commit murder without a motive."
"Great Galaxy!" Leebig leaned his head back as though to laugh,
but didn't. "No one told you? Well, perhaps no one knew. I knew,
though. She told me. She told me frequently."
"Told you what, Dr. Leebig?"
'Why, that she quarreled with her husband. Quarreled bitterly
and frequently. She hated him, Earthman. Didn't anyone tell you
that? Didn't she tell you?"
-15-
A Portrait Is Colored
BALEY TOOK it between the eyes and tried not to show it.
Presumably, living as they did, Solarians considered one
another's private lives to be sacrosanct. Questions concerning
marriage and children were in bad taste. He supposed then that
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Click here to buy
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chronic quarreling could exist between husband and wife and be a
matter into which curiosity was equally forbidden.
But even when murder had been committed? Would no one
commit the social crime of asking the suspect if she quarreled with
her husband? Or of mentioning the matter if they happened to know
of it?
Well, Leebig had.
Baley said, 'What did the quarrels concern?"
"You had better ask her, I think."
He better had, thought Baley. He rose stiffly, "Thank you, Dr.
Leebig, for your co-operation. I may need your help again later. I hope
you will keep yourself available."
'Done viewing," said Leebig, and he and the segment of his room
vanished abruptly.
For the first time Baley found himself not minding a plane flight
through open space. Not minding it at all. It was almost as though he
were in his own element.
He wasn't even thinking of Earth or of Jessie. He had been away
from Earth only a matter of weeks, yet it might as well have been
years. He had been on Solaria only the better part of three days and
yet it seemed forever.
How fast could a man adapt to nightmare?
Or was it Gladia? He would be seeing her soon, not viewing her.
Was that what gave him confidence and this odd feeling of mixed
apprehension and anticipation?
Would she endure it? he wondered. Or would she slip away
after a few moments of seeing, begging off as Quemot had done?
She stood at the other end of a long room when he entered. She
might almost have been an impressionistic representation of herself,
she was reduced so to essentials.
Her lips were faintly red, her eyebrows lightly penciled, her
earlobes faintly blue, and, except for that, her face was untouched.
She looked pale, a little frightened, and very young.
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Click here to buy
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Her brown-blond hair was drawn back, and her gray-blue eyes
were somehow shy. Her dress was a blue so dark as to be almost
black, with a thin white edging curling down each side. She wore long
sleeves, white gloves, and flat-heeled shoes. Not an inch of skin
showed anywhere but in her face. Even her neck was covered by a
kind of unobtrusive ruching.
Baley stopped where he was. "Is this close enough, Gladia?"
She was breathing with shallow quickness. She said, "I had
forgotten what to expect really. It's just like viewing, isn't it? I mean, if
you don't think of it as seeing."
Baley said, "It's all quite normal to me."
"Yes, on Earth." She closed her eyes. "Sometimes I try to
imagine it. Just crowds of people everywhere. You walk down a road
and there are others walking with you and still others walking in the
other direction. Dozens-"
"Hundreds," said Baley. "Did you ever view scenes on Earth in a
book-film? Or view a novel with an Earth setting?"
"We don't have many of those, but I've viewed novels set on the
other Outer Worlds where seeing goes on all the time. It's different in
a novel. It just seems like a multiview."
"Do people ever kiss in novels?"
She flushed painfully. "I don't read that kind."
"Never?"
'Well-there are always a few dirty films around, you know, and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
before the murder. Why?"
Leebig said, "Is that important?"
"Everything is important till proven otherwise."
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B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
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c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
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Y
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r r
"Look, if you want information from me as a roboticist, ask it. I
won't answer personal questions."
Baley said, "You were closely associated with both the
murdered man and the chief suspect. Don't you see that personal
questions are unavoidable? Why did you stop walking with Gladia?"
Leebig snapped, "There came a time when I ran out of things to
say; when I was too busy; when I found no reason to continue the
walks."
"When you no longer found her pleasant, in other words."
"All right. Put it so."
"Why was she no longer pleasant?"
Leebig shouted, "I have no reason."
Baley ignored the other's excitement. "You are still someone
who has known Gladia well. What could her motive be?"
"Her motive?"
"No one has suggested any motive for the murder. Surely Gladia
wouldn't commit murder without a motive."
"Great Galaxy!" Leebig leaned his head back as though to laugh,
but didn't. "No one told you? Well, perhaps no one knew. I knew,
though. She told me. She told me frequently."
"Told you what, Dr. Leebig?"
'Why, that she quarreled with her husband. Quarreled bitterly
and frequently. She hated him, Earthman. Didn't anyone tell you
that? Didn't she tell you?"
-15-
A Portrait Is Colored
BALEY TOOK it between the eyes and tried not to show it.
Presumably, living as they did, Solarians considered one
another's private lives to be sacrosanct. Questions concerning
marriage and children were in bad taste. He supposed then that
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
chronic quarreling could exist between husband and wife and be a
matter into which curiosity was equally forbidden.
But even when murder had been committed? Would no one
commit the social crime of asking the suspect if she quarreled with
her husband? Or of mentioning the matter if they happened to know
of it?
Well, Leebig had.
Baley said, 'What did the quarrels concern?"
"You had better ask her, I think."
He better had, thought Baley. He rose stiffly, "Thank you, Dr.
Leebig, for your co-operation. I may need your help again later. I hope
you will keep yourself available."
'Done viewing," said Leebig, and he and the segment of his room
vanished abruptly.
For the first time Baley found himself not minding a plane flight
through open space. Not minding it at all. It was almost as though he
were in his own element.
He wasn't even thinking of Earth or of Jessie. He had been away
from Earth only a matter of weeks, yet it might as well have been
years. He had been on Solaria only the better part of three days and
yet it seemed forever.
How fast could a man adapt to nightmare?
Or was it Gladia? He would be seeing her soon, not viewing her.
Was that what gave him confidence and this odd feeling of mixed
apprehension and anticipation?
Would she endure it? he wondered. Or would she slip away
after a few moments of seeing, begging off as Quemot had done?
She stood at the other end of a long room when he entered. She
might almost have been an impressionistic representation of herself,
she was reduced so to essentials.
Her lips were faintly red, her eyebrows lightly penciled, her
earlobes faintly blue, and, except for that, her face was untouched.
She looked pale, a little frightened, and very young.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
Her brown-blond hair was drawn back, and her gray-blue eyes
were somehow shy. Her dress was a blue so dark as to be almost
black, with a thin white edging curling down each side. She wore long
sleeves, white gloves, and flat-heeled shoes. Not an inch of skin
showed anywhere but in her face. Even her neck was covered by a
kind of unobtrusive ruching.
Baley stopped where he was. "Is this close enough, Gladia?"
She was breathing with shallow quickness. She said, "I had
forgotten what to expect really. It's just like viewing, isn't it? I mean, if
you don't think of it as seeing."
Baley said, "It's all quite normal to me."
"Yes, on Earth." She closed her eyes. "Sometimes I try to
imagine it. Just crowds of people everywhere. You walk down a road
and there are others walking with you and still others walking in the
other direction. Dozens-"
"Hundreds," said Baley. "Did you ever view scenes on Earth in a
book-film? Or view a novel with an Earth setting?"
"We don't have many of those, but I've viewed novels set on the
other Outer Worlds where seeing goes on all the time. It's different in
a novel. It just seems like a multiview."
"Do people ever kiss in novels?"
She flushed painfully. "I don't read that kind."
"Never?"
'Well-there are always a few dirty films around, you know, and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]