James P. Hogan Giants 4 Entoverse

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assignments again.
"You'd better start giving some thought to who else you might need along,"
Caldwell said. He almost managed to sound as if Hunt had been dragging his
heels over it.
"Well, Chris Danchekker for a start, I suppose -- especially if it's going to
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involve alien psychology."
"I'd already assumed that."
"And Duncan's been agitating for a chance to do a spell off-planet. I
think he should get it, too. He's been doing a great job." Hunt was referring
to his assistant, Duncan Watt, who had moved with him from Houston. Duncan
always ended up holding the fort whenever Hunt went away.
"Okay."
"Chris might want to bring one of his people, too."
"I'll let you take that up with him," Caldwell said.
Hunt sat back, rubbing his lower lip with a knuckle and eyeing Caldwell
hesitantly. "There, er...there was one other small thing," he said finally.
"Oh, yes?" Caldwell sounded unsurprised, but in his preoccupation of the
moment, Hunt missed it.
"It just occurred to me...There's a journalist that I happened to run into,
who wants to write a book on some of the possible Jevlenese agents in history
that people aren't talking about."
"Just occurred to you," Caldwell repeated.
"Well, sort of." Hunt made a vague circling motion in the air. "Anyhow, this
business on Jevlen could provide a lot of valuable background to what happened
here. So, if it looks as if we might end up getting involved in the
Jevlenese situation, anyway...
"Why not help the journalist out a little at the same time?" Caldwell
completed.
"Well, yes. It occurred to me that..." Hunt's voice trailed away as he
registered finally that Caldwell had not shown any sign that anything Hunt was
saying was especially new. His manner became suspicious as an old, familiar
feeling asserted itself. "Gregg, you're up to something. I can smell it.
What's going on? Come on, give."
"Unusual kind of journalist, was it?" Caldwell asked nonchalantly. "From
Seattle, maybe? Stimulating outlook: not programmed with the canned opinions
that you seem to find in most people you meet these days. Quite attractive,
too, if I remember." He grinned at the look on Hunt's face. Then his manner
became more brisk, and he nodded. "She contacted me a little while back, and
came here a few days ago."
Hunt got over his surprise and studied Caldwell with a frown. Gina, going
straight to the top in what Hunt had already seen to be her direct, forthright
fashion, had gotten in touch with Caldwell to ask if UNSA could help her with
the book. And as Hunt thought it through, he could see why that might have
posed problems. He knew from his own experience how many major publishers, TV
companies, top-line writers, and others were wining and dining, wheeling and
wheedling with UNSA's top executives to try and get a corner on the Jevlen
story from the "inside." In that kind of climate it would have caused endless
complications and ructions for UNSA to be seen as giving official backing to a
relatively unheard-of free-lancer, and Caldwell was enough of a politician to
stay out of it. But he could safely, if he chose to, turn a blind eye to
something that Hunt chose to involve himself with privately.
But Gina had made no mention of having been referred to Hunt. That meant that
she had let him make his own choice in the matter freely, without mentioning
Caldwell's name, which would have carried the implication that Hunt was being
prodded from above. She would have let the project go rather than resort to
high-pressure tactics. Not many people would have done that. He felt relieved
now that he had brought the matter back to Caldwell instead of burying it.
"I guess it wasn't something the firm could put its name on," Hunt said,
nodding as it all became clearer. "But you thought she deserved a break all
the same, eh?"
"She talks more sense than I hear from geniuses they put on TV screens for ten
thousand bucks an hour," Caldwell replied. He pulled a cigar from a drawer in
the desk. "But there's another side to it. Think of it this way. The kind of
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dealings that Garuth is talking about are going to require a certain amount
of...let's call it 'discretion.' When you get there, situations will quite
likely arise in which some kinds of irregularities might be acceptable,
while others will not. Or to put it another way, things might need to be done
that an independent free-lancer -- and especially one with the kind of
reputation that she's no doubt built up -- might get away with, but which a
deputy director of an UNSA division -- " Caldwell pointed at Hunt with the
cigar before putting it in his mouth. " -- couldn't be seen to do."
In other words, Hunt's team had an unofficial aide to help in potential
politically sensitive situations where official UNSA action was precluded. And
that, Hunt had to agree, could turn out to be very useful. What impressed him
even more was that Caldwell had figured it out in the brief time that had gone [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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