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when about to press a point home. 'If it's one-to- one on the overheads it should be
one-to-one on the profits. The principle, I would think, is more important than the money.'
The smile on Scuby's face broadened in spite of the stern internal effort he seemed to be
making to suppress it. In a seemingly dazed state he struggled from out of the armchair.
'Have you any idea of how long it may go on?'
'There's no certainty beyond the short-term. But the latest news from the United States looks
rather favourable, I'm glad to say.'
'Well, I'll be on my way,' nodded Scuby, 'and thank you for your point of view.'
An hour later, Isaac Newton looked up from the transmitter design details he was checking,
hopefully for the last time.
'Good God, you're back!' he exclaimed as Boulton the Professor of Geostrophics erupted
into the room, as always avoiding the normal entry route through Mrs Gunter's office.
'Ah, I'm glad to have caught you,' Boulton began. 'I was wondering about the house.'
'It's still standing.'
'I was wondering how long you'll be needing it. There's a lot going on just at the moment -
with all the scandal you've been having, and the drilling in the Celtic Sea. I was in on the
ground floor on that one. Are you buying shares now? I'm selling mine.'
'How was California?' Isaac Newton asked.
'There's a lot of talk there about comets. NASA doesn't seem to have been finding them very
communicative.'
'When did you hear that?'
'Just before I left. There was a big seminar on it, heavily attended. People swinging from the
chandeliers. How's the cat, by the way?'
'It comes and goes.'
'Don't you think you ought to pay a surcharge on the house?'
'Whatever for?'
'Notoriety. I gather the people in Adams Road were stirred up quite a bit- with things in the
newspapers all the time. It'll be a bit awkward for me. When are you thinking of leaving, by
the way?'
'When the rental period expires.'
'I was rather afraid you might want to hang on. Don't you find the foundations a bit of a
bother?'
'I did at first, but now I rather look forward to the nightly visitations.'
'You will consider the surcharge idea, won't you? I mean, it's going to take some time,
getting back on track, back to normal.'
'Yes, I'll be happy to consider the surcharge idea.'
'I'd take notice of these NASA people if I were you. They've been in business a long time.
You could be digging yourself quite a hole. Not the sort of position I'd like to be in myself,
dependent on fair- weather friends. What d'you think would be a reasonable surcharge? I
don't want to be overbearing about it.'
'Twenty pounds would be a fair charge. The amount you borrowed from our petty cash and
didn't repay,' said Isaac Newton. 'And by the way,' he added, 'I took the trouble to look into
your foundation problem. I'd tackle it straight away, if I were you. Otherwise it can only get
worse.'
Mrs Gunter came in as Boulton departed.
'Whatever is going on this morning, Professor? Mr Scuby went out in a sort of trance, and
now there goes Professor Boulton looking as if you'd just lifted the wallet right out of his
pocket.'
'I hope I haven't done Scuby permanent damage by offering him more money than he'd
expected; by raising his expectations for the future. And Professor Boulton, he needs to
grout. Urgently.'
'To do what, Professor?'
'To pump concrete into the foundations of his house.'
'He needs to pump concrete into his own foundations, if you ask me,' concluded Mrs
Gunter.
'Ahoow!' shouted the Master of Trinity. 'This darned coffee-pot! I'm always burning myself on
it,' he told the Chancellor as he padded back from the sideboard where the hot-plate rested,
in the large upstairs drawing room of the Master's Lodge in the north-east corner of Great
Square, carrying two late-morning cups of coffee.
'Which reminds me, I have a conspiratorial proposition to put to you,' the Master added. 'I
have decided that you and I are exactly the men to corner the world's supply of silver.'
There was a tap on the door and the Master jumped again to his feet. 'Ah!' he boomed in his
resonant voice. 'Here comes Bad-News Newton. What's gone wrong today, dare I ask?'
'Nothing I'm aware of, Master. Ah, good morning, Chancellor,' Isaac Newton greeted him.
'I thought we'd keep the lunch just to the three of us,' the Master explained, 'because the
Chancellor has some worries he wants to talk about. Shall we switch from coffee to sherry?'
'Dry for me, Master,' requested Isaac Newton. 'What are these worries, might I ask?'
'It's just that I find this crescendo of denials from the U.S. disturbing,' said the Chancellor.
'What's this?' the Master asked immediately.
'There's something of an orchestrated campaign claiming that NASA has found nothing - no
cometary signals. There's a bit in this week's Nature - the "News & Views" column-
unsigned, of course.
And apparently there are people giving seminars around the U.S.,' explained Isaac Newton.
'But I thought you told me. . .' the Master began.
'. . . that NASA found signals from Comet Halley about a month ago? So they did. We have
their Comet Halley wavelength and the pulsing system. They're both a bit different from our
own results for Comet Boswell. We were glad to get the new information.'
'You weren't misled?' the Chancellor asked cautiously.
'No, not a chance. I understand from Kurt Waldheim that there's clear-cut proof the signals
really came from Comet Halley; besides which, our information was obtained straight from
the centre of the NASA organisation,' answered Isaac Newton decisively. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]