Читать книгу Time - Stephen Baxter - Страница 23

When she heard Malenfant had hauled Dan Ystebo out from Florida, Emma stormed down to Malenfant’s office.

‘…Here’s the question, Dan,’ Malenfant was saying. ‘How would you detect a signal from the future?’

Behind his beard, Dan Ystebo’s mouth was gaping. His face and crimson hair shone, greasy, and there were two neat half-moons of dampness under his armpits: souvenirs, Emma thought, of his flight from Florida, the first available, and his Yellow SmartCab ride from the airport. ‘What are you talking about, Malenfant?’

‘A signal from the future. What would you do? How would you build a receiver?’

Dan looked, confused, from Malenfant to Emma. ‘Malenfant, for Christ’s sake, I’ve got work to do. Sheena 5 –’

‘You’ve got a good team down there,’ said Malenfant. ‘Cut them a little slack. This is more important.’ He pulled out a chair and pushed at Dan’s shoulders, almost forcing him down. He had a half-drunk can of Shit; now he shoved it to Dan. ‘Thirsty? Drink. Hungry? Eat. Meantime, think.’

‘Yo,’ Dan said uncertainly.

‘You’re my Mr Science, Dan. Signals from the future. What, how? Wait until you hear the stuff I’m onto here. It’s incredible. If it pans out it will be the most important thing we’ve ever done – Christ, it will change the world. I want an answer in twenty-four hours.’

Dan looked bewildered. Then a broad smile spread over his face. ‘God, I love this job. Okay. You got connections in here?’

Malenfant stood over him, and showed him how to log on from the softscreen built into the desk.

When Dan was up and running, Emma pulled at Malenfant’s sleeve and took him to one side. ‘So once again you’re ripping up the car park.’

Malenfant grinned and ran his big hand over his bare scalp. ‘I’m impulsive. You used to like that in me.’

‘Don’t bullshit, Malenfant. First I find we’ve invested millions in Key Largo. Then I learn that Dan, the key to that operation, is reassigned to this la-la Eschatology bullshit –’

‘But he’s done his job at Largo. His juniors can run with the ball a while …’

‘Malenfant, Dan isn’t some general purpose boffin like in the movies. He’s a specialist, a marine biologist. If you want someone to work on time travel signals you need a physicist, or an engineer. Better yet a sci fi writer.’

He just snorted at that. ‘People are what counts. Dan is my alpha geek, Emma.’

‘I don’t know why I stay with you, Malenfant.’

He grinned. ‘For the ride, girl. For the ride.’

‘All right. But now we’re going to sit down and do some real work. We have three days before your stakeholder presentation and the private polls do not look good for us … Are you listening to me, Malenfant?’

‘Yeah.’ But Malenfant was watching Dan. ‘Yeah. Sorry. Come on. We’ll use your office.’