 |
 |
|
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] able to a majority of our people. There were several candidates, but I was cho- sen. How is it that you were politically acceptable? Al Past 234 My father is a senior official in our government. Could you elaborate? Our society is hierarchical in some ways. We were originally nomads, and the notion of family units and tribes is fundamental to us. My father is a chief of many tribes. So, you are not exactly an ordinary citizen. You are from a group of leaders. That made sense to him. That explained her unflappability. You could say that. But I had little leadership authority back home. You may be interested to know, Mr. Aldridge, that I am going to have a press conference in a week or two. Mr. McLauphin has designed a website where I can respond to people s questions online, in writing. I felt an obligation to introduce people here to my people, and this seemed a simple way to begin. So far, I have addressed per- haps 200 questions from people around the world, including the one you just asked. When the site goes online, you might find it worth looking at. No doubt I will. I will watch for it, and thank you. Another thing, Ms. Darcy: you would probably have been amused to have seen how amazed we were, when we were looking for you everywhere, to find you creating a worldwide sen- sation at the Olympic Games. That is, we assumed you were in hiding, but we then discovered that everybody in the world with a television was watching you. Later, on John McLauphin s program, we learned the reason you did that, but I wondered how you got the idea in the first place. Should she tell him about Dr. Sledd? If she did, that might lead him to Matt, and to most of her acquaintances. She decided not to. I met a very wise person, she said, the type of person who would have been a valued counselor on my home planet. I shouldn t mention his, or her, name without first getting permis- sion; I m sorry. But I explained my quandary, that I had urgent information for the people of this planet, but that if I stepped forward I would be imprisoned and probably ignored. That person suggested that I become a celebrity somehow, and then speak out. It worked, as you know, but the price was high. Now, I must keep a very low profile. Even Mr. Braithwaite, she looked in his direction, does not know where I live. It certainly did work. Are all your people exceptional athletes? No, sir. I m not especially exceptional myself, as I said to Mr. McLauphin. But I am quick and my metabolism is very efficient and training and competition did the rest. They certainly did. I m grateful for your resourcefulness, Ms. Darcy. We all owe you a debt of gratitude. Speaking of resourcefulness, I d be interested to Al Past 235 know how you escaped from custody at Fort Bliss and how you then managed to return to the Fort Davis area. He had to already know some of that the Army would have told him about her escape. Perhaps he wanted to know if she had any confederates in El Paso. Well, she hadn t. They didn t watch me very closely. I jumped a fence and ran, basically. I used the sun. The sun? Yes. We flew directly west after I was taken. To get back I had to go east. I ran east along a major highway until finally I got a ride. You hitchhiked? Yes, sir. Well I ll be damned. I wondered about that. We checked everything we could, but there was no way we could have backtracked you to a hitchhiker. That was dangerous, ma am! Did you have any trouble? A little. She volunteered nothing after that, but his curiosity finally got the better of him. A little? Two men bothered me. Bothered you? Tried to detain me. Detain you? So& you ran? No. There was nowhere to run. We were on the edge of the desert. I stopped them. He stared at her for two beats. I incapacitated them. Temporarily. Ah. Another second passed. He couldn t stand it. May I know how? I hit one in both eyes with a knuckle. I slapped the other s ears. Both create intense, but short-term, pain. I see. Listening in, Braithwaite was fascinated. He had no idea his diminutive client had experienced such difficulties, or been so assertive at escaping from them. Astonishing! One more thing, please. You also escaped from custody, FBI custody this time, at that house in Fort Davis. How did you do that? Your agents were holding a group of us in front of the house while they searched the inside. I was disguised, not very well, as an old woman. Apparently, one of the agents inside found a cat, which bit him and caused him to shout. Every agent around us looked at the house. I took that instant to run away. They didn t notice. Al Past 236 He shook his head. Amazing. I talked to each one of those agents. They swore they never took their eyes off the group, but I know better. It s only natural to look towards someone yelling. But if you ran away at that point, you must have done it in less than a second. Much less. He looked at her. I can move quickly. A realization appeared on his heretofore poker face. The false start! Sir? I just remembered. One of your 100 meter heats at the Olympics, the one where everyone but you took off running. It was a false start. You knew it the instant it happened, didn t you? Yes. It had happened many times in training. I knew the heat would be restarted, so there was no sense in starting myself. I just waited. You made that decision in a fraction of a second! I suppose. Something like that. He shook his head again. Amazing. Utterly amazing. And you disappeared immediately after the marathon, too. Did you run off then as well? No, sir. I had had enough running at that point. I asked Mr. Braithwaite to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |