Page 107 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire
P. 107
Secrets of the Endosphere
I grinned idiotically. “Well, we do like to think you haven’t taken
the money and run out on us. The guys who put together the short
list of possible programs must think a lot of you, Mr. Cade. Well, I
think a lot of them, so here I am and there it is. What do you say?”
“I say you’re getting a bargain. But you can’t know that, so I can’t
ask for more. As I read this—and it’s pretty damn simple, for which
you must be commended—I commit to nothing but what you said:
no snooping until I’m done. Then you get what you want. Maybe you
think you’ll save your investment if I fail miserably by going ahead
with the film and making me look like a fool; that doesn’t bother me,
because it won’t happen that way. Not a chance.”
Yes, Al Magnus knew his beneficiaries: absolutely certain of their
success, and wouldn’t dream of doing anything else with the rather
large sums bestowed upon them. They had won the lottery without
buying a ticket, bypassing all the implicit irrational hope that rides on
beating the odds; from their perspective it was surprising but
perfectly natural that someone, somewhere would recognize their
genius. I had enough experience now to know that once their sugar-
plum vision loses its externally-imposed status of wallflower and gets
out on the dance floor of their minds they don’t look back: not once
question my bona fides, nor object to the size of the check, and
certainly never wonder why they don’t hear from me again. No time
for such mundane diligence: the grand project was finally underway,
and vindication was just around the corner!
I wouldn’t say I had Barry Cade eating out of my hand at that
point, but he signed and I skedaddled, promising a cashier’s check by
certified mail within three days. My last glimpse of him: hollering
joyously, he kicked over a small roto-tiller. I restored my normal
appearance, went back to my hotel room and took a shower. What I
had been wearing at the equipment rental shop was destined for a
thrift shop in some other city. I checked out the next morning after
arranging for Cade’s money to be delivered—and, of course, my
own! This time I was determined to save a portion of the fee.
Opportunities like this could not come more than once in a lifetime.
Cade’s mission to find the SETI Holy Grail through a shaky chain
of inductive reasoning ended, as everyone knows, in a rather
unexpected discovery. I was again reminded of and thankful for the
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