Page 34 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Archaeontogeny

I made a show of digging into my briefcase for the file with the
contract.
“Yes, sir—uh, Gene. Here it is. Take all the time you need to look
it over. A lot of the language is standard legalese; nothing outrageous,
I assure you. If you want to amend any of it, we are open to
discussion.”
He took the document, professionally printed on high rag-content
bond with an embossed Charybdis logo on every page, handling it
like a stack of blue-chip stock certificates. Well, I was a sort of
broker, wasn’t I?
“Fine, Andy. I’ll get back to you. Now I’ve got some
administrative tasks to wrap up: this is what we scientists are reduced
to doing between real work.”
I closed my case and stood, as unobtrusively crouching as a
Neanderthal at a Cro-Magnon tea party. We shook hands, he turned
back to his desk and I straightened up after my first step in the
opposite direction.
It didn’t take him long to figure out he had hit the jackpot. We
transferred a rather hefty sum to a special account to which he had
unlimited access. I never would have done that, but Al Magnus had
applied his metrics to all the cranks he was trying to benefit and
determined that they wouldn’t abscond to the Bahamas with the loot
or use it to pay alimony and gambling debts. These were serious
people, after all—at least when it came to getting their pet projects
underway after years of frustration. As soon as I learned Professor
Cutter was tapping into his brand new barrel of liquid assets, I shed
my assumed identity and Charybdis dissolved, not forgetting any of
the legal niceties incumbent upon a tax-exempt organization.
Then I received my payment and went out on the town. It wasn’t
quite the party you’d imagine: I couldn’t maintain contact with any
old friends nor make new ones; I was involved in a very confidential
enterprise and could not risk it with curious associates and an
alcohol-loosened tongue. Nevertheless, I found the available
fleshpots congenial to my anonymity, and where Dr. Cutter was
going with his nutty ideas was not often on my mind. But I found
out, anyway, as did most of the public, about six months later.

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