It was three o'clock. A car's wheels scrunched5 on the gravel6 outside. Dusk was already creeping into the room. M got up and switched on the lights and Bond arranged two more chairs up against the desk. M said, 'That'll be 501. You'll have come across him. Head of the Scientific Research Section. And a man called Franklin from the Ministry7 of Agriculture. 501 says he's the top on his subject - Pest Control. Don't know why Ag. and Fish, chose to send him in particular, but the Minister told me they've got a bit of trouble on their hands, wouldn't tell even me what it is, and they think you may have run into something pretty big. We'll let them have a look at your report and see what they make of it. All right?"
'Yes, sir.'
The door opened and the two men came in.
Number 501 of the Secret Service, whose name Bond remembered was Leathers, was a big-boned, rangy man with the stoop and thick spectacles of the stage scientist. He had a pleasant, vague smile and no deference8, but only politeness, towards M. He was appropriately dressed in shaggy tweeds and his knitted woollen tie didn't cover his collar stud. The other man was small and brisk and keen-looking, with darting9, amused eyes. As became a senior representative of a Ministry who had received his orders from his Minister in person and who knew nothing of Secret Services, he had put on a neat dark-blue pin-stripe and a stiff white collar. His black shoes gleamed efficiently10. So did the leather of his fat brief-case. His greeting was reserved, neutral. He wasn't quite sure where he was or what this was all about. He was going to smell his way carefully in this business, be wary11 of what he said and how far he committed his Ministry. Of such, Bond reflected, is 'Government'.
When the appropriate greetings and apologies for disturbed Christmases had been made, and they were in their chairs, M said, 'Mr Franklin, if you'll forgive my saying so, everything you are going to see and hear in this room is subject to the Official Secrets Act. You will no doubt be in possession of many secret matters affecting your own Ministry. I would be grateful if you would respect those of the Ministry of Defence. May I ask you to discuss what you are about to hear only with your Minister personally?'
Mr Franklin made a little bow of acquiescence12. 'My Minister has already instructed me accordingly. My particular duties in the Ministry have accustomed me to handling Top Secret matters. You need have no reservations in what you tell me. Now then' - the amused eyes rested on each of the other three in turn - 'perhaps you can tell me what this is all about. I know practically nothing except that a man on top of an alp is making efforts to improve our agriculture and livestock13. Very decent of him. So why are we treating him as if he had stolen atomic secrets?'
'He did once, as a matter of fact,' said M drily. 'I think the best course would be for you and Mr Leathers to read the report of my representative here. It contains code numbers and other obscure references which need not concern you. The story tells itself without them.' M handed Bond's report to 501. 'Most of this will be new to you also.
Perhaps you would like to read a page at a time and then pass them on to Mr Franklin.'
A long silence fell in the room. Bond looked at his fingernails and listened to the rain on the window panes14 and the soft noises of the fire. M sat hunched15 up, apparently16 in a doze17. Bond lit a cigarette. The rasp of his Ronson caused M's eyes to open lazily and then close again. 501 passed across the last page and sat back. Franklin finished his reading, shuffled18 the pages together, and stacked them neatly in front of him. He looked at Bond and smiled.' You're lucky to be here.'
Bond smiled back but said nothing.
M turned to 501. 'Well?'
501 took off his thick spectacles and polished them on a none too clean handkerchief. ' I don't get the object of the exercise, sir. It seems perfectly19 above-board - praiseworthy, in fact, if we didn't know what we do know about Blofeld. Technically20, what he has done is this. He has obtained ten, or rather eleven, counting the one that's left the place, suitable subjects for deep hypnosis. These are all simple girls from the country. It is significant that the one called Ruby21 had failed her GCE twice. They seem to suffer, and there's no reason to believe that they don't, from certain fairly common forms of allergy22. We don't know the origins of their allergies23 and these are immaterial. They are probably psychosomatic - the adverse24 reaction to birds is a very common one, as is the one brought on by cattle. The reactions to crops and plants are less common. Blofeld appears to be attempting cures of these allergies by hypnosis, and not only cures, but a pronounced affinity25 with the cause of the allergy in place of the previous repulsion. In the case of Ruby, for instance, she is told, in the words of the report, to "love" chickens, to wish to "improve their breed" and so forth26. The mechanical means of the cure are, in practice, simple. In the twilight27 stage, on the edge of sleep - the sharp ringing of the bell would waken those who were already asleep - the use of the metronome exactly on the pulse-beat, and the distant whirring noise, are both common hypnotic aids. The singsong, authoritative28 murmur29 is the usual voice of the hypnotist. We have no knowledge of what lectures these girls attended or what reading they did, but we can assume that these were merely additional means to influence the mind in the path desired by Blofeld. Now, there is plenty of medical evidence for the efficacy of hypnosis. There are well-authenticated cases of the successful treatment by these means of such stubborn disabilities as warts30, certain types of asthma31, bed-wetting, stammering32, and even alcoholism, drug-taking, and homosexual tendencies. Although the British Medical Association frowns officially on the practitioners33 of hypnosis, you would be surprised, sir, to know how many doctors themselves, as a last resort, particularly in cases of alcoholism, have private treatment from qualified34 hypnotists. But this is by the way. All I can contribute to this discussion is that Blofeld's ideas are not new and that they can be completely efficacious.'
M nodded. 'Thank you, Mr Leathers. Now would you like to be unscientific and hazard any wild guesses that would contribute in any way to what you have told us?' M smiled briefly35. 'You will not be quoted, I can assure you.'
501 ran a worried hand through his hair. 'Well, sir, it may be nonsense, but a train of thought came to me as I read the report. This is a very expensive set-up of Blofeld's. Whether his intentions are benign36 or malignant37, and I must say that I think we can accept them as being malignant, who is paying for all this? How did he fall upon this particular field of research and find the finance for it? Well, sir, this may sound fanciful, looking for burglars under the bed, so to speak, but the leaders in this field, ever since Pavlov and his salivating dogs, have been the Russians. If you recall, sir, at the time of the first human orbiting of the earth by the Russians, I put in a report on the physiology38 of the astronaut Yuri Gagarin. I drew attention to the simple nature of this man, his equable temperament39 when faced with his hysterical40 welcome in London. This equability never failed him and, if you will remember, we kept him under discreet41 observation throughout his visit and on his subsequent tours abroad, at the request of the Atomic Energy authorities. That bland42, smiling face, sir, those wide-apart, innocent eyes, the extreme psychological simplicity43 of the man, all added up, as I said in my report, to the perfect subject for hypnosis, and I hazarded the guess that, in the extremely complicated movements required of him in his space capsule, Gagarin was operating throughout in a state of deep hypnosis. All right, sir' - 501 made a throw-away gesture of his hand -'my conclusions were officially regarded as fanciful. But, since you ask, I now repeat them, and I throw out the suggestion that the Power behind Blofeld in all this may well be the Russians.' He turned to Bond. 'Was there any sign of Russian inspiration or guidance at this Gloria place? Any Russians anywhere in the offing?'
'Well, there was this man, Captain Boris. I never saw him, but he was certainly a Russian. Otherwise nothing I can think of except the three SPECTRE men who I'd guess were ex-Smersh. But they seemed definitely staff men, what the Americans would call "mechanics".'
501 shrugged44. He said to M, 'Well, I'm afraid that's all I can contribute, sir. But, if you come to the conclusion that this is dirty business, for my money, this Captain Boris was either the paymaster or supervisor45 of the scheme and Blofeld the independent operator. It would fit in with the free-lance character of the old SPECTRE - an independent gang working for whoever was willing to pay them.'
'Perhaps you've got something there, Mr Leathers,' said M reflectively. 'But what the devil's the object of the exercise?' He turned to Franklin. 'Well now, Mr Franklin, what do you think of all this?'
The man from Ag. and Fish, had lit a small, highly polished pipe. He kept it between his teeth and reached down for his brief-case and took out some papers. From among them he extracted a black and white outline map of Britain and Eire and smoothed it down across the desk. The map was dotted with symbols, forests of them here, blank spaces there. He said, 'This is a map showing the total agricultural and livestock resources of Britain and Eire, leaving out grassland46 and timber. Now, at my first sight of the report, I admit
I was completely confused. As Mr Leathers said, these experiments seem perfectly harmless - more than that, to use his word, praiseworthy. But' - Franklin smiled - 'you gentlemen are concerned with searching for the dark side of the moon. I adjusted my mind accordingly. The result was that I am filled with a very deep and terrible suspicion. Perhaps these black thoughts have entered my mind by a process of osmosis with the present company's way of looking at the world' - he looked deprecatingly at M - 'but I also have one piece of evidence which may be decisive. Excuse me, but there was one sheet of paper missing from the report - the list of the girls and their addresses. Is that available?'
Bond took the photostat out of his inside pocket. ' Sorry. I didn't want to clutter47 up the report too much.' He slipped it across the table to Franklin.
Franklin ran his eyes down it. Then he said, and there was awe48 in his voice, 'I've got it! I do believe I've got it!' He sat back heavily in his chair as if he couldn't believe what he had seen.
The three men watched him tensely, believing him, because of what was written on his face - waiting for it.
Franklin took a red pencil out of his breast pocket and leaned over the map. Glancing from time to time at the list, he made a series of red circles at seemingly unrelated points across Britain and Eke49, but Bond noticed that they covered the areas where the forests of symbols were at their densest50. As he made the circles he commented, 'Aberdeen -Aberdeen Angus, Devon - Red Poll, Lancashire - poultry51, Kent - fruit, Shannon - potatoes,' until ten red circles stood out on the map. Finally he poised52 his pencil over East Anglia and made a big cross. He looked up, said 'Turkeys' and threw his pencil down.
In the silence that followed, M said, rather testily53, 'Well, Mr Franklin, what have you in mind?'
The man from Ag. and Fish, had no intention of being pushed about by someone, however grand and hush-hush, from another Ministry. He bent54 and dug again into his brief-case. He came up with several papers. He selected one, a newspaper cutting. He said,' I don't expect you gentlemen have time to read much of the agricultural news in the paper, but this is from the Daily Telegraph of early December. I won't read it all. It's from their agricultural correspondent, good man by the name of Thomas. These are the headlines: "CONCERN OVER TURKEYS. FLOCKS RAVAGED55 BY FOWL56 PEST". Then it goes on: "Supplies of turkeys to the Christmas market may be hit by recent fowl pest outbreaks which have resulted in large numbers of birds being slaughtered57…" and further down, "Figures available show that 218,000 birds have been slaughtered… last year, total supplies for the Christmas market were estimated at between 3,700,000 and 4,000,000 birds, so much will depend now on the extent of further fowl pest outbreaks."'
Mr Franklin put the cutting down. He said seriously, 'That news was only the tip of the iceberg58. We managed to keep later details out of the press. But I can tell you this, gentlemen. Within the past four weeks or so we have slaughtered three million turkeys. And that's only the beginning of it. Fowl pest is running wild in East Anglia and there are also signs of it in Hampshire, where a lot of turkey-raising goes on. What you ate at lunch today was almost certainly a foreign bird. We allowed the import of two million from America to cover this position up.'
M said sourly, 'Well, so far as I'm concerned, I don't care if I never eat another turkey again. However, I see you've had quite a problem on your hands. But to get back to our case. Where do we go from turkeys?'
Franklin was not amused. He said, 'We have one clue. All the birds that died first were exhibited at the National Poultry Show at Olympia early this month. Olympia had been cleared and cleaned out for the next exhibition before we had reached that conclusion, and we could find no trace on the premises59 of the virus - Fowl Pest is a virus, by the way, highly infectious, with a mortality of one hundred per cent. Now then' - he held up a stout60 white pamphlet with the insignia of the United States on it - 'how much do you gentlemen know about Biological Warfare61?'
Leathers said, 'We were indirectly62 concerned in the fringes of the subject during the war. But in the end neither side used it. Around 1944 the Americans had a plan for destroying the whole of the Japanese rice crop by the use of aerial sprays. But, as I recall, Roosevelt vetoed the idea.'
'Right,' said Franklin. 'Dead right. But the subject is still very much alive. And very much so in my Ministry. We happen to be the most highly agriculturalized country in the world. We had to make ourselves so during the war to keep ourselves from starvation. So, in theory, we would be an ideal target for an attack of this kind.' He slowly brought his hands down on the table for emphasis. 'I don't think it would be too much to say, gentlemen, that if such an attack could be launched, and it can only be countered by slaughtering63 the poultry and animals and burning the crops, we would be a bankrupt country within a matter of months. We would literally64 be down on our knees, begging for bread!'
'Never thought of that,' said M reflectively, 'but it seems to make sense.'
'Now this,' continued Franklin, holding up the pamphlet, 'is the latest thinking on the subject by our friends in America. It also covers Chemical and Radiological Warfare, but we're not concerned with those - CW, BW, and RW they call them. It's a United States Senate paper, Number 58991, dated August 29th, 1960, prepared by "The Subcommittee on Disarmament of the Committee on Foreign Relations". My Ministry goes along with the general findings on BW, with the reservation that America is a vast country and we are a very small and tightly-packed one. BW would hit us a thousand times harder than it would hit the States. May I read you a few extracts?'
M positively65 loathed66 the problems of other Ministries67. In the end, on the Intelligence side, they all ended up on his plate. Bond, amused, watched him summon an expression of polite interest.' Go ahead, Mr Franklin.'
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1
tornadoes
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| n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 ) | |
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martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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scrunched
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| v.发出喀嚓声( scrunch的过去式和过去分词 )；蜷缩；压；挤压 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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efficiently
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| adv.高效率地，有能力地 | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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livestock
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| n.家畜，牲畜 | |
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panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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allergy
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| n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症 | |
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allergies
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| n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性 | |
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adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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affinity
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| n.亲和力，密切关系 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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warts
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| n.疣( wart的名词复数 )；肉赘；树瘤；缺点 | |
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asthma
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| n.气喘病，哮喘病 | |
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stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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practitioners
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| n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师） | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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benign
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| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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physiology
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| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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supervisor
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| n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师 | |
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46
grassland
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| n.牧场，草地，草原 | |
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47
clutter
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| n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱 | |
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48
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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eke
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| v.勉强度日，节约使用 | |
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50
densest
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| 密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的 | |
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51
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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52
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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53
testily
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| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
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54
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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55
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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56
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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57
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
iceberg
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| n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人 | |
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59
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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61
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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62
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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slaughtering
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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66
loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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67
ministries
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| （政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期 | |
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