Witwer met him on the roof on the police building. As the small ship came to rest, a cloud of escort ships dipped their fins1 and sped off. Anderton immediately approached the blond-haired young man.
"You've got what you wanted," he told him. "You can lock me up, and send me to the detention2 camp. But that won't be enough."
Witwer's blue eyes were pale with uncertainty3. "I'm afraid I don't understand—"
"It's not my fault. I should never have left the police building. Where's Wally Page?"
"We've already clamped down on him," Witwer replied. "He won't give us any trouble."
Anderton's face was grim.
"You're holding him for the wrong reason," he said. "Letting me into the monkey block was no crime. But passing information to Army is. You've had an Army plant working here." He corrected himself, a little lamely4, "I mean, I have."
"I've called back the order on you. Now the teams are looking for Kaplan."
"Any luck?"
"He left here in an Army truck. We followed him, but the truck got into a militarized Barracks. Now they've got a big wartime R-3 tank blocking the street. It would be civil war to move it aside."
Slowly, hesitantly, Lisa made her way from the ship. She was still pale and shaken and on her throat an ugly bruise5 was forming.
"What happened to you?" Witwer demanded. Then he caught sight of Fleming's inert6 form lying spread out inside. Facing Anderton squarely, he said: "Then you've finally stopped pretending this is some conspiracy7 of mine."
"I have."
"You don't think I'm—" He made a disgusted face. "Plotting to get your job."
"Sure you are. Everybody is guilty of that sort of thing. And I'm plotting to keep it. But this is something else—and you're not responsible."
"Why do you assert," Witwer inquired, "that it's too late to turn yourself in? My God, we'll put you in the camp. The week will pass and Kaplan will still be alive."
"He'll be alive, yes," Anderton conceded. "But he can prove he'd be just as alive if I were walking the streets. He has the information that proves the majority report obsolete8. He can break the Precrime system." He finished, "Heads or tails, he wins—and we lose. The Army discredits9 us; their strategy paid off."
"But why are they risking so much? What exactly do they want?"
"After the Anglo-Chinese War, the Army lost out. It isn't what it was in the good old AFWA days. They ran the complete show, both military and domestic. And they did their own police work."
"Like Fleming," Lisa said faintly.
"After the war, the Westbloc was demilitarized. Officers like Kaplan were retired10 and discarded. Nobody likes that." Anderton grimaced11. "I can sympathize with him. He's not the only one. But we couldn't keep on running things that way. We had to divide up the authority."
"You say Kaplan has won," Witwer said. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"I'm not going to kill him. We know it and he knows it. Probably he'll come around and offer us some kind of deal. We'll continue to function, but the Senate will abolish our real pull. You wouldn't like that, would you?"
"I should say not," Witwer answered emphatically. "One of these days I'm going to be running this agency." He flushed. "Not immediately, of course."
Anderton's expression was somber12. "It's too bad you publicized the majority report. If you had kept it quiet, we could cautiously draw it back in. But everybody's heard about it. We can't retract13 it now."
"I guess not," Witwer admitted awkwardly. "Maybe I—don't have this job down as neatly14 as I imagined."
"You will, in time. You'll be a good police officer. You believe in the status quo. But learn to take it easy." Anderton moved away from them. "I'm going to study the data tapes of the majority report. I want to find out exactly how I was supposed to kill Kaplan." Reflectively, he finished: "It might give me some ideas."
The data tapes of the precogs "Donna" and "Mike" were separately stored. Choosing the machinery15 responsible for the analysis of "Donna," he opened the protective shield and laid out the contents. As before, the code informed him which reels were relevant and in a moment he had the tape-transport mechanism16 in operation.
It was approximately what he had suspected. This was the material utilized17 by "Jerry"—the superseded18 time-path. In it Kaplan's Military Intelligence agents kidnapped Anderton as he drove home from work. Taken to Kaplan's villa19, the organization GHQ of the International Veterans' League. Anderton was given an ultimatum20: voluntarily disband the Precrime system or face open hostilities21 with Army.
In this discarded time-path, Anderton, as Police Commissioner22, had turned to the Senate for support. No support was forthcoming. To avoid civil war, the Senate had ratified23 the dismemberment of the police system, and decreed a return to military law "to cope with the emergency." Taking a corps24 of fanatic25 police, Anderton had located Kaplan and shot him, along with other officials of the Veterans' League. Only Kaplan had died. The others had been patched up. And the coup26 had been successful.
This was "Donna." He rewound the tape and turned to the material previewed by "Mike." It would be identical; both precogs had combined to present a unified27 picture. "Mike" began as "Donna" had begun: Anderton had become aware of Kaplan's plot against the police. But something was wrong. Puzzled, he ran the tape back to the beginning. Incomprehensibly, it didn't jibe28. Again he relayed the tape, listening intently.
The "Mike" report was quite different from the "Donna" report. An hour later, he had finished his examination, put away the tapes, and left the monkey block. As soon as he emerged, Witwer asked. "What's the matter? I can see something's wrong."
"No," Anderton answered slowly, still deep in thought. "Not exactly wrong." A sound came to his ears. He walked vaguely29 over to the window and
peered out.
The street was crammed30 with people. Moving down the center lane was a four-column line of uniformed troops. Rifles, helmets ... marching soldiers in their dingy31 wartime uniforms, carrying the cherished pennants32 of AFWA flapping in the cold afternoon wind.
"An Army rally," Witwer explained bleakly33. "I was wrong. They're not going to make a deal with us. Why should they? Kaplan's going to make it public."
Anderton felt no surprise. "He's going to read the minority report?"
"Apparently34. They're going to demand the Senate disband us, and take away our authority. They're going to claim we've been arresting innocent men—nocturnal police raids, that sort of thing. Rule by terror."
"You suppose the Senate will yield?"
Witwer hesitated. "I wouldn't want to guess."
"I'll guess," Anderton said. "They will. That business out there fits with what I learned downstairs. We've got ourselves boxed in and there's only one direction we can go. Whether we like it or not, we'll have to take it." His eyes had a steely glint.
Apprehensively35, Witwer asked: "What is it?"
"Once I say it, you'll wonder why you didn't invent it. Very obviously, I'm going to have to fulfill36 the publicized report. I'm going to have to kill Kaplan. That's the only way we can keep them from discrediting37 us."
"But," Witwer said, astonished, "the majority report has been superseded."
"I can do it," Anderton informed him, "but it's going to cost. You're familiar with the statutes38 governing first-degree murder?"
"Life imprisonment39."
"At least. Probably, you could pull a few wires and get it commuted40 to exile. I could be sent to one of the colony planets, the good old frontier."
"Would you—prefer that?"
"Hell, no," Anderton said heartily41. "But it would be the lesser42 of the two evils. And it's got to be done."
"I don't see how you can kill Kaplan."
Anderton got out the heavy-duty military weapon Fleming had tossed to him. "I'll use this."
"They won't stop you?"
"Why should they? They've got that minority report that says I've changed my mind."
"Then the minority report is incorrect?"
"No," Anderton said, "it's absolutely correct. But I'm going to murder Kaplan anyhow."
收听单词发音 |
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fins
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| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
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detention
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| n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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lamely
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| 一瘸一拐地，不完全地 | |
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bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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discredits
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| 使不相信( discredit的第三人称单数 )； 使怀疑； 败坏…的名声； 拒绝相信 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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grimaced
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| v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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retract
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| vt.缩回，撤回收回，取消 | |
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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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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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utilized
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| v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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ultimatum
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| n.最后通牒 | |
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hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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ratified
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| v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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fanatic
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| n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的 | |
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coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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unified
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| (unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的 | |
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jibe
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| v.嘲笑，与...一致，使转向；n.嘲笑，嘲弄 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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pennants
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| n.校旗( pennant的名词复数 )；锦标旗；长三角旗；信号旗 | |
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bleakly
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| 无望地，阴郁地，苍凉地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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discrediting
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| 使不相信( discredit的现在分词 )； 使怀疑； 败坏…的名声； 拒绝相信 | |
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statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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commuted
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| 通勤( commute的过去式和过去分词 )； 减（刑）； 代偿 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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