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.‘Well that got rid of him,’ said Ace.‘So I guess that rubbish is good for something.’The Doctor smiled.‘I feel somebody ought to put the case for Wagner here.I think the Liebestod is some of the most beautiful music ever written.’‘Oh God.Don’t you start,’ murmured Ace.‘So do I,’ said Kitty Oppenheimer.‘However,’ said the Doctor.‘I also recognise it’s not the only music.’Kitty smiled at him.‘So do I.Now would you excuse me? I think my husband is gesturing to me desperately.’ Across the room Oppenheimer was indeed beckoning to her, and Kitty strolled over to join him, leaving the Doctor and Ace alone together for the first time since they had arrived at the party.‘So are you enjoying yourself, Ace?’‘Well, I like her.Kitty Oppenheimer.She’s been nice to me.’‘Have you had the chance to make the acquaintance of anyone else?’25‘Just that big drunk.’‘I’m afraid, given the state of the guests at this party, you need to be a little more specific.’‘That big bloke with the beret.Looks Chinese or Korean or something.’‘Japanese.’‘Japanese?’‘Yes.Ray Morita, a third-generation Japanese-American physicist of some considerable genius, who appears to be in the process of destroying himself with alcohol.’‘He certainly does.But listen Doctor, if he’s Japanese – I mean half Japanese or whatever – shouldn’t they have him locked up?’The Doctor nodded grimly.‘Indeed, that is the government’s current policy.So perhaps it’s not surprising he’s drinking himself to death when you consider his entire family – loyal Americans all – have indeed been locked up in a detainment camp for the duration of the war.’ He paused for a moment and gave Ace a curious look.‘What is it?’ she said.The Doctor smiled.‘Why Ace, you’d already heard about that, hadn’t you?’‘Sure.’‘But how did you know about America’s dubious policy of internment for its citizens of Japanese descent during World War Two?’‘There was a movie.’‘Ah, I see, excellent.’‘It had Dennis Quaid in it.’‘Good, good.Well in any case you’re quite correct in assuming that normally Ray would be behind bars.But because of his special abilities in science he is needed here.In short, he is allowed his freedom because he is helping Uncle Sam.’Major Butcher, who had returned to the room, drifted close to them just in time to hear Ace say, ‘Who the hell is Uncle Sam?’Before Butcher had a chance to consider Ace’s anachronistic remark, there was the sound of angry voices from outside.Butcher immediately moved to the nearest open window of the house.Outside, on the lawn, Oppenheimer was standing talking to another man.Both men were gesticulating, hands waving and elbows jerking, their voices rising in growing fiery.It looked as if they might come to blows at any moment.Butcher recognised the man with Oppenheimer, and he just smiled and turned away from the window.He didn’t notice who took his place as soon as he vacated it.Ace, with the Doctor at her side.26Ace peered out the window.The voices of the men arguing had grown so loud that they were clearly audible in the house, even above Wagner and the roar of party conversation.Yet all the party guests seemed oblivious to the quarrel blazing so close at hand.And they didn’t seem to just be politely ignoring it, either.They seemed genuinely uninterested.Ace turned to the open window, listening and trying to catch the thread of the argument outside.The words hydrogen and atmosphere kept coming up.The man quarrelling with Oppenheimer was heavy set, with dark wavy hair.He had a face dominated by thick black eyebrows, with a big nose, big ears and fat cheeks, all of which seemed strangely at odds with his narrow, tapering chin.Like Oppenheimer, his face was flushed with drink and rage.‘Who is that?’ she said.The Doctor smiled thinly.His eyes were cold.‘Edward Teller.’‘Don’t tell me, let me guess.He’s a physicist.’The Doctor looked at Ace and his smile grew wider, his eyes less cold.‘Yes, one of many who escaped here to America fleeing from the rise of the Nazis in Europe.You do know who the Nazis are?’‘Sure, they’re the guys that Indiana Jones hates.’ Ace smiled.She felt drunkenly witty and loquacious.‘I’m just kidding.Of course I know about World War Two and the Nazis.And the Japanese.Did I ever tell you about that movie they showed us in school about dropping the atom bomb on Japan?’‘Yes,’ said the Doctor impatiently.‘The takings at the local kebab shop dropped for a year.’‘OK, so I told you the story.Maybe I repeat myself sometimes.Bad Ace.’‘In any event, Teller was one of those fleeing the Nazis.He was born in Bu-dapest so the country he fled from was Hungary, part of the Austro-Hungarian empire [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]