The Steel Spring
Page 16
‘Didn’t anyone in the government or the campaign leadership lick one of those prepared stickers?’
‘Only the chief medical officer. In the interests of research.’
The minister gave Jensen a look of appeal and said:
‘I mean, you don’t send out requests for declarations of loyalty to yourself, do you?’
‘No. That’s right.’
‘Nothing was done with evil intent. Not a single bad thought was thought.’
Inspector Jensen did not reply.
The car containing the minister and the armed guards drove away. They stood there in the circle of light outside the main entrance doors of the terminal building, a few metres from the telephone boxes. Jensen looked at his watch. Exactly twenty-four hours had elapsed since he had stood there the first time.
‘What do you plan to do with him?’
‘It’s not up to me,’ said the police doctor with a shrug of his shoulders.
‘He can scarcely be convicted of any crime.’
‘Capitalism’s a crime in itself. But it’s a paper tiger. If anyone drops a spanner in the works, it’s got nothing to fall back on. People are indifferent to it. They know nothing and understand nothing beyond the narrow sector of their own training. And the alienation makes them incapable of establishing connections.’
‘I saw a camel the other day,’ said Jensen.
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’
The temperature had dropped a few degrees and it was snowing.
‘We ought to try to find a cure for leukaemia,’ said the doctor.
‘And now you’re going to socialise this society of ours?’
‘You can bet your bloody life I am, Jensen. And it’s not going to be easy. Plenty of bad thoughts are going to be thought.’