The Complete Stories_ Volume 1 - Isaac Asimov [163]
Henry Brand looked through the folder page by page, with the practiced eye of one who had been in Security for fourteen years. He didn't have to read every word. Anything peculiar would have leaped off the paper and punched him in the eye.
He said, "The man looks clean to me." Henry Brand looked clean, too; with a soft, rounded paunch and a pink and freshly scrubbed complexion. It was as though continuous contact with all sorts of human failings, from possible ignorance to possible treason, had compelled him into frequent washings.
Lieutenant Albert Quincy, who had brought him the folder, was young and filled with the responsibility of being Security officer at the Hanford Station. "But why Sebatinsky?" he demanded.
"Why not?"
"Because it doesn't make sense. Zebatinsky is a foreign name and I'd change it myself if I had it, but I'd change it to something Anglo-Saxon. If Zebatinsky had done that, it would make sense and I wouldn't give it a second thought. But why change a Z to an S? I think we must find out what his reasons were."
"Has anyone asked him directly?"
"Certainly. In ordinary conversation, of course. I was careful to arrange that. He won't say anything more than that he's tired of being last in the alphabet."
"That could be, couldn't it, Lieutenant?"
"It could, but why not change his name to Sands or Smith, if he wants an S.? Or if he's that tired of Z, why not go the whole way and change it to an A? Why not a name like—uh—Aarons?"
"Not Anglo-Saxon enough," muttered Brand. Then, "But there's nothing to pin against the man. No matter how queer a name change may be, that alone can't be used against anyone."
Lieutenant Quincy looked markedly unhappy.
Brand said, "Tell me, Lieutenant, there must be something specific that bothers you. Something in your mind; some theory; some gimmick. What is it?"
The lieutenant frowned. His light eyebrows drew together and his lips tightened. "Well, damn it, sir, the man's a Russian."
Brand said, "He's not that. He's a third-generation American."
"I mean his name's Russian."
Brand's face lost some of its deceptive softness. "No, Lieutenant, wrong again. Polish." The lieutenant pushed his hands out impatiently, palms up. "Same thing."
Brand, whose mother's maiden name had been Wiszewski, snapped, "Don't tell that to a Pole, Lieutenant." —
Then, more thoughtfully, "Or to a Russian either, I suppose."
"What I'm trying to say, sir," said the lieutenant, reddening, "is that the Poles and Russians are both on the other side of the Curtain."
"We all know that."
"And Zebatinsky or Sebatinsky, whatever you want to call him, may have relatives there."
"He's third generation. He might have second cousins there, I suppose. So what?"
"Nothing in itself. Lots of people may have distant relatives there. But Zebatinsky changed his name."
"Go on."
"Maybe he's trying to distract attention. Maybe a second cousin over there is getting too famous and our Zebatinsky is afraid that the relationship may spoil his own chances of advancement."
"Changing his name won't do any good. He'd still be a second cousin."
"Sure, but he wouldn't feel as though he were shoving the relationship in our face."
"Have you ever heard of any Zebatinsky on the other side?"
"No, sir."
"Then he can't be too famous. How would our Zebatinsky know about him?"
"He might keep in touch with his own relatives. That would be suspicious under the circumstances, he being a nuclear physicist."
Methodically, Brand went through the folder again. "This is awfully thin, Lieutenant. It's thin enough to be completely invisible."
"Can you offer any other explanation, sir, of why he ought to change his name in just this way?"
"No, I can't. I admit that."
"Then I think, sir, we ought to investigate. We ought to look for any men named Zebatinsky on the other side and see if we can draw a connection." The lieutenant's voice rose a trifle as a new thought