Blank? by Randall Garrett

Bethelman came to quite suddenly, and found himself standing on the corner of 44th Street and Madison Avenue. He was dizzy for a moment—not from any physical cause, but from the disorientation. The last thing he could remember, he had been sitting in a bar in Boston, talking to Dr. Elijah Kamiroff. After the interview was over, they’d had a few drinks, and then a few more. After that, things began to get hazy.

Bethelman rubbed his head. It wasn’t like a hangover; his head felt perfectly fine. But how in the devil had he gotten here? He looked around. No one was paying any attention to him, but no one pays any attention to anyone on the streets of New York. Still feeling queer, he headed east on 44th Street.

He wanted to sit down for a bit, and the nearest place was the little bar halfway between Madison Avenue and Grand Central Station. He went in and ordered a beer.

What the hell had happened? He’d had too much to drink on several occasions, but he’d never gone to sleep in one city and awakened in another. Dr. Kamiroff must have put him on the plane; the biochemist didn’t drink much, and had probably been in better shape than Bethelman had been.

He glanced at his watch. Two-fifteen! Wow! The city editor would be wondering where he was.

He went to the phone, dropped in a dime, and dialed the city desk. When the editor’s voice answered, he said: “Hickman, this is Bethelman; I’m sorry I’m late, but—”