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going to hear a great deal more about the
Aegis movement.
The second man who stopped us was the fat man, Frank Capella. I thought when I
saw him approach that he was going to say exactly the same thing that
Holcomb had, and I was all prepared for vitriolic words, but he was a far
better diplomat. He only wanted to help us. He wanted to assure himself that
we were getting all possible co-operation from his scientific staff, to
apologise for the unpleasantness concerning one of his men and one of ours,
and to tell us that we only had to ask for anything we wanted. Charlot spent
the whole interview nodding and grunting and generally radiating utter
boredom.
Finally, Keith Just passed us by, in a carefully contrived accidental fashion,
and asked how we were getting on and what possibility there might be of
Charlot's reaching a decision in the relatively near future. Charlot was at
least polite to Just, and when the man had passed by he commented that Just
was a man who might possibly be able to give us a new perspective. He
suggested that I should talk to the peace officer in the reasonably near
future.
Once we were on the road again, and relatively free from the danger of
interruption, I asked him what was wrong.
"You've been looking like something six weeks dead ever since the first
night," I said. "I've never seen you handle people like this before. You're
showing about as much diplomacy as I usually do. What's the matter?"
"The lack of diplomacy is partly calculated," he said. "We have a real job to
do here, and I can't spare the time to oil all the wheels as I usually can.
I've delegated as much of the liaison work as possible to Captain delArco and
Miss Lapthorn purely and simply so that I can free myself for study. Possibly
I should have brought a diplo-
matic staff out from New Alexandria, but I knew full well they'd plague me
almost as much as these people would if I allowed them to. I feel more
comfortable working with the people I have here. Even with you.
"But you're right in that I am ill. It was a very minor affliction before I
arrived here, but the slight effect that the air here has on metabolic
processes is aggravating the illness."
"Surely it's nothing incurable?" I asked, deeming the question virtually
rhetorical in an age where disease though widespread never stands a chance
against medicine.
But he replied "Yes," and he added: "Old age."
8
I knew that something had to happen sooner or later, and it was that night
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that the plot sickened considerably. I was back at the ship, feeling restless,
and wondering whether it was a good idea to go into town to talk to Just, or
maybe to have a drink instead. Charlot had managed to seize some paperwork
from Merani, and he was closeted in his cabin searching it for inspiration.
Eve and Nick were in town, where they had stayed for the evening meal, and
were presumably still involved in the
thankless task of collecting meaningless opinions from meaningless people for
their meaningless record of procedure.
Johnny and I were together in the control room. He had been on the spacefield
all day, and he was looking somewhat sulky not to say bruised as a result of
his exploits on the previous day.
"There's a couple of things you ought to check on while you're here," he told
me.
"Like what?" I asked.
"I was checking some of your instruments," he said hesitantly.
"You leave my instruments alone," I said. "You know bloody well that your
interest in this ship starts below this deck. You keep out of the cradle and
away from this panel. Now what the hell do you mean by there being something I
ought to know about?"
"Take a look in the hood," he advised.
I was angry. The hood is the most sacrosanct element in a pilot's
paraphernalia. I
would have objected to Eve's touching the hood, even though she was a pilot
herself, had flown the ship, and might have to again one day. For Johnny to
play about with it was a considerable violation of principle.
"What the hell have you been doing?" I demanded, my right hand reaching for
the hood, but making no attempt to swing it across and locate it.
"I was looking," he said uncomfortably. "Hell, I knew I shouldn't, but I just
wanted to see what things looked like to help me to understand what goes on up
here while I'm keeping the flux balanced in the belly. I wouldn't have told
you, except that I think there's something odd out there."
"Why didn't you tell me before?" I demanded. "We've been sitting here for half
an hour."
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