Asimov's Mysteries

'Yes.'

'How big would the world be?'

'A mile in diameter, perhaps,' said the extraterrologist thoughtfully. 'Perhaps even more.'

'How many tons of uranium, or radioactive material, rather?'

'In the trillions. Minimum.'

'Would you be willing to put all that in the form of a signed opinion in writing?'

'Of course.'

'Very well then, Dr. Urth.' Davenport got to his feet, reached for his hat with one hand and the file of reports with the other. 'That is all we need.'

But Dr. Urth's hand moved to the reports and rested heavily upon them. 'Wait. How will you find the asteroid?'

'By looking. We'll assign a volume of space to every ship made available to us and-just look.' The expense, the time, the effort! And you'll never find it.'

'One chance in a thousand. We might'

'One chance in a million. You won't.'

'We can't let the uranium go without some try. Your professional opinion makes the prize high enough.'

'But there is a better way to find the asteroid. I can find it.'

Davenport fixed the extraterrologist with a sudden, sharp glance. Despite appearances Dr. Urth was anything but a fool. He had personal experience of that. There was therefore just a bit of half-hope in his voice as he said, 'How can you find it?'

'First,' said Dr. Urth, 'my price.'

'Price?'

'Or fee, if you choose. When the government reaches the asteroid, there may be another large-size silicony on it. Siliconies are very valuable. The only form of life with solid silicone for tissues and liquid silicone as a circulating fluid. The answer to the question whether the asteroids were once part of a single planetary body may rest with them. Any number of other problems… Do you understand?'

'You mean you want a large silicony delivered to you?'

'Alive and well. And free of charge. Yes.' 

Davenport nodded. 'I'm sure the government will agree. Now what have you on your mind?' Dr. Urth said quietly, as though explaining everything, 'The silicony's remark.'

Davenport looked bewildered. 'What remark?'

The one in the report. Just before the silicony died. Vernadsky was asking it where the captain had written down the coordinates, and it said, "On the asteroid." '

A look of intense disappointment crossed Davenport's face. 'Great space, Doctor, we know that, and we've gone into every angle of it. Every possible angle. It means nothing.'

'Nothing at all, Inspector?'

'Nothing of importance. Read the report again. The silicony wasn't even listening to Vernadsky. He was feeling life depart and he was wondering about it. Twice, it asked, "What after death?" Then, as

Vernadsky kept questioning it, it said, "On the asteroid." Probably it never heard Vernadsky's question.

It was answering its own question. It thought that after death it would return to its own asteroid; to its home, where it would be safe once more. That's all.'

Dr. Urth shook his head. 'You are too much a poet, you know. You imagine too much. Come, it is an interesting problem and let us see if you can't solve it for yourself. Suppose the silicony's remark were an answer to Vernadsky.'

'Even so,' said Davenport impatiently, 'how would it help? Which asteroid? The uranium asteroid? We can't find it, so we can't find the coordinates. Some other asteroid which the Robert Q. had used as a home base? We can't find that either.'

'How you avoid the obvious. Inspector. Why don't you ask yourself what the phrase "on the asteroid" means to the silicony. Not to you or to me, but to the silicony.' Davenport frowned. 'Pardon me, Doctor?'

'I'm speaking plainly. What did the word asteroid mean to the silicony?'

'The silicony learned about space out of an astronomy text that was read to it. I suppose the book explained what an asteroid was.'

'Exactly,' crowed Dr. Urth, putting a finger to the side of his snub nose. 'And how would the definition go? An asteroid is a small body, smaller than the planets, moving about the sun in an orbit which, generally speaking, lies between those of Mars and Jupiter. Wouldn't you agree?'

'I suppose so.'

'And what is the Robert Q.?'

'You mean the ship?'

That's what you call it,' said Dr. Urth. The ship. But the astronomy book was an ancient one. It made no mention of ships in space. One of the crewmen said as much. He said it dated from before space flight.

Then what is the Robert Q.? Isn't it a small body, smaller than the planets? And while the silicony was aboard, wasn't it moving about the sun in an orbit which, generally speaking, lay between those of Mars and Jupiter?'

'You mean the silicony considered the ship as just another asteroid, and when he said "on the asteroid," he meant "on the ship"?'

'Exactly. I told you I would make you solve the problem for yourself.'

No expression of joy or relief lightened the gloom on the Inspector's face. That is no solution. Doctor.'

But Dr. Urth blinked slowly at him and the bland look on his round face became, if anything, blander and more childlike in its uncomplicated pleasure. 'Surely it is.'

'Not at all. Dr. Urth, we didn't reason it out as you did. We dismissed the silicony's remark completely.

But still, don't you suppose we searched the Robert Q.?' We took it apart piece by piece, plate by plate. We just about unwelded the thing.'

'And you found nothing?'

'Nothing.'

'Perhaps you did not look in the right place.'

'We looked in every place.' He stood up, as though to go. 'You understand, Dr. Urth? When we got through with the ship there was no possibility of those coordinates existing anywhere on it.'

'Sit down, Inspector,' said Dr. Urth calmly. 'You are still not considering the silicony's statement properly. Now the silicony learned English by collecting a word here and a word there. It couldn't speak idiomatic English. Some of its statements, as quoted, show that. For instance, it said, "the planet which is most far" instead of "the farthest planet." You see?'

'Well?'

'Someone who cannot speak a language idiomatically either uses the idioms of his own language translated word by word or else he simply uses foreign words according to their literal meaning. The silicony had no spoken language of its own so it could only make use of the second alternative. Let's be literal, then. He said, "on the asteroid," Inspector. On it. He didn't mean on a piece of paper, he meant on the ship, literally.'

'Dr. Urth,' said Davenport sadly, 'when the Bureau searches, it searches. There were no mysterious inscriptions on the ship either.'

Dr. Urth looked disappointed. 'Dear me, Inspector. I keep hoping you will see the answer. Really, you have had so many hints.'

Davenport drew in a slow, firm breath. It went hard, but his voice was calm and even once more. 'Will you tell me what you have in mind, Doctor?'

Dr. Urth patted his comfortable abdomen with one hand and replaced his glasses. 'Don't you see,

Inspector, that there is one place on board a spaceship where secret numbers are perfectly safe? Where, although in plain view, they would be perfectly safe from detection? Where though they were being stared at by a hundred eyes, they would be secure? Except from a seeker who is an astute thinker, of course.'

'Where? Name the place!'

'Why, in those places where there happen to be numbers already. Perfectly normal numbers. Legal numbers. Numbers that are supposed to be there.'

'What are you talking about?'

'The ship's serial number, etched directly on the hull. On the hull, be it noted. The engine number, the field generator number. A few others. Each etched on integral portions of the ship. On the ship, as the silicony said. On the ship.'