The moonlight reflected off Joe's eyes as they bored into Rick's. "You don't have to stop Green," he said.
"Others will do that. All you have to do is bide your time." Joe continued studying Rick's face. "You'd like to believe me," he said, "but you're not sure you can."
"I believe you," said Rick.
"Ever play poker?"
"No."
"Good thing. You'd be lousy. I can read your face like a book."
Rick looked away. "You're not the first to say that."
"Soon as I saw you on the beach, I knew something was up. After that, it was only a matter of waiting for you to make your move."
"Why did you interfere?"
"If I thought you could have pulled it off, I probably wouldn't have stopped you."
"So, it was to save my life?" asked Rick dubiously.
"Not just yours. Once Green took care of you, he would have tidied up. Other people could get hurt."
"Including you."
"Me?" said Joe cynically. "I'm the only one that's safe. Green needs me. I'm his pilot." Rick was seized by a sudden sense of failure, that he had been called to face evil and had not measured up.
Joe read his downcast expression. "Don't be hard on yourself. Be proud you're not a killer," said Joe.
"Things will work out as long as Green doesn't get suspicious."
"How can I prevent that?"
"Stay out of his way and don't nose around. Stick close to Greighton's kid, too. Keep her happy, and you'll re-main useful to him. Green's still courting Greighton. He won't want to rock the boat."
"It all sounds so ... so cowardly," said Rick.
"Green's as good as caught the moment we get up-when. Be smart, and let Sam's people take care of him. You don't need to stick your neck out."
"Is that all?" asked Rick.
"Now you know everything," said Joe. "I wish you didn't. The less you knew, the safer you were. Don't do anything to tip off Green."
"I'll be careful."
Joe watched his words sink in. Green's right, he thought. This kid's too damned curious. 15
THE CHIRPING OF BIRDS HERALDED THE ONSET OF CON'S
favorite time of the day. She awoke to savor the landscape beyond the colonnade as it slowly came awake. The early-morning air was heavy with the smell of the sea and mag-nolias. It bathed her in fragrance as she lay on her bed, watching the soft blue light of dawn gradually brighten. Soon, pterosaurs added their less melodic cries to those of the birds. Before long, the first rays of the rising sun would strike the treetops.
Con enjoyed the calmness of morning. None of the on-coming day's irritants or problems need yet be faced. Daddy and Sara did not provoke her. The mysterious Peter Green remained forgotten. Rick's unsettling revelations were ig-nored. Con shut them all away while she recaptured the feel-ing of innocent delight she had experienced the first morning on the island.
Rick spoiled it by quietly emerging from the trees. He stopped outside her room, and whispered, "Con." Con closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.
"Con, are you awake?" whispered Rick more loudly.
Con remained still and waited for him to leave. Instead, she heard him enter the room. His hand softly shook her foot. "Con."
"What do you want?" she said, not bothering to hide her annoyance. She opened her eyes to see that Rick had re-treated a few steps.
"Con, would you do me a favor?"
"Did you have to come here to ask? Couldn't it have waited?"
"Sorry," said Rick. "I had to ask before the others got up." Con caught an anxious tone in Rick's voice. His face, also, had a disquietingly worried look to it. "What's going on?" she asked.
"I can't talk now. Just say you want to stay on the island today. Tell James you'd like me to take you fishing. Will you do that?"
"Why?"
Rick looked around nervously. "Please. I'll explain later."
"All right," said Con, somewhat grudgingly.
"Thanks," whispered Rick as he began a quick retreat from the room. Con remained in her bed. The dawn proceeded, but it no longer seemed tranquil. RICK WAS GLAD he had used an indirect return route to the staff compound when he encountered James making coffee. "You're up early," said James.
"I wanted to see the sunrise," said Rick.
"Thought you'd take a fancy to this place," replied James. "It reminds me of my boyhood. God, I loved dawn on the Serengeti."
"No seashore there," said Rick.
"No, but the feel's the same, a glimpse of the world before we ruined it." James poured himself a mug and sipped it as he contemplated. Rick helped himself and drank quietly, glad that James was not in a talkative mood.
James put his cup down and rose. "Guess I should see if our guests are stirring. What have you planned for to-day?"
"I thought we might follow the coast to the south."
"I'd like to go on one of your trips," said James, "after things settle down a bit."
"I'd love to have you," replied Rick. "The plains to the north should remind you a bit of Africa. No grass, though."
"None?"
"It hasn't evolved yet."
James shook his head as he strolled toward the guests' quarters. "Fancy that, no grass." A few minutes later, James returned to wake Pandit, and the routine of camp began in earnest. Rick tried to seem surprised when James returned from dining with the guests to tell him, "Miss Greighton desires to be taken fishing."
"There's a likely spot for hand lines at the far end of the island," said Rick. "The bottom drops off right be-yond the cliff."
"Good," said James. "Just make sure you throw her line out, I don't want her hooking herself." He turned to Joe. "It looks like you're on holiday today."
"I can live with that," said Joe with a smile.
"Just stay clear of the protected beach," warned James. "Mr. Greighton and Miss Boyton enjoy their privacy."
When James left to get the fishing gear, Joe turned to Rick. "I bet they enjoy their privacy," he said with a grin. Then in a lower voice, he asked, "Are you okay after last night?"
"Yeah," replied Rick. "Don't worry about me."
"Things will work out," assured Joe.
"Sure," replied Rick.
RICK WALKED ALONG the shore carrying a large picnic hamper in one hand and a cooler in the other. Con ac-companied him, carrying a small bag of fishing gear and bait.
"Why are we going fishing?" asked Con.
"I thought you might enjoy it," replied Rick.
"Don't give me that!" said Con testily. "That's not why you sneaked into my room this morning. Don't treat me like a child."
"I just need to get away from Joe."
"I thought you two were friends."
"We were . . . maybe we still are. I just need to sort things out."
"Why drag me along?"
"You know why," said Rick.
"Baby-sitting," said Con angrily, and she sat down on a rock.
"Con . . ."
"Tell me what's up."
"I don't think I should."
"You promised! Besides, you don't have a choice. I won't play along if you keep things from me." Rick hesitated, then sighed as if he were setting down a burden. "Last evening I overheard Green and your fa-ther talking. Green said he stole the time machine, and then he tried to get your father's help in some mad scheme to change history. It was like something out of science fiction, he actually said they'd conquer the world."
Con's face lit up, "That's wild!"
"This is serious. He's planning to wipe out our exis-tence in the process. He figures if he does that, the people who want the time machine back will be wiped out also."
"What did Daddy say?"
"I don't know what his answer was or even if he gave one. Green offered to share the riches of Europe." Con pondered Rick's story. Absurd as it sounded, it was easier to picture Green as an unscrupulous schemer than as a scientist. "He'll probably say no," she said with-out conviction. "I wish I could say for sure. But what does Joe have to do with this?"