Lamont said angrily. “What are you trying to do, Bellbight.”
Tom’s voice was so low as to be almost a whisper. “It’s hard to understand some things. Why should that transmitter have tipped when it did? Who can either affirm or deny some definite plan in the universe?
“Are we nasty little freaks of nature, biological accidents, running around in our mechanical anthill just prior to blowing it to bits, or is there something, some force, some entity that watches over us, that makes a transmitter tip, that creates a new form of man strong enough to weather space?
“For ten days I’ve been reading genetics. You know what, Lamont? This aberration goes deep. Bill and Shirley are in love. They’ll breed true. That’s one of your questions, isn’t it? I’d stake my life on the answer to that one.”
“Very noble language, Bellbight,” Sherman said wryly.
“Staking my life?” Tom said. He laughed. “I’m talking like this, you see, because I know all the facts. Ten days ago somebody talked about a glass wall. They couldn’t get through it or over it. So I began to wonder if I could cross over to her side.”
“Tom!” Jennilou said.
He was at her side in two long strides. He tilted her chin up roughly and bruised her lips with his. He straightened up. “So it can be done, you see. It was a gamble I had to take. I’ll leave complete records here, Dick, so that you can duplicate it without killing the patient.”
“Leave?” Dickinson said in a dazed tone. “Where?”
“Dick, you’re being dull! Shirley talked about whither thou goest. That phrase makes sense to me. Jennilou and I have a date with a star.”
“It would be a good thing to have a physicist in the crew,” Sherman said slowly.
Weaver stood up and leaned across the desk.
He waved his finger under Dickinson’s nose. He said, “My Madge is a miserable woman. She’s got a voice like a rusty crosscut saw but I miss her like the devil. What Tom can do to himself you can do to Madge. So help me, I’ll talk her into it. If you say no, Dickinson, I’ll take this whole plant apart with my bare hands. And don’t think I can’t.”
“Better agree, Dick,” Tom said.
“Okay,” Dickinson said weakly.
Shirley was the one who wrapped it up. She looked at Jennilou’s glowing face and then she looked into Bill Dorvan’s eyes.
She said softly, “A big blonde going nowhere fast. That was Shirley. And then I’m a freak. At least it was a change. And now, all of a sudden, I’m no freak. All of a sudden I feel as if this was meant to be. It makes me feel proud — and kind of humble. Kids, let’s go buy some of the toughest steaks in town.”
