Mrs. Hoffman — I believe I recognized her voice — is quite right, Benj. I have not forgotten Beetchermarlf, any more than you have forgotten Takoorch, although it is obvious even to me that you are thinking less of him. It is simply that I have more lives to consider than theirs. I’m afraid I’ll have to leave any more discussion of it to her, right now. Would you please get some of your engineers thinking about the problem of my refrigerator? And you probably will see Borndender climbing the hull with his sample; the report about the stream should come up in a few minutes. If Mr. McDevitt is still there, please have him stand by; if he was left for any reason, will you please have him come back?”
The watchers had seen a climbing Mesklinite as the captain had said, though not even Easy had recognized Borndender. Before Benj could say anything, McDevitt answered, “I’m still here, Captain. We’ll wait, and as soon as the analysis is here I’ll take it to the computer .If Borndender has any temperature and pressure readings to send along with his chemical information, they will all be useful.”
The boy was still unhappy, but even he could see that this was not the time for further interruption. Also, his father had just entered the communication room, accompanied by Aucoin and Mersereau. Benj tactfully slid out of the seat in front of the bridge screen to make room for the planner, though he was too angry and upset to hope that his badly-chosen words of the last few minutes would go unmentioned. He was not even relieved when Easy, in bringing the newcomers up to date, left the question of the missing helmsmen unmentioned.
Her account was interrupted by Dondragmer’s voice.
“Borndender says that he has checked the density and boiling temperature of the liquid in the stream, and that it about three eights ammonia and five eights water. He also says that the outside temperature is 71, the pressure 26.6 standard atmospheres — our standard, of course — and the wind a little north of west, 21 degrees to be more precise, at 120 cables per hour. A very light breeze. Will that suffice for your computer?”
“It will all help. I’m on my way,” replied McDevitt as he slid from his seat and headed toward the door. As he reached the exit he looked back thoughtfully, paused and called, “Benj, I hate to pull you from the screens right now, but I think you’d better come with me for a while. You should check me on the input, and you can bring the preliminary run back to report to Dondragmer while I do the recheck.”
Easy kept her approval to herself as Benj silently followed his nominal chief. The approval was divided between McDevitt, for veering the youngster’s attention in a safe direction, and her son for a better example of self-control than she had really expected. She had known, of course, that he would not whine or throw a tantrum, but she would not have been surprised if he had come up with a reasonable excuse for staying at the screens.
Aucoin paid no attention to the exchange; he was still trying to clarify his picture of the current state of affairs.
“I take it that none of the missing personnel has turned up,” he said. “All right, I’ve been thinking it over. I assume that Barlennan had been up to date, as we agreed a few hours ago. Is there anything else which has happened, and which he has been told about but I haven’t?” Easy looked up quickly, trying to catch evidence of the resentment on the administrator’s face, but he seemed unaware that his words could possibly have been interpreted as criticism. She thought quickly before answering.
“Yes. Roughly three hours ago, Cavanaugh reported action on one of the Esket screens. He saw a couple of objects sliding or rolling across the floor of the laboratory from one side of the screen to the other. I started watching but nothing has happened there since.
“Then an hour or so later, the search party Don had out for the missing helicopters met a Mesklinite which we, of course, took at first to be one of the pilots; but when he got close to the transmitter I recognized Kabremm, the first officer of the Esket.”
“Six thousand miles from where the Esket’s crew is supposed to have died?”
“Yes.”
“What was his comment?”
“Nothing specific. He acknowledged the whole report, but didn’t offer any theories.”
“He didn’t even ask you how sure you were of the identification? Or on what you based it?”
“No.”
“Well, if you don’t mind I’d like to. Just how did you know Kabremm, and how certain are you that you were right?”
“I knew him, before the loss of the Esket, well enough to make it difficult to say what I went by — he’s simply distinctive, in color pattern and stance and walk, just as you and Ib and Boyd are.”
“The light was good enough for color pattern? It’s night down there.”
There were lights near the set — though most of them were in front of it, in the field of view, and Kabremm was most backlighted.”
“Do you know the two missing men well enough to be certain it was neither of them — do you know neither one looks like Kabremm?”
Easy flushed. “It certainly wasn’t Kervenser, Don’s first officer. I’m afraid I don’t know Reffel well enough to be sure, that possibility hadn’t occurred to me. I just saw the man, and called out his name pretty much by reflex. After that I couldn’t do much but make a report; the Settlement microphone was alive at the time, and Barlennan, or whoever was on duty, could hardly have helped hearing me.”
“Then there is a reasonable chance that Barlennan’s lack of comment was a polite attempt to avoid embarrassing you — to gloss over what may have seemed to him a silly mistake?”
“I suppose it’s possible.” Easy could not make herself sound anything but doubtful, but even she knew that her opinion was unlikely to be objective.
“Then I think,” Aucoin said slowly and thoughtfully, “that I’d better talk to Barlennan myself. You say nothing more has happened at the Esket since Cavanaugh saw those objects rolling?”
“ I haven’t seen anything. The bridge set, of course, is looking out into darkness, but the other three are lighted perfectly well and have shown no change except that one.”
“All right. Barlennan knows our language well enough, in my experience, so I won’t need you to translate.”
“Oh, no, he’ll understand you. You mean you’d rather I left?”
“No, no, certainly not. In fact, it would be better if you listened and warned me if you thought there might be any misunderstanding developing.” Aucoin reached for the Settlement microphone switch, but glanced once more at Easy before closing it. “You don’t mind, do you, if I make sure of Barlennan’s opinion about your identification of Kabremm? I think our main problem is what to do about the Kwembly, but I’d like to settle that point, too. After you brought the matter up with him, I’d hate Barlennan to get the idea that we were trying to… well, censor anything, to phrase it the way Ib did at the meeting.” He turned away and sent his call toward Dhrawn.
Barlennan was in the communicator chamber at the Settlement, so no time was lost reaching him. Aucoin identified himself, once he was sure the commander was at the other end, and began his speech.
Easy, Ib, and Boyd found it annoyingly repetitious, but they had to admire the skill with which the planner emphasized his own ideas. Essentially, he was trying to forestall any suggestion that another vehicle be sent to the rescue of the Kwembly, without himself suggesting such a thing. It was a very difficult piece of language manipulation, and even knowing that the matter had been uppermost in Aucoin’s mind ever since the conference, so that it was anything but an impromptu speech, did not detract from its merits as a work of art — as Ib remarked later. He did mention Easy’s identification of Kabremm to the commander, but so fleetingly that she almost failed to recognize the item. He didn’t actually say that she must have been mistaken, but he was obviously attaching no importance to the incident.