“What power?” Martine asked. She sat with the crude Earth psi helmet in her lap. Nearby Culla listened in, another slender liquitube between his lips.
“It’s not pi-ngrli. That’s used sometimes legally. Besides, it can’t reach that far and he couldn’t find any trace of it anyway. No, I think Bubbacub plans to use that stonelike thing.”
“The Lethani relic?”
“Yes.”
Martine shook her head. She looked down and fiddled with a knob on her helmet.
“It’s so complicated. I don’t understood it at all. Nothing’s gone right ever since we got back to Mercury. No one is what he appears to be.”
“What do you mean?”
The parapsychologist paused, then shrugged.
“Never be sure about anyone… I was so sure that Peter’s silly pique with Jeffrey was both genuine and harmless. Now I find that it was artificially induced and deadly. And he was right, I guess, about the Solarians, too. Only it wasn’t his idea, it was theirs.”
“Do you think they really are our long lost Patrons?”
“Who knows?” she said. “If it’s true, it’s a tragedy that we can’t ever come back here again to talk to them.”
“Then you accept Bubbacub’s story without reservations?”
“Yes, of course! He’s the only one who’s ever made contact and besides, I know him. Bubbacub would never mislead us. Truth is his life’s work!”
But Jacob knew, now, of whom she spoke when she said “never be sure you know anyone.” Dr. Martine was terrified.
“Are you sure that Bubbacub was the only one to make any sort of contact?”
Her eyes widened, then she looked away. “He seems to be the only one with the ability.”
“Then why did you stay behind with your helmet on, when Bubbacub called us together for his report?”
“I don’t have to take a cross-examination from you!” aha answered-hotly. “If it’s any of your business, I stayed to try once more. I was jealous of his success and wanted another go at it! I failed, of course.”
Jacob was unconvinced. Marline’s testiness seemed uncalled for and it was clear she knew more than she was saying.
“Dr. Martine,” he said, “what do you know about a drug called ‘Warfarin’?”
“You too!” she reddened. “I told the Base Physician I never heard of it, and I certainly don’t know how any got into Dwayne Kepler’s medicine. That is, if there ever was any in the first place!”
She turned away. “I think I’d better rest now, if you don’t mind. I want to be awake when the Solarians come back.”
Jacob ignored her hostility; a bit of the toughness of his other self must have leaked out with the suspicion. But it was obvious Martine wouldn’t say any more. He rose to his feet. She pointedly ignored him as she lowered her couch.
Culla met him by the refreshment machines. “You are upshet, Friend-Jacob?”
“Why no, I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”
The tall E.T. gazed down at him. He looked tired. The slender shoulders drooped, though the huge eyes were bright.
“I hope you are not taking thish too hard, thish news that Bubbacub hash announced.”
Jacob turned fully from the machines and faced Culla, “Take what too hard, Culla? His statements are data. That’s all. I’d be disappointed if it turned out that Sundiver has to end. And I’ll want some way to verify what he says before I’ll agree that’s necessary…like at least a Library reference. But other than that my strongest emotion is curiosity.” Jacob shrugged, irritated at the question. His eyes smarted, probably from an overdose of red light.
Culla slowly shook his large round head. “I think it ish otherwise. Excuse my presumption, but I think you are very dishturbed.”
Jacob felt an instant of hot anger. He almost spoke it, but managed to hold back. “Again, what are you talking about, Culla?” He spoke slowly.
“Jacob, you have done a good job in staying neutral in your species’ remarkable internal conflict. “But all sophontsh have opinionsh. You are badly hurt to find that Bubbacub made contact where humansh fail. Though you have never expreshed a position on the Origin Question, I know you are not happy to find that humanity did indeed have Patronsh.”
Jacob shrugged again.
“It’s true, I’m still not convinced by this story of Solarians uplifting mankind in the dim past and then abandoning us before the job’s finished. Neither part makes any sense.”
Jacob rubbed his right temple. He felt a headache coming on. “And people have been behaving very peculiarly everywhere in this project. Kepler’s suffered from some sort of unexplained hysteria and was overly dependent on Martine. LaRoque was more than his usual abrasive self, sometimes self-destructively. And don’t forget his alleged sabotage. Then Martine herself turns from an emotional defense of LaRoque to a very strange fear of saying anything that might undermine Bubbacub. It makes me wonder…” he paused.
“Perhapsh the Sholarians are responsible for all of thish. If they could make Mishter LaRoque do a murder from so far away, they might have caused other aberrationsh ash well.”
Jacob’s hands balled in fists. He looked up at Culla barely able to choke back his anger. The alien’s bright eyes were oppressive. He didn’t want to be under them.
“Don’t Interrupt,” he said, tight-lipped, and as calmly as he could.
He could tell that something was wrong. A cloud seemed to surround him. Nothing was very clear but still there was a felt need to say something important. Anything.
He looked quickly around the deck.
Bubbacub and Martine were at their stations again. Both wore their helmets and looked his way. Martin was talking.
The bitch! Probably she’s telling the gross arrogant little fool everything I said. Toady!
Helene deSilva stopped by the two while making her rounds, taking their attention away from Culla and Jacob. For a moment he felt better. He wished Culla would go away. It was too bad the fellow had to be put down but a Client must know his place!
DeSilva finished speaking to Bubbacub and Martine, and started to walk toward the refreshment machines. Once again Bubbacub’s small black eyes were on him.
Jacob growled. He swiveled away from the beady stare and faced the beverage machine.
Fuck them all. I came here for a drink and that’s what I’m going to get. They don’t exist anyway!
The machine wavered in front of him. An internal voice was shouting about some sort of emergency but he decided that the voice didn’t exist either.
Now this is a strange machine, he thought. I hope it isn’t like that sneaky one aboard the Bradbury. That one hadn’t been friendly at all.
No, this one has a bunch of transparent 3-D buttons that stand out from the others. In fact there are rows and rows of little buttons, all of them standing out in space.
He reached forward to press one at random, then caught himself. Uh-uh. We’ll read the labels this time!
Now what do I want. Coffee?
The little internal voice was screaming for Gyroade. Yes, that’s sensible. A wonderful drink, Gyroade. Not only is it delicious, but it also straightens you out. A perfect drink for a world full of hallucinations.
He had to admit that it might be a good idea to have some at that. Something did seem a little fishy. Why was everything going so slowly?
His hand’moved like a snail toward the button he wanted. It shifted back and-forth a few times but finally he was aimed right for it. He was about to press it when the little voice came back, this time begging him to stop!