day. He was alone on the hill. Below him, as the fog began to shred and lift
in the first heat of the early sun, he could see a few students beginning to move in the plaza, some of them walking toward the cafeteria for breakfast, some just strolling to enjoy the beautiful morning. The university filled the small valley, climbed the hill on the far side
toward the towers of the blink-stat station. To the left, the parking lot was packed and, as he watched, two atmoflyers came in, bearing, perhaps, off-campus students, workers or visitors. In an hour the campus would be a hive of activity. To John Sahara Plank III, the perfect morning seemed to be a good omen. With the sun over his shoulder, he walked down the trail, a tall, well-built man in his prime, his ash blond hair medium long, his eyes alert beneath bushy blond eyebrows. By the time he reached the plaza it was filling with students hurrying to class. Many of them recognized him, nodded, spoke to him by name. He walked with his hands behind his back, his head lowered, giving the impression that he was deep in thought. He was a familiar figure on the campus. He still had time before meeting his morning class, a seminar of graduate students in engineering, so he bypassed the classic lines of the Walker Heath Building and walked through the arboretum. He cast only a casual glance on the exotics from the populated planets of the galaxy. Emerging into sunlight again, he turned left, pressed his palm on the identifier at the door of his laboratory and entered. Musing, he stood in the main lab, hands still clasped behind him. The lab was empty, the work done. The equipment would be preserved. Unless he were wrong, it would be there when he came back. His desk at the end of the lab was neat, straightened and emptied the previous day. He walked to it, sat down, threw his long legs up and leaned back. Unbidden, the equations began to march through his mind and he let them flow, feeling the satisfaction of a job well done. Right or wrong the work would be a milestone in physics. Already it was paying dividends. Applied to gravitational field equations it had increased the comfort of every ship going out from Earth, every ship that blinked its way through the galaxy between Earth's far-flung settlements. A mining company out beyond Antares was using the equations, applying them to a gas giant mining drone, to allow the drone to dive deeply into the tremendous pressures of a gas giant's atmosphere. Royalties went, of course, to the university. Plank had no need for more money. John Sahara Plank III was a product of the free enterprise system, an extremely wealthy man. He did not scorn money. It was Plank family money that paid for the lab and the fantastically expensive equipment. He enjoyed money and the freedom it gave him. He used it wisely, bought himself all the comforts he wanted and felt no guilt. There were those who thought his long service as a mere teacher at the university founded by his grandfather and grandmother was, somehow, a show of guilt, a penance for possessing one of the galaxy's great fortunes. Those who knew him best, and they were few, knew better. Old John Plank's grandson was a solitary man, still single although well past the age for marriage. Not that he was a woman hater. At social functions he chose to attend, he always escorted one of the most beautiful women—the chief of his research team, Ellen Walters, a woman of dark-haired beauty who caused heads to turn when she walked across the campus. It was rumored that more than work was between them, but then Plank was a favorite subject for talk. It was well known that his brother, Matt Plank, scorned John's scholarly career and often spoke in public about the black sheep of the Plank family, the one who retreated from life and holed up in a quiet university, neglecting his responsibility. Plank Enterprises reached outward from the Earth and secondary headquarters on Plank's World to put a web of commerce and scientific development around the galaxy. And Matt needed help. He had Frank, the second brother, but Frank was only good as a front man, a glad-hander with no
real abilities. Matt wanted the organizational abilities of his brother John in Plank Enterprises and John's refusal to take an interest puzzled Matt. At that moment on Plank's World, Matt was puzzled anew by his brother John. Matt had received a blinkstat that stated, without explanation, that John would be landing on Plank's World in a matter of weeks. «I will not,» Matt Plank told his secretary, «give the professor the satisfaction of being asked why he's chosen this time to visit us.» But he was curious, and he put out an order to the Earth office to send a man to nose around Plank University to see what old John was up to. John, by that time, was on the top floor of the Heath Building in room 1040, seated comfortably in the informal atmosphere of a seminar room waiting for the last of his six advanced students to arrive. When the tardy student hurried in, John leaned back in his chair, smiled at his students, and said, «This will be my last meeting with you.» There was a stir and a mutter of dismay. «The seminar will be carried to conclusion by various members of the department as individual time requirements allow. You will be in good hands. Your work is going well and your programs are nearing completion. You will have no problems.» «May we ask why, Professor?» «Not at this time.» «You will be missed,» one of the female students dared to say. «You assume, then, that I am leaving the university,» Plank said. «You are right.» He held up a hand. «Now, instead of talking about me, let's review the findings of our program to date. I want to be sure that you're on a firm footing for the completion of your program.» After the two-hour class meeting it was time for lunch. He could have used one of the private rooms in the cafeteria, but he was not the sort to demand special treatment. He found an empty table, placed his tray upon it, and was beginning to eat with a healthy appetite when he saw Ellen Walters weaving her way through the tables toward him, tray in hand. He watched her, not without appreciation of her trim form. She smiled, engendering a smile in return. «The big day,» she said. «The big day.» He took a bite of good Texas steak and chewed thoughtfully. «Will you be at the ceremony?» «Of course.» «You're all ready, then?» «I've been ready for weeks,» she said. «Would you pass the salt, please.» He reached and his hand knocked the salt container off the table. It fell, obeying the laws of physics, until it was within five centimeters of the floor, then it halted and began to rise of its own accord. Leaning over, Plank put out his hand and plucked it from the air. «Show off,» he said.
«If you've got it, flaunt it,» Ellen replied. «And since I'm reminded of it, you know Sparks, of the Parapsychology Department, has enrolled another receiver.» «Astounding, isn't it? Man goes along his merry way for millions of years accepting evolution only in part and then, suddenly, we're living a change.» «I wish I were a receiver too,» Ellen sighed. «There are times when I'd like to know what's going on up there in your head.» «As I look at you, my dear, I can tell you I have some very interesting things going on,» Plank said, grinning at her. «By the way, tell Sparks to warn his new receiver that he… male or female?» «Female. The ratio still holds true. Females two to one.» «… that she will, no doubt, be getting an offer from my brother. Tell him to give her the standard lecture about continuing her education before going off into the galaxy to make her fortune.» «I'm sure it's been done,» Ellen said. «I'm glad you're not a receiver,» Plank said. «I always feel uncomfortable. I've never sure they're living up to their oath. I have to guard my thoughts even around our Susan.» «I think she's very conscientious,» Ellen said. «She says it is extremely embarrassing to look into someone who is unaware. I think it's actually unpleasant at times.» «I'm sure it would be,» Plank said, finishing his meal. «See you.» He still had the formal call to make on the university's president, his afternoon seminar to meet, and then the ceremony. He had been against