‘What!' put in Stevens. ‘You don't mean to stand there and tell me an old witch doctor fixed your deKalbs.
‘Not witch doctor - hex doctor. But you get the idea.
Stevens shook his head. ‘It's simply a coincidence. Sometimes they come back into order as spontaneously as they go out.
‘That's what you think. Not this one. I've just been preparing you for the shock you're going to get. Come take a look.
‘What do you mean? Where?
‘In the inner hangar.' While they walked to where McLeod had left his broomstick, he continued, ‘I wrote out a credit for the crawler pilot and flew back. I haven't spoken to anyone else about it. I've been biting my nails down to my elbows waiting for you to show up.
The skycar seemed quite ordinary. Stevens examined the deKalbs and saw some faint chalk marks on their metal sides - nothing else unusual. ‘Watch while I cut in reception,' McLeod told him
Stevens waited, heard the faint hum as the circuits became activized, and looked
The antennae of the deKalbs, each a rigid pencil of metal,were bending, flexing, writhing like a cluster of worms. They were reaching out, like fingers
Stevens remained squatting down by the deKalbs, watching their outrageous motion. McLeod left the control saddle, came back, and joined him. ‘Well, chief,' he demanded, ‘tell me about it. Whaduh yuh make of it?
‘Got a cigarette?
‘What are those things sticking Out of your pocket?
‘Oh! Yeah - sure.' Stevens took one out, lighted it, and burned it halfway down, unevenly, with two long drags
‘Go on,' McLeod urged. ‘Give us a tell. What makes it do that?
‘Well,' Stevens said slowly, ‘I can think of three things to do next-
‘Yeah?
"The first is to fire Dr Rambeau and give his job to Gramps Schneider.
‘That's a good idea in any case.
‘The second is to just wait here quietly until the boys with the strait-jackets show up to take us home.
‘And what's the third?
‘The third,' Stevens said savagely, ‘is to take this damned heap out and sink it in the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean and pretend like it never happened!
A mechanic stuck his head in the door of the car. ‘Oh, Dr Stevens--
‘Get out of here!
The head hastily withdrew; thc voice picked up in aggrieved tones. ‘Message from the head office.
Stevens got up, went to the operator's saddle, cleared the board, then assured himself that the antennae had ceased their disturbing movements. They had; in fact, they appeared so beautifully straight and rigid that he was again tempted to doubt the correctness of his own senses. He climbed out to the floor of the hangar, McLeod behind him. ‘Sorry to have blasted at you, Whitey,' he said to the workman in placating tones. ‘What is the message?
‘Mr Gleason would like for you to come into his office as soon as you can.
‘I will at once. And, Whitey, I've a job for you.
‘Yeah?
‘This heap here - seal up its doors and don't let anybody monkey with it. Then have it dragged, dragged, mind you; don't try to start it - have it dragged over into the main lab.
‘OK.
Stevens started away; McLeod stopped him. ‘What do I go home in?
‘Oh yes, it's your personal property, isn't it? Tell you what, Mac - the company needs it. Make out a purchase order and I'll sign it.
‘Weeell, now - I don't rightly know as I want to sell it. It might be the only job in the country working properly before long.
‘Don't be silly. If the others play out, it won't do you any good to have the only one in working order. Power will be shut down.
‘I suppose there's that,' McLeod conceded. ‘Still,' he said, brightening visibly, ‘a crate like that, with its special talents, ought to be worth a good deal more than list. You couldn't just go out and buy one.
‘Mac,' said Stevens, ‘you've got avarice in your heart and thievery in your fingertips. How much do you want for it?
‘Suppose we say twice the list price, new. That's letting you off easy.
‘I happen to know you bought that job at a discount. But go ahead. Either the company can stand it, or it won't make much difference in the bankruptcy.
Gleason looked up as Stevens came in. ‘Oh, there you are, Jim. You seemed to have pulled a miracle with our friend Waldo the Great. Nice work.
‘How much did he stick us for?
‘Just his usual contract. Of course his usual contract is a bit like robbery with violence. But it will be worth it if he is successful. And it's on a straight contingent basis. He must feel pretty sure of himself. They say he's never lost a contingent fee in his life. Tell me - what is he like? Did you really get into his house?
‘I did. And I'll tell you about it - sometime. Right now another matter has come up which has me talking to myself. You ought to hear about it at once
‘So? Go ahead.
Stevens opened his mouth, closed it again, and realized that it had to be seen to be believed. ‘Say, could you come with me to the main lab? I've got something to show you.
‘Certainly.
Gleason was not as perturbed by the squirming metal rods as Stevens had been. He was surprised, but not upset. The truth of the matter is that he lacked the necessary technical background to receive the full emotional impact of the inescapable implications of the phenomenon. ‘That's pretty unusual, isn't it?' he said quietly
‘Unusual! Look, chief, if the sun rose in the west, what would you think?
‘I think I would call the observatory and ask them why.
‘Well, all I can say is that I would a whole lot rather that the sun rose in the west than to have this happen.
‘I admit it is pretty disconcerting,' Gleason agreed. ‘I can't say that I've ever seen anything like it. What is Dr Rambeau's opinion?
‘He hasn't seen it
‘Then perhaps we had better send for him. He may not have gone home for the night as yet.
‘Why not show it to Waldo instead?
‘We will. But Dr Rambeau is entitled to see it first. After all, it's his bailiwick, and I'm afraid the poor fellow's nose is pretty well out of joint as it is. I don't want to go over his head.
Stevens felt a sudden flood of intuition. ‘Just a second, chief. You're right, but if it's all the same to you I would rather that you showed it to him than for me to do it.
‘Why so, Jimmie? You can explain it to him.
‘I can't explain a damn thing to him I haven't already told you. And for the next few hours I'm going to be very, very busy indeed.
Gleason looked him over, shrugged his shoulders, and said mildly, ‘Very well, Jim, if you prefer it that way.
Waldo was quite busy, and therefore happy. He would never have admitted - he did not admit even to himself, that there were certain drawbacks to his self-imposed withdrawal from the world and that chief among these was boredom. He had never had much opportunity to enjoy the time-consuming delights of social intercourse; he honestly believed that the smooth apes had nothing to offer him in the way of companionship. Nevertheless, the pleasure of the solitary intellectual life can pall
He repeatedly urged Uncle Gus to make his permanent home in Freehold, but he told himself that it was a desire to take care of the old man which motivated him. True - he enjoyed arguing with Grimes, but he was not aware how much those arguments meant to him. The truth of the matter was that Grimes was the only one of the human race who treated him entirely as another human and an equal - and Waldo wallowed in it, completely unconscious that the pleasure he felt in the old man's company was the commonest and most precious of all human pleasures. But at present he was happy in the only way he knew how to be happy - working