'All plans up to the point of segregation. It was plain that a situation like this—one or more members of the complement losing their grasp on our social fabric—might occur. Sphere Nine is designed to accommodate them.'
Quietly he flicked a pair of inconspicuous studs under his work table.
'Madame Tung and Mr. Macduff, please report to the Executive Officer in room C7.' He broke the connection.
'Where's that?'
'Off the port side of the midship slice. As soon as both are in it seals itself. Now perhaps we can get to work …'
2
Star Macduff and Madame Mamie Tung were sealed in on schedule.
The Calculator, eyes glittering, drew a rod with a pistol grip.
'Where'd that come from, Star?'
'Made it myself. In my spare time.'
'You never had any spare time. Time spent on work not requisite to the sphere's needs is wasted time. I think you've made a fool of yourself.
When Will comes I hope you remember your manners.'
'Will isn't going to come, madame; we've been locked in here. I don't know whether he intends to starve us to death or whether the room will be flooded with gas …'
'Nonsense.'
There was a creaking, scraping noise; the walls of the room seemed to twist on their weldings. 'What was that?'
'I wouldn't know, madame. You forget that I'm half human. It was, no doubt, the brain-wave of a Homo superior.'
'Ai—Ai—Ai-i-i …'
The two human beings whirled back to back, wild-eyed. In a tense whisper, her gaze not lowering from the walls, the woman asked: 'What was it, Star?'
The hysteria was gone from Star Macduff's face; in a cold, determined fury of concentration he wrinkled his brow, running down the possibilities—considering the chances of capture by a star or planet; the chances of a fault in the ship's structure; sabotage by one of the ratings; sudden lunacy of the E.O.; the chance that he himself was mad and undergoing hallucinatory experience—with all the power of his brain.
His was a brain of no mean power, you will recall. In lightning order he assembled probabilities, some two hundred of them, ran through them each in a second's time, dismissing them one after another as they were contradicted by facts in his possession. It could not be a planet that they were near, for the instruments showed no planets within light-years. The instruments could not be faulty, for he had checked them personally yesterday.
His clear, white light of concentration viewed each possibility in turn, and each was dismissed.
'Madame,' he said softly, 'I know of no explanation for what has happened.' '
The grotesque creaking sounded again. Star Macduff, feeling curiously weak, fell to the floor. 'Easy, Star! What's the matter with you?'
'Feel like jelly …shouldn't—perfect health …'
The woman took the chance to relieve him of the weapon he had made.
'What does it do?' she asked.
'Metal-fatigue …crystallizes cross-fiber 'stead of lengthwise.'
'Ai-i-i…'
MadameTung felt herself sinking, raised the gun and fired at the lock.
The door smoothly swung open into the communication tube that ran the length of the ship.
'Come!' She lugged Star Macduff with her, pushing him ahead through the tube, to the Executive's Office.
'Sorry to interrupt. This must blow your plans up into the air, I know.
But this man's sick and I don't feel—very—well …'
Her iron will gave way and she collapsed at the feet of the Executive and Yancey Mears. 'Whatever it is, it hasn't hit us yet. Check with the ratings, Yancey.'
'E.O.'s office—count off, somebody, and report.'
'All present and in good order, Officer. What's that noise we heard?'
'Experiments. Cut!'
'Cut, Officer.'
'They heard it too, Will. What is it?'
'Star—couldn't explain mathematically …doubt if you can.'
'Thanks, Mamie.'
'Ai-i—lul-lul-lul-lull…'
The Computator and the Psychologist rose, looking startled.
'How do you feel?'
'All right. It passed like a shadow. Now let's get down to work. What's the noise? That is the immediate problem.'
'Mamie said you couldn't crack it. If you can't by using logic I doubt that anybody can. How about opening the direct window?'
'Use all precautions and checks if you do. I say yes.'
'You women?'
They nodded silently; Will Archer set into operation the motors that would unlock a segment of the hull and peel it aside like an orange.
Noiselessly the bolts slipped; into the brilliantly lighted office there seemed to steal the gloom of blackest space as a section of the wall apparently slid aside and opened into the vacuum. There was the merest hint of reflection from the synthetic transparent which masked them from space, and that was due to the lightly tinted shields in operation.
'Look at this index jump,' said Mamie Tung, pointing at an instrument board with a sharp finger. 'It's sky-high when you take the hull off.
Metal's stopping the cosmic rays.'
'It shouldn't,' observed the Executive Officer.
'Let the logician in,' said Star Macduff studying the dial. 'If we're near the source of the rays, it well might. Metal has failed in the past to stop diffused cosmic rays, the things that reach Earth after plowing through trillions of cubic miles of dust, free electrons, air and what have you. If we're encountering them direct from the source, unaltered by reflection, diffraction or diffusion, their properties may be entirely altered.'
'Very good, Star. The Question is still unanswered as to what the cosmic rays are. We have not yet seen the source of which we're speaking.
Madame, ask the ratings to revolve the ship about its axis. We need a clean sweep of the heavens. Keep them on the wire.'
'Ai lull-lull—luh …'
'E.O.'s office. Rating Five, revolve the Sphere on its axis at low speed.'
'All right, Officer.'
Will Archer reclined in an angled seat commanding the direct window; he extinguished the lights of the office with a flick.
'Commence the rotation.'
'Commence, Rating Five.'
'Yes, Officer.'
The starless heaven wheeled and spun above him as the E.O. stared through the invisible synthetic.
