androids, they could not help but patronize the very ones that they would make equal.
What was it Herkimer had said? Equality not by special dispensation, not by human tolerance. But that was the only way the human race would ever accord equality…by dispensation or by overweening tolerance.
And yet that pitiful handful of patronizers had been the only humans he might have turned to for help.
A man who twisted his cap in grimy fingers, an old, officious woman and another man with time heavy on his hands and nothing else to do.
And yet, thought Sutton…and yet, there is Eva Armour.
There may be others like her. Somewhere, working with the androids even now, there may be others like her.
He swung his feet out of bed and sat on the bed's edge. A pair of slippers stood on the floor and he worked his feet into them, stood up and walked to the mirror.
A strange face stared back at him, a face he'd never seen before, and for a moment muddy panic surged within his brain.
Then, sudden suspicion blossoming, his hand went up to his forehead and rubbed at the smudge that was there, set obliquely across his brow.
Bending low, with his face close to the mirror, he verified the thought.
The smudge upon his brow was an android identification mark! An identification key and a serial number!
With his fingers he carefully explored his face, located the plastic overcoats that had changed its contours until he was unrecognizable.
He turned around, made his way back to the bed, sat down upon it cautiously and gripped the edge of the mattress with his hands.
Disguised, he told himself. Made into an android. Kidnapped a human, and an android when he woke.
The door clicked and Herkimer said, 'Good morning, sir. I trust that you are comfortable.'
Sutton jerked erect. 'So it was you,' he said.
Herkimer nodded happily. 'At your service, sir. Is there anything you wish?'
'You didn't have to knock me out,' said Sutton.
'We had to work fast, sir,' said Herkimer. 'We couldn't have you messing up things, stumbling around and asking questions and wanting to know what it was all about. We just drugged you and hauled you off. It was, believe me, sir, much simpler that way.'
'There was some shooting,' Sutton said. 'I heard the guns.'
'It seems,' Herkimer told him, 'that there were a few Revisionists lurking about, and it gets a little complicated, sir, when one tries to tell about it.'
'You tangle with those Revisionists?'
'Well, to tell the truth,' said Herkimer, 'some of them were so rash as to draw their guns. It was most unwise of them, sir. They got the worst of it.'
'It won't do us a bit of good,' said Sutton, 'if the idea was to get me out of the clutches of Trevor's mob. Trevor will have a psych-tracer on me. He knows where I am and this place will be watched three deep.'
Herkimer grinned. 'It is, sir. His men are practically falling over one another all around the place.'
'Then why this get-up?' Sutton demanded angrily. 'Why disguise me?'
'Well, sir,' explained Herkimer, 'it's like this. We figured no human in his right mind ever would want to be taken for an android. So we turned you into one. They'll be looking for a human. It would never occur to them to take a second look at an android when they were looking for a human.'
Sutton grunted. 'Smart,' he said. 'I hope it doesn't…'
'Oh, they'll get on to it after a while, sir,' Herkimer admitted, cheerfully. 'But it will give us some time. Time to work out some plans.'
He moved swiftly around the room, opening chest drawers and taking out clothing.
'It's very nice, sir,' he said, 'to have you back again. We tried to find you, but it was no dice. We figured the Revisionists had you cooped up somewhere, so we redoubled our security here and kept a close watch on everything that happened. For the past five weeks we've known every move that Trevor and his gang have made.'
'Five weeks!' gasped Sutton. 'Did you say five weeks?'
'Certainly, sir. Five weeks. You disappeared just seven weeks ago.'
'By my calendar,' said Sutton, 'it was ten years.'
Herkimer wagged his head sagely, unstartled. 'Time is the funniest thing, sir. It ties a man in knots.'
He laid clothing on the bed. 'If you'll get into these, sir, we'll go down for breakfast. Eva is waiting for us. She'll be glad to see you, sir.'
XLV
Trevor missed with three clips in a row. He shook his head sadly.
'You're sure of this?' he asked the man across the desk.
The man nodded, tight-lipped.
'It might be android propaganda, you know,' said Trevor. 'They're clever. That's a thing you never must forget. An android, for all his bowing and his scraping, is just as smart as we are.'
'Do you realize what it means?' the man demanded. 'It means…'
'I can tell you what it means,' said Trevor. 'From now on we can't be sure which of us are human. There'll be no sure way of knowing who's human and who's an android. You could be an android. I could be…'
'Exactly,' said the man.
'That's why Sutton was so smug yesterday afternoon,' said Trevor. 'He sat there, where you are sitting, and I had the impression that he was laughing at me all the time…'
'I don't think Sutton knows,' said the man. 'It's an android secret. Only a few of them know it. They certainly wouldn't take a chance on any human knowing it.'
'Not even Sutton?'
'Not even Sutton,' said the man.
'Cradle,' said Trevor. 'Nice sense of fitness that they have.'
'You're going to do something about it, certainly,' said the man impatiently.
Trevor put his elbows on the desk and matched careful fingertips.
'Of course I am,' he said. 'Now listen carefully. This is what we'll do…'
XLVI
Eva Armour rose from the table on the patio and held out both her hands in greeting. Sutton pulled her close to him, planted a kiss on her upturned face.
'That,' he said, 'is for the million times I have thought of you.'
She laughed at him, suddenly gay and happy.
'But, Ash, a million times!'
'Tangled time,' said Herkimer. 'He's been away ten years.'
'Oh,' said Eva. 'Oh, Ash, how horrible!'
He grinned at her. 'Not too horrible. I had ten years of rest. Ten years of peace and quiet. Working on a farm, you know. It was a little rough at first, but I was actually sorry when I had to leave.'
He held a chair for her, took one for himself between her and Herkimer.
They ate…ham and eggs, toast and marmalade, strong, black coffee. It was pleasant on the patio. In the trees above them birds quarreled amiably. In the clover at the edge of the bricks and stones that formed the paving, bees hummed among the blossoms.
