The scientists performed a few additional demonstrations for him, even asked him if he wanted to try it. Trelig declined with a nervous laugh. But, after talking to the girl who walked off the raised disk and after seeing reality readjust to her original existence, he was convinced.
Later he relaxed with a very un-Com-like brandy in Zinder’s office.
“I can’t tell you how stunned I am,” he told them. “What you did is incredible, unbelievable. Tell me, could a huge one be built? One large enough to control whole planets?”
Zinder suddenly became hostile. “I don’t think doing so would be practical, Councillor. Too many variables.”
“It could be done,” Ben Yulin put in, ignoring the angry look from his colleague. “But the cost and effort would be enormous!”
Trelig nodded. “Such a cost would be negligible when compared with the benefits. Why, this could wipe out any possibilities of starvation, vagaries of climate, and what not. It could produce a utopia!”
Or it could reduce the few free and individualistic worlds left to happy and obedient slavery, Zinder thought morosely. Aloud, he said, “I think it’s a weapon, too, Councillor. A terrible one in the wrong hands. I believe that is what killed the Markovians a few million years ago. I would feel better if such a power were placed under Council Seal.”
Trelig sighed. “I don’t agree. But, we’ll never know without trying it out. Such a scientific breakthrough can’t just be locked away and abandoned!”
“I think it should be, and all traces of the research erased,” Zinder maintained. “What we have is the power to play god. I don’t think we’re ready for that yet.”
“You can’t uninvent something once invented, regardless of its implications,” Trelig pointed out. “But, I agree, word should be kept under wraps. If even the knowledge of your discovery got out, it would inspire a million other scientists. I think, for now, you should pull the project out of here and move to some place safe, isolated.”
“And where would this safe place be?” Zinder asked skeptically.
Trelig smiled. “I have a place, a planetoid with full life-support, normal gravity maintenance, and the like. I use it as a resort. It would be ideal.”
Zinder felt uneasy, remembering Trelig’s sleazy reputation.
“I don’t think so,” he told the big man. “I think I’d rather put the matter to the full Council next week and let the members decide.”
Trelig acted as if he expected that response. “Sure you won’t reconsider, Doctor? New Pompeii is a wonderful place, much nicer than this sterile horror.”
Zinder understood what he was being offered.
“No, I stand firm,” the old scientist told the politician. “Nothing can make me change my mind.”
Trelig sighed. “That’s it, then. I’ll arrange for a Council meeting a week from tomorrow. You and Dr. Yulin will attend, of course.”
The big man stood up and moved to leave. As he did so, he smiled and nodded slowly at Ben Yulin, who returned the nod. Zinder didn’t notice.
Ben Yulin would set it up, all right.
Nikki Zinder slept quietly in her own room, a room littered with exotic clothes, various toys, games, and gimmicks strewn about in no particular order. Her huge bed almost enveloped her.
A figure stopped at the door to that room and, after checking to make sure that no one was approaching, took out a small screwdriver and unscrewed the door pressure plate, carefully, so that the door alarm wouldn’t be triggered. The plate off, the figure studied the small exposed modules and placed some spirit gum at several critical points. One module was removed and adjusted by placing a small strip of silvery material between two contacts not otherwise connected.
Satisfied, the intruder replaced the covering plate and meticulously screwed it back on. Replacing the screwdriver on a tool belt, he hesitated a second, tension getting to him, then pressed the contact.
There was a soft click, but nothing else happened.
Breathing easier now, he removed a tiny nodule of clear liquid from another pouch on the belt and attached an injector tab to it. Holding it carefully, injector out, he went to the twin solid door to the girl’s room and slowly pressed on one section with his free hand, then moved it slightly to the right.
The door opened quietly, without the pneumatic hiss or any other appreciable sound that could be heard or detected over the residual air conditioning of the building. Opening the door just enough to slip inside, he turned and closed it quietly behind him.
By the dull glow of a baseboard nightlight he made out the sleeping figure of Nikki Zinder. She lay on her back, mouth open, snoring slightly.
Slowly, stealthily, he tiptoed to her bedside, until he stood almost over her. He froze as she mumbled something in her sleep and turned slightly on one side, moving away from him. Patiently he leaned over and peeled a bit of the sheet away from her, exposing her upper right arm. The hand with the injector and nodule reached over, and he placed it firmly on her arm.
His touch was so gentle that she did not awaken, but gave out a low moan and turned again on her back. Nodule empty, the man withdrew the tiny packet and put it in his pocket.
She
Taking a deep breath, he leaned over, touched her, shook her hard. She did not respond.
Smiling in satisfaction, he sat beside her on the bed, bent over close to her.
“Nikki, do you hear me?” he asked softly.
“Uh, huh,” she mumbled.
“Nikki, listen carefully,” he instructed. “When I say ‘one hundred’ again, you will begin counting down from there to zero. When you reach zero, you will get up, go out of this room, and come immediately to the lab. To the ground floor of the lab, Nikki. There you will find a large, round platform right in the middle of the floor, and you will stand on it. You will stand on it and you will not be able to move from the middle of it, nor will you want to. You will be frozen there, and you will still be sound asleep. Do you understand all that?”
“I understand,” she responded dreamily.
“Avoid being seen going to the lab,” he cautioned. “Do anything to keep from being seen. But, if you
“Uh huh,” she acknowledged.
He rose from the bed and went over to the door, which still worked on automatics from the bedroom side. It was free, though, and he opened it a crack, saw no one, then opened it a little wider. He stepped into the hall, turned, and almost closed the door.
“One hundred, Nikki,” he said, and closed it all the way.
Satisfied, he walked down the corridor almost a hundred meters, meeting no one and noting with satisfaction that all the doors were closed. He entered the elevator, and the door to the capsule closed.
“Yulin, Abu Ben, YA-356-47765-7881-GX, Full clearance, Lab 2 level, please,” he said. The elevator checked him visually, checked his ID number and voice prints, then descended rapidly to the lab floor.
Once on the balcony, he walked over to his control panel and switched it to active mode.
He flipped the switch to Obie.
“Obie?” he called.
“Yes, Ben?” came that soft, friendly reply.
Yulin punched some buttons on his keyboard.
“Unnumbered transaction,” he responded with a calmness he didn’t feel. “File in aux storage under my key only.”
“What are you doing, Ben?” Obie asked curiously. “That is a mode even
