as soon as he began reading, suddenly stiffened in a fashion which indicated he had found something of interest. Drai saw the action as well.
“What is it?” he asked at once. Both Ken and Lee realized that the “it” referred to the substance, not the cause of Ken’s interest; Drai assumed without thought that his scientist had found what he was seeking.
“Just a moment. There’s something that doesn’t quite agree — but the rest is too perfect — wait a minute —” Ken’s voice trailed off for a moment; then, “Of course. This is under normal pressure.” He looked up from the book.
“This appears to be the stuff — it’s almost completely unknown on Sarr, because of its low molecular weight— most of it must have escaped from the atmosphere eons ago, if it ever was present. According to this handbook, it should be liquid through quite a temperature range, but that’s under our atmospheric pressure. It’s quite reasonable that it should sublime the way it did in this vacuum.”
“But what is it?”
“One of the oxides of hydrogen — H2O, apparently. If it proves to be essential for the form of growth you’re interested in, we’re going to have a very interesting time handling it.”
“We have cargo shells that can be kept at outside conditions, and towed outside the ship,” Drai pointed out.
“I assumed you did,” replied Ken. “However, normal ‘outside’ conditions in the space near Planet One would almost certainly cause this stuff to volatilize just as it did from the comparatively faint heat radiating from my armor. Your shells will have to be sealed airtight, and you will, as I said, have an interesting time transferring their contents to any cave we may pick.”
Laj Drai looked startled for several seconds. Then he appeared to remember something, and his expression changed to one of satisfaction.
“Well,” he said, “I’m sure you’ll be able to figure that one out. That’s what scientists are for, aren’t they?” It was Ken’s turn to look startled, though he had known Drai long enough by this time to have expected something of the sort.
“Don’t you ever solve your own problems?” he asked, a trifle sourly. Drai nodded slowly.
“Yes, sometimes. I like to think them over for quite a while, though, and if they’re scientific ones I don’t have the knowledge to think with. That’s why I hire people like you and Feth. Thanks for reminding me — I do have a problem at the moment, on which I have spent a good deal of thought. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll attend to the finishing touches. You can stay here and work on this one.”
“There’s nothing more we can do on this planet for the present.”
“That I can believe. We’ll head back for Planet One and the rest of your laboratory facilities. Come on, Lee— we’ll leave the scientist to his science.”
Ken, unsuspicious by nature, did not even look up as the two left his room. He had just found ammonia on the list, and was wondering whether his measurement could have been far enough off to permit the true molecular weight to be only seventeen. Melting-point data finally reassured him. For safety’s sake, however, he went through all the hydrogen, lithium, beryllium, boron, nitrogen, and oxygen compounds that were listed in the handbook. The faint disturbance incident to the vessel’s takeoff did not bother him at all. The silent opening of his door made no impression on him, either.
In fact, the door had closed again with a crisp snap before anything outside the printed pages registered on his consciousness. Then a voice, coincident with the closing door, suddenly shattered the silence.
“Sallman Ken!” The mechanical speaker over the entrance boomed the words; the voice was that of Laj Drai. “I said when we parted a moment ago that I occasionally solve my own problems. Unfortunately, you have come to represent a problem. There seems to be only one solution which will not destroy your usefulness. In a way I regret to employ it, but you have really only your own unwarranted curiosity to thank. When you wake up, we will talk again — you can tell me what you think of our commercial product!” The voice ceased, with a click which indicated that the microphone had been switched off.
Ken, fully aroused, had dropped the book and risen to his feet — or rather, left his rack and floated away from the floor, since they were in weightless flight. His eyes roved rapidly to all quarters of the room in search of something that might furnish meaning to Drai’s rather ominous words. Several seconds passed before he saw it — a rectangular yellow brick, floating in the air near the door. For a moment he did not recognize it, and pushed against a wall to bring himself nearer to it; then, as he felt the chill emanating from the thing, he tried futilely to check his drift.
Already the brick was losing shape, its corners rounding with the heat and puffing off into vapor. It was frozen sulfur — harmless enough in itself if contact were avoided, but terrifying when considered with his background of knowledge and suspicion. With a frantic flailing of his tentacles, he managed to set up enough of an air current to cause the thing to drift out of his path; but an equally anxious look about the room for something which might serve as a gas mask disclosed nothing.
He found himself unable to take his eyes from the dwindling object, now a rather elongated ellipsoid. It continued to shrink remorselessly, and suddenly there was something else visible in the yellow — the end of a small white cylinder. As the last of the protective box vanished, this began to turn brown and then black over its entire surface, and a spherical cloud of smoke enveloped it. For an instant a wild hope flashed in Ken’s mind; the thing had to burn, and a fire will not maintain itself in weightless flight. It requires a forced draft. Perhaps this one would smother itself out — but the cloud of smoke continued to swell. Apparently the thing had been impregnated with chips of frozen air in anticipation of this situation.
Now the edges of the smoke cloud were becoming fuzzy and ill-defined as diffusion carried its particles through the room. Ken caught the first traces of a sweetish odor, and tried to hold his breath; but he was too late. The determination to make the effort was his last coherent thought.
12
“So they decided to keep you.” There might or might not have been a faint trace of sympathy in Feth Allmer’s tone. “I’m not very surprised. When Drai raised a dust storm with me for telling you how far away Sarr was, I knew you must have been doing some probing on your own. What are you, Commerce or Narcotics?” Ken made no answer.
He was not feeling much like talking, as a matter of fact. He could remember just enough of his drug- induced slumber to realize things about himself which no conscientious being should be forced to consider. He had dreamed he was enjoying sights and pleasures whose recollection now gave him only disgust — and yet under the disgust was the hideous feeling that there had been pleasure, and there might be pleasure again. There is no real possibility of describing the sensations of a drug addict, either while he is under the influence of his narcotic or during the deadly craving just before the substance becomes a physical necessity; but at this moment, less than an hour after he had emerged from its influence, there may be some chance of his frame of mind being understandable. Feth certainly understood, but apparently chose not to dwell on that point.
“It doesn’t matter now which you were, or whether the whole gang knows it,” he went on after waiting in vain for Ken’s answer. “It won’t worry anyone. They know you’re ours for good, regardless of what you may think at the moment. Wait until the craving comes on— you’ll see.”
“How long will that be?” The point was of sufficient interest to Ken to overcome his lethargy.
“Five to six days; it varies a little with the subject. Let me warn you now — don’t cross Laj Drai, ever. He really has the ship. If he keeps the tofacco from you for even half an hour after the craving comes on, you’ll never forget it. I still haven’t gotten over his believing that I told you where we were.” Again surprise caused Ken to speak.
“You? Are you—?”
“A sniffer? Yes. They got me years ago, just like you, when I began to get an idea of what this was all about. I didn’t know where this system was, but my job required me to get engineering supplies occasionally, and they didn’t want me talking.”
“That was why you didn’t speak to me outside the observatory, just after we got back from the caves?”
“You saw me come out of the office? I never knew you were there. Yes, that was the reason, all right.”
