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Jupiterwas a bright marble.
James Panner approached them and placed an armon the shoulder of each man. "Would you two
gentle-men care to join me in my cabin for a meal? There'llbe nothing to watch here in the viewing room
for awhile." His wide mouth pulled back in a grin thatswelled the cords of his thick neck and made it
seem noneck at all but a mere continuation of head.
"Thank you," Lucky said. "It's kind of you to inviteus."
"Well," said Panner, "the commander isn't going toand the men are a little leery of you, too. I don't want
you to get too lonely. It will be a long trip."
"Aren't you leery of me, Dr. Panner?" Lucky askeddryly.
"Of course not. You tested me, remember, and Ipassed."
Panner's cabin was a small one in which the threebarely fitted. It was obvious that the quarters in this,the
first Agrav ship, were as cramped as engineeringingenuity could make them. Panner broke out threecans
of ship-ration, the concentrated food that was uni-versally eaten on space ships. It was almost home to
Lucky and Bigman; the smell of heating rations, thefeeling of crowding walls, outside of which was the
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infinite emptiness of space, and, sounding through thosewalls, the steady vibrating hum of hyperatomic
motorsconverting field energies into a directional thrust or, atthe very least, powering the
energy-consuming innardsof the ship.
If ever the ancient belief of the "music of the spheres"could be said to have come literally true, it was in
thathum of hyperatomics that was the very essential ofspace flight.
Panner said, "We're past Jupiter Nine's escape veloc-ity now, which means we can coast without
danger offalling back to its surface."
Lucky said, "That means we're in free fall down toJupiter."
"With fifteen million miles to fall, yes. Once we've piled up enough velocity to make it worthwhile, we'll
shift to Agrav."
, He took a watch out of his pocket as he spoke. It wasa large disc of gleaming, featureless metal. He
pressed a small catch, and luminous figures appeared upon itsface. A glowing line of white encircled it,
turning redin a sweeping arc until the redness closed in upon itselfand the arc turned white again.
Lucky said, "Are we scheduled to enter Agrav sosoon?"
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"Not very long," said Panner. He placed the watchon the table, and they ate silently.
Panner lifted the watch again. "A little under a min-ute. It should be completely automatic." Although the
chief engineer spoke calmly enough, the hand that heldthe watch trembled very slightly.
Panner said, "Now," and there was silence. Completesilence.
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The hum of the hyperatomics had stopped. The very power to keep the ship's lights on and its
pseudo-gravfield in operation were now coming from Jupiter's grav-itational field.
Panner said, "On the nose! Perfect!" He put awayhis watch, and though the smile on his broad, homely
face was a restrained one, it virtually shouted relief."We're actually on an Agrav ship now in full Agrav
operation."
Lucky was smiling, too. "Congratulations. I'mpleased to be on board."
"I imagine you are. You worked hard enough for it.Poor Donahue."
Lucky said gravely, ''I'm sorry I had to push thecommander so hard, but I had no choice. One way or
another, I had to be on board."
Panner's eyes narrowed at the sudden gravity inLucky's voice."Had to be?"
"Had to be! It seems almost certain to me that onboard this ship at the present moment is the spy we're
looking for."
10
In the Vitals of the Ship
Panner stared blankly. Then, "Why?"
"The Sirians would certainly want to know how theship actually worked. If their method of spying is
fool-proof, as it has been till now, why not continue it on board the ship?"
"What you're saying, then, is that one of the fourteenmen on board theJovian Moon is a robot?"
"That is exactly what I mean."
"But the men aboard ship have been chosen longsince."
"The Sirians would know the reasons for choosingand the method of choice just as they know everything
else about the project and they would maneuver their humanoid robot so as to have him chosen."
"That's giving them a lot of credit," muttered Panner.
"I admit it," said Lucky. "There is an alternative."
"Which is?"
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"That the humanoid robot is aboard as a stowaway."
"Very unlikely," said Panner.
"But quite possible. It might easily have boarded the
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ship in the confusion before the commander made hischristening speech. I tried to watch the ship then,
butit was impossible. Furthermore, nine tenths of the ship seems to be made up of engine compartment,
so theremust be plenty of room to hide."
Panner thought about it. "Not as much room as you might think."
"Still we must search the ship. Will you do that, Dr. Panner?"
"I?"
"Certainly. As chief engineer, you would know the contents of the engine compartment better than
anyoneelse. We'll go with you."
"Wait. It's a fool's errand."
"If there is no stowaway, Dr. Panner, we have stillgained something. We'll know we can restrict our
con-sideration to the men legally aboard ship."
"Just three of us?"
Lucky said quietly, "Whom can we trust to help us,when anyone we might ask might be the robot we're
looking for? Let us not discuss this any further, Dr. Panner. Are you willing to help us search the ship? I
am asking your help in my capacity as a member ofthe Council of Science."
Reluctantly Panner got to his feet. "I suppose I mustthen."
They clambered down the hand holds of the narrow shaft leading to the first engine level. The light was
subdued and, naturally, indirect, so that the huge struc-tures on either side cast no shadow.
There was no sound, no slightest hum to indicate activity or to show that vast forces were being trapped
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and dealt with. Bigman, looking about, was appalled tofind that nothing seemed familiar; that of the
ordinaryworkings of a space ship, such as that of their ownShooting Starr,nothing seemed left.
"Everything's closed in," he said.
Panner nodded and said in a low voice, "Everythingis as automatic as possible. The need for human
inter-vention has been cut to the minimum."
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"What about repairs?"
"There shouldn't have to be any," the engineer said grimly. "We have alternate circuits and duplicated [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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