"What's happened? You damned fullback, if you've lost our line to--"
He waved, stiff-armed. "Shut up. We're right on orbit. I just saw a
woman. And _what_ a woman. She was waving to me!"
In all the galaxy there had been three Level-One navigators. There were
now two.
"Naturally," I said patiently. "You would. That would be _your_
mirage--a woman."
"I saw a woman," Horse insisted evenly, "on--" He was consulting his
flats, frowning. "On--Well, I'll be damned."
"You also saw a planetoid that doesn't exist. I'll name it for you,
Horse's Asteroid. A fitting name."
Collins didn't answer, right away. He was flipping levers, connecting
the scanner to the chart, and also to the controls. Then he said,
"Okay, Skipper. We're under mechanical control. Relax, if you know
how."
I locked the board and stretched my neck. Horse lighted a cigarette, a
vice I deny myself. His eyes looked--bemused.
I said, "You saw a woman where there could be no women. I'll have to
enter it in the log, Johnny."
"Sure," he said. He took a deep and weary breath. "You know what the
boys call you?"
"Slide Rule Sam," I answered. "I'm proud of it."
"Why? A robot could handle your job."
"For a man who made his reputation in a robot's game, you're talking
rather haughtily, fullback. If a robot _could_ handle my job, a robot
would be giving you orders right now. Gideon Shipping is cost-conscious
enough for that, despite the wages they pay."
"Wages," Johnny said. "Is that all a man works for, wages?"
"At our level, that's all a man works for," I assured him. "You're
talking like a Capitalist, Horse." I watched for a reaction.
He started to say something, then shook his head. "You'd probably
enter that in the log, too, if I said it." He put out his cigarette
thoughtfully. "Sam, on the way back I want you to look through that
scanner. If we delay our trip back an hour, the orbits of the other
planetoids will be about right, and that one should be, too. Then you
can enter the fact that we _both_ saw it. You think I'm space-simple.
But you won't be able to doubt what you'll see with your own eyes."
I said evenly, "I've traveled this line for twelve years and I've had
navigators before who saw mirages. You're just not emotionally stable,
Horse."
"I'm not punchy, either," Horse said. "You can have my resignation
right now, Sam."
"Resignation? That's a word I've forgotten, Horse. You'll be
re-assigned when we return to base."
He lighted another cigarette and went back to his desk. And I
wondered who we'd get to take his place. The schools hadn't had a
Level-One navigator in six years and the only two graduates who met
that specification were very happy on other runs. Maybe, he wasn't
completely gone.... Maybe...? But that wasn't scientific thinking.