"Why not? Psychic bids, that's what throws them off. But it throws off
my partner, too, and I don't make what I should. How about it, Sam?"
I said, "You wanted a report from the navigator. I'm holding the screen
open for that."
Van Elling's face stiffened, and his eyes went to Horse's. Collins
said, "Seven hours and twelve minutes." I turned off the viewer.
Silence in the cabin and I was uncomfortable. Damn it, there had to be
discipline on board, and I was in command.
Horse said quietly, "Are you a natural son-of-a-broomstick, or do you
work at it?"
Rage flamed in me, and I waited until it had languished. Then I said
calmly, "I'm your superior, and I've been too lenient. I'm not strong
enough to fight you but I'm powerful enough to destroy you. I intend
to. Look forward to a long career in the mines of Mars, fullback."
"Even you, with all your connections, couldn't rig that," Horse said
lightly. "You can ground me, and hope I get court-martialed for
insubordination. I've a few connections, too."
Silence, again. I went over to his scanner and checked our
co-ordinates. I brought out the log and entered his mirage and his
insubordination. Why quibble? Let the record speak.
Europa loomed below us, now, and Jupiter dead ahead. The oxygenator
sent its draft along the back of my neck, and I shifted in my seat,
remembering his question about artificial insemination. That in itself
could be considered subversive. Not that I hadn't thought it, and
millions of others, but he'd _voiced_ it.
The scientists had the money, the power, the commerce. And hadn't they
earned it? Hadn't they made all this quite possible?
We hadn't said a word right up to the time I put the forward blasters
on for the Jupiter mooring.
The buzzer from the rear hatch was buzzing now, and I threw the switch
to open it. Van Elling came in with his duryllium helmet on, beating
his hands on his thighs.
Collins helped him with the helmet, and Van said, "Cold, cold, cold,
cold, cold. Chief, we might lose a couple minutes on the loading. Those
boys aren't what they were when we bought them."
Through the oxygenator, I could smell ammonia and burning elgeron. I
went to the viewer room and switched to the landing ramp. The robots
were moving down the ramp at a pace which might have been slower than
usual, but didn't seem so to me.
Behind me, I could hear Van Elling and Horse Collins whispering. Mutiny?
I watched the first of the robots go into the big hole that led to
the elgeron deposits, and came back to see Van at the duplicate robot
control board we had to use at the end of a trip. Van was looking
worried, but it could have been feigned.
"A few minutes?" I asked. "How many is a few?"
"I said 'a couple' only, Chief, but I think that was a bad guess. It
might be an hour."
Horse was smiling. Van kept his face averted.
"Delayed an hour?" I asked, and then it came to me. Horse wanted
another look at his asteroid. That's why they'd whispered.
"I'm afraid," I said, "an hour's delay would be too long, and I hope
neither of you think I'm being fooled by your cute little tricks. This
isn't the time for trickery."
"Sorry, Chief," Van said. "I'm doing the best I can."
He kept his attention on the control board and Horse bent over his
charts. They ignored me. Well, I had a lot of strings to pull. They'd
regret this day, both of them.
The smell of molten elgeron was heavy now, and the bite of ammonia.
The robots were coming back up the ramp, carrying enormous chunks of
the solidified, translucent stuff. On Mars, it would be crushed in the
huge, automatic grinders and mixed with the stydium of that planet, and
sent in radiation-proof ships to the laboratories of Earth.
One robot seemed to falter for a second, and I glanced quickly back
toward the cabin where I could just see Van at the control board. I
couldn't tell by his manipulation of the toggles whether the robot's
falter was deliberate or not, but I saw him glance at Collins and smile.
Rage simmered in me, pulsated, and I stood there for seconds in the
viewing room, waiting for it to recede. The whole line of robots was
stationary now and the one who'd faltered was leaning over against the
guard rail of the ramp.
I came into the cabin and said, "You'd better put on your suit, Van.
There's a robot out there holding up the line."
Jupiter was no place to venture without proper radiation shielding, and
our space suits weren't the best in the world for radiation protection.