"We were."
"It's too bad you found me," said Kingman.
"It was just a matter of time before you dropped all pretense of being
thinly legal," said Walt scathingly. "Give you credit, Kingman, for
conducting yourself as close to the line without stepping over for a
long time. But now you can add breaking and entering to kidnaping to
whatever other crimes you have committed."
Kingman smiled in a superior manner. "I might," he said suavely, "add
murder. There would be no corpus delicti if both of you were fed into
the duplicator."
"You can't record a human being," said Walt.
"Don't be stupid," said Kingman. "Who said anything about making a
record?"
Walt admitted that this was so.
Then Kingman snapped the switch on the duplicator and the wall was
re-established. Then he forced Christine to tie Walt, after which he
tied Christine and then checked and added to Walt's bonds from a large
roll of friction tape. He dropped them side by side in chair, and taped
them thoroughly.
"You are a damned nuisance," he said. "Having to eliminate you tends
to decrease my enjoyment at seeing the failure of Venus Equilateral.
I'd have preferred to watch all of you suffer the hardest way. Killing
you leaves fewer to gloat over, but it must be done. Once you found me,
there is no other way."
"Walt," pleaded Christine, "won't the others find the same thing and
follow us?"
Walt wanted to lie--wanted desperately to lie, if for no other reason
than to spare Christine the mental anguish of expecting death. But Walt
was not a good liar. He gave up and said: "I happen to be the guy who
rigged the thermal-energy tube--and I'm the only guy who knows about
the too-fast drop. All I hope for is that we'll be missed."
"We will," said Christine.
Kingman laughed nastily and began to fiddle with the scanning-rate
controls on his duplicator.
* * * * *
Arden came running into her husband's office breathlessly. She was
waving a sheet of paper and there was mingled anger and pleasure on her
face as she shoved the paper under Don's eyes and waggled it. "Look!"
she commanded.
"Stop fanning me with that," said Channing, "and let me see it if it's
so all-fired important."
"I'll murder 'em in cold blood," swore Arden.
Channing pried his wife's fingers apart and took the paper. He
read--and his eyes bulged with amused concern--
"Dear Characters:
When we were giving Venus Equilateral's advantages the up and down
a coupla years ago after the sudden and warranted departure of
Director Francis Burbank, we forgot one important item--a justice
of the peace.
So Christine and I are eloping in a time-honored fashion.
Neither of us have any desire to get wedded in the midst of a Roman
Holiday even though it does deprive a lot of guys the right to kiss
the bride.
You may give my Little Black Book to Jim Baler, Barney Carroll, and
Wes--and have Arden see that they divide 'em up proportionately.
Your ex-bachelor chum(p)
Walt.