Swiftly she pushed buttons again. The room darkened, as before. Curtains
at one end divided and rustled back, and a glowing screen sprang to life
on the wall revealed behind them. And there, in life and movement and
color and sound and dimension, she--and Robert--projected themselves,
together on the couch, beginning at the moment Ninon had pressed the
three buttons earlier. Robert's arms were around her, his face buried in
the hair falling over her shoulders....
The spaceman's voice was doubly bitter in the darkened room. "So that's
it," he said. "A recording! Another one for your collection, I suppose.
But of what use is it to you? I have neither money nor power. I'll be
gone from this Earth in an hour. And you'll be gone from it,
permanently--at your age--before I get back. I have nothing to lose, and
you have nothing to gain."
Venomous with triumph, Ninon's voice was harsh even to her ears. "On the
contrary, my proud and impetuous young spaceman, I have much to gain,
more than you could ever understand. When it was announced that you were
to be trained to command this experimental flight I made it my business
to find out everything possible about you. One other man is going. He
too has had the same training, and could take over in your place. A
third man has also been trained, to stand by in reserve. You are
supposed to have rested and slept the entire night. If the Commandant of
Space Research knew that you had not...."
"I see. That's why you recorded my visit tonight. But I leave in less
than an hour. You'd never be able to tell Commander Pritchard in time to
make any difference, and he'd never come here to see...."
Ninon laughed mirthlessly, and pressed buttons again. The screen
changed, went blank for a moment, then figures appeared again. On the
couch were she and a man, middle-aged, dignified in appearance,
uniformed. Blane Pritchard, Commandant of Space Research. His arms were
around her, and his face was buried in her hair. She let the recording
run for a moment, then shut it off and turned up the lights.
To Robert, she said, "I think Commander Pritchard would be here in five
minutes if I called and told him that I have information which seriously
affects the success of the flight."
The young spaceman's face was white and stricken as he stared for long
moments, wordless, at Ninon. Then in defeated tones he said, "You
scheming witch! What do you want?"
There was no time to gloat over her victory. That would come later.
Right now minutes counted. She snatched up a cloak, pushed Robert out
through the door and hurried him along the hall and out into the street
where his car waited.
"We must hurry," she said breathlessly. "We can get to the spaceship
ahead of schedule, before your flight partner arrives, and be gone from
Earth before anyone knows what is happening. I'll be with you, in his
place."
Robert did not offer to help her into the car, but got in first and
waited until she closed the door behind her, then sped away from the
curb and through the streets to the spaceport.
Ninon said, "Tell me, Robert, isn't it true that if a clock recedes from
Earth at the speed of light, and if we could watch it as it did so, it
would still be running but it would never show later time?"