It was a few minutes after sunrise, and Smale and I were back on the
terrace toying with the remains of ham steaks and honeydew.
"That's one advantage of being in jail in your own house--the food's
good," I commented.
"I can understand your feelings," Smale said. "Frankly, I didn't relish
this assignment. But it's clear that there are matters here which
require explanation. It was my hope that you'd see fit to cooperate
voluntarily."
"Take your army and sail off into the sunrise, General," I said. "Then
maybe I'll be in a position to do something voluntary."
"Your patriotism alone----"
"My patriotism keeps telling me that where I come from, a citizen has
certain legal rights," I said.
"This is a matter that transcends legal technicalities," Smale said.
"I'll tell you quite frankly, the presence of the task force here only
received _ex post facto_ approval by the Peruvian government. They were
faced with the _fait accompli_. I mention this only to indicate just
how strongly the government feels in this matter."
"Seeing you hit the beach with a platoon of infantry was enough of
a hint for me," I said. "You're lucky I didn't wipe you out with my
disintegrator rays."
Smale choked on a bite of melon.
"Just kidding," I said. "But I haven't given you any trouble. Why the
reinforcements?"
Small stared at me. "What reinforcements?"
I pointed with a fork. He turned, gazed out to sea. A conning tower
was breaking the surface, leaving a white wake behind. It rose higher,
water streaming off the deck. A hatch popped open, and men poured out,
lining up. Smale got to his feet, his napkin falling to the floor.
"Sergeant!" he yelled. I sat, open-mouthed, as Smale jumped to the
stair, went down it three steps at a time. I heard him bellowing, the
shouts of men and the clatter of rifles being unstacked, feet pounding.
I went to the marble banister and looked down. Pruffy was out on the
lawn in purple pajamas, yelping questions. Colonel Sanchez was pulling
at Smale's arm, also yelling. The Marines were forming up on the lawn.
"Let's watch those petunias, Sergeant," I yelled.
"Keep out of this, Legion," Smale shouted.
"Why should I be the only one not yelling," I yelled. "After all, I own
the place."
Smale bounded back up the stairs. "You're my prime responsibility,
Legion," he barked. "I'm getting you to a point of maximum security.
Where's the cellar?"
"I keep it downstairs," I said. "What's this all about? Interservice
rivalry? You afraid the sailors are going to steal the glory?"
"That's a nuclear-powered sub," Smale barked. "Gagarin class; it
belongs to the Soviet Navy."
* * * * *
I stood there with my mouth open, looking at Smale without seeing him,
and trying hard to think fast. I hadn't been too startled when the
Marines showed up; I had gone over the legal aspects of my situation
months before, with a platoon of high-priced legal talent; I knew that
sooner or later somebody would come around to hit me for tax evasion,
draft dodging, or overtime parking; but I was in the clear. The
government might resent my knowing a lot of things it didn't, but no
one could ever prove I'd swiped them from Uncle Sam. In the end, they'd
have to let me go--and my account in a Swiss bank would last me, even
if they managed to suppress any new developments from my fabulous lab.
In a way, I was glad the showdown had come.
But I'd forgotten about the Russians. Naturally, they'd be interested,
and their spies were at least as good as the intrepid agents of the US
Secret Service. I should have realized that sooner or later, they'd pay
a call--and the legal niceties wouldn't slow them down. They'd slap me
into a brain laundry, and sweat every last secret out of me as casually
as I'd squeeze a lemon.
The sub was fully surfaced now, and I was looking down the barrels of
half a dozen five-inch rifles, any one of which could blast Smale's
navy out of the water with one salvo. There were a couple of hundred
men, I estimated, putting landing boats over the side and spilling
into them. Down on the lawn, the sergeant was snapping orders, and the
men were double-timing off to positions that must have been spotted in
advance. It looked like the Russians weren't entirely unexpected. This
was a game the big boys were playing, and I was just a pawn, caught
in the middle. My rosy picture of me confounding the bureaucrats was
fading fast. My island was about to become a battlefield, and whichever
way it turned out, I'd be the loser. I had one slim possibility; to get
lost in the shuffle.
Smale grabbed my arm. "Don't stand there, man!" he snapped. "Which
way--"
"Sorry, General," I said, and slammed a hard right to his stomach. He
folded, but still managed to lunge for me. I gave him a left to the
jaw, and he dropped. I jumped over him, plunged through the French
doors, and took the spiral glass stairway four at a time, whirled, and
slammed the strong-room door behind me. The armored walls would stand
anything short of a direct hit with a good-sized artillery shell, and
the boys down below were unlikely to use any heavy stuff for fear of
damaging the goods they'd been sent out to collect. I was safe for a
little while.
Now I had to do some fast, accurate thinking. I couldn't carry much
with me--when and if I made it off the island. A few briefing rods,
maybe; what was left of the movies. But I had already audited most of
the rods; I knew them as well as I know my tax bracket. One listen to
a rod gave you a fast picture of the subject; two or three repeats
engraved it on your brain. The only reason a man couldn't know
everything was that too much, too fast, would overload the mind--and
amnesia wiped the slate clean.
I didn't have time to use any more rods, and I couldn't carry anything.
But just to walk off and leave it all....
I rummaged through odds and ends, stuffing small items into my pockets.
I came across a dull silvery cylinder, three inches long, striped in
black and gold--a memory-trace. It reminded me of something....
That was an idea. I still had the U-shaped plastic headpiece that
Foster had used to acquire a background knowledge of his old home. I
had tried it once--for a moment. It had given me a headache in two
seconds flat, just pressed against my temple. It had been lying here
ever since. But maybe now was the time to try it again. Half the items
I had here in my strong-room were mysteries, like the silver cylinder
in my hand, but I knew exactly what the plastic headband could give me.
It contained all anyone needed to know about Vallon and the Two Worlds,
and all the marvels they possessed.
I glanced out the armor-glass window. Smale's Marines were trotting
across the lawn; the Russians were fanning out along the water's edge.
It looked like business all right. Still, it would take them a while
to get warmed up--and more time still to decide to blast me out of my
fort. It had taken an hour or so for Foster to soak up the briefing;
maybe I wouldn't be much longer at it.
I tossed the cylinder aside, tried a couple of drawers, found the
inconspicuous strip of plastic that encompassed a whole civilization.
I carried it across to a chair, settled myself, then hesitated. This
thing had been designed for an alien brain, not mine. Suppose it burnt
out my wiring, left me here gibbering, for Smale or the Ruskis to work
over?
But the alternative was to leave my island virtually empty-handed,
settle for what I might in time manage to salvage from my account--if
I could devise a way of withdrawing money without calling down the
Gestapo....
No, I wouldn't go back to poverty without a struggle. What I could
carry in my head would give me independence--even immunity from the
greed of nations. I could barter my knowledge for my freedom.
There were plenty of things wrong with this picture, but it was the
best I could do on short notice. Gingerly I fitted the U-shaped band to
my head. There was a feeling of pressure, then a sensation like warm
water rising about me. Panic tried to rise, faded. A voice seemed to
reassure me. I was among friends, I was safe, all was well....