If anything, she held the gun more firmly, and moved it three inches
toward him.
"Don't mistake me, Ralph," she said, her eyes cold. "This is a yes and
no game. No maybes or ifs. If you say yes when the gun says no, that's
too bad. If you say no when the gun wants yes, _that's_ too bad. You
see how straightforward the three of us are?
"But I and my pet neutron gun will give you time to think.
"Tell me how you found X."
* * * * *
He slumped weakly against the bulkhead, wiping at his forehead with the
back of a shaking hand.
"There were enough clues," he said hoarsely.
And there had been, at that. _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of
The World, _was_ a key. Its author, Ouspensky, looked at the universe
from a _different_ viewpoint.
The small _u_ in unterzuyder meant that it was to be taken as a common
noun.
And certainly the conclusion that the map was made 50,000 years ago was
itself an obvious clue!
"We made our calculations on the assumption that the map had been made
looking at the Solar System from the north--from the star Polaris,
that is. It hadn't been. My ancestors drew the map from the unorthodox
reference point of the Southern Cross.
"From the underside. I turned the negative upside down and made a new
map. Then I got right answers."
"Very good," said Fayette. "The tricky Unterzuyders did live up to
their name. _Didn't_ they, Ralph?"
"Yes," he said shakily.