"But not incompetent," Rajcik said, smiling.
"Can't you two quit it?" Somers demanded, and both men turned startedly
to face him.
"Behold!" Rajcik said. "The sleeper has awakened."
"After a fashion," said Watkins, snickering.
Somers suddenly felt that if death or rescue did not come quickly, they
would kill each other, or drive each other crazy.
"Look!" Rajcik said.
* * * * *
A light on the computer's panel was flashing green.
"Must be a mistake," said Watkins. "Green means the problem is solvable
within the conditions set down."
"Solvable!" Rajcik said.
"But it's impossible," Watkins argued. "It's fooling us, leading us
on--"
"Don't be superstitious," Rajcik mocked. "How soon do we get the
solution?"
"It's coming now." Watkins pointed to a paper tape inching out of a slot
in the machine's face. "But there must be something wrong!"
They watched as, millimeter by millimeter, the tape crept out. The
computer hummed, its lights flashing green. Then the hum stopped. The
green lights blazed once more and faded.
"What happened?" Rajcik wanted to know.
"It's finished," Watkins said.
"Pick it up! Read it!"
"You read it. You won't get _me_ to play its game."
Rajcik laughed nervously and rubbed his hands together, but didn't move.
Both men turned to Somers.
"Captain, it's your responsibility."
"Go ahead, Captain!"
Somers looked with loathing at his engineer and navigator. _His_
responsibility, everything was _his_ responsibility. Would they never
leave him alone?
He went up to the machine, pulled the tape free, read it with slow
deliberation.
"What does it say, sir?" Rajcik asked.
"Is it--possible?" Watkins urged.
"Oh, yes," Somers said. "It's possible." He laughed and looked around at
the hot, smelly, low-ceilinged little room with its locked doors and
windows.
"What is it?" Rajcik shouted.
* * * * *
Somers said, "You figured a few thousand years to return to the Solar
System, Rajcik? Well, the computer agrees with you. Twenty-three hundred
years, to be precise. Therefore, it has given us a suitable longevity
serum."
"Twenty-three hundred years," Rajcik mumbled. "I suppose we hibernate or
something of the sort."
"Not at all," Somers said calmly. "As a matter of fact, this serum does
away quite nicely with the need for sleep. We stay awake and watch each
other."
The three men looked at one another and at the sickeningly familiar room
smelling of metal and perspiration, its sealed doors and windows that
stared at an unchanging spectacle of stars.