"Eh?"
"Have you seen the plans the engineers are drawing up for the new city?"
"Oh," said Isaac. He chuckled in his chest. The community was deep in
plans for an immense city of plastic that was to cover thousands of
acres and be hundreds of levels high. A dream city. "The crystal city,"
he said.
Matt regarded him shrewdly. "Yes. Crystal City. It may take generations
to build, but we'll get it done."
There was a man approaching across the park. Matt recognized Nesbit.
"Hello, Matt," the palaeontologist called cheerily. "I brought you
something to hang in your living room." He held out a framed picture.
Matt glanced at it in surprise. It was an original Rembrandt etching:
the Goldweigher's Field.
"Thanks, Hi. I never thought I'd own a genuine Rembrandt. What have you
decided about the palaeontologist exhibits in the museums?"
"They're better off left where they are right now. In time, maybe we
can move them to Crystal City."
"Yes," Matt agreed. "Well, if I don't go in I'll be late for dinner."
His face lengthened. "I don't want that to happen again."
Both men chuckled. Nesbit called after him, "Next time I go to the
museum, I'll bring you one of Renoir's Nudes."
There had been a remarkable change in Nesbit, Matt reflected as he
hurried across the grass. But it didn't take a psychologist to get to
the bottom of the change.
There was the faintest hesitation in Matt's manner when he reached the
door of his apartment. Then he squared his shoulders, and pushed inside.
* * * * *
Lynn and Margot Drake were sitting in the front room. They glanced up.
"Darling," they both said in the same breath. "You're late."