14
At E.H.Q. on Earth communication had been working fine. The operator satback and listened with trained ear alert for flaw or fade. A glance atthe adjacent recording instrument told him it was taking down everythingsaid--had been for hours.
Nice deal about those naked colonists. Maybe the astronavigator on the Ecruiser had been right. Maybe they'd all just gone back to nature, allthe way back.
He wondered if there were any pretty young female colonists. And how fardid that word experimental take you? Some experiment! He realized hisinterest was running deeper than that of a detached technician's concernfor well-operated equipment--mechanical, that is. Well, let it. Live alittle once in a while. At least dream.
The department supervisor hovered near the back of the operator's chair,breathing down his neck. He gnawed at the knuckles of his hand, andhoped nothing would go wrong this time. That astronavigator, LouieLeBeau, was probably right. Those colonists had turned nudist, and wereafraid to report what they'd done back to Earth!
Well!
He looked around guiltily, wondering if he'd exclaimed it aloud. Hedecided he hadn't.
If _he_ were out there, instead of that E, _he'd_ make them put theirclothes back on, on the double. Getting everything all upset, causingall this trouble, getting everybody excited, all of E.H.Q. aroused,taking up the time of an E--just because they wanted to frolic aroundwithout any clothes on!
If they were going to act like irresponsible children, they should bespanked like irresponsible children.
He wondered if there were any young pretty female colonists who ought tobe spanked.
"... E Gray has just stepped off the landing ramp," the pilot out therewas reporting. "He is walking toward the three colonists. Now they havestarted walking toward him. They do not seem hostile. They seem glad tosee us. My crew and I are still at our stations, ready for ..."
Silence.
The set simply didn't register anything more except that faint sigh ofuncompleted force fields in space.
"What now? What now?" the supervisor pushed the operator to one side,and barely restrained the impulse to cuff him on the side of the head."Now what did you do? Why did you meddle with it when it was coming inso clear and strong? What's happened?"
"I didn't do anything. I didn't meddle with it. I don't know what'shappened," the operator flared back. "The signal just stopped. That'sall."
There was an imperative flashing of the signal light on the line thathad been rigged to give direct connection of the running report toHayes's office. The operator hesitated, then flipped open the key, as ifhe were touching a rattlesnake.
"What's happened down there?" Hayes complained abruptly, withoutdiplomatic softness. "This is a very crucial point!"
"I don't know what happened. I don't know," the supervisor quarreledback. "The signal just stopped coming. We weren't doing anything to theequipment."
He looked up at the continuously changing tri-di star map which madethe far wall appear to be a view into a miniature universe. "There's noreason for an occlusion," he said to Hayes. "And the set here is alive.It must be at the other end."
He turned to the operator, and said loudly, "Bounce a beam on Eden'ssurface. Just see if any booster has gone out between here and there."Most of it was making a show of efficiency for Hayes.
"Here we go again," the operator mumbled to himself, and pressed down akey. The returning pips showed the signal was getting through to Eden.
"Pilot Lynwood! Pilot Lynwood!" the supervisor nagged into the mike."Speak up! Do you hear me?"
The operator sighed deeply. His panel partner grimaced something halfwaybetween a grin and a sneer of disgust.
"They don't answer," the supervisor said at last to Hayes. "It's thesame as before."
"Here we go again," Hayes groaned, but not only to himself. "All right,"he said wearily, after a moment's hesitation. "Keep the channel open.Keep trying to contact them. Let me know if signal resumes."
But he already felt the conviction that it would do no good. It was toomuch of the same pattern as before. What could have happened?
There'd have to be another review, he supposed. A longer and moredetailed one. There must be, had to be, something they'd overlooked inthe first one. Had he been right in freezing out so many who wanted tospeculate in that first one? But in the interests of time!
The scientists would grumble, even worse than before, because now eachone of them would be worried lest it was his own field of knowledge thathad failed. Hunting a needle in a haystack was easy. At least you knewwhat a needle looked like, could recognize it when you saw it.
It would probably all end with nothing solved. E McGinnis would go outin a rescue ship. He'd already told E Gray that he would be availablein an emergency, and this looked like an emergency. And that would leaveE.H.Q. without a single E in residence.
Why didn't General Administration get busy and qualify more E's? Itshouldn't be so difficult as all that to teach people to think! Therewas something mighty wrong with the way kids were brought up if only onein a million could still think by the time he was grown. Less than onein a million could qualify as an E.
A boy had to be a natural rebel to start with, because if he believedwhat people said he wouldn't get anywhere, no farther than the peoplewho said it. And if he didn't believe what they told him, they punishedhim, outcast him, whipped him, violenced him into submission if theycould. If they couldn't they shut him up in a prison, labeled himdangerous to society.
It was a wonder that any were able to walk the thin line betweenrebelliousness and delinquency! And if a few were able, they were stillof no use unless they learned what science had to offer as a base. Ah,there was the rub. How to keep alive the curiosity, the inquisitiveness,the skepticism; and at the same time teach him the basics he must havefor constructive thought? For if he were not beaten into submission bythe punitive methods of society, he was persuaded into it by histeachers, who were ever so sure of their facts and proofs.
Now you take this Eden problem. Probably wouldn't be tough at all if aguy could just think. But what could have happened?
He understood there was an observer ship out there, sent out by theattorney general's office. Why wasn't it reporting? Probably was--to theattorney general's office. Fine lot of good E.H.Q. would get out ofthat. He was no fool. He knew the attorney general would gladlysacrifice the whole lot of colonists, if it would give him a weapon tofight E.H.Q.
Why hadn't E.H.Q. sent along an observer ship also? These cocky E's!Probably hadn't thought it necessary. Always ready to assume they couldhandle the situation by themselves!
He wondered if he dared voice that criticism during the review, get iton record. He thought about it, and decided in favor of playing it safe.Maybe that was the trouble. Everybody was too concerned with his ownskin, too willing to play it safe. But an employee of E.H.Q. to make apublic criticism of an E! No, better play it safe.
He sighed heavily, and asked the operator to please see if E McGinniswould talk to him.
He suspected that E McGinnis would just stand off from the planet andwait for E Gray to get in touch. Nothing seemed to have happened while EGray's cruiser was out in space. It must be something connected withlanding, being on the surface of the planet.
But E Gray could signal to E McGinnis. Those pesky colonists! Why hadn'tthey signaled to E Gray? Why hadn't they come out of their bushes andsignaled the danger? Surely they must know what it was. They were aliveand healthy, three of them at least. Why hadn't they used their stupidheads?
But then, how could they have known E Gray was out in space, or even intheir stratosphere? Well, they had telescopes, didn't they? Or did they?Sure they did. No matter what happened to the buildings, they must haveall sorts of equipment hidden under the trees, or in caves.
Why hadn't E Gray been more cautious about landing? Rushing in therelike a green school kid, without even rudimentary precautions. That'swhat came from sending out a boy to do a man's job. Maybe the attorneygene
ral's office had been right in its attempt to prevent a Junior fromgoing. What was the use of all that E training, if the boy didn't haveenough sense ...
At least E McGinnis would have enough sense to stand off, not go rushingin blindly. Grand old man, E McGinnis. Now there was a _real_ product ofE science, the veritable dean of the E's.
E Gray would probably have enough sense to know he'd be followed by arescue ship as soon as something went wrong. And between an E out inspace and another on the ground, they shouldn't have any trouble inworking it out. He wondered if he should suggest that to E McGinnis assoon as the operator located him. Even if the grand, lovable old manthought of it for himself, he'd compliment Hayes for thinking it,reasoning it all out!
The intercom operator came on his line.
"Sir," she said, and cleared her throat. He could hear her gulp. Hervoice was very small, thin. "Sir," she began again. "I contacted EMcGinnis. He said some things. He told me to tell you exactly what hesaid, word for word. I took it down in shorthand, so I could."
"Well! Well!" he exclaimed impatiently. His brusqueness seemed to giveher courage.
"Sir," she said a little stronger. "E McGinnis won't talk to you. Hesays the foggy, rambling way that review was conducted was a disgrace.He says why don't you get on with what you have to do instead ofbothering people. He says not to waste any more of his time unless youcan come up with something he doesn't already know. He says he doubtsyou'd know what that was even if it hit you in the face. He said to tellyou the exact words, so I took it down in shorthand, so I could.Because--he said to."
She was all but wailing, as she finished.
"All right," Hayes sighed tiredly. Senile old devil! No wonder thingswere going to pot, if this was a sample of E training. "Send me yournotes so I can follow them carefully," he told the operator.
"So you can tear them up before they get spread all over the joint," shemumbled, but she had already thrown the key so he couldn't hear her.
Resignedly, because he knew he was going to catch it from the scientistsjust as bad, because he was feeling very sorry for himself that he mustalways be in the middle of things, he began to arouse the scientists.
He felt so sorry for himself that he dropped his tentative plan to havethe midgit-idgit check the personal attributes of the individualcolonists out there--to see if some of them might be young, pretty,female--34-24-34.
As if the idea were now red hot, he dropped the plan of telling GeneralAdministration that, since Eden was in his sector, perhaps he should goout there, personally.