to co-operate?"
"Well, we can't afford to leave men of your type in a position ofinfluence, Mr. Black," Cranehart said amiably. "And you understand, I'msure, that it would be entirely too difficult to keep you under propersurveillance on Earth--"
* * * * *
Celia Adams said from outside the cabin door, "I think it is them, Phil.Both cars have started to circle."
Phil Boles came to the door behind her and looked up. It was earlyevening--Roye's sun just down, and a few stars out. The sky above thesea was still light. After a moment, he made out the two aircars movingin a wide, slow arc far overhead. He glanced at his watch.
"Twenty minutes late," he remarked. "But it couldn't be anyone else. Andif they hadn't all come along, they wouldn't have needed two cars." Hehesitated. "We can't tell how they're going to take this, Celia, butthey may have decided already that they could make out better withoutus." He nodded towards the edge of the cliff. "Short way over there,and a long drop to the water! So don't let them surprise you."
She said coldly, "I won't. And I've used guns before this."
"Wouldn't doubt it." Phil reached back behind the door, picked up aflarelight standing beside a heavy machine rifle, and came outside. Hepointed the light at the cars and touched the flash button briefly threetimes. After a moment, there were two answering flashes from the leadingcar.
"So Wayne Jackson's in the front car," Phil said. "Now let's see whatthey do." He returned the light to its place behind the door and cameout again, standing about twelve feet to one side of Celia. The aircarsvanished inland, came back at treetop level a few minutes later. Onesettled down quietly between the cabin and the edge of the cliff, theother following but dropping to the ground a hundred yards away, whereit stopped. Phil glanced over at Celia, said softly, "Watch that one!"She nodded almost imperceptibly, right hand buried in her jacket pocket.
The near door of the car before them opened. Major Wayne Jackson,hatless and in hunting clothes, climbed out, staring at them. He said,"Anyone else here?"
"Just Celia and myself," Phil said.
Jackson turned, spoke into the car and two men, similarly dressed, cameout behind him. Phil recognized Ronald Black and Sanford. The threestarted over to the cabin, stopped a dozen feet away.
Jackson said sardonically, "Our five other previous Earthside partnersare in the second car. In spite of your insistence to meet the wholegroup, they don't want you and Celia to see their faces. They don't wishto be identifiable." He touched his coat lapel. "They'll hear what we'resaying over this communicator and they could talk to you, but won'tunless they feel it's necessary. You'll have to take my word for it thatwe're all present."
"That's good enough," Phil said.
"All right," Jackson went on, "now what did you mean by forcing us totake this chance? Let me make it plain. Colonel Thayer hasn't beenaccused of collaborating in the Roye gun hoax, but he got a black eyeout of the affair just the same. And don't forget that a planet withcolonial status is technically under martial law, which includes thecivilians. If Silas Thayer can get his hands on the guilty persons, thesituation will become a lot more unpleasant than it already is."
* * *
Phil addressed Ronald Black, "Then how about you two? When you showed uphere again on a transfer list, Thayer must have guessed why."
Black shook his head. "Both of us exercised the privilege of changingour names just prior to the outtransfer. He doesn't know we're on Roye.We don't intend to let him find out."
Phil asked, "Did you make any arrangements to get out of Roye again?"
"Before leaving Earth?" Black showed his teeth in a humorless smile."Boles, you have no idea of how abruptly and completely the governmentmen cut us off from our every resource! We were given no opportunity todraw up plans to escape from exile, believe me."
Phil glanced over at Celia. "In that case," he said, a little thickly,"we'd better see if we can't draw some up together immediately."
Jackson asked, staring, "What are you talking about, Phil? Don't thinkfor a moment Silas Thayer isn't doing what he can to find out who putthat trick over on him. I'm not at all sure he doesn't suspect me. Andif he can tie it to us, it's our neck. If you have some crazy idea ofgetting off the planet now, let me tell you that for the next few yearswe can't risk making a single move! If we stay quiet, we're safe. We--"
"I don't think we'd be safe," Phil said.
On his right, Celia Adams added sharply, "The gentleman in the other carwho's just started to lower that window had better raise it again! Ifhe's got good eyesight, he'll see I have a gun pointed at him. Yes,that's much better! Go on, Phil."
"Have you both gone out of your minds?" Jackson demanded.
"No," Celia said. She laughed with a sudden shakiness in her tone,added, "Though I don't know why we haven't! We've thought of thepossibility that the rest of you might feel it would be better if Philand I weren't around any more, Wayne."
"That's nonsense!" Jackson said.
"Maybe. Anyway, don't try it. You wouldn't be doing yourselves a favoreven if it worked. Better listen now."
"Listen to what?" Jackson demanded exasperatedly. "I'm telling you itwill be all right, if we just don't make any mistakes. The only realpieces of evidence were your duplicator and the original gun. Sincewe're rid of those--"
"We're not rid of the gun, Wayne," Phil said. "I still have it. Ihaven't dared get rid of it."
"You ... what do you mean?"
"I was with Beulah in the Fort Roye hospital when she died," Phil said.He added to Ronald Black, "That was two days after the ship brought theseven of you in."
Black nodded, his eyes alert. "Major Jackson informed me."
"She was very weak, of course, but quite lucid," Phil went on. "Shetalked a good deal--reminiscing, and in a rather happy vein. She finallymentioned the Geest gun, and how Uncle William used to keep us boys ...Wayne and me ... spell-bound with stories about the Gunderland Battle,and how he'd picked the gun up there."
Jackson began, "And what does--"
"He didn't get the gun there," Phil said. "Beulah said Uncle Williamcame in from Earth with the first shipment of settlers and was never offRoye again in his life."
"He ... then--"
Phil said, "Don't you get it? He found the gun right here on Roye.Beulah thought it was awfully funny. William was an old fool, she said,but the best liar she'd ever known. He came in with the thing one dayafter he'd been traipsing around the back country, and said it looked'sort of' like pictures of Geest guns he'd seen, and that he was goingto put the inscription on it and have some fun now and then." Phil tooka deep breath. "Uncle William found it lying in a pile of ashes wheresomeone had made camp a few days before. He figured it would have been aplanetary speedster some rich sportsmen from Earth had brought in for ataste of outworld hunting on Roye, and that one of them had dumped thebroken oddball gun into the fire to get rid of it.
"That was thirty-six years ago. Beulah remembered it happened a yearbefore I was born."
There was silence for some seconds. Then Ronald Black said evenly, "Andwhat do you conclude, Boles?"
Phil looked at him. "I'd conclude that Norm Vaughn was right about therehaving been some fairly intelligent creatures here once. The Geests raninto them and exterminated them as they usually do. That might have beena couple of centuries back. Then, thirty-six years ago, one of theirscouts slipped in here without being spotted, found human beings on theplanet, looked around a little and left again."
He took the Geest gun from his pocket, hefted it in his hand. "We havethe evidence here," he said. "We had it all the time and didn't knowit."
Ronald Black said dryly, "We may have the evidence. But we have noslightest proof at all now that that's what it is."
"I know it," Phil said. "Now Beulah's gone ... well, we couldn't evenprove that William Boles never left the planet, for that matter. Thereweren't any records to speak of being kept in the early days." He wassilent a moment. "Supp
osing," he said, "we went ahead anyway. We handthe gun in, with the story I just told you--"
Jackson made a harsh, laughing sound. "That would hang us fast, Phil!"
"And nothing else?"
"Nothing else," Black said with finality. "Why should