Through the Eye of a Needle

7. Joke

"Bob, have you time to give us some help?"

The Hunter and his host were both startled. They were still standing around, the table which bore the generator case, but there had been several minutes of silence. Everyone had been pursuing his or her own line of thought, some of which had led pretty far from Ell. Maeta's question had not been an interruption, however, since neither Bob nor the Hunter had found a really promising line of thought to follow.

"I guess so," Bob answered. "What is it?"

"Those books you brought back have been brought to the library, and we have to catalog and shelve them. Can you help with the sorting? I'll recognize subjects all right; but we like to have some estimate of scope and difficulty. You've read them-I suppose."

"For the most part," Bob grinned. "All right, I might as well. Jenny, you want to stay and help?"

"No, thanks, I'm not at home in college books, and might feel lost-at least, I wouldn't be much help. I'll go ask Mr. Tavake that question we didn't get around to yesterday."

"All right, good idea." Bob read nothing between the lines of her refusal to stay. "Will you be home afterward? I think it's time we talked things over with your father. The next part of the job won't be easy even if Tavake comes through."

Jenny hesitated a moment; the Hunter assumed, she had made other plans and was weighing their importance. Bob gave no thought to the pause.

"All right," she finally said. "I'll see you-when? A couple of hours, Mae?"

"The whole job will take days, but that much will get us started," the older girl replied. "If this other thing you're talking about is important, my job can wait-or I can do it all myself, though probably not as accurately."

"We're hung up for the moment on our thing, anyway," Bob assured her. Even the Hunter knew that both Bob and Maeta were merely being polite. He was much less sure about Jenny. Unavoidably, Bob stayed and the redhead departed.

Maeta led the way downstairs. The book crates had been placed beside a large table in a basement room. While it was not regularly used by the library patrons, the walls were lined with partly filled bookshelves. The table was loaded with pots of adhesive, scissors, tape, and similar library equipment, and one corner of the room was occupied by a large, very comfortable-looking armchair with a small table beside it. Maeta looked at these and smiled.

"This was set up as a study for Mr. Thorvaldsen when the library was built, but he fell asleep in the chair so often that he decided to use his old place in the laboratory building. We've taken it over for book processing. How many do you think you have here?"

"Don't remember exactly. They're not all course texts. I was told I could buy other stuff which was recommended to us as reference material; that's why I can't say I've read every last page of it. I guess the easiest thing is to get it all out on the table and start sorting by subject, unless librarians have some more; ingenious way of doing it."

Maeta glanced at him, but had nothing to say to his closing remark, and they started as he had suggested. The girl worked quickly and efficiently, and made good use of Bob's knowledge. She said nothing about the remarks Bob and Jenny had made while they were upstairs, but the Hunter felt sure she was thinking about them. The young woman was obviously far too intelligent not to be curious. The alien was thinking about her more and more as the morning wore on, not only about her evident brains but also about her competence-remarked upon the night before-on and in the water. She could be useful, if Bob's prejudices could be submitted to another blow.

But Bob was getting harder to persuade with each new recruit. It might be necessary to manage Bob for his own good. Jenny would be willing to do that, in principle; but of course there was some difficulty in speaking to Jenny. The Hunter thought deeply, and did not regard the library session as time wasted.

For most of the two hours, Maeta said nothing not directly connected with the job, but just before the session ended she changed the subject briefly.

"Bob, did you say anything to Jenny which could make her think you were laughing at her, or looking down at her, because she hadn't been to college?"

"Not that I can remember. I certainly didn't mean to." Bob's surprise was quite genuine. "What makes you ask?"

"I know she's sensitive about not getting accepted by any college and something she said when she was leaving a while ago made me wonder whether you'd twisted the knife."

"Well, I never thought about it. I didn't even know she'd applied for a college. Why should staying here bother her? Lot's of people don't go-you didn't, and you're older than she is, and it doesn't seem to bother you. Shorty didn't, and it certainly doesn't bother him!"

"Shorty? Oh, the Malmstrom boy." That was an interesting way to put it, since Malmstrom was three years or so older than Maeta. “I don't know much about him. I never applied to a college, and didn't have to face a rejection. I'm perfectly happy here. I like to learn things, and in this library I'd be lifetimes just catching up with what's available. There's just nothing else I want which might take me away from Ell. But Jenny isn't that way, and please be careful what you say to her."

"All right Thanks for telling me."

Bob took Maeta's admonition at face value, but the Hunter felt there must be something behind it. He tried to puzzle out the possibilities as they went upstairs. Perhaps Maeta felt genuinely protective about Jenny; the redhead was younger, though only by a year or so. She might, on the other hand, be more concerned with Bob and his tendency to be just a little too pleased with his brand new degree, a tendency of which the Hunter was quite aware. He could see no reason why Maeta should be particularly interested in Bob-or rather, while he could see one, he considered it unlikely on such short acquaintance. He had heard it said that females had a general tendency to try to remold any available males, but since the speakers had always been males, he had placed little weight in the claim. He considered it biologically unlikely that there would be major psychological differences between the two human sexes, other than superimposed cultural ones.

He would probably have dismissed the question as both unimportant and insoluble anyway, even if his attention had not been sharply distracted.

Bob had used his bicycle for the mile-and-a-half trip from his house. Maeta had accompanied them to the library door, though she was planning to go back to do more work on the books, and Bob was looking back to utter conventional farewells as he swung aboard his machine. A second later he was sprawled on the concrete.

The Hunter had the damage categorized at once; his host had severe scrapes on the left knee, shoulder, and elbow. He was not quite so quick at deciding how much repair and protection to supply. Had Bob been alone, he would not have lost a drop of blood; but Maeta and the other witnesses who had immediately collected might not be able to believe that anyone could suffer such a fall with no damage. Perhaps the Hunter should allow him to bleed a little-not enough to cause real damage, of course-for the sake of appearances.

On the other hand, the concept of "luck" was widely accepted among human beings, he reflected, and he had noticed that many of the species could dismiss the most incredible events from their minds simply by using this word. The Hunter decided to take the chance. He followed his natural inclinations, sealed off all blood leaks, and got to work on the microorganisms they had picked up.

His partner, surprised, though he was, had picked himself up before anyone actually reached him. His first reaction was one of extreme embarrassment, not helped by the words of one of the juvenile witnesses.

"You'd think anyone would look where be was going on a bike, even with a girl around, wouldn't you?"

"I was just-" Bob stopped talking at once, realizing there was nothing he could possibly say which would not furnish more ammunition for a ten-year-old.

"What happened, Bob?" Maeta had returned by now. "Are you hurt?"

"Not physically. My ego will take some repair. I don't really know what happened; the bike just went out from under me." Everyone, including the children who had gathered, clustered more closely to look at the machine was nothing obviously wrong until Bob cautiously mounted it again, and eased it gently forward. Then it was obvious to all that the handlebars and the front wheel were no longer aligned with the bar straight across, the wheel pointed noticeably to the right. This would ordinarily have made no difference; a cyclist's reflexes operate off in put from the inertial senses and the general visual picture of the terrain. He doesn't keep looking at the front wheel to see where he is going next. In this in stance, however, Bob had not really started to roll when he had put his weight on the left pedal and started to swing his right leg across. He had not noticed the change in the handlebar-wheel relationship before he started to move. Naturally he had started a frantic left turn as he began to fall, but the bicycle was moving far too slowly for this to be effective, and with the wheel near ninety degrees, the entire machine had slid from under him, as he had said.

"A smart person keeps his bike tightened up," remarked the youngster who had spoken before.

"Quite right," Bob agreed, paying no more attention to him. "I'm OK, Mae. See you later." He remounted the machine and started down to the road, not looking back this time.

"Shouldn't you tighten it up?" the Hunter asked, "We have tools, don't we?"

"Sure, in the case," was the reply. "It isn't loose, though."

"But-" The Hunter stopped talking as his mind drew too far ahead of his words.

"Yeah. But. We'll think it over later on." There was no time for more conversation, even if there had been thought to feed it. The journey to the Seevers' was short, and they had already arrived.

Jenny met them at the door. If she had been unhappy about anything when she had left them, there was no sign of it now.

"Come on in," she said cheerfully." Dad's in the office, and we have something to show you." She led the way.

"Seever was sitting at his desk, examining with interest an open box about a foot square and half as deep. It was made of thin wood, with the seams heavily caulked and a gasket on the rim where the lid presumably was sealed. Clearly it was meant to be watertight. It contained a quantity of obviously electrical equipment-coils, batteries, and vacuum tubes -which told both the newcomers what it must be though the details were far from clear. Bob had of course taken several physics courses on his way to the chemical engineering degree, and the Hunter had paid some attention to both, reading and lectures, but neither had more than the roughest idea how a metal-detector worked.

"That was a quick job!" Bob exclaimed. Seever answered.

"Not exactly. It was made long ago, well before your father asked for it. Tavake's kids have been using it for months. The only reason he didn't hand it over when Arthur asked for it yesterday was that the young ones were out using it. Taro was surprised when Jenny came around today asking for the same thing. He only gave it to her when she explained it was the same project and would get to the same people."

"The word's spreading like a tank leak on the lagoon," growled Bob.

"Oh, no," insisted Jenny. "Mr. Tavake doesn't know what the project is all about. I certainly didn't tell him, and I'm sure your father didn't."

"He certainly knows that something involving several people and his metal-detector is going on. In a place the size of Ell that may not be quite the same as knowing what it is, but it's the same as having every-one know that much-and the identities of the people involved. Well,I suppose it can't be helped. But if we have to ask for anything else, let's have just one person do the asking from now on."

"Did you tell Maeta?" asked Jenny.

"No, of course not. But she has to know there's something funny-"

"Well with that slip of yours about 'they must be here', she probably won't ask me what I know, but she'll be asking me whether I know anything. What do I tell her? You were being all pure about lying yesterday, most of the time."

"Tell her the truth, of course," snapped Bob. "That you know, but it isn't your secret." Bob was looking at Jenny as he spoke, and the Hunter regretted not being able to see the doctor's expression. It would have been nice to be able to guess his reaction to the intimation that his daughter was not always truthful. His voice cut in, but by the time Bob looked toward him he was well on his way with another matter, and the expression was probably irrelevant to the earlier question.

"Please let me know what you do tell her, Daughter. Maeta works here sometimes, remember, and I don't want to make any slips talking to her because of what she has or hasn't been told. Personally I think she's a very bright young lady who could be a big help to us, but I understand how Bob feels about letting the word spread any farther."

"I knew it," sighed Bob. "Who else, while you're at it?"

"I wasn't making a serious plea about Maeta, Bob, but I did mention Jenny's mother earlier."

"I thought I'd okayed that"

"You weren't really clear, and I didn't want to take a chance until you were."

"Well, tell her. But let's keep it in the families for a while. Of course, if I get so I can't run things, you're the boss and can do what you think best. Now, how does this metal-detector work?"

"You turn it on here. If the earphones whistle, turn the knob here until it just stops. Then if it comes close to metal, the whistle starts again. If you don't get a whistle at any knob position, put in a new battery. If that doesn't work, take it back to Taro. Nothing to it."

Bob picked up the box. "It's much too light to sink.

How do we ballast it for underwater use?"

Seever pointed to a larger box made of concrete, on the floor beside his desk. What looked like a lid lay next to it. Four eyebolts projected from the sides of the cube, as did an insulated wire; it looked as though the concrete had been poured around these.

Seever's explanation corrected one point; the "lid" was actually the floor of the device. The wooden box was supported well above this, and trapped air would keep any water which leaked in well below the electrical equipment, at least to any reasonable depth, as long as everything was kept upright.

"Taro says it's worked fine for his youngsters," Seever finished. "He's had no trouble with leaks, and they've found a lot of stuff like dropped tools on the bottom around the dock and the tanks. It sounds off for a pair of pliers at five or six feet when it's really at it's best.

"Now, Bob, tell me if I have everything straight. Jenny says you are now quite sure that the Hunter's people have been on Earth, and on Ell." Bob nodded emphatically.

"Right," he answered. "They found the generator shield, apparently read its lettering carefully, which the Hunter says would have let them identify his quarry's ship, and for some reason neither of us has been able to guess so far they moved the shield from Apu into the lagoon a mile or so, where Maeta found it. This happened several years ago, but the Hunter is certain, they wouldn't have left Earth, at least not for good. They may, he admits, have spread out from the island either to look for him and his quarry because they couldn't find them here, or to check up on the people of Earth, or both.. He is certain they would come back from time to time to check on the ship which they probably found, or both of them which they may have found. All we have to do is find at least one of themourselves and leave a message with it."

"Two questions," Seever spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "First, why would they have moved the shield? It seems to me you're passing over that question very casually, and you admit you haven't an answer. Second, why do you have to find the ships, or one of them, to leave a message? I could see it as a problem when your friends might have been anywhere on Earth, but you now seem sure they're on Ell at least some of the time, why not paint a message un-obtrusively under the dock?"

Bob sighed. "The second answer is the same as it always was. We still have to avoid attracting human attention. A message with any usable detail will be regular and complex enough to get not just attention but real curiosity. Both the Hunter and I feel we can't afford that. For the other point, granted it may be important but we don't see how it can affect our plans. We'd love to figure out the answer, or have someone ' else come up with a convincing one. Until someone does, we'll have to wonder."

The doctor was silent for at least a minute. "I still don't like it," he said last. "I was hoping the Hunter might recognize it as some sort of standard procedure with his police. Maybe it's not important, but I don't like jigsaw puzzles with big gaps in them, especially when there are no pieces lying around. However, we'll have to live with the situation, I guess. You really can't think of a reason, Hunter?"

"I can think of several," the alien relayed through Bob. "It isn't just a matter of police procedure, which is not itself just a matter of following rules. There are dozens or hundreds of situations in which moving the shield would be the obvious thing to do. I was going to do it myself if we had found it on Apu, in an attempt to backtrack to the other ship. Clearly, whoever did it this time was not backtracking.''

"Why not?" asked Jenny. "Do you really know the other ship didn't land in the lagoon?"

"Of course not," the alien replied, but backtracking on the comparatively open and smooth lagoon floor would be pointless; from what I've seen, one could go anywhere with equal ease. I was hoping, though not very strongly, that there would be only a few lines of possible travel outside the reef. Anyway, Doctor, I have little doubt that when we do find out why the thing was moved we'll agree it was a good, sound reason, but I don't think I'll be embarrassed for not guessing beforehand what it was. There are just too many good possibilities."

Seever nodded acceptance of the point, and went on talking.

"All right. That leaves us with straight procedure-, problems. We've made the diagnosis; we have to plan the operation. It seems to consist of hanging this, gadget over the side of a boat in all the reasonable places we can think of. These unfortunately include the ocean to the west of the reef, which means we have to keep the machine from getting tangled in bottom coral, and also keep the boat off the reef itself. If you think the crash may have occurred within the reef, I'm completely stumped on what you can do. Bluntly, I very much dislike the idea of taking Jenny's boat outside to windward, and the west side is windward most of the time. You'll have to be careful. I won't forbid it, but I hope you'll use common sense.

"Personally, I'd strongly advise getting a better boat-no reflection on yours, Daughter, but I'd be much happier if you had power available. Since I think it would be silly to trail the detector overside blindly, you should wait for the diving gear that Arthur has ordered; and I'd spend the interval finding a powered craft and arranging to borrow it. You'll also have to try tying your work schedule with those of the people helping you; remember, you won't have as much free time as you like. You do start work shortly, I assume?"

"I'd almost forgotten," Bob admitted. "You haven't come up with any excuse, I take it."

"None that would hold up if you're going to be seen, diving several hours a day. Of course, you could take Old Toke into the secret and have him put you to work looking for spaceships."

"We've been through all that. No, thanks."

"Well, we've been through this too, but here it comes again. I think we're going to need more people to get the job done. Your father and I won't be able to help much, on simple time criteria. Your mother may be free a little more of the day, but she has Daphne to take care of at unpredictable times. I can let Jenny off, of course, to suit the needs of the situation, but neither she nor anyone else should be out there alone."

"She wouldn't be alone. I'll be there."

"And if one of your interesting medical problems rears its head-especially if you're under water?"

"Well-" Bob fell silent.

"Remember, if I do the recruiting no one will doubt your sanity. I'm willing to let them doubt mine."

"You shouldn't be. You're the only doctor on Ell, if they lose confidence in you, you won't be here long."

"I can prove what I say."

"So could I," retorted Bob, "if anyone would pay attention. The trouble is talking to someone who's walking off shaking his head." "Have you ever had that happen?"

"No. I'm going by what I'd do myself. Be honest Doc. When I first told you about the Hunter, what would you have done if you hadn't considered it your medical duty to humor me?" It was Seever's turn to be silent.

"All right," he said at last. "But there are people who would normally humor me."

"Your wife, of course," admitted Bob. "But who else?"

"She'll do to start with. In addition, I'd take a chance on the Teroa girl you've already set wondering about you. She's known to be extremely competent in the water. I'll bet she could cover a good deal of the area you want to search, even before the diving equipment arrives."

The Hunter had already considered this point and added his voice to the argument, but Bob was still under the pressure of over seven years' conditioning, He had not been able to bring himself to veto Seever's request to tell his wife, and had even managed to tell Jennyhimself, for reasons which were still not clear to him; but that was as far as he wanted to go for the moment. He didn't phrase it just that way, but both the doctor and the symbiont could see the situation. They gave up for the time being, and the group went back to the logistics problem of planning a way which would give Bob a full day's work without his troubles' being spotted. This seemed to be Seever's business.

"I still haven't found an argument which will get you entirely off work and yet let you go diving, except the one you reject,' the doctor said slowly. "I may, though, beable to come up with something which will keep you away from heavy muscle work.

"There were enough peculiar results in your blood tests to write a good monograph. There is something odd about your calcium. The Hunter isn't doing a perfect job with your sugar. I don't think you'd clot even a pinprick without him, and you don't seem to have any adrenaline at all. He must be doing something or supplying something that does an equivalent job or you'd be pretty dead, but it isn't adrenaline. I can honestly report that your tests are peculiar, but. .."

Seever let his voice trail off.

"But PFI mightreact by sending me to Tahiti, or even to Japan or the States, for more checkups and treatment."

"Can't you tell them just a little? That the tests seem funny and you want to make sure, and I should be kept at desk work or something so you can get at me whenever you want during the day? If I'm not doing heavy work I might either avoid the fatigue or be able to hide it, and I can cover up the joint pains well enough."

"That's all I can see our doing for now," Seever agreed. "I'll write it up that way, and you report for work tomorrow and see what happens. We may as well try it this way. I don't see what else we can work on until the diving gear comes, since you won't let Maeta in on the operation."

"I'm not quite sure about that." Jenny spoke up for the first time since the medical questions had come up. Both men looked at her inquiringly, and her father asked for clarification.

"You mean we can do something to get the equipment here sooner? Or do you know of some here already?"

"Neither. I think I have an idea about getting something done before the diving stuff arrives at all. I'm not really sure, and I want to think it over. Bob, if you'll come here tomorrow after work-you'll want to anyway, so Dad can see how you're doing-I think maybe I can come up with something that will bypass the diving equipment for a while. All right?"

"You're sure you don't want to tell us now?" asked Bob. "It could save a day, you know."

"I'm sure I don't, because I'm not sure I'm right I don't want to look silly." Bob looked at her father, who shrugged.

"I guess that adjourns the meeting," he said. "Bob, you go home and get as many hours sleep as you possibly can. Hunter, there's nothing I can tell you to do. Jenny, work your think box, and if I can help any way without butting into your secret, tell me. One other thing, Bob; drop by on your way to work in the morning and pick up my report on you. I'll do my best, but don't expect too much. Old Toke has always had the idea that recent graduates should be impressed as quickly as possible with the fact that they're not really indispensable, or even very important."

The meeting broke up. Bob went home without any attempt to adjust his bicycle, and he was late getting the rest Seever had recommended because Daphne was on hand.

After she went to bed he updated his parents on progress, but omitted any mention of the bicycle incident. The Hunter spent the night on biochemical work which might or might not have been useful; Bob did not have the joint pains in the morning. Seever's re-port apparently accomplished something, for the Hunter and his host spent the day in the refinery watching dials and turning valves. The work wasn't too hard. Bob's muscles held out to get him back to the doctor's in the late afternoon.

And Jenny's idea was of the sort one kicks one'sself for not thinking of earlier.