"Awaken him," I said. "Get him here. Your own job is at stake as well,
remember."
"I'll get him," Jon said grimly. "Wait here."
I went over to the bar where Benny was serving the miners. Benny had
always been my friend. Jon was my friend, too, but he was a Builder. I
wanted one of my own people to know what was going on, just in case
something happened to me.
We were talking there, in low tones, when I saw MS-33. He came in
through the front door, and there was purposefulness in his stride
that had not been there when I left him back at the old hulk. The
effects of the Moon Glow had worn off much quicker than I had
expected. He had come for vengeance. He would tell about my
distillery, and that would be the end of me. There was only one thing
to do and I must do it fast.
"Quick," I ordered Benny. "Douse the lights." He complied. The place
was plunged into darkness. I knew that it was darkness and yet, you
comprehend, I still sensed everything in the place, for I had the
special visual sensory system bequeathed only to the General Purposes
of a bygone age. I could see, but hardly anyone else could. I worked
swiftly, and I got what I was after in a very short time. I ducked out
of the front door with it and threw it in a silvery arc as far as I
could hurl it. It was an intricate little thing which could not, I am
sure, have been duplicated on the entire moon of Phobos.
When I returned, someone had put the lights back on, but it didn't
matter now. MS-33 was sitting at one of the tables, staring fixedly at
me. He said nothing. Benny was motioning for me to come into the back
room. I went to him.
Jon Rogeson and Langley were there. Langley looked irritated. He was
mumbling strangled curses and rubbing his eyes.
Rogeson laughed. "You may be interested in knowing, B-12, that I had
to arrest him to get him here. This had better be good."
"It is all bad," I said, "very bad--but necessary." I turned to
Langley. "It is said that your present survey is being made with the
purpose of condemning all of Phobos, the dead and the living alike, to
the blast furnaces and the metal shops of Earth. Is this true?"
"Why you impudent, miserable piece of tin! What if I am making a scrap
survey? What are you going to do about it. You're nothing but a ro--"
"So it is true! But you will tell the salvage ships not to come. It is
yours to decide, and you will decide that we are not worth bothering
with here on Phobos. You will save us."
"I?" blustered Langley.
"You will." I took the thing out of my breastplate container and
showed it to him. He grew pale.
Jon said, "Well, I'll be damned!"
It was a picture of Langley and another. I gave it to Jon. "His wife,"
I said. "His real wife. I am sure of it, for you will note the
inscription on the bottom."
"Then Vera--?"
"Is not his wife. You wonder that he was camera shy?"
"Housebreaker!" roared Langley. "It's a plot; a dirty, reactionary
plot!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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