"No, I'm crazy! It couldn't be that. I happened to think of that
T-radiation. But I don't believe even Grossman is enough of a scientist
to have discovered what it is or how it can be used--if at all. Well,
anyhow--"
"Anyhow, we're in at the Base. And Grossman doesn't suspect us. That's
part of the job. So--the next move?"
"We circulate. We move around and ask questions and snoop and pry and
investigate."
Mulligan grinned.
"In the good old Rocky Russell tradition, eh?"
"Who?"
"Rocky Russell, I said. Don't tell me you've forgot your real name,
chum?"
Rocky Russell reached into an inside pocket, brought forth a pair of
thick-lensed spectacles, hooked them over his ears. His voice lifted to
a high, gentle, hesitant whine.
"Oh, mercy me!" he simpered. "Forgotten my ... er ... real name? But,
of course not! I am Doctor Rockingham Roswell. And you are my valet,
Ambrose."
Bud groaned.
"Gawd! All the names in creation, and I've got to be called 'Ambrose'!"
* * * * *
"So you're a doctor?" asked Colonel Graham. "That's fine. We can use
another doctor on this post. Glad to have you stay with us, Doctor
Roswell."
Several hours had passed since the _Gaea's_ landing on Titan. In that
time, much had happened. Dr. Roswell and his "man" had made their
adieux to a scornful Captain Burke and a highly amused Factor Grossman,
removed their baggage from the cruiser, and accompanied Lynn Graham to
the S.S.P. base a few miles outside the Titanian city of New Boston.
There they had witnessed the surprise meeting of the Commandant and his
daughter. Lynn Graham had rightly guessed her father's reaction upon
seeing her. She had erred in only one minor detail. She had expected
him to turn "pale violet" with anger. The color he _actually_ achieved
was somewhere in the apoplectic spectrum between dull scarlet and
turkey red.
His outraged bellows, replete with invocations to the deities of a
dozen worlds and highly censorable, were audible for a good half mile.
But eventually--when Lynn had pointed out that: (1) she could not
return to the _Gaea_; (2) she didn't want to return to the _Gaea_, and
(3) that she had no intention of returning to the _Gaea_ even if she
could--he calmed down a trifle. And in his brusque kiss of greeting was
an affection hardly in keeping with the violence of his protestations.
It was then that Lynn had introduced Dr. Roswell and his valet,
explaining their desire to stay at the base. Confused and bewildered,
the commandant had agreed. And now the quartet were gathered in the
colonel's private quarters. The colonel, in his own crisp way, was
trying to be friendly.
"A doctor," he repeated. "That's good. We need the services of a good
doctor around here."
Rocky smiled feebly.
"I ... er ... I'm afraid you don't understand, sir. I'm not an M.D.,
you know. I'm an ... er ... D.M."
"D.M.?" repeated Graham wonderingly. "What's that?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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