Science fiction; Short stories; Space ships -- Fiction; Test pilots -- Fiction
"I was afraid to talk there and asked him to drive me to Salt Lake.
On the way, I told him the whole story. He was very sympathetic and
promised to help--beginning by trying to contact my father. I hoped
he would refuse to fly the ship when he knew about Simon. But he had
absolute confidence in it and no fear at all. His plan was to complete
the test and then ask you, Mr. Donner, to impound the ship and all the
records on it.
"The day before the test flight, I put in the time completing the
translation of the fourteenth tablet.
"Simon had shown no interest in this, believing it to be a summary of
the others. As the sense of it began to emerge, I was horrified. By
midnight, I had finished it and I sat down in the drawing room with a
typed copy in my hand, waiting for my husband. I waited all night and
must have fallen asleep around dawn.
"The door chime wakened me. It was a messenger with a note from
Porter--Mr. Hays. A newspaper friend of his in Cairo had been
checking and discovered that my father had been dead six months.
The circumstances of his death were curious and Mr. Hays suggested
contacting the Cairo police as soon as the flight was over.
"This news was a terrible blow, but the moment I read it, I was free of
Simon Kane. I went to the phone and asked the operator for the police.
While I was waiting for the connection, there was a slight sound behind
me. I turned and Simon was crossing the room. He was in his dressing
gown. He must have come in while I was dozing. I ran for the door, but
he caught me and pushed me into a chair.
* * * * *
"When he had hung up the phone, he read Mr. Hays' note without saying a
word. His face was terrible and I knew I was in danger. Then I saw that
the typed copy of the fourteenth tablet was gone.
"'You read it--the last tablet,' I said. 'And you know you've done all
this evil for nothing. The flight can't take place. If you--if you stop
me from telling the police, Porter will tell them. He knows everything.'
"He took my wrist and dragged me to the studio and forced me into the
closet and locked the door. I could hear him crumpling and burning
papers for a long time.
"At last he came close to the door and said, 'There, my dear! Try to
prove that the tablets ever existed!'
"When he was gone, I screamed and pounded on the door until I was
exhausted. A frightful thing was going to happen and there was nothing
I could do to stop it.
"Only once--only one time since this all began have I opposed my
husband successfully. And it had no effect on the outcome. When I typed
up the text of the last tablet, I made a carbon copy and put it in my
handbag. I have it here. I believe it will be evidence enough to prove
that Simon Kane is a murderer."
* * * * *
Nalja Kane reached in her flat beaded bag and found a folded sheet,
which she handed to Donner. He smoothed it on his knees with hands that
trembled a little.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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