Lea was still unconscious when he looked at her. There was no way of
telling how long the coma would last. He would probably have to waken
her out of it, but didn't want to do it too early. It took an effort to
control his impatience, even though he knew the drug needed time to work
in. He finally decided on at least a minimum of an hour before he should
try to disturb her. That would be noon--twelve hours before destruction.
One thing he should do was get in touch with Professor-Commander Krafft.
Maybe it was being defeatist, yet he had to make sure that they had a
way off this planet if the mission failed. Krafft had installed a relay
radio that would forward calls from his personal set. If this relay had
been in the Foundation building, contact was broken. This had to be
found out before it was too late. He thumbed on his radio and sent the
call. The reply came back instantly.
"This is fleet communications. Will you please keep this circuit open?
Commander Krafft is waiting for this call and it is being put directly
through to him now." Krafft's voice broke in while the operator was
still talking.
"Who is making this call--is it anyone from the Foundation?" The old
man's voice was shaky with emotion.
"Brandd here. I have Lea Morees with me--"
"No more? Are there no other survivors from the disaster that destroyed
your building?"
"That's it, other than us it's a ... complete loss. With the building
and all the instruments gone I have no way to contact our ship in orbit.
Can you arrange to get us out of here if necessary?"
"Give me your location, a ship is coming now--"
"I don't need a ship now," Brion interrupted. "Don't send it until I
call. If there is a way to stop your destruction, I'll find it. So I'm
staying--to the last minute if necessary."
Krafft was silent. There was just the crackle of an open mike and the
sound of breathing. "That is your decision," he said finally. "I'll have
a ship standing by. But won't you let us take Miss Morees out now?"
"No. I need her here. We are still working, looking for--"
"What answer can you find that could possibly avert destruction now?"
His tone was between hope and despair. Brion couldn't help him.
"If I succeed--you'll know. Otherwise, that will be the end of it. End
of transmission." He switched the radio off.
Lea was sleeping easily when he looked at her, and there was still a
good part of the hour left before he could wake her. How could he put it
to use? She would need tools, instruments to examine the corpse, there
were certainly none here. Perhaps there were some he could find in the
ruins of the Foundation building. With this thought he had the sudden
desire to see the wreckage up close, and talk to the men he had seen
working there. There might be other survivors. He had to find out.
Ulv was still crouched against the wall in the outer room. He looked up
angrily when Brion came over, but said nothing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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