Earthlight

Chapter VIII

It was bound to happen sooner or later, Sadler told himself philosophically, as he knocked at the director’s door. He had done his best, but in work like this it was impossible to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. It would be interesting, very interesting, to know who had complained…

Professor Maclaurin was one of the smallest men Sadler had ever seen. He was so tiny that some people had made the fatal mistake of not taking him seriously. Sadler knew better than this. Very small men usually took care to compensate for their physical deficiencies (how many dictators had been of even average height?) and from all accounts Maclaurin was one of the toughest characters on the Moon.

He glared at Sadler across the virgin, uncluttered surface of his desk. There was not even a scribbling pad to break its bleakness—only the small panel of the communicator switchboard with its built-in speaker. Sadler had heard about Mac-laurin’s unique methods of administration, and his hatred of notes and memoranda. The Observatory was run, in its day-today affairs, almost entirely by word of mouth. Of course, other people had to prepare notices and schedules and reports— Maclaurin just switched on his mike and gave the orders. The system worked flawlessly for the simple reason that the director recorded everything, and could play it back at a moment’s notice to anyone who said, “But, sir, you never told me that!” It was rumored—though Sadler suspected this was a libel—that Maclaurin had occasionally committed verbal forgery by retrospectively altering the record. Such a charge, needless to say, was virtually impossible to prove.

The director waved to the only other seat, and started talking before Sadler could reach it.

“I don’t know whose brilliant idea this was,” he began, “but I was never notified that you were coming here. If I had been, I would have asked for a postponement. Although no one appreciates the importance of efficiency more than I do, these are very troubled times. It seems to me that my men could be better employed than by explaining their work to you—particularly while we are coping with the N. Draconis observations.”

“I’m sorry there was a failure to inform you, Professor Mac-laurin,” Sadler replied. “I can only assume that the arrangements were made while you were en route to Earth.” He wondered what the director would think if he knew how carefully matters had been arranged in this precise manner. “I realize that I must be something of a nuisance to your staff, but they have given me every assistance and I’ve had no complaints. In fact, I thought I was getting on rather well with them.”

Maclaurin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Sadler stared in fascination at the tiny, perfectly formed hands, no larger than those of a child.

“How much longer do you expect to be here?” the director asked. He certainly doesn’t worry about your feelings, Sadler told himself wryly.

“It’s very hard to say—the area of my investigation is so undefined. And it’s only fair to warn you that I’ve scarcely started on the scientific side of your work, which is likely to present the greatest difficulties. So far I have confined myself to Administration and Technical Services.”

This news did not seem to please Maclaurin. He looked like a small volcano working up to an eruption. There was only one thing to do, and Sadler did it quickly.

He walked to the door, opened it swiftly, looked out, then closed it again. This piece of calculated melodrama held the director speechless while Sadler walked over to the desk and brusquely flicked down the switch on the communicator.

“Now we can talk,” he began. “I wanted to avoid this, but I see it’s inevitable. Probably you’ve never met one of these cards before.”

The still flabbergasted director, who had probably never before in his life been treated like this, stared at the blank sheet of plastic. As he watched, a photograph of Sadler, accompanied by some lettering, flashed into view—then vanished abruptly.

“And what,” he asked when he had recovered his breath, “is Central Intelligence? I’ve never heard of it.”

“You’re not supposed to,” Sadler replied. “It’s relatively new, and highly unadvertised. I’m afraid the work I’m doing here is not exactly what it seems. To be brutally frank, I could hardly care less about the efficiency of your establishment, and I completely agree with all the people who tell me that it’s nonsense to put scientific research on a cost-accounting basis. But it’s a plausible story, don’t you think?”

“Go on,” said Maclaurin, with dangerous calm.

Sadler was beginning to enjoy himself beyond the call of duty. It wouldn’t do, however, to get drunk with power…

“I’m looking for a spy,” he said, with a bleak and simple directness.

“Are you serious? This is the twenty-second century!”

“I am perfectly serious, and I need not impress upon you that you must reveal nothing of this conversation to anybody, even Wagnall.”

“I refuse to believe,” snorted Maclaurin, “that any of my staff would be engaged in espionage. The idea’s fantastic.”

“It always is,” Sadler replied patiently. “That doesn’t alter the position.”

“Assuming that there’s the slightest basis in this charge, have you any idea who it might be ?”

“If I had, I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you at this stage. But I’ll be perfectly frank. We’re not certain that it is anyone here— we’re merely acting on a nebulous hint one of our—ah—agents picked up. But there is a leak somewhere on the Moon, and I’m covering this particular possibility. Now you see why I have been so inquisitive. I’ve tried not to act out of character, and I think that by now I’m taken for granted by everybody. I can only hope that our elusive Mr. X, if he exists at all, has accepted me at my face value. This, by the way, is why I’d like to know who has been complaining to you. I assume that some-body has.”

Maclaurin hummed and hawed for a moment, then capitulated.

“Jenkins, down in Stores, rather implied that you’d been taking up a lot of his time,”

“That’s very interesting,” said Sadler, more than a little puzzled. Jenkins, chief storekeeper, had been nowhere near his list of suspects. “As a matter of fact, I’ve spent relatively little time there—just enough to make my mission look convincing. I’ll have to keep an eye on Mr. Jenkins.”

“This whole idea is all very new to me,” said Maclaurin thoughtfully. “But even if we have someone here passing out information to the Federation, I don’t quite see how they would do it. Unless it was one of the signals officers, of course.”

“That’s the key problem,” admitted Sadler. He was willing to discuss the general aspects of the case, for the director might be able to throw some light on them. Sadler was all too aware of his difficulties, and the magnitude of the task he had been set. As a counterspy, his status was strictly amateur. The only consolation he had was that his hypothetical opponent would be in the same position. Professional spies had never been too numerous in any age, and the last one must have died more than a century ago.

“By the way,” said Maclaurin, with a forced and somewhat unconvincing laugh. “How do you know that I’m not the spy?”

“I don’t,” Sadler replied cheerfully. “In counter-espionage, certainty is rare. But we do the best we can. I hope you weren’t seriously inconvenienced during your visit to Earth?”

Maclaurin stared uncomprehendingly at him for a moment. Then his jaw dropped.

“So you’ve been investigating me!” he spluttered indignantly.

Sadler shrugged his shoulders.

“It happens to the best of us. If it’s any consolation, you can just imagine what I had to go through before they gave me this job. And I never asked for it in the first place…”

“Then what do you want me to do ?” growled Maclaurin. For a man of his size, his voice was surprisingly deep, though Sadler had been told that when he was really annoyed it developed a high-pitched squeak.

“Naturally, I’d like you to inform me of anything suspicious that comes to your notice. From time to time I may consult you on various points, and I’d be very glad of your advice. Otherwise, please take as little notice of me as possible and continue to regard me as a nuisance.”

“That,” replied Maclaurin, with a half-hearted smile, “will present no difficulties at all. However, you can count on me to assist you in every way—if only to help prove that your suspicions are unfounded.”

“I sincerely hope that they are,” Sadler replied. “And thank you for your co-operation—I appreciate it.”

Just in time, he stopped himself whistling as he closed the door behind him. He felt very pleased that the interview had gone so well, but he remembered that no one whistled after they had had an interview with the director. Adjusting his expression to one of grave composure, he walked out through Wagnall’s office and into the main corridor, where he at once ran into Jamieson and Wheeler.

“Have you seen the Old Man?” Wheeler asked anxiously. “Is he in a good mood?”

“As this is the first time I’ve met him, I’ve no standards of reference. We got on well enough. What’s the matter? You look like a couple of naughty schoolboys.”

“He’s just asked for us,” said Jamieson. “We don’t know why, but he’s probably been catching up on what’s happened while he’s away. He’s already congratulated Con for discovering N. Draconis, so it can’t be that. I’m afraid he’s found out that we’ve borrowed a Cat for a run.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, they’re only supposed to be used on official jobs. But everybody does it—as long as we replace the fuel we burn, no one’s any the worse. Heck, I suppose I shouldn’t have told that to you, of all people!”

Sadler did a quick double-take, then realized with relief that Jamieson was merely referring to his well-advertised activities as a financial watchdog.

“Don’t worry,” he laughed. “The worst I’ll do with the information is to blackmail you into taking me for a ride. I hope the Old Ma—Professor Maclaurin—doesn’t give you too rough a passage.”

All three would have been quite surprised to know with what uncertainty the director himself was regarding this interview. In the ordinary way, such minor infractions of the rules as unauthorized used of a Caterpillar would have been a matter for Wagnall to deal with, but something more important was involved here. Until five minutes ago, he had no idea what it might be, and had asked to see Wheeler and Jamieson to discover what was going on. Professor Maclaurin prided himself on keeping in touch with everything, and a certain amount of his staff’s time and ingenuity had to be employed in seeing that he was not always successful.

Wheeler, drawing heavily on the stock of good will N. Draconis had given him, gave an account of their unofficial mission. He tried to make it sound as if they were a pair of knights in armor riding out into the wilderness to discover the dragon which was menacing the Observatory. He concealed nothing of importance, which was well for him as the director already knew where he had been.

As he listened to Wheeler’s account, Maclaurin found the pieces of the jigsaw fitting together. This mysterious message from Earth, ordering him to keep his people out of the Mare Imbrium in future, must have originated from the place these two had visited. The leak that Sadler was investigating would also have something to do with it. Maclaurin still found it hard to believe that any of his men was a spy, but he realized that a spy was the last thing any competent spy ever looked like.

He dismissed Jamieson and Wheeler with an absent-minded mildness that left them both sorely puzzled. For a moment he sat lost in gloomy thought. It might be a coincidence, of course —the story hung together well. But if one of these men was after information, he had set about it in the right way. Or had he? Would a real spy have acted so openly, knowing that he was bound to draw suspicion on himself? Could it even be a daring double-bluff, on the principle that no one would seriously suspect such a frontal attack?

Thank God, it wasn’t his problem. He would get it off his hands as quickly as he could. Professor Maclaurin snapped down the TRANSMIT switch and spoke to the outer office.

“Please find Mr. Sadler for me. I want to speak to him again.”