by the arrival of the coded signal; and that if he had help he
could only have gathered about him a secret core of disaf-
fected colonists, a “Loyal Ganymedian Underground” or
equivalent. Earth would assume, and would build the assump-
tion into the computer, that many of the colonists were dis-
satisfied with their lives; it was a hope that Earth could turn
into a fact without being aware of the delusion, since nobody
on Earth could suspect how beautiful Ganymede was. And
the computer would assume, too, that it might be only a mat-
ter of time before Sweeney also had custody, and would be
sending Meikiejon WAWYor maybe even YYAWY.
“How will we know if it does?” Rullman had demanded.
“If it does, then the deadline will pass without Meikiejon’a
making a move. He’ll just stick to his orbit until the computer
changes his mind. What else could it tell him to do, anyhow?
He’s just one man in a small ship without heavy armament.
And he’s an Earthman at thathe couldn’t come down here
and join my supposed underground group even if the idea oc-
curred to him. He’ll sit tight.”
The halftrack heaved itself over an almost cubical boulder,
slid sidewise along its tilted face, and dropped heavily to the
bed of smaller rounded stones. Sweeney looked up from the
radar controls to see how the big aluminum keg was taking
the ride. It was awash in a sea of hand toolsrpicks, adzes,
sledges, spikes, coils of line rapidly unwindingbut it was se-
curely strapped down. The miracle of fireworks chemistry
Cand .specifically, Ganymedian chemistry) still slumbered in-