Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

reluctance; but anything was better than this agony of suspended doubt,

ringing with the chimes of the computer.

“And then?” Ailiss said.

“I don’t know. I suppose we’ll have to break into the cabin, just to make

sure that he’s dead … that they’re both dead.”

As an afterthought, Jorn started to cut the bells from the computer, and

then, remembering the last time such a step had been taken, decided against

it. Better to give Ertak, or Dr. Chase-Huebner, every possible opportunity

to hear them, if they were going to within the time limit.

The bells chimed away at the minutes. At last Jorn said, “All right,” and

cut off the sound. “Somebody get a drill.”

The whirring cutter bit into the tough metal of the bulkhead. It was heavy

work; in seconds the business end of the tool was white hot. The boy

wielding it sweated over his work, frowning with absurdlyfierce

concentration, his teeth slightly bared. After a while, he had a

quarter-circle cut around the main dog, the one which carried the lock. He

paused to push his wet hair back out of his eyes.

The annunciators cleared their throats, all at once. Jorn started and

looked up, automatically.

And all the Stars a Stage 173

“Rrch. Rk. Tsu’arr hamds. Rk. Arr hamds. Yerrow Warming. Wum. Rk. Yerrow

Warming Ome.”

The sound sputtered and popped, and then the carrier hum cut off again.

Everyone turned to look at jorn, but he had no answers; no more did Ailiss.

The voice had been a little like Ertak’s. It had also been a little like

Dr. Chase-Huebner’s, though in reality, he recalled, these two had never