Then he took the hand away and looked at it, as though it had just strangled him and he couldn’t understand why.
And finally he spoke.
“Itisn’t true,” he said dully. “I’m not wearing any glasses. Haven’t worn glasses since I was ten. Not since I broke my last pairplaying King of the Hill.”
He sat down before the bombardier board and put his head in his hands.
“You win,” he said hoarsely. “I must be crazy as a loon.
I don’t know what I’m seeing and what I’m not. You better take this gun away. If I fired it I might even hit something.”
“You’re all right,” I said. And I meant it; but I didn’t waste any time all the same. The automatic first; then the tape. In that order, the sequence couldn’t be reversed afterwards.
But the sound of the programmer’s journal clicking to “Off” was as loud in that cabin as any gunshot.
“He’ll be all right,” I told Joan afterwards. “He pulled himself through. I wouldn’t have dared to throw it at any other man that fastbut he’s got guts.”
“Just the same,” Joan said, “they’d better start rotating the station captains faster. The next man may not be so toughand what if he’s a sleepwalker?”
I didn’t say anything. I’d had my share of worries for that week.
“You did a whale of a job yourself, Peter,” Joan said.
“I just wish we could bank it in the machine. We might need the data later.”
“Well, why can’t we?”
“The Joint Chiefs of Staff say no. They don’t say why.
But they don’t want any part of it recorded in ULTIMAC
or anywhere else.”
I stared at her. At first it didn’t seem to make sense. And then it didand that was worse.