“Yes.”
“I see,” he said, adjusting his sunglasses. “Would you mind telling us how you became acquainted with its provisions?”
“Such things travel quickly in academic circles,” I offered, which was the best response I could locate in my supply of misleading statements.
“It is possible,” said Ragma, dropping back into whatever they had been speaking earlier. “Their scholars have been working on translations. They may be completed by now and circulating about their universities. It is not my department, so I cannot be certain.”
“And if somebody has put together a course on the subject, this one has probably taken it,” said Charv. “Yes. Unfortunate.”
“Then you must be aware,” Charv continued, switching back to English and aiming it in my direction, “that your planet is not yet signatory to the agreement.”
“Of course,” I replied. “But then, my concern is really with your own actions under its provisions.”
“Yes, of course,” he said, glancing at Ragma.
Ragma moved nearer, his unblinking wombat eyes holding something like a glare.
“Mister Cassidy,” he said, “let me put it as simply as possible. We are law officers-cops, if you like-with a job to do. I regret that we cannot give you the particulars, as it would probably make it much easier to obtain your cooperation. As it is, your presence on your planet would represent a distinct impediment to us, while your absence would make things considerably simpler. As we have already told you, if you remain you will be in some danger. Bearing this in mind, it seems obvious that we would both be best served if you would agree to a small vacation.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Then perhaps,” he went on, “I may appeal to your venality as well as your much-lauded primate adventuresomeness. A trip like this would probably cost you a fortune if you could arrange it yourself, and you would have an opportunity to see sights none of your kind has ever witnessed before.”
It did get through to me, that. At any other time I would not have hesitated. But my feelings had just then sorted themselves out. It went without saying that something was amiss and that I was a part of it. But it was more than the world that was out of whack. Something that I did not understand had happened/was happening to me. I grew convinced that the only way I could discover it and remedy or exploit it was to stay home and do my own investigating. I was doubtful that anyone else’s would serve my ends as I would have them served.
So: “I am sorry,” I repeated.
He sighed, turned away, looked out the port and regarded the Earth.
Finally: “Yours is a very stubborn race,” he said.
When I did not respond, he added, “But so is mine. We must return you if you insist. But I will find a way to achieve the necessary results without your cooperation.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“If you are lucky,” he said, “you may live to regret your decision.”
Chapter 5
Hanging there, tensing and untensing my muscles to counteract the pendulum effect of the long, knotted line, I examined the penny on which Lincoln faced to the left. It looked precisely the way a penny would look if I were regarding it in a mirror, reversed lettering and all. Only I was holding it in the palm of my hand.
Beside/below me, where I dangled but a couple of feet above the floor, hummed the Rhennius machine: three jet-black housings set in a line on a circular platform that rotated slowly in a counterclockwise direction, the end units each extruding a shaft-one vertical, one horizontal-about which passed what appeared to be a Moebius strip of a belt almost a meter in width, one strand half running through a tunnel in the curved and striated central unit, which faintly resembled a wide hand cupped as in the act of scratching.
Pumping my knees, feet braced against the terminal knot, I set up a gentle swaying that bore me, moments later, back above the ingoing aperture of the middle component. Lowering myself, extending my arm, I dropped the penny onto the belt, was halted at the end of my arc, began the return swing. Still crouched and reaching, I snared the penny as it emerged.