Don planted his feet. “I’ve had just about enough pushing around,” he said slowly. “If you want my clothes off you’ll have to do it.”
The police officer scowled. “I could give you a couple of convincing answers to that, but I am fresh out of patience. Kelly, Arteem. Strip him.”
Three minutes later Don had an incipient black eye and was nursing a damaged arm. He decided that it was not broken, after all. The lieutenant and his assistants had disappeared into a rear room with his clothing and pouch. It occurred to him that the door behind him did not seem to be locked, but he dropped the idea; making a dash for it through Gary Station in his skin did not appear to make sense.
Despite the inevitable defeat his morale was better than it had been in hours.
The lieutenant returned presently and shoved his clothes at him. “Here you are. And here’s your ticket. You may want to put on clean clothes; your bags are back of the desk.”
Don accepted them silently, ignored the suggestion about a change in order to save time. While he was dressing the lieutenant said suddenly, “When did you pick up that ring?”
“Forwarded to me from school.”
“Let me see it.”
Don took it off and flung it at him. “Keep it, you thief!”
The lieutenant caught it and said mildly, “Now, Don, it’s nothing personal.” He looked the ring over carefully, then said, “Catch!” Don caught it and put it back on, picked up his bags and started to leave. “Open sky,” said the lieutenant.
Don ignored him.
” ‘Open sky,’ I said!”
Don turned again, looked him in the eye and said, “Some day I hope to meet you socially.” He went on out. They had spotted the paper after all; he had noticed that it was missing when he got back his clothes and pouch.
This time he took the precaution of getting an anti-nausea shot before upship. After he had stood in line for that he had barely time to be weighed in before the warning signal. As he was about to get into the elevator he saw what he believed to be a familiar figure lumbering onto the cargo lift nearby—”Sir Isaac Newton.” At least it looked like his passing acquaintance of the day before, though he had to admit that the difference in appearance between one dragon and another was sometimes a bit subtle for the human eye.
He refrained from whistling a greeting; the events of the past few hours had rendered him less naïve and more cautious. He thought about those events as the elevator mounted up the ship’s side. It was unbelievably only twenty-four hours, less in fact, since he had gotten that radio message. It seemed like a month and he himself felt aged ten years.
Bitterly he reflected that they had outwitted him after all. Whatever message lay concealed in that wrapping paper was now gone for good. Or bad.
Couch 64 in the Glory Road was one of a scant half dozen on the third deck; the compartment was almost empty and there were marks on the deck where other couches had been unbolted. Don found his place and strapped his bags to the rack at its foot. While he was doing so he heard a rich Cockney voice behind him; he turned and whistled a greeting.
“Sir Isaac Newton” was being cautiously introduced into the compartment from the cargo hold below with the help of about six spaceport hands. He whistled back a courteous answer while continuing to supervise the engineering feat via voder. “Easy, friends, easy does it! Now if two of you will be so kind as to place my left midship foot on the ladder, bearing in mind that I cannot see it—Wups! Mind your fingers. There, I think I can make it now. Is there anything breakable in the way of my tail?”
The boss stevedore answered, “All clear, chief. Upsy-daisy!”
“If you mean what I think you mean,” answered the Venerian, “then, ‘On your mark; get set—GO!’ ” There was a crunching metallic sound, a tinkle of breaking glass, and the huge saurian scrambled up out of the hatch. Once there he turned cautiously around and settled himself in the space left vacant for him. The spaceport hands followed him and secured him to the deck with steel straps. He waggled an eye at the straw boss. “You, I take it, are the chieftain of this band?”