“Answer him, Reuben,” May said kindly. “I am May’s man Reuben, of the eighty-third level, an Atomist,” he said. “Explain,” said the other general heavily, “if you can, why all eighteen of the warheads you procured today failed to fire.” “But they did!” gasped Reuben. “The Recon missile report said there was blast damage from the three that got through and it did,n’t say anything about the others failing to fire.” The other general suddenly looked sick and May looked even kindlier. The man who wore the stars turned inquiringly to the chief of the Maintainers, who nodded and said: “That was the Recon missile report, sir.” The general snapped: “What I said was that he would attempt to sabotage the attack. Evidently he failed. I also said he is a faulty double, somehow slipped with great ease into my good friend May’s organization. You will find that his left thumb print is a clumsy forgery of the real Reuben’s thumb print and that his hair has been artificially darkened.” The old man nodded at the chief of the Maintainers, who said: “We have his card, sir.” Reuben abruptly found himself being fingerprinted and deprived of some hair. “The f.p.s check, sir,” one Maintainer said. “He’s Reuben.” “Hair’s natural, sir,” said another. The general began a rearguard action: “My information about his hair seems to have been inaccurate. But the fingerprint means only that Ellay spies substituted his prints for Reuben’s prints in the files-” “Enough, sir,” said the old man with the stars. “Dismissed. All of you. Rudolph, I am surprised. All of you, go.” Reuben found himself in a vast apartment with May, who was bubbling and chuckling uncontrollably until he popped three of the green capsules into his mouth hurriedly. “This means the eclipse for years of my good friend Rudolph,” he crowed. “His game was to have your double sabotage the attack warheads and so make it appear that my organization is rotten with spies. The double must have been under post-hypnotic, primed to admit everything. Rudolph was so sure of himself that he made his accusations before the attack, the fool!”
He fumbled out the green capsules again. “Sir,” said Reuben, alarmed. “Only temporary,” May muttered, and swallowed a fourth. “But you’re right. You leave them alone. There are big things to be done in your time, not in mine. I told you I needed a young man who could claw his way to the top. Rudolph’s a fool. He doesn’t need the capsules because he doesn’t ask questions. Funny, I thought a coup like the double affair would hit me hard, but I don’t feel a thing. It’s not like the old days. I used to plan and plan, and when the trap went snap it was better than this stuff. But now I don’t feel a thing.” He leaned forward from his chair; the pupils of his eyes were black bullets. “Do you want to work?” he demanded. “Do you want your world stood on its head and your brains to crack and do the only worthwhile job there is to do? Answer me!” “Sir, I am a loyal May’s man. I want to obey your orders and use my ability to the full.” “Good enough,” said the general. “You’ve got brains, you’ve got push. I’ll do the spade work. I won’t last long enough to push it through. You’ll have to follow. Ever been outside of Denv?” Reuben stiffened. “I’m not accusing you of being a spy. It’s really all right to go outside of Denv. I’ve been outside. There isn’t much to see at first-a lot of ground pocked and torn up by shorts and overs from Ellay and us. Farther out, especially east, it’s different. Grass, trees, flowers. Places where you could grow food. “When I went outside, it troubled me. It made me ask questions. I wanted to know how we started. Yes-started. It wasn’t always like this. Somebody built Denv. Am I getting the idea across to you? It wasn’t always like this! “Somebody set up the reactors to breed uranium and make pluto-nium. Somebody tooled us up for the missiles. Somebody wired the boards to control them. Somebody started the hydroponics tanks. “I’ve dug through the archives. Maybe I found something. I saw mountains of strength reports, ration reports, supply reports, and yet I never got back to the beginning. I found a piece of paper and maybe I understood it and maybe I didn’t. It was about the water of the Colorado River and who should get how much of it. How can