John Thomas considered the dismal prospect. “Then what’s the sense of hiding him in the mine?”
“Just to gain a day or so, because I’m not ready to take him out yet.”
“Huh?”
“Of course. We’ll hide him in town.”
“What? Slugger, the altitude has got you.”
“In town and under cover. . . because it is the only place in the wide, wide world they won’t look for him.” She added, “Maybe in Mr. Ito’s greenhouses.”
“Huh? Now I know you’re crazy.”
“Can you think of a safer place? Mr. Ito’s son is not hard to reason with; I had a nice talk with him just yesterday. I stood short and looked up at him and let him explain things. One of his greenhouses would be perfect. . . snug, maybe, but this is an emergency. You can’t see through that milky glass they are built out of and nobody would dream that Lummie might be inside.”
“I don’t see how you can do it.”
“You let me handle it. If I don’t get the greenhouse. . . but I will! . . . then I’ll get an empty warehouse or something. We’ll put Lummie in the mine tonight, then I’ll fly back and arrange things. Tomorrow night Lummie and I will go back to town and. . .”
“Huh? It took us two nights to get this far-and it will take us most of tonight to get to the mine. You can’t ride him back in one night.”
“How fast can he go when he tries?”
“But nobody can ride him when he gallops. Not even me.”
“I won’t ride him; I’ll fly over him, pacing him and making him slow down for curves. Three hours, maybe?. . . and another hour to sneak him into the greenhouse.”
“Well. . . maybe it would work.”
“It will because it’s got to. Then you get caught”
“Huh? Why don’t I just go home?”
“No, that would be a giveaway. They catch you, you’ve been doing amateur uranium prospecting. I’ll fetch out a radiation counter. You don’t know where Lummox is; you kissed him goodbye and turned him loose, then came up here to forget your sorrows. You’ll have to be convincing. . . and don’t let them use a truth meter.”
“Yes, but. . . Look, Slugger, what’s the good? Lummie can’t stay in a greenhouse forever.”
“We’re simply buying time. They are ready to kill him on sight. . . and they will. So we keep him out of sight until we can change that.”
“I suppose I should have gone through with the sale to the Museum,” John Thomas answered miserably.
“No! Your instincts are sound, Johnnie, even though you’ve got less brains than a door knob. Look. . . do you remember the Cygnus Decision?”
The Cygnus Decision? We had it in elementary Customs of Civilization?”
“Yes. Quote it.”
“What is this? A mid-semester quiz?” John Thomas frowned and dug into his memory. ” ‘Beings possessed of speech and manipulation must be presumed to be sentient and therefore to have innate human rights, unless conclusively proved otherwise.’ ” He sat up. “Hey! They can’t kill Lummox-he’s got hands!”
XI. “It’s Too Late, Johnnie”
“Mind your air speed,” she cautioned. “Do you know the old one about the man whose lawyer assured him that they could not put him in jail for that?”
“What was ‘that’?”
“Never mind. His client answered, ‘But, counsellor, I’m speaking from the jail.’ Point is, the Cygnus Decision is just theory; we’ve got to keep Lummox out of sight until we can get the court to change its mind.”
“Unh, I see. I guess you’re right.”
“I’m always right,” Betty admitted with dignity. “Johnnie, I’m dying of thirst; thinking is dry work. Did you bring any water up from the creek?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Got a bucket?”
“Yeah, somewhere.” He felt in his pockets, found it and pulled it out. He stopped to blow it up to semi-rigidity, then said, “I’ll fetch it.”
“No, give it to me. I want to stretch my legs.”
“‘Ware fliers!”
“Don’t teach your grandmother.” She took it and went down hill, keeping to the trees until she reached the bank. Johnnie watched her slim figure catching shafts of cathedral light among the pines and thought how pretty she was. . . very nearly as good a head on her as a man and pretty to boot. Aside from being bossy the way females always were, Slugger was all right.