‘Did you bring them?
‘No, but I’ll send ‘em up. In the meantime, you can take my word for it.’ He waited. ‘Well, how about it?
‘I’ll accept it as a tentative working hypothesis,’ Waldo said slowly, ‘until I see your figures. I shall probably want you to conduct some further research for me, on the ground – if your data is what you say it is.
‘Fair enough. G’bye.’ Grimes kicked the air a couple of times as he absent-mindedly tried to walk
Stevens’s frame of mind as he waited for Grimes is better left undescribed. The mildest thought that passed through his mind was a plaintive one about the things a man had to put up with to hold down what seemed like a simple job of engineering. Well, he wouldn’t have the job very long. But he decided not to resign – he’d wait until they fired him; he wouldn’t run out
But he would damn well get that vacation before he looked for another job
He spent several minutes wishing that Waldo were strong enough for him to be able to take a poke at him. Or kick him in the belly – that would be more fun! He was startled when the dummy suddenly came to life and callcd him by name. ‘Oh, Mr Stevens.
‘Huh? Yes?
‘I have decided to accept the commission. My attorneys will arrange the details with your business office.
He was too surprised to answer for a couple of seconds; when he did so the dummy had already gone dead. He waited impatiently for Grimes to show up
‘Doc!’ he said, when the old man swam into view. ‘What got into him? How did you do it?
‘He thought it over and reconsidered,’ Grimes said succinctly. ‘Let’s get going.
Stevens dropped Dr Augustus Grimes at the doctor’s home, then proceeded to his office. He had no more than parked his car and entered the tunnel leading towards the zone plant when he ran into his assistant. McLcod seemed a little out of breath. ‘Gee, chief,’ he said, ‘I hoped that was you. I’ve had ‘em watching for you. I need to see you.
‘What’s busted now?’ Stevens demanded apprehensively.. ‘One of the cities?
‘No. What made you think so?
‘Go ahead with your story.
‘So far as I know ground power is humming sweet as can be. No trouble with the cities. What I had on my mind is this: I fixed my heap.
‘Huh? You mean you fixed the ship you crashed in?
‘It wasn’t exactly a crash. I had plenty of power in the reserve banks; when reception cut off, I switched to emergency and landed her.
‘But you fixed it? Was it the deKalbs? Or something else?
‘It was the deKalbs all right. And they’re fixed. But I didn’t exactly do it myself. I got it done. You see-
‘What was the matter with them?
‘I don’t know exactly. You see I decided that there was no point in hiring another skycar and maybe having another forced landing on the way home. Besides, it was my own crate I was flying, and I didn’t want to dismantle her just to get the deKalbs out and have her spread out all over the countryside. So I hired a crawler, with the idea of taking her back all in one piece. I struck a deal with a guy who had a twelve-ton semitractor combination, and we-
‘For criminy’s sake, make it march! What happened?
‘I’m trying to tell you. We pushed on into Pennsylvania and we were making pretty fair time when the crawler broke down. The right lead wheel, ahead of the treads. Honest to goodness, Jim, those roads are something fierce.
‘Never mind that. Why waste taxes on roads when ninety per cent of the traffic is in the air? You messed up a wheel. So then what?
‘Just the same, those roads are a disgrace,’ McLeod maintained stubbornly. ‘I was brought up in that part of the country. When I was a kid the road we were on was six lanes wide and smooth as a baby’s fanny. They ought to be kept up; we might need ‘em someday.’ Seeing the look in his senior’s eye, he went on hastily: ‘The driver mugged in with his home office, and they promised to send a repair car out from the next town. All told, it would take three, four hours – maybe more. Well, we were laid up in the country I grew up in. I says to myself, “McLeod, this is a wonderful chance to return to the scenes of your childhood and the room where the sun came peeping in the morn.” Figuratively speaking, of course. Matter of fact, our house didn’t have any windows.