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Anchorite - Randall Garrett · Classic Science Fiction Library

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  Speaker 1: Part one of Anchorite by Randall Garrett. This LibriVox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. This story was first published
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  Speaker 1: in Analog Science Fact Science Fiction November nineteen sixty two.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Phil Shinevert Part one.
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  Speaker 2: There are two basic.
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  Speaker 1: Kinds of fools, the ones who know they are fools,
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  Speaker 1: and the kind that, because they do not know that,
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  Speaker 1: are utterly deadly menaces. The Ekorite Part one. The mountain
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  Speaker 1: was spinning, not dizzily, not even rapidly, but very perceptibly.
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  Speaker 1: The great mass of jagged rock was turning on its axis.
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  Speaker 1: Captain Saint Simon scowled at it. By damn, Jules, he said,
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  Speaker 1: if you can see em spinning, it's too damn fast.
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  Speaker 1: He expected no answer and got none. He tapped the
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  Speaker 1: drive pedal gently with his right foot, his gaze shifting
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  Speaker 1: alternately from the instrument board to the loomy hulk of
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  Speaker 1: stone before him. As the little spacecraft moved in closer,
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  Speaker 1: he tapped the reverse pedal with his left foot. He
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  Speaker 1: was now ten meters from the surface of the asteroid.
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  Speaker 1: It was moving all right, well, Jules, he said, in
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  Speaker 1: his most commanding voice. We'll just see how fast she's moving.
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  Speaker 1: Prepared to fire torpedo number one. Ya a boss ya,
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  Speaker 1: Sir Captain Saint Simon's suh. Already on the firing line,
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  Speaker 1: he touched a button with his right thumb. The ship
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  Speaker 1: quivered almost imperceptibly, as a jet of liquid leaped from
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  Speaker 1: the gun mounted in the nose of the ship. At
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  Speaker 1: the same time, he hit the reverse pedal and backed
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  Speaker 1: the ship away from the asteroid's surface, no point getting
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  Speaker 1: any more gunk on the whole than necessary. The jet
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  Speaker 1: of liquid struck the surface of the rotating mountain and splashed,
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  Speaker 1: leaving a big splotch of silvery glitter. Even in the
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  Speaker 1: vacuum of space, the silicone based solvents of the paint
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  Speaker 1: vehicle took time to boil off. How's that for pinpoint accuracy?
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  Speaker 1: Jewels y golden malode top hole.
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  Speaker 2: If I may say so, malade you may.
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  Speaker 1: He chockied the little spacecraft around until he was reasonably
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  Speaker 1: stationary with respect to the great hunk of whirling rock
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  Speaker 1: and had the silver white blotch centered on the crosshairs
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  Speaker 1: of the peeper in front of him. Then he punched
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  Speaker 1: the button that started the timer and waited for the
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  Speaker 1: silver spot to come round again. The asteroid was roughly spherical,
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  Speaker 1: which was unusual but not remarkable. The radar gave him
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  Speaker 1: the distance from the surf of the asteroid, and he
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  Speaker 1: measured the diameter and punched it through the calculator.
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  Speaker 2: Observe.
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  Speaker 1: He said, in a dry didactic voice, the diameter is
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  Speaker 1: on the order of five times ten to the fourteenth
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  Speaker 1: micro microns. He kept punching at the calculator. If we
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  Speaker 1: assume a mean density of two point six six times
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  Speaker 1: ten to the minus thirty six metric tons per cubic micromicron,
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  Speaker 1: we attain a mean mass of some one point seven
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  Speaker 1: four times ten to the eleventh kilograms. More punching, while
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  Speaker 1: he kept his eye on the meteorite, watching for the
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  Speaker 1: spot to show up again. And that, my dear Jules,
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  Speaker 1: gives us a surface gravity of approximately two times ten
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  Speaker 1: to the minus sixth standard gs.
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  Speaker 3: Yovol over Slutenant on zo Mine, dear tools, we have
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  Speaker 3: at least the grave suspicion that the surface gravit tea
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  Speaker 3: is less than dressing terrifical force at the equator. Nine Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: zo Yah, hold her consort Maesron. Then there was a
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  Speaker 3: long silent wait while the asteroid went its leisurely way
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  Speaker 3: around its own axis. There he comes, said Captain Saint Simon.
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  Speaker 3: He kept his eyes on the cross hair of the paper,
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  Speaker 3: one hand over the timer button. When the silver splotch
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  Speaker 3: drifted by the crosshair, he punched the stop button and
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  Speaker 3: looked at the indicator. Sixteen minutes forty seconds. How handy
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  Speaker 3: He punched at the calculator again. Ah, you see, jewels,
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  Speaker 3: Just as we suspected, negative g's at the surface on
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  Speaker 3: the equator comes to ten to the minus third standard gs,
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  Speaker 3: almost exactly one centimeter per second squared. So ah, so,
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  Speaker 3: honorable Cupbon is something like five hundred times as great
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  Speaker 3: as gravitational attraction is not so, sukiyaki, my dear chap,
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes your brilliance amazes me. Well, at least admit there
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  Speaker 3: would be no loose rubble on the surface. It would
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  Speaker 3: have been tossed off long ago by the centrifugal force,
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  Speaker 3: flying off at a tangent to become more of the
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  Speaker 3: tiny rubble of the belt.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps flying wasn't exactly the right word, though, would apply
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  Speaker 1: to a velocity of less than one centimeter per second
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  Speaker 1: squared drifting off. Then what do you think, Jules said,
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  Speaker 1: Saint Simon, Well, I reckon, we can do it, cap'n
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  Speaker 1: ifn we go to one of them thar poles. Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's see. He leaned over and punched more figures into
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  Speaker 1: the calculator.
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  Speaker 2: Haint that purdy.
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  Speaker 1: According to this, there's a spot at each pole, about
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  Speaker 1: a meter in diameter, where the g pull is greater
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  Speaker 1: than the scene trifugal force. Captain Saint Simon looked at
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  Speaker 1: the figures on the calculator. The forces, in any case,
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  Speaker 1: were negligibly small. On Earth, where the standard gravity was
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  Speaker 1: ninety eight percent of a standard G. Saint Simon weighed
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  Speaker 1: close to two hundred pounds. Discounting the spin, he would
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  Speaker 1: weigh about four ten thousands of a pound on the
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  Speaker 1: asteroid he was inspecting. The spin at the equator would
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  Speaker 1: try to push him off with a force of about two.
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  Speaker 2: Tenths of a pound.
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  Speaker 1: But a man who didn't take those forces into account
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  Speaker 1: could get himself killed in the belt. Very well, Jules,
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  Speaker 1: he said, we'll inspect the poles. Do you think they
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  Speaker 1: will welcome us in Krakow?
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  Speaker 2: Erzbiskov?
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  Speaker 1: The area around the north pole defined as that pole
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  Speaker 1: from which the body appeared to be spinning counterclockwise, looked
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  Speaker 1: more suitable for operations than the south pole. Theoretically, Saint
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  Speaker 1: Simon could have stopped the spin, but that would have
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  Speaker 1: required an energy expenditure of some twenty three thousand kilowatts
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  Speaker 1: in the first place, and it would have required an
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  Speaker 1: anchor to be set somewhere on the equator. Since his
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  Speaker 1: purpose in landing on the asteroid was to set just
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  Speaker 1: such an anchor, stopping the spin would be a waste
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  Speaker 1: of time and energy. Captain Saint Simon positioned his little
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  Speaker 1: spacecraft a couple of meters above the north pole. It
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  Speaker 1: would take better than six minutes to follow that four,
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  Speaker 1: so he had plenty of time. Perhaps a boarding party.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Christian on the double, I, sir, on the double
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  Speaker 1: it is. Saint Simon pushed himself over to the locker,
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  Speaker 1: took out his vacuum suit and climbed into it. After
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  Speaker 1: checking it thoroughly, he said, prepared to evacuate main control room.
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  Speaker 2: Mister Christian Aye.
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  Speaker 1: Aye, sir, all prepared and ready, I hope. Captain Saint
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  Speaker 1: Simon looked around to make sure he hadn't left a
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  Speaker 1: bottle of coffee sitting somewhere. He done that once and
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  Speaker 1: the stuff had boiled out all over everywhere. When he
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  Speaker 1: pulled the air out of the little room. No, no coffee,
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  Speaker 1: no obstacles to turning on the pump. He thumbed the
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  Speaker 1: button and the pumps started to whine. The wine built
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  Speaker 1: up to a crescendo, then began to die away, until
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  Speaker 1: finally it could only be felt through the walls or floor.
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  Speaker 2: The air was gone.
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  Speaker 1: Then he checked the nanometer to make sure that most
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  Speaker 1: of the air had actually been pumped back into the
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  Speaker 1: reserve tanks. Satisfied, he touched the button that would open
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  Speaker 1: the door. There was a faint jar as the remaining
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  Speaker 1: wisps of air shot out into the vacuum of space.
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  Speaker 1: Saint Simon sat back down at the controls and carefully
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  Speaker 1: repositioned the ship. It was now less than a meter
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  Speaker 1: from the surface. He pushed himself over to the open
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  Speaker 1: door and looked out. He clipped one end of his
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  Speaker 1: safety cable to the steel eye bolt at the edge
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  Speaker 1: of the door. Fasten on carefully, Jules, he said, we
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  Speaker 1: don't want to lose anything like what mon Capitan like
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  Speaker 1: this spaceship monpitit tete de mouton ah.
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  Speaker 2: But no, my old and raw.
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  Speaker 1: We could not afford to lose the so Dear Nancy Bell,
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  Speaker 1: could we. The other end of the long cable was
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  Speaker 1: connected to the belt of the suit. Then Saint Simon
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  Speaker 1: launched himself out the open door toward the surface of
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  Speaker 1: the planetoid. The ship began to drift very slowly, but
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  Speaker 1: not so slowly as it had been falling off in
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  Speaker 1: the other direction. He had picked the spot he was
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  Speaker 1: aiming for. There was a jagged hunk of rock sticking
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  Speaker 1: up that looked as though it would make a good handhold.
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  Speaker 1: Right nearby there was a fairly smooth spot that would
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  Speaker 1: do to break his fall. He struck it with his
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  Speaker 1: palm and took up the slight shock with his elbow
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  Speaker 1: while his other hand grasped the outcropping. He had not pushed.
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  Speaker 2: Himself very hard.
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  Speaker 1: There is not much weathering on the surface of an asteroid.
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  Speaker 1: Micro Meteorites soften the contours of the rock a little
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  Speaker 1: over the millions of millennia, but not much, since the
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  Speaker 1: debris in the belt all has roughly the same velocity.
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  Speaker 1: Collisions do occur, but they are at the violent smashes
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  Speaker 1: that make the brilliant meteor displays of Earth, and there
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  Speaker 1: is still a standing argument among the men of the
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  Speaker 1: Belt as to whether that sort of action can be
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  Speaker 1: called weathering. Most of the collisions tend to cause fracturing
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  Speaker 1: of the surface, which results in jagged edges. A man
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  Speaker 1: in a vacuum suit does not push himself against a
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  Speaker 1: surface like that with any great velocity. Saint Simon knew
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  Speaker 1: to a nicety that he could propel himself against a
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  Speaker 1: bed of nails and broken glass at just the right
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  Speaker 1: velocity to be able to stop himself without so much
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  Speaker 1: as scratching his glove, and he could see that there
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  Speaker 1: was no ragged stuff on the spot he had selected.
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  Speaker 1: The slanting rays of the sun would have made them
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  Speaker 1: stand out in relief. Now he was clinging to the
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  Speaker 1: surface of the mountain of rock like a bug on
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  Speaker 1: the side of a cliff on a nickel iron asteroid.
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  Speaker 1: He could have walked around on the surface using the
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  Speaker 1: magnetic souls of his vacuum suit, but silicate rock is
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  Speaker 1: notably lacking in response to that attractive force. No soul maybe,
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  Speaker 1: but directly and indirectly that lack of response to magnetic
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  Speaker 1: forces was the reason and for Saint Simon's crawling around
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  Speaker 1: on the surface of that asteroid directly because there was
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  Speaker 1: no other way he could move about on a non
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  Speaker 1: metallic asteroid. Indirectly, because there was no way the big
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  Speaker 1: space tugs could get a grip on such an asteroid either.
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  Speaker 1: The nickel iron brutes were a dead cinch to haul
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  Speaker 1: off to the smelters. All a space tug had to
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  Speaker 1: do was latch onto one of them with a magnetic
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  Speaker 1: gravel and start hauling. There was no such simple answer
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  Speaker 1: for the silicate rocks. The nickel iron asteroids were necessary.
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  Speaker 1: They supplied the building material and the major export of
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  Speaker 1: the Belt cities. They averaged around eighty two ninety percent iron,
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  Speaker 1: anywhere from five to twenty percent nickel, and perhaps a
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  Speaker 1: half a percent cobalt, with smatterings of phosphorus, sulfur, carbon, copper,
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  Speaker 1: and chromium necessary but not sufficient. The rocks ran only
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  Speaker 1: about twenty five percent iron. In the form of non
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  Speaker 1: magnetic compounds, they averaged eighteen percent silicon, fourteen percent magnesium,
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  Speaker 1: between one and one point five percent each of aluminium, nickel,
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  Speaker 1: and calcium, and good sized dollops of sodium, chromium, phosphorus, manganese, cobalt, potassium,
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  Speaker 1: and titanium.
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  Speaker 2: But more important.
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  Speaker 1: Than these, As far as the immediate needs of the
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  Speaker 1: Belt Cities were concerned, was a big whopping thirty six
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  Speaker 1: percent oxygen. In the Belt Cities, they had soon learned that,
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  Speaker 1: physically speaking, the stuff of life was not bred, and
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  Speaker 1: no matter how carefully oxygen is conserved, no process is
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  Speaker 1: one hundred percent efficient. There will be leakage into space,
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  Speaker 1: and that which is lost must be replaced. There is
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  Speaker 1: plenty of oxygen locked up in the silicates. The problem
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  Speaker 1: is towing them to the processing plants where the stuff
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  Speaker 1: can be extracted. Captain Saint Simon's job was simple. All
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  Speaker 1: he had to do was sink an anchor into the
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  Speaker 1: asteroid so that the space tugs could get a grip
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  Speaker 1: on it. Once he had done that, the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the job was up to the tug crew. He crawled
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  Speaker 1: across the face of the floating mountain at the spot
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  Speaker 1: where the north pole was. He braced himself and then
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  Speaker 1: took a quick look around at the Nancy Bell. She
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  Speaker 1: wasn't moving very fast. He had plenty of time. He
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  Speaker 1: took a steel peton out of his tool pack, transferred
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  Speaker 1: it to his left hand, and took out a hammer. Then,
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  Speaker 1: working carefully, he hammered the peton into a narrow.
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  Speaker 2: Cleft in the rock.
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  Speaker 1: Three more of the steel spikes were hammered into the surface,
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  Speaker 1: forming a rough quadrilateral around the pole.
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  Speaker 2: That looks good enough to me, Jules, he said, when
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  Speaker 2: he had finished.
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  Speaker 1: Now that we have our little anchors, we can put
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  Speaker 1: the monster in. Then he grabbed his safety line and
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  Speaker 1: pulled himself back to the Nancy Bell. The small craft
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  Speaker 1: had floated away from the asteroid a little, but not much.
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  Speaker 1: He repositioned it after he got the rocket drill out
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  Speaker 1: of the storage compartment. Make way for the stovepibe, he said,
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  Speaker 1: as he pushed the drill ahead of him out the door.
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  Speaker 1: This time he pulled himself back to his drilling site
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  Speaker 1: by means of a cable which he had attached to
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  Speaker 1: one of the petons. The setting up of the drill
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  Speaker 1: didn't take much time, but it was done with a
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  Speaker 1: great deal of care. He set the four foot tube
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  Speaker 1: in the center of the quadrilateral formed by the petons
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  Speaker 1: and braced it in position by attaching lines to the
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  Speaker 1: eyes of a detachable collar that encircled the drill. Once
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  Speaker 1: the drill started working, it wouldn't bracing, but until it did.
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  Speaker 1: It had to be held down all the time he worked.
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  Speaker 1: He kept his eyes on his lines and on his ship.
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  Speaker 1: The planetoid was turning under him, which made the ship
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  Speaker 1: appear to be circling slowly around his work site. He
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  Speaker 1: had to make sure that his lines didn't get tangled
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  Speaker 1: or twisted while he was working. As he set up
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  Speaker 1: the bracing on the six inch diameter drill, he sang
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  Speaker 1: a song that Kipling might have been startled to recognize.
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  Speaker 1: To the tables down at Mory's, to the place where
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Lewis dwells, where it's always double drill and no canteen
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  Speaker 1: sit the Whiffin poofs assembled with their glasses raised on high,
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  Speaker 1: and they'll get a swig in hell from gungod Inn.
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  Speaker 1: When the drill was firmly based on the surface of
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  Speaker 1: the planetoid, Saint Simon hauled his way back to his
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  Speaker 1: ship along his safety line. Inside, he sat down in
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  Speaker 1: the control chair and backed well away from the slowly
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  Speaker 1: spinning hunk of rock. Now there was only one thin
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  Speaker 1: pair of wires stretching between his ship and the drill
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  Speaker 1: on the asteroid. When he was a good fifty meters away,
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  Speaker 1: he took one last look to make sure everything was
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  Speaker 1: as it should be. Stand by for a broadside. Standing by, sir,
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  Speaker 1: you may fire when ready. Gridley Ay, Sir, rockets away.
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  Speaker 1: His forefinger descended on a button which sent a pulse
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  Speaker 1: of current through the pair of wires that trailed out
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  Speaker 1: the open door to the drill fifty meters away. A
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  Speaker 1: flare of light appeared on the top of the drill.
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  Speaker 1: Almost immediately it developed into a tongue of rocket flame.
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  Speaker 1: Then a glow appeared at the base of the drill,
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  Speaker 1: and flame began to billow out from beneath the tube.
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  Speaker 1: The drill began to sink into the surface, and the
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  Speaker 1: planetoid began to move ever so slowly. The drill was
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  Speaker 1: essentially a pair of opposed rockets. The upper one, which
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  Speaker 1: tried to push the drill into the surface of the planetoid,
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  Speaker 1: developed nearly forty percent more thrust than the lower one. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: the lower one, which was trying to push the drill
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  Speaker 1: off the rock, was outmatched. It had to back up
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  Speaker 1: if possible, and it was certainly possible. The exhaust flame
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  Speaker 1: of the lower rocket easily burrowed a hole that the
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: rocket could back into, while the silicate rock boiled and
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: vaporized in order to get out of the way. Soon
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: there was no sign of the drill body itself. There
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  Speaker 1: was only a small volcano spewing up gas and liquid
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  Speaker 1: from a hole in the rock. On the surface of
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  Speaker 1: a good sized planet, the drill would have built up
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  Speaker 1: a little volcanic cone around the lip of the hole,
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  Speaker 1: but building a cone like that requires enough gravity to
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  Speaker 1: pull the hot matter back to the edge of the hole.
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  Speaker 1: The fireworks didn't last long. The drill wasn't built to
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  Speaker 1: go too deep. A drill of that type could be built,
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  Speaker 1: which would burrow its way right through a small planetoid,
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  Speaker 1: but that was hardly necessary for planting an anchor ten
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  Speaker 1: meters was quite enough. Now came the hard work. On
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  Speaker 1: the outside of the Nancy Bell. Locked into place was
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: a specially treated nickel steel eyebolt thirty feet long and
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  Speaker 1: eight inches in diameter. There had been ten of them,
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  Speaker 1: just as there had been ten drills in the storage locker.
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  Speaker 1: Now the last drill had been used and there was
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  Speaker 1: but one eyebolt left. The Nancy Bell would have to
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  Speaker 1: go back for more supplies after this job. The anchor
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  Speaker 1: bolts had a mass of four metric tons each them
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  Speaker 1: around even when they were practically weightless. Was no easy job.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon again matched the velocity of the Nancy Bell
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  Speaker 1: with that of the planetoid, which had been accelerated by
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: the drill's action. He positioned the ship above the hole
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  Speaker 1: which had been drilled into the huge rock, not directly
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  Speaker 1: above it. Rocket drills had been known to show spurts
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  Speaker 1: of life after they were supposed to be dead. Saint
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Simon had timed the drill and it had apparently behaved
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  Speaker 1: as it should, but there was no need to take chances.
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  Speaker 1: Fire Brigade stand by, Fire Brigade standing.
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  Speaker 2: By, Sir.
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  Speaker 1: A nozzle came out of the nose of the Nancy
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  Speaker 1: Bell and peeped over the rim of the freshly drilled hole.
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  Speaker 1: Ready aim squirt. A jet of kerosene like fluosilicone oil
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: shot down the shaft. When it had finished its work.
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  Speaker 1: There was little possibility that anything could happen at the bottom.
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  Speaker 1: Any unburned rocket fuel would have a hard time catching
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: fire with that stopped soaking into it. Ready to lower
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  Speaker 1: the boom, Mister Christian bellowed Saint Simon, Aye, sir, Ready, sir,
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  Speaker 1: lower away. His fingers played rapidly over the control board
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: outside the ship. The lower end of the great eye
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  Speaker 1: bolt was released from his clamp, and a small piston
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  Speaker 1: gave it a little shove. In a long, slow, graceful arc,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: it swung away from the hull, swiveling around the pivot
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: clamp that held the eye. The breaking effect of the
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: pivot clamp was precisely set to stop the eyebolt when
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: it was at right angles to the hull. Moving carefully,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon maneuvered the ship until the far end of
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the bolt was directly over the shaft. Then he nudged
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the Nancy Bell sideways, pushing the bolt down into the planetoid.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: It grated a couple of times, but between the power
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: of the ship and the mass of the planetoid there
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: was enough pressure to push it past the obstacles. The
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: rocket drill and the eye bolt had been designed to
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: work together. The hole made by the first was only
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: a trifle larger than the second. The anchor settled firmly
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: into place. Saint Simon released the clamps that held the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: eyebolt to the hull of the ship and backed away again.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: As he did, a power cord unreeled for the eye
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: bolt was still connected to the vessel electrically several meters away.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon pushed another button. There was no sound, but
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: his practiced eye saw the eye of the anchor quiver.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: A small explosive charge set in the buried end of
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the anchor had detonated, expanding the far end of the bolt,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: wedging it firmly in the hole. At the same time,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: a piston had been forced up a small shaft in
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the center of the bolt, forcing a catalyst to mix
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: with a fast setting resin and extruding the mixture out
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: through half a dozen holes in the side of the bolt.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: When the stuff.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Set, the anchor was locked securely to the sides of
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the shaft and thus to the planetoid itself. Saint Simon
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: waited a few minutes to make sure the resin had
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: set completely. Then he clambered outside again and attached a
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: heavy towing cable to the eye of the anchor, which
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: projected above the surface of the asteroid. Back inside the
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: ship again, he slowly applied power the cable straightened and
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: pulled at the anchor as the Nancy Bell tried to
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: get away from the asteroid. Jules Old Bunyan, he said,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: as he watched the needle of attention. Gage, we have
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: set her well.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, mallld, so it would appell my lord Saint Simon.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: Cut the power. Very good, Jewels.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Now we shall see if the beeper is functioning as
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: it should. He flipped a switch that turned on the
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: finder pick up, then turned the selector to his own
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: frequency band. Bee, said the radio importantly Bee. The explosion
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: had also triggered on a small but powerful transmitter built
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: into the anchor. The tugs would be able to find
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the Planetarid by following the beeps.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Ah, Jewels success, Yes, mallrd success for the tenth time
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: in a row this trip, And how many trips does
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: this make?
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Ah? But who's counting?
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Think of the money and the monotony, malaude, to say
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: nothing of molasses, muchness and other things had begun with
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: an im quite so jewls, quite so. Well, let's detach
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: the towing cable and be on our way. Whither millrd vesta,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: I rather thought Pallas this time old fimble still melud vesta,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Pallas Jewels vesta hm high ho, said Captain Saint Simon, thoughtfully, Pallas.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: The argument continued while the tow cable was detached from
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: the freshly placed anchor, and while the air was being
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: let back into the control chamber, and while Saint Simon
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: divested himself of his suit. Actually, although he would like
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: to go to Vesta, it was out of the question
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: energy wise and time wise. Pallas was much closer. He
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: settled back in the bucket seat and shot toward Pallas.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Mister edwag torn her first was from San Pedro, Greater
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, California, Earth. He was a businessman of executive
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: rank and was fairly rich. In his left lapel was
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the Magistral Knight's Cross of the Sovereign Pyro Suli Mitian
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Order of Malta, reproduced in miniature. In his wallet was
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: a card identifying him as a representative of the Constituency
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of Southern California to the Supreme Congress of the People
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: of the United Nations of Earth. He was just past
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: his fifty third birthday, and his lean, ascetic face and
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: graying hair gave him a look of saintly wisdom. Aside
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: from the eight pointy cross in his lapel, the only
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: ornamentation or jewelry he wore consisted of a small, exquisitely
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: thin gold watch on his left wrist, and on the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: ring finger of his left hand a gold signet ring
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: set with a single flat, unfatted diamond, which was delicately
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: engraved with the Tornhurst coat of arms. His clothing was
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: quietly but impressively expensive, and under earth gravity would probably
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: have draped impeccably, but it tended to fluff oddly away
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: from his body under a g pull only a twentieth
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: of Earth's. He sat in his chair with both feet
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: planted firmly on the metal floor, and his hands gripping
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: the armrests, as though he were afraid he might float
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: off toward the ceiling if he let go, But only
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: his body betrayed his unease. His face was impassive and calm.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: The man sitting next to him looked a great deal
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: more comfortable. This was mister Peter Danley, who was twenty
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: years younger than mister Tarnhorst, and looked at Instead of
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: the earth cut clothing that the older man was wearing,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: he was wearing the cloth those fitting tights that were
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: the common dress of the Belt cities. His hair was
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: cropped close, and the fine blonde strands made a sort
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: of golden halo about his head. When the light from
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the panels overhead shone on them. His eyes were pale blue,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: and the lashes and eyebrows were so light as to
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: be almost invisible. That effect, combined with his thin lined,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: almost lipless mouth, gave his face a rather expressionless expression.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: He carried himself like a man who was used to
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: low gravity or null gravity conditions, but he talked like
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: an earthman, not a belt man. The identification card in
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: his belt explained that he was a pilot on the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Earth Moon Shuttle surface. In the eyes of anyone from
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: the Belt cities, he was still an Earthman, not a
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: true spaceman. He was looked upon in the same way
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: that the captain of a train its Atlantic Liner might
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: have looked upon the skipper of the Staten Island Ferry
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: two centuries before. The very fact that he was seated
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: in a chair gave away his Earth habits. The third
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: man was standing, leaning at a slight ankle, so that
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: his back touched the wall behind him. He was not
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: tall five nine, and his face and body were thin.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: His tanned skin seemed to be stretched tightly over this
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: scanty padding, and in places the bones appeared to be
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: trying to poke their way through to the surface. His
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: ears were small and lay nearly flat against his head,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: and the hair on his skull was so sparse that
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: the tanned scalp could be easily seen beneath it, although
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: there was no actual ball spot anywhere. Only his large,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: luminous brown eyes showed that nature had not skimped on everything.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: When he was formed, his name was lettered kne on
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: the outside of the door of the office Horges al
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: hmed In spite of the French spelling, he pronounced the
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: name George in the English manner. He had welcomed the
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: two earthmen into his office, smiling the automatic smile of
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: the diplomat as he welcomed them to Paullus as soon
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: as they were comfortably seated, though perhaps that word did
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: not exactly apply to EdWay Tarnhorst. George al Hmede said, now, gentlemen,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: what can I do for you? He asked it as
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: though he were completely unaware of what had brought the
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: two men to Pallace. Toarnhorst looked as though he were
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: privately astonished that his host could speak grammatically. Mister Alhamede,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: he began, I don't know whether you're aware that the
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: industrial death rate here in the belt has been the
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: subject of a great deal of discussion in both industrial
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: and governmental circles on Earth. It was a half question,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and he let it hang in the air to see
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: whether he got an answer. Certainly, my office has received
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: a great deal of correspondence on the subject, al Habid said.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: His voice sounded as though Toarnhorst had mentioned nothing more
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: serious than a commercial deal. Important, but nothing to get
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: into a heavy sweat over. Tarnhorst nodded and then held
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: his head very still. His actions betrayed the fact that
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: he was not used to the messages his semi circular
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: canals were sending his brain when he moved his head
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: under lo g exactly, he said, after a moment's pause.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: I have stat copies of a part of that correspondence,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to be specific, the correspondence between your office and the
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Worker's Union Safety Control Board and between your office and
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: the working Man's Compensation Insurance Corporation. I see, well, then
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: you're fully aware of what our trouble is, mister Tornhurst.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: I'm glad to see that an official of the insurance
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: company is taking an interest in our troubles. Tornhorst's head
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: twitched as though he were going to shake his head
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: and had thought better of it a fraction of a
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: second too late. It didn't matter, the fluid in his
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: inner ears sloshed anyway. I am not here in my
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: capacity as an officer of the Workingman's Compensation Insurance Corporation,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: he said carefully. I am here as a representative of
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: the People's Congress. Al HMED's face showed a mild surprise,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: which he did not feel. I am honored, of course,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: mister Tornhurst, he said, but you must understand that I
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: am not an official of the government of Poulis. Tornhorse's
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: systhetic face betrayed nothing.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Since you have no.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Unified government out here, he said, I cannot, of course
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: presume to deal with you in a governmental capacity. I
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: have spoken to the governor of Pallas, however, and he
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: assures me that you are the man to speak to.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: If it's about the industrial death rate.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Al Hmed agreed, then he's perfectly correct. But if you're
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: here as a governmental representative of Earth, I don't understand. Please,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: mister Alhamed, Tarnharst interrupted, with a touch of irritation in
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: his voice. This is not my first trip to the Belt,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: nor my first attempt to deal with the official workings
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: of the confederated cities. Al Hmed nodded gently. It was,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, mister Tarnhurst's second trip beyond
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: the Martian Orbit, the first having taken place some three
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: years before. But the complaint was common enough. Earth, with
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: its strong centralized government, simply could not understand the functioning
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: of the Belt confederacy. A man like Tarnhorst apparently couldn't
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: distinguish between government and business. Knowing that Alhamed could confidently
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: predict what the generals said, Tarnhorst's next sentence would be.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: I am well aware, said Tarnhorst, that the Belt companies
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: not only have the various governors under their collective thumb,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: but have thus far prevented the formation of any kind
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: of centralized government. Let us not quibble, mister Ahmed. The
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Belt companies run the Belt, and that means that I
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: must deal with officials of those companies, such as yourself.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: Alhamid felt it necessary to make a mild speech in
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: rebuttal I cannot agree with you, mister Tarnhorst. I have
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with the government of Polas or any
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: of the other asteroids. I am neither an elected nor
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: an appointed official of any government, nor for that matter,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: am I an adviser either an official or unofficial capacity
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: to any government. I do not make the laws designed
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: to keep the peace, nor do I enforce them, except
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: in so far as I am a registered voter and
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: therefore have some voice in those laws and that respect.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Nor again, do I serve any judiciary function in any
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: belt government, except insomuch as I may be called upon
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: for jury duty. I am a business executive, mister Tarnhurst,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: nothing more. If you have governmental problems to discuss, then
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: I can't help you, since I am not authorized to
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: make any decisions for any government.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: EdWay.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Tarnhurst closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: thin nose.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: Between thumb and forefinger.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: I understand that, I understand that perfectly. But out here
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: the companies have taken over certain functions of government, shall
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: we say? Shall we say rather that on earth the
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: government has usurped certain functions which rightfully belong to private enterprise.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Al Hammad said gently, historically, I think that is the
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: correct views opened his eyes and smiled.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: You may be.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Quite correct, historically speaking perhaps the Earth government has usurped
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: the functions that rightfully belonged to kings, dictators and warlords,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: to say nothing of local satraps and petty chieftains.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: Hm.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Perhaps we should return to that. Perhaps we should have
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: returned to the human suffering that was endemic to those times.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: You might try, said al Hmed, with a straight face,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: say one year out of every ten. It would give
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: the people something to look forward to with anticipation and
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: to look back upon with nostalgia. Then he changed his tone.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: If you wish to debate theories of government, mister Tonhurst,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: possibly we could get up a couple of teams make
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: a public affair of it. He could be taped and
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: televised here and on Earth, and we could charge royalties
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: on each. Peter Danley's blonde blank face became suddenly animated.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: He looked as though he were trying to suppress a laugh.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: He almost succeeded. It came out as a cough. At
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: the same time, Tarnhurst interrupted al Hamed. You have made
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: your point, mister Alhamid, he said, in a brittle voice,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Permit me to make mine. I have come to discuss
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: business with you, but as a member of the Congressional
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Committee for Industrial Welfare. I am also in search of facts.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Proper legislation requires facts, and legislation passed by the Congress
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: will depend to a great extent upon the report of
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: my findings here, I understand, said mister Alhamed. I'll certainly
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: be happy to provide you with whatever data you want,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: with the exception of data on industrial processes, of course,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: that's not mine to give, but anything else. He gestured
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: with one hand, opening it palm upwards, as though dispensing
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: a gift. I'm not interested in industrial secrets, said Tarnhorst,
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: somewhat mollified. It's a matter of the welfare of your workers.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: We feel that we should do something to help. As
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: you know, there have been protests from the Workers' Union
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Safety Control Board and from the working Man's Compensation Insurance Corporation.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: Alhamid nodded, I know the insurance company is complaining about
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: the high rate of claims for deaths. They've threatened to
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: raise our premium rates considering the expense. Don't you, as
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: a businessman, think that a fair thing to do. No,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Alhamid said, I have pointed out to them that the
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: total amount of claims is far less per capita than,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: for instance, the steel construction Workers'.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Union on Earth.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Granted, there are more death claims, but these are more
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: than compensated for by the fact that the claims for
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: disability and hospitalization are almost negligible. That's another thing we
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: don't understand, Tornhorst said, carefully, it appears that not only
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: are the safety precautions insufficient, but the post accident care
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: is inefficient. I assure you that what post accident care
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: there is, Alhamed said, is quite efficient, but there is
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: a high mortality rate because of the very nature of
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: the job. Do you know anything about anchor placing, mister
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Tonhorst very little. Tornhorst admitted, that is one of the
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: things I'm here to get information on. You use the
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: phrase what post accident care there is? Just how do
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: you mean that, mister Toornhorst. When a man is out
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: in space, completely surrounded by a hard vacuum, any accident
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: is very likely to be fatal. On Earth, if a
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: man six his thumb in a punch press, he loses
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: his thumb. Out here, if a man's thumb is crushed
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: off off while he's in space, he loses his air
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: and his life long before he can bleed to death.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Anything that disables a man in space is deadly ninety
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: nine times out of a hundred. I can give you
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: a parallel case. In the early days of oil drilling,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: wells occasionally caught fire. One of the ways to put
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: them out was to literally blow them out with the
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: charge of nitro glycerin. Naturally, the nitroglycerin had to be
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: transported from where it was made to where it was
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: to be used. Sensibly enough, it was not transported in
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: tank car lots. It was carried in small, special containers
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: by a single man in an automobile who used the
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: back roads and avoided traffic and stayed away from thickly
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: populated areas, which was possible in those days. In many places,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: these carriers were required to paint their cars red and
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: have the words danger nitro glycerin painted on the vehicle
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: in yellow. Now, the interesting thing about that situation is that,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: whereas insurance companies in those days were reluctant to give
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: policies to those men, even at astronomical premium rates disability
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: insurance costs, practically nothing provided the insured would allow the
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: insertion of a clause that restricted the covered period to
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: those times when he was actually engaged in transporting nitroglycerin.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: You can see why I am not familiar with explosives,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: Tornhorst said, I take it that the substance is easily detonated.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: That's right, said Alhamid. It's not only sensitive, but it's unreliable.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: You might actually drop a jar of the stuff and
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: do nothing but shadow the jar. Another jar, apparently exactly similar,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: might go off because it got jiggled by a seismic
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: wave from a passing truck half a mile away. But
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: the latter was a great deal more likely than the former.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Very well, said Tarnhorst after a moment, I accept that analogy.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: I'd like to know more about the work itself. What
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: does the job entail, exactly what safety precautions are taken.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: It required the better part of three hours to explain
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: exactly what an anchor setter did and how he did it,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: and what safety precautions were being taken through it all.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Peter Danley just sat there listening, saying nothing. Finally, edwigh,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: Tarnhorst said, well, thank you very much for the information,
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: mister Alhamid. I'd like to think this over may I
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: see you in the morning, certainly, sir, You're welcome at
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: any time.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you. The two earthmen rose from.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: Their seats, Tarnhorst carefully Danley with the ease of long
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: would nine in the morning be convenient? Quite convenient, I'll
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: expect you. End of Part one, Part two of Anchorite
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: by Randall Garrett. This sleeby Vox recording is in the
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: public domain. Danley glided over to the door and held
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: it open for Tornharst. He was wearing magnetic glide shoes,
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: the standard footwear of the belt, which had three ball
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: bearings in the forward part of the soul, allowing the
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: foot to move smoothly in any direction, while the rubber
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: heel could be brought down to act as a break
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: when necessary. He didn't handle them with the adeptness of
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: a belt man, but he wasn't too awkward. Tornhurst was
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: wearing plain, magnetic souled boots the left him up and
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: lay him down type. He had no intention of having
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: his dignity compromised by shoes that might treacherously scoot out
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: from under him. As soon as the door had closed
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: behind them, George al Hmed picked up the telephone on
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: his desk and punched a number. When a woman's voice
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: answered at the other end, he said, miss Lehmann, this
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: is mister Alhamid. I'd like to speak to the governor.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: There was a pause, then George Larry here. Al Hamed
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: leaned back comfortably against the wall. I just saw your guests, Larry.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: I spent damn near three hours explaining why it was
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: necessary to put anchors in rocks, how it was done,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: and why it was dangerous. Did you convince him, Tornhorst,
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: I mean I doubt it.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: I don't mean he thinks I'm lying or anything like that.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: He's too sharp for that. But he is convinced that
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: we're negligent, that we're a bunch of barbarians who care
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: nothing about human life. You've got to unconvince him, George,
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: the Governor said, worriedly. The belt still isn't self sufficient
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: enough to be able to afford an earth embargo. They
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: can hold out longer than we can, I know. Al
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: Hmed said, give us another generation and we can tell
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the world welfare state where to head in. But right
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: now things are touching, and you and I are in
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: the big fat middle of it. He paused, rubbing thoughtfully
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: at his lean blade of a nose with a bony forefinger. Larry,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: what do you think of that blonde nun entity torn
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Horse brought with him. He's not a nonentity, the governor
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: objected gently.
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: He just looks it.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: He's torn Horse. It's expert on space industry. If you
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: want my opinion, Did he say much of anything while
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: he was with you?
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: Hardly anything? The same here.
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: I have a feeling that his job is to evaluate
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: every word you say and report his evaluation to Tornhorst.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: You have to be careful, I agree, Alhmed said, but
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: he complicates things. I have a feeling that if I
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: tell Tornhorst a straight story, he'll believe it. He seems
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: to be a pretty shrewd judge. But Danley just might
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: be the case of the man who is dangerous because
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: of his little learning. He obviously knows a devil of
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: a lot more about operations as face than Tornhorst does,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: and he's evidently a hand picked man, so that Tornhorst
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: will value his opinion. But it's evident that Danley doesn't
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: know anything about space by our standards. Put him on
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: a boat as an anchorman and he'd be lucky if
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: he's set a single anchor. Well, there's not much chance
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: of that. How do you mean he's dangerous. I'll give
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: you a for instance. Suppose you've got a complex circuit
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: using alternating current and you're trying to explain to a
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: reasonably intelligent man how it works and what it does.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: If he doesn't know anything about electricity, he might understand
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: the explanation, but he'll believe that you're telling him the
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: truth even if he doesn't understand it. But if he
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: knows the basic theory of direct currents, you're likely to
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: find yourself in trouble because he'll know just enough to
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: see that what you're telling him doesn't jibe with what
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: he already knows. Volts times and peers equals watts as
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: far as he's concerned, and the term power factor does
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: nothing but confuse him. He knows that copper is a conductor,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: so he can't see how a current could be cut
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: off by a choke coil. He knows that a current
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: can't pass through an insulator, so a condenser obviously can't
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: be what you say it is. Mentally, he tags you
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: as a liar, and he begins to dig in to
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: see how your gadget really works. Hmm, I see what
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: you mean, bad, he snorted, Blast earth men, anyway, have
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: you ever.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: Been there Earth? Nope.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: By careful self restraint, I've managed to forego that pleasure
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: so far, Larry.
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: Why.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: It's a feel of the place that I can't stand.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: I don't mean the constant high gee. I take my
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: daily exercise, spend in the centrifuge, just like anyone else,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: and you soon get used to the steady pull on Earth.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: I mean the constant, oppressive, psychic attention. If you see
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: what I mean, the feeling that everyone hates and distrusts
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: everyone else, the curious impression of fear underneath every word
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: and action.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: I'm older than you are, George, and I've.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: Lived with a kind of fear all my life, just
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: as you and everyone else in the Belt has. A
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: single mistake can kill out here, and the fear that
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: it will be some fool who makes mistake that will
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: kill hundreds is always with us. We've learned to live
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: with that kind of fear. We've learned to take steps
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: to prevent any idiot from throwing the wrong switch that
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: would shut down a power plant. Are open and air
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: lock at the wrong time. But the fear on Earth
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: is different. It's the fear that everyone else is out
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: to get you, the fear that someone will stick a
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: figurative knife in your back and reduce you to the
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: basic subsistence level. And that fear is solidly based.
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: Believe me.
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: The only way to climb up from basic subsistence is
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: to climb over everyone else, to knock aside those in
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: your way, to get rid of whoever is occupying the
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: position you want. And once you get there, the only
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: way you can hold your position is to make sure
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: that nobody below you gets too big for his breeches.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: The rule is pull down those above you, hold down
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: those below you. I've seen it, George. The big cities
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: are packed with people whose sole ambition in life is
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: to badger their local welfare worker out of another check.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: They need new clothes, they need a new bed, they
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: need a new table, they need more food for the
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: new baby. They need this, they need that. All they
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: ever do is need. But of course they're far to
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: aristocratic to work. Those who do have ambition have to
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: become politicians in the worst sense of the word. They
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: have to gain some measure of control over the dispersal
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: of largesse to the mob. They have to get themselves
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: into a position where they can give away other people's
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: money so that they can get their cut too. And
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: even then the man who gets to be a big
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: shot doesn't dare show it. Take a look at Tornhurst.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: He's probably one of the best of a bad lot.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: He has his fingers and a lot of business pies
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: which make him money, and he's in a high enough
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: position in the government to enable him to keep some
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: of his money. But its clothing is only a little
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: better than the average, just as the man who is
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: on basic subsistence wears clothes that are only a little
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: bit worse than the average. That diamond ring of his
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: is a real diamond, but you can buy imitations that
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: can't be told from the real thing except by an expert.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: So his diamond doesn't offend anyone by being ostentatious, and
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: it's unfaceted to eliminate offensive flash. All the color has
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: gone out of life on Earth, George. Women held out
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: longer than men did, but now no man or woman
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: would be caught wearing a bright colored suit. You don't
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: see any reds or yellows or blues or greens or oranges,
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: only grays and browns and black.
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: It's not for me, George. I'd much rather.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: Live in fear of the few fools who might pull
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: a stock trick that would kill me, rather than live
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: in the constant fear of everyone around me, all who
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: want to destroy me deliberately. I know what you mean,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: said Al Hamed, but I think you've put the wrong
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: label on what you're calling fear. There's a difference between
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: fear and having a healthy respect for something that is
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: dangerous but not malignant. That vacuum out there isn't out
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: to get anybody.
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: The only people it.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: Kills are the fools who have no respect for it
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: and the neurotics who think that it wants to murder them.
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: You're neither, and I know it, the Governor laughed. As
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: the advantage we have over earthman, George, we went through
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: this same school of hard knocks together, all of us,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: and we know how we stack up against each other. True,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: al Hamed said darkly, But how long will that hold?
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: If tornhorse closes the shoul down.
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: That's what you've got.
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: To prevent, said the Governor flatly. If you need help, yell,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: I will Alhamed said very loudly. He hung up, wishing
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: he knew what Tornhorst and Danley.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: Had in mind.
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: The trouble with these people, Danley said, Edwige Tornhorst is
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: that they have no respect whatever for human dignity. They
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: have a tendency to overlook the basic rights of the individual.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: They're certainly different, Peter Danley said. Tornhorst juggled himself up
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: and down on the easy chair in which he was seated,
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: as though he could hardly believe that he had waited again.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: He hated low g It made him feel awkward and undignified.
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: The only thing that reminded him that this was not
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: real gravity was the faint but all pervasive hum of
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: the huge injuns that drove the big centrifuge. The rooms
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: had cost more, but they were well worth it as
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: far as Tornhorst was concerned. How do you mean indifferent?
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: He asked, almost absently, settling himself comfortably into the cushions.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: I don't know exactly. There's a hardness, a toughness. I
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: can't quite put my finger on it, but it's the
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: way they act, the way they talk. Surely you'd notice
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: that before Tornhors asked, in mild surprise. You've met these
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: belt men on Luna and they're women, Danley said, with
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: a nod. But the impact is somewhat more pronounced on
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: their own home ground, seeing them a moss. They're women,
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: torn Horse said, caught by the phrase, faugh, bright colored birds,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: giggling children, and no more morals than a common house cat. Oh,
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: they're not as bad as all that, Danley objected. Their
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: clothing is a little bright, i'll admit, and they laugh
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: and get around a lot. But I wouldn't say that
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: their morals were any worse than those of a girl
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: from New York or London. Arrogance is the word, said Tarnhorst.
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: Arrogance like the way that al Hmed kept standing all
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: the time we were talking, towering over us. That way,
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: just habit, Danley said. When you don't weigh more than
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: six or seven pounds, there's not much point in sitting down. Besides,
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: it leaves them on their feet in case of emergency.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: He could have sat down out of politeness, Tornhorse said,
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: but no, they tried to put on an air of
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: superiority that is offensive to human dignity.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: He leaned back in.
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: His chair, stretched out his legs and crossed his ankles. However,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: attitude itself needn't concern us until it translates itself into
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: antisocial behavior. What cannot be tolerated is this callous attitude
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: toward the dignity and well being of the workers out here.
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: What did you think of al HMED's explanation of this
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: anchor setting business, Danley hesitated. It sounded straight forward enough
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: as far as it went. You think he's concealing something, then,
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't have all the information. He frowned,
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: putting furrows between his almost invisible blonde brows. I know
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: that neither government business nor insurance business are my specialty,
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: but I would like to know a little more about
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: the background before I render any decision.
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: Hm.
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: Well Tarnhorst frowned in thought for a moment, then came
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: to a decision. I can't give you the detailed data,
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: of course, that would be a violation of the People's
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: Mutual Welfare Code, but I can give you the general story.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: I just want to know what sort of thing to
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: look for, Danley said, certainly, certainly. Well Tornhurst paused to
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: collect his thoughts, then launched into his speech. It has
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: now been over eighty years since the first colonists came
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: out here to the Belt. At first, the tides with
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: Earth were quite strong, naturally, only if few actually intended
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: to stay out there the rest of their lives. Most
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: of them intended to make themselves a nice little nest egg,
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: come back home and retire. At the same time, the
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: world state was slowly evolving from its originally loosely tied
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: group of independent nations toward what it is today. The
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: people who came out here were mostly misfits sociologically speaking,
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: he smiled sardonically. They haven't changed much at any rate.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: As I said, they were strongly tied to Earth. There
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: was the matter of food, air, and equipment, all of
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: which had to be shipped out from Earth to begin with.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: Only the tremendous supply of metal, almost free for the taking,
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: made such a venture commercially possible. Within twenty five years, however,
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: the various industrial concerns that managed the Belt mining had
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: become self supporting. The robot scoopers, which were used to
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: mine methane and ammonia from Jupiter's atmosphere, gave them plenty
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: of organic raw material. Now they grow plants of all
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: kinds and even raise food animals. They began, as every
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: misfit does, to complain about the taxes the government put
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: on their incomes. The government, in my opinion, made an
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: error back then. They wanted to keep people out in
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: the belt, since the mines on Earth were not only
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: rapidly being depleted, but the mining sites were needed for
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: living space. Besides, asteroid materials were cheaper than metals.
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: Mined on Earth.
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: To induce the colonists to remain in the belt, no
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: income tax was levied. The income tax was replaced by
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: an eighty percent tax on the savings accumulated when the
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: colonists returned to Earth to retire.
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: They resented even.
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: That it was explained to them that the asteroids were,
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: after all, natural resources, and that they had no moral
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: right to make a large profit and deprive others of
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: their fair share of the income from a natural resource.
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: But they insisted that they had earned it and had
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: a right to keep it. In other words, the then
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: government bribed them to stay out here, and the bribe
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: was more effective than they had intended, so they stayed
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: out here and kept their money. Danley said exactly at
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: that time, if you will recall, there was a great
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: deal of agitation against colonialism. There had been for a
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: long time. As a matter of fact, that agitation was
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: directed against certain industrial, robber baron nations who had enslaved
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: the populace of parts of Asia and Africa, sold it
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: to produce wealth and not for the benefit of the
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: people themselves. But the Belt operators took advantage of the
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: anti colonialism of the times and declared that the Belt
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: cities were and by right ought to be free and
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: independent political entities.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: It was a.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: Ridiculous assumption, of course, but since the various Belt cities
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: were at that time under the nominal control of three
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: or four of the larger nations, the political picture required
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: that they be allowed to declare themselves independent. It was
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: not anticipated at the time that they would be so
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: resistant toward the world government. He smiled slightly. Of course,
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: by refusing to send representatives to the People's Congress, they
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: have an effect cut themselves off from any voice in
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: human government. Then he shrugged, at the moment, that is
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: neither here nor there. What interests us at the moment
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: is the death rate curve of the anchor sinkers or.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: Whatever they are. Do you know that it.
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: Is practically impossible for anyone to get a job out
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: there in the belt unless he has had experience in
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: the anchor setting field. No, Danley admitted, it's true. For
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: every other job, they want only men with space experience,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: and by space experience they mean anchor setting, because that's
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: the only job a man can get without previous space experience.
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: They spend six months in a special school learning to
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: do the work, according to our friend mister George Alhamid,
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: then they are sent out to set anchors, small ones
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: at first in rocks only a few meters in diameter,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: then larger ones. After a year or so, with that
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: kind of work, they can apply for more lucrative positions.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: I see nothing intrinsically wrong in that, I will admit,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: But the indications are that the schooling, which should have
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: been getting more efficient over the years, has evidently been
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: getting more lax.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: The death rate has gone up.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: Just a minute, Danley interrupted, do you mean that a
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: man has to have what they call space experience before
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: he can get any kind of a job? Torn Horst
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: shook his head and was pleased to find that no.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: Nause You're resulted, No, of course, not clerical jobs. Teaching
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: jobs and the like don't require that sort of training,
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: but there's very little chance for advancement unless you're one
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: of the elite. A physician, for example, wouldn't have many
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: patients unless he had had space experience. He wouldn't be
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: allowed to own or drive a spaceboat, and he wouldn't
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: be allowed to go anywhere near what was called critical
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: areas such as airlocks, power plants, are heavy industrial installations.
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: It sounds to me as though they have a very
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: strong union, said Danley, if you want to call it that, yes,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: torn Horst said, anything that has anything to do with
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: operations in space requires that's of experience, and there are
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: very few jobs out here that can avoid having anything
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: to do with space. Space is only a few kilometers away.
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: The expression on his face showed that he didn't much
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: care for the thought. I don't see that so bad,
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: Danley said, Going out there isn't something for the unexperienced.
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: A man who doesn't know what he's doing can get
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: himself killed easily, and what's worse, he's likely to take
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: others with him. You speak, of course, from experience, Tornhurst said,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: with no trace of sarcasm. I accept that by not
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: allowing inexperienced persons in critical areas, the built companies are
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: at least indirectly looking out for the welfare of the people.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: But we mustn't delude ourselves into thinking that this is
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: their prime objective. These Belt companies are no better than
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: the so called industrial giants of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: The government here is forcical. The sole job is to
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: prevent crime and to adjudicate small civil cases. Every other
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: function of proper government, the organization of industry, the regulation
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: of standards, the subsidizing of research, the control of prices,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: and so on, are left to the Belt companies or
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: to the people. The Belt cities are no more than
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: what used to be called company towns. I understand that
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: Danley said, but they seem to function fairly smoothly. Tarnharst
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: eyed him. If by smoothly functioning you mean the denial
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: of the common rights of human freedom and dignity. Yes, oh,
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: they give their soft such basic human needs as the
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: right of every individual to be respected, but only because
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: Earth has put pressure on them. Otherwise, people who through
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: no fault of their own, were unable to work or
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: get space experience, would be un to get jobs and
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: would be looked down upon as pariahs. You mean there
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: are people here who have no jobs. I wouldn't think
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: that unemployment would be a problem out here. It isn't,
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: said Tarnhurst yet. But there are always those unfortunates who
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: are psychologically incapable of work, and society must provide for them.
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: The Belt cities provide for a basic education. Of course,
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: as long as a person is going to school, he
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: is given a stipend. But a person who has neither
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: the ability to work nor the ability to study is
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: an outcast. Even though he is provided for by the companies,
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: he is forced to do something to earn which should be.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: His by right.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: He has given menial and degrading tasks to do. We
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: would like to put a stop to that sort of thing,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: but we have no means of doing so. He paused,
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: as though considering whether he is said too much. The
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: problem at hand, he went on hurriedly, is the death curve.
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: When this technique for.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: Taking the rocks to the smelters was being worked out,
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: the death rate was, as you might imagine, quite high.
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: The Belt companies had already been operating out here for
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: a long time before the stony meteorites were mined commercially.
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: At first, the big thing was nickel iron. That's what
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: they came out here to get in the beginning. That's
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: where most of the money still is. But the stony
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: asteroids provide them with their oxygen. The anchor setting technique
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: was worked out at a time when the belt companies
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: were trying to find ways to make the belt self sufficient.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: After they got the technique worked out so that it
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: operated smoothly, the death rate dropped way down. It stayed
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: down for a little while, and then began to rise again.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: It has nearly reached an all time high. Obviously, something
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: is wrong, and we have to find out what it is.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: Danley scratched rumatively behind his right ear and wished he'd
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: had the opportunity to study history. He had been vaguely
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: aware of the broad outlines, but the details had never
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: been brought to his attention before. Suppose al Hmede is
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: trying to hide something, He said, after a moment, what
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: would it be, do you think? Tornhurst shrugged and spread
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: his hands. What could it be but some sort of
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: money saving scheme inferior materials being used at a critical spot,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: perhaps skipping on quality or quantity. Somewhere, somehow there are
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: shaving costs at the risk of the workers lives. We
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: have to find out what it is, Peter Danley nodded,
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: You don't mean we. Danley thought to himself, I'm the
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: only one who's going to have to go out there
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: and find it while you sit here safe. He felt
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: that there was a pretty good chance that these Felt
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: operators might kill him to keep him from finding out
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: what it was they were saving money on Aloud, he said,
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: I'll do what I can, mister Toarnhurst. Tarnhurst smiled, I'm
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: certain you will.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 2: That's why I.
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: Needed someone who knows more about the business than I.
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: And when we do find it, what then then? Why
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: then we force them to make the proper changes or
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: there will be trouble. George al Hmed heard the whole
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: conversation early the next morning. The governor himself brought the
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: recording over to his office. Do you think he knew
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: he was being overheard? The governor shrugged, Who knows? He
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: will stall around what he was trying to say. But
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: that may have been just native caution, or he may
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: not want Danley to know what's on his mind. How
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: could he bring Danley out here without telling him anything beforehand?
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: Alhamid asked, thoughtfully, is Danley really that ignorant?
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: Or was the whole.
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: Conversation for our ears? I'm inclined to think that Danley
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: really didn't know. Remember, George, the best way to hold
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: down the ones below you is to keep them from
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: gaining any knowledge, to keep data out of their hands,
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: except for the carefully doctor data you want them to have.
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: I know, al Hmied said, history isn't exactly a popular
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: subject on Earth. He tapped his fingers gently on the
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: case of the playback and looked at it as if
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: he were trying to read the minds of the persons
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: who had spoken the words he had just heard. I
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: really think he believed that his nullifying equipment was doing
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: its job, the governor continued, He wouldn't have any way
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: of knowing we could counteract it. Alhamid shrugged, it doesn't
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: matter much. We still have to assume that he's primarily
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: out to bring the Belt cities under Earth control. To
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: do that, all he'd have to do is find something
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: that could be built up into a scandal On Earth,
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: not all, George, the governor said, it would take a
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: lot more than that alone, but it would certainly be
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: a start in the right direction. One thing we do know,
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: Alhamid said, is that nobody on Earth will allow any
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: action against the Belt unless popular sentiment is definitely against us.
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: As long as we are apparently right thinking people, we're
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: all right.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 2: I wonder why.
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: Turn Horst is so anxious to get us under the
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: thumb of the People's Congress. Is it purely that half
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: baked idealism of his. Mostly he has the notion that
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: everybody has a right to be accorded the respect of
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: his fellow man, and that right is something that every
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: person is automatically given at birth, not something he has
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: to earn. What gave him his particular gripe against us,
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: I don't know, But he's been out to get us
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: ever since his trip here three years ago, you know,
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 1: Larry al Hamede said, slowly, I'm not quite sure. Which
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: is harder to understand how a whole civilization could believe
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: that sort of thing, or how a single intelligent man could.
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: It's a positive feedback. The governor said. That sort of
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: thing has wrecked civilizations before. And we'll do it again.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: Let's not let it wreck ours. Are you ready for
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: the conference with our friend now? George Alhamede looked at
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: the clock on the wall. Ready as I'll ever be.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: You'd better scram, Larry. We mustn't give mister Turnhurst the
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: impression that there's some sort of collusion between business and
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: government out here in the belt Heaven, forfend I'll get.
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: When he left, the Governor took the play back with him.
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: The recording would have to be filed in the special
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: secret files. Captain Saint Simon eased his spaceboat down to
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: the surface of Palace and threw on the magnetic anchor,
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: which held the little craft solidly to the metal surface
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: of the landing field. The traffic around Palace was fairly
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: heavy this time of year, since the planetoid was on
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: the same side of the Sun as Earth, and the
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: big cargo haulers were moving in and out loading refined
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: metals and raw materials unloading manufactured goods from Earth. He'd
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: had to wait several minutes in the traffic pattern before
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: being given clearance for anchoring. He was already dressed in
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: his vacuum suit and the cabin of the boat was
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: exhausted of its air.
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 2: He checked his.
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: Control board, making sure every switch and dial was in
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: the proper position. Only then did he open the door
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: and step out to the gray surface of the landing field.
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: His suitcase, a spherical seal container that the beltman jokingly
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: referred to as a bomb, went with him. He locked
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: the door of his boat and walked down the yellow
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: painted safety lane toward the nearest airlock leading into the
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: interior of the planetoid. He lifted his feet and set
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: them down with precision. Nobody but a fool wears glide
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: boots on the outside. He kept his eyes moving up
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: and around on both sides, above and behind.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 2: The yellow path was supposed.
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: To be a safety lane, but there was no need
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: of taking the chance of having an out of control
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: ship come sliding in on him. Of course, if it
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: was coming in really fast, he'd have no chance to move.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: He might not even see.
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 2: It at all.
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: But why get slugged by a slow one. He waited
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: outside the airlock for the green light to come on.
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: There were several other space suited figures around him, but
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: he didn't recognize any of them. He hummed softly to himself.
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: The green light came on and the door of the
• 1:14:05
  Speaker 1: airlock slid open. The small crowd trooped inside, and after
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: a minute the door slid shut again. As the elevator dropped,
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon heard the familiar whoosh as the air came
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: rushing in. By the time it had reached the lower level,
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: the elevator was up to pressure.
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 2: On Earth.
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: There might have been a sign in such an elevator
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: reading do not remove vacuum suits in elevator. There was
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: no need for it here. Every man there knew how
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: to handle himself in an airlock. If he hadn't, he
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have been there. After he had stepped out of
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: the elevator along with the others, and the door had
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: closed behind him, Saint Simon carefully opened the cracking valve
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: on his helmet. There was a faint hiss of incoming air.
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: Adjusting these slight pressure deferential, he took off his helmet,
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: talked it under his arm, and headed for the check
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: in station. He was walking down the corridor toward the
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: checker's office when a hand clapped him on the shoulder.
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: Bless me, if it isn't Saint Simon, the silent long time. No,
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: if you'll pardon the cliche.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 2: See.
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon turned grinning. He had recognized the voice, Hi, Carrie,
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: good to see you, Good to see me? For a
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: soooth odds Bodkins had turned a lyar on top of
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: everything else, good, Saint, good to see me. Indeed, from
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: such a face and form as mine, the noblest sentiments
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: sound like the black utterances of a depraved imagination.
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 2: No, dear, old holy pillar setter.
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: No, indeed, it may be a pleasure to hear my
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: molefluous voice, a pleasure I often indulge in myself. But
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: it couldn't possibly be a pleasure to see me. And
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: all the while, Saint Simon was being pummeled heartily on
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: the shoulder, while his hand was pumped as though the
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: other man was expecting to strike isle at any moment.
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: His assailant was not a handsome man. Years before, a rare,
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: fast moving meteor had punched its way through his helmet
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: and taken part of his face with it. He had
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: managed to get back to his ship and pump air in.
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 2: Before he lost consciousness.
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: He had had to stay conscious because the only thing
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: that held the air in his helmet had been his
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: hand pressed over the quarter ridge hole. Even so, the
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: drop in pressure had done its damage. The surgeons had
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: done their best to repair the smashed face, but Carrie
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: Brandt's face hadn't been much to look at to begin with,
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: and the mottled purple of the distended veins and capillaries
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: did little to improve his looks. But his ruined face
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: was a badge of honor, and carry Brand knew the
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: fact as well as anyone.
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 2: Saint Simon.
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: Captain Brand was a professional anchor setter. Most of the
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: men who put in the necessary two years went on
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: to better jobs after they had the required space experience,
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: but there were some who liked the job and stuck
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: with it. It was only these men, the real experts
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: among the anchor setting fraternity who rated the title of captain.
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: They were free lancers who ran things pretty much their
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: own way. Just going to the checker, Saint Simon said,
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: Carry Brand shook his head. I've already checked in old sunctus,
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: and I'll give you three and one seventh guesses who
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: got a blue ticket. Saint Simon said nothing, but he
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: pointed a finger at Brand's chest. A mild surmise, but
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: a true one, said Brand. You are indeed gazing upon
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: Professor Carrie Brand b A m.
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 2: A pH d.
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: That is to say, borer of asteroized mess stir of
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: anchors and planetoid hollered deluxe. No, no, don't look sorry
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: for me. Somebody has to teach the tadpoles how to
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: survive in space if you're not too stupid to live,
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: a subject upon which I am an expert on being
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: too stupid to live, say Simon asked gently, A.
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 2: Touch, a distinct touch.
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: You are developing a certain unexpected vein of pawky humor, Watson,
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: against which I must learn to guard myself. He looked
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: down at the watch on his wrist. Why don't you
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: go ahead and check in, and then we'll go pop crawling.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: I have it on good authority that a few thousand
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: gallons of Danish ale were piped the Board Palace yesterday,
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: and you and I should do our best to reduce
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: the surplus. Sounds good to me, said Saint Simon agreeably.
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: They started on tour the checker's office. Consider, my dear,
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon, said Brand, How fortunate we are to be
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: living in an age and a society where the dictum
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: those who can do. Those who can't teach no longer
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: holds true. It means that we weary work, hardened experts,
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: are called in every so often, hand it our little
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: blue ticket and given six months off with pay. If
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: we will only do the younger generation the favor of
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: pounding a modicum of knowledge into their heads during that time,
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: if we are very careful, we can try to prevent
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: our muscles from going to flab and our brains from
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: corroding with nui, so that when we again debark into
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: the infinite sea of emptiness which surrounds us to pursue
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: our chosen profession, we don't get killed on the first try.
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 2: Isn't it wonderful? Cheer up?
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: Says Saint Simon. Teaching isn't such a bad lot. And
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: after all, you do get paid for it, and at
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: a salary, A pooh bah paid for his services.
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 2: I a salaried dominion. Ah, but I do it. It
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 2: revolts me, but I do it.
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: The short, balding man behind the checker's desk looked up
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: as the two men approached. Hello, captain, he said, as
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon stepped up to the desk, How are you,
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: mister Murdogg? Saint Simon said politely. He handed over his
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: lock book. There's the data on my last ten I'll
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: be staying here for a few days, so there's no
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: need to rush the refilled requisition. Any calls for me.
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: The checker put the log book in the duplicator. I'll
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: see if there are Captain. He went over to the
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: auto file and punched Saint Simon's serial number. Very few
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: people write to an anchorman, since he is free to
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: check in and reload at any of the major Belt cities,
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: and since in his search for asteroids his erratic orbit
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: is likely to take him anywhere, it might be months
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: or years before a written letter caught up with him.
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, a message could be beamed to
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: every city and he could pick it up wherever he was.
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: It costs money, but it was sure one call, the
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: checker said. He handed Saint Simon a message slip. It
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: was unimportant, just a note from a girl on Vesta.
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: He promised himself that he'd make his next break at
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: Vesta come what may. He stuck the flimsy in his
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: pocket and waited while the checker went through the routine
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: of recording his log and making.
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 2: Out a pay voucher.
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: There was no small talk between himself and the checker.
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: Mister Mortogg had not elected to take the schooling necessary
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: to qualify for other than a small desk job. He
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: had no space experience unless and until he did, there
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: would be an invisible, but none the less real barrier
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: between himself and any spaceman. It was not that Saint
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: Simon looked down on the man exactly. It was simply
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: that Murtogg had not proved himself, and therefore there was
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: no way of knowing whether he could be trusted or not.
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: And since trust is a positive quality, lack of it
• 1:22:11
  Speaker 1: can only mean mistrust. Murtogg handed Captain Saint Simon an envelope.
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: That's it, Captain, thank you. Saint Simon opened the envelope,
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: took out his check and a blue ticket. Carrie Brand
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: broke into a guffaw when the phone on his desk rang.
• 1:22:33
  Speaker 1: George al Hamed scooped it up and identified himself. This
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: is Larry, George, said the governor's voice. Our things so far,
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: so far, so good, Alhami said. For the past week,
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: mister Peter Danlee has been working his head off under
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: the tutelage of two of the toughest, smartest anchormen in
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: the business. But you should have seen the look on
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: their faces when I told him they were going to
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: have an earth man for a The governor laughed, Oh bit,
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: how's he coming along?
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 2: He's learning? How are you doing with your pet?
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: I think I'm softening him, George. I found out what
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: it was that got his goat three years ago.
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Sure, on series.
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: Where he went three years ago, he was treated as
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 1: if he weren't as good as a belt man. I'll
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: have mead frowned. Someone was disrespectful.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 2: No, that is not.
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: Exactly, but he was treated as if we didn't trust
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: his judgment, as though we were a little bit afraid
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: of him.
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 2: Oh ho, I see what you mean.
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: Sure, we treated him just as we would anyone who
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: has improved himself, and that meant we were treating him
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: the same way we treated our own lower classes, as
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: he thought of them. I had Governor Holger get his
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: series detective to trace down every thing that happened. You
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: can read the transcript if you want. There's nothing particularly
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: exciting in it, but you can see the pattern if
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: you know what to look for. I'm not even certain
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: it was fully conscious on his part. I'm not sure
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 1: he knew why he disliked us. All he was convinced
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: of was that we were arrogant and thought we were
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: better than he is. It's kind of hard for us
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: to see that a person would be that deeply hurt
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: by seeing the plain truth that someone else is obviously
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: better at something that he is. But you've got to
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: remember that an earthman is brought up to believe that
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: every person is just exactly as good as every other
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: and no better. A man may have a skill that
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: you don't have, but that doesn't make him superior oho mine. No.
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 2: Anyway.
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: I started out by apologizing for our habit of standing
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: up all the time. I managed to plant the idea
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: in his mind that the the only thing that made
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: him think we felt superior was that habit. I've even
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: got him to the point where he standing up all
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: the time too makes him feel very superior. He's learned
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: the native customs. I get you al Himed said, I
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: probably contributed to that inferiority feeling of his myself, didn't
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: we all?
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 2: Anyway?
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: The next step was to take him around and introduce
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: him to some of the execs in the government, and
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: in a couple of the companies. I briefed him beforehand,
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 1: friendly chats, that sort of thing. I think we're going
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: to have to learn the ancient art of diplomacy out
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: here if we're going to survive. George, the crowning glory
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: came this afternoon. You should have been there. I was
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: up to hear and work, Larry. I just couldn't take
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: the time off to attend a club luncheon.
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 2: Did the great Man give his speech? Did he? I
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 2: should hope to crack my helmet? He did?
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: We must all pull together, George. Did you know that
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: we must care for the widow, and the orphan and
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: the needy?
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 2: George, the needy.
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: We must be sure to provide the fools, the idiots,
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: the malingerers, the moral degenerates, and such useful, lovable beings
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: as that with the necessities and the luxuries of life.
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: We must see to it that they are respected and
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: permitted to have their dignity. We must see to it
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: that the dear little things are permitted. The rights of
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: a human being to hold his head up and spitting
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: your eye if he wishes, we must see to it
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: that they be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth. They
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: have already done that, Alhamed said caustically, and they can
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: have it. Let's just see that they don't replenish the belt.
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 2: So what happened?
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: Why, George, You'll never realize how much we appreciated that speech.
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: We gave him a three minute rising ovation. I think
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: he was surprised to see that we could stand for
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: three minutes under a one G pull into the centrifuge.
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 1: And you should have seen the smiles on our faces. George,
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: I hope nobody broke out laughing. We managed to restrain ourselves.
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: The governor said, what's next on the agenda? Well, it'll
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: be tricky, but I think I can pull it off.
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to take him around and show him that
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: we do take care of the widow and the orphan,
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: and hope that he assumes we are as solicitous toward
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: the rest of his Motley crew. Wish me luck, good luck,
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: you may need it same to you. Take care of Danley.
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: Don't worry, he's in good hands.
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 2: See Larry right.
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: End of part two, Part three of Anchorite by Randall Garrett.
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Part three
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: there were three spacesuited men on the bleak, rocky ground
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: near the north pole of Palace, a training area of
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: several square miles known as the North forty. Their helmets
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: gleamed in the bright, hard light from a sun that
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: looked uncomfortably small to an earthman's eyes. Two of the
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: men were standing facing each other, some fifteen feet apart.
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: The third, attached to them by safety lines, was hanging
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: face down above the surface, rising slowly like a balloon
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: that has almost.
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 2: Wore weight that it can lift.
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: No, no, no, mister Danley, You are not crawling, mister Danley,
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: You are climbing. Do you understand that climbing? You have
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: to climb an asteroid just as you would climb a
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: cliff on Earth. You have to hold on every second
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: of the time or you will fall off. Saint Simon's
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: voice sounded harsh in Danley's earphones, and he felt irritatingly helpless,
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: poised floating above the ground that way. His instructors were
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: well anchored by metal eyes set into the rocky surface
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 1: for just that purpose. Although Pallas was mostly nickel iron,
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: this end of it was stony, which was why it
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: had been selected as a training ground. Well, snapped Saint Simon,
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: what do you do now? If this were a small rock,
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: you'd be drifting a long ways away by now. Think,
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: mister Danley, think, then shut up and let me think.
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: Danley snarled. If small things distract you from thinking about
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: the vital necessity of saving your own life, mister Danley,
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: you would not live long in the belt. Danley reached
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: out an arm to see if he could touch the ground.
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: When he had pushed himself upward with a thrust of
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: his knee, he had given himself too hard a shove.
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: He had reached the apex of his slow flight and
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: was drifting downward again. He grasped a jutting rock and
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: pulled himself back to the surface. Very good, mister Danley,
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: But that wouldn't work on a small rock.
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 2: You took too long.
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: What would you have done on a rock with a
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: millionth of a g of pull? Danley was silent. Well,
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon.
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 2: Marked, what would you do?
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: I I don't know? Danley admitted, Ye, Gods and little fishhooks.
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: This was Carrie Brand's voice. It was supposed to be
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon's turn to give the verbal instructions, but brand
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: allowed himself an occasional remark when it was appropriate. Saint
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: Simon's voice was bitingly sweet. What do you think those
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 1: safety lines are for, mister Danley? Do you think they
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: are there for decorative purposes? Well, I thought I was
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: supposed to think of some other way. I mean, that's
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: so obvious, mister Danley, Saint Simon said, with sudden patience.
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: We are not here to give you riddles to solve.
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: We're here to teach you how to stay alive in
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: the belt. And one of the first rules you must
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 1: learn is that you will never leave your boat without
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: a safety line. Never an anchorman, Mister Danley, is called
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: that for more than one reason. You cannot anchor your
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 1: boat to a rock unless there is an eyebolt set
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: in it, and if it already has an eyebolt, you
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: would have no purpose on that rock. In a way,
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: you will be the anchor of your boat, since you
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: will be tied to it by your safety line. If
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: the boat drifts too far from your rock while you
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: are working, it will pull you off the surface. Since
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: it has more mass than you do. That shouldn't be
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: allowed to happen. But if it does, you are still
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: with your boat rather than deserted on a rock for
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: the rest of your life, which wouldn't be very long.
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: When the power unit in your suit ran out of energy,
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: it would stop, breaking your exhaled carbon dioxide down into
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: carbon and oxygen, and you would suffocate. Even with emergency
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: tanks of oxygen, you would soon find yourself freezing to death.
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: That sun up there isn't very warm, mister Danley. Peter
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: dan Lee was silent, but it was an effort to
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: remain so. He wanted to remind Saint Simon that he
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: Danley had been a spaceman for nearly fifteen years. But
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: he was also aware that he was learning things that
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: weren't taught at Earth's side schools. Most of his professional
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: life had been spent aboard big, comfortable ships that made
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: the short Earth Luna hop. He could probably count the
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: total hours he had spent in a space suit on
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: the fingers of his two hands. All right, mister Danley,
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: let's begin again. Climb along the surface, use toe holes,
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: hand holes and finger holes. Feel your way along. Find
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: those little crevices that will give you a grip. It
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: doesn't take much. You're a lot better off than a
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: mountain climber on Earth because you don't have to fight
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: your weight. You only have your mass to worry about.
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: That's it, that's it fine, very good, mister Danley. And
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: later now mister Danley said, Captain Brand, you are at
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: the end of your tether, so to speak. The three
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: men were in a spaceboat several hundred miles from palace,
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 1: or rather, two of them were in the boat, standing
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: at the open door. Peter Danley was far out from it,
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: at the end of his safety line. How far are
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: you from us, mister Danley, Brand asked, three hundred meters
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: than Brand. Danley said, promptly, very good. How do you
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: know I am at the end of my safety line,
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 1: which is three hundred meters long when fully extended. Your
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 1: memory is excellent, mister Danley. Now how will you get
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: back to the boat? Pull myself hand over hand along
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 1: the line, think, mister Danley, think, uh oh, well, I
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: wouldn't keep pulling. I'd just give myself a tug and
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: then coast in, taking up the line slowly as I went.
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 2: Excellent. Why would happened if.
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: You, as you put it, pulled yourself in hand over hand,
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: as if you were climbing a rope on earth. I
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: would accelerate too much, Danley said, I'd gain too much
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: momentum and probably bash my brains out against the boat,
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: and I'd have no way to stop myself. Bully for you,
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: mister Danley, Now see if you can put into action
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: that which you have so succinctly put into words. Come
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: back to the boat gently the first time. We'll have
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: plenty of practice so that you can get the feel
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: of the muscle pull that will give you a maximum
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: velocity with a minimum of impact at this end. Gently
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: now still later, judgment, mister Danley. Saint Simon cautioned, you
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: have to use judgment. A spaceboat is not an automobile.
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: There is no friction out here to slow it to
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: a stop. Your accelerator is just exactly that, an accelerator.
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: Taking your foot off it won't slow you down a bit.
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: You've got to use your reverse. Peter Danlee was at
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: the controls of the boat. There were tiny beads of
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: perspiration on his forehead. Over a kilometer away was a
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: good sized hunk of rock. His instructors wouldn't let him
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: get any closer. They wanted to be sure that they
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: could take over before the boat struck the rock, just
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: in case Danley should freeze to the accelerator a little
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: too long. He wasn't used to this sort of thing.
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: He was used to a taped acceleration deceleration program which
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: lifted a big ship, aimed it, and went through the
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 1: trip all automatically. All he had ever to do was
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 1: drop it the last few hundred feet to a landing field.
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 1: Keep your eyes moving, Saint Simon said, your radar can
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 1: give you data that you need. Just remember that it
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: can't think for you. Your right foot controls your forward acceleration.
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: Your left foot controls your reverse acceleration. They can't be
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: pushed down together. When one goes down, the other goes up.
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: Balance one against the other. Turning your wheel controls.
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 2: The roll of the boat.
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: Pulling your wheel toward you or pushing it away controls
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: the pitch. Shifting the wheel left or right controls the yaw.
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: The instructions had been pounded into his head until each
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: one seemed to ring like a separate little bell. The
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: problem was coordinating his body to act on those instructions.
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 2: One of the.
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: Radar dials told him how far he was from the rock.
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: Another told him his radial velocity relative to it. A
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: third told him his angular velocity. Come to a dead
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: stop exactly one thousand meters from the surface, mister Danley,
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon ordered. Danley worked the controls until both his
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: velocity meters read zero and the distance meter read exactly
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: one kilometer. Very good, mister Danley. Now assume that the
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: surface of your rock is at nine hundred ninety five meters.
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: Bring your boat to a dead stop exactly fifty centimeters
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: from that surface. Dan Lee worked the controls again. He
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: grinned with satisfaction when the distance meter showed nine nine
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: five point five on the nose. Captain Saint Simon sighed, dear,
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: mister Danley, do you feel a little shaken up? Banged
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: around a little? Do you feel as though you'd just
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: gotten a bone rattling shock?
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 2: No, you should. You slammed this.
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: Boat a good two feet into the surface of that
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: rock before you backed out again. His voice changed tone.
• 1:38:23
  Speaker 1: Damn it, mister Danley. When I say surface at nine
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: to nine five, I mean surface. Edwade Tornhorst had been
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: dictating notes for his report into his recorder and was
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: rather tired, so When he asked Peter Danley what he
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: had learned, he was rather irritated when the blonde man
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: closed his blue eyes and repeated parrot like. Due to
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: the lack of water oxygen atmosphere, many minerals are found
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: in the asteroids which are unknown on Earth. Among the
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: more important of these are Oldhamite csen light f e
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: c R two S four, Sheber's site and Rabbadite f
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: E three n I three p Lawrence site fe CL
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: two and taynite, an alloy of iron containing that's not
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: precisely the sort of thing I meant, Tornhorse interrupted testily.
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: Danley smiled, I know, I'm sorry. That's my lesson for tomorrow,
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: So I gathered, May I sit down. There were only
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: two chairs in the room. Danley was occupying one, and
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 1: a pile of books was occupying the other. Danley quickly
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 1: got to his feet and began putting the books on
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: his desk. Certainly, mister Tornhurst, sit down. Parnhurst lowered himself
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: into the newly empty chair. I apologize for interrupting your studies,
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: he said, I realize how important they are, but there
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: are a few points I'd like to discuss with you. Certainly,
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: dan Lee seated himself and looked at the old man expectantly.
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: The nullifiers are on, he said, of course, Tornhorst said absently,
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: Then changing his manner, he said abruptly, Have you found
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: anything yet?
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 2: Dan Lee shook his head.
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: No. It looks to me as though they've done everything
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: possible to make sure that these men get the best
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: equipment and the best training. The training instructors have been
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: through the whole affair themselves. They know the ropes. The equipment,
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: as far as I can tell, is top grade stuff
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: from what I've seen so far. The company isn't stinting
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: on the equipment or the training. Torn Horse nodded, after
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: nearly three months of investigation, I have come to the
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 1: same conclusion myself. The records show that expenditures on equipment
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: have been steadily increasing. The equipment they have, now, I understand,
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: is almost failure proof. He looked questioningly at Danley. Danley nodded, apparently, certainly,
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: no one is killed because of equipment failure. It's the
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: finest stuff I've ever seen. And yet, Tarnhorst said, their
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: books show that they are constantly seeking to improve it.
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: I don't suppose there is any chance of juggling the
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 1: books on you is there? Toarnhorst smiled a superior smile.
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: Hardly In the first place, I know bookkeeping. In the second,
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: it would be impossible to whip up a complete set
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: of balancing books covering a period of nearly eighty years overnight.
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: I agree, Danley said, I don't think they set up
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: a special training course just for me overnight either. I've
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: seen classes on Vesta, Juno and arrows, and they're all
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: the same. There aren't any fancy false fronts to foolish
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: mister Tonhors. I've looked very closely. Have you talked to
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: the men, Yes, they have no complaints. Again, Tornhorst nodded,
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: I have found the same thing. They all insist that
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: if a man gets killed in space, it's not the
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: fault of any one but himself, or, as it may be,
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: an act of God. One of my instructors ran into
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: an act of God some years ago, Danley said, you've
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: met him Brand, the one with the scarred face. He
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 1: explained to Tornhorst what had caused Brand's disfigurement. But he survived,
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: he finished, because he kept his wits about him even
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: after he was hit commendable, very commendable. Torn Horst said,
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: if he'd been an excitable fool, he'd have died. True,
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: but what I was trying to point out was that
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: it wasn't equipment failure that caused the accident. No, you're
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 1: quite right, Tornhorst was silent for a moment. Then he
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: looked into Danley's eyes. Do you think you could take
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: on a job as anchorman?
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: I don't know, said Danley evenly, but I'm going to
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: find out tomorrow. Peter Danley took his final examination the
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 1: following day, all by himself. He went through the procedure
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: of positioning his ship, setting up a rocket drill, firing it,
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: and setting in an anchor. It was only a small
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: rock nine meters through, but the job was almost the
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: same as with the Big Ones.
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 2: Not far away.
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: Captain Saint Simon watched the Earthman's procedure through a pair
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: of high powered field glasses. He breathed a deep sigh
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: of relief when the job was done. Jules, he said, softly,
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: I am sure glad that man didn't hurt himself any Yes, Suh,
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: we'd a.
• 1:43:42
  Speaker 2: Show been in trouble if he'd a killed hisself.
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 1: We will have to tell Captain Brand that our pupil
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 1: has done pretty well for such a small amount of schooling.
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 2: I think that would be proper.
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: The Lord and we will have to tell Captain Brand
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: that this boy wouldn't last a month, He wouldn't come
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 1: back from his first trip.
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 2: There was no answer to that.
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: Three days later, amid a cloud of generally satisfied feelings,
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 1: ed Wage, Tornhorst and Peter Danley took the ship back
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: to Earth. I cannot, of course give you a copy
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: of my report Toarnhorst had told George al hamede that
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: is for the eyes of the committee only. However, I
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: may say that I do not find the Belt companies
• 1:44:29
  Speaker 1: are the government of the Belt cities at fault. Do
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: you want to know my personal opinion? I would appreciate it,
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: mister Tornhurst. George has said carelessness, just playing carelessness on
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: the part of the workers. That is what has caused
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: your rise and death rates. You people out here in
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: the Belt have become too used to being in space.
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: Familiarity breeds contempt, mister alhamed steps must be taken to
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: curb that carelessness. I suggest a public city campaign of
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: some kind. The people must be thoroughly indoctrinated in safety
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: procedures and warned against carelessness. Just a few months of
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: schooling isn't enough, mister Alhamed, You've got to start pounding
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: it into their heads early. If you don't, he shook
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: his head. He ain't grown used to doing so in
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: low gravity by now. If the death rate isn't cut down,
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: we shall have to raise the premium rates. And I
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 1: don't know what will happen on the floor of the
• 1:45:29
  Speaker 1: People's Congress. However, I think I can guarantee six months
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: to a year before any steps are taken. That will
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: give you time to launch your safety campaign. I'm certain
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: that as soon as this carelessness is curbed, the claims
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 1: will drop down to their former low point. We'll certainly
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: try that, Alhamed has said heartily, thank you very much,
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: mister Tornhurst. When they had finally gone, Alhamed spoke to
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: the governor. That's that, Larry. You can bring it up
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 1: at the next meeting of the Board of Governors, get
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 1: some kind of publicity campaign going plug safety, tell them
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: carelessness is bad, it can't hurt anything and actually might help.
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: Who knows, what are you going to do at your
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: end what we should have done long ago. Finance the
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 1: insurance ourselves for the next couple of years. We'll only
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 1: make death claims to Earth for a part of the total.
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 1: We'll pay off the rest ourselves. Then we'll tell them
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 1: we've brought the costs down so much that we can
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 1: afford to do our own insurance financing. We'll let this
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: insurance thing ride too long, and it has damn near
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 1: got us in a jam. We needed the income from Earth.
• 1:46:43
  Speaker 1: We could still use it, but we need our independence more.
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 1: I second the motion, the governor said fervently. Look, suppose
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: you come over to my place tonight and we'll work
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 1: out the details of this report. Okay, say at nine, fine, Larry,
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 1: I'll see you.
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 2: Then.
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: Alhamie went back to his office. He was met at
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: the door by his secretary, who handed him a sealed envelope.
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: The Earthman left this here for you, he said, you'd
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: know what to do with it. Alhamid took the envelope
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: and looked at the name on the outside. Which earthman?
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: He asked the young one, She said, the blonde one.
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: It isn't even addressed to me. Alhamid said, with a
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 1: note of puzzled, speculation in his voice.
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 2: No, I noticed that.
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: I told him he could send it straight to the school,
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: but he said you would know how to handle it.
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: Alhamid looked at the envelope again and his eyes narrowed.
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: A little call, Captain Saint Simon, will you tell him?
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: I would like to have him come to my office.
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: Don't mention this letter.
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 2: I don't want it. Breezed all over pallace.
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: It was nearly twenty minutes before Saint Simon showed up.
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: Al Hamid handed him the envelope. You have a message
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 1: from your star pupil. For some reason, he wanted me
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 1: to deliver it to you. I have a hunch you'll
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: know what that reason is after you read it.
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 2: He grinned.
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: I'd appreciate it if you tell me when you find
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 1: out this. Mister Danley has worried me all along. Saint
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 1: Simon scowled at the envelope, then ripped off one end
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: and took out the type sheets. He read them carefully,
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 1: then handed them over to al Hamed. You'd better read
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: this yourself, George George Alhamide took the pages and began
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: to read. Dear Captain Saint Simon. I am addressing this
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: to you rather than anyone else, because I think you
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: will understand more than anyone else. Captain brand is a
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: fine person, but I have never felt very much at
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 1: ease with him. I won't go into the psychological reasons
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 1: that may exist, other than admit that my reasons are
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: purely emotional. I don't honestly know how much they are
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 1: based on his disfigurement. Mister Alhamed is almost a stranger
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 1: to me. You are the only built man I feel
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: I know well. First, I want to say that I
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 1: honestly enjoyed our three months together. There were times when
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 1: I could have cheerfully bashed your head in, I'll admit,
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 1: but the experience has left me feeling more like a
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: real human being, more like a person in my own right,
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 1: than I have ever felt before in my life. Believe me,
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it deeply. I know now that I can
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 1: do things on my own without being dependent on the
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 1: support of a team or a committee, and for that
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: I am grateful. Tornhurst has heard my report and accepted it.
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 1: His report to the People's Congress will lay the entire
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: blame for the death rate rise on individual carelessness rather
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: than on any fault of management. I think, in the
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: main I am justified in making such a report to Tornhurst,
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: although I am fully aware that it is incomplete. I
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: know that if I had told him the whole truth,
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: there would have been a ruckus kicked up on Earth
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: that would cause more trouble in the Belt than I
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: care to think about. I'm sure you're aware of the
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: political situation as I am. You see, I know that
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: anchor setting could be made a great deal safer. I
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: know that machines could be developed which would make the
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: job so nearly automatic that the operator would never be
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: exposed to any more danger than he would be in
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: a ship on the earth lunar run. Perhaps that's a
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: little exaggerated, but not much. What puzzled me was why
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: why shouldn't the companies build these machines if they were
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 1: more efficient? Why should every belt man defend the system
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: as it was? Why should men risk their necks when
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: they could demand better equipment. I don't mean that the
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: equipment presently used as poor. I just mean that full
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 1: mechanization would do away with the present type of equipment
• 1:51:04
  Speaker 1: and replace it with a different type. Going through your
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 1: course of instruction gave me the answer to that, even
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 1: though I didn't take the full treatment. All my life
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: I belonged to an organization of some kind, the team,
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: the crew, whatever it might be. But the team was everything,
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: and I was recognized only as a member of the team.
• 1:51:29
  Speaker 1: I was a replaceable plug in unit, not an individual
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: in my own right. I don't know that I can
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 1: explain the difference exactly, but it seems to me that
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: the team is something outside of which the individual has
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 1: no existence, while the men of the Belt can form
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: a team because they know that each member is self
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: sufficient in his own right. On Earth, we all depend
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: on the team, and in the long run, that means
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: that we are depending on each other. But none of
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: us feels he depend on himself. Every man hopes that
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: as a member of the team, he will be saved
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: from his own errors, his own failures, but he knows
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 1: that everyone else is doing the same thing, and deep
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: down inside, he knows that they are not deserving of
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: his reliance. So he puts his reliance in the team,
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: as if that were some sort of separate entity in
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: itself and had magical, infallible powers that were greater than
• 1:52:30
  Speaker 1: the aggregate of the individuals that composed it. In a way,
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 1: this is certainly so, since teamwork can accomplish things that
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 1: mobs cannot do, but the team is a failure if
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 1: each member assumes that he himself is helpless and can
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 1: do nothing, but that the team will do it for him.
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: Men who have gone through the Belt training, men who
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 1: have space experience, as you so euphemistically put it, are
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: men who can fall a real team, one that will
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: get things done because each man knows he can rely
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: on the others, not only as a team but as individuals.
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: But to mechanize the anchor setting phase would destroy all
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: that completely. I don't want to see that destroyed, because
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 1: I have felt what it is to be a part
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: of the Belt team, even though only a small and
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: unreliable part. Actually I know I was not and could
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: never be a real member of that team, but I
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: was and am proud to have scrimmaged with the team,
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: and I'm glad to be able to sit on the
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 1: sidelines and cheer even if I can't carry the ball.
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 1: It just occurred to me that those metaphors might be
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 1: a little cloudy to you, since you don't have football
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: in the Belt. But I think you see what I mean.
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 1: I imagine that most of the men who have no space
• 1:53:55
  Speaker 1: experience feel the same way. They know they'd never make
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 1: a go of it out in space, but they're happy
• 1:54:01
  Speaker 1: to be water boys.
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 2: I wish I could stay in the belt.
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 1: I'm enough of a spaceman to appreciate what it really
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 1: is to be a member of a space society, but
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 1: I also know that i'd never last. I'm not fitted
• 1:54:16
  Speaker 1: for it, really. I've had a small taste of it,
• 1:54:19
  Speaker 1: but I know I couldn't take a full doze. I've
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 1: worked hard for the influence and security I have in my.
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 2: Job, and I couldn't give it up.
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: Maybe this brands me as a coward in your eyes,
• 1:54:32
  Speaker 1: and maybe I am a coward, but that's the way
• 1:54:35
  Speaker 1: I'm built. I hope you'll take that into account when
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: you think of me.
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 2: At any rate.
• 1:54:41
  Speaker 1: I have done what I have done on Earth. There
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: are men who envy you and hate you, and there
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: will be others who will try to destroy you. But
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: I have done what I could to give you a
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: chance to gain the strength you need to resist the
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: encroachment of Earth's sickness. I have a feeling that tornhorst
• 1:55:01
  Speaker 1: saw your greatness too, although he'd never admit it even
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: to himself. Certainly something changed him during the last months,
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: even though he doesn't realize it. He came out wanting
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 1: to help, and by that he meant help the common
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 1: people against the tyranny of the companies. He still wants
• 1:55:20
  Speaker 1: to help the common people, but now he wants to
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: do it through the companies. The change is so subtle
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: that he doesn't think he's changed at all, but I
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 1: can see it. I don't deserve any thanks for what
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: I have done. All I have done is repay you
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: in the only way I knew how for what you
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: have done for me. I may never see you again, Captain,
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: but I will always remember you. Please convey my warmest
• 1:55:49
  Speaker 1: regards to Captain Brand and to mister al Hmed, Sincerely,
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 1: Peter Danley George al Hamede handed the letter back to
• 1:55:59
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon. There's your star, pupil, he said gently. Saint
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: Simon nodded. The wise fool, the guy who's got sense
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: enough to know that he isn'tcompetent to do the job.
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 1: Did you notice that he waltzed all around the real
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 1: reason for the anchor setting program without quite hitting it,
• 1:56:20
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon smiled, humorlessly. Sure, notice the wording of the letter.
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: He still thinks in terms of the team, even when
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: he's trying not to. He thinks, we do this just
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: to train men to have a real.
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 2: Good team spirit.
• 1:56:39
  Speaker 1: He can't see that that is only a very useful
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: by product. How could he think otherwise? Alhamed asked to
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 1: him or to Tarnhurst, the notion of deliberately tailoring a
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 1: program so that it would kill off the fools.
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 2: And the incompetence.
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: Setting up a program that will deliberately destroy the men
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: who are dangerous to society would be horrifying. They would
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 1: accuse us of being soulless butchers who had no respect
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: for the dignity of the human soul. We're not butchering anybody,
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon objected. Nobody is forced to go through two
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: years of anchor setting. Nobody is forced to die. We're
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: not running people into gas chambers or anything like that. No,
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 1: of course not. What would you expect an earthman like
• 1:57:26
  Speaker 1: torn horsh to see the difference? How could we explain
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: to him that we have no objection to fools other
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 1: than that we object to putting them in positions where
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: they can harm others by their foolishness. Would you expect
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 1: him to understand that we must have a method of
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: eliminating those who are neither competent enough to be trusted
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: with the lives of others, nor wise enough to see
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 1: that they are not competent. How would you tell him
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 1: that the reason we send men out alone is so
• 1:57:57
  Speaker 1: that if he destroys anyone by his foolishness, after we
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 1: have taught him everything we know in the best way
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: we know how, he will only destroy himself.
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't even try.
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon said, there's an old saying that neither money, education, liquor,
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 1: nor women ever made a fool of a man. They
• 1:58:17
  Speaker 1: just give a born fool a chance.
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 2: To display his foolishness.
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 1: Space ought to be added to that list. Did you
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 1: notice something else about that letter, Alhamide asked, I mean
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: the very fact that he wrote a letter instead of
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: telling you personally sure he didn't trust to me.
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 2: He was afraid I or.
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 1: Some one else would dispose of him if we knew
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 1: he knew our secret. I think that's it. Alhamid agreed.
• 1:58:45
  Speaker 1: He wanted to be safely away first, killing him would
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 1: have brought down the biggest investigation the Earth Congress has
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: launched since the crack up of the Earth Lunas Ship
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: thirty years ago. Does he think we are fools?
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 2: You can't blame him.
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: He's brim brought up that way, and three months of
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: training isn't going to change him. Saint Simon frowned. Suppose
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 1: he changes his mind. Suppose he tells Tarnhorst what he thinks.
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 2: He won't.
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: He's told his lie and now he'll have to stick
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 1: by it or lose his precious security. If he couldn't
• 1:59:25
  Speaker 1: trade that for freedom, he sure isn't going to throw
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: it away. Alchemed grinned, But can you imagine a guy
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: thinking that anchor setting could be completely mechanized? Saint Simon
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 1: grinned back. I guess I'm.
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 2: Not a very good teacher, after all.
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 1: I told him, and told him and told him for
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 1: three solid months that the job required judgment, but it
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: evidently didn't.
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 2: Sink in.
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 1: He's got the heart of a romantic and the soul
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: of an earthman, a very bad combination. He has my sympathy.
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 1: Al Hamede said, with feeling now about you, Your blue
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: ticket still has three months to run, but I can't
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 1: give you a class if you're only going to run
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 1: through the first half of the course with him, and
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 1: I don't have any more Earthman for you to give
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: special tutoring to.
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 2: You have three choices.
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 1: You can loaf with pay for three months, you can
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 1: go back to space and get double pay for three months,
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 1: or you can take a regular six month class and
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 1: get double pay for the last three months. Which will
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: it be, Saint Simon grinned widely. I'm going to loaf
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 1: until I get sick of it. Then I'll go back
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: to Space and collect double pay for what's left of
• 2:00:43
  Speaker 1: the three months. First off, I'm going to take a
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: run over to Vesta after that.
• 2:00:48
  Speaker 2: Who knows.
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 1: I thought so most of you guys would stay out
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: there forever if you didn't have to come back for supplies.
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: Saint Simon shook his head. Nope, nor a man's got
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: to come back every so often and get his feet
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: on the ground. If you stay out there too long,
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: you get to talking to yourself. An hour later, the
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 1: spaceboat Nancy Bell lifted from the surface of Palace and
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: shot toward Vesta. Jules Old Cobblestone.
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 2: We have just saved civilization.
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 3: Yavolder Hoffin Pfessor, and now we go to find us
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 3: much a Nick varr Her Professor Houffin Professor, to you.
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 2: My boy.
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 1: And then all alone in his spaceboat, Captain Jules Saint
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 1: Simon burst into song, Oh I'm the cook, and the
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: captain too, and the men of the Nancy's brig, the
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: Boatstin's Tight, and the midship Mite, and the crew of
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 1: the Captain's Gig and the Nancy Bell sped on toward
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: Vesta and a rendezvous with arrows and of ank right
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 1: by Randall Garrett. This book read by Phil Schinever.