‘No, no. The deduction was a simple thing. Unavoidable, in fact. A noodle would have seen it. I was referring’ – and his glance grew a trifle censorious – ’ to the fact that the youngster had read of my experiments concerning the gamma-ray sensitivity of Siliconeus asteroidea.’
‘Ah, yes,’ said Davenport. Of course, Dr Urth was the expert on siliconies. It was why Davenport had come to consult him. He had only one question for the man, a simple one, yet Dr Urth had thrust out his full lips, shaken his ponderous head, and asked to see all the documents in the case.
Ordinarily that would have been out of the question, but Dr Urth had recently been of considerable use to the T.B.I. in that affair of the Singing Bells of Luna and the singular non-alibi shattered by Moon gravity, and the Inspector had yielded.
Dr Urth finished the reading, laid the sheets down on his desk, yanked his shirttail out of the tight confines of his belt with a grunt and rubbed his glasses with it. He stared through the glasses at the light to see the effects of his cleaning, replaced them precariously on his nose, and clasped his hands on his paunch, stubby fingers interlacing.
‘Your question again, Inspector?’
Davenport said patiently, ‘Is it true, in your opinion, that a silicony of the size and type described in the report could only have developed on a world rich in uranium—’
‘Radioactive material,’ interrupted Dr Urth. ‘Thorium, perhaps, though probably uranium.’
‘Is your answer yes, then?’
‘Yes.’
‘How big would the world be?’
‘A mile in diameter, perhaps,’ said the extraterrologist thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps even more.’
‘How many tons of uranium, or radioactive material, rather?’
‘In the trillions. Minimum.’
‘Would you be willing to put all that in the form of a signed opinion in writing?’
‘Of course.’
‘Very well then, Dr Urth.’ Davenport got to his feet, reached for his hat with one hand and the file of reports with the other. ‘That is all we need.’
But Dr Urth’s hand moved to the reports and rested heavily upon them. ‘Wait. How will you find the asteroid?’
‘By looking. We’ll assign a volume of space to every ship made available to us and-just look.’
‘The expense, the time, the effort! And you’ll never find it.’
‘One chance in a thousand. We might.’
‘One chance in a million. You won’t.’
‘We can’t let the uranium go without some try. Your professional opinion makes the prize high enough.’
‘But there is a better way to find the aster01d. I can find 1t.
Davenport fixed the extraterrologist with a sudden, sharp glance. Despite appearances Dr Urth was anything but a f?ol. He had pe son l experience of that. There was therefore just a bit of half-hope m his voice as he said, ‘How can you find it?’
‘First,’ said Dr Urth, ‘my price.’
‘Price?’
‘Or fee, if you choose. When the government reaches the asteroid, there may be another large-size silicony on it. Siliconies are very :al able. The only form of life with solid silicone for tissues and hqmd silicone as a circulating fluid. The answer to the question whether the asteroids were once part of a single planetary body may rest with them. Any number of other problems . . . Do you understand?’
‘You mean you want a large silicony delivered to you?’
‘Alive and well. And free of charge. Yes.’
Davenport nodded. ‘I’m sure the government will agree. Now what have you on your mind?’
Dr Urth said quietly, as though explaining everything, ‘The silicony’s remark.’
Davenport looked bewildered. ‘What remark?’
‘The one in the report. Just before the silicony died. Vemadsky was asking it where the captain had written down the coordinates, and it said, ‘On the asteroid.’ ‘
A look of intense disappointment crossed Davenport’s face. ‘Great space, Doctor, we know that, and we’ve gone into every angle of it. Every possible angle. It means nothing.’
‘Nothing at all, Inspector?’
‘Nothing of importance. Read the report again. The silicony wasn’t even listening to Vemadsky. He was feeling life depart and he was wondering about it. Twice, it asked, ‘What after death?’ Then, as Vemadsky kept questioning it, it said, ‘On the asteroid.’ Probably it never heard Vemadsky’s question. It was answering its own_ questi_on. It thought th t after death it would return to its own asteroid; to its home, where tt would be safe once more. That’s all.’
Dr Urth shook his head. ‘You are too much a poet, you know. You imagine too much. Come, it is an interesting problem and let us see if you can’t solve it for yourself. Suppose the silicony’s remark were an answer to Vemadsky.’
‘Even so,’ said Davenport impatiently, ‘how would it help? Which asteroid? The uranium asteroid? We can’t find it, so we can’t find the coordinates. Some other asteroid which the Robert Q. had used as a home base? We can’t find that either.’
‘How you avoid the obvious, Inspector. Why don’t you ask yourself what the phrase ‘on the asteroid’ means to the silicony. Not to you or to me, but to the silicony.’
Davenport frowned. ‘Pardon me, Doctor?’
