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.He thrust the purple jewel into hispouch, held on to the bench.The jets spewed silent blue flame, the raft rose from the ledge, slewed alarmingly into the chasm,and Dick s heart leaped up into his throat.Sam twirled the master valve, pulled back the joy stick and the raft climbed up over BaxterMesa.Halfway back to the observatory, Sam, looking straight ahead, said abruptly,  Maybe you havenoticed a piece of scribblin in the toolbox. Yes, said Dick shortly. I saw a piece of paper. Well, said Sam,  it was just a silly idea of mine.Don t mean a thing in the world, youunderstand? Nothing whatever. He paused, but Dick made no reply. Well, asked Sam anxiously. Did you hear me? Yes, I heard you. But you don t say nothing.Dick shrugged. There s nothing to say.You accused me of spying, then next you say there wasnothing to see. That s right, nothing whatever.Just the same, and Sam s voice took on a deeper, harder note, it don t pay to be too snoopy, too inquisitive, around the moon.Get me? He turned his headaround an alarming distance, like a parrot.Dick looked for long seconds into the pinched, sand-colored face.Behind the pale gray eyes heseemed to sense a phosphorescent flurry of tiny electric sparks.A shiver of uneasiness ran up hisspine, like ice water filling a tube.Sam asked in a menacing voice,  Understand me, boy? Yes, said Dick. I understand what you re saying. And he said to himself, but that doesn tmean I ll pay any attention.Chapter 7The Perfect CrimeDr.Murdock came into the lounge, tossed the woolen gloves which he had worn under the spacesuit gauntlets into a cupboard.Looking around, he saw Dick sitting quietly by a window.Hecrossed the room, pulled up a chair. I didn t expect you back so soon.Dick said a little uncomfortably,  It was Sam s idea, not mine.Dr.Murdock cocked his head to the side, considered Dick from the corner of his eye. How didyou and Sam get along?Dick shrugged. Very well, for the most part. He paused.Dr.Murdock waited patiently,knowing from long experience that Dick would presently get around to the story.Dick reached in his pocket. We saw a lot of country, he said,  most of it named after Sam.Dr.Murdock laughed. I ve heard about Sam s self-immortalizing tendencies.And did you findanything?Dick handed him the purple crystal.Dr.Murdock leaned forward, whistled. What in the worldis this? I don t know. I ve never seen anything like it.Didn t Sam know? Sam hasn t seen it. Dick described how he had found the jewel, and the toolbox incident. So Inever had a chance to show him the crystal whatever it is.Rubies are red, sapphires blue, emeralds green, Dr.Murdock mused,  but except for amethysts,which are very pale, I know of no purple stones.Certainly nothing as fiery and rich as this. Herubbed it on his sleeve. Next week I ve got to hop over to Earth for a few days.I can t take youwith me this time, but I ll take the jewel and have it valued.It might be a unique stone, and if it is,you ll have a very nice bank account. If it s really valuable, said Dick with enthusiasm,  maybe we could get some more.I m sure Icould find that ledge. Well, you wait till I get back from Earth.Then maybe we ll run out to Baxter s Bottomless Pitagain.Dick looked up through the window to the great half-globe of Earth. When are you leaving? heasked rather wistfully. In about a week.A radiogram came this morning from the Board of Trustees.I ll be veryrushed and very busy, otherwise I d want you to come along.I ll catch the Australian Star comingin from Venus. If it gets here, said Dick gloomily.Dr.Murdock looked surprised and thoughtful.After a moment he said,  I d almost forgotten theBasilisk.It seems like a bad dream.But I think the Australian Star will arrive safely enough.Allships according to Commander Franchetti have been ordered to keep radio silence from the timethey leave port and take courses away from the normal lanes. I d like to go with you, said Dick.Dr.Murdock laughed. Next time, and then we ll spend a month.Don t worry, Earth will bethere a long while.And now I m going up to relieve Professor Dexter at the Eye.We re making anew set of plates for the Corvus region. He rose to his feet. Like to come along? If you want to bean astronomer, you ll have to learn how to use a telescope.Dick arose; they went into the dressing room, climbed into space suits and set out across thefloor of the crater.The next week passed uneventfully and, for Dick, very swiftly.He explored the walls of thecrater near the observatory, carrying a geologist s hammer.He tapped and hammered at formationswhich looked promising, but found nothing more exciting than big gleaming cubes of pyrite.Part of each day he spent at the telescope, and an hour or so in the library.The great hulk ofmaterial on file was photographic plates: hundreds of thousands of black squares, each speckedwith stars.Recreational reading for observatory personnel was stocked only as an afterthought.Here also was the ten-volume New Universal Star Index, to which Librarian Isel Bayer had devotedtwelve years of his life, and which, so he informed Dick, was by no means completed. Every timea new plate leaves Dexter s darkroom, it means another three days work for me.Look. He went tohis desk and picked up two plates, which he gave to Dick. These are the same section of sky, onthe same scale.Do you see any difference?Dick studied the plates. This one marked AX has a lot more stars on it.Isel Bayer nodded and his fluffy white hair waved like ostrich plumes.Even in the subdued lightof the library he wore his dark glasses. That s one of the new Corvus plates.This other one wasphotographed by the Harvard Camera, a hundred-inch reflector on the Harvard University sartificial satellite.Naturally our telescope, collecting over ten times as much light, records manymore stars.My job is to find and index them with their exact positions.Dick compared the two plates, glancing from one to the other. This AX photo is photographedin color; I can see reds and blues and greens. Very pale of course, said Isel Bayer.He had a baritone voice, extraordinarily rich andresonant, and rather incongruous in his spindly body. In any event, we soon discovered the oldindexes to be inadequate; and I have based this new index on an entirely new and rational principle.For the next half-hour he explained the system to the fidgeting Dick, who was not particularlyinterested.But Isel Bayer s voice never halted, rising and falling dramatically like a singer s.At lastDick, after looking at his watch, jumped to his feet. I ve got to meet my father; we re going up tothe telescope.Behind the dark glasses, Isel Bayer s eyes seemed to flash, with what might have beenamusement or irritation [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]