Operation Sherlock Read Free Page B

back to the scene he was trying to paint, Mr. Davis noticed a pair of redheaded kids strolling by on the beach below. “Look, Trip,” he said. “Why not see if you can get to know those two?”
    No answer.
    â€œTrip?”
    No answer.
    Cromp Davis turned away from his painting. His son was gone.
    The dark-eyed woman gazed through her kitchen window, watching her son, Hap, work in the backyard. She felt another pang of the guilt that had nagged at her off and on since she and her husband had decided to stay on Anza-bora Island after most of the base personnel were shipped back to the states.
    She bit her lip. The boy appeared content; tinkering with the engine of his dune buggy was one of his favorite things to do. But she was a mother, and could see beyond mere appearances. As she watched, every once in a while Hap would look up from the engine and stare out to sea. Though the salty breeze rustling through his blond hair gave him a carefree appearance, his eyes were dark and brooding.
    He looks so handsome , she thought. And so lonely. It’s hard to believe he’s only thirteen . She pulled the curtain shut and went to her favorite chair. Did we make a mistake staying on like this?
    â€œWhere better to raise a boy than on an island?” her husband had kept asking when they were trying to decide whether to accept Dr. Hwa’s offer. “The world is going crazy. This is a safer place to be.”
    Despite her husband’s claim that he wanted to remain on Anza-bora for Hap’s sake, the woman knew the real reason he wanted to stay was that he himself loved isolated places, and considered living on a nearly deserted island close to heaven.
    While they had many things in common, in this matter, Hap and his father were very different. Not that Hap would ever admit it. As soon as he figured out his father wanted to stay (and it hadn’t taken him long to do so), nothing could have gotten him to say he wanted to leave.
    The woman smiled. Hap and his father. Her two men.
    She heard a sound in the yard and returned to the window just in time to see the nearly silent dune buggy disappear over a low ridge of sand. She stood looking after Hap for some time, her fingers worrying the edge of the curtain. Maybe the new people, the scientists, would have some youngsters he could make friends with.
    She certainly hoped so.
    â€œThis place is hot,” said Roger Phillips as he trudged along the beach.
    â€œAnd sandy,” said his twin.
    â€œAnd stupid!” added a third voice.
    It came from the leather bag the twins had been passing back and forth all morning.
    Rachel grimaced. “I don’t know why you wanted to bring him along. He’s a pain in the neck.”
    â€œNobody loves me!” wailed the voice.
    Roger ignored it and returned to the question he and Rachel had been discussing. “So—how are we going to get out of here?”
    â€œWe could pretend to catch some horrible disease,” suggested Rachel. Before Roger could answer, she shook her head, vetoing her own suggestion. “No, that’s no good. The doctors here are bound to be better than that school nurse who used to send us home all the time. They’d figure us out in nothing flat.”
    â€œWe could build a raft,” suggested Roger, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together, as he did whenever he was engaged in intense thought.
    â€œThat would be dangerous,” said Rachel.
    â€œAnd slow,” agreed Roger sadly.
    â€œAnd stupid,” added the voice from the bag.
    Suddenly they heard a plane overhead. Struck simultaneously by a single thought, the twins began to run.
    Standing on his basketball, Ray Gammand thrust his fingers through the fence and stared hungrily at the airplane sitting on the runway. The robots were almost done unloading it. Before long it would be leaving. And he couldn’t figure out how to get on to it.
    He clutched the wire in frustration. He had been