Planet in Peril Read Free Page A

toward them. “What became of the boat?” She was still standing, as though awaiting orders. He said: “We might as well sit down, I guess,” and she sat on a stone a few feet from the one he took.
    She smoothed her skirt down and looked not at him but away out to sea. “The boat? They took it away.” “They?”
    “Your friends.” She glanced at him. “Contact Section.” He said, slowly:
    “We might as well get some things clear at the start I'm not Contact Section, and I haven’t been briefed by Contact Section. I’ve been doing a very ordinary job in diamond research under Detroit Sector, and I've been pulled in here apparently because they wanted someone in a hurry. I’d hoped you might be able to help me ... I’m pretty much in the dark all the way round.”
    ‘It was most inconsiderate of Dai,” she said, “to get drowned without first leaving you detailed instructions.” “I’m sorry.” He looked at her averted face, trying to gauge the kind of emotion responsible for the bitterness of her remarks. “I’m probably not putting things very well. You see, I didn’t know Dr. Humayun . One can’t—” He thought for a moment she might be going to smile. She said, more gently than she had spoken so far:
    “You still aren’t putting them very well, are you? You’re right that you can’t be expected to feel very sorry for someone you never knew, but at least when you are talking about him you can give him his title—as you finally did.”
    He looked at her in astonishment; then he understood. “There’s no disrespect,” Charles said, “in not giving a man his title here. Scientific titles are very rarely used, anyway. There was really no offense meant.” He smiled ruefully. “In fact, I wasn’t even being accidentally rude, though I believe I often am.”
    She said: “I’m sorry.” She studied his face. She had a direct and honest look and for the moment her nervousness had gone. “What is it you want to know?”
    He looked at her helplessly. “Primarily, what I am supposed to do. You seem to have a line to follow. It’s somewhat embarrassing that I haven’t.”
    The mistrust was there again, and stronger. “It’s hard to swallow—that they should appoint you in Dai’s place and not tell you what you were expected to do.”
    “All the same,” Charles said. “I’d like you to make the effort.” He paused. “It may make a difference that I’ve been rushed straight here from Detroit. I gather you are implying that Graz knew what’s up, but that doesn’t mean Detroit does. I suppose Graz may finally wake up to the need for telling me. I suppose I could telecall Nikko- Tsi and jog their memories, but in my experience it’s always better to get along on your own if you can. Pestering HQ can have unfortunate results.”
    She wrinkled her brow. “Am I being dumb again? Is that a usual sort of thing to happen in a managerial?” “Not unusual. Why do you think all the original work is now being done in Taifa and El- Majalem ?”
    She was pleased and surprised. “You see that, too?” “They that have eyes can see. Now—this job?”
    She hesitated for a second, then said firmly: “Dai Humayun was after a new power source, on a photoelectric basis. He had reached the stage where he could see things a lot more clearly, but there was still a good deal of work to be done.”
    “Power ... ” Charles said. “Photoelectric ...? For the first time I have an inkling. Selenium obviously—germanium and diamond?”
    “Long-term irradiation of type III diamonds induces a fundamental structural change—the refractive index—”
    “I saw that report. I thought it was a blind for something else. Type III diamond—that’s new on me.”
    “Type III signifies those stones which do respond in that way to prolonged irradiation. There aren’t many, but they seem to come indiscriminately from type I and type II groups. The germanium, incidentally, is in because of the structural