The Naked Sun Read Free Page B

“I have not been told the reason for my being called to Washington, sir.”
    “I know that,” said Minnim. He smiled. “I can fix that right now. You are being reassigned temporarily.”
    “Outside New York City?”
    “Quite a distance.”
    Baley raised his eyebrows and looked thoughtful. “How temporarily, sir?”
    “I’m not sure.”
    Baley was aware of the advantages and disadvantages of reassignment. As a transient in a City of which he was not a resident, he would probably live on a scale better than his official rating entitled him to. On the other hand, it would be very unlikely that Jessie and their son, Bentley, would be allowed to travel with him. They would be taken care of, to be sure, there in New York, but Baley was a domesticated creature and he did not enjoy the thought of separation.
    Then, too, a reassignment meant a specific job of work, which was good, and a responsibility greaterthan that ordinarily expected of the individual detective, which could be uncomfortable. Baley had, not too many months earlier, survived the responsibility of the investigation of the murder of a Spacer just outside New York. He was not overjoyed at the prospect of another such detail, or anything approaching it.
    He said, “Would you tell me where I’m going? The nature of the reassignment? What it’s all about?”
    He was trying to weigh the Undersecretary’s “Quite a distance” and make little bets with himself as to his new base of operations. The “Quite a distance” had sounded emphatic and Baley thought: Calcutta? Sydney?
    Then he noticed that Minnim was taking out a cigar after all and was lighting it carefully.
    Baley thought: Jehoshaphat! He’s having trouble telling me. He doesn’t want to say.
    Minnim withdrew his cigar from between his lips. He watched the smoke and said, “The Department of Justice is assigning you to temporary duty on Solaria.”
    For a moment Baley’s mind groped for an illusive identification: Solaria, Asia; Solaria, Australia … ?
    Then he rose from his seat and said tightly, “You mean, one of the Outer Worlds?”
    Minnim didn’t meet Baley’s eyes. “That is right.”
    Baley said, “But that’s impossible. They wouldn’t allow an Earthman on an Outer World.”
    “Circumstances do alter cases, Plainclothesman Baley. There has been a murder on Solaria.”
    Baley’s lips quirked into a sort of reflex smile. “That’s a little out of our jurisdiction, isn’t it?”
    “They’ve requested help.”
    “From us? Earth?” Baley was torn between confusionand disbelief. For an Outer World to take any attitude other than contempt toward the despised mother planet or, at best, a patronizing social benevolence was unthinkable. To come for help?
    “From Earth?” he repeated.
    “Unusual,” admitted Minnim, “but there it is. They want a Terrestrial detective assigned to the case. It’s been handled through diplomatic channels on the highest levels.”
    Baley sat down again. “Why me? I’m not a young man. I’m forty-three. I’ve got a wife and child. I couldn’t leave Earth.”
    “That’s not our choice, Plainclothesman. You were specifically asked for.”
    “I?”
    “Plainclothesman Elijah Baley, C-6, of the New York City Police Force. They knew what they wanted. Surely you see why.”
    Baley said stubbornly, “I’m not qualified.”
    “They think you are. The way you handled the Spacer murder has apparently reached them.”
    “They must have got it all mixed up. It must have seemed better than it was.”
    Minnim shrugged. “In any case, they’ve asked for you and we have agreed to send you. You are reassigned. The papers have all been taken care of and you must go. During your absence, your wife and child will be taken care of at a C-7 level since that will be your temporary rating during your discharge of this assignment.” He paused significantly. “Satisfactory completion of the assignment may make the rating permanent.”
    It was happening