Chapter 10

Jed Webber came in noisily. His left foot was heavy and his left arm swung more than it should. Otherwise there wasn’t much that remained of the timid awkward man of weeks ago.

Docchi looked up. “Did my calculations check?”

Webber grinned. “I thought they would but I wanted to be sure. It’s one of the Centauris.”

“Is that as close as you can come?”

“With that telescope it is. It’s pretty wobbly. Who made it, anyway?”

“I did.”

Webber grinned again. “In that case it’s pretty damned good.” With difficulty Webber kept himself from looking down but Docchi could see that his real foot was wriggling.

“Thanks. Did you get an estimate of the speed?”

Webber grunted. “Not a spectroscope on the place and without one how can I measure the light shift?” He rubbed his arm slowly. “Unless you made one of those too and have it stored away.”

“I don’t. I made the telescope when I first came here. I didn’t see that it proved anything even to myself so I stopped.” Docchi thought briefly. “There’s an analyzer in the medical lab. You can borrow it but don’t change it in any way. We can’t risk ruining the only means we have of checking our synthetics.”

“We don’t have to know how fast we’re going. We’ll get there just as soon. I’ll look into that analyzer after my work period. There’s a chance it will do what I want it to.”

“What you’re doing is work. You don’t have to put in more hours than anyone else.”

Webber smiled unhappily. “Oh--I’m as lazy as the next person. We’re short handed in hard labor. I thought I’d fill in for a while.”

The reference was what he’d expect from Webber, not at all subtle. “You mean that there’s criticism over the shortage of geepees?”

“I didn’t want to say anything--but yes, there is.”

“I’ve heard the same complaint. You’re not revealing something I don’t know.” Docchi leaned back. “To you it seems like ingratitude and I suppose it is. More than anyone else Nona is responsible for what we’ve achieved. I don’t object to anything she wants--twice as many geepees if she needs them and we have them. We’ll get it back in ways we didn’t expect.”

“I agree. But not everyone feels the same way.”

“It doesn’t hurt. In times of hardship everyone complains, and they may as well direct it at her. Actually it’s a measure of how important they feel she is--and the accusations are so ill-founded they can’t believe them themselves.”

Webber got up. For the first time since he entered the mechanical and muscular halves of his body failed to coordinate. “You’re right. I thought if I had something to tell them they’d be less uncertain.”

“Perhaps they would, for a while. I’m not keeping secrets. The truth is I don’t know what she’s using the geepees for.”

If the explanation failed to be completely convincing it was because Webber didn’t want to believe. There were others like him. He didn’t blame anyone for wanting an accounting for every piece of equipment on the asteroid. And yet the attitude was an advantage. Discontent, real or fancied, wouldn’t become a problem as long as it was openly displayed. There would be time to worry if Webber didn’t mention his dissatisfaction. Docchi watched him leave and then bent over his work.

A few hours and a score of unimportant details later Cameron hurried in. “Need a couple of lab workers,” he said on entering.

“I thought Jeriann was doing all right.”

“She is--indispensable. We can’t have that. Suppose she should get sick? I want her to teach someone else the synthesizers. She’s got too much on her hands.”

Docchi hooked his knee on a corner of the desk and tilted the chair back. “Sounds reasonable. Do you have anyone in mind?”

“Jeriann says two women have worked with her in the past. She won’t have to start from scratch. She’ll give you their names.” Cameron rifled the files and jotted down the information. He folded the sheet, stuffing it in his pocket. “Here’s something for you. We’ve reduced the unsolved deficients to three. All the rest we can synthesize for.”

From forty-two to nine and now it was three. It was all the progress they could hope for, and much of it was due to Cameron. He had misjudged the doctor’s reasons for staying and he was thankful he could admit it to himself. The man was sincere--and he was also very fond of Nona.

Coupled with an increased food supply the major hazards were vanishing. Power, of course, never had been a problem and never would be. There was only one small doubt that remained and though there was no basis for it he couldn’t get it out of his mind. He wished there was some way to reassure himself.

“We weren’t able to replace everything the deficients need,” Cameron was saying. “However they’ll get along on what we manufacture.”

“Then they’re still deficients?”

“Hardly,” said Cameron. “The body’s more versatile than you think. Long ago it was learned that certain vitamins can be created in the body from simpler substances.

“In several cases we’re depending on an analogous process. We supply simple compounds and depend on the body to put it together. Afterwards, when we checked, the body did create the new substance.”

“Good. When will you take the remaining three off the emergency list?”