pictures on the wall weregarish. Not Mrs. Sagen's type, at all.
_Hey, wait a minute!_ he told himself; _speaking of pictures_--hisglance skipped to the far corner of the room. A triptych of photos ofCarolyn had always been on display on the mantelpiece. _They would provethat--_
Lance's jaw dropped.
The photos had been removed.
"Can I get you anything?" Mrs. Sagen inquired. A little nervously, Lancethought. "A cup of coffee?"
"No, thanks. I'd rather hear about Carolyn."
"Coffee won't take a minute. I was just making some fresh in thekitchen."
Lance shrugged. "Well, O.K., if you've already got it ready."
Mrs. Sagen's mouth managed a fleeting smile; then she disappearedthrough a swinging door. Lance sat down in a wrought-iron chair. Findingit not comfortable, he sprang back to his feet and paced the floor.There sure was something wrong about the colonel's house. Something veryoddly wrong. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Suddenly, his quickened hearing caught the faint murmur of a humanvoice. Was it Carolyn? The talk seemed to be issuing from thekitchen--where her mother had gone. Lance tiptoed across the room,pushed the door slightly open.
Mrs. Sagen was on the phone. Her voice was excited; she was obviouslystraining to keep it at a low level. "I'm telling you, he's here! Rightin our living room. And he insists I know somebody named Carolyn ...Yes, that's right. But do hurry ... Please. He's acting much odder thanthe others did."
Lance had eavesdropped enough. He turned away, glided rapidly out thefront door and into the night.
Where should he go next? The jeep would serve to hustle him around thebase for a while--but eventually he would be chased down and recaptured.And as for crashing any of the exit gates and thus attaining to greaterfreedom, he knew they would all be barricaded and heavily manned by now.
Lance was still burning over Mrs. Sagen's double-cross. Did he wantcoffee? she had asked. _Coffee!_ his mind repeated, disgusted. What heneeded was something stronger. A good stiff drink.
That was it! The Officers Club. Casey would be on duty at this hour.Lance would ask him to mix him a double for old times' sake. Then, he'dmeekly surrender and quietly go crazy in his cell, until theheadshrinker came and confirmed it for real.
* * * * *
The pilot got back in the jeep and drove on. When he reached the Club,he wheeled the vehicle around to a rear entrance where bushes made thegrounds shadier. Parking, he got out, strolled into the building assneakily as if he'd been an inspector-general paying a surprise callfrom out of Space Service Headquarters.
Few officers lounged about. Most were at tables and engrossed in theirown imbibing. Lance strode up to the bar, perched himself on a highstool. Casey, whose hair was red as a Martian desert, was rinsingglasses. He stopped at his task and came over, wiping the counter with awet towel. "What'll it be, major?"
"One of your Specials, Casey, my friend."
"Beg pardon?"
"You know--one of your Casey Specials. Where you start off with half aglass of Irish whisky, add a dash or two of absinthe, a drop of--"
"I don't stock no absinthe, major." Casey's freckled face was abruptlyhostile. "You know that. It's against regulations."
Lance fought down a tremor. Everybody was in on it. Everybody. Hecompromised for a minute: "Give me a slug of Teacher's on the rocks,then."
Casey measured out the drink for him.
Lance downed it. His hand gripped the edge of the bar. "Casey, do youknow me?"
He watched Casey study him. The thick reddish eyebrows knit. "It's apretty big base, major. Lots of faces. Sometimes, I kind of forget thenames."
Lance's blood pressure gave a spurt. "I'm Major Lance Cooper! Hell,you've rung up my chits often enough!"
And his mind added: _How could you forget?_
"Major." Casey's eyes narrowed, while the uneasy suspicion in them grew."We don't have no chit system at this club."
Lance's head felt like it would explode. He could take no more.
"You're lying!" he shouted. His big hands reached over the mahoganycounter and shook the bartender like a squawk-box that had refused tofunction properly. "Tell me you're lying in your teeth. If you don't,I'll push them down your throat--"
Suddenly, Lance sensed people behind him. A firm hand clamped downheavily on his shoulder.
The pilot stretched his neck around. What now? His hands did not relaxtheir murderous grip on his victim.
The arresting party had entered the club quietly. Now, they were gangedup around him: Colonel Sagen, his two aides, a fourth man Lancerecognized as Major Carmody, the base legal officer--and a fifth mantoo, who wore the insignia of the Space Surgeon-General's Department. Apsychiatrist.
"Better come peacefully, major," rasped Colonel Sagen. "You've been'cleared' for an explanation--and if you're smart, you'll listen to thespiel and play ball."
The way it was said made Lance feel he could trust the Old Man for thatlong. Anyhow, what choice did he have?
"It's about time," Lance sighed. He set Casey down, to the latter'sgreatly exhaled relief. "Only how come all the suspense?"
"It was very necessary," broke in Major Carmody.
"Was it? Well, you had me about to crack--if that was your object. Nowthen, would any of you mind easing my worries about Carolyn. She's O.K.,isn't she?"
His glance shifted from one to the other.
"Isn't she?"
Nobody would reply--neither Colonel Sagen, nor any of the officersbunched-up around him.
Sweat suddenly broke out on Lance's brow. The chilly feeling wentthrough him that if and when an answer was provided him, he wasn'tparticularly going to like it.
Not in the slightest.
* * * * *
Shortly afterwards, Lance was driven across the base by his captors andescorted into his commanding officer's private office. The two aideswere dismissed, but the psychiatrist-officer, who also wore eagles onhis shoulders, and Major Carmody remained.
Colonel Sagen seated himself behind his desk.
"Major," he began, clearing his throat, "you imagine me to have adaughter. You're positive of it. You even visualize her so well, thatyou remember something about how you were going to marry her."
"You're not going to talk me out of anything on that score," Lance shotback.
"Perhaps, we don't intend to. Colonel Nordsen, here," Sagen indicatedthe psychiatrist, "has flown in from HQ to chat with you. He can explainthe technical aspects of the phenomenon that has thrown you better thanI can. I'd advise you to listen to him. He's just what you need."
"Just what I need? What else do you intend to do? Hypnotize me, so youcan erase all my past?"
The colonel scowled. "Look here, major. You co-operate and learn to keepyour mouth shut, we may be able to restore you to duty. But if not ...well, what happens then will be entirely up to Nordsen. It could mean apadded cell. The development of hyperspace exploration has to go on,whatever happens to you."
"I'll tell you one thing to your face, colonel," Lance replied, hotly."I'm not off my rocker."
"No one has maintained you were," broke in Colonel Nordsen. "But ColonelSagen had to throw a curtain around you fast."
"Why?"
Neither officer answered.
Finally, Colonel Sagen said, "I think you'd better continue with him,Colonel Nordsen."
Nordsen was a youthful-looking man for his rank, yet prematurelybalding. He wore thick-shelled glasses.
"Major Cooper," Nordsen began, "let's go back to when you put the_Cosmos XII_ through its first jump through hyperspace. How well do yourecall your experience?"
"I'll never forget it. You Earthbound kiwis should try it sometime."
"Did you experience a feeling ... perhaps, rather uncanny ... that thewhole thing had happened to you before? What psychologists call thesense of _deja vu_?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Perhaps some other type of phenomen
on was manifested? A feeling you'dbeen split in half, maybe."
"That did happen."
"Describe it."
"It was more than just being split in half. I felt like I was suddenlyhundreds of selves. I could see other replicas of 'me' all around."
Nordsen nodded, thoughtfully. "That was what we call the 'InfiniteFission' syndrome. All those other 'you's' were personality matrices ofyourself in alternate worlds. Did you notice anything else?"
Lance nodded, grudgingly.
*