Heput the selectorscope spectacles into the pouch on the arm of the seatand walked out of the R.K.O. Vicarion into High Street and around thecorner to where his car was parked.
His roommate at the communapt, MacCloy, was still up when he got there,going over some projectos. Mac snapped off the screen and quickly sweptthe slides together and into a case.
"You're back early," MacCloy said.
"The multifilm broke," Paul told him.
"Oh." Mac seemed abstracted, as he often did, and again Paul wonderedabout this man he knew so casually and who had never confided in himabout anything--especially about his government job.
"So I missed the ending," Paul said. "I guess it was near the end,anyhow. The space patrol was on the way, but the villain, that Hafitz,was just about to blast me with his gun and I don't know how I wouldhave got out of that."
"I remember that," Mac said. He laughed. "You must have been Positiveall the way through. Like I was when I saw it. If you'd had any negativereactions--if you'd leaned back against the strap instead offorward--you'd have been at some other point in the multiplot and Iwouldn't have recognized that part. Want me to tell you how it ends?"
"Go ahead. Then if I do see it again I'll change the ending somewherealong the line with a lean-back."
"Okay. There really wasn't much more. It takes so much film to provideall the plot choices that they can't make them very long.
"Well, Hafitz blasts me and misses," Mac went on, "--or blasts _you_ andmisses, to keep it in your viewpoint. When you jump back, you set off abunch of controls. That was the control room, too, not just thecommunications room. Well, those controls you lean back against take theship out of automatic pilot and send it into some wild acrobatics andthat's why Hafitz misses. Also it knocks him out of the wheelchair sohe's helpless and you get his gun. Also you see that the plans are stillthere--right where you put them, stuck to the bottom of his wheelchair."
"So that was it," said Paul.
"Yes," said Mac. "And then you cover Hafitz while he straightens out theship and you rendezvous with the space control and they take you allinto custody. You get a citation from the government. That's about it.Corny, huh?"
"But what about the girl?" Paul asked. "Is she really a spy?"
"Girl? What girl?"
"Naomi, her name was," Paul said. "You couldn't miss her. She was in thevikie right at the beginning--that brunette in the fast car."
"But there wasn't any girl, Paul," Mac insisted. "Not when I saw it."
"Of course there was. There had to be--the vikies all start out the sameway, no matter who sees them."
"It beats me, pal. I know I didn't see her. Maybe you dreamed up thedame."
"I don't think so," Paul said. "But of course it's possible." He yawned."I wouldn't mind dreaming of her tonight, at that. Think I'll turn innow, Mac. I've got that long trip tomorrow, you know. Up to Canada tolook over a new line of Marswool sport jackets at the All-PlanetsShowroom."
"Driving or flying?"
"The weather prognosis is zero-zero. I'll drive."
"Good," said Mac.
* * * * *
Paul Asher woke up late. He had a confused recollection of a dream.Something about a beautiful brunette giving him a backrub.
A look at the chrono sent the dream out of his head and he hurriedthrough shaving and dressing.
His car was waiting for him, engine idling, at the curb. He got in,tossing his briefcase and topcoat ahead of him to the far side of thefront seat. His back began to itch, insistently, and he rubbed itagainst the leather upholstery.
Paul adjusted the safety belt around him, and fastened it. Might as welldo it now, instead of having to fool around with it later. Damn thatitch, anyway! It was as if something were stuck to his skin--like asticking plaster....
The high-powered vehicle purred smoothly as it took a long, risingcurve. The road climbed steadily toward the mountaintop city ahead.
The scene was familiar.
The itching of his back spread and became a prickly feeling in the smallhairs at the nape of his neck.
He knew now that he was not alone in the car. He looked in the rear-viewmirror.
Naomi.
She was looking at him insolently, her wide red mouth in a half smile.
She said: "Just keep going, Sweetheart, as fast as you can."
... THE END
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _If Worlds of Science Fiction_ January 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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