The worried look came back to the senator"s pandalike face. "We have to do something. If only we _knew_ that Forsythe"s prediction will really come off. Or, if it will, then exactly _when_? And is there anything we can do about it, or will it be like the airline incident.
If we hadn"t made them switch planes, nothing would have happened.
What if, no matter what we do, Moonbase One goes anyway?
"Remember, we haven"t yet built Moonbase Two. If our only base on the moon is destroyed, the Soviets will have the whole moon to themselves.
Have you any suggestions?"
"Sure," said Taggert. "Ask yourself one question: What is the purpose of Moonbase One?"
Slowly, a beatific smile spread itself over the senator"s face.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
The whole discussion had taken exactly ninety seconds.
"Mrs. Jesser," said Brian Taggert to the well-rounded, fortyish woman behind the reception desk at S.M.M.R. headquarters, "this is Dr.
Forsythe. He has established a reputation as one of the finest seers living today."
Mrs. Jesser looked at the distinguished, white-bearded gentleman with an expression that was almost identical with the one her grandmother had worn when she met Rudolph Valentino, nearly sixty years before, and the one her mother had worn when she saw Frank Sinatra a generation later. It was not an uncommon expression for Mrs. Jesser"s face to wear: it appeared every time she was introduced to anyone who looked impressive and was touted as a great mystic of one kind or another.
"I"m _so_ glad to _meet_ you, Dr. Forsythe!" she burbled eagerly.
"Dr. Forsythe will be working for us for the next few months--his office will be Room B on the fourth floor," Taggert finished. He was genuinely fond of the woman, in spite of her mental dithers and schoolgirl mannerisms. Mysticism fascinated her, and she was firmly convinced that she had "just a _weenie_ bit" of psychic power herself, although its exact nature seemed to change from time to time. But she did both her jobs well, although she was not aware of her double function. She thought she was being paid as a receptionist and phone operator, and she was quick and efficient about her work. She was also the perfect screen for the Society"s real work, for if anyone ever suspected that the S.M.M.R. was not the group of crackpots that it appeared to be, five minutes talking with Mrs. Jesser would convince them otherwise.
"Oh, you"re _staying_ with us, Dr. Forsythe? How wonderful! We simply _must_ have a talk sometime!"
"Indeed we must, dear lady," said Forsythe. His voice and manner had just the right amount of benign dignity, with an almost indetectable touch of pompous condescending.
"Come along, doctor; I"ll show you to your office." Taggert"s face betrayed nothing of the enjoyment he was getting out of watching the mental gymnastics of the two. Forsythe and Mrs. Jesser were similar in some ways, but, of the two, Mrs. Jesser was actually the more honest.
She only fooled herself; she never tried to fool anyone else.
Forsythe, on the other hand, tried to put on a front for others, and, in doing so, had managed to delude himself pretty thoroughly.
Taggert"s humor was not malicious; he was not laughing at them. He was admiring the skill of the human mind in tying itself in knots. When one watches a clever contortionist going through his paces, one doesn"t laugh at the contortionist; one admires and enjoys the weird twists he can get himself into. And, like Taggert, one can only feel sympathy for one whose knots have become so devious and intricate that he can never extricate himself.
"Just follow me up the stairs," Taggert said. "I"ll show you where your office is. Sorry we don"t have an elevator, but this old building just wasn"t built for it, and we"ve never had any real need for one."
"Perfectly all right," Forsythe said, following along behind.
_Three weeks!_
Taggert had to a.s.sume that the minimum time prediction was the accurate one. d.a.m.n! Why couldn"t this last prediction have been as precise as the one about the air flight from Puerto Rico?
It had taken six days for the "accredited" agents of the S.M.M.R. to persuade Dr. Peter Forsythe that he should leave his little place on the Boardwalk and come down to Arlington to work. It isn"t easy to persuade a man to leave a business that he"s built up over a long period of years, especially during the busy season. To leave the Boardwalk during the summer would, as far as Forsythe was concerned, be tantamount to economic suicide. He had to be offered not only an income better than the one he was making, but better security as well.
At fifty-four, one does not lightly throw over the work of a lifetime.
Still, he had plenty of safeguards. The rent was paid on his Boardwalk office, he had a guaranteed salary while he was working, and a "research bonus," designed to keep him working until the Society was finished with that phase of its work.
It"s rather difficult for a man to resist the salesmanship of a telepath who knows exactly what his customer wants and, better, what he needs.
On the fourth floor, there were sounds of movement, the low staccato chatter of typers, occasional bits of conversation, and the hum of electronic equipment.
Forsythe was impressed, though not a line on his face showed it. The office to which he had been a.s.signed was lined with electronic calculators, and his name had already been put on the door in gold. It was to his credit that he was impressed by the two factors in that order.
In the rear of the room, two technicians were working on an open panel in one of the units. Nearby, a dark-haired, dark-eyed, maturely handsome woman in her early thirties was holding a clip board and making occasional notes as the men worked. One of the men was using an electric drill, and the whine of metal on metal drowned out the slight noise that Taggert and Forsythe made as they entered. Only the woman was aware that they had come in, but she didn"t betray the fact.
"Miss Tedesco?" Taggert called.
She looked up from her clip board, smiled, and walked toward the two newcomers. "Yes, Mr. Taggert?"
""Bout done?"
"Almost. They"re setting in the last component now."
Taggert nodded absently. "Miss Tedesco, this is Dr. Peter Forsythe, whom I told you about. Dr. Forsythe, this is Miss Donna Tedesco; she"s the computer technician who will be working with you."
Miss Tedesco"s smile was positively glittering. "I"m so pleased to meet you, doctor; I know our work together will be interesting."
"I trust it will," Forsythe said, beaming. Then a faint cloud seemed to come over his features. "I"m afraid I must confess a certain ... er ...
lack of knowledge in the realm of computerdom. Mr. Taggert attempted to explain, but he, himself, has admitted that his knowledge of the details is ... er ... somewhat vague."
"I"m not a computerman, myself," Taggert said, smiling. "Miss Tedesco will be able to give you the details better than I can."
Miss Tedes...o...b..inked. "You know the broad outline, surely? Of the project, I mean."
"Oh, yes, certainly," Forsythe said hurriedly. "We are attempting to determine whether the actions of human beings can actually have any effect on the outcome of the prophecy itself. In other words, if it is possible to avert, say, a disaster if it is foretold, or whether the very foretelling itself a.s.sures the ultimate outcome."
The woman nodded her agreement.
"As I understand it," Forsythe continued, "we are going to get several score clients--or, rather, _subjects_--and I am to ... uh ... exercise my talents, just as I have been doing for many years. The results are to be tabulated and run through the computers to see if there is any correlation between human activity taken as a result of the forecast and the actual foretold events themselves."
"That"s right," said Miss Tedesco. She looked at Taggert. "That"s what the committee outlined, in general, isn"t it?"
"In general, yes," Taggert said.
"But what about the details?" Forsythe asked doggedly. "I mean, just how are we going to go about this? You must remember that I"m not at all familiar with ... er ... scientific research procedures."
"Oh, we"ll work all that out together," said Miss Tedes...o...b..ightly.
"You didn"t think we"d plan a detailed work schedule without your co-operation, did you?"
"Well--" Forsythe said, swelling visibly with pride, "I suppose--"
Taggert, glancing at his watch, interrupted. "I"ll have to leave you two to work out your research schedule together. I have an appointment in a few minutes." He grasped Forsythe"s hand and pumped it vigorously. "I believe we"ll get along fine, Dr. Forsythe. And I believe our work here will be quite fruitful. Will you excuse me?"
"Certainly, Mr. Taggert. And I want to thank you for this opportunity to do research work along these lines."
Brian Taggert thanked Forsythe and hurried out with the air of a man with important and urgent things on his mind.