"Unofficial boats capable of this range just don"t exist," Grayder a.s.sured. "Neither do s.p.a.ce buccaneers, for the same reason. A Blieder-job takes so much that a would-be pirate has to become a billionaire to become a pirate."
"Then," said the amba.s.sador, heavily, "back we go to my original theory-that something peculiar to
this world plus a lot of inbreeding has made them nutty."
"There"s plenty to be said for that notion," put in Colonel Shelton. "You should have seen the coach load I looked over. There was a mortician wearing odd shoes, one brown, one yellow. And a moon-faced gump sporting a hat made from the skin of a barber"s pole, all stripy. Only thing missing was his bubble pipe-and probably he"ll be given that where he was going."
"Where was he going?"
"I don"t know, your Excellency. They refused to say."
Giving him a satirical look, the amba.s.sador remarked, "Well, that is a valuable addition to the sum total
of our knowledge. Our minds are now enriched by the thought that an anonymous individual may be
presented with a futile object for an indefinable purpose when he reaches his unknown destination."
Shelton subsided, wishing that he had never seen the fat man or, for that matter, the fat man"s c.o.c.keyed world.
"Somewhere they"ve got a capital, a civic seat, a center of government wherein function the people who hold the strings," the amba.s.sador a.s.serted. "We"ve got to find that place before we can take over and reorganize on up-to-date lines whatever setup they"ve got. A capital is big by the standards of its own administrative area. It"s never an ordinary, nondescript place. It has certain physical features lending it importance above the average. It should be easily visible from the air. We must make a search for it-in fact, that"s what we ought to have done in the first place. Other planets" capital cities have been found without trouble. What"s the hoodoo on this one?"
"See for yourself, your Excellency." Captain Grayder poked a couple of photographs across the table.
"There are the two hemispheres as recorded by us when coming in. They reveal nothing resembling a superior city. There isn"t even a town conspicuously larger than its fellows or possessing outstanding features setting it apart from the others."
"I don"t place great faith in pictures, particularly when taken at long distance. The naked eye sees more.
We have got four lifeboats capable of scouring the place from pole to pole. Why not use them?"
"Because, your Excellency, they were not designed for such a purpose."
"Does that matter so long as they get results?"
* * * Grayder said, patiently, "They were designed to be launched in s.p.a.ce and hit up to forty thousand. They are ordinary, old-style rocket jobs, for emergencies only. You could not make efficient ground-survey at any speed in excess of four hundred miles per hour. Keep the boats down to that and you"re trying to run them at landing-speed; m.u.f.fling the tubes, balling up their efficiency, creating a terrible waste of fuel, and inviting a crash which you"re likely to get before you"re through."
"Then it"s high time we had Blieder-drive lifeboats on Blieder-drive ships."
"I agree, your Excellency. But the smallest Blieder engine has an Earth ma.s.s of more than three hundred tons-far too much for little boats." Picking up the photographs, Grayder slid them into a drawer. "What we need is an ancient, propeller-driven airplane. They could do something we can"t do-they could go slow."
"You might as well yearn for a bicycle," scoffed the amba.s.sador, feeling thwarted.
"We have a bicycle," Grayder informed. "Tenth Engineer Harrison owns one."
"And he has brought it with him?"
"It goes everywhere with him. There is a rumor that he sleeps with it."
"A s.p.a.ceman toting a bicycle!" The amba.s.sador blew his nose with a loud honk. "I take it that he is
thrilled by the sense of immense velocity it gives him, an ecstatic feeling of rushing headlong through s.p.a.ce?"
"I wouldn"t know, your Excellency."
"Hm-m-m! Bring this Harrison in to me. We"ll set a nut to catch a nut."
Grayder blinked, went to the caller board, spoke over the ship"s system. "Tenth Engineer Harrison wanted in the chartroom immediately."
Within ten minutes Harrison appeared. He had walked fast three-quarters of a mile from the Blieder room. He was thin and wiry, with dark, monkeylike eyes, and a pair of ears that cut out time pedaling with the wind behind him. The amba.s.sador examined him curiously, much as a zoologist would inspect a pink giraffe.
"Mister, I understand that you possess a bicycle."
Becoming wary, Harrison said, "There"s nothing against it in the regulations, sir, and therefore-"
"d.a.m.n the regulations!" The amba.s.sador made an impatient gesture. "We"re stalled in the middle of a
crazy situation and we"re turning to crazy methods to get moving."
"I see, sir."
"So I want you to do a job for me. Get out your bicycle, ride down to town, find the mayor, sheriff,
grand panjandrum, supreme galootie, or whatever he"s called, and tell him he"s officially invited to evening dinner along with any other civic dignitaries he cares to bring and, of course, their wives."
"Very well, sir."
"Informal attire," added the amba.s.sador.
Harrison jerked up one ear, drooped the other, and said, "Beg pardon, sir?"
"They can dress how they like."
"I get it. Do I go right now, sir?"
"At once. Return as quickly as you can and bring me the reply."
Saluting sloppily, Harrison went out. His Excellency found an easy-chair, reposed in it at full length and ignored the others" stares.
"As easy as that!" He pulled out a long cigar, carefully bit off its end. "If we can"t touch their minds, we"ll appeal to their bellies." He c.o.c.ked a knowing eye at Grayder. "Captain, see that there is plenty to drink. Strong stuff. Venusian cognac or something equally potent. Give them an hour at a well-filled table and they"ll talk plenty. We won"t be able to shut them up all night." He lit the cigar, puffed luxuriously. "That is the tried and trusted technique of diplomacy-the insidious seduction of the distended gut. It always works-you"ll see."
Pedaling briskly down the road, Tenth Engineer Harrison reached the first street on either side of which were small detached houses with neat gardens front and back. A plump, amiable looking woman was clipping a hedge halfway along. He pulled up near to her, politely touched his cap.
" "Scuse me, ma"am, I"m looking for the biggest man in town."
She half-turned, gave him no more than a casual glance, pointed her clipping-shears southward. "That"d be Jeff Baines. First on the right, second on the left. It"s a small delicatessen."Thank you."He moved on, hearing the snip-snip resume behind him. First on the right. He curved around a long, low, rubber-balled truck parked by the corner. Second on the left. Three children pointed at him and yelled shrill warnings that his back wheel was going round. He found the delicatessen, propped a pedal on the curb, gave his machine a rea.s.suring pat before he went inside and had a look at Jeff.
There was plenty to see. Jeff had four chins, a twenty-two-inch neck, and a paunch that stuck out half a yard. An ordinary mortal could have got into either leg of his pants without taking off a diving suit. He weighed at least three hundred and undoubtedly was the biggest man in town.
"Wanting something?" inquired Jeff, lugging it up from far down.
"Not exactly." Tenth Engineer Harrison eyed the succulent food display, decided that anything unsold by nightfall was not given to the cats. "I"m looking for a certain person."
"Are you now? Usually I avoid that sort-but every man to his taste." He plucked at a fat lip while he
mused a moment, them suggested, "Try Sid Wilc.o.c.k over on Dane Avenue. He"s the most certain man I know."
"I didn"t mean it that way," said Harrison. "I meant I was searching for somebody particular."
"Then why the dub didn"t you say so?" Jeff Baines worked over the new problem, finally offered, "Tod Green ought to fit that bill. You"ll find him in the shoeshop end of this road. He"s particular enough for anyone. He"s downright finicky."
"You misunderstand me," Harrison explained. "I"m hunting a big-wig so"s I can invite him to a feed."
Resting himself on a high stool which he overlapped by a foot all round, Jeff Baines eyed him peculiarly and said, "There"s something lopsided about this. In the first place, you"re going to use up a considerable
slice of your life finding a guy who wears a wig, especially if you insist on a big one. And where"s the point of dumping an ob on him just because he uses a bean-blanket?"
"Huh?"
"It"s plain common sense to plant an ob where it will cancel an old one out, isn"t it?"
"Is it?" Harrison let his mouth hang open while his mind moiled around the strange problem of how to
plant an ob.
"So you don"t know?" Jeff Baines ma.s.saged a plump chop and sighed. He pointed at the other"s middle.
"Is that a uniform you"re wearing?"
"Yes."
"A genuine, pukka, dyed-in-the-wool uniform?"
"Of course."
"Ah!" said Jeff. "That"s where you"ve fooled me-coming in by yourself, on your ownsome. If there had