"I wish I could help," Dorothea said.
Silence fell, and gloom followed it.
Time ticked by. The bourbon bottle resumed its seductive winking.
"There is one thing," Dorothea said suddenly. "He did say one thing about it."
"What?" Malone said eagerly.
"He said you couldn"t teleport to some place you haven"t been before.
You"ve got to be able to visualize where you"re going."
Malone said, "Hmm." It seemed like the right answer. Dorothea"s statement was a fact, certainly, but he didn"t see how the fact fit in anywhere.
"He didn"t mention anything about distance, and I don"t think any of the Spooks ever tested it for that," Dorothea said.
"There probably is a distance limit," Malone said. "At least if Dr.
O"Connor"s theories are right. I just wish I knew what the limit was."
Silence fell again. Malone sighed. Dorothea sighed. Boyd sighed, looked around at the others and muttered, "d.a.m.n thing"s catching." He got up and walked over to the dresser and picked up the bottle of bourbon.
"You, too?" Malone murmured, but Boyd didn"t hear him.
"I don"t care if it is early in the morning," he said, resolutely. "I need a drink. I need something to take the fog out of my head, anyhow." He poured himself a shot, held the bottle aloft, and said, "Dorothea? Malone?"
The girl shook her head.
Malone was tempted but he put Satan behind him with decision. "No," he said firmly. "The way I feel now, one drink would probably immobilize me."
Dorothea chuckled. "You sound just like Mike," she said.
"Mike doesn"t drink in the morning either?" Malone said.
"Of course he doesn"t," Boyd said. "Mike is a nice kid. A swell kid."
"You keep quiet," Dorothea shot at him. She turned back to Malone.
"Mike never drinks at all," she said. "He says it immobilizes him--just what you said."
Somewhere in the black galactic depths of Malone"s mind, a very small hot star gulped, took a deep breath and became a supernova.
The light was tremendous! It shed beams over everything, beams of a positively supernal brilliance. And in the all-pervasive brightness of that single inner light, bits of data began to fall into place with all the precision of aerial bombs, each falling neatly and exactly into its own little predetermined bomb crater.
It was beautiful. It was magnificent. Malone felt all choked up.
None of the Silent Spooks drank. He remembered Kettleman telling him that. And the Queen never touched the stuff either.
"What"s wrong?" Boyd said.
"Malone, you look green."
"I feel green," Malone said. "I feel like newly sprung gra.s.s. I feel as if I had just hatched out of something. I feel wonderful."
"It"s the strain," Boyd said. "That"s what it is, strain. You"ve cracked at last."
Malone ignored him. "Tell me," he said to Dorothea with elaborate casualness, "when your brother says that, what does he mean?"
"What?" she said. "Oh, I don"t know. I--" She stopped and her eyes widened. "You don"t think that--"
"I don"t know," Malone said. "But we can sure as h.e.l.l find out."
Dorothea blinked. "What can you do?" she said. "I mean, to find out.
You can"t force them to drink or anything, can you?"
"No," Malone said. "I can"t do that. But it does give me an idea."
Boyd held his untasted drink in his hand, staring at Malone and the girl. "What are you two talking about?" he said. "Or is this the special Captain Midnight code? I left my code ring home this week."
"Boyd," Malone snapped, "get on the phone."
"Are you sure it will hold me?" Boyd said.
"I want you to call Dr. O"Connor at Yucca Flats," Malone said. "Shut up and listen."
There was silence.
Finally Boyd said, "I don"t hear anything."
"Never mind," Malone said. "I mean listen to me. I know it"s pretty early out where O"Connor is, but that doesn"t matter now. Wake him up.
Wake everybody up, for all I care."
"Malone," Boyd said carefully, "are you sure you haven"t gone nuts?"
Malone grinned cheerfully. "No," he said. "Are you? Now listen: find out what effect drugs have on psionic abilities."
"Drugs?" Boyd said, and then his eyes lit up. "My G.o.d!" he said. "We might have something, at that!"
"Get the Queen up too," Malone said. "Ask her the same question. I hope we do have something."
"So do I," Dorothea said.
"And if we get the information we"re hoping to get, I want Her Majesty on the first plane to New York," Malone said. "I don"t care what strings you have to pull to get that done. Call Burris if you have to.
It"ll be worth it." Malone paused. "h.e.l.l," he said, "call him anyway and tell him what"s happened. But get the Queen here!"
"Right!" Boyd said. He dove for the phone and started dialing.
Suddenly he looked around. "Hey!" he yelled. "Where are you going?"
Malone, one hand on the door, turned. "Down to see Fernack," he said.
"I"ve got to make some arrangements. I"m betting we"re right, Tom!" He charged out the door, slamming it. A second pa.s.sed and it opened again. Malone"s head popped back in. "Dorothea," he said. "When Tom gets off the phone call your mother. Tell her you"re going to be away for a day or two--two at the most--and she"s not to worry. We"ll need you, and her, too, to talk to Mike when the time comes. So stick around."