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chance. It came and Urteil died. It worked perfectly. I thought it would go down as accident.
Even if Big-man were in trouble, then the Council could get him out of it. No one would be
hurt except Urteil, and he deserved it a hundred times over. Anyway, that's it." In the awed
silence that followed, Dr. Peverale said huskily, "Under the circumstances, Cook, you will of
course consider yourself relieved of all duty and under air __" "Hey, hold it, hold it," cried
Bigman. "The confession isn't complete yet. Look here, Cook, that was the second time you
tried to kill Urteil, wasn't it?" "The second time?" Cook's tragic eyes lifted. "What about the
gimmicked inso-suit? Urteil said for us to watch out for one, so he must have had
experience with it. He made out Mindes was doing it, but that Urteil was a lying cobber and
nothing he says has to be believed. What I say is that you tried to kill Urteil that way, but he
caught the suit and forced you to transfer it to our room when we came. Then he warned us
about it just to get us thinking he was on our side and make trouble for Mindes. Isn't that
so?" "No," shouted Cook. "No! I had nothing to do with that inso-suit. Nothing." "Come on,"
began Bigman. "We're not going to believe: " But now Lucky Starr got to his feet. "It's all
right, Bigman. Cook had nothing to do with the inso-suit. 163 You can believe him. The man
responsible for the slashed inso-suit is the man responsible for the robot." Bigman stared at
his tall friend incredulously. "You mean the Sirians, Lucky?" "No Sirians," said Lucky. "There
are no Sirians on Mercury. There never have been." 16 Results of the Trial Dr. Peverale's
deep voice was hoarse with dismay. "No Sirians? Do you know what you're saying, Starr?"
"Perfectly." Lucky Starr moved up to Dr. Peverale's desk, sat down on one corner of it, and
faced the assemblage. "Dr. Peverale will bear me out on that, I'm sure, when I've explained
the reasoning." "I'll bear you out? No fear of that, I assure you," huffed the old astronomer,
his face set in an attitude of bitter disapproval. "It is scarcely worth discussing. ... By the way,
we'll have to place Cook under arrest." He half rose. Lucky urged him gently back into his
seat. "It's all right, sir. Bigman will make sure that Cook will remain under control." "I won't
make any trouble," said the despairing Cook in a muffled tone. Bigman pulled his armchair
close to Cook's nevertheless. Lucky said, "Think back, Dr. Peverale, on the night of the
banquet and of your own words concerning the Sirian robots. ... By the way, Dr. Peverale,
you've known for a long time there was a robot on the planet, haven't you?" The astronomer
said uneasily, "What do you mean?" "Dr. Mindes came to you with stories of having 165
166 sighted moving manlike figures in what seemed like metal space-suits who also
seemed to endure solar radiation better than one would expect humans to." "I certainly did,"
interposed Mindes, "and I should have known I was seeing a robot." "You didn't have the
experience with robots that Dr. Peverale did," said Lucky. He turned to the old astronomer
again. "I'm sure that you suspected the existence of Sirian-designed robots on the planet as
soon as Mindes reported what he had seen. His description fit them perfectly." The
astronomer nodded slowly. "I, myself," Lucky went on, "did not suspect robots when Mindes
told me his story any more than he himself did. After the banquet, however, when, Dr.
Peverale, you discussed Sirius and its robots, the thought occurred to me very forcefully that
here was the explanation. You must have thought so too." Dr. Peverale nodded slowly again.
He said, "I realized that we ourselves could do nothing against a Sirian incursion. That is
why I discouraged Mindes." (Mindes turned pale at this point and muttered savagely to
himself.) Lucky said, "You never reported to the Council of Science?" Dr. Peverale
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hesitated. "I was afraid they wouldn't believe me and that I would only succeed in getting [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]