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1 A QUESTION IS ASKED

Stubbornly Elijah Baley fought panic

For teeks it had been building up Longer than that, even It had been building up ever since they had called hined

The call to Washington had been disturbing enough in itself It came without details, a mere summons; and thatround trip by plane and that made it still worse

Partly it was the sense of urgency introduced by any order for plane travel Partly it was the thought of the plane; si of uneasiness and, as yet, easy to suppress

After all, Lije Baley had been in a plane four times before Once he had even crossed the continent So, while plane travel is never pleasant, it would, at least, not be a complete step into the unknown

And then, the trip froton would take only an hour The take-off would be from New York Runway Number 2, which, like all official Runways, was decently enclosed, with a lock opening to the unprotected atmosphere only after air speed had been achieved The arrival would be at Washington Runway Number 5, which was similarly protected

Furthermore, as Baley well knew, there would be no s on the plane There would be good lighting, decent food, all necessary conveniences The radio-controlled flight would be smooth; there would scarcely be any sensation of motion once the plane was airborne

He explained all this to himself, and to Jessie, his wife, who had never been air-borne and who approached such matters with terror

She said, "But I don't like you to take a plane, Lije It isn't natural Why can't you take the Expressways?"

"Because that would take ten hours" - Baley's long face was set in dour lines - "and because I'm a member of the City Police Force and have to follow the orders of "

There was no arguing with that

Baley took the plane and kept his eyes firmly on the news-strip that unreeled smoothly and continuously from the eye-level dispenser The City was proud of that service: news, features, humorous articles, educational bits, occasional fiction Someday the strips would be converted to fil the eyes with a vieould be an even er fros

Baley kept his eyes on the unreeling strip, not only for the sake of distraction, but also because etiquette required it There were five other passengers on the plane (he could not help noticing that ht to whatever degree of fear and anxiety his nature and upbringing made him feel

Baley would certainly resent the intrusion of anyone else on his own uneasiness He wanted no strange eyes on the whiteness of his knuckles where his hands gripped the armrest, or the dampish stain they would leave when he took them away

He told himself: I'm enclosed This plane is just a little City But he didn't fool himself There was an inch of steel at his left; he could feel it with his elbow Past that, nothing - Well, air! But that was nothing, really

A thousand miles of it in one direction A thousand in another One ht down

He alli over; New York, Philadelphia, Balti cluster complexes of domes he had never seen but knew to be there And under theround and dozens of miles in every direction, would be the Cities

The endless, hiving corridors of the Cities, he thought, alive with people; apartments, community kitchens, factories, Expressways; all comfortable and ith the evidence of man

And he himself was isolated in the cold and Featureless air in a sh emptiness

His hands trembled, and he forced his eyes to focus on the strip of paper and read a bit

It was a short story dealing with Galactic exploration and it was quite obvious that the hero was an Earthman

Baley muttered in exasperation, then held his breatha sound

It was co to childishness, this pretense that Earthmen could invade space Galactic exploration! The Galaxy was closed to Earthmen It was pre-empted by the Spacers, whose ancestors had been Earthmen centuries before Those ancestors had reached the Outer Worlds first, found themselves coration They had penned in Earth and their Earthman cousins And Earth's City civilization co Earthmen within the Cities by a wall of fear of open spaces that barred the areas of their own planet; from even that

Baley thought bitterly: Jehoshaphat! If we don't like it, let's do so about it Let's not just waste time with fairy tales

But there was nothing to do about it, and he knew it

Then the plane landed He and his fellow-passengers e

Baley glanced at his watch and decided there was ti the Expressway to the Justice Departlad there was The sound and clae vaulted cha off on nuave hi safely and warmly enclosed in the bowels and womb of the City It washed away anxiety and only a shoas necessary to complete the job

He needed a transient's permit to make use of one of the community bathrooms, but presentation of his travel orders eli, with private stall privileges (the date carefully etting to the assigned spot

Baley was thankful for the feel of the strips beneath his feet It ith so to luxury that he felt hi strip inward toward the speeding Expressway He swung hi entitled him

It wasn't a rush hour; seats were available The bathroom, when he reached it, was not unduly crowded either The stall assigned to him was in decent order with a launderette that worked well

With his water ration consu freshened he felt ready to tackle the Justice Departh, he even felt cheerful

Undersecretary Albert Minni, with the angles of his body smoothed down and softened He exuded an air of cleanliness and ss of life that cah in Administration

Baley felt sallow and rawboned in coe hands, deep-set eyes, a general sense of cragginess

Minnim said cordially, "Sit down, Baley Do you smoke?"

"Only a pipe, sir," said Baley

He drew it out as he spoke, and Minniar he had half drawn

Baley was instantly regretful A cigar was better than nothing and he would have appreciated the gift Even with the increased tobacco ration that went along with his recent pro in pipe fixings

"Please light up, if you care to," said Minnim, and waited with a kind of paternal patience while Baley measured out a careful quantity of tobacco and affixed the pipe baffle

Baley said, his eyes on his pipe, "I have not been told the reason for ton, sir"

"I know that," said Minnined temporarily"

"Outside New York City?"

"Quite a distance"

Baley raised his eyebrows and looked thoughtful "How temporarily, sir?"

"I'm not sure"

Baley are of the advantages and disadvantages of reassignment As a transient in a City of which he was not a resident, be would probably live on a scale better than his official rating entitled him to On the other hand, it would be very unlikely that Jessie and their son, Bentley, would be allowed to travel with him They would be taken care of, to be sure, there in New York, but Baley was a doht of separation

Then, too, a reassignood, and a responsibility greater than that ordinarily expected of the individual detective, which could be uncomfortable Baley had, not too many ation of the murder of a Spacer just outside New York He was not overjoyed at the prospect of another such detail, or anything approaching it

He said, "Would you tell nment? What it's all about?"

He was trying to weigh the Undersecretary's "Quite a distance" and make little bets with himself as to his new base of operations The "Quite a distance" had sounded eht:

Calcutta? Sydney?

Then he noticed that Minni it carefully

Baley thought: Jehoshaphat! He's having trouble telling me He doesn't want to say

Minniar from between his lips He watched the s you to temporary duty on Solaria"

For a roped for an illusive identification:

Solaria, Asia; Solaria, Australia

Then he rose frohtly, "You mean, one of the Outer Worlds?"

Minniht!"

Baley said, "But that's impossible They wouldn't allow an Earthman on an Outer World"

"Circumstances do alter cases, Plainclothesman Baley There has been a murder on Solaria"

Baley's lips quirked into a sort of reflex smile "That's a little out of our jurisdiction, isn't it?"

"They've requested help"

"From us? From Earth?" Baley was torn between confusion and disbelief For an Outer World to take any attitude other than contempt toward the despisedsocial benevolence was unthinkable To come for help?

"From Earth?" he repeated

"Unusual," admitted Minnined to the case It's been handled through diplohest levels"

Baley sat down again "Why ot a wife and child I couldn't leave Earth"

"That's not our choice, Plainclothesman You were specifically asked for"

"Plainclothesman Elijah Baley, C-6, of the New York City Police Force They knehat they wanted Surely you see why"

Baley said stubbornly, "I'm not qualified"

"They think you are The way you handled the Spacer murder has apparently reached them"

"They ot it all mixed up It must have seemed better than it was"

Minnireed to send you You are reassigned The papers have all been taken care of and youyour absence, your wife and child will be taken care of at a C-7 level since that will be your tennificantly "Satisfactory co permanent"

It was happening too quickly for Baley None of this could be so He couldn't leave Earth Didn't they see that?

He heard himself ask in a level voice that sounded unnatural in his own ears "What kind of a murder? What are the circumstances? Why can't they handle it themselves?"

Minnied sers He shook his head "I don't know anything about the murder I don't know the circumstances"