page11 (1/2)

Anniversary

The annual ritual was all set

It was the turn of Moore's house this year, of course, and Mrs Moore and the children had resignedly gone to her

Warren Moore surveyed the roooing at the first, but he hie, he supposed; twenty additional years of it He had grown paunchy,thin-haired, soft jowled, andworst of all-sentimental

So an the ere polarized into complete darkness and the drapes were drawn Only occasional stipples of ere illu and the terrible isolation of that day of wreckage long ago

There were spaceship rations in sticks and tubes on the table and, of course, in the center an unopened bottle of sparkling green Jabra water, the potent brew that only the chei could supply

Moore looked at his watch Brandon would be here soon; he was never late for this occasion The only thing that disturbed him was the memory of Brandon's voice on the tube: 'Warren, I have a surprise for you this time Wait and see Wait and see'

Brandon, it always seeer reeted all in life, to the verge of his fortieth birthday He retained the ability to be in high exciteood and in deep despair over the bad His hair was going gray, but except for that, when Brandon walked up and down, talking rapidly at the top of his voice about anything at all, Moore didn't even have to close his eyes to see the panicked youngster on the wreck of the Silver Queen The door signal sounded and Moore kicked the release without turning round 'Come, Mark'

It was a strange voice that answered, though; softly, tentatively, 'Mr Moore?'

Moore turned quickly Brandon was there, to be sure, but only in the background, grinning with excite before him; short, squat, quite bald, nut-brown and with the feel of space about him

Moore said wonderingly, 'Mike Shea-Mike Shea, by all space' They pounded hands together, laughing

Brandon said, 'He got in touch with h the office He remembered I ith Atomic Products-'

'It's been years,' said Moore 'Lets see, you were on Earth twelve years ago-'

'He's never been here on an anniversary,' said Brandon 'How about that? He's retiring now Getting out of space to a place he's buying in Arizona He came to say hello before he left-stopped off at the city just for that-and I was sure he came for the anniversary "What anniversary?" says the old jerk'

Shea nodded, grinning 'He said you made a kind of celebration out of it every year'

'You bet,' said Brandon enthusiastically, 'and this will be the first one with all three of us here, the first real anniversary It's twenty years, Mike; twenty years since Warren scraht us down to Vesta'

Shea looked about 'Space ration, eh? That's old home week to ive it a thought and now, all of a sudden, it's yesterday Reot back to Earth finally?'

'Do I!' said Brandon The parades, the speeches Warren was the only real hero of the occasion and we kept saying so, and they kept paying no attention Remember?'

'Oh, well,' said Moore 'We were the first three men ever to survive a spaceship crash We were unusual and anything unusual is worth a celebration These things are irrational'

'Hey,' said Shea, 'any of you re of routes through Space and the weary maddened pace of the-"'

Brandon joined in with his clear tenor and even Moore added his voice to the chorus so that the last line was loud enough to shake the drapes 'On the wreck of the Silver Que-e-en,' they roared out, and ended laughing wildly

Brandon said, 'Let's open the Jabra for the first little sip This one bottle has to last all of us all night'

Moore said, 'Mark insists on complete authenticity I'm surprised he doesn't expect me to cli'

'Well, now, that's an idea,' said Brandon

'Relass before hiood old H2O we used to have" Three drunken bums e landed Well, ere kids I was thirty and I thought I was old And now,' his voice was suddenly wistful, 'they've retired me'

'Drink!'said Brandon Today you'rethirty again, and we remember the day on the Silver Queen even if no one else does Dirty, fickle public'

Moore laughed 'What do you expect? A national holiday every year with space ration and Jabra the ritual food and drink?'

'Listen, we're still the only men ever to survive a spaceship crash and now look at us We're in oblivion'

'It's pretty good oblivion We had a good tiave us a healthy boost up the ladder We are doing well, Mark And so would Mike Shea be if he hadn't wanted to return to space'

Shea grinned and shrugged his shoulders 'That's where I like to be I'ot, I have a nice piece of cash now to retire on'

Brandon said reminiscently, 'The wreck set back Trans-space Insurance a real packet Just the sa You say "Silver Queen" to anyone these days and he can only think of Quentin, if he can think of anyone'

'Who?' said Shea

'Quentin Dr Horace Quentin He was one of the non-survivors on the ship You say to anyone, "What about the three men who survived?" and they'll just stare at you, "Huh?" they'll say'

Moore said calmly, 'Coreat scientists and we three are just three of the world's nothings'

'We survived We're still the only men on record to survive'

'So? Look, John Hester was on the ship, and he was an iue, but important As a matter of fact, I was next to him at the last dinner before the rock hit us Well, just because Quentin died in the same wreck, Hester's death was drowned out No one ever remembers Hester died on the Silver Queen They only reotten too, but at least we're alive'

'I tell you what,' said Brandon after a period of silence during which Moore's rationale had obviously failed to take, 'we're o today, ere marooned off Vesta Today, we're ether again at last, and what happened before can happen again Twenty years ago, Warren pulled us down to Vesta Now let's solve this new problem'

'Wipe out the oblivion, you mean?' said Moore 'Make ourselves famous?'

'Sure Why not? Do you know any better way of celebrating a twentieth anniversary?'

'No, but I'd be interested to knohere you expect to start I don't think people remember the Silver Queen at all, except for Quentin, so you'll have to think of soin with'

Shea stirred uneasily and a thoughtful expression crossed his blunt countenance 'Some people remember the Silver Queen The insurance co, now that you bring up the o, and I asked if the piece of the wreck we brought doas still there and they said sure, ould cart it away? So I thought I'd take a look at it and shot over by reaction ravity, you know, a reaction et to see it except from a distance It was circled off by force-field'

Brandon's eyebroent sky-high 'Our Silver Queen? For what reason?'

'I went back and asked how cooing there

They said it belonged to the insurance company'

Moore nodded 'Surely They took over when they paid off I signed a release, giving up hts when I accepted the compensation check You did too, I'm sure'

Brandon said, 'But why the force-field? Why all the privacy?'

'I don't know'

The wreck isn't worth anything even as scrap metal It would cost too much to transport it'

Shea said, That's right Funny thing, though; they were bringing pieces back from space There was a pile of it there I could see it and it lookedlike just junk, twisted pieces of frame, you know I asked about it and they said ships were always landing and unloading more scrap, and the insurance company had a standard price for any piece of the Silver Queen brought back, so ships in the neighbourhood of Vesta were always looking Then, on ain and that pile was a lot bigger'

'You littered

'I don't know Maybe they've stopped But the pile was bigger than it was ten-eleven years ago so they were still looking then'

Brandon leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs 'Well, now, that's very queer A hard-headed insurance co space near Vesta, trying to find pieces of a twenty-year-old wreck'

'Maybe they're trying to prove sabotage,' said Moore

'After twenty years? They won't get their money back even if they do It's a dead issue' They o'

Brandon stood up with decision 'Let's ask There's soh and anniversaried enough to want to find out'

'Sure,' said Shea, 'but ask who?'

'Ask Multivac,' said Brandon

Shea's eyes opened wide 'Multivac! Say, Mr Moore, do you have a Multivac outlet here?'

'Yes'

'I've never seen one, and I've alanted to'

'It's nothing to look at, Mike It looks just like a typewriter Don't confuse a Multivac outlet with Multivac itself I don't know anyone who's seen Multivac'

Moore sht He doubted if ever in his life he would meet any of the handful of technicians who spentdays in a hidden spot in the bowels of Earth tending asuper-computer that was the repository of all the facts known to uided man's economy, directed his scientific research, helped make his political decisions, and had millions of circuits left over to answer individual questions that did not violate the ethics of privacy

Brandon said as they moved up the power ra a Multivac, Jr, outlet for the kids Hos, you know And yet I don't want to make it just a fancy and expensive crutch for them How do you work it, Warren?'

Moore said tersely They show me the questions first If I don't pass them, Multivac does not see theement and little more

Moore set up the coordinates that opened his portion of the planet-wide network of circuits and said, 'Now listen For the record, I' because it's the anniversary and because I'ht I to phrase the question?'

Brandon said, 'Just ask: Are pieces of the wreck of the Silver Queen still being searched for in the neighborhood of Vesta by Trans-space Insurance? It only requires a simple yes or no'

Moore shrugged and tapped it out, while Shea watched with awe The spaceman said, 'How does it answer? Does it talk?'

Moore laughed gently, 'Oh, no I don't spend that kind of money This model just prints the answer on a slip of tape that comes out of that slot'

A short strip of tape did colance, said, 'Well, Multivac says yes'

'Hah!' cried Brandon Told you Now ask why'

'Now that's silly A question like that would obviously be against privacy You'll just get a yellow state-your-reason'

'Ask and find out They haven't made the search for the pieces secret Maybe they're notthe reason secret'

Moore shrugged He tapped out: Why is Trans-space Insurance conducting its Silver Queen search-project to which reference was made in the previous question?

A yellow slip clicked out al The information Requested

'All right,' said Brandon unabashed 'You tell it we're the three survivors and have a right to know Go ahead Tell it'

Mooretapped that out une and another yellow slip was pushed out at them: Your Reason is Insufficient No Answer Can Be Given

Brandon said, 'I don't see they have a right to keep that secret'

That's up to Multivac,' said Moore 'It judges the reasons given it and if it decides the ethics of privacy is against answering, that's it The government itself couldn't break those ethics without a court order, and the courts don't go against Multivac once in ten years So what are you going to do?'

Brandon juan the rapid walk up and down the rooht, then let's figure it out for ourselves It's so important to justify all their trouble

We're agreed they're not trying to find evidence of sabotage, not after twenty years But Trans-spaceso valuable that it's worth looking for all this time Nohat could be that valuable?'

'Mark, you're a dreamer,' said Moore

Brandon obviously didn't hear him 'It can't be jewels or h to pay them back for what the search has already cost theold What would be more valuable?'

'You can't judge value, Mark,' said Moore 'A letter ht be worth a hundredth of a cent as wastepaper and yet make a difference of a hundredon what's in the letter'

Brandon nodded his head vigorously 'Right Documents Valuable papers Noould be most likely to have papers worth billions in his possession on that trip?'

'How could anyone possibly say?'

'How about Dr Horace Quentin? How about that Warren? He's the one people remeht have had with him? Details of a new discovery, ht have told , just in casual conversation, you know Did yon eversee him, Warren?'

'Not that I recall Not to talk to So casual conversation with ht have passed hi it'

'No, you wouldn't have,' said Shea, suddenly thoughtful 'I think I reer who never left his cabin The steas talking about it He wouldn't even come out for meals'

'And that was Quentin?' said Brandon, stopping his pacing and staring at the spaceerly

'It ht have been him I don't know that anyone said it was I don't re shot, because on a spaceship you don't fool around bringingshot'

'And Quentin was the big shot on the trip,' said Brandon, with satisfaction 'So he had so he was concealing'

'He ht just have been space sick,' said Moore, 'except that-' He frowned and fell silent

'Go ahead,' said Brandon urgently 'You re too?'

'Maybe I told you I was sitting next to Dr Hester at the last dinner He was saying so toany luck'

'Sure,' cried Brandon, 'because Quentin wouldn't come out of his cabin'

'He didn't say that We got to talking about Quentin though Noas it he said?' Moore put his hands to his te to squeeze out the ive you the exact words, of course, but it was so very theatrical or a slave of dra out to some scientific conference on

Ganymede and Quentin wouldn't even announce the title of his paper'

'It all fits' Brandon resureat discovery, which he was keeping absolutely secret, because he was going to spring it on the Ganyet maximum drama out of it He wouldn't coht Hester would pump him-and Hester would, I'll bet And then the ship hittherock and Quentin was killed Trans-space Insuranceinvestigated, got ruained control of it they could make back their losses and plentyfor Quentin's papers a the pieces ever since'

Moore smiled, in absolute affection for the otheris worth it, just watching you '

'Oh, yeah? Soain I'll pay the bill for it this month'

'It's all right Beup the bottle of Jabra I want one more little shot to catch up with you'

'Me, too,' said Shea

Brandon took his seat at the typewriter His fingers treerness as he tapped out: What was the nature of Dr Horace Quentin's final investigations?

Moore had returned with the bottle and glasses, when the answer came back, on white paper this time

The ansas long and the print was fine, consisting for the most part of references to scientific papers in journals twenty years old

Moore went over it 'I'h he was interested in optics'

Brandon shook his head i he had not published yet'

'We'll never find out anything about that' The insurance company did'

That's just your theory'

Brandon was kneading his chin with an unsteady hand 'Let me ask Multivac one more question'

He sat down again and tapped out: Give ues of Dr Horace Quentin fro those associated with him at the University on whose faculty he served

'How do you knoas on a University faculty?' asked Moore

'If not, Multivac will tell us'

A slip popped out It contained only one na to call the man?'