Something came to him as he pedaled and he worked it around in his head.

  Somewhat to his surprise, he had no difficulty retracing the route to where Casey and Susie Hawkins lived. He pulled up before the apartment building, pushed his bike over to the rack, and parked it, then entered and ascended the stairs, his face thoughtful.

  Susie was in the living room, working at the desk. She looked up at his entry and smiled and said briskly, "You've been gone for a long time. How was the meat pie?"

  "I didn't have any," he told her. "I was picked up by three of John Mickoff's agents and taken to see him."

  Susie stood quickly, as though distressed. She said, "I'll fix you something in the kitchen." She led the way and he followed. "What did Mickoff want? We knew he was here, of course," she said over her shoulder.

  "He wanted to know what I was up to."

  She began looking into the refrigerator, and said, "And did you tell him?"

  "No," Rex said. "I didn't. He didn't seem to know that the professor has disappeared."

  She brought forth various dishes. "He doesn't. Mickoff's been trying to get in touch with him for the past week."

  In no time at all, Susie had fixed up a lusty looking cold spread on the kitchen table. She told him that she had already eaten but she took a chair across the way.

  Rex said, between bites, "Remember when we were talking about that Virginia Dare Robbins child?"

  "Certainly. She's a real darling and bright as the proverbial button."

  "Ummm. That's what you said. You said that she had already passed her Lagrangist examinations and had come through with an I.Q. of 143, I think you mentioned."

  "That's right. She was the first of the spaceborn children to take them. We were all sitting on the edges of our chairs, waiting to see how she would do."

  Rex took a sip of the beer she had provided, along with ham, cheese, some cold fried chicken, pickles, and very dark bread."

  He said, "What goes into the tests besides I.Q.?"

  "Oh, the medical and physical tests. Ability Quotient isn't so easily tested at that age. And, of course, education is up to us. We check out children from the earliest ages for their particular bents. You know, if they seem inclined toward the sciences, a profession, a skill, art, or whatever, and then direct their educations in that direction."

  "I see." Rex Bader asked the question he was building up to. "What if she hadn't passed?"

  Susie bit her lower lip slightly before saying, "She would be returned Earth-side."

  "And what would happen to her there?"

  "She'd go to live with relatives, or be put up for adoption."

  "Or be sent to an orphan institution, eh?"

  "Possibly, in some rare cases."

  "Suppose the parents object to giving her up?"

  "Either, or both, of them are free to accompany her back to Earth."

  "Have to give up their jobs, eh?"

  "They'd usually find jobs with the Lagrange Five Project on Earth. Many of our employees are down there. After the child has grown up and is on its own, they can return to Lagrange Five, of course."

  "It seems a little rough."

  She nodded to that. "It is."

  "I never heard about this element of Lagrange Five, back Earth-side."

  "No," she admitted. "It hasn't been publicized. It's a fairly recent ruling of a meeting of the Grand Council which consists of the Councils on all Islands, to coordinate their efforts. This decision was made shortly before Virginia reached the age of ten. There can be no permanent residents of Lagrangia with an I.Q. of less than 130, or any who fail to meet physical standards."

  "And more kids are hitting age ten daily, eh?" he added. "And some of them don't make the grade."

  "That's correct." She could see his direction. "Rex, the fact that parents might have I.Q.s even much higher than 130 is no guarantee that their children will have. Most likely they will, but there is no guarantee. Their children might be born morons or physically defective."

  "I see. And in another ten years these children, passing the age ten point, will be old enough to be colonists in the new Islands you're building, won't they?"

  "Yes. In eight years, to be exact. We consider eighteen to be full maturity."

  "This population explosion I commented upon. It's a deliberate policy of the Grand Council, I suspect."

  "Yes, it is."

  "Eventually, you expect your new Lagrangist to be recruited from the children of the earlier colonists, eh, rather than coming from Earth-side?"

  "That's about it."

  "And then you won't recruit anymore from Earth?"

  She bit her lip again. "That remains to be seen. The consensus among members of the Councils is that we'll continue to accept anyone who can meet the requirements. However, some, such as Walt Hanse, are of the opinion that the day should come when we'll no longer recruit from Earth at all. Our growth in population will be internal. But we'll make that decision when its need is upon us." She ended with somewhat of a plea in her voice. "Rex, it has been decided that we do not wish second-class citizens in Lagrangia."

  "I get it," he said. "Take the cream and leave the dregs behind. Well, thanks for the lunch. Perfect. Everything perfect. Shame there weren't any wild strawberries, or corn on the cob."

  She looked at him in lack of understanding. "What?"

  "Never mind," he said. "Look, we've got to get started. Let's take a look at the professor's study and then his bedroom. Possibly, there's some clue as to what happened to him."

  "I doubt it," she said. "I've gone through both with a fine-toothed comb."

  "Well, let's see."

  He followed her into the study and looked about, wondering where to begin. Finally, he went over to the cluttered desk and thumbed through the papers there. Most of them were technical and he didn't have an idea as to their meaning. He started in on the drawers. Susie had taken a chair and was watching him, as though doubtful of his success.

  In the third drawer, he came up with a steel strongbox. It was locked. He turned to Susie, the box in hand.

  "What's this?"

  "I don't know. His most personal things, I assume."

  "You don't have a key?"

  "No. It's about the only thing George Casey kept from me. I've never seen the contents, never seen it open."

  "Wizard," Rex said. "So we'll pry into the professor's deepest secrets."

  He sat down at the desk, put the strongbox before him, brought out his leather folder of picklocks and began experimenting. It took him less than five minutes to have the lid back.

  Susie had come up to stand beside him, curiously.

  They both stared down. Most of the contents of the box were papers. The whole interior of it was lead lined, and fairly thick lead at that.

  Lying on top of the papers were two transceivers.

  Susie took one up and ogled it.

  "The Professor's?" Rex said.

  "Yes."

  TEN

  Rex took the two transceivers and went over to a chair and sat down. He looked at them for a long time, in silence.

  Finally, he said, "Would the lead in that strong box so shield these that Communications wouldn't be able to get a fix on them?"

  "I would think so," Susie said. "I don't know the professor's original reason for having it so shielded. Perhaps in the past he had some experiments going with radioactives and wanted some place to hide them. I don't know."

  "That representative from Communications on the Council…"

  "Karl Kessinger."

  "Yes. He said that the last record that data banks had of Casey using his transceiver was to call for a four-passenger vehicle to take him to Island One. That would mean he could have made the call from here, then put the transceivers in the strongbox and taken off."

  "But why? In this day and age, not carrying your transceiver with you is almost like going around naked. You're continually using it."

  "There's another possibility," Rex said thoughtfully. "How difficult is it to get into this apartment?"

  "Why, it's not difficult at all. There are no door locks in Lagrangia. There's no need for any."

  "Then, if someone has done the professor in, either kidnapped or killed him, that someone could have tak-en the transceivers and returned with them here and stuck them in the box."

  Susie scowled at him saying, "But the box was locked when you found it."

  "Wizard. But the someone could have taken Casey's keys at the same time he lifted the pocket phones."

  "But why? If your someone wanted to destroy them, all he'd have to do is grind them under his heel."

  "I don't know," Rex said glumly. "Look, how does this space cafard work? Could the professor have gotten a case of it, decided on suicide, ordered the fourseater, put his transceivers in the strongbox and then, when he got into space, simply stepped out of the craft to his death?"

  She shook her head. "It's not the way it works, Rex. A case bad enough to bring you to suicide hits suddenly. You don't have the time to plan anything complicated."

  The TV phone buzzed and Susie went over to the desk and sat and answered it. At the angle she was sitting, Rex Bader couldn't hear what was being said, but her face went wan. She talked for a few minutes and then clicked the phone off and turned back to him.

  She said, "That's a coincidence. That was Doctor Poul Garmisch, over at the main hospital. He's our specialist in space cafard, though Zen knows, nobody knows enough about it to make any difference."

  "What did he want?"

  "He wanted to report to the professor that there have been two more cases today. Bad cases."

  Rex said, "What's the cure for this space cafard?"

  "The only cure is to put the victim under heavy sedative and rush him back to Earth. Usually, they make it. Once on Earth, the patient snaps out of it within twenty-four hours and is quite normal, though he can never return to space."

  "Wow," Rex said. "Some disease."

  Susie said, "Thus far, it has never struck a child born in space who has never lived on the Earth's surface. They seem to be immune. Even when in the presence of the most contagious of cases, real raving naniacs, they aren't affected. Only persons Earth-born."

  She looked worried. "In the past, there were very few cases. And usually fairly mild ones. But this is starting to become a regular epidemic."

  The phone rang again and Susie sighed and went over to it. This time Rex, for some reason or other, came along and stood behind her.

  The face that faded in was that of Doctor Walt Hanse, of the Council. He was excited. "Doctor Hawkins, Bader! I'm over here with Karl Kessinger at Communications. On a twenty-four-hour-a-day basis, he's been trying to get a fix on Professor Casey. And now, we've got him!"

  Rex said, "Where is he?" his face sceptical.

  "Why, surprisingly enough, somewhere in the immediate vicinity of where you are now. His apartment, perhaps. Is he with you?"

  Susie said, "No, he's not here, Walt. I assume that you got your fix on his transceivers. Mr. Bader found them in a lead-lined strongbox in his desk. As soon as we got them out of the lead shielding, you got a cross on them, obviously. But no, the professor isn't here."

  Walt Hanse looked blank, momentarily, and then stormy. "You mean to tell me that the professor left his transceivers at home, before taking off for Island One?"

  "Yes," Susie said. "That's the way it looks."

  "I don't believe it! It's ridiculous. There's dirty work going on somewhere. It's the goddamned earthworms. They hate the professor. They hate us! They know damned well that we're superior to them and they're jealous to the point where they'd do anything to foul us up, and especially the professor. I tell you, Susie, it's long past time that we declare our independence, expel that silly Reunited Nations staff and the Earth be damned!"

  Susie sighed. "In time, in time, Walt. You and your group of hotheads are in too much of a hurry. To a certain extent, we still need Earth, and they certainly need us."

  "Why do we need them?" he said heatedly.

  And she replied patiently, "Walt, there are quite a few things that we don't produce up here as yet."

  "We can continue trade. In return for energy they'll gladly send up such things as we need. But we don't have to be connected to those birdbrain politicians for that!"

  She said, "There's also the fact that it will be eight • years before any of our young people begin to come of age. Meanwhile, we need competent colonists to fill the living space we're creating. Suppose we declared our independence and as a counter they banned all immigration to Lagrangia?"

  "Let them!" Walt Hanse all but shouted. "We don't need any more of them. Our own natural increase will soon be providing all the population we want."

  "Not even if we bred like minks," she said flatly. "It's hot quite as fast as all that. Your radical section of the independence movement is too hotheaded, Walt. I heard a talk by your Herman Klein, the other night. He rather darkly hinted that it was our manifest destiny not only to colonize the solar system but eventually, and in the not too distant future, to set Earth right. He was of the opinion that the masses on Earth would follow wherever we led and he was all gung ho to overthrow every existing government Earth-side."

  "And he's probably right," Hanse said, his voice still hot.

  Susie said patiently, "Walt, it's the professor's opinion that if the people Earth-side want to overthrow their socioeconomic systems it's their right and they'll possibly do it. But they don't need any leadership from us."

  "I don't know if the professor feels that way or not!"

  "But I know it. Good-bye, Walt. Mr. Bader and I have plenty to do."

  The other's face was still angry as it faded out.

  Susie shook her head, got up, and went over to sink back on the couch. Rex joined her and looked at her strangely.

  He said, "What's this radical section of the indepen-dence movement all about? What's the independence movement, for that matter?"

  For a moment she looked as though she was considering whether or not to answer his question.

  Rex said, "For all I know, there might be some tie-in with the professor's disappearance."

  She considered that and then nodded. "It seems unlikely, but we don't have anything else to work on. Yes, there's an independence movement among the Lagrangists. It calls itself the Sons of Liberty. There are two wings, the Radicals and the Conservatives. When heated, the Conservatives call the Radicals Bolsheviks, and the Radicals call the Conservatives Fascists. Actually, I believe that the professor considers the whole movement premature. I think he believes that eventually the Islands will have to free themselves of any remnants of Earth-side domination, but that's for the future."

  "Why complete independence?" Rex asked. "We're all members of the human race. Through the Reunited Nations, why not keep up the closest of relationships?"

  She looked at him and made of gesture of rejection. "The lowest I.Q. in Lagrangia, Rex, is 130, save for tourists and the Reunited Nations staff. The average Earth-side I.Q. is 100. But there are over three billion of them and just slightly less than a million of us. We're intolerant of their domination."

  He said in argument, "You wouldn't be here except for the sacrifices the Earth made to finance the beginnings of the Lagrange Five Project."

  "That's true," she admitted, "but it makes no difference to history. The Thirteen Colonies wouldn't have been there in North America if it hadn't been for the efforts made by England and the expenses gone to by the British people. But events marched on and eventually the Colonies had to sever their relations with England and face their own destiny. The same applied to Latin America. The Spanish went to a good deal of expense in both money and lives to, ah, liberate, I believe is usually the term, Mexico from the

  Aztecs, Peru from the Incas. But in a few hundred years the citizens of Mexico and Peru expelled them."

  Rex said, slowly, as he thought it through, "There's something of a difference, though. The Spanish Con-quistadores were adventurers financed by the wealthy and motivated by the gold and silver of the Indians. The British colonies were financed by such business ventures as the East India Company, which were motivated by profit. But the Lagrange Five Project was financed with the taxes of hundreds of millions of persons of all lands. Through the Reunited Nations, just about everybody kicked in to some extent or other. And there was precious little protest, among the common people, at least. Billions of pseudo-dollars and other currencies went into the Lagrange Five Project. Not just the wealth of Spanish aristocrats or British businessmen. And they contributed willingly because they, too, had the space colonization dream. They, too, wanted to leave a plundered, polluted, dangerous, and sad Earth and go out into space. But now you plan to withhold the dream from them."

  Susie said, "Well stated, Rex, and possibly I, as well as Professor Casey, largely agree with you. But I'm afraid that history has no sentiment."

  He nodded. "Perhaps, though it still seems a dirty trick. But we've got to get back to the professor. Where's this terminal, or whatever you call it, where he disappeared?"

  "At the far end of the cylinder."

  "We have to ride there on bicycles?"

  She laughed. "Of course not. Come along."

  She stood and Rex followed her out of the apartment and down the steps.

  On the street they picked up two of the inevitable bikes, mounted them, and were on their way.

  "Where are we going?" Rex said.

  "To the Maglev Station."

  "Oh, fine," he said. "Now I know just as much as I did before I asked."

  She laughed again, her brisk, clipped little laugh. "We usually use bicycles for short trips but obviously if longer ones are called for we need fast public transportation. We utilize the dynamic magnetic levitation system, maglev for short, in underground, vacuum tubes. The technology of high-field superconductors make it possible for a vehicle to sustain a strong constant magnetic field without the expenditure of power. Actually, they're capable of speeds up to three hundred miles an hour, but since the furthest point to which you can go, the other end of the cylinder, is only twenty miles, we're not usually in that much of a hur-ry.»

 

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