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read results off the scales. I stood there rubbing my belly, which had begun
to be unpleasant to me again, and Audee whispered, "What's she looking for?"
But I didn't know. A nick, a scratch, corrosion, anything, and whatever it was
she didn't find it.
She stood up, sighing. "Is nothing there," she said.
"That's good," I offered.
"That's good," she agreed, "because if was anything serious I could not fix
here. But is also bad, Robin, because is obvious that buggery program is all
bugged to hell. Has taught me lesson in humility, this."
Dolly offered, "Are you sure he's busted, Mrs. Broadhead? While you were in
the other room he seemed coherent enough. A little peculiar, maybe."
"Peculiar! Dolly-lady, all the time I check him you know what he's talking
about? Mach's Hypothesis. Missing mass. Black holes blacker than regular black
holes. Would need to be a real Albert Einstein to understand-
hey! What's that? Was talking to you?"
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And when she had heard confirmation from the others she sat with her lips
compressed in thought for some time. Then she shook herselL "Oh, hell," she
said dismally, "is no good to try to guess at problem. Is only one person who
knows what is wrong with Albert, and that is Albert himself."
"And what if Albert won't tell you?" I asked.
"Is wrong question," she said, plugging in the fan. "Proper question is 'What
if Albert can't?'"
He looked all right-almost all right, anyway. He sat fumbling with his cigar
in his favorite chair-which was also my own favorite seat, but at that moment
I was not disposed to argue it with him. "Now, Albert," she said, her tone
kindly but firm, "you know you are screwed up, correct?"
"A little aberrant, I think, yes," he said apologetically.
"Aberrant as all hell, I think! Well, now here is what we do, Albert. First we
ask you some simple factual questions-not about motivations, not about hard
theoretical stufl only questions that can be resolved by objective facts. You
understand?"
"Certainly I understand, Mrs. Broadhead."
"Right. First. Understand you were chatting with guests while Robin and I were
in Captain's Chambers."
"That is correct, Mrs. Broadhead."
She pursed her lips. "Strikes me as unusual behavior, no? You were questioning
them. Please tell us what questions were and your answers."
Albert shifted position uneasily. "Mostly I was interested in the objects Wan
was investigating, Mrs. Broadhead. Mrs. Walthers was good enough to pick them
out for me on the charts." He pointed at the display, and when we looked at
it, sure enough, it was showing a series of charts, one after another. "If you
look at them carefully," said Albert, pointing with his unsmoked cigar, "you
will see that there is a definite progression. His first targets were simple
black holes, which are indicated on the Heechee charts by these marks like
flshhooks. Those are danger signs in the Heechee cartography."
"How you know this?" Essie demanded, and then: "No, purge that question. I
assume you have good reason for this assumption."
"I do, Mrs. Broadhead. I have not been entirely forthcoming with you in this
respect."
"Hal Are getting somewhere! Now continue."
"Yes, Mrs. Broadhead. The simple black holes each had two check marks. Then
Wan investigated a naked singularity-a nonrotating black hole, in fact the one
that Robin himself had such a terrible experience with many years ago. It was
there that he found Gelle-Kiara Moynlin." The image flickered, then showed the
naked blue ghost star before returning to the chart. "This one has three
flshhooks, meaning more danger. And flnally"-wave of the hand, the picture
altering to show a different section of the Heechee chart-"this is the one
Mrs. Walthers identified for me as the one Wan was heading for next."
"I didn't say that!" Dolly objected.
"No, Mrs. Walthers," Albert agreed, "but you did say that he looked at it
frequently, that he discussed it with his Dead Men, and that it terrified him.
I believe that it is the one he is aiming at."
"Very fine," applauded Essie. "Have passed first test admirably, Albert. Now
will proceed with second part, without, this time, participation from
audience," she added, .glancing at Dolly.
"I'm at your service, Mrs. Broadhead."
"To be sure you are. Now. Factual questions. What is meant by term missing
mass?"
Albert looked uneasy, but he responded promptly enough. "The so-called missing
mass is that quantity of mass which would account for various galactic orbits,
but has never been observed."
"Excellent! Now, what is Mach's Hypothesis?"
He licked his lips. "I am not really comfortable with speculative discussions
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