Astounding Science Fiction (British Edition) — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE GULF BETWEEN will give me the details, perhaps I can help.” “He isn’t exactly accused, yet,” Whitney said, “but he’s very much under suspicion of performing the work of sabotage. As for the reasons for our suspicions, they are these: “‘The robot, George, has been help- ing Miles and Vickson check the ship today; an extra safety measure, I un- derstand, to make sure there will be ~ no mechanical failures on the ship’s trial flight tomorrow. Miles com- pleted his share of the work early in the afternoon and went home. Vickson was through about an hour later and he went home, leaving the robot to check the control-panel-to-drive cir- cuits—a precautionary measure that Miles, here, admits he insisted was not necessary. It was about thirty minutes ago that the robot finished checking the circuits. He then phoned Security —a thing he had been ordered to do if he ever found any evidence of sabot- age—and informed us that the drive circuits had been so cross-circuited that the drive would explode the moment it was activated for take-off.” Miles sighed heavily. “I tell you, those circuits are not sabotaged! I installed them myself, and I personally welded the control panel seals.” “You say this sabotage was sup- posed to have been done a year ago?” Knight asked. ““That’s right,” Whitney said. “‘Miles admits that he, himself, installed the circuits and sealed the panel at that time—and the panel is still sealed.” “Yes, I admit it!’ Miles snapped “Those circuits are not cross-wired. I don’t know what this is all about, but I do know the kind of job I did on those circuits.” “The robot traced the circuits and found them to be cross-wired,”’ Whit- ney said. “Isn’t it true that a robot never lies?”’ 29 A look of helplessness passed over Miles’ face. ‘Yes, it’s true—but there’s some mistake.” Whitney turned his cold eyes on Connie who was sitting quietly in her chair, watching Whitney with a com- posure that was in such striking con- trast to the ever-growing wrath of the hot-eyed June. ““There’s something else—”’ he said, and June froze into a waiting tense- ness. ““Why do you so often go to the park at Saguaro and Third, Mrs. Miles?” Connie’s eyes went wide with sur- prise. “I go there because it happens to be along the route I usually follow when taking the daily walks my doc- tor prescribed. Why?”’ “You usually sit for a while beside the rock monument in the center of the park, don’t you?” “I always do. Why do you ask?” “Why do you choose that spot to sit?” “For two reasons; because there is a stone bench there to sit on while resting and because I like to feed the chipmunk that has a nest in the monu- ment.” “Get to the point, Whitney.” Miles could restrain himself no longer. “Quit beating around the bush—is my wife under suspicion, too?” ““We received an anonymous phone call this afternoon,” Whitney said. “It enabled us to intercept a noite, although the message meant nothing to us then. It was just a slip of paper in a tin box, and it read: ‘Crisscross O.K. No suspicion. III on schedule.’ ” *“‘What does that have to do with my wife?’? Miles demanded. “After the robot told us of the sabotage, the meaning of the message became clear. It was an absurdly easy message to understand. ‘“Crisscross O.K. No suspicion’ could only mean that the drive controls were still cross- circuited and no one suspected it. As EComichooksnco im