sat down on the dank sand.
“I‘ve always been a believer in luck and fate,” he said slowly, as if he were arranging his ideas. “The unexpected seems to me more important in human affairs than the expected and the rational. It’s a gambler’s temperament, in a way. Or perhaps it’s what Ma delaine meant when she said I had an appetite for the marvelous.
“At any rate, when I decided to try to get to Noonday Rock, I had no way of knowing what I should find there. I thought it was likely —or at least possible —that Madelaine was on the Rock, an d that dolphins had taken her there. But I didn’t know how many other people were there with her, or what their attitude to an intruder would be.
“I was willing to risk it. The possibilities were too interesting to be ignored. But I thought it was wise t o try to reduce the risk.”
“Do you call that gambling?” I said. “It’s the action of a cautious man.”
“There was an element of gambling in it,” he protested. “There was less than one chance in three that what I brought with me would work.”
“Well, go on. What did you bring with you when you came to Noonday Rock?”
“A communication device.”
“You didn’t mention this when you told us about your preparations for coming to the Rock. Why, after you found we were friendly, were you so secretive?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Perhaps I wasn’t quite sure.”
“I know why you didn’t tell us,” Ivry said. (Ivry was the most excitable of the three of us, just as Pettrus was the biggest and I was the one who knew the most genealogies.) “You were spying on us for the navy the whole time!” Emotion overcame him, and he flapped his tail furiously.
“No,” Lawrence answered. “The navy didn’t even know I had the device. I stole it, actually.”
“What was the name of the device?” I asked. “Where did you have it hidden?”
“It’s something called COLABS—collimated laser beam signal. What I stole was an experimental model, very much miniaturized. I had it in my briefcase.”
“So that’s why you kept such a hold on the briefcase,” I said. “When did you decide to use the COLABS thing?”
“It wasn’t really a decision,” he said. “I’d promised to help Madelaine in her war against the human race. But I’m a human being myself. I couldn’t help feeling, part of the time, that I was engaged in something treasonable.”
“You were the most bitter against Splits of any of us!” Ivry gabbled. “Whenever we had scruples, you argued us out of them!”
“Oh, I know. I expect I was trying to repress my own doubts.”
“Well, go on. You sent out a signal with the COLABS thing, didn’t you?” I said.
“I tried the COLABS to see if it would send out a signal,” he corrected.
“You mean you never sent out a message at all?” I asked, puzzled at what he meant.
“Oh, I sent out a message. But it was only because …”
“Dr. Lawrence, you said you had an ex planation to make. You’re not explaining anything, or even apologizing. Tell us what your actions were, what you actually did.”
“All right.” It was obviously hard for Mm to speak.
“On Sunday morning,” he said finally, “after the worst part of the quake was over, the dolphins left me alone on the Rock.”
“They left you because you told them to!” Ivry said. “You sound as if they’d deserted you!”
“Do I? I didn’t mean to. Anyhow, I was alone for the first time in several days, with an opportunity to thin k.
“It seemed to me that I ‘d done a terrible thing. I thought of all the damage I’d helped to cause, of all the people who’d been hurt or killed. On impulse —useful word, impulse,” he said wryly, “I opened my briefcase and took the COLABS out. I set it up on the Rock, and turned the switch. The monitor light came on. And I knew it would work.
“Up until that time, I hadn’t been sure what I meant to do. But this seemed like a —a nudge from
“I‘ve always been a believer in luck and fate,” he said slowly, as if he were arranging his ideas. “The unexpected seems to me more important in human affairs than the expected and the rational. It’s a gambler’s temperament, in a way. Or perhaps it’s what Ma delaine meant when she said I had an appetite for the marvelous.
“At any rate, when I decided to try to get to Noonday Rock, I had no way of knowing what I should find there. I thought it was likely —or at least possible —that Madelaine was on the Rock, an d that dolphins had taken her there. But I didn’t know how many other people were there with her, or what their attitude to an intruder would be.
“I was willing to risk it. The possibilities were too interesting to be ignored. But I thought it was wise t o try to reduce the risk.”
“Do you call that gambling?” I said. “It’s the action of a cautious man.”
“There was an element of gambling in it,” he protested. “There was less than one chance in three that what I brought with me would work.”
“Well, go on. What did you bring with you when you came to Noonday Rock?”
“A communication device.”
“You didn’t mention this when you told us about your preparations for coming to the Rock. Why, after you found we were friendly, were you so secretive?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Perhaps I wasn’t quite sure.”
“I know why you didn’t tell us,” Ivry said. (Ivry was the most excitable of the three of us, just as Pettrus was the biggest and I was the one who knew the most genealogies.) “You were spying on us for the navy the whole time!” Emotion overcame him, and he flapped his tail furiously.
“No,” Lawrence answered. “The navy didn’t even know I had the device. I stole it, actually.”
“What was the name of the device?” I asked. “Where did you have it hidden?”
“It’s something called COLABS—collimated laser beam signal. What I stole was an experimental model, very much miniaturized. I had it in my briefcase.”
“So that’s why you kept such a hold on the briefcase,” I said. “When did you decide to use the COLABS thing?”
“It wasn’t really a decision,” he said. “I’d promised to help Madelaine in her war against the human race. But I’m a human being myself. I couldn’t help feeling, part of the time, that I was engaged in something treasonable.”
“You were the most bitter against Splits of any of us!” Ivry gabbled. “Whenever we had scruples, you argued us out of them!”
“Oh, I know. I expect I was trying to repress my own doubts.”
“Well, go on. You sent out a signal with the COLABS thing, didn’t you?” I said.
“I tried the COLABS to see if it would send out a signal,” he corrected.
“You mean you never sent out a message at all?” I asked, puzzled at what he meant.
“Oh, I sent out a message. But it was only because …”
“Dr. Lawrence, you said you had an ex planation to make. You’re not explaining anything, or even apologizing. Tell us what your actions were, what you actually did.”
“All right.” It was obviously hard for Mm to speak.
“On Sunday morning,” he said finally, “after the worst part of the quake was over, the dolphins left me alone on the Rock.”
“They left you because you told them to!” Ivry said. “You sound as if they’d deserted you!”
“Do I? I didn’t mean to. Anyhow, I was alone for the first time in several days, with an opportunity to thin k.
“It seemed to me that I ‘d done a terrible thing. I thought of all the damage I’d helped to cause, of all the people who’d been hurt or killed. On impulse —useful word, impulse,” he said wryly, “I opened my briefcase and took the COLABS out. I set it up on the Rock, and turned the switch. The monitor light came on. And I knew it would work.
“Up until that time, I hadn’t been sure what I meant to do. But this seemed like a —a nudge from
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