"What good would that do anybody?" asked Stokely glumly.
"None, in itself. But you forget that all of us will be reporting. For instance, supposing Evans says he sees it, but I don't show it, or vice versa—two very distinct possibilities. Then you'd know that the only place Evans could have seen it—"
"What if he were lying?" Stokely put in sharply.
"That's the general idea in back of the whole scheme. He couldn't get away with it. If he said he saw it and didn't, it could only mean that neither you nor I showed it. In that case—which is one of the lesser possibilities, incidentally—I'd be led into the same error that you would. But it would then be very much to our mutual benefit to compare notes before taking any injection.
"If he said he didn't see it, and either of us had it, the other would know he was lying. If we can't trust each other to tell the truth, we can't very well depend on each other to back up our lies—especially when there is everything to lose by it. If you knew Evans was lying about me, how would you know whether he was telling the truth about you?"
"Now listen!" protested Evans, who seemed to be shivering as much with fear as with the cold, "you guys talk like you expected me to pull a fast one. Hell, it's complicated enough if we all tell the truth—don't worry about me!"
"I was using you for an example," Archer told him. "The same thing applies to each of us, and we should all be able to see that honesty is the only workable policy. There's one more little matter to be decided: the order in which we report. I think it would be fair to reverse the order of exposure, which would probably make it the order of observation. I was exposed last, so I'll report first, then Evans, then Stokely.
"Now I'd suggest we take our positions, so we can kill these lights and let our eyes get used to the dark. There's only six to eight minutes to go."
Archer turned and started off, half expecting some last-minute objection from Stokely. But the latter merely waited to assure himself by means of his flashlight that Archer and Evans were half-way to their appointed places, then started making his way toward his own.