‘Yup,’ Janie said casually, ‘all the same thing and this would lead to proof. There just wouldn’t be any more secrets.’
‘That’s the—the biggest thing I ever heard. So—Gerry decided us poor half-developed apes weren’t worthy?’
‘Not Gerry! He doesn’t care what happens to you apes! One thing he found out from Baby, though, was that whichever way it went the device would be traced to us. You should know. You did it by yourself. But Central Intelligence would’ve taken seven weeks instead of seven years.
‘And that’s what bothered Gerry. He was in retreat. He wanted to stew in his own juice in his hideout in the woods. He didn’t want the Armed Forces of the United Nations hammering at him to come out and be patriotic. Oh sure, he could have taken care of ‘em all in time, but only if he worked full time at it. Working full time was out of his field. He got mad. He got mad at Lone who was dead and he especially got mad at you.’
‘Whew. He could have killed me. Why didn’t he?’
‘Same reason he didn’t just go out and confiscate the device before you saw it. I tell you, he was vicious and vengeful—childish. You’d bothered him. He was going to fix you for it.
‘Now I must confess I didn’t care much one way or the other, it did me so much good to see him moving around again. I went with him to the base.
‘Now, here’s something you just wouldn’t remember. He walked right into your lab while you were calibrating your detector. He looked you once in the eye and walked out again with all the information you had, plus the fact that you meant to take it out and locate the device, and that you intended to—what was your phrase?—„appoint a volunteer”.’
‘I was a hotshot in those days,’ said Hip ruefully.
She laughed. ‘You don’t know. You just don’t know. Well, out you came with that big heavy instrument on a strap. I saw you, Hip; I can still see you, your pretty tailored uniform, the sun on your hair… I was seventeen.