B-12's Moon Glow Page 4
"You mean they'll take all the derelict spaceships, such as this one,and all the abandoned equipment?"
"And the r-robots," MS-33 said, "They're metal too, you know."
"They're going to take the dismantled robots?"
MS-33 made a sweeping gesture. "They're going to take _all_ ther-robots, dismantled or not. They're not good for anything anyway. Thebill is up before the Federation Congress right now. And it will passif my master, Langley says so." He patted my helmet, consolingly, hisgrapples clanking. "If you were worth a damn, you know--" he concludedsorrowfully.
"That's murder," I said. And I meant it. Man's inhumanity to metalpeople, I thought. Yes--to man, even if we were made of metal.
"How's that?" said MS-33 foggily.
"Have another drop of Moon Glow," I said. "I've got to get back toArgon City."
* * * * *
I made it back to Benny's place without incident. I had never moved soswiftly. I sent Benny out to find Jon Rogeson, and presently hebrought him back.
I told Rogeson what MS-33 had said, watching his reaction carefully. Icould not forget that though he had been our friend, he was still oneof the Builders, a human who thought as humans.
"You comprehend," I said grimly, "that one word of this will bring anuprising of fifty-thousand metal people which can be put down only atmuch expense and with great destruction. We are free people. TheBuilders exiled us here, and therefore lost their claim to us. We haveas much right to life as anyone, and we do not wish to be melted upand made into printing presses and space ships and the like."
"The damn fools," Jon said softly. "Listen, B-12, you've got tobelieve me. I didn't know a thing about this, though I've suspectedsomething was up. I'm on your side, but what are we going to do? Maybethey'll listen to reason. Vera--"
"That is the name of the she? No, they will not listen to reason. Theyhate us." I recalled with bitterness the episode of alarm clock."There is a chance, however. I have not been idle this night. If youwill go get Langley and meet me in the back room here at Benny's, wewill talk."
"But he'll be asleep."
"Awaken him," I said. "Get him here. Your own job is at stake as well,remember."
"I'll get him," Jon said grimly. "Wait here."
I went over to the bar where Benny was serving the miners. Benny hadalways been my friend. Jon was my friend, too, but he was a Builder. Iwanted one of my own people to know what was going on, just in casesomething happened to me.
We were talking there, in low tones, when I saw MS-33. He came inthrough the front door, and there was purposefulness in his stridethat had not been there when I left him back at the old hulk. Theeffects of the Moon Glow had worn off much quicker than I hadexpected. He had come for vengeance. He would tell about mydistillery, and that would be the end of me. There was only one thingto do and I must do it fast.
"Quick," I ordered Benny. "Douse the lights." He complied. The placewas plunged into darkness. I knew that it was darkness and yet, youcomprehend, I still sensed everything in the place, for I had thespecial visual sensory system bequeathed only to the General Purposesof a bygone age. I could see, but hardly anyone else could. I workedswiftly, and I got what I was after in a very short time. I ducked outof the front door with it and threw it in a silvery arc as far as Icould hurl it. It was an intricate little thing which could not, I amsure, have been duplicated on the entire moon of Phobos.
When I returned, someone had put the lights back on, but it didn'tmatter now. MS-33 was sitting at one of the tables, staring fixedly atme. He said nothing. Benny was motioning for me to come into the backroom. I went to him.
Jon Rogeson and Langley were there. Langley looked irritated. He wasmumbling strangled curses and rubbing his eyes.
Rogeson laughed. "You may be interested in knowing, B-12, that I hadto arrest him to get him here. This had better be good."
"It is all bad," I said, "very bad--but necessary." I turned toLangley. "It is said that your present survey is being made with thepurpose of condemning all of Phobos, the dead and the living alike, tothe blast furnaces and the metal shops of Earth. Is this true?"
"Why you impudent, miserable piece of tin! What if I am making a scrapsurvey? What are you going to do about it. You're nothing but a ro--"
"So it is true! But you will tell the salvage ships not to come. It isyours to decide, and you will decide that we are not worth botheringwith here on Phobos. You will save us."
"I?" blustered Langley.
"You will." I took the thing out of my breastplate container andshowed it to him. He grew pale.
Jon said, "Well, I'll be damned!"
It was a picture of Langley and another. I gave it to Jon. "His wife,"I said. "His real wife. I am sure of it, for you will note theinscription on the bottom."
"Then Vera--?"
"Is not his wife. You wonder that he was camera shy?"
"Housebreaker!" roared Langley. "It's a plot; a dirty, reactionaryplot!"
"It is what is called blackmail," I said. I turned to Jon. "I amcorrect about this?"
"You are." Jon said.
"You are instructed to leave Phobos," I said to Langley, "and you willallow my friend here to keep his job as peace officer, for without ithe would be lost. I have observed that in these things the Buildersare hardly more adaptable than their children, the metal people. Youwill do all this, and in return, we will not send the picture that Jontook today to your wife, nor otherwise inform her of yourtransgression. For I am told that this is a transgression."
"It is indeed," agreed Jon gravely. "Right, Langley?"
"All right," Langley snarled. "You win. And the sooner I get out ofthis hole the better." He got up to go, squeezing his fat form throughthe door into the bar, past the gaping miners and the metal people,heedless of the metal people. We watched him go with somesatisfaction.
"It is no business of mine," I said to Jon, "but I have seen you lookwith longing upon the she that was not Langley's wife. Since she doesnot belong to him, there is nothing to prevent you from having her.Should not that make you happy?"
"Are you kidding?" he snarled.
Which proves that I have still much to learn about his race.
Out front, Langley spied his metal servant, MS-33, just as he wasgoing out the door. He turned to him. "What are you doing here?" heasked suspiciously.
MS-33 made no answer. He stared malevolently at the bar, ignoringLangley.
"Come on here, damn you!" Langley said. MS-33 said nothing. Langleywent over to him and roared foul things into his earphones that wouldcorrode one's soul, if one had one. I shall never forget that moment.The screaming, red-faced Langley, the laughing miners.
But he got no reply from MS-33. Not then or ever. And this wasscarcely strange, for I had removed his fuse.
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