Part 12 (1/2)
Bob thought silently for a moment.
”I don't think so. I wouldn't have wanted to sound as though I couldn't ride, and I certainly didn't want to tell anyone about the wire, especially when we couldn't find it.”
”Well, Andre knows or is taking for granted that you were on your bike when it happened. I didn't ask how he knew. When I talked about the rope and the leak in my boat, he just asked what we were doing out there all those days, and were we looking for something special, and when was I going to keep my promise that he could come out with us. When you came in with the pipe a while ago, he asked whether that was what we were looking for. I said it wasn't, and then realized I'd admitted we were looking for something. I told you he was slippery.”
”How about my handlebars and your brake? Is he a bike expert?”
”I didn't get around to either of them. I'm still sure, from those slips he made, that he's at the bottom of all this, though.”
”Maybe he found out about my being on the bike from Silly. She knows, and goodness knows how many of her small friends she may have told,” Bob remarked.
”And I still doubt that he's actually at the bottom, in any case,”
added the doctor. ”I agree he's probably involved, though. I wish I could figure out what happened to the Hunter today; I don't see how the kid could possibly be involved in that. There weren't any boats besides your own out there, were there?”
Bob and his mother said there weren't; Maeta qualified the statement slightly.
”None stayed there. Two or three times fishermen or other people who had come out the main channel tacked down and called h.e.l.lo, and asked what we were doing, but they always went right on.”
”What did you tell them?”
”Just that we were collecting. That could have covered anything-Pauhere's curios, or the Museum Exchange, or just amusing ourselves.”
”Do you remember who they were?” asked Seever.
”Most of them, I think. Is it important?”
”I wish I could guess. I wonder if anyone on Ell could have free-diving equipment that the whole world doesn't know about.”
”If they have,” Maeta a.s.sured him, ”it's a pretty close secret. As you say, usually everyone knows something like that. I see what you're driving at now, but I don't see any way to be really sure- except that I'd swear no boat stayed close enough for long enough to let a diver get over near us and get back again if he was swimming. Maybe if someone's invented a personal outboard motor for divers it could have been done, but they'd have been taking a chance that I'd be down at any moment and see them.”
”Maybe it wouldn't be they taking the chance,” Seever pointed out grimly. ”Well, we're speculating again. Make a list of the people you saw go by, first chance you get, and let me have it. When you don't know what you're doing, record data, I always say. I know the more pieces there are, the tougher the puzzle; but if the pieces belong, you have to have them. Any other plans, Bob?”
”I don't see what we can do about the Hunter except wait,” was the answer. ”If you should think of anything better, Doc, go ahead without waiting for my opinion.”
”I don't agree with that,” said Maeta. ”Bob has lived with the Hunter for years, and must know more about him than anyone- even Bob himself-realizes. Some idea of the doctor's might recall something to him that he hasn't thought of yet-or might remind him of something which would warn us that the idea was bad, or dangerous to the Hunter.”
”A good point,” agreed Seever. ”But how about the rest of the job? You're interpreting that 'yes' on the buzzer as meaning the s.h.i.+p was really there. Does that give us any line of action, even without the Hunter?”
Neither Bob nor Jenny had any ideas at first, but Maeta produced one almost instantly.
”As I understand it,” she said,” the plan was for the Hunter to leave a message at this s.h.i.+p, on the a.s.sumption that his people are on the earth and would check there at times. Hadn't we better put a note there ourselves? We don't know whether he had a chance to before he was knocked out.”
”We don't know the language,” pointed out Jenny.
”Why should we need to? If they're really investigating this world, there's a good chance they'll have learned French or English.”
”That's a thought,” Bob agreed. ”We could write out the whole story and put it in a weighted bottle, right on top of the s.h.i.+p. They couldn't help noticing it”
”It may not be quite that easy,” Maeta pointed out. ”The s.h.i.+p is buried under, the mud, and the bottle might not be obvious. They might not pay attention to anything not buried like the s.h.i.+p. The Hunter could probably, have put his message inside the s.h.i.+p, but we might not even able to put it exactly on top. Remember, the Hunter had us move around a little before he finally signaled he'd found it-if that was what his signal meant.”
”What else could he have meant?” asked Bob in indignantly.
”And can't we remember which way he moved us?”
”Nothing else, I hope; that's all that makes sense to me, too. A One-word message can usually be misinterpreted, though. Yes, we can find the spot again. I just don't want you to think all the troubles are over.” ”No fear of that,” Bob a.s.sured her. ”I never have the chance to get that idea.”
”Sorry, still hurting?”
”Yes. Muscles, joints, arm, and face, though the last is pretty well back together. Well, I'll try to get my mind off it by writing a message to the Hunter's crowd. The sooner we get it out there, the better. If they do visit the s.h.i.+p it must be at night, and with the luck I have these days it'll be tonight if we don't get out there this afternoon. I wonder how often they do check back? Or if anything the Hunter did today could have set off a signal to bring them back?”
”That's a thought,” agreed Seever. ”Much better than your last one. Why would they have to come by night? They could make their approach under water at any time-or can their s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps only move straight up and down, or something like that?” Bob looked startled.
”I never thought of that, and I don't really know about the s.h.i.+ps.
Well, we should get the message out there anyway. Somebody find a bottle.”
The note was written as briefly as possible, in pencil, on a single sheet of paper. The doctor then waxed the paper. A bottle had been found, the amount of sand needed to sink it ascertained, and paper and, sand inserted. A tiny hole was drilled in the cork of the bottle to facilitate the entry of one of the Hunter's people, and the cork was tightly inserted; then the bottle was shaken around, top downward, until the paper had worked its way above the sand, presumably out of reach of water which would be forced part way into the bottle by the pressure at the bottom.
”That seems to do it,” Jenny said happily when all this was accomplished. ”I wish I could go with you.”
”But of course you're too intelligent to suggest it seriously,” her father added. Jenny made no answer.
”Sorry, Jen,” Bob put in, ”but there really isn't much to this anyway. By the time there's anything more to do, if there ever is, you should be all right again. There's just one more thing we need, then we can take off.”
”What's that?” asked Seever.
”A good, heavy rock.”
”What for? The bottle will sink.”
”I know the bottle will. The trouble is, I won't. We're not just dropping the bottle over the side; we're putting it right on the s.h.i.+p.
I'm not a good enough swimmer to reach the bottom at four fathoms, at least with one bad arm, and if I got there I wouldn't have air enough to go looking for just the right spot. I'll sink myself with the rock, and save effort and air.”
”And the doctor was talking about Jenny's intelligence!”
exclaimed Maeta. ”He'll have to hunt for some different words for yours. I'll go down, you idiot. Why this urge to go swimming with a broken arm? If you just want to see the s.h.i.+p, don't bother; you can't. It's all under mud.”
”I know you can do it,” admitted Bob. ”You can do it better than I could even with two good arms and all my health. But there's something down there that injured the Hunter, and I have no business asking anyone else to face that. You've already been taking enough chances under water for me, Mae. This is my job and the Hunter's. He's taken a chance and apparently lost; now it's my turn.”
His mother started to say something, but changed her mind.
”That's right, Mom. Of course you don't want me to go down, but you're honest enough to know I'm the one who should.”
Maeta was on her feet. She was not really qualified to tower over anyone, but Bob was seated and had to lookup.