Part 6 (1/2)
”Yes, captain?” Jayjay didn't look up from the cards in his hands.
”_Are_ you related to Kelvin a.s.sociates?”
”In a way.”
Al-Amin bit at his lower lip. ”Mr. Kelvin, you registered aboard this s.h.i.+p as Joseph Kelvin. May I ask if your middle name is James?”
After a short pause, Jayjay said: ”Yes. It is.”
”Are you _the_ J. J. Kelvin?”
”Yup. But I'd rather you didn't mention it when we get to Pluto.”
Smith's jaw had slowly sagged during that conversation. Then he closed his mouth with a snap. ”You're Jayjay Kelvin?” he asked, opening his mouth again.
”That's right.”
”Then I apologize.”
”Accepted,” said Jayjay. He wished that Smith hadn't apologized.
”Why didn't you say so in the first place?” Captain Al-Amin asked.
”Because I didn't want it known that I was going to Pluto,” Kelvin said. ”And--after the accident happened--I kept quiet because I know human nature.”
Jeffry Hull, who had awakened during the argument, looked at Jayjay and said: ”What's human nature got to do with it, Mr. Kelvin?”
”Nothing, except that if I'd told everyone I was J. J. Kelvin, all of you would have been sitting around waiting for me to solve the problem instead of thinking about it yourselves.”
Hull nodded thoughtfully. ”It makes sense, Mr. Kelvin. If they'd known that you were ... well ... Mister s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p Himself, they'd have let you do all the thinking. And that would have left you high and dry, wouldn't it?”
Jayjay put the deck of cards in his pocket. ”You're a pretty good sociologist, after all, Mr. Hull. You're right. Face any group with Authority--with a capital _A_--and they quit thinking for themselves.
And if they do, then the poor slob of an Authority doesn't have anything to tickle his own brains, so everybody loses.”
”Well, _do_ you have an answer?” Captain Al-Amin asked.
Jayjay shook his head. ”Not yet. I think I've got one coming up, but I wish you two would go on talking while I think.”
”I'll try,” Smith said wryly.
The problem was both simple and complex. The female socket lacked one single turn of thread to make a perfect connection. A few hundredths of an inch separated success from disaster.
Five men, including the unconscious Vandenbosch, were only a fraction of an inch away from death.
Jayjay Kelvin listened to Smith talk for another half hour, throwing in objections when necessary, but offering no opinions.
”All we have to do,” Smith said at last, ”is get rid of that little bit of metal beyond the thread in the female socket. But there's no way to get it out. We can't use a chisel because the force would warp the threads. Besides, we couldn't get a chisel in there.”