<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_2" id="CHAPTER_2">CHAPTER 2</SPAN></h2>
<p>The police car U-turned in the broad roadway and headed off to return
Nora Phillips to her home and to pick up the officer set to sentry
duty. Paul waved them off and then started to walk up the pavement
towards the administration building.</p>
<p>He was feeling better. Everything pleased him vastly. The knot inside
of his head was gone, he had made the acquaintance of a very delectable
armful of femininity, and now he had been chauffeured to the spaceport
by none other than the City Police Department, complete with siren.</p>
<p>On his way up the sidewalk, Paul planned the retort perfect.
Anticipating some humorous sarcasm on the mode of his arrival, Paul
hoped to crush any verbal volley with unanswerable repartee. Usually
Paul's fount of boundless wit ran just a trifle slow, following the
definition of a bon mot: something you think of on the way home. This
time he was going to be prepared.</p>
<p>He swung the door airily and strode in, his tongue poised over a few
words of terse wit.</p>
<p>The guard looked at him and swallowed a large lump. "How in hell did
you get out?" he gasped.</p>
<p>This was not according to plan; unfortunately, the guard had not read
Paul's script, and the prepared answer would not fit the question. "I
was never in," said Paul lamely, again wishing he had a tongue full of
ready wit instead of fumbling for a prepared speech.</p>
<p>"The hell you weren't."</p>
<p>Paul took it from there, ignoring the fact that the guard had not
followed Paul's mental conversation. "That was a car reserved for very
important personages," he said. "From now on you can call me Viper."</p>
<p>The guard by-passed this. "But how did you get out?" he asked. His
voice was almost a plea. "You didn't pass me."</p>
<p>"Were you guarding the jail too?" chuckled Paul. "Fast man, no?"</p>
<p>"You came in a taxicab the first time."</p>
<p>"Ah yes. But that was years ago before people knew of my brilliance,
importance, and high station. Now—"</p>
<p>"Years ago, my eye. Less than fifteen minutes ago—"</p>
<p>"I did not."</p>
<p>"You did."</p>
<p>"Not me." Paul's feeling of airy well-being came down a few thousand
feet and mired in a cumulus cloud.</p>
<p>"Look, Grayson, you came in a taxicab and breezed in here about fifteen
minutes ago as though you had only a minute to spare."</p>
<p>"You're thinking of someone else."</p>
<p>"Your picture said Paul Grayson, and so did your identification. How
else would I be knowing you?"</p>
<p>"You've seen me often enough."</p>
<p>"Maybe. But don't forget that I see a few thousand people every day.
And I know you only well enough to know that you do own bona fide
credentials. You've got 'em?"</p>
<p>"I—" Paul blinked. A great searing light was starting to cut through
the cobwebs of his brain. The airy feeling of well-being dropped below
the cumulus cloud and made a one-point landing on strictly solid
ground. "Look," he said soberly. "You claim a man came through here a
few minutes ago, resembling me?"</p>
<p>"Unless you ain't who you are, he was you."</p>
<p>"He wasn't me. My papers were stolen less than an hour ago. He must
have—"</p>
<p>The guard was no imbecile. He turned in a flash and hit a button on the
desk beside him. An alarm bell rang in some inner room and four more
guards came tumbling out of a doorway, alert and ready for trouble.</p>
<p>"Tommy," snapped the guard at the door, "Go check Paul Grayson's ship,
that's number—"</p>
<p>"BurAst 33-P.G.1."</p>
<p>The guard looked at Paul carefully. "You're a dead ringer for the other
guy that came through here," he said. "But you happen to know Paul
Grayson's BurAst number. Anybody could memorize it."</p>
<p>Paul watched the other guards tumble out of the building and head off
across the spaceport on a dead run, drawing pistols as they went. He
started to follow them.</p>
<p>The guard barred his way.</p>
<p>"No you don't!"</p>
<p>"But that guy is stealing—"</p>
<p>"Maybe your name is Grayson and maybe the other guy is Grayson. You
look alike and he had identification. I don't know Paul Grayson well
enough to accept or deny you—or him. But until you show me credentials
entitling you to roam this spaceport, you stay outside!"</p>
<p>"But—"</p>
<p>"The boys I sent out there are capable. Don't get in their way. They
might shoot the wrong Paul Grayson."</p>
<p>"But—"</p>
<p>"Get your credentials. Get some sort of identification."</p>
<p>Paul looked at the big standard clock on the wall. "But I've got less
than eight minutes until take-off time."</p>
<p>"There's always tomorrow. You'll get cleared first or no entry! And
that's final."</p>
<p>"Hell's Eternal Bells!" exploded Paul. "The cops that brought me here
did so because I was clipped on the bean and robbed."</p>
<p>"It's my job," explained the guard quietly. "I don't want to be any
more of a bastard than I have to be. If you're Paul Grayson and the
cops know you were robbed, there's the telephone."</p>
<p>Paul grabbed the phone and started to dial, fuming at the delay. First
there was a few seconds until the dial tone came, then Paul dialed
the outside line. Another few seconds of delay until he could dial the
number of the municipal police department. Then a bored voice asked:</p>
<p>"Police headquarters, who's calling please."</p>
<p>"This is Paul Grayson at the Municipal Spaceport."</p>
<p>"What's the trouble out there?"</p>
<p>"A crook stole my identification."</p>
<p>"We'll send a man out to investigate."</p>
<p>"No!" yelled Paul to prevent the telephone operator from cutting off
the line on the assumption that the call was closed. "You don't
understand. I'm supposed to take off in—ah—seven minutes."</p>
<p>"We can't get a man there that quickly. You'll have to wait."</p>
<p>"Look," said Paul hurriedly, "there's a squad car that just dropped
me here. I was clipped on Talman Avenue and they went there to
investigate, they brought me here. Why not call them and ask them to
come back and explain to the guards here what happened?"</p>
<p>"I'll check that and take action," promised the voice in a completely
bored tone.</p>
<p>Paul fumed.</p>
<p>There was the sound of a shot outside, followed instantly by the
shrill, whining song of a ricochet, probably a glance from the hard
metal flank of a parked spacecraft.</p>
<p>The telephone went dead and a second later came the dial tone again.
Paul hung it up reluctantly.</p>
<p>And that made it worse. Other hands were not as imbued with the
importance of the project. To other hands it was a routine bit of
trouble, not the matter of life and death that it was to Paul Grayson;
yet he to whom this thing was vastly important must sit with folded
hands while men handled the matter in ponderous routine.</p>
<p>The clock continued to turn inexorably. Paul's mathematically-inclined
mind went to work; it was less than two minutes since the police car
left. Give them a minute to check up, and a minute to make sure, then
a minute to call the car. That was three of the precious seven minutes
gone to hell. If it took them as long to return as it took them to get
where they now were, throw another two minutes down the drain and that
left two minutes in which to let the sergeant explain to the guard,
clear Paul Grayson on a pro tem basis, get him across the spaceport to
his ship, in, up, and away.</p>
<p>He groaned.</p>
<p>He wished frantically for some means of knowing what was going on; what
measures were being made in his behalf. He wanted desperately to listen
to the radio in the police car. He wanted to get on the radio himself
and roar out explanations, to exhort them to greater effort—</p>
<p>The siren wail of the police car cut into his thoughts and Paul raced
to the door to fling it open. The car slid to the curb and the siren
whined down the scale as the driver turned it off. They got out of the
car and came up the walk briskly.</p>
<p>"Hurry!" he called.</p>
<p>He cast a glance over his shoulder at the standard clock. He had three
minutes.</p>
<p>"Tell 'em who I am!" he exploded breathlessly.</p>
<p>The sergeant blinked. "But I don't know who you are."</p>
<p>"But I've told you."</p>
<p>"Hell," grunted the guard. "You've told me, too." To the sergeant, the
guard said: "Do you know anything about all this?"</p>
<p>"We got a call that this man had been clipped and robbed. He was." The
sergeant looked at Nora Phillips. "Can you identify this man?"</p>
<p>Nora bit her lip. "He's Paul Grayson."</p>
<p>The guard speared Nora with a cold look. "Do you know that or is it
just what he said?"</p>
<p>"Why I've—"</p>
<p>"She's never met him otherwise," put in the sergeant.</p>
<p>"That's true, but I think—"</p>
<p>"Thinking ain't good enough."</p>
<p>Nora looked at Paul. "Haven't you anything to show?"</p>
<p>Paul shook his head. "Nothing that would cut any ice. Belt buckle
with initial G. A few laundry marks and cleaners' marks. A checkbook
in my hip pocket but no name printed in it. I might check the balance
against the bank, but that would be tomorrow morning. We might call
Doctor Haedaecker, but by the time we arrived on some means of personal
identification, take-off time would be gone and past."</p>
<p>Paul paused, breathless, his whole body poised tense and his head bent
to listen. There came the patter of feet outside.</p>
<p>The standard clock was swinging towards the hour, two minutes remained,
enough if all went quick and well.</p>
<p>One of the guards burst in. He took a quick look around and spotted the
police sergeant. "Good," he said, breathing heavily. "We've just shot a
man out there. You're needed."</p>
<p>"Was it the man who passed himself off as me?" shouted Paul Grayson.</p>
<p>"As we came up to BurAst 33-P.G.1, this guy jumped from the airlock and
started to run. We gave chase and lost him in the dark beyond a group
of parked spacecraft. We called for him to halt. We found him again on
the far side of the ships and Joe fired a shot.</p>
<p>"It must of missed him because he kept running, and then we all started
shooting, losing him behind another ship parked by the fence. You know
old Mupol 3316? The way the guts are parked all over the spaceport and
left to rust? A derelict if I ever saw one, and after this I'd say it
was about time we cleaned up that old wreck—"</p>
<p>"—Please hurry," blurted Paul.</p>
<p>"—we got to the fence where he'd climbed out over some junk stacked
behind Mupol 3316. We went after him, and then guess what?"</p>
<p>"What?"</p>
<p>"We found this character flat on his face in the road, as dead a corpse
as ever died."</p>
<p>Paul exploded again. "That proves it," he said. "Now—"</p>
<p>The spaceport guard shook his head. This shake was echoed by the
sergeant of police.</p>
<p>"But I've work to do—"</p>
<p>The sergeant smiled unhappily. "We've work to do too, son. I'll call
you Grayson for the benefit of the doubt. There is not much doubt that
something is highly rotten here, but we've got to be certain. There's
been one slugging and robbery, the attempted theft of spacecraft, and
now a man killed by armed guards in performance of their duty. This is
going to require clearing up before we let you go."</p>
<p>"But you know where to find me. I'm due on Proxima Centauri I to check
the arrival of the Bureau of Astrogation survey beam. I'm to take off—"</p>
<p>"<i>IF</i> you are Paul Grayson."</p>
<p>"If the other guy was Paul Grayson, would he have run from cops?"</p>
<p>The sergeant laughed bitterly. "This may come as a shock to you, son.
But you have no idea of how many of our Nicest People, Pillars of
Society, and Solid Citizens have secrets in their daily lives that make
them shun Law and Order when Law and Order comes toward them with a
drawn pistol, a subpoena, or a warrant for arrest."</p>
<p>The loudspeaker came to life at that moment. "BurAst 33-P.G.1 taking
off for Proxima Centauri I. Timing signal for synchronization first
check ..." the voice died to be replaced by a series of clicks, one
second apart.</p>
<p>"That's my notice—"</p>
<p>The guard snapped a switch. "Master Control," he said quietly. "This is
Edwards, guard at the main gate, hold the flight."</p>
<p>"Hold the flight?" answered the speaker.</p>
<p>"Hold the flight. We've had trouble here."</p>
<p>"Is that what the shooting was all about?" The timing clicks died in
the background. "What's the trouble?"</p>
<p>"We've got two Paul Graysons wanting to take off."</p>
<p>"Tell 'em to draw straws. This is costing money."</p>
<p>"One of them—"</p>
<p>"Goddammmit!" yelled Paul, "I'm Paul Grayson and I've—"</p>
<p>"That you'll have to prove, son," said the sergeant.</p>
<p>"—is dead," finished the guard.</p>
<p>"Dead?" gasped the speaker. "Which one?"</p>
<p>"It ain't funny," said the guard seriously. "Just hold the flight."</p>
<p>"Okay, sport. But—"</p>
<p>Paul spoke up, "Can you get the Elecalc free for a course for tomorrow
night?"</p>
<p>"Who's that speaking?"</p>
<p>"I'm Paul Grayson."</p>
<p>"The live one, huh?" chuckled the unimpressed voice from the speaker.
His bantering tone made Paul want to rip out his larynx with a crooked
thumb and shove it down his throat. "Okay. We'll have the electronic
calculator figure out a course for Proxima I for tomorrow night.
Doubtless <i>someone</i> will take the flight."</p>
<p>"Oh damn!" groaned Paul. "Why does this have to happen to me?"</p>
<p>The sergeant smiled. "If this were the first attempt to steal a
spacecraft, I'd be surprised."</p>
<p>The guard shook his head. "It's more than that," he added sagely. "If
the other guy was a thief bent on swiping a BurAst ship, he could have
gone off in it ten minutes before the second Paul Grayson arrived. He
didn't. He was waiting for the take-off signal; and if he were a crook,
he hoped to fill in the real Paul Grayson's place. If he was the real
Grayson, we've killed a frightened Bureau man, and this bird here—"</p>
<p>Paul looked at the standard clock. It was now moving past the precise
second marked for take-off. He sighed resignedly and relaxed. "For
the moment we'll assume that I am Paul Grayson," he said quietly. "So
soon as we can find someone to corroborate me, the second part of your
supposition will have no grounds."</p>
<p>The sergeant shook his head. "I think we'd all best head for the
station and wait this thing out."</p>
<p>Paul gulped. "You're going to jug me?"</p>
<p>"Both of you."</p>
<p>"But you can't arrest me—"</p>
<p>"Five will get you eight," chuckled the sergeant.</p>
<p>Nora Phillips came forward until she stood between Paul and the
sergeant. "Why am I being arrested?" she demanded.</p>
<p>The sergeant smiled affably. "No one is being arrested."</p>
<p>"Why am I being detained, held, or otherwise prevented from enjoying my
rights of freedom?" she snapped.</p>
<p>Paul shrugged. "I've missed my take-off," he said. "I'll have to wait
until tomorrow anyway. And I can get identification in an hour or so
without any trouble. In fact, I'll gladly go along with you if you'll
permit me the telephone. They can bring my stuff down there and we can
settle this quickly. But there is no reason to hold Miss Phillips."</p>
<p>The sergeant turned to the woman and bowed deferentially. "Forgive a
harried policeman his habits," he said quietly. "As a shoe salesman
will mentally catalog the shoes of the people sitting opposite to him
on the street car, and a physician will mentally diagnose the ills of
his fellow-spectators at a baseball game, a policeman habitually views
the acts of his contemporaries with one eye toward their motives."</p>
<p>"Meaning what?" demanded Paul Grayson.</p>
<p>The policeman faced Paul and said with a level voice: "So far as
every bit of evidence goes, you are Paul Grayson. You behave as a man
might behave when placed in the position you appear to be in. On the
other hand, if you were a smart man, you would behave as you are now
behaving even though you had reasons most dire to execute as soon as
you leave the watchful eye of law and order. This is a bit too trite.
A stolen wallet containing only a few bucks and a whale of a lot of
identification, complete with a witness to the crime, makes fine story
material to use in establishing a false identity. Motive can come
later—if any. If you are Paul Grayson, I will make abject apology. If
your tale is not true, there will be some tall explaining to make."</p>
<p>"How about Miss Phillips' boy friend?"</p>
<p>"Now that's a nice thought, but not necessarily conclusive proof. He
might easily and sensibly be included to give any story an air of
veracity. However, we can check with Toby Reed as soon as we get back
to the patrol car."</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />