The Practice Effect Part 2

appreciated Brady's sunny att.i.tude.

"Dennis!"

Gabriella Versgo's valkyrian figure wove toward them through the crowd of technicians. When one tech was slow to get out of the way, he was swept aside by a well-swung pelvis.

Brady beamed as she approached, looking much like a lovestruck puppy. Gabbie gave him a brilliant smile and then took Dennis's right arm in a grip that partly interrupted the blood supply to his hand.

"Well, Dennis," she said, sighing happily, "I'm glad you and Bernie are talking to each other again! I always thought it was silly of you two to feud so."

Actually, she sounded as if she thought it was delightful. Dennis realized that Gabbie was under the mistaken belief that his enmity with Brady was over her. If that really were the case Dennis would have run up a white flag and surrendered long ago!

"I just came ahead to warn you two boys that Dr. Flaster's on his way down to see Dennis off. And he's bringing Boona Calumny with him!"

Dennis looked blank for a moment.

"The new Science Minister for Mediterranea!" Gabbie cried. She tugged his elbow sharply, accidentally thumbing his ulnar nerve in the process. Dennis gasped, but Gabbie went on, oblivious to his momentary agony.

"Isn't it wonderful?" She exclaimed. "Such an eminent man coming down to watch the first human set foot on an anomaly world!" In her final sweeping gesture she released her grip. Dennis stifled a sigh and ma.s.saged his arm.

Gabriella cooed at the pixolet, trying to chuck its diminutive chin.

The little creature bore it for a few moments, then erupted into a tremendous yawn, revealing twin rows of needle-sharp teeth. She quickly withdrew her hand.

She went around to Dennis's other side and leaned up to kiss him primly on the cheek. "Gotta run now. I have an important crystal in a float-zone. Have a good trip. Come back a hero and we'll celebrate special, I promise." She winked and nudged him with her hip, almost knocking the pixolet from its perch.

The scowling Brady brightened suddenly when Gabriella gave him a peck as well, for equality. Then she sauntered away, doubtless aware that half the men in the lab were watching.

Richard Schwall shook his head and muttered. "... woman could upstage Lady Macbeth . . ." was all Dennis made out.

Brady snorted indignantly and stalked off.

As Dennis returned to his calculations, checking one last time to make sure he had made no mistakes, the pixolet launched itself into a low glide to land on a perch overlooking Richard Schwall. It peered over the balding tech's shoulder, watching as he adjusted a portable electronic drafting tool for Dennis to take along.

For two days, ever since Dennis had declared the creature tame, the technicians had routinely looked up to find those tiny green eyes staring down at them. Uncannily, the pixolet always seemed to choose the trickiest adjustments to oversee.

As the preparations progressed smoothly, the creature became a status symbol of sorts. The techs used bits of candy to attract it over to their stations. It had become a good luck charm-a company mascot.

When Schwall looked up and saw the pixolet, he grinned and picked up the little alien so it could get a better look. Dennis put down his notes and watched the two interact.

The pixolet appeared less enthralled with what Schwall did than how the tech felt about it, When his face showed pleasure, the creature looked back and forth quickly, from Schwall to the sketch pad and back again.

Although it was clearly not a sentient being, Dennis wondered just how intelligent the little alien really was.

"Hey, Dennis!" Schwall grew excited. "Look at this! I've made a real neat picture of the launch tower in Ecuador! You know, the Vanilla Needle? I've never really noticed how good I am at this! Your little friend here really is lucky!"

There was a commotion at the back of the lab. Dennis nudged his a.s.sociate. "Come on, Rich," he said. "Get up. They're here at last."

Escorted by Bernald Brady, the lab Director approached the zievatron. With Flaster walked a short, stubby man with dark, intense features, who Dennis realized must be the new Science Minister of Mediterranea.

As he was introduced, Boona Calumny seemed to look right through Dennis. His voice was very high.

"So this is the brave young fellow who's going to take over your wonderful work here, Marcel? And he's starting right off by stepping through into that wonderful new place you've found?"

Flaster beamed. "Yes, sir! And we certainly are proud of him!" He winked conspiratorially at Dennis. Dennis was starting to realize just how badly Flaster wanted a success to show for his tenure at S.I.T.

"You'll be careful in there, won't you, my boy?" Calumny's finger pointed at the airlock. Dennis wondered if the man really understood what was going on.

"Yessir, I will."

"Good. We want you to return hale and hearty!"

Dennis nodded pleasantly, automatically translating the politician's remarks from Executivese to English. He means that if I don't come back there'll be some nasty paperwork to fill out.

"I promise, sir."

"Excellent. You know, bright young men like you are hard to find these days!" (Actually, you squirts are a dime a dozen, but you're helping my buddy out of a jam.) "Yessir," Dennis agreed again.

"We have a real shortage of daring, adventurous types, and I'm sure you'll go far," Calumny went on. (We're a bit low on meatheads this month. Maybe we can use you for a few more suicide missions if you come back from this one.) "I expect so, sir."

Calumny gave Dennis a very democratic handshake, then turned to whisper something to Flaster. The director pointed to a door, and the minister waddled out of the lab. Probably to wash his hands, Dennis thought.

"All right, Dr. Nuel," Flaster said cheerfully, "hoist your little alien friend and let's be off with you. I expect you back in under two hours .

. . less if you can control your inclination to explore. We'll have champagne chilled by the time you return."

Dennis caught the pixolet in a midair glide from Rich Schwall's hands. The little creature chirped excitedly. After all the crates were loaded ahead of him, Dennis stepped over the airlock's combing.

"Beginning closure procedure," one of the techs announced. "Good luck, Dr. Nuel!"

Schwall gave him thumbs up.

Bernald Brady came forward to guide the heavy door. "Well, Nuel,"

he said lowly as the gears slowly turned, "you checked everything, didn't you? You poked through the machine from top to bottom, read the biology report, and didn't need to consult me at all, did you?"

Dennis didn't like the fellow's tone. "What are you getting at?"

Brady smiled, speaking softly so only Dennis could hear him. "I never mentioned it to the others, since it seemed so absurd. But it's only fair to tell you."

"Tell me about what?"

"Oh, it could be nothing at all, Nuel. Or maybe something pretty unusual. . . like the possibility that this anomaly world has a different set of physical laws than hold sway on Earth!"

By now the hatch had half closed. The timer was running.

This was ridiculous. Dennis wasn't going to let Brady get to him.

"Stuff it, Bernie," he said with a laugh. "I don't believe a word of your blarney."

"Oh? Remember those purple mists you found last year, where gravity repelled?"

"Those were different entirely. No major difference in physical law could endanger me on Pix's world-not when the biology is so compatible.

"But if there's something minor you haven't told me about," Dennis continued, stepping forward, "you'd better spill it now or I swear I'll..."

Strangely, Brady's antagonism seemed to fall away, replaced by apparently genuine puzzlement.

"I don't know what it is, Nuel. It had to do with the instruments we sent through. Their efficiencies seemed to change the longer they were there! It was almost as if one of the thermodynamic laws was subtly different."

Too late, Dennis realized that Brady wasn't just egging him. He really had discovered something that honestly perplexed him. But by now the hatch had closed almost all the way.

"Which law, Brady? Dammit, stop this process until you tell me!

What law?"

Through the bare crack that remained, Brady whispered, "Guess."

With a sigh the seals fell into place and the hatch became vacuum tight.

In the zievatronics lab, Dr. Marcel Flaster watched Brady turn away from the closed hatch of the anomaly machine. "What was that all about?"

Brady started. Flaster could have sworn the fellow grew even paler than normal.

"Oh, it was nothing. We were talking. Just something to pa.s.s the time while the hatch closed."

Flaster frowned. "Well, I hope there won't be any surprises at this late stage. I'm counting on Nuel to succeed. I need Flasteria badly with my confirmation hearings coming up next month."

"Maybe he'll manage to pull it off." Brady shrugged.

Flaster laughed. "Indeed. From what I've seen around here, he's sure to succeed. In the last few days he's really got this place humming. I should have brought that young fellow back into this lab months ago!"

Brady shrugged. "Nuel might succeed. Then again, maybe he won't."

Flaster smiled archly. "Ah, well. If he fails, we'll just have to send somebody else, won't we?"

Brady swallowed and nodded. He watched the lab Director turn and walk away.

I wonder if I did the right thing? Brady thought, giving Nuel the wrong modules for fixing the return mechanism.

Oh, he'll figure it out eventually and fix them up. All he has to do is swap the right chips around. I made it look like a factory error so they'll never trace it to me-though he'll probably suspect.

By the time he's fixed the modules, I'll have had time to work on Flaster. And Nuel's stock won't be so high when the delay stretches into weeks, whatever his excuse!

Brady felt a little guilty about the stunt, It was kind of a nasty trick to play. But all indications showed that Flasteria was a pretty tame place. The robots hadn't seen any big animals, and anyway, Nuel was always talking about what a champion Boy Scout he had been. Let him camp out in the wild for a while, then!

Maybe he'd even figure out what had been happening to the robots, too. . . that strange alteration in their efficiency profiles.

Oh, Nuel would come back in lather, all right. But by then he, Brady, would have had a chance to win his way back into the Director's good graces. He knew, by now, what b.u.t.tons to push.

Brady looked at his watch. Gabriella had made a luncheon date with him, and he didn't want to be late.

He straightened his tie and hurried out of the lab. Soon he was whistling.

5 "Which law? you sonova-" Dennis pounded on the door.

He stopped. It was useless. By now the sending probe had activated.

He was already on the anomaly world-already on...

Dennis stared at the blank door. He felt behind himself and sat heavily on one of the crates. Then, as his situation soaked in, he suddenly found himself beginning to laugh! He couldn't stop. His eyes filled as he gave in to the giddy feeling.

No one had ever been as cut off as he was, cast from Earth to a faraway world.

People might read about adventures in faraway places, but the truth was that most, at the first hint of anything truly dangerous, would dig a hole and cry out for Mother.

As an initial reaction, then, perhaps laughter wasn't bad. At least he Felt more relaxed afterward.

From a crate nearby, the pixolet watched, apparently fascinated.

I'm going to have to come up with a new name for this place, Dennis thought as he wiped his eyes. Flasteria just won't do.

The initial crisis of isolation had pa.s.sed. He was able to look to his left, to the other door, the only one that would now open-onto another world.

Brady's talk of a "different set of physical laws" continued to bother Dennis. Brady had probably just been trying to get to him. Even if he was telling the truth, it would have to be something pretty subtle, since biological processes were so compatible on both worlds.

Dennis remembered a science-fiction story he had once read in which a minute change in electrical conductivity resulted in a tenfold increase in human intelligence. Could it be something like that?

Dennis sighed. He didn't feel any smarter. The fact that he couldn't remember the story's t.i.tle sort of refuted that possibility.

The pixolet glided from its perch to land on his lap. It purred, looking up at him with emerald eyes.

"Now I'm the alien," Dennis said. He picked up the little native.

"How about it, Pix? Am I welcome? Want to show me around your place?"

Pix squeaked. It sounded eager to be off.

"Okay," Dennis said. "Let's go."

He strapped on his tool belt, with the needlegun bolstered to one side. Then, taking an appropriate "explorerlike" stance, he pulled the lever to unlock the far door. There was a hiss of equalizing pressure, and his ears popped briefly. Then the hatch swung open to let in the sunshine of another world.

2 Cogito, Ergo Tutti Fruitti

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