I had to sign my name in blood, I told her. But I've got what I need ... Why don't you get yourself a good physicist?

I want you, she said. You were in from the beginning. You know what you're doing. Let's keep the group small and tight.

Tell me where to go to do it, I said, and she led the way.

It was pushing seven by then.

It took me ten minutes to find out which one they had done it to.

It was child's play. They had used the motor from an advanced kid's erector set, with self-contained power unit. It was to be actuated by a standard clock-type timer, which would cause it to pull the lead shielding. The damned thing would go off while it was on the way down.

It took me less than ten minutes to disarm it.

We stood near the railing, and I leaned upon it.

Good, I said.

Very good, she said.

While you're at it, she continued, get on your guard. You are about to be the subject of the biggest security investigation I have ever set off.

Go ahead. I'm pure as snow and swansdown.

You aren't real, she told me. They don't make people like that.

So touch me, I said. I am sorry if you don't like the way I go about existing.

If you don't turn into a frog come midnight, a girl could learn to like a guy like you.

That would require a very stupid girl, I said. And she gave me a strange look which I did not really care to try interpreting.

Then she stared me straight in the eyes. You've got some kind of secret I do not quite understand yet. she said. You seem like a leftover from the Old Days.

Maybe I am. Look, you've already said that I've been of help. Why not leave it at that? I haven't done anything wrong.

I've got a job to do. But, on the other hand, you're right. You have helped, and you haven't really broken any regs ... Except with reference to the J-9, for which I'm sure nobody is going to cause you trouble. On the opposite hand, I've got a report to write. Of necessity, your actions will figure in it prominently. I can't very well leave you out.

I wasn't asking that, I said.

What do you want me to do?

Once it got into Central, I knew, I could kill it. But prior to that, it would be filtered through a mess of humans. They could cause trouble. You kept the group small and tight, I said. You could drop one.

No.

Okay. I could be a draftee, from the beginning.

That's better.

Then maybe we could let it be that way.

I see no great problems.

You'll do it?

I will see what I can do.

That's enough. Thanks.

What will you do when your job here is finished?

I don't know. Take a vacation, maybe.

All alone?

Maybe.

Look, I like you. I'll do things to keep you out of trouble.

I'd appreciate that.

You seem to have answers for everything.

Thank you.

What about a girl?

What do you mean?

Could you use one, in whatever you do?

I thought you had a pretty good job here.

I do. That's not what I'm talking about ... Do you have one?

One what?

Stop playing the stupid role ... A girl, is what I mean.

No.

Well?

You're nuts, I said. What the hell could I do with an Intelligence-type girl? Do you mean that you would actually take the chance of teaming up with a stranger?

I've watched you in action, and I'm not afraid of you. Yes, I would take the chance.

This is the strangest proposal I've ever received.

Think quick, she said.

You don't know what you're asking, I told her.

What if I like you, an awful lot?

Well, I disarmed your bomb ...

I'm not talking about being grateful ... But thanks, anyway ... The answer, I take it, is, 'No.'

Stop that! Can't you give a man a chance to think?

Okay, she said, and turned away.

Wait. Don't be that way. You can't hurt me, so I can talk honestly. I do have a crush on you. I have been a confirmed bachelor for many years, though. You are a complication.

Let's look at it this way, she told me. You're different, I know that. I wish I could do different things.

Like what?

Lie to computers and get away with it.

What makes you say that?

It's the only answer, if you're real.

I'm real.

Then you know how to beat the system.

I doubt it.

Take me along, she said. I'd like to do the same thing.

And I looked at her. A little wisp of hair was touching her cheek, and she looked as if she wanted to cry.

I'm your last chance, aren't I? You met me at a strange moment in your life, and you want to gamble.

Yes.

You're nuts, and I can't promise you security unless you want to quit the game, and I can't. I play it by my own rules, though, and they're kind of strange. If you and I got together, you would probably be a young widow ... So you would have that going for you.

You're tough enough to disarm bombs.

I will meet an early grave. I do lots of stupid things when I have to.

I think I might be in love with you.

Then, for gods' sakes, let me talk to you later. I have lots of things to think about, now.

All right.

You're a dumb broad.

I don't think so.

Well, we'll see.

After I woke up from one of the deepest sleeps in my life, I went and signed for duty.

You're late, said Morrey.

So have them dock me.

I went then and watched the thing itself begin to occur.

RUMOKO was in the works.

They went down, Martin and Demmy, and planted the charge. They did the necessary things, and we got out of there. Everything was set, and waiting for our radio signal. My cabin had been emptied of intruders, and I was grateful.

We got far enough away, and the signal was given. All was silent for a time. Then the bomb went off. Over the port bow, I saw the man stand up. He was old and gray and wore a wide-brimmed hat. He stood, slouched, fell on his face.

We've just polluted the atmosphere some more, said Martin.

Hell, said Demmy.

The oceans rose and assailed us. The ship held anchor.

For a time, there was nothing. Then, it began.

The ship shook, like a wet dog. I clung to the rail and watched. Next came a mess of waves, and they were bastards, but we rode them out.

We've got the first reading, said Carol. It's beginning to build.

I nodded and did not say anything. There wasn't much to say.

It's getting bigger, she said, after a minute, and I nodded again.

Finally, later on that morning, the whole thing that had come loose made its scene upon the surface.

The waters had been bubbling for a long while by then. The bubbles grew larger. The temperature readings rose. There came a glow.

Then there was one fantastic spout. It was blasted into the air to a great height, golden in the morning sunshine, like Zeus when he had visited one of his girlfriends or other. It was accompanied by a loud roar. It hung there for a few brief moments, then descended in a shower of sparks.

Immediately thereafter, there was greater turbulence.

It increased and I watched, the regular way and by means of the instruments.

The waters frothed and glistened. The roaring came and went. There came another spout, and another. The waters burned beneath the waves. Four more spouts, each larger than its predecessor ...

Then an ocean-riving blast caught the Aquina in something close to a tidal wave ...

We were ready, though, built that way, and faced into it.

We rode with it, and there was no let-up.

We were miles away, and it seemed as if but an arm's distance separated us.

The next spout just kept going up, until it became a topless pillar. It pierced the sky, and a certain darkness began at that point. It began to swell, and there were fires all about its base.

After a time, the entire sky was fading over into a false twilight, and a fine dust filled the air, the eyes, the lungs. Occasionally, a crowd of ashes passed in the distance, like a covey of dark birds. I lit a cigarette to protect my lungs against pollution, and watched the fires rise.