That owner sat in a combination armchair-desk which was bathed in the only focus of bright light in the room. Slowly he turned the sheets of official reports he held in his hand. His hand moved otherwise only to adjust the thick spectacles which threatened at any moment to fall completely from his round and completely unimpressive nubbin of a nose. His paunch lifted and fell quietly as he read.
He was Dr. Wendell Urth, who, if the judgment of experts counted for anything, was Earth's most outstanding extraterrologist. On any subject outside Earth men came to him, though Dr. Urth had never in his adult life been more than an hour's-walk distance from his home on the University campus.
He looked up solemnly at Inspector Davenport. 'A very intelligent man, this young Vernadsky,' he said.
To have deduced all he did from the presence of the silicony? Quite so,' said Davenport.
'No, no. The deduction was a simple thing. Unavoidable, in fact. A noodle would have seen it. I was referring'-and his glance grew a trifle censorious-'to the fact that the youngster had read of my experiments concerning the gamma-ray sensitivity of Siliconeus asteroidea.' 'Ah, yes,' said Davenport.
Of course. Dr. Urth was the expert on siliconies. It was why Davenport had come to consult him. He had only one question for the man, a simple one, yet Dr. Urth had thrust out his full lips, shaken his ponderous head, and asked to see all the documents in the case.
Ordinarily that would have been out of the question, but Dr. Urth had recently been of considerable use to the T.B.I, in that affair of the Singing Bells of Luna and the singular non-alibi shattered by Moon gravity, and the Inspector had yielded.
Dr. Urth finished the reading, laid the sheets down on his desk, yanked his shirttail out of the tight confines of his belt with a grunt and rubbed his glasses with it. He stared through the glasses at the light to see the effects of his cleaning, replaced them precariously on his nose, and clasped his hands on his paunch, stubby fingers interlacing.
'Your question again, Inspector?'
Davenport said patiently, 'Is it true, in your opinion, that a silicony of the size and type described in the report could only have developed on a world rich in uranium-'
'Radioactive material,' interrupted Dr. Urth. Thorium, perhaps, though probably uranium.'
'Is your answer yes, then?'
'Yes.'
'How big would the world be?'
'A mile in diameter, perhaps,' said the extraterrologist thoughtfully. 'Perhaps even more.'
'How many tons of uranium, or radioactive material, rather?'
'In the trillions. Minimum.'
'Would you be willing to put all that in the form of a signed opinion in writing?'
'Of course.'
'Very well then, Dr. Urth.' Davenport got to his feet, reached for his hat with one hand and the file of reports with the other. 'That is all we need.'
But Dr. Urth's hand moved to the reports and rested heavily upon them. 'Wait. How will you find the asteroid?'
'By looking. We'll assign a volume of space to every ship made available to us and-just look.' The expense, the time, the effort! And you'll never find it.'
'One chance in a thousand. We might'
'One chance in a million. You won't.'
'We can't let the uranium go without some try. Your professional opinion makes the prize high enough.'
'But there is a better way to find the asteroid. I can find it.'
Davenport fixed the extraterrologist with a sudden, sharp glance. Despite appearances Dr. Urth was anything but a fool. He had personal experience of that. There was therefore just a bit of half-hope in his voice as he said, 'How can you find it?'
'First,' said Dr. Urth, 'my price.'
'Price?'
'Or fee, if you choose. When the government reaches the asteroid, there may be another large-size silicony on it. Siliconies are very valuable. The only form of life with solid silicone for tissues and liquid silicone as a circulating fluid. The answer to the question whether the asteroids were once part of a single planetary body may rest with them. Any number of other problems... Do you understand?'
'You mean you want a large silicony delivered to you?'
'Alive and well. And free of charge. Yes.'
Davenport nodded. 'I'm sure the government will agree. Now what have you on your mind?' Dr. Urth said quietly, as though explaining everything, 'The silicony's remark.'
Davenport looked bewildered. 'What remark?'
The one in the report. Just before the silicony died. Vernadsky was asking it where the captain had written down the coordinates, and it said, "On the asteroid." '