intense disappointment crossed Davenport's face. 'Great space, Doctor, we know that, and we've gone into every angle of it. Every possible angle. It means nothing.'
'Nothing at all, Inspector?'
'Nothing of importance. Read the report again. The silicony wasn't even listening to Vernadsky. He was feeling life depart and he was wondering about it. Twice, it asked, "What after death?" Then, as
Vernadsky kept questioning it, it said, "On the asteroid." Probably it never heard Vernadsky's question.
It was answering its own question. It thought that after death it would return to its own asteroid; to its home, where it would be safe once more. That's all.'
Dr. Urth shook his head. 'You are too much a poet, you know. You imagine too much. Come, it is an interesting problem and let us see if you can't solve it for yourself. Suppose the silicony's remark were an answer to Vernadsky.'
'Even so,' said Davenport impatiently, 'how would it help? Which asteroid? The uranium asteroid? We can't find it, so we can't find the coordinates. Some other asteroid which the Robert Q. had used as a home base? We can't find that either.'
'How you avoid the obvious. Inspector. Why don't you ask yourself what the phrase "on the asteroid" means to the silicony. Not to you or to me, but to the silicony.' Davenport frowned. 'Pardon me, Doctor?'
'I'm speaking plainly. What did the word asteroid mean to the silicony?'
'The silicony learned about space out of an astronomy text that was read to it. I suppose the book explained what an asteroid was.'
'Exactly,' crowed Dr. Urth, putting a finger to the side of his snub nose. 'And how would the definition go? An asteroid is a small body, smaller than the planets, moving about the sun in an orbit which, generally speaking, lies between those of Mars and Jupiter. Wouldn't you agree?'
'I suppose so.'
'And what is the Robert Q.?'
'You mean the ship?'
That's what you call it,' said Dr. Urth. The ship. But the astronomy book was an ancient one. It made no mention of ships in space. One of the crewmen said as much. He said it dated from before space flight.
Then what is the Robert Q.? Isn't it a small body, smaller than the planets? And while the silicony was aboard, wasn't it moving about the sun in an orbit which, generally speaking, lay between those of Mars and Jupiter?'
'You mean the silicony considered the ship as just another asteroid, and when he said "on the asteroid," he meant "on the ship"?'
'Exactly. I told you I would make you solve the problem for yourself.'
No expression of joy or relief lightened the gloom on the Inspector's face. That is no solution. Doctor.'
But Dr. Urth blinked slowly at him and the bland look on his round face became, if anything, blander and more childlike in its uncomplicated pleasure. 'Surely it is.'
'Not at all. Dr. Urth, we didn't reason it out as you did. We dismissed the silicony's remark completely.
But still, don't you suppose we searched the Robert Q.?' We took it apart piece by piece, plate by plate. We just about unwelded the thing.'
'And you found nothing?'
'Nothing.'
'Perhaps you did not look in the right place.'
'We looked in every place.' He stood up, as though to go. 'You understand, Dr. Urth? When we got through with the ship there was no possibility of those coordinates existing anywhere on it.'
'Sit down, Inspector,' said Dr. Urth calmly. 'You are still not considering the silicony's statement properly. Now the silicony learned English by collecting a word here and a word there. It couldn't speak idiomatic English. Some of its statements, as quoted, show that. For instance, it said, "the planet which is most far" instead of "the farthest planet." You see?'
'Well?'
'Someone who cannot speak a language idiomatically either uses the idioms of his own language translated word by word or else he simply uses foreign words according to their literal meaning. The silicony had no spoken language of its own so it could only make use of the second alternative. Let's be literal, then. He said, "on the asteroid," Inspector. On it. He didn't mean on a piece of paper, he meant on the ship, literally.'
'Dr. Urth,' said Davenport sadly, 'when the Bureau searches, it searches. There were no mysterious inscriptions on the ship either.'
Dr. Urth looked disappointed. 'Dear me, Inspector. I keep hoping you will see the answer. Really, you have had so many hints.'
Davenport drew in a slow, firm breath. It went hard, but his voice was calm and even once