Fantastic Voyage - By Isaac Asimov Page 0,15

of his cigarette dropped to the floor. He said emphatically to Duval, "I've made my attitude quite clear."

Grant recognized Captain Owens standing under the portrait of the president. The eagerness and smiles he had seen at the airport were gone and there was a bruise on one cheekbone. He looked nervous and upset and Grant sympathized with the sensation.

"Who's the colonel?" Grant asked Michaels in a low voice.

"Donald Reid, my opposite number on the military side of the fence."

"I take it he's annoyed with Duval."

"Constantly. He's got a lot of company. Few like him."

Grant had the impulse to answer, She seems to, but the words sounded petty in his thoughts and he dismissed them. Lord, what a dish! What did she see in that solemn cutthroat?

Reid was talking in a low voice, carefully controlled. "And aside from that, doctor, what is she doing here?"

"Miss Cora Peterson," said Duval; icily, "is my assistant. Where I go professionally, she accompanies me professionally.,

"This is a dangerous mission ..."

"And Miss Peterson has volunteered, understanding full well its dangers."

"A number of men, entirely qualified to help, have also volunteered. Matters would be far less complicated if one of those men accompanied you. I will assign you one."

"You will not assign me one, colonel, for if you do, I will not go, and there will be no power to make me. Miss Peterson is a third and fourth arm to me. She knows my requirements well enough to do her job without instructions, to be there before I call, to supply what is needed without being asked. I will not take a stranger who will need to be shouted at. I can not be responsible for success if I lose one second because my technician and I do not mesh, and I will not take any assignment in which I am not given a free hand with which to arrange matters in such a way as will carry with it the best chance for success."

Grant's eye moved to Cora Peterson again. She looked acutely embarrassed, yet stared at Duval with the expression Grant had once seen in a beagle's eye when its little boy owner returned from school. Grant found that intensely annoying.

Michaels' voice cut across the argument as Reid was rising furiously to his feet. "I would suggest, Don, that since the key step of the entire operation rests upon Dr. Duval's hand and eye and since, in fact, we cannot now dictate to him, we humor him in this respect-without prejudice to necessary action afterward, eh? I am willing to take responsibility for that."

He was offering Reid a face-saving way out, Grant realized, and Reid, fuming darkly, would have to take it.

Reid slammed the flat of his hand on the table before him. "All right. Let it be on record that I opposed this." He sat back, lips trembling.

Duval sat down also, unconcerned. Grant moved forward to pull out a chair for Cora, but she helped herself and was seated before he could reach her.

Michaels said, "Dr. Duval, this is Grant, a young man who will be accompanying us."

"As muscle man, doctor," said Grant. "My only qualification."

Duval looked up cursorily. His acknowledgement was a minimal nod thrown in Grant's general direction. "And Miss Peterson."

Grant smiled flashily. She smiled not at all and said, "How do you do?"

"Hello," said Grant, looked down at what little was left of his second sandwich, realized that no one else was eating at all, and put it down.

Carter came in at this point, walking rapidly and nodding vaguely to right and left. He sat down and said, "Will you join us, Captain Owens? Grant?"

Owens reluctantly moved to the table and took his place opposite Duval. Grant sat down several chairs removed and found himself able, in looking at Carter, -to contemplate Cora's face in profile.

Could a job be entirely bad if she were part of it?

'Michaels, who sat down immediately next to Grant, leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "Actually, it isn't a bad idea to have a woman along. The men, perhaps, will be more on their mettle. And it would please me."

"Is that why you made the pitch for her?"

"Actually, no. Duval is serious. He wouldn't go without her."

"Is he that dependent on her?"

"Perhaps not. But he's that intent on having his way. Especially against Reid. No love lost there."

Carter said, "To business. You can drink, or eat, if you wish, while this is going on. Do any of you have any urgent point to make?"

Grant