Fantastic Voyage - By Isaac Asimov Page 0,77

were present where none had been a moment before.

Reid muttered, "Eight seconds to spare."

But Carter said, "Where's Michaels? If Michaels is still in Benes . . ." He started after the vanished operating table with the consciousness of defeat once again filling him.

Grant pulled off his helmet and waved him back. "It's all right, general. That's what's left of the Proteus and somewhere in it you'll find whatever's left of Michaels. Maybe just an organic jelly with some fragments of bones."

Grant still hadn't grown used to the world as it was. He had slept, with a few breaks, for fifteen hours, and he woke in wonder at a world of light and space.

He had breakfast in bed, with Carter and Reid at his bedside, smiling.

Grant said "Are the rest getting this treatment, too?"

Carter said, "Everything that money can buy-for a while, anyway. Owens is the only one we've let go. He wanted to be with his wife and kids and we turned him loose, but only after he gave us a quick description of what happened. -Apparently, Grant, the mission's success was more to your credit than to anyone's."

"If you want to go by a few items, maybe," said Grant. "If you want to recommend me for a medal and a promotion, I'll accept. If you want to recommend me for a year's vacation with pay, I'll accept them even more quickly. Actually, though, the mission would have been a failure without any one of us. Even Michaels guided us efficiently enough-for the most part."

"Michaels," said Carter, thoughtfully. "That bit about him, you know, isn't for publication. The official story is that he died in the line of duty. It wouldn't do any good to have it known that a traitor had infiltrated the CMDF. And I don't know that he was a traitor at that."

Reid said, "I knew him well enough to be able to say that he wasn't. Not in the usual sense of the word."

Grant nodded. "I agree. He wasn't a story-book villain. He took time to put a swim-suit on Owens before pushing him out of the ship. He was content to have the white cells kill Owens, but he couldn't do the job himself. No-I think he really wanted to keep indefinite miniaturization a secret for, as he saw it, the good of humanity."

Reid said, "He was all for peaceful uses of miniaturization. So am I. But what good would it do to ... "

Carter interrupted. "You're dealing with a mind that grew irrational under pressure. Look, we've had this sort of thing since the invention of the atomic bomb. There are always people who think that if some new discovery with frightful implications is suppressed, all will be well. Except that you can't suppress a discovery whose time has come. If Benes had died, indefinite miniaturization would still have been discovered next year, or five years from now, or ten. Only then, They might have had it first."

"And now We will have it first," said Grant, "and what do we do with it? End in the final war. Maybe Michaels was right."

Carter said, dryly, "And maybe the common sense of humanity will prevail on both sides. It has so far."

Reid said, "Especially since, once this story gets out, and the news media spread the tale of the fantastic voyage of the Proteus, the peaceful uses of miniaturization will he dramatized to the point where we can all fight military domination of the technique. And perhaps successfully."

Carter, taking out a cigar, looked grim and did not answer directly. He said, "Tell me, Grant, how did you catch on to Michaels?"

"I didn't really," said Grant. "It was all the result of a confused mass of thinking. In the first place, general, you put me on board ship because you suspected Duval."

"Oh, now-wait . . ."

"Everyone on the ship knew you had done so. Except Duval, perhaps. That gave me a headstart-in the wrong direction. However, you were clearly not sure of your ground, for you didn't warn me of anything, so I wasn't inclined to go off half-cocked myself. Those were high-powered people on board ship and I knew that if I grabbed someone and turned out to be mistaken, you would back off and let me take the rap."

Reid smiled gently, and Carter flushed and grew very interested in his cigar.

Grant said, "No hard - feelings, of course. It's part of my job to take the rap - but only if I have to. So