No normal ship could land on Jupiter Five to rescue them, and no other Agrav ship existed or would exist for a year at least. If they failed, there would be time enough to watch Jupiter and the vision of the skies while they waited for death.
Yet under less urgent conditions the vision would have been worth watching. It was Io all over again with everything doubled and tripled.
From the point at which the Jovian Moon landed, Jupiter's lower rim seemed to sweep the flat, powdery horizon. The giant looked so close in the airlessness that a watcher would have imagined he could reach out his hand and bury it in that circle of light.
From the horizon Jupiter stretched upward, halfway to zenith. At the moment the Jovian Moon landed, Jupiter was almost full, and within the unbearable circle of brilliant stripes and colors nearly ten thousand full moons Earth variety, could have been placed. Almost one sixteenth of the entire vault of the sky was covered by Jupiter.
And because Jupiter Five circled Jupiter in twelve hours, the visible moons-there were four here rather than three as on Io, since Io itself was now a moon – moved three times as fast as they did on Io. So did all the stars and everything else in the sky, except for frozen Jupiter, which one side of the satellite eternally faced and which therefore never moved.
In five hours the sun would rise and it would be exactly the same in appearance as on Io; it would be the one thing that hadn't changed. But it would race toward a four-times-as-large Jupiter at three times the speed and make an eclipse a hundred times as terri-fyingly beautiful.
But no one saw it. It took place twice while the Jovian Moon stayed and no one saw it No one had the time. No one had the heart
Panner finally sat down and stared out of bleary eyes. The flesh around them was red and puffy. His voice was a hoarse whisper.
"All right. Everyone to your normal stations. We'll have a dry run." He hadn't slept in forty hours. The others had worked in shifts, but Panner had stopped neither to eat nor to sleep.
Bigman, who had confined himself to unskilled labor, to fetching and carrying, to reading dials under direction and holding levers according to instruction, had no place in a dry run, no station, no duties. So he wandered somberly about the ship in search of Lucky and found him in the control room with Commander Donahue.
Lucky had his shirt off and was wiping his shoulders, forearms, and face on a large plastofluff towel.
As soon as he saw Bigman, he said briskly, "The ship will be moving, Bigman. We'll be taking off soon."
Bigman's eyes raised. "We're only doing a dry run, Lucky."
"It will work. That Jim Panner worked miracles."
Commander Donahue said stiffly, "Councilman Starr, you have saved my ship."
"No, no. Panner deserves the credit. I think half the engine is being held together with copper wire and mucilage, but it will work."
"You know what I mean, Councilman. You drove us on to Jupiter Five when the rest of us were ready to give up and panic. You saved my ship, and I will report that fact fully when I stand court-martial on Earth for having failed to co-operate with you on Jupiter Nine."
Lucky flushed in embarrassment. "I can't allow that, Commander. It is important that councilmen avoid publicity. As far as the official record is concerned, you will have remained in command at all times. There will be no mention of any actions of mine."
"Impossible. I couldn't allow myself to be praised for what you have done."
"You will have to. It's an order. And let's have no talk of court-martials."
Commander Donahue drew himself up with a kind of pride. "I deserve court-martial. You warned me of the presence of Sirian agents. I did not listen and as a result my ship was sabotaged."
"The blame is mine, too," Lucky said calmly. "I was on board ship and did not prevent it. Nevertheless, if we can bring back the saboteur, there will be no question of court-martial."
The commander said, "The saboteur, of course, is the robot you warned me of. How I could be so blind!"
"I'm afraid you still don't see entirely. It wasn't the robot."
"Not the robot?"
"A robot could not have sabotaged the ship. It would have been bringing harm to humans and that would have meant breaking the First Law."
The commander frowned as he considered that. "It might not have been aware that it was doing harm."
"Everyone aboard ship, including the humanoid, understands Agrav. The robot would have known it was doing harm. In any case I think we have the identity of the saboteur, or will have in a moment"
"Oh? Who is he, Councilman Starr?"
"Well, consider this for a moment. If a man so sabotages a ship as to insure that it will either blow up or fall into Jupiter, he would be either a madman or a superhumanly dedicated person to stay on board that ship."
"Yes, I suppose so.''
"Since the time we left Io, the air locks have never opened. If they had there would have been slight drops in air pressure, and the ship's barometer indicates no such drops. You see, then, the saboteur must never have gotten on the ship at Io. He's still there, unless he's been taken off."
"How could he be taken off? No ship could get to Io, except this one."
Lucky smiled grimly. "No Earth ship."
The commander's eyes widened. "Surely no Sirian ship, either."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." The commander frowned. "And for that matter, wait a moment. Everyone reported on board before we left Io. We wouldn't have left without everyone reported present."
"In that case everyone is still on board."
"I would presume so."
"Well," said Lucky, "Panner has ordered all men to stations under emergency conditions. The where-abouts of every man should be fixed during this dry run. Call Panner and ask if anyone is missing."
Commander Donahue turned to the intercom, and signaled Panner.
There was some delay, and then Panner's voice, infinitely tired, answered. "I was about to call, Commander. The run was successful. We can take off. If we're lucky, things will hold till we're back on Jupiter Nine."
The commander said, "Very good. Your work will be properly acknowledged, Panner. Meanwhile, are all men at stations?"
Panner's face on the visiplate above the intercom seemed to harden all at once. "No! By Space, I meant to tell you! We can't locate Summers."
"Red Summers," Bigman cried in sudden excitement. "That murdering cobber. Lucky…"
"One moment, Bigman," Lucky said. "Dr. Panner, you mean Summers isn't in his quarters?"
"He isn't anywhere. Except that it's impossible, I'd say he wasn't on board."
"Thank you." Lucky reached over to break contact "Well, Commander."
Bigman said, "Listen, Lucky. You remember once I told you I met him coming out of the engine room? What was he doing down there?"
"We know now," said Lucky.
"And we know enough to get him," said the commander, white-faced. "We're landing on Io and…"
"Wait," said Lucky, "first things first. There is something more important even than a traitor."
"What?"
"The matter of the robot."
"That can wait."
"Perhaps not. Commander, you said that all men reported on board the Jovian Moon before we left lo. If so, the report was obviously a false one."
"Well?"
"I think we ought to try to find the source of the false report. A robot can't sabotage a ship, but if a man has sabotaged the ship without the robot's knowledge, it would be very simple for the robot to help that man remain off the ship if its help is requested."
"You mean whoever is responsible for the false report that Summers was on board ship is the robot?"
Lucky paused. He tried not to allow himself to grow too hopeful or feel too triumphant, and yet the argu-men seemed perfect.
He said, "It seems so."
15. Traitor!