"Why do people do that in a place like this?" Stone asked behind him.
"Perhaps because they are badly brought up," Torres y Molina said over his shoulder. "Or because if one cannot create something, the next best thing is to deface and destroy it? I don't know."
He took them to the Sacred Plaza and the Temple of Three Windows. Stone asked, "How did they fit those stones so close?"
"No one knows that. Another question is, why did they do it? In some places they carved blocks of a uniform size and shape, just as we would, and they even used mortar, but for decorative work it seems that they preferred unusual shapes and a close fit. And of course these walls are very strong, because of the way the pieces lock together."
Stone pushed his hat back and stood staring at the masonry. "We went to that other place yesterday, the fortress."
"Sacsawayman? Outside Cuzco?"
"Yeah. And, you know, I'd seen pictures before, but it wasn't the same."
"Yes, I do know."
"I mean, some of those blocks must be thirty feet high. I don't even know how they could get them there, let alone make them fit that tight."
"I know some engineers who say they would not undertake to do it."
"You think they had antigravity or something?"
"No, I think they used natural methods. There is a theory that they made a template for each face of a block, and used it to carve the next block to an exact fit. It would have been painstaking work. But they had many hands and plenty of time."
After his guests had left, it was too late to inspect the work on the guard towers. Professor Torres y Molina stayed another night, finished his inspection, and took the tourist bus down in the afternoon. On the switchback road, he noticed something peculiar: a narrow silver-gray line, like a horizontal fault, that had certainly not been there before.
"I can't quite imagine it. I mean, we get to this other planet, okay, and maybe it's a great place, but then what? Do we have to cut down trees and build houses? For six billion people?"
"Don't you think they'll probably let us out a few at a time, I mean a few thousand or whatever? So the first ones can do, uh, all that primitive stuff? And then a few thousand more, so you build it up slowly."
"That could be, or maybe they've already built houses for us."
"And cities, right, and water systems and sewers? Highways? Automobiles? Have they got auto factories turning out Toyotas and Ferraris? What about holo factories to make holos? Give me a break. "
"Another thing that worries me, when we get there, is the new planet going to be just as crowded as this one?"
"Maybe it's a bigger planet."
"Then the gravity would be too high, wouldn't it?"
"Not necessarily. Or it could be a planet the same size as Earth but with more land area-not so many oceans."
"Listen, I don't give a puke about all that stuff. What I want to know is, is everybody going to get an even chance or is it going to be just like here? I get the idea the fat cats are going to be just as fat and the poor folks are going to be just as poor."
"Don't you think we'll have something to say about that? I mean, as far as governments are concerned, all bets are off, right? We don't have to have any United States or England or Germany-that would be stupid. We could start over and do everything better. "
"You think we would?"
"Well, if we don't, it's our fault, isn't it?"
CHAPTER 33
Stone was watching the COSAI weather, toggling from one area of the globe to another, where the same kindly computerized face alternated with satellite photos, charts and fractal landscapes. "This pattern is expected to persist without much change until early next-"
"Ed, Geoffrey called me last night. He wants us to come out to Rye again tomorrow; he says it's very important."
He turned off the sound. "Important to who, me or him?"
"Well, he says to both of you. And me, too."
"How do you come into it?"
"He says if I can get you to come up there, he'll sign over an office building he owns in Scarsdale. It's worth about a million and a half."
"Listen, I've got plenty of money-"
"That's not the same thing, you zink! Are you coming or aren't you?"
"Oh, hell. I'll have to see if I can get out of the governor's dinner."
"Well, will you?"
"Yeah."
On the drive up, Lavalle said, "By the way, I had such a strange phone call from Henry last night."
Stone turned to look at her. "Henry who?"
"You know, Geoffrey's butler. The one you shook hands with."
"Oh."
"He said he's left Geoffrey, and it sounded like he was trying to warn me about something."
"He didn't say what?"
"No, he just said something like, 'It would be better if you didn't come out for a while.' "
Stone was silent for a moment. "But we're going anyway."
"Well, the plans were all made. What do you want to do, tum around and go home?''
"No, I guess not.''
They reached the house a little before one o'clock. The door opened as soon as they pulled up in the driveway, and a man stepped out.
"Good afternoon," he said with a smile. "You must be Ms. Lavalle and Mr. Stone. I'm Simmons, the new butler. Will you go right in, please?"
After lunch, Geoffrey beckoned her to lean closer. "Linda, dear, I want to persuade Ed to do something, and I know he won't want to agree. In order to convince him, I may have to hurt you a little, do you understand?"
"Hurt me how?"
"That would be telling, but it won't hurt much, and it'll be over in a second. I just didn't want to do it without warning you."
"Thanks a lot.''
"Don't mention it."
They all sat down, and the maid passed the coffee cups.
"Ed, let me ask you a question," said Geoffrey, stirring his coffee. "Have you decided whether to go in the Cube or not?"
"Yeah. It seems like I ought to, because it was my idea, but if I do, maybe I'll find out about the other planet and maybe not. If I stay, I will find out about the Earth being destroyed. I mean, either it will or it won't, and I want to find out something. So I think maybe I'll stay."
"I see. Well, then, have you thought about what happens after? If the Earth isn't destroyed, there's going to be some people rich and some poor. Would you be rich?"
"Yeah, I would, but I don't think that's a problem. I've got a lot of friends."
"What if I could show you how to get rich yourself?"
"Like how?"
"Ed, as you know, I'm pretty well off myself, but I have business connections with people a whole lot wealthier than I am, do you understand what I mean? These people would be prepared to help you to acquire assets valued at five hundred million dollars, free and clear."
"They would? What for?"
"They believe the world economy will be ruined if the population drops below one billion. Their projections say the population can be held to at about two billion if you stop having anything to do with the Cube Project early next year. "
"I couldn't do that."
"Not even if it meant your life-or Linda's?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Simmons," said Geoffrey, turning his head.
"Yes, sir." The butler left the room for a moment and returned carrying a chromed metal bar. "Excuse me, Miss Linda." He swung the bar like a baseball bat; she heard her shinbone crack, heard her own yelp of pain.
Stone had fallen into a crouch; Simmons had dropped the bar and was now holding a Webley-Forster automatic. "Ed, don't be silly," Lavalle said.
Her mother, coming forward, cried, "Oh, Linda, my baby!"