The William Branchell—dubbed Brainchild—fled Earth at velocity, while officers, crew, and settled to routine. The only thing that that was one particularly part of the ship’s cargo.
Snookums was a snoop.
Cut off from the which had been provided for his special work at Chilblains, he to himself in the of the beings which him. Until his seventh year, he had been to the company of only a small of beings. Even while the William Branchell was being built, he hadn’t been allowed any more than was necessary to keep him from being frustrated.
Even so, he had an in humans. Now he was being allowed full in his data-seeking circuits, and he to investigate, not the physical sciences, but the study of Mankind. Since the proper study of Mankind is Man, Snookums to study the people on the ship.
Within three days the officers had a method of Snookums-evasion.
Lieutenant Commander Jakob Liegnitz sat in the officers’ of the Brainchild and a of cards with expert fingers.
He was a medium-sized man, five-eleven or so, with a chest, shoulders, a narrow waist, and hips. His light was long, and its to to his skull. His had a half-squint that him look either or angry, on what the of his was doing.
He himself out a of Four Cards Up and had gone through about the pack when Mike the Angel came in with Lieutenant Keku.
“Hello, Jake,” said Keku. “What’s to do?”
“Get out two more decks,” said Mike the Angel, “and we can all play solitaire.”
Von Liegnitz looked up sleepily. “I think of things, Mike, but not just immediately. How about bridge?”
“We’ll need a fourth,” said Keku. “How about Pete?”
Mike the Angel his head. “Black Bart is sleeping—taking his nap. So Pete has the duty. How about Vaneski? He’s not a partner.”
“He is out, too,” said Liegnitz. “He also is on duty.”
Mike the Angel an eyebrow. “Something busted? Why should the Maintenance Officer be on right now?”
“He is maintaining,” said Liegnitz with dignity, “peace and order around here. He is now the of Answerman-in-Chief. He’s very good at it.”
Mike grinned. “Snookums?”
Von Liegnitz the cards off the table and them. “Exactly. As long as Snookums his questions answered, he himself busy. Our has been to the of that Peeping Tom out of our for an hour. By then, it will be time.” He his throat. “We still need a fourth.”
“If you ask me,” said Lieutenant Keku, “we need a fifth. Let’s play instead.”
Jakob Liegnitz and offered the cards for a cut.
“Deal ’em,” said Mike the Angel.
A minutes less than an hour later, Ensign Vaneski open the door to the and was by a of hellos.
“Sirs,” said Vaneski with formality, “I have done my duty, as it was. I satisfaction.”
Lieutenant Keku, upon Mike the Angel a second eight, over his up cards and folded.
“Satisfaction?” he asked the ensign.
Vaneski nodded. “One hand of for five clams. I have been playing for that of for an hour. That’s above and the call of duty.”
“Raise a half,” said Mike the Angel.
“Call,” said Liegnitz.
“Three eights,” said Mike, his card.
Von Liegnitz shrugged, his cards, and while Mike in the pot.
“Vaneski wants to play for a fiver,” said Keku.
Mike the Angel at the for a moment, then and nodded. “Not my game,” he said, “but if the Answerman wants a to catch up, it’s with me.”
The four men each a five spot into the center of the table and then cut for deal. Mike got it and started dealing—five cards, up, for the pot.
When three cards had been dealt, Vaneski was ahead with a king high. On the fourth he when he got a second king and Mike himself an ace.
On the Vaneski got a three, and his as Mike himself a second ace.
Mike for the twenty.
“You a hand, Commander,” said Vaneski evenly.
Mike at him sharply, but there was only a on the ensign’s face.
“Luck of the idiot,” said Mike as he the twenty. “It’s time for lunch.”
“Next time,” said Keku firmly, “I’ll take the Answerman watch, Mike. You and this are too lucky for me.”
“If I any more to the Angel,” Liegnitz said calmly, “I will be a very kraut. But right now, I’m hungry.”
Mike around the Power Section that with a worry at the of his mind. He couldn’t put his on what was him, and he put it to just plain nerves.
And then he to something—physically.
Within thirty after it began, long most of the others had noticed it, Mike the Angel it for what it was. Half a minute after that, it.
A two-cycle-per-second note is to the ear. If the can’t any than that, the nerves to the message. The has to be three or four above that the nerves will have anything to do with it. But if the note has energy in it, a man doesn’t have to it—he can it.
The weren’t all out of the Brainchild, by any means, and the men it. She had taken a of a on the take-off, and something was about to weaken.
It was the around the that had to off this time. It a nice, two-cycle that to shake the ship apart. It up and then off, the that his and his would soon part company.
The was used to it. They’d been on before, and they that on an the word “shakedown” can have a very meaning. The note wasn’t dangerous, but it wasn’t pleasant, either.
Within five minutes had the and the jitters.
Mike and his power all what to do. They took their and started to work. They had started when Captain Quill’s voice came over the intercom.
“Power Section, this is the bridge. How long we stop this note?”
“No way of telling, sir,” said Mike, without taking his off the bank. “Check A-77,” he in an to Multhaus.
“Can you give me a prognosis?” Quill.
Mike frowned. This wasn’t like Black Bart. He what the was as well as Mike did. “Actually, sir, there’s no way of knowing. The old Gainsway like this for eight days they the that were a four-cycle beat.”
“Why can’t we spot it right off?” Quill asked.
Mike got it then. Fitzhugh was in. Quill wanted Mike the Angel to his own to the roboticist.
“There are sixteen in the hull—two at each end of the four of an the ship. At least two of them are out of phase; that means that every one of them may have to be against every other one, and that would make a hundred and twenty checks. It will take ten minutes if we it lucky and the in the two tries, and about twenty hours if we on the last try.
“That, of course, is that there are only two out. If there are three....” He let it hang.
Mike as Dr. Morris Fitzhugh’s voice came over the intercom, his of the situation.
“Isn’t there any other way?” asked Fitzhugh worriedly. “Can’t we stop the ship and check them, so that we won’t be to this?”
“’Fraid not,” answered Mike. “In the place, the would be dangerous, if not deadly. The wouldn’t be good for us, with the operating. In the second place, we couldn’t check the if they weren’t operating. You can’t tell a just by looking at it. They’d still have to be against each other, and that would take the same amount of time as it is going to take anyway, and with the same on the ship. I’m sorry, but we’ll just have to put up with it.”
“Well, for Heaven’s do the best you can,” Fitzhugh said in a voice. “This is Snookums’ brain. God what it may do unless it’s stopped a very minutes!”
“I’ll do the best I can,” said Mike the Angel carefully. “So will every man in my crew. But about all anyone can do is wish us luck and let us work.”
“Yes,” said Dr. Fitzhugh slowly. “Yes. I understand. Thank you, Commander.”
Mike the Angel and to work.
Things weren’t as they were. They had to worse. The Brainchild had been too fast, and in too a manner. The two-cycle did more than it would have done a non-experimental ship.
Twelve minutes after the started, a in the pre-induction energy a positive-feedback that to out the whole pre-induction stage unless it was damped. The search for the out-of-phase had to be while the more was tackled.
Multhaus in an and to by hand while the others for the trouble.
Hand of feeder-valve is pure intuition; if you wait until the that is necessary, it may be too late—you have to second-guess the machine and out what’s it and then. You not only have to judge time, but magnitude; is ruinous, too.
Multhaus, the Chief Powerman’s Mate, sat the board, a in each hand and on an screen. His red, was and with tension, and his skin with perspiration. He didn’t say a word, and his moved as he a green line on that screen.
Mike the Angel, using language in a steady, stream, to the that the of the tendency, while other and jacks, switches, and tools.
In the of all this, in rolled Snookums.
Whether Snookums that his own was in is problematical. Like the brain, his own had no pain or it; in addition, his knowledge of was small—he didn’t know that his brain was in Cargo Hold One. He it was in his head, if he about it at all.
Nonetheless, he something was wrong, and as soon as his “curiosity” were activated, he set out in search of the trouble, his little at high speed.
Leda Crannon saw him a and called after him. “Where are you going, Snookums?”
“Looking for data,” answered Snookums, a little.
“Wait! I’ll come with you!”
Leda Crannon perfectly well what the might have on Snookums’ brain, and when something cracked, she wanted to see what it might have on the of the little robot. Like a after a fox, she him through the of the ship.
Up and down, in and out of storerooms, staterooms, rooms, and Snookums scurried, to the that sometimes at his appearance. At spots, Snookums would stop, put his metal arms on and walls, pause, and then go off in another direction with Leda Crannon only him, trying to to as best she could.
If Snookums had been of emotion—and Leda Crannon was not as sure as the that he wasn’t—she would have that he was having the time of his life.
Seventeen minutes after the had begun, Snookums rolled into Power Section and came to a halt. Something else was wrong.
At he just stopped by the door and in data. Mike’s muttering; the clipped, of the power crew; the of the tools; the of the ship itself; the of the engine vibrations—all these were into his ears. The itself was to his brain and recorded. The in the of the ship the whole thing over. Snookums acted.
Leda Crannon, who had ground in trying to keep up with Snookums’ treads, came to the door of Power Section too late to stop the robot’s entrance. She didn’t call out, she that to do so would the men’s work. All she do was against the and try to catch her breath.
Snookums rolled over to the where Multhaus was and over his for thirty seconds. The him, but they were much too to do anything. Besides, they were used to his presence by this time.
Then, in one quick of the room, Snookums at every in the place. Not just at the regular meters, but also at the in the that the power had jack-plugged in.
Mike the Angel looked around as he the soft of the treads. His took in Snookums and Leda Crannon, who was still at the door. He Leda for the space of three breaths, his away, looked at what Snookums was doing, then said: “Get him out of here!” in a stage to Leda.
Snookums was looking over the on the for the previous minutes. He had them up from the where one of the was and them them back.
Before Leda say anything, Snookums rolled over to Mike the Angel and said: “Check the lead the 391-JF and the big DK-37. I think you’ll that the is in phase with the two-cycle note, and it’s and stretched. It’s about a off—plus or a tenth. The is the DK-37 about four off, and the gate is it all through. That’s the to overcompensate, and....”
Mike didn’t to any more. He didn’t know Snookums what he was talking about or not, but he did know that the thing the had mentioned would have had just such an effect.
Mike across the room and up the the Snookums had mentioned. The lead was definitely askew.
Mike the Angel orders, and the power on the of the trouble.
Snookums right on his of the data, but him while they worked. Being didn’t Snookums in the least.
“... and that, in turn, is making the oscillate,” he up, nearly five minutes later.
Mike was that Snookums had the trouble and then had gone on to why the was the result. He just as easily have started with the and the about the lead at the end of his speech, that he had been to do it the other way around. Snookums the in his mind and then it off backward, as it were, going from to premises.
Otherwise, he might have been too late.
The repair didn’t take long, once Snookums had just what needed repairing. When the job was over, Mike the Angel his hands on a and up.
“Thanks, Snookums,” he said honestly. “You’ve been a great help.”
Snookums said: “I am smiling. Because I am pleased.”
There was no way for him to with a face, but Mike got the idea.
Mike to the Chief Powerman’s Mate. “Okay, Multhaus, it off. She’s now.”
Multhaus just sat there, by a of concentration, his hands still on the verniers, his still on the screen. He didn’t move.
Mike off the switch. “Come on, Multhaus, to. We’ve still got that note to worry about.”
Multhaus as the green line from his sight. He his hands off the verniers, and then sheepishly. He had been there waiting for that green line to move a full minute after the had ceased.
“Happy hypnosis,” said Mike. “Let’s to out which of those in the is the the willies.”
Snookums, who had been carefully, rolled up and said, “Generator three, four, and thirteen. Three is out of phase by—”
“You can tell us later, Snookums,” Mike rapidly. “Right now, we’ll to work on those tubes. You were right once; I you’re right again.”
Again the power into action.
Within five minutes Mike and Multhaus were making the proper on the to for the of the output.
The wavered. It around, going up to two-point-seven and to one-point-four, then again. All the time, it was in magnitude, until it no longer be felt. Finally, it to a low of point-oh-five cycles, there for a moment, then altogether.
“By the of my aunt,” said Chief Multhaus in awe. “A three-tube solved in less than an hour! If that isn’t a record, I’ll my black and join the Chaplains’ Corps.”
Leda Crannon, looking but somehow pleased, said softly: “May I come in?”
Mike the Angel grinned. “Sure. Maybe you can—”
The on. “Power Section, this is the bridge.” It was Black Bart. “Are my playing me false, or have you stopped that note?”
“All secure, sir,” said Mike the Angel. “The is now.”
“How many were goofing?”
“Three of them.”
“Three!” There was in the captain’s voice. “How did you solve a three-tube in that a time?”
Mike the Angel up at the in the wall.
“Nothing to it, sir,” he said. “A child have done it.”
