TO HANK MERRY and the others it seemed he had been gone only a few seconds, but he reappeared some twenty feet across the torn-up laboratory floor from where he had crossed through. He stood shivering, literally blue with cold, gasping for air and looking so ill and exhausted that Gail stifled a cry and Hank leaped across to catch his arm before he fell. “Robert! What happened? What did they do to you?”
The boy shook his head numbly as Hank eased him to the floor and loosened his jacket. Robert looked at Gail. “Mom, call Dad right now. Tell him it’s going to be all right.”
“Easy, fella,” Hank said softly. “Just get your breath and rest a minute.”
“I told them,” Robert muttered weakly. “I told them everything.”
Hank looked at McEvoy angrily. “Don’t stand there, man! Get some coffee or something.” He turned back to Robert. “How did you tell them?”
“I don’t know how to explain it. I had to open up for them — my whole mind: just tear it open for them. They got the pattern, the force of my thoughts. They understood.” He gulped eagerly at the steaming coffee, took a shaking breath. “Lord, yes. They read me, all right.”
McEvoy’s eyes glittered. “And the transmatter?”
Robert shook his head. “Nothing about the transmatter. I don’t think we ever got that far.”
McEvoy cursed. “You sound as if you don’t care.”
“I don’t.” Robert faced McEvoy defiantly. “I don’t care in the least. The transmatter doesn’t count, anyway. We don’t need it, not in the least.” He lifted his clenched fist and let a handful of rusty-colored sand sift to the floor under McEvoy’s nose. “There’s your iron ore, Dr. McEvoy. Your first consignment. I’ve been on Mars.”
McEvoy’s jaw sagged for a moment as he stared at the sand. He clutched the boy’s hand, peering at the dust still sticking to his palm. Then he flushed with anger and he slapped the boy hard in the face with a heavy hand, jerking his head around. “You’ve got your nerve,” he grated. “Making your jokes, making a fool out of me.”
“McEvoy, I said I’ve been on Mars. Can’t you understand what I said?”
The old man stopped, shook his head helplessly, wrinkled his forehead. “I don’t get it,” he said weakly. “Why do you keep joking?”
“I’m not joking. I meant what I said. You can forget about your transmatter. You don’t need it, now. All the iron on Mars is yours for the asking. All the uranium on the Moon, all the oil on Venus.” The room was silent and Robert held out his hands, almost tearful in his intensity. “I’m not lying, McEvoy. I showed them why we had to have that machine, I showed them why we needed help. They couldn’t understand, before. All they knew was that we were tearing them to shreds, and they had to stop us. But I showed them everything in my mind, I made them understand. And we can forget about the transmatter, we can forget about lifting ore from Mars by cargo ship and trying to land it on Earth. There’s a universe between us, McEvoy, but the people in that universe are good, they’ll help us and work with us, now that they understand.”
McEvoy blinked, fighting to comprehend as Robert’s voice went on. “They had to make us stop working with that gadget. They literally couldn’t tolerate it. And until they understood why we needed it, all they could do was fight back. But now they know. They know we can build another one if we have to but they showed me that we don’t have to. They’re bargaining, now. They’re offering us free passage through! Guided passage that won’t harm them, easy passage to any place in this universe of ours we want to go. Mars, the Moon, Venus … McEvoy, they’re offering us the stars if we want them!”
McEvoy stared at Robert Benedict, his face working as he tried to comprehend something that he couldn’t believe. He leaned down, picked up a pinch of rusty sand between his fingers, and blinked at it. Incredibly, tears were streaming down his cheeks and he was snatching up the telephone speaker, his fingers fumbling for the dial. They heard his voice as if from a very great distance saying, “Operator, this is McEvoy. Crash priority. I’ve got to talk to the Joint Conference Chairman, and make it fast!”