Duncan thought it wise to let this pass, and luckily on the second attempt the ambassador got through. He muttered a few inaudible questions, waited for a minute, then looked at Duncan and shook his head.
“No trace of him-not even a Terran forwarding address for any messages from home. Most odd.”
“Wouldn’t you say-unprecedented?”
“Um-yes. I’ve never heard of anyone failing to contact the Embassy as soon as they reach Earth. Usually, of course, we know that they’re coming, weeks in advance. There’s no law compelling them to get in touch-but it’s a matter of courtesy. Not to mention convenience.”
“That’s what I thought. Well, if you hear anything of him, would you let me know?”
The ambassador stared back at him in silence for a moment, with the most enigmatic of smiles on his face. Then he said: “What do Malcolm and Colin think he’s doing? Plotting a coup dYtat with smuggled guns?”
After a moment’s shock, Duncan laughed at the joke.
“Not even Karl is that crazy. Frankly, I’m completely baffled by the whole thing-but I’m determined to locate him. Though there may be half
a billion people on Earth, he’s not exactly inconspicuous. Please keep in touch. Goodbye for the present.”
Two down, thought Duncan, and one to go. It was back to Ivor Mandel’stahm, in his self-appointed, and by no means unsuccessful, role of private eye.
But Ivor’s Comsole answered: “Please do not disturb. Kindly record any message.”
Duncan was annoyed; he was bursting to pass on his news, but was certainly not going to leave it stored in a Comsole. He would have to wait until
Mandel’stahm called back.
That took two hours, and meanwhile it was not easy to concentrate on other work. When the dealer finally returned the call, he apologized profusely.
“I was trying a long shot,” he explained. “I wondered if he’d bought anything in New York on a credit card. There aren’t all that number of aitches, and the Central Billing computer zipped through them in an hour. . Alas-he must be using cash. Not a federal crime, of course. But a nuisance to us honest investigators.”
Duncan laughed.
“It was a good idea. I’ve done slightly better-at least I’ve eliminated some possibilities.”
He gave Mandel’stalun a brief resume of his discussions with Calindy and
Ambassador Farrell, then added: “Where do we go from here?”
“I’m not sure. But don’t worry-I’ll think of something.”
Duncan believed him. He now had an almost unreasoning confidence in the dealer’s ingenuity, not to mention his influence and his knowledge of the ways of Earth. If anyone could locate Karl-short of going to the police, or inserting a personal appeal in the World Times-it would be Mandel’stalun.
In fact, it took him only thirty-six hours.
THE EYE OF ALLAH
I I I’ve found him,” said Mandel’stahm. He looked tired but victorious.
“I knew you would,” Duncan replied with unfeigned admiration. “Where is he?”
“Don’t be so impatient-let me have my reasonably innocent fun. I’ve earned it.”
“Well, whose concierge did you bamboozle this time?”
Mandel’stahm looked slightly pained.
“Nobody’s. I first tried to find all I could about your friend Helmer, by the brilliant device of looking him up in the Interplanetary Who’s Who. I assumed he’d be there, and he was-a hundred-line print-out. I looked you up at the same time, by the, way…. You rate one hundred fifty lines, if that’s any satisfaction.”
“I know,” said Duncan, with what patience he could muster. “Go on.”
“I wondered if it would list any Terran contacts or interests, and again I was in luck. He belongs to the Institution of Electronic Engineers, the
Royal Astronomical Society, the Institute of Physics, and the Institute of
Astronautics-as well as several Titanian professional organizations, of course. And I see he’s written half a dozen scientific papers, and been joint author in others: the Ionosphere of Saturn, origins of ultra-long-wave electromagnetic radiation, and other thrilling esoterica nothing of any use to us, though.
“The Royal astronomers are in London, of course -but the engineers and astronauts and physicists are all in New York, and I wondered if he’d contacted them. So I called on another of my useful friends-a
scientist this time, and a most distinguished one, who 236 could open any doors without questions being asked. I hoped that a visiting
Titanian colleague was a rare enough phenomenon to attract attention… and indeed he was.”
Mandel’stahm gave another of his pregnant pauses, so that Duncan could simmer for a while, then went on This is what puzzles me. Apart from ignoring the Embassy, and telling
Miss Ellerman to keep quiet, he’s done absolutely nothing to cover his tracks. I don’t think that anyone with much to hide would behave in that way…. “It was really very simple. The Electronics people were happy to help. They told us he’d left North Atlan and could be contacted care of the Assistant
