Duncan could not help smiling at this further example of the CYCLOPS management's almost fanatical
precautions against interference. He had even been asked to surrender his watch, lest its feeble electronic pulses be mistaken for signals from an alien civilization a few hundred light-years away. His guide was actually wearing a spring-driven timepiece — the first that Duncan had ever seen.
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Duncan tilted his head toward the metal tower looming above
him and shouted "Karl!" A fraction of a second later, the K echoed back from the next antenna, then reverberated feebly from the ones beyond. After that, the silence seemed more profound than before.
Duncan did not feel like disturbing it again.
Nor was there any need. Fifty meters above, a figure had moved to the railing around the platform;
and it brought with it the familiar glint of gold.
"Who's there?"
Who do you think? Duncan asked himself. Of course, it was hard to recognize a person from
vertically overhead, and voices were distorted in this inhumanly scaled place.
"It's Duncan."
There was a pause that seemed to last for the better part of a minute, but could only have been a few
seconds in actuality. Karl was obviously surprised, though by this time he must surely have guessed that Duncan knew of his presence on Earth. The he answered: "I'm in the middle of a job. Come up, if you want to."
That was hardly a welcome, but the voice did not seem hostile. The only emotion that Duncan could
identify at this distance was a kind of tired resignation; and perhaps he was imagining even this.
Karl had vanished again, doubtless to continue whatever task he had come here to perform. Duncan
looked very thoughtfully at the spiral stairway winding up the cylindrical trunk of the antenna tower.
Fifty meters was a trifling distance — but not in terms of Earth's gravity. It was the equivalent of two hundred and fifty on Titan; he had never had to climb a quarter of a kilometer on his own world.
Karl, of course, would have had little difficulty, since he had spent his early years on Earth, and his muscles would have recovered much of their original strength. Duncan wondered if this was a deliberate challenge. That would be typical of Karl, and if so he had no choice in the matter.
As he stepped onto he first of the perforated metal stairs, his CYCLOPS guide remarked hopefully:
"There's not much room up there on the platform. Unless you want me, I'll stay here."
Duncan could recognize a lazy man when he met one, but he was glad to accept the excuse. He did
not wish any strangers to be present when he came face to face with Karl. The confrontation was one that he would have avoided if it had been at all possible, but this was not a job that could be delegated to anyone else — even if those instructions from Colin and Malcolm had allowed it.
The climb was easy enough, thought the safety rail was not as substantial as Duncan would have
wished. Moreover, section had been badly rusted, and now that he was close enough to touch the metal
he could see that the mounting was in even worse condition that he had been led to expect. Unless
emergency repairs were carried out very soon, CYCLOPS would never see the dawn of the twenty-fourth
century.
When Duncan had completed his first circuit, the guide called up to him: "I forgot to tell you — we're selecting a new target in about five minutes. You'll find it rather dramatic."
Duncan stared up at the huge bowl now completely blocking the sky above him. The thought of all
those tons of metal swinging around just overhead was quite disturbing, and he was glad that he had been warned in time.
The other saw his action and interpreted it correctly.
"It won't bother you. This antenna's been frozen for at least ten years. The drive's seized up, and not worth repairing."
So that confirmed a suspicion of Duncan's, which he had dismissed as an optical illusion. The great
parabola above him was indeed at a slight angle to the others; it was no longer an active part of the
CYCLOPS array, but was now pointing blindly at the sky. The loss of one — or even a dozen — elements
would cause only a slight degradation of the system, but it was typical of the general air of neglect.
One more circuit, and he would be at the platform. Duncan paused for breath. He had been climbing
very slowly, but already his legs were beginning to ache with the wholly unaccustomed effort. There had been no further sound from Karl. What was he doing, in this fantastic place of old triumphs and lost
dreams?
And how would he react to this unexpected, and doubtless unwelcome, confrontation, when they were
face to face? A little belatedly, it occurred to Duncan that a small platform fifty meters above the ground, and in this frightful gravity, was not the best place to have an argument. He smiled at the mental image this conjured up; whatever their disagreement, violence was unthinkable.
Well, not quite unthinkable. He had just thought of it...