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boyishly. "Damn funny thing about me popping over all these years. It worried me a lot at first. I was
afraid I'd go to sleep and wake up somebody else. You know that Hindu pal of Gordon's. You
remember he came to see me. He seems to think that Gordon and I are the same hombre using different
memory tracks. I didn't understand it and don't see how he can prove it, but he claims that if Gordon
comes back at all I'll simply have two memories. He talked a lot about serial observers and serial time
sense. I didn't get it, but he did manage to reassure me." Olga patted his hand. "That's good. I'm glad."
"The best part about it is that I can go ahead and be a citizen of this world now and not feel like a freak.
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Say, are you hungry?"
"Not very, but I can usually eat." She patted her soft expanse of tummy.
"I kinda skipped breakfast. Let's drop down somewhere and eat outdoors."
"Okay. Where are we?" They bent over the map screen and Olga glanced out. She placed her finger on
the map. "How about it?"
"Twenty minutes more or less. It's an inspiration."
"I'll get lunch ready while you whip up the horses." Half an hour later they were sitting at the south rim of
the Grand Canyon, eating silently while they drank in the ageless wonder of the place. Perry broke the
silence. "You know I've seen this many times before, twice since my arrival in this period and several
times in my early life. It makes me feel as if the thing that happened to me in time is just a casual incident
of no more import than the ten seconds of unconsciousness of a lightly knocked out boxer. Time has
moved on here in the past hundred and fifty years, but the change is not perceptible."
Olga nodded but did not answer. She stared out and down. Presently she arose and brushed the crumbs
from her coverall. "Let's get going. I have to take this place in small doses." She stepped into the car and
loosened the zipper at her throat. Perry followed her, and sealed the door. Once off the ground, coveralls
stowed, and cigarettes lighted, Perry inquired, "Whereto?"
"I don't care."
"Aren't we close to the Moon Rocket Experiment Grounds?"
"Yes, it's just east of Flagstaff. Want to see it?"
"Very much."
He leveled off, set his course and clamped the robot. Olga lay back and dozed in the warm contentment
of digestion. Perry sat and watched her and mused to himself. This was a very pleasant trip, as much fun
as it would have been if Diana were along instead of Olga. Or almost. Olga was a great kid, and a lot of
fun to have around. He certainly was fond of her. Not what Master Hedrick suggested of course, he
wasn't forming any attachment. He was in love with Diana and was loyal to her, whether such loyalty was
customary or not. Could he have fallen in love with Olga if he had met her first? Possibly. She wasn't as
beautiful as Diana, nor as young (Perry smiled at this. Time was too scrambled for age to matter.), but
she was certainly as seductive in her own way. She didn't dress her hair nor use cosmetics with the
consummate artistry of Dian', but she was always meticulously shaven and fastidious about her person to
a degree unusual even in 2086. About her character and personality there could be no question; she was
tops. Yes, he decided, he could have fallen deeply in love with her if he hadn't met Diana first. Too bad
he couldn't have known her when he was a bachelor. Was he attractive to her? She liked him, he was
sure, but Olga seemed to like a lot of people. Did he as a man arouse any response in her as a woman?
He would give a lot to know. He wondered what she would do if he were to make a pass at her.
His reverie was broken by the insistent ringing of the alarm gong. The robot checked flight and hovered.
He glanced out and saw a series of bright red pylons marching over the rolling plateau. Miles beyond was
a group of buildings. Just below was a small landing flat and hangars. The field lights flashed the landing
signal and they obeyed. They were received by a wizened weather-beaten desert rat, who showed them
where to park their car and indicated with a jerk of his thumb the stairway to the trans-tube. They
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descended and strapped themselves in the cylinder. Olga touched a button on the remote control panel,
relays clicked, and they found themselves almost at once at the field station. They emerged from the
stairwell into a large room equipped with a few chairs, a televue control station and some benches. It was
almost deserted. A young man was talking to a girl dressed in an asbestos coverall. The hood and visor
were pushed back, disclosing a tight mass of copper ringlets. She laughed at something he said and
answered in a low tone. An elderly man with a preoccupied look entered from a corridor on the right and
shuffled quickly into a side room. No one else was in sight. Olga and Perry stood uncertainly for a
moment, then Perry advanced, touched the young man on the arm, and spoke.
"Excuse me."
The young man started, and turned around. "Oh, sorry. I didn't see you. May I do you a service?"
"Service," answered Perry. "We'd like to look around, if it's permitted."
"Certainly. Glad to have you. You'll need a guide though. Joe!"
A blond head appeared from behind the back of a couch, a strapping form followed it. "Yeah?"
"A couple of visitors 'ud like to take a gander around the plant. I've got to handle the controls for Vivian
on this test run. Can you do it?"
"I guess so." The youth chucked a magazine into a chair and joined them, long arm and hand
outstretched.
Perry thanked him. "Sure this won't put you out?"
"Not at all. Glad to have a little excitement. It's pretty dull around here. Come along. What would you
like to see first? The rockets? Most everybody does." He led them into a huge gloomy shed. Dominating
the interior was a great sleek metal behemoth that towered over their heads. Perry whistled.
"You've gone further than I thought."
Joe followed his glance. "That? You expect too much. That's just an obsolete strato-rocket. Her top
speed won't take her over the heaviside layer. We've got her outfitted to simulate space conditions as far
as we can. We've got a crew locked up in there now to see if they can take it without going off their
heads. They've been in there six weeks now. Every now and then we give 'em a little surprise like
bleeding out half their air pressure." He grinned. "There's another little surprise that they don't expect.
One of 'em's under secret orders to go crazy and start trouble."
"Can't they get out?"
"Oh yes, if the skipper loses his nerve. Otherwise not."
Olga clenched her fists. "Why must you do that? It isn't human."
Joe fixed her with a sardonic eye. "Sister, if they can't stand that, what chance have they got in space?"
"Why go out in space? Isn't the earth big enough?"
Joe turned his attention back to Perry. "You can't make a man permanently contented in a nice, pretty,
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