The little robot just stood there for a second or two, unmoving, his waldo hands clasped firmly in front of his chest. Mike suddenly wished to Heaven that the metallic face could show something that Mike could read.

"I came for data," said Snook.u.ms at last, in the contralto voice that so resembled the voice of the woman who had trained him.

Mike started to say, "At this time of night?" Then he glanced at his wrist. It was after seven-thirty in the morning, Greenwich time--which was also ship time.

"What is it you want?" Mike asked.

"Can you dance?" asked Snook.u.ms.

"Yes," said Mike dazedly, "I can dance." For a moment he had the wild idea that Snook.u.ms was going to ask him to do a few turns about the floor.

"Thank you," said Snook.u.ms. His treads whirred, he turned as though on a pivot, whizzed to the door, opened it, and was gone.

Mike the Angel stared at the door as though trying to see beyond it, into the depths of the robot"s brain itself.

"Now just what was _that_ all about?" he asked aloud.

In the padded silence of the stateroom, there wasn"t even an echo to answer him.

14

Mike the Angel spent the next three days in a pale blue funk which he struggled valiantly against, at least to prevent it from becoming a deep blue.

There was something wrong aboard the _Brainchild_, and Mike simply couldn"t quite figure what it was. He found that he wasn"t the only one who had been asked peculiar questions by Snook.u.ms. The little robot seemed to have developed a sudden penchant for asking seemingly inane questions.

Lieutenant Keku reported with a grin that Snook.u.ms had asked him if he knew who Commander Gabriel _really_ was.

"What"d you say?" Mike had asked.

Keku had spread his hands and said: "I gave him the usual formula about not being positive of my data, then I told him that you were known as Mike the Angel and were well known in the power field."

Multhaus reported that Snook.u.ms had wanted to know what their destination was. The chief"s only possible answer, of course, had been: "I don"t have that data, Snook.u.ms."

Dr. Morris Fitzhugh had become more worried-looking than usual and had confided to Mike that he, too, wondered why Snook.u.ms was asking such peculiar questions.

"All he"ll tell me," the roboticist had reported, wrinkling up his face, "was that he was collecting data. But he flatly refused, even when ordered, to tell me what he needed the data for."

Mike stayed away from Leda Crannon as much as possible; shipboard was no place to try to conduct a romance. Not that he deliberately avoided her in such a manner as to give offense, but he tried to appear busy at all times.

She was busy, too. Keeping herd on Snook.u.ms was becoming something of a problem. She had never attempted to watch him all the time. In the first place, it was physically impossible; in the second place, she didn"t think Snook.u.ms would develop properly if he were to be kept under constant supervision. But now, for the first time, she didn"t have the foggiest notion of what was going on inside the robot"s mind, and she couldn"t find out. It puzzled and worried her, and between herself and Dr. Fitzhugh there were several long conferences on Snook.u.ms" peculiar behavior.

Mike the Angel found himself waiting for something to happen. He hadn"t the slightest notion what it was that he was waiting for, but he was as certain of its coming as he was of the fact that the Earth was an oblate spheroid.

But he certainly didn"t expect it to begin the way it did.

A quiet evening bridge game is hardly the place for a riot to start.

Pete Jeffers was pounding the pillow in his stateroom; Captain Quill was on the bridge, checking through the log.

In the officers" wardroom Mike the Angel was looking down at two hands of cards, wondering whether he"d make his contract. His own hand held the ace, nine, seven of spades; the ten, six, two of hearts; the jack, ten, nine, four, three, and deuce of diamonds; and the eight of clubs.

Vaneski, his partner, had bid a club. Keku had answered with a take-out double. Mike had looked at his hand, figured that since he and Vaneski were vulnerable, while Keku and von Liegnitz were not, he bid a weakness pre-empt of three diamonds. Von Liegnitz pa.s.sed, and Vaneski had answered back with five diamonds. Keku and Mike had both pa.s.sed, and von Liegnitz had doubled.

Now Mike was looking at Vaneski"s dummy hand. No spades; the ace, queen, five, and four of hearts; the queen, eight, seven, and six of diamonds; and the ace, king, seven, four, and three of clubs.

And von Liegnitz had led the three of hearts.

It didn"t look good. His opponents had the ace and king of trumps, and with von Liegnitz" heart lead, it looked as though he might have to try a finesse on the king of hearts. Still, there _might_ be another way out.

Mike threw in the ace from dummy. Keku tossed in his seven, and Mike threw in his own deuce. He took the next trick with the ace of clubs from dummy, and the singleton eight in his own hand. The one after that came from dummy, too; it was the king of clubs, and Mike threw in the heart six from his own hand. From dummy, he led the three of clubs. Keku went over it with a jack, but Mike took it with his deuce of diamonds.

He led the seven of spades to get back in dummy so he could use up those clubs. Dummy took the trick with the six of diamonds, and led out with the four of clubs.

Mike figured that Keku must--absolutely _must_--have the king of hearts.

Both his take-out double and von Liegnitz" heart lead pointed toward the king in his hand. Now if....

Vaneski had moved around behind Mike to watch the play. Not one of them noticed Lieutenant Lew Mellon, the Medical Officer, come into the room.

That is, they knew he had come in, but they had ignored him thereafter.

He was such a colorless nonent.i.ty that he simply seemed to fade into the background of the walls once he had made his entrance.

Mike had taken seven tricks, and, as he had expected, lost the eighth to von Liegnitz" five of diamonds. When the German led the nine of hearts, Mike knew he had the game. He put in the queen from dummy, Keku tossed in his king triumphantly, and Mike topped it with his lowly four of diamonds.

If, as he suspected, his opponents" ace and king of diamonds were split, he would get them both by losing the next trick and then make a clean sweep of the board.

He threw in his nine of diamonds.

He just happened to glance at von Liegnitz as the navigator dropped his king.

Then he lashed out with one foot, kicking at the leg of von Liegnitz"

chair. At the same time, he yelled, "Jake! Duck!"

He was almost too late. Mellon, his face contorted with a mixture of anger and hatred, was standing just behind Jakob von Liegnitz. In one hand was a heavy spanner, which he was bringing down with deadly force on the navigator"s skull.

Von Liegnitz" chair started to topple, and von Liegnitz himself spun away from the blow. The spanner caught him on the shoulder, and he grunted in pain, but he kept on moving away from Mellon.

The medic screamed something and lifted the spanner again.

By this time, Keku, too, was on his feet, moving toward Mellon. Mike the Angel got behind Mellon, trying to grab at the heavy metal tool in Mellon"s hand.

Mellon seemed to sense him, for he jumped sideways, out of Mike"s way, and kicked backward at the same time, catching Mike on the shin with his heel.

Von Liegnitz had made it to his feet by this time and was blocking the downward swing of Mellon"s arm with his own forearm. His other fist pistoned out toward Mellon"s face. It connected, sending Mellon staggering backward into Mike the Angel"s arms.

Von Liegnitz grabbed the spanner out of Mellon"s hand and swung it toward the medic"s jaw. It was only inches away when Keku"s hand grasped the navigator"s wrist.