Fifty Per Cent Prophet Page 5

me, we've already completely balled up."

  "You think it's that bad?"

  She looked at him pleadingly. "Can you think of any otherexplanation?"

  "Not just yet," Brian Taggert admitted.

  "Nor can I. There it is. Every single one of his valid predictions,every single one of his precognitive intuitions--_withoutexception_--has been based on the actions of human beings. He canpredict stock market fluctuations, and family squabbles, and SouthAmerican election results. His disaster predictions, every one ofthem, were due to _human_ error, _human_ failure--not Acts of God. Hefailed to predict the earthquake in Los Angeles; he missed the floodin the Yangtze Valley; he knew nothing of the eruption of Stromboli.All of these were disasters that took human lives in the past threeweeks, and he missed every one of them. And yet, he managed to getnearly every major ship, airplane, and even automobile accidentconnected with his subjects.

  "Seven of his subjects had relatives or friends who were hurt orkilled in the earthquake-flood-eruption sequence, but he didn't seethem. Yet he could pick up such small things as a nephew of one of themen getting a bad scald on his arm.

  "In the face of that, how can we rely on his one prediction about ameteor striking Moonbase One?"

  Taggert rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. "I don't know," he saidslowly. "There must be a connection somehow."

  "Oh, Brian, Brian!" Her eyes were glistening with as yet unshed tears."I've never seen you go off on a wild tangent like this before! On theword of an old fraud like Forsythe, a man who lies about half thetime, you talk the Administration into sinking hundreds of millions ofdollars into the biggest space lift in history!

  "Oh, sure; I know. The old fraud is convinced he was telling thetruth. But were you tapping his mind when the prediction flash came?No! Was anyone? No! And he's perfectly capable of lying to himself,and you know it!

  "And what will happen if it doesn't come off? We're past the firstdeadline already. If that meteor doesn't hit within the nexttwenty-eight days, the Society will be right back where it was tenyears ago! Or worse!

  "And all because you trusted the word of Mr. Phony-Doctor Forsythe!"

  "Donna," Taggert said softly, "do you really think I'm that big afool?" He handed her a handkerchief.

  "N-no," she answered, wiping at her eyes. "Of c-course I don't. It'sjust that it makes me so d-darn _mad_ to see everything go wrong likethis."

  "Nothing's gone wrong yet. I suggest you go take a good look atForsythe's mind again and really try to understand the old boy. Maybeyou'll get more of the fine-grain structure of it if you'll try formore understanding."

  "What do you mean?" she asked, sniffing.

  "Look. Forsythe has made his living being a fraud, right? And yet hesent out those warning _free_--and anonymously. He had no thought ofany reward or recompense, you know that. Why? Because he is basicallya kind, decent human being. He wanted to do all he could to stop anyinjury or loss of life.

  "Why, then, would he send out a fraudulent warning? He wouldn't. Hedidn't. Every one of those warnings--_including the last one_--wassent out because he _knew_ that something was going to happen.

  "Evidently, once he gets a flash about a certain event, he can't getany more data on that particular area of the future, or we could getmore data on the Moonbase accident. I think, if we can boost his basicunderstanding up past the critical point, we'll have a man withcontrolled prescience, and we need that man.

  "But, Donna, the only way we're ever going to do that--the only waywe'll ever whip this problem--is for you to increase _your_understanding of _him_.

  "You're past the critical point--way past it--in _general_understanding. But you've got to keep an eye on the little specificinstances, too."

  She nodded contritely. "I know. I'm sorry. Sometimes a person can gettoo near a problem." She smiled. "Thanks for the new perspective,Brian. I'll go back to work and see if I can't look at it a littlemore clearly."

  * * * * *

  In the White House, Senator Mikhail Kerotski was facing two men--JamesBandeau, the Secretary of Space, and the President of the UnitedStates.

  "Mr. President," he said evenly, "I've known you for a long time. Ihaven't failed you yet."

  "I know that, Mike," the President said smoothly. "Neither has yourSociety, as far as I know. It's still difficult for me to believe thatthey get their information the way you say they do, but you've neverlied to me about anything so far, so I take your word for it. YourSociety is the most efficient espionage and counterespionage group inhistory, as far as I know. But this is different."

  "Damned right it's different!" snapped Secretary Bandeau. "Your ownSociety, senator, admits that we've stirred the Soviets up with thisspace lift thing. They've got ships of their own going out there now.According to reports from Space Force intelligence, Chinese Moon carshave been prowling around Moonbase One, trying to find out what'sgoing on."

  "More than that," added the President, "they've sneaked a small groupaboard the old _Lunik IX_ to see what they can see from up there."

  Secretary Bandeau jerked his head around to look at the President."The old circumlunar satellite? Where did you hear that?"

  The President smiled wanly. "From the S.M.M.R.'s report." He looked atKerotski. "I doubt that it will do them any good. I don't thinkthey'll be able to see anything now."

  "Not unless they've figured out some way to combine X rays withradar," the senator said. "And I'm quite sure they haven't."

  "Senator," said the Secretary of Space, "a lot of money has been spentand a lot of risks have been taken, just on your say-so. I--"

  "Now, just a minute, Jim," said the President flatly. "Let's not gooff half-cocked. It wasn't done on Mike's say-so; it was done on mine.I signed the order because I believed it was the proper, if not the_only_ thing to do." Then he looked at the senator. "But this is thelast day, Mike. Nothing has happened.

  "Now, I'm not blaming you. I didn't call you up here to do that. And Ithink we can quit worrying about explaining away the money angle. Butwe're going to have to explain _why_ we did it, Mike. And I can't tellthe truth."

  "I'll say you can't!" Bandeau exploded. "That would look great,wouldn't it? I can see the headlines now: _'Fortuneteller Gave MeAdvice,' President Says_. Brother!"

  "Jim," the President said coldly, "I said to let me handle this."

  "What you want, then, Mr. President," Kerotski put in smoothly, "isfor me to help you concoct a good cover story."

  "That's about it, Mike," the President admitted.

  Kerotski shook his head slowly. "It won't be necessary."

  Bandeau looked as though he were going to explode, but a glance fromthe President silenced him.

  "Go on, Mike," he said to the senator.

  "Mr. President, I know it looks bad. It's going to look even worse fora while. But, let me ask you one question. How is the Ch'ien spacedrive coming along?"

  "Why ... fine. It checked out months ago. The new ship is on hershakedown cruise now. You know that."

  "Right. Now, ask yourself one more question: What is the purpose ofMoonbase One?"

  "Why, to--"

  The telephone rang.

  The President scooped it up with one hand. "Yes?"

  Then he listened for a long minute, his expression changing slowly.

  "Yes," he said at last. "Yes, I got it. No; I'll release it to thenewsmen. All right. Fine." He hung up.

  "Twelve minutes ago," he said slowly, "the old _Lunik IX_ smashedinto Moonbase One and blew it to smithereens. The Soviets say that ameteor hit _Lunik IX_ at just the right angle to slow it down enoughto make it hit the base. They send their condolences."

  * * * * *

  Brian Taggert lay back on the couch in his office and folded his handscomplacently on his abdomen. "So Donna's theory held water and so didmine. The accident was due to human intervention. Forsythe sawsomething from space hitting Moonbase One and assumed it was a meteor.He never dreamed the Soviets wo
uld drop old _Lunik IX_ on it."

  Senator Kerotski carefully lit a cigar. "There's going to be an awfullot of fuss in the papers, but the President is going to announce thathe accepts the Soviet story. I convinced him that it is best to letthe Soviets think they're a long way ahead of us in the space racenow. There's nothing like a little complacency to slow someone