Instant of Decision Page 5

collidedwith a thump and Brittain's body slammed against the roof of the cabinwith agonizing force. The gun came out of his hand and clanged againsta wall, then drifted off harmlessly. Brittain was out cold.

  Karnes handcuffed him securely and, with the stewardess' help, tuggedhim back to the baggage compartment. One of the passengers was quietlyretching into a vacuum disposal chute.

  With Brittain securely strapped into an empty baggage rack, Karnesswam back to the pilot's compartment, pulling himself along therailing that ran along the floor.

  The pilot looked relieved. "Thank heaven you got the devil! He gotwise when we delayed the takeoff, and threatened to start shooting mypassengers. There wasn't a thing I could do."

  "I know. Let me use your radio."

  It took a couple of minutes to get UN International Investigation onthe hookup, but Karnes finally was talking to his superior in the UNoffice. He reported what had happened.

  "Fine, Karnes," came the tight-beamed voice. "Now, here's somethingelse you ought to know. Our radar net has spotted robot rockets comingin over the Pole. So far, five of them have been hit by interceptorrockets, but we don't have them all by a long shot.

  "Evidently, the League feels that they're ready to slam us, now thatthey've got Moonbase and two of our spacecraft plants out of the way._The war is on_, Karnes."

  Karnes acknowledged, they cut the connection.

  There was one thing burning hotly in his brain. Brittain had fled NewYork without seeming to care how far they traced him or what kind oftrail he left behind. _Why?_

  He jerked open the door of the pilot's cabin, and, not bothering touse the rail, launched himself toward the rear of the ship, flippinghimself halfway down to land with his feet against the baggage roomdoor. He pulled the door open and pushed inside.

  Brittain was still groggy, so Karnes began slapping his facemethodically, rocking his head from side to side.

  "Okay! Okay! Stop it!" Brittain yelled, fully awake.

  Karnes stopped, and Brittain blinked, owlishly. Karnes' hunch factorywas still operating at full blast; he was fairly sure that the lie hewas about to tell would have all of the desired effect.

  "You didn't really think you could get away, did you, bud?" he asked,nastily. "We're headed back for New York now, and you'll stand trialfor murder as well as sabotage and espionage."

  Brittain's eyes widened in horror.

  "What did that mind impressor tell you?" Karnes went on.

  * * * * *

  Brittain was trying to keep his mouth shut, but at that moment therewas a glare of light which flashed bluely through the hard quartz of anearby window.

  From somewhere far to the north, another interceptor rocket had foundthe atomic warhead of an enemy bomb.

  Brittain knew and recognized that flash. He screamed wordlessly andthen began to sob like a hysterical child.

  Karnes began to slap him again. "Come on, what was it?"

  "Don't--don't let them go back to New York! It said--it said--" hegasped and took a deep breath "--WE'LL ALL BE KILLED!" he screamed.

  "Why?" Karnes's voice was cold.

  "BOMB!" Brittain screamed again.

  After a few more minutes of questioning, Karnes finally got the restof the story from him.

  The Galactics had found that on this date a nuclear bomb would getthrough the UN screen and completely destroy most of Greater New York.Only one other bomb would get through, but it would be thrown offcourse and land somewhere in the Pacific, having missed Los Angelesentirely.

  "Anything else?" asked Karnes after a few seconds of silence fromBrittain. "Didn't it say they would have to prevent that?"

  Brittain's voice was dull now. "All it said was that the records wouldhave to be preserved. It said that things must go on exactly asbefore. It said that nothing must interfere with the completedevelopment, whatever that means."

  Karnes pushed his way out of the room and back towards the pilot'scompartment. What the pilot had to say was no news to Karnes.

  "Radio from New York says that a bomb missed LA and hit the ocean.That was a close one."

  Karnes nodded silently, and leaned back in the stewardess' seat tothink.

  * * * * *

  No wonder Brittain had been so anxious to get out of New York.

  New York would be destroyed, but that was inevitable. The thing thathad bothered him, his dilemma, was solved.

  Was this the real Earth that he lived in, or a museum that had beenset up by the Galactics? If it was old Earth, then man would solve hispresent problems and go on to solve the problem of time travel andinterstellar transportation. The present war would be just anotherlittle incident in the far past, like the battles of Gettysburg andAgincourt.

  * * * * *

  And if it were the museum Earth? No difference. For the Galactics haddecided not to interfere. They had decided to let the race of Earth goon as it was--exactly as it had gone before. It made no difference,really. _No difference at all._ A perfect duplication of an original_was_ the original, in every meaningful way.

  "Funny," said the pilot abruptly, "I'm not getting any signal from NewYork."

  Karnes took a deep breath and bit at his lower lip. But he did notlook toward the horror that was New York. The city was gone, but theworld was there--solid and real!

  _You'd better expand your museum a little bit, boys_, he thought._We'll need to include Mars and Venus before very long. And then thestars._

  * * * * *