all, moving the switch next to her with her
elbow. Immediately standby circuits cut in, but the flicker of lights
caused a commotion. The technician next to Marcus whirled, shouting at
Chloe who looked startled and tired. The tiredness was real.

[Illustration]

In the few free seconds he had, Marcus put the spool in the machine
close to the top. It jammed the remaining spools closer together, but
the machine was built to compensate for overloads. There should be no
trouble from this.

The spool itself was another thing Chloe had helped him with. Normally
requests were received on paper and had to be transcribed. She had
enabled him to bypass one stage altogether.

They worked on after the shouting episode. At the first rest break they
walked up to the street level, pausing in a dimly lighted hall to strip
off their outer work clothing which they disposed of. They were no
longer workmen. They were pedestrians who had passed by and wandered in
to see what was happening. They didn't belong in the building and were
told to leave, which they did.

And so it was late when Marcus entered the hotel. There was no one
around, for which he was thankful. He didn't feel like fending off women
at this hour of the morning. He went up and let himself in quietly.
Wilbur was asleep in the adjoining room and the door between them was
open. He closed it before turning on the light, which he adjusted to the
lowest level. Perhaps by this time the master chart robot was in a new
location, grinding out decisions. Messy Row was or soon would be a thing
of the past.

"Pa," Wilbur called as Marcus removed a shoe.

"Yes. I'm back. Go to sleep."

"Did you get it done?"

"It's finished. We're taking the next ship out."

"Tomorrow?"

"If there's one scheduled tomorrow."

"Before we say good-by?"

Marcus could hear the bed rustle as Wilbur sat up. "We'll send them a
note. Anyway they'll be on Mezzerow in a few months."

* * * * *

The door opened and Wilbur stood there, his face white and his eyes
round and serious. "But I gotta say good-by to Mary Ellen."

Marcus took off the other shoe. He should have known not to leave them
alone. His only excuse was that he had been thinking of other things. "I
thought you didn't like her," he said.

"Pa, that was because I thought she didn't like me," said Wilbur. "But
she does. I mean--" He leaned heavily against the doorway and his face
was long and sad.