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"No? You'd better have another think. If you force me to blow up the road, how about all the people that will be blown up along with it?"
Gaines thought furiously. He did not doubt that Van Kleeck would carry out his threat; his very phraseology, the childish petulance of "If you force me to do this-" betrayed the dangerous irrationality of his mental processes. And such an explosion anywhere in the thickly populated Sacramento Sector would be likely to wreck one, or more, apartment houses, and would be certain to kill shopkeepers on the included segment of strip twenty, as well as chance bystanders. Van was absolutely right; he dare not risk the lives of bystanders who were not aware of the issue and had not consented to the hazard - even if the road never rolled again.
For that matter, he did not relish chancing major damage to the road itself-but it was the danger to i
A tune ran through his head-"Hear them hum; watch them run. Oh, our work is never done-" What to do? What to do? "While you ride; while you glide; we are-"
This wasn't getting anyplace.
He turned back to the screen. "Look, Van, you don't want to blow up the road unless you have to, I'm sure. Neither do I. Suppose I come up to your headquarters, and we talk this thing over. Two reasonable men ought to be able to make a settlement."
Van Kleeck was suspicious. "Is this some sort of a trick?"
"How can it be? I'll come alone, and unarmed, just as fast as my car can get there."
"How about your men?"
"They will sit where they are until I'm back. You can put out observers to make sure of it."
Van Kleeck stalled for a moment, caught between the fear of a trap, and the pleasure of having his erstwhile superior come to him to sue for terms. At last he grudgingly consented.
Gaines left his instructions and told Davidson what he intended to do. "If I'm not back within an hour, you're on your own, Dave."
"Be careful, Chief."
"I will."
He evicted the cadet driver from the reco
But that was elementary, a mere mechanical detail. The real failure had been in men, Well, the psychological classification tests must be improved to insure that the roads employed only conscientious, reliable men. But hell's bells - that was just exactly what the present classification tests were supposed to insure beyond question. To the best of his knowledge there had never been a failure from the improved Hunim-Wadsworth-Burton method - not until today in the Sacramento Sector. How had Van Kleeck gotten one whole sector of temperament - classified men to revolt?
It didn't make sense.
Perso
It was the only solution that covered all the facts. The perso
And that taught another lesson-tighter tests for officers, and no officer to be trusted with classification and assignment without close supervision and inspection. Even he, Gaines, should be watched in that respect. Qui custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will guard those selfsame guardians? Latin might be obsolete, but those old Romans weren't dummies.
He at last knew wherein he had failed, and he derived melancholy pleasure from the knowledge. Supervision and inspection, check and re-check, was the answer. It would be cumbersome and inefficient, but it seemed that adequate safeguards always involved some loss of efficiency.
He should not have entrusted so much authority to Van Kleeck without knowing more about him. He still should know more about him- He touched the emergency-stop button, and brought the car to a dizzying halt. "Relay station! See if you can raise my office."
Dolores' face looked out from the screen. "You're still there-good!" he told her. "I was afraid you'd gone home."
"I came back, Mr. Gaines."
"Good girl. Get me Van Kleeck's personal file jacket. I want to see his classification record."
She was back with it in exceptionally short order and read from it the symbols and percentages. He nodded repeatedly as the data checked his hunches - masked introvert-inferiority complex. It checked.
"'Comment of the Board:'" she read, "'In spite of the potential instability shown by maxima A, and D on the consolidated profile curve, the Board is convinced that this officer is, nevertheless, fitted for duty. He has an exceptionally fine record, and is especially adept in handling men. He is therefore recommended for retention and promotion."
"That's all, Dolores. Thanks."
"Yes, Mr. Gaines!"
"I'm off for a showdown. Keep your fingers crossed."
"But Mr. Gaines-" Back in Fresno, Dolores stared wide-eyed at an empty screen.
"Take me to Mr. Van Kleeck!"
The man addressed took his gun out of Gaines' ribs - reluctantly, Gaines thought - and indicated that the Chief Engineer should precede him up the stairs. Gaines climbed out of the car, and complied.
Van Kleeck had set himself up in the sector control room proper, rather than the administrative office. With him were half a dozen men, all armed.
"Good evening, Director Van Kleeck." The little man swelled visibly at Gaines' acknowledgment of his assumed rank.
"We don't go in much around here for titles," he said, with ostentatious casualness. "Just call me Van. Sit down, Gaines."
Gaines did so. It was necessary to get those other men out. He looked at them with an expression of bored amusement. "Can't you handle one unarmed man by yourself, Van? Or don't the functionalists trust each other?"
Van Kleeck's face showed his a
"But Van-"
"Get out, I said!"
When they were alone, Van Kleeck picked up the electric push button which Gaines had seen in the visor screen, and pointed his pistol at his former chief. "O.K.," he growled, "try any fu
Gaines' irritating smile grew broader. Van Kleeck scowled. "What's so damn fu
Gaines granted him an answer. "You are, Van - honest, this is rich. You start a functionalist revolution, and the only function you can think of to perform is to blow up the road that justifies your title. Tell me," he went on, "what is it you are so scared of?"
"I am not afraid!"
"Not afraid? You? Sifting there, ready to commit hara-kari with that toy push button, and you tell me that you aren't afraid. If your buddies knew how near you are to throwing away what they've fought for, they'd shoot you in a second. You're afraid of them, too, aren't you?"