A Handful of Darkness Read Online Free PDF

hands in his lap, staring ahead.
    “So that’s the man.” He looked at Olham for a time. Olham said nothing. At last the chief nodded to Peters. “All right. That’s enough.” A faint trace of disgust wrinkled his features. “I’ve seen all I want. You’ve done something that will be remembered for a long time. They’re preparing some sort of citation for both of you.”
    “That’s not necessary,” Peters said.
    “How much danger is there now? Is there still much chance that—”
    “There is some chance, but not too much. According to my understanding, it requires a verbal key phrase. In any case we’ll have to take the risk.”
    “I’ll have the Moon base notified you’re coming.”
    “No.” Peters shook his head. “I’ll land the ship outside, beyond the base. I don’t want it in jeopardy.”
    “Just as you like.” The chief’s eyes flickered as he glanced again at Olham. Then his image faded. The screen blanked.
    Olham shifted his gaze to the window. The ship was already through the pro tee-bubble, rushing with greater and greater speed all the time. Peters was in a hurry; below him, rumbling under the floor, the jets were wide open. They were afraid, hurrying frantically, because of him.
    Next to him on the seat Nelson shifted uneasily. “I think we should do it now,” he said. “I’d give anything if we could get it over with.”
    “Take it easy,” Peters said. “I want you to guide the ship for a while so I can talk to him.”
    He slid over beside Olham, looking into his face. Presently he reached out and touched him gingerly, on the arm and then on the cheek.
    Olham said nothing. “If I could let Mary know,” he thought again. “If I could find some way of letting her know.” He looked around the ship. How? The vidscreen? Nelson was sitting by the board, holding the gun. There was nothing he could do. He was caught, trapped.
    But why?
    “Listen,” Peters said, “I want to ask you some questions. You know where we’re going. We’re moving Moonward. In an hour we’ll land on the far side, on the desolate side. After we land you’ll be turned over immediately to a team of men waiting there. Your body will be destroyed at once. Do you understand that?” He looked at his watch. “Within two hours your parts will be strewn over the landscape. There won’t be anything left of you.”
    Olham struggled out of his lethargy. “Can’t you tell me—”
    “Certainly, I’ll tell you.” Peters nodded. “Two days ago we received a report that an Outspace ship had penetrated the protec-bubble. The ship let off a spy in the form of a humanoid robot. The robot was to destroy a particular human being and take his place.”
    Peters looked calmly at Olham.
    “Inside the robot was a U-Bomb. Our agent did not know how the bomb was to be detonated, but he conjectured that it might be a particular spoken phrase, a certain group of words. The robot would live the life of the person he killed, entering into his usual activities, his job, his social life. He had been constructed to resemble that person. No one would know the difference.”
    Olham’s face went sickly chalk.
    “The person whom the robot was to impersonate was Spence Olham, a high-ranking official at one of the Research projects. Because this particular project was approaching crucial stage, the presence of an animate bomb, moving towards the centre of the Project—”
    Olham stared down at his hands. “ But I’m Olham! ”
    “Once the robot had located and killed Olham, it was a simple matter to take over his life. The robot was probably released from the ship eight days ago. The substitution was probably accomplished over the last week-end, when Olham went for a short walk in the hills.”
    “But I’m Olham.” He turned to Nelson, sitting at the controls. “Don’t you recognize me? You’ve known me for twenty years. Don’t you remember how we went to college together?” He stood up. “You and I were at the