Danger in the Void — Key Ideas to Explore

She was certain of it now. He knew her name and spoke about a divorce no one but she knew of. "I'm sorry," she said coldly, turning her head away to indicate that as far as she was concerned the interview was at an end, "I gave no one to understand that. I'm accompanying my husband on a business trip. Now, if you'll please--"

"Nevertheless," the man insisted, "your intentions are plain, perhaps not to others or even your husband--but to us, very clear. Let me be frank, Mrs. Bennet. I represent an organization which can be of great benefit to you, providing you help us by accepting our standard plan."

"Your organization?" she questioned.

The man waved a vague hand. "The organization is of necessity nameless. However, it is quite effective. In fact, the only way you've heard of us, without realizing it, is through the effects we produce for our clients."

"What sort of--effects?"

"I promised to be frank, Mrs. Bennet. I shall. Your husband is an android, and you hate him for that reason and for others."

Silvia gasped. "How did you know? That he's an android, I mean?"

The man smiled. "Our organization has access to a great deal of information; it's an integral part of our business, this information, serving as a springboard for contacting prospective clients like you."

"You mean," she said testily, "you'd like to help me get a divorce?" She smiled, adding, "For a fee, naturally."

The man shook his head no. "Something more permanent. We'd like to make a widow of you."

For a moment Silvia sat paralyzed, thinking she had not heard right. After awhile, she said, "You'd like to what?"

"You were carefully studied," the man went on, "and we know the idea of your husband's death is not repugnant to you; that's why I'm suggesting the idea simply, without any cat-and-mouse tactics. Your husband has insurance amounting to slightly less than one hundred thousand credits; our fee will be one-tenth of that plus one-tenth of any other monies which may accrue as a result of his death."

Silvia sat in shocked silence, not knowing what to say. "You're crazy," she managed finally. "I'll call the officers--"

"Who wouldn't believe you because the story is fantastic," the man pointed out, certain of himself. "Only our clients and potential clients know we are in existence, for not one of our--er--operations has been discovered. Think it over, Mrs. Bennet. Even though Arcturan divorces can be quick, they aren't always painless. It's like war with them, just as everything is, and wars can be lost. Our way is more certain; you're assured of your husband's estate and nine-tenths of all insurance money. I'll be around when you change your mind."

He got up and walked down the aisle in back of her. Silvia didn't look to follow him. She was thinking, _when_ I change my mind; the man was that sure of it, was he? Or was that just to put her in a positive frame of mind, making her think it was not a question of yes or no, but when. She had quarrels with George, sure, and sometimes she even felt she hated him--but the idea of murder had not entered her mind. Mentally she added, _at least until now!_ She shook her head--no, it was out of the question.

She had to admit to herself, though, now that she _was_ thinking of it, that she would miss the easy living being married to George entailed, even with any alimony she might receive. He was the android version of the old Horatio Alger story, though very few persons knew or even suspected George was not human. The World Congress had passed equalizing laws for androids just as they had for the various races, with the difference that it worked for androids since they had no outward mark of being different from the select group.

While not wealthy, they had lived well, with George trying in his simple fashion to please her. She thought once she had loved him, for after all he was a rather likable person. He had told her of his being a non-human and had proposed in almost the same breath, and it had shocked her at first the way any normal woman would be shocked at being told such a thing. But George was on his way to becoming somebody in the business world, and after going mentally over the pros and cons of the thing she had decided she could do much worse. There were times during the two years of marriage, however, when she wasn't even certain of that.