Part 2

"If we could only pick Gregory up and hold him for a couple of days, maybe we could beat this," I told the Captain. "We've eliminated Stella Emerson, we've locked the apartment, and caging Gregory should snap the last thread."

He laughed sarcastically. "You think that would solve the problem? Listen. We spotted a holdup, and I recognized the crook. He had a long record. I had him picked up, and he was carrying a gun so we slapped him in jail on a concealed weapons charge. He escaped, got another gun, and committed the holdup right on schedule. I'm telling you, Cronus shows exactly how the future is. We can't change it. I'm working as hard as anyone else to prevent this, but I know for a certainty that sometime today or tomorrow the girl and Gregory are going to meet in that apartment--or in one exactly like it."

"We're going to change it this time," I said. On my way out I stopped for a good look at Cronus. Nothing but a monster would give you a murderer, and a victim, and the place and approximate time, and make you completely helpless to do anything about it. I felt like giving Cronus a firm kick in a vital part of its anatomy.

I called off my dinner date with Stella and prowled around Manhattan looking for a big man with a pronounced limp. One speck of dust among the millions. I noticed with satisfaction that I was not alone in my search. Aircars were swooping in low for a quick look at pedestrians. Foot patrolmen were scrutinizing every passerby. And detectives would be making the rounds of the rooming houses and hotels with photographs. Cab and bus drivers would be alerted.

For a man who had no reason to hide, Michael Rolland Gregory was doing an expert job of keeping out of sight.

I radioed police headquarters at 10:00 P.M., and the Captain's voice exploded at me. "Where the hell have you been? The stakeout at the girl's apartment got Gregory. They're bringing him in."

I cut off without any of the formalities, and sprinted. I tore down the corridor to the D. F. C. room, and burst in on what might have been a funeral celebration. Walker sat with his face in his hands, and the Captain was pacing in a tight circle.

"He got away," the Captain snarled. "Snapped the handcuffs like toothpicks, beat up his escort and ran. The man must have the strength of a utility robot."

"How did they happen to pick him up?" I wanted to know.

"He came strolling down the street and started to go into the apartment building. Completely innocent about the whole thing, of course. He didn't have any idea we were looking for him."

"He has now," I said. "It's going to be great sport locating him again."

We had a small army loose in the area where Gregory escaped, but for all they found he might have burrowed into the pavement. I called Stella and asked her to stay home from work the next day. I got the stakeout on her aunt's apartment doubled.

I was up at dawn, prowling the streets, riding in patrolling aircars, and I suppose generally making a nuisance of myself with calls to headquarters. We put in a miserable day, and Gregory might have been hiding on Mars, for all the luck we had.

I had my evening meal at a little sandwich shop, and did a leisurely foot patrol along the street by Stella's apartment building. The stakeout was on the job, and the superintendent had Stella's lights on. I stood for a moment in the doorway, watching the few pedestrians, and then I signaled an aircab.

"I'd like to circle around here a bit," I said.

"Sure thing," the cabbie said.

We crisscrossed back and forth above the streets, and I squinted at pedestrians and watched the thin traffic pattern. Fifteen minutes later we were back by the apartment building.

"Circle low around the building," I said.

"Oh, no! Want me to lose my license? I can't go out of the air lanes."

"You can this time," I said. "Police."

He looked at my credentials, and grunted. "Why didn't you say so?"

There was a narrow strip of lawn behind the building, with a couple of trees, and then a dimly-lit alley. The cabbie handed me a pair of binoculars, and I strained my eyes on the sprawling shadows. I couldn't see anything suspicious, but I decided it might be worth a trip on foot.

The third time around I glanced at Stella's lighted windows--the rear ones--and gasped. A dark shadow clung to the side of the building, edging slowly along the ledge towards her window. Gregory.

"See that?" I said to the cabbie.

As we watched, he got the window open, and disappeared into the apartment.

I tried to radio the men on the stakeout, and couldn't rouse them. I called headquarters. Both Walker and Captain Marks were out. They would be back in a few minutes. But I didn't have minutes left.

"Skip it," I said. I snapped out a description of the situation, and cut off.

"Can you get close enough to get me through that window?" I asked the cabbie.

"I can try," he said. "But watch your step, fellow. It's a long drop."

He hovered close, and I grabbed the edge of the window and pulled myself through. Gregory faced me across the living room, a bewildered, panicky look on his huge, child-like face. I was thinking, how stupid can we get? From the way he came into Cronus's picture we should have known he didn't come through the door. Stella had come through the door, and we just assumed he was already in the room. But who would have thought Gregory could make like a human fly?

"All right, Gregory," I said. "You're under arrest."

Tears streaked his face. His jaw moved, but no sound came out. Suddenly I saw how we had blundered. This grotesquely oversized child meant no harm to anyone. Stella was the only person he'd ever known who treated him like a human being, and he wanted to see her again. For some reason he couldn't understand, the police were trying to prevent that. Suddenly the entire universe was against him, even Stella, and he was frightened.

And dangerous.

He lunged at me like a pile driver, and forced me back towards the open window. I got my gun out, and he just casually knocked it out of my hand. He had me on the window ledge, forcing me back and all I could see were the stars out in space.

Then the apartment door opened and closed and Gregory glanced back over his shoulder.

I screamed. "Run, Stella! Run--"

Then the night air was whistling past me. I bounced off an awning, crashed into the branches of a tree, struggled frantically for a hold, and fell through. From the window above came a piercing scream....

* * * * *

The Doctor had a face like an owl, and he bent over me, making funny clucking noises with his tongue. "There we are," he said, when he saw my eyes open. "Not bad at all."

"What's good about it?" I said.

"Young man, you fell six stories, and all you have is a broken leg and assorted bruises. You ask me what's good about it?"

"You wouldn't understand," I said. "Beat it." Stella's scream still rang in my ears. I twisted, and felt the heavy cast on my left leg. My mood merged and blended with the dull grey of the hospital room.

A nurse came tiptoing in, and smiled blandly when she saw I was awake. "You have some visitors," she said. "Do you want to see them?"

I knew it was the Captain. I hated to face him, but I said, "Let's get it over with."

The Captain loomed in the doorway, backed away, and came in again. And ahead of him walked Stella.

A different Stella--face pale and distorted, eyes registering shock and grief, but alive. But very much alive.

I started to get up, and the nurse placed a firm hand on each shoulder and held me to the bed. "Not so fast, sonny boy," she said.

Captain Marks moved up a chair for Stella. "Jim," she said. Her voice broke.

"I'll tell him," the Captain said. "It seems that Miss Emerson has a sister living in Boston. She didn't know anything about our problem, and she came down this evening for a visit. She had a key to Miss Emerson's apartment, and she walked in just at the right time to play a leading role in Cronus's drama."

"Was she--"

"No. Thankfully, no. Her condition is serious but she'll be all right again. The knife missed a vital spot by a fraction."

I relaxed. "What happened to Gregory?"

"He tried to go out the way he came in. There wasn't any tree to break his fall. And one other thing. I have an urgent message for you from Walker."

I glanced at the slip of paper. "Jim--for God's sake, stay out of aircars!"

"Cronus showed us your fall half an hour before it happened. From our angle, it looked as if you fell out of the aircab that was hovering over the building. Some time in the next twenty-four hours, Walker calculated, but we couldn't reach you."

"It wouldn't have made any difference," I said. "You know yourself...."

"Yes," he said. "I know."

His voice rambled on, while my eyes met Stella's. "So Cronus can show us the future," I heard him say, "but he can't change it, and neither can we."

"Cronus changed mine," I said, still looking at Stella.

The Captain took the hint, and left.

Five minutes later the phone rang, and I reached around Stella to answer it. It was Walker, and Stella held her face close to mine and listened.

"Just called to offer my congratulations," Walker said.

"Congratulations for what?"

"For your wedding. Cronus just spotted it."

I swore, but I kept it under my breath. "I haven't even asked the girl," I said, "and don't tell me I'm wearing that stupid arm band at my wedding, because I'm not."

"No, you're on crutches. But the Captain is standing up with you, and he's wearing his."

"All right," I said. "When is this glad event going to take place?"

"Four to eight days."

I slammed down the receiver, and kissed Stella's blushing face. "Cronus says we're getting married in four to eight days, and this is one time that monstrosity's going to be wrong. We'll get married tomorrow."

"All right, Jim, if you want to. But...."

"But what?"

"This is May twenty-eighth, and I want to be a June bride."

We were married five days later, and we went to Arizona on our honeymoon. I'd done some checking, and I knew Arizona was well outside of Cronus's range.