Unwise Child | Page 2

went, and stop somewhere along the wall.
Then he'd scramble up the ladder, pull out a bin, fumble around in it,
and come out with the article in question. He'd blow the dust off it,
polish it with a rag, scramble down the ladder, and say: "Here 'tis.
Thought I had one. Let's go back in the back and give her a test."
On the other hand, if he didn't have what you wanted, he'd shake his
head just a trifle, then squint up at you and say: "What d'ye want it
for?" And if you could tell him what you planned to do with the piece
you wanted, nine times out of ten he could come up with something
else that would do the job as well or better.
In either case, he always insisted that the piece be tested. He refused
either to buy or sell something that didn't work. So you'd follow him
down that long hallway to the lab in the rear, where all the testing
equipment was. The lab, too, was cluttered, but in a different way. Out
front, the stuff was dead; back here, there was power coursing through
the ionic veins and metallic nerves of the half-living machines. Things
were labeled in neat, accurate script--not for Old Harry's benefit, but
for the edification of his customers, so they wouldn't put their fingers in
the wrong places. He never had to worry about whether his customers
knew enough to fend for themselves; a few minutes spent in talking

was enough to tell Harry whether a man knew enough about the science
and art of electronics and sub-electronics to be trusted in the lab. If you
didn't measure up, you didn't get invited to the lab, even to watch a test.
But he had very few people like that; nobody came into Harry
MacDougal's place unless he was pretty sure of what he wanted and
how he wanted to use it.
On the other hand, there were very few men whom Harry would allow
into the lab unescorted. Mike the Angel was one of them.
Meet Mike the Angel. Full name: Michael Raphael Gabriel. (His
mother had tagged that on him at the time of his baptism, which had
made his father wince in anticipated compassion, but there had been
nothing for him to say--not in the middle of the ceremony.)
Naturally, he had been tagged "Mike the Angel." Six feet seven. Two
hundred sixty pounds. Thirty-four years of age. Hair: golden yellow.
Eyes: deep blue. Cash value of holdings: well into eight figures. Credit:
almost unlimited. Marital status: highly eligible, if the right woman
could tackle him.
Mike the Angel pushed open the door to Harry MacDougal's shop and
took off his hat to brush the raindrops from it. Farther uptown, the
streets were covered with clear plastic roofing, but that kind of comfort
stopped at Fifty-third Street.
There was no one in sight in the long, narrow store, so Mike the Angel
looked up at the ceiling, where he knew the eye was hidden.
"Harry?" he said.
"I see you, lad," said a voice from the air. "You got here just in time.
I'm closin' up. Lock the door, would ye?"
"Sure, Harry." Mike turned around, pressed the locking switch, and
heard it snap satisfactorily.

"Okay, Mike," said Harry MacDougal's voice. "Come on back. I hope
ye brought that bottle of scotch I asked for."
Mike the Angel made his way back between the towering tiers of bins
as he answered. "Sure did, Harry. When did I ever forget you?"
And, as he moved toward the rear of the store, Mike the Angel casually
reached into his coat pocket and triggered the switch of a small but
fantastically powerful mechanism that he always carried when he
walked the streets of New York at night.
He was headed straight into trouble, and he knew it. And he hoped he
was ready for it.

2
Mike the Angel kept his hand in his pocket, his thumb on a little plate
that was set in the side of the small mechanism that was concealed
therein. As he neared the door, the little plate began to vibrate, making
a buzz which could only be felt, not heard. Mike sighed to himself.
Vibroblades were all the rage this season.
He pushed open the rear door rapidly and stepped inside. It was just
what he'd expected. His eyes saw and his brain recorded the whole
scene in the fraction of a second before he moved. In that fraction of a
second, he took in the situation, appraised it, planned his strategy, and
launched into his plan of action.
Harry MacDougal was sitting at his workbench, near the controls of the
eye that watched the shop when he was in the