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last we're cornered and killed. I'll never see Lisa again. It was as if once more he could feel a small
body pressed against him in farewell.They'll tell her, the whole rest of her life, her father was a
criminal.
But maybe, maybe even a pirate could accomplish something. There was Drake of theGolden Hind-He
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sailed in another day, when men weren't afraid.
The inner door opened. He moved on into his yacht; which was now an auxiliary for the starship, and
opened his helmet.
Endre Vadász had the bridge. The minstrel's thin dark face was turned outward, staring through the
viewport as the other vessel neared in a gravitron-distorted shimmer of light. When Heim's boots rang on
the deck, he didn't look around, but said tonelessly, "I have ordered the crew into battle gear, and
brought your own rifle from your cabin."
"Good man." Heim took the weapon in the crook of an arm. There was assurance in that weight and
solidity and beautiful deadly shape. It was a .30-caliber Browning cyclic, able to send forty rounds a
minute through any atmosphere or none, the pride of his collection. Vadász, also in a collapsed airsuit
with faceplate unlocked, had settled for a laser pistol.
"I am not certain," the Hungarian remarked, "What six men can do if they try to storm us. Yonder ship
can easily hold five times as many."
"We can stand 'em off till the boys arrive fromFox," Heim said, "and they total almost a hundred.
Assuming the Lodge doesn't stop the fight."
"Oh, that I doubt," Vadász murmured with a slight smile. "We aren't likely to damage their nice
spaceport, and from everything I hear, they have no rules against bloodshed." He pointed to several
winged shapes, wheeling black against the clouds over the western end of Orling Island. "They'll come
enjoy the spectacle."
Heim directed the radioman to get in touch withFox. It would take a while. The beam must go through a
ground station and a couple of relay satellites. Wong was in orbit to interpret between human and native
workers, while Sparks's command of the language was slightAnd the newcomer would be down in
another minute.
I'm borrowing trouble,Heim tried to believe.Yet why would any Terrestrial come here, except in
connection with me?
To trade?Yes, yes, an occasional merchant does call, from Earth or Naqsa or one of the other
spacefaring worlds. That's why the weaponmakers of Staurn will accept my Federation credits. But
surely not while the Aleriona trouble is so near explosion.
Beside him, Vadász was softly whistling. "The Blue Danube," now of all times? Well, maybe he wanted
to remember, while he stillcould ...
The least quiver ran through ground and hull and Heim's bones as the stranger touched jacks to
concrete. Her shadow fell engulfingly overConnie Girl. Through the intercom he heard a few oaths from
his men, Sparks's mumble at the transmitter,the snore of a nuclear engine on Stand-by. A ventilator
gusted air across his cheeks, which were sweating.
When Koumanoudes clumped in, Heim spun about with a jerkiness that revealed to him how tense he
was. "So?" the captain barked. "Did you get any information?"
The Greek looked relieved. "I think we can free-fall, sir. According to Galveth, they want to stay awhile,
look around, and ask questions.A xenological expedition, in other words."
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"To this planet?"Heim scoffed.
"Well, after all, we are in Hydrus," Vadász pointed out
"The trouble is going on in the Phoenix. Quite some distance from here."
"No further from The Eith than Alpha Eridani, Heim said, "wherewe had our biggest skirmish with the
Aleriona. And that was many years ago. They're prowling through this whole sector. Besides, it takes
time to organize an expedition. Why didn't we hear of it on Earth?"
"We were rather occupied," Vadász said dryly. He went, to the radiophone. "Shall I try to call them?"
"What? ... Oh, yes.Of course." Heim swore at himself for forgetting so simple an act.
The connection was made at once. "MDSQuest of the U.S.A.," said a mild young man. "Captain
Gutierrez is stillbusy, sir, but I can switch you to Dr. Bragdon. He's the head of the scientific team."
The release was like a blow. Heim sagged in his suit. "You're only here to make studies, then?"
"Yes, sir, for the University of Hawaii, under contract to the Federation Research Authority.One
moment, please."
The screen flickered to a view of a cabin, crowded with references both full-size and micro. The man in
the foreground was also young, husky, with black hair and cragged profile. "Victor Bragdon speaking,"
he said, and then, his mouth falling open, "Good heavens! Aren't you Gunnar Heim?"
The privateer captain didn't reply. His own astonishment was too much. The woman behind Bragdon
leaned over the man's shoulder and met Heim's stare with wide hazel eyes. She was tall; an informal gray
zipsuit clung to a figure strong and mature. Her face had strength too, rather than conventional good
looks: straight nose, wide mouth, arching bones, framed by curly chestnut hair. But some years back it
had, troubled his sleep. When he saw the name Jocelyn Lawrie on the letterhead of a flyer from World
Militants for Peace, an old hurt awakened, and he went on still more intensely with his preparations for
war.
Surprise faded. Suspicion tightened his muscles. "What are you doing here?" he rapped.
II
Afterward he remembered with irony and sadness how careful he had been. Pleading an urgent
requirement for his presence onFox II, he raised his yacht within .the hour. But Koumanoudes
volunteered to stay behind, aboard theQuest on a "courtesy call." Heim knew the Greek had done a
good: job of preliminary arrangement-making on Staurn; how good he would be with his fellow humans
was uncertain, but there was scant choice. It had to be him or Wong, the only ones who spoke the local
language fluently and hence could use the spaceport's eavesdrop-proof maser line.
His report came after two watches. "They're clean, skipper. I was toured around the whole ship and
talked to everybody. There're five in the crew, plus captain, mate, and C.E. They're plain spacehands,
who signed on for this cruise the same as they would for any other exploratory trip. You can't fake that.
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Anybody who's so good an actor works on 3V, not in the black."
"They don't have to act," Heim said. "They only have to wear a poker face."
"But these bucks didn't. They swarmed over me, asking every kind of question about us. On the whole,
they thought we had a hell of a fine idea here. A couple of them wished they'd joined us."
"Uh-huh. I'm not surprised. The common man often shows more common sense than the intellectual
elite. But wait, now, do you include their officers in this?"
"The engineer, yes.Captain Gutierrez and the first officer ... well, they were stiff as meteorite plating. I
don't know what they think. Probably they don't like us onprinciple, figure war should be left to the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]