No,
he thought,
Kane won't open fire, or order his mate to do so. Apart from anything else, he's the injured, innocent citizen and I'm the big, bad, gun-toting villain. I'm not happy about things at all, at all. But I
must
stop him.
Meanwhile, he wished that he were back aboard his ship. He
liked
guns. He knew that this was childish of him, and that it was high time that mankind outgrew its love for noisy pyrotechnics. He knew that a gun pleads to be pointed at something—and then begs to have its trigger pulled. He hoped that Saul would remain content merely to wreck havoc on the landscape.
Saul wreaked havoc on the landscape. Grimes, watching on his screen, thought, relishing the play on words,
He's
wrecking
the landscape.
What had been grassland was now a crater-pitted desolation over which drifted acrid fumes, and the copses had been reduced to jagged, blackened stumps.
Kane came on the air. His voice, despite the fact that it had been relayed through at least two stations, was loud and clear. He said, "Commander Grimes, this is Captain Kane. My mate tells me that your first lieutenant's runnin' amok."
"Running amok, Captain Kane? What do you mean?"
"He's shootin' off his guns—
your
guns—like a madman. Wastin' the taxpayer's money. He's interferin' with the embarkation of my passengers."
"Passengers, Captain Kane?"
"Yeah. Passengers. I own me own ship, an' if I decide to go into the passenger trade, that's my business."
"I'm sure it is, Captain. I'm sorry that my arrangements clashed with yours, but we were due for a practice shoot . . . ."
"Oh, you were, were you? An' did you promulgate a warnin'?"
"Unfortunately the facilities for so doing don't exist on this planet."
"Listen, Grimes, keep your nose out of my business or you'll get it bloodied."
"I'm inclined to think, Kane, that your business is
my
business. I represent the Federation . . . ."
"An' the Federation is supposed to encourage honest trade, not interfere with it."
"Honest
trade?"
"You heard me. Honest
and
legal."
"All right, Kane. I have your word for it—for what it's worth. Where are you taking those women?"
"It's no concern of yours, Grimes. But it's only natural that after generations of isolation they'll want to see new worlds."
"Mphm. And how are they paying their fares? You never impressed me as being a philanthropic institution."
Kane laughed. "Have you never heard of
Travel Now, Pay Later?
TG Clippers do a lot of business that way, an' so does Cluster Lines."
"But these people don't have money."
"There're more important things in life than money—not that I can think of any right now."
Grimes realized that he was being talked into a corner. He said firmly, "I have to know where you intend taking your . . . er . . . passengers."
"I've already told you that it's none of your business."
"Would it be . . . Essen?"
"I'm not sayin' that is is—but what if it is Essen?"
"All right, Captain Kane.
If
you don't mind, I'll just assume that it is Essen. There'd be a good market there for women, wouldn't there? And Federation law definitely prohibits any kind of traffic in human beings."
"Yeah. It does. I know the law as well as you do, Commander. Probably better. An' I'm tellin' you flat that I'm breakin' no laws. So I'll be greatly obliged if you'll tell your Jimmy The One to get out of
my
mate's hair."
"I'm sorry, Captain Kane, but I just can't take your word for it."
"No, you wouldn't, would you? We couldn't have a spick-an'-span Survey Service commander takin' the word of Drongo Kane, a poor, honest workin' stiff, master of a scruffy little star tramp, could we? Oh, no. But I'll tell you this. One of your own officers, that Commander Maggie Lazenby, is in Janine's palace now, an' that stuffed shirt Danzellan is with her. Janine's lettin' 'em look at the secret
records, the ones that she showed me. I'm not kiddin' you, Grimes. She'll tell you that you can't touch me."
"That remains to be seen, Captain Kane."
"Why don't you call her now?"
"Why not?" agreed Grimes tiredly. He got on to Timmins, ordered him to arrange a hookup. After a few minutes Maggie's voice came through the speaker of the pinnace's transceiver.
"Commander Lazenby here,
Seeker."
"Stand by, please, Commander Lazenby. I'm putting you through to the captain."
"Captain here," said Grimes.
"Yes, John?"
"I've been talking with Captain Kane . . . ."
"Yes. I know. He's just come into the Records Room."
"He assures me that whatever he's doing is quite legal, and that you'll bear him out."
"Yes, but . . . I've just unearthed some very old records . . . . And from what Captain Danzellan tells me . . .
"She says yes," put in Kane. "An' until the law is changed, if it ever is . . . ."
"I said yes,
but . . ."
insisted Maggie.
"And if Tabitha is not lying . . ." contributed Danzellan.
"She said
yes!"
snapped Kane, his customary drawl forgotten.
"Maggie!" said Grimes forcibly. "Report, at once, in detail what you have discovered."
But there was no report. Kane used his wrist transceiver to jam the signals from those worn by Maggie and Danzellan, and before either or both of them could take any action the far more powerful transceiver of Kane's pinnace blocked all further transmissions from Ballarat.
Yes . . .
but.
Yes . . .
but.
But
what?
Meanwhile, Mr. Saul had made the terrain between the landing site and Oxford quite impassable to any ground vehicle, and would have to be restrained before he blew away all
Seeker's
60 mm ammunition. Grimes told the first lieutenant to cease fire, at once.
But what loophole in Federation law had Kane discovered? What possible means of stopping that loophole had Maggie discovered? Where did Francis Delamere's local girlfriend, Tabitha, come into it?
Grimes decided that
Southerly Buster's
lift-off from Morrowvia must be, at the very least, delayed. Could he stop the
Buster's
boat from ferrying, a dozen or so at a time, the unconscious women to the ship? Yes, he could—but only at grave risk to the boat's passengers. Embarkation would have to be allowed to continue; by the time that it was complete he, Grimes, would be back aboard
Seeker
and would be able to take full charge.
Seeker's
cannon were silent now, and
Southerly Buster's
one remaining boat had nosed cautiously out of its bay and was flying to where the victims of the gas shell barrage were sprawled in the long grass.
Seeker's
boat transmitted pictures of all that was going on. The small craft from the
Buster
dropped to a landing among the sleeping bodies and two men, wearing respirators, scrambled out of it. Working fast, they dragged fifteen of the women into the boat, careless of any abrasions or contusions they might inflict. They were equally careless with their two anesthetized mates—but that was no excuse. Kane's men were clothed and the risk of painful damage to their skins was so much less.
"Do I have to watch this, Captain?" the first lieutenant was raging.
"I'm afraid you have to, Mr. Saul," Grimes told him. "Of course, if you can think of any way of stopping it without hurting any innocent people . . ."
Saul did not reply.
The first load was carried to
Southerly Buster
, the boat landing at the foot of the boarding ramp. Its passengers were dragged out and dumped on the ground, and almost immediately the boat began its return journey. Meanwhile a cargo hatch had been opened high on the side of the ship and the arm of a crane swung out. A net was lowered and the women, together with the two unconscious men, were piled into it, swiftly hoisted up an inboard. It was obvious that Kane was blessed with an efficient second-in-command.
Seeker's
boat followed the one from
Southerly Buster
back to her loading site. There was a repetition of the callously efficient handling of the unknowing passengers—and then another, and then another.
But Grimes's pinnace had crossed the coastline now, was rushing inland. Grimes hoped to be back aboard
Seeker
before
Southerly Buster's
embarkation was completed, although he could not hope to make it before sunset. Dusk was sweeping over the countryside as the two ships came into view, Kane's vessel towering brightly in the harsh glare of working lights. Saul had the hatch of the pinnace's bay open and waiting, and Billard expertly jockeyed the craft into the opening. Grimes was out through the door and running up to the control room before the pinnace had settled to her chocks. He found Saul staring sullenly out of a viewport.
"That's the last boatload," said the first lieutenant morosely. "Recall our boat, sir?"
"Do just that, Mr. Saul. I want the ship buttoned up for lift-off."
"Yes . . . ." Saul gestured toward the
Buster
. "She's buttoning up."
The boom of the crane was withdrawn, the cargo hatch was shut.
Southerly Buster's
boat lifted from the ground where she had discharged her last load, nosed up the mother ship's side to her bay. The ramp folded up and inward. The airlock door slid shut. Faintly there came the clangor of starting machinery, the unmistakable broken rhythm of the inertial drive.
Grimes ordered, "Use your sixty millimeters again, Mr. Saul. Tracer, time fused. I want every shell bursting directly over her—not too close, but close enough so they can hear the shrapnel rattling around their control room."
"Aye, sir!"
The automatics rattled deafeningly, the tracer streaked out from the muzzles in a flat trajectory, the bursting shells were spectacular orange flowers briefly blossoming against the dark sky.
Not at all surprisingly Dreebly's voice came screaming from the transceiver. "Stop firing! Stop firing, you idiots, before you hurt somebody!"
"Then shut down your engines!" commanded Grimes. "I am grounding you."
"By what authority? You have no authority here. This is not a Federated world."
"Shut down your engines!"
"I refuse."
Dreebly did more than merely refuse. Winking points of blue flame appeared from a turret on
Southerly Buster's
side. The streams of tracer from the two ships intersected, forming a lethal arch. Freakishly there were explosions at its apex as time-and impact-fused projectiles came into violent contact with each other—but the majority of
Seeker's
shells still burst over
Southerly Buster,
and those from the
Buster's
guns burst directly over
Seeker.
"The bastard's hosepiping!" exclaimed Saul.
Yes, Dreebly was hosepiping, slowly and deliberately lowering the trajectory of his stream of fire. Would he have the nerve to fire at rather than over a Federation ship? Grimes knew that
he
did not have the nerve to fire directly at
Southerly Buster.
Should he do so there would inevitably be casualties—and those casualties might well be among the
Buster's
innocent passengers.
He said to Saul, "Cease fire."
"But, sir, I could put that turret out of action . . . ."
"I said, cease fire."
Seeker's
hammering guns fell silent. There was a last burst from the
Buster's
automatics, a last noisy rattle of shrapnel around
Seeker's
control room. From the transceiver came Dreebly's taunting voice, "Chicken!"
"She's lifting," said Pitcher.
"She's lifting," echoed Saul disgustedly.
"Secure all," ordered Grimes, hurrying to the pilot's chair. "Secure all! There will be no further warning!"
He heard the coded shrilling of the alarms as he belted himself in. He checked the telltale lights on the control panel before him. By the time that the inertial drive was ready to lift
Seeker
clear of the ground
Southerly Buster
would be beyond pursuit range.
Was everything secure? It would be just too bad if it wasn't. The trained spacemen he could trust to obey orders promptly, the scientists were a different kettle of fish. But he couldn't afford to worry about them now, could not afford to indulge in the archaic, time-consuming, regulation ritual of the countdown.
He pushed the button for full emergency rocket power—and almost immediately tons of reaction mass exploded from the Venturis in incandescent steam. The giant hand of acceleration slammed him deep down into the padding of his seat.
Seeker
was lifting.
Seeker
was up and away, shooting skyward like a shell fired from some gigantic cannon. She overtook the slow-climbing
Southerly Buster,
roared past her as though she were standing still, left her well astern.
On the console the telltale light of the inertial drive was now glowing green. Grimes cut his rockets and the ship dropped sickening until the I.D. took hold, then brought up with a jar. She shuddered in every member as Grimes applied lateral thrust, as she lurched sideways across the sky. Pitcher, who had realized what the captain was trying to do, was doing, had stationed himself by the radar. "A little more, sir," he called. "Easy, now, easy . . . ." Then, "hold her at that!"
"Hold her!" repeated Grimes.
The ship shuddered and groaned again, but he was holding her in position relative to the ground below, to the still-climbing
Southerly Buster.
Then—slowly, but not so slowly as to conceal his intentions—he reduced vertical thrust. Dreebly tried, but in vain, to wriggle past
Seeker.
Grimes anticipated every move. (Later he learned that Hayakawa had been feeding him information, that Myra Bracegirdle, loyal rather to her sex than to her ship, had worked with and not against her fellow telepath.) It seemed that he could not go wrong—and every time that Dreebly attempted a lateral shift
Southerly Buster
fell victim to the parallelogram of forces, inevitably lost altitude.