* * * * *
Docchi walked on, carefully skirting one of the columns that supported
the dome. Once it had seemed huge and unshakable and now it was
remarkably slender. The dome itself was hardly adequate to keep the
darkness overhead from descending. This was the dull side of their
rotation; they were looking back at the way they'd come. The stars were
gray and faint. "Where did you see it?" he asked after a long silence.
"In the place Jordan described. It's deep underground but I believe
it's near one of the piles. I felt the wall and it was warm."
"Somewhere below the gravity computer," said Docchi. "Why there, I
don't know, but Nona may have had a reason. What I want to know is: how
do you account for the ship?"
"What?" said Cameron. "Oh, I leave that to you and Jordan. I can't
explain it."
Docchi guessed why the doctor was less concerned than he tried to be.
Let him live with his exaltation for a while. It might not last. "Part
of it's easy, how the ship came to be there."
"It isn't to me," said Cameron. "We haven't been gone long, not much
more than a month."
"Six weeks to be exact. Six weeks on our calendar."
"I see, relative time. I heard we were approaching the speed of light
but I didn't think we were close enough to make any difference." He
glanced at his watch as if it held secrets he couldn't fathom. "How
long have we actually been gone, Earth time?"
"I don't know. We haven't any figures on our acceleration rate nor our
present speed."
"What are you planning to do? We can't just sit here and let them
overtake us."
"I don't know. We're not helpless." Docchi's plans were vague. There
was much that had to be determined before he could decide on anything.
"You're certain it's one of ours? It's not an alien ship?"
The idea hadn't occurred to Cameron. He turned the image around in his
mind before he answered. "I'm not familiar with ship classifications,
but it's ours unless these aliens use the English language. There was a
name on it. I could read part. It ended in -_tory_."
"The Victory class," said Docchi. "The biggest thing built. At one time
it was intended for interstellar service, before the gravity drive
fizzled."
"That's how they were able to do it," said Cameron. "I've been
wondering how they were able to send a ship after us so soon, even
allowing for the fact that we've been gone longer than it seems to us,
maybe two or three months instead of six weeks."
He had nothing definite to go on but in Docchi's opinion the time was
closer to half a year. "Right. Since the ships were already there
rusting in the spaceport all they had to do was clean them up and add
an information unit to the drive. They may have started work on it
while we were in the solar system, when they were still looking for
Nona."
The special irony was that our own discoveries were being used
against them. Nona's first, the resurrected drive, and then his
own not negligible contribution. Docchi himself had told them. His
thoughtless remark that the drive would function without Nona had been
relayed back to Earth. Vogel the engineer had probably picked it up
and sent the information on. Someone would have chanced on the idea
anyway, but he had given them weeks. And a week was of incalculable
importance--planets could be won or lost.
Cameron was silent as they walked on. "There's a ship but we don't know
where. Let's not worry until we find where it's going."
Docchi didn't answer. That the scanner Nona had built was capable of
detecting a ship between the stars indicated a tremendous range--old
style. But distances had shrunk lately. There was a ship behind them
and it wasn't far. Neither was it on a pleasure jaunt.
At the hospital steps they conferred briefly and then separated,
Cameron leaving to find Jeriann. Docchi went into his office and tried
unsuccessfully to locate Jordan.
Ultimately he gave it up. Jordan had his own ideas of what was
important and lately had been mysteriously concerned with some
undertaking he refused to disclose. He had even tried to conceal that
there was something he was working on. Docchi switched his efforts and
finally contacted Webber. At a time like this they needed what support
they could get. Webber was not a substitute for Jordan but he'd do. The
person he'd most have liked to have along was Anti but she couldn't
leave the prison, her tank. They missed her. They always would as long
as she was confined.
Docchi sat down while he waited for Webber. He needed the rest. He had
been hoping that the pursuit would not begin as soon as it had. They
would find some way to throw off the ship behind them--but it was not
the biggest threat.
* * * * *
"Do you suppose she hid here when the guards were looking for her?"
said Webber.
"Doesn't seem likely," said Docchi, trying to keep up. The other's
composite body gave him strength he wasn't aware of. Docchi couldn't
match the effortless stride, the endurance. "Guards searched here too."
They had, but how thoroughly? The asteroid had once been a planet, a
world with an atmosphere, oceans, lakes, streams. Water had seeped into
the ground, creating imperceptible weaknesses in the crust. And long
ago when the catastrophe came it had struck suddenly. The planet had
been split with such violence that whole chunks had been hurled apart,
each one intact except that the shock had enlarged on the work begun by
water. Faults became underground caverns, tortuous caverns in the rock
that intersected the man-made tunnel.
No matter what their orders were, the guards wouldn't have been
anxious to explore too far. Under the stress of unusual gravity
fissures could close again on the unwary--it was possible they'd made
only a token search here.
"If we come here often there ought to be an easier way than this," said
Webber as they went along.
Docchi had been thinking of it. He would be able to tell when he saw it
whether it would be possible to move the scanner. If so a good place
might be in gravity center. As nearly as he could tell it was almost
directly overhead.
Voices sprang out of the tunnel as they neared the destination. "Don't
know what's keeping them," grumbled Jordan. "Maybe we ought not to
wait."
"He was looking for you," said Jeriann, her voice carrying in the
stillness of the underground. "He said it was urgent for you to be
here."
"A few minutes won't hurt," said Cameron. "Lucky we found you when we
did or you'd have missed it."
"What do you mean, lucky?" growled Jordan. "I was on my way here when
you yelled."
"Have you seen it in operation?" said Jeriann. "Cameron said you found
the place."
"If I had I'd have told you. The scanner wasn't finished last time I
was here. I figured Nona would let us know when she was ready."
The tunnel turned sharply and though they could hear Jordan's voice the
words were indistinct. It was a quirk of acoustics because, as they
travelled on, utter silence descended. They could hear nothing at all
until the tunnel curved again and they entered the cavern.
He glanced around once before they were noticed. The nine geepee
heads Cameron had described were almost indiscernible under the mass
of circuitry that covered them. Nona had improved the scanner. He
could identify some of the components but the arrangement was totally
unfamiliar.
He thought he could trace the basic outline. It was a gravity device
of some kind, what kind he wasn't sure. If he had thought about it
previously he would have realized it practically had to be that.
"They're here," said Jeriann at his side, and he hadn't seen how she'd
got there. Seconds before she'd been arguing with Jordan and now she
was next to him.
Jordan looked up and Nona clipped a few connections in place. She
stayed close to the doctor. "We all know what we came for so there's no
need for preliminaries," said Docchi. "Cameron, can you tell Nona to
start the scanner?"
"My communication is rather primitive," said Cameron with a slight
smile. "However----" He had no time to say more. Nona didn't move but
the scanner responded.
A shape glowed, a vague nebula, far away. It came closer and the nebula
dissolved--it was a ship. There was darkness all around and yet the
ship wasn't dark. The lights that streamed out of the ports couldn't
account for this, there was nothing to reflect it on the hull. Radar
was one explanation, a gravity radar. The impulses left the asteroid,
traversed the space to the far away object and bounced back--in no-time.
"It's a military ship," said Jordan. "The biggest."
The ship rocked a little or perhaps the scanner resolved the image
better. The name began to swing into sight. "Tory," repeated Webber
when he was able to read it. "Victory. And victory always ends with
_tory_."
"Star Victory," said Jeriann as the ship rotated and the full name grew
visible. "They're premature. They haven't won yet."
"But how far away?" growled Jordan. "We ought to know the power of the
screen."
The scanner wasn't calibrated and so they didn't know the distance.
Later Nona might add that refinement but if she didn't there was
practically no way of telling her what they wanted. Now there was
merely a three quarter view, the nose of the ship and enough to make
out that the rockets weren't flaring. Gravity drive of course. But they
knew that.
"We've seen it," said Webber flatly. "Now what?"
"We're not going to let them take us," said Jeriann. "Docchi will think
of something."
Her confidence wasn't warranted. Actually he'd done little to bring
them this far. Intellectual force perhaps. He had turned discontent
into something positive--and joint action had so far overcome the
obstacles. But it was Nona who had given them the power to make the
action worthwhile. And she was limited too--there would come an end
to the seemingly endless flow of invention. There were circumstances
against which no ingenuity could prevail.
At the present they needed more to go on. They knew there was a ship
behind them. The relationship had to be defined. Space was vast and
they might be able to elude the pursuer. They had to find out where the
ship was.
They looked at Nona. She was standing close to Cameron, very close. She
seemed to know what was expected of her, a mass rapport. She touched
the doctor wonderingly as he smiled down at her and then she went to
the scanner, working on it, changing the connections with negligent
skill.
The ship wavered as she worked. It disappeared for seconds and when
it came back it was rapidly approaching the viewing surface of the
scanner. Closer--they touched the hull--and then they were inside,
gazing out of a screen.
Jordan frowned. "They've duplicated the drive--have they duplicated her
scanner?"
"I don't think so," said Docchi. "They have telescreens of short range.
But there's no reason why two completely different systems can't be
spliced together."
They were looking at an empty room and no one came in. Impatiently
Nona touched the connections and the scene dissolved, shifted and
blurred and when it cleared they were elsewhere, another screen, a
different room. A broadshouldered man hunched over a desk, muttering
and scratching his scalp. He signed his name several times; one of the
sheets he crumpled and discarded, first tearing out his signature. The
rest of the documents he dispatched in a slot.
When he turned around they saw it was General Judd.
He reached hastily for the switch but withdrew his hand before it got
there. "Well, the orphans have come back, hand in hand." He smirked
with calm deliberation. "Or should I say arm in arm, Cameron?"
Docchi noticed it if no one else did. The general hadn't called Cameron
a doctor. As far as the Medicouncil was concerned Cameron probably no
longer was. It was the final proof, if Docchi had needed it; of which
side Cameron was on.
"We have a whole new alignment," continued the general. "Cameron with
Nona, and our rebellious engineer with Jeriann."
Docchi's face began to glitter but he caught the light as it surged
through his veins, willing it to stop before it showed in his skin.
"We haven't come back, General. We didn't think it would hurt to talk,
though, if you don't mind."
"I never mind a little chat, Docchi. Always willing to hear what the
other fellow has to say--as long as he comes to the point."
The general thought his position was strong enough that he could be as
insulting as he wanted. He was very nearly right. "First we'd like to
know what you want."
"Our terms haven't changed a bit. Turn around and go back." Judd smiled
broadly, an official wolfish expression. "We don't insist you return to
the same orbit. In fact it might be better if you moved the asteroid
closer to Earth."
Where the Medicouncil could keep a perpetual watch. And where they
would swing through the heavens forever in sight of Earth but never a
part of it. "Naturally we don't accept," said Docchi. "However we don't
reject negotiations completely. There are some of us who might go back
for one reason or another--homesickness mostly. If you're willing we
can make arrangements to transfer them to your ship."
"Ah, trouble," said the general gravely, trying to conceal his delight.
"And I think I know where the trouble is. We came fully prepared for
every emergency that we--or you--might meet. The Medicouncil is very
thorough."
The picture of Maureen crouched in a darkened room, whimpering through
clenched teeth that she didn't want ever to see anyone. The tautness as
one set of muscles extended her hand toward the door and another set
tore it away. And there were other images, vague now, but in time they
could become threatening.
The Medicouncil _had_ foreseen this; there were biologicals on the ship
to cure Maureen. Docchi's face twitched and he hoped the general didn't
notice. "I haven't checked to see how many are willing to go with you.
I will, if it's satisfactory."
"Don't bother," said the general. "In case you weren't listening, I
didn't say that we're a cozy little group of altruists, just anxious
as hell to take over your responsibilities. The biologicals are here.
You'll get them when we land a crew to make sure you do go back. My
orders are very plain. We want all of you--or none."
"You know what we'll say," said Docchi. "None of us, of course." The
letdown was less than he expected. He'd half known the conditions; it
was consistent with all the attitudes toward accidentals--once human
but now not quite. It was a typical way to ease their conscience--load
the ship with every medical supply--and then refuse those in need
unless they all came back. "We're getting along quite nicely without
your help," he continued, and if it was less true than he liked, it was
more so than the general realized. "One thing, Judd, don't try to land
_without_ our consent."
"So you still think we're stupid," said the general affably, at ease
in the situation. _He didn't expect us to surrender_, thought Docchi.
_Then why had he asked?_ "We won't attempt to land until you cooperate.
You will. Sooner or later you will."
"I hardly think so. We decided that a long time ago."
The general shrugged. "Suit yourself. Remember we're not vindictive,
we're not trying to punish you. We do insist that you're sick and
helpless. You'll have to come back and be placed under competent
medical care." He glanced amusedly at Cameron.
"You don't act as if we're helpless," said Jeriann.
"Dangerously sick," said the general. "Have you ever heard of hysteria,
in which the patient must be protected against himself--and he may hurt
others?" He was fingering a chart on the desk, had been all the while
he was talking. He examined it briefly and then looked up. "What goes
on here? How can you talk across this distance?"
"It took you a long time to realize it, General. We're _not_ right next
to you." Again it was Docchi's bad habit to talk too much but there was
a reason for it and this time he wasn't telling the general anything he
wouldn't figure out for himself.
The general's jaw hardened and he pawed futilely at the switch. "How do
we do it?" said Docchi. "It's our secret." But the general didn't reply
and he wouldn't reveal the information Docchi wanted. Nona finally
broke the connection at her end.
Webber breathed noisily as the image faded. He stamped the mechanical
foot, echoes rolling through the cavern. "Will somebody tell me why the
general's so polite? Why won't he land unless we ask him to?"
"It's not consideration," said Docchi. "The asteroid's much larger than
his ship, and nearly as fast. Did you ever try to land on a stationary
port?"