Kirk began to laugh. He laughed until tears of rage and desperation
stood in his eyes.
"Christ," he said, "If Earth agents are all as bright as you are, Joe,
God help her."
He pointed to Tauncer. "Allow me to introduce you. This is Tauncer,
Solleremos' right-hand man."
Garstang nodded. "I know."
"I've just fought him off, and now I have to fight you. A fine thing.
A damn fine thing. Listen, Joe. The Fifth was sent here by Ferdias to
protect Earth. Solleremos will attack--"
"When?" asked Garstang.
"I don't know. Ferdias' agent was supposed to meet me here and give me
final orders. Tauncer has taken care of that. Why do you suppose he did
that? Why do you suppose he came here and attacked me? He--"
Garstang turned to Tauncer. "Yes," he said. "Why did you?"
Tauncer said quietly, "You were perfectly right, Garstang. Ferdias
_has_ been planning to grab Earth. We knew that, in Orion. We had
to know when and how Ferdias would do it--and it was my mission to
find out. I was trying, there in the cluster. I tried here, but the
Commander was too much on guard."
"You're lying," said Kirk between his teeth. "Not two minutes ago you
were telling me I couldn't stop Solleremos from taking over Earth.
Lyllin, you heard it--"
Lyllin whispered, "I am sorry--but you sent me away from the room.
Remember?"
Tauncer turned to the Earthman. "Harper will tell you I'm not lying.
You heard every word, didn't you, Harper?"
The Earthman wrinkled his seamy cheeks and said in a tone of ringing
honesty, "I sure did."
Kirk was not yet able to stand up and kill him, or Tauncer, so he shut
his jaws tight and tried to think. I mustn't be drawn into a verbal
slanging match, he thought. That's what Tauncer wants. The more I yell
and swear the worse I look. What must I do? Something. Something....
"--so we're going to act suddenly to disarm the Fifth Squadron,"
Garstang was saying. "Charteris has been suspicious from the first, and
what I told him there last night made him more so. And--"
"Disarm the squadron?" cried Kirk. "Are you insane?" He had a sudden
nightmare vision of the Orion ships sweeping in, of the cruisers and
transports of the Fifth disappearing in a storm of smoke and fire, the
men falling like dead leaves.
"We can't take any chances," Garstang said, moving toward the phone.
"The Earth Navy--"
"Ha!"
"The Earth Navy," repeated Garstang, "is on full alert right now."
"Solleremos will eat it up," said Kirk savagely. "Don't be a fool,
Garstang. I don't care how loyal you are to Earth, you've got to admit
her navy can't face Orion Squadrons for five minutes."
Garstang hesitated. His face was grim and sad, and Kirk felt sorry for
him in spite of his anger. Garstang said, "We'll have to do what we
can. We'll fight enemies if they come, but we'll make sure first we
don't get stabbed in the back."
He picked up the phone. A gleam of satisfaction crossed Tauncer's face.
Kirk saw it, and suddenly the inspiration came to him.
* * * * *
He exclaimed, "I've been an idiot! Listen, Joe--put that phone down. I
can prove what I said in three minutes. If I don't--then go ahead and
call."
Garstang looked at him, frowning.
Tauncer said, with the first edge of tension his voice had yet shown,
"Go ahead, Garstang, don't let him make a fool of you."
Kirk said, "Shut up." He rose and hobbled over to the vera-ray
projector. "Help me set this up, Joe. Tauncer used it on Ferdias'
agent, and he was going to use it on me. Now let's see what it'll get
out of _him_."
Garstang came over. "A vera-ray? Why didn't you mention it before?"
"I was too damn mad to think straight," said Kirk.
They set it up, and Tauncer watched them, not speaking, yet still the
look of apprehension in his eyes was tempered with some underlying
confidence. He seemed to be thinking, very hard.
Garstang got the projector going. Harper, the seamy Earthman, winced
away from Tauncer as far as he could get. Behind the projector Kirk
could not feel anything, but Tauncer's face was briefly agonized, and
then it went slack and his eyes lost their keen brilliance, becoming
vague and unfocused.
"Tauncer," said Garstang. "Can you hear me?"
"Yes."
"Is Solleremos planning to take Earth into his Sector?"
Some dim vestige of a censor barrier seemed still to survive in
Tauncer's mind, because there was a long delay and Garstang asked the
question again, more sharply. But when the answer came it was clear
enough.
"Yes."
Kirk looked at Garstang, and Garstang's cheeks reddened. Lyllin said
triumphantly, "You see?"
"All right," said Garstang, and turned again to Tauncer.
"How will he do it?"
"Direct attack. The Earth naval forces are negligible. Lyra Squadron
will be caught on the ground, disorganized by absence of command."
"Absence of command," said Kirk slowly. A sudden alarm came into his
face. "You were going to keep me from returning to the squadron."
"Yes."
"But not here at this farm. Too many people knew where I was.
Charteris, folk in the town--"
"Oh, no," said Tauncer, "not here. Fast scout. The ship that brought me
to Earth ahead of your squadron. It's been waiting out beyond radar
range. It will take us all off."
Now, thought Kirk, I know why he's been so confident. He's been
planning for time. "You sent word to the scout-ship?"
"Yes," said Tauncer. "On the porto, right after I beamed your house. I
was sure you'd be unconscious."
Over Kirk's shoulder, Garstang said sharply, "When will it land?"
Tauncer made a vague movement as though trying to get his arm around
where he could see his chrono. Garstang said, "It's exactly two minutes
after eleven, Earth time."
Tauncer's lips moved. "Before midnight," he said. "Soon."
He seemed, dazed as he was, to be smiling.
Garstang said to Kirk, "You've got to get out of here, and fast!" He
started to turn hurriedly away, as though to hustle him and Lyllin out
of the house at once, but Kirk said, "No, wait, let me think."
He spoke to Tauncer. "You don't know exactly where Solleremos'
squadrons are, or exactly when they'll strike."
"No."
"But there must be a signal, some word they're waiting for."
"Yes," said Tauncer. "When the scout takes us off, that will be the
signal. Means we've got Commander. Means Lyra Squadron confused."
Garstang tugged at Kirk. "Come on."
"But," said Kirk to Tauncer, "suppose the scout doesn't find anybody
here."
"All the same. They'll know I've failed, and plan may be known. So
order will be to strike like lightning before defensive measures taken."
* * * * *
Kirk shut off the projector. He bent over Tauncer. "Get up," he said.
"Joe! Give me a hand." They got Tauncer wobbling to his feet. "Put him
in the ground car and take him back to Charteris. Try and convince
Charteris to let the Fifth go on battle-alert. Every minute may
count--if we're caught on the ground, we're sunk."
"Kirk--"
"Don't argue. If anything happens to me, Larned is to take over and
cooperate fully with Admiral Laney. You--"
"What do you mean, if anything happens, you're coming too."
"No."
They wrestled Tauncer down the front steps.
"But the scout--"
"That's just it. You heard what he said. The scout must _not_ take off
again."
"So what are you going to do?" asked Garstang. "Stand and hold it with
your bare hands? We can't possibly get any help from New York in time."
"Yeah," said Kirk. "So I'm going to try to get help right here."
"From these people?"
"Haven't you heard?" said Kirk. "I'm a local boy."
"So if you get it? A bunch of farmers. Even if they'll listen to you,
which they probably won't--"
They shoved Tauncer into the car. "Better tie his feet too," said Kirk.
"Lyllin! Lyllin, you're going with Joe."
"No," she said from the porch. "I am not."
"But you can't stay here!"
"If you are going to get yourself killed here, I stay!"
She was determined to make a fight about it, and Kirk had no time right
then. "All right," he said. "I guess you'll be safe enough with the
Vinsons." He slammed the door after Garstang. "Get going."
Garstang swore but he roared the ground car out in a cloud of dust and
gravel. Kirk ran back into the house. Most of the feeling had come
back in his side, and he could move pretty fast. The Earthman, Harper,
was squirming around the floor trying to get free. Kirk gave him one
ruthless blast with the sono-beam that would put him to sleep for a day
or so. He could be dealt with later, when more important things were
out of the way. Then he got on the phone and called Vinson.
A sleepy voice answered. "I was just going to bed. What do you want?"
"When you have an emergency around here," said Kirk, "what do you do to
get help in a hurry?"
Vinson's voice waked up. "Why, I phone around fast. The boys turn out
quick for fire, flood or whatever. Hey, you got a fire, Commander?"
"Worse," said Kirk. "Do your people have guns of some kind?"
"Sure, nearly every farm has a hunting-shocker. But--"
"Tell 'em to come armed, and come fast. Your place. My wife and I are
coming now."
"Say Commander, is this a joke or what?"
"It's the unfunniest joke ever to hit Earth," Kirk said grimly. "Call
them!"
He slammed the phone down, grabbed Lyllin by the hand, and lit out,
full tilt down the path and into the moonlit road.
* * * * *
By the time they reached Vinson's house, all the lights were on and
Vinson himself was standing in the road, waiting for them.
"I hope you know what you're doing," he said to Kirk worriedly. "The
boys don't like getting hauled out for nothing. What's up?"
Kirk told him, rapidly, between gasps, as he helped Lyllin up on the
porch. Mrs. Vinson, a pleasant-looking dark-haired woman in a pink
robe, cried out from the doorway and took Lyllin's hand to welcome her
in.
"What on earth is going on?" she demanded. "Why, you poor thing, he's
run the legs off you! Come in, sit down--" Then she caught sight of
Vinson's face. "What is it?" she asked quietly. "Tell me, so I'll know
what to do."
"There's going to be a fight," said Vinson, in a wondering,
half-incredulous tone. "There's a war going to start, and the first
fight is going to be right here, in Orville."
"In the woods," said Kirk hastily, pointing. "You'll be quite safe
here. And if we can take them by surprise, there won't even be a
skirmish."
"He says that the fate of Earth depends on us," said Vinson, still in
that wondering tone. "Well. I'm damned. What do you know!"
A car roared up outside. Another followed it, and then others at
irregular intervals. Pretty soon Vinson's yard and porch were crowded
with men carrying hunting-shockers. They looked at Vinson, and at
Kirk, curious, doubtful, not exactly hostile but in no mood to be
hurried into anything they didn't understand. Kirk glanced up at the
sky and groaned. Then he spoke, as rapidly and forcefully as he could.
"So that's the picture," he finished. "If that Orion scout takes off
again after it lands, your Earth may be a different place tomorrow. We
can stop it--if you will."
He wailed. There was no reaction at all for a moment, the leathery
faces looking silently at him. Then one man said,
"If people come bothering us, we'll bother them back--plenty. But we
don't need any stranger telling us what to do."
Kirk's heart sank. The cursed Earth mulishness was going to defeat him,
after all.
Vinson said loudly, "What do you mean, stranger! This is one of the old
Orville Kirks. _He's_ no stranger. It's strangers that he wants us to
help slap down."
They thought that over for a moment, and again Kirk looked up at the
sky. It must be very close now. In minutes, maybe, it would drop down,
and there would be nothing at all to stop it from going away again and
giving the signal. And these stolid farmers....
The one who had spoken peered bleakly at Kirk, and said, "Well. Like I
said, we don't want strangers interfering with us. Do we, boys?"
The men nodded assent, and stalked toward their cars. Kirk turned away,
defeated and furious. He'd have to try by himself--
Motors roared to life, and the cars started to go by him. A big red
truck paused beside him, and Vinson reached down from it to haul him
aboard.
"What are you standin' there for?" he cried to Kirk. "You said it might
come any minute!"
Kirk, a little dazedly, scrambled up into the truck beside him. "You
mean they're going back with me--"
"What did you think? Like Fred said, no blasted strangers from away
outside are going to come sneaking in here!"
The truck roared away down the moonlit road, following the speeding
cars back the way Kirk had come, waking hurrying echoes, raising a
great cloud of dust to redden the moon.
Kirk thought, "I'll never understand these damned Earthmen--never!"