The Earthman
Rick came back to life briefly. He saw a patch of something white
overhead, and after much staring decided it was a ceiling. He turned his
head an inch and saw a festoon of rubber tubes and hanging bottles.
Thinking was too difficult. He closed his eyes and drifted off again.
When he again awoke the rubber tubes and bottles were gone. Grinning
faces were grouped around him. Some he recognized, others were
strangers. That was Scotty, and that was John Gordon, and that was Tom
Preston. The others were doctors and nurses.
Rick said, "So we got down in one piece."
"Not exactly one piece." John Gordon smiled.
Scotty asked anxiously, "How do you feel?"
Rick thought about it. He didn't really know how he felt. "Sort of ...
light. I'm floating." Probably he had been asleep for some time. "What
time is it?" he asked.
John Gordon gave a relieved chuckle. "Time sense returns. He's
improving. You should ask what _day_ it is, Rick. You've been asleep a
long time. Pegasus went up three days ago."
"I must have needed sleep," Rick said weakly. Questions crowded into his
mind. He asked the most important ones first. "How's the spacemonk? Did
you get the Earthman?"
"The Prince is fine," John Gordon answered. "Yes, Rick, we got the
Earthman. He gave himself away when we realized you were in the rocket.
Now, no more questions. We'll be back again tomorrow and the doctor says
we can talk more."
"Just one more question," Rick pleaded. He couldn't sleep without
knowing. "Who is the Earthman?"
"Frank Miller."
And that was it, for the time being. Not until he was improved enough
for Scotty and Gordon to spend most of the day with him did Rick get the
whole story. They brought the spacemonk. The little creature petted
Rick, then snuggled down and went to sleep against his side.
The landing had been cruel misfortune. The brakes were not strong enough
to take the strain put on them. Worried because Rick had not signaled
for a second time, Jerry had brought the rocket in faster than planned.
Pegasus had buried its nose in the foothills.
Rick had suffered an amazing variety of bruises, coupled with internal
damages, three broken ribs, and a dislocated right shoulder. On his
right arm he had a permanent scar as a memento of the landing. A metal
projection had given him a bad wound and cut an artery. He had lost
considerable blood by the time the first-aid team was able to get him
out and apply a tourniquet. He had also suffered concussion.
John Gordon described what had happened in the blockhouse.
"I just yelled your first message out loud. Jerry was staring at the
radar screen at the time. He reached over and switched the equipment
back on, then took control. At first we didn't know who was in the
rocket. Then we took a quick nose count. You and two or three others
were missing, but none of you had definite assignments, anyway. I was
pretty sure it was you, knowing your ability for getting into trouble,
but it wasn't until we got the message about the Earthman with your
initials that we were really sure."
"When did you find out Frank Miller was the Earthman?" Rick asked.
"Then and there. He let out a sort of funny cry, grabbed his stomach,
and fainted dead away. We brought him to, and he started crying that he
hadn't meant to hurt anyone.
"Dr. Bond asked him bluntly if he was the Earthman, and he was so shaken
I guess he didn't even think of trying to get out of it. He just nodded.
Gee-Gee Gould had him by the throat in a minute, and I think he would
have strangled him. But we got him off Miller and persuaded him to let
the law take its course.
"After Dr. Bond and Miller finished putting the monk in place and
started down, Miller said he had left his tool kit, and went back to get
it. He must have changed the circuit then. I suppose in his excitement
and fear of discovery he forgot the door. Later, he must have remembered
and went back to close it, not knowing you were inside. Dr. Bond blames
himself because he didn't stay with Miller."
Rick shook his head. "I can't understand it. Why would Miller do such a
thing?"
"Obviously, he isn't a normal human being, in our sense of the word."
"You mean he's insane?" Scotty asked.
"No. Not insane. He's what some people call a psychopath. He is not
morally responsible. In other words, he can't distinguish right from
wrong, as most people understand the terms."
"That explains why he was able to do those things," Rick agreed. "But it
doesn't explain why he became the Earthman and sabotaged rockets."
"We have a good explanation of that," John Gordon said. "It goes back to
some time ago when selection of personnel for the projects began. Both
Frank Miller and Dick Earle were professionally qualified to be
electronics chief of Pegasus. But of course professional qualifications
aren't everything. Miller was not well liked. Earle was given the
assignment because it was thought he could do a better job of getting
along with the staff."
"And Miller resented it," Rick said.
"Yes. That was natural enough. But because of his warped personality, he
went from a natural reaction to a psychopathic one. He decided to take
revenge. We don't know why he decided to call himself the Earthman,
except that he apparently saw himself as a shining knight in armor,
setting to rights the earth's wrongs--of course he meant the wrongs
supposedly done to him. Being a design engineer he was naturally
something of an artist, although his record didn't show any special
talent."
"But," Scotty objected, "if he doesn't know right from wrong, why should
he break up when he found Rick was in the rocket?"
Gordon shrugged. "Again, we can't be sure. My own opinion is that he had
a shock reaction. The reaction was partly physical, and he was in poor
physical condition. For another thing, Rick spoiled his beautiful design
for destruction."
"Where is he now?" Rick asked.
"In custody at Nellis Air Force Base, awaiting trial."
There was still much Rick wanted to know, but his conversation with
Scotty and John Gordon was interrupted. Gee-Gee Gould, Dick Earle, Dr.
Bond, and others from the project stopped by. Gee-Gee brought him a
medal, which he presented with proper ceremony. The staff had made it
from a scrap of ribbon and the name plate of Pegasus.
"We salute you, young Brant," Gee-Gee proclaimed. "You will be forever
recorded in our annals as the first, involuntary spaceman."
"Involuntary is right," Rick said, grinning.
"But, nevertheless, the first. Young Brant, we wish to bestow this small
token of our esteem. We regret only that the world can never cheer you
with us, on account of this being a classified project."
Dr. Bond shook hands with him. "Now that our hearts have come down out
of our throats, Rick, we're pretty proud of you."
Dick Earle shook hands, too. "You certainly saved the project, Rick,
even if by accident. If you hadn't been locked in, and able to get the
control operating, Pegasus would have crashed."
Later, when he had a chance to talk with Scotty alone, Rick asked, "How
about Mac and Pancho? Was anything stolen?"
"Mac and Pancho are still at large. Tom Preston hasn't let them know
they're in any way under suspicion. And, yes, stuff was stolen. This
time it was ionization chambers and photon counters."
Scotty had stayed in his position in the maintenance shop, where he
could watch the warehouses. Luis Hermosa had also watched, from the
firehouse. The janitor, Dusty Rhoads, had wandered casually into a
warehouse, pushing his cart. On orders from Preston the clerks were on
the job, instead of watching the shoot.
Then, fire had suddenly broken out in a small tool shed across from the
warehouse area. Luis had to abandon the watch to go to the fire, and the
clerks had all run out at the sound of the sirens. Whereupon, with
Scotty watching, Dusty Rhoads had emerged, pushing his cleanup cart in
front of him. He had even stopped to watch the fire being put out.
Scotty followed him, and watched Rhoads unload the stolen instruments
from his cart and dump them into the base rubbish pile. The janitor
covered them with other, noninflammable junk and went on about his
business.
"So you got the stuff back," Rick commented.
"Nope." Scotty shook his head. "It's still there."
"What?"
"Under day and night guard. From a distance, of course. Rhoads doesn't
know he was seen. Now Tom Preston is waiting for the next step."
"What's that?"
"Project Cetus shoots in two days."
The light dawned. "And you expect Mac and Pancho will get the stuff!"
"On the nose. Think you'll be around for it?"
"I wouldn't miss it," Rick said firmly.
He didn't miss it, although he was still too weak to be a participant.
Instead, with arm in sling and ribs still taped, he was allowed to
listen to the action in Tom Preston's office.
It started when Mac and Pancho picked up their radar unit in the
maintenance shed. They drove to a dark area behind the shed where Dusty
Rhoads was waiting with his cart. The stolen material was quickly
transferred, and hidden behind the equipment racks in the truck. Then
Mac and Pancho drove off, en route to Careless Mesa.
Dusty Rhoads put his cart away and started back to his barracks.
Security officers fell in step on either side of him. Dusty was
finished.
The gate reported by phone when Mac and Pancho went through, then there
was a long wait. Tom Preston, John Gordon, and Rick had an early
breakfast in the security chief's office. Just as they finished
breakfast, the communications outfit on Preston's desk buzzed.
"Playboy One to Playboy Base. Come in."
Preston thumbed his microphone. "This is Playboy Base. Go ahead."
"Deadrock here, Tom. They're coming up the mountain."
"Roger. Keep us advised."
The waiting again, then Deadrock called once more, excitement in his
voice. "Tom, there's another vehicle of some kind coming in from
Steamboat."
"Good! How are you fixed?"
"We can handle a regiment. Scotty is going down around the mesa to cut
them off in case they try to run for it. Hank is going down on the base
side. How important is it for Careless Mesa to track the shoot?"
John Gordon gave Preston the answer. "Not important enough to risk not
catching all of them. The other stations are tracking."
"Get 'em," Preston ordered.
"Right. Soon as it's a little lighter. We don't want one wriggling away
in the dark."
Rick looked outside. Dawn was just breaking. It would be light enough in
ten minutes. The ten minutes took an hour to pass. Then he had to wait
ten more, until Deadrock came back on the air.
"They're all yours, Tom. I fired a shot and they looked up. Then Scotty
and Hank fired over their heads from each side and they saw they were
trapped. They upped hands, polite as you please, and we moved in to put
the cuffs on."
Scotty elaborated later. Deadrock had waited until some of the stolen
goods had changed hands before firing his warning shot. That was for
purposes of evidence.
Pancho and Mac maintained a stony silence, but Dusty Rhoads was eager to
talk. The other two had threatened to kill him, he claimed, and had
forced him to steal. No one believed this, but Dusty's tale at least
showed the connection between Miller and the thefts.
Pancho had stumbled across evidence that Miller was the Earthman, Dusty
said. Dusty didn't know what the evidence was, and Pancho refused to
tell him. But when Big Mac heard about it, he accused Miller, and
promised to keep silent in exchange for co-operation. He demanded to be
told when a shoot was to be sabotaged. Miller agreed, in exchange for
part of the profits. Mac, Pancho, and Dusty had not participated in any
way in the sabotage.
The other men, who had captured Rick and Scotty at Steamboat, proved to
be well-known thieves with prison records. One admitted they had
depended on Mac and Pancho to tip them off to any trap that might be
waiting, but of course Preston had made sure no inkling reached Mac and
Pancho that they were under suspicion. For that reason, the thieves had
driven without hesitation to Careless Mesa to pick up the latest batch
of stolen equipment--and had received the shock of their lives.
Rick thought that the trail of the Earthman had been a pretty devious
one, complicated as it was by a gang of thieves as well as the saboteur
himself.
He wondered briefly if Miller's identity would ever have come to light
if he hadn't been trapped in the rocket. But the next moment he realized
it would have, eventually, because the thieves were known, and at least
the janitor would have talked.
Rick and Scotty still had their jobs. Both had done well in their
assigned work, and could have stayed on indefinitely. But in spite of
the temptation to remain for a while, the call of Spindrift was strong.
As Rick said, "It's nice to travel, but one thing that makes it nice is
that we can go back home."
A letter from Barby had made him a little homesick. Everyone was fine.
Dismal was lonesome. Jan Miller was back, with her parents. Dad was
worried because he hadn't heard from Tony Briotti and Howard Shannon,
but that was probably just the slowness of mail. Barby urged them to
hurry back and hoped they were finding life dull enough so they would.
She and Jan needed instruction in sailing, because they had just bought
a new Comet-class sailboat.
The boys said farewell to their friends at Scarlet Lake, not forgetting
Prince Machiavelli, and returned to Spindrift two days after the
successful Cetus shoot.
Back at Spindrift they spent their time instructing the girls in proper
sailing technique, but Rick still had to avoid exertion, and he couldn't
swim because his arm was still bandaged. Then, one day the Brants'
family doctor announced that he was fine, and a bandage was no longer
needed.
Barby looked at the scar on Rick's forearm and her eyes opened wide.
"Rick! That was a terrible cut! How on earth did you get it?"
He couldn't tell her the real story. He had been instructed by his
father not to mention it, even to Barby. "It was pretty exciting," he
said. "It happened when they let me fire a rocket."
"You fired a rocket?" Barby gasped.
"Sort of," Rick said. "I lit the fuse. I didn't jump back far enough,
though. The tail fin clipped me as it went by."
For a long while Barby wasn't sure whether Rick's story was true or not.
She didn't know whether the big rockets had fuses. When she found out by
questioning Dr. Zircon, she asked Scotty to remind her not to talk to
Rick for twenty-four hours.
But before the day was over, Rick was packing, in company with Scotty
and Dr. Zircon, for an emergency trip to the Sulu Sea. Their mission:
find two missing Spindrift scientists!
What happened during the search will be told in the next exciting book
of Rick's adventures: THE PIRATES OF SHAN.
_The_ RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE _Stories_
BY JOHN BLAINE
THE ROCKET'S SHADOW
THE LOST CITY
SEA GOLD
100 FATHOMS UNDER
THE WHISPERING BOX MYSTERY
THE PHANTOM SHARK
SMUGGLERS' REEF
THE CAVES OF FEAR
STAIRWAY TO DANGER
THE GOLDEN SKULL
THE WAILING OCTOPUS
THE ELECTRONIC MIND READER
THE SCARLET LAKE MYSTERY
End of Project Gutenberg's The Scarlet Lake Mystery, by Harold Leland Goodwin