Rice said it, slow:
"Interplanetary law declares it straight, Lethla! Get out! Only dead
men belong here."
Lethla's gun grip tightened. "More talk of that nature, and only dead
men there will be." He blinked. "But first--we must rescue Kriere...."
"Kriere!" Rice acted as if he had been hit in the jaw.
Burnett moved his tongue back and forth on his lips silently, his eyes
lidded, listening to the two of them as if they were a radio drama.
Lethla's voice came next:
"Rather unfortunately, yes. He's still alive, heading toward Venus
at an orbital velocity of two thousand m.p.h., wearing one of these
air-chrysali. Enough air for two more hours. Our flag ship was attacked
unexpectedly yesterday near Mars. We were forced to take to the
life-boats, scattering, Kriere and I in one, the others sacrificing
their lives to cover our escape. We were lucky. We got through the
Earth cordon unseen. But luck can't last forever.
"We saw your morgue ship an hour ago. It's a long, long way to Venus.
We were running out of fuel, food, water. Radio was broken. Capture
was certain. You were coming our way; we took the chance. We set a
small time-bomb to destroy the life-rocket, and cast off, wearing our
chrysali-helmets. It was the first time we had ever tried using them to
trick anyone. We knew you wouldn't know we were alive until it was too
late and we controlled your ship. We knew you picked up all bodies for
brief exams, returning alien corpses to space later."
Rice's voice was sullen. "A set-up for you, huh? Traveling under the
protection of the Purple Cross you can get your damned All-Mighty safe
to Venus."
Lethla bowed slightly. "Who would suspect a Morgue Rocket of providing
safe hiding for precious Venusian cargo?"
"Precious is the word for you, brother!" said Rice.
"Enough!" Lethla moved his gun several inches.
"Accelerate toward Venus, mote-detectors wide open. Kriere must be
picked up--_now!_"
* * * * *
Rice didn't move. Burnett moved first, feeling alive for the first time
in years. "Sure," said Sam, smiling. "We'll pick him up."
"No tricks," said Lethla.
Burnett scowled and smiled together. "No tricks. You'll have Kriere on
board the _Constellation_ in half an hour or I'm no coroner."
"Follow me up the ladder."