* * * * *
And she was not an inspiring sight. The fantastically misnamed
_Aphrodite_ was a surge-circuit monitor of twenty guns built some ten
years back in the period immediately preceding the Ionian Subjugation
Incident. She had been designed primarily for atomics, with a
surge-circuit set-up for interstellar flight. At least that was the
planner's view. In those days, interstellar astrogation was in its
formative stage, and at the time of the _Aphrodite's_ launching the
surge-circuit was hailed as the very latest in space drives.
Her designer, Harlan Hendricks, had been awarded a Legion of Merit
for her, and every silver-braided admiral in the Fleet had dreamed
of hoisting his flag on one of her class. There had been three. The
_Artemis_, the _Andromeda_, and the prototype ... old Aphrodisiac. The
three vessels had gone into action off Callisto after the Phobos Raid
had set off hostilities between the Ionians and the Solarian Combine.
All three were miserable failures.
The eager officers commanding the three monitors had found the circuit
too appealing to their hot little hands. They used it ... in some way,
wrongly.
The _Artemis_ exploded. The _Andromeda_ vanished in the general
direction of Coma Berenices glowing white hot from the heat of a
ruptured fission chamber and spewing gamma rays in all directions.
And the _Aphrodite's_ starboard tubes blew, causing her to spend her
store of vicious energy spinning like a Fourth of July pinwheel under
20 gravities until all her interior fittings ... including crew were a
tangled, pulpy mess within her pressure hull.
The _Aphrodite_ was refitted for space. And because it was an integral
part of her design, the circuit was rebuilt ... and sealed. She became
a workhorse, growing more cantankerous with each passing year. She
carried personnel.... She trucked ores. She ferried skeeterboats and
tanked rocket fuel. Now, she would carry the mail. She would lift from
Venusport and jet to Canalopolis, Mars, without delay or variation.
Regulations, tradition and Admiral Gorman of the Inner Planet Fleet
required it. And it was now up to David Farragut Strykalski III to see
to it that she did....
The Officer of the Deck, a trim blonde girl in spotless greys saluted
smartly as Strike and Cob stepped through the valve.
Strike felt vaguely uncomfortable. He knew, of course, that at least a
third of the personnel on board non-combat vessels of the Inner Planet
Fleet was female, but he had never actually had women on board a ship
of his own, and he felt quite certain that he preferred them elsewhere.
Cob sensed his discomfort. "That was Celia Graham, Strike. Ensign.
Radar Officer. She's good, too."
Strike shook his head. "Don't like women in space. They make me
uncomfortable."
Cob shrugged. "Celia's the only officer. But about a quarter of our
ratings are women." He grinned maliciously. "Equal rights, you know."
"No doubt," commented the other sourly. "Is that why they named
this ... ship 'Aphrodite'?"
Whitley saw fit to consider the question rhetorical and remained silent.
Strike lowered his head to clear the arch of the flying-bridge
bulkhead. Cob followed. He trailed his Captain through a jungle
of chrome piping to the main control panels. Strike sank into an
acceleration chair in front of the red DANGER seal on the surge-circuit
rheostat.
"Looks like a drug-store fountain, doesn't it?" commented Cob.
Strykalski nodded sadly, thinking of the padded smoothness of the
_Ganymede's_ flying-bridge. "But she's home to us, anyway."
The thick Venusian fog had closed in around the top levels of the ship,
hugging the ports and cutting off all view of the field outside. Strike
reached for the squawk-box control.
"Now hear this. All officer personnel will assemble in the flying
bridge at 600 hours for Captain's briefing. Officer of the Deck will
recall any enlisted personnel now on liberty...."
Whitley was on his feet, all the slackness gone from his manner.
"Orders, Captain?"
"We can't do anything until the new Engineering Officer gets here.
They're sending someone down from the _Antigone_, and I expect him by
600 hours. In the meantime you'll take over his part of the work. See
to it that we are fueled and ready to lift ship by 602. Base will start
loading the mail at 599:30. That's about all."
"Yes, sir." Whitley saluted and turned to go. At the bulkhead, he
paused. "Captain," he asked, "Who is the new E/O to be?"
Strike stretched his long legs out on the steel deck. "A Lieutenant
Hendricks, I. V. Hendricks, is what the orders say."
Cob thought hard for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "I. V.
Hendricks." He shook his head. "Don't know him."
* * * * *
The other officers of the _T.R.S. Aphrodite_ were in conference with
the Captain when Cob and the girl at his side reached the flying
bridge. She was tall and dark-haired with regular features and pale
blue eyes. She wore a service jumper with two silver stripes on the
shoulder-straps, and even the shapeless garment could not hide the
obvious trimness of her figure.
Strike's back was toward the bulkhead, and he was addressing the others.
"... and that's about the story. We are to jet within 28,000,000 miles
of Sol. Orbit is trans-Mercurian hyperbolic. With Mars in opposition,
we have to make a perihelion run and it won't be pleasant. But I'm
certain this old boiler can take it. I understand the old boy who
designed her wasn't as incompetent as they say. But Space Regs are
specific about mail runs. This is important to you, Evans. Your
astrogation has to be accurate to within twenty-five miles plus or
minus the shortest route. And there'll be no breaking orbit. Now be
certain that the refrigeration units are checked, Mister Wilkins,
especially in the hydroponic cells. Pure air is going to be important."
"That's about all there is to tell you. As soon as our rather
leisurely E/O gets here, we can jet with Aunt Nelly's postcard." He
nodded. "That's the story. Lift ship in...." He glanced at his wrist
chronograph, "... in an hour and five."
The officers filed out and Cob Whitley stuck his head into the room.
"Captain?"
"Come in, Cob." Strike's dark brows knit at the sight of the uniformed
girl in the doorway.
Cob's face was sober, but hidden amusement was kindling behind his
eyes. "Captain, may I present Lieutenant Hendricks? Lieutenant _I-vy_
Hendricks?"
Strike looked blankly at the girl.
"Our new E/O, Captain," prompted Whitley.
"Uh ... welcome aboard, Miss Hendricks," was all the Captain could find
to say.
The girl's eyes were cold and unfriendly. "Thank you, Captain." Her
voice was like cracked ice tinkling in a glass. "If I may have your
permission to inspect the drives, Captain, I _may_ be able to
convince you that the designer of this vessel was not ... as you seem
to think ... a senile incompetent."
Strike was perplexed, and he showed it. "Why, certainly ... uh ...
Miss ... but why should you be so...."
The girl's voice was even colder than before as she said, "Harlan
Hendricks, Captain, is my father."
* * * * *
A week in space had convinced Strike that he commanded a jinx ship.
Jetting sunward from Venus, the cantankerous _Aphrodite_ had burned a
steering tube through, and it had been necessary to go into free-fall
while Jenkins, the Assistant E/O, and a damage control party effected
repairs. When the power was again applied, Old Aphrodisiac was running
ten hours behind schedule, and Strike and Evans, the Astrogation
Officer, were sweating out the unforeseen changes introduced into the
orbital calculations by the time spent in free-fall.
The _Aphrodite_ rumbled on toward the orbit of Mercury....
For all the tension between the occupants of the flying-bridge, Strike
and Ivy Hendricks worked well together. And after a second week in
space, a reluctant admiration was replacing the resentment between
them. Ivy spent whatever time she could spare tinkering with her
father's pet surge-circuit and Strike began to realize that there was
little she did not know about spaceship engineering. Then, too, Ivy
spent a lot of time at the controls, and Strike was forced to admit
that he had never seen a finer job of piloting done by man or woman.
And finally, Ivy hated old Brass-bottom Gorman even more than Strike
did. She felt that Gorman had ruined her father's career, and she was
dedicating her life to proving her father right and Brass-bottom wrong.
There's nothing in the cosmos to nurture friendship like a common enemy.
At 30,000,000 miles from the sun, the _Aphrodite's_ refrigeration
units could no longer keep the interior of the ship at a comfortable
temperature. The thermometer stood at 102°F, the very metal of
the ship's fittings hot to the touch. Uniforms were discarded,
insignia of rank vanished. The men dressed in fiberglass shorts and
spaceboots, sweat making their naked bodies gleam like copper under the
sodium-vapor lights. The women in the crew added only light blouses to
their shorts ... and suffered from extra clothing.
Strike was in the observation blister forward, when Ensign Graham
called to say that she had picked up a radar contact sunward. The
IFF showed the pips to be the _Lachesis_ and the _Atropos_. The two
dreadnaughts were engaged in coronary research patrol ... a purely
routine business. But the thing that made Strike curse under his breath
was Celia Graham's notation that the _Atropos_ carried none other than
Space Admiral Horatio Gorman, Cominch Inplan.
Strike thought it a pity that old Brass-bottom couldn't fall into
Hell's hottest pit ... and he told Ivy so.
And she agreed.
* * * * *
Old Aphrodisiac had reached perihelion when it happened. The
thermometer stood at 135° and tempers were snapping. Cob and Celia
Graham had tangled about some minor point concerning Lover-Girl's
weight and balance. Ivy went about her work on the bridge without
speaking, and Strike made no attempt to brighten her sudden depression.
Lieutenant Evans had punched Bayne, the Tactical Astrophysicist,
in the eye for some disparaging remark about Southern California
womanhood. The ratings were grumbling about the food....
And then it happened.
Cob was in the radio room when Sparks pulled the flimsy from the
scrambler. It was a distress signal from the _Lachesis_. The
_Atropos_ had burst a fission chamber and was falling into the sun.
Radiation made a transfer of personnel impossible, and the _Atropos_
skeeterboats didn't have the power to pull away from the looming star.
The _Lachesis_ had a line on the sister dreadnaught and was valiantly
trying to pull the heavy vessel to safety, but even the thundering
power of the _Lachesis'_ mighty drive wasn't enough to break Sol's
deathgrip on the battleship.
A fleet of souped-up space-tugs was on its way from Luna and Venusport,
but they could not possibly arrive on time. And it was doubtful that
even the tugs had the necessary power to drag the crippled _Atropos_
away from a fiery end.
Cob snatched the flimsy from Sparks' hands and galloped for the
flying-bridge. He burst in and waved the message excitedly in front of
Strykalski's face.
"Have a look at this! Ye gods and little catfish! Read it!"
"Well, dammit, hold it still so I can!" snapped Strike. He read the
message and passed it to Ivy Hendricks with a shake of his head.
She read it through and looked up exultantly. "This is _it_! This is
the chance I've been praying for, Strike!"
He returned her gaze sourly. "For Gorman to fall into the sun? I recall
I said something of the sort myself, but there are other men on those
ships. And, if I know Captain Varni on the _Lachesis_, he won't let go
that line even if he fries himself."
Ivy's eyes snapped angrily. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!
I mean this!" She touched the red-sealed surge-circuit rheostat.
"That's very nice, Lieutenant," commented Cob drily. "And I know that
you've been very busy adjusting that gismo. But I seem to recall that
the last time that circuit was uncorked everyone aboard became part of
the woodwork ... very messily, too."
"Let me understand you, Ivy," said Strike in a flat voice. "What you
are suggesting is that I risk my ship and the lives of all of us trying
to pull old Gorman's fat out of the fire with a drive that's blown
skyhigh three times out of three. Very neat."
There were tears bright in Ivy Hendricks' eyes and she sounded
desperate. "But we can save those ships! We can, I _know_ we can! My
father designed this ship! I know every rivet of her! Those idiots off
Callisto didn't know what they were doing. These ships needed specially
trained men. Father told them that! And I'm trained! I can take her in
and save those ships!" Her expression turned to one of disgust. "Or are
you afraid?"
"Frankly, Ivy, I haven't enough sense to be afraid. But are you so
certain that we can pull this off? If I make a mistake this time ...
it'll be the last. For all of us."
"We can do it," said Ivy Hendricks simply.
Strike turned to Cob. "What do you say, Cob? Shall we make it hotter in
here?"