"That's just it. But if I can find what I'm after here, I just might
be able to change that a little. That spacetender of mine didn't fall
apart out there because it wouldn't work! Not by a damn sight it
didn't!"
"Be careful what you say, Master Kane!"
"Truth's the truth, isn't it? Even if I can't prove a certain Majtech
wanted to see me flop and get thrown out of here badly enough to ruin
my experiment? Maybe I asked too many questions; or answered too many
the wrong way. Your guess is as good as mine. But instead of logical
explanations or fair evaluations, I got a court-martial instead. Maybe
you can tell me, Lenantech--why replace an entire distributor head
assembly on a farm tractor when replacement of the rotor may be all
that's necessary? Why a new spark plug when all that is required is
the resetting of its points? Why stick to a logarithm with a base of 10
when other bases could often make an entire mathematical operation far
more simple? And if a man can build you a better drive unit, why smash
it for him and discredit him?"
"I think the court took ample cognizance of those questions, Master
Kane." She had lowered the weapon, and had even come a step closer to
him. And for a moment, he thought that he had seen a flash of interest
in her eyes.
"I know what the court did. But you can think as well as anybody else,
can't you? What are your answers, ma'am?"
"This is hardly the place for a history lecture, Master Kane. But the
ITA was formed of those few technicians who managed to escape the wrath
of the war weary civilizations who turned upon them and upon men called
scientists, whatever they were, as those to blame for system-wide
destruction and wholesale death. You have been taught that. Many of
their methods and much of their knowledge was lost. You have been
taught that also. But it was those methods and that knowledge which
saved them from destruction once, and made the ITA possible. What was
not lost is sacred knowledge, Master Kane, and for only a few to know,
and for those few to guard militantly lest one jot more of it become
lost!"
"You're right. I've been taught all that. But you still haven't
answered my questions! Suppose I told you I could do a Project AA in
less than an hour's time, and guarantee it good for five hundred years.
What would you say to that?"
He saw her eyes widen. "That is sheer nonsense and you know it, cadet!
A double-A takes six solid months except in event of emergency, and
is good for fifty years at maximum! Why, even the geniuses of those
ancient war years who were forced to conceive and devise the Project
could not have done better--"
Jon grinned again. "Some day maybe I'll show you, Lenantech! Me and the
planets and you! But you better get going and report me before you get
yourself in a jam--"
"Yes, indeed she had!"
* * * * *
The girl blanched, and Jon felt sick. It was B-Haaq. It was always
B-Haaq. Standing now in the hatchway, black eyes blazing.
Suddenly Jon felt something snap inside him; suddenly the delicate
mechanisms of his brain which had kept reason and desire on a tautly
balanced plane of stability failed him, and frustrated rage was in his
throat again, and the blinding white of the exploding spacetender swam
again before his eyes. He felt his right arm sweeping up over his head,
felt the weight of something at its end, and then felt the arm go down,
relieved suddenly of the weight.
The heavy hand gun flew straight at B-Haaq, and glanced from his head.
The man slumped, fell almost soundlessly.
And for a full second, it seemed to Jon that time had stopped. The girl
was motionless, the look of disbelief frozen on her features, and there
was a numbing paralysis gripping his own body.
Then he was in motion, and it was an automatic thing, his arms and legs
moving swiftly as though fully independent of his brain. Within seconds
he had pulled the unconscious B-Haaq into a far corner of the armory
and covered him with his own cloak of office. He pulled a double rack
of neuro-rifles in front of the shapeless heap, and then before she
could pull away from him he had the girl by one arm and was propelling
her toward the hatchway.
"Kane, what do you think--"
"No time to talk, ma'am. These lights have been on too long--somebody's
going to notice the energy consumption in General Control any minute
now. Besides which, B-Haaq saw you with me, and heard me telling you to
get going and report me. So if I didn't kill him--"
"You're crazy! He wouldn't--"
Jon tightened his grip, looked straight into her eyes. "You know he
would, ma'am. If only because he hated me so much, and he found you
with me. We've got to get going."
"You let me go!" With a quick wrench, she twisted free of him. "You're
forgetting, aren't you, that no matter where in the ship you go it will
be only a matter of time before you're found? And if they can give you
anything worse than the mines--"
"All right then, stay if you want to! Go ahead and gamble that
our friend's either dead or has a forgiving nature hidden away
somewhere--the only thing I'm sure about is that he didn't blow up
_all_ the ship's spacetenders."
"You'll be overhauled in no time!"
"Ten minutes' work and I can triple the speed of any one of those
buckets. You coming, or not?"
He turned from her, ducked swiftly through the hatchway and chose a
port-side ramp that would carry him up to the Maintenance deck. There
would be at least one tender berthed there in good working condition.
He flattened himself against the ramp wall as he neared its end;
listened. Nothing. Maintenance was just sitting around as usual, and
during the sleep period, there'd be only a skeleton crew.
In the semi-darkness, he reached up, felt his fingers brush along
the curved, smooth ceiling of the gently inclined passage. There; an
emergency pressure duct, designed to open automatically in the event of
malfunction of the ship's atmospheric regulators. Emergency pressure
could be built up through the ducts in the event of any sudden fall of
more than eight ounces per square inch; and would be instantly released
should it mount more than three pounds above. All he had to do was jam
this single duct to the "excess" position and hold his breath.
It was like picking a lock with his bare fingers, and they felt like
fat sausages. And then he had it.
There was a sudden scream of escaping air about him, and he plunged
forward.
Somewhere an alarm clanged, and he knew that within moments the
skeleton maintenance crew would be suited and pouring in on the ramp
with everything it had, from Geiger counters to baling wire. Already,
even above the near deafening alarms, he could hear the pounding of
their feet.
He dashed for it.
Reached the berth, and there was a tender snuggled into it, ready and
waiting.
He had the small craft's outer lock opened within seconds.
"KANE!"
He whirled, even as the inner lock was sliding open. It was Deanne
Starn. And she was running toward him.
The inner lock was open, and Jon pushed her through it, and then had
himself strapped before the miniature control console almost before
the blinker winked to signal that the outer and inner lock ports were
sealed.
He waited a nerve wracking twenty seconds before the Flagship's
flank yawned open, and then jammed the firing studs down with his
accelerators full open.
The tender leaped from its berth like a wounded thing, and for a moment
Space spun sickeningly, and Jon's eyes blurred from the unprecedented
take-off acceleration. Might as well break all the rules in the book.
Then the stabilizers were taking over, and things began to straighten
out. He flipped the craft's automatics in, unbuckled his straps and got
weightlessly underway toward the tender's aft-section.
"Kane, where are you going? Where are we going?"
"I'm going to diddle with this tub until that big barge back there
can't pick us up for Spacedust. And we're going to a little backwater
planetoid that the ITA only gets to once every thirty years or so. They
used to call it Titan."
"A satellite of one of the Sol planets, isn't it?"
"You're coming up with a lot of smart answers all of a sudden."
"Can you--can you find it? All by yourself?"
"My father was born right next door. I can find it."