"I don't know! Someone sprang at me and knocked the ray out of my
hands. I saw people--I thought I saw people--in the shadows behind
Corporal Drein. I began to run. I don't want to accuse him of--of
anything, Captain. I can't be sure. If he's an Earthman, we have
to--we have to dispose of him, and I wouldn't want--"
Her voice trailed off in a gasp of terror as they heard a new burst
of gunfire, very close. Tchassen dodged aside, pulling Tynia behind a
tree. Sergeant Briggan fired blindly into the night. His dispersal beam
danced across the face of a frame building and the house exploded into
flame. In the red glare of the fire, Tchassen saw a band of savages,
dressed in animal hides--no that was impossible!--fleeing into the
darkness beyond the village.
Corporal Drein staggered toward them. Blood spilled from a gash torn in
his chest. He saw Tchassen, Tynia and the Sergeant standing together.
Like a man in a daze, he began to raise his dispersal ray.
In Tchassen's mind there was no longer any room for doubt; the truth
was clear. Drein was an Earthman; Drein had betrayed the station; Drein
now intended to kill off the only survivors. The Captain acted with
military decision. He pressed the firing stud of his weapon. Drein
screamed in agony as he died.
Tynia buried her face in her hands. Briggan put his arm around her. In
the flickering light, Tchassen saw the Sergeant grin.
"You didn't have to kill him, Captain," Tynia whispered.
"After what you told me--"
"Don't blame me; I didn't do anything!"
"He was going to fire at us, wasn't he?"
"You don't know that for sure. Maybe he was asking for help!"
Tchassen shrugged; there was no accounting for the emotional
inconsistencies of a woman.
"What did you expect to prove by murdering Drein?" Briggan asked.
"I saved us from--"
"If he was an Earthman, why were the bandits firing at him? Why had
they wounded him?"
"To make it look good," Tchassen replied, no longer really believing
it himself. "They wanted our weapons; they have to use trickery to get
them away from us."
Tchassen slid the weapon out of Drein's lifeless fingers and
half-heartedly searched the street for Tynia's dispersal ray. He didn't
expect to find it. The Earth people had it now. The loss of the weapon
was, in one sense, more serious than the destruction of the Nevada
station. A prison compound could be rebuilt and restaffed. But if the
Earth ever faced the conqueror with equal firepower, Earthmen would
recapture their world--and more.
We've failed; we have no right to be here--the Captain fought a burning
nausea as the fear washed over his mind. What had they accomplished by
the occupation? The Earth was neither enslaved nor destroyed. Hatred
made the natives savages. They would never be content until they had
revenge. They never conceded defeat; they never would. Corporal Drein
seemed to be typical of their fanaticism, and that was why Tchassen had
killed him--that, and the hysterical story Tynia had told. On calmer
reflection, Tchassen knew he had no proof of Drein's disloyalty--which
meant that either Briggan or Tynia could be Earth natives. That
problem was unsolved; the danger was undiminished.
* * * * *
Tchassen wasted very little time looking for the weapon Tynia had lost.
After twenty minutes, the three survivors returned to the house where
Tchassen and Briggan had found food and clothing. They packed the
canned goods into the sedan and put on warm coats and jackets. Although
the woolens and the cottons fell to pieces when they touched the cloth,
the synthetic fabrics were still relatively sound, particularly when
they had been sealed in mothproof plastic.
Tchassen took over the driving when they left Reno. For greater warmth,
Tynia and the Sergeant crowded into the front seat beside him. As
they ascended the grade toward the pass, the air turned much colder.
Tchassen's hands felt numb on the wheel and the altitude made his mind
swim in a haze of vague nausea.
There was no moon and the headlights of the sedan had been smashed long
ago. The Captain drove very slowly, concentrating on the curves of the
highway. Three times the machine narrowly missed going over the edge;
the guard rail saved them. Tchassen knew he was risking their lives to
drive at night, but he had no alternative. They would not be really
safe again until they reached the base on the coast, and the Earth
people would try to prevent that. They would try to make sure that no
survivors lived to report what had happened at the Nevada station.
Briggan fished three cans of food out of the back of the car and
blasted them open with his dispersal ray. The can he handed Tchassen
contained a fruit in a heavy, sickly sweet syrup. Tchassen made himself
empty the tin. Tynia had a pinkish meat which she was totally unable to
choke down. The civilized galaxy had been vegetarian for two thousand
years; a clear indication of the savagery of the Earth culture was the
fact that the natives still ate animal flesh. Briggan opened another
can for Tynia. After a brief hesitation, he began to eat the meat
himself.