Browne said, a grinding rage in his tone, "The concept of inherited
power was introduced by the first Lesbee. It was never planned."
"But here you are," said Lesbee, "yourself a beneficiary of inherited
power."
Browne said from between clenched teeth: "It's absolutely ridiculous
that the Earth government which was in power when the ship left--and
every member of which has been long dead--should appoint somebody to
a command position ... and that now his descendant think that command
post should be his, and his family's, for all time!"
Lesbee was silent, startled by the dark emotions he had uncovered
in the man. He felt even more justified, if that were possible, and
advanced his next suggestion without a qualm.
"Captain, this is a crisis. We should postpone our private struggle.
Why don't we bring one of these prisoners aboard so that we can
question him by use of films, or play acting? Later, we can discuss
your situation and mine."
He saw from the look on Browne's face that the reasonableness of the
suggestion, _and its potentialities_, were penetrating.
Browne said quickly, "Only you come aboard--and with one prisoner only.
No one else!"
Lesbee felt a dizzying thrill as the man responded to his bait. He
thought: "It's like an exercise in logic. He'll try to murder me as
soon as he gets me alone and is satisfied that he can attack without
danger to himself. But that very scheme is what will get me aboard. And
I've got to get on the ship to carry out _my_ plan."
Browne was frowning. He said in a concerned tone: "Mr. Lesbee, can you
think of any reason why we should not bring one of these beings aboard?"
Lesbee shook his head. "No reason, sir," he lied.
Browne seemed to come to a decision. "Very well. I'll see you shortly,
and we can then discuss additional details."
Lesbee dared not say another word. He nodded, and broke the connection,
shuddering, disturbed, uneasy.
"But," he thought, "what else can we do?"
* * * * *
He turned his attention to the part of the floor that had been left
open for him. Quickly, he bent down and studied the codes on each of
the programming units, as if he were seeking exactly the right ones
that had originally been in those slots.
He found the series he wanted: an intricate system of cross-connected
units that had originally been designed to program a remote-control
landing system, an advanced Waldo mechanism capable of landing the
craft on a planet and taking off again, all directed on the pulse level
of human thought.
He slid each unit of the series into its sequential position and locked
it in.
Then, that important task completed, he picked up the remote control
attachment for the series and casually put it in his pocket.
He returned to the control board and spent several minutes examining
the wiring and comparing it with a wall chart. A number of wires had
been torn loose. These he now re-connected, and at the same time he
managed with a twist of his pliers to short-circuit a key relay of the
remote control pilot.
Lesbee replaced the panel itself loosely. There was no time to connect
it properly. And, since he could easily justify his next move, he
pulled a cage out of the store-room. Into this he hoisted Dzing,
manacles and all.
Before lowering the lid he rigged into the cage a simple resistor that
would prevent the Karn from broadcasting on the human thought level.
The device was simple merely in that it was not selective. It had an
on-off switch which triggered, or stopped, energy flow in the metal
walls on the thought level.
When the device was installed, Lesbee slipped the tiny remote control
for _it_ into his other pocket. He did not activate the control. Not
yet.
From the cage Dzing telepathed: "It is significant that these beings
have selected me for this special attention. We might conclude that
it is a matter of mathematical accident, or else that they are very
observant and so noticed that I was the one who directed activities.
Whatever the reason, it would be foolish to turn back now."
A bell began to ring. As Lesbee watched, a spot of light appeared high
on one of the screens. It moved rapidly toward some crossed lines in
the exact center of the screen. Inexorably, then, the _Hope of Man_, as
represented by the light, and the lifeboat moved toward their fateful
rendezvous.