"No, sir. That's it."
Mike nodded. "About five minutes' work to get the main switch going,
which will give us power, and another ten minutes for the first and
second stand-bys. Go ahead and take over, Multhaus; you won't need me.
I'll go find out what the bloody unprintable is going on around here."
* * * * *
Mike the Angel ran into Captain Sir Henry Quill as he went up the
companionway to the bridge.
"What happened?" demanded the captain in his gravelly tenor voice.
"Somebody ripped out the main switches to the low-power taps from the
main generators, sir," said Mike. "Nothing to worry about. The boys will
have the lights on within three or four minutes."
"Who...?"
"I don't know," said Mike, "but we'd better find out pretty fast.
There've been too many things going on aboard this ship to suit me."
"Same here. Are you sure everything's all right down there?"
"Absolutely, sir. We can quit worrying about the damage itself and put
our minds to finding out who did that damage."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"Some," said Mike the Angel. "As soon as the intercom is functioning
again, I think you'd better call a general meeting of officers--and get
Miss Crannon and Fitzhugh out of bed and get them up here, too."
"Why?" Black Bart asked flatly.
"Because Snookums has gone off his rocker. He's attacked at least one
human being that I know of and has ignored direct orders from a human
being."
"Who?" asked Black Bart.
"Me," said Mike the Angel.
Mike told Captain Quill what had happened as they made their way back up
to the bridge.
Ensign Vaneski, looking pale and worried, met them at the door. He
snapped a salute. "I just reported to Commander Jeffers, sir.
Something's wrong with the low-power circuits."
"I had surmised as much," said Black Bart caustically. "Anything new?
What did you find out? What happened?"
"When the lights went out, I was having coffee by myself in the
wardroom. I grabbed a torch and headed for Power Section as soon as I
could. The low-power room was empty. There should have been a man on
duty there, but there wasn't. I didn't want to go inside, since I'm not
a power officer, so I came up here to report. I--"
At that moment the lights blazed on again. There was a faint hum that
built up all over the ship as the air conditioning came on at the same
time.
"All right, Mister Vaneski," said Black Bart, "get below and take care
of things. There's a man hurt down there, so be ready to take him to
sick bay when the Physician's Mate gets there. We don't have a medic in
any condition to take care of people, so he'll have to do. Hop it."
As Vaneski left, Black Bart preceded Mike into the bridge. Pete Jeffers
was on the intercom. As Mike and the captain came in, he was saying,
"All right. I'll notify the Officer of the Watch, and we'll search the
ship. He can't hide very long." Then, without waiting to say anything to
Mike or Quill, he jabbed at another button. "Mister von Liegnitz! Jake!"
"_Ja?_ Huh? What is it?" came a fuzzy voice from the speaker.
"You all right?"
"Me? Sure. I was asleep. Why?"
"Be on your toes, sleepyhead; just got word that Mellon has escaped from
his stateroom. He may try to take another crack at you."
"I'll watch it," said von Liegnitz, his voice crisp now.
"Okay." Jeffers sighed and looked up. "As soon as the power came on,
the Physician's Mate was on the intercom. Mellon isn't in his
stateroom."
"Oh, wonderful!" growled Captain Quill. "We now have one insane robot
and one insane human running loose on this ship. I'm glad we didn't
bring any gorillas with us."
"Somehow I think I'd be safer with a gorilla," said Mike the Angel.
"According to the Physician's Mate, Mellon is worse than just nuts,"
said Jeffers quietly. "He says he loaded Mellon full of dope to make him
sleep and that the man's got no right to be walkin' around at all."
"He must have gotten out while the doors were open," said Captain Quill.
He rubbed the palm of his hand over the shiny pinkness of his scalp. His
dark, shaggy brows were down over his eyes, as though they had been
weighted with lead.
"Mister Jeffers," he said abruptly, "break out the stun guns. Issue one
to each officer and one to each chief non-com. Until we get this
straightened out, I'm declaring a state of emergency."
16
Mike the Angel hefted the heavy stun gun in his right fist, feeling its
weight without really noticing it. He knew damned good and well it
wouldn't be of any use against Snookums. If Mellon came at him, the
supersonic beam from the gun would affect his nerves the same way an
electric current would, and he'd collapse, unconscious but relatively
unharmed. But Mike doubted seriously that it would have any effect at
all on the metal body of the robot. It is as difficult to jolt the
nerves of a robot as it is to blind an oyster.
Snookums did have sensory devices that enabled him to tell what was
going on around him, but they were not nerves in the ordinary sense of
the word, and a stun gun certainly wouldn't have the same effect.
He wondered just what effect it _would_ have--if any.
He was going down the main ladder--actually a long spiral stairway that
led downward from the bridge. Behind him were Chief Multhaus, also armed
with a stun gun, and four members of the power crew, each armed with a
heavy spanner. Mike or the chief could take care of Mellon; it would be
the crew's job to take care of Snookums.
"Smash his treads and his waldoes," Mike had told them, "but only if he
attacks. Before you try anything else, give him an order to halt. If he
keeps on coming, start swinging." And, to Chief Multhaus: "If Mellon
jumps me, fire that stun gun only if he's armed with a knife or a gun.
But if you do have to fire at Mellon, don't wait to get in a good shot;
just go ahead and knock us both out. I'd rather be asleep than dead.
Okay?"
Multhaus had agreed. "The same goes for me, Commander. And the rest of
the boys."
So down the ladder they went. Mike hoped there'd be no fighting at all.
He had the feeling that everything was all wrong, somehow, and that any
use of stun guns or spanners would just make everything worse.
His wasn't the only group looking for Snookums and Mellon. Lieutenant
Keku had another group, and Commander Jeffers had a third. Lieutenant
Commander von Liegnitz was with Captain Quill on the bridge. Mellon had
already attacked von Liegnitz once; the captain didn't want them mixing
it up again.
Captain Quill's voice came suddenly from a speaker in the overhead.
"Miss Crannon and Dr. Fitzhugh have just spoken to me," he said in his
brisk tenor. "Snookums is safe in his own room. I have outlined what has
happened, and they're trying to get information from Snookums now.
Lieutenant Mellon is still missing."
"One down," said Chief Multhaus. There was relief in his voice.
"Let's see if we can find the other one," said Mike the Angel.
They went down perhaps three more steps, and the speakers came to life
again. "Will the Chief Physician's Mate report to Commander Jeffers in
the maintenance tool room? Lieutenant Keku, dismiss your men to quarters
and report to the bridge. Commander Gabriel, dismiss your men to
quarters and report to Commander Jeffers in maintenance. All chief
non-coms report to the ordnance room to turn in your weapons. All
enlisted men return to your posts or to quarters."
Mike the Angel holstered his stun gun. "That's two down," he said to
Chief Multhaus.
"Looks like we missed all the fun," said Multhaus.
"Okay, men," Mike said, "you got the word. Take those spanners back to
the tool room in Power Section, and then get back to your quarters.
Chief, you go with them and secure everything, then take that stun gun
back to ordnance."
"Yessir."
Multhaus threw Mike a salute; Mike returned it and headed toward
maintenance. He knew Multhaus and the others were curious, but he was
just as curious himself. He had the advantage of being in a position to
satisfy his curiosity.
The maintenance tool room was big and lined with tool lockers. One of
them was open. Sprawled in front of it was Lieutenant Mellon. Over to
one side was Commander Jeffers, standing next to a white-faced Ensign
Vaneski. Nearby were a chief non-com and three enlisted men.
"Hullo, Mike," Pete Jeffers said as Mike the Angel came in.
"What happened, Pete?" Mike asked.
Jeffers gestured at the sprawled figure on the floor. "We came in here
to search. We found him. Mister Vaneski opened the locker, there, for a
look-see, and Mellon jumped out at him. Vaneski fired his stun gun.
Mellon collapsed to the deck. He's in bad shape; his pulse is so weak
that it's hard to find."
Mike the Angel walked over and looked down at the fallen Medical
Officer. His face was waxen, and he looked utterly small and harmless.
"What happened?" asked another voice from the door. It was Chief
Physician's Mate Pierre Pasteur. He was a smallish man, well rounded,
pleasant-faced, and inordinately proud of his name. He couldn't actually
prove that he was really descended from the great Louis, but he didn't
allow people to think otherwise. Like most C. Phys. M.'s, he had a
doctor of medicine degree but no internship in the Space Service. He was
working toward his commission.
"We've got a patient for you," said Jeffers. "Better look him over,
Chief."
Chief Pasteur walked over to where Mellon lay and took his stethoscope
out of his little black bag. He listened to Mellon's chest for a few
seconds. Then he pried open an eyelid and looked closely at an eye.
"What happened to him?" he asked, without looking up.
"Got hit with a beam from a stun gun," said Jeffers.
"How did he fall? Did he hit his head?"
"I don't know--maybe." He looked at Ensign Vaneski. "Did he, Mister
Vaneski? He was right on top of you; I was across the room."