ELECTIONEERING
As Bruce Gordon came out from the precinct house, he noticed the sounds
first. Under the huge dome that enclosed the main part of the city, the
heavier air pressure permitted normal travel of sound; and he'd become
sensitive to the voice of the city after the relative quiet of the
Nineteenth Precinct. But now the normal noise was different. There was
an undertone of hushed waiting, with the sharp bursts of hammering and
last-minute work standing out sharply through it. Voting booths were
being finished here and there, and at one a small truck was delivering
ballots. Voting by machine had never been established here. Wherever the
booths were being thrown up, the nearby establishments were rushing
gates and barricades in front of the buildings.
Most of the shops were already closed--even some of the saloons. To make
up for it, stands were being placed along the streets, carrying banners
that proclaimed free beer for all loyal administration friends. The few
bars that were still open had been blessed with the sign of some mob,
and obviously were well staffed with hoodlums ready to protect the
proprietor. Private houses were boarded up. The scattering of
last-minute shoppers along the streets showed that most of the citizens
were laying in supplies to last until after election.
Gordon passed the First Marsport Bank and saw that it was surrounded by
barbed wires, with other strands still being strung, and with a sign
proclaiming that there was high voltage in the wires. Watching the
operation was Jurgens; it was obvious that his hoodlums had been hired
for the job.
Toward the edge of the dome, where Mother Corey's place was, the
narrower streets were filling with the gangs, already half-drunk and
marching about with their banners and printed signs. Curiously enough,
all the gangs weren't working for Wayne's re-election. The big Star
Point gang had apparently grown tired of the increasing cost of
protection from the government, and was actively campaigning for Nolan.
Their home territory reached nearly to Mother Corey's, before it ran
into the no man's land separating it from the gang of Nick the Croop.
The Croopsters were loyal to Wayne.
Gordon turned into his usual short-cut, past a rambling plastics plant
and through the yard where their trucks were parked. He had half
expected to find it barricaded, but apparently the rumors that Nick the
Croop owned it were true; it would be protected in other ways, with the
trucks used for street fighting, if needed. He threaded his way between
two of the trucks.
Then a yell reached his ears, and something swished at him. An egg-sized
rock hit the truck behind him and bounced back, just as he spotted a
hoodlum drawing back a sling for a second shot.
Gordon was on his knees between heartbeats, darting under one of the
trucks. He rolled to his feet, letting out a yell of his own, and
plunged forward. His fist hit the thug in the elbow, just as the man's
hand reached for his knife. His other hand chopped around, and the edge
of his palm connected with the other's nose. Cartilage crunched, and a
shrill cry of agony lanced out.
But the hoodlum wasn't alone. Another came out from the rear of one of
the trucks. Gordon ducked as a knife sailed for his head; they were
stupid enough not to aim for his stomach, at least. He bent down to
locate some of the rubble on the ground, cursing his folly in carrying
his knife under his uniform. The new beat had given him a false sense of
security.
He found a couple of rocks and a bottle and let them fly, then bent for
more.
Something landed on his back, and fingernails were gouging into his
face, searching for his eyes!
Instinct carried him forward, jerking down sharply and twisting. The
figure on his back sailed over his head, to land with a harsh thump on
the ground. Brassy yellow hair spilled over a girl's face, and her
breath slammed out of her throat as she hit. But the fall hadn't been
enough to do serious damage.
Bruce Gordon jumped forward, bringing his foot up in a savage swing, but
she'd rolled, and the blow only glanced against her ribs. She jerked her
hand down for a knife, and came to her knees, her lips drawn back
against her teeth. "Get him!" she yelled. Then he recognized her--Sheila
Corey.
The two thugs had held back, but now they began edging in. Gordon
slipped back behind another truck, listening for the sound of their
feet. He'd half-expected another encounter with the Mother's
granddaughter.
They tried to outmaneuver him; he stepped back to his former spot,
catching his breath and digging frantically for his knife. It came out,
just as they realized he'd tricked them.
Sheila was still on her knees, fumbling with something, and apparently
paying no attention to him. But now she jerked to her feet, her hand
going back and forward.
It was a six-inch section of pipe, with a thin wisp of smoke, and the
throw was toward Gordon's feet. The hoodlums yelled, and ducked, while
Sheila broke into a run away from him. The little homemade bomb landed,
bounced, and lay still, with its fuse almost burned down.
Gordon's heart froze in his throat, but he was already in action. He
spat savagely into his hand, and jumped for the bomb. If the fuse was
powder-soaked, he had no chance. He brought his palm down against it,
and heard a faint hissing. Then he held his breath, waiting.
No explosion came. It had been a crude job, with only a wick for a fuse.
Sheila Corey had stopped at a safe distance; now she grabbed at her
helpers, and swung them with her. The three came back, Sheila in the
lead with her knife flashing.
Gordon side-stepped her rush, and met the other two head-on, his knife
swinging back. His foot hit some of the rubble on the ground at the last
second, and he skidded. The leading mobster saw the chance and jumped
for him. Gordon bent his head sharply, and dropped, falling onto his
shoulders and somersaulting over. He twisted at the last second, jerking
his arms down to come up facing the other.
Then a new voice cut into the fracas, and there was the sound of
something landing against a skull with a hollow thud. Gordon got his
head up just in time to see a man in police uniform kick aside the first
hoodlum and lunge for the other. There was a confused flurry; then the
second went up into the air and came down in the newcomer's hands, to
land with a sickening jar and lie still. Behind, Sheila Corey lay
crumpled in a heap, clutching one wrist in the other hand and crying
silently.
Bruce Gordon came to his feet and started for her. She saw him coming,
cast a single glance at the knife that had been knocked from her hands,
then sprang aside and darted back through the parked trucks. In the
street, she could lose herself in the swarm of Nick's Croopsters; Gordon
turned back.
The iron-gray hair caught his eyes first. Then, as the solidly built
figure turned, he grunted. It was Captain Murdoch--now dressed in the
uniform of a regular beat cop, without even a corporal's stripes. And
the face was filled with lines of strain that hadn't been there before.
Murdoch threw the second gangster up into a truck after the first one
and slammed the door shut, locking it with the metal bar which had
apparently been his weapon. Then he grinned wryly, and came back toward
Gordon.
"You seem to have friends here," he commented. "A good thing I was
trying to catch up with you. Just missed you at the Precinct House, came
after you, and saw you turn in here. Then I heard the rumpus. A good
thing for me, too, maybe."
Gordon blinked, accepting the other's hand. "How so? And what happened?"
He indicated the bare sleeve.
"One's the result of the other," Murdoch told him. "They've got me sewed
up, and they're throwing the book at me. The old laws make me a citizen
while I wear the uniform--and a citizen can't quit the Force. That puts
me out of Earth's jurisdiction. I can't even cable for funds, and I
guess I'm too old to start squeezing money out of citizens. I was coming
to ask whether you had room in your diggings for a guest--and I'm hoping
now that my part here cinches it."
Murdoch had tried to treat it lightly, but Gordon saw the red creeping
up into the man's face. "Forget that part. There's room enough for two
in my place--and I guess Mother Corey won't mind. I'm damned glad you
were following me."
"So'm I, Gordon. What'll we do with the prisoners?"
"Leave 'em; we couldn't get a Croopster locked up tonight for anything."
He started ahead, leading the way through the remaining trucks and back
to the street that led to Mother Corey's. Murdoch fell in step with him.
"This is the first time I've had to look you up," he said. "I've been
going out nights to help the citizens organize against the Stonewall
gang. But that's over now--they gave me hell for inciting vigilante
action, and confined me inside the dome. The way they hate a decent cop
here, you'd think honesty was contagious."
"Yeah." Gordon preferred to let it drop. Murdoch was being given the
business for going too far on the Stonewall gang, not for refusing to
take normal graft.
They came to the gray three-story building that Mother Corey now owned.
Gordon stopped, realizing for the first time that there was no trace of
efforts to protect it against the coming night and day. The entrance was
unprotected. Then his eyes caught the bright chalk marks around
it--notices to the gangs to keep hands off. Mother Corey evidently had
pull enough to get every mob in the neighborhood to affix its seal.
As he drew near, though, two men edged across the street from a clump
watching the beginning excitement. Then, as they identified Gordon, they
moved back again. Some of the Mother's old lodgers from the ruin outside
the dome were inside now--obviously posted where it would do the most
good.
Corey stuck his head out of the door at the back of the hall as Gordon
entered, and started to retire again--until he spotted Murdoch. Gordon
explained the situation hastily.
"It's your room, cobber," the old man wheezed. He waddled back, to come
out with a towel and key, which he handed to Murdoch. "Number
forty-two."
His heavy hand rested on Gordon's arm, holding the younger man back.
Murdoch gave Gordon a brief, tired smile, and started for the stairs.
"Thanks, Gordon. I'm turning in right now."
Mother Corey shook his head, shaking the few hairs on his head and face,
and the wrinkles in his doughy skin deepened. "Hasn't changed, that one.
Must be thirty years, but I'd know Asa Murdoch anywhere. Took me to the
spaceport, handed me my yellow ticket, and sent me off for Mars. A nice,
clean kid--just like my own boy was. But Murdoch wasn't like the rest of
the neighborhood. He still called me 'sir,' when my boy was walking
across the street, so the lad wouldn't know they were sending me away.
Oh well, that was a long time ago, cobber. A long time."
He rubbed a pasty hand over his chin, shaking his head and wheezing
heavily. Gordon chuckled. "Well, how--?"
Something banged heavily against the entrance seal, and there was the
sound of a hot argument, followed by a commotion of some sort. Corey
seemed to prick up his ears, and began to waddle rapidly toward the
entrance.
It broke open before he could reach it, the seal snapping back to show a
giant of a man outside holding the two guards from across the street,
while a scar-faced, dark man shoved through briskly. Corey snapped out a
quick word, and the two guards ceased struggling and started back across
the street. The giant pushed in after the smaller thug.
"I'm from the Ajax Householders Protection Group," the dark man
announced officially. "We're selling election protection. And brother,
do you need it, if you're counting on those mugs. We're assessing you--"
"Not long on Mars, are you?" Mother Corey asked. The whine was entirely
missing from his voice now, though his face seemed as expressionless as
ever. "What does your boss Jurgens figure on doing, punk? Taking over
_all_ the rackets for the whole city?"
The dark face snarled, while the giant moved a step forward. Then he
shrugged. "Okay, Fatty. So Jurgens is behind it. So now you know. And
I'm doubling your assessment, right now. To you, it's--"
A heavy hand fell on the man's shoulder, and Mother Corey leaned forward
slightly. Even in Mars' gravity, his bulk made the other buckle at the
knees. The hand that had been reaching for the knife yanked the weapon
out and brought it up sharply.
Gordon started to step in, then, but there was no time. Mother Corey's
free hand came around in an open-palmed slap that lifted the collector
up from the floor and sent him reeling back against a wall. The knife
fell from the crook's hand, and the dark face turned pale. He sagged
down the wall, limply.
The giant opened his mouth, and took half a step forward; but the only
sound he made was a choking gobble. Mother Corey moved without seeming
haste, but before the other could make up his mind. There was a series
of motions that seemed to have no pattern. The giant was spun around,
somehow; one arm was jerked back behind him, then the other was forced
up to it. Mother Corey held the wrists in one hand, put his other under
the giant's crotch, and lifted. Carrying the big figure off the floor,
the old man moved toward the seal. His foot found the button, snapping
the entrance open. He pitched the giant out overhanded; holding the
entrance, he reached for the dark man with one hand and tossed him on
top of the giant.
"To me, it's nothing," he called out. "Take these two back to young
Jurgens, boys, and tell him to keep his punks out of my house."
The entrance snapped shut then, and Corey turned back to Gordon, wiping
the wisps of hair from his face. He was still wheezing asthmatically,
but there seemed to be no change in the rhythm of his breathing. "As I
was going to say, cobber," he said, "we've got a little social game
going upstairs--the room with the window. Fine view of the parades. We
need a fourth."
Gordon started to protest that he was tired and needed his sleep; then
he shrugged. Corey's house was one of the few that had kept some
relation to Earth styles by installing a couple of windows in the second
story, and it would give a perfect view of the street. He followed the
old man up the stairs.
* * * * *
Two other men were already in the surprisingly well-furnished room, at
the little table set up near the window. Bruce Gordon recognized one as
Randolph, the publisher of the little opposition paper. The man's pale
blondness, weak eyes, and generally rabbity expression totally belied
the courage that had permitted him to keep going at his hopeless task of
trying to clean up Marsport. The _Crusader_ was strictly a one-man
weekly, against Mayor Wayne's _Chronicle_, with its Earth-comics and
daily circulation of over a hundred thousand. Wayne apparently let the
paper stay in business to give himself a talking point about fair play;
but Randolph walked with a limp from the last working over he had
received.
"Hi, Gordon," he said. His thin, high voice was cool and reserved, in
keeping with the opinion he had expressed publicly of the police as a
body. But he did not protest Corey's selection of a partner. "This is Ed
Praeger. He's an engineer on our railroad."
Gordon acknowledged the introduction automatically. He'd almost
forgotten that Marsport was the center of a thinly populated area,
stretching for a thousand miles in all directions beyond the city,
connected by the winding link of the electric monorail. "So there really
is a surrounding countryside," he said.
Praeger nodded. He was a big, open-faced man, just turning bald. His
handshake was firm and friendly. "There are even cities out there,
Gordon. Nothing like Marsport, but that's no loss. That's where the real
population of Mars is--decent people, men who are going to turn this
into a real planet some day."
"There are plenty like that here, too," Randolph said. He picked up the
cards. "First ace deals. Damn it, Mother, sit down-wind from me, won't
you? Or else take a bath."
Mother Corey chuckled, and wheezed his way up out of the chair,
exchanging places with Gordon. "I got a surprise for you, cobber," he
said, and there was only amusement in his voice. "I got me in fifty
gallons of water today, and tomorrow I do just that. Made up my mind
there was going to be a cleanup in Marsport, even if Wayne does win. And
stop examining the cards, Bruce. I don't cheat my friends. The readers
are put away for old-times' sake."
Randolph shrugged, and went on as if he hadn't interrupted himself.
"Ninety per cent of Marsport is decent. They have to be. It takes at
least nine honest men to support a crook. They come up here to start
over--maybe spent half their life saving up for the trip. They hear a
man can make fifty credits a day in the factories, or strike it rich
crop prospecting. What they don't realize is that things cost ten times
as much here, too. They plan, maybe, on getting rich and going back to
Earth...."
"Nobody goes back," Mother Corey wheezed. "_I_ know." His eyes rested on
Gordon.
"A lot don't want to," Praeger said. "I never meant to go back. I've got
me a farm up north. Another ten years, and I retire to it. My kids are
up there now--grandkids, that is. They're Martians; maybe you won't
believe me, but they can breathe the air here without a helmet."
The others nodded. Gordon had learned that a fair number of
third-generation people got that way. Their chests were only a trifle
larger, and their heartbeat only a few points higher; it was an internal
adaptation, like the one that had occurred in test animals reared at a
simulated forty-thousand-feet altitude on Earth, before Mars was ever
settled.
"They'll take the planet away from Earth yet," Randolph agreed.
"Marsport is strictly artificial. It's kept going only because it's the
only place where Earth will set down her ships. If Security doesn't do
anything, time will."
"Security!" Gordon muttered bitterly. Security was good at getting
people in trouble, but he had seen no other sign of it.
Randolph frowned over his cards. "Yeah, I know. The government set them
up, gave them a mixture of powers, and has been trying to keep them from
working ever since. But somehow they did clean up Venus; and every crook
here is scared to death of the name. How come a muckraking newspaperman
like you never turned up anything on them, Gordon?"
Gordon shrugged. It was the first reference he'd heard to his
background, and he preferred to let it drop.
But Mother Corey cut in, his voice older and hoarser, and the skin on
his jowls even grayer than usual. "Don't sell them short, cobber. I
did--once.... You forget them, here, after a while. But they're
around...."
Bruce Gordon felt something run down his armpit, and a chill creep up
his back....
Out on the street, a sudden whooping began, and he glanced down. The
parade was on, the Croopsters in full swing, already mostly drunk. The
main body went down the street, waving fluorescent signs, while
side-guards preceded them, armed with axes, knocking aside the flimsier
barricades as they went. He watched a group break into a small grocery
store to come out with bundles. They dragged out the storekeeper, his
wife, and young daughter, and pressed them into the middle of the
parade.
"If Security's so damned powerful, why doesn't it stop that?" he asked
bitterly.
Randolph grinned at him. "They might do it, Gordon. They just might. But
are you sure you want it stopped?"
"All right," Mother Corey said suddenly. "This is a social game,
cobbers."
Outside, the parade picked up enthusiasm as smaller gangs joined behind
the main one. There were a fair number of plain citizens who had been
impressed into it, too, judging by the appearance of little frightened
groups in the middle of the mobsters.
Gordon couldn't understand why the police hadn't at least been kept on
duty, until Honest Izzy came into the room. The little man found a chair
and bought chips silently; he looked tired.
"Vacation?" Mother Corey asked.
Izzy nodded. "Trench took forever giving it to us, Mother. But it's the
same old deal; all the police gees get tomorrow off--you, too, gov'nor.
No cops to influence the vote, that's the word. We even gotta wear
civvies when we go out to vote for Wayne."
Gordon looked down at the rioters, who were now only keeping up a
pretense of a parade. It would be worse tomorrow, he supposed; and there
would be no cops. The image of the old woman and her husband in the
little liquor store where he'd had his first experience came back to
him. He wondered how well barricaded they were.
He felt the curious eyes of Mother Corey dancing from him to Izzy and
back, and heard the old man's chuckle. "Put a uniform on some men and
they begin to believe they're cops, eh, cobber?"
He shoved up from the table abruptly and headed for his room, swearing
to himself.