by Keith Laumer
Millerdown to Medic. He was moaning and in severe pain.
Kramer reported in from the cargo deck. The cannister was inside now,coating up with frost. I told him to wait, then sent Chilcote, mydemolition man, in to open it. Maybe it was booby-trapped. I stood by atthe DVP and waited for other signs of Mancjo power to hit us. Thegeneral feeling was tense.
Apparently they were satisfied with one blast of whatever it was; theywere dwindling away with no further signs of life.
After half an hour of tense alertness, I ordered the missiles disarmed.
I keyed for General. "Men, this is the Captain," I said. "It looks asthough our first contact with an alien race has been successfullycompleted. He is now at a distance of three hundred and moving off fast.Our screens are blown, but there's no real damage. And we have a supplyof fresh food aboard; now let's get back to business. That colony can'tbe far off."
That may have been rushing it some, but if the food supply we'd gottenwas a dud, we were finished anyway.
We watched the direct-view screen till the ship was lost; then followedon radar.
"It's moving right along, Captain," Joyce said, "accelerating at abouttwo gee's."
"Good riddance," Clay said. "I don't like dealing with armed maniacs."
"They were screwballs all right," I said, "but they couldn't havehappened along at a better time. I only wish we had been in a positionto squeeze a few answers out of them."
"Yes, sir," Clay said. "Now that the whole thing's over, I'm beginningto think of a lot of questions myself."
The annunciator hummed. I heard what sounded like hoarse breathing. Iglanced at the indicator light. It was the cargo deck mike that wasopen.
I keyed. "If you have a report, Chilcote, go ahead," I said.
Suddenly someone was shouting into the mike, incoherently. I caughtwords, cursing. Then Chilcote's voice, "Captain," he said. "Captain,please come quick." There was a loud clatter, noise, then only the humof the mike.
"Take over, Clay," I said, and started back to the cargo deck at a deadrun.
* * * * *
Men crowded the corridor, asking questions, milling. I forced my waythrough, found Kramer surrounded by men, shouting.
"Break this up," I shouted. "Kramer, what's your report?"
Chilcote walked past me, pale as chalk. I pushed through to Kramer.
"Get hold of yourself, and make your report, Kramer," I said. "Whatstarted this riot?"
Kramer stopped shouting, and stood looking at me, panting. The crowdedmen fell silent.
"I gave you a job to do, Major," I said; "opening a cargo can. Now youtake it from there."
"Yeah, Captain," he said. "We got it open. No wires, no traps. We hauledthe load out of the can on to the floor. It was one big frozen mass,wrapped up in some kind of netting. Then we pulled the covering off."
"All right, go ahead," I said.
"That load of fresh meat your star-born pals gave us consists of aboutsix families of human beings; men, women, and children." Kramer wastalking for the crowd now, shouting. "Those last should be pretty tenderwhen you ration out our ounce a week, Captain."
The men milled, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, as I thrust through to thecargo lock. The door stood ajar and wisps of white vapor curled out intothe passage.
I stepped through the door. It was bitter cold in the lock. Near theouter hatch the bulky cannister, rimed with white frost, lay in a poolof melting ice. Before it lay the half shrouded bulk that it hadcontained. I walked closer.
They were frozen together into one solid mass. Kramer was right. Theywere as human as I. Human corpses, stripped, packed together, frozen. Ipulled back the lightly frosted covering, and studied the glazed whitebodies.
Kramer called suddenly from the door. "You found your colonists,Captain. Now that your curiosity is satisfied, we can go back where webelong. Out here man is a tame variety of cattle. We're lucky theydidn't know we were the same variety, or we'd be in their food lockersnow ourselves. Now let's get started back. The men won't take 'no' foran answer."
I leaned closer, studying the corpses. "Come here, Kramer," I called. "Iwant to show you something."
"I've seen all there is to see in there," Kramer said. "We don't want towaste time; we want to change course now, right away."
* * * * *
I walked back to the door, and as Kramer stepped back to let me precedehim out the door, I hit him in the mouth with all my strength. His headsnapped back against the frosted wall. Then he fell out into thepassage.
I stepped over him. "Pick this up and put it in the brig," I said. Themen in the corridor fell back, muttering. As they hauled Kramer uprightI stepped through them and kept going, not running but wasting no time,toward the bridge. One wrong move on my part now and all their miseryand fear would break loose in a riot the first act of which would be totear me limb from limb.
I travelled ahead of the shock. Kramer had provided the diversion I hadneeded. Now I heard the sound of gathering violence growing behind me.
I was none too quick. A needler flashed at the end of the corridor justas the lift door closed. I heard the tiny projectile ricochet off thelift shaft.
I rode up, stepped onto the bridge and locked the lift. I keyed forBourdon, and to my relief got a quick response. The panic hadn'tpenetrated to Missile Section yet.
"Bourdon, arm all batteries and lock onto that Mancji ship," I ordered."On the triple."
I turned to Clay. "I'll take over, Clay," I said. "Alter course tointercept our late companion at two and one-half gee's."
Clay looked startled, but said only, "Aye, sir."
I keyed for a general announcement. "This is the Captain," I said."Action station, all hands in loose acceleration harness. We're goingafter Big Brother. You're in action against the enemy now, and from thispoint on I'm remembering. You men have been having a big time lettingoff steam; that's over now. All sections report."
One by one the sections reported in, all but Med. and Admin. Well, Icould spare them for the present. The pressure was building now, as weblasted around in a hairpin curve, our acceleration picking up fast.
I ordered Joyce to lock his radar on target, and switch over toautopilot control. Then I called Power Section.
"I'm taking over all power control from the bridge," I said. "Allpersonnel out of the power chamber and control chamber."
The men were still under control, but that might not last long. I had tohave the entire disposition of the ship's power, control, and armamentunder my personal direction for a few hours at least.
Missile Section reported all missiles armed and locked on target. Iacknowledged and ordered the section evacuated. Then I turned to Clayand Joyce. Both were plenty nervous now; they didn't know what wasbrewing.
"Lieutenant Clay," I said. "Report to your quarters; Joyce, you too. Iwant to congratulate both of you on a soldierly performance these lastfew hours."
They left without protest. I was aware that they didn't want to be tooclosely identified with the Captain when things broke loose.
* * * * *
I keyed for a video check of the interior of the lift as it started backup. It was empty. I locked it up.
Now we were steady on course, and had reached our full two and a halfgees. I could hardly stand under that acceleration, but I had one morejob to do before I could take a break.
Feet dragging, I unlocked the lift and rode it down. I was braced forviolence as I opened the lift door, but I was lucky. There was no one inthe corridor. I could hear shouts in the distance. I dragged myselfalong to Power Section and pushed inside. A quick check of controlsettings showed everything as I had ordered it. Back in the passage, Islammed the leaded vault door to and threw in the combination lock. Nowonly I could open it without blasting.
* * * * *
Control Section was next. It, too, was empty, all in order. I locked it,and started across to Missiles. Two
men appeared at the end of thepassage, having as hard a time as I was. I entered the cross corridorjust in time to escape a volley of needler shots. The mutiny was in theopen now, for sure.
I kept going, hearing more shouting. I was sure the men I had seen wereheading for Power and Control. They'd get a surprise. I hoped I couldbeat them to the draw at Missiles, too.
As I came out in B corridor, twenty feet from Missiles, I saw that I hadcut it a bit fine. Three men, crawling, were frantically strivingagainst the multi-gee field to reach the door before me. Their faceswere running with sweat, purple with exertion.
I had a slight lead; it was too late to make a check inside