by Random, Alex
STAR CLUSTER SEVEN
ALEX RANDOM
© Alex Random 1974
Alex Random has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as author of this work.
First Published in 1974 by Robert Hale & Company
This edition published in 2017 by Venture Press, an imprint of Endeavour Press Ltd.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER ONE
Rex Alston was filled with apprehension as he sat in the anteroom at the Governor’s palace. He tried to relax his tall figure, and kept his big hands clenched to prevent them showing any tremor. The anteroom was packed with other people, all waiting to see the Governor, Ogden Paine, and most of them were exiles from Earth, up for review of sentence and hoping the same as Alston for permission to return home to Earth, five hundred light years away.
Alston’s brown eyes narrowed when a door opened and the tall figure of Quill Graham appeared briefly, pausing to look around at the tense faces of the people in the large room, and Alston tightened his lips when he met Graham’s eyes momentarily. He knew Graham hated him, and feared the ex-Star Fleet Captain, now Security Controller of Star Cluster Seven, would try to exert his influence upon the Governor in Alston’s case. But Graham departed without changing expression, and Alston tried to relax once more as a picture of Carmel Paine came into his mind. Carmel, the daughter of the Governor, was the cause for enmity between Alston and Graham.
A thin smile touched Alston’s lips as he considered what would happen to him if the Governor knew his daughter was madly in love with one of the exiles. But he had never encouraged the girl, had in fact tried to discourage her because he was not fit to be the husband of any girl, let alone the daughter of the Governor.
He stiffened when Lieutenant Anders appeared in the doorway giving entrance to the Governor’s office, and Anders glanced towards him, his face expressionless, his manner stern but Anders’ right eye twitched into a wink as he caught Alston’s glance, and he nodded faintly. They had been friends for fifteen years, since Alston had been a Star Fleet Captain and Anders his First Lieutenant. But their fortunes had been on different scales, Anders’s rising while Alston’s sank to zero.
“Rex Alston,” Anders called in dry tones. “Step this way quickly.”
Alston got to his feet, taking a deep breath to control his tension as he crossed the marble floor and followed the Lieutenant into the Governor’s office. He did not glance around at the rich furnishings as he moved to stand before the ornate desk and looked into the hard grey eyes of the Governor himself. This was the fourth time in three years that he had come up for review of sentence, and he was still hoping hard that the doubts in the case against him would weigh in his favour and secure him an early release.
“Rex Alston!” The Governor did not look up from the papers before him. “Thirty-nine years old! Found guilty of smuggling. Cashiered from Star Fleet Service and the rank of Captain.” Here Paine paused as he always did at this point, and let his pale gaze lift to Alston’s face. Alston remained expressionless, meeting the Governor’s gaze blandly. He could see Carmel’s features in her father’s face, and tightened his lips against the memory of nights spent in the girl’s arms, of trying to dampen her ardour and wilfulness. He forced his mind blank and waited for the Governor to go on, waiting for the crunch.
“Your sentence has been reviewed, Alston,” Paine went on, looking down at the papers again. “You have completed four years of your twenty-year sentence. With good behaviour you can expect to serve a total of fifteen years. But the Parole Board has the power to cut any amount of time from sentences up for review. However in your case no such recommendation has been made. The report of the Board is that your case is to be used as an example to others occupying positions of trust and honour. Sentence is to be continued.”
Alston gritted his teeth against the pang of frustration that darted through him. The Governor’s face seemed to swim before his eyes, but he fought down his emotions and firmed his lips.
“Have you any comments on this decision?” the Governor demanded.
“I had hoped the Board would see fit to exercise discretion in view of the doubts in the case,” Alston said thinly.
“This will be appended to your file and made known to the Board,” the Governor said. He glanced at Anders, waiting in the background. “That will be all. Alston will return to his place of occupation and remain on normal standing.”
Alston suppressed a sigh as he turned about, aware now of the guard standing in a corner with a Blinder in his hands. He did not meet Anders’s sympathetic gaze as he marched out, and when he reached the anteroom he did not pause. Anders called to him but Alston kept walking, and he left the room and hurried along the corridor to the outside, stifled as much by his emotions as the atmosphere in the Governor’s Palace.
The bright sunlight hit him hard and sweat broke out on his forehead. He showed his pass to a patrolling guard, then went across to the hovercar park and got into his crimson machine. For a moment he sat staring bitterly into the distance, his anger burning him. Guilty of smuggling! He had merely been the captain of the starship and not actively engaged in the smuggling. But he had taken the rap, and twenty years of his life were forfeit because some stupid member of his crew had fallen to temptation.
A reckless impulse spilled through him. He had been holding his emotions in check for a long time now. True, the life of an exile was not to be compared with the hardships and miseries of convicts sent to the various hell stars for punishment, but the injustice of his sentence cut Alston to the quick, and now he began to feel the surging impulses that threatened to undermine his control. If he gave way he would do something reckless, foolish, and probably lose his exile status and get sent to one of the penal stars to work out the rest of his time in hard labour, where life expectancy was around one to two years.
A figure appeared at the off-side door and its movement attracted his gaze. Alston tightened his lips, thinking for a moment it was one of the guards. But Carmel Paine had been waiting for him, to learn the result of his interview with her father, and he jerked open the door for her and stared at her lithe figure as she got into the car.
Carmel was a girl who attracted more than a second glance from any man. Her shoulder-length blonde hair framed her smooth face, and Alston felt a surge of heat through his stomach as he looked at her generous mouth and large blue eyes. Some of his recklessness faded as the power of her physical attraction caught at his senses. He lifted a hand and gently touched her upturned nose.
“Don’t worry,” he said sharply. “Sentence to be continued! You’ve got your wish. I’m to be here for another six months at least.”
“I’m sorry you’re so unhappy about it, Rex,” she said, sliding a hand under his arm and snuggling up to him. “You’ve got a good life here. You’re under no restrictions at all. A lot of men back on Earth would give ten years of their lives just to change places with you.”
“It’s not the fact that I’m exiled here that gets me,” he retorted angrily. “You don’t seem to understand, Carmel, no matter how many times I try to explain it. I want to clear my name, remove the blot from my record. I want to get back aboard a starship and find my Space-feet once more! It’s hell for me to be on the ground of any planet, and although Cyra is home to you and a pleasant enough spot to be e
xiled, I’m not the type to accept it.”
“I told you I would talk to my father about you,” she said doubtfully, shocked by his vehemence. “I thought you loved me enough to take the chance I could give you.”
“Your father has no influence with the Parole Board. He could only recommend a special review of my case if I did something that warranted attention. But if you told him you are in love with me, an exile, he’d do exactly the opposite to what you expect. He’d have me transferred to one of the Hell Stars!”
“He wouldn’t. You’ve got the wrong idea about my father. He’s the nicest man I know. I’m sure he’d arrange for you to be free of all restrictions if he learned that we’re in love.”
“You’re in love with me,” he corrected harshly. “You know I’m not in love with you, Carmel!”
“You wouldn’t even pretend to be, just to get me to help your case, Rex!” She shook her head slowly as she regarded him. “You are a strange man and no mistake. I wish I knew what made you tick. You’re not at all like Captain Graham! He’d do anything to have me whisper in Father’s ear about him.”
Alston tightened his lips at mention of Graham’s name, and he wondered if the Captain had used any of his considerable influence to maintain Alston’s current exile status! Graham had ambitions, and fancied stepping into Ogden Paine’s shoes when the Governor finally moved on to a more exalted position. For some reason Graham had always disliked Alston, even when they had been fellow starship commanders in the same echelon of the fleet.
“I’d better be getting back to my work,” Alston said thinly.
“Don’t take it so much to heart, Rex,” she urged, leaning against him and kissing his cheek.
He turned his head to her and kissed her savagely on the lips, hurting her, bringing a gasp from her, but she responded instantly, clutching at him hungrily.
“Shall I see you tonight?” she demanded as he wrenched free.
“I don’t think so! I won’t be fit company for anyone by the time this latest setback really gets through to me.”
“I’ll call at your place and we’ll have a quiet evening,” she said. “Don’t do anything rash, Rex. Wait for me. We’ll talk it over and try to work something out. If you’re so set on getting away from Cyra then I’ll do what I can to help you, but only on one condition.”
“What’s that?” he demanded bitterly.
“That if you leave you’ll take me with you!”
He sighed as he shook his head. “I can’t ruin your life,” he said sharply. “There’s nothing in the future for the two of us together!”
“If I didn’t know you better I’d say there was another woman in your life.” She paused as a sudden thought struck her. “There isn’t someone back on Earth, is there, Rex?”
“No.” He shook his head slowly, his dark eyes bright, and there was a fine sheen of sweat on his broad forehead. He looked at her again, knowing that if the situation were other than it was he would have given a year’s starship pay just to be in this position with such a wonderful girl. For the past year he had been holding her off, trying to stop her headlong plunge into love with him. There was little to commend him to her, he knew. Exiles had no rights on Cyra. Until his sentence was completed he could not leave the planet or change his job or experience any of the freedoms which were the natural rights of others. But she was crazy about him! He had never tried to fool her, had always let her know of his reservations, and so their relationship had been uneasy, and not only because of the difference in their class and social positions.
“Why don’t you ever let yourself really go with me?” she continued, pushing herself back from him and staring into his set face.
“I don’t want to give you the wrong ideas about me! You know there would be nothing but trouble for you if your father found out you were seeing me. I’ve done everything I know to put you off.”
“Then why don’t you give up trying, knowing you can’t have any success?” She closed on him again, ready to melt into his arms, but there was a tap on the door at her side and they both jerked around. Alston tightened his lips when he saw the tall figure of Captain Graham standing beside the hovercar. The girl said something uncomplimentary under her breath, but she glanced at Alston quickly. “I’d better go. Graham is snooping around again. I’ll come to your place tonight as it gets dark.”
“All right!” He nodded slowly. “I’ll be there.”
She thrust open the door of the car and sprang out, almost knocking Quill Graham off his feet.
“Sorry,” she said lightly, and hurried away.
Alston stared after her for a moment, noting the curves of her thighs as she departed, and then he dragged his attention back to Graham, noting the man’s intent blue eyes and seeing the anger and hatred in their pale depths.
Graham climbed into the seat Carmel had vacated, and kept his eyes on Alston’s face. Graham was immaculately dressed in his pale blue Starfleet uniform, with the gold bands and braid of his rank prominently embroidered on sleeves and cap.
“I don’t understand your mentality, Alston,” he said in harsh clipped tones. “You’ve sunk just about as low as you can go and yet you’re not satisfied. You’re still asking for trouble. What do you suppose the Governor would do to you if he found his only daughter in your company?”
“Why don’t you tell her to stay away from me?”
Alston demanded. “I don’t want anything to do with her.”
“Do you think I haven’t tried to use my influence?”
Alston smiled thinly. He looked into Graham’s eyes. “I know you wish you were in my shoes as far as Carmel is concerned. Perhaps you’d have a chance with her if I left Cyra. Instead of using your influence to keep me here in exile why don’t you try to get rid of me? It would leave you with a clear field.”
“I’ve also considered that,” Graham admitted harshly. “I have tried to help you end your exile, although I don’t expect you to believe that. We’ve never been friends, Alston. There’s always been an inhuman sort of animosity between us. I suppose it has something to do with our chemical make-up. But there it is. You’ll go your way regardless of rules and restrictions, and I fully expect you to end up in worse trouble than you ever imagined.”
“What are you after, apart from Carmel and the influence a marriage to her would bring you?” Alston demanded bitterly.
A thin smile touched Graham’s tight lips. He stared ahead for a moment, his eyes wide open despite the glaring sun. Alston watched him, fascinated by the brittle determination that showed on the Captain’s smooth face. Graham was thirty-eight, and at his age he was riding the crest of good fortune. To have been selected as Security Controller of Star Cluster Seven from the many Captains of the Starfleet was a great honour, and an immense step forward in the promotion race that existed in the fleet. Alston thought of his own past career, and wondered again, as he had wondered many times since his court martial, if the smuggling of which he had been found guilty had been a deliberate attempt to get rid of him.
“I always had you pegged as a most perceptive man,” Graham said. “I’m surprised you didn’t get around to suspecting about the smuggling rap you took before it happened.”
Alston felt a pang of surprise, and he looked quickly into Graham’s face. But all he saw was a bland smile and steady gaze.
“You are aware that I was deliberately framed with that case of smuggling?” he demanded.
“I have no comments to make on that! But I will tell you this much. If you want to get away from Cyra before your sentence runs its full course then you’ll have to do something about it.”
“What can I do?” Alston demanded, and there was fresh bitterness in his tones. “If I made a run for it from Cyra I would be in exile until the day I died. I wouldn’t be able to return to Earth or venture to any planet under Earth’s jurisdiction. I fancy you’d like to see me in that predicament, Graham!”
“I want to see you gone from Cyra. That much I will admit
to. I’ll go further! I’ll do what I can to help you get away.”
“I’ll use any means within the frame of the law,” Alston said. There was a trace of eagerness underlying his tones which Graham did not miss.
“I wouldn’t expect you to do anything less. If you commit any misdemeanour now you would lose your exile status and be sent to one of the Penal Stars. How would you like to work in a chemical mine on a planet such as Jurinne, where life expectancy is six months?”
“No thanks!” Alston smiled grimly as he shook his head. “I’m minding my own business and keeping out of trouble. One of these days I’ll be able to walk into the Governor’s office and hear him say my sentence has been terminated. I’ll sweat it out here.”
“And you would make even faster progress towards that day if you stayed away from Carmel!” Graham’s voice was harsh in the close confines of the car. Alston saw a thin film of sweat on the Captain’s forehead.
“I don’t think she will ever marry you,” Alston said. “But don’t get the idea that I’m a serious rival, Graham, because I’m not. I’ve done nothing but tell Carmel that I’m not the man for her.”
“So long as we have this understanding and you don’t change your mind about her then I shall have no reason to exert my authority and influence against you,” Graham retorted. “But I shall be watching you, nevertheless, Alston, so be careful.”
“Was there something else you wanted?” Alston demanded.
Graham looked into his face for a moment, his gaze inscrutable. Then he shook his head. He opened the door and climbed down carefully to the ground. But he hesitated before closing the door. For a moment he stared at Alston, his face set in harsh lines. Then he nodded.
“The sentence at your Court Martial would have been a great deal lighter if you had given the names of your associates in crime. I could still help you, Alston, if you gave me that information. We are bothered all this way out from Earth by the same smuggling gang, and if we could apprehend them, especially with your help, then I’m certain your troubles would come to an end.”