Star Cluster Seven

by Random, Alex

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “What do you mean?” Carmel demanded angrily. “Why will it be the end of Rex? Who has planned what to happen?”

  The guard shrugged. He was a big man, middle-aged, well versed in his business, and the muzzle of the Blinder was centred upon Alston, who did not move.

  “It’s nothing to do with me,” he retorted. “My orders are to see that you leave in the lifeboat, Miss. I warn you not to give me any trouble, Alston, or you either, Miss.”

  “Whose orders are you following?” Alston demanded, mindful that precious moments were slipping away. He had to work out mathematical constants for the control computer. He needed a whole new set of courses and speeds, durations and accelerations, and when the computer supplied the answers he had to set up the controls. It would take him almost all the time they had left before blasting out of orbit. That was handling the problems without snags. If anything cropped up to delay him, he would be too late anyway.

  “You don’t need to know anything,” the guard retorted. “Just stay put where you are, Alston, and you won’t come to any harm from me. I’ll be leaving with Miss Paine in about thirty minutes, and then you’ll be on your own.”

  “What’s been planned for me?” Alston demanded. “Are you a member of the Governor’s security guards or Graham’s?”

  “He’s not one of Father’s men,” Carmel said instantly. “I know them all by sight.”

  “So Graham has somehow become wise to what’s happening,” Alston said, and the guard merely grinned crookedly. Alston nodded. “I figured Graham was too sharp to be fooled. But I’m wondering if your father and Anders were taken in or are a part of this, Carmel?”

  “I’m wondering the same thing,” the girl retorted. There was barely concealed anger in her tones. “What can we do, Rex?”

  “There’s nothing I can do while that Blinder is pointed at me,” he retorted. “I’m expendable. In fact, all of this has been set up just to get rid of me without embarrassment. But I doubt if they want to kill you off, Carmel!”

  The girl stared into his face for a moment, and there was a query in her eyes, but with the guard watching and listening he could not put his thoughts and wishes into speech.

  “Don’t try anything, Alston,” the guard said. “I won’t kill Miss Paine, obviously, but you’ll get a maximum degree shot from this Blinder if you look like giving me any trouble.”

  “Are they so keen to get rid of me that they’re prepared to lose this craft?” Alston demanded.

  “I don’t know anything about it,” came the terse reply. “I got my orders, clear and simple, and I’ll carry them out with no hitch or trouble.”

  Alston turned away and resumed his calculations. If he could get the constants worked out, then by the time he was ready to change courses and speeds the guard might not be so alert.

  “I’ll go make some coffee,” Carmel said slowly. “I’ll bring you some when it is ready, Rex!”

  “You’ll stay where you are until we’re ready to detach in the lifeboat,” the guard said.

  “How do you propose to make me obey you without resorting to violence?” Carmel demanded angrily, moving towards the man.

  Alston sweated and tensed, ready to jump in if the guard should relax for an instant, but the man backed away from the door. His face showed that he would not offer violence to the girl.

  “That’s better!” Carmel said. “I’m accustomed to getting my own way, and you’d better realise that from the start. If I tell my father you’ve ill-treated me, you’ll end your days on a penal star.”

  She left the cabin and Alston returned to his calculations. The guard remained silent in the background, and Alston deliberately refrained from looking at him or acknowledging his presence. But the man was curious!

  “What are you doing there, Alston?” he demanded.

  “Preparing to alter course! I don’t know where this ship is headed once it leaves orbit, but I know where I want it to go.”

  “It’s not going anywhere. Once I’m off it with the girl and out of reach of an explosion, the ship will detonate its reactors with an impulse surge on the main circuit. A device has been fitted to override the safety valves and you’ll be blown into a million pieces and distributed through umpteen thousand square miles of space. That’ll be the end of you Alston, and all the trouble you’re causing.”

  “I’d like to know exactly what trouble I’ve caused,” Alston said.

  “Just being alive is trouble enough for some people!” came the harsh reply.

  “Captain Graham, no doubt!” There was bitterness in Alston’s hard voice. “I know he framed me with smuggling. Now he wants me dead in order to close the door on the past. He’s afraid that I might get some idea of what he did, and that’s why he wants me dead.”

  “You’ll make me cry in a minute,” the guard retorted. “You should have known better than to make a nuisance of yourself to your superiors!”

  “Graham has never been my superior in anything,” Alston snapped. “That’s why he’s been working against me.

  The guard shrugged indifferently, and Alston returned to his calculations. But they didn’t mean anything to him now. He had to get off this ship before it left orbit, and if he could take this guard prisoner then so much the better, but it would help him only if the Governor and Anders were not in on the plot to kill him. He would have staked his life on Anders, but he was aware that pressure from superiors could kill a man’s friendship. Anders might be doing this against all his principles and desires, but he would do it, nevertheless!

  But if this was merely Graham’s way of ending an untidy piece of trickery that had started with the false smuggling charge, then Alston knew he had a chance of providing something. If this guard could be confronted by Anders and the Governor then something of the truth might come out, at least enough to throw suspicion on Graham and have him relieved from his position of responsibility.

  Carmel returned with a tray, and she came to Alston’s side, setting down the tray on the arm rest of his seat. He steadied it while she poured, and she handed him a cup. She looked at Alston for a moment, but if she was trying to convey something to him then he failed to get the message.

  “I’ll have a cup,” the guard said.

  “You get your own coffee,” she retorted.

  “There’s no need to get nasty,” the man retorted. “I’m only doing my duty.”

  “You’re a knowing partner to murder,” the girl snapped. “But you can have my cup! I’ve got no stomach for coffee.” She filled the other cup on the tray and took it across to the guard.

  “Hold it,” the man retorted. “Don’t come within arm’s length with that scalding liquid. I wasn’t born yesterday. Just set it down on that ledge over there and I’ll collect it.”

  “Suit yourself,” Carmel said. She put down the cup and moved back to Alston’s side, sitting down in the co-pilot’s seat and looking at the work Alston had put in on his calculations. “I don’t know how you can understand that sort of thing, Rex,” she said conversationally. “And they put you to work as an attendant! No wonder you were bored and restless. They could have given you some occupation more in keeping with your abilities.”

  “I’ve given up trying to work out a new course,” he retorted, and told her what the guard had told him. He saw her face turn pale, and she sneaked a glance at the guard, who was sipping his coffee.

  “I don’t think my father is involved in this, Rex,” she said tensely. “He wouldn’t do such a thing. He promised me we would be together. I think Graham got suspicious about you still being alive and arranged this without Frank and my father knowing anything about it.”

  “Well you’ll have to leave the ship with the guard as soon as it’s time to go,” Alston said. “If I’m going to die then I’ll die alone, Carmel. You’ll be able to get clear.”

  “I don’t want to live without you,” she retorted.

  “Don’t make it harder for me. In any case, th
e guard will make sure you go with him. He’s got the only weapon aboard. If I try to tackle him he’ll put me out with the Blinder, and that will be that. But if I can locate the trouble he mentioned I might be able to put it right before the explosion takes place. So I want you to get out of here as soon as possible to give me as much time as you can.”

  Carmel nodded slowly, and the guard chuckled hoarsely. They both turned to look at him, and he shook his head. “You couldn’t fix the trouble with this ship in a month of Sundays,” he told them. “Two real experts came aboard with me, before your arrival, and it took them an hour to fix the trap for you.”

  “How did your people learn this ship was going to be used by me?” Alston demanded.

  “We have our ways and means,” came the guarded reply.

  “Drink your coffee, it’s getting cold,” Carmel said to Alston, and he obeyed absently, his mind working on the problems facing him. The guard began to drink his coffee, and he smacked his lips.

  “You sure can make a great cup of coffee,” he retorted.

  “I hope it chokes you,” Carmel rapped.

  Alston was beginning to realise that despite the gravity of the situation there was only one man standing between him and survival. The guard! He glanced at Carmel, and his face was set with determination. He lowered his voice as he spoke to her.

  “I’ve got to overpower the guard,” he said. “It’s the only real chance of getting off this ship alive.”

  “Don’t be a fool,” she retorted. “He has a Blinder. If he uses that on you then all hope will be lost.”

  “Stop whispering, you two!” the guard snapped. “If you look like giving me any trouble I’ll put you out with the Blinder, Alston, and I’ve been ordered not to do that unless there’s no other way of keeping you down. You’re expected to remain conscious right up to the end.”

  “Whose orders were they?” Carmel demanded. “Did my father or Lieutenant Anders brief you?”

  The guard glanced at his watch and tightened his lips. He emptied his cup and set it down, then wiped his mouth with the back of one hand.

  “We’ll be leaving soon. If you two have any goodbyes to say then you’d better get on with them. I’ll stay here in the corner.”

  Carmel got to her feet and held out her arms to Alston, who stood up slowly. The girl moved to the space behind the control seats, and Alston took her into his arms, feeling awkward under the watchful eyes of the guard, who was grinning tightly.

  “I’m sorry it’s got to be this way, Rex,” Carmel said. “I love you, and I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my days with you.”

  “What can I say?” Alston stared at the guard, gauging the distance between them, but the man was not relaxing his vigilance in the least, and Alston wanted to remain conscious. He had a very slim chance of surviving this, and he meant to take it, to make the most of it. “You’d better be on your way now. There’s nothing we can do about this, Carmel!”

  “Don’t be so impatient,” she retorted. “This is our last goodbye, Rex!”

  “Hurry it up,” the guard retorted. “I want to be well away before the explosion takes place.”

  Carmel tugged at Alston and pulled his head down to the level of her face. She kissed him hard on the mouth, and he held a sigh in check, wondering why she could appear so casual when he had only a few minutes left to live. He couldn’t force himself aboard the lifeboat with them. The guard would stun him at the first sign of trouble, and he’d never wake up again.

  “Go on,” he said, pushing her away. “If I can get out of this then I’ll get in touch with you somehow, from somewhere, Carmel.”

  She looked into his eyes, shaking her head slowly.

  “I do love you, Rex!”

  “I found out too late that I love you,” he retorted in some bitterness.

  A dull thud, followed by a clatter caught at his attention and he glanced over his shoulder at the guard, from whose direction the sounds came. To his amazement he saw the guard lying on the floor on his back, arms outflung, the Blinder lying some feet away. Carmel let out a whoop of delight and ran across to the guard before Alston could collect his wits. She took up the Blinder and turned to face Alston, a grin on her lips.

  “What happened?” Alston demanded, crossing to the guard’s side. He could see the man was unconscious, and deeply so!

  “I laced his coffee!” the girl retorted.

  Alston took the Blinder from her and put it down, then he pulled her into his arms. He kissed her breathless, and she gasped when he released her.

  “If that’s a sample of your love then give me some more,” she said eagerly.

  He held her off. “There’s too much to be done right now,” he retorted. “I’d better try and find out what they did to this ship.”

  “There won’t be time. Let’s get away in the lifeboat. We can land in some obscure place on the planet before they can send anyone to pick us up, and we’ll hide out until we learn what went wrong here, Rex!”

  “I think you’re right. We’ve got this guard, and if I can get the truth out of him it will be a step in the right direction. I’ll go check out the lifeboat.”

  “I’ll watch the guard, just in case he comes to, but I went through the medicine chest and mixed up a potion for him. He should be out for quite some time.”

  “And you sat there waiting for him to pass out!” Alston smiled slowly. “I think you’re a girl to take along on a long trip, Carmel.”

  She smiled and took up the Blinder, but her features set into harsh lines as she considered what lay before them. “Rex, I’m scared,” she admitted. “If my father is in this plot to get rid of you then I’ll do everything I can to expose him.”

  “If he is involved then he must be a very desperate man,” he retorted. “Look, time is running out. I’ll go check the lifeboat.”

  He left the control room and went along to the air lock doorway. Usually a space ship carried more than one air lock, but Alston knew this type of craft. There was one airlock, and a special lifeboat section that had an airlock-type access to the outside. Alston checked the airlock first, looking for space suits, and was satisfied to see half a dozen suits hanging on pegs. They might need space suits in the lifeboat! He knew that once they detached from the mother ship there could be no coming back.

  The steel door that gave access to the lifeboat had heavy metal dogs around the edge, and Alston worked hard to undo them. He was sweating by the time he could open the door, and as it slid back away from his he stared into the large recess that formed a blister in the ship’s hull. The section was empty. The lifeboat was not there!

  For long moments Alston stared into the empty chamber, unable to get his mind working normally. Then the fact hit him and he slammed the door and started back at a run for the control room. Time was running out too fast for them.

  “What’s wrong?” Carmel demanded when he burst in upon her.

  “No lifeboat!” He bent over the guard and shook him, hoping to get some response, but the man was out cold, and Alston knew he was still wasting time. “There’s no way off the ship. I don’t know what happened, but they must have checked for the lifeboat before they departed.”

  Carmel’s face went pale, but she tightened her lips.

  “Is there anything you can do?” she demanded.

  “I’d better try and find out what they did to the main circuit. The guard said they wired in a device that would blow the reactors. I guess if I cut main power it would prevent the explosion, but I can’t be sure, and with power gone we would finally dive into the atmosphere around the planet and burn up on the way down.”

  “Call my father!” Carmel said quickly. “There’s a hotline aboard which is connected directly to the palace.”

  Alston stared at her for a moment. Then he nodded slowly. “I was thinking of dismantling the device and getting clean away. But we can’t undertake any kind of a trip such as I envisage without a lifeboat. There are no other shuttles or runa
bouts aboard. I wouldn’t risk your life, Carmel. I’d better try the communicator.”

  He sat down at the control seat and studied the panels before him for a moment, then started flipping switches. Red and green lights glowed and he heard the crackling of static until he brought in the higher frequencies. He found the transmit button and used it, then started calling the Governor’s palace on Cyra.

  Carmel stood at Alston’s side, her face showing her fears. Alston kept calling, then waiting for a reply, and silence followed in the seemingly long moments. Finally, Alston shook his head and got up.

  “If they are receiving me they won’t answer because they don’t want to talk to me. They must think you and the guard have got off the ship, Carmel. They believe I’m on here alone, and they must be waiting for the end.”

  “Let me try then,” the girl said. “Show me what to do. You’d better start looking for ways and means of preventing the explosion, Rex. How long before we are scheduled to leave orbit?”

  “About fifteen minutes!” He kept the despair out of his tones and tried to show some confidence. But he knew that if the guard had been telling the truth and two experts had taken an hour to prepare the death trap, then there was nothing he could do in fifteen minutes.

  “If the communications dutyman is listening in he may recognise my voice and warn my father that you’re not alone on the ship,” Carmel said. “But see what you can do about that device, Rex. Cut the main power if you have to, because it will give us time, won’t it?”

  “It may prolong the agony a little,” he retorted. “I’m a bit rusty around these things, remember. Perhaps there’s nothing I can do.”

  But he knew what to look for, going on the scanty information the guard has given him. While he checked out the circuits he tried to get his thoughts working on the situation, and he could not fathom out who was behind the trap. If Ogden Paine and Frank Anders had planned to get rid of him then they would have made certain the lifeboat was available for Carmel to escape. But if Graham had turned their escape plan for him to his own advantage then he might want to get rid of Carmel as well, as a first step in usurping the Governor himself.