by Roland Starr
She slipped her arm through Vonner’s and took him into her private office. He kissed her, but she pushed him away, and his face showed hurt.
“What have I done?” he demanded.
“It’s all right, Max,” she told him. “You’ll snap out of it soon. At any other time, I’d be delighted to have you like this, but the ship and the entire crew are at stake, and you’re the only man who can save them. Lie down on the couch there, and I’ll give you a shot that will put you to sleep for two hours. When you come to again, you’ll be ready to fight Bardo, and he mustn’t have the slightest inkling of it.” Vonner nodded and sat down on the couch. He leaned back and put up his feet, and Dr. Morley prepared a hypodermic. There was a wistful expression on her face as she administered it; then Vonner closed his eyes and lapsed into unconsciousness. He didn’t feel the imprint of her soft lips against his slack mouth. He knew nothing until the effects of the powerful drug wore off. When he awoke, his mind had returned to the moment before reverse processing, and he felt an urgency in him that was hard to contain. Sitting up, he immediately saw Dr. Morley at her desk and called to her.
“What time is it, Doc?” he demanded.
She turned swiftly in her seat, then glanced toward the door. Getting to her feet, she came to his side and sat down on the foot of the couch.
“Captain, you won’t remember much, but I have to tell you.” She went on to sketch the details of what had happened, and Vonner frowned in puzzlement. “Do you get it?” she demand.
“I don’t know if I do,” he retorted. “You mean Bardo has set me free? I’m at liberty to go around the ship as I please?”
“That’s right. Bardo thinks you’re under the influence of the reverse process, like the rest of the crew. You’re going to have to act as if you are or he’ll kill you. You’ll have to wait for your chance to take him, but watch out for the six guards. They have been programmed to protect him, and they’ll kill anyone who tries to get near him.”
“And the other officers?” Vonner demanded dazedly. “What about Wayland, Marr, Farrell, Curran?”
“All reverse-processed. They can’t do a thing to help you. Can you understand that?”
“Yes.” He nodded, but there was a frown on his pale face. “But how do I have to act when Bardo is around?”
“You’re not supposed to remember anything about being captain of the ship. The only thing you know about is being in love with me.”
“In love with you?” He frowned again, and she shook her head as she sighed heavily.
“There’ll come a time when you’ll know exactly what that means. But right now it’s not in your head, so you’ve got to learn the part and act it as though it were second nature.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth, and Vonner leaned away from her, his face showing surprise. She laughed a little harshly. “That’s what people do when they’re in love,” she said. “It’s all right between a man and a woman. You know that much, don’t you, that I’m a woman and you’re a man?”
“Yes, sure! But this kissing business is strange. It isn’t bad at that, huh?”
“You’re getting the idea.” She laughed as he smiled. “Listen, Max, whenever the guards or Bardo are around, then you’ve got to act as if I were the only thing on your mind. Pretend that you don’t know a thing about running the ship or about the situation. But you’d better get close to Bardo and try to find out what he’s doing. I fear the worst, I can tell you. He’s interfering with the computers in the flight room. We’re going to be so far off course that all the computers on board the ship won’t be able to help us.”
Vonner got to his feet, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’ll go and take a look around, Doc,” he said thinly. “But I shall be hack for some more lessons in kissing. You can look forward to that.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The flight control room didn’t seem any different to Vonner when he entered. There was a guard just inside the doorway, but the man merely glanced at him and made no effort to stop him. Vonner’s eyes went first to the forward scanner screen, and he saw Omina as before, but the planet seemed to have moved to the right of the screen, and Vonner knew that Bardo had succeeded in changing the course of the ship, if only slightly. Bardo was standing by the flight computer, and there were two technicians with him, working inside the highly complex instrument. Bardo looked up as Vonner approached, and grinned as if nothing had happened between them.
“You’re just in time to see the course change, Max,” Bardo said, and it was obvious that he suspected nothing of Vonner’s true mental attitude. “How are you feeling now? I was going to have you blasted out into space, where you could no longer pose a threat to me, but the doc assured me that reverse processing would cure you of any resistance. I’m glad. It wouldn’t have pleased me to kill anyone.”
“Adah has told me something about what’s happened,” Vonner said mildly.
“And of course you bear me no grudge because of it,” Bardo went on. “I trusted in the fact that a woman in love will do anything to save her man, and it looks as if I were right. I’ve had the entire crew reverse-processed, and then the key men have been re-processed to slightly different patterns, insuring their complete cooperation and loyalty. Even if you were able to resist me, Max, you wouldn’t find anyone to help you.”
“Then why the guards around the ship?” Vonner asked.
“Just a precaution.” Bardo smiled. “You would have done the same thing if you’d been in my shoes.”
“I’d like to know why you mutinied in the first place.” Vonner kept his tone deceptively mild, and watched Bardo’s intent face without showing his interest. “Adah told me I was the captain, and although I can’t remember what the situation was, I’m sure I’m the kind of man who would have listened to any observation concerning the ship’s general security.”
“Now that you’re normal and unprocessed with your captain’s cassette, you can see the sense of the situation,” Bardo told him. “That’s why I couldn’t tell you what I discovered while you were still captain. Your duty patterns wouldn’t let you doubt the computers. If I had come to you with the tale that the computers were giving you a false reading, you would have thrown me out of your office. You would have continued on the present course and crashed into Omina. As a matter of fact, the emergency signal that Farrell received just as I decided to take over the ship was about altering the ship’s course considerably, and in the direction I had already worked out to be the correct one. Since you ended your resistance, I’ve had Marr work out the new course to check my figures, and he’s made adjustments to computer control to offset the errors it has been giving out.”
“Then why not hand the ship back to me?”
“I could have the entire crew reprocessed and this business erased from all minds,” Bardo replied. “But if I did that, you would continue with the original flight plan and go into orbit around Omina, then make preparations to land.”
“Isn’t that what you intend to do?” Vonner demanded, and he could not keep the edge out of his tone.
“Certainly not. That’s why I can’t give you back the ship, Max. If we go into orbit around Omina, we’ll never be able to kick away again.”
“What made you decide that?”
“I’ve reprocessed myself with the cassettes of every key man on the ship, Max.” Bardo’s eyes gleamed as he spoke. “I’m a walking space crew, and I could dispense with all the officers and do their work with no trouble. That’s the beauty of the brainwasher. A man doesn’t have to learn any skills. All he needs is a cassette containing the information, and when he’s been processed with it he can automatically do the job.”
“But having all these skills and the knowledge at your fingertips wouldn’t help you make a discovery that, once in orbit around Omina, we wouldn’t be able to blast clear again,” Vonner pointed out. “What gave you the idea, Ed?”
“I’ve had the advantage of being unprocessed for more than a month, Max. I�
��ve had time to think. We’re traveling at millions of miles an hour. Our omni-thermo drive is controlled by computer, and the computer is at fault. Instead of cutting out the drive in order to put us into orbit around Omina, it would have thrust us straight into its atmosphere, and we’d have burned up like a played out star.” Bardo paused and moistened his lips. “You and every other man aboard the ship had complete faith in the system, and if I had tried to warn you I would have been treated for space madness. This was the only way I could save us. I had to take over, no matter what the cost.”
“And what are you doing now, Ed?”
“I’m going to stop the ship when the flight computer has been adjusted, then turn her around and blast straight back to Earth.”
Vonner tried to take in what his subordinate had said, but he found it difficult to accept the possibility that Bardo might be right.
“Anyway, that’s the reason for what has happened, and I’m quite sure you would have done the same thing if you’d been in my shoes, Max.” There was satisfaction in Bardo’s tone; he was elated by the thought of his own brilliance. “When we get back to Earth, I shall hand the ship back to you. No doubt the people back there at Earth control will be able to discover why the computers were malfunctioning, and they’ll agree that the mission had to be aborted.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Vonner said easily, and smiled. “Do you mind if I stick around and watch?”
“Go ahead. You have the freedom of the ship. I know there’s nothing you can do to stop me now, because it isn’t in your mind to resist, and the doc daren’t give you another dose of processing because the shock of it would kill you. That reverse processing is dangerous.”
Vonner nodded and moved away, and walked around the control room as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
He had already discovered that the guard by the door was not interested in anything that went on about him. Somehow it seemed only too easy for Vonner to take over, and he wondered why Bardo was so lax with his own security. There seemed to be only one way to find out, but Vonner was half afraid to start anything in case his subordinate had a nasty surprise up his sleeve. It wasn’t like Ed Bardo to take a chance.
But Bardo was intent upon his assumed duties, and when the technicians had completed their work upon the flight computer, Vonner knew the time had come to make his move. He waited until the technicians had departed before moving toward Bardo, who had seated himself in the main control position. Vonner watched as Bardo began to lock in the controls to his command circuits, and then the man started feeding his instructions for stopping the main drive and turning the ship into the pre-selector computer. Vonner could wait no longer. He took the stun-gun from his pocket, moved around until Bardo was between him and the guard, then showed the weapon to Bardo.
“Ed, get away from there,” he warned tensely. “This gun is set for maximum power. It’ll kill.”
Bardo looked up at him, frozen for a moment, his face a mask of surprise and shock. Then he took a deep breath and straightened, getting out of his seat and standing with his arms at his sides. Again Vonner felt that this was too easy, and he frowned as he glanced toward the guard, who was looking at them suspiciously, unable to see the gun in Vonner’s hand. Vonner raised the weapon and sent a shot of energy at the guard, knocking him to the floor, and grinned tightly as the ray gun spun from the man’s nerveless hand and skidded away.
“That does it, Ed,” Vonner said tightly. “Put up your hands. Don’t give me any trouble, or I’ll kill you. This ship is my lawful command, and I’ll make all the decisions necessary. You’ve raised doubts in my mind about the future of the ship, and I shall check your observations very closely. But the command comes back to me, and you’re going to the brainwasher to be reprocessed.”
“Don’t be a fool, Max,” Bardo said thinly, and he did not raise his hands in a token of surrender. “How do you imagine I’ve insured my safety among the entire crew? Do you suppose I would trust the doc to do exactly as I told her? I’m not that kind of a fool. Before I cut off the screens around the control room when you surrendered, I did some work on several circuits. I cut into the impulse lines leading to the remote control activators of the reverse drive. Do I have to spell it out for you?”
He held out his right hand, exposing his wrist, and Vonner saw the glinting bracelet of metal that Bardo was wearing — recognized it instantly as a pre-set pattern radio-detonator, and knew why the man was so sure of himself. Bardo saw his swiftly changing expression and grin.
“I see you get the message,” he said grimly. “If I don’t use the neutralizer on this detonator every thirty seconds, then the reverse drive will be activated while we’re traveling in a forward direction. I’ve used a pattern that you wouldn’t be able to figure out in a thousand years. Shoot me and the neutral circuit will lift in thirty seconds, and that will be the end of everything. The least that will happen will be that the engine room will be out of action for a week. I doubt if the technicians will be able to repair the damage inside of a month. With our velocity, we’ll be within the gravitational pull of Omina inside of five days, and nothing will stop us from burning up in its atmosphere.”
Vonner hesitated for the slightest moment, his mind alive with thought. Then he shook his head. “Ed, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to save yourself and the ship from what you thought was certain death. I suspect that you put yourself before the ship, so you’re not going to try to outwit me by sentencing us all to death. I think you’re bluffing.”
“I expect you do!” Bardo showed his teeth in a smile. “Okay, so call me.”
Vonner hesitated again. But he knew he could not afford to submit again to this madman. They would all eventually die if Bardo carried out his intentions.
He lifted his gun slightly and altered the power setting from maximum to one third. He didn’t take his eyes from Bardo’s intent face, and saw the man’s expression change slightly.
“You wouldn’t be so foolish!” Bardo said nervously.
Vonner raised the gun and pointed it at Bardo’s head. “Do you want to bet, Ed?”
“Don’t be a fool. I’ve warned you of the consequences. I am telling the truth. I couldn’t afford to bluff.”
“I’m following my hunch, Ed.” Vonner clenched his teeth, and his finger tightened on the trigger. Bardo read something of his intention and fell back a step, fear showing now, “Don’t Max. You’ll kill us all!”
Vonner fired, and Bardo jerked away as the bolt of energy struck his head. He fell heavily and shuddered for a few seconds, then relaxed and lay still. His outflung right arm held Vonner’s attention, and the bracelet detonator glinted in the powerful lights.
Thirty seconds? Vonner stood frozen. There was nothing he could do about the detonator. He wouldn’t be able to find the right pre-set pattern in a hundred years. The seconds passed swiftly, and then there was a warning buzz from the detonator on Bardo’s arm. It signaled that the neutralizing circuit would be lifted in five seconds. When that happened, the detonator would take effect on whatever piece of machinery it was patterned for. Vonner sank his teeth into his bottom lip and clenched his hands. Had Bardo been telling the truth?
The next instant the detonator was activated. A single red light glowed on the device to show that it was working, and Vonner caught his breath and closed his eyes. The engine room itself might disintegrate under the power released by the detonator. It would mean the end of the mission and the ship itself, for, as Bardo had said, the damage couldn’t be repaired in time to prevent the gravitational pull of Omina from drawing the ship to destruction in its atmosphere.
But nothing happened! The tense seconds ticked away, and the ship remained steady. Vonner slowly opened his eyes and stared down at the motionless Bardo. He began to breathe again, and lifted a hand to his forehead to discover beads of perspiration. He emptied his lungs with a deep exhalation, and then sucked in a tremendous amount of air. His legs were suddenly trembling, and he turned to the
large control console and flipped the communicator switch, opening the line to the engine room. He kept an eye on the awakening guard as he waited for a reply. “Wayland here! What is it?”
“Dalus, this is Vonner. I’ve resumed control of the ship. What state are you in?”
“Captain, am I glad to hear you! But how did you take over? Bardo told us you were reverse-processed.”
“Explanations can wait, Dalus. Just tell me what happened to you and the rest of the officers. What treatment did Bardo give you?”
“We were reprocessed, and he kept us under his power with a remote control detonator. You’ll find it on his wrist, Captain. But it’s quite safe. He made the mistake of telling me exactly what he had done, and it was a relatively simple operation to render his work harmless from this end.”
“You mean he wasn’t bluffing about that thing?” Vonner demanded.
“He certainly wasn’t bluffing. If he had carried out his threat, we would have been drifting in space for a very long time.”
“I thought he was bluffing and called him,” Vonner said in shaken tones. “How long has his detonator been ineffective?” He was still stiff with shock.
“About four minutes.” Wayland sounded unmoved. “You’ve had some luck, Captain. But you’d better watch out. Philo Curran and half a dozen guards are making their way toward you through the inspection tunnels. We timed it so he would arrive after I had done my dismantling work here. He’ll be bursting in on you in a few minutes. Better get in touch with him with your general address communicator and warn him that you’re back in control.”