A Plague of Demons

by Keith Laumer

  The moving mass halted, milled. Someone shouted, "Who's he think he is, anyway?"

  Kramer whirled toward me. "He thinks he's the man who's going to let you all rot alive, to save his record."

  "Williams, Nagle," I said loudly, "clear this passage."

  Williams started half-heartedly to shove at the men nearest him. A fist flashed out and snapped his head back. That was a mistake; Williams pulled his needler, and fired a ricochet down the passage.

  " 'Bout twelve a' you yellow-bellies git outa my way," he yelled. "I'm comin' through."

  Nagle moved close to Williams, and shouted something to him. The noise drowned it. Kramer swung back to me, frantic to regain his sway over the mob.

  "Once I'm out of the way, there'll be a general purge," he yelled. The hubbub faded, as men turned to hear him.

  "You're all marked men," he raved on. "He's gone mad. He won't let one of you live." Kramer had their eyes now. "Take him now," he shouted, and seized my arm.

  He'd rushed it a little. I hit him across the face with the back of my hand. No one jumped to his assistance. I drew my 2mm. "If you ever lay a hand on your commanding officer again, I'll burn you where you stand, Kramer."

  Then a voice came from behind me. "You're not killing anybody without a trial, Captain." Joyce stood there with two of the crew chiefs, needler in hand. Fine and Taylor were not in sight.

  I pushed Kramer out of my way and walked up to Joyce.

  "Hand me that weapon, Junior, butt first," I said. I looked him in the eye with all the glare I had. He stepped back a pace.

  "Why don't you jump him?" he called to the crowd.

  A squawk-box hummed and spoke.

  "Captain Greylorn, please report to the Bridge. Unidentified body on main scope."

  Every man stopped in his tracks, listening. The talker continued. "Looks like it's decelerating, Captain."

  I holstered my pistol, pushed past Joyce, and trotted for the lift. The mob behind me broke up, talking, as men under long habit ran for action stations.

  Clay was operating calmly under pressure. He sat at the main screen and studied the blip, making tiny crayon marks.

  "She's too far out for a reliable scanner track, Captain," he said, "but I'm pretty sure she's braking."

  If that were true, this might be the break we'd been living for. Only manned or controlled bodies decelerate in deep space.

  "How did you spot it, Clay?" I asked. Picking up a tiny mass like this was a delicate job, even when you knew its coordinates.

  "Just happened to catch my eye, Captain," he said. "I always make a general check every watch of the whole forward quadrant. I noticed a blip where I didn't remember seeing one before."

  "You have quite an eye, Clay," I said. "How about getting this object in the beam."

  "We're trying now, Captain," he said. "That's a mighty small field, though."

  Ryan called from the radar board, "I think I'm getting an echo at 15,000, sir. It's pretty weak."

  Miller, quiet and meticulous, delicately tuned the beam control. "Give me your fix, Mike," he said. "I can't find it."

  Ryan called out his figures, in seconds of arc to three places.

  "You're right on it, Ryan," Miller called a minute later. "I got it. Now pray it don't get away when I boost it."

  Clay stepped over behind Miller. "Take it a few mags at a time," he said calmly.

  I watched Miller's screen. A tiny point near the center of the screen swelled to a speck, and jumped nearly off the screen to the left. Miller centered it again, and switched to a higher power. This time it jumped less, and resolved into two tiny dots.

  Step by step the magnification was increased as ring after ring of the lens antenna was thrown into play. Each time the centering operation was more delicate. The image grew until it filled a quarter of the screen. We stared at it in fascination.

  It showed up in stark silhouette, in the electronic "light" of the radar scope. Two tiny, perfect discs, joined by a fine filament. As we watched, their relative position slowly shifted, one moving across, half occluding the other.

  As the image drifted, Miller worked with infinite care at his console to hold it on center, in sharp focus.

  "Wish you'd give me an orbit on this thing, Mike," he said, "so I could lock onto it."

  "It ain't got no orbit, man," Ryan said. "I'm trackin' it, but I don't understand it. That rock is on a closing curve with us, and slowin' down fast."

  "What's the velocity, Ryan?" I asked.

  "Averagin' about 1,000 relative, Captain, but slowin' fast."

  "All right, we'll hold our course," I said.

  I keyed for a general announcement.

  "This is the Captain," I said. "General Quarters. Man action stations and prepare for possible contact within one hour. Missile Section. Arm Number One Battery and stand by."

  Then I added, "We don't know what we've got here, but it's not a natural body. Could be anything from a torpedo on up."

  I went back to the Beam screen. The image was clear, but without detail. The two discs slowly drew apart, then closed again.

  "I'd guess that movement is due to revolution of two spheres around a common center," Clay said.

  "I agree with you," I said. "Try to get me a reading on the mass of the object."

  I wondered whether Kramer had been locked up as I had ordered, but at this moment it seemed unimportant. If this was, as I hoped, a contact with our colony, all our troubles were over.

  The object-I hesitated to call it a ship-approached steadily, still decelerating. Now Clay picked it up on the televideo, as it paralleled our course forty-five hundred miles out.

  "Captain, it appears the body will match speeds with us at about two hundred miles, at his present rate of deceleration," Clay said.

  "Hold everything you've got on him, and watch closely for anything that might be a missile," I said.

  Clay worked steadily over his chart table. Finally he turned to me. "Captain, I get a figure of over a hundred million tons mass; and calibrating the scope images gives us a length of nearly two miles."

  I let that sink in. I had a strong and very empty feeling that this ship, if ship it were, was not an envoy from any human colony.

  The talker hummed and spoke. "Captain, I'm getting a very short wave transmission from a point out on the starboard bow. Does that sound like your torpedo?" It was Mannion.

  "That's it, Mannion," I said. "Can you make anything of it?"

  "No, sir," he answered. "I'm taping it, so I can go to work on it."

  Mannion was our language and code man. I hoped he was good.

  "What does it sound like?" I asked. "Tune me in."

  After a moment a high hum came from the speaker. Through it I could hear harsh chopping consonants, a whining intonation. I doubted that Mannion would be able to make anything of that garbage.

  Our bogie closed steadily. At four hundred twenty-five miles he reversed relative directions, and began matching our speed, moving closer to our course. There was no doubt he planned to parallel us.

  I made a brief announcement to all hands describing the status of the action. Clay worked over his televideo, trying to clear the image. I watched as the blob on the screen swelled and flickered. Suddenly it flashed into clear, stark definition. Against a background of sparkling black, the twin spheres gleamed faintly in reflected starlight.

  There were no visible surface features; the iodine-colored forms and their connecting shaft had an ancient and alien look.

  We held our course steadily, watching the stranger maneuver. Even at this distance it looked huge.

  "Captain," Clay said, "I've been making a few rough calculations. The two spheres are about eight hundred yards in diameter, and at the rate the structure is rotating, it's pulling about six gravities."

  That settled the question of human origin of the ship. No human crew would choose to work under six gees.

  Now, paralleling us at just over two hundred miles, the giant ship spun a
long, at rest relative to us. It was visible now through the direct observation panel, without magnification.

  I left Clay in charge on the Bridge, and I went down to the Com Section.

  Joyce sat at his board, reading instruments and keying controls. So he was back on the job. Mannion sat, head bent, monitoring his recorder. The room was filled with the keening staccato of the alien transmission.

  "Getting anything on video?" I asked. Joyce shook his head. "Nothing, Captain. I've checked the whole spectrum, and this is all I get. It's coming in on about a dozen different frequencies; no FM."

  "Any progress, Mannion?" I said.

  He took off his headset. "It's the same thing, repeated over and over, just a short phrase. I'd have better luck if they'd vary it a little."

  "Try sending," I said.

  Joyce tuned the clatter down to a faint clicking, and switched his transmitter on. "You're on, Captain," he said.

  "This is Captain Greylorn, ACV/Galahad; kindly identify yourself." I repeated this slowly, half a dozen times. It occurred to me that this was the first known time in history a human being had addressed a nonhuman intelligence. The last was a guess, but I couldn't interpret our guest's purposeful maneuverings as other than intelligent.

  I checked with the Bridge; no change. Suddenly the clatter stopped, leaving only the carrier hum.

  "Can't you tune that whine out, Joyce?" I asked.

  "No, sir," he replied. "That's a very noisy transmission. Sounds like maybe their equipment is on the blink."

  We listened to the hum, waiting. Then the clatter began again.

  "This is different," Mannion said. "It's longer."

  I went back to the Bridge and waited for the next move from the stranger, or for word from Mannion. Every half hour I transmitted a call identifying us, in Standard, of course. I didn't know why, but somehow I had a faint hope they might understand some of it.

  I stayed on the Bridge when the watch changed. I had some food sent up, and slept a few hours on the OD's bunk.

  Fine replaced Kramer on his watch when it rolled around. Apparently Kramer was out of circulation. At this point I did not feel inclined to pursue the point.

  We had been at General Quarters for twenty-one hours when the squawk box hummed.

  "Captain, this is Mannion. I've busted it…"

  "I'll be right there," I said, and left at a run.

  Mannion was writing as I entered Com Section. He stopped his recorder and offered me a sheet. "This is what I've got so far, Captain," he said.

  I read: INVADER; THE MANCJI PRESENCE OPENS COMMUNICATION.

  "That's a highly distorted version of early Standard, Captain," Mannion said. "After I taped it, I compensated it to take out the rise-and-fall tone, and then filtered out the static. There were a few sound substitutions to figure out, but I finally caught on. It still doesn't make much sense, but that's what it says. I don't know what 'Mancji' means, but that's what it's saying."

  "I wonder what we're invading," I said. "And what is the 'Mancji Presence'?"

  "They just repeat that over and over," Mannion said. "They don't answer our call."

  "Try translating into old Standard, adding their sound changes, and then feeding their own rise-and-fall routine to it," I said. "Maybe that will get a response."

  I waited while Mannion worked out the message, then taped it on top of their whining tone pattern. "Put plenty of horsepower behind it," I said. "If their receivers are as shaky as their transmitter, they might not be hearing us."

  We sent for five minutes, then tuned them back in and waited. There was a long silence from their side; then they came back with a long spluttering sing-song.

  Mannion worked over it for several minutes. "Here's what I get," he said:

  THAT WHICH SWIMS IN THE MANCJI SEA; WE ARE AWARE THAT YOU HAVE THIS TRADE TONGUE. YOU RANGE FAR. IT IS OUR WHIM TO INDULGE YOU; WE ARE AMUSED THAT YOU PRESUME HERE; WE ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR INSOLENT DEMANDS.

  "It looks like we're in somebody's back yard," I said. "They acknowledge our insolent demands, but they don't answer them." I thought a moment. "Send this," I said. "We'll out-strut them."

  "The mighty warship Galahad rejects your jurisdiction. Tell us the nature of your distress and we may choose to offer aid."

  Mannion raised an eyebrow. "That ought to rock them," he said.

  "They were eager to talk to us," I said. "That means they want something, in my opinion. And all the big talk sounds like a bluff of our own is our best line."

  "Why do you want to antagonize them, Captain?" Joyce asked. "That ship is over a thousand times the size of this one."

  "Joyce, I suggest you let me forget you're around," I said.

  The Mancji whine was added to my message, and it went out. Moments later this came back:

  MANCJI HONOR DICTATES YOUR SAFE CONDUCT; TALK IS WEARYING; WE FIND IT CONVENIENT TO SOLICIT A TRANSFER OF ELECTROSTATIC FORCE.

  "What the devil does that mean?" I said. "Tell them to loosen up and explain themselves."

  Mannion wrote out a straight query, and sent it. Again we waited for a reply.

  It came, in a long windy paragraph stating that the Mancji found electrostatic baths amusing, and that "crystallization" had drained their tanks. They wanted a flow of electrons from us to replenish their supply.

  "This sounds like a simple electric current they're talking about, Captain," Mannion said. "They want a battery charge."

  "They seem to have power to burn," I said. "Why don't they generate their own juice? Ask them; and find out where they learned Standard."

  Mannion sent again; the reply was slow in coming back. Finally we got it:

  THE MANCJI DO NOT EMPLOY MASSIVE GENERATION-PIECE WHERE ACCUMULATOR-PIECE IS SUFFICIENT. THIS SIMPLE TRADE SPEECH IS OF OLD KNOWLEDGE. WE SELECT IT FROM SYMBOLS WE ARE PLEASED TO SENSE EMPATTERNED ON YOUR HULL.

  That made some sort of sense, but I was intrigued by the reference to Standard as a trade language. I wanted to know where they had learned it. I couldn't help the hope I started building on the idea that this giant knew our colony; the fact that they were using an antique version of the language, out of use for several centuries might mean they'd gotten it from Omega.

  I sent another query, but the reply was abrupt and told nothing except that Standard was of "old knowledge."

  Then Mannion entered a long technical exchange, getting the details of the kind of electric energy they wanted.

  "We can give them what they want, no sweat, Captain," he said after half an hour's talk. "They want DC; 100 volt, 50 amp will do."

  "Ask them to describe themselves," I directed. I was beginning to get an idea.

  Mannion sent, got his reply. "They're molluscoid, Captain," he said. He looked shocked. "They weigh about two tons each."

  "Ask them what they eat," I said.

  I turned to Joyce as Mannion worked over the message. "Get Kramer up here, on the double," I ordered.

  Kramer came in five minutes later, looking drawn and rumpled. He stared at me sullenly.

  "I'm releasing you from arrest temporarily on your own recognizance, Major," I said. "I want you to study the reply to our last transmission, and tell me what you can do about it."

  "Why me?" Kramer said. "I don't know what's going on." I didn't answer him.

  There was a long, tense, half-hour wait before Mannion copied out the reply that came in a stuttering nasal. He handed it to me.

  The message was a recital of the indifference of the Mancji to biological processes of ingestion.

  I told Kramer to write out a list of our dietary needs. I passed it to Mannion. "Ask them if they have fresh sources of these substances aboard."

  The reply was quick; they did.

  "Tell them we will exchange electric power for a supply of these foods. Tell them we want samples of half a dozen of the natural substances."

  Again Mannion coded and sent, received and translated, sent again.

  "They agree, Captain," he said at last. "They wa
nt us to fire a power lead out about a mile; they'll come in close and shoot us a specimen case with a flare on it. Then we can each check the other's merchandise."

  "All right," I said. "We can use a ground-service cable; rig a pilot light on it, and kick it out, as soon as they get in close."

  "We'll have to splice a couple of extra lengths to it," Mannion said.

  "Go to it, Mannion," I said. "And send two of your men out to make the pick-up." This wasn't a communications job, but I wanted a reliable man handling it.

  I returned to the Bridge and keyed for Bourdon, directed him to arm two of his penetration missiles, lock them onto the stranger, and switch over to my control. With the firing key in my hand, I stood at the side-scan screen and watched for any signs of treachery. The ship moved in, came to rest filling the screen.

  Mannion's men reported out. I saw the red dot of our power lead move away, then a yellow point glowed on the side of the vast iodine-colored wall looming across the screen.

  Nothing else emerged from the alien ship. The red pilot light drifted across the face of the sphere. Mannion reported six thousand feet of cable out before the light disappeared abruptly.

  "Captain," Mannion reported, "they're drawing power."

  "OK," I said. "Let them have a sample, then shut down."

  I waited, watching carefully, until Mannion reported their canister inside.

  "Kramer," I said. "Run me a fast check on the samples in that container."

  Kramer was recovering his swagger. "You'll have to be a little more specific," he said. "Just what kind of analysis do you have in mind? Do you want a full…"

  "I just want to know one thing, Kramer," I said. "Can we assimilate these substances, yes or no? If you don't feel like cooperating, I'll have you lashed to your bunk, and injected with them. You claim you're a Medical Officer; let's see you act like one." I turned my back on him.

  Mannion called. "They say the juice we fed them was 'amusing,' Captain. I guess that means it's OK."

  "I'll let you know in a few minutes how their samples pan out," I said.

  Kramer took half an hour before reporting back. "I ran a simple check such as I normally use in a routine mess inspection," he began. He couldn't help trying to take the center of the stage to go into his Wise Doctor and Helpless Patient routine.