Starfall Muta

by Alan David

  There was a hatch in the rear of the cupola, and it opened to Clark’s touch. He climbed into the craft and sat down in the pilot’s seat, gazing at the strange control console, trying to understand it. The controls were few and apparently simple, and he felt an itch to try the craft but fought down the impulse. He was strangely indecisive, and it worried him. Normally he was quick-witted and fast to react, but since they had been on Muta he had been slowed down. He wondered if it were the atmosphere, and drew a sharp breath as he alighted from the craft and went back to the house.

  Searby was almost through with making breakfast, and the smell of cooked food made Clark aware of his hunger. He went to where Balfin was watching their prisoner, and the Major looked up at him with interest.

  ‘Any luck with the skyraft?’ Balfin demanded.

  ‘I think I could fly it if I had to,’ Clark said, nodding. ‘But I wouldn’t test it for fear that we might be spotted.’

  ‘It’s obviously a runabout,’ Balfin said. ‘I expect every Brutan family has one.’

  ‘That could be, and I’ve been figuring that all the craft we have seen were military ones.’

  ‘From what we’ve seen of the Brutans so far I’d say they didn’t need an organized police or military force,’ Balfin commented.

  Clark nodded slowly. He looked at the woman, who was still tied. She was watching him intently, great dark eyes staring into his face. He switched on the transmuter.

  ‘If I untie you and give you food will you promise not to try and escape or raise an alarm?’ he demanded.

  She regarded him for a moment, then nodded slowly, and Clark moved towards her.

  ‘Don’t take any chances, Commander,’ Balfin said thinly.

  ‘We’ve got to feed her. We can’t treat her harshly, Major.’

  ‘I’m thinking of the fix we’d be in if she got away from us and raised the alarm.’ Balfin was concerned. ‘We’re a long way from the forest.’

  Their voices were picked up by the transmuter and the woman understood everything they said. She got to her feet when Clark had released her, and faced them, looking down at them from her great height.

  ‘I will not betray you to my people,’ she said.

  ‘Why should we believe you?’ Balfin countered.

  She shrugged. ‘I am interested in you. I know you are aliens, from a far distant planet. I would like to know more about you. It is obvious you are not as big as our men, but you have accomplished much.’

  ‘I’ll be glad to exchange information with you,’ Clark said. ‘Let’s go eat, shall we?’ He glanced at Balfin. ‘Perhaps you will remain alert until I relieve you, Kester.’

  ‘Sure.’ Balfin nodded. ‘But don’t let that female get the better of you, Commander. If she does make a break for it and I get her in my sights I’ll burn a hole through her.’

  The woman smiled thinly and led the way into the kitchen, where Searby was serving out the food he had prepared. They sat down, and Clark watched the woman for a moment, afraid that she would suddenly try to trick him. She was too powerful for him to handle physically, and he felt that he could not shoot her down in cold blood if she did try to get the better of him. She seemed to sense his dilemma for she smiled and shook her head.

  ‘Eat your food and do not worry. I will not attempt to trick you.’

  Clark began to eat, and the food was not bad. But his mind was not on the meal, and he tried to elicit information from the woman. At first she would not speak, and he was at a loss on how to proceed. Then he decided to try a friendlier approach.

  ‘My name is Theron Clark,’ he said. ‘How are you called?’

  She stared at him for a moment, then got up and went to a nearby cupboard. Clark watched her closely, his hand on his gun. But she came back with a tall jug, and poured creamy milk into large beakers, pushing one of them towards him.

  ‘I am Ralip,’ she said. ‘I am alone here now. My parents were killed two weeks ago by Ogrins.’

  ‘And you were attacked last night?’ Clark shook his head. ‘Why haven’t the authorities sent troops to deal with the raid?’

  ‘They chased off the Ogrins last night, and they know that by sunrise the Ogrins will have got back to their homes. You saved my life. We are not given to emotion. It is not bred in us. Life here is arduous, and we do not let our minds have any power at all to move us. But I thank you for taking the trouble to kill the Ogrin and free me.’

  ‘It was my pleasure.’ Clark smiled. ‘Where we come from people are friendly. One man will help another if there is trouble, and all men will go out of their way to help a woman in distress.’

  ‘I cannot see male Brutans doing that.’ She chuckled in harsh tones.

  ‘Will you give me the information I need?’ Clark demanded.

  ‘What do you want to know?’

  ‘If your people have ships that are capable of leaving the Planet?’

  ‘We have those ships. They fly between Muta and the other planets in the system.’

  ‘The Brutans trade with their space neighbours?’ Clark demanded.

  ‘Of course! But you will find it impossible to steal a ship in which to escape. That is your plan, is it not?’

  ‘It’s the only chance we’ve got of escaping back to our own world.’

  ‘And what would you do about Muta if you got back to your own world? Would other ships come to make war because of the two ships you have lost?’

  ‘No!’ Clark shook his head. ‘Our people might try to make contact with yours, in the hope of creating friendship. But if they met with more hostility they would merely keep well away from Muta.’

  ‘I wish I could believe that. I might be persuaded to help you escape if I thought you were speaking the truth.’

  ‘I would not lie to you,’ Clark retorted.

  ‘Let me think it over. I owe you for saving my life. You have shown me kindness, and I would repay you. We are a proud race if nothing else, and a debt must always be paid.’

  ‘Thank you!’ Clark felt his hopes begin to rise. But at that precise moment Balfin called to him from the front of the house, and the Major’s words sent a sharp pang through Clark’s mind.

  ‘Commander, we’ve got company coming. Three skyrafts are heading this way, and it looks as if they gonna settle down in the yard.’

  Clark sprang to his feet, his teeth clenching, but the woman grasped his arm as he started for the door.

  ‘You and your friends had better stay out of sight,’ she said thinly. ‘I’ll go out and talk to them. They’ll be police, checking up on the raid last night.’

  ‘I have to trust you,’ Clark said slowly.

  ‘It is the only way. I have to go out to them. You can trust me. Stay under cover, for if you are seen it will be my life as well as yours that will be lost. Brutans are forbidden to aid aliens.’

  ‘All right!’ Clark nodded slowly. ‘Get out there and do what you can. I’ll trust you, Ralip.’

  She smiled harshly at the sound of her name on his lips, and went through to the front of the house. Clark followed, stifling Balfin’s protests when the Major learned the chance they were to take. They crouched by a window and watched intently, and it seemed to Clark that time stood still as they waited for the craft to come in and land. The girl was standing tall and erect in the yard, and Balfin was training the Laser on her back. But it didn’t ease Clark’s mind to know the woman would die if she betrayed them, for they would soon follow her into oblivion. He mentally crossed his fingers as he waited for developments …

  Chapter Eight

  ‘She’s not betraying us!’ Balfin said hopefully after several minutes of conversation had taken place between the woman and four of the newcomers.

  Clark nodded slowly. ‘I think we can trust her,’ he said, and smiled slowly. ‘Correction! We are trusting her, and we’ll have to go on trusting her. I don’t see any other way out of this. We’ll never make it alone!’

  ‘I’m inclined to agree with you now.’ Balfin sou
nded depressed, and Clark looked at him. They stared at one another. ‘We are in the hell of a fix, Commander,’ Balfin went on. ‘I can’t remember ever getting into a tighter spot.’

  ‘Let’s try and take it as it comes,’ Clark said. ‘It’s the only way. We’re still at liberty, and that’s something. Look, Ralip is coming away from them.’

  ‘They’re leaving!’ There was relief in Balfin’s tones as they watched the Brutan men moving back to their craft.

  ‘I’m hoping we’ll never have to fight them,’ Clark commented. ‘There’s not one of them under eight feet.’

  They watched in silence as some of the skyrafts lifted steeply from the ground, and the woman paused by the door to turn and watch the others taking off. The craft swept away towards the distant forest, and then the woman turned and entered the house. Clark waited anxiously for her to report.

  ‘They asked about the raid,’ Ralip said, smiling thinly. ‘They are only concerned about the Ogrins. Most of the raiding party were killed last night, and they’re looking for wounded or stragglers.’

  ‘They didn’t mention the aliens who landed?’ Clark asked.

  The woman shook her head. ‘They have not talked of you’ She stared at Clark for a moment. ‘I want to help you. Now that I’ve lied to the Authorities about the situation here my life is forfeit if they find you in my company.’

  ‘We’ll leave immediately, unless you have a hiding place where we can stay until nightfall!’ Clark was eager to show that he had no intention of using her without consideration for her own position.

  ‘There’s a hiding place, but if you hide by day and walk by night you will never reach the place where the space ships are stationed.’

  ‘You know where they are?’ Balfin asked eagerly.

  ‘I have been there several times to watch them take off and land. I could take you by air to the place and show you the big ships.’

  ‘I couldn’t walk around openly without betraying myself to your people,’ Clark said.

  ‘You would not leave the craft. Your two friends could hide here until we return.’

  Clark glanced at Balfin, who was nodding slowly.

  ‘Sounds like a good idea, Commander,’ the Major said. ‘If you could only get a look at one of their craft it would give you some idea of our chances. We’ve got to know what they’re like and where they are. But that skyraft is big enough for more than a couple of people. Let’s all go and stick together.’

  ‘One of you will have to return to the forest to fetch the others of your group,’ the woman said.

  ‘But no one can move out of here without risking capture until nightfall,’ Clark retorted. ‘How long will it take us to look over the spaceport and return?’

  ‘Half the day.’

  ‘I’ll stick around here with the Professor,’ Balfin said. ‘We’ll be okay.’

  ‘I’d rather we stuck together,’ Clark retorted.

  ‘There is an old saying about all the eggs being placed in one basket, Commander,’ Frank Searby cut in.

  Clark nodded. ‘All right. I’ll go joy-riding while you two lay up here under cover.’ He looked at the woman, who was watching him intently. ‘Where are the farm workers? You don’t run this large place alone, do you?’

  ‘There are no workers! We use machinery to do all the chores. I merely supervise. If I could afford a larger place I could run it unaided.’

  ‘Good!’ Clark was satisfied there would be little danger to Balfin and Searby. ‘Where can they hide while we’re away?’

  Ralip led them through the house to one of the rooms at the rear, and they watched while she operated a hidden switch and revealed a large chamber behind a blank wall.

  ‘This is where we hide when the Ogrins raid,’ the woman said. ‘You will be safe in here.’

  ‘And if the Ogrins ever set fire to the house?’ Balfin demanded.

  ‘The house is fireproof,’ she retorted.

  Balfin and Searby entered the secret chamber, and before Ralip closed the door Balfin held out the Laser.

  ‘You want to take this along, just in case, Commander?’ he demanded.

  Clark shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t get the chance to do much good with it if I got into trouble,’ he said slowly. ‘You keep it. If I don’t get back for any reason then you’ll have to go ahead with our plans without me.’

  ‘I understand.’ Balfin nodded. ‘Good luck! Watch out for the route to the spaceport and make notes on the layout, if you get the chance.’

  The door closed and Clark turned away. Ralip seemed eager to be on her way now, and they hurried out to the skyraft garage. Clark entered the machine and watched while the woman opened the roof and checked the motor. Then she came aboard and settled in the pilot’s seat. She directed Clark to sit on the floor between the front and rear seats.

  ‘If you are spotted inside the craft we will be destroyed. Stay down at all times. There are always a lot of aircraft over the town, and the police and security guards carry out spot checks. You will be able to see all you want from that lower viewport.’

  Clark nodded, turning to peer out of the circular port set in the side of the cupola near the floor. Ralip started the motor and the next instant the skyraft lifted neatly out of the garage and soared into the sky. Clark felt his spirits lift as they whirled away, and he turned his head to peer down through the viewport. His brown eyes glittered as he watched the countryside disappearing swiftly beneath them.

  This was the way to travel! The thought passed through his mind. He could see now that if they had continued to travel on foot they would have failed completely. He glanced at the big figure of the alien woman, and a sense of wonder stabbed through him. For the first time since Probe 2 was destroyed he felt a pang of hope, and felt that perhaps they were destined to escape this hostile planet.

  They sped over a large town, and Clark looked through the port and stared at the wide streets and saw the tiny figures of people moving around. He was suddenly struck by the fact that there were no vehicles of any kind on the streets, and raised the point with Ralip. The woman smiled thinly as she glanced at him.

  ‘We do not use street vehicles any longer. They went out years ago. They were slow and dangerous, and caused great pollution of the air. These craft are cheap and easy to operate, and they do not pollute.’

  Clark nodded. He returned his attention to the ground, and they left the town behind and continued, heading, as far as he could judge, in a northerly direction. He saw that there was a countless number of skyrafts operating in the air over and around the town, and he stayed low between the seats, ignoring the cramps that began to assail his chest and neck. He was interested in everything he saw, and wished he could have had the opportunity to study the Brutans more closely, without the fear of being captured and killed.

  They travelled for two hours, cutting a straight line across country, and Clark would have given a lot to have been able to sit in the other front seat and learn to fly the craft.

  ‘Do you have weapons aboard this craft, Ralip?’ he demanded.

  ‘One powerful disintegrator for use against Ogrins. It is our duty to kill Ogrins wherever we see them.’

  He took in that bit of grim news with a glitter in his eyes. Disintegrators were not pleasant weapons to play around with, and he glanced out of the port and studied some of the other craft flying around. Anyone getting triggerhappy with a disintegrator could do a lot of damage, he mused.

  They bypassed two other towns, and then the coastline showed up. Immediately Ralip changed course and lest height, and Clark tensed when he spotted a vast complex of buildings and open spaces coming up.

  ‘That is the place,’ Ralip said. ‘We are prohibited to fly over it. I must turn away now because the warning is flashing already. If I fly into the prohibited area I will be shot down without further warning.’

  Clark nodded, staring hard at the ground. The woman took the skyraft on a circuit of the spaceport, staying outside the perimeter of the
prohibited area.

  ‘Lots of people fly around here watching for spacecraft,’ she said. ‘But not on a day like today. This is not a rest day. We cannot stay too long or we shall be intercepted by a security craft.’

  ‘We want to stay out of trouble,’ Clark agreed, ‘but can you take us around just once more? I must impress the lay-out on my mind.’

  She nodded, and her face was tense and tight-lipped as she glanced at him. Clark stared down through narrowed eyes as they made another circuit. He saw a number of strange craft on the ground near to the large hangars.

  ‘Can you tell me which of those craft are the type that travel through space?’ he demanded.

  ‘The largest.’ She turned the craft slightly, and pointed out one of the nearer craft on the ground. ‘That is the type which travels to Sata. It will get you off this planet quite easily.’

  Clark was silent until they had completed the second circuit. He studied the lay-out of the spaceport itself, and then the approaches. But Ralip turned away then and started the return trip to her farm.

  ‘We cannot stay longer,’ she said. ‘We are under observation, and must not attract any attention.’

  ‘Is there somewhere you can set us down in sight of the port?’ he demanded. ‘When we make our try perhaps you could drop us at the nearest point. But before we even think of making any attempt, I must get in close, preferably under cover of darkness, and find out what kind of obstacles will confront us.’

  ‘We cannot land within sight of the port,’ she replied. ‘It is all a forbidden area.’

  Clark said nothing as the skyraft began the return trip to the farm, and his thoughts were fast and calculating. Ralip was silent too, watching her surroundings carefully. Clark paid no heed to the woman, wrapped up as he was in his own plans, and it wasn’t until he felt the craft lurch and rapidly lose height that he dragged himself from his thoughts and looked around.