Stranded on Haven

by William Zellmann

  I also made certain that Rains was in the co-pilot's seat, and got the full benefit of watching the two starships swell in the large viewport. By the time we slid into Startrader's landing bay, Rains was looking even more nervous; I think he was finally realizing that he was in something over his head.

  I explained that the lock could only handle three people at a time, and that we would have to board separately. Rains grimaced. "Okay. But you and the dolly strip first. Arby, you go with them. Take your revolver. If they try anything, kill the dolly. Me an' Cooey'll be right behind you.

  Ellie's face was scarlet, but I wasn't certain whether it was embarrassment, humiliation, or anger. I hoped it was the latter. I was depending on Ellie to at least keep Arby busy, while I took care of Rains and Cooey. Still she stripped quickly and emotionlessly. The thugs all stared and made rude comments, especially when Arby stripped. There were obscene jokes about both me and Ellie, and rude comparisons made between me and the thick, hairy, scarred body of the thug.

  Finally, though, the three of us entered the airlock, and I began to relax. We'd passed the last hurdle. Even with my ruined hand, I was confident that we could overpower Arby, especially if there were no gravs. And the other two would be isolated in the airlock, helpless in a sea of poisoned air.

  The big thug actually made the airlock crowded. I showed him how to don the breathing mask, and cycled the lock. We emerged on the other side, and Rains and Cooey filed into the lock and donned breathing masks. As the outer door closed, I shouted, "Lisa! Gravs off!" I saw Ellie start for the flailing thug, who was trying to bring his revolver to bear, and there was a sudden bar of actinic light and a black spot appeared between and slightly above the man's eyes. He went limp, and began drifting in the weightlessness. I reached for the airlock controls, but before I could shift to my uninjured hand, there was a shouted, "NO!" and a flash of red as Heidi pushed past me. She slapped the emergency cutoff for the breathing air, and I watched through the small window in the airlock door. Awareness dawned in Rains' face as he found he couldn't breathe. He raised his pistol and fired; the projectile bounced around the armored airlock until it hit Cooey in the chest. Cooey didn't care. He'd already snatched off his mask, and sucked his lungs full of near-instant poison. Rains' expression was despairing as he finally snatched off the mask and breathed his own portion of poison.

  "Jerd!" Heidi cried, "are you all right? Ellie?"

  I took a deep breath. "Lisa, gravs, please." I turned to Heidi with a wide grin. "I'm all right. Ellie?"

  Ellie was looking furious. "Why'd you do that? I was just getting ready to teach that hairy ape a lesson! Good shot, though."

  Heidi and I laughed, but Heidi sobered immediately, and shook her head. "No. I couldn't let you or Jerd kill someone. That's not a burden you need to carry. Especially since it was my screw-up that caused it."

  I snorted. "Nonsense. This was an ambush, well planned and carried out by experts. Any reasonable bodyguard can be overcome, especially a single one. Anyway, let's get me to the med bay, and let poor Ellie get dressed.

  Ellie looked down at her naked body. "Well, if you insist!" This was so untypical of the modest Ellie that I did a double-take. I smiled. "Well, it's your choice. But of course it's your risk too. They say that deadly danger is an aphrodisiac, you know. You shouldn't tease the wild animals."

  Ellie smiled and struck a pose. "Hah! You don't look so wild."

  I felt stirrings in my crotch, and started for the door before my physical reaction embarrassed everyone. Yes, including me. Giggles followed me as I headed for the med bay.

  It took less than half an hour to immobilize my hand, and inject the nano that would complete the repairs, Lisa claimed, in less than a day.

  "That's good, Lisa," I replied. "Because I may break it again on an old man's face!"

  By the time I returned to the bridge, Lisa's 'bots had cleaned up, and tossed the bodies overboard. The baskets containing the thugs' clothing and effects were lined up neatly along a bulkhead. To my chagrin, Ellie was dressed in a shipsuit that bulged interestingly. "Well, Heidi, you've done New Home a great service. Too bad King David will never know who relieved him of that particular pest."

  Heidi shrugged. "It doesn't matter. In less than a week, there will be a new Rains in control."

  I nodded. "True. And we need to make sure that Kel Sarbo won't take advantage of his services."

  Heidi looked thoughtful. "Sarbo, eh? Are you sure?"

  I nodded. "Rains mentioned the 'old man' several times, and indicated that he was only interested in the valise with the book and aluminum. There's only one 'old man' in Firstlanding who would know about the valise, and knew the date and time that we would be coming, and, most importantly, knew that I was the Star Man."

  Heidi nodded. "That's pretty conclusive. What are you going to do about it?" Her face had turned to stone.

  I shook my head. "No, Heidi, I don't expect you to kill him. I would never ask you to do that. But there will be repercussions for Messer Sarbo. Let's sit down and discuss what they might be."

  Chapter 16

  We retired to the Captain's wardroom and dialed meals; it had already been a very long day.

  "I'm worried about that valise," I began. "Rains left it in the warehouse; I'm sure enough others in the gang know about Sarbo to deliver it and get payment. Do you have any contacts in the New Home underworld that might be willing and able to get it for us?

  Heidi frowned, but after a moment her face cleared. "Maybe. I know a man that's pretty high in Rains' organization. I think he'd do it, if we offered a few hundred crowns and the information that Rains won't be coming back for it."

  I nodded. "As soon as it's dark, I'd like you to go down and see what you can do. Take two thousand crowns, in case he's greedier than you think."

  Heidi smiled. "Slavedriver. I've already had a pretty full day, you know."

  "I know, Heidi. But I don't want to take a chance on Rains' having left delivery instructions." Anger flared, and I slammed my good hand on the table. "That old man is going to learn that nothing from Startrader is available to him or his company at any price. I'm going to do everything in my power to put him out of business."

  We continued to chat throughout the meal, mostly ideas for punishing Sarbo.

  "Okay," I finally announced. "Heidi, you'd better get going. Can you phone your contact, or will you have to see him in person."

  Heidi smiled. "Both, of course. Oh, don't worry, Jerd. I'll be able to call him from town, let him know I'm coming, and that he shouldn't get rid of that valise until after we talk. Luckily the 'bots didn't throw all the personal belongings overboard. I'll get some identifiable personal items to show Rags."

  I nodded. "Good. After you call, spend the night at the lighthouse, and take the morning train to Firstlanding. Get the valise, get hotel rooms for all of us, but don't get us an appointment with Sarbo. My hand will be healed by tomorrow, and we'll come down tomorrow night. Let's see. The day after tomorrow is Fourthday. Perfect. We'll catch the morning train and meet up at the Firstlanding train station. Then we'll pay a visit to Messer Sarbo."

  Kel Sarbo's secretary looked up at the sound of her office door opening, and her mouth dropped open in shock as she found herself looking into the muzzle of a large revolver in the steady hand of a small but buxom young woman. "Good morning," the young woman said sweetly, "Don't worry, you won't have to announce us. We don't have an appointment. Now, why don't you just go back to your work, while I make sure we're not disturbed."

  The tall man and striking young woman looked familiar, though the secretary couldn't remember their names. With nods and polite smiles, the two entered Kel Sarbo's office.

  Sarbo's eyes grew very wide when he saw his visitors. "You!" he almost shouted. "Oh, Gods. please … don't hurt me!"

  I smiled pleasantly. "Oh, we're not going to hurt you, Messer Sarbo. We're just delivering the valise you wanted so badly." I tossed it onto his desk.

  "Of course
it's empty, now. As empty as your future. No, Messer Sarbo, I'm not going to hurt you ­ at least physically. No, I'm going to take from you the one thing you value more than your life. I'm going to break you, sire. I'm going to destroy New Home Mining and Metals.

  "First, nothing aboard Startrader is available to you. Oh, I'm sure you'll manage to gather some of the information I'll be selling, once it hits the open market. But you'll be very late to the game, and you know the fate of latecomers in the marketplace.

  "Second, there will be the rumors. For instance, tomorrow's Yellow Journal will be publishing an expose of businessmen who deal with gangsters. Your name will be prominently featured, linked to Var Rains. We will make certain that all your competitors, suppliers, and customers are well aware of those links.

  "More rumors will be spread among those prominent in your industry; rumors that link you to Rains' disappearance. These will be accompanied by questions: Is Kel Sarbo a gangland leader? Does he have ties to organized crime? Do you really want to do business with a man like that? Do you want to sell him supplies? Equipment? Do you want to continue buying from him? What if what you buy is stolen property?

  "Within a year, New Home Mining will be in trouble. No one will make business loans to a gang-controlled company, and none will buy its products. In two years, your company will be bankrupt, your stock worthless. As worthless as you, yourself are worthless as a human being.

  "Oh, don't worry, you probably won't be around to see the destruction of your company. You see, Messer Rains' associates have already seen evidence that you had something to do with his disappearance. I'm sure they'll be interested in talking with you about that. Oh, and I wouldn't try to pass off any wild fairy tales about the Star Man. No one will believe them. Everyone knows he's been spending all his time in orbit, working on the University project."

  We turned and walked out, leaving Kel Sarbo's empty eyes staring into an empty future.

  We wasted no more time in Fairhaven, returning to Adventurer that night. The pace aboard the old starship had become frantic, and Ollie needed help. Department Heads were still interviewing Professors, while at the same time receiving curricula that they had to review and study for approval. Professors were frantically studying, learning an entirely new state of the art in dozens of specialties, and then modifying Adventurer's "standard" curricula to accommodate Haven's educational levels and submitting them for their Department Heads' approval. Ollie was desperately trying to make certain that Jane's, er "Erna's" curricula were applicable to Haven's state of the art, and requesting changes from Department Heads when they weren't.

  Meanwhile, there were now over a hundred people living full time aboard Adventurer. They needed to eat, work and relax. That meant a steady stream of landers hauling the basic food supplies for Adventurer's huge autochefs, and everything from typewriters to books.

  Unsurprisingly, books were something of a problem. A number of Professors had grown old teaching from their own texts, usually written by them. Forcing their students to buy their books was a significant source of income for them.

  Unfortunately, my arrival made those texts instantly obsolete; most of their contents were now out-of-date or just plain wrong. Jane contained texts for every level of every discipline; the problem was selecting the appropriate ones and having them printed before classes began. I'd cleared the memories of several hundred of Adventurer's tablets, and downloaded texts Ollie had approved to them, so we could send them to publishers on the planet for printing in hard copy.

  Of course, that wasn't the only problem. Many of those Professors objected to teaching a new text, especially since it meant hours and hours of study on their parts. Four of the older, most respected educators, after surveying the upcoming differences in their disciplines, decided to retire rather than learn the new technologies, and Ollie and Toray had to reluctantly let another seven go when they proved unable to cope.

  The really good news, though, was Turlow, the young scientist Ollie had recruited from Westin. Turlow had spent nearly all his time learning about hydroponics. He had published several papers in scientific journals, and was now regarded as the planet's foremost expert in this new field. President Runtz had retained him to deliver a series of seminars to Cellia's biologists and agricultural scientists. As a result, Turlow was emerging from his shell on a flood of peer respect. He was also becoming quite wealthy.

  Turlow's success hadn't gone unnoticed; when Ollie tried to replace the older professors, he found himself buried in applications. It was obvious to the younger scientists and educators that similar groundbreaking papers and respect awaited those who mastered even a little of Adventurer's treasure trove of information. Other scientists and engineers swarmed over the cargo we'd removed from Adventurer.

  Things were moving very fast on Haven, now. Frequently, research papers and books referenced other, earlier work by others; early on, I'd established a policy of providing information upon request. When asked, I would have Lisa send the requested information to the requester's tablet, as well as to those of the other nations. Of course, the tablets had limited memory, so I encouraged all the users to have as much information as possible reduced to printed form, and erased from the tablets.

  But Toray's people had formalized my casual policy into a system for dealing with the flood of requests for information. They had a whole department in the International Zone now. When a request for information on a specific topic was received, I had Jane wipe the memory of one of her 1500 spare tablets, and after a quick review to ensure the information wasn't military in nature, program one of them which I would send down.

  Toray's team would copyright the information worldwide, award a contract to a printer, and rent them the tablet. The printer would print off the requested information, and return it to the University. They, in turn, would add it to their fast-growing list of available titles, and send the requested number of copies to the 'customer'. At a profit, of course. I wasn't really part of this game anymore, except to verify that the information requested wasn't directly military, and to process the circulating tablets. Of course much of the new knowledge had military applications; As I kept insisting, I hadn't adopted Haven like a man adopts a child. All I could do was try to keep the playing field level by making certain that any such knowledge was shared with all the nations.

  But the University was quickly becoming the most important institution on Haven, as well as one of the richest and most powerful. I had to continually monitor to ensure that information wasn't being concealed from some nations, while being provided to others. I had mixed emotions about the rising power of the University; on the one hand, I was glad to see political power being consolidated under the Planetary Council. On the other, I disapproved of Toray's increasing wealth and influence, and his rapacious business practices. I was beginning to wonder whether he was a greater threat to Haven than King David.

  Scientific journals found themselves with piles of submitted papers to be peer-reviewed and published. Businessmen, noting the surge of prosperity for those companies dealing with the University, hired specialists to review these newly published papers, with an eye toward developing their own businesses based on them.

  The University and the tablets I'd provided had jumpstarted development on Haven. Ada Curran of Westin had taken my suggestions very seriously, and unleashed a flood of requests for information on such varied topics as petroleum processing and a whole new science: electronics. Westin was taking the lead in the development of the internal combustion engines called "diesels". They had already developed a successful diesel truck, and were building a locomotive with the revolutionary powerplant. Westin was also busily engaged in converting all of Tarrant from direct to alternating electrical current.

  Cellia, driven by President Runtz, was pursuing anything that offered the chance of reducing their dependence on imported food. Cellia was pressing research into something called "terracing", large glass hothouses, and hydroponics, and was pressuring Cellia
Chemical to research the production of plas, with particular emphasis on clear plates that could replace expensive glass in huge hothouses.

  I was somewhat surprised at Cornwell; President Tyree was revealing unsuspected depths. Once the "fuel from dung" project had been successful, he had sent his spare tablet to the nation's largest university, with instructions to find similar breakthroughs that could aid Cornwell's people. He also pushed increased funding for the university's research through Cornwell's largely rural senate. Cornwell seemed focused on increasing crop yields and power production. Judging by the information they requested, Conwell's scientists were studying solar power and something called "solar power satellites" ­ Haven's first hint of interest in developing space itself. I planned to follow that research closely.

  New Home, of course, was pursuing so many different paths that budget and resources were becoming stretched thin. New Home was even dragging East Brent into the fray, pushing them to pursue the development of a type of engine called a "turbine", despite the small budget available for this effort.

  Even tiny Refuge was building a chemical industry on helium production. I had released that information once Wanderer III was launched; I could not allow Refuge a monopoly on such a vital gas. Still, Refuge had a large head start on the research and development and even had an operating production plant. Given this advantage it was no surprise that little Refuge was becoming a major player in the airship industry.

  Lisa was reporting that the information business was booming; but, at least for me, that wasn't really a 'business' in the sense of earning a profit. In fact, it was a net loss; Despite Toray's money factory, we were buying thousands of copies of the research books through one of my shell companies, and providing them free of charge to public libraries planet-wide. I'd learned how many discoveries had been the result of curious individuals working in a basement or outbuilding, and I wanted to make sure we tapped this remarkable resource.