by J F Bone
Ellen knew all this, but it didn’t seem important. What mattered was that her man was out there on the frontier fighting the Eglani. She wanted him home with all the blind possessive selfishness of her sex. She wanted to feel his arms around her and later in the quiet of their home to tell him what he had a right to know. She laid down her cards and ran her hands over her abdomen with a curious half protective half possessive gesture, a wry smile touching her lips. She was doing her part just as Alton was doing his. Life was needed. Life had to be replaced.
Another keening shriek from the sky. Another ship was in.
And Ellen was standing up. Her face was glory.
“It’s Alton!” she said with odd softness. “I’d know the sound of those drives anywhere in the galaxy.” And then—quietly—she fainted . . .
Within minutes after landing, interrogation teams from Central Intelligence swarmed over ship and crew like vultures on a dead carcass. For hours the questioning and examination went on and not until the last tape, the last instrument, and the last crewman of the “Dauntless” had been wrung dry of information did the torture stop. Literally nothing was overlooked but the results as usual were negative—three strikes, three kills, two boardings, and nothing to show for them but Eglan corpses. As usual the aliens were thorough. They fought while they could and died when they could fight no more, and headless bodies were no use to Central Research. Reluctantly, Intelligence released the officers and crew.
The Eglan Enigma was no closer to solution than it was five years ago when the aliens had blasted a Confederation exploration ship and had started the war. But Commander Alton Fiske wasn’t worried about that. Ellen was out there waiting for him and he’d been delayed too long already.
A WEEK is never long at best,—and this had been shorter than most, Fiske decided as he picked up a ground car at fleet headquarters and directed the driver to take him to his quarters. It was a little better than an hour until blastoff, which would give him time enough to pick up his kit and say goodbye, to Ellen for the fourth time. He’d been lucky. The “Dauntless” needed modification and repair and the week planetside was his longest time ashore since his honeymoon. Of course, Ellen wasn’t going to like his sudden departure, but she was a Navy wife and she knew what she was getting into before they were married. It was an abiding wonder that she had married him in the face of his Cassandra prophecies of trouble and heartache. But then—Ellen was an unusual woman.
As he left the forbidding grimness of Fleet Headquarters he almost smiled. In a way it was a relief to get away from the longfaced brass whose professionally preoccupied air was merely a camouflage for the worry that ate at the linings of their stomachs. Fiske was glad that he wasn’t one of the Ulcer Echelon, that his worries involved relatively simple things such as fighting a ship and getting home alive.
As it was, the pain of leaving again was bad enough, and if it weren’t for Ellen’s “get togethers” it would be greater. They were the one fault in her otherwise perfect character. How a perfectly sane and sensible woman could endure those gabfests where every blessed female was talking at the same time was more than he could understand. But Ellen not only took them in her stride, she took them three or four times a week.
His face clouded as he saw the squadron of ground cars parked before his quarters. Their significance was obvious. Of course, she didn’t expect him home this early in the day, and if she’d known of the orders he’d received there probably would have been no one here but her. Still, he’d have to go inside and face that crowd of cats mewling at each other over some conversational bone. He sighed as he stepped out of the car, told the driver to wait, and walked the few steps to his quarters.
Through the clatter of shrill voices the squealing giggle of Anne Albertson cut like a knife, piercing his ears as he stood in the tiny entrance hall, reluctant to enter farther yet unwilling to leave. He winced. Sure, Anne probably had a right to squeal. Her husband had landed his riddled ship yesterday morning and had walked away from the wreckage. Sure—she had a right to squeal, but did she have to do it in his house?
Fixing his expression into a noncommittal mask, he stepped into the living room, and with his appearance the noise stopped. Twelve pair of eyes looked at him and Anne Albertson said into the silence “I think we’d better leave, girls. We’re not needed here right now.” There was a murmur and a rustle, and miraculously the room was empty, except for Ellen. She stood in front of him, a slim straight girl with a face that was oddly white against the wealth of her blue-black hair. She wasn’t pretty, Fiske thought. She was beautiful.
“Are you off again?” Ellen asked.
Fiske nodded. Wives, he suspected, were telepathic.
“Admiral Koenig should go drown himself,” she said bitterly. “He has no right to send you off like this. You’ve been home only six days.”
“That’s twice as long as last time,” Fiske pointed out reasonably. He felt proud of her. She was pure steel all the way through. No tears, no fuss, even a faint smile on her lips. If possible he loved her more than ever. “If you don’t like it,” he continued with a wry grin, “You might take it up with the Admiral.”
“Not me,” Ellen said. “The one time I saw him at close range he scared me half to death.”
“Oh well, you needn’t worry. It’s just another try for prisoners, The Research Institute wants a live Eglan.”
“Haven’t they got some? Ed Albertson came in with a few last trip.”
“Those were civilians. The labs want a military man or two.
There’s a lot of differences between the Eglan military and civilians that don’t make sense.”
“All they’d need to do is look at our fighting men. There’s a lot of differences between them and civilians that don’t make sense.” Fiske grinned. “Anyway, it’s a milk run this time,” he lied.
“Don’t kid the troops on the home front,” she said. “It’s big, mean, and dirty.”
“It’s no worse than any other mission. Sure, they’re all bad but I’m on detached assignment and there won’t be a lot of other ships around cluttering up space and drawing attention.”
“I wish they’d leave us alone.”
“So do I. But those mule-eared Eglan militarists aren’t going to be satisfied until we pin their ears back.”
“I suppose so, but I don’t like to think of you out there.”
“Someone has to go,” he said quietly, “and besides I’ve always managed to come back. I’m getting pretty good at it now.” He kissed her lightly on the end of her nose.
“Just keep on being good,” she said. “I like having you around.” She kissed him then, a fierce hungry kiss that left him breathless. “All right sailor, there’s something for you to coma home to. Now let’s get your gear together.”
Ellen followed him to the door. “I’m not going down to the field with you this time,” she said. “Last time was enough. I don’t think I could stand watching you disappear outside again. But I made something to take with you.” She picked up a square flat package from the top of the recorder and thrust it into his hands.
“Another tape like the last one?” he queried.
“Not exactly like the last one,” she smiled, “but it’s along the same lines. You said you liked the other.”
“I did. It was nice to hear your voice. And would you believe I never grew tired of hearing it? It gets lonely out there.”
“It gets lonely here too. Now, off with you or I’ll be tempted to kidnap you for the duration.” She kissed him, a cool wifely kiss that was tender but passionless, pushed him gently away, and stood beside the door until his car disappeared around the corner on its way back to the Base.
She sighed and turned back to the house. That was all it was now—just a house—but for the past week it had been a home. She wondered when, if ever, it would be a home again. It was starting already—the worry, the hidden fear, the agony of suspenseful waiting.
She jumped as the doorbell rang a
nd Anne Albertson’s face appeared in the viewplate.
“I came back,” Anne said as she entered the room. “I thought you might need me, and besides—I forgot something.” She looked at the recorder with an odd expression on her pointed face. “Well,” she said finally, “I didn’t think anyone wanted it worse than I did. I thought it might amuse Ed. He’s pretty low. He lost a lot of men.”
“Wanted what?” Ellen asked curiously.
“That recording I made of the first part of our get together. I left it lying on top of the recorder, but it isn’t there now.”
Ellen gasped and put the back of her hand to her mouth. “Oh no!” she said in a strangled voice.
Anne looked at her curiously.
“I gave it to Alton,” Ellen said. “I thought it was the one I made for him.”
“Oh well, he shouldn’t mind. Your voice is on it too.”
“You don’t know Alton,” Ellen said miserably . . .
AS the “Dauntless” bored through Cth space in the middle blue component, Fiske reviewed his last meeting with Admiral Koenig. It hadn’t been too satisfactory. Central Research, it seemed, still wanted a live Eglan trooper. It didn’t matter that the Navy hadn’t captured one in five years of trying. The requirement still stood. It took no great intelligence to understand why Central wanted a prisoner. A great deal about the aliens could be understood if there was live meat available. The only trouble was that there never had been, and probably never would be a live Eglan prisoner of war. Fiske automatically excluded the Eglan civilians. They were essentially no different than a civilized human.
It puzzled Fiske. How a people who were gentle, civilized, and understanding could produce a warrior caste so fiercely dedicated and so utterly different was a mystery he couldn’t solve. Sure—some of it probably was connected with the suicide devices surgically implanted in their skulls, but that wasn’t all of it. Their fanatic will to fight, their utter disregard of death and their incredible discipline had no reflection in their civilian counterparts. The Eglan soldiery were a living denial of the human axiom that a society left its impression upon all of its components. Certainly there was no reflection of the Eglan civilian in the Eglan soldier,—or vice versa.
Fiske shrugged. After all, it wasn’t his problem outside of the fact that he had to fight them. And it had been proven some time ago that ship for ship humanity was fully a match for the aliens. It was only when groups were involved that the Eglan superiority was apparent. And then it was overwhelming.
There was some trick of discipline or communication that welded a group of Eglan fighting ships into a single cohesive unit that was thus far unbeatable. Humanity had to learn—or it was lost—and would go the way of the other civilizations that had been in the path of alien conquest.
Fiske shrugged. Given time, men might learn the answer. But time was getting short. Koenig felt that if the answer wasn’t found soon, humanity would pass the point of no return. Already the inner worlds were glutted with refugees. Industry was trying vainly to gain upon the tremendous attrition in ships and weapons and still supply the population. Financial structures were tottering on the brink of ruin. Taxation was oppressive, restrictions were galling and unpleasant, and everywhere disaffection with the progress of the war was rampant.
“If the armchair admirals had their way,” Koenig had said bitterly “we’d be through now. But we can’t hold out much longer. This delaying policy is going to split wide open. We’re going to be forced to mount a counter offensive against an enemy we know can outmaneuver and outfight us in large formations,—an enemy who knows a great deal about us, but about whom we know nothing. We simply have to get a line on how they operate.”
So here he was again, chasing the will-o-the-wisp of an Eglan prisoner. He sighed, shrugged and turned his attention to the banks of instruments that recorded every vital function of the ship.
This part of the voyage was easy. Not even the inhumanly efficient Eglani could guard all parts of the fluid hemisphere they had pushed into the territory of the Confederation, and ships travelled with relative ease across the ill defined border that separated the two warring races.
But life aboard ship was neither easy nor relaxed. Under Fiske’s command, it was a constant striving for perfection. Five years of battle experience had taught him that neither officers nor crew could become too familiar with the offensive and defensive armaments of a ship. Constant practice was the only answer to Eglan coordination and every man aboard knew that the more proficient they became the better were their chances of coming home alive. So all hands spent every spare moment refining skills of war, solving simulated tactical problems, trying to increase response speed and improve combat efficiency.
Fiske checked the control console, his eyes sweeping across the lights and dials that indicated the “Dauntless” was manned and ready and that the crew were at their proper stations. Satisfied that everything was in order, he set up a tactical problem on the board and buzzed for the Executive officer.
“Take over, Oley,” he said, as the Exec slid into the chair beside him.
“Hmm, a stinker you leave me,” Olaf Pedersen remarked as his eyes scanned the board.
“I’ll be in quarters if you need help,” Fiske said. He pushed off in a fiat dive toward the hatch that led to his quarters as Pedersen took up the proglem and the drill went on. As ship commander he enjoyed the priceless luxury of privacy, and for the little time that remained before breakout, he would luxuriate in solitude and listen to what Ellen taped for him. It was a pleasure he had carefully saved for this moment before they went into action. He hoped that it was something gay and inspiring, perhaps with a little of the affection they had for each other—but whatever it was it would be Ellen’s voice and for awhile it would give him the illusion that she was near.
He webbed into his shockcouch, threaded the spool of tape into the playback and flipped the switch. For a few seconds the tape hummed quietly through the guides. Then a blast of noise erupted from the speaker.
Anne Albertson’s piercing giggle.
Laughter.
Voices—piercing female voices pitched at their most irritating level—a cacaphonous clatter through which snatches of treble phrases sliced with nerve jangling shrillness!
Fiske’s howl could be heard through the entire forward part of the ship!
He reached out angrily to turn off the playback, but even as he did, he hesitated. Ellen must have given him this tape for a reason,—and it was obvious that he was missing it. She wasn’t the sort to play practical jokes. Gritting his teeth he forced himself to listen to the gabble that rasped his ears and frayed his temper. It was the quintessence of irritation, a garbled, calm-destroying jangle that had all the comfort of a dental drill grinding out an infected molar.
And then he heard it. The background noise died a little, and across the disconnected chatter came Ellen’s voice—clear crisp and light—mouthing the same banalities as the others! It was wrong. Everything about it was wrong. And then he understood.
For behind her voice a pattern emerged, a pattern that was neither light, nor gay, nor superficial. It was a desperate clinging to the familiar little things that made up normal life, a deliberate avoidance of the war, the fear and the worry. And Fiske realized with an odd feeling of surprise that here was a counterpart of the wardroom gabfests aboard ship. The attitude was the same. There was no essential difference. He stood it until her voice faded into the background and then he turned off the playback. Ellen should have known that he understood how she felt. There was no need for this. He felt oddly cheated as he put the tape away in his locker and returned to the control room.
The “Dauntless” broke out of hyperspace travelling just under Lume One, well within Eglan territory. Fiske knew from experience that the enemy detectors were efficient and it was always risky to breakout into normal space—but he had to come out to get a fix on potential targets.
“Set!” the gunnery officer said.
Instantly the “Dauntless” slammed back into fourspace. The scan had taken barely ten seconds, and with reasonable luck the dip into normal space would remain unnoticed long enough to give them the advantage of surprise. At best such an advantage would be fleeting. At worst he would breakout in the middle of an Eglan trap. Actuality would probably be somewhere in between. He’d have perhaps twenty minutes—and in that time he’d have to accomplish his mission and get the “Dauntless” back into the relative safety of fourspace.
The world ahead was a small planet about two thirds the size of Earth, and from it came the persistent radiation of nuclear stockpiles and atomic machinery. There was a base here—a big one supported by a massive industrial complex. The Eglani had the habit of concentrating their works, which made for greater efficiency of operation, but also made them far more remunerative targets.
THERE was no waiting. The cruiser flashed into normal spacetime, a bank of red lights blossomed on the control board, and the gunnery officer launched a salvo of torpedoes at the Eglan Base. The torps were new. Each carried a tiny hyperspace converter that pushed them up into the lower orange. They would arrive on target milliseconds after they were launched, breakout into normal space, and detonate. They were tricky things that required nearly ten seconds data to adjust, but when properly set they could materialize within any fixed screen. The inherent qualities of fourspace made them useless against maneuvering ships, but against a city or a planetary base they were deadly. Of course, compartmentalized screening would reduce the damage, but if the Eglani were using a hemisphere, God help anything inside.