Plague Ship

by Andre Norton

  Chapter X

  E-STAT LANDING

  Since Mura was in the isolation of ship sick bay the stripping of hiscabin was a relatively simple job. But, though Rip and Dane went over itliterally by inches, they found nothing unusual--in fact nothing fromSargol except a small twig of the red wood which lay on the steward'sworktable where he had been fashioning something to incorporate in one ofhis miniature fairy landscapes, to be imprisoned for all time in aplasta-bubble. Dane turned this around in his fingers. Because it was theonly link with the perfumed planet he couldn't help but feel that it hadsome importance.

  But Kosti had not shown any interest in the wood. And he, himself, andWeeks had handled it freely _before_ they had tasted Graft's friendshipcup and had no ill effects--so it couldn't be the wood. Dane put the twigback on the work table and snapped the protecting cover over the delicatetools--never realizing until days later how very close he had been inthat moment to the solution of their problem.

  After two hours of shifting every one of the steward's belongings, ofcrawling on hands and knees about the deck and climbing to inspectperfectly bare walls, they had found exactly nothing. Rip sat down on theend of the denuded bunk.

  "There's the hydro--Frank spent a lot of time in there--and thestoreroom," he told the places off on his fingers. "The galley and themess cabin."

  Those had been the extent of Mura's world. They could search thestoreroom, the galley and the mess cabin--but to interfere with the hydrowould endanger their air supply. It was for that very reason that theynow looked at each other in startled surmise.

  "The perfect place to plant something!" Dane spoke first.

  Rip's teeth caught his underlip. The hydro--something planted there couldnot be routed out unless they made a landing on a port field and had thewhole section stripped.

  "Devilish--" Rip's mobile lips drew tight. "But how could they do it?"

  Dane didn't see how it could have been done either. No one but theQueen's own crew had been on board the ship during their entire stay onSargol, except for the young Salarik. Could that cub have broughtsomething? But he and Mura had been with the youngster every minute thathe had been in the hydro. To the best of Dane's memory the cub hadtouched nothing and had been there only for a few moments. That had beenbefore the feast also--

  Rip got to his feet. "We can't strip the hydro in space," he pointed outthe obvious quietly.

  Dane had the answer. "Then we've got to earth!"

  "You heard that warn-off. If we try it--"

  "What about an Emergency station?"

  Rip stood very still, his big hands locked about the buckle of his armsbelt. Then, without another word, he went out of the cabin and at apounding pace up the ladder, bound for the Captain's cabin and therecords Jellico kept there. It was such a slim chance--but it was betterthan none at all.

  Dane shouldered into the small space in his wake to find Rip making aselection from the astrogation tapes. There were E-Stats among theasteroids--points prospectors or small traders in sudden difficultiesmight contact for supplies or repairs. The big Companies maintained theirown--the Patrol had several for independents.

  "No Patrol one--"

  Rip managed a smile. "I haven't gone space whirly yet," was his comment.He was feeding a tape into the reader on the Captain's desk. In the cageover his head the blue Hoobat squatted watching him intently--for thefirst time since Dane could remember showing no sign of resentment byweird screams or wild spitting.

  "Patrol E-Stat A-54--" the reader squeaked. Rip hit a key and the wireclicked to the next entry. "Combine E-Stat--" Another punch and click."Patrol E-Stat A-55--" punch-click. "Inter-Solar--" this time Rip's handdid not hit the key and the squeak continued--"Co-ordinates--" Ripreached for a steelo and jotted down the list of figures.

  "Got to compare this with our present course--"

  "But that's an I-S Stat," began Dane and then he laughed as the justiceof such a move struck him. They did not dare set the Queen down at anyPatrol Station. But a Company one which would be manned by only two orthree men and not expecting any but their own people--and I-S owed themhelp now!

  "There may be trouble," he said, not that he would have any regrets ifthere was. If the Eysies were responsible for the present plight of theQueen he would welcome trouble, the kind which would plant his fists onsome sneering Eysie face.

  "We'll see about that when we come to it," Rip went on to the controlcabin with his figures. Carefully he punched the combination on theplotter and watched it be compared with the course Jellico had set beforehis collapse.

  "Good enough," he commented as the result flashed on. "We can make itwithout using too much fuel--"

  "Make what?" That was Ali up from the search of Kosti's quarters."Nothing," he gave his report of what he had found there and thenreturned to the earlier question. "Make what?"

  Swiftly Dane outlined their suspicions--that the seat of the trouble layin the hydro and that they should clean out that section, drawing uponemergency materials at the I-S E-Stat.

  "Sounds all right. But you know what they do to pirates?" inquired theEngineer-apprentice.

  Space law came into Dane's field, he needed no prompting. "Any ship inemergency," he recited automatically, "may claim supplies from thenearest E-Stat--paying for them when the voyage is completed."

  "That means any Patrol E-Stat. The Companies' are private property."

  "But," Dane pointed out triumphantly, "the law doesn't say so--there isnothing about any difference between Company and Patrol E-Stat in thelaw--"

  "He's right," Rip agreed. "That law was framed when only the Patrol hadsuch stations. Companies put them in later to save tax--remember? Legallywe're all right."

  "Unless the agents on duty raise a howl," Ali amended. "Oh, don't give methat look, Rip. I'm not sounding any warn-off on this, but I just wantyou to be prepared to find a cruiser riding our fins and giving us thehot flash as bandits. If you want to spoil the Eysies, I'm all for it.Got a stat of theirs pinpointed?"

  Rip pointed to the figures on the computer. "There she is. We can setdown in about five hours' ship time. How long will it take to strip thehydro and re-install?"

  "How can I tell?" Ali sounded irritable. "I can give you oxgy forquarters for about two hours. Depends upon how fast we can move. Notelling until we make a start."

  He started for the corridor and then added over his shoulder: "You'llhave to answer a com challenge--thought about that?"

  "Why?" Rip asked. "It might be com repairs bringing us in. They won't beexpecting trouble and we will--we'll have the advantage."

  But Ali was not to be shaken out of his usual dim view of the future."All right--so we land, blaster in hand, and take the place. And they getoff one little squeak to the Patrol. Well, a short life but aninteresting one. And we'll make all the Video channels for sure when wego out with rockets blasting. Nothing like having a little excitement tobreak the dull routine of a voyage."

  "We aren't going to, are we--" Dane protested, "land armed, I mean?"

  Ali stared at him and Rip, to Dane's surprise, did not immediatelyrepudiate that thought.

  "Sleep rods certainly," the Astrogator-apprentice said after a pause."We'll have to be prepared for the moment when they find out who we are.And you can't re-set a hydro in a few minutes, not when we have to keepoxgy on for the others. If we were able to turn that off and work insuits it'd be a quicker job--we could dump before we set down and thenpile it in at once. But this way it's going to be piece work. And it alldepends on the agents at the Stat whether we have trouble or not."

  "We had better break out the suits now," Ali added to Rip's estimate ofthe situation. "If we set down and pile out wearing suits at once it willbuild up our tale of being poor wrecked spacemen--"

  Sleep rods or not, Dane thought to himself, the whole plan was one bornof desperation. It would depend upon who manned the E-Stat and how fastthe Free Traders could move once the Queen touched her fins to earth.

  "Knock out their coms,"
that was Ali continuing to plan. "Do that firstand then we don't have to worry about someone calling in the Patrol."

  Rip stretched. For the first time in hours he seemed to have returned tohis usual placid self. "Good thing somebody in this spacer watches Videoserials--Ali, you can brief us on all the latest tricks of space pirates.Nothing is so wildly improbable that you can't make use of it sometimeduring a checkered career."

  He glanced over the board before he brought his hand down on a single keyset a distance apart from the other controls. "Put some local color intoit," was his comment.

  Dane understood. Rip had turned on the distress signal at the Queen'snose. When she set down on the Stat field she would be flaming a bannerof trouble. Next to the wan dead lights, set only when a ship had no hopeof ever reaching port at all, that signal was one every spacer dreadedhaving to flash. But it was _not_ the dead lights--not yet for the Queen.

  Working together they brought out the space suits and readied them at thehatch. Then Weeks and Dane took up the task of tending their unconsciouscharges while Rip and Ali prepared for landing.

  There was no change in the sleepers. And in Jellico's cabin even Queexappeared to be influenced by the plight of its master, for instead ofgreeting Dane with its normal aspect of rage, the Hoobat stayed quiescenton the floor of its cage, its top claws hooked about two of the wires,its protruding eyes staring out into the room with what seemed closed toa malignant intelligence. It did not even spit as Dane passed under itsabode to pour thin soup into his patient.

  As for Sinbad, the cat had retreated to Dane's cabin and steadily refusedto leave the quarters he had chosen, resisting with tooth and claw theone time Dane had tried to take him back to Van Rycke's office and hisown hammock there. Afterwards the Cargo-apprentice did not try to evicthim--there was comfort in seeing that plump gray body curled on the bunkhe had little chance to use.

  His nursing duties performed for the moment, Dane ventured into thehydro. He was practiced in tending this vital heart of the ship's airsupply. But outfitting a hydro was something else again. In his cadetyears he had aided in such a program at least twice as a matter oflearning the basic training of the Service. But then they had hadunlimited supplies to draw on and the action had taken place under nomore pressure than that exerted by the instructors. Now it was going tobe a far more tricky job--

  He went slowly down the aisle between the banks of green things. Plantsfrom all over the Galaxy, grown for their contribution to the airrenewal--as well as side products such as fresh fruit and vegetables,were banked there. The sweet odor of their verdant life was strong. Buthow could any of the four now on duty tell what was rightfully there andwhat might have been brought in? And could they be sure anything _had_been introduced?

  Dane stood there, his eyes searching those lines of greens--such amixture of greens from the familiar shade of Terra's fields to greenstinged with shades first bestowed by other suns on other worlds--lookingfor one which was alien enough to be noticeable. Only Mura, who knewthis garden as he knew his own cabin, could have differentiated betweenthem. They would just dump everything and trust to luck--

  He was suddenly aware of a slight movement in the banks--a shivering ofstem, quiver of leaf. The mere act of his passing had set some sensitiveplant to register his presence. A lacy, fern-like thing was contractingits fronds into balls. He should not stay--disturbing the peace of thehydro. But it made little difference now--within a matter of hours allthis luxuriance would be thrust out to die and they would have to dependupon canned oxgy and algae tanks. Too bad--the hydro represented muchtime and labor on Mura's part and Tau had medical plants growing there hehad been observing for a long time.

  As Dane closed the door behind him, seeing the line of balled fern whichhad marked his passage, he heard a faint rustling, a sound as if a windhad swept across the green room within. The imagination which was aTrader's asset (when it was kept within bounds) suggested that the plantsinside guessed--With a frown for his own sentimentality, Dane strode downthe corridor and climbed to check with Rip in control.

  The Astrogator-apprentice had his own problems. To bring the Queen downon the circumscribed field of an E-Stat--without a guide beam to ridein--since if they contacted the Stat they must reveal their _own_ com wasworking and they would have to answer questions--was the sort of testeven a seasoned pilot would tense over. Yet Rip was sitting now in theCaptain's place, his broad hands spread out on the edge of the controlboard waiting. And below in the engine room Ali was in Stotz's placeready to fire and cut rockets at order. Of course they were both severalyears ahead of him in Service, Dane knew. But he wondered at their quickassumption of responsibility and whether he himself could ever reachthat point of self-confidence--his memory turning to the bad mistake behad made on Sargol.

  There was the sharp note of a warning gong, the flash of red light on thecontrol board. They were off automatic, from here on in it was all Kip'swork. Dane strapped down at the silent com-unit and was startled a momentlater when it spat words at him, translated from space code.

  "Identify--identify--I-S E-Stat calling spacer--identify--"

  So compelling was that demand that Dane's fingers went to the answer keybefore he remembered and snatched them back, to fold his hands in hislap.

  "Identify--" the expressionless voice of the translator droned over theirheads.

  Rip's hands were on the control board, playing the buttons there with theprecision of a musician creating some symphonic masterpiece. And theQueen was alive, now quivering through her stout plates, coming into alanding.

  Dane watched the visa plate. The E-Stat asteroid was of a reasonablesize, but in their eyes it was a bleak, torn mote of stuff swimmingthrough vast emptiness.

  "Identify--" the drone heightened in pitch.

  Rip's lips were compressed, he made quick calculations. And Dane sawthat, though Jellico was the master, Rip was fully fit to follow in theCaptain's boot prints.

  There was a sudden silence in the cabin--the demand had stopped. Theagents below must now have realized that the ship with the distresssignals blazing on her nose was not going to reply. Dane found he couldnot watch the visa plate now, Rip's hands about their task filled hiswhole range of sight.

  He knew that Shannon was using every bit of his skill and knowledge tojockey them into the position where they could ride their tail rocketsdown to the scorched rock of the E-Stat field. Perhaps it wasn't assmooth a landing as Jellico could have made. But they did it. Rip's handswere quiet, again that patch of darkness showed on the back of his tunic.He made no move from his seat.

  "Secure--" Ali's voice floated up to them.

  Dane unbuckled his safety webbing and got up, looking to Shannon fororders. This was Rip's plan they were to carry through. Then somethingmoved him to give honor where it was due. He touched that bowed shoulderbefore him.

  "Fin landing, brother! Four points and down!"

  Rip glanced up, a grin made him look his old self. "Ought to have arecording of that for the Board when I go up for my pass-through."

  Dane matched his smile. "Too bad we didn't have someone out there with atri-dee machine."

  "More likely it'd be evidence at our trial for piracy--" their words musthave reached Ali on the ship's inter-com, for his deflating reply cameback, to remind them of why they had made that particular landing. "Do wemove now?"

  "Check first," Rip said into the mike.

  Dane looked at the visa-plate. Against a background of jagged rock teethwas the bubble of the E-Stat housing--more than three-quarters of itbeing in the hollowed out sections below the surface of the miniatureworld which supported it, as Dane knew. But a beam of light shown fromthe dome to center on the grounded Queen. They had not caught the Statagents napping.

  They made the rounds of the spacer, checking on each of thesemi-conscious men. Ali had ready the artificial oxgy tanks--they mustmove fast once they began the actual task of clearing and restocking thehydro.

  "Hope you have a good story ready,"
he commented as the other threejoined him by the hatch to don the suits which would enable them to crossthe airless, heatless surface of the asteroid.

  "We have a poisoned hydro," Dane said.

  "One look at the plants we dump will give you the lie. They won't acceptour story without investigation."

  Dane was aroused. Did Ali think he was a stupid as all that? "If you'dtake a look in there now you'd believe me," he snapped.

  "What did you do?" Ali sounded genuinely interested.

  "Chucked a heated can of lacoil over a good section. It's wilting downfast in big patches."

  Rip snorted. "Good old lacoil. You drink it, you wash in it, and now youkill off the Hydro with it. Maybe we can give the company an extratestimonial for the official jabber and collect when we hit Terra. Allright--Weeks," he spoke to the little man, "you listen in on thecom--it's tuned to our helmet units. We'll climb into these pipe suitsand see how many tears we can wring out of the Eysies with our sad, sadtale."

  They got into the awkward, bulky suits and squeezed into the hatch whileWeeks slammed the lock door at their backs and operated the outeropening. Then they were looking out across the ground, still showingsigns of the heat of their landing, and lighted by the dome beam.

  "Nobody hurrying out with an aid and comfort kit," Rip's voice sounded inDane's earphones. "A little slack aren't they?"

  Slack--or was it that the Eysies had recognized the Queen and waspreparing the sort of welcome the remnant of her crew could notwithstand? Dane, wanting very much in his heart to be elsewhere, climbeddown the ladder in Rip's wake, both of them spotlighted by the immovablebeam from the Stat dome.