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Within two hours, after they had unlocked from their moorings and got under
way, Jan was beginning to dislike the Captain. By the time he was permitted to
retire, more than twenty hours after his arrival, he loathed the man. It was
painful, after only three hours sleep, to be dragged back to blurry
consciousness and summoned to the control room.
"I'm going to close my eyes for a bit, Tech Halliday, which means that you are
on watch.
Don't touch anything or do anything because you are just a totally incompetent
reservist
"I order you to speak!"
Jan slowly counted to five before he said "Yes, sir?'
It was very small revenge for the verbal abuse he was taking. But it was
enough for the moment. Jan took an Awake pill and tried not to rub at his sore
and grainy eyes. Only the softest red glow illuminated the control room. Stars
filled the viewport ahead; flickering readouts and displays from the detection
apparatus monitored space in all directions. They were passing through the
outer web now, and very soon their reports would be the only early warning in
this particular portion of space. Although he had received no instructions
from
Thurgood-Smythe, Jan knew exactly what to do in this situation.
They were heading away from Earth, at full acceleration, into space, in the
direction of the attacking fleet. The orbiting radio telescopes had detected
objects out here, at maximum range, in a portion of space where nothing should
be. The IP-256 was on its way to scout what could only be the rebel space
fleet. Jan would control his anger and do nothing to irritate
Captain Lastrup any further. He regretted losing his temper and speaking out
of turn, then aggravating the offense by adding dumb insolence to it as well.
As soon as the Captain came on duty he would apologize to him. After that Jan
would do his best to be a good spaceman, and would work as hard as he could to
do exactly as he was told. He would do this with all the effort of will that
he could muster. He would keep doing this until they had pinpointed the
attackers and were absolutely certain of their identification and position.
"They better be, they had better be," Captain Lastrup muttered savagely. "I'm
setting up a return course now. As soon as the main dish bears on Earth,
squirt out the readings with maximum watts. Got that?"
"Absolutely, sir. This is the moment I have been waiting for."
There was true joy in Jan's voice. As he spoke he was carefully wrapping the
ends of the thick wire around and around each of his hands. He snapped it
tight and looked at it thoughtfully. About seventy centimeters in length; that
should do nicely. Without releasing his grip on the wire he unclipped from his
seat and kicked off toward the pilot, twisting neatly in midflight to approach
head first with his arms extended before him.
Lastrup had a glimpse of the moving figure out of the corner of his eye. He
turned and had just enough time for a look of shocked amazement before the
stretched wire dropped beneath his chin and was locked into place by the swift
crossing of Jan's arms.
Jan had given careful thought to this operation for a long time, planned every
part of it precisely. A steady tightening now of the wire, not a sharp snap
that might crush the man's throat. He did not want to kill him, just secure
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him. It was a silent struggle, punctuated only by
Jan's heavy breathing. The Captain was of course not breathing at all. He
struggled a bit but could do nothing. His eyes closed and his body went limp
very quickly. Jan loosened the wire, ready to tighten it instantly if the man
was shamming. He wasn't; he was deeply unconscious, breathing hoarsely but
regularly, with a strong pulse in his neck. Perfect. Jan used the wire to lash
the officer's hands securely behind his back, and then tied another length
about his
line was pointed rather accurately at the approaching rebel ships. It was the
pilot's decision to alter that course that had produced his abrupt lapse into
unconsciousness. The course change he wanted had been computed and was ready
for implementation. Which was the last thing that Jan had in mind. With the
pilot secured and forgotten, he turned to his equipment panels.
It was too much to expect that' their two courses would coincide and that this
ship would meet the attackers head on. This did not matter at all if Jan could
establish contact with them.
He switched on the power and swung the largest dish antenna so it pointed at
the fleet. Exact alignment would not be necessary; even the tightest signal he
could broadcast would be far greater in diameter than the fleet by the time it
reached them. He cranked the power to maximum, hooked a recorder into the
line, then swung the bead microphone into position before his mouth.
"This is Jan Kulozik calling, from Earth scout ship IP-256 now closing upon
your position.
This signal is highly directional and beamed at you. Don't, repeat don't, make
any attempt to answer at this time. Please record this message. Message
follows.
"I was resident on Halvmork and left that planet with a food ship commanded by
a man named Debhu. We were captured in orbit by Earth forces and made
prisoner. Later all the prisoners were killed; I'm the only survivor. I will
give you all the details later but tell you this now so you will understand
who I am. Please do not fire on this ship when we get within range.
This is a two-man scout and I have secured the commander. I do not know how to
pilot this vessel nor do I intend to learn at the present time. The ship is
not armed. Here is what I
suggest you do.
frequency again. It will be continuous until we meet. Message ends."
After this Jan could only wait. And begin to worry. He kept his receivers on
and picked up a number of coded messages from Earth fleet command directed at
the IP-256, all of which he cheerfully ignored. It would be best if the enemy
forces thought that the scout ship had vanished completely. This could only
cause dismay, and hopefully a good bit of confusion, perhaps even make them
think about possible secret weapons that the rebels might possess.
Yet Jan was still worried. His plan was a good one, the only possible one, but
it required a great deal of patience. Since he had received no communications
from the attacking fleet it could mean that his message had been received and
that the instructions were being carried out. Or that everything had gone
wrong, and they were heading swiftly into interstellar space.
Or even worse, that there had been a mistaken identification of the ships
approaching Earth, that they were defending, not attacking, forces. Once he
had started to worry, he found a great deal to worry about.
Captain Lastrup did not make life any easier. As soon as he had regained
consciousness he began a continuous and high-pitched description of what would
happen to Jan after he had been returned to justice. Saliva ran down his chin,
unnoticed by him in the intensity of his feelings, while his voice grew hoarse
and rasping. Jan tried to stem the flow by threatening to get the throttling
wire out again, but this had no effect. Then he warned that he would gag the
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Captain, and when this made not the slightest difference he actually put the
threat into practice. But the sight of the bulging eyes, the face gradually
turning from red to purple as
edge of the low-power radar screen he was broadcasting. It was approaching on
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