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diff --git a/31976.txt b/31976.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..17d5dce --- /dev/null +++ b/31976.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1188 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Derelict, by Alan Edward Nourse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Derelict + +Author: Alan Edward Nourse + +Illustrator: Ed Emshwiller + +Release Date: April 13, 2010 [EBook #31976] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DERELICT *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + _What was the mystery of this great ship from the dark, deep reaches + of space? For, within its death-filled chambers--was the avenue of + life!_ + + +DERELICT + +By Alan E. Nourse + +Illustrated by Ed Emsh + + +John Sabo, second in command, sat bolt upright in his bunk, blinking +wide-eyed at the darkness. The alarm was screaming through the Satellite +Station, its harsh, nerve-jarring clang echoing and re-echoing down the +metal corridors, penetrating every nook and crevice and cubicle of the +lonely outpost, screaming incredibly through the dark sleeping period. +Sabo shook the sleep from his eyes, and then a panic of fear burst into +his mind. The alarm! Tumbling out of his bunk in the darkness, he +crashed into the far bulkhead, staggering giddily in the impossible +gravity as he pawed about for his magnaboots, his heart pounding +fiercely in his ears. The _alarm_! Impossible, after so long, after +these long months of bitter waiting-- In the corridor he collided with +Brownie, looking like a frightened gnome, and he growled profanity as he +raced down the corridor for the Central Control. + +Frightened eyes turned to him as he blinked at the bright lights of the +room. The voices rose in a confused, anxious babble, and he shook his +head and swore, and ploughed through them toward the screen. "Kill that +damned alarm!" he roared, blinking as he counted faces. "Somebody get +the Skipper out of his sack, pronto, and stop that clatter! What's the +trouble?" + +The radioman waved feebly at the view screen, shimmering on the great +side panel. "We just picked it up--" + +It was a ship, moving in from beyond Saturn's rings, a huge, gray-black +blob in the silvery screen, moving in toward the Station with ponderous, +clumsy grace, growing larger by the second as it sped toward them. Sabo +felt the fear spill over in his mind, driving out all thought, and he +sank into the control chair like a well-trained automaton. His gray eyes +were wide, trained for long military years to miss nothing; his fingers +moved over the panel with deft skill. "Get the men to stations," he +growled, "and will somebody kindly get the Skipper down here, if he can +manage to take a minute." + +"I'm right here." The little graying man was at his elbow, staring at +the screen with angry red eyes. "Who told you to shut off the alarm?" + +"Nobody told me. Everyone was here, and it was getting on my nerves." + +"What a shame." Captain Loomis' voice was icy. "I give orders on this +Station," he said smoothly, "and you'll remember it." He scowled at the +great gray ship, looming closer and closer. "What's its course?" + +"Going to miss us by several thousand kilos at least. Look at that +thing! It's _traveling_." + +"Contact it! This is what we've been waiting for." The captain's voice +was hoarse. + +Sabo spun a dial, and cursed. "No luck. Can't get through. It's passing +us--" + +"Then _grapple_ it, stupid! You want me to wipe your nose, too?" + +Sabo's face darkened angrily. With slow precision he set the servo fixes +on the huge gray hulk looming up in the viewer, and then snapped the +switches sharply. Two small servos shoved their blunt noses from the +landing port of the Station, and slipped silently into space alongside. +Then, like a pair of trained dogs, they sped on their beams straight out +from the Station toward the approaching ship. The intruder was dark, +moving at tremendous velocity past the Station, as though unaware of its +existence. The servos moved out, and suddenly diverged and reversed, +twisting in long arcs to come alongside the strange ship, finally moving +in at the same velocity on either side. There was a sharp flash of +contact power; then, like a mammoth slow-motion monster, the ship jerked +in midspace and turned a graceful end-for-end arc as the servo-grapplers +gripped it like leeches and whined, glowing ruddy with the jolting power +flowing through them. Sabo watched, hardly breathing, until the great +ship spun and slowed and stopped. Then it reversed direction, and the +servos led it triumphantly back toward the landing port of the Station. + +Sabo glanced at the radioman, a frown creasing his forehead. "Still +nothing?" + +"Not a peep." + +He stared out at the great ship, feeling a chill of wonder and fear +crawl up his spine. "So this is the mysterious puzzle of Saturn," he +muttered. "This is what we've been waiting for." + +There was a curious eager light in Captain Loomis' eyes as he looked up. +"Oh, no. Not this." + +"What?" + +"Not this. The ships we've seen before were tiny, flat." His little eyes +turned toward the ship, and back to Sabo's heavy face. "This is +something else, something quite different." A smile curved his lips, and +he rubbed his hands together. "We go out for trout and come back with a +whale. This ship's from space, deep space. Not from Saturn. This one's +from the stars." + + * * * * * + +The strange ship hung at the side of the Satellite Station, silent as a +tomb, still gently rotating as the Station slowly spun in its orbit +around Saturn. + +In the captain's cabin the men shifted restlessly, uneasily facing the +eager eyes of their captain. The old man paced the floor of the cabin, +his white hair mussed, his face red with excitement. Even his carefully +calm face couldn't conceal the eagerness burning in his eyes as he faced +the crew. "Still no contact?" he asked Sparks. + +The radioman shook his head anxiously. "Not a sign. I've tried every +signal I know at every wave frequency that could possibly reach them. +I've even tried a dozen frequencies that couldn't possibly reach them, +and I haven't stirred them up a bit. They just aren't answering." + +Captain Loomis swung on the group of men. "All right, now, I want you to +get this straight. This is our catch. We don't know what's aboard it, +and we don't know where it came from, but it's our prize. That means not +a word goes back home about it until we've learned all there is to +learn. We're going to get the honors on this one, not some eager Admiral +back home--" + +The men stirred uneasily, worried eyes seeking Sabo's face in alarm. +"What about the law?" growled Sabo. "The law says everything must be +reported within two hours." + +"Then we'll break the law," the captain snapped. "I'm captain of this +Station, and those are your orders. You don't need to worry about the +law--I'll see that you're protected, but this is too big to fumble. This +ship is from the stars. That means it must have an Interstellar drive. +You know what that means. The Government will fall all over itself to +reward us--" + +Sabo scowled, and the worry deepened in the men's faces. It was hard to +imagine the Government falling all over itself for anybody. They knew +too well how the Government worked. They had heard of the swift trials, +the harsh imprisonments that awaited even the petty infringers. The +Military Government had no time to waste on those who stepped out of +line, they had no mercy to spare. And the men knew that their captain +was not in favor in top Government circles. Crack patrol commanders were +not shunted into remote, lifeless Satellite Stations if their stand in +the Government was high. And deep in their minds, somehow, the men knew +they couldn't trust this little, sharp-eyed, white-haired man. The +credit for such a discovery as this might go to him, yes--but there +would be little left for them. + +"The law--" Sabo repeated stubbornly. + +"Damn the law! We're stationed out here in this limbo to watch Saturn +and report any activity we see coming from there. There's nothing in our +orders about anything else. There have been ships from there, they +think, but not this ship. The Government has spent billions trying to +find an Interstellar, and never gotten to first base." The captain +paused, his eyes narrowing. "We'll go aboard this ship," he said softly. +"We'll find out what's aboard it, and where it's from, and we'll take +its drive. There's been no resistance yet, but it could be dangerous. We +can't assume anything. The boarding party will report everything they +find to me. One of them will have to be a drive man. That's you, +Brownie." + +The little man with the sharp black eyes looked up eagerly. "I don't +know if I could tell anything--" + +"You can tell more than anyone else here. Nobody else knows space drive. +I'll count on you. If you bring back a good report, perhaps we can +cancel out certain--unfortunate items in your record. But one other +should board with you--" His eyes turned toward John Sabo. + +"Not me. This is your goat." The mate's eyes were sullen. "This is gross +breach, and you know it. They'll have you in irons when we get back. I +don't want anything to do with it." + +"You're under orders, Sabo. You keep forgetting." + +"They're illegal orders, sir!" + +"I'll take responsibility for that." + +Sabo looked the old man straight in the eye. "You mean you'd sell us +down a rat hole to save your skin. That's what you mean." + +Captain Loomis' eyes widened incredulously. Then his face darkened, and +he stepped very close to the big man. "You'll watch your tongue, I +think," he gritted. "Be careful what you say to me, Sabo. Be very +careful. Because if you don't, _you'll_ be in irons, and we'll see just +how long you last when you get back home. Now you've got your orders. +You'll board the ship with Brownie." + +The big man's fists were clenched until the knuckles were white. "You +don't know what's over there!" he burst out. "We could be slaughtered." + +The captain's smile was unpleasant. "That would be such a pity," he +murmured. "I'd really hate to see it happen--" + + * * * * * + +The ship hung dark and silent, like a shadowy ghost. No flicker of light +could be seen aboard it; no sound nor faintest sign of life came from +the tall, dark hull plates. It hung there, huge and imponderable, and +swung around with the Station in its silent orbit. + +The men huddled about Sabo and Brownie, helping them into their pressure +suits, checking their equipment. They had watched the little scanning +beetles crawl over the surface of the great ship, examining, probing +every nook and crevice, reporting crystals, and metals, and irons, while +the boarding party prepared. And still the radioman waited alertly for a +flicker of life from the solemn giant. + +Frightened as they were of their part in the illegal secrecy, the +arrival of the ship had brought a change in the crew, lighting fires of +excitement in their eyes. They moved faster, their voices were lighter, +more cheerful. Long months on the Station had worn on their nerves--out +of contact with their homes, on a mission that was secretly jeered as +utter Governmental folly. Ships _had_ been seen, years before, +disappearing into the sullen bright atmospheric crust of Saturn, but +there had been no sign of anything since. And out there, on the lonely +guard Station, nerves had run ragged, always waiting, always watching, +wearing away even the iron discipline of their military background. They +grew bitterly weary of the same faces, the same routine, the constant +repetition of inactivity. And through the months they had watched with +increasing anxiety the conflict growing between the captain and his +bitter, sullen-eyed second-in-command, John Sabo. + +And then the ship had come, incredibly, from the depths of space, and +the tensions of loneliness were forgotten in the flurry of activity. The +locks whined and opened as the two men moved out of the Station on the +little propulsion sleds, linked to the Station with light silk guy +ropes. Sabo settled himself on the sled, cursing himself for falling so +foolishly into the captain's scheme, cursing his tongue for wandering. +And deep within him he felt a new sensation, a vague uneasiness and +insecurity that he had not felt in all his years of military life. The +strange ship was a variant, an imponderable factor thrown suddenly into +his small world of hatred and bitterness, forcing him into unknown +territory, throwing his mind into a welter of doubts and fears. He +glanced uneasily across at Brownie, vaguely wishing that someone else +were with him. Brownie was a troublemaker, Brownie talked too much, +Brownie philosophized in a world that ridiculed philosophy. He'd known +men like Brownie before, and he knew that they couldn't be trusted. + +The gray hull gleamed at them as they moved toward it, a monstrous wall +of polished metal. There were no dents, no surface scars from its +passage through space. They found the entrance lock without difficulty, +near the top of the ship's great hull, and Brownie probed the rim of the +lock with a dozen instruments, his dark eyes burning eagerly. And then, +with a squeal that grated in Sabo's ears, the oval port of the ship +quivered, and slowly opened. + +Silently, the sleds moved into the opening. They were in a small vault, +quite dark, and the sleds settled slowly onto a metal deck. Sabo eased +himself from the seat, tuning up his audios to their highest +sensitivity, moving over to Brownie. Momentarily they touched helmets, +and Brownie's excited voice came to him, muted, but breathless. "No +trouble getting it open. It worked on the same principle as ours." + +"Better get to work on the inner lock." + +Brownie shot him a sharp glance. "But what about--inside? I mean, we +can't just walk in on them--" + +"Why not? We've tried to contact them." + +Reluctantly, the little engineer began probing the inner lock with +trembling fingers. Minutes later they were easing themselves through, +moving slowly down the dark corridor, waiting with pounding hearts for +a sound, a sign. The corridor joined another, and then still another, +until they reached a great oval door. And then they were inside, in the +heart of the ship, and their eyes widened as they stared at the thing in +the center of the great vaulted chamber. + +"My God!" Brownie's voice was a hoarse whisper in the stillness. "Look +at them, Johnny!" + +Sabo moved slowly across the room toward the frail, crushed form lying +against the great, gleaming panel. Thin, almost boneless arms were +pasted against the hard metal; an oval, humanoid skull was crushed like +an eggshell into the knobs and levers of the control panel. Sudden +horror shot through the big man as he looked around. At the far side of +the room was another of the things, and still another, mashed, like +lifeless jelly, into the floors and panels. Gently he peeled a bit of +jelly away from the metal, then turned with a mixture of wonder and +disgust. "All dead," he muttered. + +Brownie looked up at him, his hands trembling. "No wonder there was no +sign." He looked about helplessly. "It's a derelict, Johnny. A wanderer. +How could it have happened? How long ago?" + +Sabo shook his head, bewildered. "Then it was just chance that it came +to us, that we saw it--" + +"No pilot, no charts. It might have wandered for centuries." Brownie +stared about the room, a frightened look on his face. And then he was +leaning over the control panel, probing at the array of levers, his +fingers working eagerly at the wiring. Sabo nodded approvingly. "We'll +have to go over it with a comb," he said. "I'll see what I can find in +the rest of the ship. You go ahead on the controls and drive." Without +waiting for an answer he moved swiftly from the round chamber, out into +the corridor again, his stomach almost sick. + +It took them many hours. They moved silently, as if even a slight sound +might disturb the sleeping alien forms, smashed against the dark metal +panels. In another room were the charts, great, beautiful charts, +totally unfamiliar, studded with star formations he had never seen, +noted with curious, meaningless symbols. As Sabo worked he heard Brownie +moving down into the depths of the ship, toward the giant engine rooms. +And then, some silent alarm clicked into place in Sabo's mind, +tightening his stomach, screaming to be heard. Heart pounding, he dashed +down the corridor like a cat, seeing again in his mind the bright, eager +eyes of the engineer. Suddenly the meaning of that eagerness dawned on +him. He scampered down a ladder, along a corridor, and down another +ladder, down to the engine room, almost colliding with Brownie as he +crossed from one of the engines to a battery of generators on the far +side of the room. + +"Brownie!" + +"What's the trouble?" + +Sabo trembled, then turned away. "Nothing," he muttered. "Just a +thought." But he watched as the little man snaked into the labyrinth of +dynamos and coils and wires, peering eagerly, probing, searching, making +notes in the little pad in his hand. + +[Illustration] + +Finally, hours later, they moved again toward the lock where they had +left their sleds. Not a word passed between them. The uneasiness was +strong in Sabo's mind now, growing deeper, mingling with fear and a +premonition of impending evil. A dead ship, a derelict, come to them by +merest chance from some unthinkably remote star. He cursed, without +knowing why, and suddenly he felt he hated Brownie as much as he hated +the captain waiting for them in the Station. + +But as he stepped into the Station's lock, a new thought crossed his +mind, almost dazzling him with its unexpectedness. He looked at the +engineer's thin face, and his hands were trembling as he opened the +pressure suit. + + * * * * * + +He deliberately took longer than was necessary to give his report to the +captain, dwelling on unimportant details, watching with malicious +amusement the captain's growing annoyance. Captain Loomis' eyes kept +sliding to Brownie, as though trying to read the information he wanted +from the engineer's face. Sabo rolled up the charts slowly, stowing them +in a pile on the desk. "That's the picture, sir. Perhaps a qualified +astronomer could make something of it; I haven't the knowledge or the +instruments. The ship came from outside the system, beyond doubt. +Probably from a planet with lighter gravity than our own, judging from +the frailty of the creatures. Oxygen breathers, from the looks of their +gas storage. If you ask me, I'd say--" + +"All right, all right," the captain breathed impatiently. "You can write +it up and hand it to me. It isn't really important where they came from, +or whether they breathe oxygen or fluorine." He turned his eyes to the +engineer, and lit a cigar with trembling fingers. "The important thing +is _how_ they got here. The drive, Brownie. You went over the engines +carefully? What did you find?" + +Brownie twitched uneasily, and looked at the floor. "Oh, yes, I examined +them carefully. Wasn't too hard. I examined every piece of drive +machinery on the ship, from stem to stern." + +Sabo nodded, slowly, watching the little man with a carefully blank +face. "That's right. You gave it a good going over." + +Brownie licked his lips. "It's a derelict, like Johnny told you. They +were dead. All of them. Probably had been dead for a long time. I +couldn't tell, of course. Probably nobody could tell. But they must have +been dead for centuries--" + +The captain's eyes blinked as the implication sank in. "Wait a minute," +he said. "What do you mean, _centuries_?" + +Brownie stared at his shoes. "The atomic piles were almost dead," he +muttered in an apologetic whine. "The ship wasn't going any place, +captain. It was just wandering. Maybe it's wandered for thousands of +years." He took a deep breath, and his eyes met the captain's for a +brief agonized moment. "They don't have Interstellar, sir. Just plain, +simple, slow atomics. Nothing different. They've been traveling for +centuries, and it would have taken them just as long to get back." + +The captain's voice was thin, choked. "Are you trying to tell me that +their drive is no different from our own? That a ship has actually +wandered into Interstellar space _without a space drive_?" + +Brownie spread his hands helplessly. "Something must have gone wrong. +They must have started off for another planet in their own system, and +something went wrong. They broke into space, and they all died. And the +ship just went on moving. They never intended an Interstellar hop. They +couldn't have. They didn't have the drive for it." + +The captain sat back numbly, his face pasty gray. The light had faded in +his eyes now; he sat as though he'd been struck. "You--you couldn't be +wrong? You couldn't have missed anything?" + +Brownie's eyes shifted unhappily, and his voice was very faint. "No, +sir." + +The captain stared at them for a long moment, like a stricken child. +Slowly he picked up one of the charts, his mouth working. Then, with a +bitter roar, he threw it in Sabo's face. "Get out of here! Take this +garbage and get out! And get the men to their stations. We're here to +watch Saturn, and by god, we'll watch Saturn!" He turned away, a hand +over his eyes, and they heard his choking breath as they left the +cabin. + +Slowly, Brownie walked out into the corridor, started down toward his +cabin, with Sabo silent at his heels. He looked up once at the mate's +heavy face, a look of pleading in his dark brown eyes, and then opened +the door to his quarters. Like a cat, Sabo was in the room before him, +dragging him in, slamming the door. He caught the little man by the neck +with one savage hand, and shoved him unceremoniously against the door, +his voice a vicious whisper. "_All right, talk! Let's have it now!_" + +Brownie choked, his eyes bulging, his face turning gray in the dim light +of the cabin. "Johnny! Let me down! What's the matter? You're choking +me, Johnny--" + +The mate's eyes were red, with heavy lines of disgust and bitterness +running from his eyes and the corners of his mouth. "You stinking little +liar! _Talk_, damn it! You're not messing with the captain now, you're +messing with _me_, and I'll have the truth if I have to cave in your +skull--" + +"I told you the truth! I don't know what you mean--" + +Sabo's palm smashed into his face, jerking his head about like an apple +on a string. "That's the wrong answer," he grated. "I warn you, don't +lie! The captain is an ambitious ass, he couldn't think his way through +a multiplication table. He's a little child. But I'm not quite so dull." +He threw the little man down in a heap, his eyes blazing. "You silly +fool, your story is so full of holes you could drive a tank through it. +They just up and died, did they? I'm supposed to believe that? Smashed +up against the panels the way they were? Only one thing could crush them +like that. Any fool could see it. Acceleration. And I don't mean atomic +acceleration. Something else." He glared down at the man quivering on +the floor. "They had Interstellar drive, didn't they, Brownie?" + +Brownie nodded his head, weakly, almost sobbing, trying to pull himself +erect. "Don't tell the captain," he sobbed. "Oh, Johnny, for god's sake, +listen to me, don't let him know I lied. I was going to tell you anyway, +Johnny, really I was. I've got a plan, a good plan, can't you see it?" +The gleam of excitement came back into the sharp little eyes. "They had +it, all right. Their trip probably took just a few months. They had a +drive I've never seen before, non-atomic. I couldn't tell the principle, +with the look I had, but I think I could work it." He sat up, his whole +body trembling. "Don't give me away, Johnny, listen a minute--" + +Sabo sat back against the bunk, staring at the little man. "You're out +of your mind," he said softly. "You don't know what you're doing. What +are you going to do when His Nibs goes over for a look himself? He's +stupid, but not that stupid." + +Brownie's voice choked, his words tumbling over each other in his +eagerness. "He won't get a chance to see it, Johnny. He's got to take +our word until he sees it, and we can stall him--" + +Sabo blinked. "A day or so--maybe. But what then? Oh, how could you be +so stupid? He's on the skids, he's out of favor and fighting for his +life. That drive is the break that could put him on top. Can't you see +he's selfish? He has to be, in this world, to get anything. Anything or +anyone who blocks him, he'll destroy, if he can. Can't you see that? +When he spots this, your life won't be worth spitting at." + +Brownie was trembling as he sat down opposite the big man. His voice was +harsh in the little cubicle, heavy with pain and hopelessness. "That's +right," he said. "My life isn't worth a nickle. Neither is yours. +Neither is anybody's, here or back home. Nobody's life is worth a +nickle. Something's happened to us in the past hundred years, +Johnny--something horrible. I've seen it creeping and growing up around +us all my life. People don't matter any more, it's the Government, what +the Government thinks that matters. It's a web, a cancer that grows in +its own pattern, until it goes so far it can't be stopped. Men like +Loomis could see the pattern, and adapt to it, throw away all the +worthwhile things, the love and beauty and peace that we once had in our +lives. Those men can get somewhere, they can turn this life into a +climbing game, waiting their chance to get a little farther toward the +top, a little closer to some semblance of security--" + +"Everybody adapts to it," Sabo snapped. "They have to. You don't see me +moving for anyone else, do you? I'm for _me_, and believe me I know it. +I don't give a hang for you, or Loomis, or anyone else alive--just me. I +want to stay alive, that's all. You're a dreamer, Brownie. But until you +pull something like this, you can learn to stop dreaming if you want +to--" + +"No, no, you're wrong--oh, you're horribly wrong, Johnny. Some of us +_can't_ adapt, we haven't got what it takes, or else we have something +else in us that won't let us go along. And right there we're beat before +we start. There's no place for us now, and there never will be." He +looked up at the mate's impassive face. "We're in a life where we don't +belong, impounded into a senseless, never-ending series of fights and +skirmishes and long, lonely waits, feeding this insane urge of the +Government to expand, out to the planets, to the stars, farther and +farther, bigger and bigger. We've got to go, seeking newer and greater +worlds to conquer, with nothing to conquer them with, and nothing to +conquer them for. There's life somewhere else in our solar system, so it +must be sought out and conquered, no matter what or where it is. We live +in a world of iron and fear, and there was no place for me, and others +like me, _until this ship came_--" + +Sabo looked at him strangely. "So I was right. I read it on your face +when we were searching the ship. I knew what you were thinking...." His +face darkened angrily. "You couldn't get away with it, Brownie. Where +could you go, what could you expect to find? You're talking death, +Brownie. Nothing else--" + +"No, no. Listen, Johnny." Brownie leaned closer, his eyes bright and +intent on the man's heavy face. "The captain has to take our word for +it, until he sees the ship. Even then he couldn't tell for sure--I'm +the only drive engineer on the Station. We have the charts, we could +work with them, try to find out where the ship came from; I already have +an idea of how the drive is operated. Another look and I could make it +work. Think of it, Johnny! What difference does it make where we went, +or what we found? You're a misfit, too, you know that--this coarseness +and bitterness is a shell, if you could only see it, a sham. You don't +really believe in this world we're in--who cares where, if only we could +go, get away? Oh, it's a chance, the wildest, freak chance, but we could +take it--" + +"If only to get away from _him_," said Sabo in a muted voice. "Lord, how +I hate him. I've seen smallness and ambition before--pettiness and +treachery, plenty of it. But that man is our whole world knotted up in +one little ball. I don't think I'd get home without killing him, just to +stop that voice from talking, just to see fear cross his face one time. +But if we took the ship, it would break him for good." A new light +appeared in the big man's eyes. "He'd be through, Brownie. Washed up." + +"And we'd be _free_--" + +Sabo's eyes were sharp. "What about the acceleration? It killed those +that came in the ship." + +"But they were so frail, so weak. Light brittle bones and soft jelly. +Our bodies are stronger, we could stand it." + +Sabo sat for a long time, staring at Brownie. His mind was suddenly +confused by the scope of the idea, racing in myriad twirling fantasies, +parading before his eyes the long, bitter, frustrating years, the +hopelessness of his own life, the dull aching feeling he felt deep in +his stomach and bones each time he set back down on Earth, to join the +teeming throngs of hungry people. He thought of the rows of drab +apartments, the thin faces, the hollow, hunted eyes of the people he had +seen. He knew that that was why he was a soldier--because soldiers ate +well, they had time to sleep, they were never allowed long hours to +think, and wonder, and grow dull and empty. But he knew his life had +been barren. The life of a mindless automaton, moving from place to +place, never thinking, never daring to think or speak, hoping only to +work without pain each day, and sleep without nightmares. + +And then, he thought of the nights in his childhood, when he had lain +awake, sweating with fear, as the airships screamed across the dark sky +above, bound he never knew where; and then, hearing in the far distance +the booming explosion, he had played that horrible little game with +himself, seeing how high he could count before he heard the weary, +plodding footsteps of the people on the road, moving on to another +place. He had known, even as a little boy, that the only safe place was +in those bombers, that the place for survival was in the striking +armies, and his life had followed the hard-learned pattern, twisting him +into the cynical mold of the mercenary soldier, dulling the quick and +clever mind, drilling into him the ways and responses of order and obey, +stripping him of his heritage of love and humanity. Others less +thoughtful had been happier; they had succeeded in forgetting the life +they had known before, they had been able to learn easily and well the +lessons of the repudiation of the rights of men which had crept like a +blight through the world. But Sabo, too, was a misfit, wrenched into a +mold he could not fit. He had sensed it vaguely, never really knowing +when or how he had built the shell of toughness and cynicism, but also +sensing vaguely that it was built, and that in it he could hide, +somehow, and laugh at himself, and his leaders, and the whole world +through which he plodded. He had laughed, but there had been long +nights, in the narrow darkness of spaceship bunks, when his mind pounded +at the shell, screaming out in nightmare, and he had wondered if he had +really lost his mind. + +His gray eyes narrowed as he looked at Brownie, and he felt his heart +pounding in his chest, pounding with a fury that he could no longer +deny. "It would have to be fast," he said softly. "Like lightning, +tonight, tomorrow--very soon." + +"Oh, yes, I know that. But we _can_ do it--" + +"Yes," said Sabo, with a hard, bitter glint in his eyes. "Maybe we can." + + * * * * * + +The preparation was tense. For the first time in his life, Sabo knew the +meaning of real fear, felt the clinging aura of sudden death in every +glance, every word of the men around him. It seemed incredible that the +captain didn't notice the brief exchanges with the little engineer, or +his own sudden appearances and disappearances about the Station. But the +captain sat in his cabin with angry eyes, snapping answers without even +looking up. Still, Sabo knew that the seeds of suspicion lay planted in +his mind, ready to burst forth with awful violence at any slight +provocation. As he worked, the escape assumed greater and greater +proportions in Sabo's mind; he knew with increasing urgency and daring +that nothing must stop him. The ship was there, the only bridge away +from a life he could no longer endure, and his determination blinded him +to caution. + +Primarily, he pondered over the charts, while Brownie, growing hourly +more nervous, poured his heart into a study of his notes and sketches. A +second look at the engines was essential; the excuse he concocted for +returning to the ship was recklessly slender, and Sabo spent a grueling +five minutes dissuading the captain from accompanying him. But the +captain's eyes were dull, and he walked his cabin, sunk in a gloomy, +remorseful trance. + +The hours passed, and the men saw, in despair, that more precious, +dangerous hours would be necessary before the flight could be attempted. +And then, abruptly, Sabo got the call to the captain's cabin. He found +the old man at his desk, regarding him with cold eyes, and his heart +sank. The captain motioned him to a seat, and then sat back, lighting a +cigar with painful slowness. "I want you to tell me," he said in a +lifeless voice, "exactly what Brownie thinks he's doing." + +Sabo went cold. Carefully he kept his eyes on the captain's face. "I +guess he's nervous," he said. "He doesn't belong on a Satellite Station. +He belongs at home. The place gets on his nerves." + +"I didn't like his report." + +"I know," said Sabo. + +The captain's eyes narrowed. "It was hard to believe. Ships don't just +happen out of space. They don't wander out interstellar by accident, +either." An unpleasant smile curled his lips. "I'm not telling you +anything new. I wouldn't want to accuse Brownie of lying, of course--or +you either. But we'll know soon. A patrol craft will be here from the +Triton supply base in an hour. I signaled as soon as I had your +reports." The smile broadened maliciously. "The patrol craft will have +experts aboard. Space drive experts. They'll review your report." + +"An hour--" + +The captain smiled. "That's what I said. In that hour, you could tell me +the truth. I'm not a drive man, I'm an administrator, and organizer and +director. You're the technicians. The truth now could save you much +unhappiness--in the future." + +Sabo stood up heavily. "You've got your information," he said with a +bitter laugh. "The patrol craft will confirm it." + +The captain's face went a shade grayer. "All right," he said. "Go ahead, +laugh. I told you, anyway." + +Sabo didn't realize how his hands were trembling until he reached the +end of the corridor. In despair he saw the plan crumbling beneath his +feet, and with the despair came the cold undercurrent of fear. The +patrol would discover them, disclose the hoax. There was no choice +left--ready or not, they'd _have_ to leave. + +Quickly he turned in to the central control room where Brownie was +working. He sat down, repeating the captain's news in a soft voice. + +"An _hour_! But how can we--" + +"We've _got_ to. We can't quit now, we're dead if we do." + +Brownie's eyes were wide with fear. "But can't we stall them, somehow? +Maybe if we turned on the captain--" + +"The crew would back him. They wouldn't dare go along with us. We've got +to run, nothing else." He took a deep breath. "Can you control the +drive?" + +Brownie stared at his hands. "I--I think so. I can only try." + +"You've got to. It's now or never. Get down to the lock, and I'll get +the charts. Get the sleds ready." + +He scooped the charts from his bunk, folded them carefully and bound +them swiftly with cord. Then he ran silently down the corridor to the +landing port lock. Brownie was already there, in the darkness, closing +the last clamps on his pressure suit. Sabo handed him the charts, and +began the laborious task of climbing into his own suit, panting in the +darkness. + +And then the alarm was clanging in his ear, and the lock was flooded +with brilliant light. Sabo stopped short, a cry on his lips, staring at +the entrance to the control room. + +The captain was grinning, a nasty, evil grin, his eyes hard and +humorless as he stood there flanked by three crewmen. His hand gripped +an ugly power gun tightly. He just stood there, grinning, and his voice +was like fire in Sabo's ears. "Too bad," he said softly. "You almost +made it, too. Trouble is, two can't keep a secret. Shame, Johnny, a +smart fellow like you. I might have expected as much from Brownie, but I +thought you had more sense--" + +Something snapped in Sabo's mind, then. With a roar, he lunged at the +captain's feet, screaming his bitterness and rage and frustration, +catching the old man's calves with his powerful shoulders. The captain +toppled, and Sabo was fighting for the power gun, straining with all his +might to twist the gun from the thin hand, and he heard his voice +shouting, "Run! _Go, Brownie, make it go!_" + +The lock was open, and he saw Brownie's sled nose out into the +blackness. The captain choked, his face purple. "Get him! Don't let him +get away!" + +The lock clanged, and the screens showed the tiny fragile sled jet out +from the side of the Station, the small huddled figure clinging to it, +heading straight for the open port of the gray ship. "Stop him! The +guns, you fools, the guns!" + +The alarm still clanged, and the control room was a flurry of activity. +Three men snapped down behind the tracer-guns, firing without aiming, in +a frenzied attempt to catch the fleeing sled. The sled began +zig-zagging, twisting wildly as the shells popped on either side of it. +The captain twisted away from Sabo's grip with a roar, and threw one of +the crewmen to the deck, wrenching the gun controls from his hands. "Get +the big ones on the ship! Blast it! If it gets away you'll all pay." + +Suddenly the sled popped into the ship's port, and the hatch slowly +closed behind it. Raving, the captain turned the gun on the sleek, +polished hull plates, pressed the firing levels on the war-head servos. +Three of them shot out from the Satellite, like deadly bugs, careening +through the intervening space, until one of them struck the side of the +gray ship, and exploded in purple fury against the impervious hull. And +the others nosed into the flame, and passed on through, striking +nothing. + +Like the blinking of a light, the alien ship had throbbed, and jerked, +and was gone. + +With a roar the captain brought his fist down on the hard plastic and +metal of the control panel, kicked at the sheet of knobs and levers with +a heavy foot, his face purple with rage. His whole body shook as he +turned on Sabo, his eyes wild. "You let him get away! It was your fault, +yours! But _you_ won't get away! I've got you, and you'll pay, do you +hear that?" He pulled himself up until his face was bare inches from +Sabo's, his teeth bared in a frenzy of hatred. "Now we'll see who'll +laugh, my friend. You'll laugh in the death chamber, if you can still +laugh by then!" He turned to the men around him. "Take him," he snarled. +"Lock him in his quarters, and guard him well. And while you're doing +it, take a good look at him. See how he laughs now." + +They marched him down to his cabin, stunned, still wondering what had +happened. Something had gone in his mind in that second, something that +told him that the choice had to be made, instantly. Because he knew, +with dull wonder, that in that instant when the lights went on he could +have stopped Brownie, could have saved himself. He could have taken for +himself a piece of the glory and promotion due to the discoverers of an +Interstellar drive. But he had also known, somehow, in that short +instant, that the only hope in the world lay in that one nervous, +frightened man, and the ship which could take him away. + +And the ship was gone. That meant the captain was through. He'd had his +chance, the ship's coming had given him his chance, and he had muffed +it. Now he, too, would pay. The Government would not be pleased that +such a ship had leaked through his fingers. Captain Loomis was through. + +And him? Somehow, it didn't seem to matter any more. He had made a stab +at it, he had tried. He just hadn't had the luck. But he knew there was +more to that. Something in his mind was singing, some deep feeling of +happiness and hope had crept into his mind, and he couldn't worry about +himself any more. There was nothing more for him; they had him cold. But +deep in his mind he felt a curious satisfaction, transcending any fear +and bitterness. Deep in his heart, he knew that _one_ man had escaped. + +And then he sat back and laughed. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _If: Worlds of Science Fiction_ May + 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Derelict, by Alan Edward Nourse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DERELICT *** + +***** This file should be named 31976.txt or 31976.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/9/7/31976/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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