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diff --git a/59825-0.txt b/59825-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..066a40c --- /dev/null +++ b/59825-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,851 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59825 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + A CASE OF SUNBURN + + BY CHARLES L. FONTENAY + + _In the past year the Martian rebels + had been pushed back to the wall. All + that was left to them was Plan Blue. + And_ what _was Plan Blue_...? + + [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from + Worlds of If Science Fiction, April 1957. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that + the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +Jonner's hand dropped to his pistol and he edged cautiously behind a +big rock as another groundcar appeared among the dunes to the south and +approached the little group of men. He was sure Sir Stanrich had told +him there were to be four others in his little task force: and there +were four with him now. + +But the new groundcar did not approach like a hostile patrol car. There +was an air of confidence about the way its driver swung it up to the +others. Jonner held his hand, thinking furiously, as the airtight door +swung open and the newcomer leaped lightly to the ground. + +The sun was settling over the iron-red wastes of the Isidis Desert. The +groundcars clustered like giant beetles at the top of the cliff that +dropped straight down to the shadowed lowland of Syrtis Major. The six +men in marsuits, huddled at rendezvous, kept their helmet radios low, +for Mars City was less than fifty miles east of them. + +With the twilight, the blue mist of Mars was beginning to settle toward +the ground. + +Jonner debated with himself. Could he have misunderstood Sir Stanrich? +Or could the plans have been changed after he left the Isidis +spaceport? No. Then who was the sixth man? And which man was he? + +"Regina fell right after I left," said the burly, gray-haired man. +That would be Tyruss, the former space captain, who had come here from +Regina. "Our troops were falling back along the Hadriacum Lowland. I +suppose they plan to make a stand before Charax." + +"No, Charax is to be evacuated tonight," said Jonner, and savored the +shock of that announcement on his hearers. + +He studied the credentials each man had handed him on arrival. There +was Tyruss, from Regina. There was Farlan, an astrogator from the +Rebel defenses in the Strymon Canals, and there was Aron, who had just +arrived, a space engineer from the Hadriacum front. There were Stein, +an astrogator, and Wessfeld, an engineer, who had come together in one +groundcar from Charax. + +The credentials were all alike, except the names. But one of them +was--must be--a Marscorp spy. + + * * * * * + +Jonner could not check with Sir Stanrich by radio--Mars City was +too close, and they would be overheard. He had no time to spend +investigating his personnel--Sir Stanrich had impressed on him that +their mission must be carried out on schedule. + +He decided he would not tell them just yet that one of them could not +be trusted. He might be able to trip the spy. But he said: + +"One or more of us may be killed or captured, so I'm going to brief +everyone. No matter how many of us are lost, those who are left must +carry out the mission. What were you told about this?" + +"I was told to meet you here and follow your instructions. I was told +it's a dangerous and important assignment. That's all," said Tyruss. +The others murmured agreement. + +"The instructions I give you won't be mine, but those of Sir Stanrich +O'Kellin, supreme commander of the Rebel forces," said Jonner. He +squatted on the sand and the others crowded around in the blue twilight +as he sketched diagrams with his gloved hand while he talked: + +"As some of you may have learned, the Charax Rebellion is in danger of +collapsing, because our supplies have been running out since Marscorp +intercepted and destroyed our last space fleet from Earth. Plan Red, +which was our master plan for defeating Marscorp in the field by +capturing the dome-cities one by one, has failed. Regina and Charax are +being evacuated because we couldn't hold them much longer anyway, and +all our people are being transported around the Marscorp territory to +the secret underground spaceport we established in the Isidis Desert +two years ago. + +"This is a temporary measure, to prepare for Plan Blue, our last-gasp +emergency plan. Marscorp will no doubt find the location of the +underground base by observation of the refugees, but we hope to +have Plan Blue in operation before they can shift their forces from +Hadriacum to the desert and break through our defenses." + +"I've heard rumors of this Plan Blue," said Farlan, a slight man with +blond hair. "What is it?" + +"I don't know," conceded Jonner candidly. "I don't think anyone does +but Sir Stanrich and a few of our top strategists. But our part of it +is this: + +"You may not know it, but we lost our last G-boat when we pulled that +unsuccessful attack on Phobos early this year. We do have an old +spaceship, riding in a polar orbit, that Marscorp doesn't know about, +but no way to get up to it. Our job is to capture a Marscorp G-boat, +get to that spaceship, capture The Egg and tow it into an Earthward +orbit." + +"The Egg?" repeated Stein, a dark, chubby fellow. "You mean that ovoid +space station of Marscorp's with the antennae sticking out all over it? +I've seen that thing floating up there. I always wondered why we didn't +blast it." + +"Not important enough," said Jonner. "It's an experimental laboratory +that amplifies the magnetic field of Mars, and they've been +experimenting with it as an auxiliary power station. But neither side +is bothered by any lack of power from the atomic energy sources on +Mars." + +Tyruss appeared annoyed at this. + +"Tell me something, Jonner," he demanded. "If it wasn't important +enough to blast when we had the ships to do it, why is it important +enough for us to capture now?" + +"I don't know," said Jonner. "Those are our orders. Now, we leave the +groundcars here and go on foot to Marsport. Check equipment, everyone." + +"Say," commented Farlan after a moment, "I don't seem to have any +sunburn lotion." + +"You can have mine," said Aron, laughing. "This far from the sun, I +haven't been sunburned yet, and don't expect to be." + +"Haven't been on Mars a year yet, have you?" suggested Tyruss. + +"No," admitted Aron. "I came from Earth with the last space fleet and +escaped in a lifeboat. Why?" + +"There's an Earth-sun conjunction coming up. Every time the Earth +swings between Mars and the sun, everybody on Mars gets a bad sunburn. +When it comes, you better cover yourself with lotion, because clothes +don't protect you and even if you're in a city, the domes and house +roofs are transparent to pick up the sun's heat." + +"We have enough among us," said Jonner. "Besides, if our mission goes +off on schedule, we'll be back at base by the time the Earth-sun +conjunction starts. Let's head for Marsport." + + * * * * * + +The six men crouched in the concealing canal sage near the edge of +Marsport, the spaceport outside Mars City. The blue mist was a heavy +fog that swirled around them. + +In the lighted circle of the spaceport area three stubby, two-stage +gravity-boats sat upright, about a hundred yards apart. These were the +heavy duty rockets that plied back and forth to Phobos, Mars' inner +moon and Marscorp's natural space station, entering the planetary +atmosphere of Mars where spaceships could not go. Workmen stirred +busily around one of the G-boats; a guard stood at the entrance port of +each of the other two. + +Jonner tried to assess the evidence, to decide which of his five +companions was the Marscorp spy. How Marscorp had found out about the +expedition, how the credentials had been forged, how the rendezvous had +been learned, did not matter now. Marscorp could not know their plans +beyond the rendezvous in the desert, because only he and Sir Stanrich +had known the orders Sir Stanrich had given him for this mission. + +The fact that Stein and Wessfeld had arrived together from Charax +eliminated them as suspects, for the Charax command would have known +whether one or two men were to be sent from there. + +Jonner did not believe Tyruss was the spy. Jonner had won his space +papers just before the Rebellion began, but it was logical that Sir +Stanrich would send a more experienced space captain to handle their +ship. + +That left Farlan and Aron, from different sections of the Hadriacum +front. Which one? In their specialties, Farlan was an alternate to +Stein as an astrogator, Aron an alternate to Wessfeld as an engineer. +But every spaceman could handle every other spaceman's duties in an +emergency, and it was hard to say which task they had decided to double +up on. + +Jonner expected the spy to make some move here, tonight, and he had +prepared for it on the way from the desert. One earphone of his helmet +receiver was tuned with his speaker to the Rebel band they used, +the other was tuned to the local frequency used by Marscorp. Jonner +listened with one ear to the occasional reports and orders that were +passed around the spaceport. + +Jonner punched Tyruss, next to him, twice on the shoulder. It was the +signal. The six men rose and moved forward together. + +The sentry who loomed before them had no chance. A heat-gun beam is +invisible. They cut him down and scurried to the edge of the spaceport, +into the circle of light, running in long leaps toward the nearest +G-boat. + +It was as they broke from the canal sage that the thing happened which +Jonner had expected. The words were shouted into the earphone attuned +to the Marscorp band: "Attention, Marscorp! Att...." + +Jonner pressed a button on his belt, and his other defense went +into action. A scrambler beam cut in on the attempted warning, and +everything on that channel dissolved into a buzzing roar. + +Jonner cast a glance down the line of his companions, but they were too +far separated for him to see whether any of them was talking into his +helmet microphone. + +Some of the workmen at the far G-boat saw them running across the +field, and scattered in alarm, but the scrambling prevented them from +warning others through helmet communicators. The guard at the G-boat +that was their goal saw them when they were fifty feet away. He was cut +down as he tried to duck around the G-boat. + +They ran up the ramp. Jonner, first to reach the port, stopped and +tried to watch his companions as they hurried past him. Tyruss was +fumbling at some control on the belt of his marsuit. His radio channel +control? + +Armed men were converging on the G-boat from all over the field as +Jonner slammed and fastened the port. They scrambled up to the nose of +the G-boat, and he and Tyruss sank into the pilots' seats. + +"Strap down for blast-off!" shouted Jonner, and wished viciously that +the spy would still be tuned on the Marscorp band and fail to hear him. +But everyone strapped down, hurriedly. + +A score of Marscorp soldiers were standing around the G-boat, firing +up at its ports with heat-guns. The beams were futile, for G-boats +were built to stand frictional temperatures it would take a heat-gun +minutes to build to. Halfway across the field, a squad of men wheeled +an anti-tank gun into position. + +The gentle gravity of Mars quadrupled as the G-boat strained upward +on roaring jets, gathering speed. Through the port, Jonner saw the +anti-tank gun's muzzle elevate and blossom flame. There was no impact; +and there was no opportunity for another shot. + +The G-boat curved eastward in a long ascending arc. The first stage +dropped off over the Aerian Desert, and in a few moments they were in +free fall. + + * * * * * + +Jonner unstrapped and floated to each man in turn, examining his +control belt. Farlan's channel dial was a fraction off the band they +used. + +"Farlan, your radio control's off center," said Jonner quietly. + +"What?" said Farlan's voice, blurred a little. He fumbled at the dial, +and his words came in clearly. "Must have hit it against something." + +Or he could have missed a little when he returned the dial to channel +after trying to warn Marscorp. But Tyruss had been fumbling with +something on his belt as they ran onto the G-boat. No, it wouldn't do +to make an accusation against the wrong man. + +An automatic calendar on the G-boat's control board showed the date: +upright, the Martian date, Aster 32, 24; reversed, the Earth date, +June 1, 2020. + +Jonner looked down through the port at the inhabited hemisphere of Mars +unfolding below them. Those green lowlands, those red deserts, now +were all in Marscorp hands--even the cradle of the Charax Rebellion, +the dome-city of Charax, at the edge of the edge of the Tiphys Fretum +Lowland in the south polar area. + +There, six Martian years ago, the rebellion had flared bravely against +the Mars Corporation. Marscorp had held a monopoly on space travel +between Earth and Mars since the first Martian colony was established +at Mars City in the Earth year 1985. For the supplies Marscorp brought +from Earth, the price was kept high. Marscorp also was the OGM--the +Official Government of Mars, or, as the colonists read the initials, +"Old Greedy Marscorp"--and Marscorp made and enforced the laws. + +It had been a fairly even match at first. Marscorp's initial monopoly +of the supply lines had been overcome when many of the people on Earth +were roused to sympathy for the Rebel cause. Gradually, the Rebels had +invested much of the Hadriacum Lowland with its dome-farms and had +captured Regina, another of the planet's six dome-cities. + +That had been before the disastrous space battle of the year 23. Now, +in the past year, the Rebels had been pushed back to the wall. All that +was left to them was Plan Blue. And what was Plan Blue? + +Jonner looked over his five companions. All helmets were off now, and +Jonner couldn't detect a guilty look in any face. He had never seen +such pure unanimity of apparent innocence and loyalty. + +"Now that we're aspace, we'll go on the customary shifts," he said: +"eight hours duty, eight hours sleep, eight hours free time. We'll pair +off: Stein with Farlan, Wessfeld with Aron, Tyruss with me. + +"And these are special orders: no one is to let the man with whom he is +paired out of his sight." + +He would not tell them more than that now; he hoped to trap the spy +when they approached The Egg. + + * * * * * + +The spaceship slid up orbit, overtaking the shining ovoid from which +antennae sprouted like pins from a pin-cushion. The captured G-boat was +lashed to the spaceship's side. + +"You'd think they'd have some defenses, anyhow," grumbled Tyruss, +watching the ovoid on the screen. + +"Why?" countered Jonner. "They knew we didn't have any G-boats left, +and they didn't know we had any spaceships left, either. Of course, +they don't know this is our target, but I'll bet they have some ships +from Phobos on the way here now, anyhow." + +Their timing was just right. Thirty minutes later The Egg would swing +around the limb of Mars, in line of sight with Marsport. But so far +there had been no chance for The Egg to receive a radio warning of the +stolen G-boat. + +The spaceship pulled abreast of The Egg and Jonner and Tyruss went +across to it in spacesuits. They passed through the airlock to find The +Egg's crew of three waiting with welcoming smiles. The smiles faded at +the sight of their levelled heat-guns. + +"Sorry you weren't expecting us," said Jonner, opening the face-plate +of his spacesuit with his left hand. "You'll have to get into +spacesuits." + +They sent their captives through the airlock and across the +intervening space to the spaceship, where the others would be awaiting +them. Then Jonner and Tyruss searched The Egg for other Marscorp +personnel. They found none. + +"We'd better get a line on her and get under way before those ships +from Phobos can get here," said Tyruss. + +"Right," agreed Jonner, and they got busy. + +A towline secured between the two vessels, Jonner and Tyruss returned +to the spaceship. The three Marscorp captives had been secured by +chains to stanchions on the storage deck, just above the engine deck. +Stein and Farlan, the engineers, were standing by. + +"We're getting under way," Tyruss told them. + +Stein and Farlan descended to the engine deck, and Tyruss and Jonner +climbed to the control deck. On the centerdeck, Aron and Wessfeld, the +astrogators, were asleep. + +Tyruss climbed into the control chair and switched the radio to the +Marscorp band. A voice blared from the communicator: + +"Marscorp calling The Egg. Marscorp calling The Egg. Come in, Egg. Can +you hear us, Egg? Rebels captured G-boat here. Double alert. Marscorp +calling...." + +Tyruss switched it off, laughing. + +"A little late," he commented. + +"Yes," said Jonner. "Keep the receiver on that band, Tyruss, because we +won't be hearing from our side. But, until we finish our mission, I'm +going to disconnect the sending equipment." + +Jonner floated to the other side of the control deck and moved around +behind the control board. He was busy disconnecting wires, a few +minutes later, when he heard an exclamation from Tyruss. + +He peeked around the edge of the control board. The three Marscorp +captives were floating up the companionway from below, heat-guns in +their hands! + +"Keep your hands off those controls, Reb," warned one of them. "This +ship's staying right here." + +"Wasn't there another one in this gang, Robbo?" asked another. + +Tyruss twisted in his chair and reached for his heat-gun. One of the +Marscorp men rayed him through the throat. + +Cautiously, Jonner poked the muzzle of his heat-gun around the edge +of the control board. Methodically, he shot the three Marscorp men, +one by one. They died without discovering the source of the invisible +heat-beam that cut them down. + +Tyruss was dead. Cursing, Jonner went below, heat-gun in hand. On the +centerdeck, Wessfeld's body floated. Wessfeld was dead, burned through +the chest. Aron was not there. + +He found all three of the others, locked in the airlock, without +spacesuits. Jonner watched Aron suspiciously as they emerged. + +"What happened?" he demanded of Aron. + +"I don't know," disclaimed Aron. "They woke us up. They had heat-guns +then. Wessfeld tried to reach his, and they shot him. Stein and Farlan +were already in the airlock when they brought me down." + +"Stein, were you and Farlan constantly in sight of each other, +as ordered?" asked Jonner, watching Aron. Did Aron's eyes widen +apprehensively? + +Stein started. + +"Why, no," he admitted. "Farlan was on the engine deck, and I was +down in the airlock checking the spacesuits before blast-off. That's +routine, you know. They herded Farlan down and caught me by surprise." + +"That's right," said Farlan. "I was checking the engines when they came +through the hatch from above with heat-guns." + +"Damn!" exploded Jonner. "I gave everyone strict orders--all right, +it's too late now. It just cost us two men, and one of the four of +us left is a Marscorp spy. Everyone get above and strap down for +acceleration." + +The spy was Aron or Farlan, but he still didn't know which. Aron could +have feigned sleep, and slipped down to the storage deck to release +and arm the Marscorp men. Or Farlan could have climbed from the engine +deck and done it while Stein was in the airlock. Whoever it was, he had +chosen to be locked in with the others--probably in case the sortie +failed. + +Now they were two men short, and still he would have to pair off with +Aron and pair Stein with Farlan. They would have to go on twelve-hour +duty shifts, with only four hours free time. + +And to what purpose? As Tyruss had suggested several times, why +couldn't they have just blasted The Egg out of space, if the purpose +was to get rid of it? Why go to all the trouble of shifting it to an +Earthward orbit? The Earth would be nowhere near the intersection point +when The Egg reached Earth's orbit, if that made any difference. + +Jonner had at last let the others know, as he should have before, that +one of them was a spy. But he would not tell them, as he had told +Tyruss, that he had disconnected the radio transmitter. Let the spy try +to get in touch with Marscorp now! + + * * * * * + +"Jonner," said Aron, "there are a couple of blips on the radar screen +that shouldn't be there." + +Jonner swung the control chair to look at the screen. There were two +dots there, almost directly to the rear of the spaceship. Jonner +watched them. They held their position on the screen. + +"I don't know," he said. "Pretty large for meteors, and there doesn't +seem to be any lateral movement." + +Their ship had just begun acceleration, following a hyperbola that +would break them free of Mars' gravity. It was a hyperbola that swung +the ship against the direction of the planet's orbital travel, and, +while speeding the ship away from the planet, slowed it in relation to +the sun. + +Jonner and Aron were on duty on the control deck. Stein and Farlan +slept on the centerdeck below. Two 24-hour periods had passed since +they captured The Egg and maneuvered it into the right orbit for their +departure from the Martian area. + +The blips grew on the screen, and still they did not move laterally. + +"Spaceships," Jonner decided. + +"They're following our course, and overtaking us." + +"Marscorp ships!" exclaimed Aron. "But Jonner, we never were in radar +range of any Marscorp ship or installation. How could they know our +position and course?" + +Without replying, Jonner arose from the control chair and went around +behind the control board. The wires to the radio transmitter, which he +had disconnected so carefully, had been reconnected. + +"Aron," said Jonner, coming back to the control chair, "go down and +chain Farlan to his bunk. He's our Marscorp spy." + +"He is?" Aron's eyes widened. "How do you know?" + +"Because you haven't been out of my sight since we took The Egg in tow, +and you haven't been near that control board while we were on duty. +Stein must have let Farlan get away from him again." + +"Why not Stein?" + +"You forget. Stein and Wessfeld arrived together from Charax, at the +rendezvous. They had to be clean." + +Aron unstrapped and arose. + +"Shouldn't we boost acceleration and try to evade them?" he asked, +gesturing at the radar screen. + +"We can't now," said Jonner. "We're on an escape hyperbola and we've +got to hold this acceleration until she runs out, or we'd throw it +completely off." + +Aron went below. Jonner watched the screen anxiously. The Marscorp +ships must have set an interception course, for their acceleration was +much too high to be following their own escape orbit. They were getting +closer rapidly. + +Jonner looked at the chronometer and at the tape still ticking through +the ship's control mechanism. Eleven minutes was a brief time, but +it seemed long when enemy ships were overtaking them at twice their +acceleration. + +Towing The Egg, this old ship could not match the Marscorp attackers' +acceleration. It could accelerate much faster than it was, but if he +was to hit the Earthward orbit he had been ordered to take he would +have to hold his present acceleration until the eleven minutes was up. + +And the Marscorp ships got closer by the minute. + + * * * * * + +Aron climbed back to the control deck from below. + +"Farlan's tied up, and he's madder than hell," Aron reported. "Stein +said Farlan _did_ go behind the control board on their last duty +stretch, to 'adjust' the radio. What's the situation now?" + +"They've started decelerating to match our pace when they get abreast +of us," said Jonner, indicating the rocket flares that now appeared on +the aft visual screen. + +The tape suddenly ran out, and the rockets' roar faded. They were in +free fall again. + +"Get into a spacesuit and cut that towline," commanded Jonner. "We're +going to make a run for it." + +"We're not going to stay and guard The Egg?" asked Aron, getting a suit +off one of the hooks. + +"No outside guns. This hulk was a supply ship. As soon as you get +back in and secure the outer airlock, holler and we'll start partial +acceleration. When you've strapped down somewhere below, holler again +and we'll blow the tubes." + +While Aron went below to carry out his assignment, Jonner swung the +ship end-to with the gyroscopes. He prayed silently that the towline +to The Egg wouldn't foul. They'd have to head back toward Mars, for +further acceleration in this direction would throw them, helpless, in a +path toward outer space. + +The radio loudspeaker boomed: + +"OGM ship Phobos-29 to Rebel spaceship. Stand by for boarding or get +blasted." + +The Marscorp ships were within a few miles now, slowing to match the +pace of the Rebel ship. + +The outer airlock warning light flashed red, then green again. + +"Ready!" said Aron's voice on the ship's communicator. + +Jonner flicked his radio transmitter to the Marscorp beam. + +"Go to hell!" he announced, and depressed the firing buttons. + +It was uncomfortable for Aron, climbing out of the airlock, but Jonner +threw the ship into a full G acceleration. The Marscorp ships loomed +suddenly to each side, then faded behind them. A few futile flashes of +gunfire blossomed from their noses. Then rings of fire appeared behind +them as they gave chase. + +"Strapped down!" called Aron, and Jonner gave the rockets full blast. + +The ship leaped like a frantic old war-horse. Jonner was pressed down +heavily in his control chair. Its beams and plates groaned as G was +piled on G. + +The Egg was gone from the rearward screens, released and floating free +in an Earthward orbit. The Marscorp ships fell farther behind. Then +they stopped receding and began to grow on the screens again. Newer and +more powerful, they were overtaking the Rebel ship. + +Suddenly the ship's rockets ceased firing again, and they were in free +fall. A moment later, Aron popped up from below. + +"Are we hit?" he asked. + +"No, they aren't back in range yet," answered Jonner. "We're out of +fuel. Maybe it's just as well they came along, because I don't believe +this clunk had enough fuel to overtake Mars again, even if we hadn't +blown it in that escape try." + +The Marscorp attackers apparently interpreted the Rebel ship's dead +rocket tubes as a surrender. Within half an hour they had drawn +alongside, and armed men in spacesuits came through the airlock. Farlan +was freed of his chains, and Jonner, Stein and Aron were herded onto +the centerdeck of one of the Marscorp ships and secured to stanchions. + +The Marscorp captain floated before them, looking them over quizzically. + +"I don't know what you fellows were trying to prove, but you're lucky," +he said. "If you hadn't cut your rockets when you did, we'd have +blasted you out of space." + +Jonner answered out of the knowledge that no ships which had +accelerated as these two had in the past hour would have more than +enough fuel left to get them back to Phobos. The Egg, trailing far +behind Mars now, would overtake the planet gradually as the pull of the +sun sped it up, but it would pass Mars well to sunward in its plunge +toward the orbit of Earth. Any ship that tried to intercept it from +Mars now would fight increasing solar gravity and would run the risk of +not getting back to Mars. + +"Well, we accomplished our mission, anyhow," Jonner said resignedly, +"for whatever it's worth." + +"A fool's mission," said the Marscorp captain, and Jonner was inclined +to agree with him. "The Egg was an experimental laboratory and an +auxiliary power station, and we can build another cheaper than we could +recover it. As for you fellows, you're better off than you realize." + +"How's that?" asked Stein. + +"Why, if you aren't tried as war criminals, you ought to be freed +pretty quickly. According to the latest news reports from Mars City, +our armies are driving your people back into your underground base in +the Isidis Desert. The war will be over as soon as we've cracked that." + + * * * * * + +Jonner, Stein and Aron lay around in the Marscorp brig on Phobos for +more than a month. To be precise, they floated around, for Phobos had +little more surface gravity than a spaceship in orbit. When there was +no indication they were going to be transferred from Phobos, Jonner +set up a howl that at last was heard in the little moon's officialdom. + +Jonner was taken before the adjutant of the Phobos base to air his +complaint. + +"Look," said Jonner, placing both hands belligerently on the official's +desk, "the terms of the terrestrial Space Compact apply to Mars, too. +No prisoners of war shall be confined beyond a planetary atmosphere, +except for so long as it is impracticable for them to be transferred to +a surface prison." + +"That provision was written into the compact to permit inspection by +neutral powers and because, ordinarily, a prisoner has some hope that +a surface prison will be overrun by troops of his own side and he will +be released," answered the adjutant mildly, peering at Jonner over +old-fashioned rimless spectacles. "In your case, that's not likely to +happen and I can't see why you're raising such a fuss. The last we +heard up here, our troops were about to overrun your last base." + +"What do you mean, the last you heard?" demanded Jonner. "I heard that +two days before we were brought to Phobos." + +"Radio communication with Mars has been out completely," explained the +adjutant good-naturedly. "Static's always bad during the Earth-sun +conjunctions, as you ought to know, being a spaceman. This time we +haven't been able to get anything through at all." + +"Well, maybe it's true that we've lost and the war's about over," +said Jonner. "But the three of us still want to be transferred to the +surface. Free fall can drive you nuts when you're in an eight-by-eight +cell." + +"As a matter of fact," said the adjutant, "there hasn't been any +G-boat traffic to and from the surface since the radio went out. It's +a dangerous business, trying to land at a spaceport without any radio +guide. But we have to send a G-boat down for supplies in a couple of +days, and if you fellows are insistent about it, we'll send you down to +Marsport on it." + +It was not two days, but more than a week later that the three of them +were allowed to get into spacesuits and were escorted out to a G-boat +anchored to the surface of Phobos. + +Above them, the orange disc of Mars filled the sky. Phobos was swinging +across the inhabited hemisphere now, and the dark green areas of Syrtis +and Hadriacum were plainly visible. + +Jonner strained his eyes upward at the red spot that was the Isidis +Desert. Somewhere in the heart of that red spot, Sir Stanrich O'Kellin +was directing the last-gasp stand of the Charax Rebels. They would be +manning the underground chambers of the base, perhaps fighting in the +corridors as the Marscorp troops battled to effect an entry. + +It might even be that the base had fallen by now, overrun by the +government forces, and he and his companions would be, technically, +free men by the time they landed at Marsport. Jonner sighed unhappily. +He didn't want that kind of freedom. + +Following Stein and Aron, he climbed into the G-boat. It had a crew of +two, plus an armed guard for the prisoners. + +"There'll be no unstrapping during free fall," announced the G-boat +pilot. "Everybody will remain strapped down until we land. With the +Earth-sun conjunction over, we've re-established radio communication +partially, but it's spotty, and we may crash." + +"Is the war over?" asked Jonner. + +"How the hell should I know?" grunted the pilot. "We haven't had a +single news broadcast that makes sense since the radio came back in. +They're all chopped up with static." + +The G-boat lifted gently from the surface of Phobos and began its +spiral downward toward Mars. The six men, crowded together in its +single passenger compartment, listened to the radio that spat and +growled over their heads. + +What they heard was unintelligible. + +"Sector Four ... squawk ... spsst!" snarled the loudspeaker. +"Colonel ... squawk ... troops in ... squawk ... move tank squad +to ... spsst-crack-crack!... more ambulances ... squawk ... ninety +per cent disabled...." + +Periodically the pilot tried to establish contact: + +"G-boat MC-20 to Marsport. G-boat MC-20 to Marsport. Come in, Marsport." + +The attempts were futile until the G-boat had entered the atmosphere +and was gliding high above the desert on its broad wings. Then, +miraculously, the airwaves were clear for a moment. + +"Marsport to G-boat MC-20," said the loudspeaker. "Go ahead." + +"G-boat MC-20 to Marsport," said the pilot hurriedly. "Give us a beam. +We're coming in for a landing." + +"Don't land! We're...!" exclaimed the loudspeaker, and exploded into +static in midsentence. + +"What the hell do they mean, don't land?" snorted the pilot, fiddling +frantically and uselessly with dials. "They think I've got enough fuel +to get back to Phobos?" + +The G-boat held its glide and swooped down on Marsport, a tiny landing +field and a miniature group of buildings set apart from the dome of +Mars City. Groups of men were scurrying about at the port like ants. A +column of smoke rose ominously from one of the buildings. + +The G-boat touched ground and skidded to a stop in mid-field. Its +passengers unstrapped and the pilot opened the port. + +Men crowded into the G-boat, men with drawn heat-guns, men in the +blue-and-gold marsuits of the Charax Rebels! + + * * * * * + +Jonner, a free man again, rode into Mars City in a groundcar with Sir +Stanrich O'Kellin. Stein and Aron had remained at Marsport for the time +being. Marsport was completely in the hands of the Rebels, and efforts +were being made to get through by radio to Phobos to give the Marscorp +forces there a surrender ultimatum. + +"What's happened to the Mars City dome?" asked Jonner in astonishment +as they approached the city. The once-transparent dome was cracked and +badly discolored. + +"Plan Blue," answered Sir Stanrich with a smile. + +"Look, sir, how about telling me what happened?" said Jonner. "When we +got captured in the middle of our wild goose chase with Marscorp's Egg, +our troops had been driven into the ground at the Isidis base and we +got the impression it was only a matter of time before that fell. Then +the radio goes out for a few days and we land here to find Mars City +overrun with our troops." + +"Why," said Sir Stanrich, his mustache quirking mischievously, "we +counter-attacked. We came out of the base, defeated the Marscorp army +there, drove across the desert to Mars City and took it. Task forces +are out now, taking over the other cities. That's all there is to it." + +"Simple!" snorted Jonner. "Except that they outnumbered us four or five +to one, and probably outgunned us more than that." + +"Science wins wars now; my boy, not numbers and guns." + +They had entered the Mars City airlock and were driving down the broad +Avenue of the Canals. Rebel soldiers swarmed through the city. The few +men and women they saw in Marscorp uniforms staggered around, groping +blindly, their faces and arms fiery red and peeling from sunburn. + +"You'll get a medal out of it, too," commented Sir Stanrich. + +"Why? Why me?" + +"Because you followed orders, even though your mission appeared +useless. It was your 'wild goose chase' that made our victory possible. + +"You see, only the blue mist of Mars protects its surface from the hard +rays of the sun. Without it, we'd have no more protection than a naked +man in space. The reason we're in for a bad sunburn every year is that +the blue mist dissipates partially at every Earth-sun conjunction." + +"But what would The Egg have to do with that?" asked Jonner. + +"The Egg amplifies the effect of magnetic fields, the way a lens +concentrates light rays," answered Sir Stanrich. "It's the Earth's +magnetic field, not that of Mars, that interferes with the blue mist +every time the Earth passes between Mars and the sun. And to amplify +Earth's magnetic field, we had to place The Egg directly between Mars +and Earth during the Earth-sun conjunction--and you put it there when +you got the Egg into an Earthward orbit on schedule." + +"But, Sir Stanrich, I've been sunburned a dozen times at these +conjunctions...." + +"Not like this. When the blue mist was stripped away completely this +time, everyone on the surface was affected. Marscorp's troops were +put out of action as an effective fighting force when they received +severe burns over most of their bodies and were afflicted with acute +conjunctivitis so badly they were half blinded. That's why we abandoned +Charax and Regina and pulled all our people to the Isidis base while +the conjunction was under way, we were all protected from the sun ... +underground!" + +They had reached the center of the city. Above the old Syrtis Major +Hotel, which had served as Marscorp's supreme headquarters, the flag +of the Charax Rebels was fluttering in the breeze from the city's air +circulators. + +Marscorp was beaten. Mars was free. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Case of Sunburn, by Charles L. Fontenay + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59825 *** |