The Star Fox (15 page)

‘I failed,’ she said desolately. ‘Vic decided this trip was his chance to act. We don’t mean to hurt you. We’ll take you back to Earth. Nothing more. You won’t even be charged with anything.’

‘I could charge kidnapping,’ he said.

‘If you want to,’ she mumbled.

Hopelessness gutted him. ‘What’s the use? You’d get yourself a judge who’d put you on probation.’

Vadász appeared, then Koumanoudes, then Uthg-a-K’thaq. The Greek cursed in a steady stream.

Without a captain, without a chief engineer
, Fox
will have to go home, beaten before one blow is struck
, Heim thought.

He looked around. They had landed on the west bank of the Morh. It ran wide and luminous through a sandy, boulder-strewn dale walled by low bluffs. The mountains of Kimreth reared opposite the sun, still many kilometers distant, not quite real in the blue-gray haze of intervening air, but a titan’s rampart, dominated by the volcanic cone he had seen from afar. Underfoot the ground was covered by that springy mosslike red-yellow growth which was this world’s equivalent of grass. Overhead the sky arched plum-dark, clouds scudding on a wind that boomed in his audio receptors. A flock of airborne devilfish shapes drifted into sight and out again.

How far have we come? What’s going to happen?

Vadász moved to Heim’s side, touched helmets, and muttered, ‘Quickly, can we rush her? I do not think her aim will be good here.’

‘Nor can we move fast,’ Heim said.
Though
…
would you
really shoot me, Joss?

His heart thuttered and sweat smelt sharp in his nostrils. But before he could nerve himself to try, Bragdon was out, and there was no question whether that laser pistol would be used.

‘
G’yaaru!
’ Uthg-a-K’thaq shouted. ‘You hawe lewt the airlock owen!’

‘I know,’ Bragdon said. ‘And I’ve set the pilot a certain way. Better lie down.’ He eased himself to a sitting position.

The flyer whined and leaped forward. The glare off its metal blinded Heim. He saw what seemed a comet arc off the ground, to a hundred meters, loop about, and plunge. Instinct sent him flat on his belly.

Some distance away, the flyer crashed. The explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen went off. Blue flame spurted upward. Thunder coughed, again and again, and Heim heard shards scream above him. Then there was only a thick pillar of smoke and dust, while echoes tolled away and were lost in the wind.

He strained back to his feet. His head still rang. The other males did likewise. Jocelyn remained seated.

‘Great … jumping … Judas,’ Koumanoudes gasped. ‘What have you done?’

‘Don’t be alarmed,’ said Bragdon. ‘We have other transportation coming.’ He paused. ‘I may as well explain. The object is to cripple your damned piracy by taking you back to Earth. I had various schemes in mind, but this chance suggested a simple method.

‘One other flyer is out, with a couple of young men who know what’s afoot and know approximately where I intended to do this. They can spot the wreckage from afar. We’ll all go aboard and return to the
Quest
. Only we’ll be on the floor, out of sight, and I’m sorry, but you’ll be tied. Once back inside the ship, you’ll be taken to a special cell we’ve got fixed. Jocelyn and I will stay concealed too. When you don’t report in, your crew will get worried and go look for you. Naturally, Captain Gutierrez will lend every assistance. The wreck will be found – unfortunate crash, everybody killed. No one’s likely to check so close that he’ll see there are no human remains. But if anybody does, he’ll conclude that we hiked off in a forlorn attempt to get help, and soon died. So, with much sorrow, two spoiled expeditions wend their separate ways home.’

‘Can you rely on your crew?’ Vadász asked, snake cold.

‘They won’t know the truth until
Quest
is again in space,’ Bragdon said. ‘Captain Gutierrez and First Officer Hermann do already. I don’t expect the men will mutiny.’

‘You filthy bastard—’ Koumanoudes advanced a stiff-legged step.

‘Halt,’ Bragdon warned. ‘I’m entirely prepared to shoot if I must. On the other hand, if you behave yourselves you’ll be released unharmed on Earth.’

Heim hunched his shoulders. ‘How will you prevent us from starting right out again?’ he inquired.

‘Have you forgotten? Your ship’s now equipped for nuclear weapons. The moment she enters the Solar System, the Peace Control Authority is law-bound to seize her. And without their principal officers, where else can your men go?’

‘Who are you working for, Bragdon?’ Heim fleered. ‘Alerion?’

‘Mankind.’ The answer was proud. ‘In case you’re interested, I’m not a xenologist, only a PCA officer on leave, and they’ll cashier me for this. It’s worth it, though. World Militants for Peace will see I get another job.’

‘They
engineered
this, huh?’ Koumanoudes snorted. ‘Yen. They’ve got members in government too.’

Heim spoke to Jocelyn. ‘You never actually quit that gang, did you?’

‘Please, please,’ her whisper drifted down the wind.

‘We may as well make ourselves comfortable,’ Bragdon advised. ‘This gravity will wear us out if we don’t. The other vessel probably won’t arrive for several hours, since we couldn’t make exact timing or location arrangements, or risk radio.’ He gestured with his gun. ‘You sit before I do.’

Vadász was so near Heim that the captain alone heard the minstrel’s indrawn hiss and noticed how he stiffened. ‘Heigh-ho, Roger!’ he murmured. ‘Hook the first moon by.’

‘What’s that?’ Bragdon challenged, for he saw his prisoners go taut.

‘I would not translate in a lady’s presence,’ Vadász snarled.

It thrilled through Heim.
Spaceman’s slang. ‘Something’s about to happen. Take your chance when you see it
.’ The blackness and coldness departed him. His pulse slammed with preparation to fight.

‘Are you skizzy, though?’ Vadász continued. ‘We can’t stay here.’

‘What d’you mean?’ Bragdon demanded.

‘Next to a river like this. Flash floods. We will get tumbled around, our suits torn open, we are dead unless we get on higher ground.’

‘You lie!’

‘No, no. Look at those mountains. Think. A dense atmosphere under strong gravity has a high density gradient, therefore a high temperature gradient. This is autumn. It gets cold enough at night, above snowline, to freeze ammonia. But the stuff liquefies again about noon, and pours down into the riverbeds. The gravity pulls it so fast that it goes fifty kilometers or better before it evaporates. Isn’t that true, Gregorios? You were the one who told me.’

‘Sure,’ Koumanoudes said. ‘That’s what the name Morh means. Floodwater.’

‘If this is some trick—’ Bragdon began.

It sure as blaze is
, Heim’s thought leaped.
There’s no such phenomenon. But the yarn sounds plausible to a newcomer – I hope – how I hope!

‘I swear I’ll shoot on any suspicion,’ Bragdon said.

Heim started to walk away from him. ‘Do, if you want,’ he retorted. That’s an easier way to die than in an ammonia flood. You can’t stop me trying to get on top of those bluffs.’

His back was tense against the firebeam. But only Jocelyn’s cry reached him: ‘Vic, no, don’t! What’s the harm?’

‘I … guess none, except that it’s a difficult climb,’ Bragdon conceded. ‘Okay. You people go first. Jocelyn will cover me while I follow. If you feel like running away, once you’re over the crest, I don’t mind too much. You can’t get far before the flyer comes, and we’ll catch you then. Or if you find some hiding place, Staurn will kill you for me.’

Step by heavy step, Heim wound among the scattered rocks until he reached the nearest bank. It was bare gritty earth, mingled with stones, not high or steep but a daunting obstacle when this weight bore on him. He commenced trudging upward. The slope gave way under his boots, slid past in a hiss and a rattle, he lost his footing and went to hands and knees.

Fumbling erect, he proceeded cautiously. Before long he was half drowned in sweat, his heart raced and the air burned his throat. Through blurred eyes he saw Vadász and Koumanoudes toiling behind. Uthg-a-K’thaq made it with less trouble, down on his stomach, pushing with wide feet and scrabbling with powerful swimmer’s arms; but still the Naqsan’s breath was noisy across the wind.

Somehow they got to the top. Heim and his engineer gave the others a hand. They crouched on the brink and wheezed.

There was a stone under Heim’s glove. His fingers closed.

As strength returned, he saw Bragdon half-way up. The Peaceman was taking his time, frequent lengthy rests, during which he stood gun in hand and glared at the privateers. Jocelyn waited below. Now and then sand or pebbles skittered around her, dislodged by Bragdon, but she didn’t try to dodge. Her suited form looked black in the lightning-blue sun-dazzle; her pistol reflected it moltenly.

Vadász knelt between Heim and Koumanoudes. He squeezed their hands. No other signal or explanation was needed.

Heim threw his stone. An instant later, their own missiles whizzed from his men. Accelerated at nineteen hundred centimeters per second per second, the rocks flew as if catapulted.

He didn’t know whose hit Bragdon. He saw the man lurch and fall. Then he and his folk were on their way down again.

Leap – slide – run – skip – keep your feet in the little avalanche you make – charge in your weight like a knight at full gallop!

Jocelyn had not been struck. He saw her stumble back, slow and awkward, and bounded past the collision of Bragdon and Koumanoudes. Dust boiled from his bootsoles. Twice he nearly fell. It could have snapped his neck at the speed he now had. Somehow he recovered balance and raged on ahead.

Down to the valley floor! He must tumble or run, faster than man had ever run before. His body was a machine gone wild, he fought to steer it and slow it but the momentum was overwhelming. Each footfall slammed through muscle and bone to rattle his teeth. The blood brawled in his ears.

Jocelyn had shot once while he plunged. The slug whanged wide. He saw the gun slew around to take closer aim. No chance for fear or hope. He had nothing but velocity. Yet it was too great for common sense to perceive. In her panic and her anguish she hesitated before shooting anew. The time was a fractional second. A man attacking her on Earth would have taken the bullet point blank. Heim crashed by before she could squeeze trigger. His fist shot out. He did not snatch the gun. His blow tore it from her grasp and spun it meters away.

On flat terrain he braked himself: to a normal run, a jog, a halt. He wheeled. Jocelyn had been knocked down by his mere brush against her. She was still struggling to regain her feet. Through his own deep gasps, he heard her weep. He plodded to retrieve the pistol.

When he had it, he looked for the others. Uthg-a-K’taq slumped on his feet in the rubble under the bluff. Two men stood half crouched nearby. One held the laser. A third sprawled unmoving between them, suit rent and blackened.

Heim steadied one shaking hand with the other and took aim. ‘Endre!’ he called, hoarse and in horror.

‘We have him,’ rang back the voice of the armed man. It sank till the wind nearly overrode it. ‘But Gregorios is done.’

Slowly, Heim dragged his way thither. He could not see through the Greek’s sooted faceplate. In a dull fashion he was glad of that. The laser beam had slashed open fabric and body, after which gases mixed and exploded. Blood was streaked round about, garish scarlet.

A gruesome keening lifted from the Naqsan. ‘
Gwurru shka ektrush
, is this war? We do not thus at home.
Rahata, rahata
.’

‘Bragdon must have recovered himself and shot as Gregorios jumped him,’ Vadász said drearily. The impact jarred his gun loose. I got it and came back here, where they both had rolled. C.E. held him pinned meanwhile.’

Heim stared long at the Peaceman. Finally, mechanically, he asked, ‘Any serious injuries?’

‘No,’ Bragdon replied in the same monotone. ‘At least, no bones broken. I’ve a headache.’ He stumbled off, lowered himself to the ground, and lay there with an arm across his faceplate.

‘I thought we could get away with this,’ Vadász said, eyes fixed on the dead man.

‘We did,’ Heim answered. ‘Wars have casualties.’ He clapped the minstrel’s shoulder and walked towards Jocelyn. Sweat, runneling down his body, squelched in his boots He felt a tightness in chest and gullet as if he were about to cry, but he wasn’t able.

‘You all right, Joss?’ he asked.

She backed away. ‘I won’t hurt you,’ he said.

‘But I shot at you!’ Her voice was as a frightened child’s.

‘That’s in the game.’ He laid his arms around her and drew the helmet against his breast. She sobbed for minutes. He waited it out from a vague sense of duty. Not that he hated her; there was a strange ashy vacuum where she had been in him. His emotions were engaged with the man who had died, his thoughts with what must be done.

At last he could leave her, seated and silent. He went on to the wrecked flyer. Fragments and cargo were scattered from hell to breakfast. He found an unharmed entrenching tool and several machetes and carried them back.

‘Start digging, Bragdon,’ he said.

‘What?’ The man jerked where he lay.

‘We’re not going to leave Greg Koumanoudes unburied. It’ll have to be a shallow grave, but—Get busy. Somebody will spell you when you’re tired.’

Bragdon rose, centimeter by centimeter. ‘What have you done?’ he cried. ‘I didn’t kill that man. You did, with your insane attempt to – to what? Do you think you can stand off our flyer?’

‘No,’ Heim said. ‘I don’t plan to be here when it arrives.’

‘But – but – but—’

‘You left your motor running.’ Heim gave him the tool and
continued on to Vadász. Uthg-a-K’thaq bestirred himself and came to help, scooping dirt with his hands.

‘Did you think of anything beyond getting control?’ Heim asked the Magyar.

‘No,’ said Vadász. ‘A dim idea of – I knew not what, except that my forefathers never quit without a fight.’

‘Sit down and let’s look at the poopsheets.’ Every suit had a pocket loaded with charts and other local information. There wasn’t much about Staurn. Heim unfolded the map of this region. It fluttered and crackled in the wind. He spread it across his knees. ‘Greg would have known what these symbols mean. But look—’ His finger traced the outlines. Those mountains are the Kimreth boundary and this is the River Morh; we know that. Now, see, Mount Lochan is marked as the highest in the northern sierra. In fact, no other peak stands that much bigger than its neighbors. So yonder old volcano has to be Lochan. Then we’re about
here
.’