Earth is Heaven

Chapter Eight

The officer was the one who had come to check before, but now he was not alone. A half-dozen guards stood at his back, armed, spread in a familiar pattern, Dumarest glanced at them, at the boxes lying around, the laborers who had been ordered away from the port and the line of fire.

To Urich he said, "Make no mistakes. You know what needs to be done."

These instructions were given on the way to the port and Urich had no doubt as to what would happen unless he cooperated. He stiffened as the officer approached and returned the man's sharp salute.

"What is this? Why are you here? Who ordered it?"

"Sir!" The officer looked at Urich, at Dumarest standing easily close. "A routine check, sir. This loading is taking far too long."

"And you suspect something detrimental to Krantz?" Urich nodded as if pleased at the subordinates attention to duty. "Your name? Well, Lieutenant Noventes, I shall make a point of mentioning your zeal. But there is nothing to worry about. The restraints-but you know about that, I assume? Good. Then what more is there to say?"

Noventes was stubborn. "With respect, sir, I must check the vessel."

"Why?" Steel replaced the casualness in Urich's tone. "You question my capability?"

"Of course not, sir, but-"

"I am the officer in charge of the field. I give the orders. I make the decisions."

"Normally, sir, yes, but-"

"You question my authority!"

Dumarest saw the tightening of the officer's jaw and knew the bluff wasn't going to work. Noventes had to be acting under direct orders from the Quelen and wasn't going to be put off.

He said casually, "There's no need for an argument, Captain. I've no objection if the lieutenant wants to check the ship. The quicker he's satisfied the sooner I can get this stuff loaded." His gesture embraced the litter of boxes. "But I would ask him not to disturb the Lady Eunice."

Urich knew better than to yield too easily. "I will give the order when to check this vessel. In fact I will deal with it myself."

"Sir, I-"

"And spoil the lady's pleasure?" Dumarest shook his head. "Surely not." He glanced at Noventes. "She is of the Quelen," he explained. "The captain's fiancee-you probably know of the forthcoming marriage. I was fortunate enough to have done her a small service and she has been kind enough to inspect the ship. A small party, you understand? With her affianced, naturally. I'm surprised you weren't informed."

He saw the doubt grow in Noventes's eyes, the indecision, but the most he could hope to gain was time. The man would head for the gate, make his report, be given fresh instruction and enhanced authority. If he was to act it must be now when suspicion had been lulled.

Dumarest said, with mock irritation, "This is getting us nowhere. Captain, if I may make a suggestion? It is obvious the lieutenant has doubts as to your lady's presence. Perhaps he thinks it a fabrication and I am holding you prisoner and making you lie under threat of death." He laughed at the ridiculous concept. "Well, he can't be blamed for that; a good officer should always be suspicious."

Urich said coldly, "Your suggestion?"

"Let your officer go to the gate and check on the Lady Eunice's presence. And, to satisfy his cautious nature, let his guards come aboard so as to make sure I don't run away with a load of proscribed cargo." Dumarest laughed again. "I'm sure he thinks the boxes are filled with contraband."

Irony which offended. Noventes looked at Urich. "Your orders, sir?"

"Summon your guards."

They came filing up the ramp, relaxing as they saw Urich, confident that nothing could be wrong. A normal holding operation, one they had done often before, the only difference being in the confused state of the hold. Boxes lay scattered and laborers strained to heave them into position. An unusual scene but the captain was present and Noventes had ordered them aboard.

As the officer headed across the field Dumarest said, "Now!"

A guard slumped to the impact of the stiffened edge of his palm. Another before the first had reached the floor. As he reached the third the laborers came to life. A flurry of sharp and sudden action and the entire detachment of guards were unconscious.

"Quick! The boxes!"

Briefed, the men needed little urging. Within seconds the guards had been stripped of their weapons, loaded into the boxes, the lids sealed and the weapons spirited away into cabins already filled with escaping Ypsheim.

"Out!"

Men stooped, gripped, lifted the boxes and carried them through the port and down the ramp to be dropped well away from the vessel.

As they ran back Urich said, "Clever. You had them in the boxes and kept moving them around after they had been unloaded. Dressed as laborers who would notice? And you confused any watchers by having the initial boxes filled with genuine cargo. And now-but what about us? Eunice-"

He slumped as Dumarest closed his hand on his throat, fingers finding the carotids, digging deep to cut the blood supply from the brain. The pressure caused immediate unconsciousness.

"Here!" Dumarest thrust the man toward Belkner as he appeared. "Lock him in a cabin. Get your people settled."

"But there are more to come! You can't-"

"There isn't time. Move!"

Dumarest slammed his hand on the ramp-control. As the metal strip began to withdraw into the ship some of the figures outside raced forward to dive through the closing panel. The last of the Ypsheim in the vicinity quick enough to take their chance.

"Andre!" Dumarest shouted into the intercom. "Go! Lyle! Give us full power!"

It took time for a ship to ready itself for flight. Time for the engine to reach optimum output, for the generator to build the field, for the whole massed bulk of the vessel to break the chains of gravity. This period of vulnerability gave time for Dumarest to reach the control room to stand behind the big chair in which Batrun sat with his hands on the controls.

From her post Ysanne said, "If Urich did his job we've nothing to worry about."

If he had done it and if no one had overridden any command he may have given. A chance Dumarest had been reluctant to take and now he had no choice. All he could do was to leave and go fast-and hope his insurance would hold.

"Nearly set." As lights flared on the console Batrun relayed their message. "Power steady and field almost established." He granted. "Now?"

"Wait!"

The Erce had been too long without an engineer. Talion had done his best but it needn't have been good enough. A hitch in the flow of power, a compensator out of tune, similarity not as fine as it could be and the ship would lack efficiency. To apply too great a strain too soon was to invite disaster.

"Earl?" Ysanne was sweating, hands clenched, knuckles prominent. "For God's sake-let's go!"

He said nothing, standing with his fingers touching Batrun's shoulder, judging, balancing time and action. Noventes would be at the gate busy with his report. He could have noticed the withdrawl of the ramp but it was dark and unless he was looking the litter of boxes would have disguised the motion. The boxes themselves would induce a false impression; no trader was willing to abandon cargo.

But the field would be visible; the blue shimmer of the Erhaft drive growing into an unmistakable luminescence. An advertisement to the monitors.

More lights flashed on the console. "Earl?"

"Now!" Dumarest's fingers pressed on Bartrun's shoulder. "Take us up, Andre!"

Rising as the lasers surrounding the field began to track the Erce and the monitors checked the vessel's status. As the order to fire was suspended when it was realized Eunice was within the ship. The confusion caused precious moments of delay.

Time won in a calculated gamble in which the Erce rose higher… higher… higher…

"Now!" Again Dumarest pressed his fingers against the captain's shoulders. "Now, Andre! Now!"

Vruya, touched in his pride, would have reached his decision and given the order. To fire. To bring down the ship and hope that Eunice could be rescued alive from the wreckage. One life against the reputation of Krantz.

Insurance that had run out.

The screens flared as livid streaks burned a path where the ship would have been. Missed again as Batrun veered the ship from its upward path. An insane maneuver successful only because of the height and speed they had gained. The time.

"Made it!" Ysanne yelled her triumph. "By God, Earl, we've-"

The ship jerked as if kicked, cutting off her words, sending her hard against her panel. In the screens the stars wheeled in sudden gyration, the bulk of Krantz a mottled ball-shrinking with each appearance, diminishing as the sun it circled flared in growing prominence.

Rising from where he had been thrown, Dumarest said, "Andre! The sun! We-"

"I'm trying!"

With touches and adjustments, the balancing of forces, the skill hard-learned over the years, they steadied the wheeling stars and straightened the axis of the ship.

"Earl!" Ysanne was on her feet and looking at the panel, the lights and telltales, the message they relayed. Blood streamed from her nose and masked her mouth and chin, smears she ignored as she stared at the screens. "God! The field's down-and we're heading toward the sun!"

The screaming had died, the shouts-Belkner knew how to control his people. Now, in the engine room, he looked at the humped bulk of the generator, listened to the soft hum of the engine.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Dumarest ignored the questions, his hands deft as he examined the engineer. The shock had thrown Talion hard against the deck, his head hitting the edge of his console as he'd gone down. Blood oozed from a ragged wound but, beneath it, the bone seemed firm.

The man was unconscious and in shock-but that would pass. More serious was the concussion he would suffer which would fog his mind and cloud his judgement, and make him useless for the work needing to be done.

To Belkner Dumarest said, "Have some men take him to his cabin. Is there anyone who could take care of him?"

"Ava has had experience as a nurse."

"Good." Dumarest added wryly, "Would you have anyone with experience as an engineer?" A stupid question-what would the Ypsheim know of space? "Forget it. Just get Talion on his feet as soon as possible."

"We're in trouble, Earl. Right?"

"You could say that."

"And you need an engineer." Belkner looked at Talion lying slumped on the deck. "Try Urich Sheiner."

Sheiner sat in a cabin, perched on the edge of the bunk, eyes somber staring at the floor. He looked a little pale and the fine mesh of lines at eyes and throat seemed deeper than before. A man feeling old, inadequate, a failure, yet too intelligent to waste time in futile anger.

Dumarest said, "I need your help, Urich. We all need it."

"Should that bother me?"

"I said all." Dumarest looked at the bruises on the man's throat, the hands resting on his knees. "That includes Eunice. If we die she dies with us." He saw the twitch of fingers as he mentioned her name. "Eunice," he said again. "The woman you love."

"And who loves you."

"So you say." Dumarest moved so as to sit beside the other man. "Would it help if I told you I have no feeling for her?"

"It's how she feels that is important."

"True," admitted Dumarest. "But you disappoint me. Once you had guts. The courage to escape from Krantz and make your own way. Now you're letting a child destroy your life. That's what Eunice is," he reminded. "A child. She's attracted to the bright and new and exciting. I saved her life-how else did you expect her to respond?"

"A child," said Urich bitterly, "who needs a father."

"Would she be the first? And what does it matter as long as love is present?" Questions Dumarest left hanging as he said, "We were damaged by a missile as we left Krantz. One at the extreme of its range which detonated close enough to collapse our field. The hull is intact and our environment stable-but we are on a collision course with the sun."

"So?"

"We need an engineer. Ours is hurt. Belkner told me you could take his place. Can you?"

"Belkner!" Urich's hands closed into fists. "How does he know so much?"

"Talk," said Dumarest. "Gossip. Spacers who may have known you. Deduction. Logic. Shrewd guesses. What does it matter? Are you an engineer?"

"I've worked as one."

A flat statement and Dumarest recognized the emotion behind it A denial would have robbed Urich of the chance of revenge against those who had robbed him of all he had achieved on Krantz; yet the admission betrayed his need. To be wanted, admired, respected.

Dumarest said quietly, "I guess it wasn't easy for you to break free. To break with your own people and to cheat, steal, rob, murder-"

"No!" Urich reared, turning to face him. "There was no killing. The rest, maybe, but how else was I to get away? And if it hadn't been for a drunken spacer I wouldn't have made it. He'd won at the tables and was loaded. A temptation and-" He shrugged. "A chance and I took it."

"And later, when you'd reached another world, there were more chances, right? How else to get by when you've nothing going for you? And the first time is the hardest. The next mark comes easier and the one after easier still. Soon it becomes a way of life. What made you give it up?"

"Three years in a Rhodian jail." Urich was blunt. "It taught me a lot of things, among them that I wasn't cut out to be a criminal or an adventurer. So I settled down to work, lived rough; saved like a miser and bought some education. I was bright and lucky and managed to get established as a trainee engineer on the Chronos Line. Ten years of eating dirt but I worked my indenture and paid all charges and was free to go where I wanted. The galaxy to rove in-and I wound up back on Krantz."

"Home."

"Home?" Urich's laugh was bitter. "I'd forgotten what it was like. What the Ypsheim are like. Dreamers content to live as slaves for, while there is life, there is hope. Live today for tomorrow may come the millennium. Tomorrow… tomorrow… always tomorrow-but tomorrow never comes."

"So you sold your skills to the Quelen." Dumarest nodded then added, "But not all the Ypsheim are as you say. Some of them do more than dream."

"Like Belkner and his women and all the rest of them on board. Thieves! They robbed me of-"

"Why not?" Dumarest was harsh. "Did you think of the spacer when you went after his cash? Care what happened to him? The others you robbed? Do you give a damn for the animals killed so you can eat meat? The slaughter? The stink? The blood and pain? What makes you so special?"

Urich said, "You've made your point. If I repair the ship will you take Eunice and me back to Krantz?"

"To the Wheel? To the whip and public execution? You know what will happen if we go back. The Quelen will make an example of us so as to keep others in line. You too- they'll never believe you weren't in on it from the beginning."

"You'd make sure of that." Urich frowned then said, "Where are you bound for?"

"Would you believe me if I told you we were heading for Earth?"

"Earth?" Urich's hand rose to touch his forehead, the scar no longer visible but which would stay with him all his life. "You're bound for Earth?" He rose from the bunk, smiling. "Then we'd better get to those engines."

Batrun leaned back in his chair, relaxed, eyes casual as he checked the panels, the screens. All was as it should be and he reached for his snuff, lifting a pinch from the box, closing the lid before sniffing the fragrant powder. It enhanced his feeling of well-being, of warm, snug security. And it was good to be in command of a real ship again. A ship with enough officers to do the job, with a cargo in the hold and passengers in the cabins, no longer crippled and diving toward a sun.

Urich Sheiner had seen to that. A good man and a damned good engineer.

There was a light and a voice from the intercom as Batrun hit a button. Talion from the engine room.

"Routine report, Captain. All systems functioning in the green. Drive operating at five per cent below max. No fluctuation. Automatics engaged. Orders?"

"Maintain status. How's the head?"

"Fine aside from a slight ache. Usual watches?"

"Yes, but watch that head. If it gets worse report to Earl."

Dumarest, not Ava who had acted the nurse. And Urich was a passenger not a spare engineer as Talion could have feared. On any ship the crew remained a group apart; if help was wanted from others it was on a temporary basis only.

Bartun took more snuff and looked again at the screens. Empty now but for the stars and the familiar pattern of the universe. Worlds and suns past which they hurtled with a wanton disregard for the economic use of fuel. To get where they were going and to get there fast-a necessity imposed by their freight and by Dumarest who wanted no stops.

He moved through the ship on a routine inspection, pausing to open doors, to scan the interiors of cabins. All not reserved for the crew were filled with Ypsheim. More were in the salon and part of the hold. All riding High; drugged with quick-time, their metabolism slowed so as to turn normal hours into fleeting minutes. To Dumarest they looked like frozen statues.

As did Urich and Eunice.

He sat beside the bunk on which she lay, one of her hands in his own, his head lowered over her face. The prelude to a kiss, perhaps, or the aftermath of one. A position adopted for intimate conversation, but if they talked Dumarest heard nothing. Any sounds they made were too deep and slow to register as his movements and those of the door were too fast for them to see.

As he turned from the cabin Belkner came toward him, Ava Vasudiva at his side. Both were on normal time so as to help the others. Both had the look of lovers-and something else.

"Earl!" Belkner was smiling. "I want to ask something of you. A favor. Will you grant it?"

"If I can." Dumarest looked from one to the other. "What is it?"

"We want to get married." Ava hugged Belkner's arm. "As quickly as we can. Could you arrange it? Please!"

Happiness had made her radiant, flushing her cheeks and heightening her color so as to make livid the cruciform scar, enhanced now by the blue paint which filled the quadrants to create a disc quartered by a cross. Belkner's scar had been treated the same way.

"Married?" Dumarest's smile matched her own. "Of course you can be married. The captain will be happy to conduct the ceremony."

"And you'll stand at my side?" Belkner added, "It's our custom-someone strong who will give protection." A leftover from the days when such protection was needed. "Will you?"

"And witnesses?" said Ava as Dumarest nodded. "Can we have witnesses?"

"Two only." Dumarest's tone brooked no argument. "You can take their place after the wedding." With a smile he added, "For you this should be a short journey."

The ceremony was a quick affair. Afterward, lying on the wide bed in their cabin, Ysanne, who had stood beside Ava, said, with a touch of regret, "I envy them, Earl. Did you see their faces? Like children on a picnic. As if they had been shown a treasure-house and told to help themselves."

He nodded, not answering. Beside him he could feel the warmth of her body as she came closer toward him but he remained supine, staring at the ceiling.

"Earl?" Her hand touched his naked torso, her fingers tracing the pattern of his scars. "Why can't people always feel like that? Alive and happy and full of concern for each other? Why must life always become so damned complicated?" Her fingers paused in their questing. "Earl?"

"I'm not asleep."

"Thinking of the wedding? Well she has her certificate and had her witnesses even though she wanted more. Two were enough but you could have let a score attend with no danger of losing the ship." She had guessed why he'd limited the number. "No guts," she said. "That's why they get pushed around."

"Like cattle." Ysanne moved closer. The watch-schedule left them little private time together and the ceremony had stimulated her emotions. "Why take them with us? I could find a world where they would make us a profit." She found his hand and moved it so he could feel the febrile heat of her flesh. "Dump and run, Earl. Why not?"

"No."

"Then-" She chuckled at the obvious explanation. "Workers," she said. "You want them to haul and carry once we reach Earth. To load the hold with all the treasure that's waiting. They'd be good at that. You could even dress and arm them so as to look like guards. A threat if anyone wanted to stop us. They wouldn't be any good but the opposition wouldn't know that." She moved his hand to another place. "We could even trade-Ava has a certain appeal. I know places where she'd fetch a high price." Her voice changed a little, took on an edge. "If she was for sale, Earl, would you buy her?"

"No."

"You think she's plain?"

"I think she has pride. The man who bought her would get a corpse for his money."

"Pride? The bitch would kill herself rather than survive- and you call it pride?" Ysanne reared up beside him. "Are you thinking of her, Earl? Lying there wishing you were her husband. That she was beside you instead of me? Is that it?" Her voice rose even higher. "Damn you, Earl-look at me!"

He said, "Not when you're jealous."

"What?"

"You look ugly when you're jealous. As if you could kill someone."

"Killing that bitch would be easy. You too if I caught you together. You think I couldn't?"

She would try, of that he was certain; then as he watched, her face changed, anger vanishing, replaced by a soft yearning.

"You don't want her, do you, Earl? Tell me you don't want her."

"I don't want her," he said then added, as his arms closed around her, "You're woman enough for me."

"For always, Earl?"

"For always."

That was the answer she wanted to hear and she pressed close against him, yielding to the demands of her body, the need. One matched by his own and the jealousy she had felt vanished in the practice of an ancient rite. But later, when she lay asleep at his side, face lax in satiation, Dumarest looked again at the ceiling.

Seeing the face of Ava Vasudiva, her mouth, her eyes, the proud tilt of her head. The face became a blur dominated by the pattern on her forehead. A circle quartered by a cross- the symbol of Earth.