End as a Hero

3

The shrilling of the proximity alarm blasted through the silence. For a wild moment I thought Kayle had beaten me to the punch; then I realized it was the routine DEW line patrol contact.

“Z four-oh-two, I am reading your IFF. Decelerate at 1.8 gee preparatory to picking up approach orbit…”

The screen went on droning out instructions. I fed them into the autopilot, at the same time running over my approach plan. The scout was moving in closer. I licked dry lips. It was time to try.

I closed my eyes, reached out—as the Gool mind had reached out to me—and felt the touch of a Signals Officer’s mind, forty thousand miles distant, aboard the patrol vessel. There was a brief flurry of struggle; then I dictated my instructions. The Signals Officer punched keys, spoke into his microphone:

“As you were, Z four-oh-two. Continue on present course. At oh-nineteen seconds, pick up planetary for re-entry and let-down.”

I blanked out the man’s recollection of what had happened, caught his belated puzzlement as I broke contact. But I was clear of the DEW line now, rapidly approaching atmosphere.

“Z four-oh-two,” the speaker crackled. “This is planetary control. I am picking you up on channel forty-three, for re-entry and let-down.”

There was a long pause. Then:

“Z four-oh-two, countermand DEW line clearance! Repeat, clearance countermanded! Emergency course change to standard hyperbolic code ninety-eight. Do not attempt re-entry. Repeat: do not attempt re-entry!”

It hadn’t taken Kayle long to see that I’d gotten past the outer line of defense. A few more minutes’ grace would have helped. I’d play it dumb, and hope for a little luck.

“Planetary, Z four-oh-two here. Say, I’m afraid I missed part of that, fellows. I’m a little banged up—I guess I switched frequencies on you. What was that after ‘pick up channel forty-three’… ?”

“Four-oh-two, sheer off there! You’re not cleared for re-entry!”

“Hey, you birds are mixed up,” I protested. “I’m cleared all the way. I checked in with DEW—”

It was time to disappear. I blanked off all transmission, hit the controls, following my evasive pattern. And again I reached out—

A radar man at a site in the Pacific, fifteen thousand miles away, rose from his chair, crossed the darkened room and threw a switch. The radar screens blanked off…

For an hour I rode the long orbit down, fending off attack after attack. Then I was clear, skimming the surface of the ocean a few miles southeast of Key West. The boat hit hard. I felt the floor rise up, over, buffeting me against the restraining harness.

I hauled at the release lever, felt a long moment of giddy disorientation as the escape capsule separated from the sinking lifeboat deep under the surface. Then my escape capsule was bobbing on the water.

I would have to risk calling Kayle now—but by voluntarily giving my position away, I should convince him I was still on our side—and I was badly in need of a pick-up. I flipped the sending key.

“This is Z four-oh-two,” I said. “I have an urgent report for Colonel Kayle of Aerospace Intelligence.”

Kayle’s face appeared. “Don’t fight it, Granthan,” he croaked. “You penetrated the planetary defenses—God knows how. I—”

“Later,” I snapped. “How about calling off your dogs now? And send somebody out here to pick me up, before I add sea-sickness to my other complaints.”

“We have you pinpointed,” Kayle cut in. “It’s no use fighting it, Granthan.”

I felt cold sweat pop out on my forehead. “You’ve got to listen, Kayle,” I shouted. “I suppose you’ve got missiles on the way already. Call them back! I have information that can win the war—”

“I’m sorry, Granthan,” Kayle said. “It’s too late—even if I could take the chance you were right.”

A different face appeared on the screen.

“Mr. Granthan, I am General Titus. On behalf of your country, and in the name of the President—who has been apprised of this tragic situation—it is my privilege to inform you that you will be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor—posthumously—for your heroic effort. Although you failed, and have in fact been forced, against your will, to carry out the schemes of the inhuman enemy, this in no way detracts from your gallant attempt. Mr. Granthan, I salute you.”

The general’s arm went up in a rigid gesture.

“Stow that, you pompous idiot!” I barked. “I’m no spy!”

Kayle was back, blanking out the startled face of the general.

“Goodbye, Granthan. Try to understand…”

I flipped the switch, sat gripping the couch, my stomach rising with each heave of the floating escape capsule. I had perhaps five minutes. The missiles would be from Canaveral.

I closed my eyes, forced myself to relax, reached out…

I sensed the distant shore, the hot buzz of human minds at work in the cities. I followed the coastline, found the Missile Base, flicked through the cluster of minds.

“—missile on course; do right, baby. That’s it, right in the slot.”

I fingered my way through the man’s mind and found the control centers. He turned stiffly from the plotting board, tottered to a panel to slam his hand against the destruct button.

Men fell on him, dragged him back. “—fool, why did you blow it?”

I dropped the contact, found another, who leaped to the panel, detonated the remainder of the flight of six missiles. Then I withdrew. I would have a few minutes’ stay of execution now.

I was ten miles from shore. The capsule had its own power plant. I started it up, switched on the external viewer. I saw dark sea, the glint of star-light on the choppy surface, in the distance a glow on the horizon that would be Key West. I plugged the course into the pilot, then leaned back and felt outward with my mind for the next attacker.