Rogue Ship

17

It was a moment for a combination of deviousness and frankness. Lesbee would have given a lot to be able to send out a single question over the speaker system. He wanted desperately to ask if there had been an explosion anywhere on the ship.

But if there had been – if Dzing were destroyed – that knowledge would apprise the Browne forces that they had only a lone human being to deal with; and they would act promptly.

And so, he dared not try to verify that vital information.

But there were several things that Browne could help him on, and might, during these tense minutes when he himself felt threatened.

Lesbee said urgently: 'What bothers me is how that creature could walk out of here and not be affected by the acceleration? It's impossible, yet he did it.'

He finished with a lie: 'I find myself reluctant to act against the creature until we have an understanding of what it was he did.'

He had lowered the big man to the floor, and now he took some of the tension from the tractor beam, but did not release the power. Browne stood in apparent deep thought. Finally, he nodded. 'All right, I know what happened.'

'Tell me!'

Browne changed the subject, said in a deliberate tone, 'What are you going to do with me?'

Lesbee stared at him disbelievingly. 'You're going to withhold this information?'

Browne said, 'What else can I do? Till I know my fate, I have nothing to lose.'

To Lesbee the words brought brief cynicism, 'What's this?' he said satirically. 'Could this be a scheme to utilize alien creatures to destroy human beings? Are you putting your own safety above that of the ship and its mission? Don't you think this justifies summary execution?'

The tone must have alarmed Browne, for he said quickly, 'Look, there's no need for you to conspire any more. What you really want is to go home, isn't it? Don't you see, with this new method of acceleration, we can make it to Earth in a few months.'

He stopped. He seemed uncertain.

Lesbee said angrily, 'Who are you trying to fool? We're a dozen light-years in actual distance from Earth. You mean years, not months.'

Browne hesitated. 'All right, a few years. But at least not a lifetime. So if you'll promise not to scheme against me further, I'll promise-'

'You'll promise!' Lesbee spoke savagely. He had been taken aback by Browne's instant attempt to blackmail. But the momentary sense of defeat was gone. He knew with stubborn rage that he would stand for no nonsense.

He said in an uncompromising tone, 'Mr. Browne, twenty seconds after I stop speaking, you start talking. I mean it.'

Browne said, 'Are you going to kill me? That's the only thing I want reassurance on. Look' – his voice appealed – 'we don't have to fight any more. We can go home. Don't you see? The long madness is just about over. Nobody has to die. But quick, man, destroy that creature with your remote-control method!'

Lesbee hesitated. What the other was saying was at least partly true. His words so far included an attempt to make twelve years sound like twelve weeks or, at most, twelve months. But the fact was, it was a short period compared to the century-long journey which, at one time, had been the only possibility.

He thought, 'Am I going to kill him?'

It was hard to believe that he would, under the circumstances. But if not death, what then? He sat there, uncertain. The vital seconds went by, and he could see no solution. He thought finally, in desperation: 'I'll have to give in for the moment.'

'I'll promise you this,' he said. 'If you can figure out how I can feel safe in a ship commanded by you, I'll give your plan consideration. And now, mister, start talking.'

Browne nodded. 'I accept that promise.'

Browne went on, 'There are two possible explanations, and naturally I prefer the more commonplace one. That is, I postulate that this robot used some kind of energy flows, like a balance of tractor and pressor beams. He used this in the same instantaneous, or rapid, feedback system that you and I use in our muscles to balance ourselves when we walk under normal gravity.'

'What is the second explanation?' Lesbee asked.

'That takes us beyond normal response and normal energy situations. When we last saw the robot, the appearance he presented was of an object for which the entire phenomenon of inertia had been suspended. If this were true, then we are observing a big event, indeed. To understand it, we'd have to consider light-speed theories and, particularly, the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction Theory. At the speed of light, mass becomes infinite but size is zero. Thus, matter ceases instantly to be subject to inertia as we know it. There is no other condition in the universe where that can happen naturally. Dzing has somehow created the condition artificially – if this second explanation is the true one.'

Lesbee said doubtfully, 'I'm inclined to accept the tractor-pressor explanation. Is there any way we could determine which method he used?'

Browne could think of no method for determining it after the event. 'If it was a combination of energy flows, then it probably registered on the board at the time. And it will show again when he comes into the room.'

That, Lesbee realized, would be a little late to be useful. He asked helplessly, 'Is there anything we need to learn from this creature?'

'We've already learned it,' said Browne. 'This thing has a casual control of energy and an understanding of space time that is far ahead of us scientifically. Therefore, we have no business in this sun system. So let's get out of here as fast as we can.'

Lesbee was remembering how all the Karn on the lifeboat had pretended to be affected by inertia, when they evidently had not been.

Aloud, he said, 'Maybe your second explanation does cover it better.'

Browne shook his head. 'No, he'd have been here within instants, if that was what he could do. There's a state of compressed time at light-speed.'

'How do you mean?'

Browne was uneasy. 'Let's not waste time on an intellectual discussion,' he said.

'I want to know what you mean.'

'It's condensed time. He would have a time ratio, in relation to us, of hundreds to one. Ten minutes for us could be only a second for him.'

'Then he should have been here by now, if that's what he could do?'

'That's what I've been trying to tell you.'

Lesbee had to fight to hold back his excitement. The thought in his mind was that by pressing Button Three immediately after Button One, he had prevented that kind of instantaneous return by the Karn.

He thought, 'And I did it without even knowing how deadly dangerous the situation was, because I was logical, because I didn't want to take any chances.'

He felt a great joy in himself.

'For God's sake, Lesbee-'

Lesbee's elation faded as rapidly as it had come, for Browne was as great a danger as ever.

Lesbee gazed at the man gloomily.

'For God's sake, Lesbee,' said Browne, 'that thing must be practically back here. Tell me what you want me to agree to, and I'll do it.'

Lesbee said, 'I think we ought to have an election.'

'I agree,' said Browne instantly. 'You set it up.' He broke off. 'And now release me from these tractors, and let's act.'

Lesbee gazed at the man's face, saw there the same openness of countenance, the same frank, honest look that had preceded the execution order, and he thought, 'What can he do?'

He considered many possibilities, and thought finally, desperately, 'He's got the advantage of superior knowledge – the most undefeatable weapon in the world. The only thing I can really hope to use against it in the final issue is my knowledge of a multitude of technician-level details.'

But – what could Browne do against him?

Lesbee said unhappily, 'Before I free you, I want to lift you over to Mindel. When I do, you get his blaster for me.'

'Sure,' said Browne casually.

A few minutes later he handed Mindel's gun over to Lesbee. So that wasn't it.

Lesbee thought: 'There's Miller on the bridge – can it be that Miller flashed him a ready signal when my back was turned to the board?'

Perhaps, like Browne, Miller had been temporarily incapacitated during the period of acceleration. It was vital that he find out Miller's present capability.

Lesbee tripped the intercom between the two boards. The rugged, lined face of the first officer showed large on the screen. Lesbee could see the outlines of the bridge behind the man and, beyond, the starry blackness of space. Lesbee said courteously, 'Mr. Miller, how did you make out during the acceleration?'

'It caught me by surprise, Captain. I really got a battering. I think I was out for a while. But I'm all right now.'

'Good,' said Lesbee. 'As you probably heard, Captain Browne and I have come to an agreement, and we are now going to destroy the creature that is loose on the ship. Stand by!'

Cynically, he broke the connection.

Miller was there all right, waiting. But the question was still, what could Miller do? The answer was, of course, that Miller could pre-empt. And – Lesbee asked himself – what could that do?

Suddenly, he had the answer.

He now understood Browne's plan. They were waiting for Lesbee to let his guard down for a moment. Then Miller would take over, cut off the tractor beam from Browne, and seize Lesbee with it.

For the two officers it was vital that Lesbee not have the time to fire the blaster at Browne. Lesbee thought: 'It's the only thing they can be worried about, so far as I'm concerned.' And as soon as Lesbee was dead, or under control, Browne would grab the mechanism out of his pocket, and activate Stage Three – which would destroy Dzing.

Their plan, as Lesbee saw it, had only one flaw. Now that he had deduced what it was, he could turn it against them.

He realized that he had preparations to make quickly, before Browne got suspicious of his delay.

He turned to the board and switched on the intercom. 'People,' he said, 'strap yourselves in again. Help those who were injured to do the same. We may have another emergency. You all have about a minute, I think, but don't waste any of it.'

He cut off that intercom, and activated the closed-circuit intercom of the technical stations. He said: 'Special instructions to technical personnel. Listen carefully. Did any of you hear an explosion about ten minutes ago?'

He had an answer to that within moments after he had finished speaking. A man's twangy voice came: 'This is Dan. There was an explosion in the corridor near me – seems longer ago than ten minutes.'

Lesbee restrained his excitement. 'Where?' he asked.

'D– four-nineteen.'

Lesbee pressed the viewer buttons, and a moment later found himself gazing along a corridor that looked stove in. Wall, ceiling, floor – everything – was a mass of twisted metal.

No question, Dzing had been blown apart. There was no other possible explanation for such destruction.

Relieved, but aware again that his greatest personal danger remained, Lesbee set up Stage Two of the little device in his pocket in relation to the alternate control board. Then he turned and faced Browne.

The older man seemed uncertain as to what had happened.

'What was all that?' he asked.

Lesbee explained that Dzing was destroyed.

'Oh!' Browne seemed to consider that. 'That was clever of you not to reveal it,' he said finally.

'I wasn't sure,' Lesbee said. 'This ship is really soundproofed. The explosion didn't reach us here.'

Browne seemed to accept that.

Lesbee said, 'If you'll wait a moment while I put away this gun, I'll carry out my part of the bargain.'

But when he had put the blaster away, he paused out of pity.

He had been thinking about what Browne had said, earlier: that the trip to earth might require only a few months. The officer had backed away from that statement, but it had been bothering Lesbee ever since.

If it were true, then, indeed, nobody needed to die.

He said quickly, 'What was your reason for saying that the journey home would only take – well – less than a year?'

'It's the tremendous time compression near light-speed,' Browne explained eagerly. 'The distance, as you pointed out, is over twelve light-years. But with this new principle of acceleration, we can work up a time ratio of 300, 400, or 500 to one, and we'll actually make the trip in less than a month. When I first started to say that, I could see that the figures were incomprehensible to you in your tense mood. In fact, I could scarcely believe them myself.'

Lesbee said, staggered, 'We can get back to the solar system in a few weeks – my God!' He broke off, said urgently, 'Look, I accept you as commander. We don't need an election. The status quo is good enough for any short period of time. Do you agree?'

'Of course,' said Browne. 'That's the point I've been trying to make.'

As he spoke, his face was utterly guileless.

Lesbee gazed at that mask of innocence and he thought hopelessly, 'What's wrong? Why isn't he really agreeing? Is it because he doesn't want to lose his command so quickly?'

Sitting there, unhappily fighting for the other's life, he tried to place himself mentally in the position of the commander of a vessel, tried to look at the prospect of a return to Earth from the other's point of view. It was hard to picture. But presently it seemed to him that he understood.

He said gently, feeling his way, 'It would be kind of a shame to return without having made a successful landing anywhere. With this new speed, we could visit a dozen sun systems, and still get home in a year.'

The look that came into Browne's face for a fleeting moment told Lesbee that he had penetrated to the thought in the man's mind.

The next instant Browne was shaking his head vigorously. 'This is no time for side excursions,' he said. 'We'll leave explorations of new star systems to future expeditions. The people of this ship have served their term. We go straight home.'

Browne's face was now completely relaxed. His blue eyes shone with truth and sincerity.

There was nothing further that Lesbee could say. The gulf between Browne and himself could not be bridged.

The commander had to kill his rival so that he might finally return to Earth and report that the mission of the Hope of Man had been accomplished.