The Shield of Time

IV

Crossing the courtyard, he emerged on a more or less residential street. The neglected paving showed that few industrial vehicles used it. Brick and concrete buildings were jammed together, boxlike, none more than five stories high. A good many people were out on their balconies for a breath of air. Others drifted along the sidewalks: old shuffling men, tough-looking boys with hoods pulled over their brows and cigarettes in their mouths, a gaggle of adolescent girls hi sleazy ultrafashions that would have been more interesting if their figures had had a few more years to develop, a weary mother hauling a whining small fry home from a game in the street. More could be seen through their apartment windows, staring at the inevitable 3D screens.

Koskinen walked rapidly, making himself ignore the looks and mutters. A place to eat, a place to eat…Around the next corner the local supermarket flashed neon at him.

Few were inside at this hour. He noticed how run-down and untidy the establishment was, but the prices marked were cheap…yes, didn’t the government subsidize low-level stores? Passing Drugs, Clothes, Laundry, and Tools, he saw a sign: RESTAURANT—animated, a girl dressed in an apron, tossing flapjacks—beyond shelves of groceries, and cut through that section. The checkout robot couldn’t identify the thing on his back. “One moment, please,” said the tape. A buzzer sounded, a scanner lit up, and a human voice said from the mike, “Okay, go on. I don’t know what you got there, asco, but you didn’t shoplift it here.”

Koskinen grinned feebly and went on. The eatery wasn’t an automat, he discovered with some surprise. Well, a degree of handicraft survived on the very poorest levels, where any pay was better than none—and among the wealthy, who could afford live service. A large man with sad eyes stood behind the counter; his belly sagged against it. Two other men nursed coffee cups at the farther end. They lacked even the nominal grooming of local residents; their blouses were stained and greasy, they hadn’t shaved for a week. The big one watched the 3D in the corner, some idiotic story about a war-time mission across Australia. The other sat with a cigarette between his fingers and stared at a private dream.

“What’ll you have?” The sad man touched a button and today’s menu appeared on a screen. Koskinen had visioned a huge rare steak with French fried onions. But what low-level joint would carry actual meat? He settled for a goomburger and alga stew. “And your biggest bottle of beer to start with,” he added.

“Spiked?” asked the counterman.

“Hm?” Koskinen looked, puzzled, into the heavy face. “You mean vodka added?”

“What you talking about? I mean buzz juice. Mescalinoid, skizzo, neoin, or what do you want?”

“Uh, nothing. Just plain beer. I need a clear head tonight.”

“Mmm…yeah. You’re from topside, aren’tcha? Fancy clothes and a suntan. You’d better not get too happy at that, around here.” The counterman took a liter of Raketenbrau from the cooler, opened it and set it before Koskinen. “In fact,” he said, “my advice to you is, catch the first train back. Or better yet, phone for a taxi to come and fly you home.”

Koskinen’s fingers clenched on the bottle. “Is this such a bad district?” he asked slowly.

“N-no. Not us natives, except for the boy packs. But we’re not far from the Crater, and a lot of their people come over this way.” The man made a furtive gesture toward the two who sat at the other end. The one who was not smoking had turned small eyes in a slashed and broken face away from the 3D and was looking openly, insolently, at the newcomer.

The counterman pushed a not very clean glass toward Koskinen. He used the opportunity to whisper: “We got guards in here, so we don’t get any rough stuff. But you better not go out alone in the street. He guesses you’ve got money on you.”

Koskinen shrugged. There was no reason why he should not leave by taxi. “Thanks for the warning,” he said. He slipped the shield unit off his back and laid it under his stool.

“What is that thing, anyway?” asked the counterman aloud.

“Experimental,” Koskinen said. The question was not pursued; people didn’t get nosy on low-level. Koskinen drank deep. The cool taste tingled the whole way down. He attacked the food ravenously. Confidence flowed into him.

The man who had been watching him left the counter and went to a phone booth. Whoever he called didn’t choose to transmit a picture. The man switched off and went back to his seat, where he joggled the dreamer awake. They muttered to each other. Koskinen paid no attention. He finished his meal and walked past them to the phone. Gifted with a good memory, he punched out the number Abrams had given him. The screen flashed: PLEASE DEPOSIT ONE DOLLAR FOR THREE MINUTES, TWO DOLLARS FOR VISUAL.

Why…that was the charge for a local call, wasn’t it? Koskinen dropped in two coins and leaned out of the booth. “Hey,” he called, “where am I, anyway?”

“Huh?” said the counterman.

“I’m, uh, I’m lost. What section is this?”

“Bronx.” The counterman rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. The two others grinned. Koskinen closed the door as the screen came to life. He was too nervous to sit down and threw a hasty glance at the telltale. But it wasn’t glowing; no tape was being made at the other end of the line.

A plump, aging woman looked out at nun. Her eyes were red-rimmed and she twisted a. wedding ring around and around on her finger. “Is this Mrs. Abrams?” Koskinen asked. She nodded mutely. “May I speak to your son David, please?”

“He isn’t here.” Her voice was almost inaudible.

Oh no! “Do you know where I can get in touch with him? It’s pretty urgent.”

“No…no…who are you?”

“Pete Koskinen. Dave’s shipmate—”

She jerked as if burned. “I don’t know you!” she gasped. “I don’t know anything about you.”

“But—ma’am—” Koskinen’s spine crawled. He forced calmness into his tone. “Is something wrong? Dave must have mentioned me. If you don’t know where he is now, could you have him call me back?” He stopped and thought. “That is, I’ll find a hotel room, then call and give you my number and—”

“No!” she screamed. “They arrested him! Don’t you know they came and took him away?”

Koskinen stood unmoving.

She seemed to realize she had said too much. “You’d better get in touch with the police yourself,” she chattered. “There’s some awful misunderstanding, I’m certain it’s a misunderstanding. Maybe you can help clear it up. Davy’s father has been on the phone for hours, ever since—

Calling everybody. Even people in Congress. But he can’t learn a thing. Maybe you can help—” she began to cry.

Is her line tapped? Koskinen shoved down the switch.

Briefly, he wanted to run. But that was senseless. He had no place to go. If a director of General Atomics couldn’t spring his own son, what use—I’ll have one more try. Captain Twain himself.

The skipper had gone to his home town in Oregon, Koskinen knew, even though he hadn’t any close relatives left there. Koskinen dialled Information. “Please be patient, sir,” the computer tech said. “A one-minute line break is due shortly.”

What the devil? Oh, yes. The shifting configuration of the radio relay satellites. “I’ll wait,” Koskinen said.

“If your party isn’t at home, do you wish a special search made?”

“Uh, no. Just find me where he’s staying. I’ll talk to anybody.”

The screen blanked. Koskinen stood alone with the soft, silly “interlude music.” He shifted from foot to foot, tugged his beard, hammered a fist into the other palm. Sweat trickled along his ribs.

There was a rap on the door. Koskinen turned about with an oath. The bristle-chinned man who had made the previous call stood outside. Koskinen flung the door open in a surge of belligerence. “Well?” he barked.

“Ya gonna be through soon, asco?” The tone was not impolite, but burly shoulders were hunched.

“A few minutes yet. There should be other phones in this place, if you’re in a hurry.”

“Nah, nah, that’s okay. I was just wondering, sort of. We don’t get many topsiders down here. I was wondering if you was looking for a little fun, maybe.” The damaged face attempted a leer.

“No, thanks.”

“I know some good places. Better’n anything yuh find topside.”

“No! I’m going to finish my call and get the devil out of here. Okay by you?”

Momentarily the man glared. Smoothing his expression, he nodded. “Don’t getcha guts hot. I was just try’n’a be frien’ly.” Koskinen closed the door. The other went back to the counter and spoke to his companion. Both looked pleased, Koskinen thought.

Some enormous tune later, the phone buzzed.. Koskinen whirled around so fast he bumped his knee on the seat. The pain stung him into a little more self-control. “We have your number, sir,” a human operator said. “In Eugene, Oregon.” He dropped hi the required number of buck pieces.

The screen showed him a strange man’s face. “Is Captain Silas Twain there?” Koskinen asked.

“Who wants to know?” said the other. His manner was hard and wary.

Koskinen bristled. “Who do you think you are?”

The man paused, reached a decision, and said: “Military Security. Captain Twain has been killed resisting a kidnap attempt. Who are you?”

Koskinen shook his head, trying to clear the darkness out. “Is that the truth?” he mumbled. “Or another story?”

“Ask the news service. Now, who are you? Quick!”

“Just…an old friend. J-J-Jim Longworth,” Koskinen stammered, fishing a classmate’s name from an impossibly remote past. “I heard the Mars expedition was back and—I thought—” Because the agent looked satisfied, he switched off.

Wildly, he stared out the booth. The big fellow who had spoken to him was now addressing the counterman. His mouth was drawn into an ugly grimace. The counterman flinched, shivered, nodded again and again, and tottered to the opposite end of the bar where he got furiously busy. The big man went out. The skinny one with the cigarettes remained, not smoking now, alert. It didn’t register particularly on Koskinen.

Twain dead. Great, ruddy, unbendable Si Twain, a corpse. But such things didn’t happen!

Had MS killed him themselves?

Koskinen slapped the switch up, punched for News, and fed coins into the slot. He scarcely saw or heard the answer girl. “Gimme the latest story on Captain Twain,” he almost shrieked, hanging onto the seatback. “Mars expedition. They say he’s dead tonight.”

“Yes, sir. That story came in only half an hour ago, I remember.” The girl punched buttons. A tape began to run, showing a man who said: “World News Service, Eugene, Oregon, September 12.—Captain Silas G. Twain, 44, leader of the most recent expedition to Mars, was found murdered in his hotel room today. The body was discovered about 1630 Pacific Daylight Saving Tune by Dorinda Joye, 22, a secretary from an agency he had called not long before. There were many signs of a struggle. Beside Captain Twain’s body, which had been shot, was that of a man believed to be Chinese. His skull was crushed by a heavy ashtray still hi Twain’s hand. Police theorized that several intruders had come hi the tenth-floor window from an airlift platform and tried to kidnap the spaceman. While resisting he killed one of them. Unable to cope with him and fearing discovery, the others shot him and fled, Police Inspector John Flying Eagle said. The tune of Twain’s call to Miss Joye’s agency fixed the hour of death as no earlier than 1600. Military Security agents moved promptly to occupy the scene and no further comment is being made by any official source.

“The reason for the tragedy remains mysterious. Captain Twain was—”

The commentary went into a hastily assembled orbit, with film clips. Koskinen switched off. Forget that.

Forget MS, and the Chinese, and every other murdering—His eyes stung. I’m about to cry, he thought in a dim surprise.

No use calling anyone else from the ship. I must be the only one still alive and at large, and that’s only because I had the shield machine. Let’s get out of here before I’m caught too.

Out? Where? I don’t know. Right now I don’t give a hoot. Just out.

Clumsily, because he trembled and didn’t see very well, he punched for a taxi. “Yes, the Old Prole Supermarket. How should I know the address? You’ve got a directory, haven’t you? Use it, for God’s sake!” he snapped the switch viciously and stumbled from the booth.

The counterman shrank from him. Terror lay in the sallow features. Koskinen paid small heed. He hoisted the shield generator onto his back and went from the restaurant area.

A stocky man with a gun at his hip stopped him between grocery shelves. “ ‘Scuse, mister,” he said. “I’m a guard. Been watching you on the monitor. You know that bum who talked to you while you were phoning?”

“No,” said Koskinen vaguely. “Let me by.”

“Him and that other character, they’re from the Crater. I’ve seen ’em around before. So they’re up to no good. I don’t like the way he talked to Gus at the bar. Plain as day, he told Gus not to warn you about nothing. And then he left his pal and went on out himself.”

The dreamy man drifted down another aisle, toward the door. The guard glowered after him. “I can’t do nothing till they start acting roochy,” he said. “But if I was you, mister, I’d stay here and let me call the cops. You might want an escort home.”

Koskinen started. “Police?” MS? “Thanks, no!”

The guard squinted. “You on the lam yourself, son? You don’t look the sort. What’s that thing you’re wearing?”

“None of your business!” Koskinen snapped. He took off, nearly running. The guard stared a moment, then shrugged.

As the main door opened for him, Koskinen stopped. The truck lot outside was bare and dimly lit. Traffic growled, but not where he could see any. I better stay inside till the taxi comes, he thought.

And then where to? A hotel, probably. Not so cheap it was a robbers’ den, not so good it would attract MS investigators. Or Chinese, he thought with a shudder. A middle-class, traveling salesman sort of place. He couldn’t stay there long, he was too conspicuous. But he could buy a happy pill, get a night’s sleep—he was near falling over from weariness—and decide on his next move tomorrow.

A battered green teardrop rolled into the lot. The driver got out. He wore a steel helmet and an anesthetic needle gun, but his vehicle bore the legend COMETEER TAXICAB COMPANY. He strode briskly to the doorway. “You the party wanted a hack?”

“Yes.” Koskinen followed him out. He opened the rear door with an unexpected flourish. Koskinen climbed in.

The door slammed on him. One powerful hand took his left wrist and twisted it agonizingly past the shoulder blades. Another arm closed around his throat. “Don’t move none and you won’t get hurt,” said the voice of the man who had talked to him at the booth.

The driver chuckled and got into the front seat. He punched for air clearance and the taxi purred skyward. Koskinen fought to breathe.

Fool, he told himself bitterly. Utter, total, thumblefumb idiot! The men at the counter had planned this from the minute they saw him. They’d called their confederate, on the reasonable guess that Koskinen would want to leave in a taxi. The conversation with him had confirmed that. The confederate had parked around the comer till the big man, the mugger, appeared and told him, “Push it, now; pick ’im up before the real cab gets here.” The little smoker had kept an eye on Koskinen till the last moment, ready to dash out and warn the others if anything went wrong. But nothing had. He, Peter Koskinen, was caught.

“That’s right,” said the mugger. He laughed. “Just relax and enjoy it. We’ll letcha off in a mile or so. Reach around with yuh right hand and toss yuh wallet on the floor.”

Koskinen obeyed. But I’m crippled now! he thought. I doubt if I’ve got twenty dollars in change. I daren’t call my bank—

“Okay,” grunted the mugger. “He’s been good, Tun. So land him near enough to a tube station he’ll have a chance uh making it alive.”

“X,” said the driver, and punched again. Control lowered the taxi to street level and released it. They rolled to a halt between two sheer walls, automated plants no doubt, roofed by a rumbling freight belt. The gloom was thick here.

“Oh, yeh,” said the mugger. “Yuh gimmick too. That thing on yuh back-boy, did it ever get in my way just now!—I want that too. Dunno what it is, but mebbe Zigger will, or his girl. Wanna tell me yuhself?”

“No—please—” Koskinen croaked through the pressure.

“Suit yuhself. But get outta them straps. Pronto!”

The stranglehold was released so he could wriggle from the harness. The driver turned around and aimed the needle gun at him. Its metal gleam was barely discernible. “No tricks, now,” he said genially.

What have I got to lose?

Koskinen slipped off his shoes, unnoticed in the murk. His hands pretended to tug at his shoulder straps. Groping, he felt the wallet through his socks, and picked it up between both feet.

“Snap along there,” said the mugger impatiently.

Koskinen threw the shield switch.

The expanding cylindroidal force shell pushed him off the seat until he occupied midair in a corner. The bandit was shoved against the opposite wall. He must have roared, and perhaps the driver cursed, but they were mere shadows now, altogether silent.

Koskinen put the wallet into his pocket and waited, shaking with reaction. He had become invulnerable to anything they had. Not even gas could penetrate the invisible barrier; and the air cycler guaranteed nun oxygen. He saw fists batter. A needle broke on the shield, and the mugger opened his window to let the volatile anesthetic out.

“That’s right,” Koskinen babbled, crazily, since they couldn’t hear him either. “You can’t linger here. There are police cars on patrol, you know. You can’t get at me. Shove me out the door and scram! You’re whipped. Get rid of me!”

The big man felt around, defining for himself the volume of impenetrability. He threw his shoulder against Koskinen and found that the shell, with its contents, was easily movable; for it added no weight, and energy absorption provided a pseudo-friction. “Push me out and be done, you muckhead!” Koskinen shouted.

The two shadows conferred. The driver bent back to his controls. The taxi sprang into the air.

Great Existence, Koskinen thought. The knowledge clubbed him. They’re taking me along!

There was sufficient light in the traffic lanes, diffused from below by the dirty air, that he could clearly see the mugger. The big man crouched against the farther wall, his gaze never leaving Koskinen. He had the driver’s gun in one hand and a vibro shiv in the other. His eyes were rimmed with white, his chest rose and fell, sweat glistened on his skin. But these bandits had guts, Koskinen knew—the courage to take this fearful thing where it could be studied and perhaps acquired.

What to do?

He could switch off the field long enough to open the door and jump…no. That would take a second, at least. A needle would need much less tune to cross the car and knock him unconscious.

He could open his defenses and surrender.

No. Not yet. He could always do that, if things got desperate. Let him try to wait out their attempts. Maybe he could even bargain. Maybe, maybe-His strength collapsed. Folding himself as nearly into a sitting position as the shell allowed, he waited dully for whatever was going to happen.