The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge

Chapter 19

Whenever I moved I groaned. A little more hollowly and theatrically than was really called for by my condition, but it made Angelina feel wanted and took her mind off her troubles. She clucked about like a mother hen, plunking the pillows under my head, pouring me soothing drinks, peeling sweet fruits and cutting them into tiny pieces for me to nibble on. I hoped that these wifely ministrations would keep her from remembering the torture box of the day before, and if she were thinking about this she never mentioned it. The air that moved in through the open windows was warm and the sky its usual brilliant blue.

"Were there any casualties?" I said. "I meant to ask when I woke up but my head is still swimming in slow circles."

"None to speak of. Some burns and scrapes and a few superficial wounds among the rear guard. Apparently everything went off just as you had planned. As soon as the explosion was heard they shorted all the phone and power lines that led to the Octagon and made a fearful mess of the wiring. Then the girls came through the tunnel and knocked out the emergency generator. You know the rest since you were obliging enough not to keel over until we reached the cars."

"I would have been happy to do it earlier but I did not relish the thought of being dragged through the pipes by Taze's amazons. They still don't seem to think much of men. Maybe they'll make me an honorary girl."

"Let's see that is all they make you. Dr. Mutfak phoned a little while ago to say that he had Kraj almost to the point where we could talk to him."

"Then let's go. This is a conversation I have been lodging forward to for a long time."

When I got out of the bed my muscles creaked and snapped and I felt a thousand years old. I was wearing swimming attire, as was Angelina; informality was the order of the day at the luxurious Ringa Baligi. This also enabled us to do our dive for life if any troops came nosing around. Which made me think.

"What happens if any interfering Cliaandians come this way? I assume plans have been made to hide Kraj."

"Hide is the correct word. Since he is unconscious he can be stowed in the back of one of the refrigerators. A good idea, particularly if they forget and leave him there."

"Vengeance later, information now. I wonder what fascinating facts the good doctor has uncovered about our alien?"

"He's not an alien," Dr. Mutfak insisted. While I slept he had been working in the small but complete laboratory that was part of the mini-hospital in the hotel. "I will stake my reputation on it."

"The only reputation that you have that I know of is as a brainsqueezer," I said. "Can you be sure…"

"I will not be insulted by foreigners!" The doctor shouted, drawing himself up in anger so the top of his head almost reached my shoulder. "Insults from females I am used to, but from offworlders I will not bear. Even on the nameless planet where you were spawned it must be known that the basis of all medical training is a sound grounding in biology and physiology. It so happens that cytology is a bit of a hobby of mine—I could show you cells that would have you crying aloud with wonder—so I know what I am about. This man's cells are human, so he is human. A viable homo sapiens."

"But the differences, so alien, his low body temperature, the lack of emotions, all that."

"All well within the realm of human variation. Mankind is quite adaptable, and generations of survival in various environments produce suitable adaptations. There are many more exotic instances cited in the literature than are represented by this individual."

"Then he couldn't be a robot either?" Angelina asked with wide-eyed innocence, skittering away when I reached to grab her. My theories didn't seem to be holding up too well.

"When can we talk to him?" I asked.

"Soon, soon."

"Is it permitted to ask what you have done to him that will make him amenable to questioning?"

"A good question." Mutfak fingered his silvery beard and concentrated on interpreting the mysteries of medicine for the layman.

"Since this is the man who appears to be responsible for the major and harmful tampering with your brain I did not feel what might be called the usual moral responsibility of doctor to patient, particularly when the patient has helped arrange the ruthless invasion of my planet as well."

"Good for you, Doc."

"Therefore I have been quite single-minded and have circumvented his normal thought processes for our benefit and not for his. I did not do this easily, and feel it is just as much a moral crime as what was done to you, but I will take the responsibilities of the act. The fact that he was unconscious when brought here was a help. I have planted false memories and caused regression in areas Of attitude and emotions, put in memory blocks and in general have done some terrible things for which I will carry shame until the day I die."

Dr. Mutfak looked as though he might cry at any moment and I patted him on the shoulder.

"You're a front line soldier, Doctor, going into battle. Doing what you have to do to win. We all respect you for it."

"Well I don't, but I shall worry about that later." He shook himself and was the man of science again. "In a few minutes I shall bring the patient up from the deep trance. He will appear to be awake but his conscious mind will have little or no awareness of what is happening. His emotional attitudes will be those of a child of about age two who wants to help. Remember that. Do not force questions or act hostile. He wants to aid you in every way he can, but many times won't have access to the information easily. Be kind and rephrase the question. Don't push too hard. Are you ready?"

"I guess so." Though I found it hard to think of Kraj as a cooperative kiddy.

Angelina and I trooped along behind the doctor, into the dimly lit hospital room. A male nurse who had been sitting by the bed stood up when we came in. Mutfak arranged the lighting so most of it fell on Kraj while we sat in half darkness, then gave the man an injection.

"This should work quite fast," he said.

Kraj's eyes were closed, his face slack and unmoving. White bandages wrapped his skull and a handful of wires slipped out from under them to the machines beside the bed.

"Wake up, Kraj, wake up," the doctor said.

Kraj's face stirred, his cheek twitched and his eyes slowly opened. His expression was one of calm serenity and there was the trace of a shy smile on his lips.

"What is your name?"

"Kraj." He spoke softly in a hoarse voice that reminded me of a young boy's. There were no traces of resistance.

"Where do you come from?"

He frowned, blinking at me, and stammered some meaningless sounds. Angelina leaned forward and patted his hand and spoke in a friendly tone.

"You must be calm, don't rush. You have come here from Cliaand, haven't you?"

"That's right." He nodded and smiled.

"Now think back, you have a good memory. Were you born on Cliaand?"

"I—I don't think so. I have been there a long time, but I wasn't born there. I was born at home."

"Home is another world, a different planet?"

"That's right."

"Could you tell me what it is like at home."

"Cold."

When he said it his voice was as chill as the word, more like the Kraj we knew, and his face worked constantly, expressions echoing his words.

"Always cold. Nothing green, nothing grows, the cold doesn't stop. You have to like cold and I never did though I can live with it. There are warm worlds and many of us go to tem. But there are not many of us. We don't see each other very much, I don't think we like each other and why should we? There is nothing to like about snow and ice and cold. We fish, that is all, nothing lives on the snow. All the life is in the sea. I put my arm in once but I could not live in the water. They do and we eat them. There are warmer worlds."

"Like Cliaand?" I asked, quietly as Angelina had done. He smiled.

"Like Cliaand. Warm all the time, hot too, too hot, but I don't mind that. Strange to see living things on the land other than people. There is a lot of green."

"What is the name of home, of the cold world?" I whispered.

"The name… the name…"

The transformation was immediate. Kraj began to writhe on the bed, his face twisting and working, his eyes wide and staring. Dr. Mutfak was shouting at him to forget the question, to lie still, while he tried to get a hypodermic needle into his thrashing arm. But it was too late. The reaction I had triggered went on and just for an instant, I swear there was the light of intelligence and hatred in his eyes as the conscious Kraj became aware of what was happening.

But only for that moment. An instant later his back arched in a silent spasm and he collapsed, still and unmoving.

"Dead," Dr. Mutfak pronounced, looking at his telltale instruments."

"That was useful," Angelina said, walking to the window and throwing open the curtains. "Time for a swim if you feel up to it, darling. Then we'll have to think of a way to get another gray man for Dr. Mutfak. Now that we know the area to avoid we can make him last longer while he is questioned."

The doctor recoiled. "I couldn't, not again. We killed him, I killed him. There was an implanted order, an irresistible order, to die rather than reveal where this planet is. It can be done, the death wish, I have seen it now. Never again."

"We have been raised differently, doctor," Angelina said, calmly and without passion. "I would shoot a creature like Kraj in battle and I feel no differently about his dying in this manner. You know what he is and what he has done."

I said nothing because I agreed with them both. Angelina who saw the galaxy as a jungle, as survival a matter of eating or being eaten. And the doctor, a humanitarian who had been raised in a matriarchy, stable and unchanging, peaceful and at peace. They were both right. An interesting animal is man.

"Take a rest, Doc," I said. "Take one of your own pills. You have been up for a day and a night and that can't be doing you any good. We'll see you when you wake up, but have a good rest first."

I took Angelina's arm and guided her out, away from the sad little man who was staring, unseeing, at the floor.

"You don't feel sorry for that Kraj creature?" Angelina asked, giving me her number two frown which means something like I'm not looking for trouble, but if you are you are certainly going to get it.

"Me? Not much chance, love. Kraj is the man who unreeled the barbed wire in my brain awhile back and tried to do the same to you. I'm only sorry we couldn't get more from him before he left us."

"The next one will tell more. At least we know now that your idea was right. They may not be aliens, but they certainly aren't natives of Cliaand. If we can root them out of there we might be able to stop the entire invasion thing."

"Easier visualized than accomplished. Let's have that swim and brood about it over a drink when we come out."

The water loosened up my muscles and made me profoundly aware of a great hunger and thirst. I called in on my sonar communicator So that a small steak and a bottle of beer were waiting at the water's edge whoa we emerged. These barely brushed the fringes of my appetite yet gave me the strength to make it back to our loom for a more elaborate meal.

And elaborate it was, seven courses beginning with a fiery Burada soup, going on to fish and meat and other delicacies too numerous to mention. Angelina ate a bit then sipped at her wine while I finished most of the food in sight. Finally replete I entered the soiled dishes away and settled back with a sigh.

"I have been thinking," I said.

"You could have fooled me. I thought you were eating like a pig with both trotters in the trough."

"Just save the bucolic humor. A hard night's work deserves a good day's food. Cliaand, that's our problem. Or rather the gray men who have her war economy so firmly under control. I'll bet if we could get rid of them the original Cliaandians would not have this same burning interest in interstellar conquest."

"Simple enough. A program of planned assassination. There can't be too many of them, Kraj said as much. Polish them off. I'll be glad to take on the assignment."

"Oh no you won't. No wife of mine hires out as a contract gun. It is not that simple—physically or morally. The gray men can guard themselves well. And that the ends justify the means is a bankrupt statement. You saw what happened to Dr. Mutfak when he worked for a good end but used means that ran counter to his moral beliefs. You and I are of tougher fabric, my love, but we would still be affected if we went in for mass slaughter…" She went white and I was sorry I had said it. I took her hand.

"I didn't mean it that way. I wasn't talking about the past."

"I know, but it still stirred up some unwholesome memories. Let's forget assassination. What else can be done?"

"A number of things, I am sure, if we can only ask just the right questions. There must be a way to break apart the constantly expanding Cliaand empire."

Angelina touched the wine glass to her lips and a highly attractive concentration line appeared between her eyes.

"What about starting counter-revolutions or rebellions on all the conquered worlds?" she said. "If we kept the Cliaandians busy fighting on the presently conquered planets they couldn't very well go seeking for new territory."

"You're nibbling close to the idea there, but it's not quite right yet. We can't expect much from the resistance movements on these different worlds if the example of Burada is at all relevant. You heard what Taze said, the fighting is dying down because of the massive reaction by the Cliaand forces. If one of them is killed in a raid they slaughter twenty Buradans in return. These people, after generations of peace, are not mentally equipped to fight a ruthless guerrilla war. I even doubt if the Cliaandians would react so viciously if they weren't forced on by the gray men who organized and order everything. The soldiers just follow orders, and following orders has always been a Cliaand strength. We'll never stop these people by trying to incite minor revolts behind their backs. But you are right about causing them trouble on the various worlds. The entire Cliaandian economy and culture is set up on a continuing wartime basis. It is like some demented life form that must keep expanding or die. Cliaand itself can't possibly build or supply its fleets but must depend on the conquered worlds. These worlds are in the absolute control of the Cliaand so they take orders and turn out the goods and the invasions roll on and nothing can stop the advance."

"I wish the Cliaand invasion was that demented life form you talk about, some sort of ugly green growing thing. We could tear it up by the roots, break off the limbs—" She broke a hard roll in half to demonstrate what she meant, then nibbled at it. When she started to speak again I held up my hand.

"Stop," I ordered. "Say nothing. I think. I see something. It is almost there."

Then I paced the room, putting two and two together and getting four and adding four and getting eight and performing equally skilled problems of mathematics and logic. It was clear, all clear, and the pieces fell into place and I fell into my chair and grabbed up my drink.

"I am a genius," I said.

"I know. That's why I married you. Physically you are very unattractive."

"You will soon be apologizing for that remark, woman. For the moment we will drink to my Plan and to victory."

We clinked and sipped.

"What plan?" she asked.

"I cannot tell you yet. Aside from the fact that you scoffed, it is not detailed in all its ramifications and must be worked out. But the first step is clear and will begin at once or sooner. Do you think the gray men have made a public announcement of Kraj's kidnapping?"

"I doubt it. We've heard nothing on the command circuits we monitor. And I'm sure this is not the kind of news they would want the Cliaandian man-in-the-spaceship to know about."

"Just my thinking. Add to this the exaggerated aloofness and self-centered attitude that they have, even towards each other. I am going to gamble on the fact that there has been no widespread announcement about Kraj."

"How?"

"Get the makeup and face-lifting kit. I am going to get into the military base disguised as Kraj. I have some important things to do there."

She started to protest, but I raised my finger and she was silent. Just as I had been when she went to the Octagon. There was nothing she could say and she knew it.

Without a word she went for the disguise materials.