Part 13 (1/2)

”No sir. This base is being abandoned, and-”

”This amounts to kidnapping!”

”Not at all, sir. You are perfectly free. No one is trying to prevent your leaving.”

”Yes, I see. Quite so. What do you expect me to do, walk? Flap my arms and fly?”

”I regret, sir, that figures of speech as employed by humans are not always clear to me. Perhaps if you rephrased your argument.”

Of course there was no point in Gianopolous trying to send out a message appealing for help-the only means of transmitting it in any meaningful way would be to put it on the evacuation courier, and in the natural order of things, days must pa.s.s before it was delivered anywhere.

In Harry's presence he grated: ”There is not a single human being in the Galaxy who would inconvenience himself to save my life.”

Harry considered it. ”I don't suppose I would. But I've known people who make a habit of that kind of thing.”

A minute later, word came from the tyc.o.o.n, still caught up in eleventh-hour preparations, that he wanted Gianopolous to arrange some means by which the small s.h.i.+p could carry more hardware and perhaps more people on its all-important mission.

It had to be able to carry, with a reasonable degree of security in transit, an attack squad of perhaps half a dozen breathing humans in armored combat suits, their weapons, and an approximately equal number of their toughest, quickest robots. Two medirobots had also been installed, in accordance with the idea that prisoners were going to be found, and might be in need of repairs when rescued.

Cheng had talked to Harry since Harry's return to base, had somehow found time to read Harry's hastily written report, and then had taken a brief personal look at theSecret Weapon .

Harry noted with a feeling of vague satisfaction that everyone had now adopted his name for the s.h.i.+p.

Well, almost everyone-he had yet to hear it pa.s.s the lips of the inventor.

While the inventor loaded his faithful Perdix with tools and supplies, and led his robot off to help him make final changes aboard theSecret Weapon , Cheng and the Lady Masaharu, in consultation with their combat veterans, were making final decisions on the a.s.sault plan. The scheme emerging from this process called for the initial approach to the berserker base to be made only by Gianopolous's s.h.i.+p. TheSecret Weapon would not try to avoid detection, but approach openly in the character of a visiting berserker, relying on cleverly faked signals to prevent identification as an enemy.

The remainder of the attacking force consisted of Winston Cheng's two armed yachts. The original plan had called for a.s.sembling a somewhat larger squadron, but it had been decided that to add a few more s.h.i.+ps would unacceptably increase the chance of the force being detected as it approached the berserker base; and there was no possibility of being able to sc.r.a.pe together a task force on the s.p.a.ce Force level.

Cheng was already spending almost all his time aboard thes.h.i.+p of Dreams , accompanied by Satranji, who occupied the pilot's seat. Neither of the yachts were going to carry boarding machines or an attack squad of humans. The larger of the two,s.h.i.+p of Dreams , the one Satranji would be driving, was in effect the flags.h.i.+p of Winston Cheng's fleet.

The plan as it had been finalized called for both yachts to follow theSecret Weapon sunward. When the fake berserker reached a certain calculated distance from its target, perhaps a hundred kilometers, they would remain in reserve, trying their best to keep out of range of detection by the defensive system that the berserker base was sure to have. They would depend on a secret signal from theSecret Weapon to enable them to maintain the desired distance.

At the very moment when the a.s.sault s.h.i.+p landed on the berserker base, or more likely crash-landed, disgorging armored humans and fighting hardware, both yachts would dart into action, closing with the enemy at the best speed they could manage. Depending on the needs of the moment, they would either support the attack with the heaviest weapons they had, create a diversion if that seemed to be called for, or, in the most favorable scenario imaginable, stand by to lend cover and support in theSecret Weapon 's fighting retreat with rescued prisoners aboard.

Professor Gianopolous reported back, saying he had done what little he could in the time available, and lacking certain specialized equipment of his own workshop, to increase his s.h.i.+p's carrying capacity. He pointed out the difference, how he had created enough new s.p.a.ce to allow for carrying all the desired machines plus a little extra ammo. Actually his inspired tinkering was quite impressive.

But the inventor was unhappy, despite the monumental letter of credit in his pocket. Reverting to pessimism, he complained to Harry that things were working out much as he, Gianopolous had suspected they would. Winston Cheng and his lieutenants were much more interested in his peculiar s.h.i.+p, ready-made as if for their purpose, than they were in his scientific achievements or his theories. In fact, now that they had his s.h.i.+p with all its systems working, the raiders, or most of them, had no use for his ideas or advice. On the other hand, they were, without admitting the fact, making it impossible for him to leave the base.

Harry, beginning to feel curiously detached, was willing to offer advice. ”Cheng doesn't want word of what he's planning to get out. As soon as we're launched on our mission you'll be able to go wherever you like.”

He had touched on a sore point. ”Go how? There won't be any s.h.i.+ps available.”

Harry blinked. ”Of course there will. There's a courier due in here at any moment now-they must have told you about it. The plan is to evacuate all support people, immediately after the final combat launch.

You can certainly go with them. There'll be no one left here, nothing but a couple of caretaker robots.”

”Of course they told me about that s.h.i.+p. But suppose I don't want to be just part of the mob. And where will it take me?”

”I don't know. Somewhere safe. You'll have a fortune in your pocket, and the full possibilities of Galactic travel open to you. What's there to be upset about?”

”That's all very fine. But there's got to be some way that I can leavenow . On my own terms.”

”I don't see why there's got to be. It looks like there isn't.”

Gianopolous wasn't listening. ”He can't just keep me here. Are you getting out of here, Harry? Take me with you.”

”You're forgetting why I'm here, pal. Losing your grip on reality. When Cheng heads sunward in his yacht, some of us are going with him, in your s.h.i.+p.”

Gianopolous firmly declined the opportunity-which Lady Laura offered knowing it would be refused-to play some active role in what he called a crazily suicidal raid. He declined to be aboard any of the s.h.i.+ps taking part, and expressed a wish to leave the wanderworld for more peaceful regions, as soon as possible.

He did not look forward to the time when the actual raid began. As a nonpartic.i.p.ant he would find himself unwillingly stuck on 207GST, perhaps the only human amid a small horde of servitor machines.

He would be waiting for the machines to receive some word of the outcome of the raid, and pa.s.s it on to him-most likely would be the ominous absence of any word, signifying total failure. However grim the message, the robots would announce it to him in the same unfailingly cheerful voices that they used for every utterance.

Gianopolous continued his complaints about not being allowed to leave the wanderworld. But Cheng didn't want him running around loose just yet, not after the inventor had learned something of the details of the coming raid. There was still a risk that the s.p.a.ce Force would learn of the project and attempt to stop it.

Harry, on returning to his cabin, felt that Becky and Ethan were coming closer all the time. Drifting off for a last nap before the balloon went up, he thought that he could almost feel them near.

In his last dozing sleep before the scheduled attack, Harry had one more dream, a nightmare in which little Ethan kept calling to him, but still remained hidden, never letting himself be found . . .

He awoke from a dream in which Becky and Ethan both held up their hands to him, wrists tightly bound in plastic ligatures- Harry was just getting out of bed, with a new look of mad hope in his eye, when the siren signaled an alert- He had just time to get his armor on when the attack came bursting in- * * *

The team was going through a rather intense last planning session, with all key members of the a.s.sault team gathered inside the common room of their base on 207GST.

Mister Winston Cheng was on hand, moving from one terse conference to another, and certainly would be in the control room of his yacht when the attack was launched.

The peculiar s.h.i.+p they had newly purchased from Gianopolous was at the dock right where Harry had parked it, its camouflage tarp being stowed away inside, along with new medirobots and a carefully chosen a.s.sortment of other gear.

Team members and technicians were coming and going from theSecret Weapon , getting things in shape, with less than an hour now to go before the scheduled launching of the attack.

Harry was conducting a last refresher course on the use and limitations of body armor in the wardroom, with Doc and other people in attendance, while the coordinator had gone aboard the inventor's s.h.i.+p with the inventor, getting last-minute details straightened out.

Some kind of watch had been set, by Cheng's own security people and machines, to keep the nervous Gianopolous from just getting back into his clever invention and driving it away-it was no longer his property. But in this case the Lady Masaharu had brought him aboard.

The flags.h.i.+p yacht, with Winston Cheng aboard and Satranji in the pilot's seat, was hanging in nearby s.p.a.ce, no more than a hundred meters from the dock, while the second yacht was keeping station about a kilometer away.

At last all the necessary components of the planned a.s.sault seemed to have come together, acceptably if not exactly smoothly. Now Harry could see little or no reason for any further delay in launching the attack. But it was not up to him to give the order to pull the trigger.

All the members of the actual a.s.sault team, as they gathered in the common room, were wearing their new suits of heavy combat armor. Even though all members of this crew were experienced in combat, some were used to different types of gear. Few or none were intimately familiar with the equipment provided by Winston Cheng, and most were having occasional difficulties dealing with the unfamiliar feel and ma.s.s.