Part 30 (1/2)

”_Bzzz._ You're conquered. You came at me with your knife, and I shot you with my stun-pistol. It's all over. Right?”

Thal gaped at him. Then he beamed. He expanded. He gloated. He frisked.

He practically wagged a nonexistent tail in his exuberance. He'd been shown an out when he could see none.

”Send in the others one by one,” said Hoddan. ”I'll take care of them.

But Thal--why did the Lady Fani want me killed?”

Thal had no idea, but he did not care. Hoddan did care. He was bewildered and inclined to be indignant. A n.o.ble friends.h.i.+p like theirs-- A spearman, came in and saluted. Hoddan went through a symbolic duel, which was plainly the way the thing would have happened in reality. Others came in and went through the same process. Two of them did not quite grasp that it was a ritual, and he had to shoot them in the knife arm. Then he hunted in the s.h.i.+p's supplies for ointment for the blisters that would appear from stun-pistol bolts at such short range. As he bandaged the places, he again tried to find out why the Lady Fani had tried to get him carved up by the large-bladed knives all Darthian gentlemen wore. n.o.body could enlighten him.

But the atmosphere improved remarkably. Since each theoretic fight had taken place in private, n.o.body was obliged to admit a compromise with etiquette. Hoddan's followers ceased to brood. They developed huge appet.i.tes. Those who had been aground on Krim told zestfully of the monstrous hangovers they'd acquired there. It appeared that Hoddan was revered for the size of the benders he enabled his followers to hang on.

But there remained the fact that the Lady Fani had tried to get him ma.s.sacred. He puzzled over it. The little yacht sped through s.p.a.ce toward Walden. He tried to think how he'd offended Fani. He could think of nothing. He set to work on a new electronic setup which would make still another modification of the Lawlor s.p.a.ce-drive possible. In the others, groups of electronic components were cut out and others subst.i.tuted in rather tricky fas.h.i.+on from the control board. This was trickiest of all. It required the home-made vacuum tube to burn steadily when in use. But it was a very simple idea. Lawlor drive and landing grid force fields were formed by not dissimilar generators, and ball lightning force fields were in the same general family of phenomena.

Suppose one made the field generator that had to be on a s.h.i.+p if it was to drive at all, capable of all those allied, a.s.sociated, similar force fields? If a s.h.i.+p could make the fields that landing grids did, it should be useful to pirates.

Hoddan's present errand was neither pure nor simple piracy, but piracy it would be. The more he considered the obligation he'd taken on himself when he helped the emigrant-fleet, the more he doubted that he could lift it without long struggle. He was preparing to carry on that struggle for a long time. He'd more or less resigned himself to the postponement of his personal desires. Nedda, for example. He wasn't quite sure-- Perhaps, after all--

But time pa.s.sed, and he finished his electronic job. He came out of overdrive and made his observations and corrected his course. Finally, there came a moment when the fiery ball which was Walden's sun shone brightly in the vision plates. It writhed and spun in the vast silence of emptiness.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Hoddan drove to a point still above the five-diameter limit of Walden.

He interestedly switched on the control which made his drive-unit manufacture landing-grid-type force fields. He groped for Walden, and felt the peculiar rigidity of the s.h.i.+p when the field took hold somewhere underground. He made an adjustment, and felt the s.h.i.+p respond.

Instead of pulling a s.h.i.+p to ground, in the setup he'd made, the new fields pulled the ground toward the s.h.i.+p. When he reversed the adjustment, instead of pus.h.i.+ng the s.h.i.+p away to empty s.p.a.ce, the new field pushed the planet.

There was no practical difference, of course. The effect was simply that the s.p.a.ce yacht now carried its own landing grid. It could descend anywhere and ascend from anywhere without using rockets. Moreover, it could hover without using power.

Hoddan was pleased. He took the yacht down to a bare four-hundred-mile alt.i.tude. He stopped it there. It was highly satisfactory. He made quite certain that everything worked as it should. Then he made a call on the s.p.a.ce communicator.

”Calling ground,” said Hoddan. ”Calling ground. Pirate s.h.i.+p calling ground!”

He waited for an answer. Now he'd find out the result of very much effort and planning. He was apprehensive, of course. There was much responsibility on his shoulders. There was the liner he'd captured and looted and given to the emigrants. There were his followers on the yacht, now enthusiastically sharpening their two-foot knife blades in expectation of loot. He owed these people something. For an instant he thought of the Lady Fani and wondered how he could make reparation to her for whatever had hurt her feelings so she'd try to get his throat cut.

A whining, bitterly unhappy voice came to him.

”_Pirate s.h.i.+p!_” said the voice plaintively, ”_we received the fleet's warning. Please state where you intend to descend, and we will take measures to prevent disorder. Repeat, please state where you intend to descend and we will take measures to prevent disorder--_”

Hoddan drew a sharp breath of relief. He named a spot--a high-income residential small city some forty miles from the planetary capital. He set his controls for a very gradual descent. He went out to where his followers made grisly zinging noises where they honed their knives.

”We'll land,” said Hoddan sternly, ”in about three-quarters of an hour.

You will go ash.o.r.e and loot in parties of not less than three! Thal, you will be s.h.i.+p guard and receive the plunder and make sure that n.o.body from Walden gets on board. You will not waste time committing atrocities on the population!”

He went back to the control room. He turned to general-communication bands and listened to the broadcasts down below.

”_Special Emergency Bulletin!_” boomed a voice. ”_Pirates are landing in the city of Ensfield, forty miles from Walden City. The population is instructed to evacuate immediately, leaving all action to the police.

Repeat! The population will evacuate Ensfield, leaving all action to the police. Take nothing with you. Take nothing with you. Leave at once._”

Hoddan nodded approvingly. The voice boomed again: