Part 10 (1/2)
”We know that much about it ourselves,” Rodnar broke in.
”So when you get it published, we'll buy a set. But about that yellow-skinned scholar. He's studying. He's also, we know d.a.m.n well, reporting to Laynch everything he learns. So, just to be on the safe side, I think we'd better.”
”Just a minute, Rod!” Starrlah snapped.
”I don't think so. Killing him would probably.”
”Huh? Are you getting squeamish.”
”No, I'm not. Listen. Killing that noisome Yanark was all right-and necessary. Spies always get killed if they get caught, that's an occupational hazard. Killing him didn't cause a ripple and won't. Laynch will know we did it, of course, but it won't pull any triggers-he must have been expecting it all along. But this Skeejan is an entirely different pan of sknarr. He's a scholar. Of course he's learning stuff for Laynch, but...
”He's a Garshan,” Rodnar said, flatly.
”That makes eaglemeat of him. That alone.”
”Of course, but I said listen?” she snapped.
”If he gets it now-no matter how-Laynch will know we did it. So he'll know we aren't sticking to our regular business, but branching out all over the place. From there it won't be much of a jumphardly a step, in fact-to the conclusion that we're coming out into his own star-cl.u.s.ter after him.”
”Um-m-m-m... Could be... and that wouldn't be good.”
”And besides, what could he possibly find out from those Big Domes that would do us any... Oh! Excuse that crack, Knu, please. I didn't mean... Knuaire laughed.
”Think nothing of it, Starr. I'll blame it on Thaskarr-that's one of his catchwords that really caught on. Starr's thought is sound, Rod, but both of you seem to be overlooking the point that any possible damage has already been done. Most of those Other-s.p.a.ce psiontists-and many of ours too, for that matter-are working screens-down most of the time. So Skeejan has had plenty of time to report anything Laynch is interested in.”
”Probably so, at that. For a check, what's your thought on what that would be.”
”As a long-term project, I'd say he wants all the data he can get on invading Other s.p.a.ce and conquering it. Short term, what he wants most is their rhenium technology-they do incredible things with it, especially in missiles-and of course their rhenium. None of their psiontists-with the possible exception of Adams, who can't be read-know anything about it, from a practical standpoint. Not a kinto's worth.”
”That's about the way I see it... so we hadn't better kill Skeejan, at that. Maybe somebody else will expose him or we can take care of him later Anything else, Knu.”
”Only one item of any importance. Inter-spatial transit. Did you know that it takes a perfectly-matched male-and-female pair to do it? That there's only one pair alive, as far as anyone knows, who can do it.”
”We certainly didn't... But wait-I remember-Cecily and Percival Train. What incredible power! They were tossing that s.h.i.+p around-dozens of times as big as anything Starr and I can move-like it was a bit of fluff. But I supposed the others could, too. There were no side bands that those two were the only ones who could do the crossover from one s.p.a.ce to the other.”
”There wouldn't be,” Starrlah said.
”They're above all that-they aren't the braggy type.”
”You can take it as a fact,” Knuaire said.
”Their psiontists know it and make no secret of it. So the only way Laynch can get across to Other s.p.a.ce is for that pair to operate his ferry for him. You've met them, I haven't. Would they cooperate, do you think.”
”If I'm any judge, they wouldn't.”
”He'll take them and try to force them to do it, then.”
”That I'll make it a point to watch,” Starriah said.
”They'll chew him to bits.”
”Are they that good?” Knuaire demanded.
”They're that good,” Rodnar said, slowly.
”Those eight, at least. Any one of them could kill two of me...
”But they wouldn't,” Starrlah put in practically.
”They're too... well, kind of squeamish. They wouldn't kill anybody unless they absolutely had to, not even that noisome Laynch.”
”That's my thought, too,” Rodnar agreed.
”But you can give a man plenty of punishment without killing him, and I think they'd do just that. However, except for those eight, there was n.o.body aboard that s.h.i.+p any better than we are-if as good.” Knuaire thought for a second, then said, ”Adams is the only one in the Conference who would grade above medium Six, no one else there even compares with you two. So their s.p.a.ce is probably safe from Laynch-unless he can take that couple by surprise. It might be a good idea to warn them... What do you think.”
”By all means,” Rodnar agreed.
”I'll take care of it, probably through Adams. Or-I'll be seeing Deston...”
”Tell him I'd like to talk with them before they leave.”
”I'll do that. They're weirdies, no question, but you have to admire 'em in some ways. One sure thing, their screens don't leak anything they want to keep inside.” The conversation went on for another hour or so, then Knuaire 'ported back to the Conference. Moments later Rodnar and Starrlah 'ported into his speedster and they took off. They knew where the star-cl.u.s.ter was-there was only one on any line just to the right of the Eagle-Claw Nebula-so they went there in one long subs.p.a.ce jump. Then they started to look. Compared to a galaxy, or even to a spiral arm, a cl.u.s.ter is small. Nevertheless, it fills a lot of s.p.a.ce and contains a lot of planets. Therefore it was a week before the psiontists' far-flung, ultra sensitive detector web encountered a pattern of human thought. They located the planet and flashed up to it. It was Garshan. Then the fine work began. In a way it was a repet.i.tion of their Orkstmen experience. Delicately, insidiously, they probed and studied, extremely careful not to touch, however fleetingly, any mind able to feel that touch. They examined minds and cards and filed doc.u.ments. After hours, when offices were closed, they studied mile after mile of tape. They avoided observatories and other places where star-charts could have been found, they did not want to find any touchy Garshan psiontists-yet. Such sketchy examinations as these, of only one part of one planet, would not except by pure luck reveal all the planets in the Garshan system. Each one, however, named and placed one or two or a few others, and these in turn supplied still others. They found the planet Newgarsh, the Empire's capital world, but they did not stop there then. They kept on going until the circle was complete, until they knew surely that there were fifteen planets, and only fifteen planets, in the Garshan Empire. Then they went back to Newgarsh. Now the really dangerous work started. Far above electronic detector range, they set their speedster in a carefully computed orbit around Newgarsh, fixed directly above the capital city, Garsh; and Rodnar and Starrlah lay motionless on their beds, with every iota of their minds concentrated on their task. They had to get the answers to three questions. Where was the Garshan fleet? What was its maximum strength? What was Laynch's plan? They started at Status Fifteen and worked up, using the utmost care, with a delicacy of touch perfected during their session on old Garsh. They got just as Yanark had done, but much faster-bits and pieces and fragments of information. They probed and probed and probed, and finally they got fairly complete answers to the first and second questions, and got a few hints as to the third. But no one knew Laynch's plan except himself. The only one else who knew much of anything about it was Supreme Admiral Songondo Grollo. Unlike Supreme Admiral Axolgan of the Justiciate, Grollo was a supersensitive psiontist, and as such he would react to the slightest touch of thought. He did. With the first hint of reaction Rodnar and Starrlah appeared for an instant beside the admiral, but there was no eye present to see. Nor psionic alarm, for he had no time to send out a thought. They yanked him out into the little speedster. That speedster vanished, and, in subs.p.a.ce, went so fast and so far that there was no possibility of anyone tracing any element of its flight. Well beyond the six-sigma limit of probability of detection or interference, Rodnar and Starrlah went to work on the mind of Admiral Grollo. They put on the pressure and held it, they bored and they probed and they dug and they stabbed. It is questionable whether any human mind could have withstood that brutally savage two-p.r.o.nged attack, certainly Grollo's mind could not do so. And, unfortunately for the Garshan cause, the admiral did not commit suicide at first contact.
He was expendable just as expendable as Yanark or as any other Garshan except Emperor Laynch-and he knew it. That is, he knew it in an empirical, didactic sort of way, but, deep down, he did not really believe it. He was too valuable a man to spare. Also, suicide was the coward's way, the easy way out. He was no coward, but a fighter, a strong and able fighter, the culmination of a thousand-years-long line of the strongest and ablest fighters of the Garshan race. Wherefore he set his blocks and fought back with all the fierce power and all the stubborn pride of his long heritage. He leaked, and every sc.r.a.p of information so released was seized and stored away. First, the inquisitors completed their knowledge of Grollo's own department, the Garshan Navy, its full roster of s.h.i.+ps, where they had been built, where the bases were and how they were concealed, the present location of the fleet, what sealed orders were now in the admiral's hands, and so on-no details of which are of any importance here. Then as to Laynch's plans, and here the first information obtained-it had to do with what the Emperor was going to do to Rodnar and Starrlah-was definite, detailed, and entirely new. Grollo was apparently the only real confidant Laynch had, except possibly for his complement, and the Emperor's thoughts about those two white psiontists, even at second hand, frizzled to a crisp the very ether through which they pa.s.sed. Those thoughts, while interesting, were not really important, so the pair forced the admiral to think of something else, of what Laynch intended to do about the Justiciate and about Other s.p.a.ce. This field was not so productive, as even ultra stubborn Grollo began to realize that he was giving away top-secret stuff, information that was never, under any conditions whatever, to be revealed. Wherefore Garsh's Supreme Admiral released his hard-held blocks and died instantly. He had, however, resisted a little too long, had leaked a little too much. The two, after 'porting the corpse out into a sunward course in s.p.a.ce, stared at each other for seconds without sending a thought or saying a word. Before either spoke, Rodnar flashed a thought to Knuaire at the Interspatial Conference.
”Hope I'm not interrupting anything too important.” On Knu's instant rea.s.surance he con- tinued, ”Can you join us-now?” He gave a swift summary of what had happened and what they had learned, then followed with the coordinates. That quickly they were a trio.
”Oh, I wish he'd fought a second longer!” Starrlah voiced her frustration.
”But he can't-he can't possibly do anything like... even if he could get across to Other s.p.a.ce... they can't have such missiles as that-a hundred and seventyfive thousand gravities? Why, that's-it's preposterous.”
”Nevertheless it's true,” Knuaire said, quietly.
”It's common knowledge in the Conference. That rhenium alloy, you know.” Rodnar did some fast mental arithmetic, then whistled through his teeth.
”I see. For a rough estimate-at a range of five hundred miles or so-one second's travel-they'd be logging about a thousand miles per second-and with Chaytor intake-they couldn't be stopped, Knu, by psionics or anything else.”
”I know that. So does Laynch. That's why he has got to have their rhenium. Or find a lot of it here, which he probably won't.”
”He'd rather have theirs, anyway,” Rodnar said.
”Oh, I wish we could have found out how he was going about it!” Starrlah exclaimed.
”He would have to force those Trains to do it for him and how could he? Can you extrapolate that far; Knu, with the data we got.”
”With a pretty high decrement of probability, yes.” The master theoretician thought for minutes, then went on, ”There are several methods possible for him to use... the most probable of which, I believe, would be to concentrate everything they have of both physical and psionic power.”
”But that wouldn't get them anywhere,” Rodnar objected.