Part 31 (1/2)

The Connie blurted, ”So! I send boats to help you and you fire on them!”

So that was to be the Consops story! Rip thought quickly, then held up his hand in a shocked gesture that would have done credit to the Frenchman.

”Oh, no, Commander! You misunderstand. We had no way of communicating by radio, so I did the only thing we could do. I fired rockets as a warning.

We didn't want your boats to get caught in a nuclear explosion.” He shrugged. ”It was very unlucky for us that the sun threw my gunner's aim off and he hit your boats, quite by accident.”

MacFife coughed to cover up a chuckle. Galliene hid a smile by stroking his mustache.

The Connie commander growled, ”And I suppose it was accident that you took my men prisoner?”

”Prisoner?” Rip looked bewildered. ”We took no prisoners. When your boats arrived, the men asked if they might not join us. They claimed refuge, which we had to give them under interplanetary law.”

”I will take them back,” the Connie stated.

”You will not,” Galliene replied with equal positiveness. ”The law is very clear, my friend. Your men may return willingly, but you cannot force them. When we reach Terra we will give them a choice. Those who wish to return to the Consolidation will be given transportation to the nearest border.”

The Connie commander motioned to a heavily armed officer. ”Take their instruments. Check them quickly.” He put his lips together in a straight line and stared at the Federation men. They stared back with equal coldness. Around them, Connie s.p.a.cemen with wooden, expressionless faces waited without moving.

The minutes ticked by. Rip wondered again what kind of plan MacFife and Galliene had. When would the excitement start?

Additional minutes pa.s.sed and the officer returned with the cases.

Wordlessly he handed them to Galliene and MacFife. The Connie commander snapped, ”There. Now get out of my s.h.i.+p.”

Galliene bowed. ”You have been a most courteous and gracious host,” he said. ”Your conversation has been stimulating, inspiring, and informative.

Our profound thanks.”

He shook hands with Rip and MacFife, bowed to the Connie commander again, and went out the way he had come. There wasn't anything to say after the Frenchman's sarcastic farewell speech. MacFife, Rip, and the officer with the instruments went back through the valves into their own s.h.i.+p.

Once inside, MacFife called, ”Come with me. Hurry.” He led the way through pa.s.sages and up ladders to the very top of the s.h.i.+p, to the hatch where the astrogators took their star sights. The protective s.h.i.+eld of nuc.l.i.te had been rolled back and they could see into s.p.a.ce through the clear vision port.

Rip and MacFife hurried to the side where they were connected to the Connie. Rip looked down along the length of the s.h.i.+p. The valve connection was in the middle of each s.h.i.+p, at the point of greatest diameter. From that point each s.h.i.+p grew more slender.

MacFife pointed to the Connie's nose. Projecting from it like great horns were the s.h.i.+p's steering tubes. Unlike the Federation cruiser which blasted steam through internal tubes that did not project, the Connie used chemical fuel.

”Watch,” MacFife said.

There were similar tubes on the Connie's stern, Rip knew. He wondered what they had to do with the plan.

MacFife walked to a wall communicator. ”Follow instructions.”

He turned to Rip. ”Remember, lad. The _Sagittarius_ is on the other side of the Connie, about to do the same thing.”

Rip waited in silence, wondering.

Then the voice horn called, ”Valve closed!”

A second voice yelled, ”Blast!”

A tremor jarred its way through the entire s.h.i.+p, making the deck throb under Rip's feet. He saw that the s.h.i.+p's nose had swung away from the Connie. What in s.p.a.ce-