Part 20 (2/2)
Hanardy allowed himself to turn around. He saw that on the big instrument panel a viewplate had lighted, showing a scene of s.p.a.ce.
It was a familiar part of the starry heavens looking out toward interstellar s.p.a.ce, away from the sun.
Near the center of the scene a light was blinking.
Even as Hanardy watched, the viewplate picture s.h.i.+fted slightly, centering exactly on the blinking light.
Behind Hanardy, there was a gasp from the girl, ”Dad,” she whispered, ”is it-?”
ProfessorUngarnhad walked toward the viewplate, past Hanardy and so into the latter's range of vision.
The old man nodded with an air of utter weariness.
”Yes, I'm afraid it is, my dear. The other eight Dreeghs have arrived.”
He glanced hopelessly at Hanardy. ”My daughter had some kind of idea of using you against Sween-Madro before they got here.”
Hanardy said blankly, ”Usingme ?”
The meaningof thatbrought him with ajar out of his own body exhaustion.
The old man was shrugging. ”Whatever the merit of her plan, of course, now it's too late.”
He finished dully, ”Now we'll learn our fate.”
The tableau of dejection held for seconds only. A sound, a high-pitched human voice, broke through the silence and the dark emotion that filled the room.
”How far away are they?” It was the girl's voice, from behind Hanardy, strained but recognizable.
”Exactly how long till they get here?”
Hanardy's mind stirred from its thrall as ProfessorUngarnsaid dully, ”Less than two hours would be my guess. Notice-”
He thereupon started a technical comment to her about the speed with which the viewplate had centered on the s.h.i.+p, implying-he said-the enormous velocity of its approach.
His explanation was never completed. In the middle of it, the girl uttered a screech and then, to Hanardy's amaze-ment, she raced past him and flung herself, arms flailing, at the old man.
She kept striking at his face then, yelling the most blood-curdling curses in a furious soprano voice. A long moment went by before Hanardy was able to make out what she was saying: ”-You stupid old man! What do you mean, only two hours? Two hours is all we need,d.a.m.n you!”
At that point Hanardy emerged from his surprise. Awk-wardly, he jumped over her, grabbed her, pulled her away. ”For Pete's sake!” he cried.
The girl tried to turn on him, her struggling body writhing in his grip. But he held her, uttering apologies the while. Finally, she realized that his strength was too much for her. She ceased her efforts, and with an attempt at control said grimly, ”Steve, this crazy old fool who is my father has twice now accepted defeat-when it wasn't necessary!”
She broke off, addressed the old man. Her voice went up a whole octave as she said, ”Show Steve what you showed me only a few minutes before I went to get him.”
ProfessorUngarn waswhite and haggard. ”I'm sorry, my dear,” he mumbled. He nodded to Hanardy.
”I'm sure you can let her go now.”
Hanardy released the girl. She stood straightening her clothes, but her eyes still flashed. ”Show him, d.a.m.n it,” she snapped, ”and make it quick.”
ProfessorUngarntook Hanardy's arm and drew him toward the control board, speaking in apologetic tones. ”I failed my daughter. But the truth is I'm over three hundred years old. That's just about it for a Klugg; so I keep for-getting how younger people might feel.”
Pat-he went on-was a product of a late-life marriage. Her mother had flatly refused to go along on his a.s.signment as a galactic watcher. In bringing the girl with him, he had hoped to s.h.i.+eld her from the early shock of discovering that she was a member of a servant race. But isolation had not, in fact, saved her feelings. And now, their very remoteness from the safeguarding military strength of a.s.sociated lower-level races had brought a horrifying threat of death from which he had decided there was no escape.
”So it didn't even occur to me to tell her-”
”Show him,” the girl's voice came shrilly from the rear, ”what you didn't bother to tell me.”
ProfessorUngarnmade a few control adjustments, and there appeared on the viewplate first a picture of a room and then of a bed in one corner with an almost naked man lying on it.
The bed came into full focus, filled the viewplate. Hanardy drew in his breath with a sharp hiss of disbelief. It was the Dreegh.
The man who lay there, seemingly unconscious, bore almost no resemblance to the tall, vital being who had come aboard in the guise of Pat'sfiance. The body on the bed was un-naturally thin; the rib cage showed. His face, where it had been full-cheeked, was sunken and hollow.
”They need other people's blood and lifeenergy to survive, and they need it almost continuously,” the old man whis-pered. ”That's what I wanted to show you, Steve.” Her tone grew scathing, as she continued, ”My father didn't let me see that until a few minutes ago. Imagine! Here we are under sentence of death, and on the day, almost on the hour that the other Dreeghs are due to arrive, he finally reveals it-something he had watched developing for days.”
The old man shut off the scene on the viewplate and sighed.
”I'm afraid it never occurred to me that a Klugg could challenge a Dreegh. Anyway, I imagine Sween-Madro originally arrived here expecting to use us as a source of blood and life force. And then when you showed all that Great Galactic programming, he changed his mind and decided to wait until the coming of his colleagues. So there he is-at our mercy, Pat thinks.”
Hanardy had spent his years of a.s.sociation with this couple deferring to them. So he waited now, patiently, for the scientist to tell him what to do about the opportunity.
The old man said, with a sigh, ”Pat thinks if we make a bold attack at this stage, we can kill him.”
Hanardy was instantly skeptical, but he had never been able to influence this father and daughter in any way, and he was about to follow the old, withdrawing pattern, when he remembered again that there were no weapons around to make any kind of attack whatsoever.
He pointed out that fact and was still talking when he felt something cold touch his hand.
Startled, he glanced down and back-and saw that the girl was pus.h.i.+ng a metal bar about one and a half feet long, at his palm. Involuntarily, still not thinking, he closed his fingers over it. As soon as he had it firmly in one chunky hand, Hanardy recognized by its feel that it was a special aluminum alloy, hard, light, and tough.
The girl spoke. ”And just in case that dumb look on your face means what I think it does,” she said, ”here are your orders: take that bar, go where the Dreegh is and beat him to death with it.”
Hanardy turned slowly, not quite sure that it was he who was being addressed. ”Me?” he said. And then, after a long pause, ”Hey!”
”And you'd better get started,” said the girl, ”there isn't much time.”
”Hey!” repeated Hanardy, blankly.
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