Part 35 (1/2)
”Open that closet and search it thoroughly,” Hawarden snapped.
Several of the Corpsmen jumped forward, and again the toogan struggled, but Hanlon was holding it firmly by force, as well as tightening his mental control, which the powerful compulsion Bohr had implanted in the bird's mind had momentarily broken through.
In minutes everything was out of the closet, and while some of the officers were examining every bit of the contents, others, with powerful, portable glo-lights, were going over the walls and shelves.
There was a three-foot ladder-stool in the closet, and one of them started to mount it to search the ceiling.
But the moment the man touched the stool the bird's mind gave Hanlon a clear picture of a procedure it had witnessed many times. He gasped, and called out to the Corpsmen, ”That stool! Never mind looking at the closet itself or that other stuff. Bring the stool out here!”
The surprised lieutenant jumped down, and carried the little ladder over to where Hanlon was standing with the bird.
”Unscrew the left rear leg--about the middle, I believe.”
The officer up-ended the stool, and after a moment's work found out how to unscrew the leg--it had a reverse thread. In a few more instants he had it off, and they all gasped.
The leg was hollow, and in it were a number of tightly-rolled sheets of very thin, tough paper.
The Corpsman started to unroll the papers, but at a quick signal from Hanlon, Admiral Hawarden stepped forward.
”I'll take those, Lieutenant. I think, for the time being, at least, we need search no further. Since most of the papers we have found here are purely planetary matters, they're not for us to meddle with, even though we have permission to do so. Back to Base--if these are not what we want we can start again later.”
As the men filed out, Hawarden activated the visiphone, and got the minister's office at the imperial palace. ”Find anything we want there, Captain?” he asked the man who answered.
”Not yet, sir.”
”Report back to Base, then. I think we've got it here.”
He disconnected and handed the papers to Hanlon who had, in the meantime, returned the toogan to its cage, and now sat down. He saw the young man's face fall at first glance at those dozens of rolled sheets.
”What's wrong?”
”It's in code,” came the explanation reply as Hanlon swiftly examined each page. ”In code--or in Bohr's native language, whatever that may be.”
”Ouch! If it's that, we're sunk. Better get Trowbridge on it anyway, hadn't we?”
”Yes,” slowly, ”that's all we can do now.” After some moments, ”Guess I'll keep out of sight for a while. I'll go back to the hotel. You can get in touch with me there. I'm still sort of shaky from that beating I got, and need a lot of rest.”
”Want the doctor to look you over again?”
”No, I don't think I need that now. He said to have the dressings renewed in two days, so I'll see him tomorrow.”
”Right, Newton. If anything comes up, I'll get in touch.”
”Oh, be sure and let me know about that freighter. You've had no word yet, I suppose.”
”Only that it's still there, being loaded. The scouts are watching it closely, ready to blast at first sign of departure.”
”Warn them that we want _all_ of the crew and pa.s.sengers.”
The two started out, but suddenly Admiral Hawarden stopped Hanlon with his hand on the young man's arm. ”About that business with the toogan.
I'm not prying if you don't want to talk, but shouldn't I warn all the men who saw it, to keep quiet?”