Solar Assassins Page 4

  "To your right, Mr. Mullon," said the officer.

  Mullon turned to his right He stopped when a door was opened before him.

  "In there!"

  He went inside. And suddenly he felt as though a shock of electricity had struck him. This room was fairly large but contained only a few pieces of furniture. The main furnishing was a large worktable equipped with a long, color coded switch-panel. Behind the table sat the man at whom Mullon had aimed his thermo-gun a few hours before.

  Perry Rhodan.

  Rhodan regarded him unemotionally. "Have a seat, Mr. Mullon," he said. He nodded to the sergeant of the guard. "Thanks very much, sergeant."

  Mullon heard the sound of the door closing behind him.

  "Your assassination attempt has misfired, Mr. Mullon," Rhodan informed him. "The legal action against you and your accomplices is scheduled tomorrow afternoon before the Solar Supreme Court. The procedure will be brief because the facts of the case are as well known as the history and development of the two revolutionary organizations who took part in the assassination plan. What kind of punishment do you anticipate?"

  Mullon had intended to keep his mouth shut since he had felt there was nothing he had to say to this man. But something urged him to answer. "Forced labor," he replied peevishly, without looking up.

  "No," answered Rhodan. "I don't think it will come to that."

  Mullon looked up in surprise but Rhodan did not appear disposed to develop this theme any further.

  "All your preparations for this assault," Rhodan continued, "were known to us prior to the incident at the Academy. One of our special agents covered you so well that you weren't able to take a single step that was not observed."

  Mullon nodded, demoralized. "I know—it was Freddy," he said tonelessly.

  "That's right," confirmed Rhodan. "Ms. Nicholson. Personally I'm sorry that certain private sentiments were developed—emotions which I believe were shared by Ms. Nicholson. Thus the contribution she made is to be valued the more highly."

  Mullon finally lost his self-control. He sprang up and took a few steps toward the table, shouting: "Value what contribution more highly! To betray a group of men who are concerned enough about the well being of Mankind to go underground and try to unmask the tyrants? Is that what you call a contribution?"

  Rhodan listened calmly. When Mullon paused for a moment, he said, "Of all the things that the True Democrats and the Nature Philosophers believe in, there is one thing above all I can't understand: That is, why do you regard me as being a tyrant?" He watched Mullon carefully as he continued. "Haven't you chosen your own representatives? Are not the laws established through a popularly elected board?"

  "Yes!" Mullon shouted tempestuously. "A board of trained dogs who'll jump through your hoop anytime you whistle!"

  At this Rhodan smiled and shook his head. "Don't you believe that, Mr. Mullon... I think that you, your people and the Nature Philosophers haven't concerned yourselves enough with the actual facts. You have drawn a distorted picture of the existing state of affairs." Meanwhile Rhodan had gotten up and come out from behind his table. "From an objective standpoint, Mr. Mullon, your ideas and those of the Nature Philosophers can only be regarded as sheer fantasies. But they're the kind of fantasies that the Earth can't allow, particularly in its present situation. And that is why the danger that is inherent in these two revolutionary organizations must be eradicated once and for all."

  "You won't find that so easy!" Mullon blurted out scornfully.

  "Oh, do you think so? You forget that for several decades now a psychological method of examining criminals has been a legal weapon of law enforcement. At this moment there are about 20,000 True Democrats and 5000 Nature Philosophers waiting to be sentenced. What we couldn't learn directly from you we learned from your followers and what they didn't know was furnished to us by others, all of which we added to our original information. I doubt if at this moment there is a single True Democrat or Nature Philosopher who is still at liberty."

  Mullon had begun to stare in wide-eyed amazement. "You... you brainwashed me...?" he gasped.

  "Yes, we submitted you to a brainwashing. You may rest assured that the procedure does not involve any psychic or health hazards... the only result being that all True Democrat and Nature Philosopher brainstorms are at an end. You may go, Mr. Mullon."

  Mullon turned to the door. The police sergeant who had brought him appeared and took him in custody again. Mullon was just about into the corridor when he heard Rhodan's voice behind him:

  "Don't ever forget one thing, Mullon: the Earth is a tiny world on the edge of a mighty galaxy. More than half the galaxy is ruled by the powerful Arkonide Empire and its allies, the Springers. We have managed to conceal ourselves from them for more than 50 years because we weren't strong enough to defend ourselves against their lust for power.

  "Lately they have picked up our trail again. It will not be long before they will have discovered us and this time they won't let us get out of their sight. What's involved here, Mr. Mullon, is freedom or slavery for all of humanity. Do you believe that under these circumstances we can still afford to tolerate such activities as you and the Nature Philosophers were involved in?"

  • • •

  The trial was a unique sensation.

  The transgressions, which the defendants were accused of, were registered in the positronicon's information banks. Judgments were generated here through the process of comparing the uncontested points of the prosecution with the record of the laws governing the corresponding crimes. 25,000 judgments were issued within a single afternoon.

  The decisions of the computer central were incontestable.

  The biggest surprise was that 16,000 of the 20,000 True Democrats and 1,000 of the 5,000 Nature Philosophers were set free without any penalty being imposed, owing to the 'inconsequential nature' of their involvement. On the basis of the data outputs from the positronicon the court concluded that the persons who escaped sentencing were nothing more than 'fellow travelers' and once they were separated from their leaders they would thenceforth constitute no danger whatsoever.

  Thus the group of those to receive sentences had been reduced to only 8,000. To the careful observer it became clear that of the two subversive organizations apparently the Nature Philosophers had been the most active because only 20% of the Nature Philosophers had been considered to be innocuous bystanders whereas 75% of the True Democrats had been absolved of criminal activity.

  The sentence against the 8,000 responsible transgressors was read by the superior judge of the court in a very uncustomary way. First, he reviewed reforms that had been made in the penal codes since all Earthly nations had become united, pointing out that these changes had become necessary in view of a changing environment and the expansion of the sphere of human influence out into space, and he concluded:

  "Penal code reforms are subject to a gradual development as the laws must adapt themselves slowly to the overall complex of environmental exigencies. This development is far from being completed. However, only a few days ago a further step forward was made by the Solar Council when it passed a new bill of law concerning punishment of insurrectionists, members of subversive secret societies and anti-social activists in general..."

  "Therefore, in the name of Mankind I hereby sentence the accused as follows:"

  "You are to be deported from the Earth, you are to be deprived of your Earthly citizenship and you are henceforth forbidden to return either to the Earth or to any planet belonging to the Solar Empire—for so long as you may live"

  There followed a case summary but spectator excitement was too high—nobody was interested in the details of the judgment. Nevertheless, a supplementary observation concerning the sentence served to take the wraps off the entire 'package':

  Earth's spacefleet had placed a giant transporter at the court's disposal, to be used as a deportation vessel. The ship was large enough to provide a very comfortable passage for the whole group of 8000 c
ondemned persons. The effective crew of the ship consisted of 150 men, who were officers and crewmen of the space fleet.

  The ship's destination was the star Rigel in the constellation of Orion. It was known to Earth's astronautical science that Rigel 3, the third planet of a total of 28 worlds of that system, was similar to the Earth and was suitable for colonization. The technical provisions being carried by the transporter had been selected to insure that the deported people would be able to survive without risk. Moreover, commensurate with the makeup of the two subversive organizations, approximately half the colonists would be women.

  The sentence was finalized—the first judgment in human history to provide for deportation to another world.

  The world had had its fill of sensationalism...

  5/ HOLLANDER'S HOAX

  "Are you ready, Mullon?"

  During the few days of his imprisonment he had gotten used to hearing the guards drop the 'Mister' from his name, since they considered it to be superfluous. For the last time he closed the lock on the small suitcase they had given him to keep his few belongings in. He nodded to the waiting guard.

  "Then come along!"

  The way led through bright but windowless corridors, through an electronic security door and then down an antigrav elevator shaft to the street. From other exits emerged more guards with more of the prisoners, all of whom Mullon recognized as members of the True Democrat organization. They did not greet each other.

  Out on the street was a string of waiting personnel buses. Each had a capacity for 50 prisoners and one guard. The deportation process was in full swing.

  The trip out to the spaceport only lasted a few minutes. The prisoners craned their necks to have a look as the 3000-foot sphere of the giant ship loomed up, the space vessel that was to take them to their distant destination.

  The name of the ship was: ADVENTUROUS.

  A wide escalator ramp reached from the ground to a giant lock in the lower half of the ship. The prisoners disappeared in batches inside.

  Mullon heard someone addressing him: "This group to the right! Take the antigrav to E-deck! There you will be given further instructions."

  Mullon obeyed like a clod.

  Why in the devil, he thought, did Freddy have to occur to him at this moment? Why was it that he felt a twinge of torment when he saw the doorway to Earth close behind him forever?

  During the five days that he had been imprisoned since the proclamation of the mass sentence, Freddy had sought to visit him on five separate occasions. Each time he had refused to leave the cell and say one word to her.

  Had this been the right thing to do?

  "Get with it, man!" someone admonished. "Over there!"

  Mullon turned in the indicated direction. Trailing at the end of his contingent of prisoners, he jogged along a wide, brightly-lit corridor. The group was gradually broken up until finally Mullon found himself with only five people, all of whom were True Democrats.

  A man in uniform read off names and when the person called answered he announced a number.

  "Mullon?"

  "Here!"

  "2137—over there!"

  Cabin number 2137 was the last one next to a passage intersection. The door was closed but Mullon had been instructed how to make it operate. He placed himself facing the door frame until the automatic control compared his appearance with a registered likeness of him and then the door rolled to one side.

  Beyond was a small room that had been furnished with a minimum of facilities. There was a folding bed, a washstand in the corner, a table, two chairs and a small clothes chest. Everything was illuminated by a single light tube that reached from floor to ceiling in one corner. Someone had turned it on before Mullon arrived.

  That someone sat on one of the two chairs and looked at Mullon uncertainly, nervously and with a small, faint smile.

  Freddy!

  Mullon stood stock-still, paralyzed with astonishment.

  Freddy finally got up and came a few steps toward him. "It's all very simple," she said but with such blatant frankness that it was easy to see she was playing her last hand. "I helped get you into this mess so I'm ready to see it through with you. I'm staying here on board and going with you to Rigel 3. I can't go back any more. Nobody can leave this ship now. The only question is, do you want to keep me with you? If not, I'll have to find other quarters."

  It was some time before Mullon got hold of himself sufficiently to be able to utter a word. And what he finally said didn't sound particularly logical or even well considered:

  "You crazy, lovable blockhead...!"

  • • •

  For some mysterious reason, no further formalities were needed to authorize Freddy's remaining on board the Adventurous. It appeared that she had obtained permission from very high sources, which emphasized the seriousness of her intention.

  After a day and a half of activity, bringing the exiles on board, the Adventurous took off.

  Since Freddy's appearance on the scene, a transformation developed in Mullon. He suddenly realized that his responsibility to the True Democrats had not been relieved by the mass sentence and judgment. Admittedly the True Democrats as such had ceased to exist; but here were 4000 people who still looked to him as their last court of appeal.

  Mullon knew Hollander and his ambitious nature. He knew that Hollander would make an attempt to bring the whole band of 8000 exiles under his control. Unless Mullon concerned himself with the destiny of the True Democrats they would all become involuntary victims of Hollander.

  Apparently a preservation of the exiles' 2-party system was in keeping with the intent of the judges and those who were policing the execution of the sentence. For when Mullon put in a request to use the main mess hall as a meeting room the permission was willingly granted.

  He also invited the Nature Philosophers to the meeting but Hollander sent a reply to the effect that his people were still too busy getting settled. The pretext was so transparent that everyone could easily see that the Nature Philosophers had no intention of surrendering their position as a distinct and separate party.

  Mullon spoke of this before his assembled people, notwithstanding the possible presence of Nature Philosopher spies in the audience. He exhorted them to vigilance and depicted Hollander as being a man who might be suspected of disregarding the imperative needs of the moment, which were a joint unity of purpose and an abandonment of all petty differences.

  Mullon proposed that a committee should be chosen to work out a draft of a constitution and this idea was received with approval. He also urged organization of some kind of police force that would not only keep an eye on the Nature Philosophers during the flight but also serve after the landing for the same purpose, in addition to providing security for the first exile encampment. This suggestion was also accepted.

  Finally Mullon searched among the audience for a registrar of births, deaths and marriages. He found him and didn't conceal his personal reasons for doing so. Before the entire assembly, he and Freddy were united in matrimony.

  A curious development as an aftermath of this was that the True Democrats immediately accepted Freddy as Mullon's wife in spite of knowing what role she had played back on Earth. What she had done, and what destiny she had now chosen in order to atone for her betrayal of Mullon, went through the grapevine and became known to everybody on board. Mullon did not have to use the weight of authority to gain acceptance for her.

  • • •

  When Mullon and Freddy returned to their cabin, a man was waiting there whom Mullon had never seen before. He stood in front of the door with an envelope in his hand. "Are you Mr. Mullon?" he asked.

  Mullon nodded. "Yes, and you?"

  "That's beside the point. I've been sent by Mr. Hollander and I'm to give you this envelope." So saying, he wordlessly departed.

  Lost in thought and busied with opening the envelope, Mullon followed Freddy into the cabin. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and began to read. Freddy could s
ee his expression change in the process. First he appeared to be confused, then he looked angry and finally his face twisted into a spiteful grin. When Mullon laid the letter down, he roared with laughter. "Hollander wants us to extradite you!"

  "Me?" said Freddy, astonished.

  "Read it for yourself!"

  Freddy took the letter and read it, noting that Hollander had picked a new name for his organization, which was apparently meant to include all 8000 exiles on board:

  The Council of the Free Settlers Anti-Socialist Party has issued the following decision: Ms. Freddy Nicholson, secret agent in the service of the dictator Rhodan, is to appear before a colonial court and to be tried for treason against the cause of the True Democrats and the Social Philosophers.

  "The Council of the Free Settlers Anti-Socialist Party demands that those now responsible for offering her asylum, due to reasons which seem inexplicable, proceed at once to surrender her into the custody of the Council.

  Signed: Hollander

  Chairman of the Council"

  "What are you going to do?" asked Freddy anxiously.

  Mullon laughed. "I'll just tell Hollander that he and his anti-socialist Council can all go take a frying leap in the sun—and if I know my people they'll back me up."

  Hastily Mullon wrote an answering letter. He did not express himself as hard and uncompromisingly as he had originally intended but instead asked Hollander if he didn't think it sufficient that Freddy had also permitted herself to be deported from the Earth along with those who had been sentenced, in order to atone for what she had done. He also asked him if he was going to let this issue destroy the all-important unity that was needed between both groups of exiles.

  The letter went out by messenger only a half-hour after reception of Hollander's missive. Mullon's man was told to wait for Hollander's answer.

  The answer was returned promptly:

  The Council of the Free Settlers Anti-Socialist Party has learned that Horace O. Mullon, former leader of the True Democrats, has entered into matrimony with secret agent Nicholson, who is sought for treason by the Council. The Council maintains that Horace O. Mullon has thus estranged himself from the principles of the Nature Philosophers and the True Democrats. He is to be considered an enemy to the common cause. The Council therefore demands that he also be remanded into its custody for the purpose of standing trial before the colonial court...