The Fleet of the Springers Page 8

  Eberhardt groaned in dismay. "Have they already noticed us?" he asked.

  Tiff shrugged his shoulders. "I wish I knew. They probably..."

  He interrupted himself, whirled around and stared at the robot.

  "Of course!" he shouted. "Ninety percent of the robot is made of metal. His mass is more than one ton. They'd have to be blind not to see him on the microwave screen."

  This changed the whole aspect of the situation. Tiff immediately prohibited all talking. Only gestures were allowed for necessary communications and speaking was permitted only if unavoidable in the most urgent case.

  If the unknown intruders had not landed by accident in the north but because they had detected RB-013, they probably were busy right now trying to find them on the high frequency band so that they could listen in on their conversation.

  Although the helmet transceivers operated with very little energy for their short range communications, a sensitive receiver could easily pick them up over a distance of many miles.

  Tiff was thinking very hard. He desperately needed a plan.

  He remembered that the lentil-shaped auxiliary ships were two-seaters. If the strangers had located RB-013 they'd sooner or later appear on the scene to recapture their old prisoners.

  • • •

  "They're not moving." Paradicsom. was puzzled. He stared at the light spot.

  "I wonder if it's really them," Mernok reflected.

  Paradicsom. grunted. "Who else could it be? The point lies exactly on the extension of their track."

  Mernok laughed. "And which one of them is made of metal?"

  Paradicsom. furrowed his brow. "Perhaps they're wearing some kind of a metallic suit."

  Paradicsom mulled it over for awhile and then decided. "We'll fly there," he said firmly.

  • • •

  RB-013 began to stir. "Movement!" he rasped. It was all he said. The word was innocuous and anybody could hear it.

  Tiff got up and went over to the robot. RB-013 leaned forward and drew a system of co-ordinates in the snow. He wrote down the present distance and the angle of the vector. Tiff saw that the auxiliary ship was nearing their position and would soon arrive.

  And he had not yet conceived a plan of action!

  He told RB-013 to describe the topography of the terrain in the vicinity. Now he cared little whether his words could be overheard, because they gave nothing away. RB-013 gave a quick description with a few words and explicit sketches in the snow.

  Toward the south the ground slowly rose to a hill about 150 feet high at a distance of two miles. The hill sloped gently east, north and west. The ridge was rather irregular and it led RB-013 to believe that the southern side of the hill was a steep precipice. This gave Tiff an idea. There was only one flaw in it: It was based on the assumption that the auxiliary ship's occupants would not rush to the attack.

  In this case his idea had a good chance of success.

  • • •

  Paradicsom took over as pilot. Without admitting it, he considered Mernok as too indecisive to let him steer the machine under exacting circumstances. Instead Mernok watched the observation and rangefinder screens.

  Paradicsom covered the greatest part of the way separating him from the fugitives in a few minutes. He would have continued at the same fast clip if he hadn't received a call from Captain Orlgans to exercise extreme caution.

  Paradicsom assumed that the captain had ample reasons for his warnings. Although he was an intrepid adventurer, he never acted recklessly. He heeded Orlgans' call, veered away from his course and stood by again at a distance of 3000 feet from the metallic object.

  He questioned how he would ever be able to nab the fugitives by this method but he reckoned that sooner or later he or Mernok would be struck by a useful inspiration.

  "Faster!" Tiff spurred them on. "We don't have a second to lose."

  The hole in the snow was getting deeper. The two girls also lent a hand but RB-013 did the biggest portion of the work.

  • • •

  Fifteen minutes passed while Paradicsom. vainly tried to plot his strategy. He asked Mernok gruffly if he had come up with something but failed to get an answer to his question.

  "Hey, Mernok!" Paradicsom yelled.

  Mernok spun around. His face reflected great surprise. He panted and it took him awhile before could stammer: "The spot's disappeared!"

  Paradicsom. laughed. "The spot? Let me see!"

  Mernok leaned back to let Paradicsom. view the sensor screen. It was dark green and empty except for the tiny shimmering points of light which were ever present.

  Paradicsom gaped in amazement. "Where...?"

  Mernok said dejectedly: "It flickered a few times and then it was gone."

  "Simply gone? It didn't move over the edge?"

  "No. It vanished on the spot."

  Paradicsom tried to find an explanation. The metal could somehow have disappeared beneath the surface. Microwaves penetrated ordinary ground only to a depth of a few inches. If there was a cavity near the place where the metal had been the image could disappear the moment the metal was placed inside the cavity. That had to be it!

  Mernok returned to watching his instrument screens and left it to Paradicsom to rack his brains. Paradicsom didn't share his thoughts with Mernok but he wondered whether it would be advisable to take the initiative now. As long as these people were holed up, their freedom of movement was restricted and it should be that much easier to subdue them.

  A loud scream from Mernok startled him. "There! Look at it!"

  Simultaneously the alarm whistles started a discordant concert. Now Paradicsom, too, was gripped by panic. He stared over Mernok's shoulder at the screen until the full impact of what he saw hit him.

  A brilliant bright-green point traced a line along the upper edge of the screen. The line was blurred where it began on the left and it ended in a fiery burst of light at the right.

  "Thermo-ray discharge!" Mernok groaned.

  Paradicsom understood the symptoms. The discharge of a thermo-beamer against solid matter created a dense zone of ionized atoms and molecules which reflected the microwave beam even better than metal. Paradicsom's cool reasoning prevailed again. "Locate the distance!" he barked.

  "Two and a half miles," Mernok read aloud.

  Paradicsom was baffled. A few moments before the fugitives had appeared to be only 3000 feet away and a thermo-beamer had been discharged at more than four times the distance.

  What did they shoot at? Were they really the escaped prisoners he was looking for or did this wasteland hide other groups of people?

  The more Paradicsom. realized that it was impossible to explain the events from his pilot chair, the more upset he became. When his anger had reached the limit he bellowed: "Let's investigate!"

  The auxiliary ship took off with a jolt and shot up high into the atmosphere. The line on the sensor screen faded as the discharge ended but a few moments later Mernok observed another shot in the same direction with the same violent eruption.

  He notified Paradicsom but Paradicsom couldn't have been deterred by a thousand thermo-guns shooting simultaneously.

  The ship covered the two and a half miles in a few seconds. On the screen Merrick spotted a small hill with three gentle slopes and a vertical wall. "Target area!" he added.

  Paradicsom sent his machine higher up and essayed a few circles around the hill.

  "Tell me what you can see with the sensor," he nagged Mernok.

  Mernok kept looking at the screen. "Nothing except the hill," he replied laconically.

  Paradicsom went lower. His altitude was only 600 feet above the ground. "And now?"

  "Same as before."

  Paradicsom began to swear. He was still swearing when Mernok gasped in horror and pointed to the sensor screen where a path of light showed another discharge.

  The target of the impulse was almost vertically below the ship.

  Paradicsom pushed his steering control forward. The s
hip fell like a rock. Near the ground he straightened out again and flew a few hundred feet toward the target area of the impulse weapon.

  He set the ship down roughly. Mernok didn't move.

  "Nothing yet?" Paradicsom inquired.

  Mernok raised both bands in negation.

  He saw the uneven terrain distinctly on the screen. The sensor had a range of one and a half miles. But the irregularities were the same that one would expect to see in any uncultivated area and there was nothing in sight that looked suspicious.

  The optical screen showed much less. The wind was blowing with renewed vigor and stirred up the snow in big swirls. The visibility reached only 60 or 70 feet.

  Paradicsom did not break his silence. After a while he released his safety harness and got up. "I'm going out!" he said tersely. "Wait here!"

  He left the little ship through the airlock. He knew that the air outside contained a high degree of oxygen and was non-toxic and harmless except for the side effects caused by too high an oxygen content. Nevertheless he chose to exit through the airlock in order to avoid the influx of too much cold.

  Mernok saw him stalk through the snow and heard his voice in the loudspeaker: "I'll be back right away."

  A moment later he disappeared in the drifting snow.

  • • •

  "Look out!" Tiff whispered. "Somebody's coming."

  Both girls were hiding with him. They crawled deeper into their hideaways in the snow to keep from being detected. Tiff stayed at the entrance of his dugout and carefully scrutinized the grey shadow looming in the veil of snow.

  He didn't risk turning up his transmitter enough to notify Hifield and Eberhardt that someone was approaching. If by accident the helmet radio of the Springer operated on the same frequency as his own, all his preparations would have been in vain.

  Paradicsom looked for tracks. He had inspected from a safe distance the place where the thermo-rays had hit three times in a row. However there was nothing to see but a smooth sheet of ice formed by the snow melted by the hellish temperature. Paradicsom failed to understand why anyone would shoot at this spot. However he didn't spend his time guessing about it, instead searched for tracks.

  He poked through the snow across the northern incline of the hill and eventually came upon three objects which had remarkably regular outlines. Curious, he went closer. He noticed that someone had gone to the trouble of pressing the snow into building blocks and had formed a long flat tube from them, open at one end.

  Paradicsom knelt down and peered into the opening of the tube. Although it was dark Paradicsom perceived that something was inside. He became frightened and jumped back. Although he was well armed, his first thought was to run away as quickly as possible. Before he could turn around he was struck by such a mighty blow to the collar joint of his spacesuit that he was instantly knocked unconscious.

  Mernok heard his last scream. He didn't hear it very loudly though because Paradicsom had neglected to adjust his transmitter to the distance. Nevertheless Mernok knew something was wrong. "Hello, Paradicsom!" he called into the mike.

  No answer.

  Mernok began to worry. In his slow manner he tried to think of the reasons which could prevent Paradicsom from answering unless he was injured. He couldn't rid himself of a nagging anxiety. He called Paradicsom a few more times without result. When he was ready to give up, about to make a report to Orlgans, he received an answer. "What do you want?"

  Mernok sighed in relief. The voice sounded muffled, as if the transmitter were too weak, but this didn't disturb Mernok.

  "Why didn't I hear from you?" Mernok asked.

  "I slipped and fell down the hill," Paradicsom seemed to say. "I'm coming back now."

  "Did you find anything?" Mernok was curious.

  "No!" the voice replied.

  Time dragged on. Paradicsom didn't seem inclined to carry on a conversation and Mernok ceased asking questions. Eventually a light-grey figure appeared on the hill, first on the sensor screen and then visible with the unaided eye.

  Mernok opened the outer hatch of the airlock. The figure entered and Mernok waited until the cold air had been pumped out and replaced by the warm inside. Then he opened the inner hatch.

  The first thing that emerged was the barrel of an impulse weapon, which elicited some surprise from Mernok. Then the man holding the weapon came into view and Mernok saw that his spacesuit—although it had the same light-grey color worn by the Springers—was of entirely different cut.

  "What...?"

  "Nuptyt!" the stranger said in Intercosmo, "Just take it easy! I'm taking over this ship! You won't get hurt if you behave!" Mernok raised no objections—he had no other choice.

  • • •

  The rest was simple.

  They dug RB-013 out of the hole again where they had concealed him in order to prevent his detection by sensors. It was hard work because the channel in the hole through which RB-013 had blasted the thermo-beams with his weapon arm had been thawed out by the shots and frozen again into solid ice. However, the robot was helping energetically.

  The operation of the conquered auxiliary ship presented no trouble. It was built according to Arkonide principles and all signs were printed in Intercosmo, Paradicsom and Mernok were set free. A timelock was put on their helmet transmitters so that they could contact the Orla XI in 10 hours. Paradicsom had fully recovered from the deft treatment meted out to him.

  After Tiff had knocked Paradicsom unconscious he had shoved him into Mildred's snow cave and crawled in behind him. Paradicsom's helmet was opened while Mildred shielded him in her arms from the murderous cold so that Tiff could determine the frequency of the transmitter on which Mernok and Paradicsom were tuned in. Furthermore, Tiff relieved him of the little thermo-gun with which he had threatened Mernok half an hour later.

  It was clear to Tiff that they could no longer remain in the vicinity after the events which had taken place there. As soon as the two Springers resumed communications with their ship, they would request assistance.

  Tiff put both girls in the little craft and flew southward. After 60 miles he passed over a mountainous area and after a short search found a cave which appeared to be suitable as shelter for an extended stay. He led the girls inside and left them to pick up Hifield and Eberhardt. Finally he made a third trip to transfer the robot to their new refuge.

  The robot went immediately to work to make the cave airtight. With his built-in thermo-weapon he melted the rock and divided the cave into separate compartments. The compartment walls had narrow openings for access. During the next few hours RB-013 made plates from molten rock and fitted them into the apertures with such accuracy that the closure was for all practical purposes airtight. He finished his work before darkness fell.

  If a slight flow of air should penetrate, it would have to wend its way around the cover plates of several chambers. Besides, Tiff had learned from Paradicsom that the atmosphere on this planet was not poisonous, only miserably cold.

  They concealed the captured auxiliary ship in a nearby mountain gap and secured it in such a way that it could not be detected by microwave rangefinders.

  • • •

  When Orlgans eventually learned from Paradicsom and Mernok what fate had befallen them, he suspended for the time being all hostilities against the fugitives and instead summoned the Orlgans clan for help.

  • • •

  The day after the emergency landing the hypercom of the captured auxiliary ship received and recorded a short message. When Tiff left the cave at noon to check the ship, his heart skipped a beat when he read, repeated 20 times:

  COMMANDER TO TIFFLOR. DON'T GIVE UP! HELP IS ON THE WAY!

  The jubilant cadet returned with the news and when he shared it with his companions their reaction was loud and long. When their expressions of joy and relief had at last subsided, Tiff said to them, in the longest uninterrupted speech he had had time to deliver in quite awhile:

  "I'm sure our peace will be only tem
porary but at least we can take advantage of it for the time being and relax. We'll stay here as long as possible. We can be comfortable as long as our provisions hold out and nobody attacks us. I imagine Orlgans will renew his search for us in a few days. I don't know what's going on in the Chiefs mind but it's no doubt important.

  "So make yourselves at home as best you can and let's hope we'll be lucky and have a few restful days. We don't know what game's being played here but were an essential part of it and must cooperate accordingly. The next move is up to the Chief and the Springers. As soon as it's obvious what it is, we'll do what's required of us, right?"

  RB-013 stood erect against the wall. His thermo-beamer was switched on low and radiated a pleasant warmth. The only unpleasant note was Hifield.

  In a civilization which had largely outgrown smoking, Hifield was a rare throwback. To the disgust of the others, he now lit a cigarette. Its acrid smoke was as offensive to their nostrils as his acrimonious words to their ears: "I don't know what Rhodan sees in you, Tifflor, that he has the rest of us chasing around like snowmen in this super Siberia because of you!"

  Fool, thought the young cadet, but he didn't blow his cool. Instead he stood in introspection, wondering how much longer he would be able to conceal from his four companions that as far as Rhodan's future plans went he knew no more about them than they.