by Mari Wolf
hardly. She hadn't understood.
And neither had Riuku.
* * * * *
Riuku waited until she'd fallen soundly asleep that night before hetried contacting Nagor. He'd learned nothing useful. He'd picked upnothing in her mind except more thoughts of Pete, and gee, maybesomeday they'd get married, if he only had guts enough to tell Susanwhere to get off....
But she was asleep at last. Riuku was free enough of her thoughts tobreak contact, partially of course, since if he broke it completely hewouldn't be able to get back through the Shielding. It was hard enoughto reach out through it. He sent a painful probing feeler out intospace, to the spot where Nagor and the others waited for his report.
"Nagor...."
"Riuku? Is that you?"
"Yes. I've got a contact. A girl. But I haven't learned anything yetthat can help us."
"Louder, Riuku. I can hardly hear you...."
Alice Hendricks stirred in her sleep. The dream images slipped throughher subconscious, almost waking her, beating against Riuku.
Pete, baby, you shouldn't be like that....
Riuku cursed the bisexual species in their own language.
"Riuku!" Nagor's call was harsh, urgent. "You've got to find out. Wehaven't much time. We lost three more ships today, and there wasn't asign of danger. No Earthman nearby, no force fields, nothing. You'vegot to find out why." Those ships just disappeared.
Riuku forced his way up through the erotic dreams of Alice Hendricks."I know a little," he said. "They damp their thought waves somehow,and keep us from spotting the Corcoran field."
"Corcoran field? What's that?"
"I don't know." Alice's thoughts washed over him, pulling him backinto complete integration, away from Nagor, into a medley of heroicPetes with gleaming eyes and clutching hands and good little Alicespushing them away--for the moment.
"But surely you can find out through the girl," Nagor insisted fromfar away, almost out of phase altogether.
"No, Pete!" Alice Hendricks said aloud.
"Riuku, you're the only one of us with any possible sort of contact.You've got to find out, if we're to stay here at all."
"Well," Alice Hendricks thought, "maybe...."
Riuku cursed her again, in the lingua franca of a dozen systems.Nagor's voice faded. Riuku switched back to English.
* * * * *
Saturday. Into the plant at 3:58. Jean's diamond again.... _Wish itwould choke her; she's got a horsey enough face for it to. Where's oldLiverlips? Don't see him around. Might as well go to the restroom fora while...._
That's it, Riuku thought. Get her over past the machine shop, over bythat Restricted Area. There must be something there we can go on....
"Hello, Tommy," Alice Hendricks said. "How's the love life?"
"It could be better if someone I know would, uh, cooperate...."
She looked past him, toward the corner where the big panels were withall the dials and the meters and the chart that was almost like thekind they drew pictures of earthquakes on. What was it for, anyway?And why couldn't anyone go over to it except those longhairs? Highvoltage her foot....
"What're you looking at, Alice?" Tommy said.
"Oh, that." She pointed. "Wonder what it's for? It doesn't look likemuch of anything, really."
"I wouldn't know. I've got something better to look at."
"Oh, _you_!"
Compared to Pete, he didn't have anything, not anything at all.
... _Pete. Gee, he must have got home awful late last night. Wonderwhat Susan said to him. Why does he keep taking her lip, anyway?_
Riuku waited. He prodded. He understood the Restricted Area as sheunderstood it--which was not at all. He found out some things aboutthe 731 plugs--that a lot of them were real crummy ones the fool dayshift girls had set up wrong, and besides she'd rather solder on the717's any day. He got her talking about the weapon again, and he foundout what the other girls thought about it.
Nothing.
Except where else could you get twelve-fifty an hour soldering?
She was stretched out on the couch in the restroom lobby taking ashort nap--on company time, old Liverlips being tied up with the newgirls down at the other end of the line--when Riuku finally managed tocall Nagor again.
"Have you found out anything, Riuku?"
"Not yet."
Silence. Then: "We've lost another ship. Maybe you'd better turn herloose and come on back. It looks as if we'll have to run for it, afterall."
Defeat. The long, interstellar search for another race, a race lesstechnologically advanced than this one, and all because of a stupidEarth female.
"Not yet, Nagor," he said. "Her boy friend knows. I'll find out. I'llmake her listen to him."
"Well," Nagor said doubtfully. "All right. But hurry. We haven't muchtime at all."
"I'll hurry," Riuku promised. "I'll be back with you tonight."
That night after work Pete Ganley was waiting outside the gate again.Alice spotted his copter right away, even though he had the lightsturned way down.
"Gee, Pete, I didn't think...."
"Get in. Quick."
"What's the matter?" She climbed in beside him. He didn't answer untilthe copter had lifted itself into the air, away from the factorylanding lots and the bright overhead lights and the home-boundworkers.
"It's Susan, who else," he said grimly. "She was really sounding offtoday. She kept saying she had a lot of evidence and I'd better becareful. And, well, I sure didn't want you turning up at the bartonight of all nights."
He didn't sound like Pete.
"Why?" Alice said. "Are you afraid she'll divorce you?"
"Oh, Alice, you're as bad as--look, baby, don't you see? It would beawful for you. All the publicity, the things she'd call you, maybeeven in the papers...."
He was staring straight ahead, his hands locked about the controls. Hewas sort of--well, distant. Not her Petey any more. Someone else'sPete. Susan's Pete....
"I think we should be more careful," he said.
Riuku twisted his way through her thoughts, tried to push themdown.... _Does he love me, he's got to love me, sure he does, he justdoesn't want me to get hurt...._
And far away, almost completely out of phase, Nagor's call. "Riuku,another ship's gone. You'd better come back. Bring what you've learnedso far and we can withdraw from the system and maybe piece ittogether...."
"In a little while. Just a little while." Stop thinking about Susan,you biological schizo. Change the subject. You'll never get anythingout of that man by having hysterics....
"I suppose," Alice cried bitterly, "you've been leading me on all thetime. You don't love me. You'd rather have _her_!"
"That's not so. Hell, baby...."
_He's angry. He's not even going to kiss me. I'm just cutting my ownthroat when I act like that...._
"Okay, Pete. I'm sorry. I know it's tough on you. Let's have a drink,okay? Still got some in the glove compartment?"
"Huh? Oh, sure."
She poured two drinks, neat, and he swallowed his with one impatientgulp. She poured him another.
* * * * *
Riuku prodded. The drink made his job easier. Alice's thoughts calmed,swirled away from Susan and what am I going to do and why didn't Ipick up with some single guy, anyway? A single guy, like Tommy maybe.Tommy and his spot welder, over there by the Restricted Area. TheRestricted Area....
"Pete."
"Yeah, baby?"
"How come they let so much voltage loose in the plant, so we can'teven go over in the Restricted Area?"
"Whatever made you think of that?" He laughed suddenly. He turned toher, still laughing. He was the old Pete again, she thought, with hisface happy and his mouth quirked up at the corner. "Voltage loose ...oh, baby, baby. Don't you know what that is?"
"No. What?"
"That's the control panel for one of the weapons, silly. It's only aduplicate, actually--a monitor sta
tion. But it's tuned to thefrequencies of all the ships in this sector and--"
She listened. She wanted to listen. She had to want to listen, now.
"Nagor, I'm getting it," Riuku called. "I'll bring it all back withme. Just a minute and I'll have it."
"How does it work, honey?" Alice Hendricks said.
"You really want to know? Okay. Now the Corcoran field is
