Gita sputtered an attempted denial. “Divine Princess, there is absolutely no truth to such allegations.”
The Princess folded her arms and looked sternly at the Eegee priestess. “There needs to be some quid quo pro. There has not been. Until there is, I believe that excessive deference to UL resolutions would be inappropriate.” She turned to the Fleet Chaplain. “Wouldn’t you agree, Kalia?”
Kalia took a deep breath, then spoke. “Oh, most definitely, Divine Princess.” The Chaplain exchanged a quick glance with the Admiral, then said, “but we need some legal basis for noncompliance.”
“Legal basis!” Gita cried. “You mean legal pretext.You have no legal basis, and you knowit.”
The Admiral ignored her.“Little Star,” he said. “It seems that considerations of policy may have opened up some possibilities for you in this matter. Can you think of any legal reason—not religious, legal—that would justify non-compliance on our part in the extradition of your study specimen?”
Aurora thought hard. She could only think of one thing. It was not an argument she wanted to use, but she had no choice. No other line of reasoning would hold up againstGita’s viciously-sharp legal mind. She uttered the fateful words. “Yes, Ican.”
“Well,” the Admiral said. “What is it?”
“Hamilton volunteered for damage control duty on a Navy ship engaged in combat. That makes him a WGIN spacer volunteer, and accords him the protection of associate citizenship while he is on this vessel.”
Kalia looked askance.“A savage, as a spacer volunteer?”
The Admiral nodded. “There are a few precedents for it, although all from more advanced tribes.”
“But surely,” Kalia said, “it was the Minervan who actually volun- teered, bringing this creature in tow.”
“No.” Aurora’s voice was firm. “I suggested that we report for duty, but he came willingly. He is a true spacer volunteer.”
“You realize what you are saying, Little Star?” the Admiral asked gently. “If he is awarded WGE associate citizen status, that means you can’t hold him either.”
“Yes, I know,” Aurora said sadly. She turned to the Ranger. “Hamilton, you are free.”
Chapter 23
Hamilton sat at the transport window, looking out at the grand sight of the Weegee Imperial Fleet in orbit around Saturn. Set in the silken black background of space, the blinking lights of thousands of ships shimmered like gems, as smaller, lighter craft busily zipped from one battlewagon to another. Below them the most beautiful planet in the solar system shone in all its glory, displaying its multicolored atmospheric bands and incredible rings.
The soldier felt like a million bucks. He was free! Free! And not just free, but on his way home! It had all happened so fast. One moment he was a lab specimen about to be transferred to the slaughterhouse, and the next he was a free man, not a thing but a man, with civil rights guaranteed by the greatest power in the galaxy. He had been even offered the position of spacer deckhand aboard the flagship, but had opted instead for a seat on the next transport back to Earth.
Aurora sat across the transport aisle, looking out the opposite window. He was grateful to her for having saved him, yet the fact that she was so morose about giving him his freedom made him angry at her as well. After all they had been through together, was his happiness so unimportant to her that she could not rejoice even a little bit for his good fortune? Had she really only freed him to prevent the Eegees from committing a sacrilege against her religion? Did he himself not matter to her even one little bit?
This morning she had asked him, in all seriousness, if he would come back with her to New Minervapolis voluntarily. She needed to complete her study, she said, and guaranteed that he would be treated with respect and allowed to leave any time. He had laughed in her face. No way, Aurrie old kid, thanks for the offer,but I’m out of here. If you’re ever in Peekskill, look me up. I’ll buy you a beer.
In reply, she had thrown a plate of raffa rinds at him and called him an ungrateful savage. Now she wasn’t talking to him. But so what? He was on his way home.
He looked at the disconsolate Aurora and smiled inwardly. It was incredible that she thought he would be so thankful to her that once free, he would give himself back to her as a present. She had, after all, sacrificed nothing by freeing him. It was either that or lose him to the Eegees. Some of the other Weegee deckhands even told him that the scuttlebutt was that even her line about needing to prevent a sacrilege was just a cover story. The real reason shedidn’t want to hand him over was because the Eegees, with their superior mind examination techniques, would easily supercede her work, and perhaps might even show that it was seriously flawed. She was just an egotistical scientist, trying to protect her little footnote in the galactic encyclopedia by keeping other investigators off her turf.
A song started singing in his mind.
“So long. it’s been good to know you.
So long, it’s been good to know you.
So long, it’s been good to know you,
But it’s been a long time since I’ve been home,
And I’ve got to be drifting along.”
Apparently picking up his thoughts, Aurora turned and gave him a
dirty look, then turned back to stare out her window again. There was a bustle up front as the final passenger boarded the transport and the door was dogged shut. Then the transport separated from its mooring dock and Saturn and the fleet rapidly receded in the distance.
The new arrival moved down the aisle looking for a seat. Reaching Hamilton’s row she stopped and looked down at him. It was Urania, the beautiful Norc scientific attaché.
“Why Sergeant Hamilton, fancy meeting you here. Would you mind if I join you?”
She didn’t wait for an answer, but simply sat down in the seat next to him.
“So, you’re on your way back to Earth, too,” he commented, stating the obvious.
“Yes,” she smiled. “Isn’t it wonderful. After-action battle reconnaissance has shown no damage whatsoever to the Inca artifacts. Our mission has been a complete success. We kept the Weegees to the letter of their esthetic commitments, and in consequence a priceless galactic cultural treasure house has been preserved.I’mgoing to Earth to takepossession.”
“Take possession?”
“Yes,” she beamed. “We are relocating the Inca artifacts to the Anthropo Institute where they can be safely preserved and visited and enjoyed by civilized people from around the galaxy.”
Hamilton just shook his head.
Apparently Urania was a much weaker telepath than Aurora, for while she registered his negativity, she failed to understand its cause.
“What’s the matter?” she inquired sympathetically. “Did mymention of the Anthropo Institute make you unhappy? Are you sad that Aurora refused our offer to relocate youthere?”
“What?” Hamilton said, startled.
“Yes. She refused our offer,and I really don’t understand why. We heard about her need to find a legal alternative to Eegee extradition, and since UL Resolution 262 gives authority for managing the scientific materials collected by the expedition to the Northern Confederation, all she had to do was have you reclassified appropriately, and then the two of you could have been our guests at Anthropo. It was really the ideal solution. Instead of just being thrown away to prevent sacrilege, you could have been preserved under humane conditions and she would have had years of additional time to study you, with the best tools in the galaxy at her disposal, I mightadd.”
Hamilton was thunderstruck. “Did she give any reason for turning down your offer?”
“Yes. She said that we Norcs were too subject to possible pressure from the Eegees, and that if they decided to make an issue of it, we might be forced to hand you over to them in the endanyway.”
“Is that true?”
“Only partially. It’s true that we are not as powerful as the Eegees, and can’t really afford to spit in their faces the way the Weegees ca
n, but we have excellent lawyers and diplomats who could certainly delay an extradition order for two or even three years. That’s plenty of time to get some really excellent science done.”
“I guess she really just didn’t want to risk sacrilege,” Urania contin- ued. “Although I assured her there was no chance of that. As soon as it looked like an extradition order was actually about to come through, we could have you euthenized, and the Eegees would have been left with nothing to demand.” She shook her head. “But you know how these Minervans are. Stubborn and old-fashioned. Still, it is nice that such an antiquated people continues to exist in this day and age. Their diversity adds color to all our lives,don’t you agree?”
“I suppose so,” Hamilton nodded, dazed by the implications of Urania’s story.
“However,” Urania grinned broadly, “now that you are free you can decide yourself to come to Anthropo. It’s true that without Aurora’s par- ticipation we’d have to start from scratch, but we have excellent scien- tists, and I’m sure we could make up the lost ground in no time.”
Hamilton was amazed at the offer.“I’m sorry,” he said. Then he added somewhat rudely,“I really don’t want to beeuthenized.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Urania protested.” You are a Weegee associate subject right now. No one could extradite you without their permission, and that is extremely unlikely in the current political atmosphere. You really should accept our offer. This is your chance to make a significant contribution to galactic science, and you can be sure that you will be well treated. We Norcs are the kindest people in the galaxy. Ask anyone. Why even your former owner was the beneficiary of our protection during her childhood. Did you knowthat?”
Hamilton nodded. “Yes, she told me.”
“Then why not come?” Urania’s expression brightened. “Anthropois a much nicer place to live thanEarth.”
She pointed out the window at the Earth, which was now coming into view.“Earth is kind of a dump, you know,” she added.
Hamilton’s heart soared when he saw the blue planet with its famil- iar continents grow rapidly in the window. “No,” he mumbled. “I’m going home.”
Urania smiled and touched him on the hand. “So, it’s the call of the wild, is it? Don’t worry, I understand. A simple creature like you naturally wants to return to its native habitat. But if you ever change your mind...”
She leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. Hamilton’s mind reeled briefly, then recovered. Apparently the Norcs study of Aphrodite was not entirely without fruit.
Urania laughed, pleased with her obvious impact. “As I said, if you ever change your mind, just send me a message and we’ll send a ship to come and pick you up.”
There was a jarring sound as the transport touched ground. “Well, we’re here.” Urania patted him on the head. “Take care of yourself, little Earthling.” She got up to leave and moved down the aisle.
With Urania out of the way, Hamilton came face to face with Aurora, who glanced at him reproachfully. “Look,” he said. “I’m sorry that I gloated at your expense. You really went to bat forme.”
Aurora blinked away a tear. “Will you come with me to New Minervapolis?”
Hamilton shook his head. “I’m sorry. You know I can’t do that.”
Aurora frowned and without a word turned away from him and marched down the aisle to the exit. Hamilton followed her out.
Unlike Seattle, where the passengers had entered the transport via a staircase from a runway, at this airport the transport exit mated to a jetway, so that Hamilton was unable to ascertain his location until he exited the jetway into an airline gate area, one of whose walls was composed of large transparent windows. Recognition came with a shock. Looking out the windows, Hamilton saw a runway, then a body of water, and across the water the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan. They had landed at LaGuardia Airport!
He looked around the gate area. With him were gathered Aurora, Urania, Ambassador Junea, Lisa White, and five members of the Weegee Transport Security Service.
One of the Transport Security officers announced; “This is the final stop for Sergeant Hamilton and Priestess 3rd Class Urania. All other passengers, please wait here while we perform a brief post atmospheric entry vehicle check out. Please be ready to reboard in tenminutes.”
Hamilton approached Aurora and stuck out his hand. “I guess this is goodbye,” he said.
Aurora kept her hands folded. “Go,” she said simply.
There was nothing more to say. Hamilton turned and walked down the causeway. Urania followed him at some distance, impeded by a stack of luggage which she maneuvered with difficulty on top of a levitation platform the size of a child’s skateboard.
Suddenly a large stream of Earthlings emerged onto the causeway from a perpendicular corridor. One of the men called out to Hamilton. “Hey, bud. Did that alien transport land yet?”
“Yeah, sure,” Hamilton said, pointing down the causeway, where the passengers were still gathered fifty yards to his rear. “They’re right over there.”
The man’s eyes lighted upon the passengers. “There they are!” he shouted. “Get the traitor! Get the aliens!”
With that, the Earthling crowd broke into a furious charge down the causeway.
Urania turned to run back to the others, but was quickly overtaken, tackled, and subdued on the floor by four strong men. The rest of the mob kept charging towards the main group.
The leading members of the mob were knocked down by the Security men, but then others joined them, surrounding the passengers and guards in a confrontational standoff. Not really knowing why he was doing it, Hamilton started walking back towards the scene of the action.
Lisa White stepped past the guards. “Excuse me gentlemen, I think I can handle this.” She faced the apparent mob leader. “Sir, I appreciate your patriotism, but there has been a mistake. This is an authorized ambassadorial flight, arranged to help the furtherance of good relations between the United States and the Western Galactic Empire.”
“Who are you?” the man said gruffly.
“I am Lisa White, Director of Public Communications for the President of the United States.”
The man’s eyes went wide. “That’s it! She’s the traitor!”
Lisa White had no time to react, for the mob was on her instantly. One man pulled out a knife, knelt down, and emerged a few seconds later holding up the Public Relations Director’s bloody severed head. “So beit to all traitors,” he bellowed, as the crowd cheered wildly.
The remaining passengers started edging towards the jetway door, but the mob moved to cut them off. Escape seemed hopeless, but then suddenly Junea was apparently inspired. Without warning, she turned and gave Aurora a powerful shove, throwing her to the ground several yards away from the rest of the group.
As Aurora struggled to her feet, Junea pointed to her and shouted. “She’s the one you want! She’s a Minervan!”
The crowd moved towards Aurora, who backpedaled a quick three steps to avoid being grabbed. As she did so, a large clang rang out. The mob members turned and screamed in rage. Junea and the guards had escaped down the jetway. Three men tried to shove the door open, but were unsuccessful.
The mob leader pointed back at Aurora. “Well at least we still have her! Tear her up!”
The mob charged, but Aurora ran to the side of the gate area where rows of chairs were set up. A few men blocked her path, but the young Minervan priestess bobbed, weaved, and dodged like a first-rate touch football player, evading immediate capture. As Hamilton watched in amazement, she jumped and balanced herself on the edge of the back of a chair, and then, arms extended, ran on the edge of the chair backs down the row with the skill of an expert gymnast. Then she was off the row and running down the concourse in Hamilton’s direction, the enraged mob members chasing after her.
As the priestess ran past him, the Ranger felt her thought in his mind. “Help me,Hamilton,” Aurora pleaded desperately. There was n
othing for it. He took off after her.
Aurora ran fast. Hamilton had not suspected she was so athletic. The Minervans’ only sport was skate dancing, and while a good dancer, Aurora was not in their competition class. It was obvious from her performance in the airport gate area that the typical Minervan physical fitness that she did possess considerably exceeded the Earthling average.
Still, a few of the men in the mob were in prime shape, and were able to keep up, and Hamilton did his best to trail these. One, in fact, started closing on her, and was about to tackle her, when Aurora turned suddenly and threw a trashcan across his path. The man tripped catastrophically, and Aurora ran on.
Now they were running down a populated part of the concourse. One of the pursuers called out to Earthling airline passengers hanging around down the way.“She’s a Minervan! Stopher!”
A few men moved to try to intercept, but Aurora dodged past them, and even managed to send one colliding into one of her pursuers.
Then the concourse ended in a small escalator, which was too blocked with people to run down. Aurora jumped up onto the banister that separated the up and down escalator, and ran down it. Only two of her pursuers dared to follow the move, and Hamilton followed them.
Aurora jumped off the escalator banister and ran through the baggage claim area, with the two big men barely feet behind her. Then she ran into a revolving door, which would lead her to the street.
That was her mistake. Before she could push through the door, one of the men grabbed it, and stopped its turning. Then with his companion helping him, he pushed it back, exposing a trapped Aurora to their powerful arms.
Aurora lashed out with a powerful side kick, hitting one of the goons in the chest. But he was a big man, and while momentarily stunned, was not stopped. Even as Aurora recoiled from her kick to try to aim another blow, the other man grabbed her. She tried to throw a punch, but she was too closely grappled, and in a wrestling clutch with the huge muscular thug, she stood no chance. In seconds she was down on the ground. As one man pinned her, the other throttled her by the throat.
The Holy Land: Fanatical Earthling planet assassins are spreading chaos through the galaxy. Is there any nice way to stop them? Page 22
