The Randall Garrett Megapack

by Randall Garrett

  CHAPTER 6

  The Nipe prowled around the huge underground room, carefully checking his alarms. If anyone entered the network of tunnels at any point, the instruments would register that fact. They had to be adjusted, of course, for the presence of the small, omnivorous quadrupeds that ran through the tunnels in such numbers, but anything larger than they would be noted immediately.

  He did not like to leave this place. Here, over a period of ten revolutions of this planet about its primary, he had built himself a nest that was almost comfortable. Here, too, were his workshops and his storehouses. He had reason to believe that he was safe here, screened and protected as he was, but each time he left or entered he ran the chance of being observed.

  Still, there was no help for it. Thus far, he had been hampered by technical problems. There were things he needed that he could not make for himself. Even his own vast memory, with its every bit of information instantly available, could only contain what had been acquired over a lifetime, and even his long life had not been long enough to acquire every bit of knowledge he needed.

  His work had been long and tedious. There were many things that could neither be made in his workshops nor obtained from the natives, things he did not know how to make and which the local species had not yet evolved in their own technology. Or, more likely, which had not been allowed them. In such cases, he had had to make do with other, lesser techniques, which added to the complexity of his job.

  But now another problem had intruded itself into his schedule.

  He had a name. Colonel Walther Mannheim. The meaning of the verbal symbolism was unknown to him. The patterns of the symbolism were even more evasive than the patterns of the language itself. “Colonel” seemed simple enough. It indicated a certain sociomilitary class that was rigidly defined in one way and very hazy in another. But the meanings and relationships of both “Walther” and “Mannheim” were beyond him. What difference, for instance, was there between a “Walther” and a “William”? Did a “Mannheim” outrank a “Mandeville”, or the other way around? What functions differentiated a “John Smith” from a “Peter Taylor”? He knew what a “john” was and what a “smith” was, but “John Smith” was not, apparently, necessarily associated with sanitary plumbing. The meaning of some other names eluded him entirely.

  But that made little difference at the moment. The meaning of Colonel Walther Mannheim’s symbolic nomenclature was secondary in comparison with his known function.

  That required that the Nipe must eventually find and confront Colonel Walther Mannheim.

  It meant time lost, of course. It meant that precious time, which should be given to building his communicator, must be given over to what was merely a protective action.

  But there was nothing to do but go on. It would never have occurred to the Nipe to give up, for to quit meant to die. And to die—here, now—was unthinkable.

  His alarms were all functioning, his defenses all set. He could now leave his hideaway knowing that if it were broken into while he was away he would be warned in time. But he had no real fear of that. He had done everything he could do. And no intelligent creature, to the Nipe’s way of thinking, would waste time worrying about a situation he could not improve upon.

  Taking with him the equipment he needed for the job he had to do, he entered the tunnel that ran southward from his base of operations. Once, as he moved along, one of the little quadrupeds approached him, its teeth bared. With an almost negligent flip of one powerful, superfast hand, he slammed it against a nearby wall. It dropped and lay still. Another of its kind approached it cautiously. The Nipe noticed the approach with approval. The quadrupeds had no real intelligence, but they had the proper instincts.

  At last the Nipe came to another of the many places where the tunnels met with others of the network. He crossed through several rooms, all very large and cluttered with the dusty, long-dead bones of hundreds of the local intelligent life-form—if (and he was not sure in his own mind of this) they could actually be called intelligent. But he moved carefully, stepping over the human bones and the empty, staring skulls. They had apparently been properly devoured, although he could not be sure whether it had been done by their own kind or by the little quadrupeds. Nonetheless, he would not willingly disturb their repose.

  He went on into the tunnel that led westward and followed it as it began to angle down. Finally he came to the water’s edge.

  To a human being, the cold expanse of water that gleamed like ink in the light of the Nipe’s illuminator would have been a barricade as impenetrable as steel. But to the Nipe the tidal pool was simply another of his defenses, for it concealed the only entrance he ever used. He went in after adjusting his scuba mask and began swimming toward the opening that led to the estuary of the sea, his eight strong limbs working in unison in a way that would have been the envy of a rowing team.

  At the jagged hole in the tunnel wall, the gap that led into open water, he paused to check his instruments. Only after he was certain that there were no sonar or other detector radiations did he propel himself onward, out into the estuary itself.

  An hour later, he was warily circling the spot where his little submarine was hidden. He pressed a button on a small device in his hand, and a signal was sent to the submarine. The various devices within it all responded properly. Nothing had been disturbed since the Nipe had set those devices weeks before.

  This was the touchiest part of any of his expeditions. There was always the chance, unlikely as it might be, that some one of the bipedal natives had found his machine. He dared not use it too close to his base because of the possibility of its drive vibrations being detected in the narrow estuary. Out here in the open sea there was far less likelihood of that, but leaving his submarine concealed out here increased the danger he exposed himself to every time he left his hidden nest.

  Satisfied that the machine was just as he had left it, he entered it and started its engines. He moved slowly and cautiously until he was well out to sea, well away from the continental shelf and over the ocean deeps. Then and only then did he accelerate to full cruising speed.

  * * * *

  The full moon was in the west, hiding behind an array of low, scudding clouds, revealing its radiance in fitful bursts of silvery splendor that died again as another clotted cloud moved before the face of the white disk. The shifting light, shining through the breeze-tossed leaves of the palm trees on the beach below, made strange shadows on the sand, ever-changing patterns of gray and black on a background of white, moonlit sand.

  But the strangest shadow of all was one that did not change as the others did—a great centipede-like shape that seemed to wash slowly ashore on the receding tide. For a short while, it remained at the water’s edge, apparently unmoving in the wash of the waves.

  Then, keeping low and balancing himself on his third pair of limbs, the Nipe moved in across the beach. The specially constructed sandals he wore left behind them a set of very human-looking footprints—prints that would remain unnoticed among the myriad of others that were already on the beach, left there by daytime bathers.

  It required more time yet to reach the city, and still more time to find the place he was looking for. It was almost dawn before he managed to find a storm sewer in which to hide for the day.

  It was partly his difficulty in finding a given spot in a city—almost any city—that had convinced the Nipe that the pseudo-intelligence of the bipeds of this planet could not really be called true intelligence. There was no standardized method of orienting oneself in a city. Not only were no two cities alike in their orientation systems, but the same city would often vary from section to section. Their co-ordinate systems meant almost nothing. Part of a given co-ordinate might be a number, and the rest of it a name, but the meanings of the numbers and names were never the same. It was as though some really intelligent outside agency had given them the basic idea of a co-ordinate system, and they, not having the intelligence to use it properly, had simply jum
bled the whole thing up.

  That the natives themselves had no real understanding of any such system had long been apparent to him. The dwellers in any one area would naturally be familiar with it; they would know where each place was, regardless of what meaningless names and numbers might be attached to it. But strangers to that area would not know, and could not know. The only thing they could possibly do would be to ask directions of a local citizen—which, the Nipe had learned, was exactly what they did.

  Unfortunately, it was not that simple for the Nipe. There was no way for him to walk up to a native and inquire for an address. He had to prowl unseen through the alleys and sewers of a city, picking up a name here, a number there, by eavesdropping on street conversations. He had found that every city contained certain uniformed individuals whose duty it was to direct strangers, and by focusing a directional microphone on such men and listening, it was possible to glean little bits of knowledge that could eventually be co-ordinated into a whole understanding of the city’s layout. It was a time-consuming process, but it was the only way the job could be done. Reconnaissance took a tremendous amount of time away from his serious work, but that work could not proceed without materials to work with, and to get those materials required reconnaissance. The dilemma was unavoidable.

  And, being what he was, the Nipe accepted the unavoidable and pursued his course with phlegmatic equanimity.

  Overhead, the city was beginning to waken. The volume of sound began to increase.

  * * * *

  Police Patrolman John Flanders relieved his fellow officer, Patrolman Fred Pilsudski, at a few minutes of eight in the morning.

  It was a beautiful day, even for Miami. In the east, the morning sun shone brightly through the hard, transparent pressure glass that covered the street, making the smooth, resilient surface of the street itself glow with warm light. Overhead, Patrolman Flanders could see the aircars in their incessant motion—apparently random, unless one knew what the traffic pattern was and how to look for it. It was Patrolman Flanders’ immediate ambition to be promoted to traffic patrol, so that he could be in an aircar above the city instead of watching pedestrians down here on the streets.

  “Morning, Fred,” he said to his brother officer. “How’d the night go?”

  “Hi, Johnny. Pretty good. Not much excitement.” He looked at his wristwatch. “You’re a couple minutes early yet.”

  “Yeah. The baby started singing for his breakfast at a God-awful hour. Harriet woke up to feed him, which woke me up, so here I am. If you want to give me the call button, I’ll take over. You can go get yourself a cup of coffee.”

  “I’m up to here with coffee,” Pilsudski said, indicating a point just below his left ear. “I’ll have a beer instead.”

  He touched a switch at his belt and said: “Area 37 HQ, this is 13392 Pilsudski.”

  A voice in his helmet phones said: “37 HQ, go ahead, Pilsudski.”

  “Time: 0758 hours. I am being relieved by 14278 Flanders.”

  “Right. Go ahead.”

  Pilsudski took off the light, strong helmet, reached inside it, opened a small sliding panel, and took out an object the size and shape of an aspirin tablet—the sealed unit that permitted him to understand the conversation over the police wave band. Without it, the police calls would have been gibberish.

  Flanders accepted the little gadget from the other officer and inserted it in his own helmet. Then he replaced the helmet on his head. “Area 37 HQ, this is 14278 Flanders. I am relieving 13392 Pilsudski.”

  “37 HQ,” said the voice in his ears. “Okay, Flanders. Transfer recorded.”

  Police Patrolman John Flanders, Badge Number 14278, was now officially on duty.

  He looked up into the sky. “Now there’s the place to be on a day like this, Fred. Traffic patrol.”

  “Not me,” said Pilsudski. “Too damn dull. I was on it for six months. Damn near drove me nuts. Nobody to talk to but another cop—same cop, day after day. He was a nice guy, don’t get me wrong, but Christ! Nothin’ to do but watch for people breakin’ traffic pattern. Can’t even pull over to the side and watch the traffic go by. It’s dull, I’m tellin’ you, Johnny. I asked for a transfer back to a beat so’s I could see some people again.”

  “Maybe,” said Flanders. “I’d still like to try it.”

  “Ever’body to their own taste, I guess. Mitchell and Warber were in luck last night, though. Excitement.” He sounded as though he meant the word to be sarcastic.

  “What happened?” Flanders asked.

  “Some boob was having a fight with his wife and his air intake was goofing off at the same time. So, while she’s yelling at him, he puts his aircar on hover.” He pointed upward. “Right up there, in Level Two. He opens the window of his aircar, mind you. His air intake ain’t workin’, like I said. Mitchell, in Car 87, spots him and heads for him, figuring there’s trouble.”

  “But no trouble?” asked Flanders.

  “Trouble enough. The driver’s old lady throws a wrench at him, an’ it goes out the window.” He chuckled. “First I heard about it was when that damn wrench comes down and bounces off the pressure glass, then up to the side of the building there, and back to the pressure glass. Then it slides off into the rain gutter.”

  Flanders looked up at the curve of hard, tough, almost invisible pressure glass that covered the street. “With all the cars overhead that we got in this city,” Flanders said philosophically, “something like that’s bound to happen every so often. That’s why that glass is up there, besides for keepin’ the rain off your head.”

  “Yeah,” Pilsudski said. “Anyway, Mitchell and Warber got there just as she tossed the wrench. Arrested both of ’em. Now, wasn’t that exciting?”

  Flanders grinned. “Fred, if the rest of their tour of duty was as dull as you say it was, then I reckon that must have been real exciting.”

  “Hah.” Pilsudski shrugged. “Well, I’m for that beer. See you tomorrow, Johnny.”

  “Right. Take care o’ yourself.”

  As Pilsudski walked away, Flanders put his hands behind his back, grasping the left in the right. He spread his feet slightly apart. In that time-honored position of the foot patrolman, he surveyed his beat, up and down both sides of the street. Everything looked perfectly normal. Another working day had begun.

  He had no idea that he was standing only a few yards from the most hated and feared killer on the face of the Earth.

  The only clue that he could possibly have had to that killer’s presence was a small ovoid the size and shape of a match head, a dark, dull gray in color, which protruded slightly from a sewer grating six feet away, supported on a hair-thin stalk. In one end was a tiny dark opening, and that opening was pointed directly at Officer Flanders’ head. When he began walking slowly down the street, the little ovoid moved, turning slowly on its stalk to keep that dark hole pointed steadily. It was so small, that ovoid, and so inconspicuous, that no one, even looking directly at it, would have noticed it.

  The Nipe could see and hear without being either seen or heard himself.

  All morning long the tiny ovoid remained in place, watching, listening.

  At 11:24 a woman in a cherry-pink dress walked up to Officer Flanders and said: “Pardon me, Officer. Could you tell me where I could find the Donahue Building?”

  And while the policeman told her, the Nipe listened carefully. Now he knew what street he was on and its location in respect to two other streets. He also had a number. He remembered them all, accurately and completely. It was a good beginning, he decided. It would not be too long before he would have enough to enable him to locate the address he was looking for. After that, there would only remain the job of observing and making plans to get what he wanted at that address.

  He settled himself to wait for more information. He knew that it would be a long wait.

  But he was prepared for that.

  SECOND INTERLUDE

  The woman’s eyes were filled with tears, for which
the doctor was privately thankful. At least, he thought to himself, the original shock has worn off.

  “And there’s nothing we can do?” she asked. “Nothing?” There was anguish in her voice.

  “I’m afraid not,” the doctor told her gently. “Not yet. There are research men working on the problem, and one day…perhaps…” Then he shook his head. “But not yet.” He paused. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Stanton.”

  The woman sat there in the comfortable chair and looked at the specialist’s diploma on the doctor’s wall—and yet, she really didn’t see the diploma at all. She was seeing something else—a kind of dream that had been shattered.

  After a moment, she began to speak, her voice low and gentle, as though the dream were still going on and she were half afraid she might waken herself if she spoke too loudly.

  “Jim and I were so glad they were twins. Identical twin boys. He said…I remember, he said, ‘We ought to call them Ike and Mike.’ And he laughed a little when he said it, to show he didn’t mean it.”

  The doctor said nothing, waiting for her to go on.

  “I remember, I was propped up in the bed, the afternoon after they were born, and Jim brought me a new bed jacket, and I said I didn’t need a new one because I’d be going right home the very next day, and he said, ‘Hell, kid, you don’t think I’d buy a bed jacket just for hospital use, now do you? This is for breakfasts in bed, too.’

  “And that’s when he said he’d seen the boys and said we ought to name them Ike and Mike.”

  The tears were coming down Mrs. Stanton’s cheeks heavily now, and the grief made her look older than her twenty-four years, but the doctor said nothing, letting her spill out her emotions in words.

  “We’d talked about it before, you know—soon as the obstetrician found out that I was going to have twins. And Jim…Jim said that we shouldn’t name them alike unless they were identical twins or mirror twins. If they were fraternal twins, we’d just name them as if they’d been ordinary brothers or sisters or whatever. You know?” She looked at the doctor, her eyes pleading for understanding.