Return to the Stars cotsk-2

by Edmond Hamilton

  Suddenly Gordon stopped. His mind, just aroused from sleep had abruptly perceived for the first time something that he had never thought about before.

  He jumped to his feet. "There's no sign of the fleet of the counts coming out of the Marches?"

  She shook her head gravely. It was not for the sovereign to Fomalhaut Kingdom to show fear, but he saw the strain in her eyes.

  "Not yet," she said. "But Abro thinks that if they are going to attack they'll come soon. He agrees with Captain Burrel that they would alter their timetable in order to strike before help can get here."

  Gordon said, "I think I've overlooked something that may be tremendously important. I've got to see Hull and Shorr Kan."

  The softness left Lianna's eyes and little stormy lightenings gathered in them.

  "Shorr Kan," she said. "The man who nearly destroyed us all... and yet you speak of him as though he were a friend!"

  Patiently Gordon said, "He is not a friend. He is an ambitious opportunist who thinks only of his own ends. But since his only opportunities now lie with us, he threw in with us. He's going to try to use us, and we are going to try to use him, and time will tell who uses whom."

  Liana answered nothing, but he saw the set of her small chin. He ignored it and asked, "Is there some place here where we can make some galactographic computations?"

  "The royal chart room," she said. "It's linked directly with all the screens in the Defense Ministry."

  "Will you take me there, Lianna? And will you have Hull and Shorr Kan brought there?"

  The room was deep in the palace. It had screens on every wall, all of them dark now. An officer saluted Lianna when she entered with Gordon behind her.

  Presently Hull Burrel and Shorr Kan came in, and the latter swept a deep bow to Lianna, wishing Her Highness a very good evening. She regarded him with lambent eyes and an arctic smile.

  "Let me say at once, Shorr Kan," she told him, "that if I had my way you'd have been executed within five minutes after you landed here. I live in hope that you will yet do something to make that possible."

  Shorr Kan grinned crookedly. He looked at Gordon, and said, "Women are realists, did you know that? If you hurt one or threaten to hurt one, she'll hate you forever. Only men can make a game of it."

  "Will you for God's sake quit talking about games," said Gordon. "The counts are not playing a game. Narath Teyn is not playing a game, and for certain the H'Harn are not playing a game. Or if they are, it's a game that nearly crushed the galaxy back in Brenn Bir's day."

  Shorr Kan shrugged. "I'll admit that, but there's no evidence that the H'Harn are here yet in any strength."

  "Are you quite sure of that?" asked Gordon.

  Shorr Kan's mocking air dropped from him like a cast-off garment. "What do you mean?"

  Gordon turned to Hull Burrel, who was frowning in puzzlement. "Hull, you piloted that H'Harn ship."

  "You don't have to remind me," said Hull irritably. "I remember well enough."

  "All right. Now, can you remember whether or not, before we realized what was happening and began to fight the creature, you were flying at top acceleration?"

  Hull frowned again. "I don't see what..."

  "Were you?"

  "I don't know, damn it. Everything I did was put into my mind by the H'Harn, and I..."

  "Yes?"

  "Well, just wait a minute. I'm trying to think... I did seem to know that I must move a certain lever to the farthest notch. I did that, and from the way the ship responded, of course it had to be the main thrust control." Hull's face cleared. He nodded, satisfied. "Yes, we were at top acceleration."

  "And what would you guess that to be?"

  Hull pondered a moment, then named a figure. The officer's mouth fell open, and Lianna said instantly, "But that isn't possible!"

  "I'm sorry, Highness... it is. The H'Harn ships are faster than anything of ours." Hull shook his head regretfully. "I'd have given a lot to bring that ship back so we could study it. Because if we do ever have to fight them in space..."

  Gordon turned to Lianna. "Can we see a detailed chart of the portion of the Marches that contains Aar?" In a belated remembrance of protocol, he added "Highness?"

  She spoke to the officer, who went to a bank of switches. Presently a great screen broke into light and life, with the bewildering complexity of star, planet, and drift markers showing in their various colors.

  Gordon shrugged. "It makes no sense to me, but you can tell me, Hull. How far did we go from Aar to that point where we became aware of the H'Harn presence, and changed course?"

  "Oh, look, Gordon!" Hull said. "We've got enough troubles ahead of us without rehashing the ones we've left behind."

  "Answer him," said Shorr Kan, and it was the hard, cold voice of the one-time master of the Dark Worlds who spoke. His face was grim with foreboding, and Gordon thought again that he had never met anyone with the lightning awareness and comprehension of this man. Shorr Kan had already guessed what he was driving at.

  Hull sweated over the chart like a sulky schoolboy, grumbling. Finally he named a distance. "It's only a rough figure..." he began, but Gordon cut him off.

  "Using that as an average, and with that approximate velocity, how long would it have taken us to reach the Lesser Magellanic?"

  Hull looked a bit startled. "So that's it. Why didn't you tell me?" He went over to the computer and started punching keys. Presently he came back with the answer.

  "Between four and five months," he said. "That's Galactic Standard, of course."

  Gordon and Shorr Kan looked at each other, and Lianna said with regal impatience, "Could we perhaps be told the object of this discussion?"

  "Four or five months to reach the Magellanic, and as much again to return," said Gordon slowly. "Eight to ten months before the H'Harn fleet could reach this galaxy, utilizing the information they hoped to get from us... It's too long. We know the H'Harn are behind the counts in this move against Fomalhaut... they must have had a hand in timing it. Whatever their plans are for their own strike against the galaxy, I don't believe they would include that much of a delay. Especially..."

  "Especially," said Shorr Kan bluntly, "when their logical time to strike would be at that exact moment when the galaxy is already engaged in a massive civil war." He looked around the circle of faces. "The H'Harn have gone to a deal of trouble to foment that war. I doubt if they plan to throw away the fruits thereof."

  There was a dead silence. When Gordon spoke again, he could hear his worlds dropping into it as stones drop into a cold still lake.

  "I don't think the H'Harn was taking us to the Magellanic at all. I think it was taking us to somewhere a whole lot nearer. I think it was taking us to the H'Harn fleet, lying close outside our galaxy."

  The silence became even deeper, as though even breathing and heartbeat had been suspended. Then Hull said almost angrily, "How could they be out there without the radar-sweeps of the Empire's warning system detecting them? Don't you realize how thoroughly we have monitored outer space ever since the time of Brenn Bir?"

  "Yes," said Gordon, "but..."

  Shorr Kan finished for him. "You've met the H'Harn, you have some idea of their powers. And you know they must realize how thoroughly outer space is monitored. So the first prerequisite of any large-scale invasion plan would be some means of evading radar search."

  Hull Burrel thought about that, and he began to get a haunted look.

  "Yes, I see that. But... but if they can evade radar, then the H'Harn fleet could be out there off the galaxy right now, waiting..."

  "Waiting for the counts of the Marches to launch their attack," said Gordon.

  "Good God," said Hull, and turned fiercely to the communications officer. "Call Throon. The Empire must be warned."

  The officer looked at Lianna, who said quietly, "Do as he asks."

  "Your pardon, Highness," said Hull, and the stark look of horror on his face was apology enough. "But when I think of those..."

&n
bsp; "Yes," said Lianna. "Remember, I have had experience of them myself." She waved Hull on, to where the communications officer was busy at one of the screens.

  Presently it sprang to life, and an officer in Empire uniform spoke to Hull Burrel.

  His name, rank, and reputation got him switched through to the palace in record time. The aquiline face of Zarth Arn, brother to the Emperor, looked out of the screen at them.

  "Captain Burrel... Gordon... you're safe, then. We were concerned..."

  He broke off sharply, looking beyond Gordon, with eyes that had suddenly become points of fire. He was looking at Shorr Kan.

  "What kind of a masquerade is this?"

  "No masquerade," said Shorr Kan. "Happily for me, the reports of my death were sheer fraud." He met Zarth Arn's bitter glare with calm amusement. "The bad penny has turned up, only this time I'm on your side. Doesn't that please you?"

  Zarth Arn appeared to be too stunned to speak for the moment. Gordon seized the opportunity to make a swift explanation.

  "Our lives, and quite possibly the life of the whole galaxy, may be saved because Shorr Kan got us free to bring a warning," he said. "Try and remember that, Highness."

  Zarth Arn's face was perfectly white, his mouth set like a vise. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, mastering himself. Then he looked at Lianna and said, "Highness, my advice is to hang that man at once."

  "Ah, but you must hang Gordon first," said Shorr Kan smoothly. "He gave his word to protect me."

  Hull stepped closer to the screen. "Highness, with all due respect, the hell with Shorr Kan and what happens to him! The H'Harn... the Magellanians... may be at the throat of the galaxy!"

  Zarth Arn's anger faded into something else. "You learned something in the Marches?"

  Hull told him. Gordon watched Zarth Arn's face, saw the shadow that came there grow and deepen, and when Hull was through it seemed to Gordon that Zarth Arn had aged ten years in those few moments.

  "Theory," he said. "Only theory, and yet... The H'Harn. Strange that we never had a name for them before." He looked at Gordon. "This is your considered opinion?"

  "Yes," said Gordon, and Shorr Kan spoke up unbidden.

  "Mine too. And whatever else I may be, Zarth Arn, you know that I am neither a fool nor a coward. I believe that this strike against Fomalhaut is nothing less than the spearhead of an attack by the H'Harn on the whole galaxy."

  After a moment Zarth Arn said, "This must go to my brother at once, for his decision. And since this is a chance we dare not take, I think there can be only one answer. The Empire fleet must go outside the galaxy and use every possible means, either to locate the H'Harn fleet or make absolutely certain that it is not there. And I must be with it. For if we do find the H'Harn..."

  A coldness came into Gordon's spine. "You'll take the Disruptor?" Gordon remembered how he himself had once unloosed the awful power of that weapon. He remembered how space had quaked, and how stars had trembled in their orbits; how the whole fabric of the universe had seemed to twist and tear.

  Zarth Arn said, "I must." He turned his somber gaze to Lianna. "You know, of course, what this will mean to you?"

  She nodded calmly. "You will need every ship to sweep the Rim... including those you were sending here. I understand that. But surely the H'Harn are the ultimate enemy. We'll fight our battle here alone." She even smiled. "It's no matter. Captain Burrel assures me your ships could not get here in any case until after our fate has been thoroughly settled."

  The screen blanked out. They were turning to leave, Lianna silent and preoccupied, when another screen came to life. In it was a burly-browed, thickset man with scarred hands, whom Gordon had met before, Abro, Defense Minister of Fomalhaut. Abro wasted no time on protocol. "Highness, they've come out of the Marches. The counts' fleet. They're more than twice as strong as we expected... and they're coming full speed toward Fomalhaut!"

  20

  Gordon felt a chilling dismay. The counts of the Marches were throwing everything they had into this. And whether their gamble succeeded or not, in the dark background brooded the unguessable purpose and menace of the H'Harn.

  "They outnumber our fleet by three to two, in heavies," Abro was saying. "Commander Engl has planned to draw back, to cover Fomalhaut and give time for the Empire squadron to arrive."

  Lianna said calmly, "The plan is good. But tell him not to count on any assistance from Throon. There will be no squadron."

  Abro looked stunned. "But Highness, I myself was present when..."

  "I will not discuss this on a communicator," said Lianna. "I am summoning the council. Get to the chamber as quickly as you can, Abro."

  The screen went dark. Lianna turned, her face icy and composed. But her eyes were tormented, and Gordon wanted to put his arm around her shoulders. He did not. He doubted that she wanted any of that kind of encouragement in public.

  She smiled a little wanly at him and said, "I must go, John Gordon. Later."

  When she had gone, Hull Burrel strode to the screens and activated those which showed the Marches and that whole region of space, studying them feverishly.

  Shorr Kan shrugged. "It doesn't look good, Gordon. Other star-kingdoms will hold back when they hear that Throon isn't sending help. I'm worried."

  "Nice of you to be concerned," said Gordon acidly. "About us, I mean."

  Shorr Kan looked blank. "About you? Hell, I'm worried about myself! When I helped you and took that dispatch cruiser away from Obd Doll, I committed myself. No explanation will ever convince Cyn Cryver that I didn't betray him. If he wins out and gets his hands on me..."

  He drew his fingers expressively across his throat.

  Gordon admitted that this did seem to be one box that Shorr Kan couldn't talk his way out of.

  "Damn right," said Shorr Kan, and added thoughtfully, "The transports will follow the counts' fleet, with Narath's army. They're the real danger. If the Fomalhaut commander-what's his name, Engl?-If Engl has sense enough to keep some of his heavies out of the battle, they can be used to hit the transports and cut them up as they try to land."

  Gordon thought that made good sense, and said so. Shorr Kan grunted. "You try to propose it, Gordon. They'd never take any suggestion from me, even if it was a good one, and even though I know more strategy than any of them... as I once proved. They might take it from you."

  "I doubt it," Gordon said. "But I'll try."

  Hours later that night, when he had sat for a long time in an antechamber of the council room, the council broke up. When Lianna came out at the head of the worried-looking knot of men, she saw him and came to him.

  "There was no need for you to wait all this time," she said, but he thought she was glad that he had.

  "I just wanted to know what's happening. That is, if you can tell me."

  Abro frowned all across his hard face, but Lianna ignored him. "You brought the warning, and you have the right to know. The main fleet of the Empire has already left Throon, on its way out of the galaxy. With it goes every possible sensory device that might enable them to locate a H'Harn fleet, including the Empire's finest telepaths."

  Gordon did not think too hopefully of the chances of tracking the H'Harn by telepathy. The H'Harn were super telepaths, able to shield their minds from any probing.

  Lianna continued, "We've appealed for help from the smaller star-kingdoms, but they're too far from here, most of them, to come in time. We did get a reply from the barons of Hercules... they're considering the matter."

  Abro said brusquely, "Not for love of us. The great barons are afraid the counts of the Marches are getting too big. If they help us it will be for that reason only. And they're liable to be too late in any case."

  Gordon said hesitantly, "A possibility occurred to me, but it seems out of place for me to suggest anything."

  Lianna did not seem happy about it, but she said steadily, "You risked your life to help us, you have the right to speak."

  Gordon outlined Shorr Kan's strategi
c idea of holding back a part of the fleet to hit the transports when they came.

  To his surprise, Abro, who disliked him intensely, nodded thoughtful approval. "An excellent move... if we can manage to hold back any forces when we meet the counts. I'll pass it on to Engl."

  When the others had gone, Lianna looked at Gordon with a faint smile.

  "That was Shorr Kan's suggestion, wasn't it?"

  Hours later, he sat with her on a terrace high on the vast wall of the palace. Soft darkness was about them, and the heavy scent of flowers. But there was no quiet in the great city that lay below them in the night.

  The city flared with lights. Armed bodies of men were moving with swift precision, to and fro. Missile batteries were being set up in the palace grounds. In the distance, where the spaceport lay, huge, tubby space-monitors were rising up growling into the darkness to take their places in the network of defenses around the throne-world of Fomalhaut.

  Gordon looked up at the starry sky. Out there two great star-fleets were drawing fatefully together, and what happened when they met would probably seal the fate of this whole star-kingdom, and possibly many more besides. There had been no further word from Hercules, and if the barons were moving to help, they were keeping it secret from everyone.

  His mind reached farther out, beyond the edge of the galaxy, where the mighty Empire fleet would be searching for the H'Harn force that might or might not be hidden there. If they could find it, the Disrupter would unloose its cosmic power again and the threat from Magellan would disappear. But would they find it? Gordon felt a deep hopelessness, an almost prophetic certainty that they would not. The H'Harn would not have returned without the strongest kind of armor, offensive and defensive.

  They would not have forgotten how they faced the Disrupter before.

  It seemed that Lianna too was thinking of the H'Harn. She had been silent for a long time, but when she spoke it was about them.

  "If Narath does invade, will he have any of those creatures with him?"