Scott came in, waited patientiy until he had his boss’s attention, and then said, ‘Captain Mijnalen called to ask if you would have lunch with him in the Commissary.’
Lane smiled his grimmest smile at that. But this was not the day for him to discover what it felt like to eat publicly an outfit- restricted meal. ‘Tell the captain,’ he said in a deliberate tone,
‘that I’ll take a rain check on that. Can’t do it today.’
He forgot that and the outfits a few minutes later. Because from the giant viewplate came the second message:
‘The alien fleet is approaching the orbit of Uranus, and should reach Saturn about seven o’clock this evening. Still accelerating towards zero.’
All spaceships operated on Spaceport time. Lane said, ‘What is your present estimate of collision hour?’
‘We won’t let them get beyond Jupiter. So that could be slightly before nine.’
‘Thank you,’ said Lane.
He had barely spoken, when a certain phone rang. He stared at it, shocked. Then jerkily he picked up the receiver, and said formally, ‘Commander Lane speaking, Mr President.’
‘Commander,’ said the president’s voice, ‘do you think we should make a public announcement?’
Lane drew a deep breath for reinforcement of his spirit. Then, firmly: ‘No Mr President. All our screens are up. Our ships are between earth and the enemy. Let’s give this approach until five o’clock to see if they really mean it. The panic will be no greater then than now.’
‘Very well, Commander,’ was the reply, followed by a click of disconnection.
Lane hung up, also, and buzzed the intercom for his secretary. To that individual, he said, ‘I am now motivated by my stereotype - which you might as well find out about. In period of crisis, I try to think of everything. Even the tiniest possibilities engage my attention. So, during the next hour or so, you and I will do some fairly strange things as fast as possible.’
‘On the double, sir, it shall be,’ was the reply.
‘First,’ said the man at the desk, ‘I can’t get out of my head the fact that Jaeger, also, was subjected to the K energy. So contact the hospital, and if Mr Jaeger is still there, get them to put him on the phone.’
Jaeger had left the hospital bare minutes before, and was on his way home. ‘All right,’ commanded Lane, ‘get me Mrs Jaeger at her home.’
He asked the sad little voice if there was anything about her husband or her son that she had noticed recently that was unusual,
‘He’s the same,’ was the apathetic reply, “but Bud is more intelligent than he used to be. Being in the outfit has been good for him.’
‘Just a moment,’ said the disgusted officer. As he handed the receiver back to Scott, he admonished, ‘Ask her to have Jaeger call
this office when he gets home.’
As 2.43 p.m., Lane wearily completed a futile conversation with his fourteenth ‘possibility’ - the port of entry officer, who had called him about Bud Jaeger’s return to Spaceport after Bud’s attempt to ‘run away.’ Lane returned the receiver to Scott, and saw that another light was blinking on the phone multiplex. Andrew Scott pressed that button, listened for a few moments, and then said, ‘It’s Mr Reid, the Committee chairman.’
‘Ask him if I can call him back,’ said his boss in a distracted tone.
Scott spoke the words into the mouthpiece, and again listened. The shape of his mouth changed. His eyes did a narrowing. His fingers tightened on the instrument which he now held out stiffly to Lane, saying in a shaken voice, ‘You’d better talk to him, sir.’
Startled, the fleet commander accepted the instrument. Desmond Reid, at the other end of the line, stood in his office with Lee David and Mike Sutter on either side of him, and said gravely, ‘I think I should bring the boys over, and you make up your own mind as to what I’ve just told you.’
Lane said, “Let me understand this, they noticed something unusual about Bud Jaeger this morning?’
‘Yes. And I think you should hear what, from them.’
The younger man said somewhat blankly, ‘By all means, bring them over.’
‘, Four minutes,’ said Desmond Reid’s voice urgently.
Lane replaced the receiver, and said to his aide Math a frown, ’Your reaction to that call seemed unusually strong. It doesn’t appear that decisive. A possibility, that’s all,’
The secretary’s eyes widened. ‘He didn’t tell you?’ he whispered. ‘What he told me,’ was the slightly nettled reply, ‘implied strange behavior in Bud Jaeger.’ .
‘What he told me' said Scott, ‘was that there was a possibility that the boy was not human.’’
There was a long silence. Half-slitted eyes. Slightly sagging jaw. Then a kind of rejecting shake of the head. ‘Such an impersonation,’ Lane spoke slowly, ‘would be difficult. Still’ - he climbed to his feet - ‘no reason why we shouln’t have a good look at Bud Jaeger,’ He nodded decisively, ‘Mr Scott, have the military police arrest him, and bring him here.’
‘I’ll put out an all-points computer signal alarm,’ said Scott. ‘Good.’
As the secretary disappeared, the corridor door opened. Desmond Reid stood aside to let Lee and Mike enter. He followed hard on their heels, and closed the door behind him.
John Lane stiffened involuntarily as he looked at the two youths. All he said, however, was, ‘I have Mr Reid’s message.’ His tone was formal. ‘Please tell your story.’
The boys were not that swiftly able to be aware of the man. The room and its machinery caught their separate attentions, and held them. They stared slightly goggle-eyed at the big viewplate. Their faces proclaimed that they realised it was not a simulated scene on the huge screen, not even a motion picture duplicate. This was direct transmission, live from space.
Yet, they had their own urgent feelings, And so, swiftly, after that initial dazzlement, they were able to tell him of Bud, and of what Mike and, to a lesser degree, Lee had seen.
When their brief account was completed, there was silence in that strange, wonderful room. The fleet commander’s countenance reflected a struggle that was going on inside him. Reid watched him, narrow-eyed, and then walked close to him, and said in a low tone, ‘John, your face is showing an emotion which I find it difficult to credit: pleasure. What are you enjoying about this situation?’
The younger man was shocked. "Pleasure?’ he muttered. Abruptly, he was guilty. ‘Des,’ he almost whispered, ‘it’s true. My first thought was: “Our enemy unerringly spotted our weakness - the outfits.” I’m ashamed of myself for feeling good about how right I was about the-outfits. But it remains a truth. That’s where they achieved their infiltration,’ He broke off. ‘Look, forget about that. No matter how they did it, our problem remains.’
He raised his voice. ‘I have ordered Bud’s arrest by die military police. So I think these two boys’ - he nodded at Mike and Lee
‘should wait in my conference room, and identify Bud when he is brought in.’
It was Reid who guided the two jabbers through the door of the conference room, and then closed the door. Then he himself walked to the corridor door. He paused with one hand on the latch. ‘I’m expecting an overnight kit from home,’ he said. ‘I’ll return here as soon as it arrives.’ His fine old face creased into a faint smile. ‘I plan to go aboard the Oriole with you.’
The fleet commander’s face twisted satirically. ‘Dez,’ he said, ‘that’s teen-level bravado -1 was told today.’
‘But you invited the Committee members.’
‘My own teen hang-ups,’ said Lane cynically, ‘required that I ask the idiots of the Committee. You’re not included among the idiots in my mind.’
‘Nevertheless,’ smiled the older man, ‘I feel a great need to manifest an image of boldness for the benefit of all those teenage adults out there.’ He waved vaguely, taking in half the room. Still smiling, he opened the door, and went out, closing it behind him. Lane returned to his desk, and he was sitting there, frowning
to himself, striving to think of what else to do, when Scott came running in breathlessly. He laid a sheet of paper on the big desk, and pointed with a trembling forefinger at the last two lines.
The senior fleet commander gazed down at the paper without at first grasping the full meaning of what was printed there. The document, a single sheet, was a computer copy of a test flight order for Omnivulture 2681-E, Captain Peter Sennes, active flight officer, pilot, and two passengers.
The names of the passengers, as given on the last two lines’ were Susan Lane and Bud Jaeger.
What the man at the desk did not immediately grasp was the date of the flight. In fact, he glanced up at the plump, competent individual who was hovering so nervously above him, and said irritably, ‘Mr Scott, this is rather a late report. My wife could have been saved a lot of anxiety last Sunday had she known that there was a second passenger on this craft.’ He broke off, scowling: 'As for who that second passenger was, I’m astounded that we only now discover it was the Jaeger boy - ’
He was interrupted. The liaison secretary was pale. ‘Sir,’ he gasped, ‘that document does not refer to last Sunday’s flight. The report came in, and I brought it to you at once. That military craft space-lifted at nine o’clock this morning.’
The fleet commander grabbed at the paper, and with his finger traced the date: August twelve NOAD. As he gazed at it, the normal high-color of his cheeks changed a little. Slowly, then, he shrank down into his chair, and crouched there for a time looking blank. When he finally stirred, he said wearily, ‘Mr Scott.’
‘Yes, sir?'
'When Mr Reid comes, don’t mention Susan. A hard decision have to be made, and I don’t want him influenced the way I may be.’
“Very good, sir.’ Pause. Then, discreetly, 'What about Mrs Lane, Commander?’
The officer smiled wanly. “When I left the house shortly before nine o’clock, my wife believed Susan was sound asleep in her bed. Obviously’ - he tapped the paper - ‘Susan wasn’t.’ Once more he was silent. The sick expression came back. He said, ‘Please call my wife, and ask her to come down to this office.’ He added dully, ‘I think she ought to be here for whatever develops. And if by any chance we can have a few last words with our dear daughter, that privilege should not be denied her.’ He broke off, ‘Just tell her to come at once. Don’t tell her why, yet,’
Estelle actually slept several times. Twice, she got up for coffee, and then back into the bedroom she drooped. Shortly after two, it became obvious that the madness must cease. ‘After all,’ she said aloud into the shaded room, hopefully. ‘Susan will be home from school in another hour.1
Up she got, and into the living room she went, and re-resuming there her task of cleaning. After a weary while, she dragged the cleaning stuff into the den. And she was wiping the bar itself with a specially-impregnated cloth when she saw Susan’s note.
At the exact moment when Andrew Scott was phoning her, she had the den phone receiver in her hand, and was frantically button-pushing Lane’s office number. As a result Scott reported to Lane, ‘I get a busy signal, sir.’
Even as he spoke, a light blinked on the phone multiplex attached to the desk. Andrew Scott stepped discreetly forward, picked up a second receiver, pressed the lighted button, and said hello. He listened wisely, and then said, ‘I’ll see.’ He thereupon placed his palm over the mouthpiece, and said in a low voice, ‘Your wife.’
Reluctantly, his boss held out his hand for the receiver. His expression said that this wasn’t going to be easy. So, as he brought his lips near the mouthpiece, he began at once, at if he would overwhelm her. ‘Estelle, I’ve just discovered that our daughter is aboard Omnivulture with Captain Sennes. Dez and I would like you to come over here to my office. Meanwhile, I’ll call Sennes, and see what the situation is. Okay?’
At her end, the blonde woman screamed, ‘Wait!’
It was an arresting yell. Her husband jiggled a little as the sound poured into his eardrum. But he waited while she read him the note their daughter had written.
As he listened, Lane’s face and eyes tried to reject his own responsibility in what had happened. It was distinctly unfair - a horrifying coincidence, it seemed at this moment - that the aliens had somehow used Captain Senncs’s test flight routine as a means of their spy escaping from earth. But he had to get Estelle off the line, and en route, swiftly while, in fact, he did attempt to communicate with Omnivulture 2681-E.
So he said reassuringly, ‘I can’t believe that Captain Sennes would be a party to a runaway marriage with a teen-age girl. In the first place, I’ve never thought of him as a marrying man -1 ‘What’s that?’ said his wife sharply. ‘What did you say?’ There was a pause, while the man savored the meaning of his own words as they must have sounded to her. And it was not good. Before he could speak, her voice came again, savagely, “When I see you next, be prepared to have your goddamn face slapped,’ she said.
The situation was so fantastically much worse than she realised, that her husband could only grit his teeth in self-control, as he said, ‘If I deserve it, I’ll take it.’ He attempted to soothe her. ‘Now, listen, let me do what I said - phone Sennes right now, while you’re on your way over.’
‘It would be much faster if you called him/ said the woman, ‘and then phoned me right back.’
‘For God’s sake, Estelle/ yelled her husband, ‘stop arguing with me and get over here!’
He disconnected hastily, and looked up with a pale countenance at his aide. Things are going to get worse, I know, but that will do for a start.’
Andrew Scott said diplomatically, ‘Maybe the situation isn’t as bad as we fear. Maybe they are on Tombaugh, or somewhere.’ ‘Let’s not delude ourselves/ was the curt reply. ‘It’s obvious now why the enemy is moving in. They’re going to cover, and protect, and defend our beautiful Omnivulture so that little Bud escapes with his information.’
The secretary said in a formal tone, 'Commander, have I your permission to attempt to contact Captain Sennes?’
The request brought a sudden breathlessness to Lane. Naturally, he wanted to say, yes, of course, go ahead. The words wouldn’t come, because — because he didn’t want to hear what was technically obvious: that Susan was already dead. He finally managed to gulp, ‘They’re probably beyond die orbit of Mars by now.’
‘Then the communication computer will automatically use the carrier system of instant transmission via one of the orbiting stations out there. Correct?’
‘I suppose that’s true/ agreed Lane reluctantly. He sighed. ‘All right. Go ahead.’
Two things happened, then, almost at the same instant.
The corridor opened, and Desmond Reid, carrying a small suitcase, walked in. He waved at the two men, but apparently saw that they were busy. For he put up his hand, and pointed toward the conference room, and shaped his mouth to the sotto voce words: ‘Call me when you’re through.’ He strode on into the conference room, and the last Lane saw of him, he was shaking hands with Lee David.
That event was probably first by several moments.
The second thing: As the fleet commander turned his attention back to Scott, he saw that the liaison aide was holding the receiver out to him. The plumpish man said in his most imperturbable secretarial voice, ‘Captain Sennes on the line, sir.’
When Bud Jaeger arrived at the designated Omnivulture hangar, he was asked to sign in and then to sit in the adjoining waiting room. While he sat, people - all men - charged past both ways in an intermittent stream. There was the sound of many human voices, and whenever a certain door was opened, a vibration came through from whatever was beyond. The vibration was not exactly a sound, though it had sound in it. It was a feeling of power that, somehow, he had not previously experienced on earth.
The alien boy sat very still, taking it all in. Two male clerks who worked behind the grilled wickets, glanced at him periodically. Finally, one said to the other, ‘That’s the quietest kid I’ve ever seen. He hasn’t moved, or l
ifted a finger, since he sat down. What’s he scheduled for.’
The second man studied the sign-in sheet. ‘The Sennes flight
a passenger.’
The first man grinned. ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘that’s a switch for Sennes - a boy passenger. Maybe he’s getting strange in his old age.’ He added, ‘The kid is probably petrified with fear.’
They both laughed. And clearly considered the excessive boy stillness of the ‘boy’ explained.
It was not until fourteen minutes to nine that Captain Sennes arrived with a Susan breathless from last moment hurrying. ‘Whee! Bud! ’ said the girl, nervously.
‘This way,’ said Captain Sennes. He opened the door that led to the vibration, with its sense of vast open spaces.
Bud climbed to his feet, puzzled. “What are you doing here?’ he asked Susan,
‘I’ll tell you later,’ was the reply. She added, 'The ride is so great, the rest doesn’t matter.’ She was following the flight officer by the time she uttered that enigmatic sentence. Hastily, Bud set out after her.
The two young people almost literally pursued Captain Sennes through a tangle of spacecraft to where the great, sleek machine 2681-E waited for them. As Sennes assisted, first Susan and then Bud up to the in-ramp of the ship, the boy was still uncertain as to the reason for her presence. He followed Susan forward, and dutifully, on her instructions, sat down and fitted on the safety belts. But when he saw her do the same for herself, he protested, ‘You’re not going along?’
She nodded.
‘B-but you’ve already been once,’ the boy protested wildly, as if somehow that concept had a genuine meaning, as if it made sense. When the girl seemed not to accept that meaning, he added urgently, ‘Susan, wait - don’t - ’
On the other side of the girl, Captain Sennes had his earphones on, and with a dexterous twist or two, fastened himself in with the safety belts. On the great viewplate at their feet, the vaulted dome above the craft showed open.
While Bud watched in confusion, unable to decide what to do next, the vault opening appeared to come down toward them. As the flight continued, the boy hunched down into his part of the seat. He looked blank. His normally bright eyes had a partly closed slant to them. It gave them a glazed effect.
Children of Tomorrow Page 23
