“More coffee… there. Well, for five years now I’ve gone with you from Keep to Keep, waiting every time you went off to war, wondering if you’d come back, knowing that I was just a part of your life, but—I sometimes thought—the most important part. Soldiering’s seventy-five percent. I’m the other quarter. I think you need that quarter—you need the whole thing, in that proportion, actually. You could find another woman, but she’d have to be willing to take twenty-five percent.”
Scott didn’t answer. Jeana blew smoke through her nostrils.
“O.K., Brian. I’ll wait.”
“It isn’t the girl so much. She happens to fit into the pattern of what I want. You—”
“I’d never be able to fit that pattern,” Jeana said softly. “The Free Companions need women who are willing to be soldiers’ wives. Free-wives, if you like. Chiefly it’s a matter of not being too demanding. But there are other things. No, Brian. Even if you wanted that, I couldn’t make myself over into one of the Keep people. It wouldn’t be me. I wouldn’t respect myself, living a life that’d be false to me; and you wouldn’t like me that way either. I couldn’t and wouldn’t change. I’ll have to stay as I am. A soldier’s wife. As long as you’re a Dooneman, you’ll need me. But if you change—” She didn’t finish.
Scott lit a cigarette, scowling. “It’s hard to know, exactly.”
“I may not understand you, but I don’t ask questions and I don’t try to change you. As long as you want that, you can have it from me. I’ve nothing else to offer you. It’s enough for a Free Companion. It’s not enough—or too much—for a Keep-dweller.”
“I’ll miss you,” he said.
“That’ll depend, too. I’ll miss you.” Under the table her fingers writhed together, but her face did not change. “It’s getting late. Here, let me check your chronometer.” Jeana leaned across the table, lifted Scott’s wrist, and compared his watch with the central-time clock on the wall. “O.K. On your way, soldier.”
Scott stood up, tightening his belt. He bent to kiss Jeana, and, though she began to turn her face away, after a moment she raised her lips to his.
They didn’t speak. Scott went out quickly, and the girl sat motionless, the cigarette smoldering out unheeded between her fingers. Somehow it did not matter so much, now, that Brian was leaving her for another woman and another life. As always, the one thing of real importance was that he was going into danger.
Guard him from harm, she thought, not knowing that she was praying. Guard him from harm!
And now there would be silence, and waiting. That, at least, had not changed. Her eyes turned to the clock.
Already the minutes were longer.
III.
‘E’s the kind of a giddy harumfrodite—soldier an’ sailor too!
—Kipling
Commander Bienne was superintending the embarkation of the last Dooneman when Scott arrived at headquarters. He saluted the captain briskly, apparently untired by his night’s work of handling the transportation routine.
“All checked, sir.”
Scott nodded. “Good. Is Cinc Rhys here?”
“He just arrived.” Bienne nodded toward a door-curtain. As Scott moved away, the other followed.
“What’s up, commander?”
Bienne pitched his voice low. “Bronson’s laid up with endemic fever.” He forgot to say “sir.” “He was to handle the left wing of the fleet. I’d appreciate that job.”
“I’ll see if I can do it.”
Bienne’s lips tightened, but he said nothing more. He turned back to his men, and Scott went on into the Cinc’s office. Rhys was at the telaudio. He looked up, his eyes narrowed.
“Morning, captain. I’ve just heard from Mendez.”
“Yes, sir?”
“He’s still holding out for a fifty percent cut on the korium ransom from Virginia Keep. You’ll have to see him. Try and get the Mob for less than fifty if you can. Telaudio me from Mendez’s fort.”
“Check, sir.”
“Another thing. Bronson’s in sick bay.”
“I heard that. If I may suggest Commander Bienne to take his place at left-wing command—”
But Cinc Rhys raised his hand. “Not this time. We can’t afford individualism. The commander tried to play a lone hand in the last war. You know we can’t risk it till he’s back in line—thinking of the Doones instead of Fredric Bienne.”
“He’s a good man, sir. A fine strategist.”
“But not yet a good integrating factor. Perhaps next time. Put Commander Geer on the left wing. Keep Bienne with you. He needs discipline. And—take a flitterboat to Mendez.”
“Not a plane?”
“One of the technicians just finished a new tight-beam camouflager for communications. I’m having it installed immediately on all our planes and gliders. Use the boat; it isn’t far to the Mob’s fort—that long peninsula on the coast of Southern Hell.”
Even on the charts that continent was named Hell—for obvious reasons. Heat was only one of them. And, even with the best equipment, a party exploring the jungle there would soon find itself suffering the tortures of the damned. On the land of Venus, flora and fauna combined diabolically to make the place uninhabitable to Earthmen. Many of the plants even exhaled poisonous gases. Only the protected coastal forts of the Free Companies could exist—and that was because they were forts.
Cinc Rhys frowned at Scott. “We’ll use H-plan 7 if we can get the Mob. Otherwise we’ll have to fall back on another outfit, and I don’t want to do that. The Helldivers have too many subs, and we haven’t enough detectors. So do your damnedest.”
Scott saluted. “I’ll do that, sir.” Rhys waved him away, and he went out into the next room, finding Commander Bienne alone. The officer turned an inquiring look toward him.
“Sorry,” Scott said. “Geer gets the left-wing command this time.”
Bienne’s sour face turned dark red. “I’m sorry I didn’t take a crack at you before mobilization,” he said. “You hate competition, don’t you?”
Scott’s nostrils flared. “If it had been up to me, you’d have got that command, Bienne.”
“Sure. I’ll bet. All right, captain. Where’s my bunk? A flitterboat?”
“You’ll be on right wing, with me. Control ship Flintlock.”
“With you. Under you, you mean,” Bienne said tightly. His eyes were blazing. “Yeah.”
Scott’s dark cheeks were flushed too. “Orders, commander,” he snapped. “Get me a flitterboat pilot. I’m going topside.”
Without a word Bienne turned to the telaudio. Scott, a tight, furious knot in his stomach, stamped out of headquarters, trying to fight down his anger. Bienne was a jackass. A lot he cared about the Doones—
Scott caught himself and grinned sheepishly. Well, he cared little about the Doones himself. But while he was in the Company, discipline was important—integration with the smoothly running fighting machine. No place for individualism. One thing he and Bienne had in common; neither had any sentiment about the Company.
He took a lift to the ceiling of the Dome. Beneath him Montana Keep dropped away, shrinking to doll size. Somewhere down there, he thought, was Ilene. He’d be back. Perhaps this war would be a short one—not that they were ever much longer than a week, except in unusual cases where a Company developed new strategies.
He was conducted through an air lock into a bubble, a tough, transparent sphere with a central vertical core through which the cable ran. Except for Scott, the bubble was empty. After a moment it started up with a slight jar. Gradually the water outside the curving walls changed from black to deep green, and thence to translucent chartreuse. Sea creatures were visible, but they were nothing new to Scott; he scarcely saw them.
The bubble broke surface. Since air pressure had been constant, there was no possibility of the bends, and Scott opened the panel and stepped out on one of the buoyant floats that dotted the water above Montana Keep. A few sightseers crowded into the chamber he had left, and
presently it was drawn down, out of sight,
In the distance Free Companions were embarking from a larger float to an air ferry. Scott glanced up with a weather eye. No storm, he saw, though the low ceiling was, as usual, torn and twisted into boiling currents by the winds. He remembered, suddenly, that the battle would probably take place over Venus Deep. That would make it somewhat harder for the gliders—there would be few of the thermals found, for instance, above the Sea of Shallows here.
A flitterboat, low, fast, and beautifully maneuverable, shot in toward the quay. The pilot flipped back the overhead shell and saluted Scott. It was Norman Kane, looking shipshape in his tight-fitting gray uniform, and apparently ready to grin at the slightest provocation.
Scott jumped lightly down into the craft and seated himself beside the pilot. Kane drew the transparent shell back over them. He looked at Scott.
“Orders, captain?”
“Know where the Mob’s fort is? Good. Head there. Fast.”
Kane shot the flitterboat out from the float with a curtain of v-shaped spray rising from the bow. Drawing little water, maneuverable, incredibly fast, these tiny craft were invaluable in naval battle. It was difficult to hit one, they moved so fast: They had no armor to slow them down. They carried high-explosive bullets fired from small-caliber guns, and were, as a rule, two-man craft. They complemented the heavier ordnance of the battlewagons and destroyers.
Scott handed Kane a cigarette. The boy hesitated.
“We’re not under fire,” the captain chuckled. “Discipline clamps down during a battle, but it’s O. K. for you to have a smoke with me. Here!” He lit the white tube for Kane.
“Thanks, sir. I guess I’m a bit—over-anxious?”
“Well, war has its rules. Not many, but they mustn’t be broken.” Both men were silent for a while, watching the blank gray surface of the ocean ahead. A transport plane passed them, flying low.
“Is Ilene Kane your sister?” Scott asked presently.
Kane nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Thought so. If she’d been a man, I imagine she’d have been a Free Companion.”
The boy shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. She doesn’t have the—I don’t know. She’d consider it too much effort. She doesn’t like discipline.”
“Do you?”
“It’s fighting that’s important to me. Sir.” That was an afterthought. “Winning, really.”
“You can lose a battle even though you win it,” Scott said rather somberly.
“Well, I’d rather be a Free Companion than do anything else I know of. Not that I’ve had much experience—”
“You’ve had experience of war with Starling’s outfit, but you probably learned some dangerous stuff at the same time. War isn’t swashbuckling piracy these days. If the Doones tried to win battles by that sort of thing, there’d be no more Doones in a week or so.”
“But—” Kane hesitated. “Isn’t that sort of thing rather necessary? Taking blind chances, I mean—”
“There are desperate chances,” Scott told him, “but there are no blind chances in war—not to a good soldier. When I was green in the service, I ran a cruiser out of the line to ram. I was demoted, for a very good reason. The enemy ship I rammed wasn’t as important to the enemy as our cruiser was to us. If I’d stayed on course, I’d have helped sink three or four ships instead of disabling one and putting my cruiser out of action. It’s the great god integration we worship, Kane. It’s much more important now than it ever was on Earth, because the military has consolidated. Army, navy, air, undersea—they’re all part of one organization now. I suppose the only important change was in the air.”
“Gliders, you mean? I knew powered planes couldn’t be used in battle.”
“Not in the atmosphere of Venus,” Scott agreed. “Once powered planes get up in the cloud strata, they’re fighting crosscurrents and pockets so much they’ve got no time to do accurate firing. If they’re armored, they’re slow. If they’re light, detectors can spot them and antiaircraft can smash them. Unpowered gliders are valuable not for bombing but for directing attacks. They get into the clouds, stay hidden, and use infrared tele-cameras which are broadcast on a tight beam back to the control ships. They’re the eyes of the fleet. They can tell us—White water ahead, Kane! Swerve!”
The pilot had already seen the ominous boiling froth foaming out in front of the bow. Instinctively he swung the flitterboat in a wrenching turn. The craft heeled sidewise, throwing its occupants almost out of their seats.
“Sea beast?” Scott asked, and answered his own question. “No, not with those spouts. It’s volcanic. And it’s spreading fast.”
“I can circle it, sir,” Kane suggested.
Scott shook his head. “Too dangerous. Backtrack.”
Obediently the boy sent the flitterboat racing out of the area of danger. Scott had been right about the extent of the danger; the boiling turmoil was widening almost faster than the tiny ship could flee. Suddenly the line of white water caught up with them. The flitterboat jounced like a chip, the wheel being nearly torn from Kane’s grip. Scott reached over and helped steady it. Even with two men handling the wheel, there was a possibility that it might wrench itself free. Steam rose in veils beyond the transparent shell. The water had turned a scummy brown under the froth.
Kane jammed on the power. The flitterboat sprang forward like a ricocheting bullet, dancing over the surface of the seething waves. Once they plunged head-on into a swell, and a screaming of outraged metal vibrated through the craft. Kane, tight-lipped, instantly slammed in the auxiliary, cutting out the smashed motor unit. Then, unexpectedly, they were in clear water, cutting back toward Montana Keep.
Scott grinned. “Nice handling. Lucky you didn’t try to circle. We’d never have made it.”
“Yes, sir.” Kane took a deep breath. His eyes were bright with excitement.
“Circle now. Here.” He thrust a lighted cigarette between the boy’s lips. “You’ll be a good Dooneman, Kane. Your reactions are good and fast.”
“Thanks, sir.”
Scott smoked silently for a while. He glanced toward the north, but, with the poor visibility, he could not make out the towering range of volcanic peaks that were the backbone of Southern Hell. Venus was a comparatively young planet, the internal fires still bursting forth unexpectedly. Which was why no forts were ever built on islands—they had an unhappy habit of disappearing without warning!
The flitterboat rode hard, at this speed, despite the insulating system of springs and shock absorbers. After a ride in one of these “spankers”—the irreverent name the soldiers had for them—a man needed arnica if not a chiropractor. Scott shifted his weight on the soft air cushions under him, which felt like cement.
Under his breath he hummed:
“It ain’t the ‘eavy ‘aulin’ that ‘urts the ‘arses’ ‘oofs,
It’s the ‘ammer, ‘ammer, ‘ammer on the ‘ard ‘ighway!”
The flitterboat scooted on, surrounded by monotonous sea and cloud, till finally the rampart of the coast grew before the bow, bursting suddenly from the fog-veiled horizon. Scott glanced at his chronometer and sighed with relief. They had made good time, in spite of the slight delay caused by the subsea volcano.
The fortress of the Mob was a huge metal and stone castle on the tip of the peninsula. The narrow strip that separated it from the mainland had been cleared, and the pockmarks of shell craters showed where guns had driven back onslaughts from the jungle—the reptilian, ferocious giants of Venus, partially intelligent but absolutely untractable because of the gulf that existed between their methods of thinking and the culture of mankind. Overtures had been made often enough; but it had been found that the reptile-folk were better left alone. They would not parley. They were blindly bestial savages, with whom it was impossible to make truce. They stayed in the jungle, emerging only to hurl furious attacks at the forts—attacks doomed to failure, since fang and talon were matched against lead-jacketed bullet and high explos
ive.
As the flitterboat shot in to a jetty, Scott kept his eyes straight ahead—it was not considered good form for a Free Companion to seem too curious when visiting the fort of another Company. Several men were on the quay, apparently waiting for him. They saluted as Scott stepped out of the boat.
He gave his name and rank. A corporal stepped forward.
“Cinc Mendez is expecting you, sir. Cinc Rhys telaudioed an hour or so back. If you’ll come this way—”
“All right, corporal. My pilot—”
“He’ll be taken care of, sir. A rubdown and a drink, perhaps, after a spanker ride.”
Scott nodded and followed the other into the bastion that thrust out from the overhanging wall of the fort. The sea gate was open, and he walked swiftly through the courtyard in the corporal’s wake, passing a door-curtain, mounting an escalator, and finding himself, presently, before another curtain that bore the face of Cinc Mendez, plump, hoglike, and bald as a bullet.
Entering, he saw Mendez himself at the head of a long table, where nearly a dozen officers of the Mob were also seated. In person Mendez was somewhat more prepossessing than in effigy. He looked like a boar rather than a pig—a fighter, not a gourmand. His sharp black eyes seemed to drive into Scott with the impact of a physical blow.
He stood up, his officers following suit. “Sit down, captain. There’s a place at the foot of the table. No reflections on rank, but I prefer to be face to face with the man I’m dealing with. But first—you just arrived? If you’d like a quick rubdown, we’ll be glad to wait.”
Scott took his place. “Thank you, no, Cinc Mendez. I’d prefer not to lose time.”
“Then we’ll waste none on introductions. However, you can probably stand a drink.” He spoke to the orderly at the door, and presently a filled glass stood at Scott’s elbow.
His quick gaze ran along the rows of faces. Good soldiers, he thought—tough, well trained, and experienced. They had been under fire. A small outfit, the Mob, but a powerful one.
The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology Page 25
