One minor bobble—Hal Halsa was indignant at the idea of removing his sword. Cart intervened. “Zeb, you can’t expect a gentleman to give up his sword.”
“No room for it, Cart. Jake and I are about to stow our swords and pistols. I want him to remove all that dress junk he’s wearing too; we can’t have anything that might get loose in the cabin and bounce around. You, too, Thuv. Leave your pretties behind. Deety, Hilda—time to stow all your jewelry.”
Thuv made no fuss; she summoned Larlo, and quickly was only in dagger and belt. “That, too, Thuv.”
Her eyes widened, but she unbuckled it, handed it to Larlo. I added, “Deety has a spare coverall, a flying suit, if you want it.”
“Will I be cold without it?”
“Not at all, Thuv,” Deety called out. She was standing in the door of the car, naked as an oyster on the half shell, and as untroubled by it as Tira.
I said, “Astrogator, you and the science officer get back in there and strap down! We’re wasting time.” I turned back to the others. “Suit yourself, Thuv. Cart, Hal Halsa need not remove his sword ….”
“Good!”
“… but if he won’t, he doesn’t go. I obeyed his regulations in his ship; I expect obedience to my orders and my regulations in my ship. He can wear plain leather and one closed pouch, nothing else—or he stays behind. I regret that I have no way to stow his weapons securely. But don’t tell him that. Tell him what else I said and don’t soften it. No apologies, no explanations. I run a taut ship and require instant, unquestioning obedience. Tell him so.”
Cart must have let him have it straight; he was brief. The old warrior straightened himself to full attention, barked one phrase I recognized. It was equivalent to “Aye aye, sir.” Or “Roger Wilco.” He then barked a longer phrase toward his guardsmen: an officer answered and a soldier came running over. In twenty seconds, Hal Halsa was wearing plain leather, no weapons.
Mobyas Toras didn’t give a hoot, he was simply impatient to go. His leather was plain anyhow and he wore nothing but a short sword; he unbuckled it and put it on the ground. Cart picked it up, said something—promised to care for it, I suppose.
“One last instruction, Cart. Surround this ship with your guard. Nothing and no one is to go inside that ring of soldiers until return. That means you and the jeddara—no exceptions, no excuses, not even for one instant. I saw a sorak aboard your flagship; it should be locked up. Cart, if you value the life of your wife, you will do this exactly.”
“It will be done. May I ask why?”
“It would cause a tremendous explosion. I can’t take time to explain why, but it would kill everyone in my chariot, destroy the chariot, and kill or badly wound anyone nearby. But if nothing enters that locus, I’ll deliver your princess back to you safe and sound.” (Or I’ll be dead, too, pal—but let’s not talk about that.)
“Nothing will enter it. I have spoken.”
“All hands, man the ship! Thuvia, get your charges inside.”
“Zeb.” Cart’s voice sounded plaintive.
“Yeah, Cart? I’m busy. Better get your guard in place.”
“I will at once—but how did you summon your ship?”
“Oh. I didn’t. Deety did.”
“Deety! But she was with us.”
“Station your guard, man. I’ll give it to you in ten words, just before I close the doors and leave.” I went around to the port side, found Jake waiting, saw that while Hal Halsa had figured out the safety belts, Thuv was having heavy weather getting the old man and herself adjusted. They were strapped in but the diagonal belt was across her left breast—obviously uncomfortable, could be painful if I had to wrassle Gay. I worked at readjusting it, felt a touch on my arm. Hal Halsa had removed one shoulder strap from borrowed harness, was offering it. “Tell him ‘thank you,’ Thuv—we can use it. And, Thuv, once those doors are closed, you are no longer a princess; you are the lowest-ranking crew member, in charge of passengers and photography.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“You forgot to stick out your tongue, dear.”
“Like Deety?” She giggled, and stuck out her tongue at me.
“That’s just like Deety. She obeys me—when she must. But she reminds me that things will be different, later. And so they will be. When those doors open, you’ll be a princess again.”
“I think I like being a crew member. Being a princess can be dull.”
“Less chatter, please.” I got them comfortable, Mobyas Toras with an arm around Thuv and she with both hands free for photography. I checked Hal Halsa, found that his waist strap was too tight; I loosened it until it was firm but safe, got into my own seat, started strapping down. Shoes? Hadn’t worn ’em lately; they were stowed. But my feet were cold. “Copilot, where are your specs?”
“Eh? Captain, I haven’t worn them lately.” He opened the glove compartment, got out his bifocals case. “I don’t think I need them.”
“Check and see. If you don’t read those verniers correctly, we can all be mighty sorry—or worse.”
“Yes, Captain. Uh, I see better without them. Dear me!”
“So re-stow them but keep them handy.” I saw that Cart had the guard positioned. “Oh, Cart! Here a moment, please!” I added, “All hands check all around you for loose gear of any sort. Astrogator, get out five Bonine pills, one for science officer, three for Thuv and passengers, one for copilot. Thuv, these pills are to be chewed and swallowed, no argument permitted or that passenger gets out. Would have done it earlier if Hal Halsa hadn’t yakked. Hi, Cart. Stick your head in. Hello, Gay.”
“Zeb, dear—I’ve missed you, darling.” (Hilda had put her best bedroom tones into that one—but why did the durn thing have to pop up now? Could the gals have rigged it on me? No, impossible! Or was it?)
I ignored it. “That’s how Deety summoned the ship, Cart.”
He looked startled. “You have a woman hidden in there?”
“An automatic pilot, different from the sort you use. Go back and study the copies of the manual I left with you. Machinery, Cart, remotely controlled by wireless. Deety was waiting back aft and wearing a wireless concealed in her ornaments. When I signaled Deety—I did, with one word, intended not to be noticed—when I said, ‘Now,’ Deety ordered this sky chariot to move to this spot. Think about it; your technologists can do the same, if they study it. Useful for killing aliens—or other enemies. Thuv, make sure that both passengers get full translations. Cart, if you’re ready, get back of your guard line and stay there—we’re leaving.”
Cart muttered, “Wireless!” and trotted toward his encircling warriors.
“Gay Deceiver, close your doors. All hands, report safety belts fastened and pills chewed and swallowed. Science Officer.”
“Strapped down, Cap’n Zebbie, and I took my medicine.”
“Astrogator.”
“Strapped down, Captain. I wasn’t told to take one.”
“Photographic Officer, report passengers and self.”
“Captain, you checked our straps; we haven’t changed them. All three of us chewed and swallowed our pills. Hal Halsa says they taste good—I think so, too—and asks what they are for.”
“They prevent sickness from motions in flying.”
“I told him I thought that might be it. He and I don’t need them. Perhaps Mobyas Toras does.”
“I couldn’t be sure. They’re harmless. No more unnecessary chatter to captain or copilot. You may talk with anyone else. Copilot, report.”
“Belts fastened, door seal checked, Captain.”
I handed Jake a schedule I had been writing while we ran through the checklist. “Read this. Any questions must not use words that might trigger automatic pilot. Then post it above verniers.” I checked the portside door seal. “Left door sealed, check-off complete. Photography Officer, be ready to photograph on command.”
Jake said, “The schedule is clear, Captain. It is more than I expected.”
“Might as well go the scenic rou
te, Jake. Any questions?”
“Do I do numbers three and five?”
“No, I give the oral ones. Corrections; if I am disabled, or you see danger, order number five without hesitation. And be sure that you are set up to do number four before I order number three. But don’t execute number four until I order it. Unless you spot danger—in which case, order number five at once. Understood?”
“Follow routine except to escape danger, Captain.”
“Set first transition and report ready.”
“H-axis, upward, fifty times minimum transition, or five hundred kilometers—set. Ready.”
“Execute.”
I ignored the gasps—sunlight to starry sky does that. “Thuvia, you’ll shoot—photograph—between our heads when I order it.” I was tilting my baby’s nose down by her space controls. The planet under us swung into view—more gasps—and I aimed her nose down to Helium, easy to spot and beautiful. “Picture!”
“I think I got it. I hope I got it.” Her voice trembled.
“You probably did. Have Hal Halsa hold it, by the edges. Tell him to watch for pictures to appear.” I was leveling off. “Ready, Copilot?”
“H-axis, upward, one thousand minimum, or three by vernier. Ten thousand kilometers, set. Ready.”
“Execute!” I turned her nose down again; the whole planet swung into view. “Thuvia, can you get all of Barsoom into your view finder?” I held Gay Deceiver steady for her.
Her voice was very shaky. “I think so, Captain.”
“Shall I go higher?”
“I can see it all—but my hands tremble!”
“Can you stretch forward enough to steady it on the head rest? I’ll duck my head out of the way.”
“I think so. Yes, I can.”
“Picture!” At ten thousand klicks, plenty of time— “Copilot, the next one is mine … but get number four set up. We’ll try for one picture. Thuvia, is your first one beginning to show a picture? Ask Hal Halsa.”
“One moment …. Yes, it is! Captain, it’s beautiful!”
“It’ll be sharper soon.”
“Captain,” said Deety, “can we loosen these straps? Even though the door is dogged open and by twisting our necks all we can, we can’t see much.”
“Permission denied. You’ve seen all this before; this trip is for our passengers. Don’t twist your necks, lie flat. That is not a request, it’s an order. I may have to take evasive tactics; I don’t want broken necks. Thuvia, warn the passengers. Astrogator, what time is it in Snug Harbor?”
“ ‘Snug Harbor’?”
“Or Greenwich, if you prefer. I’m using you to check G. D.’s chronometer; my watch is still put away. Reminds me—did Kach like his watch? I can’t read his expression—and he would have thanked you just as much for a burnt match.”
“I didn’t know green giants could shed tears. They can.”
“Number four ready, Captain,” Jake reported quietly.
“Keep your thumb near the button. Deety, can’t you give me a time check?”
“Snug Harbor is sixteen-sixteen in the afternoon. Greenwich is twenty-three sixteen.”
“Good time to hunt rangers. G. D. says you’re thirty seconds slow.”
“You tell her that I say she’s thirty seconds fast!”
“Tell her yourself, later. Right now she’s on duty. Thuvia, is the second picture coming out?”
“Yes, ‘Captain.’ Uh, I … I’m glad I ate that little pink sweet—I’m almost too excited.”
“Almost hit me in the tummy, the first time, dear,” I lied. “And I’ve been flying all my life. Let me know whether or not the second picture is sharp. I’ll use one more film if it isn’t—but I’ll take it myself. Ask your passengers whether or not they’ve seen enough. I’m in no hurry, but we’ve got a lot of people waiting—including your undoubtedly worried husband.”
I paused during a few moments of words I didn’t know.
“They both admit—reluctantly—that they’ve seen all they can see. The second picture is quite sharp … to my surprise.”
“Not to mine, I’ve got a good photography officer. Gay Deceiver, take us home!”
Instantly, we were two klicks over Snug Harbor. I got her under control, dead-stick, and pointed her nose down. “Picture!”
Thuvia gasped, but her camera clicked.
“Jake! As I come level”—I tried to pull her wings off—but Gay Deceiver is sturdy—“Execute!”
We were a hundred thousand kilometers above Earth—and I was nervous. “Thuvia, be ready—you’ll get just one chance. Jake, watch the board for missiles; I’ll watch outside.”
“Ready for picture! Where are we, Captain?”
“That’s Earth—Jasoom. Tell them. Picture!”
“Got it!”
“Let me know when it shows.” I carefully kept my voice steady. I was scared silly, but not rationally. Even a Sprint missile can’t go a hundred thousand kilometers fast enough to reach us—plus reaction time to decide that we were a target. Probably we were on some screen at NORAD … but merely as an unidentified flying object, not in an attack trajectory—so forget it! An armed satellite might be close—but not inside Gay’s extreme radar range—no hazard. It was those damned aliens that made me jittery—continua craft of some sort and I didn’t know what sort or what they could do … and those ugly monsters reacted fast and unexpectedly.
“Picture is showing, Captain. Your passengers want to know: is that really Jasoom? Earth.”
“Tell ’em to show it to the Warlord; he’ll identify it. Thuvia, I can see Virginia—it’s an unusually clear day.”
Jake said quickly but quietly, “Captain, something just showed on radar. Bottom display.”
“Gay Deceiver—Bug Out!”
We were parked in the Bay of Blood. I re-swallowed all my guts and said, “You’re a Smart Girl, Gay.”
“Boss, I’ll bet you tell that to all the girls. Over.”
“Over and out, Gay. Copilot, open your door manually.” I opened the portside door. “All passengers disembark. Princess Thuvia, I have been greatly honored to have you as such an efficient crew member; tell your husband so—and here he comes. All hands, prepare for space. Secure everything aft, take your usual seats and strap down.”
“Captain,” Deety said heart-brokenly, “Can’t we have just a few minutes? We’ve been gone only sixteen minutes.”
“G. D.’s chronometer says seventeen minutes.”
“I told you she was slow!”
“Deety, if you get out, you’ll be kissing everybody goodbye again.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Takes time. No.”
Hilda said sweetly, “Cap’n Zebbie, may I call you ‘Captain Bligh’?”
“Go ahead, Science Officer—but I feel more like ‘Kapitan Vanderdecken’—I repeat: all hands, prepare to lift!”
I don’t have much authority on the ground with the doors open. Not one of my ill-sorted crew flatly refused, and Jake said nothing. But Cart was so excited he could hardly speak English and wanted to talk to me—and so did the jeddara.
So I unstrapped, told the others they could get out—but to stay close; this was only for five minutes!
“Zeb!” blurted out Cart. “Hal Halsa says you’ve been all the way to Jasoom! Earth, I mean. Earth-Ten, I mean ….”
“No. Earth-Zero. Ten universes away. Where your father came from. And all of us four.”
“You never said you were going that far.”
“You didn’t ask. You wanted Hal Halsa and Mobyas Toras to see what a continua craft could do; I showed them. What are you complaining about, blood brother? I told you I would bring your princess back safely; I did. We weren’t gone long.”
“I know you weren’t; that’s why it’s so hard to believe.”
“Cart, if you’re going to use continua craft, you’ll have to practice believing seven impossible things before breakfast. Hilda, honey, can you lay hands on your stereo viewer? We’ve
got an unbeliever on our hands.”
Thuv had done a good job; every picture was sharp and properly framed—in spite of buck fever, which can hit anyone—you should see the blurry shots I got camera-hunting lion in Africa.
Jake’s viewer not only turns paired frames into stereo; it enlarges 4x. “That one, Cart, is the crater of a small atomic bomb—where Jake’s mountain home in Arizona used to be. The Panki did it, only a little over a zode after Jake and I killed that Pankera Hilda dissected. That bomb missed us only by moments. See this one—North and South America. North America spang in the middle. A clear day and Thuv is a natural artist with a camera. If you look closely you’ll make out a big bay on the east coast. Chesapeake Bay. From there west runs Virginia, my birthplace and where your father comes from.”
“I recognize it. My father, your cousin, painted a map; it matches. I have to believe.”
Thuv was nearby, talking with Hal Halsa, Mobyas Toras, and her mother-in-law, confirming their excited report. She had resumed belt and dagger, hadn’t yet bothered with more. Hal Halsa was again wearing sword, but still wore the leather of a common warrior—Mobyas Toras had not yet put on even that propriety.
Thuv said smugly, “My chieftain, you had better believe! Zeb, Mobyas Toras asks me to tell you that, now that he understands it, he is sure that there is a simpler method without gyroscopes. But, so he claims, gyroscopes of proper quality are no problem, either. He intends to put our best scientists to work on both methods.”
“Thuv, I wouldn’t understand either one. I’m just the pilot.”
“You are more than ‘just a pilot,’ Senior Cousin and Captain.”
Thuvia’s report made it almost impossible to drag Jake away—he started spouting pidgin to Mobyas Toras.
Nevertheless, in a half hour I managed to herd my motley gang aboard. “All hands, report readiness.” My mouth still tasted of Thuv, Dej’, and Tira—the flavors blended nicely. Deety may have kissed everyone again—she tried. So did Hilda. My sword hand was crushed and my shoulder bruised from Hal Halsa’s farewell, with a translated word to me that he and I, together, would destroy all Panki vermin everywhere. I agreed, not believing it—but certain now that every Pankera on Barsoom (if any) was in for a rough time. All in all, I felt that we had repaid our hosts.
The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel About Parallel Universes Page 37
