“I agree,” I said. I unbuckled myself. “I’ll be back in a little while. Call me if something weird happens.” “Will do,” Kohn said. He began punching up the memory comp’s core. The comp held all the data on all the Central’s exploratory surveys for the last sixty years. A good thing to have around, if some sort of emergency happens to you in Warp.
It would take Kohn some time to find out just exactly where we were and a little longer to discover nearby planet which we could use as a base. There was more than likely one around, but it would be nice to have a planet where we wouldn’t need our suits.
I went back and found Renate still looking around, slightly confused. She was struggling with her straps.
“Take it easy,” I said. “Don’t worry about the straps. You might as well keep them on. We’ll be landing soon.”
“What happened?” she asked. “Why did we come out of Warp so fast?”
“Well,” I said, deciding to be truthful with her, “it seems as if the police of Firelight want you back.” “What do you mean?”
“Well, they sent a couple of Cruisers after us, and when we were in Warp, they fired a torpedo at us.” “What?” she asked, surprised. “But why?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But it seems to me they want you really bad. There’s no rational reason why they should. But, anyway, the torpedo hit us, and we sustained some sort of damage.”
“How bad?” she asked, suddenly frightened.
“Not bad,” I cautioned her. “We’re fine, it’s just the Warp engines. They’re overheating.”
“Is that bad?”
“Well,” I explained, “Yes. It means that the Warp engines were damaged, or the comp controlling them was, and if they overheat too much, they will explode.” “Fripp,” Kohn’s voice came over the intercom. “Get back here. We’re in luck.”
“I’ll be back in a little while,” I said to Renate. I wondered if Renate would ever get that chance to ride in the pilot’s chair. I hoped so.
“What is it?” I asked as I walked past Kohn to my chair.
“Well,” he explained as I strapped in, “there’s a type G planet nearby. It was marked for settlement, but no one has claimed it yet.”
“Great,” I said. “Well, at least we won’t have to wear the suits. What’s the planet’s name?”
“Green,” Kohn said.
“What?” I said. “What a funny name. What kind of planet is it?”
“It’s a jungle world,” Kohn said. “Maybe that’s the reason no one’s claimed it yet. From the survey report, the entire planet seems to be jungle, even though there are a few plains near the poles. The plains are tundra, though. We can’t land there. We’ll have to hunt for clearings.”
“Must be near its sun,” I mumbled under my breath. I slipped my helmet on. “Okay, give me its coordinates.”
Kohn gave them to me and I checked the comp. It told me we’d only need to spend about two minutes in Warp to get close enough to land on Green. I didn’t think the engines would overheat too much in that time.
“Oh, and one other thing,” Kohn said as we began to countdown.
“What?” I asked. I snapped in the drive comp. I hoped I wouldn’t be needed when we slipped into Warp, but I wasn’t sure just how badly the torpedo had messed up Warp near us.
“The Cruisers have Warped out near Green,” he said. “I think they’ve sustained damage, too.”
“I hope their damn ships crash,” I snarled. “Okay, here we go.”
WARP!
It only lasted two minutes, but I was worried a couple of times. The torpedo, and all the crazy things the police had done looking for us in Warp, had really set things twirling. I knew Firelight would be off-limits for all transport in a couple of days. The whirlpool that was forming near it would be a nasty one. I wondered how long it would last. There was no way of telling. Sometimes, whirlpools last only a few hours, but other times, they can last for months. I had the feeling the people on Firelight wouldn’t like being without all of the supplies the Union and Cargo Haulers brought in to them for a couple of months, but it was what they deserved for having police as nutty as they had.
Green was aptly named. The planet was a big, green ball as we fell toward it on main drive. We would be landing soon, and I was glad. Even though the time in Warp hadn’t been long, the Warp engines had gotten fairly hot. I hoped it was nothing more serious than a malfunction of the comp that monitored the proper coolant levels. But it would take some time to locate the spot where the foul-up was occurring. I just hoped the comp itself hadn’t been destroyed. We didn’t have any spares.
I had told Renate what was going on via the intercom in the room. I maneuvered the ship closer to Green, and finally put her down near the dawn side of the planet. It would give us a local day to see if we could find the trouble with the ship and repair it. I doubted we would be so lucky. It would more than likely take some time.
As we were landing, I noted, much to my chagrin, the police cruisers were about two miles from where we were landing. They were in a tiny clearing, and as we landed in our small clearing, I was glad the planet was mostly jungle. It would keep the police from venturing our way too fast. They were more than likely busy with their own problems. At least, I hoped they were.
The ship shuddered down on its landing struts. I cut the main drive and let them growl down to silence before unstrapping myself. I stretched a little, and got to my feet. I shrugged as I faced Kohn.
“Sorry, I didn’t know the police were there until we were too low to change,” I said.
“I knew they were there,” Kohn said.
“You did?” I asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought one of us could talk to them and find out what that business on Firelight and Warp was all about,” he explained.
“I don’t think they’ll be in any explaining mood,” I said. “I imagine they’re in a ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ mood.”
“Nonsense,” Kohn chided. “They were damaged in Warp, and they might need our help. After all, if they’re as stupid about space travel as they seem to be, they don’t have anyone on board who can help them repair their ships.” '
“Don’t count on it,” I said. “I imagine their pilots are okay. It’s just the groundhog leader on the ship that doesn’t know anything.”
“Let’s go talk to Renate before we start troubleshooting,” Kohn suggested. “Maybe we can find out something about her background that will give us a clue.”
“I doubt it,” I said. “I’ve already asked.”
“Well, it never hurts to have a second opinion,” he said.
“Are you implying that I might have missed something when I talked to her?”
“I’m not implying anything,” Kohn said, a wicked smile creasing his lips. “I mean exactly what I say.”
“I thought so,” I said.
We unstrapped Renate, and she was glad to get to her feet. She brushed some of her hair from her eyes, and then sat down on the floor as I put away the chair. I didn’t bother to bring out the couch. It was too small for the three of us.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “that I’m causing you so much trouble.”
“Don’t mention it,” I said. “It’s not your fault the police are stupid.”
“He’s right,” Kohn said. “Are you sure, though, there isn’t something your original captors said that
would have given you a clue about their actions?” “No,” Renate explained. She looked thoughtful as she recalled the kidnapping. “No, they said they were ' just after the money. They said my father had enough of it to burn.”
“That doesn’t help,” Kohn said softly. He rubbed his jaw as he thought. I didn’t like his look when he glanced at me.
“What is it?” I asked. “I know you’ve got something in mind for me. What is it?”
“I told you,” he said. “We need someone to go and talk to the police.”
“Why me?” I asked.
“
You’re the only one who could escape if they capture you. Renate is who they want,” Kohn explained. “Besides, you’re no help in troubleshooting. You keep getting sidetracked. I’ll find the trouble sooner if you’re not around. You don’t have to walk up to them and ask, you know. You have your ways.”
“I know that,” I said. “But I don’t like the way they shoot and ask questions later.”
“All police are like that,” Kohn said. “Especially if they’re getting some sort of pressure from up above.” “Which they obviously are,” I added. I sighed and got to my feet. “Okay, I’ll go and scout around first. If I can find one of them wandering around by himself, I’ll see what I can discover. I don’t promise anything.”
“I wouldn’t trust you if you did,” Kohn said with a grin.
I grinned back. Kohn knew I’d do my best. I also knew he was right. I wasn’t that good in troubleshooting. Kohn seemed to have a talent in that direction, but not me. I usually started going for the complicated reasons for something to fail, not the usual, simple reasons, like burned out wiring, or safety devices still activated.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Renate asked me.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “Don’t worry.”
“If you’re not back in 24 hours, we’ll have to assume the worse,” Kohn said.
I walked toward the shaft.
“Oh, another thing,” Kohn said. I waited. “This is a jungle world,” he continued. “Watch out for the native predators.”
“Thanks,” I said, “for the warning.”
I pressed the grav shield button and stepped off. I floated down to the main hatch, got out the ladder, and clambered down it as fast as I could.
The area was all green. The smells were horrendous, and the stench snapped into the back of my sinuses like ammonia with a tinge of iron. I gagged, coughed, and wheezed. My eyes ached a little, and I coughed again. It was similar to the odors near a monkey cage on Terra.
The sky was a deep azure blue. The trees were coated with moss and vines and other types of creepers. There was a lot of noise and a flock of birds flapped overhead. The trunks of the trees were also green, and I guessed chlorophyll had really attached a strong foothold on the planet. Unfortunately for me, biology is not my strongest point.
As I looked around, I was beginning to sweat a lot. The humidity was incredibly high. With all those tall trees nearby, it was hard for any breeze to make me cool. There wasn’t any way for the wind to get through the jungle.
The little scouting trip wasn’t going to be much fun.
In fact, I had a feeling it was going to be very uncomfortable.
I shrugged and decided to get it over with. The sooner I got over there and scouted around, and maybe, if I was lucky, found someone I could talk to, the sooner I could find out why the police were so interested in Renate. I walked toward the green wall in front of me.
It was a riot of color and vegetation. My nose had grown accustomed to the odors. Perhaps numbed to the odors would be more truthful. I was glad to find out it was a little cooler in the shadows of the trees. The floor of the forest was coated with dead leaves, excrement, and very little bush. The trees were so tall and thick that there wasn’t much room for vegetation on the forest floor. There were a few things that looked like mushrooms growing on the floor, but they were slightly green, not white, so I wasn’t exactly sure what they were.
The birds didn’t like my intrusion into their world. They continually squawked at me, determined to drive me deaf. I ignored them. I don’t think I’ve ever felt threatened by brightly plumed parrots and the like. The other animals I saw were either small enough to know better than to tackle with me, or large enough to ignore me. I was careful enough to ignore the big ones, too.
The trek through the jungle was a drag. I was continually getting water splashed on my neck and head from overhanging leaves.
I heard screams and thought, at first, it was a group of parrots. Then, I noticed it wasn’t a bird but someone or something, screaming. I ran through the muck of the forest floor toward the sound. It was horrible and grated against my nerves. I shoved aside branches, and was soaking wet by the time I reached the clearing.
The two policemen had met up with something mean. They were both dead. One of them had been slashed across the throat, and the gash was so savage, the head was barely staying on the body. The spine was visible through the hole in the throat. The other policeman had been speared in the chest with a large branch. The branch must have smashed right into his heart. His eyes were still open, and there was a mass of blood on his shirt front.
They both had emptied their barker pistols at whatever had killed them. I knew I didn’t want to meet up with whatever it had been that had mutilated them.
I felt the icy finger of fear touch my spine.
5
It took several minutes of intense reconnoitering before I was satisfied that whatever had killed the police was long gone. I finally started to breathe regularly again. Anything that could take that much firepower was something I didn’t want to tangle with, ever.
I also noticed the jungle around me was very quiet. There weren’t any birds in the area, and I didn’t see any of the monkey-like things that had popped up now and then during my trek, howling at me, scaring me out of my wits. I don’t like being in a place I’m not familiar with. I like cities and towns. I can handle anything in a city on two legs, and most of the stuff on four. But jungles . . . Well, that was something else again.
I looked around at the bodies, and noted that flies were starting to buzz around them. I decided I had better get them buried, or else other things would be coming after the fresh meat. The thing that had killed the police either hadn’t been hungry, or didn’t like the alien flesh of the men because there were no missing pieces of the men. I didn’t look that closely at them but it didn’t really matter. They were just as dead as if the thing had stalked them just for the sole purpose of eating them. However, I didn’t need to contend with other scavengers, and the flying insects were bad enough.
I found a large stick, and began to dig quickly in the thick, soft forest floor. The muck of the floor was easy to get into, but there was a layer about four feet deep that suddenly got hard and tough. It was as if I had hit bedrock. I don’t know much about forests, but I didn’t think that the bedrock should have been that close to the surface. I shrugged. There was nothing I could do so I just dug the two holes big enough. The flies were getting thicker by the minute.
It took some time, but with relatively few strains, I got the bodies into the holes and covered them. There weren’t any rocks around to place on top of the graves, and I had a horrible feeling something would come along later and dig them up. Maybe when I got back to the ship, I’d call the police and let them know I’d buried some of their friends. But then maybe I wouldn’t. Such a confession could lead them to think the wrong things.
I kept the men’s personal effects and marked the graves with two crossed sticks each. I wondered if I could get in touch with someone from the cruisers and give them the effects, or merely lay them on the outskirts of their camp, hoping someone would come along and find them. I shrugged. I didn’t have any plans, and there was no use in trying to plan something when it could all change in a matter of seconds. It just depended on what I would find at their camp.
The sounds of the jungle had come back up to full throttle, and I was getting sick of all the squawks, howls, and bellows. And the damn heat wasn’t making me feel any better, either. I was sweating copiously and I felt as if I were swimming through the air instead of walking. The humidity was high and getting higher. No wonder there weren’t any colonists on Green. There are a lot of nicer planets out there to colonize than hellholes like Green.
But I knew no matter how badly I felt, I had to find out just what the police were thinking. I just hoped it wouldn’t take long. I wanted to get back to the ship, drink a tall, cool glass of water, and rest in air- conditioned
comfort. I shook my head. I had to quit thinking of such things until I was headed back, or else I’d get careless and rush things when I got to the police camp.
Maybe I could jump one of the men on patrol near the perimeter of their clearing. I could get all the information out of him I wanted by just growling at him, and threatening with my fangs and claws. It’s enough to scare most men. I’d have to play it strictly by ear.
I shoved my way through the jungle, pushing leaves and branches and vines and creepers out of my way, but very carefully. I couldn’t get the scene of the two policemen with their bodies mangled beyond repair out of my mind.
The clearing was heavily guarded, more heavily than I had originally imagined. I peeked through some brush and could tell something had happened to the cruisers. They hadn’t landed just because they knew we were headed for Green. They had troubles. I carefully let the thick, saw-tooth edged leaves of the brush near the edge of the clearing gently rustle back into place. I stretched to get a better look at how they were patrolling.
I glanced around, looking at the trees. There seemed to be one near the far edge of the irregularly shaped clearing, and it was tall enough to allow me to get a good look. A good look at them without being seen myself. I walked carefully around the clearing, through jungle, thankful the cruisers’ presence had scared away most of the birds. Their squawks at me would have probably aroused interest.
I got to the bottom of the tree, and glanced at its rugged, rough trunk. I knew I wouldn’t be needing to activate to shinny up its length. I got a toe-hold on the edge of a ripple in the bark, and started up. My hands and feet worked well, and I was merely gasping and wheezing, not completely out of breath, when I finally made the first of the thick branches. The tree was similar to an oak, but again, it had a slightly greenish tinge to its bark. The leaves were very large, and hung down from the branches. There were a number of branches, so I had excellent cover.
The Space Mavericks Page 5
