The Space Pioneers

by Carey Rockwell

  CHAPTER 11

  "Of the thousand ships that blasted off from Earth there are only sixhundred thirteen left that can be used in the construction of the firstcolony of Roald."

  Governor Hardy's voice was firm as he addressed the assembled colonistsand spacemen from the air lock of a space freighter.

  There was a murmur among the colonists at this news. They knew that thelandings on the satellite had been costly; that many ships had crashedas a result of the unexplained interference with the ships' instruments.And since each ship had been designed to be cannibalized into houses,workshops, and power plants, they realized the plans for the settlementwould have to be radically revised.

  Once the _Polaris_ had landed safely, the other ships of the fleet hadfollowed, each trying to find the delicate balance between the pull ofthe satellite and the thrust of their rockets. And since many of Vidac'shand-picked crewmen were in control, a large number of the valuable andirreplaceable ships and their supplies had been lost. They didn't burnwhen they crashed. Fire could have been easily extinguished. Instead,deadly radiation from the cracked firing chambers flooded the ships andtheir cargo, rendering them useless.

  Tom, Roger, and Astro stood with Jeff Marshall and the Logan family asthe governor outlined their initial objectives on the satellite.

  "First," declared Hardy, "we have to build atmosphere booster stations.We can't live without oxygen and there isn't enough oxygen in theatmosphere to sustain us very long. Second, we have to establish ourownership boundaries and begin planting our crops. We can't live withoutfood. Third, we have to live more frugally than ever before in order tomaintain our reserves of food and essential items. The nearest supplycenter is fifty billion miles from here." He paused and surveyed the seaof grim faces before him.

  "We've had a hard blow," he continued, "in losing so many ships andtheir supplies, but it will not defeat us. We all came here with theunderstanding that it would be difficult. We did not expect an easylife. We knew it would be tough, but not quite as tough as it's going tobe now. But we will win! And remember, we are no longer people of Venus,Earth, Mars, or Titan, we are citizens of Roald!"

  There was a roar of approval from the colonists. A band began to playand the assembly was adjourned.

  "He talks sense," Hyram Logan commented. "Real fighting sense!"

  "I'd like it a lot better, though," replied Astro, "if he didn't make itsound like a rally."

  "Yeah," agreed Roger. "He sounded as though he was pepping up his teamto do or die in a mercuryball game."

  "This is no game," said Tom. "We're fighting starvation, perhaps death!And, believe me, if this colony goes the way of all space dust, it willbe a long time before there'll be another fleet of a thousand shipsgambled on a star colony!"

  Logan nodded his head. "That's the way I look at it, Tom," he said."Regardless of what kind of beef we might have with Hardy or Vidac andhis crew, we all have to work together to make Roald a colony. Asuccessful colony!"

  Returning to Fleet Ship Number Twelve, which was to be used for quartersby the colonists until their homes could be erected, the three cadetsand Jeff Marshall said good-by to the Venusian farmer and continued ontoward the _Polaris_.

  "Did Professor Sykes find any indication of what might have caused theinstruments to act up during the landing, Jeff?" asked Tom. Thecurly-haired cadet referred to the professor's investigation started assoon as the _Polaris_ had landed.

  "Nothing so far, Tom," replied Jeff. "But it must be something big. Hepacked a lot of gear into a jet boat and blasted out of here thismorning."

  "What do you suppose it is?" asked Astro.

  "I don't know," replied Jeff. "I can't even guess."

  "I can," said Roger, "and if it's what I think it is--well, I just hopeit isn't, that's all." The blond-haired cadet stopped talking abruptly.

  Tom, Astro, and Jeff looked at each other. Finally Tom asked, "Well,what do you think it is?"

  "There's only one thing I know really well, Tom," replied Roger. "Justone thing, and that's electronics. I may be a jerk about a lot ofthings, but I know electronics."

  "O.K.," said Astro. "You know electronics. But what has that got to dowith the instruments going out of whack?"

  "The only natural element that would cause such disturbance is uranium."

  "Uranium!" breathed Tom. "You mean uranium pitchblende?"

  "I mean uranium!" snapped Roger. "Uranium pitchblende isn't concentratedenough to cause a reaction like that on the instruments. It would take abig chunk of pure uranium to do the job."

  "But if that were so," Astro protested, "wouldn't the instruments stillbe acting up? In fact, wouldn't we start feeling the effects of theradiation?"

  "Not necessarily, Astro," said Tom. "I understand what Roger's gettingat. The uranium could be located in another sector of the satellite, onthe other side, maybe. It could be throwing radiation out into spacewithout affecting us here."

  "You mean we're _under_ the effects?" asked Astro.

  "Looks like it," replied Tom. "But on the other hand," he continued,"why wasn't there some report of it when the first expedition came outto look over the satellite?"

  "I can't answer that question, Tom," answered Roger. "But I'd be willingto bet my last credit that there's uranium on this space-forsaken rock.And a whopping big deposit of it!"

  They reached the air lock of the _Polaris_ and climbed wearily aboard.At the end of the first day, on the new satellite, they were exhausted.A few minutes after entering the giant cruiser they were all soundasleep.

  Dawn of the second day on Roald saw the vast plain crowded with men atwork. The first community objective was the construction of anatmosphere station, and before the woman and children had finishedlunch, they were breathing synthetically produced air.

  Working from a master plan that had been devised back at Space Academybefore the expedition blasted off, the colonists were divided into threeseparate crews: the wreckers, those who would remove essential partsfrom the spaceships as they were needed; the movers, those who wouldhaul the parts to construction sites; and the builders, those who wouldtake the parts and construct the community buildings.

  The first and most difficult job was building a gigantic maneuverablederrick and jet barge for removing, hauling, and installing the heavymachinery.

  Astro had been assigned to the crew responsible for the construction ofthe jet barge. With many of the vital parts aboard the crashedfreighters still hot with radioactivity, the crew had to improvise. AndAstro, with his native talent for mechanics, soon became the unspokenleader of the crew. Even the supervisor acknowledged the young cadet'ssuperior ability and allowed him a free hand in the construction of thebarge. After six hours of hard labor, the "mover" was finished. It wasnot the streamlined machine its designer had conceived, but it waseffective, in some cases, more so than the designer imagined. A low,flat table roughly three hundred feet square, it moved on sledlikerunners and was powered by two dozen rockets. On each of the four sidesthere was a two-hundred-foot boom which could be swung around in a 360 deg.arc and was capable of lifting three hundred tons. Astro's mostoutstanding improvement on the original design was what he termed"adjustment rockets," placing single rockets that could be individuallycontrolled on all four sides, so that the operator of the giant jetbarge could jockey into perfect position anywhere. The machine quicklydemonstrated it could move anything, anywhere.

  Roger worked with the supervisor of the assembly groups, orderingsupplies and machinery as they were needed from the wrecking crews andseeing that they were sent to the right place at the right time. One ofhis first jobs was the assembling of materials for the construction ofthe Administration Building of the colony. Less than five days after thefoundation had been dug, the last gleaming sheets of Titan crystal werewelded together and the building towered over the plain, a glisteningmonument to man's first flight to the stars.

  Tom had been assigned to work closely with Vidac, who was responsiblefor all the construction on Roald. Th
e young cadet welcomed the chanceto observe the man in action, and time after time he foundcontradictions in the character of the lieutenant governor. Vidac'sattitude and behavior in his drive to build the colony were completelydifferent from his actions on the long space flight. He was a man offirmness and immediate decision. Shooting from one project to another ina jet boat, he would listen to the supervisors' complaints, make a snapdecision, and then head for another project. Once Tad Winters and EdBush, who had taken over Astro's jet barge, had hesitated when trying totransfer a four-hundred-ton lift. A bank of atomic motors from FleetShip Number Twelve was to be installed in the main power plant for thecolony. The motors were in a position where it was impossible to usemore than one of the booms for the lift. Bush and Winters tried futilelyto maneuver the jet barge into position where they could use two booms,and when Vidac arrived he promptly took charge. Using Tom as signalman,Vidac stood at the controls of the giant derrick, and after testing thestrain on the five-inch cables, he yelled down to the cadet:

  "Think they'll hold, Corbett?"

  Tom looked at the derrick, the motors, and the boom Astro hadconstructed. Finally he nodded his head. If anyone else had built thejet barge, Tom would have said No, but he knew when the Venusian builtsomething it was built solidly.

  Stepping back out of range, Tom watched Vidac slowly apply power to therockets on the jet barge. Slowly, inch by inch, the boom began to bendunder the load. Vidac continued to apply power. The boom bent even moreand still the motors would not lift free of the ground. The rocketexhausts on the jet barge glowed fiery red under the sustained surge ofpower. All over the colony, men stopped work to see if the jet bargewould handle the outsized lift.

  Vidac sat at the controls calmly and watched Tom. The curly-haired cadetcontinued to wave his hand to lift the motors. The boom continued tobend, and just as Tom thought it must snap, the motors lifted free andVidac swung them around to the table top of the barge. He climbed downand walked over to Bush and Winters.

  "Next time you're afraid to try something and waste valuable time," hebarked, "you'll pay for it!"

  He turned to Tom. "Let's go, Corbett," he said casually.

  Day after day the work continued and finally, at the end of three weeks,the dry barren plain had been transformed into a small city. Toweringabove the city, the Administration Building glistened in the light oftheir new sun, Wolf 359, and streets named after the colonists radiatedfrom it in all directions, like the spokes of a giant wheel.

  There were houses, stores, and off the central square a magnificentassembly hall that could be transformed into a gymnasium. There weresmaller community buildings for sanitation, water, power, and all vitalservices necessary to a community. Along the wide spacious streets,still being paved, converted jet boats hummed. Women began to shop. Menwho had helped build the city the day before, now appeared in aprons andbegan keeping account books until a monetary system could be devised. Amedical exchange that also happened to sell spaceburgers and Martianwater was dubbed the "Space Dump" and crowds of teen-agers were alreadyflocking in to dance and frolic. A pattern of living began to take formout of the dead dust of the star satellite. Several of the colonists whohad lost everything aboard the crashed ships were made civilianofficials in charge of the water, sanitation, and power departments.

  The three cadets worked harder than they had ever worked before. Once,when the jet barge needed to be refueled, Vidac had ordered them tosalvage the remaining reactant from the crashed ships and they workedforty-eight hours in lead-lined suits transferring the reactant fuel tothe jet barge.

  In addition, Roger was now hard at work building a communications centerand a network all over the satellite. Communicators were placed atintervals of ten miles, so that any stranded colonist was within walkingdistance of help.

  The four hundred ships that had crashed had been loaded mostly withfarming equipment, and the seriousness of the situation was discussed atgreat length by Logan and other farmer colonists. Vidac had tried tosalvage some of the more basic tools needed in farming the dustysatellite soil, but nothing had come of it. Three to five years had topass before the radioactivity would be harmless.

  "We'll have to farm with chemicals," announced Vidac finally to ameeting of the farmers. "I know that chemical crops are not as tastefulas naturals, but they are larger, more abundant, and nourishing." Hepaused and looked at the men. "However, even chemicals are not the wholeanswer."

  "Well," said Hyram Logan, who had become the unofficial spokesman forthe farmers, "give us the chemicals and let's get to work. Everyone hereknows how to grow crops out of a test tube!"

  "I'm afraid it won't be as simple as that," said Vidac. "Perhaps youremember that you paid over part of your future profits during the tripout from Atom City?"

  There was a murmur from the group of men as the outrageous incident wasbrought up. Most of the men felt that Vidac had been directlyresponsible. Vidac held up his hand.

  "Quiet, please!"

  The men became silent.

  "You will have to purchase the necessary material for farming from me.You will sign over one-half of your future profits to the treasurer ofthe Roald City Fund, or you don't farm."

  "What's the Roald City Fund?" demanded Isaac Tupin, a short, thin manwith an uncanny knack for farming. He had been very successful on Marsand had been asked to institute his methods of desert farming on thedusty satellite.

  "The Roald City Fund," said Vidac coldly, "is an organization dedicatedto the good and welfare of the citizens of Roald."

  "Who's the treasurer?" asked Logan.

  "I am," said Vidac. "Governor Hardy is now in the process of setting upRoald currency. Each of you will be allowed to borrow against futureyields, a maximum amount of five thousand Roald credits. This will beyour beginning. If your crops fail"--Vidac shrugged his shoulders--"youwill forfeit your land holdings!"

  There was a storm of protest from the assembled farmers. They stood upin their chairs and hooted and howled. Vidac faced them coldly. At lastthey fell silent and Vidac was able to speak again.

  "I would advise you to consider carefully the proposal I've made here.Your equipment--the equipment given to you by the Solar Alliance--hasbeen lost. The chemicals which you are now being offered are theproperty of the official governing body of Roald. We cannot give you thematerial. We can loan it to you, providing that you guarantee the loanwith your future profits. All those interested may draw the necessarysupplies from Tad Winters and Ed Bush in the morning."

  He turned and walked out of the hall.

  "We'll go to the governor!" shouted Logan. "We won't be treated likethis. We're free citizens of the Solar Alliance and under theirjurisdiction. We know our rights!"

  Suddenly Tad Winters and Ed Bush appeared, seemingly from nowhere. Asneering smile on his face, Winters held two paralo-ray guns and coveredthe group of farmers while Bush slipped up behind Logan and hit him onthe back of the neck. The elderly man sank to the floor.

  "Now get this!" snarled Winters to the colonists. "The joy ride is over!You take orders, or else!"