Plague Ship Read online

  Chapter XVIII

  BARGAIN CONCLUDED

  "--and so we landed here, sir," Rip concluded his report in thematter-of-fact tone he might have used in describing a perfectly ordinaryvoyage, say between Terraport and Luna City, a run of no incident anddull cargo carrying.

  The crew of the Solar Queen, save for Tau, were assembled in a roomsomewhere in the vastness of Patrol Headquarters. Since the room seemed acomfortable conference chamber, Dane thought that their status must nowbe on a higher level than that of Patrol Posted outlaws. But he was alsosure that if they attempted to walk out of the building that effort wouldnot be successful.

  Van Rycke sat stolidly in his chosen seat, fingers of both hands lacedacross his substantial middle. He had sat as impassively as the Captainwhile Rip had outlined their adventures since they had all been stricken.Though the other listeners had betrayed interest in the story, the seniorofficers made no comments. Now Jellico turned to his Cargo-master.

  "How about it, Van?"

  "What's done is done--"

  Dane's elation vanished as if ripped away by a Sargolian storm wind. TheCargo-master didn't approve. So there must have been another way toachieve their ends--one the younger members of the crew had been tooinexperienced or too dense to see--

  "If we blasted off today we might just make cargo contract."

  Dane started. That was it! The point they had lost sight of during theirstruggles to get aid. There was no possible chance of upping the shiptoday--probably not for days to come--or ever, if the case went againstthem. So they had broken contract--and the Board would be down on themfor that. Dane shivered inside. He could try to fight back against thePatrol--there had always been a slight feeling of rivalry between theFree Traders and the space police. But you couldn't buck the Board--andkeep your license and so have a means of staying in space. A brokencontract could cut one off from the stars forever. Captain Jellico lookedvery bleak at that reminder.

  "The Eysies will be all ready to step in. I'd like to know why they wereso sure we had the plague on board--"

  Van Rycke snorted. "I can supply you five answers to that--for one theymay have known the affinity of those creatures for the wood, and it wouldbe easy to predict as a result of our taking a load on board--or againthey may have deliberately planted the things on us through theSalariki--But we can't ever prove it. It remains that they are going toget for themselves the Sargolian contract unless--" He stopped short,staring straight ahead of him at the wall between Rip and Dane. And hisassistant knew that Van was exploring a fresh idea. Van's ideas werenever to be despised and Jellico did not now disturb the Cargo-masterwith questions.

  It was Rip who spoke next and directly to the Captain. "Do you know whatthey plan to do about us, sir?"

  Captain Jellico grunted and there was a sardonic twist to his mouth ashe replied, "It's my opinion that they're now busy adding up the list ofcrimes you four have committed--maybe they had to turn the big HGcomputer loose on the problem. The tally isn't in yet. We gave them ourautomat flight record and that ought to give them more food for thought."

  Dane speculated as to what the experts _would_ make of the mechanicalrecord of the Queen's past few weeks--the section dealing with theirlanding in the Big Burn ought to be a little surprising. Van Rycke got tohis feet and marched to the door of the conference room. It was openedfrom without so quickly Dane was sure that they had been under constantsurveillance.

  "Trade business," snapped the Cargo-master, "contract deal. Take me to asealed com booth!"

  Contracts might not be as sacred to the protective Service as they wereto Trade, but Trade had its powers and since Van Rycke, an innocentbystander of the Queen's troubles, could not legally be charged with anycrime, he was escorted out of the room. But the door panel was sealedbehind him, shutting in the rest with the unspoken warning that they werenot free agents. Jellico leaned back in his chair and stretched. Longyears of close friendship had taught him that his Cargo-master was to betrusted with not only the actual trading and cargo tending, but couldalso think them out of some of the tangles which could not be solved byhis own direct action methods. Direct action had been applied to theirpresent problem--now the rest was up to Van, and he was willing todelegate all responsibility.

  But they were not left long to themselves. The door opened once more toadmit star rank Patrolmen. None of the Free Traders arose. As members ofanother Service they considered themselves equals. And it was theirprivate boast that the interests of Galactic civilization, asrepresented by the black and silver, often followed, not preceded thebrown tunics into new quarters of the universe.

  However, Rip, Ali, Dane, and Weeks answered as fully as they could theflood of questions which engulfed them. They explained in detail theirvisit to the E-Stat, the landing in the Big Burn, the kidnapping of Hovan.Dane's stubborn feeling of being in the right grew in opposition to thequestioning. Under the same set of circumstances how would thatCommander--that Wing Officer--that Senior Scout--now all seatedthere--have acted? And every time they inferred that his part in theaffair had been illegal he stiffened.

  Sure, there had to be law and order out on the Rim--and doubly sure ithad to cover and protect life on the softer planets of the inner systems.He wasn't denying that on Limbo, he, for one, had been very glad to seethe Patrol blast their way into the headquarters of the pirates holed upon that half-dead world. And he was never contemptuous of the men in thefield. But like all Free Traders he was influenced by a belief that toooften the laws as enforced by the Patrol favored the wealth and might ofthe Companies, that law could be twisted and the Patrol sent to pushthrough actions which, though legal, were inherently unfair to those whohad not the funds to fight it out in the far off Council courts. Just asnow he was certain that the Eysies were bringing all the influence theyhad to bear here against the Queen's men. And Inter-Solar had a lot ofinfluence.

  At the end of their ordeal their statements were read back to them fromthe recording tape and they thumb signed them. Were these statements orconfessions, Dane mused. Perhaps in their honest reports they had justsigned their way into the moon mines. Only there was no move to lead themout and book them. And when Weeks pressed his thumb at the bottom of thetape, Captain Jellico took a hand. He looked at his watch.

  "It is now ten hours," he observed. "My men need rest, and we all wantfood. Are you through with us?"

  The Commander was spokesman for the other group. "You are to remain inquarantine, Captain. Your ship has not yet been passed as port-free. Butyou will be assigned quarters--"

  Once again they were marched through blank halls to the other section ofthe sprawling Patrol Headquarters. No windows looked upon the outerworld, but there were bunks and a small mess alcove. Ali, Dane, and Ripturned in, more interested in sleep than food. And the last thing theCargo-apprentice remembered was seeing Jellico talking earnestly withSteen Wilcox as they both sipped steaming mugs of real Terran coffee.

  But with twelve hours of sleep behind them the three were less contentedin confinement. No one had come near them and Van Rycke had not returned.Which fact the crew clung to as a ray of hope. Somewhere the Cargo-mastermust be fighting their battle. And all Van's vast store of Tradeknowledge, all his knack of cutting corners and driving a shrewd bargain,enlisted on their behalf, must win them some concessions.

  Medic Tau came in, bringing Hovan with him. Both looked tired buttriumphant. And their report was a shot in the arm for the now uneasyTraders.

  "We've rammed it down their throats," Tau announced. "They're willing toadmit that it was those poison bugs and not a plague. Incidentally," hegrinned at Jellico and then looked around expectantly, "where's Van? Thiscomes in his department. We're going to cash in on those the kids dumpedin the deep freeze. Terra-Lab is bidding on them. I said to see Van--hecan arrange the best deal for us. Where is he?"

  "Gone to see about our contract," Jellico reported. "What's the newsabout our status now?"

  "Well, they've got to wipe out the plague ship listing.
Also--we're bignews. There're about twenty video men rocketing around out in the officestrying to get in and have us do some spot broadcasts. Seems that thechildren here," he jerked his thumb at the three apprentices, "startedsomething. An inter-solar invasion couldn't be bigger news! Humaninterest by the tankful. I've been on Video twice and they're trying tosign up Hovan almost steady--"

  The Medic from the frontier nodded. "Wanted me to appear on a three weekschedule," he chuckled. "I was asked to come in on 'Our Heroes of theStarlines' and two Quiz programs. As for you, you young criminal," heswung to Dane, "you're going to be fair game for about three networks. Itseems you transmit well," he uttered the last as if it were an accusationand Dane squirmed. "Anyway you did something with your crazy stunt. And,Captain, three men want to buy your Hoobat. I gather they are planning ashowing of how it captures those pests. So be prepared--"

  Dane tried to visualize a scene in which he shared top billing with Queexand shuddered. All he wanted now was to get free of Terra for a nice,quiet, uncomplicated world where problems could be settled with a sleeprod or a blaster and the Video screen was unknown.

  Having heard of what awaited them without, the men of the Queen were morecontent to be incarcerated in the quarantine section. But as time wore onand the Cargo-master did not return, their anxieties awoke. They werefairly sure by now that any penalty the Patrol or the Terrapolice wouldimpose would not be too drastic. But a broken contract was another andmore serious affair--a matter which might ground them more effectivelythan any rule of the law enforcement bodies. And Jellico took to pacingthe room, while Tang and Wilcox who had started a game of fourdimensional chess made countless errors of move, and Stotz glared moodilyat the wall, apparently too sunk in his own gloomy thoughts to rise fromthe mess table in the alcove.

  Though time had ceased to have much meaning for them except as anirritating reminder of the now sure failure of their Sargolian venture,they marked the hours into a second full day of detention before VanRycke finally put in appearance. The Cargo-master was plainly tired, buthe showed no signs of discomposure. In fact as he came in he was hummingwhat he fondly imagined was a popular tune.

  Jellico asked no questions, he merely regarded his trusted officer with aquizzically raised eyebrow. But the others drew around. It was soapparent that Van Rycke was pleased with himself. Which could only meanthat in some fantastic way he had managed to bring their venture down ina full fin landing, that somehow he had argued the Queen out of dangerinto a position where he could control the situation.

  He halted just within the doorway and eyed Dane, Ali, and Rip with mockseverity. "You're baaaad boys," he told them with a shake of the head anda drawl of the adjective. "You've been demoted ten files each on thelist."

  Which must put him on the bottom rung once more, Dane calculated swiftly.Or even below--though he didn't see how he could fall beneath the rank heheld at assignment. However, he found the news heartening instead ofdiscouraging. Compared to a bleak sentence at the moon mines suchdemotion was absolutely nothing and he knew that Van Rycke was breakingthe worst news first.

  "You also forfeit all pay for this voyage," the Cargo-master wascontinuing. But Jellico broke in.

  "Board fine?"

  At the Cargo-master's nod, Jellico added. "Ship pays that."

  "So I told them," Van Rycke agreed. "The Queen's warned off Terra for tensolar years--"

  They could take that, too. Other Free Traders got back to their homeports perhaps once in a quarter century. It was so much less than theyhad expected that the sentence was greeted with a concentrated sigh ofrelief.

  "No earth-side leave--"

  All right--no leave. They were not, after their late experiences soentranced with Terraport that they wanted to linger in its environs anylonger than they had to.

  "We lose the Sargol contract--"

  That did hurt. But they had resigned themselves to it since the hour whenthey had realized that they could not make it back to the perfumedplanet.

  "To Inter-Solar?" Wilcox asked the important question.

  Van Rycke was smiling broadly, as if the loss he had just announced wasin some way a gain. "No--to Combine!"

  "Combine?" the Captain echoed and his puzzlement was duplicated aroundthe circle. How did Inter-Solar's principal rival come into it?

  "We've made a deal with Combine," Van Rycke informed them. "I wasn'tgoing to let I-S cash in on our loss. So I went to Vickers at Combine andtold him the situation. He understands that we were in solid with theSalariki and that the Eysies are not. And a chance to point a blaster atI-S's tail is just what he has been waiting for. The shipment will go outto the storm priests tomorrow on a light cruiser--it'll make it on time."

  Yes, a light cruiser, one of the fast ships maintained by the bigCompanies, could make the transition to Sargol with a slight margin tospare. Stotz nodded his approval at this practical solution.

  "I'm going with it--" That did jerk them all up short. For Van Rycke toleave the Queen--_that_ was as unthinkable as if Captain Jellico hadsuddenly announced that he was about to retire and become a kelp farmer."Just for the one trip," the Cargo-master hastened to assure them. "Ismooth their vector with the storm priests and hand over so the Eysieswill be frozen out--"

  Captain Jellico interrupted at that point. "D'you mean that Combine is_buying_ us out--not just taking over? What kind of a deal--"

  But Van Rycke, his smile a brilliant stretch across his plump face, wasnodding in agreement. "They're taking over our contract and our placewith the Salariki."

  "In return for what?" Steen Wilcox asked for them all.

  "For twenty-five thousand credits and a mail run between Xecho andTrewsworld--frontier planets. They're far enough from Terra to get aroundthe exile ruling. The Patrol will escort us out and see that we get downto work like good little space men. We'll have two years of a nice, quietrun on regular pay. Then, when all the powers that shine have forgottenabout us, we can cut in on the trade routes again."

  "And the pay?" "First or second class mail?" "When do we start?"

  "Standard pay on the completion of each run--Board rates," he madereplies in order. "First, second and third class mail--anything thatbears the government seal and out in those quarters it is apt to be_anything_! And you start as soon as you can get to Xecho and relieve theCombine scout which has been holding down the run."

  "While you go to Sargol--" commented Jellico.

  "While I make one voyage to Sargol. You can spare me," he dropped one ofhis big hands on Dane's shoulder and gave the flesh beneath it a quicksqueeze. "Seeing as how our juniors helped pull us out of this lastmix-up we can trust them about an inch farther than we did before.Anyway--Cargo-master on a mail run is more or less a thumb-twiddling jobat the best. And you can trust Thorson on stowage--that's one thing he_does_ know." Which dubious ending left Dane wondering as to whether hehad been complimented or warned. "I'll be on board again before you knowit--the Combine will ship me out to Trewsworld on your second trip acrossand I'll join ship there. For once we won't have to worry for awhile.Nothing can happen on a mail run." He shook his head at the threeyoungest members of the crew. "You're in for a very dull time--and itwill serve you right. Give you a chance to learn your jobs so that whenyou come up for reassignment you can pick up some of those files you werejust demoted. Now," he started briskly for the door, "I'll tranship tothe Combine cruiser. I take it that you _don't_ want to meet the Videopeople?"

  At their hasty agreement to that, he laughed. "Well, the Patrol doesn'twant the Video spouting about 'high-handed official news suppression' soabout an hour or so from now you'll be let out the back way. They put theQueen in a cradle and a field scooter will take you to her. You'll findher serviced for a take-off to Luna City. You can refit there for deepspace. Frankly the sooner you get off-world the happier all ranks aregoing to be--both here and on the Board. It will be better for us to walksoftly for a while and let them forget that the Solar Queen and her crazycrew exists. Separately and together you've
managed to break--or at leastbend--half the laws in the books and they'd like to have us out of theirminds."

  Captain Jellico stood up. "They aren't any more anxious to see us gothan we are to get out of here. You've pulled it off for us again, Van,and we're lucky to get out of it this easy--"

  Van Rycke rolled his eyes ceilingward. "You'll never know how lucky! Beglad Combine hates the space I-S blasts through. We were able to use thatto our advantage. Get the big fellows at each others' throats and they'llstop annoying us--simple proposition but it works. Anyway we're set inblessed and peaceful obscurity now. Thank the Spirit of Free Spacethere's practically no trouble one can get into on a safe and sane mailroute!"

  But Cargo-master Van Rycke, in spite of knowing the Solar Queen and thetemper of her crew, was exceedingly over-optimistic when he made thatemphatic statement.