The Star Lord

immediately to your lifeboats."

  The voice clicked off. A few seconds of silence, and then the quiet wasbroken by the patter of hurrying feet. In a moment, the public loungeswere empty.

  * * * * *

  In the library, Tanya was still calling into the phone.

  "Operator, operator!" she cried. "I must speak to the Captain. It's amatter of life and death!" But the phone was dead.

  When the alarm bells rang, she listened to the announcement and thenslowly put back the useless instrument. Back in her corner, she pickedup her chalk, shuffled her drawings into an orderly heap, paused, andwith a wry smile dropped them all to the floor and hurried away.

  A sound of crying wailed from the open door of the playroom, and shelooked in to see a group of children, none of them more than six,huddled together and sobbing. She walked up to them and smiled, hands onher hips.

  "Well, small fry! What are you doing up so late? Why the big howls?"

  Still they cried, ignoring their abandoned toys. Around the room hobbyhorses sat quietly, alphabet blocks lay scattered, and picture books andsprawling dolls littered the floor.

  "So," she said. "Your nurses ran out on you, did they? Left you to shiftfor yourselves? Never mind, youngsters, Aunt Tanya will look after you.Take hands, now, and come with me."

  * * * * *

  When the alarm rang in the Bar, a glass crashed to the floor as the onlyson of the deutonium millionaire jumped to his feet and ran.

  Professor Larrabee deliberately finished his drink, gently put down theglass, and stood up.

  "Our final spacecap," he said. "Well, Alan, it's been a good trip, but Ican't say I'm surprised at its ending. The ship had the wrong name, fromthe beginning."

  "We'd better hurry, Professor. We must find Tanya and the Halls."

  "You're walking too fast for me, my boy. Don't worry. They're in Boat F,with us, and we're sure to find them there."

  In the corridor leading to F station their way was blocked by the crowd,many of them still wearing the grotesque costumes of the masqueradedance, now pale and tawdry in the bright lights. Stunned with horror,they stared through the transparent wall at the gaping socket where thelifeboat had been. Crewmen formed a tight circle around the truck andthe man who lay moaning on the floor. Pistols ready, they held back thecrowd while Dr. Willoughby administered an intravenous shot of panedol,and Captain Evans, kneeling beside the dying man, tried to catch hiswhispers.

  "It was Mr. Jasperson, sir. He got me before I could do a thing. I triedto stop him."

  "You say you warned him?"

  "I called to him, sir, and said the boat wasn't ready. But he didn'tgive me a chance. He shot me."

  The boy closed his eyes, and Evans stood up.

  "Through an error, ladies and gentlemen, Boat F has already gone. Youwill please go to the other stations and wait for assignment to theother boats."

  The crowd whispered, staring uncomprehendingly at the Captain's stonyface.

  "Did you ever teach mathematics, Professor?" Alan murmured. "How do youdivide fifteen hundred people among four boats?"

  Larrabee only smiled, a faraway look in his eyes.

  A frightened voice cried, high and loud, "But there won't be enoughroom!"

  Someone screamed. Someone else started to run. In a few seconds a mob ofrunning, panic-stricken people jammed the corridor, fighting their wayout. Alan and the professor, an old man and an invalid, had no strengthto resist and were helplessly carried along by the living wave.

  "Stop those people!" shouted the Captain.

  A gun fired into the air and the mob hesitated, then surged on,shouting, past the lounges, to join the throngs waiting at the otherstations.

  "It's no use," said Evans wearily. "Chief Thayer. Send men to all thestations to guard the boats. You proceed to Boat E and load it first. Ifany person tries to force his way in, shoot to kill!"

  * * * * *

  In their small cabin, Dorothy Hall raised herself on one elbow andlooked down at her sleeping husband. His hair was rumpled, his face calmand placid.

  "Tom," she whispered. "Wake up, Tom!" Mumbling sleepily, he opened hiseyes, then smiled and tried to draw her down to him.

  "Wait, Tom. Did you hear the Captain's message?"

  "What message?"

  "I was so sleepy I didn't understand it very well. Something about theship, and we must all go to our lifeboats."

  "You must have been dreaming. What time is it?"

  "Not quite midnight. Do you think everything is all right?"

  "Of course. You just had a bad dream. The _Star Lord_ can't be in anytrouble. You know that."

  "Don't you think we ought to go see?"

  Playfully he towsled her hair. "Trying to get away from your husband?Tired of me already?"

  Relaxing, she snuggled down beside him with a happy sigh.

  "I'd never be tired of you, Tom, in a million years. Wherever you are,that's where I want to be, always."

  She closed her eyes.

  * * * * *

  The children were no longer afraid, and they had stopped crying. Leadingthem through the maze of corridors towards Boat station F, Tanya laughedand told them jokes until, reaching a corner, she suddenly found thepassage blocked with a screaming mass of people, fighting, gouging,jamming the hall so that forward movement was almost impossible. Shedrew back, huddling the children behind her.

  "No place for us here, youngsters," she said. "Let's go back, where itisn't so noisy."

  Obediently they followed her back to the library, where she settled themin her favorite corner and picked up the abandoned chalk and paper.

  "Now Aunt Tanya will tell you a story," she said. "And if you're verygood and don't cry at all, I'll even draw you some pictures to go withthe story. Once upon a time...."

  * * * * *

  There was not enough room. A lifeboat which had been designed to carrytwo hundred and fifty persons could not suddenly expand to take in threehundred and seventy-five, although Chief Thayer did his best. At Boat Ehe stood with drawn pistol, sorting the crowd, and ordering them one byone through the port according to custom as ancient as the race.

  "Women and children first," he repeated, again and again. "_Women andchildren first!_"

  They could hear from distant corridors an occasional shout and theclatter of running feet, but the first panic had subsided, and under themenace of the crew's guns the people had become subdued.

  White-faced men stepped back and made themselves inconspicuous in theshadows, watching their wives and children file through the port, andlooking after them hungrily. Once, a man screamed and tried to crashthrough the cordon. Thayer shot him, and he fell moaning to the floor.Dr. Willoughby moved through the crowd, soothing the hysterical,jollying the frightened, until he spied Alan Chase standing at the edgeof the group.

  He pushed through to Alan and threw his arm around the bony shoulder,encouragingly.

  "I'm assigned to this first boat, Chase, and they'll want you in one ofthe others. We want at least one medical man in each boat. But I mustwarn you--" he look-ed around cautiously, but they might have been alonein a desert for all chance there was of anyone's listening to them, "besure to get off in Boats B or D. Don't wait for Boat A."

  "What difference does it make?"

  "Boat A lies above two of the Piles that had to be dumped, and theradioactivity index is sure to be high. Normal people won't be harmed inthe brief time they'll be on board if they're rescued, and if they'renot rescued, of course, it won't matter anyway. Even you might not beharmed, but with your condition you shouldn't take the risk."

  "But does it really matter?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean that we'd counted on my reaching Almazin III quickly and livingin an inert atmosphere in order to cure the neosarcoma. Now that the_Star Lord_ is wrecked, I may not be able to get there for months, a
ndthat will be too late. If I'm going to die, I'd rather stay with theship and get it over with."

  "Don't be an idiot, doctor! Don't you realize how much better you are?The mitosis was definitely decreasing the last time I checked you. Thisdelay won't be fatal, I'm convinced."

  Alan shook his head skeptically.

  "Dr. Willoughby!" called Thayer. "Boat ready to launch!"

  A grip of the hand, and he had gone. The port shut.

  Boat E, jammed with three hundred and twenty-five persons, releaseditself and shot out into star-studded space.

  * * * * *

  Boat B was the second to be launched, and Boat D followed.

  Keeping to the back of the crowds, Alan watched, admiring the efficiencywith which Chief Thayer worked, shouting, wheedling, cursing, untilthree hundred and thirty people were squeezed in, like frightened cattlein a pen.

  There remained only Boat A, and from the shadows he watched nearly fivehundred tense faces, drawn with the anxiety of wondering who was to go,and who remain.

  Good thing the women and children had all been taken off in the earlierboats, Alan reflected thankfully. It would be heartbreaking enough forThayer to have to choose among the men, and say to some, _Go_, and tosome, _Stay_.

  Captain Evans appeared, flanked by Thayer and Stacey, each with drawnpistol. He faced the silent crowd and spoke with terrifying calm.

  "I will take charge here," he said. "I cannot ask Thayer to take on sucha responsibility. I am sure it is not necessary to tell you that thereis not room enough in this boat for all of you. If rescue ships arrivein time, those who must remain behind will be taken off. If not--Irealize that no human being has the right arbitrarily to send some mento life and keep others for possible death. But since choice of somesort is necessary to avoid a panic which might result in unnecessarydeaths, I shall choose which ones are to enter this boat, as nearly aspossible according to the random positions in which you are nowstanding. Anyone trying to change his place will be shot!"

  No one moved. No one spoke.

  "Thayer, you will send in two crewmen to help run the boat. You yourselfwill be the last man in, to take command. As for the rest--" He paused,wiped his hand over his reddened eyes, and staggered. In a few secondshe had regained control of himself, and with shoulders erect he pointedhis arm and called out,

  "You go, and you, and you, and you...."

  Alan heard a low chuckle behind him, and turned to find ProfessorLarrabee.

  "What a climax, my boy! Do you believe in premonitions, now?"

  "Why haven't you gone?"

  "Too old, Alan. I don't want to go. My life is done. But I can't say Ireally mind. It's been a wonderful adventure, sharing the life and deathof the _Star Lord_."

  The boat was nearly half full when the tense quiet was broken by thetreble voice of a child.

  Captain Evans whirled to face the corridor, along which came Tanya,holding to the hands of the two smallest children, while the othersclung tightly to the stiff folds of her taffeta gown.

  His stare was ghastly. "Miss Taganova! I thought you'd gone! Where haveyou been? And why weren't these children sent off in the other boats?Didn't you hear the warnings?"

  "Somebody's always scolding me for being late," said Tanya, lightly."But I really couldn't help it. These children seem to have beenabandoned by the nursemaids and lost or forgotten by their parents. Ihave been trying to amuse them until it seemed safe to bring them toyou. If I'd come before they would have been trampled to death."

  "Well, luckily it's not too late. In you go, the lot of you."

  The six youngsters were scrambling through the port, and the Captain hadresumed his "You, and you, and you...." when Alan darted forward andclasped Tanya's hand.

  "I just want you to know," he whispered. "If the _Star Lord_ had gone onto port I'd never have dared say it. But since it can't matter now,Tanya--I'd like you to know--"

  She smiled. "I know, Alan. I've known it for many days. And I'd havemade a good doctor's wife, I think!" Her lips were trembling as sheturned away and entered the port.

  "Dr. Chase!" roared the Captain. "What are you doing here? You weresupposed to go on Boat D!"

  "There isn't room for all of us, Captain. I thought the healthy menshould have the preference. I prefer to stay here."

  "Personal preferences mean nothing at all at this moment. Get into theboat."

  "Let some one else have my place, sir. I haven't long to live anyway,you know. I don't mind staying behind."

  * * * * *

  The Captain steadied his pistol. "Get in. That's an order. This is notime for mock heroics. You should have gone with Boat D to look afterthe women and children. Whether you live a month or a year doesn'tmatter to me, but it is important that you use your medical skill totake care of these people until they are rescued."

  With a dazed look, Alan walked through the port.

  "And you, and you, and you...."

  Thayer called out at last. "That's all, sir. No more room."

  "None at all? You're sure?"

  "Certain, sir. The talley is three hundred and thirty...."

  Nearly a hundred men remained in the corridor. Ashen-faced but calm,they stared at the rectangular doorway which would have meant a chanceto live.

  "In you go, Thayer," said the Captain. "Prepare to release."

  Into the tense silence broke the brittle clicking of high heels as Tomand Dorothy Hall sauntered up, arm in arm, a puzzled frown on theirforeheads.

  The Captain moaned. "Another woman! Wait, Thayer. We've one more womanhere. Which one of you men in Boat A will volunteer to give up his placeto young Mrs. Hall?"

  An elderly man walked serenely back into the ship, and joined theothers.

  Dorothy looked bewildered. "But what's happened? We kept hearing so muchnoise we decided to get up. Is something wrong?"

  "We're abandoning ship. This gentleman is giving up his place to you.Get in."

  She clung to Tom's arm. "Not without my husband!"

  "Mrs. Hall! We can't waste time on hysterics. This ship might bevaporized while we're talking. A man has given up his chance at life foryou. Get in."

  She held back. "And Tom?"

  With a haggard smile, Tom pat-ted her shoulder. "Never mind me, honey.You go jump in. I'll be all right."

  "Mrs. Hall, I'm willing to deprive one man of his chance, because youare a woman. But I will not ask anyone else to give up his place to yourhusband. Every man in the lifeboat has as much right to his life as yourhusband, and so has every man who must be left behind. Go, now. It'syour last chance!"

  Her face had become calm and all hint of tears was gone. Withouthesitating she looked up at her husband and spoke softly.

  "Tell the man to go back. Whether we live or we die, we'll do ittogether." Smiling at Tom, she took his hand to lead him away.

  "Come, Tom. Let's go look at the sky. I believe these stars are realones."

  "Close the port!"

  The door slid shut. A minute's long wait, then the boat released herselfand shot out into the blackness. The last of the lifeboats was gone.

  Professor Larrabee materialized from the shadows and approached Evanswith outstretched hand.

  "Well done, Captain!"

  "You here? I'd hoped you'd gone with the others."

  "What for? My life is over. I've had my pleasures. And this way, I shallbe seeing my wife all the sooner. She always loved adventure, and Ishall tell her all about the Thakura Ripples. Will you join me in adrink, Captain Evans?"

  "No, thank you." His voice broke. "No. I need to be alone." He turnedand strode away.

  In the privacy of his cabin he buzzed operations.

  "What news, Wyman?"

  "Slow, steady climb, sir. All piles have passed critical stage."

  Slowly he replaced the phone, and covered his eyes.

  * * * * *

  Huddled against the wall of boat F, Burl Jasper
son stared out of theobservation port, his cold eyes intent on the distant, fast recedinglights of the _Star Lord_. Now that he felt himself to be safe, he wasweak and exhausted. Beside him sat his secretary, a wizened little manwho stared numbly at his clasped hands.

  Jasperson coughed.

  "Yes, Mr. Jasperson?"

  "Get me a panedol tablet and a glass of water. I don't suppose there'sany ice, but if there is, put in some ice. I'm thirsty."

  Meekly the secretary shuffled down the long length of the boat, solitaryas a ghost, to the cubicle labelled Rations. He was gone a long time,thought Burl, and when at last he returned his feet were dragging morethan ever.

  "There isn't any water, Mr. Jasperson."

  "You idiot! There's got to be water."

  "I couldn't find any, Mr. Jasperson."

  "Davis!" he roared. "Davis, get me a glass of water!"

  Davis looked out from the control room. "Get it yourself. This isn't theship's dining room any more, Jasperson. I've got other things to do nowthan taking orders from you."

  "But I don't know where it is!"

  "All right. I'll get it for you this time and show you where it's