Industrial Revolution

approachyou.

  "Of course, no approach is being made yet. A switch has been put inevery scooter circuit, and left open. Only the meteorite evasion unitsare operative right now. That is, if anyone tried to lay alongside oneof those scoopships, he'd be detected and the ship would skitter away.Remember, a scoopship hasn't much mass, and she does have enginesdesigned for diving in and out of Jupe's gravitational well. She canout-accelerate either of our vessels, or any boat of yours, andout-dodge any of your missiles. You can't catch her."

  Hulse snorted. "What's the significance of this farce?"

  "I said the autopilots were switched off at the moment, as far asheading for the target is concerned. But each of those switches iscoupled to two other units. One is simply the sensor box. If youwithdraw beyond a certain distance, the switches will close. That is,the 'pilots will be turned on if you try to go beyond range of thebeams now locked onto you. The other unit we've installed in everyboat is an ordinary two-for-a-dollar radiation meter. If a nuclearweapon goes off, anywhere within a couple of thousand kilometers, theswitches will also close. In either of those cases, the scoopshipswill dive on you.

  "You might knock out a few with missiles, before they strike.Undoubtedly you can punch holes in them with laser guns. But thatwon't do any good, except when you're lucky enough to hit a vitalpart. Nobody's aboard to be killed. Not even much gas will be lost, inso short a time.

  "So to summarize, chum, if that rogue missile explodes, your ship willbe struck by ten to twenty scoopships, each crammed full ofconcentrated Jovian air. They'll pierce that thin hull of yours, butsince they're already pumped full beyond the margin of safety, theimpact will split them open and the gas will whoosh out. Do you knowwhat Jovian air does to substances like magnesium?

  "You can probably save your crew, take to the boats and reach aCommission base. But your nice battleship will be _ganz kaput_. Isyour game worth that candle?"

  "You're totally insane! Releasing such a thing--"

  "Oh, not permanently. There's one more switch on each boat, connectedto the meteorite evasion unit and controlled by a small battery. Whenthose batteries run down, in about twenty hours, the 'pilots will beturned off completely. Then we can spot the scoopships by radar andpick 'em up. And you'll be free to leave."

  "Do you think for one instant that your fantastic claim of actinglegally will stand up in court?"

  "No, probably not. But it won't have to. Obviously you can't makeanybody swallow your yarn if a _second_ missile gets loose. And as forthe first one, since it's failed in its purpose, your bosses aren'tgoing to want the matter publicized. It'd embarrass them to no end,and serve no purpose except revenge on Jimmy and me--which there's nopoint in taking, since the Sword would still be privately owned. Youcheck with Earth, admiral, before shooting off your mouth. They'lltell you that both parties to this quarrel had better forget aboutlegal action. Both would lose.

  "So I'm afraid your only choice is to find that missile before it goesoff."

  "And yours? What are your alternatives?" Hulse had gone gray in theface, but he still spoke stoutly.

  Blades grinned at him. "None whatsoever. We've burned our bridges. Wecan't do anything about those scoopships now, so it's no use trying toscare us or arrest us or whatever else may occur to you. What we'vedone is establish an automatic deterrent."

  "Against an, an attempt ... at sabotage ... that only exists in yourimagination!"

  Blades shrugged. "That argument isn't relevant any longer. I dobelieve the missile was released deliberately. We wouldn't have donewhat we did otherwise. But there's no longer any point in makingcharges and denials. You'd just better retrieve the thing."

  Hulse squared his shoulders. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

  "Well, you can send a man to the Station. He'll find the scooterslying gutted. Send another man over here to the _Pallas_. He'll findthe scoopships gone. I also took a few photographs of the autopilotsbeing installed and the ships being cast adrift. Go right ahead.However, may I remind you that the fewer people who have an inkling ofthis little intrigue, the better for all concerned."

  Hulse opened his mouth, shut it again, stared from side to side, andfinally slumped the barest bit. "Very well," he said, biting off thewords syllable by syllable. "I can't risk a ship of the line. Ofcourse, since the rogue is still farther away than your deterrentallows the _Altair_ to go, we shall have to wait in space a while."

  "I don't mind."

  "I shall report the full story to my superiors at home ... butunofficially."

  "Good. I'd like them to know that we asterites have teeth."

  "Signing off, then."

  Chung stirred. "Wait a bit," he said. "We have one of your peopleaboard, Lieutenant Ziska. Can you send a gig for her?"

  "She didn't collaborate with us," Blades added. "You can see theevidence of her loyalty, all over my mug."

  "Good girl!" Hulse exclaimed savagely. "Yes, I'll send a boat. Signingoff."

  * * * * *

  The screen blanked. Chung and Blades let out a long, ragged breath.They sat a while trembling before Chung muttered, "That skunk as goodas admitted everything."

  "Sure," said Blades, "But we won't have any more trouble from him."

  Chung stubbed out his cigarette. Poise was returning to both men."There could be other attempts, though, in the next few years." Hescowled. "I think we should arm the Station. A couple of laser guns,if nothing else. We can say it's for protection in case of war. Butit'll make our own government handle us more carefully, too."

  "Well, you can approach the Commission about it." Blades yawned andstretched, trying to loosen his muscles. "Better get a lot of otherowners and supervisors to sign your petition, though." The next orderof business came to his mind. He rose. "Why don't you go tell Adam thegood news?"

  "Where are you bound?"

  "To let Ellen know the fight is over."

  "Is it, as far as she's concerned?"

  "That's what I'm about to find out. Hope I won't need an armoredescort." Blades went from the cubicle, past the watchful radioman, anddown the deserted passageway beyond.

  The cabin given her lay at the end, locked from outside. The key hungmagnetically on the bulkhead. Blades unlocked the door and tapped itwith his knuckles.

  "Who's there?" she called.

  "Me," he said. "May I come in?"

  "If you must," she said freezingly.

  He opened the door and stepped through. The overhead light shimmeredoff her hair and limned her figure with shadows. His heart bumped."You, uh, you can come out now," he faltered. "Everything's O.K."

  She said nothing, only regarded him from glacier-blue eyes.

  "No harm's been done, except to me and Sparks, and we're not mad," hegroped. "Shall we forget the whole episode?"

  "If you wish."

  "Ellen," he pleaded, "I had to do what seemed right to me."

  "So did I."

  He couldn't find any more words.

  "I assume that I'll be returned to my own ship," she said. He nodded."Then, if you will excuse me, I had best make myself as presentable asI can. Good day, Mr. Blades."

  "What's good about it?" he snarled, and slammed the door on his wayout.

  Avis stood outside the jampacked saloon. She saw him coming and ran tomeet him. He made swab-O with his fingers and joy blazed from her."Mike," she cried, "I'm so happy!"

  The only gentlemanly thing to do was hug her. His spirits lifted a bitas he did. She made a nice armful. Not bad looking, either.

  * * * * *

  "Well," said Amspaugh. "So that's the inside story. How veryinteresting. I never heard it before."

  "No, obviously it never got into any official record," Missy said."The only announcement made was that there'd been a near accident,that the Station tried to make counter-missiles out of scoopships, butthat the quick action of NASS _Altair_ was what saved the situation.Her captain was commended. I don't believe he ever got a furtherprom
otion, though."

  "Why didn't you publicize the facts afterwards?" Lindgren wondered."When the revolution began, that is. It would've made goodpropaganda."

  "Nonsense," Missy said. "Too much else had happened since then.Besides, neither Mike nor Jimmy nor I wanted to do any cheapemotion-fanning. We knew the asterites weren't any