confirmed my acting captain status, andsent us a raw recruit for third officer replacement after moving Hardingup to acting Exec, everybody was satisfied and happy.
As happy as any small group of reluctant soldiers about to go intobattle is ever likely to get, anyway.
* * * * *
Lieutenant Maise dropped the report back on the SR Officer's desk whenhe had finished reading it.
"How did you like it?" the SR wanted to know.
"All right," Maise murmured. "It covers it. I just hope they can makesome use of it, so that in the future the assignment of a Psi Corpsofficer won't be a general signal for a small-time mutiny."
"That's the whole point of making these reports. They'll work outsomething."
Maise nodded. "Where's Frendon now?"
"He was transferred to XXX Base three days ago, right after he left yourship. Couldn't let him run around here for a while. Not after thetrouble with your crew--somebody might recognize him. Besides, healready has another assignment there."
"I think it was a pretty stupid thing," Maise grumbled. "He was soobvious. And suppose I hadn't warned him about it that night, or that Ihadn't been there when the spore-poisoning idea came to a head among thecrew? They might really have tried to get him outside the dome, or toget a spore culture inside. And then we'd all be sick or dead."
"Not likely, sir," the SR Officer said with a polite, knowing smile."You see, the aliens are presumably susceptible to their ownbacteriological weapons. At least we think so from the way they wentabout it. They want our planets, and they didn't want to have todecontaminate them when they took them over. Besides, it's practicallyimpossible to decontaminate an entire planet, anyway."
"But we did it with Earth."
"For morale purposes, Central Authority let it be known that they wereable to decontaminate it, but what actually happened was that the sporeslost their effectiveness within a few years of their original seeding.I'm surprised they didn't tell you that in the beginning--" He caughthimself suddenly, then shrugged and smiled again.
"Maybe you aren't supposed to be told," he continued withoutembarrassment. "It's sometimes hard for me to know about such things.You have no idea how confused the directives can get in an organizationthis large. Anyway, as you can see, your men couldn't have poisonedFrendon or themselves or anybody else with those spores. That's why wehave been using that particular form of suggested violence in thisunpleasant business. If, as you pointed out, something unexpected didhappen, it would be absolutely harmless. Naturally," he added, "wewouldn't like to risk unnecessarily a professional actor with such aremarkably suitable physical appearance as Commander Frendon--even ifthe poor fellow doesn't have the slightest trace of psi ability."
Maise gaped at him for a moment as he comprehended the careful,knowledgeable planning behind the ruse, much of which had not beenexplained to him before in his briefings. He said, "And I guess there isstill a lot more about it that I don't know."
The SR Officer nodded agreement. "Neither you nor I," he replied in baldunderstatement. "After all, there are some pretty intelligent men incharge of this last-ditch defense of our species, and they do keep a fewof the more important things to themselves. For your own safety amongyour crew, I suggest that you keep this spore business equally secret."
"I don't need your advice for that," Maise said with a low voice and awry grin on his face. But the grin vanished as he stood up to go. Hehesitated and shook his head uncertainly.
"So that takes care of that," the SR concluded. "Now you're all set,aren't you?"
"All set?" Maise murmured, half to himself. "Hell, I'm just starting,and I'm scared. When the boys asked me if I trusted the intuition of thePsi Corps men, I suddenly realized that I really wasn't quite suremyself. I've studied and worked for two solid years under extraordinaryteachers, and back on Earth they said I was unusually good. But now thatmen's lives will depend on it, it almost seems like something out of ajoke book." He stopped talking and sighed. "Well, that's the way it hasto be, I guess."
He turned to go, but the SR Officer called him back. "Just a minute,sir," he said. "You forgot to sign this report. You are the originatingofficer, you know."
"Oh, yes." Maise went back to the desk. He picked up a pen and riffledthrough the pages to the last one. There he signed his name, scribblingrapidly,
"Alton A. B. Maise, Acting Lieutenant SCS Commander, Psi Corps."
"There you are, lieutenant," he muttered, and started walking on back tothe field where his ship was waiting.
THE END
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