Evil Out of Onzar

white-cloaked figure. Onzarian. The eyes and mouth hadthe idiot expression peculiar to a Stoltz corpse. Thane considered. Hewas at a disadvantage against the snow in his blue civilian coveralls.He quickly stripped the white cloak off the corpse and put it on as hecontinued at a run.

  He slowed as he approached a clearing. Not much of a clearing, notlarge enough to be spotted from the air. Two figures in the Patroluniform were stretched out, motionless, a few meters from the tree atthe center. Two men in white cloaks were carrying a third figurebetween them, just entering the pine forest at the further edge.Thane instantly recognized the unconscious figure as Reine. At once hestarted towards them, shifting the Stoltz to the lightest stunposition. That cut the range way down, even for this close-in weapon,but it would be dangerous for Reine if he used more. Reine apparentlyhad had one dose already. On the run, Thane aimed at one figure he hadnot seen before. Apparently it was good, for Thane was able to keepgoing. Fifteen meters distant from the three figures, Thane stopped.They were just visible through the trees. He raised his Stoltz and ...thought of Proxima....

  ... he was fifteen and the dance was wonderful. She was dressed in thenew shell-white toga that was fashionable just then. It certainly setoff her jet-black hair, shining on the terrace, in the light ofProxima's two moons....

  But it wasn't black, it was blonde. And she wasn't leaning against hisarm on the terrace, she was standing in front of him, and he was lyingon the brittle snow. There was a Stoltz in her bare right hand.

  She stated at him, steadily and coldly. "It is turned all the way upnow. I hope you are ready to die, Onzarian!"

  * * * * *

  Thane, as he recovered fully from the Stoltz shock, recognized thetall blonde girl standing before him. Astrid Reine, Manning's daughterand assistant. He raised himself painfully to his elbows. As he did,he saw Astrid's knuckles tighten around the impeller.

  "No, Astrid," he said. "I'm here to help you. We may still be able tosave your father."

  Her hand didn't waver. The expression on her golden face was scornful."Do not lie so childishly! You came with the Onzarians, the agents ofCandar. You are one of them. You came to take my father."

  Thane desperately gestured back the way he had come. "My footprintsare in the snow. There's an Onzarian I killed. And my anti-grav. I wassent to protect your father."

  "Who are you?"

  A roaring noise came from the east and a moment later a jet clearedthe tree tops, headed south. Thane saw the ship at the edge of hisvision, but kept his eyes on Astrid. She turned her head slightly atthe sound. Slightly, but enough. Thane's tensed muscles contracted ashe sprang to his feet. She pressed the impeller--just as his left footkicked in a high arc and caught the side of the barrel.

  The gun spun off to the edge of the clearing. "Now," he said angrily,"don't you think we've wasted enough time? They have him now, and withthat jet they'll have enough start on us to leave the system before wecan catch them." As he spoke, the jet reappeared and slipped down lowover the trees to the west. "Hurry," he said, "they'll be on us inseconds."

  She looked at him, hesitated. Then, "All right. Inside."

  She stepped over to the trunk of the tree and spoke softly. A panelopened in the ground at the foot of the tree, over a grav-well. Theydropped gently, and the panel closed behind them. As they floatedslowly downward they heard a sharp explosion overhead. He smiled wrylyat Astrid, dropping beside him.

  "Your change of heart," he said, "didn't come any too soon."

  Reine's laboratory, like a great deal else in the Allied Systems, hadgone underground as galactic war approached. Far beneath the surface,the grav-well ended in a corridor, stretching out a hundred meters.Rooms filled with equipment opened out at either side. As they walkeddown the corridor, Thane explained his mission and his Onzarianappearance. "Now," he went on, "there's a lot for me to catch up on."

  "It's been terrible," Astrid said. "First, there was the attackyesterday. We fought them off, then. Liaison radioed that they weresending more protection. But the jet that landed today flashed theLiaison code to our auto-interrogator. We lowered the screen and theybegan to attack. We didn't stand a chance, once they were inside."

  It was all clear enough, and it was certainly also clear that he waslate. There was the faint possibility that Reine could still berescued before the Onzarians could leave the system.

  He turned to Astrid. "If they plan to leave by the regular Onzariantransport, we should be able to catch them at the Aberdeen spaceport.Where's the radio?"

  They had reached an open door. Astrid's gesture was hopeless. Thanelooked inside. The Onzarians had been there before they left. Twisted,melted circuits were all they had left.

  * * * * *

  The anti-grav scout got them to the Aberdeen spaceport an hour late.The Onzarian gold transport had left for Kadell IV. A few questionswere enough to justify Thane's growing pessimism. Several Onzarianshad taken passage. One was heavily drugged, under the care of aphysician.

  The hours dragged till they were able to get passage on the nextKadell-bound transport the following day. Once spaceborne, Thane felta lot of his depression lift. There was a good chance they would reachthe Kadenar spaceport on Kadell IV before the other ship had left. Inthe meantime there was Astrid....

  By the time they had reached the second warp-line intersection Thanehad learned that Astrid had also attended the Systems University atBeirut, three classes behind him. They'd had some of the sameprofessors and a couple of mutual friends. Thane told her of life onProxima, and she told him how she had lived and worked with herfather. Her talk was in the off-hand sort of vocal shorthand thattheir generation shared. But through the facade, Thane could see thatshe was immensely brilliant in research, fascinated with her work, andat the same time, immensely lonely. She was animated when she spoke ofthe work that she and her father had done but there was a differentsparkle in her yellow eyes when she talked of the university. Talkswith fellow students, a brief love affair, weekend trips to Tel Avivor New Rome--it was plain that she had badly missed it all in heryears in Norway, in the glittering, isolated laboratory far under thesnow.

  And always there was recurrent alarm for her father. She broke off hertalk of the University and gripped his arm. "Roger, we must stop them.If they take my father to Onzar, he'll be killed. And the movement.What will happen to that?"

  "The movement?" Roger Thane asked, puzzled.

  "Why of course," she said, surprised. "Don't you know about it?"

  Thane was about to answer, but just then there was the shummer as theyre-entered space at the second warp-line intersection. At the samemoment the red warning light in their compartment blinked. Thenavigator's voice, with an undercurrent of alarm, came over theintercom. "Emergency. Emergency! Crew to battle stations. Passengersto lifeboats."

  Roger and Astrid dashed out into the port corridor. The corridorwidened as they ran forward, and they were suddenly in the port firecontrol center. An Onzarian officer, the Third from his insignia, wasat the fire control panel. Thane looked at the screen over the Third'shead. The ship was black and unmarked but if it was a pirate it was byfar the biggest Thane had ever seen. The whole black hulk was turningin space, a hundred KM away, lining up its armament. It would only beseconds. Thane looked at the Third. He seemed to be confused, and wasfumbling almost blindly with the instruments. He twisted dials almostat random, on the edge of panic. Thane hesitated--then realized whatit must be--Stoltz artillery. The unmarked ship had managed to getthrough with it, during the microseconds of the shummer when thescreens were down.

  He could feel some of the effect himself. He went through a moment ofindecision, but that was all. Then he stepped forward and shoved theThird Officer aside. The officer looked blank, then his face reddenedin anger. As Thane tried to bring the armament to bear, the Third wasclawing at his back. Thane bent and twisted. The Third went crashinginto a bulkhead. Thane didn't even glance at him. There was no time.He turned back t
o the fire control. As he did, the first disrupterexplosion came, not two kilometers ahead. The next one would get them.

  Thane twisted the manual computer for there was no time to wait forthe automatic to warm up. Two small adjustments and he touched theimpeller. Instantly his disrupter burst appeared on the screen off thestarboard bow of the black enemy. Not close enough to do real damagebut enough to throw off the pirate's next shot. The shot came. Needlesdanced wildly on the board before Thane. The whole ship vibratedwildly. The power drain was tremendous, but the inner screens held. AsThane lined up the pirate again, the intercom said, "Five seconds towarp-line!" They'd be safe, then, after the micro second when thescreens were down. And the pirate was in position to