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FELINE RED
By ROBERT SAMPSON
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories January1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.copyright on this publication was renewed.]
[Sidenote: _It was up to Jerill to think fast ... to do something ...before those strange beasts sucked away the last purified ore on thefreighter Bertha._]
A shouting wave of men rioted through the engine room.
From the bridge above the hulking atomics, Chief Engineer Durval volliedorders in a thunderous voice. "You men--you!" he raged. "Use your heads,not your feet. Drive them toward the door."
A scattering of Them--compact darting beasts the color of apoppy--scuttled into the shadow of an engine. Heavy Davison wrenchesclubbed futilely behind them.
As Durval flew into new bursts of shouting, Scott Jerill, First Mate ofthe freighter _Bertha_, grimly shook his head. His lean face was notsmiling now. "Call your men back," he commanded crisply. "We don't havetime to drive those cats out like this."
Durval turned on him with a snarl. "Take over then. Think of a betterway. If you hadn't hauled that load of space cats aboard in the firstplace...."
"Look out," Scott snapped.
With a crisp smack, a red creature the size of a man's hand struck therail before them. It was all improbable angles, with no special shape,no front or back. It teetered crazily over the ten foot drop to thefloor below. Then it settled, sputtering. It sounded curiously like anangry cat.
"There's one," roared Durval. His wrench slashed down, crashed shrillyon the rail as the cat skimmed effortlessly away. The wrench shot offtoward the floor.
Durval shook his hand and roared. The cat, some twenty feet down therail, cackled insanely. As Scott stepped slowly toward it, the cathissed, bounded off the rail, and down the steps to the engine roomfloor.
Scott shook his head. "You're not going to catch them by hand. Betterlet them settle down, Durval."
"Settle down." The Chief brought the palm of his hand down on the rail.The rail trembled. "They've already settled down. On every generator inthe place. One of them crawled under the main relay switch and shortedout half the board. Didn't hurt him a bit."
Scott interrupted gruffly. "We've got to get them out of here fast.Captain Elderburg wants to blast off here day after tomorrow, and wedon't have half the ore cargo purified yet."
"And you won't have," Durval snapped. "If we blast off, we'll do it withan empty hold. I can't purify uranium with fifty cats running loose,getting caught in the machinery. It can't be done. Get these cats outand I'll give you a hold full of the best grade uranium Earth everbought. But not till you get those cats out."
Scowling, Scott bit his knuckles. "We've got to get moving. The skipperthinks IP Metals is going to jump our claim," he said urgently.
"If you ask me, only a doddering fool would bring these things into aspace ship." He glanced sharply at Scott. "What's this about IPM?"
Scott shook his head slowly. "Nothing. Forget I said anything. But getthese cats out. And fast. Have you tried ultra-sonics on them?"
Durval's face slipped into new lines. "Maybe," he muttered. Leaning overthe railing, he thundered, "Masters. Forget those cats a minute. Yes,forget them. Hook up an ultra-sonics sender and--"
The ship intercom over Durval's head clicked mechanically, hummed intolife. "Mr. Jerill. Report to Central Control. Mr. Jerill. Report--"
Scott jabbed the Acknowledgement button. As he swung around Durval heglanced down into the engine room. Sweating men beat after the scuttlingred beasts.
"Report to me about the sonics," he told Durval. "If that doesn't work,we'll scoop up those red kitties with our bare hands. But we got to getstarted on that uranium ore purification. Faster than ten minutes ago."
He slammed the engine room door, cutting off Durval's angry roar.Striding rapidly through the bluish light of the corridor, an angerbitter as Durval's throbbed in him. But he took pains to hold it down.
"Confound those cats," he thought. "The _Kastil_ on top of us, and wehave to stop work to chase space fauna. And we have three days left.Three days."
So engrossed was he in anger that he almost blundered head-on into thegrinning red-head who lounged up the corridor toward him.
"Hey, Scott." Second Mate Max Vaugn raised a lazy eyebrow. "Slow down.Think of all your ulcers."
Scott spun impatiently on his heel. "Can't stop, Max. Got to see theCaptain."
"And you don't even stop to say hello to an old friend back from themines of a nameless asteroid." He grinned, slapped Scott's shoulderlightly with an open palm. "What's all this scandal I hear about yourspace cats?"
Scott grimaced. "I caught a few while we were scooping up ore over at mypit. Thought the Extra-Terrestrial Life Division back on Earth might beinterested in them. They don't eat. They don't breathe.... Only theircage got smashed open, and they got into the engine room. Nobody knowshow."
"The good news has got around," Max said grinning. "You don't know it,but there's twenty more sitting outside the main cargo hatch right now.What gets rid of them?"
"If you think of anything," Scott said as he turned away, "tell me. Gotto go. Elderburg's waiting."
"Have you tried hitting them with strong light?" Max shouted after him.
"No," Scott shouted back. He was very late, and the Old Man wanted youfast when he wanted you. "Try light if you get a chance."
He broke into an effortless trot, his boots padding lightly on theshining gray floor. "Three days," he thought. He forgot Max. He forgotDurval and the cats. He thought, "Three days," and a fine film ofperspiration spread cold across his back.
* * * * *
"We have three days," Captain Elderburg said. He was a small neat manwith a prim voice. His bland eyes peered forward into some middledistance, ignoring Scott.
And Scott, sitting tautly in his chair, felt glad those eyes were not onhim.
"In three days," the Captain said, "or probably before, the _Kastil_should find us. The _Kastil_--the best ship Inner-Planet Metals evercommissioned."
Scott nodded. In the savage, free-for-all world of the space-miner, the_Kastil_ was known as the big ship, the new ship. The ship that couldload its cargo hatches in a day, stuffing 100,000 tons of ore down inits belly for the hungering plants of Earth.
"I've fought IP Metals for fifteen years," Elderburg said slowly. Hiseyes were very far away. "For fifteen years they've grown bigger andbigger, and the bigger they've got, the rougher they've played. You knowtheir record, Scott. Murder, claim-jumping. What they can't steal with ablaster, they take by law."
Glancing through the open port behind the Captain's head, out into thestar-dappled dark of space, Scott asked: "Is there any way we can set upa permanent claim here on this asteroid without going back to Earth?"
"You know better than that." Elderburg's eyes turned full on Scott."Unless we bring a full cargo of reasonably purified ore to Earth, wecan't lay claim to these mines, or to any other mineral rights here."
His hands closed neatly, one inside the other. "And we've got to get acargo back. This is our last chance. A strike as rich as this one willkeep us going for a long time. But if we lose this claim to IPM, thedays of the independent miner are over. Done with. We might as well sellthe _Bertha_ and get out."
"We'll be out of here in two days," Scott said eagerly. "If we...."
"If," said Elderburg very plainly. His eyes turned away from Scott andhis hands went all loose at once and spread out flat on the table.
"If we cannot load in two days, Mister Jerill. If your cats that you sof
oolishly brought on board the _Bertha_ delay us so much that the_Kastil_ locates us. And beats us home with a load of ore. If thathappens, Mister Jerill, I will see that you are black-listed from therolls of every space flight unit now operating. You will be completelyresponsible for the failure of this cruise."
Slumping back in his seat, he grinned maliciously at Scott. "I realizethat our company was offering you a captain's position at the end of theexpedition...."
Scott stood up. Anger hammered powerfully at his temples.