SPECIAL MISSION
That click, the the counter, them that they were as cut off from the as if they were a on Mars or Sargol from their present position. To go the of the into that green world would them to death as surely as if the Patrol was without, with a on their hatch. There was no from that radiation—it would be in the air one breathed, though one's skin. And yet the and beckoned.
"Mutations—" Rip mused. "Space, Tau'd go wild if he see it!"
And that mention of the Medic them to the problem which had them. Dane against the of the cabin.
"We have to have a Medic—"
Rip without looking away from the screen.
"Can one of the be shielded?" The Cargo-apprentice persisted.
"That's a thought! Ali should know—" Rip for the inter-com mike. "Engines!"
"So you are alive?" Ali's voice had a bite in it. "About time you're contacting. Where are we? Besides being from a recruit's set-down, I mean."
"In the Big Burn. Come top-side. Wait—how's Weeks?"
"He has a devil's own headache, but he hasn't out yet. Looks like his in part. I've sent him for a while with a of pain pills. So we've it—"
He must have left to join them for when Rip answered: "After a fashion," into the there was no reply.
And the of his plates on the his at their post. There was an for him to view the world and accept the of the and then Rip Dane's question:
"Can we one of the well to that? I can't take the Queen up and earth her again—"
"I know you can't!" the acting-engineer cut in. "Maybe you her off world, but you'll come close to out when you try for another landing. Fuel doesn't go on forever—though some of you space to think it does. The flitter? Well, we've some linings. But it's going to be a job and a to those out and reassembled. And, frankly, the space one who her had be and praying when he takes off. We can always try—" He was frowning, already with the problem which was one for his department.
So with of sleep, and the time which must be to their charges, Rip and Dane only hands to be by Ali's brain and knowledge. Weeks slept off the of his pain and, though he of weakness, he on to help.
The flitter—an air to three men and for on strange-worlds—was of all non-essentials until what was not much more than the pilot's seat and the motor. Then they to up a of the which was used to line tubes. And they only the of Stotz who such a full supply of parts and tools. It was a over which they often despaired, and Ali frantically, of structure. He was still when they had done.
"She'll fly," he admitted. "And she's the best we can do. But it'll a on how she has to go over 'hot' country. Which way do we her?"
Rip had been with a map of Terra—a small thing he had in one of the travel for entertainment.
"The Big Burn three of this continent. There's no use going north—the area into the regions. I'd say west—there's some settlements on the sea and we need to a territory. Now do we have it straight—? I take the flitter, a Medic and him back?"
Dane cut in at that point. "Correct course! You here. If the Queen has to lift, you're the only one who can take her off world. And the same's true for Ali. I can't out a blast-off in either the pilot's or the engineer's seat. And Weeks is on the list. So I'm elected to do the Medic hunting—"
They were to agree to that. He was no hero, Dane thought, as he gave a last about his early the next morning. The small cubby, and as it was, looked more or secure. No, no hero, it was a of common sense. And although his imagination—that with which of his him—shrank from the ahead, he had not the of that to him.
The space suit, which had been and on the E-Stat under limited gravity, was almost twice as to on earth. But he into it with Rip's aid, while Ali a second under the seat—ready to the man Dane must with him. Before he closed the helmet, Rip had one last order to give, along with an piece of equipment. And, when Dane saw that, he just how Shannon their to be. For only on life or death terms would the Astrogator-apprentice have used Jellico's private key, opened the arms cabinet, and that blaster.
"If you need it—use this—" Rip's was very sober.
Ali from the in place. "It's ready—"
He came into the and Dane out in his place, settling himself the controls. When they saw him there, the closed and he was alone in the bay.
With slowness the of the back. His hands with the of the gloves, Dane two safety belts about him. Then the moved to the left—out into the of the early day, a light too bright, through the of his helmet.
For some moments the machine out and on the landing cranes, the on its going into a of color as it to record the radiation. There came a as it touched the earth at the of the Queen's fins.
Dane pressed the and the lines up and the above shut. Then he opened the controls. He used too much energy and into the air, a wide through what was a thin screen of the foliage, he complete mastery.
Then he was able to level out and westward, the sun at his back, the sea of green him, and ahead the promise of clean, free land the help they needed.
Mile after mile of the green under the flitter, and the of the counter's light to record a land for mankind. Even with the used on worlds to protect what had come to was a frame, no ground to that in person. And above it, as well as he was, Dane that he be exposed. If the more than a thousand miles, his was no longer problematical—it was an fact.
He had only the from the of map Rip had uncovered. To the west—he had no idea how away—there a length of coastline, from the area to allow small settlements. For the population of Terra, by the wars, and then by and then Galactic and colonization, had been decreasing. But the past hundred years it was again on the upswing. Men retiring from space were returning to their native to live out their years. The of far-flung colonists, home on visits, the mother world to some so that they remained. And now the settlements of were on the march, out from the well which had not been by wars.
It was mid-afternoon when Dane noted that the green the was holes—that small in the of waste. He one on the and what, when he left the spacer, had been an almost of light was now a well of blinks. The land was off—perhaps he had passed the of the journey. But in that how much had he and the contaminated? Ali had a method of protection for the empty the Medic would wear—had that held? There were an number of dark in the future.
The were now only thin of and green. Had man only this into the Burn, the knowledge of what would be totally false. This of waste might well exploration.
Now the of the was deliberate, with whole of pause the flashes. Cooling off—? It was cold fast! He that he had a com-unit. Because of the in the Burn he had left it behind—but with one he might be able now to some settlement. All that was to the and, with it as a guide, south the center of modern civilization.
He no plans of action—this whole must upon improvisation. And, as a Free Trader, spur-of-the-moment action was a necessary way of life. On the Rim of the Galaxy, where the the star trails, fast and the ability to plans on an were as as skill in a blaster. And it was very often proven that the tongue—and the brain it—were more than a flamer.
The sun was in Dane's now and he of of earth with vegetation—in place of the "hot" now miles behind. That night he out on the of where the no longer its and he was able to the and sleep under the with the fresh air of early against his and the of the of the and the of Sargol.
He on his back, against the earth of which he was a part, up into the dark, bowl of the heavens. It was so hard to those points of light making the well patterns overhead with the had added to the on his skin. Sargol's sun—the one which gave such limited light to Limbo—the sun under which Naxos, his Galactic port, its food. He not them out—was not sure that any be from Terra. Strange suns, red, orange, green, white—yet here all looked alike—points of glitter.
Tomorrow at he must go on. He his away from the sky and grass, green Terran grass, was soft his cheek. Yet unless he was successful tomorrow or the next day—he might have the right to that again. Resolutely Dane that out of his mind, to upon something more which would with it the sleep he must have he on. And in the end he did sleep, deeply, dreamlessly, as if the touch of Terra's was in itself the his nerves needed.
It was that he awoke, stiff, and chilled. The of pre-dawn gave light and a bird was twittering. There had been birds—or off had been birds—in the "hot" forest. Did they also sing to the dawn?
Dane over the with his small and was to that they had done a good job of under Ali's supervision. Once the he had was stored, he at the without and in comfort. And it was good to be free of that metal prison.
This time he took to the air with ease, the salt taste of food on his as he a cube. And his with the flitter. This was the day, somehow he it. He was going to what he sought.
It was less than two hours after that he did so. A village which was a of fifty or so house along into the land. He across it and the in a pocket with some yards away, where he would be sure of safe hiding.
All right, he had a village. Now what? A Medic—A appearing on the which the town, a in a of Trade, would only and betrayal. He had to plan now—
Dane his tunic. He should, by rights, his space too. But he use those to color his story. He the into at his waist. A or two in his undertunic, a cut from his knife allowed to messily. He not see himself to judge the effect, but had to it was the right one.
His to test his acting powers came sooner than he had anticipated. Luckily he had out of the he was by the boy who came along the path, a over his shoulder, a from his hand. Dane an which he would fatigue, pain, and and as if, in the boy, he had also hope.
"Help—!" Perhaps it was which gave his that croak.
Rod and to the ground as the boy, after one stare, ran forward.
"What's the matter!" His were on those space and he added a "sir" which had the ring of hero worship.
"Escape boat—" Dane toward the sea's direction. "Medic—must to Medic—"
"Yes, sir," the boy's Terran good. "Can you walk if I help you?"
Dane managed a weak nod, but that he did not too on his helpful guide.
"The Medic's my father, sir. We're right this slope—third house. And father hasn't left—he's to go on a northern today—"
Dane a of for the role being upon him. When he had the Medic he must to the Queen in her need, he had not to have to a family man. Only the knowledge that he did have the suit, and that he had the without exposure, up his to see the plan through.
When they came out at the end of the single long which the houses of the village together, Dane was puzzled to see the place so deserted. But, since it was not his role of to ask questions, he did not do so. It was his who the he wanted.
"Most is out with the fleet. There's a of red-backs—"
Dane understood. Within times the "red-backs" of the north had a luxury item for Terran tables. If a of them were to be in the no wonder this village was now as its out to in the but fish.
"In here, sir—" Dane himself being to a house on the right. "Are you in Trade—?"
He a start, his had not done much in the way of disguise. It would be nice, he a little bitterly, if he an I-S now to the issue. But he answered with the truth and did not enlarge.
"Yes—"
The boy was with excitement. "I'm trying for Trade Service Medic," he confided. "Passed the Directive last month. But I still have to go up for Prelim psycho—"
Dane had a of memory. Not too many months not the Prelim psycho, but the big machine at the Assignment Center had his own arbitrarily, him into the of the Solar Queen as the ship where his abilities, knowledge and best work to the good of the Service. At the time he had resented, had been of being to a Free Trading while Artur Sands and other from the Pool had walked off with Company assignments. Now he that he would not the smallest and most from the Solar Queen for the ship in I-S or Combine registry. And this boy from the village might be himself as he was five years earlier. Though he had a home or family, into the Pool from one of the children's Depots.
"Good luck!" He meant that and the boy's deepened.
"Thank you, sir. Around here—Father's room has this other door—"
Dane allowed himself to be helped into the room and sat in a chair while the boy off to the Medic. The Trader's hand to the of his blaster. It was a job he had to do—one he had for—and there was no out. But his mouth had a as he out the and to point it at the door. Or—his mind to another idea—could he the Medic safely out of the village? A about another man injured—perhaps in the of an boat—He try it. He the his undertunic, the would pass unnoticed.
"My son says—"
Dane looked up. The man who came through the door was in early middle age, thin, wiry, with a hard, fined-down look about him. He almost be Tau's brother. He the room with a and came to over Dane, his hand to the cloth the Trader's breast. But Dane off that examination.
"My partner," he said. "Back there—pinned in—" he his hand southward. "Needs help—"
The Medic frowned. "Most of the men are out with the fleet. Jorge," he spoke to the boy who had him, "go and Lex and Hartog. Here," he to push Dane into the chair as the Trader got up, "let me look at that cut—"
Dane his head. "No time now, sir. My partner's bad. Can you come?"
"Certainly." The Medic for the on the him. "You able to make it?"
"Yes," Dane was exultant. It was going to work! He the Medic away from the village. Once out among the on the he the and the man to the flitter. His luck was going to after all!