Forty thousand miles from Earth's center the Chicago along a arc, inert, at a ten thousand miles an hour; a speed which, and not by accident, her above a point on the planet's surface. Nor was it by that Virgil Samms and Roderick Kinnison were aboard. And a dozen or so other craft, and such, officers were out to put space-time in their logs, were about; but very away from the flagship. And out—well out—a of diesel-powered ships space to the full limit of their reach. The officers of those to a the place and of every ship in the ether, and the of one would set in motion a long of carefully-planned events.
And below, atmosphere, very from the direct line the Chicago and Earth's core, a yacht. And this not one Lensman, or two, but eight; two of their upon their plates. They were a lunch-box upon the of a lake.
"Hasn't it yet?" Roderick Kinnison demanded. "Or been approached, or moved?"
"Not yet," Lyman Cleveland replied, crisply. "Neither Northrop's mine has any of activity."
He did not the statement, was there need. Mason Northrop was a Master Electronicist; Cleveland was the world's expert. Neither of them had radiation. Ergo, none existed.
Equally the box had not moved, or been moved, or approached. "No change, Rod," Doctor Frederick Rodebush Lensed the thought. "Six of us have been the plates in five-minute shifts."
A minutes later, however: "Here is a which may be of interest," DalNalten the Venerian announced, himself with a pints of water. "It is natural enough, of course, for any Venerian to be in or on any water he can reach—I would very much being on or in that myself—but it may not be by that one particular Venerian, Ossmen, is visiting this particular at this particular time."
"What!" Nine Lensmen the as one.
"Precisely. Ossmen." It was a measure of the Venerian Lensman's that he used only two of twenty or thirty. "In the red with the yellow sail."
"Do you see any rigs?" Samms asked.
"He wouldn't need any," DalNalten put in. "He will be able to see it. Or, if a little had been on it which no Tellurian have noticed, any Venerian it from one end of that to the other."
"True. I didn't think of that. It may not have a after all."
"Maybe not, but keep on listening, anyway," the Port Admiral ordered. "Bend a plate on Ossmen, and a more on the of the boats. But Ossmen is clean, you say, Jack? Not a spy-ray block?"
"He couldn't have a block, Dad. It'd give too much away, here on our home grounds. Like on Eridan, where their wear anything they lift, but we had to go naked." He as he his with Hazel the Hell-cat, and Northrop with him.
"That's right, Rod," Olmstead in his agreed, and Conway Costigan, in his room in Northport, concurred. The top-drawer of the enemy for safety upon perfection of technique, not upon and devices.
"Well, since you're all so sure of it, I'll it," and the waiting on.
Under the of the light and breeze, the red moved slowly across the water. A somnolent, youth, who very nothing about where the went, sat in its stern, with his left arm across the tiller. Nor was Ossmen any more concerned. His only care, apparently, was to avoid with the fishermen; his under-water were long, for a Venerian, and he entered and left the water as as only a Venerian—or a seal—could.
"However, he have, and has got, a spy-ray detector," Jack offered, presently. "Or, since a Venerian can anything one smaller than a stove, he have a whole station away in his stomach. Nobody's put a on him yet, have you?"
Nobody had.
"It might be not to. Watch him with 'scopes ... and when he up close to the box, your off of it. DalNalten, I don't it would be for you to go there too, would it?"
"Very definitely not, which is why I am up here and dry. None of them would go near it."
They waited, and Ossmen's him over the spot on the lake's which was the of so many Tellurian eyes. He at the lunch-box as as he had looked at so many other objects, and over it as casually—and only the ultra-cameras what he actually did. He on.
"The box is still there," the spy-ray men reported, "but the is gone."
"Good!" Kinnison exclaimed, "Can you 'scopists see it on him?"
"Ten to one they can't," Jack said. "He it. I him to it box and all."
"We can't see it, sir. He must have it."
"Make sure."
"Yes, sir.... He's on the now and we've him from all angles. He's clean—nothing outside."
"Perfect! That means he isn't on it to somebody else in a crowd. This will be an ordinary job of from here on in, so I'll put in the umbrella."
The ships were recalled. The Chicago and the other ships of returned to their bases. The away. But on the other hand there were of activity the for a mile or so from the of the lake. Camps were struck. Hiking parties that they had and to their steps. Lithe men, who had been doing this and that, stopped doing it and for the nearest trails.
For Kinnison pere had in saying that the of the enterprise was to be an ordinary job of shadowing. No ordinary job would do. With the game this nearly in the it must be that no was aroused, and yet Samms had to have facts. Sharp, hard, clear facts; so self-evidently that no above possibly mistake them for anything but facts.
Wherefore Ossmen the Venerian was not alone thenceforth. From to hotel, from hotel to car, along the road, into and in and out of train and plane, clear to an ordinary-enough-looking in an ordinary of New York, he was alone. Where the traveling population was light, the Patrol were and did not the Venerian too nearly; where dense, as in a station, they him three deep.
He his destination, which was of spy-ray proofed, late Sunday night. He in, briefly, came out.
"Shall we spy-ray him, Virge? Follow him? Or what?"
"No spy-rays. Follow him. Cover him like a blanket. At the time give him the spy-ray going-over, but not until then. This time, make it thorough. Make that he hasn't got it on him, in him, or in or around his house."
"There'll be nothing doing here tonight, will there?"
"No, it would be too noticeable. So you, Fred, and Lyman, take the trick; the of us will some sleep."
When the opened Monday the Lensmen were back, with of others, Knobos of Mars. There were also present or hundreds of the shrewdest, most of Earth.
"So this is their headquarters—one of them at least," the Martian thought, studying the of people entering and the building. "It is as we thought, Dal, why we it, why we any backward. None of us has any of these before. Complete of operation; inter-planetary. Long of quiescence. Check?"
"Check: but we have them now."
"Just like that, huh?" Jack Kinnison jibed; and from his his idea was the more valid, for the were very indeed.
From the more professional of Knobos and DalNalten, however, who had a so long, the was not too difficult. Their were and synchronized; they were present in such numbers that "tails" be every fifteen seconds; long anybody, suspicious, to any one shadow. Nor was it necessary for the to each other, inconspicuously, or to any at change-over time. Lensed every move, without or error.
And there were with tremendous, lenses, the "long eyes" of taking wire-sharp close from five hundred feet; and other and and too to mention here.
Thus the were and their transactions with the retail peddlers were recorded. And from that point on, Jack Kinnison had to admit that the was clear. These small were not smart, and their were less so. None had screens or or other apparatus; their every be and was recorded from a of many miles by the ultra-instruments of the Patrol. And not only the transactions. Clearly, unmistakeably, the purchaser was from to sniffing; was the time long. Thionite, then as now, was at retail only to use, and the whole thing on tape and film. The gasping, appeal; the of for drug; the to a place of solitude; the muscle-lock and the transports; the shaken, soul-searing or the death. It all on record. It was to have to record such things. More than one did in fact, and had to be relieved. But Virgil Samms had to have concrete, positive, evidence. He got it. Any possible jury, upon that evidence, would know it to be the truth; no possible jury, after that evidence, in any other than "guilty".
Oddly enough, Jack Kinnison was the only of that long and day. A man—later proved to be a middle-sized of the underworld—who was not under at the time, for some or other got the idea that Jack was after him. The Lensman had, perhaps, allowed some part of his long to show; a fast and long-range is a thing to conceal. At any the sent out a call for help, just in case his would not be enough, and in the meantime his personal around.
They had two objects in view; One, to pass a knife and through Kinnison's from ear to ear; and: Two, to tear the long and a square of super-sensitive to the light of day. And if the Big Shot had that the was not alone, that the big, a away was also a bull, they might have succeeded.
Two of the four Jack just ahead of the other two; one to the camera, the other to the knife. But Jack Kinnison was fast; fast of brain and nerve and muscle. He saw them coming. In three he the of the into a around the of the man's head, under the fiercely-driven knife, and the toe of his into the spot upon which prize-fighters like to have their rabbit-punches land. Both of those promptly. One of them permanently; for a in is heavy, very rigid, and very, very hard.
While Battling Jack was still off balance, the other two arrived—but so did Mason Northrop. Mase was not as fast as Jack was; but, as has been pointed out, he was and much stronger. When he a man, with either hand, that man dropped. It was the same as being on the end of the of a twenty-pound through a of ninety seven and one-half feet.
The Lensmen had of also for help, and it took only a second for a Patrol to travel from any point to any other in the same county. It took no time at all for that to a of square with patterns of through which neither be driven. Therefore the ended as as it began; more thugs, with their and portables, the scene.
Kinnison and the which had arms that day, and that he would out of again without on at least two blasters; but he had to admit that he had nothing to about. Kinnison pere patiently—for him—that all he had got out of the little was a lip, that Northrop's wasn't mussed, and that if had been packing some scatter-brained like him would have started and higher than up—would have Samms' whole operation maybe repair. Now would he and to out?
He got.
"That up, don't you think?" Rod Kinnison asked. "And the lawyers will have of time to the case into shape and up for trial."
"Yes and no." Samms in thought. "The is complete, from original to consumer; but our best is that it will take years to the bars."
"Why? I you were them too much time when you the blow-off for three ahead of election."
"Because the is only a small part of it. We're going to the whole thing at once, you know, and Mateese a more ground—murder, kidnapping, bribery, corruption, misfeasance—practically you can think of."
"I know. What of it?"
"Jurisdiction, among other things. With the President, over of the Congress, much of the judiciary, and all of the political and police of the Continent under at once, the legal problem difficult. The Patrol's Department of Law has been on it twenty four hours a day, and the only thing they sure of is a long of bitterly-contested points of law. There are no whatever."
"Precedents be damned! They're and it. We'll the laws so that...."
"We will not!" Samms interrupted, sharply. "We want and we will have government by law, not by men. We have had too much of that already. Speed is not of the essence; very definitely is."
"'Crusader' Samms, now and forever! But I'll it, Virge—now let's to earth. Operation Zwilnik is all set. Mateese is going good. Zabriska into Zwilnik. That Operation Boskone, which is, I suppose, still fast."
The First Lensman did not reply. It was, and men it. The shrewdest, most and of the Patrol had that with they had, and had bounced. Low-level had no point of contact, no of approach. Middle level, ditto. George Olmstead, at the possible level, was that he had a point of contact, but had not been able to do anything with it.
"How about calling a Council on it?" Kinnison asked finally. "Or Bergenholm at least? Maybe he can one of his on it."
"I have it with them all, just as I have with you. No one had anything to offer, to go ahead with Bennett as you are doing. The is that the Boskonians know just as much about our as we know about theirs—no more."
"It would be too much to them to be to us as to only on our visible Grand Fleet, after the they gave us at The Hill," Kinnison admitted.
"Yes. What me most is that they had a start."
"Not to count," the Port Admiral declared. "We can out-produce 'em and out-fight 'em."
"Don't be over-optimistic. You can't them the of brains, ability, man-power and at least equal to ours."
"I don't have to." Kinnison cheerful. "Morale, my boy, is what counts. Man-power and and fire-power are important, of course, but has every in history. And our right now is higher than a cat's back—higher than any time since John Paul Jones—and higher by the day."
"Yes?" The question was but potent.
"Yes. I just that—yes. From what we know of their they can't have the we've got. Anything they can do we can do more of and better. What you've got, Virge, is a case of nerves. You've been to Bennett, in of the number of times I've asked you to. I say take time right now and come along—it'll be good for what you. It will also be a very thing for Bennett and for the Patrol—you'll no there."
"You may have something there ... I'll do it."
Port Admiral and First Lensman to Bennett, not in the Chicago or other superdreadnaught, but in a two-man speedster. This was necessary space-travel, as as that was concerned, was a one-way for Lensmen. Only Lensmen Bennett, under any or for any whatever. There was no out-going mail, express, or freight. Even the war-vessels of the Fleet, while on the bottle-tight the system, were so screened that no possibly be made.
"In other words," Kinnison explaining, "we on think of, Bergenholm and Rularion; and me, brother, that was a of stuff."
"But wouldn't the very of such restrictions against morale? It is a of that imprisonment, like else, is purely relative."
"Yeah, that's what I told Rularion, I used and language. You know how and he is, when he's wrong?"
"How I know!"
"Well, when he's right he's too for words. You'd've he was talking to the prize of a class of half-wits. As long as nobody on the that there was any such thing as space-travel, or that they were not the only of life in the universe, it was all right. No such as being planet-bound exist. They had all the room there was. But after they met us, and all the implications, they would the colly-wobbles no end. This, of course, is an of the way the old it into me; but he came through with the solution, so I took it like a little man."
"What was the solution?"
"It's a you were too to come in on it. You'll see when we land."
But Virgil Samms was quick on the uptake. Even they landed, he understood. When the for he saw upon the clouds a of one many-times signal; as they came to ground he saw that the same set of was repeated, not only upon every available cloud, but also upon airships, balloons, streamers, and of buildings—even, in multi-colored and flower-beds, upon the ground itself.
"Twenty Haress," Samms translated, and in thought. "A date of the Bennettan year. Would it by any to with our Tellurian November of this present year?"
"Bright boy!" Kinnison applauded. "I you'd it, but not so fast. Yes—election day."
"I see. They know what is going on, then?"
"Everything that counts. They know what we to win—and lose. They've named it Liberation Day, and on the is up to it in a crescendo. I was a little of it at first, but if the screens are tight it won't make any how many people know it, and if they aren't the would all be anyway. And it works—I a every time I come here."
"I can see where it might work."
Bennett was a Tellurian world in mass, in and in climate; her native were to the limit of classification, physically and mentally. And First Lensman Samms, as he it with his friend, a world with a and an unknown to Earth since the days of the Crusades. The Patrol's and psychologists, by to the truth, had done a job.
Bennett that it was the Arsenal and the Navy Yard of Civilization, and it was proud of it. Its were as they had before; every industry, every business, every farm was at one hundred of capacity. Bennett was and with already built, and hundreds more were being to completion. The already number of ships of out of those was being every hour by more and more ultra-modern, ultra-fast, ultra-powerful shapes.
It was an to help those ships; it was a still one to help man them. Competitive were being constantly, were all or most of the native Bennettans.
Samms did not have to ask where these people were from. He knew. From all the of Civilization, by carefully-worded of good jobs at high pay on new and on newly planets. There were hundreds of such ads. Most were the Patrol's, and here; many were of Spaceways, Uranium Incorporated, and other firms. The possibility that some of them might lead to what was now being called Boskonia had been thoroughly, but with negative results. Lensmen had by for those non-Patrol jobs and had them bona-fide. The was unavoidable—Boskone was doing its on unknown to any of Arisia's Lens. On the other hand, more than a of Boskonians were for Patrol jobs, but Samms was almost that none had been accepted. The final was done by Lensmen, and in such Lensmen did not make many or mistakes.
Bennett had been of the First Lensman's arrival, and Kinnison had been of a in telling Samms that he would not be as a stranger. Wherever Samms he was met by crowds. He had to make speeches, each of which was by a of "TO LIBERATION DAY!"
"No Lensman material here, you say, Rod?" Samms asked, after the city-shaking was over. One of his concerns, his life, was this. "With all this enthusiasm? Sure?"
"We haven't any good to to you yet. However, in a years, when the a little older, there will be."
"Check." The of and was finished, the two Lensmen started to Earth.
"Well, my and friend, was I lying, or not?" Kinnison asked, as soon as the speedster's were sealed. "Can they match that or not?"
"You weren't—and I don't they can. I have anything like it. Autocracies have parades and and demonstrations, of course, but they have always been forced—artificial. Those were spontaneous."
"Not only that, but the will through. We'll be and to go. But about this stumping—you said I'd start as soon as we back?"
"Within a days, I'd say."
"I wouldn't wonder, so let's use this time in out a plan of campaign. My idea is to start out like this...."
