Charles Carr, page 14
Loddon had been allotted a workshop in the basement of the Government laboratory, and Taylor expected to find him there. But his way was barred by a large metal door, like that of a great safe. It was shut, and he could find no means of opening it. In the rest of the basement there was nobody whom he could question. He went to look for Kraft, and found him working in a laboratory on the ground floor. There were a dozen robed assistants in the long, bare room.
“Where’s Loddon?” Taylor asked.
“Eh?” said Kraft absent-mindedly. His head was still bent over his desk.
“Loddon,” Taylor repeated. “His workshop’s locked. Where’s he gone?”
At that Kraft rose quickly. He frowned and made a slight gesture of warning.
“I’ll try to get hold of him for you,” he said.
Taylor remained puzzled, while Kraft shut himself in a ‘phone cubicle. When he left it he nodded reassuringly to Taylor and led him from the laboratory.
“Loddon’s down there. I spoke to him. He’ll open for us.”
“But we don’t talk about him in front of the laboratory assistant,” said Taylor. “Why the secrecy?”
“Necessary,” murmured the Chief Scientist. “Lyon’s orders.”
He plunged clumsily down the stairway, with Taylor close behind him. The great metal door was opening. It swung just wide enough for Loddon to slip through. As soon as he was out he heaved the door shut again. While it was open a discordant hissing could be heard from inside -
an angry, bestial sound. This was cut off abruptly by the closing of the door.
Loddon’s expression was angry as he emerged. He managed with an effort to grin a welcome to Taylor, but then started at once to grumble.
“Cooped up in a cellar!” he exclaimed. “All because some madman might spoil the work I’m doing to save him among others. It’s crazy. It would have been better if I’d stayed out on the reservation.”
Kraft said soothingly, “You hadn’t the facilities there - the compressors for the cylinders.
And when it comes to production, you know the job must be done here. You’ve made a lot of progress.”
Lodden shook his head unhappily. “Well, my progress has stopped now.”
Taylor remembered the purpose of his visit.
“Lyon sent me to find how things were going with you,” he said to the Chief Engineer. “It doesn’t sound encouraging - what you’ve just said.”
Loddon emerged suddenly from his mood of discontent.
“Oh, well, Lyon’s got enough to worry him,” he said. “Just tell him I’ve come up against another obstacle. It’ll be all right. I’ll get round it somehow - in time.”
“Time,” quoted Taylor, in a fair imitation of Lyon’s tone and manner, “is what I can’t allow you. But is there anything else you need - anything to speed up results?”
“A few live salamanders,” Lodden said. “I want to see what makes them go and what can make them stop. Especially what can make ‘em stop.”
“Your projector, presumably,” suggested Taylor. “Tell me, Chief, what makes that go?”
“Never mind his projector,” Kraft broke in with affected jealousy. “Come and see the results we’re getting with my detector.”
He took them to the factory adjoining the laboratory. There he showed them how his detector, in an improved and more sensitive form, was being put into production in large numbers.
“That’s a lot more than Harper can ever use,” Taylor commented.
“Yes,” Kraft said. “The settlements and oxygen plants are to have them too. They’ll give fair warning of an emergency.”
Kraft had dropped his voice. He looked round the factory workers with the same rather furtive expression that his face had worn when he looked at the laboratory assistants. And he did not speak freely till the three of them were back again in the basement.
“The President’s been here himself to spur on the factory staff,” Kraft said. “He’s certainly doing his best for us. He’s seen to it that we have all the facilities they can offer.”
“So long,” Loddon added, “as we don’t ask for new tools and machines.”
“Yes,” agreed Kraft, “we’re handicapped in that way.”
“I don’t understand,” Taylor said.
“It means that my instruments are more primitive than I could wish. The same thing’s true of Loddon’s weapons. We have to adapt our ideas to existing plant. There isn’t time to make new tools.”
“No armament factories,” Loddon added.
“That,” Kraft went on, “was why Leblanc’s own suggestion of making old-fashioned firearms fell through. The technique’s been lost, and we haven’t time to start again from the beginning.”
Loddon nodded and sighed. “What’s happening along the border?” he asked Taylor. “We never hear anything here.”
“The attacks still go on,” Taylor said. “There must be intelligence behind them, but it’s such a queer intelligence that we can’t always outguess it. The oxygen stations that aren’t too badly damaged are being repaired. It’s uphill work, but it should soon give us better air to breathe.
Harper’s been out again with his force. He’s won some local successes - at a price. Lyon’s hoping for better weapons and vehicles. But I needn’t tell you that.”
“Leblanc’s men are working on the vehicles,” Kraft told him. “They don’t work badly, but there’s no drive or inspiration among them. And I don’t like the way the scientists are reacting.”
“Are they panicking?” Taylor asked.
“I wouldn’t say, that, but they seem to have given up hope.”
“I thought Lyon’s talks were doing good.”
“They do, among the ordinary crowd. But they aren’t designed to appeal to the intelligentsia.”
“The trouble about your intelligentsia,” said Loddon, “is that they suspect the salamanders are more intelligent still.”
“Intelligence isn’t enough, anyway,” Kraft said. “These people aren’t certain any longer that their beliefs have a good moral basis. They need common sense and humour.”
Loddon broke off the conversation. As usual, he soon tired of discussing abstraction.
“That gets us nowhere,” he said. “Now I’m going back to my infernal projector.”
“Good luck, Chief!” said Taylor.
Loddon shrugged his shoulders, grinned ruefully, and turned away to enter his secret workshop once more. Kraft went back to his own task; and Taylor was left with the uneasy feeling that never since men landed on Bel had the fortunes of humanity reached such a low ebb as now. He was badly in need of reassurance himself as he made his way back to Lyon’s headquarters. His need drove him to Nesina’s apartment.
At the moment of seeing him she was glad, and he was grateful for the relief that her grace, and something new and gentler in her manner, gave him. But this relief did not last. Soon he grew conscious that some care was weighing heavily on her mind. In a little while she was telling him of it, reluctantly and as though she was ashamed.
“Someone called me a name in the street,” she said.
He asked fiercely, “Who was it?”
“I do not know. I could not see. And there have been letters too. I have destroyed them.”
“Is that all?”
“Not quite. The chief of my department warned me to remember the ban.”
“Nesina,” he said, “do you want me to keep away from you ?”
“Ah, no! I could not bear that.”
“I hate to think of you being sneered at and threatened.”
“Sometimes I think they are watching me,” she said helplessly.
“They could see nothing that would help their plans.” He thought hard for a moment.
“You’ve broken no law, have you? And the ban, as they call it, hasn’t the same force as the marriage law.”
“It is understood,” she replied. “It is a rule of behaviour that -“
“That you don’t associate with anyone outside your complementary group. That’s it, isn’t it?
But how can they prove you’re doing that? Suppose I belonged to the right group?”
She said hopefully, “You could apply for classification.”
“If I did, and if it happened that my group was the right one…”
She gave a little laugh of relief at the idea. “You’ll try?”
“‘Perhaps.”
“Only perhaps?”
“We have our own rules and standards,” he said. “We’re against your marriage system. But I’ll ask Lyon’s advice.”
At that she exclaimed in dismay. “But must he know? He is such a stern man. It would make more trouble.”
“I’ve told him already about you and me. He’s sympathetic. Please believe that.”
“Yes, I am glad,” she said with a gentle patience that hurt him. But as he was leaving she said with a sigh, “How will it all end for us?”
He could not answer that question, and he carried it with him. Weary, breathing heavily (the oxygen was scarcer still), he thought of Nesina and himself, and then of mankind on Bel. They were all under attack, beset by enemies. How would it end for them?
25
“No,” Lyon said instantly in reply to Taylor’s suggestion. “I can’t let you do that. To ask that you should be graded and brought within the scope of these marriage laws of theirs would be all wrong. It would imply that we agreed with them; and we don’t. I know it’s hard on you and this girl, but if even one of us gives way on that point it’ll weaken our power for bargaining over the business later.”
“I see that, sir. But to us it isn’t a political matter; it’s a human one. Our happiness is at stake.”
“Exactly. Your emotions are involved, so you can’t see clearly. You’ll do as I say, Taylor.”
“It doesn’t leave much hope for us, sir.”
“There’s still the point that these people can’t convict the girl of breaking the ban, let alone the law, unless they prove you’re in the wrong group. That’s a thing they could do easily enough with one of their own men, but I don’t see how they can in your case. So long as there’s a doubt…. Don’t you see? It’s a weapon that you hold.”
“A very weak one, sir.”
“It’s better than none at all. And I won’t forget you, Taylor, if I’m in a better position later on to influence Leblanc and his Government. You’ve served me well, and I’ll do all I can for you.”
“I’m very grateful, sir but -“
“There’s something we might do immediately,” said Lyon.
He called for Manzoni on the telephone. A minute later Manzoni came quickly into the room. He looked tired, and he had last weight.
“You’re having Sanger watched?” Lyon asked him.
“Yes,” Manzoni replied. “More than that, my agents are trying to counteract his propaganda.”
“With what success?”
Manzoni shrugged his shoulders. “They are succeeding to some extent,” he said cautiously.
“But morale generally is not good.”
“I believe that Sanger it trying to rouse feeling against a friend of Taylor’s called - what is her name?”
“Nesina,” said Taylor.
“Nesina. Can your agents cover that aspect of Sanger’s activities also, Manzoni?”
Manzoni said slowly, “I know what you mean. But I am not happy about this. It is different from the other matter. You must remember that the law of my people -“
“The law is not broken yet.”
“Technically that may be so. But still -“
Lyon broke in quickly and persuasively. “Sanger is not harassing this girl because of his respect for the law. It is all part of his plan to create confusion and discontent - to ensure our defeat. Surely you see that?”
Manzoni thought it over.
“Very well,” he said at last. “I am wholly with you now. I will do as you ask. Nesina shall be protected. But if things go badly I am lost.”
“You’re a good fellow, Manzoni.” Lyon spoke more warmly than usual. “I’m grateful to you.
We’ll see to it that things don’t go badly. You’ve given Taylor an incentive now.”
Taylor added his thanks, and Manzoni left the two men together.
“And now,” Lyon said briskly, “I want a lot of work from you. Forget this amour of yours for a time.”
“It isn’t that, sir,” Taylor protested.
“Whatever it is,” said Lyon tolerantly, “it must come second to your duty. Go straight away and see Harper. I have new plans for him. Leblanc’s people have produced some smaller vehicles.”
“Smaller, sir? But the others are all right, with the modifications that have been made.”
“That may be so, but they can’t be carried in ‘planes. These new one can. Smaller vehicles and a fleet of large ‘planes. You’ll find ‘em drawn up at the airfield.”
“A real flying column!” Taylor exclaimed.
“Two columns, or even three. We shall be able to counter-attack anywhere within an hour or so of getting a warning.”
“And the striking force goes fresh into action,” said Taylor, growing still more enthusiastic.
“No more twenty-hour drives for them. This - it’s great, sir. It ought to turn the scale.”
“It should help, anyway. But we have to make the best use of the new material. Harper must do more training straight away and see that his men learn to drive the new vehicles. They must practise boarding the ‘planes with them and getting them out. You know my ideas. Go along now to Harper and help him prepare.”
Out at the airfield Taylor found an atmosphere of renewed optimism spreading among Harper’s men, and from them to all those who came in contact with them.
Leblanc’s designers and engineers had done well, handicapped as they were by the need to use standard parts and engines in order to save time. The new vehicles were just what were needed by Harper and his men. For long drives across country they would have been tiring to the crews and generally unsuitable. But for easy transport by ‘plane and for use in action they were as good in every way as the large vehicles that had been used hitherto. Each vehicle carried a crew of two, was well armoured and screened against radioactivity, and was readily manoeuvrable.
Harper surveyed them with satisfaction.
“They’ll increase our effectiveness many times over,” he said. “All we need now is weapons to match.”
“You’ll have to manage with what you’ve got for a bit longer,” Taylor told him. “Are these things easy to drive?”
“They have standard controls and a simpler instrument panel. We’d better try one of them ourselves before we set the men to work.”
Harper and Taylor drove in turns, testing the vehicle and acquiring the lighter touch that was necessary at the controls. Both of them were good teachers, and soon they had decided what sequence of practice was necessary for the men. They set the crews to work without delay.
The men had been introduced to war under unfavourable conditions, but had done a great deal better than might have been expected. In consequence they were by now aware of their own worth as fighting men. Their minds had been stimulated by their recent experiences, and they were quick to appreciate the advantages that would be given to them by the combination of light vehicles and carrier ‘planes.
After some training on the ground the crews tried the more complicated series of actions involved in driving up the lowered ramps of the ‘planes, securing their vehicles inside, making short flights, landing and driving down the ramps to the ground.
Pratt showed his usual cheerful efficiency, and, when his test was over, he got out sweating from the little cabin of a vehicle and addressed a number of men in robes who were standing by. They were the men who had driven the vehicles to the airfield, and they had stayed to watch how they were received, and how the men from the reservation succeeded in learning to drive them.
“If you ask me,” said Pratt, “I wouldn’t like to be a perishin’ salamander from nah on. Soon as ever they show ‘emselves, they’re a-goin’ ter be blasted all ter bits. No trouble at all! Fanks a lot, mates.”
One or two of the robed men smiled uncertainly.
“Pitty you can’t come along an’ see ‘ow we fix ‘em up - them salamanders,” Pratt want on.
“Won’t ‘alf be a ter-do, mates.”
The smiles broadened.
“You want me to come?” asked one of the robed men.
Pratt showed neither surprise nor hesitation.
“‘Course I do, cock. We all do. Only you’ll ‘ave ter ask the boss first.”
The robed men had taken Pratt’s light-hearted words in earnest. A deputation sought out Harper, who spoke to them for some time, leaving Taylor to control the training which was still going on.
“It’s an amazing thing,” Harper said when he came back. “Those men are volunteering to come with us all the way. They say they want to fight.”
“They’re good drivers,” said Taylor. “They’d be useful to replace your casualties.”
“It was Pratt’s doing, apparently.”
“I know. He’s got a way with him. You’ll have to promote him. Are you accepting these men’s offer?”
“I want to,” Harper said, “but I’ll have to ask Lyon first. There’s the political question, you see. I’ll telephone to Lyon.”
Taylor nodded. He was intent on the work now. The problem he was trying to solve was whether a ‘plane could make a vertical take-off with a vehicle inside. It would need lashings that were secure, and yet they must be easily released. He was still experimenting when Harper returned.
“Lyon’s cleared it with Leblanc,” he said.
“You mean you can use those men?”
“As volunteer reinforcements. Yes.”
Taylor grunted. He was still preoccupied with his problem. “Can you see,” he asked, “how to get that take-off without tearing the fuselage wide open? You can land your force anywhere, but it would be useful if you could take off vertically with the vehicles aboard.”
“It’s not essential, though. Once the action was over the vehicles could be driven to a landing-ground. The ‘planes could do their vertical take-off easily enough unloaded, and wait at the landing-ground to use the runway with the vehicles aboard.”
