E C Tubb, page 13
“How long have you lived here? George asked.
“A long time, “ tittered the man. He seemed pleased to have an audience. “A long, long time. Others came after me, but I’ve lived the longest. “
“Which others?” Jay questioned. “Where are they?”
“They ran away when the lights came on, “ complained the man. “I don’t like the lights, they hurt my eyes, but they didn’t care about that. They just left me, all of them, and they didn’t leave me any food. “ He held out his hands again in an oddly disturbing gesture. “Food? You’ll feed poor old Joe?”
“Later. “ Jay stared at George. “There must have been others hiding in No-Weight besides this wreck. Somehow they obtained food and managed to live. “ He nodded thoughtfully as he thought about it. “Food requirements would be low in the absence of gravity and lack of physical exercise would account for his fat. Lack of water would account for his dirt, though he could probably lick enough condensation from the metal to stay alive. “
“What about his hair?” asked George. He shuddered as he looked at the tangled mass. “Look at it! It’s disgusting!”
“Never mind his hair. “ Jay stared at the man again, trying to ignore his odor, his dirt, the saliva drooling from his mouth and the restless twitching of his eyes. “Joe!”
“You want me? You want old Joe?”
“Those others you spoke of-where are they?”
“They ran away. “ A cunning expression crept over the lined face. “You want to find them?”
“Yes. “
“They’ve got food. You’ll fetch it back to poor old Joe?”
“Yes. “ Jay glanced down the tube towards the nearing searchers. “If you’ll tell me where to find them, I’ll get some food for you. Where are they?”
“Down there. “ The man gestured towards the sealed areas. “They ran away when the lights came on. Bosco, and Murry and the rest. They all ran away from me. “ Tears of self-pity glistened in the restless eyes. “Food?”
“Where did they go?”
“I told you. “ Again the man gestured toward the end of the central axis. “Somewhere down there. They know where the food is but they wouldn’t tell me. “ He sniffed, wiping his nose on the back of his hand, a gesture which almost caused Jay to vomit. George pulled at his arm, his face anxious.
“Hurry, Jay, “ he whispered. “We’ll be seen soon. “
“Coming. “ Jay stared hopelessly at the lined features of the stranger, knowing that he had obtained all the information he could from the creature, and yet knowing that it wasn’t enough. For a moment he hesitated, then, as the first of the searchers came into view, he followed George toward the end of the tube.
They had passed two sets of girders when they heard the shout and for a second Jay thought that they had been seen. Then the shouts turned into laughter, against a background of screams. Jay stared grimly at the electronics engineer.
“Still want to give yourself up?”
“They killed him, “ George said sickly. “An old man like that, and they killed him. “
Jay didn’t answer, but progressed with increased speed towards the blank metal ahead. A riveted bulkhead sealed off No-Weight from the mysterious regions of the sealed areas beyond and Jay stared at it, biting his lips as he looked for signs of the “others” whom the insane creature had mentioned. George gripped his arm.
“Look! A door! See?”
A small hatchway was open at the edge of the bulkhead. It was a round panel, three feet across and opening inwards so that it looked like a dark spot against the polished smoothness of the bulkhead. From where they stood it was “up” and a little to the right, almost directly opposite across a hundred yards of clear space. Even as they looked at it, the panel began to close.
Jay gripped a strut, twisted himself so that his feet rested against the metal and, aiming quickly, thrust himself with the full power of his muscles towards the closing door. It was a risky thing he did. His speed was too great for safety and, as he hurtled across the clear space, he knew that he would land too heavily. He twisted his body as he passed the central region where gravity abruptly altered so that, instead of the hatchway being “up, “ it now became “down, “ and plummeted feet-first towards the panel.
He hit with a force which jarred the teeth in his head and sent little shafts of pain lancing up his legs and thighs. For a moment he was afraid that the door had been locked and that he had broken his bones against the unyielding surface. Then the panel gave beneath him, he hurtled through the hatchway and he was in darkness, struggling with something soft and yielding. A man swore, then hands closed around his throat and a voice rasped terse instructions.
“Shut that door! Quick!”
“Here’s another. “ A man, a shapeless figure against the light, grunted as George gripped the edge of the hatchway.
“Get him inside, “ snapped the first voice. “Quick!”
Light flared with the closing of the hatch and, in the dim glow of a hand-beam, Jay blinked up at the first speaker. He was a big man, stocky, with mottled gray hair. He stared at Jay, saw the black uniform shorts, and his hands tightened with grim promise.
“Police!”
“No. “ Jay tore at the hands around his throat, gripping the fingers and wrenching them free. “Bosco? Murry?”
“How did you know my name?” The big man rubbed his injured hands and glared at Jay. “I’m Bosco. “
“Joe told me. “ Jay looked towards where George was held by the other man. “We’re on the run from Gregson, the chief of psych-police. Those searchers are after us. They killed the old man, Joe he said his name was, and they’ll kill us too if they find us. “
“Why?”
“I escaped into No-Weight, “ said George quickly. “Jay here helped me. “
“You came to join the Barbs?” Bosco glared suspiciously at Jay. “You? An officer?”
“I had no choice, “ Jay explained grimly. “I should have killed George, eliminated him, but I didn’t. Gregson found out and now he wants us both dead. “ Jay stared curiously at Bosco. “Are you Barbs?”
“Yes. We’re the barbarians, so called because we wanted to live. “ There was a brittle dryness in the big man’s voice. “We skulk in No-Weight, eating when we can, drinking what we can, living how we can. You should know of us. “
“I’ve heard rumors, “ admitted Jay, “but that’s all. I’d begun to doubt if you really existed. “
“A policy of silence. “ Bosco nodded. “It makes sense- the less who know of us the fewer there will be wanting to join us. “ He looked at his companion. “What shall we do with these two?”
“Throw them back into No-Weight. “ The man who held George glowered at his captive. “If it hadn’t been for these two the police might never have wanted to search. We only just got away in time as it is. “
“We can’t throw them back, “ snapped Bosco. “If we leave them alive, they’ll talk, and if we kill them first someone will begin asking questions. Waste!” He glared at Jay. “Why did you have to follow us?”
“I wanted to live, “ said Jay quietly. He looked at the grey-haired man. “Like you, like Murry here, like Joe. “
“Joe was too far gone to save. “ Bosco didn’t seem to like talking about it. “The searchers expect to find some Barbs living in No-Weight, and we had to leave some for them to find. Joe, Mary, Sam, a few others. All of them old-timers. Joe had lived here for over thirty years and was insane for the past ten. The darkness finally got him-that and other things. “ He didn’t explain what those “other things” might have been. “It’s best that they should die to save the rest. They were due for the converters years ago. “ He looked at Murry again. “Well?”
Murry shrugged. He had made his suggestion and didn’t seem able or willing to make others. George spoke before the big man could make up his mind.
“Can’t we wait here until the search is over? We’ll promise not to, tell anyone about what we’ve seen. “
“How can we trust him?” Murry jerked his thumb towards Jay. “A policeman. Waste! He’ll have the Ship aroused as soon as he got to a phone. “
“The Ship will be aroused anyway, “ said Jay easily. “You forget, Gregson is looking for us, not you. When he doesn’t find us he’s going to start wondering. As far as anyone knows at the moment there is no way out of No-Weight except the guarded entries. As soon as his men report that we aren’t in here, Gregson will order an investigation. He may even go the Captain. “
“The Captain?” Bosco glanced at Murry, an odd expression in his eyes. “Why should he do that?”
“Because he knows that’s where we are trying to go. “ Jay smiled at the big man. “George here has something to tell him, something Gregson will do anything to prevent the Captain from hearing. If he misses us now, and he will, then he’ll become desperate. On the other hand, if you take us to the Captain, or help us get to him, then maybe I can put in a good word for you. “
“What could you do for us?” Murry released George and stepped forward, his face coining into greater clarification as he neared the source of light. Like Bosco his hair was shot with grey and his features wore an unusual hardness. Jay shrugged.
“I don’t know yet. An amnesty, perhaps? Something like that. But it all depends on the Captain. “
“Yes. “ Murry seemed to be secretly amused. “It does, doesn’t it. “ He glanced at Bosco. “Think we should do it?”
“Why not? We can’t throw them back into No-Weight and I don’t fancy killing them here. They could be telling the truth, “or they might be lying to save their own skins. It doesn’t matter. If they’re trying to be clever, we can eliminate them later. “ He jerked his head towards Jay and George. “Come on with us, then. Stay close behind and don’t try anything. “ He was turning away when Jay caught at his arm.
“Where are you taking us?”
“To join the rest of us who escaped that trap. “ Bosco led the way from the cubicle into a wide corridor. It was bitterly cold, so cold that Jay felt his skin goose pimple and his teeth chatter. Next to him George moaned with discomfort and rubbed his arms to try and keep them warm. The two Barbs, aside from their pluming breath, didn’t appear to react to the chill, and Jay guessed that to them it was no new experience.
A light winked ahead of them; Bosco answered the signal and, within seconds, they had come up with the rest of the party. Jay stared interestedly at them. There were eight men and four women, and all had the same indefinable stamp of something outside his experience. The hair of some, like that of Bosco and Murry, was shot with silver threads, but it wasn’t that which made them seem almost alien to the officer. It was something about their eyes, the unconscious attitude of superiority and self-mastery so that, beside them, he felt as if he were a child. They stared at him, listening to Bosco’s explanation, then together the assembled party continued down the icy corridor.
It grew colder as they went on but the gravity remained the same and Jay knew that they were progressing along one of the communicating tubes running beside No-Weight. They had walked a long way and Jay was numb and George blue with the cold when Bosco halted before a door.
“Don’t touch anything you may see out there. “ He gestured to beyond the panel. “The rest know about it, but you’re new. Remember, don’t touch anything. “
He snapped off his hand beam as he swung open the panel and Jay blinked to a flood of light.
It came from one end of a vast chamber in a wave of brilliance almost too great for eyes accustomed to the dimness of the corridor, but, as Jay blinked and stared, he could see a multitude of brilliant points against a background darker than the shorts he wore.
“They’re moving, “ whispered George and his voice echoed his amazement. “Those lights are moving!”
They were. They moved from one side of the blackness down in a smooth arc to disappear at the other, while new ones took their place as they passed in continual procession across the darkness. To George it was the strangest lighting system he had ever seen and to Jay it was inexplicable. He turned and touched Bosco’s arm.
“What is it?”
“That?” Bosco looked towards the glittering points. “Oh, they’re stars. “
“Stars!”
“That’s right. You’ve heard of stars, haven’t you?” Jay had, but only as a repeated lecture on one of the tapes; to him the word “star” had nothing to do with reality, and he stared at the scene in bewildered amazement.
“Come on, “ Bosco said urgently. “We mustn’t linger here. The very temperature of our bodies can affect the instruments. “ He began to drag Jay towards the far wall of the vast room. “Let’s get moving before we freeze. “
Reluctantly Jay turned and followed Bosco, his head riding on his shoulder as he stared back at the glittering display of the universe. Suddenly he tripped and almost fell over a vat-like receptacle. It was one of many ranked in orderly rows across the floor, and as Jay caught at the edge to save himself from falling, he stared directly into the face of a dead man.
He rested beneath a sheet of some transparent material, still, immobile, the lips parted a trifle to reveal glistening teeth, the eyes closed and the body-a surprisingly undeveloped body according to Jay’s standards-naked and with a waxen pallidity.
Jay had heard of deep freeze, all the Ship personnel had, but to him deep freeze was where the animals and birds, the fish and insectivors lay against the time of their awakening at Journey’s End. No one had ever dreamed that men too could lie in suspended animation. No one, that is, of the ordinary Ship personnel, and Jay’s immediate assumption was that they must be dead.
He couldn’t guess that here in these ranked vats rested the brains, technology and filtered information of a world three hundred years away in time and uncountable miles in space. Here were the ecologists, the atomic engineers, the rocket pilots, the geologists, the mineralogists, and the specialists in all the other branches of science and experience impossible to either teach or practice in the Ship itself. They rested as they had rested ever since the Ship had left Earth, sleeping, if it could be called that, waiting for the day when they would be wakened to help build a new Earth.
But to Jay they were all dead men.
As he stared at Bosco waiting impatiently for him at the far side of the chamber, his eyes were dull with lack of understanding.
“What kept you so long?”
“Those men, “ stammered Jay. “I saw them. “
“Well?”
“They’re dead. All dead. “
“What of it?” Bosco stared at Jay as he led the way into a corridor. “Haven’t you ever seen a dead man before?”
“Yes, but... “ Jay swallowed, hardly noticing that it grew warmer as they walked down the passageway. “Why weren’t they sent to the converters? Why keep them like that?” “
“I don’t know, “ Bosco said thoughtfully. “I’ve wondered about that myself. As far as I know there is only one man who could answer that. “
“Who?”
“The man we are going to see. The Captain. “
Jay was so numbed with repeated shocks that he didn’t even feel surprised.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE SCENE was a normal one of distant Earth, a farming scene with animals and crops, machines and happy, busy men and women. Malick smiled as he saw it, leaning a little forward as he stared at the illuminated screen of the viewer. The children would be seeing the same educational tape; remembrance of their planet of origin was an essential part of Ship indoctrination.
The scene changed as he watched, the harvesters, climbing into an animal-drawn vehicle and the images moved to portray their faces in enlarged close-ups. The women were young, healthy, radiant with fitness and enjoyment; the men, also young, also fit, comfortably attired in loose shirts and trousers. The driver...
Malic felt almost physically ill.
It was the shock of the unexpected which did it. The man was normal enough, with two arms, two legs, two eyes and a head, but there was something about him which the geneticist had never seen before.
White hair. Lined features. Gnarled hands.
The man was old.
The screen faded as Malick turned the switch and picked up his phone. “Gregson?”
“Speaking. “
“Malick here. I’ve just seen a new tape. One relayed to the children. “
“So?”
“So it shows an old man. Do you understand, Gregson? An old man!”
“How do you know?” There was irritated impatience in the chief’s voice. “Have you ever seen an old man?”
“Of course I have. Quentin is old, isn’t he? Well, so was the man I saw in pictures on the tape. “ Malick gripped the phone with sudden urgency. “Gregson! Don’t you realize what this could mean?”
“Yes, “ said Gregson after a pause. “Yes, I see what you’re getting at. “
“It could ruin our social system, “ babbled Malick. “Once the children get used to the idea that a man is only old when he has white hair, lined features and gnarled hands, then who’s going to believe that they’re old at forty?”
“You don’t have to explain to me what I already know, “ said Gregson coldly. “Is this the first time you’ve seen the tape?”
“Yes. I’d noticed something odd before-you remember, the tapes showing people slaughtering animals and eating meat. You laughed at me then, but this time you can’t afford to laugh. What do you think will happen when the children grow up and begin asking questions?”
“Trouble, “ snapped Gregson curtly. “Look. Have you any witnesses to what you saw?”
“No. But I can find some. It’s a certainty that one or more of the attendants would have watched the tapes. I’ll find someone if you like. “
“Do that. Find her and fetch her up to the Bridge. “
“The Bridge?”
“That’s right. “ Gregson sounded unnaturally grim. “This is a matter which has to be settled by the Captain. “
