'-with melted butter and just swimming in maple syrup. Okay, I'll shut up.' He unzipped his pouch and took out his harmonica.. 'Well, what d'yuh know! Still dry.' He tried a couple of notes, then broke into a brilliant execution of The Cross-Eyed Pilot.
'Hey, stop that,' said Oscar. 'This is a sort of a sick room, you know.'
Tex turned a troubled glance, at the patient. 'You think he can hear it?'
Thurlow turned 'and muttered in his sleep. Matt bent over him. 'J'ai soif,' the lieutenant mumbled, then repeated distinctly, 'fai soif.'
'What did he say?'
'I don't know.'
'It sounded like French to me. Either of you guys savvy French?'
'Not me.'
'Nor me,' Matt concurred. 'Why would he talk French?
I always thought he was North American; he spoke Basic like one.'
'Maybe he was French-Canadian.' Tex knelt beside hiifi and felt his forehead. 'He seems sort of feverish. Maybe; we should give him some water.'
'Okay.' Oscar took the bladder and put it to Thuflow's Korps; he squeezed gently so that a little welled out. The injured man worked his lips and then began to suck on it, without appearing to wake up. Presently he let it fall from his mouth. 'There,' said Oscar, 'maybe he'll feel better now;
'Are we going to save that for him?' asked Tex, eyeing the remainder of the food.
'Go ahead and eat it, if you want it. It turns a few hours after it's . . . well, it turns rancid.'
'I don't believe I want any more,' Tex decided.
They had been sleeping an undetermined length of time when a noise awakened them-a voice, unquestionably human. 'Hey!' it demanded, 'where art thou taking me? I insist that thou take me to see thy mother!'
The noise was right at their door. 'Quell thy tongue!' answered a native accent; the curtain was shoved aside and someone was pushed into the room before the door was again closed.
'Hello there!' called out Oscar.
The figure spun around. 'Men ...' he said, as if he could not believe it. 'Men!' He began to sob.
'Hello, Stinky,' said Tex. 'What are you doing here?'
It was Girard Burke.
There was considerable confusion for the next several moments. Burke alternated between tears and uncontrollable shaking. Matt, who had awakened last, had trouble] sorting out what was going on from the fantasy he had been dreaming, and everybody talked at once, all asking questions and none of them answering. |
'Quiet!' commanded Oscar. 'Let's get this straight. Burke^ as I understand it, you were in the Gary?' (
'I'm skipper of the Gary.'
'Huh? Well, I'll be switched. Come to think of it, we knew the captain of the Gary was named Burke, but it never occurred to anybody that it could be Stinky Burke. Who would be crazy enough to trust you with a crate, Stinky?'
'It's my own ship-or, anyhow, my father's. And I'll thank you to call me Captain Burke, not 'Stinky.' '
'Okay, Captain Stinky.'
'But how did he get here?' Matt wanted to know, still trying to catch up.
'He's just explained that,' said Tex. 'He's the guy that yelled for help. But what beats me is that it should happen to be us-it's like dealing out a bridge hand and getting thirteen spades.'
'Oh, I don't know,' objected Oscar. 'It's a coincidence, but not a very startling one. He's a spaceman, he hollers for help, and naturally the Patrol responds. It happened to be us. It's about as likely, or as unlikely, as running across your piano teacher on the downtown streets of your home town.'
'I don't have a piano teacher,' objected Tex.
'Skip it. Neither do I. Now I think-'
'Wait a minute,' broke in Burke, 'do I gather that you were sent here, in answer to my message?'
'Certainly.'
'Well, thank heaven for that-even if you guys were stupid enough to stumble right into it. Now tell me-how many are there in the expedition and how are they equipped? This is going to be a tough nut to crack.'
'Huh? What are you talking about, Stinky? This is the expedition, right in front of you.'
'What? This is no time to joke. I sent for a regiment of marines, equipped for amphibious operations.'
'Maybe you did, but this is what you got-total. Lieutenant Thurlow is in command, but he got a crack on the skull so I'm temporarily filling in for him. You can talk to me-what's the situation?'
Burke seemed dazed by the knowledge. He stared without speaking. Oscar went on, 'Snap out of it, Stinky. Give us the data, so we can work out an operation plan.'
'Huh? Oh, it's no use. It's utterly hopeless.' 'What's so hopeless? The natives seem friendly, on the whole. Tell us what the difficulty was, so we can work it out with them.'
'Friendly!' Burke gave a bitter laugh. 'They killed all J of my men. They're going to kill me. And they'll kill you.' |
XV PIE WITH A FORK
'OKAY,' agreed Oscar. 'Now that that's settled, I still want to know the score. Suppose you pull yourself together, -Burke, and tell us what happened?'
The merchant rocketship Gary, built by 'Reactors Ltd.' and transferred to the family corporation 'System Enterprises,' was a winged rocket especially fitted for point-to-point operations on Venus. The elder Mr. Burke had placed his son in command, backing him up with an experienced crew; the purpose of the trip was to investigate a tip concerning ores of the trans-uranic elements.
The tip had been good; the ores were present in abundance. Young Burke had then undertaken to negotiate exploitation rights with the local Venerian authorities in order to hold the valuable claim against other exploiters who were sure to follow.
He had not been able to interest the local 'mother of many' in his wishes; the swamp he wanted, she gave Burke to understand, was tabu. However, he was able to intrigue her into visiting the Gary. Once aboard the ship he again! tried to get her to change her mind. When she turned him' down again he had refused to allow her to leave the rocket ship.
'You mean you kidnapped her,' said Matt.
'Nothing of the sort. She came aboard of her own free will. I just didn't get up and open the door for her and went on arguing.'
'Oh, yeah?' commented Oscar. 'How long did this go on?'
'Not very long.'
'Exactly how long? You might as well tell me; I'll find out from the natives.'
'Oh, well! Overnight-what's so criminal about that?'
'I don't know just how criminal it is here. On Mars, as I learned in school and as I'm sure you did too, the punishment would be to stake you out on the desert, unprotected, for exactly the same length of time.'
'Hell's hells-I didn't hurt her. I'm not that silly. I wanted her co-operation.'
'So you twisted her arm to get it. You held her prisoner, in effect kidnapped her by enticement and held her for ransom. Okay-you kept her overnight. What happened when you let her go?'
'That's what I'm trying to tell you. I never got a chance to turn her loose. I was going to, of course, but-'
'Sez you!'
'Don't get sarcastic. The next morning they attacked the ship. There must have been thousands of the beasts.'
'So you turned her loose?'
'I was afraid to. I figured as long as we held her nothing much could happen to us. But I was wrong-they poured something on the door that ate it right away and they were in the ship before we could stop them. They killed my crew, just overran them-but we must have gotten at least twice as many of them, the brutes!'
'How come you're still breathing?'
'I locked myself in the com room and sent out the call for help that got you here. They didn't find me there until
