Brain World

none of the committee were involved save Marvin and Barbara.

Fredric shook his head. “It’s well known that there is an element on Einstein that wants to secure the secrets of the Dawnworlds, especially their method of prolonging life indefinitely. In fact, I wouldn’t mind knowing myself. Extending life for however long one would wish is a dream held by almost everyone.”

“Then why weren’t you in with them?”

Fredric looked up at him and said, “For the same reason that the majority of our people here on Einstein are not with them. We don’t think they have a feasible plan to get the Dawnmen to release their secrets. And we don’t want to see Einstein wake up one morning with a methane-ammonia-hydrogen atmosphere.”

Ronny said, “Well, now that they’ve been discovered, they can’t be allowed to go to the Dawnworlds. They’ve got to be stopped.”

Dorn came back with coffee and handed it around.

But Fredric and Darlene were staring at Ronny as though he had gone drivel-happy.

Darlene said very reasonably, “But there is no way of stopping them.”

Ronny scowled at her. “What do you mean? Fredric just said that the majority of the population of Einstein is against the attempt.”

Fredric put in, his voice equally reasonable, “But we have no means of coercion on Einstein.”

Ronny closed his eyes in momentary mute appeal to higher powers. He said to Dorn, “Holy Ultimate, get Sid Jakes on the communicator.”

He went over to the room’s desk and plunked himself down in despair.

Boy, who was stretched out on the floor, his muzzle on crossed paws, said, “Fouled up mess, eh Boss?”

“You have said it.” He looked down at the dog. “By the way, thanks for coming to the rescue.”

The Vizsla gave his stubby tail a quick couple of wags, but said, “All part of the job, Boss. I’d offer to bite Marvin for you when he comes in, but I’m conditioned not to bite anybody on this planet.”

Dorn brought his communicator over and propped it before Ronny. He said, his face unhappy, “You know Ronny, we could go back to that other house and knock those four funkers off.”

Fredric winced.

Ronny shook his head. “No, the word is spread by now. Besides, they’re probably not even still there. They will have summoned a car and taken off.”

Irene Kasansky’s face faded in on the screen and immediately took on an expression of relief. “Ronny!” she said. “You’re free!”

“Yeah,” he said glumly. “Put Sid on, will you, Irene? You can listen in, if you want, and get the whole sad story.”

“Will do.”

The face of the assistant to Ross Metaxa faded in, grinning as usual. “Free already, eh? That was a neat trick. What happened?”

Dorn Horsten and Boy found me—too late.”

“Who’s Boy?”

“The latest member of the Section G team.”

“Recruited a new potential agent, eh? Wizard. But what do you mean, too late?”

“They put me under Scop and dug the location of the Dawnworlds out of me.”

Sid Jakes hissed, his expression less happy now. “Holy Ultimate! But why’d they want it? As though I didn’t know.”

“They’re particularly interested in the prolongation of life. They wanted to get into UP so that Articles One and Two would apply to them and we wouldn’t be able to stand in the way. Sid, they’ll be heading for the Dawnworlds soonest, to get their business over before we can interfere.”

“Yeah.” Sid Jakes said, thinking about it. “It’d take a long time to get a Space Forces cruiser to you. Are there any spaceships available there?”

“There’re two space freighters on the field. They look like tramps.”

“Wizard. Hire one of them. Where would be a good planet to rendezvous with one of our cruisers? Some world partway there.”

“New Delos or Xanadu.”

“Just a minute.” Sid Jakes turned his head and said something into an order-box. In a short time he came back to Ronny and said, “We have a medium class space cruiser within two days of New Delos. Meet them there and they’ll take you to the Dawnworlds.”

Ronny said, “Just a minute, Sid. If I give the officers of that space cruiser the coordinates of the Dawnworlds, then they’ll know.”

“We’ll brainwash them later, like we did the men on the Pisa, who took you the first time.”

“Wizard, but that was a four man scout. You’re talking about a medium cruiser. And things worked out so that we could brainwash the Pisa crew. But suppose something falls apart on this expedition? The so-called Brahmins tolerated me on that first set-down on their planet, but they didn’t suggest that they wanted me back. Anything could happen.”

“I see what you mean,” Jakes chuckled. “All right, let’s do it this way. We’ll send Lee Chang in a small cruiser from here. She’ll get to New Delos as soon as you will. She’s a navigator. She’ll take over the navigating once you tell her where the Dawnworlds are, and the cruiser’s officers won’t know.”

Ronny said cautiously, “What happens to Lee Chang after the whole romp is over, assuming we pull it off satisfactorily? Then she’ll know where the Dawnworlds are.”

Sid Jakes grinned at him. “We’ll shoot her,” he said. “And maybe you too.”

Chapter Fifteen

Hiring the space freighter was no problem. As Ronny had suspected, one of them, the Space Freighter Cherokee, was a tramp and the skipper had no regular run. He would pick up a cargo on one planet, freight it to its destination and pick up a new load there for whatever spaceport it was designated for. He asked for an astronomical figure in interplanetary credits to take Ronny and Dorn to New Delos, his freighter going empty, since there was no cargo on Einstein for the world which had originally been settled by religious fanatics. Ronny shrugged that off. He was acting under orders. Let Sid Jakes worry about price.

However, the hop to New Delos was a lengthy one and the captain of the Cherokee found it necessary to take on additional fuel before getting under way.

The two Section G agents were climbing the walls with the need to get going, but there was nothing for it. The following morning was the soonest they could blast off. They returned to Rosemary’s house.

The balance of the committee had shown up but Rosemary herself had flown the coop, and no one knew where she had gone.

Ronny and Dorn had eyed Marvin and Barbara in disgust.

Ronny said, “After what Academician Felix Fitzjames told you about the dangers of the Deathworlds, you’re still foolish enough to make an attempt on them?”

Marvin said stubbornly, “We’re going to request that they release some of their technology to us, not try to seize it by force or steal it. We’ll offer to exchange some of ours for theirs.”

Ronny snorted and plunked down into a chair. “After a few megayears of their developing their science and technology, as compared to a couple of thousand years on the part of the human race, just what is it that you think that you’ve got that they’d want?”

Barbara said, “We don’t know. But we are sending four of the most intelligent persons on Einstein. It will be a matter of consulting with the Dawnmen. From what Academician Fitzjames said, there is no difficulty whatsoever in communicating with them.”

“No, there isn’t,” Ronny admitted. “They do it telepathically. Language makes no difference. But they do not like intruders.”

He turned to Fredric. “Isn’t there any possible way to stop them? Can’t you put it to a vote, or