expendable and it was unlikely that they would ever return from this assignment. There was almost without doubt, no future for their relationship.
The difficulty was that it was becoming increasingly close. He mentally kicked himself for not having established it sooner. He had never suspected that the beautiful Chinese had been attracted to him. Every unmarried agent in Section G was head over heels for Lee Chang and Ronny had no illusions about his own masculine charms. He had always been on the unprepossessing side in appearance.
When they came out of underspace, it was in the vicinity of the Dawnman planet where Baron Wyler, later followed by Ronny and agent Phil Birdman, had originally set-down.
They held a conference with the captain on the bridge.
Ronny said, “Somewhere on the planet below is probably an Earth-type spacecraft. At least, I assume that they got here first. You can detect it?”
“Of course.”
“Very well. Please locate it and set down in its vicinity. Supervisor Lee Chang Chu, Doctor Horsten and myself will disembark. To the extent possible, you will prevent your officers and crew seeing anything whatsoever of the surface of this planet. I know you can’t accomplish this completely, but to the extent possible.”
The captain sighed in exasperation.
Ronny went on. “As soon as we are disembarked, you will lift off again and go into orbit, a high enough orbit that you will be unable to observe details of the surface of this world. We will communicate with you at least once every six hours. If a period goes by in which we do not do so, you are immediately to attempt to return to Earth where you will report to my superiors, in Section G of the Bureau of Investigation, that the mission has proved a failure and that I recommend a mobilization of the Space Forces, as hopeless as that might be.”
“What do you mean, I’ll
“He means just that,” Dorn said flatly.
The captain said, in irritation, “How can I get back to Earth if I don’t even know where I am? To navigate in underspace you’ve got to know the coordinates of where you start from as well as those of where you are going.”
Lee Chang Chu said softly, “I have left a star chart on the table in my cabin. It is sealed. On it is marked our present location. If we fail to communicate with you, break the seal and attempt to return to Earth.”
“If you make it, you’ll probably be memory washed,” Ronny said. “Reveal this location to nobody, not even your navigator. Do the navigating yourself. There has never been a top secret more top secret than this in the history of the human race, Captain.”
Captain Fodor looked at him. “I wish the hell I knew what was going on,” he growled.
And Ronny looked back at him emptily. “So do I,” he said. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
With only his first officer on the bridge, and the three Section G agents, Captain Fodor set about locating the spaceship from Einstein. They went into orbit, the
After a time, the captain scowled and said, “This world is unpopulated. There’s not a sign of cities or even towns. There’s no sign, even, of individual buildings, houses or whatever. There are no ships on the seas.”
Ronny sighed and said, “It’s not unpopulated, Captain. However, the less I tell you about it, the better.”
The first officer, as mystified as his commanding officer, was at the sensors, the captain sitting before a viewing screen at the space cruiser’s controls.
John Fodor said to Ronny, “After I put you down, and go into orbit, as you directed, what shall I do if I am intercepted by elements of their spacefleet? I assume they have a spacefleet.”
“Yes,” Ronny said grimly. “They have one. I suggest that you might try prayer.”
The captain eyed him disgustedly but went back to his controls.
They finally spotted the spaceship from Einstein on the side of the Dawnworld almost directly opposite to where Ronny Bronston had landed before.
Ronny said to the captain, “All right. Set down about half a kilometer from them, preferably behind a hill. For all I know the cloddies may have weapons and might take a shot at us.”
The captain set down with care and immediately activated the hatchway, after questioning Ronny about the need for spacesuits. The Section G agent had shaken his head. The atmosphere was almost identical to that which prevailed on humanity-settled worlds, as was the gravity.
John Fodor saw the three to the gangplank and watched after them.
Boy, who had been tagging along, with Plotz behind him, said, “Do we come, Boss?”
Ronny looked down at him. “Why?”
Boy gave a double pant. “You never know. Maybe you’ll have occasion to trail somebody, or scout on ahead, or something. We’re Vizslas, best trailers anywhere.”
“All right. Come along.”
Boy gave him a triple wag of his bobbed tail and started down the gangplank after Lee Chang, Dorn and his master. Plotz brought up the rear.
The captain called after them, “Good luck.”
As soon as they had cleared out of the immediate vicinity, the
The three looked about. Save for the differences in flora, the Dawnworld looked remarkably like Einstein. It seemed to be one great park. For that matter, the plant life had developed as it had on many of the Earth-settled worlds. Dorn Horsten decided inwardly that given the same type of atmosphere, the same gravity, that it wasn’t too surprising.
Ronny said, “This way, isn’t it?” and headed off in the direction of the Einstein spaceship. The two dogs ranged ahead, as though trying to flush birds.
Ronny put his right hand out before him and said, “Now this is the way you walk on a Dawnworld.”
Both Lee Chang and Dorn stared at him.
“Why?” Dorn said.
“So you won’t run into a house and smash your nose.”
Lee Chang said, worry in her voice, “Ronny, what’s wrong with you?”
He came to a halt for a moment to explain to them. “The captain was wrong when he said there were no buildings down here. The Dawnmen are something like the people of Einstein. They don’t like the landscape to be cluttered up with buildings. On Einstein they solve the problem by putting all buildings underground. On the Dawnworlds they make them invisible.”
“Invisible?” Lee Chang said in puzzlement.
“Yes. Invisible and transparent. You can walk right into one. You can feel the wall, but you can’t see it whatsoever. Evidently, the Dawnmen can, somehow, but we can’t.”
They took his word for it and each of them extended a hand before him as they walked.
They came upon no houses or other buildings between the point where they had set down and the Einstein spaceship.
Arrived at their destination, they stared up at it. It was a small passenger craft. Ronny suspected that it was one of the spaceships the scientists of Einstein utilized from time to time to journey to conferences held on other worlds.
The hatchway was open, the gangplank was out, but there was no one.
“Hallo!” Dorn called out.
There was no response.
Boy looked up at Ronny and said, “Want me to take a look, Boss?”
Ronny said, “Yes.”
The dog was up the gangplank in a trice and had disappeared into the ship’s bowels. The three Section G agents and Plotz waited.
Finally, Boy emerged and looked down at them. “Nobody aboard, Boss,” he said.
Ronny leading, the three agents mounted the gangplank and entered.
The craft was well outfitted, something like a space yacht. It would, undoubtedly, have accommodated at least a double dozen of passengers, plus a crew. They went from cabin to cabin, double-checking on Boy, and found that only five of the cabins had been occupied and, by the looks of them, by four men and one woman.
