“I’m still good.”
“How about the time you swilled a quart of rotgut and almost killed a cargo of civilian tourists? I heard about that. All I have to say is one word and your ears’d twitch. Whiskey.”
At the word, saliva ran alarmingly in Nibley’s mouth. He swallowed guiltily. Douglas, snorting, turned and started from the room. Nibley grabbed a monkey-wrench on impulse, heaved it. The wrench hit the wall and fell down. Nibley wheezed, “Wrench got an orbit like everything. Fair bit of computation I did. One point over and I’d have flanked that crumb!”
There was silence now, as he hobbled back and sat wearily to stare into the stars. He felt all of the ship’s men around him. Vague warm electrical stirrings of fear, hope, dismay, exhaustion. All their orbits coming into a parallel trajectory now. All living in the same path with him. And the asteroids smashed down with an increasing swiftness. In a very few hours the main body of missiles would be encountered.
Now, as he stared into space he felt a dark orbit coming into conjunction with his own. It was an unpleasant orbit. One that touched him with fear. It drew closer. It was dark. It was very close now.
A moment later a tall man in a black uniform climbed the rungs from below and stood looking at Nibley.
“I’m Bruno,” he said. He was a nervous fellow, and kept looking around, looking around, at the walls, the deck, at Nibley. “I’m food specialist on board. How come you’re up here? Come down to mess later. Join me in a game of Martian chess.”
Nibley said, “I’d beat the hell out of you. Wouldn’t pay. It’s against orders for me to be down below, anyways.”
“How come?”
“Never you never mind. Got things to do up here. I notice things. I’m chartin’ a special course in a special way. Even Captain Kroll don’t know every reason why I’m makin’ this trip. Got my own personal reasons. I see ’em comin’ and goin’, and I got their orbits picked neat and dandy. Meteors, planets and men. Why, let me tell you—”
Bruno tensed somewhat forward. His face was a little too interested. Nibley didn’t like the feel of the man. He was off-trajectory. He—smelled—funny. He felt funny.
Nibley shut up. “Nice day,” he said.
“Go ahead,” said Bruno. “You were saying?”
Douglas stepped up the rungs. Bruno cut it short, saluted Douglas, and left.
Douglas watched him go, coldly. “What’d Bruno want?” he asked of the old man. “Captain’s orders, you’re to see nobody.”
Nibley’s wrinkles made a smile. “Watch that guy Bruno. I got his orbit fixed all round and arced. I see him goin’ now, and I see him reachin’ aphelion and I see him comin’ back.”
Douglas pulled his lip. “You think Bruno might be working for the Martian industrial clique? If I thought he had anything to do with stopping us from getting to the Jovian colony—”
“He’ll be back,” said Nibley. “Just before we reach the heavy Asteroid Belt. Wait and see.”
The ship swerved. The computators had just dodged a meteor. Douglas smiled. That griped Nibley. The machines were stealing his feathers. Nibley paused and closed his eyes.
“Here come two more meteors! I beat the machine this time!”
They waited. The ship swerved, twice.
“Damn it,” said Douglas.
Two hours passed. “It got lonely upstairs,” said Nibley apologetically.
Captain Kroll glanced nervously up from the mess-table where he and twelve other men sat. Williams, Simpson, Haines, Bruno, McClure, Leiber, and the rest. All were eating, but not hungry. They all looked a little sick. The ship was swerving again and again, steadily, steadily, back and forth. In a short interval the Heavy Belt would be touched. Then there would be real sickness.
“Okay,” said Kroll to Nibley. “You can eat with us, this once. And only this once, remember that.”
Nibley ate like a starved weasel. Bruno looked over at him again and again and finally asked, “How about that chess game?”
“Nope. I always win. Don’t want to brag but I was the best outfielder playing baseball when I was at school. Never struck out at bat, neither. Damn good.”
Bruno cut a piece of meat. “What’s your business now, Gramps?”
“Findin’ out where things is goin’,” evaded Nibley.
Kroll snapped his gaze at Nibley. The old man hurried on, “Why, I know where the whole blamed universe is headin’.” Everybody looked up from their eating. “But you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” laughed the old man.
Somebody whistled. Others chuckled. Kroll relaxed. Bruno scowled. Nibley continued, “It’s a feelin’. You can’t describe stars to a blind man, or God to anybody. Why, hell’s bells, lads, if I wanted I could write a formula on paper and if you worked it out in your mind you’d drop dead of symbol poison.”
Again laughter. A bit of wine was poured all around as a bracer for the hours ahead. Nibley eyed the forbidden stuff and got up. “Well, I got to go.” “Have some wine,” said Bruno. “No, thanks,” said Nibley. “Go ahead, have some,” said Bruno. “I don’t like it,” said Nibley, wetting his lips. “That’s a laugh,” said Bruno, eyeing him. “I got to go upstairs. Nice to have ate with you boys. See you later, after we get through the Swarms—”
Faces became wooden at the mention of the approaching Belt. Fingers tightened against the table edge. Nibley spidered back up the rungs to his little room alone.
An hour later, Nibley was drunk as a chromium-plated pirate.
He kept it a secret. He hid the wine-bottle in his shock-hammock, groggily. Stroke of luck. Oh yes, oh yes, a stroke, a stroke of luck, yes, yes, yes, finding that lovely fine wonderful wine in the storage cabinet near the visiport. Why, yes! And since he’d been thirsty for so long, so long, so long. Well? Gurgle, gurgle!
Nibley was drunk.
He swayed before the
