World Of Ptavvs

Anderson stepped into the airlock to do isometric exercises.

The rocks of the Belt slipped by below, faster every second.

He was a clerkish-looking man with a droning voice, and he called himself Ceres Base. From his appearance he might never have had a name of his own. He wanted to know what an Earth Navy ship was doing in the Belt.

'We have passage,' Anderson told him curtly.

Yes, said Ceres, but what is the Heinlein's purpose?

Garner whispered, 'Let me have the mike.'

'Just talk. He can hear you.'

'Ceres, this is Lucas Garner, Arm of the UN. Why the sudden shift?'

'Mr. Garner, your authority does not exist here in-'

'That's not what I asked.'

'I beg your pardon?'

'You just now realized we're following the Golden Circle. Didn't you?'

'Are you really? To what purpose?'

'None of your business. But I may tell one of your superiors, if you pick the right superior. Get him on fast, were getting further away every minute.'

'The Belt will not allow you passage unless you explain your purpose here.'

'The Belt won't touch us. Good-by.'

At the sound of the bell Marda rolled off the couch and walked smoothly into the phone booth. Already there was only a slight pull in her abdomen from the surgical cement, though the operation was just twelve hours old. A slight pull when she moved, to remind her of what she had lost.

'Lit!' she called. 'Ceres. It's for you.'

Lit trotted in from the garden.

Cutter looked apprehensive for once. 'Remember the two bandit ships from Topeka Base? Someone's joined the procession.'

'Took them long enough. We warned them days ago. When did it take off?'

'Two days ago.'

'Two days, Cutter?'

'Lit, the Heinlein gave us plenty of warning and an accurate course projection. She also used strap-on boosters. The time/position curve looks completely different from the curves for the bandits. It took me this long to see that everybody's going in the same direction.'

'Damn it, Cutter never mind. Anything else?'

'The Heinlein's passing Ceres now. Do you want to talk to Lucas Garner, Arm of the UN?'

'An Arm? No. What's an Arm doing out here?'

'He won't say. He might tell you.'

'What makes you so sure the Belt won't stop us?'

'Well, they can't catch us and board us. All they could do is throw missiles at us, right?'

'You make me so happy.'

'Belters aren't stupid, Anderson. Uh, oh.'

A space-tanned Caucasian with black hair and wrinkled eyes looked out of the screen at them and said, 'Do I have the honor of addressing Lucas Garner aboard the Heinlein?'

'Right. Who's this?'

'Charles Martin Shaeffer. First Speaker, Belt Political section. May I ask-'

''Little' Shaeffer?'

The mahogany man's face froze for an instant, then barely smiled. 'They call me Lit. What are you up to, Garner?'

'You I'll tell, Shaeffer. Now don't interrupt, because a long story…'

It took fifteen minutes to tell. Shaeffer listened without comment. Then there were questions. Shaeffer wanted details, clarification. Then some of the questions were repeated. There were veiled accusations, which became less veiled. Anderson kept the beam fixed and sensibly let Luke do the talking. After an hour of question- and-answer, Luke shut it off.

'That's as much cross examination as I'm taking today, Shaeffer.'

'What did you expect me to do, swallow your tale whole? Your opinion of Belters needs revision.'

'No, Shaeffer, it doesn't. I never expected to be believed. You can't afford to believe me; the propaganda value would be enormous if Earth took you in on such a wild story.'

'Naturally. On the other hand, what you're trying to tell me is that an alien monster is threatening all of human civilization. In view of this it seems odd that you object to answering a few questions.'

'Nuts. Shaeffer, do this. Send a few armed-'

'I'm not taking orders-'

'Don't interrupt me, Shaeffer. Send a few armed ships to follow me to Neptune. I'm sure that's where they're going; they've already passed turnover for most of the asteroids. It'll take your ships a while to catch us. They may get there in time to help us out, and they may not. If you think I'm a liar, then send your ships along only to make sure I don't do any poaching. Regardless of what you suspect me of, you'll need ships to stop me, right? But arm them, Shaeffer. Arm them good.

'Your only other choice is to start a war, right? Right. If you want my story confirmed call the Arms office in Los Angeles, then call the UN Comparative Cultures Exhibit in Brasilia Ciudad and ask if they've still got the Sea Statue. That's all you can do. So call me back and tell me how many ships you're sending.' Luke gestured to Anderson, who turned him off.

'Jerk,' said Anderson, with feeling.

'Not at all. He did the right thing. He'll keep on doing it. First he'll send ships after us, including one with anti-radar which will have to get there later than the others because of the extra weight. He'll call Earth and get my story confirmed as well as he can. The worst he can think of me then is that I'm thorough. Finally he'll call us and tell us he's sending one less ship than he is, leaving out the antiradar. That ship gives the Belt every chance to catch me red-handed, doing whatever illegal treaty-breaking thing they think I'm doing, especially since I don't know the Belt's discovered antiradar-'

'Uh huh.'

'But if they don't catch me at anything then they cooperate with me.'

'Uh huh. It's perfect. But will they be able to handle it when we turn out to be telling the truth?'

'Sure. They'll be armed for us, and a weapon is a weapon. Besides which, some of them will believe me. Belters, they're always waiting for the first alien contact. They'll be armed for bear, regardless.' Garner rubbed his scalp. 'I wonder what the Sea Statue is armed for?'

A dry tooth socket is not extremely painful. The pain is mild. What drives the unfortunate victim to thoughts of suicide is, the pain never lets up. There is no escape.

Marda felt the gentle, reminding pull in her abdomen every time she moved.

Many Belt women were childless. Some had been spayed by solar storms. Some were frigid, and their frigidity let them endure the loneliness of a singleship. Some had undesirable recessive genes; and, contrary to popular terran belief; the Belt had fertility laws. Some could not conceive in free or nearly free fall. They were a special class, the exiles from Confinement.

What was Lit doing in that phone booth? It had been over an hour.

He was furious, she could see that. She'd never seen him so mad. Even after the screen went dark, he just sat there glaring at the screen.

Something made Marda get up and push open the soundproof door. Lit looked around. 'That Arm. That flatlander. Marda, can you imagine an Arm getting huffy with me?'