Free Calvin M. Knox by The Plot Against Earth Page B

pounds to his weight, better than two hundred to the
Are-naddin's; small wonder the alien was uncomfortable.
    At length the Skorg crewman returned from the
computer, wearing an unreadable expression—Skorg facial expressions seemed
morose at their most cheerful, and grew darker from there.
    "Well?" Royce demanded.
"What's the bad news?" "It isn't as bad as it might have
been," Sadhig said. "But it isn't very good, either."
"Where are we?" asked Catton.
    "We're
five hundred light-years from Morilar," said the crewman.
    "Is that within the range of this
ship?" Royce asked.
    "Unfortunately, no. We have a limited range—about a hundred light-years in radius. And,
also unfortunately, there seems to be only one planet within our immediate
access."
    "What's its name?" asked one of the
Morilaru women.
    The
Skorg gestured unhappily. "It has none. It's listed on the charts as DX
19083. It's a small jungle world, claimed by Morilar but never settled. The
chart says there's a rescue
    beacon erected there, so we can call for help once we land." "Doesn't this
ship have a radio?"
    "Yes,"
the Skorg said. "An ordinary radio. It doesn't
have a generator big enough to power a nullspace communicator. So we could
send out a message, but it would take five hundred years for it to reach
Morilar. We don't have quite that much time, I'm afraid."
    "So
we'll have to make a landing on this jungle planet," Catton said.
"And use the rescue beacon communicator to get ourselves picked up."
    "What if the rescue
beacon is out of order?" asked Royce.
    "There's
small chance of that," said the Skorg crewman. "The beacons are built
to last, and they are service-checked every ten years. The greater danger is
that we will not be able to find the
beacon, once we land. But we must risk it. I will begin immediately to compute
a course taking us to DX 19083, unless there are objections."
    There
were none. Sadhig returned to the control cabin and busied himself with the
relatively simple job of targeting the lifeship toward the uninhabited world.
    Catton
prowled uneasily around the cabin. It was crowded enough, even with less than
capacity aboard. He opened a cabinet and found a considerable food supply and
an elaborate medical kit. A second cabinet yielded tools—blasters,
electrohatchets, bubbletents, a collapsible canoe no bigger than a bastketball
when folded.
    They
were well provided for. But the delay would be a nuisance. And in case they had
any kind of survival problems, most of the' lifeship passengers would be drags
on the group. The two Morilaru women, Catton thought, would be less than
useless in any kind of situation of hardship. And the Arenaddin was obviously
not accustomed to roughing it. Catton figured that Sadhig and Royce could be
counted on to do their share of work. That left two Morilaru men— Woukidal, his
adjutant, and the other man, the one who had released the lifeship from its
parent vessel, and who had not spoken a word since.
    Catton
made his way forward. Sadhig was bent over the computer, tapping out course
indications.
    "Any difficulties?" Catton asked in Skorg.
    Sadhig
looked up. "Of course not. A child could operate
this lifeship. But those women had to drag me aboard—"
    "Still brooding about that?"
    "I shall be in disgrace when I return to
Skorg. My father will never forgive me. Do you know who my father is,
Earthman?"
    Catton shook his head.
    The
Skorg said, "My father is Thunimon eSadhig, Earth-man. First
Commander of the Skorg Navy. How will he feel when he learns that his
eldest son escaped from a damaged ship in a lifeship?"
    Sadhig's face was cold and tightly drawn.
Catton realized that within the Skorg ethic, it was undoubtedly a humiliation
for a crewman to escape alive while passengers died, no matter what the
circumstances. He pitied the Skorg.
    "What
position did you hold on the Silver Spear?" Catton asked.
    "Flight Consultant First Class. I was the eighth ranking officer—assistant
to the astrogator."
    'Those
women