Jesus Pietro stood over the piled rebels. "I never really hated them before," he said.
"K'llr, use gyrsco'."
"What?" Matt couldn't spare the attention. He was trying to fly with one hand, the wrong hand; his car bucked and weaved like a frightened stallion.
"Gy-rro-skko'!" Hood enunciated painfully.
"I see it. What do I do with it?"
"Turr' on. " Matt flipped the Gyroscope switch to On. Something hummed below him. The car trembled, then righted itself, going straight up.
"Shlatsh."
Matt used the knob. The car began to accelerate.
"Hel' me see ow', Laney." Hood was propped upright beside the left front window, with Harry Kane in the middle and Matt on the right. Laney reached from the back seat to hold Hood's head out the window.
"Turr' ril."
"How?"
"Shtee-ring nog."
"Knob? Like this thing?"
"Ye-ss Fiot."
"For the record," Matt said icily, "I flew a car all the way from Harry's basement to Alpha Plateau. It was the first time I'd ever been in a car. Naturally I don't know what all these gadgets do."
"Thass ri'. Now go strray' till I tell you."
Matt released the knob. The car flew on by itself. "We aren't going toward the coral houses," he said.
"No." Harry Kane spoke slowly but understandably. "The coral houses are the first place Implementation will look. I couldn't drag a hundred men where we're going."
"Where's that?"
"A large unoccupied mansion owned by Geoffrey Eustace Parlette and his family."
"And where will Geoffrey Eustace Parlette be all this time?"
"He and his family are swimming and gambling in a small public resort on Iota. I've got contacts on Alpha Plateau, Keller."
"Parlette. Any--"
"His grandson. Millard Parlette was staying with them,, but he's making a speech. He should be starting about now. The sending station on Nob Hill is far enough away, and his hosts here are gone, so he'll probably be staying with a relative."
"It still sounds dangerous."
"You should talk."
The left-handed compliment hit Matt like six dry martinis. He'd done it! He'd walked into the Hospital, freed prisoners, raised merry hell, left his mark, and walked out free and untouched! "We can hide the car till the furor dies down," he said. "Then, back to Gamma--"
"And leave my men in the vivarium? I can't do that. And there's Polly Tournquist."
Polly. The girl who'd--Yes. "I'm not a rebel, Harry. The grand rescue's over. Frankly, I only came here to get Laney if I could. I can drop this crusade any time."
"You think Castro will just let you go, Keller? He must know you were one of the prisoners. He'll hunt you down wherever you hide. Besides, I can't let you have the car. I'll need it for my grand rescue."
Matt grimaced. It was his car, wasn't it? He'd stolen it himself. But they could fight that out later. "Why did you mention Polly?"
"She saw the ramrobot come down. Castro probably found the films on her. He may be questioning her to find out who else knows."
"Knows what?"
"I don't know either. Polly's the only one. But it must be pretty damn important. Polly thought so, and apparently so did Castro. You didn't know there was a ramrobot coming, did you?"
"No."
"They kept it secret. They've never done that before."
Laney said, "Polly acted like she'd found something vastly important. She insisted on telling us all at once, night before last. But Castro didn't give her the chance. Now I'm wondering whether it wasn't the ramrobot that brought on the raid."
"She could be in the organ banks" said Matt.
"Not yet," said Harry. "Not if Castro found the films. She wouldn't have talked yet. He'll be using the coffin cure, and that takes time."
"Coffin cure?"
"It's not important."
Important or not, Matt didn't like the, sound of it. "How are you planning to mount your rescue?"
"I don't know yet."
"Angle lef'," said Hood.
Houses and greenery rolled beneath them. Flying a car was infinitely easier with the gyroscopes going. Matt could see no cars around, police or otherwise. Had something grounded them?
"So," said Laney. "You came all the way to the Hospital to get me."
"In a stolen car," said Matt. "With a small detour into the void mist."
Laney's wide mouth formed half a smile and half a grin, half joy and half amusement. "Naturally I'm flattered."
"Naturally."
Mrs. Hancock spoke from the back seat. "I'd like to know why they didn't beam us down, back there at the carport."
"And you knew they wouldn't," said Laney. "How did you know, Matt?"
"Second the motion," said Harry Kane.
"I don't know," said Matt.
"But you knew it might work."
"Yah."
"Why?"
"Okay. Hood, you listening?"
"Ye-ss.
"It's a long story. I'll start with the morning after the party--"
"Start with the party," said Laney.
"Everything?"
"Everything." Laney gave the word undue emphasis. "I think it might be important, Matt." Matt shrugged an uncomfortable surrender. "It might at that. Okay. I met Hood in a bar for the first time in eight years . .
Jesus Pietro and Major Jansen stood well out of the way as a stream of stretchers moved into the vivarium to deposit their charges in contour couches. In another part of the Hospital other stretchers carried dead and wounded into the operating rooms, some to be restored to life and health and usefulness, others to be pirated for undamaged parts.
"What is it?" Jesus Pietro asked.
"I don't know," said Major Jansen. He stepped back from the door to get a better look. "It seems almost familiar."
"That's no help."
"I assume a colonist drew it?"
"You might as well. Nobody else was left alive." Major Jansen drew even farther back, stood bouncing lightly on his toes, hands on hips. Finally he said, "It's a valentine, sir."
"A valentine." Jesus Pietro glared intense irritation at his aide. He looked back at the door. "I'll be damned. It is a valentine."
"With teardrops."
"A valentine with teardrops. Whoever drew that wasn't sane. Valentine, valentine.... Why would the Sons of Earth leave us a valentine drawn in human blood?"
"Blood. A bleeding--Oh, I see. That's what it is, sir. It's a bleeding heart. They're telling us they're against the practice of executing felons for the organ banks."
"A reasonable attitude for them to take." Jesus Pietro looked once more into the vivarium. The bodies of Hobart and the vivarium guard had been removed, but the stains of carnage remained. He said, "They don't act like the usual sort of bleeding heart."
Thirty thousand pairs of eyes waited behind the teedee lenses.
Four teedee cameras circled him. They were blank now, and untended, as cameramen moved casually about the room, doing things and saying things Millard Parlette made no effort to understand. In fifteen minutes those blank teedee lenses would be peepholes for sixty thousand yes.
Millard Parlette began leafing through his notes. If here were any changes to be made, the time was Now.
I Lead-in.