THE MARTIAN CROWN JEWELS
The signal was picked up when the ship was still a quarter million miles away, and recorded voices summoned the technicians. There was no haste, for the ZX28749, otherwise called the Jane Brackney, was right on schedule; but landing an unmanned spaceship is always a delicate operation. Men and machines prepared to receive her as she came down, but the control crew had the first order of business.
Yamagata, Steinmann, and Ramanowitz were in the GCA tower, with Hollyday standing by for an emergency. If the circuits should fail—they never had, but a thousand tons of cargo and nuclear-powered vessel, crashing into the port, could empty Phobos of human life. So Hollyday watched over a set of spare assemblies, ready to plug in whatever might be required.
Yamagata’s thin fingers danced over the radar dials. His eyes were intent on the screen. «Got her,» he said. Steinmann made a distance reading and Ramanowitz took the velocity off the Dopplerscope. A brief session with a computer showed the figures to be almost as predicted.
«Might as well relax,» said Yamagata, taking out a cigarette. «She won’t be in control range for a while yet.»
His eyes roved over the crowded room and out its window. From the tower he had a view of the spaceport: unimpressive, most of its shops and sheds and living quarters being underground. The smooth concrete field was chopped off by the curvature of the tiny satellite. It always faced Mars, and the station was on the far side, but he could remember how the planet hung enormous over the opposite hemisphere, soft ruddy disc blurred with thin air, hazy greenish-brown mottlings of heath and farmland. Though Phobos was clothed in vacuum, you couldn’t see the hard stars of space: the sun and the floodlamps were too bright.
There was a knock on the door. Hollyday went over, almost drifting in the ghostly gravity, and opened it. «Nobody allowed in here during a landing,» he said. Hollyday was a stocky blond man with a pleasant, open countenance, and his tone was less peremptory than his words.
«Police.» The newcomer, muscular, round-faced and earnest, was in plain clothes, tunic and pajama pants, which was expected; everyone in the tiny settlement knew Inspector Gregg. But he was packing a gun, which was not usual, and look harried.
Yamagata peered out again and saw the port’s four constables down on the field in official spacesuits, watching the ground crew. They carried weapons. «What’s the matter?» he asked.
«Nothing… I hope.» Gregg came in and tried to smile. «But the Jane has a very unusual cargo this trip.»
«Hm?» Ramanowitz’s eyes lit up in his broad plump visage. «Why weren’t we told?»
«That was deliberate. Secrecy. The Martian crown jewels are aboard.» Gregg fumbled a cigarette from his tunic.
Hollyday and Steinmann nodded at each other. Yamagata whistled. «On a robot ship?» he asked.
«Uh-huh. A robot ship is the one form of transportation from which they could not be stolen. There were three attempts made when they went to Earth on a regular liner, and I hate to think how many while they were at the British Museum. One guard lost his life. Now my boys are going to remove them before anyone else touches that ship and scoot ’em right down to Sabaeus.»
«How much are they worth?» wondered Ramanowitz.
«Oh… they could be fenced on Earth for maybe half a billion UN dollars,» said Gregg. «But the thief would do better to make the Martians pay to get them back… no, Earth would have to, I suppose, since it’s our responsibility.» He blew nervous clouds. «The jewels were secretly put on the Jane, last thing before she left on her regular run. I wasn’t even told till a special messenger on this week’s liner gave me the word. Not a chance for any thief to know they’re here, till they’re safely back on Mars. And that’ll be safe!»
Ramanowitz shuddered. All the planets knew what guarded the vaults at Sabaeus.
«Some people did know, all along,» said Yamagata thoughtfully. «I mean the loading crew back at Earth.»
«Uh-huh, there is that.» Gregg smiled. «Several of them have quit since then, the messenger said, but of course, there’s always a big turnover among space-jacks—they’re a restless bunch.» His gaze drifted across Steinmann and Hollyday, both of whom had last worked at Earth Station and come to Mars a few ships back. The liners went on a hyperbolic path and arrived in a couple of weeks; the robot ships followed the more leisurely and economical Hohmann A orbit and needed 258 days. A man who knew what ship was carrying the jewels could leave Earth, get to Mars well ahead of the cargo, and snap up a job here—Phobos was always shorthanded.
«Don’t look at me!» said Steinmann, laughing. «Chuck and I knew about this—of course—but we were under security restrictions. Haven’t told a soul.»
«Yeah. I’d have known it if you had,» nodded Gregg. «Gossip travels fast here. Don’t resent this, please, but I’m here to see that none of you boys leaves this tower till the jewels are aboard our own boat.»
«Oh, well. It’ll mean overtime pay.»
«If I want to get rich fast, I’ll stick to prospecting,» added Hollyday.
«When are you going to quit running around with that Geiger in your free time?» asked Yamagata. «Phobos is nothing but iron and granite.»
«I have my own ideas about that,» said Hollyday stoutly.
«Hell, everybody needs a hobby on this God-forsaken clod,» declared Ramanowitz. «I might try for those sparklers myself, just for the excitement—» He stopped abruptly, aware of Gregg’s eyes.
«All right,» snapped Yamagata. «Here we go. Inspector, please stand back out of the way, and for your life’s sake don’t interrupt us.»
The Jane was drifting in, her velocity on the carefully precalculated orbit almost identical with that of Phobos. Almost, but not quite—there had been the inevitable small disturbing factors, which the remote-controlled jets had to compensate, and then there was the business of landing her. The team got a fix and were frantically busy.
In free fall, the Jane approached within a thousand miles of Phobos—a spheroid 500 feet in radius, big and massive, but lost against the incredible bulk of the satellite. And yet Phobos is an insignificant airless pill, negligible even beside its seventh-rate planet. Astronomical magnitudes are simply and literally incomprehensible.