"They haven't got a chance," Nelson murmured. "They can't leave the ground until they've got their hull sprayed."
Most of the Adharans were beginning to flee from their ship, scattering onto the ground.
"It's almost over," Shure said. He got to his feet and stepped out from the ruins. "Let's go."
A white flare burst up from the Adharans, showering sparks in the sky. The Adharans milled aimlessly around, confused by the attack. The cloud of vapor had virtually dissipated. The flare was the conventional signal of capitulation. The cruiser was circling again, above the freighter, waiting for orders from Shure.
"Look at them," Barnes said. "Insects, big as people."
"Come on!" Shure said impatiently. "Let's go. I'm anxious to see what's inside."
"Come on!" Shure said impatiently. "Let's go. I'm anxious to see what's inside."
Nelson and Shure and Barnes gazed at it in revulsion. "Lord," Barnes muttered. "So that's what they're like."
The Adharan stood almost five feet tall, enclosed in a black chitin shell. It stood on four slender legs, two more weaving uncertainly half-way up its body. It wore a loose belt, holding its gun and equipment. Its eyes were complex, multi-lensed. Its mouth was a narrow slit at the base of its elongated skull. It had no ears.
Behind the Adharan commander a group of crew members stood uncertainly, some of them with weapon tubes partly raised. The Adharan commander made a series of sharp clicks with its mouth, waving its antennae. The other Adharans lowered their tubes.
"How is communication with this race possible?" Barnes asked Nelson.
Shure moved forward. "It doesn't matter. We have nothing to say to them. They know they are illegally here. It's the cargo we're interested in."
He pushed past the Adharan commander. The group of Adharans made way for him. He entered the ship, Nelson and Barnes following after him.
The interior of the Adharan ship reeked and dripped with slime. The passages were narrow and dark, like long tunnels. The floor was slippery underfoot. A few crew members scuttled around in the darkness, their claws and antennae waving nervously. Shure flashed his light down one of the corridors.
"This way. It looks like the main passage."
The Adharan commander followed close behind them. Shure ignored him. Outside, the cruiser had landed nearby. Nelson could see Terran soldiers standing around on the surface.
Ahead of them a metal door closed off the corridor. Shure indicated the door, making an opening motion.
"Open it."
The Adharan commander retreated, making no move to open the door. A few more Adharans scuttled up, all of them with weapon tubes.
"They may fight yet," Nelson said calmly.
Shure raised his Slem rifle at the door. "I'll have to blast it."
The Adharans clicked excitedly. None of them approached the door.
"All right," Shure said grimly. He fired. The door dissolved, smoking into ruins. It sank down, leaving an opening wide enough to pass through. The Adharans rushed around wildly, clicking to each other. More of them left the hull and poured into the ship, flocking around the three Terrans.
"Come on," Shure said, stepping through the gaping hole. Nelson and Barnes followed him, Slem rifles ready.
The passage led down. The air was heavy and thick, and as they walked down the passage, Adharans pressed behind them.
"Get back." Shure spun, his rifle up. The Adharans halted. "Stay back. Come on. Let's go."
The Terrans turned a corner. They were in the hold. Shure advanced cautiously, moving with care. Several Adharan guards stood with drawn weapon tubes.
"Get out of the way." Shure waved his Slem rifle. Reluctantly, the guards moved aside. "Come on!"
The guards separated. Shure advanced.
And stopped, amazed.
Before them was the cargo of the ship. The hold was half-filled with carefully stacked orbs of milky fire, giant jewels like immense pearls. Thousands of them. As far back as they could see. Disappearing back into the recesses of the ship, endless stacks of them. All glowing with a soft radiance, an inner illumination that lit up the vast hold of the ship.
"Incredible!" Shure muttered.
"No wonder they were willing to slip in here without permission." Barnes took a deep breath, his eyes wide. "I think I'd do the same. Look at them!"
"No wonder they were willing to slip in here without permission." Barnes took a deep breath, his eyes wide. "I think I'd do the same. Look at them!"
They glanced at each other.
"I've never seen anything like it," Shure said, dazed. The Adharan guards were watching them warily, their weapon tubes ready. Shure advanced toward the first row of jewels, stacked neatly with mathematical precision. "It doesn't seem possible. Jewels piled up like -- like a warehouse full of doorknobs."
"They may have belonged to the Adharans at one time," Nelson said thoughtfully. "Maybe they were stolen by the city-builders of the Sirius system. Now they're getting them back."
"Interesting," Barnes said. "Might explain why the Adharans found them so easily. Perhaps charts or maps existed."
Shure grunted. "In any case they're ours, now. Everything in the Sirius system belongs to Terra. It's all been signed, sealed and agreed on."
"But if these were originally stolen from the Adharans --"
"They shouldn't have agreed to the closed-system treaties. They have their own system. This belongs to Terra." Shure reached up toward one of the jewels. "I wonder how it feels."
"Careful, Captain. It may be radioactive."
Shure touched one of the jewels.
The Adharans grabbed him, throwing him back. Shure struggled. An Adharan caught hold of his Slem rifle and twisted it out of his hands.
Barnes fired. A group of Adharans puffed out of existence.
Nelson was down on one knee, firing at the passage entrance. The passage was choked with Adharans. Some were firing back. Thin heat beams cut over Nelson's head.
"They can't get us," Barnes gasped. "They're afraid to fire. Because of the jewels."
The Adharans were retreating into the passage, away from the hold. Those with weapons were being ordered back by the commander.
Shure snatched Nelson's rifle and blasted a knot of Adharans into particles. The Adharans were closing the passage. They rolled heavy emergency plates into position and welded them rapidly into place.
"Burn a hole," Shure barked. He turned his gun on the wall of the ship. "They're trying to seal us in here."
Barnes turned his gun on the wall. The two Slem beams ate into the side of the ship. Abruptly the wall gave way, a circular hole falling out.
Outside the ship Terran soldiers were fighting with the Adharans. The Adharans were retreating, making their way back as best they could, firing and hopping. Some of them hopped up onto their ship. Others turned and fled, throwing their guns down. They milled about in helpless confusion, running and leaping in all directions, clicking wildly.
The parked cruiser glowed into life, its heavy guns lowering into position.
"Don't fire," Shure ordered through his phone. "Leave their ship alone. It isn't necessary."
"They're finished," Nelson gasped, jumping onto the ground. Shure and Barnes leaped after him, out of the Adharan ship onto the surface. "They don't have a chance. They don't know how to fight."
Shure waved a group of Terran soldiers over to him. "Over here! Hurry up, damn it."
Milky jewels were spilling out of the ship onto the ground, rolling and bouncing through the hole. Part of the containing struts had been blasted away. Stacks of jewels cascaded down and rolled around their feet, getting in their way.