Mother Lode

ol panel. Mop sat at her feet, looking up with his hopeful, brown eyes. She reached down and put him in her lap. After a while he stepped gingerly up onto the console, found a small area that was blank of buttons and keys and levers, sighed, and curled up for a little practice nap. «Captain,» a rating said in an edgy voice, «the generator on the Mule has just been activated on flux.» «Weapons, stand by,» Julie ordered. Ursy clicked off the fail-safes for Rimfire's battery of laser cannon. The Mother Lode slowly separated from the converted destroyer. «Weapons ready,» Ursy said. «Stand by,» Julie ordered. A melodic tone indicated the activation of Rimfire's radio receiver. The strong contralto voice came from the speakers. «We have done as we agreed,» the alien said. «We are now ready to talk.» «I'm pleased that you have decided to be peaceful,» Julie sent. «If you will allow Erin Kenner and Denton Gale to contact me—» «Those you mention,» the alien said, «are aboard the vessel called Murdoch's Plough. However, it will be some time before either of them can speak. I hasten to inform you that they are unharmed, but it will be a few hours before they recover from the non-damaging mental trauma of being, once more, separate entities.» «Until then,» Julie said, «we have nothing to discuss. You can, however, demonstrate your good will by turning on the holo-viewers so that we can see you.» «It is my pleasure,» she said. And in an instant every viewscreen aboard Rimfire showed them. Their graceful bulk filled the screens. Their wings were partially unfurled. «They're magnificent,» Ursy whispered in awe. «Thank you,» Julie Roberts said, not unaffected by their radiance but hiding her surprise well. «We regret that our contact with your race was based on misunderstandings,» she said. «Our first impressions were based on the belligerence of the men on board the vessel called Murdoch's Plough. They were armed, and their first reaction to us was to try to use their weapons.» «What did you do with them?» Julie asked. «Unfortunately, they are dead,» the alien said. «And why did you seize control of Erin Kenner and Denton Gale?» Julie asked. «As you know, we are not completely invulnerable,» she said. «After our experience with the crew of Murdoch's Plough we acted with caution. We did not, as you know, kill the Kenner and Gale things. We merely looked into their minds and saw that not all men are evil, as were the men we first encountered.» «I'm not buying this,» Ursy whispered to Mop, who had come to attention, one ear raised, as he listened to Julie's conversation with the alien. «Captain, ask her why they killed the doctor?» «As for the incident aboard your ship,» she said, «it is regrettable, but you must remember that we were attacked by the first men we encountered. When your technicians began to bombard the Kenner and Gale things with what you call ultrashock, my companion assumed that we were being attacked once more.» «She heard you, Lieutenant,» a rating said. The alien was still speaking. «Now, Captain Roberts, while we wait for the Kenner and Gale things to become themselves once more, we ask your indulgence. Our intentions are to take this vessel to a landing on the large land mass in the planet's northern hemisphere. There we will be more comfortable, for the atmosphere aboard your ships seems quite close and stale to us.» Erin Kenner, able to hear through hairy, floppy ears, looking out onto the scene on the bridge of the Rimfire through Mop's eyes screamed out, «She's lying. I'm here. Don't let them go. Blast them now. Blast them into empty space.» Erin knew that in one of Mother's cabins was the huge and complicated electronic construction that she had thought of as the Amplifier. She'd seen its incredible power. She was certain that they were going to turn the power of the Amplifier on Rimfire, but even though she made Mop aware of her by pretending anger, she could not do more than influence Mop's actions. And he was just a hairy little dog. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO «We have no immediate need for the man things,» The She told The He, as they left the gig and made their way from the hold of the converted destroyer to the Mother Lode. They left the bodies of Erin and Denton lying on a bed aboard Murdoch's Plough. The only movement was the rise and fall of their chests in deep, even breathing. To the aliens the bodies represented raw material. For a moment she regretted wasting the life force of the female by leaving it aboard the big ship. He put the Denton Gale thing into deep sleep for possible use in the future, after they had solved the annoying little problem represented by the warship that was observing them from a distance that was well within the range of the force of the Amplifier. They had agreed that they would take no chances. Once they would merely have paralyzed everyone aboard Rimfire from a safe distance, doing it instantly to prevent the use of the ship's weapons. Now they had to use guile, but soon, once they obtained the raw materials aboard Rimfire and began the reblossoming of their world, their full powers would be restored. Surely, she thought, that must be true. It was logical to think that some of the vast power they had once possessed came from the world that they had rebuilt. It was certain that the power of the Amplifier would be magnified when it was grounded on the planet, using the mass of the world as a resonator. The blast of stunning force that would then engulf the Rimfire would leave the arrogant Captain Julie Roberts and her crew impotent. At their leisure, the aliens would draw upon the raw material and begin the work of restoring their world to its former beauty. She didn't wait for permission from the Rimfire. She fluxed the Mother Lode downward at reckless speed, screamed the ship into atmosphere, slowed as the outer plates began to glow with heat, and landed at the exact geographical center of the large, northern hemisphere continent. Her companion leapt into action, beginning to rig the grounding device that would allow the power of the Amplifier to resonate throughout an entire planet and be multiplied. «I get life signals, two of them, from the destroyer,» a technician announced. «They're the right size for Kenner and Gale.» «Very well,» Julie said. «Ma'am,» Ursy said, «they're up to something.» «Ursy, we're the first to have seen a living alien species,» Julie said. «Are you advocating destroying them without giving them a chance?» «I don't mind becoming a part of history,» Ursy said, «but I don't want to be history starting now.» The tone indicated an incoming radio signal. It was the female's voice, and it rang with arrogance. «My dear Captain Roberts,» she said. «Now we can talk. I have many wonderful gifts for your rather backward race.» «That's very kind,» Julie Roberts said, «in view of the fact that I see no technology on what you say is your world. In fact, I see only a raw and very primitive planet which supports no life.» «Ah, but your human eyes see only surface things,» she said. On another level she was communicating with her companion. He was being very slow in readying the Amplifier for the stunning blast of power. It would be necessary for her to keep the attention of the humans diverted. «It is in the advancement of the mind and its hidden powers that we can help you most,» she said. Ursy Wade was turned half away from the weapons control console looking at the view screen, gazing raptly at the magnificent female alien. The eyes of the others on the bridge were also dazzled by her beauty. Only one pair of round, brown eyes was otherwise occupied. Mop the dog was confused. He seemed to be hearing Erin's voice, but he could not see Erin. He was sitting on the edge of the weapons control console and Erin kept telling him to do something that he couldn't quite understand. «Listen, you little son-of-a-bitch,» Erin stormed, «listen to me. You're hungry. You're thirsty. Look.» Her anger made him aware of her. He wanted to please her. He was just having difficulty understanding. «Buttons, Mop,» Erin screamed. «Push buttons and get a goodie.» Mop licked his chops, thinking of nice, chewy tidbits. He turned, lifted his head to the weapons control panel. Erin thought of them, on the planet's surface, imagined them readying the Amplifier, knowing the power of the instrument when it was combined with their wills. Erin had seen the Amplifier accelerate vast chunks of asteroid to speeds that, upon impact with other masses, made the darkness of space blaze with light. She remembered the alien's casual cruelty, and let her hate for the being become anger, through which she caused Mop to stand on his hind legs and press a certain button. The alien's voice continued to boom forth from the speakers. She spoke of the wonders that mankind could accomplish once he had mastered the gifts that they would bestow. «Food, Mop,» Erin yelled. «That button. No. No.» Mop shook with frustration, showing his sharp little teeth and his red tongue, then tried again to please his Erin. His paw pulled a protective cover away from a switch and swept downward. The switch clicked. A blinking red light came on, but Ursy Wade was mesmerized by the alien's magnificence and by her rose promises. Two of the preliminary steps to activate a weapons system that had not been used in a thousand years had been taken. There remained only two steps, two buttons to be pushed. * * * The female alien heard her companion say, «One last step and I will be ready.» She continued her soothing speech of good will and cooperation to the bemused humans aboard Rimfire. «Tell me when you are prepared,» she said to her partner. «It will be my pleasure to activate the force.» «Candy, Mop,» Erin promised. «Push that button and there will be candy.» She envisioned a tidbit of chocolate, one of Mop's favorite treats and one he didn't get often, for candy was not good for him. Mop pawed at a yellow button. A click. A soft, warning gong. «Ursy, what the hell?» Julie Roberts yelled, as she heard the gong telling her that a planet buster was armed and ready for launch, waiting only the last order to fire. Ursy jerked around to face the weapon's control console in time to see a hairy little dog paw at a button that pulsated light the color of blood. She seized Mop by the scruff of his neck and jerked him off the console. «Captain,» came Jack Burnish's voice, «we have just fired a planet buster.» «Get that thing, Ursy,» Julie Roberts ordered with fierce intensity. It wasn't much of a world. It was raw and new, but it had good air and enough water to supply the needs of a couple of nearby desert planets, if such worlds existed. Most importantly, in a galaxy glutted with glowing bodies and blazing bodies and dark bodies and useless, sun-scorched planets of rock, and gas giants and frozen hulks it was a world that, some day, could support human life. A water world was the most precious thing in an uncaring galaxy and this one would be destroyed in a matter of minutes as a missile blazed toward it carrying a weapon that would first penetrate through the relatively shallow crust and then explode with a force that would spew the molten core of the world into space as the crust shattered. Ursy's fingers flew. «Damn,» she said. For switches that had been on ready were turned off. Rimfire's missile defense system had been downloaded from the ready status that she had programmed in. «Oh, damn,» she said. «Ursy!» Julie Roberts yelled. «Oh, my God,» Ursy moaned, knowing that she was too late. She was telling him laughingly how easy it was to distract the inferior humans. He paused in his work to enjoy her domination of them. She was distracting them with the power of the words she had learned from the Kenner thing while he prepared the instrument that would destroy them. She felt an elation that made her seem, to the feebleminded humans who were watching her image on their screens, even more beautiful as she became one with her world once more, as her senses reached out to the barren lands and the sterile seas and envisioned them as they would be soon, when she and he had the raw material to begin the implantation of life on their world. And after that they would have the most advanced starship built by the puny men and charts to tell them where there were many planets teeming with raw material. The world was beautiful, indeed. True, it was smaller than it had been, but it had enough mass to give it orbital and gravitational stability and to hold an atmosphere. She let herself be one with it even as she continued to beguile the humans aboard Rimfire. Sensing her inner ecstasy, he merged with her, to better share their triumph. So it was that they felt the impact of the planet killing missile together. They felt the missile penetrating, burrowing through the crust of their world. It was only as the eroded head of the planet buster entered molten lava and continued for long seconds before the intense heat detonated the warhead that she realized the true horror of what was happening. She screamed and, wings pumping, soared to bang forcefully against the overhead on Mother's bridge. «No,» he whispered, for it was happening again. The planet shuddered. The molten core of a world burst upward and outward through thousands of weakened areas. The sky burned red. The destruction crept toward the Mother Lode. She was the first to gain the open air. She lifted her wings and leapt to fly upward. He was soon with her, his more powerful wings beating hard as he passed her so that the erupting, fiery havoc overtook her first and encased her as it had done once before. Her screams of agony quickly ceased to have a physical source as she knew the torment of immobility, of imprisonment inside a mass of cooling core material. «My God,» Ursy Wade said, as she watched a world explode into fragments. Julie Roberts gave quick orders. Rimfire blinked away from the exploding world, lest she be struck by the debris that was spreading into space. Ursy Wade took one quick look at Murdoch's Plough before the blink and, after Rimfire was back in normal space she activated a detector. To her amazement, the converted destroyer was still there. The instruments showed masses of rock and debris scattered all around her, but she was still there, apparently whole. Mop leapt into Ursy's lap, licked her hand. «My God,» Ursy said, «do you have any idea what you did?» «You bet your sweet ass,» Erin Kenner said, unheard. EPILOGUE Although the lights were low in the luxurious cabin aboard the sleek X&A destroyer converted into a private yacht and equipped with mining gear, Mop the dog's built-in alarm told him it was time to get up. He lay in his bed with his feet up in the air, his head hanging over the edge of the soft mattress, hairy ears brushing the thick carpet. He rolled to his feet, yawned and stretched, scratched behind his left ear with a quizzical expression on his face, and then walked to the big bed. He released a few experimental grunts and when there was no movement he crouched and leapt up onto the foot of the bed because when it was time for Mop the dog to get up it was time for everyone to get up. He crept softly upward, peered into the sleeping faces, made soft, grunting sounds in his throat. Still nothing. He went back to the foot of the bed, lay down with his head resting on a covered leg and waited patiently for about two minutes. By that time he was convinced that it was more than time for everybody to be up and about and giving some love and attention to a little dog. He began to scratch at the covers, found an opening, burrowed underneath and chewed gently on a set of shapely, bare toes. «Unnnnn,» Erin Kenner Gale groaned, moving her foot. Mop pursued, pushing his way under the covers, and began to get toes again. «You hairy little varmint,» Erin said, reaching down to pull Mop up beside her. «All right, all right. I'm awake, you animated alarm clock. Get Daddy.» Mop wriggled in excitement. His most pressing duty aboard ship was to see to it that everyone got out of bed in the morning to give a little dog a pat or two. He scampered across the bed and lapped a big, wet, doggie kiss right on Denton Gale's lips. Denton sat up, sputtering, wiping his mouth. He reached for the dog, who playfully leapt away and then came back to growl fiercely and gnaw gently on Dent's hand. «What would we do without you, Mr. Mop?» Dent asked. «Get a little extra sleep, I imagine,» Erin said. Dent leaned over to give her a good morning kiss. «Go brush the doggie slobber away,» Erin said. «He's your damned dog,» Dent said, seizing her and pushing her down onto the bed. She struggled to avoid his kiss. Mop got in on the fun and managed to lap