"A force grapple," shouted the pirate leader waving his weapons furiously. "You tell your friends to bring it back or you both die. You have one minute to convince me my ship is being brought back."
"It's mutiny," shouted Fargo, shaking his gloved fist at the Hopeful. "They've taken over our ship, stolen yours, and marooned us all. Killing us won't get you off the asteroid now. We've got to do something fast. If you don't have any ideas, I do."
"Like what?" asked the pirate. His gun lowered as the uselessness of killing Fargo penetrated.
"We persuade this robot, probably a Command robot, to join us and use him…
"You talk Martian Swahili, too?"
"A little."
Fargo, while still talking rapidly and ignoring the guns that were pointing at him, walked over to Jeff and the Mentor. He put his hands on Jeff's suit. -It's a great thing to have linguistic ability, to say nothing of dragon bites. Try to look as though you're talking with Mentor First, and follow my lead.
He called back on radio to the pirates, and said, "My buddy knows how to push this big robot's obedience buttons, so that's no problem, and there's something on the wreck-1 don't know what-that will help us get those ships back. My buddy has to get behind the wreck because there's one piece of equipment…"
He pushed Jeff energetically in the direction of the wreck and continued to talk smoothly and persuasively, while the pirates, unable to decide what to do, had no choice but to listen.
Hidden behind the alien ship, Jeff found Norby waiting for him with both small ships nearby. He took Norby's hand, and telepathically asked, -What's going on?
Norby responded, -You know Fargo. He's got it all figured out. He wants you to take the Hopeful and place it above the pirates.
— What about you?
— I'll rescue father, and then I have to readjust the Hopeful for some heavy duty lifting before we can lift the Jamyn ship, Norby said, moving off.
Inside the Hopeful, Jeff took off his space helmet and sat down at the controls. He did not have Fargo's touch at manipulating the Hopeful, but spaceships were all but foolproof, thanks to the computers they carried, and Jeff had had at least the preliminaries of an education in spacecraft control.
As the ship came over the pirates, Jeff saw Norby move up unnoticed behind Mentor First, seize one arm, and then lift upward with increasing speed, taking Mentor First with him, while Fargo was busily and energetically engaged in pointing in the other direction.
Norby slid into the Hopeful easily and then helped Mentor First get through the airlock. Fortunately the Hopeful's control room was large.
With deep concern Jeff asked "What about Fargo?"
"He's next," Norby said.
The little robot ejected himself from the Hopeful and looking like a small metal barrel with a lid partly open, hurled himself at the pirates.
Jeff could not tell what the pirates were saying or doing, but they had clearly noticed that Mentor First was gone, and their guns were pointing at Fargo, when one of them noticed Norby speeding down upon them.
As the pirates scattered, Norby grabbed Fargo, zoomed away from the asteroid, and headed back to the Hopeful. And just then, Jeff saw five ships of the Command Fleet approaching, their lights blazing like bright stars in the sky.
12. Hostage
When the airlock closed, Jeff quickly settled the Hopeful behind the large alien ship while Mentor First watched.
"How was that for adventure and drama"' Fargo said jubilantly as he and Norby came into the control room.
"Listen, Fargo, when did you send for the fleet?" asked Jeff with a scowl.
"At the very start, little brother."
"And why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it was going to take time for the ships to get here. They don't hypertravel, and I had to jolly the pirates along till then. And you're no actor, kid. You'd have given it away and they'd have shot us down and taken off in their ship."
Norby went immediately to the Hopeful's computer and began to work.
Mentor First shook his odd-shaped head ponderously and made a sound like grinding gears. He said in Terran Basic, "It is important that the wrecked ship be taken back to Jamya."
He was holding Oola, whose loud purr changed into a snarl.
"Doesn't anyone approve?" Fargo asked. "The pirates are beaten and the Command ships will have prisoners. "
Jeff said, "Yes, but you heard Mentor First. We have to go back to Jamya with the Jamyn ship in tow. We can't allow the fleet to take it. That ship is the supply ship the Others had prepared for Jamya, and it has the material needed to rebuild all the inoperative Mentors."
"My world," said Norby, "my people. We can't let the fleet have it."
Fargo looked from one to the other and then shrugged, "I suppose you're right. Jeff, if you and Norby want to link minds with the Hopeful's computer and hyperjump us with the Jamyn ship, I'm willing."
Norby was holding out his hand to Jeff when Admiral Yobo, encased in a regulation fleet spacesuit, opened the control room door and walked in. He stopped, stared at Mentor First, who was even larger than himself, and said, "Someone may have to leave and make room."
Fargo's jaw dropped. "How did you get in?"
"Sorry, Wells, but surely you're not surprised to know that I have the combination of every airlock in the fleet. You've brought us three of the worst renegades on our wanted list and it seemed only right that I thank you in person…"
"That was not necessary, Admiral…"
"And," Yobo went on severely, "I've come here alone to find out what kind of illegalities you're engaged in. You've got a large-sized alien robot, I see, and an alien wreck next to your ship."
Norby jiggled forward and backward on his two-way feet. "We've got to go home, Admiral!"
"Yes, home," said Mentor First.
Yobo looked at the large robot with interest. "It speaks our language, too, and I suspect it belongs to the wreck. Identify yourself, robot."
Jeff quickly stood between Mentor First and the admiral. "This large robot is Norby's father, and we have to take them both home."
"What are they talking about?" Yobo asked Fargo.
"Just what they said."
"Now see here…" Yobo thundered.
Jeff sighed and closed his eyes, reaching for Norby's small hand, while Mentor First's large one came to rest upon his head. Norby must have been touching the control board, too, because Jeff could feel the ship's computer becoming part of the linkage. The augmented force grapple reached the alien ship.
Then, through the sense organs of the computer, Jeff could see the flagship of the fleet, hovering in space near the slowly turning asteroid on which the Hopeful rested.
The admiral was saying something in an indignant shout, but Jeff tuned it out, linking his mind to Norby and Mentor First, visualizing Jamya. The Hopeful trembled slightly and left the Terran solar system with the alien ship in tow.
"Ah, well," said Admiral Yobo, leaning forward to take the last cookie-after being assured that they were cookies-"one can't have everything. I was thinking only this morning that I need a vacation badly, and I suppose a picnic on this lawn can count as one."
Jeff grinned at Fargo with relief, but Fargo did not smile. Oola was reclining on Mentor First's lower arms while Zi talked animatedly to him. The Grand Dragon hovered near Admiral Yobo with a sparkling red smile because she had put ruby caps on her fangs in honor of the occasion. On the other side of Yobo, little Zargl nuzzled his chest under his medals.
"Oh, Admiral," gurgled Zargl, "you are the largest and most magnificent human being I've seen. Surely you are the leader of them all."
"Dragons or not," Fargo said, "that's women for you."
"You didn't mind when she switched from me to you," Jeff said.
"That was just good sense. This isn't. And look at Oola making up to Mentor First."