Rogue Ship

Lesbee felt better when he had the weapon. But there was still another danger. Without turning, he spoke at the screen that connected directly with the bridge: 'Mr. Miller, are you there?'

There was no answer.

Lesbee said to Browne, 'Tell Miller not to attempt preemption. Any attempt by him to take over control means I'll use this blaster on you. Got that, Miller?' His voice was uncompromising.

Again, there was no reply.

Browne said uneasily, 'He may have been knocked unconscious.'

Lesbee ardently hoped so, but there was no time for verification. For a few, vital uninterrupted minutes, now, he needed Browne's knowledge.

17

It was a moment for a combination of deviousness and frankness. Lesbee would have given a lot to be able to send out a single question over the speaker system. He wanted desperately to ask if there had been an explosion anywhere on the ship.

But if there had been – if Dzing were destroyed – that knowledge would apprise the Browne forces that they had only a lone human being to deal with; and they would act promptly.

And so, he dared not try to verify that vital information.

But there were several things that Browne could help him on, and might, during these tense minutes when he himself felt threatened.

Lesbee said urgently: 'What bothers me is how that creature could walk out of here and not be affected by the acceleration? It's impossible, yet he did it.'

He finished with a lie: 'I find myself reluctant to act against the creature until we have an understanding of what it was he did.'

He had lowered the big man to the floor, and now he took some of the tension from the tractor beam, but did not release the power. Browne stood in apparent deep thought. Finally, he nodded. 'All right, I know what happened.'

'Tell me!'

Browne changed the subject, said in a deliberate tone, 'What are you going to do with me?'

Lesbee stared at him disbelievingly. 'You're going to withhold this information?'

Browne said, 'What else can I do? Till I know my fate, I have nothing to lose.'

To Lesbee the words brought brief cynicism, 'What's this?' he said satirically. 'Could this be a scheme to utilize alien creatures to destroy human beings? Are you putting your own safety above that of the ship and its mission? Don't you think this justifies summary execution?'

The tone must have alarmed Browne, for he said quickly, 'Look, there's no need for you to conspire any more. What you really want is to go home, isn't it? Don't you see, with this new method of acceleration, we can make it to Earth in a few months.'

He stopped. He seemed uncertain.

Lesbee said angrily, 'Who are you trying to fool? We're a dozen light-years in actual distance from Earth. You mean years, not months.'

Browne hesitated. 'All right, a few years. But at least not a lifetime. So if you'll promise not to scheme against me further, I'll promise-'

'You'll promise!' Lesbee spoke savagely. He had been taken aback by Browne's instant attempt to blackmail. But the momentary sense of defeat was gone. He knew with stubborn rage that he would stand for no nonsense.

He said in an uncompromising tone, 'Mr. Browne, twenty seconds after I stop speaking, you start talking. I mean it.'

Browne said, 'Are you going to kill me? That's the only thing I want reassurance on. Look' – his voice appealed – 'we don't have to fight any more. We can go home. Don't you see? The long madness is just about over. Nobody has to die. But quick, man, destroy that creature with your remote-control method!'

Lesbee hesitated. What the other was saying was at least partly true. His words so far included an attempt to make twelve years sound like twelve weeks or, at most, twelve months. But the fact was, it was a short period compared to the century-long journey which, at one time, had been the only possibility.

He thought, 'Am I going to kill him?'

It was hard to believe that he would, under the circumstances. But if not death, what then? He sat there, uncertain. The vital seconds went by, and he could see no solution. He thought finally, in desperation: 'I'll have to give in for the moment.'

'I'll promise you this,' he said. 'If you can figure out how I can feel safe in a ship commanded by you, I'll give your plan consideration. And now, mister, start talking.'

Browne nodded. 'I accept that promise.'

Browne went on, 'There are two possible explanations, and naturally I prefer the more commonplace one. That is, I postulate that this robot used some kind of energy flows, like a balance of tractor and pressor beams. He used this in the same instantaneous, or rapid, feedback system that you and I use in our muscles to balance ourselves when we walk under normal gravity.'

'What is the second explanation?' Lesbee asked.

'That takes us beyond normal response and normal energy situations. When we last saw the robot, the appearance he presented was of an object for which the entire phenomenon of inertia had been suspended. If this were true, then we are observing a big event, indeed. To understand it, we'd have to consider light-speed theories and, particularly, the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction Theory. At the speed of light, mass becomes infinite but size is zero. Thus, matter ceases instantly to be subject to inertia as we know it. There is no other condition in the universe where that can happen naturally. Dzing has somehow created the condition artificially – if this second explanation is the true one.'

Lesbee said doubtfully, 'I'm inclined to accept the tractor-pressor explanation. Is there any way we could determine which method he used?'

Browne could think of no method for determining it after the event. 'If it was a combination of energy flows, then it probably registered on the board at the time. And it will show again when he comes into the room.'

That, Lesbee realized, would be a little late to be useful. He asked helplessly, 'Is there anything we need to learn from this creature?'

'We've already learned it,' said Browne. 'This thing has a casual control of energy and an understanding of space time that is far ahead of us scientifically. Therefore, we have no business in this sun system. So let's get out of here as fast as we can.'

Lesbee was remembering how all the Karn on the lifeboat had pretended to be affected by inertia, when they evidently had not been.

Aloud, he said, 'Maybe your second explanation does cover it better.'

Browne shook his head. 'No, he'd have been here within instants, if that was what he could do. There's a state of compressed time at light-speed.'

'How do you mean?'

Browne was uneasy. 'Let's not waste time on an intellectual discussion,' he said.

'I want to know what you mean.'

'It's condensed time. He would have a time ratio, in relation to us, of hundreds to one. Ten minutes for us could be only a second for him.'

'Then he should have been here by now, if that's what he could do?'

'That's what I've been trying to tell you.'

Lesbee had to fight to hold back his excitement. The thought in his mind was that by pressing Button Three immediately after Button One, he had prevented that kind of instantaneous return by the Karn.

He thought, 'And I did it without even knowing how deadly dangerous the situation was, because I was logical, because I didn't want to take any chances.'

He felt a great joy in himself.

'For God's sake, Lesbee-'