Then, quickly as it came, the fire storm disappeared and they were once again flying in clear air.
Amherst's insane screaming died to a series of wracked sobs, then faded to silence. "By Voot's meem-stained beard!" Ursis roared in glee. "It is possible we may yet survive in spite of our fearless Helmsman." The control cabin erupted in laughter—for a moment."
"COMM channels are going full tilt," Barbousse reported from aft. "I think the whole Universe is yapping at once. Maybe you'd better listen in, sir," he suggested.
Brim nodded. "Take the controls," he said to Theada, then brought up a COMM display. It took only moments to discover that every patrol craft in the vicinity was on its way at full speed. He squandered a few ticks to inspect the result of their mine. Most of the blast had gone upward, blowing out the top of the atmosphere. All that remained was a shallow, blackened crater perhaps a few thousand irals in diameter—that, and a still-rising pillar of dust and debris topped by a great roiling cloud with a curious wisp on its top.
"Looks like we stopped him," Theada commented dryly.
Brim nodded solemnly. "Yeah," he said, "scanning the terrain. In the distance, he found the little wisp of dust again and smiled grimly to himself. "All right, Truculents," he said, "let's go pick up our spy. We're going to have a lot of company in a very short time—and none of them will want to help.
Moments later, they were back over the lorry. "IF YOU'RE THROUGH PLAYING WITH THAT TANK, LET'S GO HOME," the spy sent.
Brim laughed. "Tell him we'll do that," he said to Barbousse as he eyed the cable right-of-way. It went straight as a die, all the way to the horizon. He nodded his head. "Send this as I say It," he ordered. "'Put the lorry on automatic. We must pick you up on the fly. Affirmative?'"
"YOU BET," appeared almost instantly in the BURST display.
Brim turned to Amherst, who was now awake and keeping a frightened silence in the recliner. "Will you help, Lieutenant Amherst?" he asked.
"Help you Carescrian? On this insane mission?"
"You could help," Brim said as he eased the ship over the speeding lorry.
"I shall help none of you!" Amherst hissed. "You are only doing this so you can show me in a poor light to my superiors." In the corner of his eye, Brim watched the First Lieutenant fold his arms and close his eyes.
"He is no longer with us, Wilf Ansor," Ursis growled.
Brim nodded. "Very well," he said. "Nik, do you feel reasonably strong today?"
"Strong enough," came the reply. "What is it I can do?"
"I need somebody out there by the boarding ladder to help me bring this crate alongside the lorry—then lend a hand when our spy climbs on board. Feel up to that?"
"Unless our spy is too fat to lift, Wilf Ansor," the Bear laughed. Brim heard him pull his helmet on.
"Just in case we do get a fat one," Theada interrupted, "I think I'll join Nik out there, if that's all right with you, Wilf."
"I would welcome the assistance," Ursis said.
"Go to it, Jubal," Brim replied with a grin. Presently, the two appeared on E607's open utility deck, leaning into the wind and clipping their safety cords to eyelets built into the deck. Each had a coil of cushioned life-saving cable over his shoulder.
Then there was time for nothing but concentration. He made a final thrust adjustment, pulling above and to one side of the speeding lorry. His scout was nearly sixty irals in length and twenty wide—the spy's lorry little more than a third in any dimension. He made no attempt to delude himself concerning the difficulty of the job—this one would make barge piloting look easy! Starship's weren't made for precision work at low speeds and navigational tolerances measured in rrals. It would take only one sideswipe by his gravity pods and the whole trip would be wasted. He concentrated on the lorry, flying by instinct alone. "How are we doing out there, Nik?" he asked into the short-range COMM.
The Bear peered over the rail. "A little too far left, Wilf," j he said, "but just about the right height."
Gingerly, Brim nudged the controls to starboard.
"A couple of irals closer yet," the Bear said. "You can tell him to open the door now, but it's still too far to jump."
"Send, 'Open your door,'" Brim ordered Barbousse, then nudged the controls still further starboard.
"Watch!" Ursis said sharply, holding a warning hand aloft. "That's almost enough."
This time, Brim willed the ship's change.
"Perfect," Ursis declared. "Hold it right there. He's got the door open. I'm going to throw him the end of this rope. Tell him to tie it under his shoulders."
"Got it," Brim said through clenched teeth, half afraid to move for fear of bumping the ship into disaster. "Send, 'Tie the cable securely under your arms,'" he said to Barbousse. A moment later, Ursis lofted the coil.
"Missed!" the Bear growled in frustration.
"Proximity warning's beginning to flash, Lieutenant," Barbousse called out. "We'll have company any cycle now."
"Very well," Brim acknowledged. But there was nothing he could do as he watched Ursis coil the cable for another try. It was now—or it was never for the spy. If he was going to escape from this planet, he would have to fly the ship out in the next few cycles.
Again, the Bear lofted his coil. Brim gritted his teeth. "Please don't miss," he whispered to himself.
"He got it that time," Ursis said, relief sounding clearly in his voice. "And he's tying it under his arms.
Can you move just a little closer again, Wilf? We've drifted a few irals."
"Wilf!" Theada suddenly screeched. "Pull up. An overpass! Dead ahead!"
Brim looked up—even at their low ground speed, the bridge was only a few ticks distant. "Hang on to that rope, Nik" he yelled, then, "Barbousse, tell him to jump, now!" After that, he had no more options.
He waited approximately one more tick, then bunted the ship over the bridge, flinging both Ursis and Theada to the limits of their safety cords as he zoomed over the top. He heard Ursis grunt from the shock.
"Don't lose him, Nik," Theada whispered in a strangled voice as he fought to wrap the cable around himself. "I've got it now. You go pull him aboard!"
The spy—dressed in a nondescript Leaguer space suit—was now clinging desperately to the ship's rail with both hands and feet as Ursis arrived at his side. Less than a tick later, the Bear hoisted him to safety, and all three struggled out of view toward the air lock.
Brim immediately hauled the little starship around on a low-altitude trajectory perpendicular to the cableway, watching the lorry speed away in the distance. Considerable time would elapse before someone discovered anything wrong with that, he thought—as if it mattered anymore! Every ship in the League seemed to be on its way to investigate the explosion of Barbousse's star mine.
Then his thoughts were abruptly shattered by Ursis' deep bass voice, which—normally placid in all circumstances—was strangely reduced to little more than an awed whisper.
"Princess Effer'wyck, Your Majesty," the Bear stammered over the suit circuit. "W-What in the name of the Great Mother Bear are you doing here?"
The name struck Brim like a thunderbolt. "Margot?" he called over his shoulder incredulously.