Deep Freeze

"But why put a whole planet in deep freeze?" Kara asked.

"Because they have something to hide," Pete said. "And they're willing to be nasty to keep it hidden."

"You keep saying 'they,' " Kara said. "But we get no life signals."

"Could your instruments detect life through several hundred feet of ice, frozen earth, and rock?" Pete asked.

"Through ice, yes," Kara said, "but only through a very shallow layer of earth and rock."

"So there could be something down there at a depth of several hundred feet below the surface," Pete said. "Something or someone who knows how to use gravity as power." He winked at Iain. "Iain, I wonder what the captain's discovery share would be if the Carmine Rose took home the secret of a new and unlimited source of cheap power?"

Iain whistled.

"Don't even think it, Pete," Vi

"Son," Pete said, "no brag, but I am one of the big boys. And this is my ship. Now whatever it is down there, whether it's a them or an it, it has killed off my wife's family. I think it owes her something for that. What do you say, Iain?"

"As you said, it's your ship." Iain gri

"Kara?" Pete asked.

"I'm with Iain."

"Do I have a vote?" Sarah asked.

"Of course," Pete said.

"I would like to know what it was that killed my parents and my brothers and sisters."

"And you're willing to risk the life of one more Webster, not to mention mine, to find out?" Vi

Sarah looked thoughtful. "I think," she said slowly, "that if it could kill at a distance it would have killed us already. I know that it can reach out and touch me at a long distance. I think that whatever it is down there is able to get into my mind, because the very idea of me, Sarah Webster, being out here so far from home, from my children, from all of my involvements, ca

She paused, looked into Vi

"I don't know," Vi

"You heard her voice."

He nodded. "Yes, but I was so much in love—"

"I heard, too," Sarah said. "You accused me of doing an imitation of Sheba."

Vi

"In theory, the gravitational force of this planet extends forever," he said. "It's here and it's everywhere else at the same time. It would, of course, be distorted by other bodies, but it reaches the far end of the universe, even though its strength diminishes with distance."

"It's quite a jump from here to the home planets," Iain said. "If something down there did influence you two over that distance, was it using the gravitational waves of the planet as a carrier band, for lack of a better description?"

Vi

"Why don't we leave the answers to that to the boffins?" Pete asked.

"Are we agreed that there's something alive down there?"

"That depends on your definition of life," Vi

"My bet is that it can't touch us up here," Pete said. "I think Mom and Pop Webster got excited when they recorded all of the metallic readings and landed on the surface where they could be affected."

"I can buy that," Vi

"It reaches into the mind," Sarah said.

"If it can reach into the mind," Pete said, "it can communicate with us." He winked at Iain. "I'd like to talk with it about the manipulation of gravity. Why don't we try to open a dialogue?"

"What do you suggest?" Iain asked.

"So far it's been ignoring us. Let's see if we can't force some kind of a reaction," Pete said. "Iain, fire up the laser and cut the communication lines between a couple of those icing units."

"You're forgetting the Erin Ke

"I am in agreement with the idea that if it could kill us while we're in space it would have done so already," Pete said. "Let's give my suggestion a try."

Vi

A laser beam lashed down and, like a surgical scalpel, slashed a narrow, deep cut into the ice directly over one of the co

"Ah, ha," Pete said, for instantly the intensity of the lines of force co

"Isolate that one unit," Pete said.

The beam flashed down, one, two, three times. One unit was completely cut off from all others. Within minutes a film of melt water appeared in the affected area as the sun's energy was absorbed by the ice.

"Kara," Iain said, his voice tense, "stand by for maneuver. Program a blink and stand by."

"Got it," Kara said, obeying without question.

"You wanted a response, boss," Iain said. "Take a look at screen two."

No less than half a dozen ships were lifting from the surface of the planet from different locations.

"Life search, Kara," Iain ordered.

"Negative, negative," Kara said, a few seconds later. "You're not going to believe this. Those ships have hydrogen fusion engines."

"Damned small plants, then," Vi

"Room for a few of those," Iain said, as a shower of missiles were launched from the climbing ships.

"Can you handle all of those?" Vi

"Sure. It's just a matter of whether we want to blast them or evade them," Iain said. "If that's all our friend down there has, its weaponry doesn't match the feat of deep freezing a whole world. I can take the missiles out or blink away and let them blast on into empty space."

"And the ships?" Pete asked.

"I think that we can safely assume that they're hostile," Iain said.

"I think so," Pete said.

"I'm going to take one out," Iain said.

The long-range saffer beam exploded into brilliance as it entered the planet's thin atmosphere, but the flare of destruction as it contacted the leading attacker was brighter.

"I think that it's time you gave your attention to the missiles," Kara said. "If they carry nuclear warheads—and that seems logical since they're using a fusion power plant—we don't need to have them being detonated anywhere nearby."

"Got you," Iain said, and for the next forty seconds the ship shivered and rocked with the launching of counter missiles. Below, in the thin atmosphere, flowers of destruction blossomed.