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So, in jauntes of one and two hundred miles each, Presteign crossed the continent, and arrived outside the Vancouver shipping yards at exactly nine o'clock in the morning, Pacific time. He had left New York at ii A.M. He had gained two hours of daylight. This, too, was a commonplace in a jaunting world.
The square mile of unfenced concrete (what fence could bar a jaunter7') comprising the shipyard, looked like a white table covered with black pe
These were the take-off and landing pits, the drydock and construction pits of the shipyards. Spaceships, like sailing vessels, were never designed to support their own weight unaided against the drag of gravity. Normal terran gravity would crack the spine of a spaceship like an eggshell. The ships were built in deep pits, standing vertically in a network of catwalks and construction grids, braced and supported by anti-gravity screens. They took off from similar pits, riding the anti-gray beams upward like motes mounting the vertical shaft of a searchlight until at last they reached the Roche Limit and could thrust with their own jets. Landing spacecraft cut drive jets and rode the same beams downward into the pits.
As the Presteign entourage entered the Vancouver yards they could see which of the pits were in use. From some the noses and hulls of spaceships extruded, raised a quarterway or halfway above ground by the anti-gray screen as workmen in the pits below brought their aft sections to particular operational levels. Three Presteign V-class transports, «Vega,» «Vestal,» and «Vorga,» stood partially raised near the center of the yards, undergoing flaking and replating, as the heat-lightning flicker of torches around «Vorga» indicated.
At the concrete building marked: ENTRY, the Presteign entourage stopped before a sign that read:
YOU ARE ENDANGERING YOUR LIFE IF YOU ENTER THESE PREMISES UNLAWFULLY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Visitor badges were distributed to the party, and even Presteign of Presteign received a badge. He dutifully pi
Presteign was welcomed and, in turn, greeted his various officials. The Presteign band struck up the clan song, bright and brassy, but one of the instruments appeared to have gone insane. It struck a brazen note that blared louder and louder until it engulfed the entire band and the surprised exclamations. Only then did Presteign realize that it was not an instrument sounding, but the shipyard alarm.
An intruder was in the yard, someone not wearing an identification or visitor's badge. The radar field of the protection system was tripped and the alarm sounded. Through the raucous bellow of the alarm, Presteign could hear a multitude of «pops» as the yard guards jaunted from the grandstand and took positions around the square mile of concrete field. His own JaunteWatch closed in around him, looking wary and alert.
A voice began blaring on the P.A., coordinating defense. «UNKNOWN IN YARD. UNKNOWN IN YARD AT E FOR EDWARD NINE. E FOR EDWARD NINE MOVING WEST ON FOOT.»
«Someone must have broken in,» Black Rod shouted~
«I'm aware of that,» Presteign answered calmly.
«He must be a stranger if he's not jaunting in here.»
«I'm aware of that also.»
«UNKNOWN APPROACHING D FOR DAVID FIVE. D FOR DAVID FIVE. STILL ON FOOT. D FOR DAVID FIVE ALERT.»
«What in God's name is he up to?» Black Rod exclaimed.
«You are aware of my rule, sir,» Presteign said coldly. «No associate of the Presteign clan may take the name of the Divinity in vain. You forget yourself.»
«UNKNOWN NOW APPROACHING C FOR CHARLEY FIVE. NOW APPROACHING C FOR CHARLEY FIVE.»
Black Rod touched Presteign's arm. «He's coming this way, Presteign. Will you take cover, please?»
«I will not.»
«Presteign, there have been assassination attempts before. Three of them. If…”
«How do I get to the top of this stand?»
«Presteign!»
«Help me up.»
Aided by Black Rod, still protesting hysterically, Presteign climbed to the top of the grandstand to watch the power of the Presteign clan in action against danger. Below he could see workmen in white jumpers swarming out of the pits to watch the excitement. Guards were appearing as they jaunted from distant sectors toward the focal point of the action.
«UNKNOWN MOVING SOUTH TOWARD B FOR BAKER THREE.
B FOR BAKER THREE.»
Presteign watched the B-3 pit. A figure appeared, dashing swiftly toward the pit, veering, dodging, bulling forward. It was a giant man in hospital blues with a wild thatch of black hair and a distorted face that appeared, in the distance, to be painted in livid colors. His clothes were flickering like heat lightning as the protective induction field of the defense system seared him.
«B FOR BAKER THREE ALERT. B FOR BAKER THREE CLOSE IN.»
There were shouts and a distant rattle of shots, the pneumatic whine of scope guns. Half a dozen workmen in white leaped for the intruder. He scattered them like ninepins and drove on and on toward B-3 where the nose of «Vorga» showed. He was a lightning bolt driving through workmen and guards, pivoting, bludgeoning, boring forward implacably.
Suddenly he stopped, reached inside his flaming jacket and withdrew a black ca
«EXPLOSIVE. TAKE COVER. EXPLOSIVE. TAKE COVER. COVER.»
«Presteign!» Black Rod squawked.
Presteign shook him off and watched the ca
Presteign picked himself up and descended the grandstand to the launching podium. He placed his finger on the launching button of the Presteign «Princess?'
«Bring me that man, if he's still alive,» he said to Black Rod. He pressed the button. «I christen thee . . . the Presteign 'Power,'» he called in triumph.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE STAR CHAMBER in Castle Presteign was an oval room with ivory panels picked out with gold, high mirrors, and stained glass windows. It contained a gold organ with robot organist by Tiffany, a gold-tooled library with android librarian on library ladder, a Louis Quinze desk with android secretary before a manual memo-bead recorder, an American bar with robot bartender. Presteign would have preferred human servants, but androids and robots kept secrets.
«Be seated, Captain Yeovil,» he said courteously. «This is Mr. Regis Sheffield, representing me in this matter. That young man is Mr. Sheffield's assistant.»
«Bu
Presteign touched a control. The still life in the star chamber came alive. The organist played, the librarian sorted books, the secretary typed, the bartender shook drinks. It was spectacular; and the impact, carefully calculated by industrial psychometrists, established control for Presteign and put visitors at a disadvantage.