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“You can’t go in here. Due for takeoff in a couple of minutes.” I looked him up and down slowly with the same expression on my face that would have been there if he had just wriggled out from under a flat rock. As a worried look crossed his features I took out a scroll and let it drop open before him. It was covered with fine black and red printing and sealed with a great gold seal. My voice was most stern.
“Do you see this? It is a quarantine document issued by the Board of Health. There is a medical emergency and you will take me to your captain at once. Now-lead the way.” He led. It had really been quite easy. As soon as a turn in the corridor blocked any view he might have had of Bolivar and James, they sealed the airlock behind us. The captain looked up, shocked, when we entered the control room. “What is going on here! Get out at once...” “You are Captain Ciego de Avila. I have here a quarantine notice from the Board of Health. Your men must be examined before this ship can leave.” “What are those morons in Primoroso trying to do to mel” he protested. “My schedule, do they ever think of that? I have a launch window coming up in less than thirty minutes.” “You will launch on time, I guarantee you. For our sake as well as yours.” How true! “We are trying to contain an outbreak of a rare disease brought here from another planet. Perrotonitis..,” “I’ve never heard of that. “ “That shows you how rare it is. The first symptoms are fever, slavering and growling like a dog. We have reason to believe that one of your crew is infected. “ “Which one?” “That one,” I said pointing at the crewman who had led us here. He whi
“I’m not sick!” the man wailed, saliva forming at the corners of his mouth as he spoke. He wiped it away with the hot skin of his hand. “Not sick...” he growled-then barked twice.
“He has it!” I shouted. “He’ll be wagging his tail next! Grab him men and I’ll administer the cure!” Barking and yapping, with Bolivar hanging from one arm and James from the other, he was immobilized so I could give him the injection. Which not only knocked him out but neutralized the reactive agents that he had absorbed through the mucous membranes in his mouth-put there by the tongue depressor.
“Caught in time,” I said, looking down at the unconscious body while I put the hypodermic back into its case. “He will recover after he regains consciousness. Now, Captain, order the rest of your crew here at once for examination. If it is done quickly you will make your launch on time.” It was done quickly. Within five minutes most of the crew had developed symptoms and were stretched unconscious on the deck. It was not by chance that only a skeleton engine and control room crew remained. I nodded approval, then took out a large pistol and pointed it at the captain. “I am now taking over your ship. Long live the revolution!” “You can’t do this-you’re mad!” “No we are not mad, just incredibly vicious. We represent the Black Friday-afternoon Revolutionary Party and we will kill you to make you free. We fear nothing. You will operate this ship in its normal ma
“Freedom and liberty!” Bolivar shouted as he pulled a large butcher knife out from under his jacket. He leaped upon the unconscious figure at the far end of the row, kneeling on the man’s chest.
Then he bent forward and cut the man’s throat with a single vicious swipe of the sharp knife. There was a gurgling cry as the blood spurted out of the awful wound. It was very realistic.
“Take the body away!” I shouted, and turned back to the captain. If I had been impressed-even though I knew that the flesh-colored apparatus filled with blood had been fixed to the front of the man’s neck, that the shriek came from an apparatus in the knife-well, you can imagine the effect this had on the captain. He staggered and the blood drained from his space-ta
There were no problems after that. Both captain and crew cooperated to the best of their ability. We cleared for takeoff with spaceport control and lifted into orbit. As we were jockeying into position near the first satellite, the boys opened the crate and extracted one of the self-powered interrupters. I had been studying the wiring diagram of the satellite and had pinpointed the place where it should be co
“Let one of the boys go,” Angelina said. “Your ribs aren’t healed yet.” “Healed enough to get this job done. There’11 be enough work for all of us if we are to install these on every satellite. I want to put the first one in myself in case there are any problems. “ “You just want the glory-and the fun of a spacewalk.” “I couldn’t agree more. Without a little excitement life would be so dull.” And it was indeed fun. The blue globe of Paraiso-Aqui floated serenely below me, clear and sharp. I admired it briefly, then jetted over to the communication satellite, ducking under the outstretched arms of solar cells and up to the pitted central structure. It was the work of a moment to find the right plate and to swing open the hatch in the thick insulating skin. The carefully constructed ca
“Ready for testing,” I said into the radio.
“Right, testing now.” Nothing was visible since all of the operating mechanisms were solid state and it is not easy to see electrons slipping through circuits. “Works fine. Cuts in and out just like it should.” And so it went. The installation of the interrupter devices was not difficult or time-consuming, but matching orbits was. The ship’s computer flashed its little numbers, which were translated into orbital positions, then into firing increments for the jets. The entire job took almost four days to complete and we were all getting more than a bit tired by the end.
“There are dark little satchels under your eyes,” Angelina said, pushing the bottle of ron in my direction. “Which in a way rather balances the bloodshot condition of the eyes themselves. “ “Well we’re just about done. And we can rest when we get back. “ We had just eaten so a single little ron should do me no harm. Might even help. It had been an exhausting job, because in addition to the work the crew had to be watched and guarded at all times. The boys looked as tired as I did. Only Angelina, who had labored as hard as any of us, showed no sign of stress. Eternal youth! The ron tasted good. “I wonder how the election campaign is going?” she asked.
“Slowly, I’m sure. But the marquez is holding the fort and issuing press releases every day-even if no one knows about them. Which situation will change as soon as we get back and put this new system into operation.” “It’s still u
“We had no other choice. If the forces of evil knew what we were doing up here they would blast this ship out of the sky. They’ll never think that anything is wrong here as long as we stick to routine transmissions, with the radio closed down the rest of the time. What’s to worry? The election is still a month away. By election day we will have ninety-nine percent of the voters lined up behind us and it will be a landslide.” “You’re right, of course. It must be the fatigue that is putting all these strange fears into my head. After we all have had a bit of rest I’m sure that I’ll be all right. I think.” She scowled in my direction. “Now don’t laugh, Jim diGriz or I’ll break both your arms. But I have an intuition that something is very wrong.” She looked at me very closely and I fought down any tendency to laugh, giggle or find fault with her in the slightest. In fact I had no such tendency at all. I shook my head and searched the bottom of the ron glass for an answer.