Robert Emmett McDowell

“ The cabin flooded with brilliance.
The body of Trev, the Martian was stretched stark and cold on the metal deck!
Gavin bent shakily over the broker of slaves and scientific secrets. Trev's black eyes were open, glassy. A thin three cornered sliver of metal protruded from his throat. The Martian would never steal the Nova's space drive now. He had been shot with a poisoned dart.
Suddenly, a tremendous weight fell on Gavin's shoulders. He was squashed flat to the deck beside the dead Martian, pinned there. The breath was crushed from his chest, and he struggled wildly to inflate his lungs. ”

“ He knew that it couldn't be the Terran patrol spacers attacking. The balloon hadn't time to rise into the stratosphere yet.
A great fear for the Nova's safety gripped him. Whatever the cost, the ship must be preserved intact so that Terra's scientists could examine her space drive. It had become the paramount issue, over-shadowing in importance even the detestable slave trade.
"No!" Nadia cried. "Don't go back there." She flung herself on him, pressing her body flat against his. "Please, for my sake, Gavin!" ”

“ Give me a chance, Gavin."
"And Cabot," Gavin continued inexorably, his pale blue eyes stony. "You delivered Cabot and the Nova over to Tri-World."
He turned her loose.
"Give you a chance," he repeated and gave a short bitter laugh. "A chance to do what? Double-cross me like you have everyone else?"
Nadia shrank away. "The dream!" she said in a frightened voice. "It's just as it was in the dream. You laughed!"
Villanowski interrupted sadly. "You weren't dreaming during the little death. We're only equipped with three dimensional sense organs. We're blind to everything but the immediate instant. ”

“ Gavin looked at Nadia thoughtfully. The girl's white features had gone translucent like milk glass. Her long black eyes wore an expression of horror.
She said, "It's just starting. He sees all the ones he's killed. They return and plague him. He can't rid his mind of them. It's a psychological quirk...." She paused unsteadily.
"Go on," Gavin urged.
"You'll see." Her voice was faint.
"You were a handsome tart, Paula," said Cabot, his glazed eyes following some figure invisible to Gavin. "A foul mind in a beautiful body. ”

“ Gavin stared at the half-men curiously. They crept along, features drawn, their yellow manes matted with dirt. There was a haunted look in their eyes like caged animals.
Thirty percent would die in the crossing, he knew. Within a year ninety percent of the rest would be dead, victims of home-sickness, of pneumonia and measles and Venusian lung rot, not to mention a score of other diseases. The terrible rate of fatality was good business for the slavers. It held up the demand.
"They aren't really human," said Nadia in a faint voice as if reading his thoughts. "They're sub-men."
Gavin nodded. ”

“ Gavin fled up the ladder.
He came out on the observation deck and recognized Nadia in her gray coveralls seated in a deck chair and staring upward at the stars. They floated in the void like gems on black velvet.
He came up behind her saying, "Some day man will conquer outer space as he has the planetary system."
Nadia sat up, her black eyes provoked. "What are you? A fish? After all I'm supposed to have a passion for you. Didn't I say back in Trev's office that we had a lot to talk over, Mr. Gavin Murdock, ex-chief engineer of the Europa?" ”

“ After a second he made out a second and a third.
"We're being followed," Nadia said. "They've been on our trail ever since we left Venus. The chief astrogator figured their speed. They'll overtake us in five sidereal days. Only, they'll be too late."
"Why?"
"The little death!" she explained.
A premonition of danger made a cold track in his brain. He swung around.
Nadia Petrovna stood very straight not four feet from him. Big tears stood like drops of crystal in her long black eyes. She was holding her tiny dart-gun at Gavin's chest.
"May God rest your soul." ”

“ The three streaks denoting the pursuing space craft were absent. The sun had diminished to the size of a lemon. And dead ahead loomed the huge banded disc of Jupiter.
It was true. In the space of a few moments the Nova had traversed the void between Venus and Jupiter. Even though the planets were in a superior conjunction, the feat was unthinkable.
No wonder the big corporations were fighting like wildcats to get hold of the Nova's spacedrive!
Gavin dropped weakly in a deck chair, overawed by the possibilities. A new era of space travel was being inaugurated! ”

“ You know that if Cabot even suspected such a thing he'd kill me."
"Well," said Gavin coolly. "I don't know that any of us can afford to take a chance if you're a T.I.S. agent."
"Hush!" pleaded Nadia in agony.
"Look what it would mean. We'd be condemned to the Lunar Corrective Colony."
She gripped his arm desperately. "But I'm not! I'm not!" She regained her composure with an effort and went on in a low bitter tone, "I have been proscribed! Does that answer your questions? I killed a man. He was a high official of Tri-World. The corporation put a price on my head." ”

“ He returned to Gavin. "You'll spare yourself a painful experience, Murdock, if you talk now. You can't gain anything by forcing us to wring the information from you. We won't hesitate to stoop to torture."
"No," Gavin agreed. "I suppose not." He hesitated. United Spaceways and Tri-World were the two corporations most likely to want the Nova's space drive. Nadia suspected that he was an agent of United Spaceways. Therefore ... he moistened his lips. "My work's done, anyway. I'm a Tri-World agent." ”

“ Gavin sank weakly into his chair. He didn't reply. Captain Cabot was regarding Miss Petrovna with an alert expression. The film of drunkenness, Gavin sensed, had been banished from the Captain's brain like a fog by a ray of sunlight.
The Martian said, "Never mind. It's not important. Once we're satisfied with a man, we don't delve too deeply into his activities. Here, you can have your gear back."
As Gavin stowed the articles in place, the Martian wrote out his pass and shoved it across the desk. "Take this to the Commissioners. It'll authorize you to sign the Nova's articles." ”

“ Very deliberately, he pulled out the pin marking the Nova's position, moved it across the map to within a week's voyage of Jupiter.
Gavin couldn't believe his eyes. "That's impossible! We weren't unconscious but a few seconds during the little death...."
"An hour," Nadia corrected. "The effects last an hour. So Villanowski claims."
"An hour, then. What difference does it make? The Nova couldn't have gone that distance in an hour, nor in a thousand hours! Why man, that's faster than the speed of light!"
The chief astrogator grunted. "Impossible or not, that's our position. ”

“ Villanowski looked down at his chains. "A ship travels through space during a passage of time. It had occurred to me that if I could invert the formula and drive a ship through time during a passage of space, the crude rocket ships could be abandoned. Murdock had gotten in trouble when Transplanet was discovered to be a colonal smuggling ring. He had studied astrophysics under me at New Yale. I knew him and knew I could trust him."
Gavin swallowed and struggled to keep a grip on himself. Obviously Villanowski had something up his sleeve. ”

“ He paused to salute Cabot. "Charmed to make your acquaintance, Paula," he added.
Nadia glanced at him in surprise. "How can you make fun of him?"
Gavin regarded the girl somberly. "I'm not making fun of him." His voice was grim. "This girl he murdered—Paula—she might be a person to cultivate."
"My star, you're cold. You're not even human!" Nadia started off, but Gavin laid hold of her arm.
"What happened to Trev, that Martian who sold out to X?"
Nadia faced him again, biting her lip. "Cabot killed him," she replied in a whisper. "His body has been thrown out the disposal chute." ”

“ Miss Petrovna was third mate aboard the Galaxy, another of Transplanet's ships."
Gavin felt his stomach go hollow. He faced the girl, his hands still clasped grotesquely behind his neck, and forced himself to observe her coolly.
He saw a girl with skin almost as white as a Martian. Her lustrous black hair was combed back severely from a high white forehead, parted in the center, and done in a knot at the nape of her neck. Her long black eyes were half-hidden by thick black lashes. She was wearing white shorts and blouse, the universal daytime dress of Venus. ”

“ Once it had been the heart of the city, but, the big space lines having built a new field on the bogs of Antram just north of Venusport, the crumbling rocket blast pits of Old Port were no longer used except by slavers, smugglers and a few tramp freighters.
He turned abruptly on his heel and resumed his course toward the Temple of Joy. Let them trail him; they'd learn nothing for their pains.
From the Street of Sorrows, he emerged into Venner Square. The statue of August Venner, the first Terrestial to bridge the void and set foot on Venus, rose green with mold in the center of the plaza. ”

“ The injustice of his disgrace had wrought a shocking change in Villanowski. From a pleasant savant he became an anti-social, a dangerous man. He had fled to Venus where he had dropped from sight for a while, turning up again as chief engineer of the slaver, Nova.
Any startling development of the Nova's space drive, Gavin reasoned, would be due to Villanowski.
The televisor buzzed. Gavin snapped it on. "Engine room."
Nadia's features glowed on the screen. "Bridge calling." She flashed him a smile. "I'll be on the observation deck when I've finished my trick on the bridge, Mr. Murdock." ”

“ She glanced at the deck, flushed faintly.
"Nonsense," said Gavin. "People don't get killed for that any more. Why did you kill him?"
She looked at him, startled. "He caught me drawing a plan of Tri-World's magnetic ore-loader. It was a corporation secret. I was just a kid, a cadet aboard the Saturn. I—I was offered a lot of money for the plans...." She halted lamely.
"Who offered you the money?"
"Trev." Her voice was a whisper.
Gavin was surprised only at the fact that Nadia had confessed such a thing. She had placed herself completely in his power as long as she lived. ”

“ Gavin Murdock, ex-first assistant-engineer of Tri-World's ship, the Saturn!"
Gavin controlled an inclination to jump. His face hardened. It was true he had been first assistant-engineer of the Saturn. He had left her to join the T.I.S.
"I was a cadet aboard the Saturn," Nadia explained. "Now just exactly what are you? And what do you want aboard the Nova?"
Gavin was silent a moment. "Now you're going to lie," accused the girl angrily.
"No. On the contrary, I'm going to ask you the same question. Your own position can't be too secure. ”

“ The Flight Commander was right behind him, followed by the captains of the Empire's patrol spacers. The Flight Commander caught sight of two of Y's men lying unconscious just within the port.
"What the hell's this? The palace of the sleeping beauty?"
"You haven't seen the half of it," Gavin assured him with a grin. "They're lying all over the ship like that. Villanowski says the effects last about an hour. Better lock them up before they come to."
"Villanowski?" echoed the T.I.S. Commandant. "He's not dead, is he?"
"No," said Gavin, surprised at the anxiety in the Commandant's voice. ”

“ Gavin could feel his palms grow damp against the back of his neck. He wanted to whip around, but the Martian still had the dart-gun clamped against his spine.
Trev said, "No trouble, Captain Cabot."
Gavin turned his head slowly in the direction of the voice. He saw a tall man with a lean wolfish face. The man, in handsome black shorts, was standing in the doorway to the outer office, one hand braced against the frame. Just behind the man, peering wide-eyed over his shoulder, was a girl. ”

“ Today Jovopolis was an outpost, consisting of rotting shacks, a trading post, and one modern structure which housed the Huygen Memorial Institute of Science. Even the interplanetary patrol had made no attempt to install a permanent base. The officers and men lived in their ship while they were assigned to the station.
The Nova began to settle Jove-ward. Gavin never left the bridge televisor, pulling switches, relaying orders to the jetman and master mechanic as the clumsy monster performed the ticklish job of landing. ”

“ She passed silently between the men, her black eyes flashing Gavin a look of hate before she descended the gangplank.
"Mark my word," said Commandant Samuels grumpily, "that girl will get off with a light sentence. She'll run true to form and sell Tri-World down the river. She'll be the prosecution's principal witness."
Gavin shrugged.
"Which reminds me," put in Villanowski. "Since the Empire's so anxious for me to return to the fold, I don't want to appear too eager." ”

“ Trev said, "Yes ... yes ... thank you," at intervals, and hung up. His black eyes were inscrutable. He turned back to Gavin, saying, "I've been waiting for that call, Mr. Murdock."
He brought his hand into sight above the desk. Gavin Murdock found himself staring into the muzzle of a wicked poisoned-needle automatic!
"Clasp your hands behind your neck, Mr. Murdock. That was United Spaceways. They have no record of your ever having been employed by them. That was a very foolish lie, Mr. Murdock. Please submit yourself to a search."
Gavin drew a long breath. "You can save yourself the trouble. ”

“ A pained expression rippled the T.I.S. Commandant's ruddy features.
"I'd like the chief engineer's rating aboard the first ship to reach the stars." There was a wistful note in Villanowski's voice.
"There shouldn't be any hitch there," the Commandant agreed in a relieved tone. "You're the logical man to head an expedition outside the system."
"What about a third assistant-engineer?" Gavin interrupted.
"We work pretty well together," said Villanowski.
Gavin's lean freckled face broke into a grin. "It's a bargain." ”

“ Murdock, but I'm not at liberty to reveal that."
Gavin scowled. "Who are you?"
"One alias is as good as another." The man smiled pleasantly. "X will do for the present. Suppose you call me Mr. X. I represent a group, Mr. Murdock, who are interested in the Nova's space drive."
"Well?" said Gavin dryly. The group whom Mr. X represented weren't the only ones interested in Nova's spacedrive. The T.I.S., for one, was particularly concerned about it. The Nova made the crossing between Jupiter and Venus with her contraband load of slaves in an impossibly short space of time. ”