Stanley Mullen

“ Heydrick and Ria stood before Tyko.
"I see you've completed your mission," the old man said. He frowned as Heydrick put his arm around Ria.
Heydrick laughed. "When Thorsan comes out of it, give him scopolamine. He'll tell you who did kill Feyjak."
"I suppose you want my blessing? You have it."
"How's your war coming?"
"It's over by now. Nasty business, government. What are you going to do?"
Heydrick and Ria looked at each other.
"I think we'll find an empty asteroid and camp out for a while. The universe is getting too crowded. I'm glad she was innocent, Tyko. ”

“ Klathgar muttered a low word to the leopard, then slipped through the sliding door of plastic. A bundle of furred muscle launched itself at Heydrick. It was touch and go for a minute. Deadly talons raked through the leather tunic like razors. The man got a grip on the jewelled collar and twisted savagely. He wrenched the great cat away long enough to get out a paralysis gun and fire it. ”

“ Jumbles of neo-plastic architecture, rising tier on tier above the series of terraces on which the city was built, whirled upward past the descending car.
On the street level, all was bustle and confusion. A polyglot crowd composed of every human and near human species in the universe jammed the streets. Stares followed the I.P.S. uniform as Heydrick pushed out of the elevator. A few people gave nods of respect, but in most faces burned a sullen hatred and resentment. ”

“ If you were dealing with me, we'd go off to some empty asteroid and camp out for the rest of your life."
Brooding over the immensity of the plain below was Canal City 4. Covering the entire city like a tremendous bubble was the iridescent dome of fused-quartz. The tiny fleet of ore-lighters nosed through the valves of airlock after airlock and headed across town toward the sprawling terraces of the freight docks. Like a chain of brightly silvered pumpkin seeds, the clumsy craft wound in and out among the towers of the 7th level, down to the freight docks. ”

“ The octopus man uncoiled a tentacle and snatched it up, tested it for weight, then shambled off. He returned with a dusty bottle and the change. Heydrick let the change lie.
"Would you like to earn the rest of it?"
The octopus creature clucked somewhere within the unholy cavern which served him as mouth. "I'd kill anyone on Ganymede for half of that," he observed. "What'ya want me to do?"
Heydrick drew a deep breath. "You've a singer here who calls herself the Red Leopard of Mars. When does she go on?"
The waiter consulted a wrist-chron. "Anytime now. She's temperamental." ”

“ Wildings were everywhere, organizing, leading, destroying.
Heydrick commandeered an empty flier, got Ria aboard and set the automatic pilot for Tyko's tower in West 21.
In Tyko's tower, the old man stood watching the end of the grim spectacle in the streets below. Walls of white fire moved out in ever-widening circles from the experimental domes, moved through the city, quieting the mobs, herding them back to their homes. Dead lay in windrows.
A bell rang behind him. He turned. "Oh, come in," he said. It was Thorsan, Feyjak's assistant. ”

“ Luck was against them. They came suddenly round a turn and into a chamber full of Wildings. It was the room where Heydrick had been questioned by Thorsan. The man still sat at the desk. Heydrick drew the gun and pressed its trigger as Thorsan dived for a doorway. The desk glowed, then exploded. The room was choked with dust.
Heydrick remembered a nightmarish pursuit, running down a series of criss-cross galleries with endless side passages. The gallery ended abruptly. An open mine-shaft barred their way. ”

“ In the antiquated patrol flier, Heydrick set the auto-pilot for City 1. The girl was sleeping quietly under the effects of the paralysis drug. Heydrick went back to the galley and opened a can of hot coffee. A sudden tug at the metal circlet on his wrist sent him racing to the controls.
It was too late. The girl held a heavy bar of dur-steel ready to crash it down on the maze of keys and switch-bars. The bar descended in a glittering crescent. Blue flame shot through the tiny cabin. Rocket jets fused and exploded at the tail of the rocket-flier. ”

“ Heydrick jumped and his stomach wrenched with nausea. Then the cable was burning through his hands. His feet stung as they came down solidly on the metal flooring. The girl was right behind him. He found the control lever and jammed it all the way over.
The car dropped under them with sickening speed.
A blaster beam flamed briefly above them, and the discharge set a chorus of echoes bouncing back and forth in the old mine-shaft.
"Hang tight," he shouted. "I don't know how far down this shaft goes. If we hit bottom at this speed, we'll flatten out like saucers." ”

“ The pilot glanced at them sourly. "I thought you were through with the service," he shot at Heydrick.
"I am—it's my last job. I can't live on any of the inner planets after being exposed to the zero-rays of outer space. It takes six months for a resignation to go through in the Space Patrol. My time is up in two weeks and four days. After that, I'll have to stick to the places outside the asteroid belt or resign myself to a very brief life—18 months, at the outside." ”

“ Pausing only long enough to ask a robot attendant for information, Heydrick pushed the button to stop a descending elevator.
"Labor trouble—the workers are picketing—riots have broken out at street level," droned the mechanical voice of the robot.
A crowded car stopped, signalling raucously. Heydrick showed his badge to the robot pilot. "Street level," he said crisply. "Space Patrol priority." The robot grunted. "We have orders not to stop unless it's vitally necessary." ”

“ Unable to stop, he too collided with what seemed to be a solid wall of metal. Heydrick flicked the radilume switch. Light flooded an ore depot, with rusting electric cars.
"Ore cars," he gasped. "Get in." He boosted the girl up and scrambled after her. Heydrick fumbled for the switch, found it. The car leaped ahead as a blaster beam licked the rails behind them. With shaking hands, Heydrick re-primed his blaster and fired wildly at the darkness behind them. Shadows danced. ”

“ Seems like picking up fugitive murderers for the disintegrators is a job for the security police."
Heydrick grunted. "So it is. I don't like the job any better than you do. But this is no ordinary murderer. She's a red Martian. Killed Feyjak, third man in the Red Council. Worked in his laboratory. They suspect a Wilding plot."
"Feyjak, eh? They ought to give her a medal. I feel sorry for the girl—good-looker, too. Still sounds like a police job."
Heydrick growled. "Yes, it does. Just some more rotten politics. There's not supposed to be any politics in the Space Patrol. ”

“ She glowered at him.
"Did you kill my leopard?"
"He's all right. Be stiff a couple of days, that's all. I used the paralysis gun. How d'you feel."
The girl did not answer. Heydrick went on. "I'm sorry, Ria. I'll have to take you back now." He unlocked the cell, and the girl strode into the corridor. She was still arrogant and glared at him with cold insolence.
"You must feel proud of yourself," she said icily. "You'll never get me back to Mars."
"I thought of that." He took a metal bracelet from his pocket. "Try this on for size." ”

“ Your paralysis needle barely scratched me anyhow."
She fell weakly against the bulkhead. Heydrick seized her and dragged her through the riven shell of the control room into the shelter of a gaunt outcropping.
"The forward rockets are building up. They'll go any minute."
A bellowing geyser of dust-shrouded flame roared up. Flying metal clattered brutally on their shelter.
"Just in time," he said. Ria lay on the ground, retching weakly. "Well, the security boys get a new ship. They'll be happy. From here on, we walk. I hope you're satisfied." ”

“ She looks hotter than a rocket tube. If you get tired of your work, I'll take over and spell you awhile."
Heydrick grinned with embarrassment. "You might regret it. She's tried to kill me twice already. She's full of ideas."
"I hope she knocks you off—you can will her to me."
The alarms through the space cruiser began to shrill in great bellows of sound. Heydrick ran along the passageway and tried the door of the stateroom where he had locked his prisoner. It was still locked. He used the key, but something heavy was jammed against the door. He drew his blaster gun and cut down the intensity. ”

“ Thorsan drummed the desk with his fingers. "Heydrick, you've given us a lot of trouble. You probably want to know where you are. You're in the underground galleries below Level 1. We have our headquarters here. I am the head man of the Wildings." ”

“ Hooey! The Red Scientists are in power, and my foster father, Tyko, is head man of the Blue. So I get assignments like this. Just so they can get a whack at Tyko. They hope I'll fail—that's all they want. ”