The Jupiter Plague

“Hold it a moment, Yasumura,” General Burke broke in. “Let’s take the whole operation in sequence, it wouldn’t hurt any of us to run through it once more and we want to brief Sam. Then he can give you the technical advice at the end.”

“I just wanted to know—”

“It’ll keep. Sit down, Sam, have a drink and look at this map. See where we are now on Governors Island, right in the top of the Upper Bay? From here we have to cross all of the end of Long Island filled with citizens and cops to reach Kennedy Airport, right?” Sam nodded. “Well, there is an easier and a lot less public way to get there — by water.” He traced the route with his finger.

“Out through the Narrows and the Lower Bay, then east past Coney Island and in through Rock-away Inlet. We pick our way through Jamaica Bay and come ashore on the end of the airport runway where it sticks out into the water.”

“There’s only one thing wrong,” Sam said, tapping the map. “It must be over thirty miles going this way, we’ll be all night in a small boat finding our way through those inlets and marshes.”

“No boat, we use a hoverjeep. With all the equipment we’re taking it will only hold four, but that’s all we need since you, I and Haber can take care of any trouble we run into. All right, we’re at the airport now. Haber flew over it in a chopper earlier today — we found him a legitimate excuse. He took pictures and he kept his eyes open. Haber.”

The lieutenant tapped the map where the shallow water of the bay touched the edge of the airport. “There are no guards here at all, but in the blown-up prints we found ultraviolet trespass alarms and infrared detectors. Getting by them will be no problem. Trouble starts here, around the ‘Pericles,’ more detectors and a barbed-wire fence — patrolled by armed police. The real difficulty will be getting by those police guards without raising the alarm. I assume that they will… that is, we will want to show discretion about injuring them?” He looked up at General Burke, then glanced quickly away.

There was a lengthening silence as the general looked impassively at the map: someone’s shoe scraped as he moved his feet and there was a muted cough.

“We finally come to that, dont‘ we,” General Burke said quietly. “We’ve all fought in a lot of campaigns, with your exception, Dr. Yasumura, and in Some odd corners of the world. The Fifth Airborne is an American division so therefore, in keeping with UN policy, we have never been in active service in North America before. We’ve killed when we had to, when killing was the only way to enforce the peace, and while we have perhaps regretted doing this, we know that many times it has been the only choice. Now we’re serving in our own country and the enemy is a handful of average cops who are just following orders on a dull guard detail. I’m beginning to appreciate the UN dictum of never fighting where you’re recruiting. All right. Keep the safeties on your blackjacks, but if it comes down to a matter of you or the other guy I want it to be you. We have too much at stake here. Is that understood?”

“It may not be that bad,” Sam said. “I’ll bring a pressure hypo of Denilin; it’s a quick-action sedative that will put a man under in seconds.”

“You bring your needle, Sam, and we’ll give you every chance to use it. Let’s hope it works out that way, and if it doesn’t I don’t want any of you to forget what you have to do. We pass the guards, get through the wire and reach the spaceship— then what? How do we get in Dr. Yasumura?”

“Through the air lock, there is no other way. This ship was built to stand up to Jupiter’s gravity and atmosphere and there is very little short of an A-bomb that will make a dent in it.” He picked up the photograph of the “Pericles” made that morning. “The police cut away the ladder when they welded that plate over the lock — do I hear any suggestions how we can get up those twenty feet from the ground?”

There were a half-dozen officers in the room, men from General Burke’s staff, seriously considering the problem of illegal entry of the spaceship. Sam knew that none of them questioned the general’s decision to enter it by force; they just did as they were directed with a loyalty given to few officers. Perhaps they wouldn’t walk off a cliff if the general demanded it, but they would certainly follow him if he went first.

“What’s the hull made of?” a graying captain of engineers asked.

“A specially developed titanium alloy; it contains no iron.”

“Then magnets are out. Our longest folding ladder is just fifteen feet—”

“Then bolt an extension on the end,” General Burke interrupted. “We have very little time left, let’s get on with this. We’re on the ladder now, standing in front of that plate they welded on — how do we get through that?”

“No problem, General,” the engineer said. “You’ll carry one of the portable lasers we use for cutting heavy metal in the field. I understand that plate is made of mild steel, the laser will cut it like butter.”