To The Stars

“My friends are coming,” he said, with more assurance than he really felt. This had not the slightest effect on his captive who described Jan’s tortured future for the thousandth time. It was not pleasurable to hear and having the Captain removed from his earshot would be one of the major pleasures that would come with the end of this trip.

Something clattered in the airlock.

A moment later the cycling light flashed on and Jan could hear the air pumps laboring. He swung about to face the lock, floating there, waiting expectantly as the green light blinked and the inner door opened.

“Raise the hands. Don’t move.”

Jan did as he was ordered and two armed men kicked in from the lock chamber. One of them ignored Jan and swung on by him toward the Captain who turned his abuse in the newcomer’s direction. The other man, his face obscured by the gold sputtering of his helmet, waved his gun toward the airlock.

“Get into one of those suits,” he said.

While Jan was putting it on the first man came down from the control room. “Just the two of them,” he said.

“And maybe a bomb wired to go off. This still could be a trap.”

“Well, you volunteered for this mission.”

“Don’t remind me. Stay with the tied-up one, don’t release him, while I shuttle this one over.”

Jan was only happy to obey. Once outside the lock he saw the spidery form of a medium-sized deep spacer in orbit to the rear of the scout. His captor, with a jet pack on his suit, grabbed Jan by the arm and towed him over to the open airlock of the waiting ship. There were two other gunmen watching him as he came out of the airlock and stripped off his suit. A large man in a black uniform was looking at him closely. His hair was blond, melding into gray, his jaw large and pugnacious and thrust in Jan’s direction.

“I am Admiral Skougaard,” he said. “Now tell me what all this is about.”

Jan was unable to talk, speechless, overwhelmed by a sense of deepest despair.

Because the Admiral was wearing the same Space Forces uniform that he was.

Sixteen

Jan fell back, as though struck a physical blow. The guns followed him and the Admiral frowned at the movement — then nodded understandingly.

“The uniform, is that it?” Jan could only nod wordlessly in return. The iron face cracked into a grim smile. “Perhaps I wear it as you do — if you are what you say you are. Not all men of Earth are traitors to mankind. Some of us helped, or there would have been no rebellion from the stars. Now I am going to have you searched, Kulozik, and then you will tell me your entire story in the finest detail that you can.”

The Admiral was no fool and made Jan repeat the details over and over, checking on names and dates and many precise points that he seemed familiar with. They were interrupted just once when a report came in that the IP-256 had been searched for bombs and other devices and was clear. A pilot would take her to join the fleet. Finally the Admiral raised his hand and cut Jan short.

“Niels,” he ordered. “Get us some coffee.” He turned back to Jan. “I am going to accept your story — for the time being. All of your details about the food expedition are correct, including some that I doubt the Earth forces could know. I am aware of the true facts because I was the one who gathered the ships and arranged all the organization of the expedition.”

“Did any of them get through?”

“Over half. Not as many as we hoped, but enough to ward starvation off for awhile longer. Now we come to the new and interesting part of your story and frankly, I have just no way to evaluate it. You know this Thurgood-Smythe well?”

“Far too well. My brother-in-law as I said. He is a monster of cunning.”

“And treachery. We can be absolutely sure of that. He is either betraying his trust and aiding the rebellion. Or has laid a complex and treacherous trap to destroy us. So it must be treachery either way.”

Jan sipped the strong, black coffee and nodded agreement. “I know. But what can we do? At least one part is certain, the Israeli participation.”

“Which could simply be a more deadly part of the trap. To lure us in and destroy us. The Israelis could very well be helpless pawns, doomed to destruction to further his ends.”

“They might very well be. It is the sort of thing that would appeal to him. I hadn’t thought about that. But what of his plan to seize the Mojave base? That sounded reasonable. It certainly would affect the outcome of the war.

The Admiral laughed, then blew on his coffee to cool it. “Not only reasonable, but the only possibility of victory for either side. We know it and they know it. We could capture the Lunar bases, the satellites, even all of the Lagrange colonies, and Earth could survive. Her fleet would be as strong. And we would grow weaker with every passing moment. Mojave is the key. The other shuttle bases are merely landing strips. Whoever controls Mojave controls space operations — and wins this war.”

“Then it’s that vital?”

“It is.”

“What do you plan to do?”