Tears welled in her eyes. She bit her lower lip and tried to controlher fluttering throat. "I--I tried to scream. When they carried himout I couldn't do a thing." She burst into tears.
She was normal again. Mike got to his feet. "I've got to check theship. When I get back I want some answers and you'd better have themready."
He hurried from the lounge and up the ladder, almost slamming intoNicko as he gained the companionway. Nicko's scales were a sickly,pale green. He tottered weakly on his stumpy legs using all four ofhis arms to support himself against the bulkhead.
He grinned hideously. "Friends of yours?"
"I don't know who the hell they were. You all right?"
"I'm fine."
Mike scowled up and down the companionway. "What shape are we in?"
"Bad."
"How bad?"
"The worst. The pile's gone."
"The _pile_!"
Mike ran aft. The door to the tube cabin stood open. The alley intowhich the fifteen-pound, lead-crated pile had lately been driven, wasempty.
* * * * *
Swiftly Mike assessed the situation. A helpless ship. A derelict.They'd entered through the aft airlock. They'd taken Professor Brandonoff that way. Then they'd closed the lock again.
That meant only one thing. Through pure cruelty, they had avoidedswift death to the ship's occupant in favor of a long, lingering one.Only the basest of men would do a thing like that.
Mike was not acquainted with McKee or Talbott, but he knew somethingabout them. They were the lowest type of the human species. Only thebloodthirsty pirates of Ganymede ever made their victims walk space.
He returned to where Nicko was clinging to the companionwayguard-rail. Nicko said, "You haven't seen it all, yet."
"Is there more?"
"That's only the beginning. They smashed everything in the controlcabin. All the navigating instruments. Even if we had a pile this boatcouldn't find its way down Main Street at high noon."
It followed, Mike thought grimly. "I'll be drummed out of the Guildfor this."
"If you ever get within shouting distance of Outer Port again, whichyou won't."
Mike doubled his fists. "To stand flatfooted and let a boarder move inand take my pile--and my client. How much of an idiot can a man be!"
Doree came up the ladder, her eyes wide with fright. "Did you findhim?"
"No--and don't start crying. Why didn't you tell me about these men?Why didn't you give me a chance to protect my ship?"
"We--we didn't know they'd follow us. We--I didn't dream they had anyidea of--"
"They followed you. And they had the idea. They took our pile andshoved us off on a blind orbit. They arranged for us to die out here."
"Won't we--we be found?"
"A million to one shot in these spaces."
"More than that," Nicko said. "A billion to one. It's empty out here,lady."
Mike saw that Doree was again about to burst into tears. He took herby the arm. "We're going to the lounge and you're going to tell me allabout this--what's been going on." He drew her toward the ladder,calling over his shoulder. "Clean up what you can, Nicko. See whatother deviltry they arranged."
In the lounge, Mike sat Doree firmly into a chair. "Now let's not haveany tears. Just tell it the way it happened."
* * * * *
Doree had got control of herself. She sat straight, miserable, alittle pathetic, Mike thought. She said, "Lorn McKee and Dean Talbottwere Paris art collectors. Their reputations were not of the best butwhen they approached father he listened to them.
"They had a strange looking scroll made of papyrus. It had writing onit in an ancient script and they wanted father to translate it forthem."
"Would that have made it more valuable?"
"Of course. At first father was suspicious, thinking it was some kindof a hoax. They told him the scroll had come from an Egyptian tomb butwould tell him no more relative to its origination. They brought it tohim because he was Terra's foremost authority in that field.
"Father discovered immediately that the scroll was genuine and veryold. Papyrus was a material the ancient Egyptians used."
"And--?" Mike asked impatiently.
"He refused to translate it for them because they in turn would nottell him what they proposed to do with it. He felt it should be turnedover to the proper authorities--some university--and besides, he wassuspicious of the two men. So they went away and tried to get ittranslated elsewhere. This was impossible, so they came back andoffered to sell it to father for a very low price but with thestipulation that he keep what he learned strictly to himself.
"He wanted to make the translation and was tempted because he alreadyhad a clue to its nature. He believed the scroll verified a theorylong in existence on Terra relative to the extraterrestrialorigination of mankind."
"You mean he thought it proved the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon camefrom other planets."
"No, not so far back as that. There is little doubt they originated onTerra. Father is a specialist in Egyptology. And it was his beliefthat a great deal of their early history was purposely distorted.There is confusion in what little can be found concerning them andfather sincerely believed they came from another planet. He was surethey brought with them a knowledge of science far greater than anyexisting upon Terra."
"And the papyrus verified his belief?"
"Completely."
"What did it tell him?"
"That the forefathers of those who later became the Egyptians, lefttheir native planet after a disagreement with the ruling Pharaoh andsought a new home. They cruised for several lifetimes, raising andeducating their children and dying off, until they found Terra, aplanet almost identical to their own. The papyrus gave the location oftheir home planet--hieroglyphics which father translated into a tableof accurate equations."
"How could he know they were accurate?"
Doree's head came up sharply. "If you were really aware of my father'sability in his field, it wouldn't occur to you to ask."
* * * * *
"I don't blame you for your faith but I still think it was a gigantichoax--for one reason."
"And that--?"
"If the ancestors of the Egyptians came to Terra, they had to havegreat scientific and technical knowledge to get there. All right--thenwhat happened to the knowledge and the science? The Egyptianscertainly didn't take advantage of it."
"They used some of it. No one has been able to prove conclusively howthey built the pyramids."
"Slave labor."
"That is not a complete explanation."
"All right--forget the pyramids. What happened to the rest of theirscience?"
"The answer lies in a basic trend of the Egyptians as a people. Theywere completely preoccupied with death rather than life. To them,their years of living was only a period in which to prepare foreternity. Their ambitions and talents were directed toward thebuilding of great tombs and the perfect preservation of bodies afterdeath. In the light of this does it seem so strange that they turnedtheir backs on all knowledge except that which aided them in deaddirections?"
* * * * *
Mike was regarding Doree with a new respect. "I owe you an apology.You're a smart girl. You've got a brain in your head. I'm so used tocarting empty-headed females around the System that I'd forgottensmart ones existed."
"I'm sure you mean that as a compliment, but the fact remains thatfather and I blundered you into a perilous position. We should havetold you about McKee and Talbott. But we didn't think--"
"Your shortcoming was that you were honest and thought everyone elsewas. That's a common failing."
"But we knew they had bad reputations."
"It's pretty obvious how their thinking went. They must have had aclue to the contents of the papyrus. They knew your father wo
uldn'tact without integrity but they banked on his eagerness as astudent--figured it would cause him to accept their terms in order toget his hands on the scroll because there was certainly nothingdishonorable about buying it from them. They knew also that he wouldkeep his word, being that kind of a man."
Doree's shoulders drooped in misery. "I guess that's about it."
"It was the best way they could think of to get the papyrus translatedand still keep the contents secret." Mike rubbed his chin. "They werepretty smart boys. They were certain