XXV.
There were few coherent memories of the ride. Some things stood outsharply like the spaceship-sized lump of burning scoria that had plungedinto a lake near them, showering the line with hot drops of water. Butmostly it was just a seemingly endless ride, with Jason still too weakto care much about it. By dawn the danger area was behind them and themarch had slowed to a walk. The animals had vanished as the quake wasleft behind, going their own ways, still in silent armistice.
The peace of mutually shared danger was over, Jason found that out whenthey stopped to rest and eat. He and Rhes went to sit on the soft grass,near a fallen tree. A wild dog had arrived there first. It lay under thelog, muscles tensed, the ruddy morning light striking a red glint fromits eyes. Rhes faced it, not three meters away, without moving a muscle.He made no attempt to reach one of his weapons or to call for help.Jason stood still as well, hoping the Pyrran knew what he was doing.
With no warning at all the dog sprang straight at them. Jason fellbackwards as Rhes pushed him aside. The Pyrran dropped at the sametime--only now his hand held the long knife, yanked from the sheathstrapped to his thigh. With unseen speed the knife came up, the dogtwisted in midair, trying to bite it. Instead it sank in behind thedog's forelegs, the beast's own weight tearing a deadly gaping wound thelength of its body. It was still alive when it hit the ground, but Rheswas astraddle it, pulling back the bony-plated head to cut the softthroat underneath.
The Pyrran carefully cleaned his knife on the dead animal's fur, thenreturned it to the sheath. "They're usually no trouble," he saidquietly, "but it was excited. Probably lost the rest of the pack in thequake." His actions were the direct opposite of the city Pyrrans. He hadnot looked for trouble nor started the fight. Instead he had avoided itas long as he could. But when the beast charged it had been neatly andefficiently dispatched. Now, instead of gloating over his victory, heseemed troubled over an unnecessary death.
It made sense. Everything on Pyrrus made sense. Now he knew how thedeadly planetary battle had started--and he knew how it could be ended.All the deaths had _not_ been in vain. Each one had helped him along theroad a little more towards the final destination. There was just onefinal thing to be done.
Rhes was watching him now, and he knew they shared the same thoughts."Explain yourself," Rhes said. "What did you mean when you said we couldwipe out the junkmen and get our freedom?"
Jason didn't bother to correct the misquote, it was best they considerhim a hundred per cent on their side.
"Get the others together and I'll tell you. I particularly want to seeNaxa and any other talkers who are here."
* * * * *
They gathered quickly when the word was passed. All of them knew thatthe junkman had been killed to save this off-worlder, that their hope ofsalvation lay with him. Jason looked at the crowd of faces turnedtowards him and reached for the right words to tell them what had to bedone. It didn't help to know that many of them would be killed doing it.
"The small star ship can't be used," he said. "You all saw that it wasruined beyond repair. But that was the easy way out. The hard way isstill left. Though some of you may die, in the long run it will be thebest solution.
"We are going to invade the city, break through the perimeter. I knowhow it can be done ..."
A mutter of sound spread across the crowd. Some of them looked excited,happy with the thought of killing their hereditary enemies. Othersstared at Jason as if he were mad. A few were dazed at the magnitude ofthe thought, this carrying of the battle to the stronghold of theheavily armed enemy. They quieted when Jason raised his hand.
"I know it sounds impossible," he said. "But let me explain. Somethingmust be done--and now is the time to do it. The situation can only getworse from now on. The city Pyrr ... the junkmen can get along withoutyour food, their concentrates taste awful but they sustain life. Butthey are going to turn against you in every way they can. No more metalsfor your tools or replacements for your electronic equipment. Theirhatred will probably make them seek out your farms and destroy them fromthe ship. All of this won't be comfortable--and there will be worse tocome. In the city they are losing their war against this planet. Eachyear there are less of them, and some day they will all be dead. Knowinghow they feel I am sure they will destroy their ship first, and theentire planet as well, if that is possible."
"How can we stop them?" someone called out.
"By hitting _now_," Jason answered. "I know all the details of the cityand I know how the defenses are set up. Their perimeter is designed toprotect them from animal life, but we could break through it if we werereally determined."
"What good would that do?" Rhes snapped. "We crack the perimeter andthey draw back--then counter-attack in force. How can we stand againsttheir weapons?"
"We won't have to. Their spaceport touches the perimeter, and I know theexact spot where the ship stands. That is the place where we will breakthrough. There is no formal guard on the ship and only a few people inthe area. We will capture the ship. Whether we can fly it or not isunimportant. Who controls the ship controls Pyrrus. Once there wethreaten to destroy it if they don't meet our terms. They have thechoice of mass suicide or co-operation. I hope they have the brains toco-operate."
His words shocked them into silence for an instant, then they surgedinto a wave of sound. There was no agreement, just excitement, and Rhesfinally brought them to order.
"Quiet!" he shouted. "Wait until Jason finishes before you decide. Westill haven't heard how this proposed invasion is to be accomplished."
"The plan I have depends on the talkers." Jason said. "Is Naxa there?"He waited until the fur-wrapped man had pushed to the front. "I want toknow more about the talkers, Naxa. I know you can speak to doryms andthe dogs here--but what about the wild animals? Can you make them dowhat you want?"
"They're animals ... course we can talk t'them. Th'more talkers, th'morepower. Make 'em do just what we want."
"Then the attack will work," Jason said excitedly. "Could you get yourtalkers all on one side of the city--the opposite side from thespaceport--and stir the animals up? Make them attack the perimeter?"
"Could we!" Naxa shouted, carried away by the idea. "We'd bring inanimals from all over, start th'biggest attack they ev'r saw!"
"Then that's it. Your talkers will launch the attack on the far side ofthe perimeter. If you keep out of sight, the guards will have no ideathat it is anything more than an animal attack. I've seen how they work.As an attack mounts they call for reserves inside the city and drain menaway from the other parts of the perimeter. At the height of the battle,when they have all their forces committed across the city, I'll lead theattack that will break through and capture the ship. That's the plan andit's going to work."
Jason sat down then, half fell down, drained of strength. He lay andlistened as the debate went back and forth, Rhes ordering it and keepingit going. Difficulties were raised and eliminated. No one could find abasic fault with the plan. There were plenty of flaws in it, things thatmight go wrong, but Jason didn't mention them. These people wanted hisidea to work and they were going to make it work.
It finally broke up and they moved away. Rhes came over to Jason.
"The basics are settled," he said. "All here are in agreement. They arespreading the word by messenger to all the talkers. The talkers are theheart of the attack, and the more we have, the better it will go off. Wedon't dare use the screens to call them, there is a good chance that thejunkmen can intercept our messages. It will take five days before we areready to go ahead."
"I'll need all of that time if I'm to be any good," Jason said. "Nowlet's get some rest."