9
"It bothers me, it bothers me a lot," Cal said to the two E's, followingthe review, "that Eden should be more favorable to effortless humanexistence than Earth."
He snapped on the communicator and asked the ship be in readiness fortake-off.
McGinnis and Wong looked at one another.
"You think it might have been the original Garden of Eden?" Wong asked.His face was impassive. "It fits, you know. Man was banished from anideal condition and forced to live by the sweat of his brow."
"Not that so much," Cal said. "Not unless the whole concept of evolutionis haywire, and we're reasonably sure it isn't that far off. Probablythe colonists have gone on strike, but I still keep thinking that whenwe want to catch rats we set a trap with a better food than they can getnormally."
There was a twinkle in McGinnis's eye.
"You think Eden is an alluring trap, especially baited to catch humanbeings?" he asked.
"I don't exactly think that. I just keep wondering," Cal answered.
They were interrupted by a diffident yet insistent knock on the door.This in itself was such a violation of E.H.Q. rules, never to interruptthe thinking of an E, that all three stopped talking. The three Juniors,who had been sitting by, listening, arose from their seats and stoodfacing the door. The orderlies looked to the E's for instruction. At anod from McGinnis, one of them walked over to the door and opened it.
Bill Hayes was standing there, flushed with embarrassment.
"Your pardon, E's," he said hurriedly. "I'm just an errand boy, underinstruction from General Administration. We have been served with acourt injunction to prevent assignment of a Junior to the Eden matter."
Cal froze in alarm and disappointment. At the last moment to have hischance snatched away from him. He should have gone immediately thereview was over, without waiting for any advice McGinnis and Wong mightcare to give. Now ...
McGinnis caught his eye and gave a slight nod toward a door that openedon another hallway. He flashed a command with his eyes to get going,then turned back to Hayes.
"I was unaware that the E's must heed court orders," he said frostily.
"It's a question of where civil jurisdiction stops and E jurisdictiontakes over," Hayes explained nervously. "While the colonists areemployed by E.H.Q., and under their direction, it is held they are alsoEarth citizens, with citizen rights. Civil authority feels it mustanswer for their welfare."
"I thought restrictions upon the E were removed by act of World Congresssome seventy years ago," Wong said mildly.
"The injunction makes it clear there is no restriction upon the SeniorE; just the Junior, who really isn't an E yet."
"It is the decision of the E's that a Junior will handle this problem,"McGinnis said, and turned his back as if that settled the matter.
Hayes cleared his throat nervously.
"I'm sorry," he said. "If it were up to me ... Well, the argument beforethe court ran this way: That where there is no restriction upon the E inarriving at a solution, there is also no compulsion upon civilauthority to adopt that solution. They cited instances ... Well, anynumber of instances. It seems ..."
Cal heard no more. He had been pacing the room, and now, while Hayes'sperspiring attention was focused imploringly on Wong and McGinnis, heslipped out the door.
The orderly at that door raised a finger in salute, and at Cal's requestquickly wheeled a hall-car from a storage closet.
"Take me out to the Eden ship," Cal said quietly. "You know where itis?"
"Yes," the orderly answered. He took his place at the controls and Calslipped into the seat beside him.
They sped through the halls at maximum speed, out the rear exit of the Ebuilding, down the maze of ramps and out across the landing field to theentrance of the ship.
Cal expected to see guards posted there to enforce the injunction, butnone were in evidence. As they drew up to the open door, he saw Lynwoodand Norton, pilot and engineer, standing just inside waiting for him.There was no strain in their faces to show they had received orders notto take off with him.
He climbed out of the car, and with another nod the orderly drove itback to the E building. Henceforward the ship's crew would be the E'sorderlies.
Cal climbed the short ramp and entered the ship.
"You have clearance to take off at once?" he asked Lynwood.
Lynwood nodded. "Since early morning," he answered.
"Fine. Let's get going," Cal said. "I'm in a hurry, of course," he addedwith a grin.
"Of course," the two men answered, then seeing his grin, relaxed andreturned it. Apparently this E was human.
It took only a minute for them to reach the control room, where Louiesat in his navigator's cubby; and only ten more seconds for the ship tolift clear. And still no command came over the radio to halt them.
Someone in civil authority had slipped. Had Gunderson really felt that asimple injunction would stop everything, that the E's would notchallenge this encroachment? Was he playing some deeper game, allowingthe Junior to slip through his fingers in the hope he would louse up theEden rescue, add strength to the campaign to bring the E's back undercivil control--his control?
Or had someone genuinely slipped?
The command to halt, turn around, and return to base did not come untiltheir second hop had brought them into the Mars orbit. Then it came fromspace police in charge of shipping traffic at that point.
"I am under orders from E.H.Q. to proceed," Tom answered, after a quick,questioning look at Cal.
"The attorney general's office orders you to halt," the voice commanded.
Tom looked at Cal again, questioning. This was bucking the federalgovernment, his license wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on ifhe ignored the order. To say nothing of any other punishment they mightchoose to hand him.
"Keep going," Cal answered shortly. "And make your next jump as quicklyas you can."
"I am under orders to keep going," Tom answered the police. If herefused the request of an E, a lifetime of work would go down the drain.
Over in his seat, Frank Norton's fingers were speeding through theintricate pattern of setting up the next jump. He and Louie were workingas one man.
"I am under orders to disable you if you refuse," the police warned.
"We have an E on board," Tom answered. "You'd be risking a lot."
"I am advised he is a Junior E," the voice said in clipped speech. "Notsuch a risk."
"Far as I'm concerned," Tom answered laconically, "he's an E. I have tofollow his orders."
He nodded to Frank who touched the jump switch. There was an instantsilence. They were at the approach to the asteroid belt.
"They can get us here," Louie spoke up. "We have to give over controlsso they can take us through. No chart can keep up to the microsecond onthese asteroid movements. They have to calculate a path in short hops,and take us through a step at a time. I keep saying there ought to be anexpressway out of the solar system, but ..."
"What about a good long jump at right angles?" Cal asked. "Get over itinstead of through it?"
"It's illegal," Louie complained.
"Our necks are already out," Tom said quietly.
"Okay, you're the boss. But I'll have to figure it. It takes time tofigure it."
"Well, get going on it."
"There's stuff all over," Louie explained. "Not just a band, like mostpeople think. The asteroids have moved at right angles, too. Not sothick, but there's a globe of stuff, not just a belt. Maybe a bunch oflittle jumps."
"We can't start making them until you figure them, Louie," Frankreminded him.
The radio gave its hum of life, and a voice came through.
"We have orders from space police not to escort you through, to turn youback."
"This is an E ship, with an E on board. His command is to come through,"Tom said.
"I just work here," the voice answered as if it were bored and tired. "Itake my orders from Space Control."
Tom looked ov
er at Louie. Louie apparently caught the look out of acorner of his eye, and impatiently waved a finger not to bother him. Hisother hand was speeding through the movements of manipulating theastrocalculator. Then he nodded his head, still not looking up, and theco-ordinates flashed in front of Frank. Now, as rapidly as Louie, Frankset up the pattern of the jump band.
"I take my orders from the E's," Tom answered in a voice that matchedthe boredom, tiredness. Then with a nod from Frank, "Now!" he said.
There was silence again.
"It's going to add at least an hour," Louie complained. "I've got topick my way through this muck."
"We've got time now," Tom answered easily. "Not likely they can find usout here, away from the regular lanes."
"Not unless we run across a prowl ship," Louie said. "You know there'ssome smuggling, and now and then a shipping company thinks it can beatthe rap, not pay the toll, by doing the same thing we're doing. Theprowl patrol is on to all the tricks. We're not the first ones to tryit."
"Just keep figuring, Louie," Tom said.
"All right, all right!" Louie quarreled back.
Tom looked at Cal and grimaced.
"Louie's all right," he said. "Just has to complain."
"I'm sure of it," Cal answered with a grin.
It took closer to two hours. They had no way of knowing how many timesthe space police had made a fix on their position only too late to catchthem hovering there. There must have been some fix made and a prettycareful calculation of where they could go next, for as they neared theouter moons of Jupiter the radio crackled into life again.
"This is your last warning. We intend to board you and take over. Wewill disintegrate your ship if you resist."
Cal took the microphone in his own hand to answer.
"We intend to keep going," he said. "This is a jurisdictional disputebetween the attorney general's office and E.H.Q. We will not allow youto board us, and I suggest you get confirmation of orders todisintegrate us directly from the attorney general in person. Meanwhileyou can pass the buck to your Saturn patrol if those orders areconfirmed."
Tom nodded to Frank, and the next jump key was pressed.
In the Saturn field, still another voice came through. "Orders from theattorney general himself are to allow you to proceed. Say, Lynwood, whatis this all about?"
"Some sort of petty squabble over who gives orders to who," Lynwoodanswered. "I just work here," he added tiredly.
"Well," said the voice. "So do I. Guess they'll fight it out in thecourts now. You understand, we had our orders."
"You understand, so did I." Tom answered.
"Sure," the voice answered, and cut out.
Cal wondered whether the orders to disintegrate had been a bluff. Wouldthe attorney general have dared disintegrate a ship with even a Junior Eon board? Maybe it had been just a threat of the local police, one theydidn't expect to have called.
Or maybe he had played directly into the attorney general's hands bydefying him, and getting that defiance on record was what the man hadwanted.
Whatever it was, the Eden matter had become bigger than merely findingout what had happened to some colonists. Whatever it was, he'd betterfind a successful solution, because the attorney general was counting onhim to fail. And if he did fail, certainly the position of the Junior Ewould be altered, and possibly a deep thrust into the very heart of theSenior E position, as well.