capsules rigged for slow implosion, sir.The hopper of their ship is empty."
"Is there such a fuel supply in the Graveyard?"
"No, sir."
"But could there be?"
"Usually, no. Naturally, the junkers drain out spaceship hoppers beforescrapping them. U-235 in any form brings--"
"I know the value of U-235. Proceed."
"Well, there could be. If they were lucky enough to find such a fuelsupply in one of the wrecks in the Graveyard, they wouldn't besuspicious. Naturally, we won't put one there."
"But you're wrong, my dear Ramar Chind. You'll load the hopper of one ofthose wrecks with enough U-235 for their purposes, and you'll do ittoday."
"But sir--"
"We're going to follow them, Chind. You and I. We want them to escape.If they don't escape, how can we follow them?"
Ramar Chind shrugged resignedly and lisped: "How much fuel will theyneed for their purposes, sir, whatever their purposes are?" Naturally,his lisping sounded perfectly normal to Garr Symm, who also spoke inthe sibilantless Irwadi manner.
"You'd really like to know, wouldn't you?" Garr Symm said.
"Yes, sir. To put me in a position in which I could better do my--"
"To satisfy your curiosity, you mean!"
"But sir--"
"I am a scientist, Chind."
"Yes, sir."
* * * * *
"Didn't it strike you as odd that a scientist should be elevated to thetop post in your department?"
"Of course, sir. I didn't question it, though."
"As you know, Chind, when it was decided to planetarize Irwadi as afirst step toward driving away the outworlders, the quarters of everyoutworlder on Irwadi were thoroughly searched."
"I participated in the--uh, program, sir."
"Good. Then I needn't tell you. Something was found in Margot Dennison'sapartment. Something of immense importance. Something so important that,if used properly, it can assure Irwadi the dominant place in the galaxyfor all time to come."
"But I thought Irwadi craved isolation--"
"Isolation, Chind? To be sure, if intercourse with the other galacticpowers saw us at the bottom of the heap. But at the top--who would craveisolation at the top?"
"I see, sir. And the something that was found needed a scientist?"
"Very perceptive of you, Chind. Precisely. It was a letter. We copiedit. Of course, Margot Dennison knows more than what is in the letter;the letter alludes to previous information. We need Dennison and Ramsey.We have to let them go ahead with their plans. Then we follow them,Chind. You understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"You're a good policeman, Chind. The best we have, I understand. You'llbe going with me--on the most important assignment you or any Irwadianever had."
"I am grateful, sir, that you consider me--"
"Now, see about that U-235 slow-implosion capsule."
"At once, sir."
Saluting smartly, Ramar Chind left Garr Symm's office. Symm smiled andsat perfectly still for some minutes. For Irwadi, yes, he was thinking.Certainly for Irwadi. For Irwadi absolutely. To make Irwadi the mostimportant planet in the galaxy. But important planets--in the way thatIrwadi would be important--couldn't maintain the status quo. Forexample, Irwadi's form of government might have to be changed. Atpresent, an autocratic bureaucracy with no one man at the top.Ultimately, after the rediscovery of proto-man's secret--rule by oneman.
Garr Symm, absolute dictator of the galaxy, if he played his hand right.
Garr Symm sat there for a long time, dreaming of power as no man beforehim on any world had ever dreamed of power....
* * * * *
Vardin rushed into the airlock of the Canopusian freighter in a state ofexcitement. At last they had given her something to do, and she had beensuccessful at the outset. Specifically, Ramsey and the beautiful womanhad given her a scintillation-counter and told her to prowl among thewrecks with it while they worked on the control board of the freighter,which the beautiful woman had named _Enterprise_.
"I found it!" Vardin cried. "I found it!"
She led a sceptical Margot Dennison outside while Ramsey continuedworking on the _Enterprise_. The two girls walked swiftly through thedarkness between the wrecks. By this time they knew every foot of theGraveyard.
"There," Vardin said. "You see?"
The scintillation counter was clicking and blinking. Margot smiled andwent to work with a portable mechanical arm and a leaded bottle. In tenminutes, she had the slow-implosion capsule out of the hopper of abattered old Aldebaranese cargo ship.
"I never saw one of those mechanical arms working before," Vardin said.
Margot smiled. She was delighted with the timid Vegan girl, with thecold night, with the way the wind blew across the Graveyard, witheverything. They had their fuel. Tomorrow night the _Enterprise_ wouldbe ready for its dash into hyper-space. In thirty-six hours she mighthave her hands on the most valuable find in the history of mankind....
When they returned to the _Enterprise_, she let Ramsey kiss her andtried to slip the telepathic tentacles of her mind behind his guard--
Lewd libidinous fantasies, X stands for nothing for nothing for nothing,XXX--she got nowhere.
What was X? What was Ramsey's secret? Margot did not know, and wonderedif she would ever find out.
She smiled, reading Vardin's mind. For Vardin was thinking: it must beso wonderful to have beauty such as she has, to melt the wills of stronghandsome men such as Ramsey. It must be truly wonderful.
For the first twenty-eight years of her life, Margot Dennison would haveagreed, would have delighted in her own beauty. She still did, to apoint. But beyond that point, she could dream only of proto-man and hissecret.
Beauty or power?
She had beauty.
She wanted power.
* * * * *
In the early hours of the following morning, behind the cover of whatappeared to be a dense early morning fog but what actually was anartificially produced fog, a team of Irwadi technicians swarmed all overa battered Procyonian cruiser of three thousand tons. By mid-morning,working swiftly and with all the tools and spare parts they would need,they made the ship, called _Dog Star_, space-worthy.
Later that day, but still two hours before nightfall, Ramar Chindarrived with a small crew of three Security Police. He had selected hismen carefully: they knew how to handle a spaceship, they knew how tofight, they were quite ruthless. He thought Garr Symm would be pleased.
Symm did not arrive until just before nightfall. He was very agitatedwhen he came. Ramar Chind, too, was eager. What would happen within thenext several hours, he realized, might be beyond his ken, but he stillrecognized its importance. And, being an opportunist, he would pounce onwhatever he found of value to himself....
Several hours after the setting of the Irwadi primary had ushered in thecold night, Margot Dennison, Ramsey and Vardin arrived at the Graveyardand made their way at once to the _Enterprise_. They went inside swiftlyand in a very few minutes prepared the thousand-tonner for blastoff.Ramsey's mouth was dry. He could barely keep the thoughts of proto-manfrom his mind. If Margot read them....
"Centauri here we come," he said, just to talk.
"Centauri," said Margot.
But of course, she had another destination in mind.
Several hundred yards across the Graveyard, watching, waiting, theoccupants of _Dog Star_ were armed to the teeth.
Ramsey sat at the controls. Vardin stood behind him nervously. The spacetrip from Vega to Irwadi was probably the only one she had ever taken.Margot sat, quite relaxed, in the co-pilot's chair.
"I still can't believe we're not going to feel anything," Vardin said inher soft, shy voice.
"Haven't you ever been through hyper-space before?" Margot asked theVegan girl.
"Just once."
"In normal space," Ramsey explained, "we feel acceleration anddeceleration becau
se the increase or decrease in velocity is experiencedat different micro-instants by all the cells of our body. In hyper-spacethe velocity is felt simultaneously in all parts of the ship, includingall parts of us. We become weightless, of course, but the change isinstant and we feel no pressure, no pain."
Ramsey was waiting until 0134:57 on the ship chronometer. At thatprecise instant in time, and at that instant only, blastoff would placethem on the proper hyper-space orbit. And, before they could feel themounting pressure of blastoff, the timelessness of hyper-space wouldintervene.
"0130:15," Margot read the chronometer for Ramsey. "It won't be longnow. 30:20--"
"All right," Ramsey said suddenly. "All right. I can read