CHAPTER FOUR
Bart felt cold. He stirred, moved his head in drowsy protest; thenmemory came flooding back, and in sudden panic he sat up, flinging outhis arms as if to ward away anyone who would lay hands on him.
"Easy!" said a soothing voice. A Mentorian--not the same Mentorian--bentover him. "We have just entered the gravitational field of Procyonplanet Alpha, Mr. Briscoe. Touchdown in four hours."
Bart mumbled an apology.
"Think nothing of it. Quite a number of people who aren't used to thecold-sleep drug suffer from minor lapses of memory. How do you feelnow?"
Bart's legs were numb and his hands tingled when he sat up; but his bodyprocesses had been slowed so much by the cold-sleep that he didn't evenfeel hungry; the synthetic jelly he'd eaten just before going to sleepwasn't even digested yet.
When the Mentorian left for another cabin, Bart looked around, andsuddenly felt he would stifle if he stayed here another minute. Hewasn't likely to run into Tommy twice in a row, and if he did, well,Tommy would probably remember the snub he'd had and stay away from DaveBriscoe. And he wanted another sight of the stars--before he went intoworry and danger.
He went down to the Observation Lounge.
The cosmic dust was brighter out here, and the constellations looked alittle flattened. Textbook tables came back to him. He had traveled 47light-years--he couldn't remember how many _billions_ of miles that was.Even so, it was only the tiniest hop-skip-and-jump in the measurelessvastness of space.
The ship was streaking toward Procyon, a sol-type star, bright yellow;the three planets, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, ringed like Saturn and veiledin shimmering layers of cloud, swung against the night. Past them otherstars, brighter stars, faraway stars he would never see, glimmeredthrough the pale dust....
"Hello, Dave. Been space-sick all this time? Remember me? I met youabout six weeks ago in the lounge down here--just out from Earth."
_Oh, no!_ Bart turned, with a mental groan, to face Tommy. "I've been incold-sleep," he said. He _couldn't_ be rude again.
"What a dull way to face a long trip!" Tommy said cheerily. "I'veenjoyed every minute of it myself."
It was hard for Bart to realize that, for Tommy, their meeting had beensix weeks ago. It all seemed dreamlike. The closer he came to it, theless he could realize that in a few hours he'd be getting off on astrange world, with only the strange name _Raynor Three_ as a guide. Hefelt terribly alone, and having Tommy close at hand helped, even thoughTommy didn't know he was helping.
"Maybe I should have stayed awake."
"You should," Tommy said. "I only slept for a couple of hours at eachwarp-drive shift. We had a day-long stopover at Sirius Eighteen, and Itook a tour of the planet. And I've spent a lot of time down here, juststar-gazing--not that it did me much good. Which one is Antares? How doyou tell it from Aldebaran? I'm always getting them mixed up."
Bart pointed. "Aldebaran--that's the big red one there," he said. "Thinkof the constellation Taurus as a necklace, with Aldebaran hanging fromit like a locket. Antares is much further down in the sky, in relationto the arbitrary sidereal axis, and it's a deeper red. Like a burningcoal, while Aldebaran is like a ruby--"
He broke off in mid-word, realizing that Tommy was gazing at him in amixture of triumph and consternation. Too late, Bart realized he hadbeen tricked. Studying for an exam, the year before, he had explainedthe difference between the two red stars in almost the same words.
"Bart," Tommy said in a whisper, "I knew it had to be you. Why didn'tyou tell me, fella?"
Bart felt himself start to smile, but it only stretched his mouth. Hesaid, very low, "Don't say my name out loud Tom. I'm in terribletrouble."
"Why didn't you tell me? What's a friend for?"
"We can't talk here. And all the cabins are wired for sound in casesomebody stops breathing, or has a heart attack in space," Bart said,glancing around.
They went and stood at the very foot of the quartz window, seeming totread the brink of a dizzying gulf of cosmic space, and talked in lowtones while Alpha and Beta and Gamma swelled like blown-up balloons inthe port.
Tommy listened, almost incredulous. "And you're hoping to find yourfather, with no more information than that? It's a big universe," hesaid, waving at the gulf of stars. "The Lhari ships, according to thelittle tourist pamphlet they gave me, touch down at nine hundred andtwenty-two different stars in this galaxy!"
Bart visibly winced, and Tommy urged, "Come to Capella with me. You canstay with my family as long as you want to, and appeal to theInterplanet authority to find your father. They'd protect him againstthe Lhari, surely. You can't chase all over the galaxy playinginterplanetary spy all by yourself, Bart!"
But Briscoe had deliberately gone to his death, to give Bart the chanceto get away. He wouldn't have died to send Bart into a trap he couldeasily have sprung on Earth.
"Thanks, Tommy. But I've got to play it my way."
Tommy said firmly, "Count me in then. My ticket has stopover privileges.I'll get off at Procyon with you."
It was a temptation--to have a friend at his back. He put his hand onTommy's shoulder, grateful beyond words. But fresh horror seized him ashe remembered the horrible puddle of melted robotcab with Briscoesomewhere in the residue. _Protoplasm residue enough for two bodies._ Hecouldn't let Tommy face that.
"Tommy, I appreciate that, believe me. But if I did find my father andhis friends, I don't want anyone tracing me. You'd only make the dangerworse. The best thing you can do is stay out of it."
Tommy faced him squarely. "One thing's for sure. I'm not going to letyou go off and never know whether you're alive or dead."
"I'll try to get a message to you," Bart said, "if I can. But whateverhappens, Tommy, stay with the ship and go on to Capella. It's the onething you can do to help me."
A warning bell rang in the ship. He broke sharply away from Tommy,saying over his shoulder, "It's all you can do to help, Tom. Doit--please? Just stay clear?"
Tommy reached out and caught his arm. "Okay," he said reluctantly, "Iwill. But you be careful," he added fiercely. "You hear me? And if Idon't hear from you in some reasonable time, I'll raise a stink fromhere to Vega!"
Bart broke away and ran. He was afraid, if he didn't, he'd break upagain. He closed the cabin door behind him, trying to calm down so thatthe Mentorian steward, coming to strap him in for deceleration, wouldn'tsee how upset he was. He was going to need all his nerve.
* * * * *
He went through another decontamination chamber, and finally moved, witha line of passengers, out of the yawning airlock, under the strange sun,into the strange world.
At first sight it was a disappointment. It was a Lhari spaceport thatlay before him, to all appearances identical with the one on Earth:sloping glass ramps, tall colorless pylons, a skyscraper terminuscrowded with men of all planets. But the sun overhead was brilliant andclear gold, the shadows sharp and violet on the spaceport floor. Behindthe confines of the spaceport he could see the ridges of tall hills andunfamiliarly colored trees. He longed to explore them, but he got a gripon his imagination, surrendering his ticket stub and false papers to theLhari and Mentorian interpreter who guarded the ramp.
The Lhari said to the Mentorian, in the Lhari language, "Keep him forquestioning but don't tell him why." Bart felt a cold chill icing hisspine. _This was it._
The Mentorian said briefly, "We wish to check on the proper antibodycomponent for Aldebaran natives. There will be a delay of about thirtyminutes. Will you kindly wait in this room here?"
The room was comfortable, furnished with chairs and a vision-screen withsome colorful story moving on it, small bright figures in capes, curiousbeasts racing across an unusual veldt; but Bart paced the floorrestlessly. There were two doors in the room. Through one of them, hehad been admitted; he could see, through the glass door, the silhouetteof the Mentorian outside. The other door was opaque, and marked in largeletters:
DANGER HUMANS MUST NOT PASS WITHO
UT SPECIAL LENSES TYPE X. ORDINARY SPACE LENSES WILL NOT SUFFICE DANGER! LHARI OPENING! ADJUST X LENSES BEFORE OPENING!
Bart read the sign again. Well, _that_ was no way out, for sure! He hadheard that the Lhari sun was almost 500 times as bright as Earth's. TheMentorians alone, among humans, could endure Lhari lights--he supposedthe warning was for ordinary spaceport workers.
A sudden, rather desperate plan occurred to Bart. He didn't know howmuch light he _could_ tolerate--he'd never been on Mentor--but he _had_inherited some of his mother's tolerance for light. And blindness wouldbe better than being burned down with an energon-gun! He went hesitantlytoward the door, and pushed it open.
His eyes exploded into pain; automatically his hands went up to shieldthem. Light, light--he had never known such cruelly glowing light. Eventhrough the lids there was pain and red afterimages; but after a moment,opening them a slit, he found that he could see, and made out otherdoors, glass ramps, pale Lhari figures coming and going. But for themoment he was alone in the long corridor beyond which he could see theglass ramps.
Nearby, a door opened into a small office with glass walls; on a peg,one of the silky metallic cloaks worn by Mentorians doing spaceport workwas hanging. On an impulse, Bart caught it up and flung it around hisshoulders.
It felt cool and soft, and the hood shielded his eyes a little. The rampleading down to what he hoped was street level was terribly steep andthere were no steps. Bart eased himself over the top of the ramp and letgo. He whooshed down the slick surface on the flat of his back, feelingthe metal of the cloak heat with the friction, and came to a breathlessjarring stop at the bottom. Whew, what a slide! Three stories, at least!But there was a door, and outside the door, maybe, safety.
A voice hailed him, in Lhari. "You, there!"
Bart could see well now. He made out the form of a Lhari, only acolorless blob in the intense light.
"You people know better than to come back here without glasses. Do youwant to be blinded, my friend?" He actually sounded kind and concerned.Bart tensed, his heart pounding. Now that he was caught, could he bluffhis way out? He hadn't actually spoken the Lhari language in years,though his mother had taught it to him when he was young enough to learnit without a trace of accent.
Well, he must try. "Margil sent me to check," he improvised quickly."They were holding someone for questioning, and he seems to have gottenaway somehow, so I wanted to make sure he didn't come through here."
"What is the matter that one man can give us all the slip this way?" theLhari said curiously. "Well, one thing is sure, he's Vegan or Solarianor Capellan, one of the dim-star people. If he comes through here, we'llcatch him easily enough while he's stumbling around half blind. You knowthat you shouldn't stay long." He gestured. "Out this way--and don'tcome back without special lenses."
Bart nodded, jerking the cloak around his shoulders, forcing himself notto break into a run as he stepped through the door the Lhari indicated.It closed behind him. Bart blinked, feeling as if he had stepped intopitch darkness. Only slowly did his eyes adapt and he became aware thathe was standing in a city street, in the full glow of Procyon sunlight,and apparently outside the Lhari spaceport entirely.
He'd better get to cover! He took off the Mentorian cloak, thrust itunder his arm. He raised his eyes, which were adjusting to ordinarylight again, and stopped dead.
Just across the street was a long, low, rainbow colored building. Andthe letters--Bart blinked, thinking his eyes deceived him--spelled out:
EIGHT COLORS TRANSSHIPPING CORPORATION CARGO, PASSENGERS, MESSAGES, EXPRESS A. RAYNOR ONE, MANAGER