Louiston smiled and quickly half bowed at the somewhat hurried introduction. “His name is McNally and he knows what he’s talking about, believe me! It really would be better if you came with us!”
Suddenly, McNally shielded them as the corridor exploded with flames from the plasma weapons of fully armored security guards that appeared from around a corner. In a seemingly insane maneuver, McNally fearlessly stepped forward, extending his left arm towards the soldiers. To the surprise of Louiston and Claire, the shots detonated in mid-air—impossibly stopped by some unseen wall of resistance. McNally advanced, showing not the least concern about the men blocking their way. “Come on,” he yelled. After a moment of uncertainty, Louiston and Claire followed.
The security team continued firing and filled the air with the sizzling energies of their weapons. Claire watched in bewilderment as the metal slugs and plasma bursts stopped short of McNally’s outstretched arm. She was even further amazed when McNally extended his other hand, casting crackling currents of electrical energy outward from his fingertips.
The attacking group scattered as explosions of force ripped through their ranks. As quickly as they had appeared, the stunned men were left lying about in smoldering heaps.
McNally turned and grabbed Louiston by the arm. “Plan B, my friend! Don’t worry about me!” He shoved Louiston and Claire in the opposite direction.
Louiston started to protest, then guided Claire in the direction McNally had indicated. Doorways opened as the curious looked out into the hall, wondering as to the meaning of the security klaxons and commotion. Louiston sent them retreating for cover with several shots fired over their heads.
“You must be insane,” Claire screamed, trying to be heard above the uproar. “You’re going to get us killed!”
Louiston did not reply. They shortly came to a loading bay and ducked rapidly inside. Stopping at a large, sleek vessel, Louiston pointed her towards the entry hatch.
“You’ll like this ship,” panted Louiston. “The last time we did this, McNally was flying a little piece of junk! I convinced him to do it right this time!”
Louiston climbed into the ship, slid into the pilot’s seat and started the engines. They immediately hummed powerfully into life. He initiated artificial gravity at the same time he keyed the command to open the hangar doors. Outside the ship, the bay’s monitors sounded an alarm as the personnel hatch to the loading bay slammed shut. Louiston knew the outpost’s systems would not allow the entry of vacuum into the asteroid’s interior and hoped the automatic functions would take care of the details. When the doors before him had opened wide enough, he punched the throttle, launching the sleek craft into space.
“What about your friend?” asked Claire.
“Beats the stuffings out of me! His Plan B was for you and me to get out of here without him…no questions! Believe me, you don’t argue with McNally. He’s got something planned—I just don’t know what it is. Now sit down and strap in! This may get bumpy!”
Claire chuckled nervously. “I just admit, this is a strange way to show a girl a good time.”
Louiston made the adjustments that would launch their craft forward at a quarter the speed-of-light.
***
McNally jumped backward as the bulkheads erupted from the destructive blasts of high caliber weapons. He had expected to meet some resistance, but the displayed firepower told him Cranston’s thugs had been quick to diagnose the seriousness of McNally’s plans. Ducking into a side corridor, he ran towards the asteroid’s Agra-plant. Along the way, he dropped several slow burning force flares. It would take a good twenty minutes for the pyrotechnics to burn out. By then he hoped to be long gone.
He entered the lush growth of the vast agricultural compartment and spotted his contact. “All right, where is it?” he screamed as he ran up to the Agra-tech.
“It’s right over here! For crying out loud McNally, the whole station is on alert! Can’t you do anything without starting a minor war?”
“Cranston second guessed me on this one. But Louiston and the girl escaped! At least my implants registered the departure of the ship we came in! Quick, turn around…I’ll hide you in one of the storage lockers when I’m done.”
“Oh no you don’t,” the man replied, backing towards a nearby airlock. “George may have to retire with twenty-percent disability…you ain’t whacking me on the back of the head, you sadistic bastard! Now get the blazes out of here you crazy space bum! Give Cranston a kick in the ass for me!” The man disappeared as the hatch closed behind him.
McNally smiled, running over to a large growth of potato vines. He ripped the vegetation away to expose what lay hidden beneath. It stood like something out of a nightmare. What looked like a gutted mechanical human shell stood secured to a half-again as tall cylindrical object pointed on the upper end.
McNally turned, raised his arms in imitation of the grotesque apparatus, and backed into its grasp. Immediately, the mechanical shell closed about his body and outstretched arms. Sealed inside his artificial environment, McNally reached down to his chest plate and keyed the controls activating the propulsion engine connected to his back. The unit roared into life and shot upwards, the ceiling exploding outward as the one-man spacecraft punched through and streaked above the surface of the asteroid. McNally activated the controls that would home in on the Starduster’s beacon. He hoped Louiston had managed to get Claire safely off the Donadio station without too much difficulty.
As the asteroid receded behind him, McNally cursed how easily his plans had been anticipated. Cranston and his men were good. If he wasn’t careful, they might learn The Company’s true intentions, and two years of planning would be all but undone. That would be hard enough explaining to his superiors, much less the Inter-system Navy. From here on he would have to anticipate his target’s every move.
McNally looked into the abyss of space and activated the propulsion system’s distortion field, preparing to warp through the void.
CHAPTER FOUR: MCNALLY EXPLAINS ALL AND GETS ARRESTED
Louiston watched the controls as the craft shot through space. He was accustomed to the sluggish maneuvers of a space-tractor pulling a load of Oort rock, not the response speed of what had to be the fastest ship he ever piloted.
“You’re worried about McNally aren’t you?” asked Claire, sliding into the copilots chair. “Do you suppose he’s okay?”
“He knows what he’s doing,” replied Louiston, checking the computer for their ETA. “We teamed up only two days ago. He’s quite an interesting fellow once you get used to him. He briefed me before we reached the Donadio station. I’m not sure what he had in mind, but he plans to meet us.”
“Well, can you at least let me in on what’s going on here—“
“Maybe later,” interrupted Louiston. “We’re coming up on the mother-ship. At seventy-four-thousand kilometers-per-second, I don’t want to overshoot…I’m not quite sure how to work this thing in reverse!”
Claire started to laugh, but when she glanced at the complex controls and Louiston’s sweat-glistened face, she thought better of it. He obviously lacked cybernetic implants with which to link directly to the controls and was straining to read everything at once, so she left the copilot’s station and sat in one of the passenger chairs to avoid distracting him.
An audible signal sounded as an entirely new section of the control board’s circuitry activated. “Here it comes,” whispered Louiston. When the signal shifted in tone, he quickly disengaged the drive and cut-in the inertial brakes. The Starduster and its load shot toward them with breath-taking speed…and suddenly stopped.
“God, I’ll never get used to that,” sighed Louiston, glancing between the view screen and the controls. “Talk about precision! We just powered down from max drive and we’re only two hundred meters from McNally’s ship! I’ve never done anything like that before in my life!” He turned to grin back at Claire.
Claire smiled in return. She liked Louiston’s calm,
polite manner; he just did not fit the type of personality that would associate with the rough-and-tumble characters usually found hauling Oort balls. He lacked the brash, insulting mannerisms found in some of the other haulers she had met through the years. And although they met only two hours before, Claire suddenly realized she enjoyed his company.
“Better strap in,” Louiston advised as he turned his attention to the craft before them. “We’ll be boarding in less than a minute!”
***
Mr. Burroughs straightened his tie, and moved his chair closer to the desk as he completed the call to Cranston’s office on the Madeira Colony. The connection was made almost instantaneously. Although the colony was four light-hours distant, the subspace-gravitrino communication circuits cut the delay time to less than a millisecond. The monitor lit to reveal Cranston’s back, he faced away from Burroughs, looking out the large window showing a sweeping, panoramic vista of the colony beyond. Nearly a minute passed before Cranston turned to face the screen; he did not look pleased.
“You lost him!”
“No sir,” Burroughs corrected. “We successfully anticipated his next move and tried to intercept him. However, his plans evidently took into account the possibility of opposition during his mission. We do know who he is—Randal McNally, a long-time trouble-shooting agent for The Company. Evidently your interference with normal commerce in this sector has not gone unnoticed.”
Cranston slammed his fist down upon the desk and leaned towards the screen. “My interference?!! Must I remind you that my well being directly translates to the entire corporation and its employees? Which includes you, Mr. Burroughs! I don’t suppose you’ve succeeded in reading his mind and know what further steps he’s planning?”
“Yes…and no, sir. Although we cannot read his mind, the fact that he has secured your stepdaughter leads us to believe that her involvement is somehow necessary in his plans. This could only mean McNally is attempting to somehow terminate your…our covert operations in this sector.”
Cranston leaned back in his chair contemplating Burroughs information. “All right. So what’s your next move?”
“I have contacted our men in the Sector Patrol. They have assured me they will intercept McNally and promise he will cause no further difficulties. I trust you wish Louiston and the girl to share the same fate as McNally?”
Cranston half stood and leaned toward the screen until only his face was visible. “Now you listen to me! I want them alive—don’t screw that up! I need to find out exactly how much he knows! But destroy his ship! I want this done before he can initiate further operations for whoever is calling his shots! If this goes any further, I promise, you will not be in a position to care about the outcome of this matter!”
“Understood, sir,” Burroughs terminated the com-link before Cranston could reply.
***
Claire exited the craft and looked about the spacious docking hanger while Louiston checked the bay’s controls, insuring all systems were normal and the shuttle was properly secured. He did not want to leave anything for McNally to complain about.
“Hello there, what took you so long?”
Louiston whirled around, the TS-11 appearing in his hand almost magically. “You!”
McNally stood in shadow, leaning against the bulkhead. He unfolded his arms and walked toward Claire. “I apologize for your abrupt departure from the Donadio station, Ms. Cranston. Doctor Louiston and I are in a position where seemingly drastic measures are in order!”
Claire accepted McNally’s outstretched hand. “My name is Claire Murphy. My stepfather’s name is Cranston…I would rather not be reminded of that.”
McNally smiled broadly and turned to the amazed Louiston. “Well? You seem somewhat surprised! You really didn’t think you’d arrive before me, did you?”
Louiston looked about as it trying to discover something that was hidden only from him. “Is there another shuttle in some other bay? How in the blazes did you beat us back here? We are thrusting at a quarter light-speed!”
“The fastest speed known to our limited technology, eh?” asked McNally, taking hold of Louiston by the arm. “My dear Doctor, ‘there are more things between Heaven and Earth than dreamt of in your philosophy.’ Shakespeare…albeit quoted poorly! The propulsion unit I used to make my escape is capable of speeds far greater than those known to the general public…in order words, it’s a military secret!”
“But…”
“But dinner is getting cold! Come on up to the mess deck. I fear we are being bad hosts to the lady!”
McNally took Claire’s hand and led her and the befuddled Louiston towards the elevator. “My most honored guests, I promise to explain all. But we must hurry if we are to have a bite to eat before the Sector Patrol arrives!”
***
McNally wiped his mouth, pushed himself away from the table and watched as the other two finished their meal. “What do you think? Can I cook fried chicken or what?”
“This is the best synthetic food I’ve ever eaten,” said Claire, reaching for another drumstick. “My compliments to the robo-chef!”
“No really…I cooked it myself! I simply placed it in culinary stasis until we got here.” He walked to a nearby wall console. “And that’s not synthetic. A short time ago, those chickens were feasting on bugs crawling around on good old Martian soil! New Georgia, to be precise!” As his hands flicked over the panel, the wall behind him lit to show a diagram of the solar system.
“Entertainment?” asked Louiston, pouring thick gravy over a fresh portion of mashed potatoes.
“Our home,” replied McNally. “The Sol system—eight plants, hundreds of moons and billions of smaller bodies—most out here in the Oort, of course! The domain of over nine hundred billion human beings. It’s all we have, discounting the dozen or so pathetically small colonies we’ve established within ten light years…and not an Earth-normal planet in sight! Old Earth won’t be habitable again for hundreds, if not thousands, of years!”
McNally turned and walked towards Claire. She stopped eating as she met his gaze. “Miss Murphy, can you tell me what happens when mankind, like a horde of rodents, multiplies and occupies every inhabitable portion of its environment?” He continued without waiting for a reply. “They eat everything—all the plants, all the animals and soon, they’ll start on the very ground beneath their feet. Given enough time, they’ll eat each other! This is why we’re out here…in the Oort cloud. We’re the farmers, the suppliers of our race’s raw materials! From the resources here, the conversion plants manufacture food, building materials, medical supplies and everything else that is in such short supply back in the inner-system. We’re mankind’s lifeline to the future. If anything happens to us, our species will die!”
“Thanks for the history lesson,” said Claire. “What’s for dessert?”
“Not that we don’t appreciate the somewhat dramatic explanation of basic supply and demand,” added Louiston. “But what does this have to do with us and our little problem with Cranston Incorporated?”
“Everything! This area of the cloud is but one of more than ten thousand similar operations beyond the inner planets. Cranston is not the only low-life in space, but if every petty tyrant is left unchecked, the inner-system will eventually feel the effects! Which translates to suffering and lives lost.”
The picture on the wall changed as McNally again tapped the controls. The solar system was replaced by a series of graphs and charts, showing imports, exports, and the general economy of what Louiston assumed was the local region of the cloud.
“To make a long story short,” said McNally, returning to his seat. “Cranston’s been skimming raw materials from his company’s shipments for a very long time. A few years ago, that not so minor skimming turned into a major operation—hundreds of haulers and their ships have vanished! And his shipments back to the inner-system are down by seventy percent! That’s why The Company sent over one hundred agents and me out here! His time is up??
?I’m here to punch his clock!”
***
Commander Stevens stood at his COM-station, facing the main view-screen. At a tenth of the speed-of-light, the stars were vague and elongated by the Doppler effect. The engines of the Sector Patrol ship Valiant thrummed powerfully as the battle cruiser followed the unmistakable energy stream.
“This McNally cannot possibly be as clever as we have been led to believe,” said Stevens to no one in particular. “I’m sure it was only his luck at the Yak asteroid that prevented the security craft from following his ion trail.”
Stevens turned and addressed one of the other four men on the bridge. “Well, Lieutenant Hinderken, where is he?”
“Long range scanners indicate a large vessel three light-minutes distant. My best guess is that it’s the Starduster. I think we’ve got him, sir!”
“Excellent,” replied Stevens. “Power down to cruising speed. Let’s sneak up on him. We don’t want him to know we’re coming before we get a chance to lock him in!” Stevens again turned to face the view screen as the stars shrank to their normal appearance. “Mr. Cranston would be unhappy if our quarry got away this time!”
***
McNally and Louiston sat in the control room discussing final details.
‘”Now make sure you understand this,” cautioned McNally as he leaned forward, locking eyes with Louiston. “I know you’re not familiar with a lot of this stuff, but it’s really very simple. Any mistakes and I’ll have to work that much harder before we can transmit!”
“I think I have it,” replied Louiston, touching several controls on the panel before him. “You’re sure this is going to work?”
“Trust me. The electronics on this craft far surpass anything these yokels have ever imagined! Just follow my instructions and be at the rendezvous point in forty hours. I’ll worry about myself! Don’t make me worry about you and Claire!”