Watch pulled out the laser pistol. “Would this help?”
Fur was not impressed. “You didn’t ask for the top of the line there. That’s a beryllium laser. They’re dependable but nothing special.”
“Why can’t we just beam ourselves to Tallas Four using the Raster transporter?” Adam asked.
“Tallas Four is shielded, as is Amacron Thirty-seven. You cannot transport through a shield. You need to take a ship, and then the ship has to either sneak by the shield with another Raster vessel, or else break through it directly.” Fur shook his head. “Either way the chances of success are not good. Why don’t I give you something else for the transporter and the portal generator? I would like them both. How about I give you my own house? I own an asteroid in the Taurus quadrant. You would have a great view of the Milky Way there, and the homeowner association charges are reasonable.”
“Sounds like a workable deal,” Watch said.
“No!” Adam exclaimed. “We have to rescue our friends. You either help us save them or there’s no deal.”
Fur smiled thinly. “If I help you, I will probably end up as dead as you will be. That doesn’t sound like a good deal to me.”
“It’s the only deal we have to offer,” Adam said. “Take it or leave it.”
“Are you sure I couldn’t interest you in a couple of Sirian pleasure robots? You can have them designed to your own specifications.”
“We are too young to have girlfriends,” Watch said.
“But Sally and Cindy are still very important to us,” Adam added. “Even if they aren’t real girlfriends.”
Fur considered. “You would have to give me both the Raster transporter and the Raster force field.”
“Fine,” Adam said. “As long as you take us back to Earth after we wreck the Raster records and rescue the girls.”
Fur frowned and puffed on his cigar. “Are you sure you want to go back home? The food’s lousy there as well.” He added, “Except for your Cokes. I can drink six of those a day.”
“Do we have a deal?” Adam asked.
Fur hesitated. “We will probably all die. I wasn’t kidding.”
Adam stuck out his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
Fur glanced around and then finally offered his hand. “I have a feeling I’m going to regret this,” he said.
7
The work shift on Amacron 37 was hard. First the slaves were treated to a breakfast of cold, gluey porridge, and then they were herded into a stark warehouse where the Kaster lamps were assembled. Sally and Cindy were handed welding guns and dark goggles and told to get to work. A supervising robot stood not far away, its electric prod ready to shock any who were too slow. Cindy held up her welding gun.
“I don’t know how to use this,” she said.
“We better figure out quick or scrap metal over there is going to light us up like a Christmas tree,” Sally said.
Fortunately Hironee appeared right then. The way she carried her welding gun, she looked like an expert. “They have put you on the easy duty,” she explained, pointing to the half-finished lamps in front of them. They were big by human standards, made of dark metal, very unattractive. “You just have to weld the lower four joints into place. A child can do it.”
“That’s good because we are only kids,” Cindy said, feeling anxious.
Hironee turned and spoke to the closest robot. “I am going to show the humans how to perform their duties efficiently. Is that acceptable?”
“Efficient work is always acceptable,” the robot replied.
“You just have to know how to talk to a robot,” Hironee said, striking up her welding gun and pulling her dark goggles over her eyes. She bent down over the lamp in front of Sally. “You have to make sure the joint is firmly welded before you go on to the next one. Watch.”
While Hironee worked, the girls stood behind her and spoke in low tones. Sally did most of the talking.
“How many robots are there in this particular camp?” she asked.
“Twenty,” Hironee replied, the sparks of the welding gun spraying not far from her green face. “And then there’s Teeh, who watches over them and us.”
“The reptilian Raster?” Sally asked.
“Yes. He’s worse than a dozen robots put together.”
“Do the robots have separate brains?” Sally asked. “Or are they all controlled from a central place?”
“Both,” Hironee said. “They have individual positronic brains but they can be shut down from the computer in Teeh’s office. But don’t even dream of getting in there. It’s heavily guarded.”
“Is the force field that surrounds this camp controlled from there?” Sally asked.
“Yes.”
“Did Charles bomb Teeh’s office? Is that how he got through the force field?”
Hironee glanced behind them at the watching robot. “No. He bombed the field generator itself. If he had been able to bomb the office, the robots wouldn’t have caught him so quickly and killed him. The computers would have crashed and the robots would have been disabled. But you must stop this line of thinking. I told you, no one can get close to Teeh’s office.”
Sally turned to Cindy. “We have to get in there. We have to disable the computer. It’s the only way.”
“But Hironee says that’s impossible,” Cindy protested.
“Do you want to stay here?” Sally demanded.
“No,” Cindy said. “But I don’t want to die either. But even if we are able to flee into the desert, what are we going to do out there?”
“Adam and Watch will come for us,” Sally said simply.
Cindy shook her head. “You’re dreaming. They’re on another part of the planet. Their situation is as lousy as ours.”
“Hironee,” Sally said. “If friends of ours were being sent here at the same time as us, would they have come here?”
“Were their wishes all placed on the same order?”
“Yes,” Sally said. “The Collector specified that.”
“Then they probably would have come here. But . . .” Hironee hesitated.
“What?” Cindy asked.
“If they resisted transportation they might have been killed back on Earth.”
Cindy’s lower lip quivered. “Oh no. That’s probably what happened.”
“Nonsense,” Sally said impatiently. “A single Collector couldn’t take out Adam and Watch. I’m sure Watch was able to shoot him with his laser. Then they probably took the transporter device. I bet they’re on their way here now.”
Hironee stopped welding and glanced up. “I told you, this place is shielded. They couldn’t transport here. They’d have to come in on a ship, a powerful ship.”
“But if we escape this camp,” Sally said, “they would be able to pick us up in the desert.”
“If you can escape here,” Hironee said. “If they are coming to your rescue. But those are two big ifs. You can’t risk your life on them.”
“I would rather die than be a slave the rest of my life,” Sally said proudly.
“I would rather be home watching TV,” Cindy said.
Hironee cautioned them to be silent. “Teeh is coming,” she said.
The Raster boss was as ugly as his reputation. He looked like a crocodile that had decided to stand upright. His thick tail flapped all over as he strode into the warehouse. He had a long snout and large teeth dripping saliva. He wore silver-colored armor over his chest. But the worst thing about him was that he sported his sunglasses at the end of his snout. For some reason they disturbed the girls more than anything else, possibly because they were so cheap and tacky. He waddled over to them.
“Are you the new slaves?” he asked in a slobbery voice.
“Yes, sir,” Cindy said, standing stiffly, no doubt worried about having her skin peeled off and eaten in front of her.
“We are Sally and Cindy,” Sally said. “I am Sally.”
“I am Cindy,” Cindy said.
“How come you’re not wor
king?” he demanded.
“I was just showing them how to use the welding gun, sir,” Hironee said.
Teeh was annoyed. “Did I ask you? Was I talking to you?”
“No, sir,” Hironee said, lowering her head.
“We just got here,” Sally said.
“I know that,” Teeh said. “What do you think? I’m blind? I know everybody here.” He leaned closer and studied Sally. “Where are the other two?”
“Which other two?” Cindy asked.
“Your friends,” Teeh said. “Adam Freeman and Watch. They made wishes as well. I sent the Collector to fetch all four of you. Where are they?”
Cindy shrugged. “We don’t know.”
“I know,” Sally said suddenly.
“Where?” Teeh asked, losing his patience.
Sally looked around as if they were being spied on. “I can’t tell you here. We better talk in your office.” She added, “It’s a long story and the information could put you and your position in danger.”
Teeh frowned, as best a standing crocodile could. “How can I be in danger?”
Sally leaned closer and spoke in his ear. “Only I can tell you. I am here to help you.”
“Why should you, a human, help me?”
“Because I want to get ahead here,” Sally said. “I don’t mind stabbing my own people in the back.”
Teeh stepped back and looked around as well. She had sized him up correctly; he was very paranoid and understood greed and ambition.
“Come with me to my office,” he ordered and turned away.
Hironee looked at Sally with worried eyes as she was led away. “Be careful, Sally.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Sally whispered in reply. But she looked scared.
8
They were in deep space, a few hours off Globar 92, with so many stars that Adam felt as if he had fallen into an alien’s dream. The Fruitfly was not a large ship—the control room was no bigger than Adam’s bedroom. The ceiling of the control room was clear as was the large viewing screen that Fur sat before. When Fur dimmed the lights it was easy to believe they were floating free without walls to protect them from endless space. Adam found the sensation exhilarating, as he did Fur’s explanation of how they would get to Tallas 4.
“We have to move there through a series of hyperjumps,” Fur said as Watch and Adam listened closely. “Hyperspace is a region where the three dimensions of normal space can be folded into virtually no space. It makes interstellar travel possible. Without hyperjumps it would take centuries to journey between stars.”
“Why do we have to make a series of jumps?” Watch asked. “Why not just one huge leap?”
“That is theoretically possible,” Fur said, “but in practice it is dangerous. Gravity affects each hyperjump. That’s why we had to plow away from Globar Ninety-two for as long as we have before attempting our first jump. We needed to get away from the sun and the asteroids. If we had tried to make a jump as soon as we left the asteroid, there would be no predicting where we would end up.”
“Could we have materialized inside a star?” Adam asked.
Fur smiled. “It’s possible but unlikely. Most of space is extremely empty. Probably we would have just ended up lost.”
“So each time you make a jump,” Watch said, “you recalculate what your next jump will be based on the gravitational influences in the immediate area?”
“Exactly,” Fur said, reaching for his controls. “Now get ready, we are about to make the first jump. You might feel momentarily disoriented.”
“I feel that way most of the time,” Watch muttered.
Fur pushed a button and the stars outside suddenly rushed toward them at a dizzying speed. Then magically they vanished, and there was a moment of utter blackness, so deep Adam wasn’t even sure if he was still alive. Just as quickly, the stars returned, but now they were not nearly so bright. Fur explained that they were now closer to the edge of the galaxy, where the stars were not so dense.
“Tallas Four is not far from here,” Fur said. “The Kasters like to hide in places far from everyone else. We still have to make another two jumps to reach the moon.”
“Are they ugly creatures?” Adam asked seriously.
“Not as ugly as human beings, if that’s what you mean.” Fur laughed. “Ugly is a relative term. Why, when you first met me I bet you thought I was ugly.”
“No offense, but I still do,” Watch said.
Fur stopped laughing. “I’ll have you know I have had many dates with women from your planet and most of them were happy to get to know me.”
“Where did you meet these women?” Adam asked.
“At Halloween parties.”
“It figures,” Watch muttered.
“And you just invited them over to see your spaceship?” Adam asked.
“Sure,” Fur said. “I use that line. Works like a wonder.”
“Why do you call your ship the Fruitfly?” Watch asked. “On Earth that would be considered a demeaning title.”
Fur was offended. “On my home world fruit flies are considered quite a delicacy.”
Adam was grossed out. “You mean you eat flies. Yuck!”
“They don’t taste bad when you chase them down with a Coke,” Fur said, his skillful hands working the controls. “Prepare for another jump. I am almost ready.”
Over the next thirty minutes they made two more quick hyperjumps. Finally the large red gaseous planet around which Tallas 4 orbited came into view. Yet they knew it was large only because Fur said it was. They were still so far from it that it looked smaller than the moon as seen from Earth.
“But Tallas itself is ten times larger than your Jupiter,” Fur explained as he turned the ship toward the planet and switched on the gravity drive that powered it through normal space.
“How long will it take to get there?” Adam asked.
“Four hours,” Fur said.
“We can’t jump the remainder of the distance?” Watch asked.
“No, for two reasons,” Fur said. “It is too short a distance and in either case the force field surrounding Tallas would cause us to explode when we attempted to exit hyperspace.”
“Have you installed the Kaster force field we loaned you?” Watch asked.
“Yes, but I don’t want to use it to get through the planet’s force field,” Fur said. “I don’t know if it’s strong enough, and the Kasters watch the perimeter of this system closely. What I prefer to do is attach my ship to a small asteroid that flies near the Tallas defense field. If we use the Fruit-fly’s engines carefully, we should be able to alter the orbit of the asteroid slightly and fly close to Tallas without setting off any alarms. This system is thick with asteroids and we’ll just be another big rock flying by.”
“That’s pretty clever,” Watch said, impressed. Fur smiled. “Do you still think I’m ugly, Watch?”
“You’d look good with a deep tan, a wig, and a pair of colored contacts,” Watch said.
“But we’ll have to break free of the asteroid to get to the moon?” Adam asked.
“Yes,” Fur said. “Only then will we be able to turn on the force field and make ourselves invisible. The force field draws a lot of energy, so we can’t keep it on too long.”
“How are we going to blow up their computers?” Watch asked.
“We’re not going to blow them up,” Fur said. “But we have to erase those debt records,” Adam protested.
“There is no way we can use heavy fire power around this moon and not be destroyed,” Fur said. “We would be spotted in a moment. My plan is to sneak onto the surface of the moon, find a terminal, and hopefully erase your friends’ names from the computers. Raster systems are always interlinked. Any terminal should give us access to all their records.”
“And I suppose we can wear lizard makeup so that no one notices us?” Watch said sarcastically.
Fur was offended. “I have thought of that. Not everyone who works on Tallas Four is a Raster. They have
off-world help. That’s what we will be.”
“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Adam said, trying to be supportive.
Fur took a while to find a suitable asteroid, one that was heading the right away and one that was bumpy enough to hide their small ship. They actually set down on the back side of the asteroid, and for a long time they couldn’t see the red planet, Tallas, or the other four moons. But during that time Fur carefully applied the power of the ship’s engines to the rear of the asteroid.
“This far out we only have to change its course slightly to cause it to fly inside the perimeter of the force field,” he explained.
“Could the force field destroy the asteroid?” Watch asked.
“The asteroid should be able to absorb the energy and save us the shock. As soon as we’re through we’ll race toward Tallas Four.”
Many hours later, as the asteroid finally began to contact the Raster force field, the ship began to shake violently. It felt as if the ground where they had anchored were ready to explode. A wave of shimmering blue energy glittered in the space all around them. Adam hung on to his seat for dear life.
“This is a rough ride!” he shouted over the noise.
Fur laughed heartily. “This is nothing!”
The roller-coaster ride stopped a minute later. They were through the main force field. Yet they were still far from the moon, although for the first time they were able to see it, a dull orange-colored globe that was cold and uninviting. Fur continued to work the controls.
“We are turning on our invisibility cloak now,” he said.
The view outside changed only slightly. It was as if a thin sheet of filmy material had been placed over the viewing screen, dulling the sky but not blocking it out. Fur fired the Fruitfly’s gravity engines and slowly they lifted off the asteroid. The feeling of slow motion may have only been an illusion. Because quickly enough the dull orange moon began to grow in size. Everything was going according to plan when suddenly there was a massive explosion behind them. They didn’t hear it—because they were in the vacuum of space, which did not transmit sound waves—but they sure saw it. The explosion was blinding.