Read Think Yourself to Death Page 5

feet and stood perfectly still, waiting for anything. Shewished she had a weapon--something--she was only a woman--

  Then a voice whispered: "Hurry, Sria! Hurry!"

  "Pandit?"

  He took her arm in the darkness. She couldn't see him. They went to thecrates and wrestled one on their trundle-sled.

  "Not the open one?" Sria gasped.

  "No. No."

  They heard footsteps.... Saw a figure for a moment silhouetted againststarlight. Handus was fleeing, probably for help.

  They took their sled out into the night and dragged it across the sandtoward their waiting jet. They loaded the crate in the cargo bay. WhilePandit was finishing the job in the darkness, Sria sat down at thecontrols.

  "Ready?" she shouted above the whine of the jets.

  Pandit said that he was. She hardly heard his voice.

  A moment later, she took the small cargo jet up.

  * * * * *

  She heard Pandit moving in the small cabin behind her. She said: "Weought to take it to the League authorities, don't you think?" She had toshout to be heard above the whining roar of the jets.

  "Why?"

  "I was able to read the writing. It's Procyonian, Pandit. Do you knowanything about the Procyonians?"

  "Well, a few centuries ago, they were the most warlike people in thegalaxy. It was rumored they had a cache of thermonuclear bombs hiddensomewhere, after such weapons were outlawed in the twenty-fifth century.The cache was never found, until tonight. We found it, Pandit."

  "But Orkap and--"

  "That's true. It was found by the Denebians first. Don't you see,Pandit? Orkap and the others, private Denebian traders. It wasn't thegovernment. It never is the government these days. But unscrupulousindividuals, Pandit, armed with two dozen hydrogen bombs--why, theycould take over their own world on threat of imminent destruction, orsome outworld plum they had their eye on, or--"

  "I see." Pandit's voice was barely audible above the whine of the jets.

  "It's a job the Galactic League can handle," Sria went on. "Now thatit's out in the open--or will be as soon as we get to the spacefield.You've done your work, Pandit, and your people won't forget you for it.As for me, my work here is finished too."

  "Your work?"

  Above the roar of the jet, Sria shouted: "Yes. I am Johnny Mayhem." Shesmiled in the darkness. Johnny Mayhem, she thought, in a girl's body.Well, he'd been young men and old, weak and strong, sick and healthy,human and alien outworlder--so why not a girl too?

  * * * * *

  All at once Pandit's hand lay heavily on her shoulder. She turned aroundand in the darkness but with the lights of the instrument board on itsaw the gleam of a knife blade. The face beyond the blade, leering fromdarkness, was not Pandit's. She hadn't actually known it was Pandit. Shehadn't seen him. She'd hardly been able to hear his voice.

  It was Raj Shiva.

  "Fly us to Denebian Exports," he said, "or I'll kill you and do itmyself."

  "You're making a mistake. Your people belong with the Galactic League,not with a handful of adventurers who--"

  "The Denebians are right," Raj Shiva said fanatically. "My people wouldbe better off left alone."

  "I'm flying this jet to the spaceport--and the League."

  "I'll kill you. I know all about you, Mayhem. You're not a woman,really. You're not even a native. That's a dead body, isn't it? But if Ikill it--again--while you're in it, you die to. You'll do what I say!"

  * * * * *

  This very night, unless something was done about it, the cache ofthermonuclear weapons would be space-bound, the first hydrogen bombsloose in the galaxy for almost five hundred years. Wouldn't mankind everbegin to learn? Mayhem-Sria thought wearily. He knew the answer, ofcourse: most men would, but the few who refused could bring destructionto an entire galaxy....

  Moments before, apparent success of a mission. Now, failure. Or death.Or both.

  Sria's hand flashed out suddenly and struck the instrument board. Thejet plummeted earthward with a loud whining sound. Sria felt herselfshoved back by the tremendous acceleration into the cushions of thepilot chair. She heard a wild exclamation from Raj Shiva, but couldn'tturn around to see what had happened. Grim-lipped, she kept the shiphurtling Earthward. She knew it was dangerous and might even provedisastrous. Her body could take so much, then she would black out. Butif she didn't maintain the dive until the last possible instant, RajShiva would get control of the ship and its vital cargo. She was only agirl, but she was protected by the crash-padding of the pilot chair. RajShiva, unprotected, was behind her somewhere....

  Down through the thin upper atmosphere of Ophiuchus IX screamed thesmall ship, its heat-dial blinking on and off in warning as frictionscorched its thin shell. The scream of air became more deep-throated asthe atmosphere became thicker....

  Ten thousand feet.

  Eight thousand.

  Six.

  Sria's eyes saw black. Her breath was labored. Needles of pain darted inher skull, plucked at her eyes. She opened her mouth to scream but heardnothing. She felt as if she must be forced clear through the protectivecushions of the pilot chair.

  Five thousand feet.

  Four thousand.

  Blackness and peace and a settling lassitude....

  Three thousand feet.

  With hands that would barely function, Sria with supreme effort broughtthe jet out of its death-dive. She slumped in the pilot chair for a longtime, too weak to do anything else.

  Then she looked back at Raj Shiva.

  Who lay slack and unconscious against the rear bulkhead of the cargoship.

  * * * * *

  Mayhem-Sria brought the jet down and, middle of the night or no, sawKovandaswamy. Raj Shiva was taken into custody. A jet was sent out,loaded with Leaguemen who had proved immune to the guru death-wish andall armed to the teeth. It landed at the cache and stood guard over it.Pandit was found, unconscious, one of his arms broken, but otherwise allright. A second jet prevented the Denebian Export ship from blasting offwith the hydrogen bombs already loaded. Orkap and his companion weretaken into custody.

  The rest, of course, is history. The gurus of Ophiuchus IX were shownwhat had been taking place in the name of friendship between themselvesand Deneb and in the name of isolation. Most of the gurus retiredentirely from active life. The few who did not spent the rest of theirdays working for cooperation between Ophiuchus and the rest of theGalactic League. Orkap and his companion were sent back to Deneb forpunishment.

  * * * * *

  Two weeks later, Kovandaswamy shook Sria's hand.

  "A girl," he said. "You did it as a girl. I still can't believe it. Butthen, of such stuff is the Mayhem legend made."

  Mayhem smiled. Already the Hub had a new assignment for him. He couldfeel the old excitement, the wonder, stirring him. He smiled again andtold Kovandaswamy: "Better not tell that fellow Pandit. I think he had acrush on Sria."

 
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