The Star Hyacinths Read online

what do youwant to do now? Beat it until the coast's clear, or make a quick try foryour loot before the Spy gets there?"

  "How far is she behind us?" Dasinger asked.

  Duomart said, "I don't know exactly. Here's what happened. When westarted out, Taunus told me not to let the Mooncat travel at more thanthree-quarters speed for any reason. I figured then the Spy was involvedin whatever he was planning; she can keep up with us at that rate, andshe has considerably better detector reach than the Cat. She's stayedfar enough back not to register on our plates throughout the trip.

  "Late yesterday we hit some extensive turbulence areas, and I startedplaying games. There was this little cluster of three sun systems ahead.One of them was our target, though Dr. Egavine hadn't yet said which. Iducked around a few twisters, doubled back, and there was the Spy comingthe other way. I beat it then--top velocity. The Spy dropped off ourdetectors two hours later, and she can't have kept us on for more thananother hour herself.

  "So they'll assume we're headed for one of those three systems, butthey don't know which one. They'll have to look for us. There's only oneterraprox in the system we're going to. There may be none in the others,or maybe four or five. But the terraprox worlds is where they'll lookbecause the salvage suits you're carrying are designed for ordinaryunderwater work. After the way I ran from them, they'll figuresomething's gone wrong with Taunus's plans, of course."

  * * * * *

  Dasinger rubbed his chin. "And if they're lucky and follow us straightin to the planet?"

  "Then," Miss Mines said, "you might still have up to six or seven hoursto locate the stuff you want, load it aboard and be gone again."

  "Might have?"

  She shrugged. "We've got a lead on them, but just how big a lead wefinally wind up with depends to a considerable extent on the flightconditions they run into behind us. They might get a break there, too.Then there's another very unfortunate thing. The system Dr. Egavine'sdirected us to now is the one we were closest to when I broke out ofdetection range. They'll probably decide to look there first. You see?"

  "Yes," Dasinger said. "Not so good, is it?" He knuckled his jaw againreflectively. "Why was Taunus pounding around on you when I cameforward?"

  "Oh, those two runches caught me flying the ship at top speed. Taunuswas furious. He couldn't know whether the Spy still had a fix on us ornot. Of course he didn't tell me that. The lumps he was preparing tohand out were to be for disregarding his instructions. He does thingslike that." She paused. "Well, are you going to make a try for theplanet?"

  "Yes," Dasinger said. "If we wait, there's entirely too good a chancethe Spy will run across what we're after while she's snooping around forus there. We'll try to arrange things for a quick getaway in case ourluck doesn't hold up."

  Duomart nodded. "Mind telling me what you're after?"

  "Not at all. Under the circumstances you should be told....

  * * * * *

  "Of course," Dasinger concluded a minute or two later, "all we'll have alegal claim to is the salvage fee."

  Miss Mines glanced over at him, looking somewhat shaken. "You _are_playing this legally?"

  "Definitely."

  "Even so," she said, "if that really is the wreck of the Dosey Asteroidsraider, and the stones are still on board ... you two will collectsomething like ten million credits between you!"

  "Roughly that," Dasinger agreed. "Dr. Egavine learned about the matterfrom one of your Willata Fleetmen."

  Her eyes widened. "He what!"

  "The Fleet lost a unit called Handing's Scout about four years ago,didn't it?"

  "Three and a half," she said. She paused. "Handing's Scout is the otherwreck down there?"

  "Yes. There was one survivor ... as far as we know. You may recall hisname. Leed Farous."

  Duomart nodded. "The little kwil hound. He was assistant navigator. Howdid Dr. Egavine...?"

  Dasinger said, "Farous died in a Federation hospital on Mezmiali twoyears ago, apparently of the accumulative effects of kwil addiction.He'd been picked up in Hub space in a lifeboat which we now know was oneof the two on Handing's Scout."

  "In Hub space? Why, it must have taken him almost a year to get that farin one of those tubs!"

  "From what Dr. Egavine learned," Dasinger said, "it did take that long.The lifeboat couldn't be identified at the time. Neither could Farous.He was completely addled with kwil ... quite incoherent, in fact alreadyapparently in the terminal stages of the addiction. Strenuous effortswere made to identify him because a single large star hyacinth had beenfound in the lifeboat ... there was the possibility it was one of thestones the Dosey Asteroids Company had lost. But Farous died some monthslater without regaining his senses sufficiently to offer anyinformation.

  "Dr. Egavine was the physician in charge of the case, and eventuallyalso the man who signed the death certificate. The doctor stayed on atthe hospital for another year, then resigned, announcing that heintended to go into private research. Before Farous died, Egavine had ofcourse obtained his story from him."

  Miss Mines looked puzzled. "If Farous never regained his senses ..."

  "Dr. Egavine is a hypnotherapist of exceptional ability," Dasinger said."Leed Farous wasn't so far gone that the information couldn't be priedout of him with an understanding use of drug hypnosis."

  "Then why didn't others ..."

  "Oh, it was attempted. But you'll remember," Dasinger said, "that I hada little trouble getting close to you with an antihypnotic. The gooddoctor got to Farous first, that's all. Instead of the few minutes hespent on you, he could put in hour after hour conditioning Farous. Latercomers simply didn't stand a chance of getting through to him."

  * * * * *

  Duomart Mines was silent a moment, then asked, "Why did you two come outto the Willata Fleet station and hire one of our ships? Your cruiser's alot slower than the Mooncat but it would have got you here."

  Dasinger said, "Dr. Egavine slipped up on one point. One can hardlyblame him for it since interstellar navigation isn't in his line. Thereference points on the maps he had Farous make up for him turned out tobe meaningless when compared with Federation star charts. We needed theopportunity to check them against your Fleet maps. They make sensethen."

  "I see." Duomart gave him a sideways glance, remarked, "You know, theway you've put it, the thing's still pretty fishy."

  "In what manner?"

  "Dr. Egavine finished off old Farous, didn't he?"

  "He may have," Dasinger conceded. "It would be impossible to prove itnow. You can't force a man to testify against himself. It's true, ofcourse, that Farous died at a very convenient moment, from Dr. Egavine'spoint of view."

  "Well," she said, "a man like that wouldn't be satisfied with half asalvage fee when he saw the chance to quietly make away with the entireDosey Asteroids haul."

  "That could be," Dasinger said thoughtfully. "On the other hand, a manwho had committed an unprovable murder to obtain a legal claim to sixmillion credits might very well decide not to push his luck any farther.You know the space salvage ruling that when a criminal act or criminalintent can be shown in connection with an operation like this, theguilty person automatically forfeits any claim he has to the fee."

  "Yes, I know ... and of course," Miss Mines said, "you aren'tnecessarily so lily white either. That's another possibility. Andthere's still another one. You don't happen to be a Federationdetective, do you?"

  Dasinger blinked. After a moment he said, "Not a bad guess. However, Idon't work for the Federation."

  "Oh? For whom do you work?"

  "At the moment, and indirectly, for the Dosey Asteroids Company."

  "Insurance?"

  "No. After Farous died, Dosey Asteroids employed a detective agency toinvestigate the matter. I represent the agency."

  "The agency collects on the salvage?"

  "That's the agreement. We deliver the goods or get nothing."

  "And Dr.
Egavine?"

  Dasinger shrugged. "If the doctor keeps his nose clean, he staysentitled to half the salvage fee."

  "What about the way he got the information from Farous?" she asked.

  "From any professional viewpoint, that was highly unethical procedure.But there's no evidence Egavine broke any laws."

  Miss Mines studied him, her eyes bright and quizzical. "I had a feelingabout you," she said. "I ..."

  A warning burr came from the tolerance indicator; the girl turned herhead quickly, said, "Cat's complaining ... looks like we're hitting thefirst system stresses!" She slid back into the pilot seat. "Be with youagain in a while...."

  * * * * *

  When Dasinger returned presently to the control section Duomart sat atease in the pilot seat with coffee and a sandwich before her.

  "How are the mutineers doing?" she asked.

  "They ate with a good appetite, said nothing, and gave me no trouble,"Dasinger said. "They still pretend they don't understand Federationtranslingue. Dr. Egavine's a bit sulky. He wanted to be up front duringthe prelanding period. I told him he could watch things through hiscabin communicator screen."

  Miss Mines finished her sandwich, her eyes thoughtful. "I've beenwondering, you know ... how can you be sure Dr. Egavine told you thetruth about what he got from Leed Farous?"

  Dasinger said, "I studied the recordings Dr. Egavine made of hissessions with Farous in the hospital. He may have held back on a fewdetails, but the recordings were genuine enough."

  "So Farous passes out on a kwil jag," she said, "and he doesn't evenknow they're making a landing. When he comes to, the scout's parked, theNumber Three drive is smashed, the lock is open, and not another soul isaboard or in sight.

  "Then he notices another wreck with its lock open, wanders over, sees afew bones and stuff lying around inside, picks up a star hyacinth, andlearns from the ship's records that down in the hold under sixty feet ofwater is a sealed compartment with a whole little crateful of thestones...."

  "That's the story," Dasinger agreed.

  "In the Fleets," she remarked, "if we heard of a place where a couple ofship's crews seemed to have vanished into thin air, we'd call it aspooked world. And usually we'd keep away from it." She clamped herlower lip lightly between her teeth for a moment. "Do you think Dr.Egavine has considered the kwil angle?"

  Dasinger nodded. "I'm sure of it. Of course it's only a guess that thekwil made a difference for Farous. The stuff has no known medical valueof any kind. But when the only known survivor of two crews happens to bea kwil-eater, the point has to be considered."

  "Nobody else on Handing's Scout took kwil," Duomart said. "I know that.There aren't many in the Fleet who do." She hesitated. "You know,Dasinger, perhaps I should try it again! Maybe if I took it straightfrom the needle this time ..."

  Dasinger shook his head. "If the little flake you nibbled made you feeldrowsy, even a quarter of a standard shot would put you out cold for anhour or two. Kwil has that effect on a lot of people. Which is onereason it isn't a very popular drug."

  "What effect does it have on you?" she asked.

  "Depends to some extent on the size of the dose. Sometimes it slows medown physically and mentally. At other times there were no effects thatI could tell until the kwil wore off. Then I'd have hallucinations for awhile--that can be very distracting, of course, when there's somethingyou have to do. Those hangover hallucinations seem to be another fairlycommon reaction."

  He concluded, "Since you can't take the drug and stay awake, you'llsimply remain inside the locked ship. It will be better anyway to keepthe Mooncat well up in the air and ready to move most of the time we'reon the planet."

  "What about Taunus and Calat?" she asked.

  "They come out with us, of course. If kwil is what it takes to stayhealthy down there, I've enough to go around. And if it knocks them out,it will keep them out of trouble."

  * * * * *

  "Looks like there's a firemaker down there!" Duomart's slim forefingerindicated a point on the ground-view plate. "Column of smoke starting tocome up next to that big patch of trees!... Two point nine miles duenorth and uphill of the wrecks."

  From a wall screen Dr. Egavine's voice repeated sharply, "Smoke? ThenLeed Farous was not the only survivor!"

  Duomart gave him a cool glance. "Might be a native animal that knows howto make fire. They're not so unusual." She went on to Dasinger. "Itwould take a hand detector to spot us where we are, but it does looklike a distress signal. If it's men from one of the wrecks, why haven'tthey used the scout's other lifeboat?"

  "Would the lifeboat still be intact?" Dasinger asked.

  Duomart spun the ground-view plate back to the scout. "Look foryourself," she said. "It _couldn't_ have been damaged in as light acrash as that one was. Those tubs are built to stand a really solidshaking up! And what else could have harmed it?"

  "Farous may have put it out of commission before he left," Dasingersaid. "He wanted to come back from the Hub with an expedition to get thehyacinths, so he wouldn't have cared for the idea of anyone else gettingaway from the planet meanwhile." He looked over at the screen. "Howabout it, doctor? Did Farous make any mention of that?"

  Dr. Egavine seemed to hesitate an instant. "As a matter of fact, he did.Farous was approximately a third of the way to the Hub when he realizedhe might have made a mistake in not rendering the second lifeboatunusable. But by then it was too late to turn back, and of course he wasalmost certain there were no other survivors."

  "So that lifeboat should still be in good condition?"

  "It was in good condition when Farous left here."

  "Well, whoever's down there simply may not know how to handle it."

  Duomart shook her blond head decidedly. "That's out, too!" she said."Our Fleet lifeboats all came off an old Grand Commerce liner which wasup for scrap eighty, ninety years ago. They're designed so any fool cantell what to do, and the navigational settings are completely automatic.Of course if it _is_ a native firemaker--with mighty keen eyesight--downthere, that could be different! A creature like that mightn't think ofgoing near the scout. Should I start easing the Cat in towards thesmoke, Dasinger?"

  "Yes. We'll have to find out what the signal means before we try toapproach the wrecks. Doctor, are you satisfied now that Miss Mines'soutworld biotic check was correct?"

  "The analysis appears to be fairly accurate," Dr. Egavine acknowledged,"and all detectable trouble sources are covered by the selected Fleetserum."

  * * * * *

  Dasinger said, "We'll prepare for an immediate landing then. There'll beless than an hour of daylight left on the ground, but the night's soshort we'll disregard that factor." He switched off the connection toEgavine's cabin, turned to Duomart. "Now our wrist communicators, yousay, have a five-mile range?"

  "A little over five."

  "Then," Dasinger said, "we'll keep you and the Cat stationed at an exactfive-mile altitude ninety-five per cent of the time we spend on theplanet. If the Spy arrives while you're up there, how much time will wehave to clear out?"

  She shrugged. "That depends of course on how they arrive. My detectorscan pick the Spy up in space before their detectors can make out the Catagainst the planet. If we spot them as they're heading in, we'll havearound fifteen minutes.

  "But if they show up on the horizon in atmosphere, or surface her out ofsubspace, that's something else. If I don't move instantly then, they'llhave me bracketed ... and BLOOIE!"

  Dasinger said, "Then those are the possibilities you'll have to watchfor. Think you could draw the Spy far enough away in a chase to be ableto come back for us?"

  "They wouldn't follow me that far," Duomart said. "They know the Cat canoutrun them easily once she's really stretched out, so if they can'tnail her in the first few minutes they'll come back to look around forwhat we were interested in here." She added, "And if I _don't_ let theCat go all out but just keep a little ahea
d of them, they'll know thatI'm trying to draw them away from something."

  Dasinger nodded. "In that case we'll each be on our own, and your jobwill be to keep right on going and get the information as quickly aspossible to the Kyth detective agency in Orado. The agency will take thematter from there."

  * * * * *

  Miss Mines looked at him. "Aren't you sort of likely to be dead beforethe agency can do anything about the situation?"

  "I'll try to avoid it," Dasinger said. "Now, we've assumed the worst asfar as the Spy is concerned. But things might also go wrong downstairs.Say I lose control of the group,