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Thorden stared at the red touch control pad on the prison control panel
before him and looked at the screen again. "Dammit, Helan. Men -- yes.
Hundreds of men when I was rooting out rebels. But never children."
"They are not children."
"You'll have to do it."
"It's your job, Thorden," said Helan coldly. "You hold the seal of
office. All you have to do is touch that pad and the gas will do the rest."
Thorden looked uncertain.
Helan began to get exasperated. "Listen, Thorden -- when we discover
their planet, we're going to have to destroy millions of them, not just two.
Do you want to go down in history as the grand emperor of the Solaric Empire
who failed his people and denied them their rightful salvation? You of all
people? No -- of course you don't. So all you have to do is touch that pad. .
."
Thorden stared at the control pad for a moment and then touched it.
In the cell adjoining the prison control room, gas began hissing through
the ventilation grille. The bright orange cloud pooled sluggishly across the
floor towards the bunk where Darv and Astra lay asleep.
Part Five The Pools of Time.
The two reprogrammed surgery androids were an amazing success: they had
quickly assimilated the functions of the control consoles normally manned by
Darv and Astra, thus enabling Sharna and Telson to accelerate the Challenger
and manoeuvre it into a transfer orbit around the sun that intersected the
orbit of Zelda Five -- the moon of Zelda which had been the destination of the
mysterious ship that had kidnapped Darv and Astra.
Telson regarded the huge image of Zelda Five that filled the repeater
screen in the galactic resources centre while Sharna called upon Angel One to
provide information.
"Zelda Five," Angel One intoned. "A moon on the outer planet Zelda.
Gravity one; atmosphere zero; geothermal energy and mineral resources
excellent. It was occupied by a mining concern when the Challenger was under
construction. Therefore, by the time the Solaric Empire was established, it
would have become a thriving colony. Perhaps they were not all evacuated when
the Earth left the solar system. Perhaps they did not wish to be evacuated."
Telson strode up and down in front of the screen, simmering with
impatience. "So the people on Zelda Five now, if there are any people, are
descendants of the original colonists?"
"It is the one projection that avoids the maximum number of improbables,
Commander Telson," Angel One replied.
"So if they are human," said Sharna slowly, "they'll have human values?
They'll know that kidnapping Darv and Astra is wrong?"
"A false projection," said Angel Two. "It assumes that human values
remain constant over a given time."
"Maybe," Telson interrupted sourly. "Right now I'm not interested in any
argument except the one we're going to have with that miserable little moon if
they're holding Darv and Astra. Angel One -- are we close enough to go into a
sixty-minute orbit around it?"
"Within the next thirty minutes, commander," Angel One answered and
called Telson back as he and Sharna were about to leave for the main control
room. "It seems inconceivable that you should have forgotten, commander, but
the Challenger is unarmed."
Telson thought for a moment, choosing his words carefully before
replying. "Perhaps Darv is right after all when he says that you and Angel Two
are nothing but part of the ship's control systems. For beings that are
supposed to be all-seeing and all-powerful, it seems inconceivable that the
pair of you should lack imagination on such a monumental scale."
Page 49
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With that, Telson turned and walked out of the galactic resources centre.
* * * *
"Dammit, Helan!" Thorden shouted, jabbing a stubby finger at the picture
of the Challenger on the screen that Spegal had just relayed to him. "Look at
it! Look at the size of the thing!"
"Spegal did say that it was ten miles long--' Helan began.
"And you said that the two on board couldn't shift it from its orbit
round Kyros without those kids! Well, now it's here and I for one doubt if
it's here on a goodwill visit."
Thorden frantically jabbed the buttons to reverse the flow of gas into
the adjoining cell.
"What are you doing!" demanded Helan, her voice hard and dangerous.
"Shutting the gas off -- I want those two to live."
"We decided that they were aliens and that they had to die."
"You decided that they were aliens, and you decided that they had to die.
Well, I'm undeciding." Thorden moved to the door and bawled for medical
attendants. Two men appeared in the corridor from a room opposite and dived
into the execution cell in response to Thorden's instructions. They emerged a
minute later supporting Darv and Astra who looked half dead on their feet
because they were.
"In here. In here," said Thorden, waving the medical attendants into the
prison control room. "Are they all right? Will thy recover?"
"I think so, sir," said the first medical attendant. "The gas had only
just reached up to the level of the bunk."
"You must do everything you can for them!" said Thorden dancing up and
down impatiently. "Nothing must be too much trouble."
"Thorden," said Helan patiently. "Spegal wants to launch A flight
interceptors."
"What!" Thorden looked aghast at the screen and the display which
indicated the Challenger's orbital height and position above Zelda Five. He
fumbled at the control console and opened the channel to Spegal's battle
centre. "Spegal -- you listen to me. You do nothing to upset that ship, do you
hear? You don't launch anything without my say so."
"But, sir," Spegal protested. "Her excellency assured us that the
Challenger is unarmed, and it's closing its orbit to one hundred miles."
"You do nothing!" Thorden roared. He spun around to where the medical
attendants who were working on Darv and Astra with oxygen capsules. He was
immensely relieved to see that both his captives had their eyes open. Darv was
gazing hypnotised at the Challenger on the screen.
"Out! Out!" said Thorden, shooing the medical attendants and their
equipment from the room. He put on a beaming smile and, ignoring Helan who was
watching him in some disbelief, clapped Darv and Astra on the shoulder. "Well,
well, well," he boomed jovially. "Never known anyone who could sleep like you
two, have we, Helan?"
"Challenger," croaked Darv. He turned to Astra. "Telson's come for us,
Astra."
"It's unarmed, Thorden!" Helan snapped, losing her patience. "Your duty
is to launch the interceptors!"
"Unarmed, eh?" said Thorden sarcastically. "And it couldn't move from its
orbit around Kyros, you said. Well let me tell you something -- no one would
build a ship that size unless its purpose is to move a lot of grief and
mischief around the galaxy."
"Thorden," said Helan emphatically. "I don't know how they managed to
manoeuvre the Challenger. Perhaps they found a way of overcoming the control
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