PART NINE

Chapter 1

Probably I should have waited until I was less in shock from Lombar's visit. But I knew I had to act while spurred with anxiety, newly freshened, to get off this planet.

To get Heller really going I had to pry him apart from Krak!

My screaming necessity was so great that it thrust into my mind a vital fact about Heller I had not used. He had been disciplined early in his career for refusing to let his crew be electric-shock trained. He had been quite violent about it, he detested electric-shock training. He had even said he wouldn't use a crew with "fried brains." Yet here he was all involved with a female trainer who must use nothing else!

I saw Heller go into the tug.

Now was the time!

I straightened up my tunic. I made sure my stungun was loose in its holster in case I had to draw.

With determination, I entered the airlock.

Heller was in the flight deck. Workmen had more or less reassembled the panels and controls and Heller was checking the size of the base mount on the maneuvering sight in front of the astropilot's chair. He had a little rule out and was measuring away.

My back was to the passageway. There was no one else about. I had to get this over with.

"Heller," I said, "there is something you do not know."

"Probably a whole universe full," he said, going on with his measuring.

"Do you remember," I said, "coming within a hair of being court-martialled because you refused to let a training officer electric-shock train your crew?" I had his attention now. He was turned slightly toward me, a frown of curiosity on his face.

"There is something you must know. You hate electric-shock training. Krak has you fooled! She uses nothing else! She is just a dirty cheat that is . . ." The back of his hand moved so fast I did not even see it coming!

It cracked against my mouth!

I went backwards as though I had been hit by a zipbus, skidding down the passageway.

He was stepping quickly in my direction. From the expression on his face, I was certain he was going to kill me!

I grabbed the butt of my holstered gun.

My arm would not pull it!

I tried again. I could notget the muscles of that arm to function!

It was as though I had abruptly become totally paralyzed from the shoulder to the fingertips!

I was still certain he was going to kill me. He knelt down in front of me.

"There is something youdon't know!" he said. "That very first day I went into the training room, I saw those brutal, shock-training machines. I went around to them one after the other. I checked their connections and control panels.

"Not one of those machines had been used for years! They were totally inoperational!"His voice went very hard. "You had better be very careful of spreading lies about the Countess Krak!" I was more certain than ever that he was going to kill me. I strenuously tried to pull my gun. My arm just plain wouldn't work!

Those eyes, blue as gas flames, felt like they were scorching holes in my skull.

His hand moved toward one of his inside breast pockets.

I was certain he was going to take out a blastick or knife and finish me off.

I made a frantic effort to pull my gun. My hand and arm just plain wouldn't obey me!

He had a paper in his hand. No, a copy of a clipping from a newssheet.

"I had this case looked up in the newssheet files. It concerns the deathbed confession of the former Assistant Lord of Education for Manco. See for yourself." He turned it to me. I saw it. That's what it was. But my eyes switched back at him in terror.

Once more I tried to pull my gun. My muscles again would not work!

Heller was looking at the sheet. "It clearly states here that the Manco Domestic Police interrupted a burglary and shot someone when he fled. That someone turned out to be the Assistant Lord of Education for Manco!

"He was dying of wounds. He wanted to make a confession and he did. He said that he had noticed one of his new university graduates was extremely skilled in training. Her father, the stage magician, Count Krak, had been killed recently in a plane crash. The mother, a noted trainer named Ailaena, had gone into seclusion from sorrow.

"This Assistant Lord of Education confessed that he had been about to be ruined with gambling debts. He conceived a plan. He kidnapped Ailaena. Then he told the daughter, Lissus Moam, that he would torture her mother to death unless Lissus trained forty-three children he would select from poor houses.

"He said he told Lissus Moam that it was a government project, ordered by the Apparatus. They wanted small operatives that could penetrate enemy strongholds and bring back information. He promised that if she did this, he would release her mother, Ailaena, unharmed.

"When he finally had the children trained, he put them to work robbing banks. He was very afraid there would be witnesses to these robberies. He himself gave the children weapons and told them they must murder every guard. When the children did not want to do this, he capitalized on the fact that the children loved Lissus. He told the children that if they did not murder all guards, he himself would murder Lissus Moam. The children were certain he would. He told them that if they talked or ever mentioned his name, he would kill Lissus Moam with torture.

"When Lissus had finished the training, this insane fool killed her mother. He held Lissus prisoner in case the children were caught.

"The children were eventually caught, probably due to his faulty information or greed. He was able to produce and denounce Lissus Moam as the instigator and got off himself without suspicion.

"The children were executed. Lissus Moam was sentenced to die but, due to her skills, was spirited away by the Apparatus and some criminal was executed in her place.

"The Apparatus has been holding an innocent person for nearly three years! You have not even been decent enough to tell her!" I was quite certain I myself was going to die in the next few seconds or minutes, such was the expression in those eyes!

Valiantly, I once again attempted to make my arm work. It would not function!

"I," said Heller, "am going to put this in the hands of legal counsels. I am going to clear her name. And I am going to marry the Countess Krak!" He reached toward me. I was certain he was going to kill me.

I once more tried to pull my gun.

But he got me to my feet and into the crew salon. He sat me in a chair. He went to a locker and got a napkin and then he dampened it at the water bar.

His back was turned to me so I once more tried to draw my gun. It was futile. I couldn't make either hand or arm work. I was paralyzed!

He came back and began to sponge the small spot of blood at the side of my mouth. "I am sorry I hit you. I wasn't thinking. I just suddenly reacted. I assure you, that isn't like me. I was just trying to shut you up, not trying to knock you down." Gods help me if he had really hit!

"I just got this this morning," he said. "I was going to tell her tonight as a surprise and ask her to marry me. We can certainly delay this mission long enough for a proper clearing of her name and a wedding. The mission isn't that urgent. Planets don't go to pieces in a day." Perhaps it was the cool water. Perhaps it was his softer tone. But, faced with this further threat of delay, I found courage enough to talk.

"No, no, no," I said. "You mustn't start action to clear her name." He drew back.

"You don't understand the legalities," I babbled.

"When a person is listed as dead, they destroy all the records! Right in the master data file, she is no longer listed. That Assistant Lord of Education for Manco is also dead. That confession applies to people who are dead. The Domestic Police will have destroyed all those records. You are dealing with a nonperson. Lissus Moam and the Countess Krak do not exist in the world of the living! It says so right in the master files. I have checked!" His perplexity encouraged me. They don't educate the Fleet in civilian legal procedures. But what I said was true.