6/ TO THE TOWER!

 

The first thing Chellish and his friends wanted to do the next morning was to take a ride to the city and he requested an escort. As usual 2 men occupied a vehicle so that they formed a column of 5 aircushion cars. The requested escorts joined them in the parking area of the residential tower.

The Whistler who entered Chellish’s and Mullon’s car said: "I hope we’re going to have a pleasant trip," just as Chellish had hoped.

He gave the Whistler a friendly nod and asked him to take the seat next to him. Mullon sat as usual in the back seat. The automobiles quickly left the tower one after another by the wide gateway and drove along a road lined with poplars toward the city.

"What’s the latest of importance?" Chellish asked the Whistler.

"Two spaceships are being prepared for takeoff," the man replied without hesitation. "They’re the last two units of the fleet since Sey-Wuun must be considered as lost."

"Destination?"

"Weelie-Wee and Feejnee," the Whistler answered. "One is sent to Weelie-Wee to bring back wheat and the other one to Feejnee to check up if your fleet has occupied a base on that planet."

Chellish was taken aback. He quickly figured out that a Whistler ship would need about 80 Peep-days under the present circumstances to reach Weelie-Wee, alias Grautier. The Fair Lady covered the same distance in a few hours. If they left Heeninniy 75 days after the start of the Whistler ship, they would still come in time to prevent its landing on Grautier and any harm the colonial city of Greenwich might befall.

75 days! This sounded very good. But he doubted nevertheless that the time would be enough to instil such formidable long-lasting fear and awe of the legendary world of Aurigel in the Whistlers that Grautier could stop worrying about future aggressions.

"Of course our fleet has a base on Feejnee," Chellish stated as casually as possible in order to hide his concern. "And if I were Iiy-Juur-Eelie I wouldn’t send any warships over there. Our forces exercise the greatest vigilance when it comes to safety."

"I believe that his Excellency has already been warned about this," the Whistler admitted. "However he doesn’t tolerate any questioning of his orders. His subordinates have no choice except to risk the flight although they’ve no hope of every returning. They’ll either be shot down by your side or the expedition will fail because our ships are not designed to undertake such far trips and have never been tested for it."

Chellish concluded from this information that the Whistlers would have no warship left that was able to travel in space if he succeeded in torpedoing the vessel on its way to Grautier. "Anything else?" he inquired.

"Yes. I’ve heard that you’ve decided to go on a flight around Heeninniy. The plane which you’ll use has been fixed so that it’ll go down in the Eenee Desert. Your lives will be spared but you’ll be forced to cross the desert on foot. It’ll take you at least 10 days to get back to a civilized region. The radio transceiver of the plane has been rigged so that it’ll be demolished when you have to make an emergency landing."

Chellish nodded. It was just about what he had expected. "Did they already choose a route for the flight?"

"No. This will be left up to you. However the pilot has instructions to fly over the Eenee Desert at the first opportunity he gets."

Chellish asked his escort for a description of the Eenee Desert and its location and he got a picture which resembled the topographic features of the Gobi Desert on Earth.

Finally they discussed the rough outline of Chellish’s plans which he had developed to aid the partisans. "The most important problem," he declared, "will be to prevent the armed forces from taking the side of Iiy-Juur-Eelie if it comes to an open revolution. This requires subversive work and it’ll take money, plenty of it. How are you fixed for money?"

"We’re poor," the agent answered quickly. "The lack of funds has always been our biggest trouble. Iiy-Juur-Eelie knows what he’s doing. He has won the friendship of the rich and the nobility by granting them privileges. There’s hardly a wealthy man among our supporters."

"That’s what I thought. We’ll have to do something about that. We’re willing to give you a part of the money Iiy-Juur-Eelie has put at our disposal but it won’t amount to more than about 20,000 Diijeeh."

The eyes of the Whistler widened when he heard the sum. It was probably more than the partisans had ever seen in one lump.

"Of course this won’t be enough," Chellish continued the conversation. "I believe we’ve got a few things aboard our ship which you should be able to sell and convert into cash. Instruments and chemicals which probably are new to Heeninniy. I’d roughly estimate that you should be able to get about 500,000 Diijeeh for the stuff, perhaps even more. This should be enough to get you started. It would be best to invest the money some place where it will earn you interest."

The Whistler was dumbfounded and Chellish pursued his ideas further. "It would be helpful if you could take advantage of the accident on our flight to launch a propaganda campaign against Iiy-Juur-Eelie. Perhaps you can spread the news that the posters—which you probably have already seen—were put up by the hirelings of Iiy-Juur-Eelie in order to foment a belligerent mood among the people. You can reveal his hostile intentions against the people of Aurigel. Try to arouse a big clamour against his provocation when he caused our plane to crash."

The Whistler was deeply impressed. Chellish had a feeling that the insurgents, though imbued by the best intentions, were dilettantes who didn’t know the art of preparing a revolution.

Meanwhile the aircushion car had come to the inner city. Chellish had to pay more attention to his driving and the conversation expired.

There seemed to be an accident at a street intersection. A number of vehicles were caught in a traffic jam and when Chellish tried to go around them a big van drove up from the side and wedged him in so that he was unable to move forward or backward.

His escort rolled down the window and looked outside. A few uniformed men stood around a wrecked vehicle and discussed the accident. Crowds of pedestrians and onlookers coming from the surrounding apartment towers observed the scene.

The van in front of Chellish’s car made no effort to move. Chellish got out and saw why. A Whistler, either unconscious or dead, lay on the ground next to the wreck and if the van had gone on, the whirling stream of compressed air under the vehicle would have severely maimed the victim further.

One of the uniformed men recognized Chellish. He came over and said the obvious: "There’s been an accident."

"So I see," Chellish replied. "Don’t worry about us. We can wait till everything is cleared up."

"Oh no," the Whistler answered after the translator had transmitted Chellish’s words. "We’ve got a car back there which can move freely. You won’t have to wait if you want to take it."

Chellish agreed. Mullon and the escort left the car. The police car was parked at the curb far enough back to let it turn around and drive off on the other side of the street.

Mullon and the agent got into the car and when Chellish opened the door on the other side to get behind the wheel he heard Mullon cry out in surprise. Chellish turned around and saw 3 uniformed Whistlers sitting on the back seat. They had taken Mullon and their friend between them.

They must have been hiding behind the seat, Mullon thought, and he suddenly realized that they had walked into a trap.

The 3 policemen held their ultrasonic weapons ready to shoot. "Drive back to the palace of His Excellency!" one of them ordered. "Don’t try to do anything foolish. We know that you’re dangerous and we won’t take any chances."

Chellish wanted to protest but then he thought that it was probably useless. They must have had compelling reasons for the arrest and the longer he thought about it the more he became convinced that he knew what it was; there must have been a listening bug in the vehicle they had used before.

How stupid that he didn’t think of it sooner! He should have known that it wasn’t enough to check only the first vehicle they got after their landing on Heeninniy.

With resignation Chellish started the car, turned around and drove to the palace.

He and Mullon were put in a narrow windowless cell which contained no furniture. The cell was located in one of the towers which were part of Iiy-Juur-Eelie’s palace. It was far away from the residential tower where Chellish and his companions had been housed as privileged guests of His Excellency.

The incarceration took place without any formalities. Their weapons were taken away and there was nothing they could do to prevent it. Their jailers refused to answer their questions about O’Bannon, Milligan and their other friends. Nor were they told what would happen to themselves.

The cell received a little light from a fixture which was built high up in between the wall and the ceiling.

"Fine pickle we’re in," Mullon muttered, just to be saying something. "We really stepped into this one."

"You can say that again," Chellish said gloomily. "I just wonder where Iiy-Juur-Eelie wants to go from here. He must be miserably scared that our fleet will zoom in on Heeninniy in a few hours or days and make it hot as hell for him."

"Not necessarily," Mullon contradicted. "After all he has caught us in the act of high treason or whatever they call it."

"That may be a sufficient reason in the eyes of their people but not for us," Chellish insisted. "If it were indeed the case that our warships were lurking in the background to retaliate against him, they would hardly wait till Iiy-Juur-Eelie submits all the justification and proof for his action."

Chellish glanced around to see if he could detect any listening bugs but he was unable to find one in the bare room. "Iiy-Juur-Eelie must expect to get some advantage from our arrest," Chellish concluded. "However the way the situation appears to me, it’ll be a long time before we find out what he’s got up his sleeve."

"I feel sorry for our escort," Mullon changed the subject. "They’ll probably make short shrift of the poor devil."

"I wouldn’t be too sure about that. The conspirators have more than one man in the Secret Service. Maybe another one can help him fly the coop."

Mullon stared at the ceiling and mumbled: "Maybe!"

 

* * * *

 

Fij-Gul finally gave Wee-Nii his report. Wee-Nii listened with great interest but when Fij-Gul came to the point of drawing some conclusions from his observations, the Presidential Chamberlain issued instructions to occupy the vessel of the aliens with at least 200 men.

He gave no further explanation for the order. Wee-Nii was aghast, wondering what made Iiy-Juur-Eelie so bold as to seize the foreign ship in broad daylight and to violate all the rules of diplomacy which would entail dire consequences.

Wee-Nii tried to learn from the Presidential Chambers what had happened in the meantime but they pretended to know nothing. Therefore Wee-Nii passed on the order to Fij-Gul, giving him the feeling for the 2nd time in a short span of time that he was stuck with all the disagreeable jobs.

Fij-Gul summoned the airport guard company and marched with it to the alien ship which stood calm and mighty on its landing pad. He peered with suspicion and anxiety at the many hatches in the hull, expecting them to open up and spew out a consuming fire or a hail of bullets.

However nothing stirred. When Fij-Gul and his soldiers had approached the vessel within 100 meters, an aircushion car roared in from the edge of the landing field. 2 officers alighted and Fij-Gul recognized them as the technicians whose job it was to open the airlock of the foreign spaceship.

 

* * * *

 

"To be honest," Sheldrake growled, "there are too many of them. Look at them! There are at least 200 men and I don’t see any of our people among them."

Krahl and Loewy stared apprehensively at the observation screen. They saw the aircushion car glide in over the field and stop 100 meters from the Fair Lady. Two men got out and walked toward the ship.

"These are the break-in specialists," Sheldrake commented. "They’re trained to open all types of airlocks."

Loewy pointed to the picture panel. "What are we going to do about the others? Shall we let ’em all in?"

"I don’t want to commit suicide," Sheldrake grunted, getting into the pilot seat. "Something must have happened to Chellish and the others or the Whistlers wouldn’t dare to send out the guards against us. We’re on our own and have to use our own judgment. Perhaps it would be good to have 2 hostages."

Sheldrake pushed a number of switches and listened with satisfaction to the deep hum which came from the belly of the ship.

Meanwhile the 2 technicians had reached the airlock and had disappeared from the picture under the curvature of the hull. A few moments later an alarm buzzer warned that the outer airlock hatch had been opened.

The company of Whistlers with the officer leading them now had come within 80 meters of the spacecraft. Sheldrake watched them with a scornful grin and after they had advanced another 20 meters, he slammed down a lever on the panel above the pilot console.

The hum in the ship’s belly swelled and outside—

 

* * * *

 

Fij-Gul saw the airlock open up after the technicians had manipulated something at the outer wall of the ship. He noticed that the airlock was empty and felt relieved. Among the many contradictory thoughts which churned in his mind during the last few minutes he wanted to cling to the one that Iiy-Juur-Eelie—although stern and abrasive—was certainly no fool and he wouldn’t be so rash as to embark on any irrational or irresponsible action. Iiy-Juur-Eelie must know what he was doing.

This feeling made little sense but it reassured Fij-Gul nonetheless and he led his men with new confidence toward the ship.

Suddenly it seemed to him as if the air had begun to flicker in front of his eyes. He blamed his tenseness for the impression and wiped his eyes as he kept up his pace. Then he bumped into an obstacle. As he had marched very fast, he was thrown back by the impact. He staggered and fell to the ground. A few soldiers rushed to his side and helped him to get back on his feet. He could see in their faces that they were just as flabbergasted by the incident as he himself.

Incredulously and with outstretched arms he approached the spot where he had been so abruptly stopped for a 2nd time. There was nothing to be seen except the ship about 50 meters away. The air was clear although it still flickered in a peculiar way.

He flinched as his hands touched an invisible obstacle. He uttered a cry and dropped his arms as if he had suffered an electric shock. He quickly raised his hands again to touch what was in the air before him.

Meanwhile the guard company had broken its ranks. The soldiers crowded around him, curious and incredulous, ran into the invisible wall, screamed and fell back.

Fij-Gul found to his amazement that he was unable to grasp the ephemeral object with his fingers. There was something in the middle of the air, a strange, invisible object which blocked his way. Yet his fingers found nothing but air. It was not a material substance which could be touched.

Fij-Gul slowly regained his cold reasoning. He was an officer and a highly trained man. It seemed plausible to him that the aliens mastered a force which could erect a protective field around their ship so that they could deny access to anyone and anything they wanted to keep out.

There was nothing miraculous about it. Such experiments had already been begun on Heeninniy although they had so far not met with success.

By this time the technicians who had waited at the airlock had noticed that something was awry. When Fij-Gul waved to them they came over. Fij-Gul shouted that an invisible weapon existed in the air between them and heard their reply: "You don’t make sense!"

As Fij-Gul noted, the protective screen presented no bar to sound waves. The technicians kept walking toward Fij-Gul with their belief unshaken. They suddenly were stopped in their tracks as if struck by lightning. Reeling back they tumbled to the ground.

Fij-Gul grimaced. "I warned you," he called out to them. "Looks like you’re caught in a trap."

He tamed to his soldiers and instructed them to walk around the ship and investigate if they could find a gap in the invisible wall. His order was only reluctantly obeyed. The soldiers were deadly afraid of the inexplicable phenomenon.

The two technicians repeated the attempts Fij-Gul had made to discover something about the nature of the barrier but they had no more success than he.

"Perhaps it would be better if you looked around in the ship to see if you can deactivate the field," Fij-Gul finally suggested.

"The ship is probably swarming with the aliens and you want us to go in there?"

Fij-Gul reminded them of his rank. "Of course you! It’s plain to see that we can’t do it. Besides, we know that the ship is empty. The field has probably been switched on automatically."

He didn’t believe his own words since he had not experienced such a block on his mission the first night he penetrated into the spaceship.

The technicians walked glumly back to the airlock under the watchful eyes of Fij-Gul who saw them draw their weapons and climb into the hatch. Then he lost sight of them in the darkness of the airlock chamber.

The soldiers he had sent to circle the ship returned from the other side. Their eyes were full of horror but they had followed his orders and determined that the barrier showed no gap in its periphery.

They were shut out and if the technicians didn’t succeed in finding the mechanism which controlled the field, they would forever remain outside.

Forever? Fij-Gul suddenly remembered his earlier observation that sound waves were able to penetrate the field.

They could bombard the ship with sonicannons!

However the question was: of what use would be a demolished ship?

Fij-Gul posted the guard company around the ship and put a sergeant in charge of the company. Then he returned to Wee-Nii to submit his report.

 

* * * *

 

Chellish pulled at the strap which bound him to the strange chair—not because he hoped to free himself in this manner but only to be doing something.

They had taken him out of his cell and brought him into this bare room whose only equipment consisted of a dim light, a few switch panels and this chair. The chair was fitted with levers, buttons and contacts which made it easy to guess that it was one of those instruments used in modem times instead of red-hot tongs and iron maidens to pry secrets from recalcitrant prisoners.

There were two Whistlers in the room besides Chellish. One was Gii-Yeep whom Chellish had already seen once before and whom he remembered because he had a distinctive sear across his left cheek. He didn’t know the other one.

Gii-Yeep carried a translator on a strap around his neck. He planted himself in front of Chellish and said: "We’re going to ask you a few questions and I hope you’re smart enough to answer them at once."

Chellish stared into his face and didn’t utter a word.

Gii-Yeep continued: "What type of forcefield surrounds your ship like an invisible wall?"

Chellish sighed with relief. Sheldrake and his two boys had been on the ball. The Fair Lady was protected and all the cannons and bombs of the Whistlers couldn’t smash through the defence screen and damage their precious ship.

He gave no inkling of the relief he felt and continued to stare at Gii-Yeep without answering his question.

The other Whistler disappeared from his view and after a certain time had elapsed since Gii-Yeep’s first question he heard the click of a switch and simultaneously felt an electric shock which brought tears of pain and anger to his eyes.

However he kept silent. Gii-Yeep asked his question a 2nd time and when he failed to elicit the desired result the other Whistler sent a sustained current with prolonged shocks through his entire body.

It wasn’t so bad, Chellish thought; the pain was much worse the first time.

"What are you waiting for?" Gii-Yeep asked irately when he saw that his method brought no results.

"I’m waiting for your explanation," Chellish said condescendingly. "I want to know why you keep me here, where my companions are and what you want to do with us. Didn’t it occur to you idiots that our fleet will show up in a few hours with 500 ships to turn all of Heeninniy into a heap of ashes? First answer these questions and then I’ll see if I can answer yours."

Gii-Yeep gave no sign of intimidation and he replied calmly: "You’re here because you’ve committed high treason and your companions are also under arrest. I tell you this only to show you that your stubborn attitude is not going to help you a bit. We don’t have to question you. I’m sure that one of your friends will be easier persuaded to give us the information we want. I can’t tell you what will happen to you after the interrogation because I’ve got nothing to do with that. And as far as your fleet is concerned, let us worry about it. We know how to defend ourselves."

None of this was news to Chellish. He had used the time to collect his thoughts. An idea occurred to him which fascinated him more and more. Would he be able to deceive a man like Gii-Yeep and the scientists of the Whistlers?

"Are you ready to answer my question?" Gii-Yeep insisted. "What kind of a forcefield did you set up around your ship?"

Chellish hesitated. The second Whistler had lost his patience and dealt another severe electric shock to Chellish who writhed in pain and screamed: "Stop it! Wait a minute! It’s an antigravity field."

"Explain it to me!"

"The kinetic energy of an object which is about to penetrate the field will be absorbed instantly upon touching it."

"How do you produce such a field and how do you eliminate it?"

Chellish hesitated again. This time his whole body was electrified again which he found somewhat more tolerable than the discharge through his larynx.

"Good grief!" he groaned. "Do you want me to explain all the technology involved in an artificial field of gravitation?"

Gii-Yeep made an affirmative gesture. "That’s the least you must do. The man at the switch panel is our best expert. He’ll take notes of what you tell us."

"Do you want to build an antigrav aggregate?" Chellish inquired.

"That’s none of your business," Gii-Yeep rebutted sharply.

"Oh yes it is. I must know what sources of energy you have available. A single antigrav-field uses more energy than a big city."

Gii-Yeep glanced at the Whistler at the switch panel. "Can this be correct?" he asked him.

Apparently the technician made a confirming gesture because Gii-Yeep turned again to his prisoner. "We produce energy with atomic fission reactors," he enlightened Chellish. "We also have a few experimental reactors in operation which use the atomic fusion process but they’re not very efficient up to now."

Chellish pointed out: "Assuming that you want to create a field which would counterbalance our protective shield you would need an output of 10 billion megawatts. Can you generate that much?"

Gii-Yeep retorted with a derisive expression: "If you think that we’ll be cowed by big figures, you’ve got another think coming. If we find that you’re giving us the correct advice, we’ll make the 10 billion megawatts available."

"Well," Chellish sighed, "but you don’t have the equipment to generate such a field."

"That’s where you come in!"

"No!" Chellish called out emphatically and almost at the same moment he yelled in torment because the technician turned on the voltage to go through his throat and his body together.

"You’re going to help us with the project," Gii-Yeep declared.

"No!" Chellish screamed full of anger. "Never!"

This time the two discharges caused him to lose consciousness for a few seconds. When he regained his senses a storm raged in his head.

However he was undaunted. He was not yet willing to give in. They had to repeat the torture 4 more times and after fainting for the 5th time, he stammered: "Alright… I’ll tell you everything… but give me… something to drink!"

 

* * * *

 

Iiy-Juur-Eelie’s plan had been born on the spur of the moment but when His Excellency later re-examined it, it seemed to him to be without a flaw and very promising.

He had ordered the installation of the listening device in the vehicles of his guests not because he suspected them of any wrongdoing. An automobile seemed to be a good place to put in a bug. He didn’t expect the strangers to search the cars as thoroughly as their rooms and it was possible that his visitors would discuss some matters on their trips which were important to him and which he could not hope to learn in any other way.

It was a pure accident that he had discovered on the first trip after placing the secret microphones in their cars that the aliens conspired with the insurgents. It was this accident which caused Iiy-Juur-Eelie to devise his far-reaching plans on the spot which—to his mind—were conceived with cleverness.

Naturally he feared the fleet of the aliens but he refused to believe that they would attack and destroy Heeninniy without warning. After all he held 10 prisoners as hostages and, moreover, he could prove that they had violated the rules of diplomacy by collaborating with the illegal opposition and contributing to the overthrow of his regime. These were reasons whose validity the foreign fleet, if it came to Heeninniy, could not deny. Nevertheless he would be forced to surrender the prisoners and the relations between Heeninniy and Aurigel would be tense right from the beginning.

But in the meantime the aliens could be interrogated. Gii-Yeep was just the man to make them talk and to get the needed answers in a hurry.

Unfortunately his first strike against the ship after the arrest of the aliens had ended in failure. Fij-Gul had been unable to occupy the vessel with his soldiers and the two technicians who entered the ship had apparently disappeared for good. After this incident nobody could say with certainty if the ship was empty and the protective shield functioned automatically or if the aliens had left hidden guards on the ship. In the latter case one would have to assume that they all had fallen asleep on the job when Fij-Gul went aboard the first time and if this was true the danger would be greater now.

There was also another matter which bothered His Excellency. That morning a signal had been intercepted which had been transmitted from the airport of the capital. It was a very strong electromagnetic radio signal and it seemed to be beamed in the same direction as the mysterious radio message which had been sent from the alien ship to Feejnee two days ago. However this time it was not a full message but only a single signal. Gii-Yeep’s radio technicians stood ready to track down the transmitter as soon as it repeated the signal a 2nd time. The matter was very baffling as the radio technicians considered it impossible that the signal could have been beamed from the ship itself. But then, who else could have done it? Had the insurgents already taken a hand in the game? Had they taken over the job of warning the alien fleet on Feejnee now that his prisoners were unable to do it themselves?

And of all aggravating things, those obnoxious rebels! Iiy-Juur-Eelie had almost become apoplectic when he learned that one of his Secret Service agents belonged to the insurgents. He immediately demanded a rigorous investigation of all members of the Secret Service. But this was not the most important problem at the moment. The interrogation of the prisoners took precedence.

The insurrectionist caught red-handed was also in jail and awaited the verdict of a special tribunal.

The President-King had dispatched a spaceship under Capt. Niij-Seem’s command to Feejnee. Niij-Seem was a man on whom His Excellency could depend. He had been given instructions for various contingencies and he would carry them out to the letter—if he could reach Feejnee unmolested which Wee-Nii, for instance, found hard to believe.

Iiy-Juur-Eelie now regretted that he had been too hasty in granting permission to Admiral Wee-Nii for sending another—his last—spaceship to Weelie-Wee. Niij-Seem or the Defence Forces of the planet could have made much better use of a second warship and in case of emergency the necessary food rations for the fleet could have been provided without the grain shipment from Weelie-Wee, although it would require stricter rationing for the whole planet.

However, while Iiy-Juur-Eelie kept pondering a decision to revoke his permission, the spaceship, which had taken off for Weelie-Wee under the command of Capt. See-Kee, moved out of the radio range of the territorial stations and could no longer be contacted.

Iiy-Juur-Eelie hoped that See-Kee was a more capable commander than Sey-Wuun of whom nothing more had been heard. Man and ship would have to be written off as lost if they didn’t return in the next 100 days. Iiy-Juur-Eelie resolved to take a good look at Weelie-Wee and its strange inhabitants as soon as the altercation with Aurigel was over. If it turned out that the people of Weelie-Wee were responsible for the loss of his ship, they would have to pay dearly for it, he vowed.

His Excellency reflected on his strategy, sitting in his study, a spacious hall high up in the tower which formed the front end of the wedge-shaped tower complex. From here he had an excellent view over the whole palace as well as over a good part of the city. It was the nerve centre of his communications with his highest officials, the governors, generals and admirals of Heeninniy, with whom he kept in constant touch.

Here he also received the news that the prisoner who called himself something like Tschee-Liisch had begun to make a confession, or rather that he explained to the expert Wiir-Nee how the protective screen around their ship had been produced and how it could be made inactive.

Here he further received the information shortly thereafter that the imprisoned partisan had escaped from his cell and disappeared without a trace.

Iiy-Juur-Eelie was outraged and he swore that the guilty would be severely punished. However he was far less concerned about the escape at the moment than the grilling of the prisoner Tschee-Liisch. If Wiir-Nee didn’t botch his job, he could make his victim divulge his secrets and they might be able to begin the construction of the field generators the report mentioned in a few hours.

 

* * * *

 

Chellish went over in his mind again what he had said and concluded that his statements had been astute. It wasn’t easy to give a well-trained specialist instructions for the building of equipment and to convince him that it would enable him to produce artificial gravitation fields—whereas Chellish had not the slightest intention of surrendering so cheaply one of the most important secrets of Terra’s technology.

Chellish had described an apparatus with details that presumably promised to deliver what they expected. He had done it in such a circumspect way that a technician who had never worked with artificial gravitation fields before would be unable to find fault with it.

Nevertheless there was a catch. It was so tiny as to be unnoticeable to the Whistlers and yet it would insure at the decisive moment that they would fail to reap the fruits of their success.

Chellish had been given some food after his ordeal and put back into his cell. Wiir-Nee, who now almost seemed to consider him a colleague, had held out the prospect that they would begin the construction of the antigrav-aggregate as soon as possible and would probably have to consult him again. Chellish, pretending to feel contrite, gave him to understand that he would be at his disposal.

During his absence Mullon had spent a few agonizing hours. He had guessed that Chellish would be questioned but his fears had been based on erroneous conjectures.

"No," Chellish explained, "they didn’t want to know what it looks like on Aurigel and I didn’t tell them that we’re really from Grautier. Instead I have described in detail how an antigrav machine functions so that they can nullify the effect of the protective shield Sheldrake has put around the Fair Lady and force their way into the ship."

Mullon stared at him, thunderstruck. "You betrayed that to them?" he gasped.

"Of course, they had their methods to make me talk."

Staggering back to the wall Mullon groaned: "But… please! Of course it would be asking too much for you to stand up to the methods of the Secret Service without opening your mouth!"

Chellish smiled. "Take it easy! I opened my big mouth alright; but the Whistlers won’t get much satisfaction from the thing I described to them."

Mullon was dumbfounded and wanted to ask something but at this moment the cell door was opened. A Whistler in uniform came in and said: "I hope we’re going to have a pleasant trip!"

Chellish was so occupied with his thoughts that he was puzzled for a few seconds by the odd greeting. Finally he grasped its meaning and said breathlessly: "You… You… you’re one of the guerrillas?"

"Quite right," was the reply. "And I want to help you to get out of here."

Chellish quickly regained his calmness. "I wouldn’t know what help I’d appreciate more," he said coolly. "But where shall we go and what will happen to our other men?"

The Whistler had it all figured out. "I’ll be in charge of this cell block for the next 2 hours. This ought to be enough time to set your friends free. We can hide in the cellar of the tower until it gets dark. Then a few of our supporters will come to lead us out."

"Us?" Chellish asked in surprise. "Do you want to leave together with us?"

"Of course, I’ve got to. They’ll find out that I was the one who let you escape."

"Fine, let’s go. Are all our men held in this same block?"

"Yes. In the adjoining cells."

Mullon still stood motionlessly at the rear wall of the cell. He looked like a man who couldn’t believe his luck and was too slow in reacting to the sudden change of his situation. Chellish had to push him out of the cell.

In the corridor the Whistler hastily whispered further information. In his opinion it would be almost impossible to get back the weapons which had been taken away from them. The Secret Service kept them in a safe to which only Gii-Yeep and a few members of his inner circle had access.

But the partisan—whose name was Luun-Syr—believed that he could get hold of four or more ultrasonic pistols in addition to his own and this was more than Chellish could have dreamed.

The high and narrow corridor was quiet and dimly lit. The doors to the prison cells were located at equal spaces of 3 meters at the right side of the corridor and the opposite wall was even and smooth.

Luun-Syr opened the adjacent cell with some kind of a rod which, so he said, possessed a mysterious magnetic force that alone could unlock the complicated mechanism of the doors. Chellish assumed that it was an electronic impulse device to which the door locks were attuned.

As the door slid aside they saw O’Bannon and Milligan sitting on the floor facing each other and playing a game in which the right arm was moved around while the fingers formed figures that had to be guessed by the other player before he could stop the arm. It was a simple game which apparently had been invented by O’Bannon to demonstrate to the Whistlers whenever they entered their cell that they could go to hell.

"Cut it out, you jokers!" Chellish muttered impolitely. "Is this the best you can think of?"

O’Bannon jumped up. "Chellish…!" he exclaimed. "Mullon! Is everything in order?"

"If you keep shouting like this," Chellish hissed, "nothing will be in order. This good man Luun-Syr will help us to break out. We’ll have to be nice and quiet; so watch it! Come on, we want to get the others."

Chellish had to pass out more admonishments till everybody was freed. Their joy was greater than their caution. Each time two other cellmates realized that their confinement was over, they cried out with enthusiasm.

Luun-Syr prudently locked the cell doors again so that their flight would not be discovered prematurely. Then Chellish sent him to the guardroom to secure the ultrasonic pistols.

In the meantime Chellish and his men put their heads together.

"Luun-Syr suggested that we hide in the cellar until it get dark," Chellish explained. "Then the partisans will come to rescue us. I don’t think it’s a very good idea because they’ll search the entire building as soon as they discover that we’re missing and this will include the cellar too. We don’t stand much of a chance against the whole Secret Service. But there is a place where they won’t look for us: the floor where the ruler himself lives. Of course there’ll be a lot of guards all over the place but if we can get there before they find out that we’ve vanished from the prison it’s a good bet that we can overwhelm the guards… and perhaps even seize the big pinhead himself."

Some of the men considered it an excellent plan but others were afraid that it was too bold. Among the latter was O’Bannon who grumbled: "Why don’t we try to break out at once and reach the Fair Lady. If we manage to get aboard they can’t do a thing to us."

Chellish responded grimly: "Wonderful! And how do you propose we can do it? The Whistlers have surrounded the ship with guards. The Secret Service has taken all our equipment away from us. We can’t even send a simple signal to the Fair Lady. No, buddy, it’s not a good idea."

O’Bannon had to admit that Chellish’s arguments were right and they soon agreed to proceed according to Chellish’s plan.

Then Luun-Syr returned, loaded with 6 ultrasonic pistols. Chellish distributed the weapons and told the Whistler about his plan. Luun-Syr reacted similarly to O’Bannon. At first he voiced objections but he was quickly convinced that there was no better approach.

"Very good," Chellish concluded with satisfaction, "then let’s get started right away. Which is the best way to go to the main tower?"

Luun-Syr pointed along the corridor. "Down there are the elevator shafts," he explained. "We can take one of the elevators and go up to the bridges. If we find one with little traffic we can be in the main tower in half an hour."

Chellish agreed and turned to his men. "We’ve got 6 pistols now and they should be enough to reach our goal if we’re careful and have a little luck."

With these words Chellish marched his little band forward.