Red Planet (16 page)

Part way up they were forced to adjust their masks. Ten minutes or so thereafter they reached a room into which the sunlight came flooding; they hurried through it and outdoors.

A moment later it was Frank's turn to be puzzled and uncertain. ‘Jim, I know I was light-headed at the time but wasn't, uh—wasn't that town we started from just a one-tower burg?’

'It was.’

'This one isn't.’

'No, it isn't.’

'We're lost.’

'That's right.’

They were in a large enclosed courtyard, such as characterizes many Martian buildings. They could make out the tops of the towers of the city, or some of them, but their view was much restricted.

'What do you think we ought to do?’ asked Frank.

'Mmm ... try to find a native and see if we can find out where we've landed. I wish I hadn't let the old fellow get away from us,’ Jim added. ‘He spoke Basic.’

'You still harping on that?’ said Frank. ‘Anyway I don't think our chances are good; this place looks utterly deserted. You know what I think? I think they've just dumped us.’

'I think they've just dumped us,’ agreed Willis.

'Shut up. They wouldn't do that,’ Jim went on to Frank in worried tones. He moved around and stared over the roof of the building. ‘Say, Frank —’

'Yes?’

'You see those three little towers, just alike? You can just make out their tips.’

'Well? What about them?’

'I think I've seen them before.’

'Say, I think I have, too!’

They began to run. Five minutes later they were standing on the city wall and there was no longer any doubt about it; they were in the deserted part of Charax. Below them and about three miles away were the bubble domes of South Colony.

Forty minutes of brisk walking, varied with dog-trotting, got them home.

They split up and went directly to their respective homes. ‘See you later!’ Jim called to Frank and hurried away to his father's house. It seemed to take forever for the pressure lock to let him through. Before the pressure had equalized he could hear his mother, echoed by his sister, inquiring via the announcing speaker as to who was at the door, please?—he decided not to answer but to surprise them.

Then he was inside, facing Phyllis whose face was frozen in amazement—only to throw herself around his neck while shouting, ‘Mother! Mother! Mother! It's Jim! It's Jim!’ and Willis was bouncing around the floor and chorusing ‘It's Jim! It's Jim!’ and his mother was crowding Phyl aside and hugging him and getting his face wet with her tears and Jim himself wasn't feeling any too steady.

He managed to push them away presently. His mother stood back a little and said, ‘Just let me look at you, darling. Oh, my poor baby! Are you all right?’ She was ready to weep again.

'Sure, I'm all right,’ Jim protested. ‘Why shouldn't I be? Say, is Dad home?’

Mrs Marlowe looked suddenly apprehensive. ‘No, Jim, he's at work.’

'I've got to see him right away. Say, Mom, what are you looking funny about?’

'Why, because—Uh, nothing. I'll call your father right away.’ She went to the phone and called the ecological laboratory. He could hear her guarded tones: ‘Mr Marlowe? Dear, this is Jane. Could you come home right away?’ and his father's reply, ‘It wouldn't be convenient. What's up? You sound strange.’

His mother glanced over her shoulder at Jim. ‘Are you alone? Can I be overheard?’ His father answered, ‘What's the matter? Tell me.’ His mother replied, almost in a whisper, ‘He's home.’

There was a short silence. His father answered, ‘I'll be there right away.’

In the meantime Phyllis was grilling Jim. ‘Say, Jimmy, what in the world have you been doing?’

Jim started to answer, thought better of it. ‘Kid, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.’

'I don't doubt that. But what
have
you been doing? You've sure got folks in a stew.’

'Never mind. Say, what day is it?’

'Saturday.’

'Saturday the what?’

'Saturday the fourteenth of Ceres, of course.’

Jim was startled. Four days? Only four days since he had left Syrtis Minor? Then as he reviewed it in his mind, he accepted it. Granting Frank's assertion that the time he had spent down under Cynia was only three hours or so, the rest added up. ‘Gee! I guess I'm in time then.’

'What do you mean, in time?’

'Huh? Oh, you wouldn't understand it. Wait a few years.’

'Smarty!’

Mrs Marlowe came away from the phone. ‘Your father will be right home, Jim.’

'So I heard. Good.’

She looked at him. ‘Are you hungry? Is there anything you would like?’

'Sure, fatted calf and champagne. I'm not really hungry, but I could stand something. How about some cocoa? I've been living on cold stuff out of cans for days.’

'Cocoa there shall be.’

'Better eat what you can now,’ put in Phyllis. ‘Maybe you won't get what you want to eat when —’

'Phyllis!’

'But, Mother, I was just going to say that —’

'Phyllis—keep quiet or leave the room.’

Jim's sister subsided with muttering. Shortly the cocoa was ready and while Jim was drinking it his father came in. His father shook hands with him soberly as if he were a grown man. ‘It's good to see you home, Son.’

'It feels mighty good to be home, Dad.’ Jim gulped the rest of the cocoa. ‘But look, Dad, I've got a lot to tell you and there isn't any time to waste. Where's Willis?’ He looked around. ‘Anybody see where he went?’

'Never mind Willis. I want to know —’

'But Willis is essential to this, Dad. Oh, Willis! Come here!’ Willis came waddling out of the passageway; Jim picked him up.

'All right; you've got Willis,’ Mr Marlowe said. ‘Now pay attention. What is this mess you are in, Son?’

Jim frowned. ‘It's a little hard to know where to start.’

'There's a warrant out for you and Frank!’ blurted out Phyllis.

Mr Marlowe said, ‘Jane, will you please try to keep your daughter quiet?’

'Phyllis, you heard what I said before!’

'Aw, Mother, everybody knows it!’

'Possibly Jim did not know it.’

Jim said, ‘Oh, I guess I did. They had cops chasing us all the way home.’

'Frank came with you?’ asked his father.

'Oh, sure! But we gave ‘em the slip. Those Company cops are stupid.’

Mr Marlowe frowned. ‘See here, Jim—I'm going to call up the Resident and tell him you are here. But I'm not going to let you surrender until something a lot more definite is shown to me than I have seen so far, and certainly not until we've had your side of the matter. When you do surrender, Dad will go along with you and stick by you.’

Jim sat up straight. ‘Surrender? What are you talking about, Dad?’

His father suddenly looked very old and tired. ‘Marlowes don't run away from the law, Son. You know I'll stick by you no matter what you've done. But you've got to face up to it.’

Jim looked at his father defiantly. ‘Dad, if you think Frank and I have beaten our way across better than two thousand miles of Mars just to give up when we get here—well, you've just got another think coming. And anybody that tries to arrest me is going to find it a hard job.’ Phyllis was listening round-eyed; his mother was quietly dripping tears.

His father said, ‘Son, you can't take that attitude.’

Jim said, ‘Can't I? Well, I do. Why don't you find out what the score is before you talk about giving me up?’ His voice was a bit shrill.

His father bit his lip. His mother said, ‘Please, James—why don't you wait and hear what he has to say?’

'Of course I want to hear what he has to say,’ Mr Marlowe answered irritably. ‘Didn't I say that? But I can't let my own son sit there and declare himself an outlaw.’

'Please, James!’

'Speak your piece, Son.’

Jim looked around. ‘I don't know as I'm so anxious to, now,’ he said bitterly. ‘This is a fine homecoming. You'd think I was a criminal or something.’

'I'm sorry, Jim,’ his father said slowly. ‘Let's keep first things first. Tell us what happened.’

'Well ... all right. But wait a minute—Phyllis said there was a warrant out for me. For what?’

'Well ... truancy—but that's not important. Actions to the prejudice of good order and discipline at the school and I myself don't know what they mean by that. It doesn't worry me. But the real charges are burglary and theft—and another one they tacked on a day later, escaping arrest.’

'Escaping arrest? That's silly! They never caught us.’

'So? How about the others?’

'Theft is silly, too. I didn't steal anything from
him
—Howe, I mean, Headmaster Howe—he stole Willis from
me
. And then he laughed at me when I tried to get him back! I'll theft him!’

'Go on with your story.’

'The burglary business has got something to it. I busted in to his office, or tried to. But he can't prove anything. I'd like to see him show how I could crawl through a ten-inch round hole. And we didn't leave any fingerprints.’ He added, ‘Anyhow, I had a right to. He had Willis locked up inside. Say, Dad, can't we swear out a warrant against Howe for stealing Willis? Why should he have it all his own way?’

'Wait a minute, now. You've got me confused. If you have a cause for action against the headmaster, I'll certainly back you up in it. But I want to get things straight. What hole? Did you cut a hole in the headmaster's door?’

'No, Willis did.’

'Willis! How can he cut anything?’

'Darned if I know. He just grew an arm with a sort of a claw on the end and cut his way out. I called to him and out he came.’

Mr Marlowe rubbed his forehead. ‘This gets more confusing all the time. How did you boys get here?’

'By subway. You see —’

'By subway!’

Jim looked thwarted. His mother put in, ‘James dear, I think perhaps he could tell his story better if we just let him tell it straight through, without interrupting.’

'I think you are right,’ Mr Marlowe agreed. ‘I'll reserve my questions. Phyllis, get me a pad and pencil.’

Thus facilitated, Jim started over and told a reasonably consecutive and complete story, from Howe's announcement of military-school inspections to their translation via Martian ‘subway’ from Cynia to Charax. When Jim had done, Mr Marlowe pulled his chin. ‘Jim, if you didn't have a life-time reputation for stubborn honesty, I'd think you were romancing. As it is, I have to believe it, but it is the most fantastic thing I ever heard.’

'You still think I ought to surrender?’

'Eh? No, no—this puts it in a different light. You leave it up to Dad. I'll call the Resident and —’

'Just a second, Dad.’

'Eh?’

'I didn't tell you all of it.’

'What? You must, Son, if I am to —’

'I didn't want to get my story fouled up with another issue entirely. I'll tell you, but I want to know something. Isn't the colony supposed to be on its way by now?’

'It was supposed to have been,’ agreed his father. ‘Migration would have started yesterday by the original schedule. But there has been a two weeks’ postponement.’

'That's not a postponement, Dad; that's a frame up. The Company isn't going to allow the colony to migrate this year. They mean to make us stay here all through the winter.’

'What? Why, that's ridiculous, Son; a polar winter is no place for terrestrials. But you are mistaken, it's just a postponement; the Company is revamping the power system at North Colony and is taking advantage of an unusually late winter to finish it before we get there.’

'I'm telling you, Dad, that's just a stall. The plan is to keep the colony here until it's too late and force you to stay here through the winter. I can prove it.’

'How?’

'Where's Willis?’ The bouncer had wandered off again, checking up on his domain.

'Never mind Willis. You've made an unbelievable charge. What makes you think such a thing? Speak up, Son.’

'But I've got to have Willis to prove it. Here, boy! Come to Jim.’ Jim gave a rapid summary of what he had learned through Willis's phonographic hearing, following which he tried to get Willis to perform.

Willis was glad to perform. He ran over almost all of the boys’ conversation of the past few days, repeated a great amount of Martian speech that was incomprehensible out of context, and sang
¿Quién es la Señorita?
But he could not, or would not, recall Beecher's conversation.

Jim was still coaxing him when the phone sounded. Mr Marlowe said, ‘Phyllis, answer that.’

She trotted back in a moment. ‘It's for you, Daddy.’

Jim shut Willis up; they could hear both ends of the conversation. ‘Marlowe? This is the Resident Agent. I hear that boy of yours has turned up.’

Jim's father glanced over his shoulder, hesitated. ‘Yes. He's here.’

'Well, keep him there. I'm sending a man over to pick him up.’

Mr Marlowe hesitated again. ‘That's not necessary, Mr Kruger. I'm not through talking with him. He won't go away.’

'Come, come, Marlowe—you can't interfere with orderly legal processes. I'm executing that warrant at once.’

'You are? You just think you are.’ Mr Marlowe started to add something, thought better of it, and switched off. The phone sounded again almost at once. ‘If that's the Resident,’ he said, ‘I won't speak to him. If I do, I'll say something I'll regret.’

But it was not; it was Frank's father. ‘Marlowe? Jamie, this is Pat Sutton.’ The conversation showed that each father had gotten about to the same point with his son.

'We were just about to try to get something out of Jim's bouncer,’ Mr Marlowe added. ‘It seems he overheard a pretty damning conversation.’

'Yes, I know,’ agreed Mr Sutton. ‘I want to hear it, too. Hold it till we get there.’

'Fine. Oh, by the way—friend Kruger is out to arrest the kids right away. Watch out.’

'How well I know it; he just called me. And I put a flea in his ear. ‘Bye now!’

Mr Marlowe switched off, then went to the front door and locked it. He did the same to the door to the tunnels. He was none too soon; the signal showing that someone had entered the pressure lock came on shortly. ‘Who is it?’ called out Jim's father.