Trapped in space (3 page)

"How do you mean?"

"They all belong to one great mind," she said. "Buzz has his own brain cells. So does each brother-sister. But the master mind of the multiple being links them all together. Look at Buzz."

She touched his thin blue arm, and the news man made a quick "signal for the camera to pick him up.

"His body is here with us, but his mind is linked to all his sister-brothers everywhere—most of them are still on the worlds of Opal, his home star. The links work faster

than X-space flight. Distance doesn't matter. The multiple mind can see and speak and act through any brother-sister."

The little alien purred at her and gave a solemn nod, as if it understood.

"Here's an example," she said. "Back on Earth, we were delayed by a space raid alert. The ferry was about to leave us. But Buzz has a sister-brother at the moon base. That sister-brother knew all about our trouble on Earth. He sent her his message and had the ferry held for us."

So that was it, Jeff thought. He began to realize that Buzz could be pretty useful.

The news man was saying, "Star Man Flor, will you tell us how you met Buzz?"

"Buzz is my own brother-sister," Lupe said. "I've known him all my life. You see, my father and mother were star men. They came from Puerto Rico, and they were on the first voyage to Opal—which is two thousand light-years beyond the North Star.

"Coming out of X-space flight, their ship hit a grain of dust. My father was the pilot. The ship was crippled and he was hurt. He lived just long enough to land on the nearest planet of Opal."

The news man looked at Lupe with sympathy.

"But I was lucky." Lupe's dark eyes shone. "The

planets of Opal belong to tlie multiple being. Buzz's bigger brother-sisters pulled my mother out of the wreck. She had been hurt terribly, but she lived until I was born.

"The multiple being took care of me. Buzz became my special brother-sister. He played with me and taught me and grew up with me. Finally his brother-sisters made a little X-space ship, patterned partly after the wreck of the old star ship, and Buzz came on it with me to look for my own people."

Smiling down at the little blue alien, she made a purring sound.

"And here we are!"

"Thank you, Lupe Flor," the news man said. "That's a wonderful story. Now there's one more thing I want to ask you."

"Yes?"

"This rescue flight will be dangerous," the news man said. "It calls for expert star men. Why do you think you and Buzz were picked?"

"In the first place," Lupe answered seriously, "there aren't many star pilots. Only a few men pass the entrance tests. Most of them wash out before they finish training. Those who finish make only three voyages on the average. So I didn't have that much competition.

"I do know why Buzz was picked."

Jeff listened carefully. This was what he had to know.

"He will be a kind of living telephone." Gently, Lupe was stroking his bright blue fur. "Our signals can't reach the distant stars, but Buzz will always be in instant touch with his sister-brother at the base on the moon."

"Is that important?"

"It will be important," Lupe said, "if we run into trouble. In the past, when a star ship was lost, nobody knew why. Too many rescue voyages have failed to come back because their crews repeated the same mistake. This time we can file a running report to the base on the moon. If we make mistakes, the admiral will know what they are. If we don't come back, the people in the next voyage will know what went wrong."

"That makes sense." The news man nodded. "In the long run, anyhow. Though I don't see how it can save your voyage. Or how it can help Ben Stone and his star men."

"Other ships will follow us," Lupe said. "If they can't come in time to help us, it is still our job to clear the way to new stars."

"I'm sure our viewers will want to know how a girl happened to be picked for this flight," the news man said. "You never really explained that."

"For one thing—" Lupe hesitated before going on. "Well, I'm pretty good at getting around in space, though

I don't use the human system. You see, Buzz's sister-brothers taught me a lot of their own sort of science while I was growing up on the worlds of Opal."

"Oh." The news man looked suq^rised.

"For another thing," Lupe said, "I guess it was known that Buzz needs me."

"Why is that?" the news man asked.

"Buzz can't speak human sounds, and most people can't understand him. Lots of people don't like him— I can't see why."

Buzz purred at her and gripped her finger with a small blue hand.

"We were separated in that space raid alert," she said. "People ran from Buzz, because he's a space alien. Their fear and hate hurt him terribly. He was nearly dead when Star Man Stone rescued him and helped him back into his cocoon."

She saw Jeff across the deck and smiled at him.

"We are both glad Star Man Stone will be with us on the rescue voyage."

The 3-D camera swung to Jeff.

"Now I have a question for all three of you," the news man said. He motioned for Jeff to stand with Lupe and Buzz.

"How do you plan to deal with the rock hoppers of Topaz—I think that's what the distress message called

them?" He looked at Buzz. "How about you, Star Man Dozen-Dozen? How can you fight the rock hoppers?"

Buzz shook his head and made a low sound.

"The multiple being is not a fighting creature/' Lupe said. "It doesn't believe in war. Buzz says he will try to make peace with the hoppers when we meet them."

"Suppose they don't want peace?" the news man asked. "How will you defend yourself, Star Man Flor?"

"I grew up with Buzz," Lupe said. "I don't like fighting any better than he does. I believe that space is big enough for all creatures. I will work with Buzz for peace."

The news man turned to Jeff.

"How about you. Star Man Stone?"

"I'm not looking for trouble," Jeff said. "But the pilot of the lost voyage was my brother. I'm going to help him in any way I can."

"So you are prepared to fight?"

"The star ships are not armed," Jeff said. "They're too small to carry heavy weapons. But I will want permission to carry weapons on the rescue flight. If necessary, I will fight with everything I have."

A horn honked.

"Shock seats, please," a loud voice ordered through a speaker. "Prepare to land on the moon. Shock seats, everybody."

The news man waved to Lupe and Buzz and JefF. 'Thank you all and good luck on your rescue flight." He made a sign to the fat man with the camera. "This is Space News—"

The horn was honking again. Jeff hurried back to the shock seat in his tiny cabin. Though he was still worried about having Buzz and Lupe on his crew, at least the cold knot was gone from his stomach.

His blood raced with a new excitement. They were landing on the moon. The old SP-y should be waiting for them there. Who else, he wondered, had been picked for the crew?

The hard thrust of the jets braked the ferry. Jeff left his seat, grabbed his space bag, and scrambled out of the cabin. He saw Lupe and Buzz just ahead of him. Eagerly, he looked around the ferry station. It was a huge round room, dug deep in the moon and walled with bare concrete. The ferry was a tall silver tower standing in the middle of it.

Electric trucks moved rapidly over the floor. Loud speakers boomed. High overhead, humming machines carried freight and baggage off the ferry.

"Hi, Jeff!"

The happy shout came from the waiting crowd. A tall space man ran over to meet him.

'Hi, Tiger!'

Jeff slapped the man's back and tliey shook hands. Ty Clark was a slim Negro. He looked lean and handsome in his silver uniform.

"I guess we are going to be together on the Topaz job!"

"We are?" If Ty Clark was a crew member, Jeff was delighted. Ty was good at everything. He had been commander of the new boys at Space School and champion of the class in boxing.

"I've got our orders here." Ty showed him a gray official envelope. "I've been picked for pilot. You are copilot. I'm looking for the rest of our crew."

Jeff felt a stab of disappointment. He had half expected to be pilot of the rescue voyage. He had wanted to be the one in charge of rescuing Ben.

But then he felt ashamed of himself. Topaz A had to be rescued. Nothing else really mattered. The best available pilot had to be picked, and of course that was Ty.

He wondered for a second if his own weakness was known. But he decided that wasn't likely. His fear of high places couldn't be that serious or the tests he had taken would have washed him out of Space School.

He was lucky, he thought, even to be assistant pilot. It took a moment for him to pull himself together. Then he looked back into the happy grin on Ty's face.

"rm proud to be worlcing with you!" Jeff told him. "Our other star men are just ahead."

He called Lupe and Buzz—and waited to see how Ty would act. But Ty didn't even seem surprised that the other members of the rescue team were going to be a girl and a little blue alien being.

''This is Tyler Clark/' Jeff told them. "Back at Space School, we used to call him the smiling tiger. He was my room mate there, and the best friend I had. He will be our pilot to Topaz."

In his easy, friendly way, Ty shook hands with Lupe and Buzz.

"We have to fly a training ship, because it's all there is," he told them. "It needs repairs, but we will take off as soon as the ship is ready."

He nodded toward the passenger lanes.

"Come on," he said. "I've got a moon car from the base. We can go right out there and stand by for the Topaz flight."

Jeff started for the lanes, walking carefully. His weight here was only 30 pounds. Anyone who forgot, bounced off the -floor.

"Don't lift your feet," Ty said.

"Wait," Lupe called to him. "We've got baggage to pick up."

^'Better forget it," Ty told her. "Our old ship has scarcely enough power for X-space flight as it is. They're stripping every possible ounce off it now. We can't carry any extras."

Buzz whined and pulled at her finger, blinking back toward the ferry.

"He's worried about his cocoon," she said. "He's got to have it, to help him link up with all his brother-sisters. We can't go without it—"

Jeff felt a shaking under his feet. Lupe's voice was drowned in a rumble of thunder that seemed to come from deep in the moon. The tall ferry swayed back and forth. Gongs clanged. Men shouted and ducked and ran. A truck without a driver crashed into the passenger lanes.

All these sounds bellowed back again from the gloomy dome over their heads, until Jeff had to put his lingers in his ears. He looked for his friends and saw Buzz falling down between Lupe and Ty. The blue glow had faded from his eyes and his fur, leaving him black all over.

"Moon quake!" A frightened man stumbled past them, staring high into that roaring dome. "Get out!"

JefF looked up in time to see a machine break free from the swaying ferry. It dropped, moving slowly at first and then picking up speed, its heavy load of

crates and trunks and metal drums raining down toward the passenger lanes from a hundred feet above.

"Let's go!" Ty nodded at Jeff and caught Lupe's hand. "Scramble!"

CHAPTER 4

Take-off for Topaz

Jeff stared up at the space cargo spilling off the broken machine. The motion of the tumbling crates and drums here on the moon was strange to him. Everything seemed to fall slowly at first, then to come down with a rush. It took him a moment to get the feel of the mass and force and motion. Then he knew exactly when each spinning crate would crash to the station floor. And he knew exactly where.

"Jeff!" Ty Clark caught his arm. "Move!"

Lupe- was bending over Buzz. The Httle space alien lay limp on the floor.

"Come on, star man." Ty leaned down to scoop up Buzz. "I can carry him."

He plunged toward the exit, Lupe close behind him. Jeff stood frozen for half a second. They were running right under the falling cargo!

'Tiger!" he shouted. "Hold it!"

"Huh?" Ty swung around. "We've no time—"

"Crates." Jeff pointed ahead. "Safer here."

Ty glanced up at the falling freight, a grin on his face, as if moon quakes were great fun.

"You are on the passenger lane!" Jeff shouted at the frightened people beyond. "Get off."

Ty ran up with Buzz in his arms and Lupe close behind.

"Right here!" Jeff pointed. "Don't move—"

Crash!

Twenty feet from where they stood, a big crate of equipment hit the ground in a shower of flashing metal and glass. A string of heavy trunks exploded. A thick metal drum flattened on the floor beyond, spotting screaming people with bright yellow paint.

And then the quake was over. Men ran to pick up three or four people who had been hurt. A passenger gathered up his wife and children and came panting to thank Jeff for warning them.

The alarm stopped wailing. Work men came back to clean up the mess and to finish taking cargo off the

ferry. Soon the high dome boomed again, with the sound of normal work.