The Lani People Page 19

  CHAPTER XVII

  It was the last trip. Kennon loaded the jeep with the last-minute itemshe would need. The four reactor cores in their lead cases went aboardlast and were packed inside a pile of lead-block shielding.

  He helped Copper in and looked back without regret as the bulk ofOlympus Station vanished below him in the dusk. The last of the workcrew had left that afternoon. The station was ready for occupancy.His assignment had been completed. He felt an odd pleasure at havingfinished the job. Alexander might not be happy about his subsequentactions, but he could have no complaint about what he did while he washere.

  "Well--say good-bye to Flora," he said to Copper.

  "I don't want to," she said. "I don't want to leave."

  "You can't stay. You know that."

  She nodded. "But that doesn't make me any less regretful."

  "Regretful?"

  "All right--scared. We're going to try to make the God-Egg fly again.Not only is it sacrilege, but as you've often said, it's dangerous. Ihave no desire to die."

  "You have two courses--"

  "I know--you've pointed them out often enough," Copper said. "And sinceyou decided to go I'd go with you even though I knew the Egg would blowup."

  "You're quite a girl," Kennon said admiringly. "Did I ever tell you thatI love you?"

  "Not nearly often enough," Copper said. "You could do it every day andI'd never get tired of hearing it."

  The jeep settled over the lava wall. "We'll leave it in the passagewaywhen we're through," Kennon said. "Maybe it will survive blast-off."

  "Why worry about it?" Copper asked.

  "I hate destroying anything needlessly," Kennon said.

  "And since we have plenty of time, we might as well be neat about ourdeparture."

  He was wrong, of course, but he didn't know that.

  * * *

  Douglas Alexander checked the radarscope and whistled in surprise atthe picture it revealed. "So that's where he's going," he said softlyto himself. "Cousin Alex was right as usual." He grimaced unpleasantly."He's up to something--that's for sure." His face twisted into anexpression that was half sneer, half triumph. "This is going to befun." He moved the control, and his airboat, hovering silently at fivethousand meters, dropped toward the ground in free fall as Douglasloosened the Burkholtz in the holster at his waist. "But what is hedoing?" he muttered. The question hung unanswered in the still air ofthe cabin as the airboat dropped downward.

  Douglas hadn't been impressed with Blalok's attempt at a delayingaction. Normally he might have been, but his fear of his cousin wasgreater than his respect for Blalok. The superintendent had onlysucceeded in accomplishing something he had not intended when he hadtried to dissuade Douglas from visiting Kennon. He had made Douglascautious. The airboat and long-range surveillance had been the result.For the past two nights Douglas had hung over Olympus Station, checkingthe place--to leave at dawn when the new day's work began. For twonights Kennon had been lucky. He had departed for the Egg shortly beforeDouglas took up his station, and had returned after the watcher hadcalled it a night and had returned home. But this last night, Kennonleft late--and his departure was noted.

  "Wonder who's the girl with him?" Douglas said as the boat plunged down."Well, I'll be finding out in a minute."

  Kennon's head jerked upward at the sound of air whistling past theairboat's hull, and a wave of icy coldness swept through his chest.There was no question that he was discovered. His shoulders sagged.

  "Well--it was a good try," he said bitterly as Copper looked at him withsudden terror on her face.

  "I don't want to die," she wailed.

  "You won't--not if I can help it," Kennon said. "Move away fromme--quickly!"

  "But--"

  "Do as I say!" Kennon's voice was sharp. "And keep that hood over yourface."

  The airboat settled softly on the ash in front of him, the door snappedopen and Douglas dropped to the ground, Burkholtz jutting from his pudgyfist.

  "My, my," Douglas said, "what have we here? Dr. Kennon and a woman!I thought better of you than that, Doctor. And all dressed up inantiradiation suits. This is interesting. Just what are you doing uphere on the mountain so late at night--prospecting?"

  "You might call it that," Kennon said. His body sagged with relief.Douglas thank Ochsner it was Douglas! He was running true toform--talking when he should have been shooting.

  Douglas jerked his head toward Copper, standing a few feet to his left."Who is she?"

  "None of your business," Kennon snapped, hoping that his outburstcovered Copper's gasp of surprise and fear, and knowing that it didn't.

  "I'm making it my business. There's something funny going on aroundhere."

  Kennon blinked. Could it be that Douglas didn't know? Had he beenwatching them on radar? Durilium was radar-transparent. It absorbedand dissipated electromagnetic waves rather than reflecting them. For asecond he felt a tiny surge of hope.

  "Stand where you are," Douglas said as he stepped over to thehalf-paralyzed Copper and jerked the hood back from her face. For amoment he looked puzzled. "Just who are you?" he demanded. "I don'trecall seeing you before." And then recognition dawned. "Old Doc'sLani!" he gasped.

  "She works for me now," Kennon said.

  Douglas laughed. It wasn't a nice sound. "All dressed up?" he asked."Nice work."

  "That's my fault," Kennon said.

  "You know the rules," Douglas said. "I could blast you both."

  "Go ahead," Kennon said, "but if you do, you'll never find out whatwe're doing up here."

  Douglas hesitated. Kennon's voice was flat and filled with utterconviction.

  "There's a reason why Copper's wearing that suit," Kennon continued,"and you won't know that either."

  The Burkholtz swiveled around to point at Kennon's belly. "I've hadabout enough of this. Let's have it. Tell me what you're doing here!"

  "I'll do better than that," Kennon said promptly. "I'll show you. You'llbe surprised at what we've uncovered." He made his muscles relax, andforced himself to speak naturally. Copper, he noted, was still rigidwith terror. The Alexanders--any of them--were everything he had saidthey were. They were the masters here. And despite Copper's boast, shewas as susceptible to their influence as any other Lani.

  "All right," Douglas said, "show me this thing I'd never be able tofind without your help." He half turned to Copper. "Stay where you are,Lani," he said. "Don't move until I come back."

  "Yes, Man Douglas," Copper replied. Her voice was flat, colorless, andsubmissive.

  Kennon shuddered. He had never heard precisely that tone from herbefore. One word from Douglas and she had become a zombie--a mindlessmuscle preparation that existed only to obey. Anger filled him--angerthat one he loved could be ordered by someone who wasn't worth athird of her--anger that she obeyed--anger at his own impotence andfrustration. It wasn't a clean anger. It was a dark, red-splashed thingthat struggled and writhed inside him, a fierce unreasoning rage thatseethed and bubbled yet could not break free. For an instant, withblinding clarity, Kennon understood the feelings of the caged male Lanion Otpen One. And he sympathized.

  "Follow me," he said and started around the ship.

  "Stay--no--go ahead," Douglas said, "but remember, I'm right behindyou."

  Kennon walked straight up to the pit and pointed down at the dark bulkof the Egg., concealed in the shadows of the bottom.

  "That's it," he said.

  "What? I don't see anything," Douglas said suspiciously.

  "Here--I'll shine a light." Kennon reached for his belt.

  "No you don't! I know that trick. You're not going to blind me. Takethat torch loose carefully--that's it--now hand it to me." Douglas' handclosed over the smooth plastic. Cautiously he turned on the beam anddirected it downward.

  "A spacer!" he gasped. "How did that get here?" He leaned forward tolook into the pit as a dark shadow materialized behind him.

  Kennon choked back the involuntary cry of warning that rose in histhroat. Copp
er! His muscles tensed as her arm came up and down--ashadow almost invisible in the starlight. The leaning figure of Douglascollapsed like a puppet whose strings had been suddenly released. Thetorch dropped from his hand and went bouncing and winking down the wallof the pit, followed by Douglas--a limp bundle of arms and legs thatrotated grotesquely as he disappeared down the slope. Starlight gleamedon the Burkholtz lying on the lip of the crater, where it had fallenfrom his hand.

  "I told you that not even Man Alexander could order me since I gave mylove to you," Copper said smugly as she peered over the edge of the pit,a chunk of lava gripped in one small capable hand. "Maybe this provesit."

  "Douglas isn't Alexander," Kennon said slowly as he picked up theblaster, "but I believe you."

  "Didn't I act convincingly?" she said brightly.

  "Very," he said. "You fooled me completely."

  "The important thing was that I fooled Douglas."

  "You did that all right. Now let's get him out of that pit."

  "Why?"

  "The jet blast will fry him when we take off."

  "What difference would that make?"

  "I told you," Kennon said, "that I never destroy thingsunnecessarily--not even things like Douglas."

  "But he would have destroyed you."

  "That's no excuse for murder. Now go back to the jeep and fetch a rope.I'll go down and get him out."

  "Do we have to bother with him?" Copper asked, and then shrugged. Itwas an eloquent gesture expressing disgust, resignation, and unwillingcompliance in one lift of smoothly muscled shoulders.

  "There's no question about it," Kennon said. "You're becoming more humanevery day."

  He chuckled as he slid over the edge of the pit following the pathDouglas had taken a moment before. He found him sitting on a pile ofashes, shaking his head.

  "What happened?" Douglas asked querulously. There was fear in his voice.

  "Copper hit you on the head with a rock," Kennon said as he bent overand retrieved the torch, still burning near Douglas' feet.

  "The Lani?" Douglas' voice was incredulous.

  "Not a Lani," Kennon corrected. "She's as human as you or I."

  "That's a lie," Douglas said.

  "Maybe this spacer's a lie too. Her ancestors came in it--a pairof humans named Alfred and Melissa Weygand. They were Christianmissionaries from a planet called Heaven out in Ophiuchus Sector. Wentout to convert aliens and landed here when their fuel ran out."Kennon paused. "That was about four millennia ago. Their descendants,naturally, reverted to barbarism in a few generations, but there'senough evidence in the ship to prove that the Lani were theirchildren."

  "But the tails--the differences--the failure of the test," Douglas said.

  "Mutation," Kennon replied. "Those old spindizzy converters weren'ttoo choosy about how they scattered radiation. And they had come a longway." He paused, looking down at Douglas, feeling a twinge of pity forthe man. His world was crumbling. "And there was no other human bloodavailable to filter out their peculiarities. It might have been doneduring the first couple of generations, but constant inbreeding fixedthe genetic pattern."

  "How did you discover this?" Douglas asked.

  "Accident," Kennon said briefly.

  "You'll never be able to prove they're human!" Douglas said.

  "The ship's log will do that."

  "Not without a humanity test--they can't pass that."

  "Sorry to disappoint you. Your grandfather used the wrong sort of sperm.Now if there had been a Betan in the crew--"

  "You mean she's pregnant!"

  Kennon nodded. "There's been mutation on Beta," he said. "And it'sapparently a similar one to hers. Betan-Lani matings are fertile."

  Douglas's shoulders sagged, and then straightened. "I don't believe it,"he said. "You're just a damned sneaking spy. Somehow or other you gota spacer in here after you wormed your way into Cousin Alex'sconfidence--and now you're going to space out with the nucleus of a newfarm. Just wait. When Alex learns of this the galaxy'll be too small tohold you."

  "Don't babble like a fool!" Kennon said with disgust. "How could I landa spacer here without being spotted? You sound like a two-credit novel.And even if I did--would it be a can like this?" Kennon played the torchover the blue-black durilium protruding from the ashes.

  Douglas' eyes widened as he took in the details of construction. "Whatan antique!" he blurted. "Where did you get this can?"

  "I found it here."

  "Tell me another one."

  "You won't believe," Kennon said flatly, "because you don't darebelieve. You have a mental block. You've killed, maimed, tortured--treated them like animals--and now your mind shrinks from admittingthey're human. You know what will happen if the old court decision isreversed. It will wreck your little empire, dry up your money, breakyou--and you can't stand the thought of that. You don't dare let usleave, yet you can't stop us because I have your blaster and I'd justas soon shoot you as look at your rotten face. Now get on your feet andstart climbing if you want to stay alive. We're getting out of here, andyou'll fry inside this pit."

  "Where are you taking me?"

  "Back to your airboat. I'm going to tie you up and set you off onautopilot. You'll be able to get loose quickly enough but it'll be toolate to stop us. We'll be gone, and you can think of how you'll manageto face the human race."

  "I hope you blow yourself and that antique clear out of space."

  "We might. But you'll never know for sure. But mark this--if I live I'llbe back with the Brotherhood. You can count on it."

  They struggled up the side of the pit and halted, panting, on the rim."How much radiation was down there?" Douglas asked worriedly.

  "Not enough to hurt you."

  "That's good." Douglas accepted the statement at face value, a factwhich failed to surprise Kennon. "You know," he said, "I've been aroundLani all my life. And I know that they're not human. No self-respectinghuman would take a tenth of what they put up with."

  "Their ancestors didn't," Kennon said. "They fought to the end. But yourGrandfather was a smart man even though he was a Degrader."

  "He wasn't!" Douglas exploded. "No Alexander is a Degrader."

  "He realized," Kennon went on, "that he'd never succeed in enslaving theLani unless he separated the sexes. And since women are more subjectivein their outlook--and more pliable--he picked them for his slaves. Themales he retired to stud. Probably the fact that there were more womenthan men helped him make up his mind.

  "In every society," Kennon went on inexorably, "there are potentialfreeman and potential slaves. The latter invariably outnumber theformer. They're cowards: the timid, the unsacrificing--the ones thatwant peace at any price--the ones who will trade freedom for security.Those were the ones who hid rather than risk their lives fightingthe aggressor. Those were the ones who survived. Old Alexander had aready-made slave cadre when he finished off the last of the warriors.For four centuries the survivors have been bred and selected toperpetuate slave traits. And the system works. The men don't wantfreedom--they want liberty to kill each other. The women don't wantfreedom--they want males. And they'd serve them precisely as the Sarkianwomen serve their menfolk. You've killed any chance they had to becomea civilization. It's going to take generations perhaps before they'rereoriented. There's plenty you Alexanders should answer for."

  "If there's any fault, it's yours," Douglas snarled. "We were doing allright until you came here. We'd still be doing all right if I had shotyou both." His shoulders sagged. "I should have killed you when I hadthe chance," he said bitterly.

  "But you didn't," Kennon said, "and to show my gratitude I'm letting youget away with a whole skin. I don't expect you to be grateful, but atleast you'll not be on my conscience. I don't enjoy killing, not eventhings like you."

  Douglas sneered. "You're soft--a soft sentimental fool."

  "Admitted," Kennon said, "but that's my nature."

  "Yet you'd destroy the family, wreck Outworld Enterprises, and throw awhole world into chao
s over a few thousand animals. I don't understandyou."

  "They're human," Kennon said flatly.

  "Admitting they might once have been, they're not now."

  "And whose fault is that?"

  "Not ours," Douglas said promptly. "If there is any fault it's that ofthe court who decided they were humanoid."

  "You didn't help any."

  "Why should we? Does one treat a shrake like a brother?--or a varl?--ora dog? We treat them like the animals they are. And we've done no worsewith the Lani. Our consciences are clear."

  Kennon laughed humorlessly. "Yet this clear conscience makes you wantto kill me, so you can keep on treating them as animals--even though youknow they're human."

  "I know nothing of the sort. But you're right about the killing, I'dkill you cheerfully if I had the chance. It's our necks if you get awaywith this. Of course, you probably won't, but why take the chance. Ilike my neck more than I like yours."

  "You're honest at any rate," Kennon admitted. "And in a way I don'tblame you. To you it's probably better to be a rich slaver living offthe legacy of a Degrader than a penniless humanitarian. But you've lostyour chance."

  Douglas screamed with rage. He whirled on Kennon, his face a distortedmask of hate.

  "Hold it!" Kennon barked. "I don't want to kill you, but I'll burn ahole clear through your rotten carcass if you make another move. I haveno love for your kind."

  Douglas spat contemptuously. "You haven't got the guts," he snarled. Buthe didn't move.

  "Just stand still--very still," Kennon said softly. The iron in hisvoice was not hidden by the quiet tone.

  Douglas shivered. "I'll get you yet," he said, but there was no force inthe threat.

  "Here's the rope you wanted," Copper said as she emerged abruptly fromthe darkness. "I had a hard time finding it."

  "You haven't been too long," Kennon said. "Now tie Douglas' hands behindhim while I keep him covered."

  "It's a pleasure," Copper murmured.