Lucky Starr And The Rings Of Saturn (Lucky Starr 6)

16. Biter Bit

Agas Doremo was on his feet, banging the traditional gavel for silence with complete ineffectuality. Con-way plowed forward through a host of threatening gestures and catcalls and pulled the circuit breaker, thus sounding the old pirate warning. A shrill rising-falling rasp of sound squealed above the disorder and beat the delegates into surprised silence.

Conway shut it off, and in the sudden quiet Doremo said quickly, "I have agreed to recognize Chief Councilman Hector Conway of the Terrestrial Federation that he might cross-examine Councilman Starr."

There were shouts of "No, no," but Doremo continued obdurately, "I ask the conference to play fair in this respect. The Chief Councilman assures me his cross-examination will be brief."

Amid rustling and a tide of whispering, Conway approached Lucky.

He smiled but spoke with an air of formality, saying, "Councilman Starr, Mr. Devoure did not question you as to your intentions in all this. Tell me, why did you enter the Saturnian system?"

"In order to colonize Mimas, Chief."

"Did you feel you had the right to do so?"

"It was an empty world, Chief."

Conway turned so as to face a suddenly puzzled and quiet group of delegates. "Would you repeat that, Councilman Starr?"

"I wished to establish human beings on Mimas, an empty world that belongs to the Terrestrial Federation, Chief."

Devoure was on his feet, calling out furiously, "Mimas is part of the Saturnian system."

"Exactly," said Lucky, "as Saturn is part of Earth's Solar System. But by your interpretation Mimas is merely an empty world. A while ago you admitted that Sirian ships had never approached Mimas before my ship landed on it."

Conway smiled. Lucky had caught that error on Devoure's part too.

Conway said, "Councilman Starr was not here, Mr. Devoure, when you made your introductory speech. Let me quote a passage from it, word for word: 'An empty world is an empty world, regardless of the particular route it travels through space. We colonized it first and it is ours.'"

The Chief Councilman turned toward the delegates and said with great deliberation, "If the viewpoint of the Terrestrial Federation is correct, then Mimas is Earth's, because it circles a planet that circles our Sun. If the viewpoint of Sinus is correct, then Mimas is still Earth's, because it was empty and we colonized it first. By Sirius's own line of reasoning, the fact that another satellite of Saturn was colonized by Sirius had nothing to do with the case.

"In either event, by invading a world belonging to the Terrestrial Federation and removing there from our colonist, Sirius has committed an act of war and has shown its true hypocrisy, since it refused to allow others the rights it claimed for itself."

And now again there was a confused milling about, and it was Doremo who spoke next. "Gentlemen, I have something to say. The facts, as stated by Council- men Starr and Conway, are irrefutable. This demon strates the complete anarchy into which the Galaxy would be thrown if the Sirian view were to prevail. Every uninhabited rock would be a source of contention, every asteroid a threat to peace. The Sirians, by their own action, have shown themselves insincere..."

It was a complete and sudden change-about.

Had time been allowed, Sirius might yet have rallied its forces, but Doremo, an experienced and skilled parliamentarian, maneuvered the conference into a vote while the pro-Sirians were still completely demoralized and before they had a chance to consider whether they dared go against the plain facts as suddenly revealed.

Three worlds voted on the side of Sirius. They were Penthesileia, Duvarn, and Mullen, all small and all known to be under Sirius's political influence. The rest of the Council, better than fifty votes, was on the side of Earth. Sirius was ordered to release the Earth-men it had taken prisoner. It was ordered to dismantle its base and leave the Solar System within a month.

The orders could not be enforced except by war, of course, but Earth was ready for war and Sirius would have to face it now without the help of the outer worlds. There wasn't a man on Vesta who expected her to fight under those conditions.

Devoure, panting and his face contorted, saw Lucky once more. "It was a foul trick," he said. "It was a device to force us into... "

"You forced me," said Lucky quietly, "by the threat to Bigman's life. Do you remember? Or would you like the details of that published?"

"We still have your monkey friend," began Devoure malignantly, "and conference vote or not... "

Chief Councilman Conway, also present, smiled. "If you're referring to Bigman, Mr. Devoure, you don't have him. He is in our hands, together with a Serviceman named Yonge, who told me that Council man Starr had assured him safe-conduct in case of need. He apparently feels that in your present mood it would be unsafe for himself to accompany you back to Titan. May I suggest that you consider whether it might be unsafe for you to go back to Sirius? If you wish to apply for asylum... -"

But Devoure, speechless, turned his back and left.

Doremo was all a-grin as he bade farewell to Con-way and Lucky.

"You'll be glad to see Earth again, I dare say, young man."

Lucky nodded his agreement. "''I'm going home by liner within the hour, sir, with the poor old Shooter being towed along behind, and frankly, there's nothing that could please me more just now."

"Good! And congratulations on a magnificent piece of work. When Chief Conway asked me to allow him time for cross-examination at the beginning of the session, I agreed, but thought he must be mad. When you were done testifying and he signaled for recognition, I was sure he was mad. But obviously all this was planned in advance."

Conway said, "Lucky had sent me a message outlining what he hoped to do. Of course it wasn't till the last hour or two that we were sure it had worked out."

"I think you had faith in the Councilman," said Doremo. "Why, hi your first conversation with me, you asked if I would come out on your side if Lucky's evidence failed of effect. I didn't see what you could mean then, of course, but I understood when the time came."

"I thank you for throwing your weight to our side."

"I threw it on the side of what had obviously been demonstrated to be justice... You're a subtle opponent, young man," he said to Lucky.

Lucky smiled. "I merely counted on Sirius's lack of sincerity. If they had really believed in what they claimed was their point of view, my Councilman colleague would have been left on Mimas and all we would have had for our pains was a small satellite of ice and a difficult war to fight."

"Quite. Well, no doubt there'll be second thoughts when the delegates get back home, and some will become angry with Earth and with me and even with themselves, I suppose, for having let themselves be stampeded. In cold blood, though, they'll realize that they have established a principle here, the indivisibility of stellar systems, and I think they'll also realize that the good of this principle will outweigh any hurt to their pride or their prejudices. I really think this conference will be looked back on by historians as something important and as something that contributed a great deal to the peace and welfare of the Galaxy. I'm quite pleased."

And he shook hands with both, most vigorously.

Lucky and Bigman were together again, and though the ship was large and the passenger complement numerous, they kept to themselves. Mars was behind them (Bigman spending the better part of an hour observing it with great satisfaction) and Earth not very far ahead.

Bigman finally managed to voice his embarrassment. "Space, Lucky," he said, "I never saw what you were doing, not once. I thought... Well, I don't want to say what I thought. Only, Sands of Mars, I wish you had warned me."

"Bigman, I couldn't. That was the one thing I couldn't do. Don't you see? I had to maneuver the Sirians into hijacking Wess off Mimas without letting them see the implications. I couldn't show them I wanted them to do it or they'd have seen the trap at once. I had to work it so that it would seem I was being forced into it bitterly against my will. At the start, I assure you, I didn't know exactly how I was going to do it, but I did know one thing-if you knew about the plan, Bigman, you'd have given the show away."

Bigman was outraged. ''I'd give it away? Why, you Earthslug, a blaster couldn't have forced it out of me."

"I know. No torture could have forced it out of you, Bigman. You'd just give it away, free. You're a miserable actor and you know it. Once you got mad, it would come spilling out, one way or another. That's why I half wanted you to stay on Mimas, remember?

I knew I couldn't tell you the planned course of action and I knew you'd misunderstand what I was doing and be miserable about it. As it was, though, you turned out a godsend."

"I did? For beating up that cobber?"

"Indirectly, yes. It gave me the opportunity to make it look as though I were sincerely swapping Wess's freedom for your life. It took less acting to do that than to give Wess away under any conditions I could have dreamed up in your absence. In fact, as it was, I didn't have to act at all. It was a good swap."

"Aw, Lucky."

"Aw, yourself. Besides, you were so heartbroken about it that they never suspected a trick. Anyone watching you would have been convinced I was really betraying Earth."

"Sands of Mars, Lucky," said Bigman, stricken, "I should have known you wouldn't do anything like that. I was a nitwit."

"I'm glad you were," said Lucky fervently, and he ruffled the little fellow's hair affectionately.

When Conway and Wess joined them at dinner, Wess said, "This isn't going to be the kind of homecoming that fellow Devoure can expect. Ship's sub-ether is full of the stuff they're printing on Earth about us; about you especially, of course."

Lucky frowned. "That's nothing to be thankful about. It just makes our job harder in the future. Publicity! Stop and think what they would be saying if the Sirians had been just one inch smarter and hadn't fallen for the bait or had pulled out of the conference at the last minute."

Conway shuddered visibly. "I'd rather not. But whatever it would be, that's what Devoure is getting."

Lucky said, "I guess he'll survive. His uncle will pull him through."

"Anyway," said Bigman, "we're through with him."

"Are we?" said Lucky somberly. "I wonder."

And they ate in silence for a few moments.

Conway, in an obvious attempt to alter the sud denly darkened atmosphere, said, "Of course, in a sense the Sirians could not afford to leave Wess on Mimas, so we didn't really give them a fair chance. After all, they were looking for the capsule in the rings, and for all they know, Wess, only thirty thou sand miles outside the rings, might... "

Bigman dropped his fork, and his eyes were like saucers. "Blasting rockets!"

What's the matter, Bigman?" asked Wess kindly. "Did you accidentally think of something and sprain your brain?"

"Shut up, leather-head," said Bigman. "Listen, Lucky, in all this mess we forgot about Agent X's capsule. It's still out there in the rings unless the Sirians have found it already; and it they haven't, they still have a couple of weeks to do it in."

Conway said at once, "I've thought of that, Bigman. But frankly, I consider it lost for good. You can't find anything in the rings."

"But, Chief, hasn't Lucky told you about the special X-ray mass detectors they have and... "

By then, though, all were staring at Lucky. He had a queer look on his face, as though he couldn't make up his mind whether to laugh or to swear. "Great Galaxy," he cried. "I forgot about it completely."

"The capsule?" said Bigman. "You forgot it?"

"Yes. I forgot I had it. Here it is." And Lucky brought something metallic and about an inch in diameter out of his pocket and put it on the table.

Bigman's nimble fingers were on it first, turning it over and over, then the others snatched at it too, and took their turns.

Bigman said, "Is that the capsule? Are you sure?"

"I'm reasonably sure. We'll open it, of course, and make certain."

"But, when, how, where... " They were all about him, demanding.

He fended them off. "I'm sorry. I really am... Look, do you remember the few words we picked up from Agent X just before his ship blew up? Remember the syllables 'normal orb,' which we decided meant 'normal orbit'? Well, the Sirians made the natural assumption that 'normal' meant 'usual,' that the capsule would be put into the kind of orbit usual for ring particles, and looked in the rings for it.

"However, 'normal' also means perpendicular. The rings of Saturn move directly west to east, so the capsule in a normal orbit to the rings would move directly north to south, or south to north. This made sense, because then the capsule would not be lost in the rings.

"Now any orbit about Saturn moving directly north and south must pass over the north and south poles, no matter how else that orbit varies. We approached Saturn's south pole and I watched the mass detector for anything that seemed to be in the proper type of orbit. In polar space there were hardly any particles, so I felt I ought to be able to spot it if it were there.

I didn't like to say anything about it, though, because the chances were small, I thought, and I hated to rouse false hopes.

"But something registered on the mass detectors, and I took the chance. I matched velocities and then left the ship. As you guessed later, Bigman, I seized the opportunity to gimmick the Agrav attachment at that time in preparation for the later surrender, but I also picked up the capsule.

"When we landed in Mimas I left it among the air-conditioning coils in Wess's quarters. Then, when we came back to get him and surrender him to Devoure, I picked up the capsule and put it in my pocket. I was routinely searched for weapons when I embarked on the ship, I recall, but the robot searcher did not interpret an inch sphere as a weapon... There are serious drawbacks to using robots. Anyway, that's the whole story."

"But why didn't you tell us?" howled Bigman. Lucky looked confused. "I meant to. Honestly. But after I first picked up the capsule and got back to the ship, we had already been spotted by the Sirians, remember, and it was a question of getting away. After that, in fact, if you'll think back, there was never one moment when something wasn't popping. I just- somehow-never got around to remembering to tell anyone."

"What a brain," said Bigman contemptuously. "No wonder you don't like to go anywhere without me."

Conway laughed and slapped the small Martian on the back. "That's it, Bigman, take care of the big lug and make sure he knows which way is up."

"Once," said Wess, "you get someone to tell you which way is up, of course."

And the ship swirled down through Earth's atmosphere toward landing.

***