"What do you expect muties to eat?" demanded Jim belligerently. "Thin air?"
"No, not exactly. Anyhow, the new policy was not entirely destructive. Any muties that surrendered and could be civilized we planned to give to masters and put them to work as part of the Crew. That is, any that weren"t, uh . . . that were--" He broke off in embarra.s.sment, and shifted his eyes from the two-headed monstrosity before him.
"You mean any that weren"t physical mutations, like me," Joe filled in nastily. "Don"t you?" he persisted. "For the likes of me it"s the Converter, isn"t it?" He slapped the blade of his knife nervously on the palm of his hand.
Ertz edged away, his own hand shifting to his belt. But no knife was slung there; he felt naked and helpless without it. "Just a minute," he said defensively, "you asked me; that"s the situation. It"s out of my hands. I"m just telling you."
"Let him alone, Joe. He"s just handing you the straight dope. It"s like I was telling you: either go along with Hugh"s plan, or wait to be hunted down. And don"t get any ideas about killing him; we"re going to need him." As Jim spoke he attempted to return the knife to its sheath. There was a brief and silent struggle between the twins for control of the motor nerves to their right arm, a clash of will below the level of physical activity. Joe gave in.
"All right," he agreed surlily, "but if I go to the Converter, I want to take this one with me for company."
"Stow it," said Jim. "You"ll have me for company."
"Why do you believe him?"
"He has nothing to gain by lying. Ask Alan."
Alan Mahoney, Hugh"s friend and boyhood chum, had listened to the argument round-eyed, without joining it. He, too, had suffered the nerve-shaking experience of viewing the outer stars, but his ignorant peasant mind had not the sharply formulated opinions of Ertz, the Chief Engineer. Ertz had been able to see almost at once that the very existence of a world outside the Ship changed all his plans and everything he had believed in; Alan was capable only of wonder.
"What about this plan to fight the muties, Alan?"
"Huh? Why, I don"t know anything about it. Shucks, I"m not a scientist. Say, wait a minute; there was a junior officer sent in to help our village scientist, Lieutenant Nelson." He stopped and looked puzzled.
"What about it? Go ahead."
"Well, he has been organizing the cadets in our village, and the married men, too, but not so much. Making "em practice with their blades and slings. Never told us what for, though."
Ertz spread his hands. "You see?"
Joe nodded. "I see," he admitted grimly.
Hugh Hoyland looked at him eagerly. "Then you"re with me?"
"I suppose so," Joe admitted. "Right!" added Jim.
Hoyland looked back to Ertz. "How about you, Bill Ertz?"
"What choice have I got?"
"Plenty. I want you with me wholeheartedly. Here"s the layout: The Crew doesn"t count; it"s the officers we have to convince. Any that aren"t too addlepated and stiff-necked to understand after they"ve seen the stars and the Control Room, we keep. The others--" he drew a thumb across his throat while making a harsh sibilance in his cheek, "the Converter."
Bobo grinned happily and imitated the gesture and the sound.
Ertz nodded. "Then what?"
"Muties and Crew together, under a new Captain, we move the Ship to Far Centaurus! Jordan"s Will be done!"
Ertz stood up and faced Hoyland. It was a heady notion, too big to be grasped at once, but, by Jordan! he liked it. He spread his hands on the table and leaned across it. "I"m with you, Hugh Hoyland!"
A knife clattered on the table before him, one from the brace at Joe-Jim"s belt. Joe looked startled, seemed about to speak to his brother, then appeared to think better of it. Ertz looked his thanks and stuck the knife in his belt.
The twins whispered to each other for a moment, then Joe spoke up. "Might as well make it stick," he said. He drew his remaining knife and, grasping the blade between thumb and forefinger so that only the point was exposed, he jabbed himself in the fleshly upper part of his left arm. "Blade for blade!"
Ertz"s eyebrows shot up. He whipped out his newly acquired blade and cut himself in the same location. The blood spurted and ran down to the crook of his arm. "Back to back!" He shoved the table aside and pressed his gory shoulder against the wound on Joe-Jim.
Alan Mahoney, Hugh Hoyland, Bobo: all had their blades out, all nicked their arms till the skin ran red and wet. They crowded in, bleeding shoulders pushed together so that the blood dripped united to the death.
"Blade for blade!"
"Back to back!"
"Blood to blood!"
"Blood brothers, to the end of the Trip!"
An apostate scientist, a kidnaped scientist, a dull peasant, a two-headed monster, a apple-brained moron; five knives, counting Joe-Jim as one; five brains, counting Joe-Jim as two and Bobo as none; five brains and five knives to overthrow an entire culture.
"But I don"t want to go back, Hugh." Alan shuffled his feet and looked dogged. "Why can"t I stay here with you? I"m a good blade."
"Sure you are, old fellow. But right now you"ll be more useful as a spy."
"But you"ve got Bill Ertz for that."
"So we have, but we need you too. Bill is a public figure; he can"t duck out and climb to the upper levels without it being noticed and causing talk. That"s where you come in; you"re his go-between."
"I"ll have a Huff of a time explaining where I"ve been."
"Don"t explain any more than you have to. But stay away from the Witness." Hugh had a sudden picture of Alan trying to deceive the old village historian, with his searching tongue and l.u.s.t for details. "Keep clear of the Witness. The old boy would trip you up."
"Him? You mean the old one; he"s dead. Made the Trip long since. The new one don"t amount to nothing."
"Good. If you"re careful, you"ll be safe." Hugh raised his voice. "Bill! Are you ready to go down?"
"I suppose so." Ertz picked himself up and reluctantly put aside the book he had been reading _The Three Musketeers_, ill.u.s.trated, one of Joe-Jim"s carefully stolen library. "Say, that"s a wonderful book. Hugh, is Earth really like that?"
"Of course. Doesn"t it say so in the book?"
Ertz chewed his lip and thought about it. "What is a house?"
"A house? A house is a sort of a. . . a sort of a compartment."
"That"s what I thought at first, but how can you ride on a compartment?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Why, all through the book they keep climbing on their houses and riding away."
"Let me see that book," Joe ordered. Ertz handed it to him. Joe-Jim thumbed through it rapidly. "I see what you mean. Idiot! They ride horses, not houses."