As bodies settled deeper into cushions Entlore sent Garlock a thought. "We three weigh about five hundred pounds. You lifted us--instantaneously or nearly so, but I"ll pa.s.s the question of acceleration for the moment--eleven hundred miles straight up. How did you repeal the Law of Conservation?"
"We didn"t. We have fusion engines of twenty million horsepower. Our Operator Field, which has a radius of fifteen thousand miles and is charged to an electrogravitic potential of one hundred thousand gunts, stores energy. Its action is not exactly like that of an electrical condenser or of a storage battery, but is more or less a.n.a.logous to both. Thus, the energy required to lift you three came from the field, but the amount was so small that it did not lower the potential of the field by any measurable amount. Setting this ship down--call it sixty thousand tons for a thousand miles at one gravity--will increase the field"s potential by approximately one-tenth of one gunt. Have you studied paraphysics?"
"No."
"It wasn"t practical, eh?" Garlock smiled. "Then I can"t make even a stab at explaining instantaneous translation to you. I"ll just say that there is no acceleration involved, no time lapse. There is no violation of the Law of Conservation since departure and arrival points are equi-Guntherial. But what I am really interested in is that small group of high espers you mentioned."
"Yes, I inferred that from Miss Montandon"s comments." Entlore fell silent and Garlock watched his somber thoughts picture Margon Base and his nation"s capital being attacked and destroyed by a fleet of invincible and invulnerable starships like this _Pleiades_.
"You are wrong, sir," Garlock put in, quietly. "The Galactic Service has not had, does not and will not have, anything to do with intra-planetary affairs. We have no connection with, and no responsibility to, any world or any group of worlds. We are an arm of the United Galaxian Societies of the Galaxy. Our function is to control s.p.a.ce. To forbid, to prevent, to rectify any interplanetary or interstellar aggression. Above all, to prevent, by means of procedures up to and including total destruction of planets if necessary, any attempt whatever to form any multi-world empire."
The three NarG.o.dians gasped as one, as much at the scope of the thing as at the calmly cold certainty of ability carried by the thought.
"You are transmitting this precisely, Miss Flurnoy?" Entlore asked.
"Precisely, sir; including background, fringes, connotations, and implications; just as he is giving it to us."
"Let us a.s.sume that your NarG.o.dian government decides to conquer all the other nations of your planet Margonia. a.s.sume farther that it succeeds.
We will not object; in fact, we will, as a usual thing, not even be informed of it. If then, however, your government decides that one world is not enough for it to rule and prepares to conquer, or take aggressive action against, any other world, we will be informed and we will step in. First, warning will be given. Second, any and all vessels dispatched on such a mission will be annihilated. Third, if the offense is continued or repeated, trial will be held before the Galactic Council and any sentence imposed will be carried out."
In spite of Garlock"s manner and message, both marshals were highly relieved. "You"re in plenty of time, with us, sir," Entlore said. "We have just sent our first rocket to our nearer moon ... that is, unless that group of--of espers gets their ship off the ground."
"How far along are they?"
"The ship itself is built, but they are having trouble with their drive.
The hull is spherical, and much smaller than this one. It has atomic engines, but no blasts or ion-plates ... but neither has this one!"
"Exactly; they may be pretty well along. I"d like to get in touch with them as soon as possible. May I borrow a "talker" like Miss Flurnoy for a few days? You have others, I suppose?"
"Yes, but I"ll let you have her; it is of the essence that you have the best one available. Miss Flurnoy?"
"Yes, sir?" Besides reporting, she had been conversing busily with James and Belle.
"Would you like to be a.s.signed to Mr. Garlock for the duration of his stay on Margonia?"
"Oh, _yes_, sir!" she replied, excitedly.
"You are so a.s.signed. Take orders from him or from any designate as though I myself were issuing them."
"Thank you, sir ... but what limits? And do I transmit to and/or record for you, sir?"
"No limit. These four Galaxians are hereby granted nation-wide top clearance. Transmit as usual whatever is permitted."
"Full reporting is not only permitted, but urged," Garlock said. "There is nothing secret about our mission."
As the _Pleiades_ landed: "If you will give us your focus spot, Mr.
Entlore, we can all "port to your office and save calling staff cars."
"And cause a revolution?" Entlore laughed. "Apparently you haven"t been checking outside."
"Afraid I haven"t. I"ve been thinking."
"Take a look. I got orders from the Cabinet to put guards wherever people absolutely must not go, and open everything else to the public. I _hope_ there are enough guards to keep a lane open for us, but I wouldn"t bet on it." Garlock was very glad that the military men"s stiff formality had disappeared. "You Galaxians took this whole planet by storm while you were still above the stratosphere."
There is no need to go into detail concerning the reception and celebration. On Earth, one inauguration of a president and one coronation of a monarch were each almost as well covered by broadcasters, if not as turbulently and enthusiastically prolonged. From the _Pleiades_ they went to the Administration Building, where an informal reception was held. Thence to the Capitol, where the reception was very formal indeed. Thence to the Grand Ballroom of the city"s largest hotel, where a tremendous--and long-winded--banquet was served.
At Garlock"s request, all sixteen members of the "crackpot" group--the most active members of the Deep s.p.a.ce Club--had been invited to the banquet. And, even though Garlock was a very busy man, his talker tuned in to each one of the sixteen, tuned them all to the Galactic Admiral, and in odd moments a great deal of business was done.
After being told most of the story--in tight-beamed thoughts that ComOff Flurnoy could not receive--the whole group was wildly enthusiastic. They would change the name of their club forthwith to The Galaxian Society Of Margonia. They laid plans for a world-wide organization which would have tremendous prestige and tremendous income. They already had a field--Garlock knew about their ship--they wanted the _Pleiades_ to move over to it as soon as possible--Yes, Garlock thought he could do it the following day--if not, as soon as he could....
The _Pleiades_ had landed at ten o"clock in the forenoon, local time; the banquet did not come to an end until long after midnight. Throughout all this time the four Galaxians carried on, without a slip, the act that all this was, to them, old stuff.
It was just a little before daylight when they returned, exhausted, to the ship. ComOff Flurnoy went with them. She was still agog at the wonder of it all as Belle and Brownie showed her to her quarters.
CHAPTER 7
Since everyone, including the ebullient ComOff, slept late the following morning, they all had brunch instead of breakfast and lunch. All during the meal Garlock was preoccupied and stern.
"Hold everything for a while, Jim," he said, when everyone had eaten.
"Before we move, Belle and I have got to have a conference."
"Not a Fatso Ferber nine-o"clock type, I hope." James frowned in mock reproach and ComOff Flurnoy c.o.c.ked an eyebrow in surprise.
"Monkey-business on company time is only for Big Shots like him; not for small fry such as you."
"Well, it won"t be exclusively monkey-business, anyway. While we"re gone you might clear with the control tower and take us up into take-off position. Come on, Belle." He took her by one elbow and led her away.
"Why, _Doctor Garlock_." Mincing along beside him, pretending high reluctance, she looked up at him wide-eyed. "I"m _surprised_, I really am. I"m _shocked_, too. I"m _not_ that kind of a _girl_, and if I wasn"t _afraid_ of losing my _job_ I would _scream_. I _never_ even _suspected_ that _you_ would use your _position_ as my _boss_ to _force_ your _unwelcome attentions_ on a _poor_ and _young_ and _innocent_ and _suffering_...."
[Ill.u.s.tration:
In an unparalleled blast of Gunther power the primes of many worlds head toward the meeting on Tellus.]
Inside his room Garlock, who had been grinning, sobered down and checked every Gunther block--a most unusual proceeding.
Belle stopped joking in the middle of the sentence.
"Yeah, _how_ you suffer," he said. "I was just checking to be sure we"re prime-proof. I"m not ready for Deggi Delcamp yet. That guy, Belle, as you probably noticed, has got one G.o.d-awful load of stuff."