The Big Black Mark - A. Bertram Chandler [75]
Swinton laughed. "I think, Miss Russell, that I could persuade you to cooperate. After all, such persuasion is part of my training."
"Hold on," put in Brabham. After all he, with all his faults, was a competent spaceman, was keenly aware that the blunder, intentional or otherwise, of one key technician can destroy a ship. He asked the paymaster, "What proposals do you have regarding the disposition of the . . . er . . . prisoners? You realize that we can't take them back to Botany Bay. Not when Grimes and that fat cow of a mayor are eating out of each other's hands."
"Mr. Tangye will tell you," she said.
"Well set them adrift in a boat," stated the navigating officer.
"Are you quite mad, Tangye?" demanded Brabham.
"No, I'm not. We're in no great hurry, are we? We have time on our hands, time to waste. It'll be less than an hour's work to remove the Carlotti transceiver and the mini-Mannschenn from whichever boat we're letting them have."
"And the inertial drive," added Brabham thoughtfully.
"Hardly necessary. How far will they get, even at maximum acceleration, even with a long lifetime to do it in, on inertial drive only?"
"You've forgotten about Flannery," objected Swinton.
"We haven't," Vinegar Nell assured him. "Without his horrid amplifier he couldn't think his way out of a paper bag."
"Murder," admitted Brabham suddenly, "has never been my cup of tea."
"Or mutiny?" asked Grimes hopefully, but everybody ignored him.
"It has mine," asserted Swinton, far too cheerfully.
"I say, give the skipper an' his pals a chance!" shouted Sally.
"I second that," grunted Langer.
And what sort of chance will it be? wondered Grimes. A life sentence, instead of a death sentence. A life sentence, locked for years in a cell, with absolutely no chance of escape. And in company certainly not of my choosing. He had, not so long ago, made a long boat voyage with an attractive girl as his only companion. It had started well, but had finished with himself and the wench hating each other's guts.
He said, "Thank you, Miss Russell. And Mr. Tangye. I appreciate your efforts on my behalf. But I think I'd prefer the spacewalk."
Swinton laughed, although it sounded more like a snarl. "So there is such a thing as a fate worse than death, after all. All right, Brabham, you'd better start getting one of the boats ready for the long passage. The long, long passage. Meanwhile, this airlock will do for a holding cell."
The inner door sighed shut, sealing off the prisoners from the mutineers.
* * *
"You might have warned me!" Grimes said bitterly to Flannery.
The telepath looked at him mournfully from his one good eye. "I did so, Captain. Ride with a loose rein, I told ye. Don't go puttin' yer foot down with a firm hand. An' don't go makin' the same mistakes as Bligh did. With him it was a squabble over coconuts or some such the first time, an' rum the last time. With you it was cigars. I did so warn ye. I was a-goin' to warn ye again, but it all flared up sudden like. An' I had me poor hands full tryin' to save Ned."
"I hope," said Grimes, "that you now appreciate the folly of trying to run with the fox and hunt with the hounds." He turned to Rath. "And what brings you into this galley. Doctor?"
"I have my standards, Captain," replied the medical officer stiffly.
"Mphm. Then don't you think you'd better do something about Mr. Flannery? He seems in rather bad shape."
"It's only superficial damage," said Rath briskly. "It can wait until we're in the boat. The medicine chests in all the lifecraft are well stocked. I saw to that myself."
"That's a comfort," said Grimes. "I suppose that you'll do your damnedest to keep us all alive for the maximum time."
"Of course. And when