The Broken Cycle - A. Bertram Chandler [7]
"Sir?"
"You'll have to make room in your after hold for a Mark XIV lifeboat. All the derelict's boats were taken when the crew and passengers abandoned ship. Lieutenant Commander Grimes will be using the Mark XIV for his boarding operation, of course, and then keeping it aboard Delta Geminorum. Grimes, of course, will be in full charge during the boarding and until such time as he releases you to proceed on your own occasions. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then that will be all, Lieutenant Commander." Delamere put on his cap, sketched a vague salute and strode indignantly out of the office. Damien chuckled and nattered, "After all, he's not the Admiral's son-in-law yet . . . ."
* * *
Grimes and Una stood on the apron looking up at Skink.
She wasn't a big ship, but she looked big to Grimes after his long tour of duty in the little Adder. She was longer, and beamier. She could never be called, as the Serpent Class couriers were called, a "flying darning needle." A cargo port was open in her shining side, just forward of and above the roots of the vanes that comprised her tripedal landing gear. Hanging in the air at the same level was a lifeboat, a very fat dagger of burnished metal, its inertial drive muttering irritably. Grimes hoped that the Ensign piloting the thing knew what he was doing, and that Delamere's people, waiting inside the now-empty after hold, knew what they were doing. If that boat were damaged in any way he would be extremely reluctant to lift off from Lindisfarne. He said as much.
"You're fussy, John," Una told him.
"A good spaceman has to be fussy. There won't be any boats aboard the derelict, and anything is liable to go wrong with her once we've taken charge and are on our own. That Mark XIV could well be our only hope of survival."
She laughed. "If that last bomb blows up after we're aboard, a lifeboat won't be much use to us."
"You're the bomb-disposal expert. You see to it that it doesn't go off."
Delamere, walking briskly, approached them. He saluted Una, ignored Grimes. "Coming aboard, Miss Freeman? We shall be all ready to lift off as soon as that boat's inboard."
"I'll just wait here with John," she said. "He wants to see the boat safely into the ship."
"My officers are looking after it, Grimes," said Delamere sharply.
"But I've signed for the bloody thing!" Grimes told him.
The boat nosed slowly through the circular port, vanished. For a few seconds the irregular beat of its inertial drive persisted, amplified by the resonance of the metal compartment. Then it stopped. There was no tinny crash to tell of disaster.
"Satisfied?" sneered Delamere.
"Not quite. I shall want to check on its stowage."
"All right. If you insist," snarled Delamere. He then muttered something about old women that Grimes didn't quite catch.
"It's my boat," he said quietly.
"And it's being carried in my ship."
"Shall we be getting aboard?" Una asked sweetly.
They walked up the ramp to the after airlock. It was wide enough to take only two people walking abreast in comfort. Grimes found himself bringing up the rear. Let Frankie-boy have his little bit of fun, he thought tolerantly. He was confident that he would make out with Una; it was now only a question of the right place and the right time. He did not think that she would be carried away by a golden-haired dummy out of a uniform tailor's shop window. On the other hand, Delamere's ship would not provide the right atmosphere for his own campaign of conquest. Not that it mattered much. He would soon have a ship of his own, a big ship. Once aboard the derelict Delta Geminorum people would no longer have to live in each other's pockets.
* * *
Grimes stopped off at the after hold to see to the stowage of his boat while Una and Delamere stayed in the elevator that carried them up the axial shaft to the captain's quarters. The small craft was snugly nested into its chocks, secured with strops and sliphooks. Even if Delamere indulged in the clumsy aerobatics, for which he was notorious, on his way up through the atmosphere the boat should