The Hard Way Up - A. Bertram Chandler [67]
"And so?" demanded the woman.
"And so the amplifier is useless, possibly permanently." He added brightly, "But I can get in touch with Princess Helga any time you want."
"You needn't bother," she snarled. Then, to Grimes, "Of all the ships in the Survey Service, why did I have to travel in this one?"
Why? echoed Grimes silently. Why?
Even the Commissioner was obliged to give Captain Andersen and his crew full marks for spacemanship. Princess Helga emerged into normal space-time only feet from the drifting Adder. At one moment there was nothing beyond the courier's viewports but the blackness of interstellar space, the bright, distant stars—at the next moment she was there, a vague outline at first, but solidifying rapidly. She hung there, a great spindle of gleaming plastic and metal, the sleekness of her lines marred by turrets and antennae. Another second—and the shape of her was obscured by the tough pneumatic fenders that inflated with almost explosive rapidity. Another second—and Adder's people heard and felt the thump of the magnetic grapnels as they made contact.
Andersen's pleasant, slightly accented voice came from the transceiver. "I have you, Captain. Stand by for acceleration. Stand by for resumption of Mannschenn Drive."
"I suppose that your temporal precession field will cover us?" asked Grimes.
"Of course. In any case there is physical contact between your ship and mine."
"Where are you taking us?" demanded Mrs. Dalwood.
"To Kobenhaven, of course, Madam. Our Base on Skandia."
"I insist that you tow us to the nearest spaceport under Federation jurisdiction."
"You insist, Madam?" Grimes, looking at the screen, could see that Andersen was really enjoying himself. As long as somebody was . . . "I'm sorry, but I have my orders."
"This is piracy!" she flared.
"Piracy, Madam? The captain of your ship requested a tow, and a tow is what he's getting. Beggars can't be choosers. In any case, Space Law makes it quite plain that the choice of destination is up to the officer commanding the vessel towing, not the captain of the vessel towed."
She said, almost pleading but not quite, "In these circumstances the Federation could be generous."
Andersen lost his smile. He said, "I am a Skandian, Madam. My loyalty is to my own planet, my own Service. Stand by for acceleration."
The screen went blank. Acceleration pushed the group in Adder's control room down into their chairs; Mrs. Dalwood was able to reach a spare seat just in time. Faintly, the vibration transmitted along the tow wires, they heard and felt the irregular throbbing of Princess Helga's inertial drive—and almost coincidentally there was the brief period of temporal-spatial disorientation as the field of the cruiser's Mannschenn Drive encompassed both ships.
"You realize what this means to your career," said the Commissioner harshly.
"What was that?" asked Grimes. He had been trying to work out how it was that Princess Helga had been able to start up her inertial drive before the interstellar drive, how it was that there had been no prior lining up on a target star.
"You realize what this means to your career," repeated the woman.
"I haven't got one," said Grimes. "Not any longer."
And somehow it didn't matter.
The voyage to Kobenhaven was not a pleasant one.
The Commissioner made no attempt to conceal her feelings insofar as Grimes was concerned. Rosaleen, he knew, was on his side—but what could a mere lady's maid do to help him? She could have done quite a lot to make him less miserable, but her mistress made sure that there were no opportunities. The officers remained loyal—but not too loyal. They had their own careers to think about. As long as Grimes was captain they were obliged to take his orders, and the Commissioner knew it as well as they did. Oddly enough it was only Hollister, the newcomer,