Mr. Spaceship Page 5

sir, but now the ship has gotten away. Look down at theboard."

  * * * * *

  Gross stared down, Kramer over his shoulder. The black dot had slippedthrough the white dots and had moved off at an abrupt angle. The whitedots were broken up, dispersing in confusion.

  "He's an unusual strategist," one of the officers said. He traced theline. "It's an ancient maneuver, an old Prussian device, but itworked."

  The white dots were turning back. "Too many yuk ships out that far,"Gross said. "Well, that's what you get when you don't act quickly." Helooked up coldly at Kramer. "We should have done it when we had him.Look at him go!" He jabbed a finger at the rapidly moving black dot.The dot came to the edge of the board and stopped. It had reached thelimit of the chartered area. "See?"

  --Now what? Kramer thought, watching. So the Old Man had escaped thecruisers and gotten away. He was alert, all right; there was nothingwrong with his mind. Or with his ability to control his new body.

  Body--The ship was a new body for him. He had traded in the old dyingbody, withered and frail, for this hulking frame of metal and plastic,turbines and rocket jets. He was strong, now. Strong and big. The newbody was more powerful than a thousand human bodies. But how longwould it last him? The average life of a cruiser was only ten years.With careful handling he might get twenty out of it, before someessential part failed and there was no way to replace it.

  And then, what then? What would he do, when something failed and therewas no one to fix it for him? That would be the end. Someplace, farout in the cold darkness of space, the ship would slow down, silentand lifeless, to exhaust its last heat into the eternal timelessnessof outer space. Or perhaps it would crash on some barren asteroid,burst into a million fragments.

  It was only a question of time.

  "Your wife didn't remember anything?" Gross said.

  "I told you. Only that he kept a goat, once."

  "A hell of a lot of help that is."

  Kramer shrugged. "It's not my fault."

  "I wonder if we'll ever see him again." Gross stared down at theindicator dot, still hanging at the edge of the board. "I wonder ifhe'll ever move back this way."

  "I wonder, too," Kramer said.

  * * * * *

  That night Kramer lay in bed, tossing from side to side, unable tosleep. The moon gravity, even artificially increased, was unfamiliarto him and it made him uncomfortable. A thousand thoughts wanderedloose in his head as he lay, fully awake.

  What did it all mean? What was the Professor's plan? Maybe they wouldnever know. Maybe the ship was gone for good; the Old Man had leftforever, shooting into outer space. They might never find out why hehad done it, what purpose--if any--had been in his mind.

  Kramer sat up in bed. He turned on the light and lit a cigarette. Hisquarters were small, a metal-lined bunk room, part of the moon stationbase.

  The Old Man had wanted to talk to him. He had wanted to discussthings, hold a conversation, but in the hysteria and confusion allthey had been able to think of was getting away. The ship was rushingoff with them, carrying them into outer space. Kramer set his jaw.Could they be blamed for jumping? They had no idea where they werebeing taken, or why. They were helpless, caught in their own ship, andthe pursuit ship standing by waiting to pick them up was their onlychance. Another half hour and it would have been too late.

  But what had the Old Man wanted to say? What had he intended to tellhim, in those first confusing moments when the ship around them hadcome alive, each metal strut and wire suddenly animate, the body of aliving creature, a vast metal organism?

  It was weird, unnerving. He could not forget it, even now. He lookedaround the small room uneasily. What did it signify, the coming tolife of metal and plastic? All at once they had found themselvesinside a _living_ creature, in its stomach, like Jonah inside thewhale.

  It had been alive, and it had talked to them, talked calmly andrationally, as it rushed them off, faster and faster into outer space.The wall speaker and circuit had become the vocal cords and mouth, thewiring the spinal cord and nerves, the hatches and relays and circuitbreakers the muscles.

  They had been helpless, completely helpless. The ship had, in a briefsecond, stolen their power away from them and left them defenseless,practically at its mercy. It was not right; it made him uneasy. Allhis life he had controlled machines, bent nature and the forces ofnature to man and man's needs. The human race had slowly evolved untilit was in a position to operate things, run them as it saw fit. Nowall at once it had been plunged back down the ladder again, prostratebefore a Power against which they were children.

  Kramer got out of bed. He put on his bathrobe and began to search fora cigarette. While he was searching, the vidphone rang.

  He snapped the vidphone on.

  "Yes?"

  The face of the immediate monitor appeared. "A call from Terra, Mr.Kramer. An emergency call."

  "Emergency call? For me? Put it through." Kramer came awake, brushinghis hair back out of his eyes. Alarm plucked at him.

  From the speaker a strange voice came. "Philip Kramer? Is thisKramer?"

  "Yes. Go on."

  "This is General Hospital, New York City, Terra. Mr. Kramer, your wifeis here. She has been critically injured in an accident. Your name wasgiven to us to call. Is it possible for you to--"

  "How badly?" Kramer gripped the vidphone stand. "Is it serious?"

  "Yes, it's serious, Mr. Kramer. Are you able to come here? The quickeryou can come the better."

  "Yes." Kramer nodded. "I'll come. Thanks."

  * * * * *

  The screen died as the connection was broken. Kramer waited a moment.Then he tapped the button. The screen relit again. "Yes, sir," themonitor said.

  "Can I get a ship to Terra at once? It's an emergency. My wife--"

  "There's no ship leaving the moon for eight hours. You'll have to waituntil the next period."

  "Isn't there anything I can do?"

  "We can broadcast a general request to all ships passing through thisarea. Sometimes cruisers pass by here returning to Terra for repairs."

  "Will you broadcast that for me? I'll come down to the field."

  "Yes sir. But there may be no ship in the area for awhile. It's agamble." The screen died.

  Kramer dressed quickly. He put on his coat and hurried to the lift. Amoment later he was running across the general receiving lobby, pastthe rows of vacant desks and conference tables. At the door thesentries stepped aside and he went outside, onto the great concretesteps.

  The face of the moon was in shadow. Below him the field stretched outin total darkness, a black void, endless, without form. He made hisway carefully down the steps and along the ramp along the side of thefield, to the control tower. A faint row of red lights showed him theway.

  Two soldiers challenged him at the foot of the tower, standing in theshadows, their guns ready.

  "Kramer?"

  "Yes." A light was flashed in his face.

  "Your call has been sent out already."

  "Any luck?" Kramer asked.

  "There's a cruiser nearby that has made contact with us. It has aninjured jet and is moving slowly back toward Terra, away from theline."

  "Good." Kramer nodded, a flood of relief rushing through him. He lit acigarette and gave one to each of the soldiers. The soldiers lit up.

  "Sir," one of them asked, "is it true about the experimental ship?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "It came to life and ran off?"

  "No, not exactly," Kramer said. "It had a new type of control systeminstead of the Johnson units. It wasn't properly tested."

  "But sir, one of the cruisers that was there got up close to it, and abuddy of mine says this ship acted funny. He never saw anything likeit. It was like when he was fishing once on Terra, in WashingtonState, fishing for bass. The fish were smart, going this way andthat--"

  "Here's your cruiser," the other soldi
er said. "Look!"

  An enormous vague shape was setting slowly down onto the field. Theycould make nothing out but its row of tiny green blinkers. Kramerstared at the shape.

  "Better hurry, sir," the soldiers said. "They don't stick around herevery long."

  "Thanks." Kramer loped across the field, toward the black shape thatrose up above him, extended across the width of the field. The rampwas down from the side of the cruiser and he caught hold of it. Theramp rose, and a moment later Kramer was inside the hold of the ship.The hatch slid shut behind him.

  As he made his way up the stairs to the main deck the turbines roaredup from the moon, out into space.

  Kramer opened