Conspiracy on Callisto
By JAMES MacCREIGH
Revolt was flaring on Callisto, and Peter Duane
held the secret that would make the uprising a
success or failure. Yet he could make no move,
could favor no side--his memory was gone--he
didn't know for whom he fought.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Winter 1943.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Duane's hand flicked to his waist and hung there, poised. His dis-gun
remained undrawn.
The tall, white-haired man--Stevens--smiled.
"You're right, Duane," he said. "I could blast you, too. Nobody would
win that way, so let's leave the guns where they are."
The muscles twitched in Peter Duane's cheeks, but his voice, when it
came, was controlled. "Don't think we're going to let this go," he
said. "We'll take it up with Andrias tonight. We'll see whether you can
cut me out!"
The white-haired man's smile faded. He stepped forward, one hand
bracing him against the thrust of the rocket engines underneath,
holding to the guide rail at the side of the ship's corridor.
He said, "Duane, Andrias is your boss, not mine. I'm a free lance; I
work for myself. When we land on Callisto tonight I'll be with you when
you turn our--shall I say, our _cargo_?--over to him. And I'll collect
my fair share of the proceeds. That's as far as it goes. I take no
orders from him."
A heavy-set man in blue appeared at the end of the connecting corridor.
He was moving fast, but stopped short when he saw the two men.
"Hey!" he said. "Change of course--get to your cabins." He seemed about
to walk up to them, then reconsidered and hurried off. Neither man paid
any attention.
Duane said, "Do I have to kill you?" It was only a question as he asked
it, without threatening.
A muted alarm bell sounded through the P.A. speakers, signaling a
one-minute warning. The white-haired man cocked his eyebrow.
"Not at all," he said. He took the measure of his slim, red-headed
opponent. Taller, heavier, older, he was still no more uncompromisingly
belligerent than Duane, standing there. "Not at all," he repeated.
"Just take your ten thousand and let it go at that. Don't make trouble.
Leave Andrias out of our private argument."
"Damn you!" Duane flared. "I was promised fifty thousand. I need that
money. Do you think--"
"Forget what I think," Stevens said, his voice clipped and angry. "I
don't care about fairness, Duane, except to myself. I've done all the
work on this--I've supplied the goods. My price is set, a hundred
thousand Earth dollars. What Andrias promised you is no concern of
mine. The fact is that, after I've taken my share, there's only ten
thousand left. That's all you get!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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