The yacht went fast, away from the old red weary planet. Hyrst thought
of Shearing and Christina and the others, laboring over their ship on
the dark plain. He felt safe in doing this, because Vernon was gone and
the gray evil man who had helped to torture Shearing aboard the _Happy
Dream_ was still in an Earth hospital recovering from the blow Hyrst had
given him. They were out of reach, and Hyrst was the only Lazarite
Bellaver had.
He did not try to get through to Shearing because he knew that was
impossible, and there was no reason for it anyway. He let his mind
stretch out and rove through the nighted spaces beyond Saturn, beyond
Uranus and Neptune, beyond the black and frigid bulk of Pluto. He did
not see the ship nor touch a Lazarite mind, and so he knew that they
were still holding the cloak, still hiding from possible betrayal. He
withdrew his mind, and wished them luck.
"We're clear of Mars," said Bellaver. "Which way?"
"That way," said Hyrst, and pointed. "Toward the Sun."
The yacht swerved and steadied on a new course, toward the distant glare
of Sol. And Bellaver said,
"What's the exact location?"
"Can you trust every man in this crew?" asked Hyrst. "Can you be sure
not one of them would give it away, when we stop to refuel? You're not
the only one that knows about the starship now, remember."
"You could tell _me_."
"You're too impatient, Bellaver. You'd want to head straight there, and
it won't be that easy. They have defenses. We have to be careful, or
they'll destroy the ship before we reach it."
"Or finish their relays and go." Bellaver gave Hyrst a long look. "I'll
trust you because I have to. But I wasn't making an empty threat. And
I'll do it so there won't be any thought of murder. You'd better find me
that ship, Hyrst."
From then on, Bellaver hardly slept. He paced the corridors and haunted
the control room and watched Hyrst with a gnawing, agonizing doubt.
Hyrst began to feel for him a distant sort of pity, as he might have
felt for a man afflicted by some disease brought on by his own excesses.
* * * * *
The yacht passed the orbit of Earth, refueled at an obscure space
station, and sped on. Hyrst continued to stall Bellaver, ordering a
change of course from time to time to keep him happy. At intervals he
let his mind rove through those dark spaces they were leaving farther
behind with every passing second. Each time it was a greater effort, but
still there was no sign of the starship or its base, and so he knew that
the labor still went on.
By the time the yacht reached the orbit of Venus a fan-shaped cordon of
other ships had collected around and behind her drawn by the word that
Bellaver was on his way to find the starship. Government patrols were in
constant touch.
"They can't interfere," said Bellaver. "I've got a lien on that ship, a
formal claim."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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