Space search v1, p.11
Space Search (v1.)), page 11
On one occasion, Whip Gunther said, “What are some of the rest of those warrants you have on me?”
Donaldson brought his sheaf of papers from an inner pocket and read from each of them. When he had completed the lot, Whip Gunther winced.
Donaldson said pleasantly, “I figured it out in my cabin. If you were found guilty on all of these charges, you would be executed eight times and spend one thousand, two hundred and forty-five years in prison. Two of the executions would be by hanging, four by being shot, one in the electric chair and one in a gas chamber.”
Whip Gunther closed his eyes, as though in pain. “I doubt if I could stand it.”
Venu was staring at first one of them, then the other. How could men jest about such a matter?
Shortly before they were to set down on Harappa, Hari Maroon had Venu summoned into his office alone and dismissed his secretaries. Venu stood before the other’s desk. Maroon eyed him quizzically for a long moment.
Finally, he said, “I have two sons of my own, approximately your age.”
“Yes, Sahib Maroon.”
“Long since, I’ve taught myself to detect a fib from a young man. That was a lie you told about being able to adopt Gunther, wasn’t it?”
Venu looked at him warily.
The other picked up a desk stylo and tapped its point. “The thing is, as soon as we arrive, Roy Donaldson is going to wish to get in contact with the authorities. When he does, he will find out the truth and arrest Gunther. There would be no escape,
since Gunther will be a stranger on a strange world, and conspicuous. Your local police would cooperate with Interplanpol in apprehending him.”
“What … what can Sahib Whip Gunther and I do?” Venu blurted.
“This uncle of yours, the acting rishi, would he adopt Gunther?”
“I do not think so. I am currently not in favor with him.”
“If your father is alive, would he?”
“I think so, since I have given my word.”
“This Whip Gunther means quite a bit to you, from what I have seen.”
Venu said simply, “Twice he has saved my life, at considerable risk to his own. When I realized the danger to which he was exposed, through me, I offered to release him from his pledge. He refused, although at the time he was convinced that we must fail. At first I did not like him, but now I realize his virtues, in spite of his being a man of violence.”
“I see. Very well. How long do you think it would take you to find your father, assuming he is alive? Or to find evidence of his violent death, otherwise?”
“But a few hours at most, in either case.”
“Very well. I will make arrangements for us to be held up at quarantine and customs. I will also announce to Mr. Donaldson that our electronic communications system is disabled so that we cannot communicate with the Harappan authorities in regard to Gunther.”
“But will he believe you?”
“Probably not, but I can hold him for a few hours. Don’t forget, there is but one of him, and thirty in my crew, including my two personal bodyguards. You will have to sneak out of the ship through the cargo hatch. That shouldn’t be a difficulty. I’ve done it myself, in my time.”
19
Hari Maroon himself showed Venu Jhabvola the way to the cargo hatch, and assured him that, within minutes of set-down, it would be open so the Harappan youth could scurry out. They would land at night, at a far edge of the spaceport field, and Venu should be able to make his getaway before any of the field personnel approached.
It almost happened the way the interplanetary tycoon had planned. But not quite.
As Venu came hurrying down the yacht corridor, bound for the cargo hatch, he ran into Whip Gunther, who was leaning nonchalantly against the bulkhead.
“Where do you think you’re going, Sonny?” he said mildly.
Venu took a deep breath. “I go to seek my father.”
“All alone?”
“There is none to go with me.”
There s me.
“But you are forced to remain here in the space yacht. You gave your parole to Sahib Donaldson.”
Whip Gunther chuckled. “Venu, my high-minded Harappan friend, how many times, over the years, do you think I’ve done such things as escape from prison or violate a parole? Offhand, I couldn’t count them. I have few principles left. I can’t afford them. So let’s go. How do we get out of here?”
A voice from behind them said, “That’s it, Gunther. Put up your hands!”
Whip Gunther and Venu spun around.
“Sneaky type, aren’t you?” Whip Gunther rasped to the Interplanpol inspector who stood there, pistol leveled, a cynical smirk on his face.
Donaldson said, “You forget I’ve read your complete dossier, Gunther. Your word can be trusted about as far as I could throw you. Now get back to your quarters.” He eyed the Harappan youth. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I go to seek my father.”
But the inspector had made a mistake in turning his eyes to Venu even for a second.
Whip’s hand darted down into his pocket in a blur, emerged with the manrikigusari, which he whipped out and wrapped around the wrist of the other. Whip Gunther jerked and the inspector stumbled forward toward him, dropping the laser pistol. Whip extended his left hand and straight-armed him. The Interplanpol man collapsed to the deck.
Whip Gunther spun his hand, disentangled the chain, and smashed the strange weapon against the side of the other’s head.
Gunther then scooped up the fallen pistol and put it into his clothes. “Let’s go,” he snapped to the wide-eyed Venu. “When this character comes out of it, there’s going to be all hell to pay. As an inspector of Interplanetary Police, he can draw on every cop on this planet to start chasing us.”
Venu led the way. Hari Maroon had been true to his word. The cargo hatch was open. They scrambled out of it and down to the tarmac of the spaceport.
“You know the way?” Whip Gunther rasped, as they scurried through the dark.
“Yes. As boys, my friend Attia and I often came out here to moon at the ships from space.” ‘
It was a quarter of a mile to the edge of the spaceport. Beyond was a well-travelled highway.
“Now what?” Whip Gunther growled. “The moment we use our interplanetary credit cards in a cab, the computers will have a cross on us.”
“But you must realize, Sahib Whip, that I also have a Harappan credit card, issued to me as a student of the New Bombay University. Certainly, it will not be suspect immediately.”
“Let’s go!”
Venu brought his pocket transceiver out and summoned a hover rickshaw. When it arrived, they climbed in hurriedly. Venu dialed their destination after putting his credit card in the slot for payment deduction.
“Where are we going?” Whip Gunther said.
Venu peered ahead anxiously. “Many years ago there was an evil rajah who dominated the government of the province of New Bombay. He built a large palace, in some respects an evil palace, since it had many secret rooms and even dungeons. After his death, the Expediters sub-caste grew in prominence as Harappa’s interplanetary trade became more and more significant. They bought his palace as an administrative center and as a home for the rishi. That is where we go.”
“All right.” Whip Gunther brought the laser pistol he had appropriated from Roy Donaldson from his pocket and checked its power-pack magazine.
They had entered New Bombay proper and were proceeding down its wide streets. The hover rickshaw stopped.
Venu said, “From here, I think it is best that we go on foot.”
“All right, you’re the guide. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
They hurried up the street, finally along a high wall.
Venu said,“The rear of the palace is on the other side of this wall.”
Whip Gunther looked up. It was too high to scale. He said, “How do we get over?”
His young companion said uncomfortably, “There is a small gate, but I am afraid that sometimes it is locked. Here it is.”
The gate was only about five feet high and was made of very thick wood. Venu tried the heavy iron knob. It was locked. He turned to Whip Gunther in despair.
Whip grunted amusement and brought his laser pistol from his pocket. He said, even as he adjusted the range stud down to five feet, “There wouldn’t likely be anyone on the other side, would there?”
“I do not think so, Sahib Whip.”
A gleam of ray hissed forth. Whip Gunther made a circular motion of his hand and knob and lock fell out. He cut the beam and pushed the gate open.
“Let’s go,” he said, still holding the pistol at the ready.
Venu led the way into the dark gardens beyond. He was obviously completely at home. They approached a massive building.
Venu whispered, “This is a section of the rajah’s palace which is no longer utilized. It is very grim and has an air about it of the evil things that once transpired here.”
Whip Gunther didn’t bother to ask what evil things. He, in his time, had seen a sufficiency of evil.
Venu hesitated for a moment. “I have not been here since I was a young boy. My friend Attia and I used to explore secretly. Had my parents known, they probably would have forbidden us.”
He was feeling with his hands along the wall. He stopped and put both palms against what was seemingly a large stone. It gave way inward to reveal a stone staircase leading down. There was no light. Silently, Venu led the way. Whip Gunther put a hand on his shoulder, the better to follow.
“Cloak and dagger stuff,” Whip Gunther muttered.
They came to the foot of the stairs and Venu led the way down a stone-paved corridor.
Suddenly a light blazed and a voice grated, “Drop that pistol, or I fire.”
The two of them were temporarily blinded. Growling, Whip Gunther let his gun drop. Venu moaned frustration.
For a long moment, the light bathed them.
Finally, the voice said, “I did not expect you to come here, Venu Jhabvola.”
“I seek my father.” And now Venu could recognize the other. He was not overly surprised to see that it was Rana Kumbha, Secretary of the Interplanetary Trade Commission, of the Harappan Embassy on Medea.
The other’s dark face mirrored amusement. “Then you have found him, Venu Jhabvola.’’ He motioned with his pistol. “Proceed down the hall. It would seem you know the way. Head for the dungeons. Were you seen entering?”
Venu hesitated before answering, “No.”
The other said, “I presume you are the gunman for hire, Whip Gunther. You must make no sudden motions. Believe me, your life hangs by a slim thread. You go ahead. I want the boy between you and me.”
Whip Gunther went ahead.
Before long, they began to pass what were obviously dungeon cells. They were dark, the doors closed, but Whip Gunther in his time had seen enough prison cells to recognize them when he saw them. There is a dank oder about the tiny rooms in which man imprisons his fellow man.
They turned a corridor comer and before them was a cell, somewhat larger than the others, from which came artificial light.
Rana Kumbha said, “Stand, with your faces to the wall.” He brought a key from his pocket.
While they stood as ordered, he activated the lock.
“And now. In there, please.”
Venu and Whip Gunther preceded him into the cell. It was possibly twenty feet by thirty feet in extent, and was of stone and windowless. The small peephole in the heavy steel door was the only visual exit to the outside world. The furniture was sparse; a heavy wooden table, a single heavy wooden chair, a steel cot.
Venu put his hands together and said, “Namastey, Father.”
Sudhin Jhabvola, who sat at the table, said, “Namastey, my son. And how is it you are here?”
“I came seeking you, my father.”
“Of course. You are an honorable son, as I have always known.”
“Thank you, Father. The gods function in ways we in this incarnation cannot fathom. However, I am saddened that my efforts have come to naught.”
Whip Gunther’s palms had become slightly moist. The man with the gun continued to keep Venu between him and Whip. There was no opportunity to snatch out the chain.
Rana Kumbha said, “You two stand against the wall with your faces pressed against it, and your toes touching it.”
Even as they obeyed him, he took a pocket transceiver from his clothes and said something into it.
Venu said, “Father, it is my pleasure to have the opportunity to reintroduce you to Sahib Whip Gunther, who is again in the services of our family. He has twice saved my unworthy life.”
“As he once saved mine,” Sudhin Jhabvola said. “My thanks, Whip Gunther. Namastey.”
Whip Gunther said tightly, “I’m not doing so well right now. Sorry.”
Venu said, “You are well, Father?” He had noted how gaunt Sudhin Jhabvola seemed.
“Within reason, my son. And how is Santha?”
“When last I saw her, she was well, Father, and had taken her position in the household of Uncle Mulk.”
Rana Kumbha cut in. “How did you know to come here?”
“It became obvious,” Venu said, “after something Hari Maroon said. Sudhin Jhabvola is no fool. During the uranium negotiations he would have been on guard against his rivals or strangers. Only someone quite close to him would have been able to cozen him out of his transceiver and identity papers.” He turned slightly from the wall and looked the dark-complexioned trade official in the face. “Only you, on all Medea, fit the description.”
Sudhin Jhabvola said, “You are quite correct, my son. He asked to see my things, on the pretext of checking them. And then covered me with a gun and took me to a place of hiding.”
Kumbha laughed and ran a thumbnail over his mustache. “Quite a sleuth. And what else did you deduce?”
“Hari Maroon, when he had indicated his own innocence, also asked who else profited by the rishi’s disappearance, and at first I could think of none, but then it became obvious.”
“Indeed,” a new voice said from the doorway.
Venu said, “Yes. The one person in all Allied Worlds who would profit the most by the disappearance of Sudhin Jhabvola was you, Uncle Mulk. For upon such a disappearance you became acting rishi of our family and of the Expediters sub-caste.“ Venu looked sideways at Whip Gunther. “It is why I could not tell you my suspicions. If they had been unworthy, then I would have lost merit by evilly suspecting my own uncle, and the acting rishi of my family, who ordinarily deserves the greatest of respect and honor.”
Mulk Jhabvola entered the cell, his tight face triumphant. “You are a perceptive lad, nephew. However, it is as well that matters have ended in this fashion and that we now have both of our birds in hand. It was proving difficult to eliminate you.”
“Yes,” Venu said slowly. “You made three attempts. One in my hotel on Medea, which was thwarted by the untimely appearance of two of my fellow guests. Once at the hands of Mohammed ibn Idriss, your hireling in Meknes on Tangier, and once through the two assassins in the home of Ahmed Abdallah. Had it not been for my friend here, Sahib Whip Gunther, you would surely have succeeded.”
Mulk Jhabvola looked at Whip Gunther, who still stood there, face to the wall, as ordered, but with his mind racing in an attempt to conceive of a plan of action.
Mulk Jhabvola said distastefully, “So you are the one guilty of upsetting our plans.”
There was no need to answer.
Sudhin Jhabvola said, “I have met many men in my work who were ruthless, but never any so utterly so as you, my brother. Your plan was certainly devious. In your position as acting rishi you had available various Expediter spacecraft of all sizes. It * was simple enough to send one to Medea, have it land in a desolate area secretly, pick me up, and return me here to Harappa, under guard.” He looked at his son. “How did you know it would be here he brought me?
Venu said, “He would be afraid to land on any other world. The authorities might detect him and all would be exposed. You had to disappear, with no possible way of your body being found, since if it was, I would become rishi. He evidently postponed your death until he was sure that I, too, was eliminated. At first he pretended that he didn’t want me to go to Medea, but as soon as I arrived, his man, Rana Kumbha, made quick to reveal to me the presence of the interplanetary credits on Geneva. They wanted me to embark upon my quest for you, knowing that if I was assassinated it would most likely be laid to the door of Hari Maroon.”
“Too complicated,” Whip Gunther said contemptuously. “Too many wheels that could come off. That’s the matter with you characters with twisted minds. You can’t do anything simply.”
Mulk Jhabvola laughed, his own voice contemptuous. He was obviously enjoying himself. “Indeed? But you see, Whip Gunther, that in the end I have triumphed. We have all three of you. All has been accomplished. And now I am rishi.”
Whip Gunther laughed too. Then he shook his head. “There’s one thing you’ve forgotten,
Uncle Mulk. One thing that fouls up your best-laid plans.”
Mulk stared at him darkly. “What are you talking about, you fool?”
Sudhin Jhabvola had not become one of the most respected interplanetary expediters through other than ability to read men and situations. He knew Whip Gunther and he was aware of his abnormally fast reactions and reflexes. He knew that Whip Gunther was going to make his play.
So Sudhin Jhabvola chuckled his own humor.
His brother glared at him. “What amuses you?
Sudhin Jhabvola smiled at him knowingly. “You’ll find out, Brother.”
Mulk Jhabvola spun about and glared at Whip Gunther. “Turn around. Turn around and face me, you overgrown ape.”
Whip Gunther turned, and as he did so, dipped his hand into his side pocket. A beam lashed out from the gun in the hands of Rana Kumbha, but Whip Gunther had thrown himself to the side and then down onto the floor, where he rolled desperately for the far wall, the beam tracing after him across the flagstones.
