Homeward Bound Part 47

"Some people are less less ready to be mothers than others, though," Dr. Melanie Blanchard said. "No offense, Frank, but I can't think of anybody who strikes me as less ready than Ka.s.squit." ready to be mothers than others, though," Dr. Melanie Blanchard said. "No offense, Frank, but I can't think of anybody who strikes me as less ready than Ka.s.squit."

Karen nodded at that. Jonathan didn't, but he'd been thinking the same thing. Frank Coffey said, "We didn't intend for it to happen." He held up a hand. "Yeah, I know-n.o.body ever intends anything like that, but it happens all the time anyway." He sighed. "She's got nine months-well, most of nine months-to get used to the idea. And there will be more humans here to give her a hand." Another sigh. "She'll need one, heaven knows. I just hope-" He broke off.

Silence fell among the humans. Smiles faded from their faces. Jonathan knew what he'd started to say-I just hope we don't go to war-that or something like it. If they did go to war, what was one pregnant woman? No more than one pregnant woman had ever been in all the sad and sordid history of mankind.

"The Lizards wouldn't be that stupid, not now," Tom said. n.o.body answered. Maybe he was right. On the other hand, maybe he wasn't. The Lizards had just got the biggest shock in their whole history. They They probably didn't know how they were going to react to it. How could any mere humans guess along with them? probably didn't know how they were going to react to it. How could any mere humans guess along with them?

On the other hand, how could humans keep from trying?

People filed out of the refectory in glum silence. Jonathan looked out of the hotel's big plate-gla.s.s windows. He imagined the sun-bright flare of an exploding warhead right outside-and then darkness and oblivion.

"Penny for 'em," Karen said.

He shook his head. "You don't want to know." She didn't push him. Maybe she'd had thoughts like that herself.

"Ah . . . excuse me." That was in the language of the Race. An untidy-looking Lizard whose body paint could have used a touch-up went on, "Are you the Big Ugly I had the honor of meeting a while ago? Forgive me, but your name has gone clean out of my head. I really am a fool about such things."

"I greet you, Inspector Garanpo. Yes, I am Jonathan Yeager," Jonathan said. All at once, a visit from a Lizard detective hot on the trail of ginger seemed the least of his worries. "Inspector, let me present my mate, Karen Yeager. Karen, this is Inspector Garanpo. I told you about him the last time he visited us."

"Oh, yes, of course," Karen said. "I am pleased to meet you, Inspector." If she wasn't very very pleased, the Lizard cop wouldn't know it. pleased, the Lizard cop wouldn't know it.

Garanpo bent into the posture of respect. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance, superior female. Yes, indeed-an honor. Now I have met three of you Tosevites, and you seem pretty well civilized, you truly do. Not at all the sort of creatures I thought you might be when I found out there was a connection between your kind and the ginger trade."

"There is also a connection between members of the Race and the ginger trade," Jonathan pointed out. "Does that turn all males and females of the Race into monsters and criminals?"

"Well, no, I would not say that it does. I certainly would not say that." Garanpo made the negative gesture. Jonathan watched him with an odd sort of fascination. He'd never before seen a Lizard who reminded him of an unmade bed.

"Why are you here, Inspector?" Karen asked. "Has there been more ginger smuggling?"

"More? Oh, no, superior female, not that we have been able to find," Garanpo said. "What we do have, though, is more information on the ginger smuggling that previously took place. We have detected traces of ginger aboard the Horned Akiss, Horned Akiss, where the little rocket from your starship paid a call." where the little rocket from your starship paid a call."

"Is that supposed to prove something, Inspector?" Jonathan said. "For all you know, there are ginger tasters in the crew."

"Here is what I know," Garanpo said. "I know that a shipment of ginger came down to Home not long after you Big Uglies and the Race traded little rocketships. And I know that you were going to trade them back again, but then there was a delay. After that delay, you did send back the one you got from us. There was no ginger inside it, or none to speak of, but we did detect traces of the herb inside some of the structural tubing. What have you got to say about that, that, superior Tosevite?" He flicked out his tongue, for all the world like one of his small Earthly namesakes. superior Tosevite?" He flicked out his tongue, for all the world like one of his small Earthly namesakes.

What have I got to say? That we're lucky their scooter only had traces of ginger in it, and not enough to choke a horse. Those people upstairs came close as could be into walking into a buzz saw.

None of that seemed like anything the Lizard detective needed to hear. Jonathan put the best face on things he could: "I am sorry, Inspector, but this proves exactly nothing. Can you tell how old those traces of ginger are? How long has the Horned Akiss Horned Akiss...o...b..ted Home? How many of your starships has it met? How long has ginger smuggling been going on?" orbited Home? How many of your starships has it met? How long has ginger smuggling been going on?"

He could even have been right with his guesses, too. He didn't think he was, but he could have been. A lawyer would have called it creating a reasonable doubt. He wasn't sure the Race's law had ever heard of the idea.

"Well, there has been ginger smuggling ever since starships started coming back from Tosev 3," Garanpo admitted. "But there has never been any so closely connected with the source of supply, you might say, until now."

"You do not know there is any such thing now," Jonathan said sharply. "You a.s.sume it, but you do not know it."

"We would, except that the officers on your ship refuse to let us do a thorough search and a.n.a.lysis of their little rocketship," Garanpo said. "That suggests a guilty conscience to me."

It suggested the same thing to Jonathan. Again, he wasn't about to say so. What he did say was, "Why should they? You yourself have told me that this little rocketship was in the Race's hands for some length of time. If you wanted to discredit us, you had the chance to do it."

Inspector Garanpo's eye turrets swiveled every which way before finally coming to rest on him again. "How are we supposed to show guilt when all you have to do is deny it?" the Lizard asked grouchily.

"How are we supposed to show innocence when all you have to do is claim we are guilty?" Jonathan asked in return.

Garanpo's eye turrets started swiveling again. He turned and skittered off, muttering to himself. "You did that very well," Karen said.

"Thanks," Jonathan said. "I wish I didn't have to. And you know what else I wish? I wish like h.e.l.l I had a cold bottle of beer right now." The Race, unfortunately, had never heard of beer.

Karen said, "You can get their vodka at the bar. Or if you want it cold, we've got a bottle and ice cubes in the room."

Jonathan shook his head. "Thanks, hon, but it's not the same."

"Did that strange, shabby Lizard have any idea what he was talking about?"

"Of course not," Jonathan said, a little louder than he needed to. He cupped a hand behind his ear to remind Karen that they were in the lobby and the Lizards could monitor whatever they said. Her mouth shaped a silent okay okay to show she got the point. Jonathan went on, "On second thought, maybe vodka over ice isn't such a bad idea after all. You want to fix me one?" to show she got the point. Jonathan went on, "On second thought, maybe vodka over ice isn't such a bad idea after all. You want to fix me one?"

"Sure," Karen answered. "I may even make one for myself while I'm at it."

They rode up to their room. As soon as Jonathan got inside, he checked the bug suppressors. When he was convinced they were working the way they were supposed to, he said, "You'd better believe we were smuggling ginger. If you want all the gory details, you can ask Dad."

"Good way to start a war," Karen observed.

She made him the drink. Once it was in his hand, he was d.a.m.n glad to have it. Karen did fix one for herself, too. After a long pull at his, Jonathan coughed once or twice. It didn't taste like much-vodka never did-but it was strong enough to put hair on his chest. He said, "There have been wars like that-the Opium Wars in China, for instance. Opium was just about the only thing England had that the Chinese wanted. And when the Chinese government tried to cut off the trade, England went to war to make sure it went on."

"We wouldn't do anything like that," Karen said. Jonathan would have been happier if he hadn't heard the question mark in her voice. It wasn't quite an interrogative cough, but it came close.

"I hope we wouldn't," he said. "But it's a weapon, no two ways about it. The Admiral Peary Admiral Peary wouldn't have carried it if it weren't. And if we're going to be able to start going back and forth between Earth and home every few weeks instead of taking years and years to do it . . . Well, the chances for smuggling go up like a rocket." wouldn't have carried it if it weren't. And if we're going to be able to start going back and forth between Earth and home every few weeks instead of taking years and years to do it . . . Well, the chances for smuggling go up like a rocket."

"And if we smuggle lots of ginger, and the Empire decides it doesn't like that . . ." Karen's voice trailed away. She got outside of a lot of her drink. As Jonathan had, she coughed a couple of times. "We could see the Opium Wars all over again, couldn't we?"

"It's crossed my mind," Jonathan said. "As long as we can go faster than light and the Lizards can't, they'd be like Chinese junks going up against the Royal Navy. Whether they understand that or not is liable to be a different question, though. And we have no idea what things are like back on Earth these days, not really."

"We can find out, though." Karen looked out the window, but her eyes were light-years from Home. "Grandchildren. Great-grandchildren. Our own sons-older than we are." She shook her head.

"Not many people will have to cope with that," Jonathan said. "The bottom just dropped out of the market for cold-sleep stock."

"It did, didn't it?" Karen said. "So many things we'll have to get used to."

"If Dad doesn't go back, I don't know that I want to," Jonathan said. "If all the people here decided to stay behind if the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry wouldn't let him aboard, that would show the moderns how much we thought of him. I don't know what else we can do to change their minds." wouldn't let him aboard, that would show the moderns how much we thought of him. I don't know what else we can do to change their minds."

"That . . . might work," Karen said slowly. She'd plainly been seeing Los Angeles in her mind, and didn't seem very happy about being recalled to Home-especially about being told she might do better staying here. Jonathan gulped the rest of his drink. She was Sam Yeager's daughter-in-law. The other Americans were just his friends. Would they sacrifice return tickets for his sake? Will I have to find out? Will I have to find out? Jonathan wondered. Jonathan wondered.

The Commodore Perry Commodore Perry excited Glen Johnson and the other pilots who'd come to the excited Glen Johnson and the other pilots who'd come to the Admiral Peary Admiral Peary from the from the Lewis and Clark Lewis and Clark much less than most other people. "What the h.e.l.l difference does it make if we can go back to Earth in five weeks, or even in five minutes?" Johnson said. "We can't go home any which way." much less than most other people. "What the h.e.l.l difference does it make if we can go back to Earth in five weeks, or even in five minutes?" Johnson said. "We can't go home any which way."

"Wouldn't you like to see all the newest TV shows?" Mickey Flynn asked.

"Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a d.a.m.n, except maybe about the lovely Rita," Johnson answered, with feeling. What male couldn't like the lovely Rita?

"Wouldn't you like to see some new faces?" Flynn persisted. He pointed to Walter Stone. "The old faces are wearing thin, not that anyone asked my opinion."

Stone glowered. "I love you, too, Mickey."

"I'd like to see some young, pretty girls in person," Johnson said. "The only thing is, I don't think any young, pretty girls would be glad to see me."

"Speak for yourself, Johnson," Flynn said.

"That was his johnson speaking," Stone said. Johnson and Flynn both looked at him in surprise. He didn't usually come out with such things. He went on, "I want to know what they'll do with the Admiral Peary. Admiral Peary. We figured this crate would go obsolete, but we never thought it would turn into a dodo." We figured this crate would go obsolete, but we never thought it would turn into a dodo."

The comparison struck Johnson as only too apt. Next to the Commodore Perry, Commodore Perry, the the Admiral Peary Admiral Peary might as well have been flightless. She'd crossed more than ten light-years-and, except for her weapons and the ginger she carried, she was ready for the sc.r.a.p heap. "They ought to put her in a museum," Johnson said. might as well have been flightless. She'd crossed more than ten light-years-and, except for her weapons and the ginger she carried, she was ready for the sc.r.a.p heap. "They ought to put her in a museum," Johnson said.

"So our grandchildren can see how primitive we were?" Flynn inquired.

"That's what museums are for," Johnson said. "Our grandchildren are going to think we're primitive anyhow. My grandfather was born in 1869. I sure thought he was primitive, and I didn't need a museum to give me reasons why. Listening to the old geezer go on about how us moderns were going to h.e.l.l in a handbasket and taking the whole world with us did the job just fine."

"And here he was, right all the time," Walter Stone said. "Way it looks now, we've got four worlds going to h.e.l.l in a handbasket, not just one. Biggest G.o.dd.a.m.n handbasket anybody ever made."

"You really think the Lizards are going to jump us?" Johnson asked. He didn't get on well with Stone, but he had to respect the senior pilot's military competence.

"What worries me is that it might be in their best interest to try," Stone answered. "If they wait for us to build a big fleet of faster-thanlight ships, their goose is cooked. Or we can cook it whenever we decide to throw it in the oven."

"How many FTL ships will we have by the time their attack order reaches Earth?" Mickey Flynn asked.

"Not as many as if they wait twenty years and then decide they're going to try to take us," Stone said. "They usually like to dither and look at things from every possible angle and take years to figure out the best thing they could do. Well, here the best thing they can do is not take years figuring it out. I wonder if they've got the brains to see that."

"It would be out of character," Johnson said.

"They've been worrying about us for a long time," Stone returned. "They were nerving themselves for something before the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry got here. Would Yeager have had us send a war warning back to Earth if he weren't worried?" got here. Would Yeager have had us send a war warning back to Earth if he weren't worried?"

"The question is, will the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry make things better or worse?" Flynn said. "Will it make them think they can't possibly beat us, and so they'd better be good little males and females? Or will they think the way you think they'll think, Walter, and strike while the iron is hot?" make things better or worse?" Flynn said. "Will it make them think they can't possibly beat us, and so they'd better be good little males and females? Or will they think the way you think they'll think, Walter, and strike while the iron is hot?"

Stone didn't answer right away. Glen Johnson didn't blame him. How could you help pausing to unscramble that before you tried to deal with it? When Stone did speak, he confined himself to one word: "Right."

"Yes, but which?" Flynn asked.

"One of them, that's for d.a.m.n sure," Stone said. "The other interesting question is, what sort of a wild card is the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry when it comes to weapons? I know what when it comes to weapons? I know what we've we've got. Our stuff is a little better than what the Lizards use-not a lot, but a little, enough to give us a good fighting chance of making them very unhappy in case of a sc.r.a.p." got. Our stuff is a little better than what the Lizards use-not a lot, but a little, enough to give us a good fighting chance of making them very unhappy in case of a sc.r.a.p."

"We had junk on the Lewis and Clark, Lewis and Clark," Johnson said.

Stone nodded. "Compared to this? You'd better believe it. Well, the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry is more years ahead of us than the is more years ahead of us than the Lewis and Clark Lewis and Clark is behind us. So what is she carrying, and how much can she do to Home if she gets annoyed?" is behind us. So what is she carrying, and how much can she do to Home if she gets annoyed?"

Johnson whistled softly. "Think about the difference between World War I biplanes and what we flew when the Lizards got to Earth."

"There's another one," Stone agreed.

Flynn pointed down-up?-toward the surface of home. As it happened, the Admiral Peary Admiral Peary was flying over Preffilo. Even from so high in the sky, Johnson could pick out the palace complex at a glance. Flynn said, "Have the Lizards wondered what the was flying over Preffilo. Even from so high in the sky, Johnson could pick out the palace complex at a glance. Flynn said, "Have the Lizards wondered what the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry is carrying?" is carrying?"

"We haven't had any intercepts indicating that they have," Stone said. "Maybe they aren't wondering. Maybe they are, but they're keeping their mouths shut about it."

"Somebody ought to whisper in their hearing diaphragms," Johnson said. "The more they wonder about what'll happen if they get cute, the better off we'll be."

"That's actually a good idea." By the way Stone said it, hearing a good idea from Johnson was a surprise. "We can arrange it, too."

"The amba.s.sador should be able to do it," Johnson said. "If the Lizards will listen to anybody, they'll listen to him."

"They may be the only ones who will," Flynn said. "I understand that that's the purpose of an amba.s.sador and all, but when your own side won't. . . ."

"Healey," Johnson said, in the tones he would have used to talk about a fly in his soup. Walter Stone stirred. He was and always had been in the commandant's corner. He was about as decent a guy as he could be while ending up there, which said a good deal about his strengths and his weaknesses.

Before Stone could rise to Healey's defense, before Johnson could snarl back, and before the inevitable fight could break out, Mickey Flynn went on, "Ah, but it isn't just Healey. There's a difficulty, you might say, with the people from the Commodore Perry, Commodore Perry, too." too."

"Why, for G.o.d's sake?" Johnson asked. "The people on that ship either weren't born or weren't out of diapers when he went into cold sleep."

"Call it inst.i.tutional memory," Flynn said. "Call it whatever you want, but they don't want to give him a ride back to Earth. He's not like us-he could go home again. He could, except that he can't."

"Where did you hear that?" Johnson asked.

"One of the junior officers who was touring this flying antiquity," Flynn said.

"Only goes to show the bra.s.s hats back home haven't changed." The opinion of the powers that be in the United States that Johnson expressed was not only irreverent but anatomically unlikely. He went on, "Yeager saved our bacon back there in the 1960s. He let us come talk with the Lizards now with our hands clean."

"Indianapolis." Stone p.r.o.nounced the name of the dead city like a man pa.s.sing sentence. Anyone who was in Lieutenant General Healey's corner wasn't going to be in Sam Yeager's.

"Yeah, Indianapolis," Johnson said. "How many Lizards in cold sleep did we blow to h.e.l.l and gone? We say 'pulled a j.a.p.' The Lizards must say 'pulled an American.' But we were the ones who 'fessed up, too, and they paid us back, and now things are pretty much square."

"Those were Americans," Stone said stubbornly. They'd been round this barn a good many times before.

"Okay. Have it your way. Suppose Yeager kept his mouth shut like a good little German," Johnson said. Stone glared at him, but he plowed ahead: "Suppose he did that, and it's now, and we're here- somebody else is amba.s.sador, natch, because Yeager wouldn't have been anybody special then. We're here, and the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry gets here, and the Lizards are dithering about whether to make peace or go to war. And suppose they find out just now that we were the ones who fried their colonists all those years ago. What happens then, G.o.ddammit? gets here, and the Lizards are dithering about whether to make peace or go to war. And suppose they find out just now that we were the ones who fried their colonists all those years ago. What happens then, G.o.ddammit? What happens then? What happens then? Four worlds on fire, that's what, sure as h.e.l.l. You think they could ever hope to trust us after they learned something like that? So I say hooray for Sam Yeager. And if you don't like it, you can stick it up your a.s.s." Four worlds on fire, that's what, sure as h.e.l.l. You think they could ever hope to trust us after they learned something like that? So I say hooray for Sam Yeager. And if you don't like it, you can stick it up your a.s.s."

Stone started to say something. He stopped with his mouth hanging open. He tried again, failed again, and left the control room very suddenly.

Mickey Flynn eyed Johnson. "Your usual suave, debonair charm is rather hard to see," he remarked.

Johnson was breathing hard. He'd been ready for a brawl, not just an argument. Now that he wasn't going to get one, he needed a minute or two to calm down. "Some people are just a bunch of d.a.m.n fools," he said.

"A lot of people are fools," Flynn said. "Ask a man's next-door neighbor and you'll find out what kind of fool he is."

"We have to do something to get Yeager aboard the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry if he wants to go home," Johnson said. "We have to." if he wants to go home," Johnson said. "We have to."

Flynn pointed at him. "I advise you to have nothing visible to do with it. You're under the same sort of cloud as he is."

"Ouch," Johnson said. That was altogether too likely. If his name showed up on any kind of pet.i.tion, Lieutenant General Healey would do his G.o.dd.a.m.nedest to blacken it. For that matter, Healey would probably do the same for-to-Yeager. The commandant of the Admiral Peary Admiral Peary was a son of a b.i.t.c.h, all right. Of course, the hotshots on the was a son of a b.i.t.c.h, all right. Of course, the hotshots on the Commodore Perry Commodore Perry might not want to pay attention to any of the geezers who'd made the trip before them. They were bound to be sure they had all the answers themselves. Johnson did some finger pointing of his own. "How about you, Mickey? You going to try and give Yeager a hand?" might not want to pay attention to any of the geezers who'd made the trip before them. They were bound to be sure they had all the answers themselves. Johnson did some finger pointing of his own. "How about you, Mickey? You going to try and give Yeager a hand?"

He asked the question with real curiosity. He knew where Walter Stone stood on Yeager. He'd never been sure about the other pilot. Flynn's deadpan wit made him hard to read.

Flynn didn't answer right away. He didn't seem happy about having to stand up and be counted. At last, he said, "They ought to let the man go home. They owe him that much. I wouldn't leave a half-witted dog-or even a Marine-on Home for the rest of his days."

"And I love you, too," Johnson said sweetly. He was bound to be the longest-serving Marine in the history of the Corps.

"If you do, that proves you've been in s.p.a.ce too long." Yes, Flynn kept jabbing and feinting and falling back. Johnson wasn't going to worry about it. However reluctantly, the other man had given him the answer he needed. It also happened to be the answer he'd wanted. So much the better, So much the better, he thought. He hoped Yeager got back to Earth, and wondered what the place was like these days. he thought. He hoped Yeager got back to Earth, and wondered what the place was like these days.