New Lensman Part 17

Larry smiled politely. 'Yeah. I think we were a little, you should pardon the expression, too stiff with the last one,' he said. 'Do you think we can act sort of casual and bored?'

The next man in found them looking like they were about to go to sleep. 'Oh, ah. Would you sit over there Mr. ah,' the Customs officer scrabbled through some papers, looking very disorganized and inefficient. 'Ah, Horst. Mr. Horst.'

Again Larry got no thoughts, just the strange, blocking aurora of fear when the man saw him. Larry deliberately yawned, trying to put the man at ease.

The Customs officer asked the usual questions and then instead of trying to trap the man, he asked, 'Have you been through here before? The name sounds familiar.'

[Panic.]

Larry Lensed the Customs officer to discontinue that line of questioning. This man has been through Customs here before.

'How many in your party?' Larry asked, taking over the questioning himself.

'One,' the man said. 'Myself.' [Falsehood.]

'What's the purpose of your visit?' the Customs officer asked 'Tourist.' [Aggressive! Danger!]

'Do you have any friends here in Copernicus?'

'No. I don't know anyone here.' [Falsehood. Fear.]

'Did you know Mr. Lee?' the Customs officer asked.

'What?' [FEAR!] The Customs officer had just made a mistake and this Horst caught it. He didn't like any of the implications of 'Did you know ...

'You know, the fellow who was just through here?' Larry said, trying to smooth things over. He got off the bookcase, ready to dive for Horst if necessary.

'No.' [Fear.] He seemed to accept the explanation. The emotions were coming through from Horst but no words. They seemed to be blocked out by what he felt.

'Mr. Horst, do you have anything to declare to Customs?' the officer asked.

'No. Nothing.'

'Mr. Horst,' Larry addressed him, 'I would like to level with you. We have been having some trouble here recently with people who are trying to destroy Copernicus. [FEAR.] They have attempted to attack from both the inside [Fear] and the outside. We need information on these people, whether they're going to try to attack our essential utilities such as power, [FEAR] air, [FEAR] or water [Fear]. Or whether they're going to attack instead one of our facilities, such as Copernicus Control, [FEAR.!] Moorpark Research, [fear] Earthside Communications, [FEAR], the Port of Entry, [FEAR!] or our defences operated by Copernicus Control. [FEAR!]

'Why are you hesitating between each name?' [Suspicion] the man who called himself Horst asked.

'Are you using a lie detector on me?'

'No, why?' Larry asked.

[HE'S LYING! FEAR! SUICIDE!].

Larry went for the man but it was too late. He had a ring with a barbed edge that popped out. He made a fist, driving the barb deep into his palm and then tried to scratch Larry with it. Larry caught the dying man's hand.

Larry eased the dead man onto the floor. 'We're not doing so well,' he said. 'Would you put in a 6162

call to Security's control center while I add this one to our collection?'

A moment later he saw Hanovich on the visiphone screen. 'We've got two of them so far,' he said without preamble. 'They both suicided but before they did I got the information that they plan to attack Copernicus Control. You better alert their security and send some additional people over there.'

'How many?'

'I don't know,' Larry said. 'Ten in armor? There's no way of telling how many of them got past us.

You better also alert Maintenance about anyone messing with their essential systems. That was, ah, mentioned, too.'

'Are you finished out there?'

'No. We've got two more to go. Do you have any way we can trail someone who comes into Copernicus?'

'Not any more,' Hanovich answered. 'Not unless you can plant something on them. You've just about decimated our night shift by having me send them out to Copernicus Control.'

Larry looked at the clock. It was 23.30 GMT. 'When's the next ship due in?' he asked the Customs officer.

'The next one is due in about 30 minutes from now from Los Angeles.'

That made it 15.30 or 16.30 in Los Angeles, he didn't remember which. 'Hang on for a moment,' he said to Hanovich, and walked out of the office into the compound. There were two men waiting there. Not too unalike to look at but as different as day and night on the Lens. One was bothered by the delay, the other looked at Larry's uniform and went into a fear reaction. Larry asked their names and then went back into the office.

'We've got one more on tap,' he said. 'I can't follow him myself because this uniform would make me stand out like a neon sign. Tell you what, I'll recruit my own shadows. Just send me one man to start with. OK?'

'Where will he meet you? There?'

'No. Wait a minute. Can I talk to him?'

A few minutes later a young, dark-haired, handsome man's face appeared on the plate. 'Officer Bratmon, sir,' he introduced himself.

Larry probed for him on his Lens. 'h.e.l.lo, Officer Bratmon. This is a new device the Patrol has just acquired,' he said, displaying his Lens, which had been covered by his blouse cuff. 'With it I can talk to you directly, mind to mind.' [Like this.]

The officer was a little startled but was game to go on. Larry added Hanovich to the link and explained what he wanted the officer to do.

Next Larry went out the side door of the office to the stop where a transporter waited. Its driver was the same man who had brought Larry out to Customs. Larry demonstrated his Lens and gained the man's cooperation. He was a little high, and not exactly from the fumes of the transporter.

Larry returned to the office and Lensed a call to Tom Ellik on Tellus. [Hey, Tom. Busy?]

[Not for you,] Tom answered. [What can I do?]

[You forgot to tell me, now that I'm a Lensman, who do I work through? Fairchild is down on Lensmen because he can't be one.]

[Let's see. You're still attached to the Service instead of the Patrol. Therefore, it's Operation Zwilnik, instead of Operation Boskone.]

[Huh?]

[Operation Zwilnik is a task force working on the traffic in drugs and that's the only business being currently handled by the Service. Operation Boskone is a similar group dealing with pirate activity and is only one of the operations we're handling in the Patrol. You are still Service, so you report to k.n.o.bos of Mars. He'll transfer any information you may have on pirate activity to whoever on the other side handles it. QX?]

[QX, I guess, but how do I contact him? I've never met him.]

[I have. I'll introduce you,] Lensman Ellik answered.

The first Martian Lensman came in. He came into Ellik's mind, not Larry's, and then transferred.

[h.e.l.lo, Lensman McQueen. I was not aware you had received your Lens,] the voice said. It felt Martian but the words were perfect English in p.r.o.nunciation and enunciation. The thoughts were hard and crystal in clearness.

Larry explained that he wanted the next s.p.a.ce liner from Los Angeles to Copernicus checked out prior to takeoff. He explained what he had found to be a common characteristic of the alien saboteurs and how they reacted to his probing.

[We have noted a similar reaction in one or two cases previously,] k.n.o.bos commented; [It seems to be some kind of implanted compulsion. The method of implanting is unknown. I will see the Lensmen check that s.p.a.ceship and the next dozen or so that leave Tellus, and stop at Copernicus.

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Henceforth work through myself, or Dr. DalNalten. I see you know DalNalten, therefore I will not bother introducing him to your mind. Is there anything else?]

[No.]

The Martian broke contact.

'QX,' Larry said to the Customs officer. 'Let's run those two out there through and let them go into Copernicus. Don't ask more questions than you usually do.'

The two men were processed in rapid sequence. The Customs officer asked his usual questions from the pa.s.sport and then quit. The first man was visiting his children and had left things from a previous visit. The last man was the suspect, who said that he had just stopped over to look around and planned to leave the next day. Larry got the same fear reaction from him. The Customs officer probed no further and Larry just acted bored.

Once the suspect was out the door, Larry contacted the driver of the transporter. Through the driver's eyes he watched the suspect board. They drove off down the zigzag approach to the tube that led through the Rodebush-Bergenholm field at this entrance.

Larry's thoughts flashed ahead to the Frontier Hotel, where Officer Bratmon had just arrived, and contacted him. He spread an image of the suspect's appearance in Bratmon's mind so he would recognize him. [Is there anyone around here that you know?] he asked in conclusion.

Bratmon mentally shrugged. [Practically everyone,] he answered.

[Where would you expect the subject to go?]

[Either to the hotel here or to the transporter rental place across the way.]

[Let's visit the rental place first.]

The officer walked into the rental agency and greeted the clerk on duty. Through the officer's eyes Larry saw the clerk and felt for his mind. He found it and after the officer explained that something unusual was going to happen to him, Larry greeted the man. After the initial surprise, the clerk agreed to cooperate. They attached a small transmitter to the next transporter in line and the officer left for the hotel.

There they met the head bellhop and Larry made contact with his mind. Larry now had the beginning of a web, which he hoped he could enlarge fast enough to hold not only the present suspect but to ensnare the other agents. Officer Bratmon went back out to his own personal transporter to wait.

A few minutes later the transporter arrived with the suspect. Larry watched him through the driver's eyes as he got out and went into the hotel. He watched through the bellhop's eyes as the man went to a public visiphone and called a number.

The bellhop mentally gave Larry the phone's number. Larry relayed the number to Hanovich, who called up the robot exchange and asked that the call be traced. It was to an apartment near Copernicus Control.

Larry walked out of Customs to the transporter stop and headed in for the Dome on the transporter waiting there. There was a high probability that his physical presence would be needed.

The suspect left the hotel and went to the transporter rental agency. He rented the bugged transporter and left. Larry asked Officer Bratmon to follow him. Then he checked with Hanovich and found him in a state of aggravation.

[What's happened?]

[There's been trouble at Copernicus Control.]

[What kind of trouble?]

[We don't know yet,] Hanovich answered. [They just called for an ambulance.]

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

OF MASKS AND MEN.

Pete Miller climbed the power cord and grabbed onto the bar under the bottom edge of the bridge.

The power cord came loose and the cutter fell into the pit. Tolliver again looked over the edge.

He saw Pete holding onto the bridge. He picked up the spanner wrench used to tighten the tractor beam bolts, and swung it at Pete's hand. Pete shifted his hold at the last instant and grabbed for the wrench. He missed.

The second blow was aimed sideways at Pete's arms. Tolliver hoped to sweep him off the bridge.

Pete let go and grabbed with both hands at the wrench. This time he got it, and then Tolliver's wrist. Pete yanked - Tolliver, off balance, grabbed for the railing. It burned through his glove.

Tolliver toppled. Pete grabbed the edge of the bridge again. When he got on the bridge and looked back, there was no sign of Tolliver. Then he heard three clicks.

Pete hesitated for a couple of moments, and then he said, 'Report back to Copernicus that we just had an accident. Tell them that Pete Miller fell into the pit. Apparently dead. Tell them I'll give more details when I get inside.'

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'What happened?' asked Harv.

'Shut up!' said Pete and went back to work.

It took Larry a moment to remember that he knew an operator at Copernicus Control: Holt. He Lensed a thought to Holt.

[Howdy, Mr. McQueen,] Holt answered, unperturbed. [Come on in.] Holt was sitting at his console, wearing an air mask.

[Why the mask?] Larry asked.

[The place is full of V2 gas. The alarms went off so we grabbed the masks. They're connected directly to our own air duct and we've got them at every console.]