thing than Kamblin could. He buzzed crew”s quarters for the
armorer; she seemed to arrive almost before he took his finger
off the button. She looked once, nodded once, and got to work.
“I can see that you don’t have an interstellar drive of your own,” Ailiss’
voice went on. “You’d be better off dealing with us, instead of shooting at
us. We may have a good many other things you might want.”
“An interstellar drive is of no use to us,” the black man said. “And if it
were, we would invent it ourselves. I demean myself by talking to a race
that could make such an offer. Death and destruction to you all.”
The screen went dark. Ailiss wrung suddenly trembling hands.
“Ailiss, no time now for shock reactions,” Ertak said in a voice as bleak
as lava. “Come here and see what we’re doing-and don’t say anything aloud
about it. I don’t know whether our friend can overhear us when we’re off
the air or not, but I don’t want to take any chances. Do you understand
this rig?”
“Mmmm … yes, Director.”
“All right, it’s your job to run it, understand? just as you would a more
conventional thing of its kind. Pick your own, uh, target, and don’t
stint-do you follow me?”
“Yes-but–“
“I know all the ‘buts’ just as well as you do,” Ertak
152 fames Blish
said. “We’ve got no time for them. You’ve got fifteen seconds to
familiarize yourself with the apparatus, starting now.” He snatched up a
microphone. “To ALL
HANDS. THIS IS BLUE WARNING FOUR, OTHERWISE UNSPECIFIED. SEARCU YOUR MEMORIES. SIGNAL BLUE IN TEN SECONDS. SIGNAL BLUE IN
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