but at a forty-five-degree angle that was certainly as unmanageable. A network
of planks was laid inside so that people could enter.
Chu Li was carried in by a very large guard who looked like a retired wrestler,
then placed in one of the far chairs in the front row. He sank so deeply into
the chair that he feared being smothered, and the network of belts and webbing
that strapped him in made it impossible even to move.
Deng was carried in next, placed in the rear seat farthest from the door, and
similarly fastened in. The two girls were placed in the front and rear seats
nearest the air lock, but so restricting were the bonds that Chu Li could not
turn to see which one was in his row.
Sabatini entered, managing the entire mess with acrobatic skill that made it
look not only easy but normal. He went down—back—beyond the last row and
vanished; they didn’t know where and could not look to see.
The captain was in one of the two rooms that were in the rear of the
compartment, seated in a chair that could be maneuvered electrically by controls
at his fingers and was surrounded by screens and instrumentation. His own
webbing would hold his body tight but allowed his arms total freedom. There were
straps through which he could slip his hands for total security when necessary.
He put on a small, light headset that had a tiny microphone on a rigid loop in
front of his mouth.
Captain to pilot. Prepare to clear and close all outer doors. Internal systems
on, he instructed calmly.
Up front there was the distant sound of warning sirens. As the planks were
hastily withdrawn, the air locks—first the outer, then the inner—were closed and
sealed automatically, and the passengers were left with only the light of the
red signal above those doors and the very dim emergency lighting system to see
by. Not, of course, that there was anything to see.
Then, with a whine, the lights came on full inside, restoring some sense of
normalcy. There was a sound of air blowing in from all sides, and they felt
their ears pop several times.
Switch to passenger intercom, then prepare for launch, the captain ordered.
Then he changed his tone, and his voice blared from the overhead speakers.
Good evening. I know you’re uncomfortable, but this will last only a short
while. We are now eleven minutes from launch, and it will take us about forty
minutes to reach orbit and activate the gravity. We’ll then have a little time
to get comfortable for the long haul. There will be a second sustained engine
firing from orbit, but that won’t feel like very much in here, and all it will
really require is that you sit down and keep a seat belt on. This is the rough
part. You’ll feel at first like some big hand is pushing you completely through
the seat until you can’t bear it anymore, and it’ll sound and feel like the
whole ship’s shaking to pieces, but don’t worry. That’s normal. After a little
bit, you’ll suddenly find that pressing weight gone, and you’ll feel like you
don’t weigh anything at all, which will be more or less true. There’s a monitor
hanging from the ceiling up front and center which will show a view from the
stern. Enjoy it. This is the only planetary lift-off you’re ever likely to
experience.
He switched back to his business channel. The computer took readings on the
prisoners and showed the results on a screen to his right, but he didn’t pay
attention. If their blood pressure didn’t go through the roof, they’d be all
right.
Chu Li! called the girl three seats to his right.
Here. Is that you, Chow Dai?
Yes. Chu Li—I am frightened. I do not like this kind of flying ship.
He tried to reassure her. The fact was, he wasn’t the least bit frightened of
the ship or the takeoff. It was what would come after, on the days out there,
that caused real fear.
It is just a ship, in many ways like the ones that sail the rivers.
I am far more worried by his saying that it was the only such experience we’ll
ever have, Deng Ho shouted from the back. This will be just a lot of shaking
and noise.
It is the waiting! Chow Mai added from her rear seat. I wish they would just
do whatever it is they will do!
Suddenly the ship trembled, and they found themselves being raised so that their
backs were down and their feet were forward. It was most uncomfortable. Then the
lights and power switched briefly off, then on again, and there was a tremendous
whine from somewhere deep inside the ship that grew in pitch and intensity. The
whole world seemed suddenly to begin shuddering and shaking; there was vibration
but no real sensation of moving. Chu Li’s eyes went to the monitor, and with a
start he saw the entire spaceport complex framed there, growing smaller by the
second, until it was lost in a view of steppe and desert. Only then did the
great invisible hand Sabatini had warned about really begin to come down on
them.
The weight was crushing and terrible, and the two girls screamed. It lasted only
a few minutes, but it seemed like hours. All four felt as if all the air was
being squeezed out of them.
The pressure ceased so abruptly that the transition made them dizzy with relief.
They experienced no real discomfort except some popping ears, but when Chu Li
again had the wits to look at the monitor, he saw nothing familiar there, only a
vast expanse of blue and white. Within a few minutes there were browns and grays
down there as well; it was almost as if they were looking at some model, some
relief map of a strange place. Chu Li had expected something more dramatic, such
as the world as a ball growing ever smaller, but this was just indistinct
nothingness.
The ship shuddered a few times as it made small mid-course corrections, but
these were brief and caused no real sensations at all, just a steady vibration
throughout the ship and a low whine coming from somewhere in the rear.
At least they were sitting upright again, Chu Li thought with some relief.
Still, it had been somewhat of an anticlimax to him; he had expected lift-off to
be longer and far more extreme.
Now there was a gentler sense of acceleration that slowly built but did not grow
very far. A buzzer sounded in the rear, then Captain Sabatini was walking
comfortably forward, still wearing the headset. He checked each of them in turn,
finally reaching Chu Li.
All right, we have only a short time to do this, so listen closely and do just
what I tell you, he said loudly. I’m going to release the restraints on you
one at a time and put on more comfortable ones. I don’t want anyone trying
anything. With this headset I can control a good deal of what it’s like in here,
and I do it in a language none of you know, so don’t think you can grab it and
start shouting orders. It will go very hard with anyone who gives me any trouble
at all.
He pressed something between Chu Li’s legs, and the intolerable belts and
webbing loosened, then were reeled into the seat. For a brief moment, Chu Li was
free and unrestrained, but he knew this was not the time to try anything. They
didn’t know enough yet, and there were many aspects of this ship that didn’t fit
the model and schematics in his brain.
Stand up, the captain ordered, and Chu Li did, feeling oddly light and
slightly off balance. Sabatini gave a command in some very strange sounding
tongue, and a small compartment in the wall opened. Removing what looked like a
belt fastened to a thin but tough chain, he attached it around Chu Li’s waist
under his tunic. He repeated the procedure with each of the others in turn, then
passed out some prewet towels to the two girls, both of whom had thrown up on
takeoff.
Chu Li examined the restraint. The chain held him and would not slip either up
or down more than a few centimeters, yet it was not tight or particularly
uncomfortable. At the back was a small box that was both a lock and a piece of
electronics which adjusted for comfort but also tightened in response to any
attempt to move the chain too far. There was even enough give to pull out some
chain and actually rotate the body loop, bringing the box around to the front,
but it still could not be removed.
All right, now, here’s the situation, Sabatini said. The restraint you each
wear contains a length of chain sufficient for you to reach all the parts of the
cabin you need to get to. It is smart and will automatically adjust in or out
depending on where you want to go. The one thing you have to remember is that
the chains will not allow themselves to be crossed. That avoids tangles but will
take some getting used to. Any problems and I can have those chains drag you all
the way to the wall and hold you there. You can’t imagine how fast you can find
yourself slammed against the wall. Right now, just bring out a little chain and
bring the box forward, then sit down. We can’t get comfortable yet.
Now, I want to run through a few basics. You have gravity here, but it is only
seventy percent of what you’ve been used to, so you’re going to find maneuvering
difficult at first. Just remember that if you weighed fifty kilos on Earth, you
weigh only thirty-five here. You also fall at seventy percent the usual speed if
you happen to trip. Questions?
There were many, but none were asked.
All right, then. If we all do our part to be nice, then those chains will be
all that is needed. You’ll get so used to them that in a day or two you won’t
even think about them. You’ll sleep with them, eat with them, go to the bathroom
with them. However, rest assured I have other restraints if you cause me
troubles, many of which are neither smart nor comfortable. Later I’ll have clean
clothes for you, and I’ll show you how to get rid of your body wastes and where
and how showers are done here. For now, I want you to use the regular lap and
shoulder belts on your seats and remain there. We have another boost coming up,
although nothing like the last one, and then it’ll be smooth as silk for the
rest of the journey.
The second burst, when it came, was accompanied by the same noise and vibration
as the takeoff, but the giant’s hand was a pale shadow of its old self, nor did
it seem so long.
Still, Chu Li worried. What sort of new clothing? Would his secret have to come
out right away, before he’d had time to prepare the others? And, of equal
concern, what sort of man would they send who could nursemaid four condemned
prisoners for forty-one days in close quarters? So far he had been almost too
nice and polite. They were, after all, not paying passengers, and this was no
luxury cruise.
The passenger cabin, as Sabatini called it, was a marvel in itself. With a few
commands in that strange tongue and the manipulation of some hidden controls,
the chairs vanished deep into the floor and were replaced by large reclining
leather seats that could go all the way down to become quite comfortable beds.
These chairs swiveled a full hundred and eighty degrees and were placed at equal
distances around a polished laminated table. The rear of the cabin was empty,
providing perhaps six by nine meters that could be used for walking or other
exercise, and there were three doors in the back wall. From watching Sabatini’s