but they avoided confrontations with the few pirates they encountered by hiding until the
others passed. The place was not totally deserted, but the silence was eerie when
contrasted to the bustle that had been the rule until just recently.
They reached Admiral Shen’s office in short time. They made quick work of the two
guards and set about searching the room for any clues to the conspiracy’s plans. Yvette
checked for physical evidence in desks and cabinets while Fortier, more familiar with the
computer filing system the pirates used, checked the electronic records. At last he came
upon a particular code heading that pleased him, and he spent several minutes skimming
it before announcing his discovery.
“It’s not good for our side,” he said when Yvette came over to see what he’d found, “but I
have to admit it’s clever. They’re going to leak to our people the `fact’ that they’ll attack
the day after the Coronation with a certain sized force. The Navy, trying not to tip its
hand, will not order reinforcements from nearby bases to cope, but rather have ships
come from the more distant bases. These ships are supposed to go first to a spot where
all the enemy ships are thought to be conducting a rendezvous; if they’re not there, the
reinforcements are to go on to bolster Earth’s defenses.”
Yvette nodded. “That’s where my partner and the robot went, to the rendezvous point to
act as a beacon for the Navy ships.”
The only trouble is, that plan is a fraud. The attack is scheduled for the day of the
Coronation, rather than the day after. The pirate fleet is more than double the strength
Head quarters thinks it is. If the reinforcements ever do arrive, the battle will be over and
the pirates can cut them down at their leisure.”
“If they arrive?”
Fortier pointed to a section of the display screen. “That rendezvous point is a trap. Your
partner and my lookalike are there to lure the fleet in by telling them the pirates are on
their way and an ambush can be set. Actually, that area is crammed with space mines,
mass activated. The scout ship’s too small to set them off, but if the Navy’s ships drop in
there from subspace most-if not all-of them will be blown out of the sky. There won’t be
enough left to reinforce Earth’s defenses.”
“We’ve got to send out a warning. We’ve got to let someone know the truth.”
“Whom do you suggest? It’s almost time for the Coronation; Headquarters will know very
shortly anyway. And as for your partner or the reinforcement ships, they’re in subspace
right now and couldn’t receive a message.”
“Then we’ll send a message to the near-Earth bases,” Yvette said resolutely. “If they
start now, they may be able to reach Earth in time to help out.”
Fortier nodded and raced out of the room. Yvette was at his heels as he ran down the
deserted corridors to the Communications Room, and fortunately their paths did not
cross any of the few pirates left on the base. They waited what seemed to them an
ungodly long time for the subetheric communicator to warm up, and then Fortier began
sending out calls to the bases that ringed Earth’s solar system. After a few desperate
moments, he looked up at Yvette.
“I can’t get through,” he said. “This subcom looks to be in good condition, but I can’t get
through to any of the bases close enough to Earth to be of any help. Could there have
been sabotage on that large a scale?”
“Where Lady A is concerned,” Yvette said dismally, “nothing seems to be impossible.”
Fortier rubbed his forehead worriedly for a moment, then looked up quickly. “If we can’t
call, we’ll take the message to them in person,” he said. “A few ships were left behind
here because their guns aren’t working, but otherwise they’re in running condition. We
can each take one and. . .”
“I can’t fly a ship,” Yvette said.
“Then we’ll both go in one. We’ll get to the nearest base and if the subcoms are still out
they can dispatch personal message ships to the other bases. We’ll get the alarm out
somehow.”
Yvette bit at her lower lip. “You go on without me and come back to pick me up later.”
“What can you accomplish, here alone?”
“I can wait until my partner’s ship gets out of subspace and send him a message warning
him about the robot.”
“But the robot will hear the same message, and it can act faster than any human can.”
Yvette’s jaw was firmly set. “I’ll think of something.” Fortier wanted to point out what a
risk she was taking. If the pirate fleet were defeated, they might come running back to
this base to make a last stand-and any spy they found here would bear the full brunt of
their ire. if the pirates won the battle, a SOTS agent here alone would be cut off from
any possible allies: the pirates might return triumphantly and kill her.
He wanted to tell her all those things and more-but looking into her eyes, he could see
that she already knew them. Still, her feeling for her partner was so strong that she was
willing to take the risk anyway to save his life.
So. instead of lecturing her, the commander merely nodded and said, “Doesn’t SOTE
have some sort of official toast?” Yvette gave him a weak grin and quoted the Service
salute: “‘Here’s to tomorrow, fellow and friend. May we both live to see it.”‘
Fortier smiled back at her. “I can’t think of a better wish right now-or a better way to say
goodbye.” And, without further ado, he turned and went out of the room, leaving Yvette
alone with the subcom set.
The scout ship in which Pias and his supposed ally were traveling took four days in
subspace before reaching its destination. Then they dropped back into the real universe
and waited for things to happen.
It did not take long. Within an hour of their arrival, a coded message came in from the
reinforcement fleet, asking for a status report. The Fortier-robot told them he expected
the pirates to rendezvous at this point within six hours, and that they should time their
own arrival here shortly before that. Then they could be waiting to pick the pirates off like
so many insects. Pias gave his concurrence in that opinion, and the scout ship signed off.
“What do we do now’?” Pias asked.
“We wait,” his companion replied. “The fleet may get in touch with us again, or they may
just decide to move right in. We have to be here to help them in either case.”
Fifteen minutes later, another call came in, this one from Yvette. Pias handled the
subcom, while the other stood behind him, looking over his shoulder. “What’s the
matter?” Pias asked. “Why are you calling?”
“Status report,” Yvette said. “The pirates took off several hours after you did-you should
be expecting them very shortly now.”
“Thanks, but what about you? We thought you were going to stay with them,” the
Fortier-robot said from over Pias’s shoulder.
“They must have distrusted me or something. They tried to set a trap for me right after
you left, but I managed to escape, and they didn’t want to hold up their invasion looking
for me. I’ve been trying to reach you ever since, but I just got through.”
“We only came out of subspace ourselves a little while ago,” Pias said.
“Eh biers, be careful, darling,” Yvette said, looking straight into her husband’s eyes. “And
be glad you’ve got Commander Fortier with you. He’s as good a friend as Elspeth
FitzHugh.”
Pias was about to remark that Elspeth FitzHugh could hardly have been called a friend
when he realized that that was the exact point his wife was driving at. Elspeth FitzHugh
was the robot he’d destroyed several months ago during their work on the planet Purity.
Yvette was saying that the other person in the scout ship with Pias was one of the
deadly robots Lady A had planted against the Empire-but Yvette was saying it in an
oblique way that only Pias would understand, because she knew the robot would
overhear.
“He probably is,” Pias smiled back, “or the Head wouldn’t have assigned us to work with
him.”
“You can be positive of that.”
Yvette’s reply to his implied question of how certain her information was convinced Pias.
There was no doubt in Yvette’s mind at all about this Fortier’s status. Pias wondered how
she had learned this, but he knew by now how much faith he could put in his wife’s word.
When she said “positive,” she meant it.
“You couldn’t have said it better,” Pias told her. “We’d better break the connection now;
Fortier and I have a lot of planning to do.”
“Khorosho. Take care of yourself-and remember. I love you.”