five bolts of lightning flicked from Blakeslee’s DeLameters. The last guard went down,
his head a shriveled cinder, before a single pirate bolt could be loosed. Then.
“You see Helmuth,” Kinnison spoke conversationally to the board, his voice
dripping vitriol, “playing it safe from a distance and making other men pull your chest-
nuts out of the fire, is a very fine trick as long as it works. But, when it fails to work, as
now, it puts you exactly where I want you. I for one, have been for a long time
completely fed up with taking orders from a mere voice, especially from the voice of one
whose entire method of operation proves him to be the prize coward of the galaxy.”
“Observer ! You other at the board !” snarled Helmuth, paying no attention to
Kinnison’s barbed shafts. “Sound the assembly-armed !”
“No use, Helmuth, he’d stone deaf,” Kinnison explained, voice smoothly
venomous. “I’m the only man in this base you can talk to, and you won’t be able to do
even that very much longer.”
“And you really think that you can get away with this mutiny-this barefaced
insubordination-this defiance of my authority?”
“Sure I can-that’s what I’ve been telling you. If you were here in person, or ever
had been, if any of the boys had ever seen you, or had ever known you as anything
except a disembodied voice, maybe I couldn’t. But, since nobody has ever seen even
your face, that gives me a chance . . . . .
In his distant base Helmuth’s mind had flashed over every aspect of this
unheard-of situation. He decided to play for time, therefore, even as his hands darted to
buttons here and there, he spoke.
“Do you want to see my face?” he demanded. “If you do see it, no power in the
galaxy . . ”
“Skip it, Chief,” sneered Kinnison, “Don’t try to kid me into believing you wouldn’t
kill me now, under any conditions, if you possibly could. As for your face, it makes no
difference to me whether I ever see your ugly pan or not.”
“Well, you shall!” and Helmuth’s visage appeared, concentrating upon the
rebellious officer a glare of such fury and such power that any ordinary man must have
quailed. But not Blakeslee-Kinnison!
“Well! Not so bad, at that-the guy looks almost human!” Kinnison exclaimed in
the tone most carefully designed to drive even more frantic the helpless and inwardly
aging pirate leader. “But I’ve got things to do. You can guess at what goes on around
here from now on,” and in the blaze of a DeLameter Helmuth’s plate, set, and “eye”
disappeared. Kinnison had also been playing for time, and his observer had checked
and rechecked this second and highly important line to Helmuth’s ultra-secret base.
Then, throughout the fortress, there blared out the urgent assembly call, to which
the Lensman added, verbally.
“This is a one hundred percent callout, including crews of ships in dock, regular
base personnel, and all prisoners. Come as you are and come fast-the doors of the
auditorium will be locked in five minutes and any man outside those doors will be given
ample reason to wish that he had been inside.”
The auditorium was immediately off the control room, and was so arranged that
when a partition was rolled back the control room became its stage. All Boskonian
bases were arranged thus, in order that the supervising officers at Grand Base could
oversee through their instruments upon the main panel just such assemblies as this
one was supposed to be. Every man hearing that call assumed that it came from Grand
Base, and every man hurried to obey it.
Kinnison rolled back the partition between the two rooms and watched for
weapons as the men came streaming into the auditorium. Ordinarily only the guards
went armed, but possibly a few of the ships’ officers would be wearing their DeLameters
. . . . . four-five-six. The captain and the pilot of the battleship that had taken the
hospital ship, Vice-Commander Krimsky of the base, and three guards. Knives, billies,
and such did not count.
“Time’s up. Lock the doors. Bring the keys and the nurses up here,” he ordered
the six armed men, calling each by name. “You women take these chairs over here, you
men sit there.”
Then, when all were seated, Kinnison touched a button and the steel partition
slid smoothly into place.
“What’s coming off here?” demanded one of the officers. “Where’s the
commander? How about Grand Base? Look at that board !”
“Sit tight.” Kinnison directed. “Hands on knees-I’ll burn any or all of you that
make a move. I have already burned the old man and five guards, and have put Grand
Base out of the picture. Now I want to find out just how us seven stand.” The Lensman
already knew, but he was not tipping his hand.
“Why us seven?”
“Because we are the only ones who happened to be wearing side-arms.
Everyone else of the entire personnel is unarmed and is now locked in the auditorium.
You know how apt they are to get out until one of us lets them out.”
“But Helmuth-he’ll have you blasted for this!”
“Hardly-my plans were not made yesterday. How many of you fellows are with
me?”
“What’s your scheme?”
“To take these nurses to some Patrol base and surrender. I’m sick of this whole
game, and, since none of them have been hurt, I figure they’re good for a pardon and a
fresh start-a light sentence at least.”
“Oh, so that’s the reason . . . . .” growled the captain.
“Exactly-but I don’t want anyone with me whose only thought would be to burn
me down at the first opportunity.”
“Count me in,” declared the pilot. “I’ve got a strong stomach, but enough of these
jobbies is altogether too much. If you wangle anything short of a life sentence for me I’ll
go along, but I bloody well won’t help you against . . . . .”
“Sure not. Not until after we’re out in space. I don’t need any help here.”
“Do you want my DeLameter?”
“No, keep it. You won’t use it on me. Anybody else?”
One guard joined the pilot, standing aside, the other four wavered.
“Time’s up!” Kinnison snapped. “Now, you four fellows, either go for your
DeLameters or turn your backs, and do it right now!”
They elected to turn their backs and Kinnison collected their weapons, one by
one. Having disarmed them, he again rolled back the partition and ordered them to join
the wondering throng in the auditorium. He then addressed the assemblage, telling
them what he had done and what he had it in mind to do.
“A good many of you must be fed up on this lawless game of piracy and anxious
to resume association with decent men, if you can do so without incurring too great a
punishment,” he concluded. “I feel quite certain that those of us who man the hospital
ship in order to return these nurses to the Patrol will get light sentences, at most. Miss
MacDougall is a head nurse-a commissioned officer of the Patrol. We will ask her what
she thinks.”
“I can say more than that,” she replied clearly. “I am not ‘quite certain’ either – I
am absolutely sure that whatever men Mr. Blakeslee selects for his crew will not be
given any sentences at all. They will be pardoned, and will be given whatever jobs they
can do best.”
“How do you know, Miss?” asked one. “We’re a black lot.”
“I know you are.” The head nurse’s voice was serenely positive. “I won’t say how
I know, but you can take my word for it that I do know.”
”Those of you who want to take a chance with us line up over here,” Kinnison
directed, and walked rapidly down the line, reading the mind of each man in turn. Many
of them he waved back into the main group, as he found thoughts of treachery or signs
of inherent criminality. Those he selected were those who were really sincere in their
desire to quit forever the ranks of Boskone, those who were in those ranks because of
some press of circumstance rather than because of a mental taint. As each man
passed inspection he armed himself from the cabinet and stood at ease before the
group of women.
Having selected his crew, the Lensman operated the controls that opened the
exit nearest the hospital ship, blasted away the panel, so that that exit could not be
closed, unlocked a door, and turned to the pirates.
“Vice-Commander Krimsky, as senior officer, you are now in command of this
base,” he remarked. “While I am in no sense giving you orders, there are a few matters
about which you should be informed. First, I set no definite time as to when you may
leave this room-I merely state that you will find it decidedly unhealthy to follow us at all