‘You may be right, sir.’ Jim’s bluster died away as he began really to think. ‘Do you see a way out?’
‘Yes. Ordinary citizens don’t wear armor here, any more than anywhere else, so ordinary gangsters don’t use semi-portables. So, when you leave here, go to Tommie’s room instead of out. They’ll lay for you, of course, but while they’re waiting Tommie will go to our ship and bring back my G-P armor. You put it on, walk out openly and take a ground-car—not a copter—to the ship. If they know armor they won’t shoot at you, because you could shoot back. When you get to the ship go in, lock the port
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behind you, and stay there until I tell you to come out.’
Jim, influenced visibly by the pleasant possibility of shooting back, accepted the plan joyously; and, after making sure that there were no spies or spy-rays on watch, the two Tomingans left the room.
A few minutes later, with the same precaution, Vesta and the Manarkan went to their own rooms; but they were on hand again after breakfast next morning.
‘You know, of course, that you have no evidence admissible in even an honest court,’ Nadine began. ‘You knew it when you changed your mind about having a Tomingan voice, not Vesta’s, on those tapes.’
‘Yes. Communicator-taps are out—violation of privacy.’
‘Exactly. And telepathy is worse. Any attempt to introduce telepathic testimony, on almost any non-telephathic world, does more harm than good. So, beyond establishing the fact of guilt in your own mind—a fact already self-evident, since such outrages can happen only when both courts and police are corrupt from top to bottom—I fail to see what you hope to gain.’
‘Wouldn’t a Tomingan Lensman be interested?’
‘There are none. There never have been any.’
‘Well, then, I’ll take it up myself, with…”
Cloud stopped in mid-thought. With whom? He could talk to Phil Strong, certainly, but he wouldn’t get anywhere. He knew, as well as Nadine did, that the Galactic Patrol would not interfere with purely local politics unless something of inter-systemic scope was involved. The Galactic Council held, and probably rightly, that any people got the kind of local government they deserved. He certainly couldn’t expect the Patrol to over-ride planetary sovereignty in regard to a thing that hadn’t happened yet! ! He wrenched his mind away.
‘Having any trouble following her, Nadine?’ he asked.
‘No. She’s just leaving the fast-way now; going into his office.’
Thus, through Nadine, Cloud accompanied Tommie into the office of the District Attorney, saw her tender the spool of tape, heard her explain in stormy language what it was.
‘How did you get hold of it?’ the D.A. demanded.
‘How do you suppose?’ Tommie shot back. ‘Do we have to come down to City Hall and take out a license to hang an ear onto such a stinking crumb, such a notorious mobster and general all-round heel as Number One is? Public Enemy Num-
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ber One, it ought to be!’
‘No, I wouldn’t say that you would,’ the politician soothed. He had been thinking fast. Til run this tape as soon as I can take a minute alone in my chambers, and I promise you full and fast action. They’ve gone too far, this time. Just what, specifically, do you want me to do?’
‘I’m no lawyer, so I don’t know who does what, but I want this Protective Association junked and I want those murderers arrested. Today.’
‘Some of these matters lie outside the province of this office, but I can and will take initiatory steps. No one will be harmed, I assure you.’
Apparently satisfied, Tommie left the D.A.’s office, but Nadine did not leave the D.A.’s mind. This was what the Blaster was after!
Sure enough, as soon as Tommie was out of sight, the official dashed into his private office and called Number One.
‘One, they hung an ear on you last night!’ he exclaimed, as soon as connection was made. ‘How come you didn’t…’
‘Horsefeathers!’ the gangster snarled. ‘Who d’ya think you’re kidding?’
‘But they did! I’ve got a copy of it right here.’
‘Play it!’
The tape was played, and it was very clear that it was in no Tomingan’s voice.
‘No, it wasn’t an ear,’ the D.A. admitted.
‘And I was blocked against spy-rays,’ said Number One, ‘so it must have been a snooper. A snooper with a voice. Manarkans are snoopers, but they can’t talk. Most snoopers can’t … except maybe Ordoviks. There were a couple of them around last night. Can Ordoviks talk? And Chickladorians—are they snoopers?”
‘I don’t know.’
‘I don’t know either, but I’ll find out, and when I do I’ll go gunning.’
Tommie came back to Cloud’s room and her serenity, skin-deep at best, vanished completely as the new tape was played.
‘Condemn and blast that lying, slimy, two-faced, double-crossing snake!’ she roared. Til call out the …’
‘You won’t either—pipe down!’ Cloud ordered, sharply. ‘Mob rule never settled anything. That’s what you expected, isn’t it?’
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‘Well… more or less, I suppose … yes.’
‘QX We got something to work on now, but we need more, and we’ve got only today to get it Who’s the crookedest judge in town—the one most apt to be in on this kind of deal?’
‘Trellis. High Judge Rose Trellis of the Enchanting …’
‘Skip the embellishments. Take both of these tapes to Judge Trellis and insist on seeing him at once.’
‘It isn’t a him—she’s a her.’
‘Her, then. Make it snappy. And don’t blow up if she gives you the brush-off. We’re after data. And on your way back, pick up that newspaper editor and bring him along.’
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9: Trouble on Tominga
Tommie left, accompanied mentally by Nadine, and reached the judge’s antechamber; with Vesta taping in Middle-Plateau Tomingan everything that occurred. The approach was difficult, and Tommie’s temper grew shorter and shorter.
‘Get out of my way!’ she bellowed finally at the sergeant-at-arms barring her way to the judicial Presence, in a voice that rattled the windows and was audible above four blocks of city traffic. ‘Or shoot, if you want to get yourself and this building and half of Mingia blown clear up into the stratosphere! Jump! Before I take that blaster and shove it so far down your throat it’ll hit day-before-yesterday’s breakfast!’
The guard did not have quite enough nerve to shoot and Tommie almost wrenched the door of the judge’s inner office off its hinges as she went in.
‘What’s this, pray? Get out! Sergeant-at…’
‘Shut up, Rose Trellis of the Enchanting Vistas of Exotic Blooms—you’re listening, not “talking. Here’s two tapes of what Number One and his misbegotten scum have been doing. Play ’em! And then do something about ’em! And listen, you lying, double-crossing, back-biting slime-lizard!’ Tommie’s prettily-made-up face was in shocking contrast to the venomous fury in Tommie’s eyes as she leaned over the judge’s massive desk until nose was a scant ten inches from nose. ‘If that atomic blast goes off tonight you and your whole Srizonified crew will wish to all your devils you’d never been born!’
Whirling around, Tommie strode out; nor did anyone attempt to stop her. No one knew what would happen if they did; and no one cared to find out.
Judge Trellis did not play the tapes. In panic fashion she called the District Attorney, who promptly made it a three-way with Number One. The three talked busily for minutes, then met in person, together with several lesser lights, in a heavily-guarded room. This conference, the subject matter of which was so obvious as to require no detailing here, went on for a long time.
So long, in fact, that Tommie and the newspaper man got back to Cloud’s hotel room while Vesta was still taping a word-
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by-word report of the proceedings. Tommie was subdued, almost apologetic.
‘I know you told me not to blow up, Captain Cloud, but they made me so mad I couldn’t help it.’
‘In this case just as well you did; maybe better. You scared her into calling a meeting, and they’ve spilled every bean in the pot. We’ve got exactly what we wanted—enough to stop that gang right in its tracks. Now, as soon as the girls get the last of it, we’ll let your editor in on it.’
It was soon over, and Cloud, after a quick run-down of the situation and a play-back of parts of the tapes for the newshawk’s benefit, concluded:
‘So, over the long pull, the issue isn’t—can’t be—in doubt. Public opinion will be aroused. There are honest judges, there are a lot of honest cops. At the next election this corrupt regime will be thrown out of office. However, that election is a year away, the present powers-that-be are all in the syndicate, and we must do something today to stop the destruction scheduled for tonight. Little Flower-and-so-on tells me that you’re a crusading type, fighting a losing battle against this mob—that they’ve got you just about whipped—so I thought you would be interested in taking a slug at ’em by getting out an extra— strong enough to stir up enough public sentiment so they wouldn’t dare go ahead. Would you like to do that?’