I think Hory was prepared to savor our dismay when we discovered how right he was and that we could do nothing to halt or change the flight of the ship.
To me the control board meant nothing. But Eet sped across the cabin, leaped to Hory’s seat, and from that to the edge of the panel, his head flicking from right to left and back again as if he were searching. Whatever he sought he did not find. Instead he drew back again to the seat, hunching up, his neck pulled in to his body, his eyes staring. His mind was tightly closed, but I knew he was thinking.
Hory laughed. “Your superbeast is baffled, Jern. I told you – make your submission and-“
“Trust the Patrol?” I asked. Perhaps I had come to depend too much on the near-miracles which Eet had achieved. It certainly looked as if Hory was right and we were his prisoners, instead of the situation being reversed.
“Full cooperation will mitigate your sentence,” he returned.
“I have not been tried, or sentenced, yet,” I parried. “And your charges, or those you stated, are very vague. I inherited the ring from my father. I defended myself from a quite unpleasant death on Tanth, and I paid my own passage off that misformed planet. You yourself saw that I was not cooperating with the Guild back there. So – of just what am I guilty? It seems to me that I have in fact been cooperating with the Patrol, in your person, right along – seeing as how Eet got us away from that tunnel and my ring broke the traction beam-“
Hory still smiled and there was nothing friendly in that stretching of lips. “When you were on Tanth, Jern, did you ever hear the folksaying they have -‘He who does a demon a service is thereby a demon’s servant’? What you have in that ring, if it is what rumor claims it to be, is not for the owning of any one man. We have our orders to destroy it and its owner – if that seems necessary.
“So going beyond the law?”
“There are times when the law must be broken if the race or species is to survive-“
“Now that,” Eet’s voice rang in our heads, “is a dangerous concept. Either the law exists, or it does not. Murdoc believes that on some occasions the law can be bent, or bypassed for the protection of what seems to be right. And you, Hory, who are pledged to the upholding of the strict letter of the law, now say that it can be broken because of expediency. It would seem that the laws of your species are not held in high respect.”
“What do you-“ Hory turned on Eet a blast of hate which even I could feel. I moved quickly between him and the furred body now in the pilot’s seat.
“What do I, an animal, know about the affairs of humans?” Eet finished for him. “Only what I learn from your thoughts. You do not want to deem me more than beast, do you, Hory? Now I wonder what there is within you that holds you to that point of view, even though you know it is wrong. Or is it all a part of not wishing to admit that you can be wrong in other ways also? You seem to put”- Eet paused to survey the Patrolman closely – “an extraordinary valuation of your own actions.”
Hory’s face flushed; his lips were tight-set. I wished at that moment I could read his thoughts as well as Eet did. If Eet found them threatening, he did not comment on that, but now struck off on another track.
“If my species is to survive, and I think that a necessary thing, steps must be taken here and now. You are probably right, Hory, in believing that this ship cannot be turned from its present course. But are you so sure that that cannot be reversed?”
I saw the startled expression on Hory’s face. His mind must have been easy for Eet to read.
“Thank you.” Satisfaction was plain in Eet’s reply. “So that is the way of it!” He leaped again to the edge of the control board and flexed his hand-paws over its surface as one might do preparatory to making some delicate and demanding adjustments on a complicated piece of machinery.
“No!” Hory lunged for him, but he came up against me and did not reach the board. I struck once with the edge of my hand, one of the tricks of personal combat which I had been taught. He went down and out an instant after the blow landed.
I dragged him to the passenger’s seat, heaved him up, and buckled him in. Then I turned back to Eet, who was still studying the board, his head darting from side to side, his paws above but not yet touching any of the buttons or levers.
“A pretty problem,” he observed. “The result will be complicated by the booster power of the stone. It can be reversed, yes. I read that in his mind when I startled him by such a suggestion. Such a shock will often uncover necessary information. But at our present speed, we shall probably not land near where we took off.”
“And what can we gain by returning? Oh,” I said, answering my own question, “we cannot alter course until we land again. But I am no pilot. I cannot lift this ship off planet even if we are able to set a second course.”
“A fact to consider later, when the time comes to put it to test,” was Eet’s comment. “But have you any wish to continue this present voyage under the circumstances?”
“What about the Guild ship? It could be on our trail again if we return-“
“Consider the facts – will they be expecting our return? I do not believe that anyone, even someone as shrewd as Captain Nactitl, might foresee that. And if we can set down some distance from their camp, we shall win time. Time is the weapon we need most.”
Eet was right, as he always was: I did not want to finish out the voyage on Hory’s tape. Even if I were not already under charges, taking over this ship would place me so deeply in the ill graces of the Patrol that I could have small defense.
“Thus and thus and thus-“ Having completed his study of the board, Eet made his choices with lightning rapidity. And I was not shipwise enough to know if he had chosen successfully. I watched lights change, fade, others take their places, and hoped fervently that Eet knew what he was doing.
“Now what?” I asked as he scrambled from the edge of the board back into the pilot’s seat.
“Since we have only waiting left, I would suggest food – drink-“
He was so right. Now that he mentioned it, the E-ration I had consumed in the tunnel was long behind me and I had nothing but an aching and empty void for a middle. I inspected Hory’s lashings. He was still unconscious, but his breathing was regular. Then I went below, accompanied by Eet, who could take the ladder with far more speed than I could. We found a small galley with – to me – a luxurious supply of rations, and had a feast. At that moment it was equal to a Llalation banquet and I savored every mouthful with relish.
Eet shared my food, even if it were not the end product of a hunt. It was when we were both full that I turned again to consider the future.
“I cannot pilot us off world,” I said again. “We may be planet-bound on a world which certainly would not be my choice to colonize. If the Guild ship follows us in, they will be able to mark our landing and will be after us. And I do not know enough about this ship to use its weapons. Though I suppose, if it is a matter of his destruction, we could trust Hory enough to man the defenses, whatever they may be.”
“Especially, you are thinking, since I can keep reading his mind and will be alert for the moment when he may try to turn those same weapons against us.” Eet carefully washed each finger with a dark-red tongue, holding it well out from its fellows to be lapped around. “They will not be expecting us. As for getting off world again, that will come in due time. Do not seek out shadows in the future; you will discover oftentimes that the sun of tomorrow will dispatch them. I would suggest sleep now. That eases the body, rests the brain, and one awakes better prepared to face the inevitable.”
He jumped from the swing table and pattered to the door.
“This way – to a bunk-“ Pointing with his nose, he indicated a door directly across the level landing. “Do not worry – there is an alarm which will rouse you when we do enter atmosphere once more.”