Aliens Alien Harvest - By Robert Sheckley Page 0,51
But he decided against it. The pod's autopilot had been designed with a program that softened out its jerks and slides. He couldn't hope to do better. He concentrated instead upon providing a firm platform for Mac and keeping the felt wrapped around the shivering beast without smothering him. Norbert himself didn't breathe, and he had to remind himself that all other creatures did.
The ground was coming up fast now to meet them. Wind shear, this close to the ground, added another factor to the dangerous uncertainties of the descent. (The pod's own pulsar beams had to slow them and absorb the shock as the ground rushed up to meet them.) Then they were bouncing across it, and finally, spinning, they came to a halt.
Then Dr. Myakovsky's voice: "Norbert, are you all right?"
"Perfectly all right, Doctor. And so is Mac."
"Was the landing very difficult?"
Norbert had something new in his vocabulary, learned from Julie, and he hastened to use it now. "A piece of cake, Doctor. A walk in the park."
"Hurry up and get the job done," Stan said. "We want to get rich and get out of here."
Chapter 42-44
42
After Badger played the recorder for the crew, there was an utter silence for a brief moment. Spaceship crews, with their volatile mix of people from all walks of life, tend to have low boiling points. The crew of the Dolomite was no exception, particularly since it included a high percentage of criminals.
"What the hell does it mean?" Meg asked.
"It means that a ship like ours was fired upon and destroyed. If they did it to them, then why not to us?"
"Wait a minute!" one of the crew said. "They aren't allowed to do that!"
"What does it matter what they're allowed?" Badger said. "People with power do what they please."
The crew began quarreling among themselves. Badger waited for them to sort it out. He was pretty sure what conclusion they'd come to. And if, by a remote chance, they didn't, he'd steer them toward it.
He knew that cons were always open to the charge that they were being exploited, a supposition that had proven true too many times in the past. The crew had listened to the flight recorder from the Valparaiso Queen and, aided by Badger's comments, came to their own conclusions.
It was obvious that there was danger out there. Danger that Captain Hoban would soon know about. Danger that impinged directly on the lives of the crew. So what would Hoban do about it?
After a while the first babble of talk died down, and Walter Glint said to Badger, "Captain Hoban will see this soon. What do you think he's going to do about it?"
"I'll tell you what he'll do," Badger said. "Nothing, that's what hell do! Hoban is paid by the crazy doctor. The one who's always zonked out on fire. The one who's got the robot alien that killed two of our shipmates. Hoban will do what the crazy doctor tells him to do, because he's gettin' paid plenty to take the risks. But what risks are you being paid to take? Tell me that, huh?"
It was easy to get a spaceship crew angry, less so to drive them to action. Excited and desperate though they were, it still required work to goad them into taking the law into their own hands. But they were halfway there, Red thought.
Badger was starting a rebellion, but he didn't know quite what he would do next. The quirks of his own mind had perplexed him since childhood. Although he was starting this revolt, paradoxically he felt a strong sympathy for Captain Hoban. At one time he had thought he was going to help him. After all, Hoban had gotten him out of prison. But that was before he saw the tapes, before he realized the extent of the danger they were running, before he decided to do what he could to prevent it.
It's necessary to get them moving, Badger thought Before there are more deaths.
43
"Dr. Myakovsky? This is Captain Hoban. Do you read me?"
"The atmospherics are difficult, Captain, but I am able to understand you. Please note that just a few minutes ago we launched the pods containing Norbert and Mac and the volunteers. We have them now in distant visual range."
"Excellent, Doctor. I'm glad that part of the operation is going according to plan."
With his sharpened senses, Stan caught the note of uncertainty in his captain's voice. "Is something the matter, Captain?"