Malevolent death reared out of inky space before
the hurtling liner. From it a frantic voice
reached Commander Gray—"You know what to do!"
He smiled grimly. Yes, he knew what to do....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Winter 1946.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The Fifth Sector Commander was known as a rigid man, that was true, andyet no one could say exactly how rigid.
His office, aboard the Polaris, was a rather grim place. All commandoffices were, essentially, being limited pretty much to regulationfurnishings, but rare was the Commander who did not manage to plantsome of his personality there. It was perhaps characteristic ofCommander Gray that there was only one item in his office which couldbe said to reveal anything about him.
He sat now behind the cubical steel desk and looked down at the glowingscreen of the television set. The face in it was not at ease. Far fromit.
Ordinarily, John Brullar, the Commissioner over Gray, was aself-important, unconsciously comical person. Now he looked neithercomical nor important. He just looked very, very frightened.
He licked his trembling lips and said, in a voice hoarse with fear,"Of course there is something you can do, Commander! After all,"he brightened faintly, "there are important people on the Stella.Important people." He emphasized "important."
"I am aware of that, Commissioner Brullar," said the Commander. "Yet,what can I do?"
"You have authority!" sputtered Brullar. "And you know what you cando! Get through to Interstellar Command on Sirius VII and tell themjust exactly what these Beolins are up to!" He glared, a fat man inmortal fear for his life. "And you can do it quickly, Commander!Quickly, do you understand?"
"I understand," the Commander said.
"Good." Brullar started to speak again, gulped, hesitated, and finallyrepeated, "Good." He switched off.
The Commander gazed reflectively down the catwalk, through the ship,at the faint glimmer of green outside of an open lock. There was aturbulence deep in his steel-colored eyes. He tapped a small stud witha slim, tapering forefinger.
Kina Staun came in.
Kina wasn't all Solarian. He had enough Sol blood in him to make himone in almost every respect, but there were differences, if you lookedclosely. He was the Commander's personal aide. There was actuallymore than that between them. The tremendousness of all the Commandergoverned—and which Kina helped him run—made for a rather involvedrelationship.
When people saw the Commander, they looked for Kina Staun. The twohad not been a hundred yards apart since they had first met asnewly-appointed official and aide. It was said that Kina knew everybit as much about the Fifth Sector and the Commander's work as theCommander knew himself.
For that reason, if Kina ever left his post, he would certainly diewithin an hour.
The Commander said, "Kina, call Hauns." The Secretary showed nosurprise, but somehow managed to give that impression.
"The city of Hauns, capitol of Beolin III, the ruling planet of theBeolin system?" he asked very respectfully.
"Yes. I want to talk to their Commissioner-in-Chief. And also find thepresent location of the Stella."
"Yes, sir," said Kina.
He came back within ten seconds. "The Stella," he said, "is now at3rd Quadrant 3521 NA, W-88236. Speed, one light-year per hour. Heading,338 Degrees NA of nearest sun, Beolin. And I have Beolin Command foryou."
The Commander touched a switch and the screen flic