"Oh, I think you can manage it," I said. "We've got other things to do than cover up your bungling."
"Officer Gris," said Raht, "I don't think you understand. When I was looking for bandages, I looked down a shaft and there's all kinds of equipment here. For
Gods' sakes, come over here with the tug before we have a Code break to end all Code breaks. Voltar is written all over these boxes."
"Well, set the place on fire," I said. "Burn it all up and get out of there as best you can."
"I don't think these diamonds will burn."
Stabb was suddenly alert. "Diamonds?" he said.
I was suddenly alert as well. "How many diamonds?" I said.
"I can't carry them out. I got them as far as the front porch and I can't get them any further. They're spilled all over the steps."
I looked at Stabb and Stabb looked at me. We nodded in sudden accord.
"The moment that it's dark here," I said, "we'll take off in the tug. You stay right there and wait for us. We'll take care of everything." And you, too, Raht, I added to myself.
Right that moment it was 5:00 P. M. where we were. We could take off at 8:00 when night was thick. We would follow the sun's shadow around the Earth and land in Connecticut.
"I'll try to hold on through the next five hours," said Raht in a faint and pain-filled voice. "Promise not to abandon me if I go unconscious and can't answer."
"Don't worry," I said, "we'll soon be on our way!"
Stabb's men were scrambling to get Tug One ready to lift off.
I hobbled back toward the tunnel.
A black-uniformed assassin pilot pointed his red-gloved finger at the tug. "You're going to take off in that?"
It was an unnecessary question. The Antimancos were swarming over it.
"Just remember this," said the assassin pilot, pointing at the two flying cannons on the other side of the hangar, "if you try to leave this planet, we will blow you out of the universe. Those are our orders. They have not been changed. The locational bugs are in place on your ship and we will be right behind you."
"Wait," I said, staring at the deadly assassin ships, "you could get some nutty idea we're trying to evade you when we aren't. You take it easy with those things."
"You are not our senior," said the assassin pilot. "You just make sure you don't do anything that might give us 'nutty ideas.' Your tug is completely unarmed. Just one shot from either one of our ships and you're finished. We haven't had a kill in months and we're hungry."
He went off to alert the other three pilots and get ready to fly.
Faht Bey was barring my way. "What are you up to now?"
"I'm just carrying out orders," I said.
Faht Bey looked at the assassin ships. All four of the pilots were now in conference below them. "If they have reason to finish you off, what do I do with Forrest Closure? You can't keep a representative from Grabbe-Manhattan here forever."
"Don't you dare let him go until I return!" I said in sudden alarm. "I've got this all solved now, so don't mess it up."
"YOU are telling ME not to mess things up?" he said. "Officer Gris, if I had the slightest excuse I'd convene an officers' conference on you this instant."
"You would be sorry," I said. "I am of vast service to this base. Just a short while ago I removed the Crown inspector that was going to execute every one of you!"
Faht Bey walked off.
I went to my room. Gods, my feet were hurting. Maybe I was developing gangrene. Or possibly lockjaw. I felt my jaws experimentally. No, they hadn't locked yet.
I got into the black ski suit.
Musef and Torgut were at the door. "Any orders?" said Musef.
Suddenly I realized I had good news for them. "Remember the DEA man that you had a fight with last fall?" I said. "He's dead."
They beamed like rising moons. They grabbed each other and began to do a circular dance, the combined seven hundred pounds of them shaking the floor. Their whoops were earsplitting.
Utanc came to the door to see what the noise was. Alarmed, she saw I was buckling on my guns.
She sped forward to me and threw her arms about my neck. "O Master, you are going into danger!"
"It's nothing," I said.
She kissed me tenderly. "O Master, I would die if anything happened to you. Come back safe!"
I was touched.
Eventually my room cleared of people. I had one further problem. Should I kill the Countess Krak now or when I came back?
I had a little time. I had two poison-gas grenades. All I had to do was walk outside and up the hill to the vent hole hidden behind a rock, drop in one or both of those grenades and that would be that.
There was only one thing really wrong with it. The thought of walking on these feet over the rough terrain was more than I could measure up to.
I went in and looked at her viewer. It had no image on it. She must have lost track of time in that place and was asleep.
And then I was seized with an uneasiness. Suppose, while I was gone, she would get out: I'd come back to the base and find her waiting there, ready to stomp me into the pavement.
I picked up a poison-gas grenade. I hobbled out into the yard. My feet were terribly bad. I did not think I could make it up the hill.
Ahmed was sitting in a car talking to Ters. I beckoned and Ahmed came over.
"Listen, Ahmed," I said. "There's a gray rock up on the hill there. Just behind it you will find a hole. A badger made it and his noise is interrupting my sleep. Here's a gas grenade. You pull the pin and drop it in. Will you do that for me?"
"Of course," he said. He took it and raced off.
I went out further into the yard where I could watch.
Ahmed went out on the highway and trotted up the hill. He went to the gray rock and pointed, looking down at me in the yard. I nodded.
I saw him pull the pin.
He reached over and dropped the poison-gas grenade in the hole and darted away.
There was an immediate explosion. White vapor rose into the air.
Ahmed was coming back down.
"Thank you," I said fervently.
I went back into my secret room.
Her viewer was blank.
I waited for a thrill of exultation.
It didn't come.
I said aloud, loudly, "COUNTESS KRAK, YOU'RE DEAD!"
I threw the viewer across the room. It broke. I was finished with it at last. I looked at the shards of glass that now spattered the floor. I went over and stamped on the speaker.
It hurt my foot.
Rage shook me. Even in death she was able to injure me!
I stamped harder.
It hurt more.
I jumped on it with both feet!
I found that I had begun to scream.
That wouldn't do. I was the winner, wasn't I?
I found that I was coughing and my throat burned. That wouldn't do either. SHE was the one who had been gassed, not me!
Carefully, I steadied myself down. I must do something to get my mind off it.
I had other things to think about anyway. She was finished!
I began making further plans. We would pick up the diamonds and other things in Connecticut. Then we would flash down to Ochokeechokee, Florida, and bomb the spores plant. Then we would move to Detroit and wipe out Chryster. And after that we'd blow the Empire State Building sky-high.
Then I would contact Peeksnoop at National Security Agency and get connected to Bury or Rockecenter, tell them the fuel man and all his works were no longer a menace to them and be back in their good graces. And finally I could tell Black Jowl to tear the mortgage up.
I would then go home to glory and reign supreme as the Chief of the Apparatus.
Feeling steadier, I went down to the hangar magazine to collect weapons and explosives. I planned that my last days on Earth would end with a big BANG!
Is this the end of Earth?
Read MISSION EARTH