Read Ebook: The Star Guardsman by DePina Albert

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Ebook has 372 lines and 23240 words, and 8 pages

The Star Guardsman

Europa was the only sanctuary for Earth's doomed millions. Yet to hold it, Mark Lynn had to fight his traitorous Overlords. And he was destined to lose--for his weapons were antiquated, his allies a fragile peaceful race.

"Your business?"

The Martian Proctor's parchment-like face was blank as he examined Lynn's pass-card impassively.

"Since when are Internationals given explanations?" Mark Lynn's dark green eyes glowed. "I've been given none."

"In the Council Hall, humility's essential." The tall Martian drew himself erect, arrogantly.

"See that you observe it, then." Lynn barked laconically and turning entered the tube, while the violet-eyed Planetarian gasped in incredulity.

Across an enormous desk, now covered by a plotting chart, a figure dressed in the purple uniform of a scientist, with the golden cord of the Psychologists, gazed at him placidly out of level hazel eyes.

The short-cropped hair that escaped the confines of the tight, silver kepis, was golden-brown, unruly, and the oval face freckle-sprinkled had the serious expression of a precocious child.

Mark regarded the girl gravely, startled at her youth, although being accustomed to female scientists her sex did not surprise him. He remained silent, as the etiquette of 2,022 demanded when before the ruling class.

"You've made a characteristic beginning, Spacer Lynn," the girl observed coldly and gestured toward a visi-screen at her side. "Was it necessary to leave the Proctor frothing?"

"At the moment, yes!" Mark replied evenly. "Martian arrogance annoys me, scientist."

The girl frowned slightly. "I'm Doctor Fortun," she stated after a pause. "The Council has decided to honor you with a mission. It is a problem particularly suited to your ... er ... talents; your record shows a rare agility of mind impossible to find among Civicans."

"That's because controls one, six and fifteen failed to affect me," Mark said smiling, unconsciously displaying magnificent teeth, dazzling against the background of his space-tanned features.

"Because you're a ..." the girl began irritably and then checked herself. "No matter, Spacer Lynn."

"Why not finish it?" Mark sat down, stretching long, sinewy legs until he sprawled relaxed and loose-jointed, so that it seemed even his magnificent muscles would never be able to lift the great body. "Atavistic, is the word." He grinned engagingly and hooded his eyes slightly as he appraised Doctor Fortun with undisguised admiration.

The young scientist reddened, but she continued in a quiet voice.

"You were selected because you evolved the expedient of taking Internationals on space exploration, in defiance of the Council Law that no International can serve more than two years in one position, by simply shifting them to different levels of work on the Spacers, where they would be unlikely to contact each other, and, incidentally, managed to keep yourself as a Spacer long after your term had expired.

"Your record shows also that you circumvented the non-voting status of Internationals by organizing Civicans into groups to vote for the interests of Internationals in exchange for confidential information on planetary resettlement, so that they could obtain choice localities...."

"There's a fundamental necessity of calling worn-out laws to the attention of the Council by evasion, when they refuse to listen," Mark explained affably.

Doctor Fortun straightened angrily, her hazel eyes gold-bright with annoyance. "You were not summoned to discuss revision of existing laws," she flashed. "That impudence of yours hardly becomes...." She was at a loss for words. Belonging as she did to the highest hereditary rank in the realm, the smiling assurance of Spacer Lynn, three ranks beneath her, and his frank insolence was a new experience to the girl.

Mark Lynn laughed joyously. The admiration in his eyes deepened.

"Thank the eternal stars!" He exclaimed.

"Have you gone mad?" The girl's voice was tight with fury. "Dare you laugh at a scientist?"

"Yes, go on!" Her words were sheathed in velvet, but her eyes were feral, like flaming topaz.

"Because it's paradoxical and shows you're still a woman--lovelier than any I've ever seen," he finished almost in a whisper.

Doctor Fortun looked as if she were about to slap his face. Remembering the dignity of a scientist in time, she gazed at Mark Lynn with a mixture of feelings. Finally, something of his infectious good-nature, of his open admiration touched her and she laughed quietly.

"You are right, Spacer Lynn," she acknowledged. "For a moment I forgot I was a Psychologist--it's a quality about you that for an instant made me feel less a scientist and more a ... but never mind. We'll be together for the Deity knows how long, and it's futile to begin by quarrelling. Lean forward so you can see this chart, I'll explain."

"We'll be together, did you say?" Mark was delighted. "Then give me a dozen problems!"

"Yes," she replied dubiously. "As a Psychologist I'll be part of the expedition. You'll find that this one problem will be more than enough." The girl pressed a button on her desk and one of the undamaged walls began to glow until it became an astro-map, a reproduction of charted space. Each planet was indicated in relative size, and in the lower center, pulsing angrily a thin red line marked "Comet" seemed to be approaching inferior conjunction with Terra.

"Is that the problem?" Mark asked. "Simple! When it enters Terra's orbit, life on Terra ceases. Evacuation's the only possible solution. I knew that comet was approaching, but not being an Astronomer I didn't compute its trajectory. Besides, being on Io is like being in exile--news hardly ever reaches us there. Will it destroy Terra completely?"

"No, not entirely. At first, indications were that it would enter the orbit of our system at such an angle that Terra would be destroyed. However, we've checked with the observatories on Pluto since then, and it has been determined that it will merely enter the field of attraction sufficiently to shift the axis to opposition. Of course, this will render Terra unfit for habitation ... perhaps for a century or two ... therefore, as you realized, evacuation's the answer."

"I'm listening," Mark said earnestly, as the magnitude of the problem before them struck him. "However, you're aware I'm not an astronomer, and the technique of evacuation could best be handled by the Council itself. I'm afraid I still don't quite see what my role's to be.... But whatever it is, I'm ready."

"Quite!" The irony in his voice seemed to escape her.

"We have succeeded in resettling two-thirds of Terra's population on Mars and Venus, and a limited number on Mercury; this last world only offered limited space at best in its twilight zone, and it was necessary to construct subterranean cities beneath its dark side--the frigid half--but that's another problem. Now, however, Venus refuses to accept any more Terrans and Mars has also closed its doors to us. Under existing treaties they have no right to exclude Terrans, but we're hardly in a position to enforce them now."

"Hardly!" Lynn agreed sardonically.

"The problem's further complicated by the innate characteristics of this remaining third," Doctor Fortun paused, and gazed very intently into the dark green eyes of the Spacer before she resumed.

"I'm amazed the Council's taken no measures!" Mark exclaimed.

"Oh, measures have been taken, of course. The philosophers have had rank and prerogatives--even when they had scientific honors--nullified. The religious groups have had their food allowance reduced to the starvation point and all their privileges recalled. The Internationals ..." here she paused again as she regarded Mark, "since they're free-thinkers, and the most dangerous of the lot, were ordered to report for control-treatment under penalty of death. They promptly took to the fastnesses in the mountains and deserts by the millions, and are existing on game and vegetables to be found in the now abandoned regions. They are armed for the most part."

Mark Lynn was openly grinning now, but the girl chose to ignore it and continued:

"Unfortunately, our armed forces are too busy keeping order in the new resettlements, or they would have been subdued long ago. The resettlements have been supplied with seed, tools, cattle, metallic substances, concentrated fuel, machinery ... in fact, everything necessary for a successful evacuation. This last group would have been similarly supplied, they were even given a reprieve for their insubordination and offered special terms--the Council can be munificent!" For an instant her voice rang with exaltation. "But they absolutely refuse evacuation, except...."

"Except what?" Lynn was all attention, sensing that this was the core of the problem.

"Except on their own terms!" The young scientist exclaimed with a trace of bitterness.

"But why don't you permit them to decide what manner of death they're to have? What possible interest can the Council have in what to them is an atavistic, intransigent group that detests our system of planned existence? If the prospect of a continuation of this civilization gags them, even in another planet, then obviously their choice to remain and die here should be respected." Mark's voice was very soft.

The limpid hazel eyes of the girl mirrored her shock at Mark's words.

"Impossible! It would be horribly wasteful. And, a distinct failure on the Council's part. Those lives can be useful--the Council never fails!"

"Amen!" Mark Lynn exclaimed archaically. "And where do I come in?"

Doctor Fortun handed him a rolled, tissue-thin, metallic cylinder for an answer.

"Those are your orders from the Council," she said soberly. "I'm but an agent, as you know. Just one among the scientists who will be in charge upon arrival. Do not read it now. It is final. Take this card, it's a permit to enter a scientific News-Casting Booth and scan all available data for the past year. We know that out of the remaining third, roughly three or four hundred million at best will be transportable. The balance are far too old to withstand the journey--their power potential is negligible, and in any case, they'd much rather die than leave. But it's the three or four hundred million transportables who are highly useful for the particular purpose of the Council, that we must ... or rather," she smiled faintly, "you must convince." She opened a drawer and extracted a gleaming metal disk. "These credits will be ample," she said, extending it to Mark.

Lynn's eyes widened. "Ten thousand credits? I've had to work as many years for that amount!"

Doctor Fortun smiled. "May you live to spend them, Spacer Lynn," she said cryptically. "Greetings!"

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