The Helpful Hand of God Page 4
have less than forty hours to finish the job."
* * * * *
He decided, again, to walk back to the ship. There was now a multitudeof paths through the grass were girls had been walking to and fromwork. Two groups from the last shift-change were a short distanceahead of him, several of Dalon's guards and Graver's technicians amongthem, all of them talking and laughing.
In that area they could not be spied upon by Y'Nor with the ship'sview-screen scanners and even as he watched, a tall, dark young guardput his arm around the girl walking close beside him. She twisted awayfrom him and ran on to the next group, there to look back with ateasing toss of her head.
Kane watched both groups disappear over the hill, then followed,muttering thoughtfully. He felt he could safely assume--if anythingcould be said to be safe about the situation--that the lack ofdiscipline he had just witnessed was typical of all the men. They wereall young and healthy and for sixteen hours out of each day they wereside by side with the almost nude, provocatively feminine, Sanctuarygirls.
Their weakness was understandable. It was also very dangerous. Headswould roll if Y'Nor ever learned what was going on and it required nopsychic ability to guess whose head would roll the fastest andfarthest.
He would have to have it stopped, at once.
He took a short cut to Brenn's cottage, by a sleepy, shady street hehad never been down before. Halfway along it was an open-air eatingplace of some kind, with tables placed about under the trees. Thereseemed to be no customers at the moment but he stopped, anyway, totake a closer look for errant guards.
A tawny head lifted at a table half hidden by a nearby tree and helooked into the surprised face of the mountain girl, Barbara.
"Well!" she said. "Come on over and let me offer you a glass ofcyanide."
He walked over to her table. She was wearing a blouse and skirtsimilar to that of the day he had met her but the pistol was gone.
"I thought I told you to go back to your hills," he said.
"I decided it would be more fun to work in the plant and sabotagethings."
"Let Y'Nor learn you said that and you'll be in a fix I can't help youout of."
"Should a Vogarian care?" But the jeering was gone as she said, "Whenyou gave my pistol back to me--I thought it was a trick of some kind."
"I told you I wasn't your enemy."
"I know ... but it's hard for a Saint to believe any Vogarian couldever be anything else."
"It doesn't seem to be very hard for the girls in the plant," heobserved glumly.
"Oh ... that's different." She made a gesture of light dismissal."Those soldiers and technicians are good boys at heart--they haven'tbeen brain-washed like you officers."
"That's interesting to know, I'm sure. I suppose--"
He stopped as a gray-haired woman came and set down a tray containinga sandwich and a mug. From the foamy top of the mug came theunmistakable aroma of beer.
"Do you Saints _drink_?" he asked incredulously.
"Sure. Why?"
"But your church--"
"Earth churches used to ban alcohol as sinful because it would cause amean person to show his true character. My church is more sensibleand works to change the person's character, instead."
She took a bite of the sandwich. "Cliff bear steak--it and beer goperfectly together. Shall I order you some?"
"No," he said, thinking of Y'Nor's fury if Y'Nor should learn he hadhad a friendly lunch with a native girl. "About your church--what kindof a church is it, anyway?"
"What its name implies. Heaven isn't for sale at the pulpit--everybodyhas to qualify for it by his own actions. We have to practice ourbelief--just looking pious and saying that we believe doesn't count."
He revised his opinion of the Saints, then asked, "But were youpracticing your Golden Rule when you came to this town with a gun toshoot Vogarians?"
"For Vogarians we have a special Golden Rule that reads: _Do untoVogarians as they have come to do unto you._ And you came here toenslave or kill us--remember?"
It could not be denied. When he did not answer she smiled at him; asmile surprisingly gentle and understanding.
"You honestly would like to be our friend, wouldn't you? The Statepsychiatrists didn't do a good job of brainwashing you, after all."
It was the first time since he was sixteen that anyone had spoken tohim with genuine kindness. It gave him a strange feeling, a lonelysense of something rising up out of the past to mock him, and hechanged the subject:
"Are the Azure Mountains the edge of your frontier?"
She nodded. "Beyond is the Emerald Plain, a great, wide plain, andbeyond it are mountain ranges that have never been named or explored.I'm going into them some day and--"
* * * * *
Time passed with astonishing speed as he talked with the girl and itwas late in the afternoon when he continued on to Brenn's cottage. Heput the thoughts of her from his mind and told Brenn of the too-warmassociation between the girls and the Vogarians.
"But it is only friendship," Brenn said soothingly. "You can assureyour commander that nothing immoral is being done."
"If he knew what was going on, it would be my neck. It has to bestopped. Write an edict--do anything that will stop it at once."
Brenn stroked his white beard thoughtfully. "I'm sorry this unforeseensituation has occurred, sir. Will you have strict orders to the sameeffect given your men?"
"There's a severe penalty for unauthorized fraternization. I'll seethat they're well reminded of it."
"I'll write another edict, at once, forbidding the girls to speak toyour men, sir."
* * * * *
Y'Nor was pacing the floor when Kane went to the ship, his face blackand ugly with anger.
"Have you been blind?" he demanded.
Kane tried to swallow a sinking feeling, wondering just how much Y'Norhad seen, and said, "Sir?"
"My guards--my so-called guards--how long have they been strollingback from the plant in company with the native women?"
"Oh," he said, feeling a great relief that Y'Nor had not seen the truesituation, "it's only that some of the out-going shifts coincide, sir,and--"
"You know, don't you, that military men march to and from duty inmilitary formation?"
"Yes, sir."
"You are aware of the importance of discipline?"
"Yes, sir."
"You are further aware of the fact that you, Dalon, and Graver, willbe guilty of treason if this lack of discipline imperils my plans inany way?"
"Yes, sir."
"You have heard of the punishment for treason?"
"Yes, sir."
* * * * *
He went below when the unpleasant business with Y'Nor was finallyover. It was the beginning of the eight-hour sleep period for Dalonand Graver but they were still up, sitting on their bunks and staringdreamily into space. It was only belatedly, almost fuzzily, that theybecame aware of his glowering presence in the doorway.
"I bring you glad tidings," he said, "from the commander's own lips.The multiple-gallows at State prison is still in perfect workingorder, especially the first three trapdoors--"
The last day dawned, bright and sunny, and he went to see Brenn.
"I had the new edict posted immediately," Brenn said. "I hope it willundo the damage."
"Let's see it," Kane requested and Brenn handed him the handwrittenoriginal. It was:
_Despite our affection for the Vogarians among us, we must notendanger them by any longer talking to them. A Vogarian military ruleis now being enforced which forbids Vogarians to speak to Sanctuarygirls except in the line of duty. There is a severe penalty for thosewho disobey this rule._
_It must also be pointed out, sternly to the Sanctuary girls andrespectfully to the Vogarians, that flight into the uninhabitedSanctuary mountains would result in execution for the fleeing couplesif Commander Y'Nor should ever find them._
"What's this?" Kane demanded, pointing to the last paragraph.
"Why--a warning, sir."
"Warning ... it's a suggestion!"
"A suggestion?" Brenn lifted his hands in shocked protest. "But, sir,how could anyone think--"
"I, personally, wouldn't give a damn if the entire crew was toolove-sick to eat. But the commander does and my future welfare,including the privilege of breathing, depends upon my retaining whatpasses for his good will."
"Good heavens--I shall have this edict removed from the bulletinboards at