"Chapter 12" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gordon Dickson - Forever Man)

"WHY." SAID MARY. "WE HAVEN'T GONE ANYPLACE AT ALL.
We're still just a few hundred thousand kilometers from Earth,"
"Right," said Jim. "Just as the orders in my command memory specify."
Five other two-person fighter ships suddenly appeared in box formation around them. There were no Wing and no Sector markings on the fighters. They were completely anonymous.
"Our escort," said Jim to Mary. "What do you want to bet they've come in m the Frontier, instead of lifting from someplace else on Earth?"
"AndFriend," said a voice over the ship-to-ship circuit. "This is Wing C e!, AndFriend escort. Are you ready to shift?"
"Hear you, Wit g Cee," said Jim over the same circuit. "All ready to shift, d thanks for the escort."
"Just following orders. To shift, then. On the count, according to the coordinates in your program, one-twothree-shift!" '
They shifted.
A massive co and ship swam in space beside them.
125
C H A P T E R
12


126 I Gordon R. Dickson

"Leaving you, AndFriend," said the voice of the Leader of the escort that had brought them here.
"Thanks again, Wing Cee and escort," said Jim.
"Our pleasure, AndFriend."
They were gone.
"Now what?" asked Mary.
"Now-I bet you, another escort," said Jim. "It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Mollen didn't want us to get to the edge of human-held territory without being protectedand observed all the way. But no single ship's company is going to know which direction we go in, or be in a position to make any kind of guess about our mission. Just in case."
"In case of what?" It was almost a grumble from Mary.
"In case of in case," said Jim. "Any avoidable ill chance should be avoided. Rule number sixteen million zip-here's the next team."
Another box of five fighters had appeared around them.
"AndFriend, this is Wing Cee speaking, Leader of your escort up to the Frontier in Brazil Sector. Are you ready to shift?"
"Hear you, Wing Cee," said Jim. "AndFriend ready to shift; and thanks for the escort."
"Our job. Shift, then. On the count. And . . . two . . . three . . . shift!"
This time they came out in space with no command ship nearby. But their escort left and a few minutes later a new one was with them.
"AndFriend," said a voice, speaking English with a noticeable accent, "this is Wing Cee speaking, of the escort for you to next shift point. Are you ready to shift?. . ."
And so it continued.
"What if the instruments of some Laagi patrol over the Frontier pick us up hopping along behind the human line?" Mary asked.
"I'll bet you another bet-that there's a screen of our own ships out just across the Frontier, looking for any Laagi activity and making sure any alien ship is too far off to pick us up on instruments. If they see any sign of aliens, we'll probably get word that our next shift destination point has been changed."


THE FOREVER MAN / 127

She said nothing, but he suspected her silence of being a doubtful one.
"No, I wasn't told this by the general or anyone else," he said. "But you've got your area of expertise and I've got mine. What I'm suggesting is as elementary a precaution as holding your breath when you put your head under water."
"I could have been told," said Mary.
"What was all that I used to hear so much-about the need to know? As far as being told things=' Jim checked himself before he said too much. People above Mollen and Mary had made the decisions to leave him no options. There was no point in reacting against her.
There was a moment's silence between them.
"Maybe-" began Mary and was interrupted as Jim began to go through the verbal exchange that accompanied another change of escorts.
"Maybe," she said, "I might have had reasons they didn't know about for needing to know."
"Take it up with the general and whoever else was involved, then, when you get back," said Jim.
There was silence from Mary in reply to this. Jim felt a twinge of guilt. He had just told himself he would not take his resentments out on her, and this last remark of his had almost been an invitation to a brannigan. He made a mental note to think before he spoke from now on.
Eventually the last five-ship escort left them with a single ship, the driver of which did not even speak, but flashed a shift signal and countdown on his hull lights. It was like being escorted by a ghost. For some reason Jim was reminded of the Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol, in which the third ghost-the ghost of Christmas Yet To Come-escorts Scrooge, the main character, into scenes of the future without saying a word, even in answer to Scrooge's questioning.
They were led out beyond the end of the human-defended Frontier by this one ship for four shifts, before their solitary escort finally flashed a "good luck" on its hull lights and disappeared, no doubt on a shift back to the safety of the human side of the Frontier.
"Where are we?" asked Mary, for the vision screens of the ship were showing unfamiliar constellations all around them.