Public-domain ebook
by Garrett, Randall; Silverberg, Robert
Language: en395 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #65343.
The opening · free to read
Proceed to Aldebaran VII at once. You are to pick up an Aldebaranian ambassador and transfer him to Earth for high-level diplomatic talks.
You are to treat him with utmost courtesy. Relations between Earth and Aldebaran VII are in a very delicate state at this time.
The ambassador informs us he plans to bring a pet with him to Earth.
Pets, huh? I snorted a little and folded the orders away in my pocket. Well, I supposed it came in the line of duty. If they ordered me to ferry Aldebaranian pets, I'd ferry Aldebaranian pets. All in a day's work, I told myself.
I stopped off and had a couple of beers before returning to the ship. Meersal, my First Officer, was waiting for me.
"Well? Pick up the orders?"
I nodded. "Yep. Got 'em right here." I unfolded them and handed them over to him.
He ran his eyes over them quizzically. "Hokay," he said. "I guess we go to Aldebaran, huh?"
Our instructions came in detail a little while later. We were to hover over Aldebaran VII and give a special signal; a transfer-tug would come up to us from the surface and hand the Ambassador and his pet over to us. Under no conditions were we to land on Aldebaran VII itself; the natives would regard it as a breach of the truce that currently existed between their world and ours.
Okay, I thought. I didn't care.
I gave the orders to the crew at nightfall and we left Earth a little past midnight. Meersal had already instructed the astrogator about our next destination and he had whipped up the course.
We did some hundred thousand miles on ion-drive and then, safely clear of the Earth's grav-field, converted over and popped into warp. Aldebaran lay three weeks ahead of us through hyperspace.
Earth and Aldebaran had first contact about 10 years before. I didn't know anything particular about the planet or its people--there are enough worlds in the galaxy so you don't get to know each type of alien there is. We had a special cabin ready aboard the ship for the Aldebaranian ambassador and his pet. Instructions told us to prepare a special fluorine atmosphere, which meant the Aldebaranians couldn't be much like us.
But they had agreed to negotiate a treaty of friendship with Earth and were sending an ambassador. That was good news, I thought.
We popped out of warp right on schedule and there was the giant hazy red sun that was Aldebaran, staring us right in the face. It seemed to fill the entire sky.
Our astrogator plotted a course rapidly for Aldebaran VII, which was then at perihelion and a good ways across the heavens from where we were. The Aldebaran system is a huge one--31 planets spread out over six or seven billion miles of space.
Most of them were dead worlds, though. It was only Aldebaran VII that had any sort of intelligent life, or so our survey teams reported.
It took three days more to get within hailing distance of the seventh planet. It spun beneath us, a pretty blue-green ball about the size of Earth.
We came within about a million miles and set up an orbit as per instructions. No sooner had we done that than we found ourselves surrounded by a flock of alien warships.
I went to the radio room and made contact.
"State name and object here," I was ordered in a crisp, business-like voice.
"I'm Johnny Martin, Captain of the Terran vessel 13-XV-1, with no hostile intent. We're here to pick up an ambassador from Aldebaran to Earth, along with his pet."
I heard some hasty conferring going on and then someone said, "Hold on, Terran ship. We'll check with the home planet."
Five tense minutes passed--minutes in which I half expected to be blown out of the sky by a sudden attack. You never can tell with aliens. They're likely to do almost anything; their psychologies are unpredictable in Terran terms--as, I guess, ours are in theirs.
But finally my receiver crackled and the alien voice said, "Everything is clear, 13-XV-1. Remain in orbit and ambassador will be transferred to your ship. Any suspicious move on your part will bring immediate attack by our defense fleet."
"Don't worry. I'm not going any place. I'll wait right here."
I watched in the viewscope as a small ship bellied upward from the blue-green world below and approached us. They matched velocities with us, airlock to airlock.
"Get that fluorine room ready," I ordered my men. "The Ambassador's coming aboard."
The two ships hung side by side in space. Of course, there was no apparent relative motion since we had the same velocity. It was possible to walk back and forth from their ship to ours.
"Prepare to receive Ambassador," came the message from the other ship. "His excellency, Quelf Tharkol, Minister Plenipotenitiary--and his pet."
"I'm ready," I said. "Our airlock's open."
Slowly the lock of the other ship slid back and two space-suited figures appeared--the Ambassador, Quelf Tharkol, and his pet. The Ambassador was invisible within his spacesuit but he stood upright and looked to be about the size of a man. I was happy about that; it's always a lot easier to negotiate with a humanoids-type alien than with something totally bizarre.
I chuckled when I saw the space-suited cat--for so I thought of it. It was cat-size, in a little form-fitting spacesuit, and it scampered after its master on four legs, space-suited tail wagging behind. It was sort of a cute little thing, I thought; no wonder its master didn't care to leave it behind.
"Everything all set?" I asked.
"Transfer is completed," said the captain of the other ship. He closed his lock, and pulled away from us.
"Close the lock!" I ordered.
I gestured to a crewman standing by. "Show the Ambassador to his room," I said.
When the Ambassador and his pet were in their special fluorinated stateroom I called them on the special television hookup I had set up between them.
They had taken their spacesuits off and were lying sprawled out in their green murky atmosphere, the Ambassador in his bunk and the pet in his. I could hardly see into the room over my circuit but I could see that the Ambassador was very human and that the pet was pretty much like a cat, except that he had sharp-clawed fingers instead of the soft little pads a cat has.
"Everything all right in there?" I asked.
The book keeps going
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
New illustrated classics
Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.
