The girl was saying, “You made quite a stir, you know. Most people thought you’d die out there. But in case you ever did come back, GC had all kinds of notices out about you.”
Evers said sourly, “All right, you’ve been clever. You spotted me and got me away from the GC man, and have me all to yourself. But what makes you think I’m worth a fortune to you?”
“To Schuyler Metals,” said Sharr casually, “fifty thousand credits is just small change.”
Evers worst fears were realized. It would have been bad enough to be picked up by Galactic Control. But the real danger, ever since they came back from Andromeda, was Schuyler.
Peter Schuyler. The man who owned, lock, stock and barrel, the biggest metals corporation in the galaxy. From the first moment that he and Lindeman and Straw had made their appalling discovery at Andromeda, they had known that when they got back their lives would be worth just nothing if Schuyler got hold of them.
He said, “Then Schuyler Metals has been offering rewards for us?”
Sharr nodded her red head. “Of course. They sent agents to every fringe world where you’d be likely to land, secretly passing out pictures of you with their reward-offers.” She laughed. “Half the people on Valloa would have recognized you, if I hadn’t seen you first.”
“It won’t work,” Evers said harshly. “You can’t possibly get me out of here and deliver me to them, without being seen by GC men.”
“I don’t have to,” she assured him. “While you were unconscious, I sent them a message. They’ll be along for you — with the money.”
The certainty of defeat, the blasting of his last hopes, snapped Evers’ temper. “Why, you thieving little tramp—”
He went on, telling her what he thought of her, using simple words of one syllable and great force.
Sharr flushed with anger and raised her hand to slice down at him in the Valloan nerve-stunning blow. Then she stopped, and shrugged.
“Go ahead.” she said. “I suppose I’d feel the same way, in your place.”
She went back and sat down and continued to swing one leg over the other, watching him with cool green eyes.
Evers’ brain was a confusion of raging, desperate thoughts. He knew what would happen to him — to all of them — if Schuyler got hold of them. The course Schuyler would follow was crystal clear. Three men had come back from Andromeda galaxy, and they must die for having gone there.
He wished now they’d simply landed and surrendered to Galactic Control in the first place, and told their story. But that was the trouble — they might never have been given a chance to tell that story, from a GC cell or anywhere else.
Schuyler Metals had the power to reach into many places. That it swung heavy weight inside the Galactic Bureaus was now evident. The directive that had forbade them to build or try out an inter-galactic ship — he was sure now that that had been inspired by Schuyler. And if Schuyler had that kind of influence, he could arrange to have them silenced fast if they surrendered. Their one chance had been to get their information secretly up to the Council through a contact, first. And the chance had failed, thanks to an alert GC patrolman and this damn girl.
A thought occurred to Evers’ desperately groping mind. He didn’t think it was worth much, but it was the only card he had left.
He looked up at Sharr and asked, “Why do you think Schuyler Metals is willing to pay so much for us?”
She shrugged her bare, shapely shoulders lightly. “How would I know? All I care is that they pay well. I suppose they want the secret of your ship?”
Evers shook his head. “Lindeman didn’t keep his drive a secret. It was formally patented. Besides, what good is it when GC forbids extra-galactic flight?”
Her green eyes became interested and intent. “I hadn’t thought of that. Why do they want you so badly, then?”
“Because of something we found at Andromeda,” he said.
“Something that Schuyler Metals wants?”
“No,” he said. “Not that at all. Something we found there that they don’t want anyone to know about.”
Her brows drew together. “I don’t understand that. What did you find there?”
Evers looked up at her somberly. The question took him back to that unforgettable moment, when their little ship had come out of overdrive, the long nightmare traverse through hyper-space ended, and they three had looked out wild and eager at the vast burning cloud of Andromeda’s alien suns, blazing across the whole firmament.
“What will we find here?” Straw had cried. “What?”
And remembering that moment of eager anticipation, and the ironic and appalling sequel to it, Evers’ voice was heavy as he answered,
“We found out something there. Something so dangerous that we’re going to be killed by Schuyler just because we know it.”
Sharr stared at him, and then suddenly got to her feet. “Oh, no,” she said with sudden passion. “You’re not going to appeal to my sympathies. I don’t have any — for Earthmen.”
Her green eyes blazed. “So I am a thief, and the daughter of thieves. I’m also a Valloan. And what have Earthmen brought Valloa but new ways that we do not want, and teaching that is given with contempt!”
“So you don’t like Earthmen,” Evers said. “You like your own skin, don’t you? And you’re in danger, as well as I.”
She stared at him unbelievingly. He went on rapidly, making his pitch for all it was worth.
“There’s something going on at Andromeda that Schuyler can’t allow to be known. He’ll put us out of the way, to silence us. And just in case, he’ll also put out of the way anyone we could have told that secret to, since we returned. That means you, Sharr.”
She came over and looked down at him with narrowed eyes. “You’re clever. Earthman. But you can’t trick me.”
“Can’t I?” he said. “Think it over, Sharr. If Schuyler dares to grab three men right out of the hands of GC to shut them up, do you think he’ll take any risks that a Valloan baggage might be able to talk?”
She thought it over, walking back and forth in the crystal room. She turned and shot a sudden look at him.
“I still don’t believe it. But Earthmen are capable of anything. I’m turning you over for the money — but I’ll take no chances.”
She went to a little wooden cupboard and took out of it an energy-gun — Evers’ own gun. She stood with it in her hand, looking down doubtfully at herself.
The skin-tight silken white pants and the band she wore across her breasts were a fine costume for showing off her bold, leggy beauty. But they had their drawbacks.
“I don’t see where you’re going to hide the gun,” he gibed.
Sharr ignored him. She went back to the chair she had been sitting in, and slipped the gun under the straw cushion there.
She suddenly straightened, and Evers rolled half over and listened intently. From outside, faint above the last tinkling of the crystal chimes, came a rushing scream of sirens.
Hope flared for a moment in Evers. Better the GC patrols than what was facing him! But the sirens got even fainter, and then died away, and there was only the dying echoes of the Valloan bells.
Sharr, at a little window peering, said with satisfaction, “They went across town. They’re on a wrong trail.”
“Yes,” said a man’s flat voice from behind them. “We know. We set up the decoy to get them out of this district.”
Sharr flung around to face the door, and Evers rolled over fast. He knew when he saw the two men that his pitch had failed, that it was too late now for tricks.
They were Earthmen, and they were not young. They had tough-guy written all over them in a quiet, unobtrusive way. The stocky one with the flat, brick-like face kept his hands in his pockets, and the tall, dark smiling one came forward and looked down at Evers.