The men on the hull greeted him with waves. Moments later he was aboard to find Petro himself in a bunk in the ship’s cabin, one arm in a sling, and one leg splinted and wrapped with a red-stained bandage. Petro looked pale and haggard, but his eyes lit up when he saw his visitor.
“Come in, boy!” he bellowed. “This old crate hasn’t much to offer right now, but I guess Ivan Trefon’s boy won’t mind greeting an old soldier on the battlefield, eh?”
“What happened?” Ben wanted to know.
“Get yourself some coffee, boy, and sit down; let me look at you.” Ben poured a cup of vile-looking black stuff. It was as strong as it looked. “What happened?” he repeated.
“I caught one broadside, that’s what happened,” Petro said. “Too many of them and too few of us, at first. We ran into a nest of them heading out toward Outpost 5, and they buried me in fire power. Too many shells to stop too quickly. Seven of them blasting away at the same time.”
“Seven! How many got away?”
Petro chuckled. “You should have counted the nose cones on the way in,” he said. “Any time old Petro can’t handle seven Earth ships at a time and bring them to heel, it’ll be time he turns his ship over to a better man.”
“Any survivors?”
“That’s why we’re standing by, to make sure there aren’t any,” Petro said. “Treacherous dogs! One of them actually rode a shell right into this ship. Used a hand gun to detonate our defense shells. He hit us right in the guts, and blooey!” The Spacer shook his head. “Of course he didn’t know where to aim, so all he did was to get our stabilizing gyros. Except for that we’d have gotten to Outpost 5 already. But enough of this—how are things on Mars?”
Ben told him how things were on Mars. Petro sat silent, clenching his fist as he heard about the raid, the ruin of the House of Trefon and the loss of his old friend. “I knew I should have headed there first after the raid,” he muttered finally. “And I was afraid there was trouble when there was no word from Mars on any of the ships I’ve contacted out here.”
“You mean none got completely away?” Ben said.
“I mean I haven’t been in touch with any.” The old man crashed his fist down on the bunk bitterly.
“The treacherous dogs! They know where Asteroid Central is, all right, and this part of the Rings is full of them, regular nests of them. But they won’t hit us openly, out in space where we can fight them! They hide until they find one of us alone—” He broke off with a sigh. “At least a couple were stupid enough to try to run the Maze into Asteroid Central itself, but now I’ve heard they’ve pulled back and started sniping.”
“But where are our own ships?”
“Mostly back at Central. Then, as far as I’ve heard, all the outpost stations are manned; four were attacked and held off the enemy without half trying. I was on my way to check in at Outpost 5 and try to organize a drive to break the siege at Asteroid Central.”
Ben nodded. “We were headed for 5 too.” He hesitated. “Have you seen anything funny out here, except standard Earth ships?”
Petro looked up at him sharply. His leg was obviously paining him; for a moment he set his teeth until the spasm eased up. “What do you mean, anything funny?”
“Well… anything that didn’t seem right to you,” Ben said.
Petro shrugged. “Nothing much. We had a false contact a day or so back, but nothing we could pin down.”
“You mean a ship you couldn’t identify?”
“Thought it was a ship, but it couldn’t have been. The radar picked up something for a couple of minutes, but we couldn’t see it in the ‘scope, and then it was gone.”
“But it was close enough so that your ‘scope should have picked it up,” Ben said.
Petro chewed his lip for a moment. “What are you getting at, boy?” Ben hesitated. Faced with the keen eyes and the long experience of the old Spacer, he realized how foolish the story of a giant invisible ship would sound. But it had been there, whether Petro chose to believe him or not. Ben told the councilman about his own encounter, and the maneuver that allowed him to see the ship and take a gross measurement. He expected a guffaw from the old soldier, but Petro didn’t even smile. “It’s happened before,” he said. “Usually been chalked up to too much red-eye and a bored pilot, but there’s never been a report of anyone actually seeing it.”
“It was there,” Ben said. “I saw it.”
“But these reports were long before this blow-up started,” Petro said.
“Maybe they’ve had a spy ship out here that we haven’t known about. They knew the location of every house on Mars; they didn’t waste any shells.”
They talked it over for a few more moments, but neither of them came up with any answer. Finally Ben said, “What are you planning now?”
“I’m going to limp on out to Outpost 5, if the boys ever get the gyros fixed. Most of the Earth ships are clustered around Asteroid Central, maybe five hundred of them, trying to figure out a way to get ships or shells through the Maze. And that’s fine for now, but Central can’t stand a prolonged siege. Sooner or later they’ll get a shell through by sheer chance; we’ve got to break them apart before they do it. And they’re out to annihilate every Spacer alive, man, woman and child.”
“Why travel with this ship?” Ben said. “You and your crew could come aboard with me.” Petro shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. As long as this ship still has power, I’ll stay aboard her.”
“Suppose you run across another crowd of Earth ships?”
The old Spacer shrugged. “We’re going to run across a lot of Earth ships before this war is over,” he said slowly. “Your father didn’t have a chance to fight. I’ve got fighting to do for both of us, and I’m going to do it in my own ship.”
“Then at least team up with me,” Ben Trefon said. “I can hold my own in a fight.” For a moment Petro looked him over. Then he chuckled. “Yes, I think you probably can. But you said you had a couple of captives. What about them?”
“There’s nothing they can do. In fact, this jaunt has been an eye-opener for them. They aren’t so sure that this war even makes sense any more.”
Petro grunted. “That’s all very well, but don’t trust them. Don’t trust them for a minute. Earthmen are Earthmen, and you can’t change that overnight.”
Quickly then they made plans. Petro would follow Ben’s course on toward Outpost 5; in the event of an encounter, they would work as a combat team. Because of Ben’s greater maneuverability until Petro got his ship to drydock, it was decided that Ben should assume command. With the details agreed upon, Ben donned his pressure suit again. The firm pressure of the black web belt around his waist reminded him of a final question. “Do you happen to remember a black belt that Dad used to wear?” he asked Petro.
“A web belt with a capsule in it?” Petro nodded. “Some kind of a keepsake, wasn’t it?”
“I guess so,” Ben said. “Did Dad ever say anything about it to you?”
“Not that I can remember.” Petro frowned. “Though it seems to me he once said he wanted you to have it when he died. Didn’t you find it on Mars?”
“Oh, I found it, all right,” Ben replied. “But it’s an odd kind of belt.” Petro shrugged. “Your father seemed to like it. Said it might bring him good luck, and you too. Maybe it will. I’ve a hunch you’re going to need it.”