“Look, this is ridiculous,” Greg burst out finally. “We haven’t done anything. You haven’t even let us make a statement.”
“Make your statement to the major. It’s his headache, not mine, I’m happy to say.”
“But you let that man walk out of there scot free.”
The captain looked at him. “If I were you,” he said, “I’d stop complaining and start worrying. If I had Jupiter Equilateral at my throat, I’d worry plenty, because once they start they don’t stop.”
A signal light blinked and he took them downstairs. Major Briarton was behind his desk, his eyes tired, his face grim. He dismissed the captain, and motioned them to seats. “All right, let’s have the story,” he said, “and by the ten moons of Saturn it had better be convincing, because I’ve about had my fill of you three.”
He listened without interruption as Tom told the story, with Greg and Johnny adding details from time to time. Tom told him everything, from the moment they had blasted off for Roger Hunter’s claim to the moment the patrol ship had boarded them, except for a single detail. He didn’t mention the remarkable gun from Roger Hunter’s gun case. The gun was still in the spacer’s pack he had slung over his shoulder; he had not mentioned it when the patrolmen had taken their stunners away. Now as he talked, he felt a twinge of guilt in not mentioning it.
But he had a reason. Dad had died to keep the gun a secret. It seemed only right to keep the secret a little longer. When he came to the part about their weapons, he simply spoke of “Dad’s gun” and omitted any details. All through the story, the major listened intently, interrupting only occasionally, pulling at his hp and scowling.
“So we decided that the best way to convince you that we had the evidence you wanted was to bring Tawney back with us,” Tom concluded.
“But then the patrol ship intercepted us and told us we were under arrest. And when we landed, they let Tawney drive off without even questioning him.”
“The least they could do, under the circumstances,” the major said.
“Well, I’d like to know why,” Greg broke in bitterly. “Why pick on us? We’ve just been telling you—”
“Yes, yes, I heard every word of it,” the major sighed. “If you knew the trouble—oh, what’s the use? I’ve spent the last three solid hours talking myself hoarse, throwing in every bit of authority I could muster and jeopardizing my position as co-ordinator here, for the sole purpose of keeping you three idiots out of jail for a few hours.”
“Jail!”
“That’s what I said. The brig. The place they put people when they don’t behave. You three are sitting on a nice, big powder keg right now, and when it blows I don’t know how much of you is going to be left.”
“Do you think we’re lying?” Greg asked.
“Do you know what you’re charged with?” the major snapped back.
“Some sort of nonsense about piracy.”
“Plus kidnaping. Plus murder. To say nothing of totally disabling a seventeen-million-dollar orbit ship and placing the lives of four hundred crewmen in jeopardy.” The major picked up a sheet of paper from his desk. “According to Merrill Tawney’s statement, the three of you hijacked a company scout ship that chanced to be scouting in the vicinity of your father’s claim. Your attack was unprovoked and violent. Everybody on Mars knows you were convinced that Jupiter Equilateral was responsible for your father’s death.” He looked up. “In the absence of any evidence, I might add, although I did my best to tell you that.” He rattled the report sheet. “All right. You took the scout ship by force, with the pilot at gunpoint, and made him home in on his orbit ship. Then you proceeded to reduce that orbit ship to a leaking wreck, although Tawney tried to reason with you and even offered you amnesty if you would desist. By the time the crew stopped shooting each other in the dark—fifteen of them subsequently expired, it says here—you had stolen another scout ship and kidnaped Tawney for the purpose of extorting a confession out of Jupiter Equilateral, threatening him with torture if he did not comply.” The major dropped the paper on the desk.
Johnny Coombs picked it up, looked at it owlishly, and put it back again. “Pretty large operation for three men, Major,” he said.
The major shrugged. “You were armed. That orbit ship was registered as a commercial vessel. It had no reason to expect a surprise attack and had no way to defend itself.”
“They were armed to the teeth,” Greg said disgustedly. “Why don’t you send somebody out to look?”
“Oh, I could, but why waste the time and fuel? There wouldn’t be any weapons aboard.”
“Then how do they explain the fact that the Scavenger was blown to bits and Dad’s orbit ship ripped apart from top to bottom?”
“Details,” the major said. “Mere details. I’m sure that the company’s lawyers can muddy the waters quite enough so that little details like that are overlooked. Particularly with a sympathetic jury and a judge that plays along.”
He stood up and ran his hand through his hair. “All right, granted I’m painting the worst picture possible, but I’m afraid that’s the way it’s going to be. I believe your story, don’t worry about that. I know why you went out there to the belt and I can’t really blame you, I suppose. But you were asking for trouble, and that’s what you got. Frankly, I am amazed that you ever returned to Mars, and how you managed to make rubble of an orbit ship with a crew of four hundred men trying to stop you is more than I can comprehend. But you did it. All right, fine. You were justified; they attacked you, held you prisoner, threatened you. Fine. They’d have cut your throats in another few hours, perhaps. Fine. I believe you. But there’s one big question that you can’t answer, and unless you can no court in the solar system will listen to you.”
“What question?” Tom said.
“The question of motives,” the major replied. “You had plenty of motive for doing what Tawney says you did. But what motive did Jupiter Equilateral have, if your story is true?”
“They wanted to get what Dad found, out in the belt.”
“Ah, yes, that mysterious bonanza that Roger Hunter found. I was afraid that was what you’d say. And it’s the reason that Jupiter Equilateral is going to win this fight, and you’re going to lose it.”
“I don’t think I understand,” Tom said slowly.
“I mean that I’m going to have to testify against you,” the major said. “Because your father didn’t find a thing in the Asteroid Belt, and I happen to know it.”
“It’s been a war,” the major said later, “a dirty vicious war with no holds barred and no quarter given. Not a shooting war, of course, nothing out in the open, but a war just the same, with the highest stakes of any war in history.”
It was late; the office staff in the co-ordinator’s suite had gone home. On the streets of the city there was a momentary lull as the colonists rested from the day’s work, and prepared for the evening activities.
“It didn’t look like a war, at first,” the major went on. “Back when the colonies were being built, nobody really believed that anything of value would come of them, scientific outposts, perhaps, places for laboratories and observatories, not much more. The colonies were placed under United Nations control. Nobody argued about it.
“And then things began to change. There was wealth out here and opportunities for power. With the overpopulation at home, Earth was looking more and more to Mars and Venus for a place to move, not tiny colonies, but places for millions of people. And as Mars grew, Jupiter Equilateral grew.”