in perfect order; and nowhere, then or later, did we ever find a bone of her crew, or any hint of what had happened to her.
A call from the captain on the portable communicator reminded us sharply that we had a job to do.
We followed a passage big enough to drive a moving van through, found the engine room, about the size of Grand Central Station. The generators ranged down the center of it were as massive as four-story apartment buildings. I whistled when I saw them, but Fsha-fsha took it in stride.
“I’ve seen bigger,” he said. “Let’s check out the system.”
It took us four hours to work out the meaning of the oversized controls ranged in a circular console around a swiveled chair the size of a bank vault. But the old power plant started up with as sweet a rumble as if it had been in use every day.
After a little experimental jockeying, I got the big hull aligned on course coordinates and fed the power to the generators. As soon as we were up to cruise velocity, His Excellency the Captain ordered us back aboard. “Who are you sending over to relieve us?” I asked him.
“You may leave that detail to my discrethion,” he told me in a no-argument tone.
“I can’t leave this power section unmanned,” I said.
He bugged his eyes at me on the four-inch screen of the pocket communicator and repeated his order, louder, with quotations from the Universal Code.
“I don’t like it,” Fsha-fsha said. “But I’m afraid we haven’t got much choice.”
Back aboard the mother-ship, our reception was definitely cool. Word had gotten around that we’d pigged an extra share of the goodies. That suited me all right. The Thlinthorians weren’t the kind who inspired much in the way of affection.
When we were well inside the Thlinthorian system the power officer called Fsha-fsha and me in and showed us what was probably a smile.
“I confeth I entertained a thertain thuthpithion of you both,” he confided. “But now that we have arrived in the Home Thystem with our thuperb prize thafely in the thlave orbit, I thee that my cauthion was exthethive. Gentlemen, join me in a drink!”
We accepted the invitation, and he poured out nice-sized tumblers of wine. I was just reaching for mine when Fsha-fsha jostled the table and sloshed wine from the glasses.
A call from the captain on the portable communicator reminded us sharply that we had a job to do.
We followed a passage big enough to drive a moving van through, found the engine room, about the size of Grand Central Station. The generators ranged down the center of it were as massive as four-story apartment buildings. I whistled when I saw them, but Fsha-fsha took it in stride.
“I’ve seen bigger,” he said. “Let’s check out the system.”
It took us four hours to work out the meaning of the oversized controls ranged in a circular console around a swiveled chair the size of a bank vault. But the old power plant started up with as sweet a rumble as if it had been in use every day.
After a little experimental jockeying, I got the big hull aligned on course coordinates and fed the power to the generators. As soon as we were up to cruise velocity, His Excellency the Captain ordered us back aboard. “Who are you sending over to relieve us?” I asked him.
“You may leave that detail to my discrethion,” he told me in a no-argument tone.
“I can’t leave this power section unmanned,” I said.
He bugged his eyes at me on the four-inch screen of the pocket communicator and repeated his order, louder, with quotations from the Universal Code.
“I don’t like it,” Fsha-fsha said. “But I’m afraid we haven’t got much choice.”
Back aboard the mother-ship, our reception was definitely cool. Word had gotten around that we’d pigged an extra share of the goodies. That suited me all right. The Thlinthorians weren’t the kind who inspired much in the way of affection.
When we were well inside the Thlinthorian system the power officer called Fsha-fsha and me in and showed us what was probably a smile.
“I confeth I entertained a thertain thuthpithion of you both,” he confided. “But now that we have arrived in the Home Thystem with our thuperb prize thafely in the thlave orbit, I thee that my cauthion was exthethive. Gentlemen, join me in a drink!”
We accepted the invitation, and he poured out nice-sized tumblers of wine. I was just reaching for mine when Fsha-fsha jostled the table and sloshed wine from the glasses.