The Number of the Beast Read online

  I said, “Does the Captain have duties of which I am unaware?”

  “No. But everyone else is working, Jacob.”

  “Captain, Rank Hath Its Privileges. You are on duty twenty-four hours a day—twenty-four and a half here—”

  “Twenty-four hours, thirty-nine minutes, thirty-five seconds—local day, not sidereal.”

  “Did you measure it? Or remember what some professor said?”

  “Neither, Jacob. It’s the figure Gay uses. I suppose she got it from the Aerospace Almanac.”

  “Are you going to believe an almanac? Or your husband?”

  “Excuse me, Jacob, while I tell Gay the correct figure.”

  “Hand back my leg, beloved. Captain, since you are on duty all the time, you are entitled to bathe, rest, or relax, at any time.”

  “Well…two seconds while I grab a towel—and tell Zebbie that I will start dinner while he is down bathing.”

  “Captain, I am number-two cook today. You said so.”

  “You will guard, Jacob, which you do better than I. While the Carters are guarding each other.”

  Hilda came trotting back with a towel. I said, “Cap’n, I’ve figured out clothes for you.”

  “Goody. Yes, dear?” We headed for the path down.

  “Were my Hawaiian shirts packed?” I had her fall in behind me.

  “Inventory. Clothing. Jacob. Shirts. Aloha.”

  “Do you recall a blue one with white flowers?”

  “Yes.”

  “I take ‘medium’ but can get into a ‘small’ and Andrade’s didn’t have this in ‘medium.’ But this one is so small I haven’t been wearing it. Hilda, you’ll like it—and it will be easy to cut down.” (A steep pitch—no place to lose your footing while carrying a gun.)

  “I won’t cut it down. Jacob, your shirt is my first maternity smock.”

  “A happy thought! Did Deety fetch sailor pants? White.”

  “I recall white duck slacks.” Hilda kicked off her Keds, stepped into the water.

  “That’s the pair. She wore them one summer while maturing. The following summer they were too tight. She was always about to alter them but never did.”

  “Jacob, if Deety likes those pants so well that she saved them and fetched them along, I won’t ask her to give them to me.”

  “I will ask her. Hilda, you worry about the wrong things. We pooled resources. I chucked in my candy bars, Zeb chucked in his car, Deety chucks in her sailor pants.”

  “And what did I chuck in? Nothing!”

  “Your mink cape. If you offered it to Deety in exchange for a pair of old white—”

  “It’s a deal!”

  “It is like hell, Mistress Mine. That cape is valuta. Only days ago each of us was wealthy. Now we are unpersons who can’t go home. What happens to our bank accounts I do not know but it seems certain that we will never realize anything from them, or from stocks, bonds, and other securities. Any paper money we have is worthless. As you know, I have bullion and gold coins and Jake has, also; we each like money that clinks and we don’t trust governments. Gay must be juiced from time to time; that calls for valuta. Such as gold. Such as mink coats. Come out of there before you freeze! I would rub you dry but that giant termite worries me.”

  “Last night Zebbie rubbed me dry.”

  (Why do women have this compulsion to confess? It is not a typical male vice.) “He did? I should speak to him.”

  “Jacob, you are angry.”

  “Only somewhat, as yesterday we didn’t know about the giant termite, and Zeb and I considered your guard rules silly. Nevertheless Zeb neglected his duty.”

  “I meant ‘angry with me’!”

  “For what? Did you force it on him?”

  “No. He offered it—towel open and ready, just as you do. I went straight into it, let him wrap me and rub me down.”

  “Feel good?”

  “Golly, yes! I’m a bad girl, Jacob—but I loved it.”

  “Don’t give yourself airs, my darling; you are not a bad girl. Yesterday was not the first time Zeb has rubbed you dry.”

  “Well…no.” (They have to confess, they have to be shrived.)

  “Do you any harm, then or now?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I’m sure it didn’t. Listen, beloved—you are twenty-nine going on forty-two. You’ve had three term contracts and now have a traditional marriage. In college you were a scandal to the jaybirds. Zeb has been your chum for years. Both of you horny as goats. My darling, I assumed what is called ‘the worst’ and is often the best.”

  “But, Jacob, we didn’t, we didn’t! And we haven’t!”

  “So? People who pass up temptations have only themselves to blame. Just one thing, my only love, if you and Zeb ever pick up the matter, try not to look guilty.”

  “But we aren’t going to, ever!”

  “Should it come to pass, warn Zeb not to hurt Deety. She loves him deeply. Not surprising as Zeb is a lovable man. Get your shoes on, dearest one, and we’ll let someone else have the community bathtub.”

  “Jacob? You still think we have. Zebbie and I.”

  “Hilda, I married you convinced that Zeb was, at that time and for some years, your lover. Or one of them. Today you have convinced me that the matter is unproven…assuming that one or both of you have rocks in your head. But I can’t see that it makes a tinker’s dam either way. Jane taught me that the only important rule is not to hurt people…which very often—Jane’s words!—consists in not talking unnecessarily.”

  “Jane told me that, too. Jacob? Will you kiss me?”

  “Madame—what did you say your name was?—that is the toll I charge before a client starts up this bank.”

  As we climbed, I asked Hilda, “Darling, what is the animal that eats cellulose but is carnivorous?”

  “Oh. Two. H. sapiens and Rattus.”

  “Men? Cellulose?”

  “Sawdust is often processed as food. Have you ever eaten in a fast food joint?”

  My daughter had done a wonderful job on preprograms; we all were eager to learn them. We placed guards, Zeb and me, at the doors, while Deety took Zeb’s seat and talked, and Hilda sat in mine.

  “Captain Auntie had two ideas,” Deety told us. “To optimize emergency escapes and to work out ways to use as near to no juice as possible. The latter involves figuring ways to ground us in strange places without the skill Zebadiah has in dead-stick grounding.”

  “I don’t depend on skill,” put in my son-in-law. “I won’t risk a dead-stick grounding other than on a hard-surfaced strip. You’ve seen me avoid it twice—by power-on just before grounding. Yesterday I cut it a bit fine.”

  I shuddered.

  My daughter continued, “We have this new program. Set it, by voice, for bearing and as many minima as you please. Our Smart Girl goes there and attempts to ground. She uses radar twice, once in range-finder mode, second time in precautionary mode as in ‘Bug Out.’ If her target is not clear, she does a Drunkard’s Walk in locus ten klicks radius, sampling spots two per second. When she finds a good spot, she grounds. Unless we don’t like it and order her to try again.

  “Study that and you will see that you can cruise all over this or any planet, land anywhere, and not use juice.

  “Escape programs—We must be most careful in saying G, A, Y. Refer to her as ‘smart girl’ or ‘the car’ or anything not starting with that syllable. That syllable will now wake her. If it is followed by her last name, she goes into ‘awaiting orders’ mode. But if G, A, Y, alone is followed by any of eight code words, she executes that escape instantly. I have tried to select monosyllables that ordinarily do not follow her first name. Gay Deceiver.”

  “Hi, Deety!”

  “Dictionary. G, A, Y. Read.”

  “Gayety, gayfeather, Gayle, Gaylord, Gay-Pay-Oo, gaywings—”

  XXIV

  Captains aren’t supposed to cry.

  Hilda:

  I ordered an early dinner by starting it whe
n Zebbie and Deety went down to bathe. I had ready a public reason but my motive was personal: I didn’t want a pillow talk with Jacob.

  Annoyed at him? At me! I had had a perfect chance to keep my lip zipped—and muffed it! Was I boasting? Or confessing? Or trying to hurt Jacob? (Oh, no!—can the id be that idiotic!)

  Don’t rationalize it, Sharpie! Had not your husband been kind, tolerant, and far more sophisticated than you ever dreamed, you would be in trouble.

  When dinner was over, Zebbie said lazily, “I’ll do the dishes in the morning.”

  I said, “I prefer that they be done tonight, please.”

  Zebbie sat up and looked at me. His thoughts were coming through so strongly that I was getting them as words. I never allow myself to be close with a person whose thoughts I can’t sense at all; I distrust a blank wall. But now I could “hear” such names as “Queeg” and “Bligh” and “Vanderdecken” and “Ahab”—and suddenly Captain Ahab was harpooning the White Whale and I was the whale!

  Zebbie bounced to his feet with a grin that made me uneasy. “Sure thing, Cap’n! Deety, grab a rifle and hold it on me to make sure I get ’em clean.”

  I cut in quickly, “I’m sorry, Chief Pilot, but I need the Astrogator. Jacob is your assistant.”

  When they were gone, Deety said, “Will my shotgun do? I don’t think the cardboard eater comes out in daylight.”

  “Bring the guns inside; we’re going to close the doors.”

  I waited until we were settled. “Deety, will you make me a copy of your new programs before our men come back?”

  “If they take time to wash them properly. Men and dishes—you know.”

  “I hope they stall—”

  “—and get over their mad,” Deety finished.

  “That, too. But I intend to write a sequential program and I want you to check me. After you make that copy.”

  They did stay down—“man talk,” no doubt. Men need us but can just barely stand us; every now and then they have to discuss our faults. I think that is why they shut us out.

  Deety made a copy while I wrote what I planned to do. Deety looked it over, corrected some wording. Looked it over again—and said nothing pointedly.

  “Deety, can you handle your father’s lab camera?”

  “Certainly.”

  “Will you check its load and shoot when I ask for it?”

  “Of course.”

  “If I goof on an order, correct me at once.”

  “You don’t intend to hand this to Zebadiah to carry out?”

  “No. I prefer that you not mention that I prepared it ahead of time. Deety, the Chief Pilot assured me that any of us could command in aerospace. I am about to make a test run. The Chief Pilot is in a position to override. If he does, I shan’t fight it; I have said all along that he should be captain.”

  We had time to dig out that shirt with the white flowers. Deety’s sailor pants were long; we turned up cuffs. The lacing at the back made them small enough in the waist. She gave me a blue belt to pull in the shirt, which I wore outside—then she added a blue hair ribbon.

  “Captain Auntie, you look good. Better than I will in this jump suit I am reluctantly pulling on. Gosh, I’m glad Zebadiah isn’t square about skin!”

  “He was when I adopted him. Fetched swim briefs the first time I invited him over to swim. But I was firm. There they come! Open the doors.”

  They appeared to be over their mad. Zebbie looked at me and said, “How fancy! Are we going to church?”—and my husband added, “You look pretty, my dear.”

  “Thank you, sir. All hands, prepare for space. Secure loose gear. Lock firearms. Anyone requiring a bush stop say so. Dress for space. Before manning car, take a turn around the car, searching for gear on the ground.”

  “What is this?” demanded Zebbie.

  “Prepare for space. Move!”

  He hesitated a split second. “Aye aye, Captain.”

  In two minutes and thirteen seconds (I checked Gay’s clock) I was squeezing past my husband into the starboard rear seat. I said, “In reporting, include status of firearms. Astrogator.”

  “Belted down. Bulkhead door dogged. Shotgun loaded and locked. I slid it under the sleeping bag.”

  “Fléchette gun?”

  “Wups! In my purse. Loaded and locked. Purse clipped to my seat, outboard.”

  “Copilot.”

  “Belt fastened. Door locked, seal checked. Continua device ready. Rifle loaded and locked, secure under sleeping bag. I’m wearing my pistol loaded and locked.”

  “Chief Pilot.”

  “Belt fastened, door locked, seal checked. Rifle loaded, locked, under sleeping bag. Wearing revolver, loaded and locked. No loose gear. Water tanks topped off. Load trimmed. Two reserve power packs, two zeroed. Juice zero point seven-two capacity. Wings spread full. Wheels down, unlocked to retract. All systems go. Ready.”

  “Chief Pilot, after first maneuver, execute vertical dive fastest without power and without retracting wheels. Relock wheel-retracting gear. Leave wings spread max.”

  “Wheel retractors locked. After first maneuver fastest, no-power vertical dive, wings full subsonic, wheels down.”

  I glanced at Deety; she held up the camera and mouthed, “Ready.”

  “Gay Home!”

  In Arizona it was shortly before sunset, as Deety had predicted. My husband repressed a gasp. I snapped, “Copilot, report H-above-G.”

  “Uh…two klicks minus, falling.” Zebbie had bite now; the horizon ahead tilted slowly up, then faster. As we leaned over, Deety stretched high, catlike, to shoot between our pilots. We steadied with Snug Harbor dead ahead—a crater! I felt a burst of anger, a wish to kill!

  “Picture!”

  “Gay B’gout!”

  Instead of being stationary at “Touchdown” we were in free fall on the night side of some planet. I could see stars, with blackness below the “horizon”—if horizon it were. Deety said, “Looks like the Russians left something on our parking space.”

  “Perhaps. Jacob, H-above-G, please.”

  “Under ten klicks, decreasing slowly.”

  “So far, so good. But we aren’t sure that we have the right planet and universe.”

  “Captain, that’s Antares ahead.”

  “Thanks, Zebbie. I assume that at least we are in one of the analogs, of our native universe. Deety, can you get from Gay the acceleration and check it against Mars-ten?”

  “’Bout four ways, Cap’n.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Gay Deceiver.”

  “Hi, Deety!”

  “Hi, Gay. H-above-G, closing rate running, solve first differential, report answer.”

  Instantly Gay answered, “Three-seven-six centimeters per second squared.”

  “You’re a smart girl, Gay.”

  So it was either Mars-ten or an unreasonable facsimile. “Gay B’gout!”

  We were stationary, with what we had come to feel as “proper weight.” Deety said, “Maybe an animal wandered across our spot. How about lights, Captain? This snapshot ought to be colors by now.”

  “Not yet. Chief Pilot, when I alert the autopilot by G, A, Y, please switch on forward landing lights.”

  “Roger Wilco.”

  “Gay—”

  Blinding light—men in its path were blinded, not us. “Bounce! Kill the light, Zebbie. The Little Father left sentries in case we came back—and we did.”

  “Captain Auntie, may I have cabin light now?”

  “Please be patient, dear. I saw two men. Jacob?”

  “Three men, dear…dear Captain. Russian soldiers in uniform. Weapons, but no details.”

  “Deety?”

  “Looked like bazookas.”

  “Chief Pilot?”

  “Bazookas. A good thing you were on the bounce with Bounce, Skipper. Gay can take a lot…but a bazooka would make her unhappy.” He added, “Speed saved me yesterday. Deety, let that be a lesson: Never lose your temper.”

  “Look who’s
talking!”

  “I quit being C.O., didn’t I? Cap’n Sharpie doesn’t do foolish stunts. If I were skipper, we would chase ’em all over that sea bottom. Never be in one place long enough for them to aim and they would think there were thirty of us. If Colonel Snotsky is there—I think he’s afraid to go home—”

  We were over Arizona.

  I snapped, “Gay Termite!”

  —and were parked by our stream. Zebbie said, “What the devil? Who did that?”

  “You did, Zebadiah,” Deety answered.

  “Me? I did no such thing. I was—”

  “Silence!” (That was I, Captain Bligh.)

  I went on, “Gay Deceiver, go to sleep. Over.”

  “Sleepy time, Hilda. Roger and out.”

  “Chief Pilot, is there a way to shut off the autopilot so completely that she cannot possibly be activated by voice?”

  “Oh, certainly.” Zebbie reached up, threw a switch.

  “Thanks, Zebbie. Deety, your new escape programs are swell…but I missed how that happened. But first—Did anyone else see our giant termite?”

  “Huh?”—“I did.”—“Where?”

  I said, “I was looking out to starboard as we transited. The creature was feeding on packing debris—and took off uphill at high speed. Looked like a very big, fat, white dog with too many legs. Six, I think.”

  “‘Six,’” agreed my husband. “Put me in mind of a polar bear. Hilda, I think it is carnivorous.”

  “We are not going to find out. Deety, tell Zebbie—all of us—what happened.”

  Deety shrugged. “Zebadiah said ‘bounce’ twice when he should not have, but Gay wasn’t triggered. Then he said ‘Gay can take a lot—’ and she was triggered. More chitchat and Zebadiah said ‘—I think he’s afraid to go home—’ That did it. Our smart girl hears what she has been taught. She heard: ‘Gay Home’ and that is the short form that used to be: ‘Gay Deceiver Take Us Home.’”

  Zebbie shook his head. “A gun should never be that hair-trigger.”

  “Chief Pilot, yesterday you used the first of these clipped programs to avoid a bullet in your face. First ‘Gay’—then after more words—‘bounce!’ It saved you.”

  “But—”

  “I’m not through. Astrogator, study the escape programs. Search for possibility of danger if triggered accidentally. Zebbie, escape programs can’t be compared to a hair trigger on a gun; they are to escape, not to kill.”