Rocket to Limbo

But Salter was on his feet again. “Commander, if this is just a simple reconnaissance run to try to locate a lost ship, and if all you know is what you’re telling us here, the whole set-up looks mighty strange. Maybe there are some things you don’t know for sure that you’re very suspicious of and that we rightly ought to know about. Seems to me you’ve got a pretty good idea of what happened to the Planetfall when it landed on Wolf IV, and of what they found there. I think maybe you know why the Colonial Service was so scared of public reaction that they didn’t dare publish the truth, too. Otherwise, why would we be carrying fusion bombs in the hold of this ship?”

Lars heard Lambert’s breath hiss through his teeth. There was an electric silence as the men stared at Fox. The Commander’s eyes turned for an instant to Tom Lorry, a glance of alarm, unmistakably clear. “Who told you that, Mr. Salter?”

Peter Brigham’s voice broke out sharply. “I did. I saw them loading the things.”

Fox rubbed his chin. He gave Jeff Salter a blistering glare, then turned to Peter. “Yes. I see. Maybe you’re the one who should have been asking all the questions, Brigham. You seem to be doing my thinking for me. What does it all spell out to you?”

The answer was short and sharp in the quiet room. “Aliens,” said Peter.

It struck Lars like a blow, and he felt something cold knot in his stomach. He stared first at Peter, standing defiantly across the room, then at the Commander. Suddenly all the strange things that had happened since he had stepped on the rolling strip to board the Ganymede twenty-four hours before fell into place, and he knew it was the only possible answer.

It was a fearful answer.

Commander Fox slammed his fist down on the desk and rose to his feet, his shoulders trembling. For a moment he glared at Peter; then he took a deep breath, his face gray. “All right, if you insist on the worst answers that might be possible, I’ll give you the worst,” he said harshly. “The ship is in grave danger. We have no way of actually knowing, for certain, any more than I’ve already told you: that the Planetfall landed, and lost radio contact, and never re-established contact. We couldn’t get a clear picture of exactly what did happen from the messages. We could only guess, and suspect, and draw conclusions that might be wrong from what we did know. They ran into trouble—what kind of trouble, from what source, we do not know. But whatever they ran into, it stopped that ship cold in its tracks and it has never since been contacted.”

Commander Fox walked back to the table. “That is why the Colonial Service has maintained such rigid secrecy; not because of what they knew, but because of what they didn’t know. Those last messages have been studied and analyzed in every possible way, and only one conclusion seems to make any sense: that the crew of the Planetfall encountered a race of intelligent aliens on Wolf IV.”

Not a word came from the crewmen now. They sat like stones as Commander Fox continued. “We’re going to Wolf IV to search for that ship, gentlemen. We don’t know what we’re going to find there, perhaps nothing at all. Or we may be destroyed utterly the instant we land. We may face a hostile power with which we have no way to cope, or we may face a new era for Mankind in contact with a friendly alien race who can enrich us just as we can enrich them. But we don’t know which, and from what we know of the Planetfall, we are forced to assume the worst. Were on an alien-hunt, gentlemen, a rocket to Limbo. And I am forced, against everything I believe, to carry the most devastating weapons Earth has at its command, and to use them, if necessary.”

The Commander nodded to Mr. Lorry and turned to leave.

“If there are no further questions now, we’ll fall out and get this ship into trim, I think. We’re going to need it.”

The men sat where they were for several seconds after the hatchway clanged shut behind the Commander. Then, silently, they arose and filed out toward their station assignments.

The talking didn’t start until later.

Chapter Four “Mutiny Comes Next”

Although a casual observer would have noticed nothing at all remarkable, it was clear to Lars Heldrigsson that a fundamental change had come over the Star Ship Ganymede and her crew since Commander Fox had revealed the true nature of their voyage.