Read Online The Broken Cycle by A. Bertram Chandler - Free Book Online

interrogation. " Quarat tambeel? Tarfelet. "

    "They've spotted us," said Grimes. "Answer, will you?"

    "But what shall I say? "asked Una.

    "Say that we come in peace and all the rest of it. Make it sound as though you mean it. If they can't understand the words, the tune might mean something to them."

    " Quarat tambeel? Tarfelet. "

    What ship? Over, guessed Grimes.

    Una spoke slowly and distinctly into the microphone. "We come in peace. We come in peace. Over." She made it sound convincing. Grimes, as a friendly gesture, switched on the boat's landing lights.

    " Tilzel bale, winzen bale, rindeen, rindeen. Tarfelet. "

    "I couldn't agree more," Una said. "It is a pity that our visiscreens don't work. If they did, we could draw diagrams of Pythagoras' Theorem at each other . . . ." But the way she sounded she could have been making love to the entity at the other end.

    Grimes looked at the little radar repeater on the control panel. Ten kilometers, and closing. Nine . . . Eight . . . Seven . . . He cut the drive altogether. He could imagine, all too clearly, what a perfect target he would be to the gunnery officers aboard the strange ships. If they had gunnery officers, if they had guns, or their equivalent, that was. But it seemed unlikely that all life on that devastated planet had been wiped out by natural catastrophe. There had been a war, and a dreadful one.

    But many years ago, he told himself, otherwise the level of radioactivity would have been much higher. And possibly confined to the worlds of only one planetary system . . .

    Five kilometers, and closing still . . . .

    Four . . . .

    He restarted the inertial drive, in reverse. This was close enough until he had some idea of what he was running into.

    Una was still talking softly into the microphone. "We mean you no harm. We need help. Tarfelet. "

    The use of that final word brought an excited gabble in reply.

    Three point five kilometers, holding. Three point five . . . Three point six.

    Grimes stopped the inertial drive.

    "Go on talking," he said. "Get them used to your voice. Maybe they'll send a boat out to us."

    "You're not going in?"

    "Not yet. Not until I'm sure of a friendly reception, as the wise fly said to the spider."

    "And what happened to him in the end? The fly, I mean."

    "I can't remember," said Grimes. There are so many ways in which flies die, and most of them unconnected with spiders.

Chapter 12

    They hung there, maintaining their distance off the two conical spaceships. Grimes was almost convinced that they were friendly. Almost. The boat was within easy range of any of the weapons with which he was familiar. It would be foolish to assume that a spacefaring race did not possess arms at least as good as those mounted by the warships of the Federation. Of course, the strange ships could be merchantmen. Their crews might have at their disposal nothing better (or worse) than hand weapons. They might just be waiting for Grimes and Una to board one of the vessels, when they would overpower them by force of numbers.

    If only, thought Grimes, they could get some sort of a picture on the vision screen of the Carlotti transceiver, things would be very much easier. Or, better still, if Una or himself were a graduate of the Rhine Institute, a licensed telepath . . . . He had often, in the past, relied heavily on the services of Psionic Communications Officers. It was a great pity that he did not have one along now.

    Una said, "I'm sure that it would be safe to go in."

    "Sure? How can you be sure?"

    "Training," she told him. "In my job we soon pick up the knack of being able to know if the other person is lying . . . I've been listening to their voices. There've been at least three of them talking to us. I bet you anything you like that they're our sort of 'people'."

    "And that makes them just wonderful, doesn't it?"

    "Don't be so bloody cynical."

    "In any case, what experience have you had with