Chapter 14
If Spartan was doing all the thinking, his mental processes were similar to Axel’s, or perhaps Axel’s stated ideas had taken root. He ordered Joel and me to get the ship ready for a lift-off, in the event of a Martian attack. This would cut down our exploration time on Mars, but we already had made a successful landing, and we had determined a few facts about life on Mars. Naturally, we still would try to push forward with our mission until the Martians drove us off. This would include the exploration of a considerable area of the planet in our vicinity. Later, while the Jehad was circling Mars, we would be able to take pictures of the rest of the surface features. Later expeditions, which would follow someday, could do the rest.
All of our supplies had been piled inside the moat and those we needed were taken into the headquarters rocket. Spartan and Axel dismantled the overturned rocket and obtained enough metal to construct a scaffold and ramp from the ground to the locks, eliminating the necessity of using a ladder to enter and leave the ship.
During the time we prepared our living quarters and defenses, all of us were engaged in the task of learning as much as we could about Mars. We made analysis of the soil and rocks, studied the weather and took countless photographs. Gail made a trip to the canal, unmolested by Martians, and brought back additional samples of Martian vegetation.
The water problem still confronted us. There were many things in the Martian water that could not be removed by distillation. However, the water was an excellent solvent and was used for our cleaning and sanitary purposes.
Spartan and Axel made a short trip to Lacus Minor, which was 150 miles west of our ship. Gail and I were left behind to analyze the plants she had found, while Dr. Joel was picking up rock samples along the rim of the canal.
We finished our analysis and when we’d cleaned up and disposed of the poisonous substances we had examined, I said, “It’s time to do something about Spartan, Gail.”
She gave me a sharp look. “I thought we decided the expedition came first, Bill Drake.”
“It’s a matter of survival now,” I said. “We all know we’re in a worse situation than before as far as the water is concerned. There’s only enough for three. Spartan needed a six-man crew mainly to get things organized here on Mars. Now the worst is over. Even if he gets a chance to do some more exploring, four can do it all. There are only two cars anyway. Come to think of, two people would be enough—one to a car. There’s no reason for Spartan to delay his plans any longer. He’ll start expending the expendables.”
“What of the Martians?”
I shrugged. “We’ve made enemies of the Martians by killing two of them. I doubt if they’ll forgive us for that. They’ve shown too many human qualities—curiosity, fear, bravado, for example. They probably have the ability to be angry and to extract an eye for an eye. So we’re fighting a whole planet. Whether there are five of us or three wouldn’t make much difference. But Spartan has us prepared for a lift-off and I don’t think he intends to wait for an attack to trim down our numbers.”
She looked thoughtful, then said, “Bill, are you suggesting we murder Dr. Spartan?”
I hadn’t suggested it. All I was thinking of was saving my life and hers. Self-protection. But that included killing in self-defense. Possibly I’d had murder in the back of my mind. But when she said it in so many words, I was revolted.
“Not if we can avoid it,” I said.
“But there isn’t enough water for five, you said. That means—” She stopped.
“I’m willing to try it on rations,” I said. And I was. “Spartan isn’t. Spartan planned to get rid of us anyhow.”
Slowly she shook her head. “No, I don’t believe even Spartan could be like that. I’ll admit I did think it once. But he’d have too much to explain when he got home. Still, if he could arrange an accident—”
“He’s arranged two of them. Willy and Morrie. What’s to stop him from getting rid of Axel and me? Perhaps you, if you were likely to be a witness against him.”
“We can’t be a party to murder, Bill Drake,” she said.
She was right. I knew that even if I had carried the idea around in my head, I couldn’t kill in cold blood. If Spartan tried to kill me and I had to stop him, it would be a different matter. But even though I knew he had no intention of letting me live, had already tried to kill me once, I couldn’t deliberately plan his death.
“But we can restrain him,” I said. “Take him prisoner.”
“That would be mutiny,” she said.
“No. We have evidence that he murdered Morrie Grover,” I said. “We’d be putting him under arrest.”
“But the mission!”
“The rest of us could do what has to be done. The main thing is to prevent more killings. Arrest would make it unnecessary to kill Spartan.”
She sighed and said nothing.
“Axel will help,” I said. “Joel won’t interfere, either way; there’s even a possibility that he might join us once he’s made to understand what’s been going on.”
She sank down on a packing case we’d been using as a chair. “All right, Bill Drake. But please be careful,” she said.
That night Spartan called us by radio. He and Axel had run into a terrific storm just as they left Lacus Minor. Red dust had practically overwhelmed them, and winds up to 75 miles an hour had thrown the Mars-car into a marsh. However, there had been no serious damage and they’d return the following day.
When Joel came in, and after we had eaten our evening meal, I told him bluntly what we’d found out about Spartan.
“He murdered Zinder and Morrie Grover,” I said in conclusion. “He means to kill two more of our party in order to insure enough water for the return trip. You could easily be a candidate.”
Joel listened, bewildered, to all I said, about finding the paper in Morrie’s helmet air valve, about Axel knowing he had tampered with the machinery in Willy’s capsule, and how Spartan had unfastened my safety line when I brought Morrie’s body from the top of the Jehad.
“I—I can’t believe it,” he said. “You’re making it up.”
“Why should I?” I asked.
“For the same reasons you’re attributing to Dr. Spartan,” he said. “You want to kill him so there’ll be enough water. Maybe you want to kill me, too.”
“Damnit,” I said, “we don’t want to kill anybody. There may not be enough water to keep us from being thirsty, but there’s enough to keep us from dying. I’m willing to suffer to avoid murder. That’s why I’m planning to arrest Spartan.”
“Arrest! It’s mutiny! When you get back to the earth there’ll be a lot to answer for, Drake.”
“Then we’ll have to arrest you, too,” I said. “The rest of us—Axel, Gail and I—know the score, Warner. I’ve tried to explain it to you. If we can’t trust you—”
“Now just a minute! I didn’t say that.”
“Not in so many words,” I told him. I put my hand on the butt of my automatic pistol.
His eyes followed the move. There was fear in his face. “I don’t know what to do,” he confessed.
“Do nothing,” I said. “That’s all I ask.”
He gulped. He seemed a little relieved. “I don’t see how I can do anything,” he replied.
“Stand up!” I said.
He looked frightened again. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m taking your gun,” I said. “Just to make sure you won’t try anything.”
He stood up and I made him turn around. Then I took his gun. “You’ll sleep in the lower cabin tonight,” I told him. “Gail and I will take turns doing guard duty.”
The next morning, Dr. Joel was a very subdued man. He ate breakfast silently and then volunteered to tidy up the cabin. He went about his tasks eagerly, anxious to please. All of the truckling he had done for Dr. Spartan now seemed to be transferred to Gail and me.
About noon the Mars-car rolled in. I had been waiting for the arrival in my spacesuit and, as soon as it came within view, I slipped my helmet over my shoulders, sealed it and went out to meet them.
The car bumped over the causeway and came to a stop at the base of the ramp. Spartan, holding the rifle in his hand, was standing in the locks. Axel was at the controls, putting on his helmet.
Presently Axel entered the locks. Then both men jumped out to the ground.
“Help Ludson with the samples, Drake,” Spartan ordered.
As he turned his head to gesture, I brought my automatic into view.
“You’re under arrest, Dr. Spartan,” I said.
Axel’s mouth, which I could see through the glass of his helmet, gaped with surprise as he heard my words in his earphones.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Spartan cried.
“Just what I said, Dr. Spartan,” I told him. “You’re under arrest for the murder of Morrie Grover. And if that isn’t enough, for killing Willie Zinder and trying to kill me.”
“You’re talking nonsense, Drake. This is mutiny, punishable by death, Axel!”
I don’t know what he expected Axel to do. I think he wanted me to turn my head so he could attack, or draw his own pistol, but I refused to be taken in by that old dodge.
“He’s right, sir,” said Axel. His habit of addressing Spartan by the title “sir” couldn’t be shaken in a moment. “I found the paper in the valve of Morrie’s helmet before you removed it.”
“Lies!” said Spartan. “Now listen. If you put away that gun, Drake, I’ll forget this. It’s just another case of over-wrought nerves—the same thing that affected Grover—”
“And cause you to kill him because that was the easiest way to handle him?”
This seemed to hit Spartan because he didn’t realize how well we knew his motives. He seemed to quiver. “I’m to be killed so you’ll have enough water—”
“That’s one reason you would have killed me, probably,” I said, “but we’re a different sort, Spartan. We’re taking you back to the earth. And you’ll share our rationed water all the way. We won’t kill you. What happens to you after your trial on earth is not up to us.”
His shoulders seemed to sag. “And I was the first man to walk on Mars!” He seemed to think that ought to atone for everything. “Now you’re gutting the whole expedition.”
“You’re wrong on that score, Spartan,” I said. “We’ll complete the mission. You’ll be under guard, but the rest of us can carry it out. We’re doing this now to defend ourselves.”
I heard Axel’s sigh in my earphones. “I’m glad you said that, Bill,” he said. “I didn’t quite know what was coming off.”
We took Spartan into the ship after disarming him. We removed his helmet and spacesuit and tied his hands. He said nothing, showed no emotion except anger.
Dr. Joel came into the room. He saw Spartan and avoided his eyes. “You’re in on this too, Warner?” Spartan asked. “You, the one man I believed was my friend?”
Joel turned to me without answering his former chief. “There’s quite a bit of Martian chatter over the radio, Drake. I got a directional fix. It’s coming from the south.”
“South?”
“Yes, and it’s strange, too. There’s nothing but sand in that direction.”
“There’s Pnyx,” said Axel.
“We thought Umbra was the nearest city,” I said. “That’s east, in Lacus Major.”
Joel shook his head. “I tried to pick up the jargon from Major. Not much sound there.”
Axel stared at the floor for a moment. “Doc and I saw some things at Minor that may be the answer. There was a big area where the vegetation had been cut away. We decided that the Martians had been there and harvested a crop. If that’s true, Umbra might be a farming town and, like most farming communities, a peaceful place. Pnyx, on the other hand, is larger and might be a place where troops could be assembled. A sort of military base. See what it means?”
He didn’t have to draw a picture. Mars was mobilizing to defend itself against the invaders from Earth.
“Ah!” said Spartan. “What you need is an astute leader. Release me. I’ll take charge in this emergency and we’ll forget these silly things you’ve been saying—”
“Shuddup,” said Axel. He turned to me. “What does a good commander do in a case like this, Bill?”
Even though I’d been in the Army, the generals had never confided their methods to me. But you do pick up a few military principles, even as a buck private. “Send out a patrol,” I said.
“What good does that do?”
“Well, if we sit here like lame ducks, we won’t know when they’re coming, how many, and we certainly won’t find out what they have in mind,” I said. “But if we scout them, and view their potential, maybe we could figure out some way of defending ourselves.”
“You don’t think we could fight a whole planet? Or even a small company of armed soldiers, do you?” Joel asked nervously.
“If it looks like they’re coming to get us real quick, we can lift off,” I said. “Maybe they figure they’ll need a pretty big force which will take a couple of weeks to organize. If that’s the case, we can do a lot of scientific work before we leave.”
“Okay, Bill,” said Axel. “You’re the patrol.”
“Now?”
“The sooner the better,” said Axel.
I got my helmet. Then I picked up the rifle Spartan had carried on his trip. It was loaded with two rounds of explosive shells and eighteen rounds of ordinary bullets. I slipped a couple of spare clips for my automatic into my pocket. Then I went into the locks.
Axel followed me. “Just a minute before you put on your helmet, Bill,” he said.
I gave him a curious look. “Okay. What’s on your mind?”
“Take Gail with you,” he said.
“But this will be a dangerous mission,” I told him.
“Not half as dangerous for all of us if you leave her behind.”
“Why?”
“I don’t trust Joel,” said Axel. “If he turned the tables and got the drop on Gail and me, nothing could keep Spartan from blasting off, leaving you behind and probably me, too, if I lived that long. But Spartan has his plans for Gail. He won’t leave without her. If she’s with you, he won’t do anything till you get back.”
“And if he’s in control, what chance would we have?”
Axel shrugged. “As long as there’s life there’s some kind of chance,” he replied. “But if Gail were aboard the ship, you wouldn’t have any chance. Spartan could go back to earth, report a mutiny and subsequent casualties that occurred in quelling it. Nobody could prove anything different. But with Gail gone, I think Spartan will postpone any moves he might make until she returns.”
I thought it over. Gail, being one of us, would never live to reach the earth, that was certain.
The thought decided me. She would be safer with me, facing all of the Martians on Mars, than in Spartan’s hands.
“Tell her she’s on this patrol, too,” I told Axel. “I’ll get some grub and water aboard the Mars-car.”