Space Prison | Page 2

of the ship. We are without a drive and without power
but for a few emergency batteries. I am the Constellation's only
surviving officer and the Gern commander is boarding us to give me
the surrender terms.
"None of you will leave your compartments until ordered to do so.
Wherever you may be, remain there. This is necessary to avoid
confusion and to have as many as possible in known locations for
future instructions. I repeat: you will not leave your compartments."
The speaker cut off. She stood without moving and heard again the
words: I am the Constellation's only surviving officer....
The Gerns had killed her father.
He had been second-in-command of the Dunbar expedition that had
discovered the world of Athena and his knowledge of Athena was
valuable to the colonization plans. He had been quartered among the
ship's officers--and the Gern blast had destroyed that section of the
ship.
She sat down on the edge of the bed again and tried to reorient herself;
to accept the fact that her life and the lives of all the others had abruptly,
irrevocably, been changed.
The Athena Colonization Plan was ended. They had known such a
thing might happen--that was why the Constellation had been made
ready for the voyage in secret and had waited for months for the chance
to slip through the ring of Gern spy ships; that was why she had raced
at full speed, with her communicators silenced so there would be no
radiations for the Gerns to find her by. Only forty days more would
have brought them to the green and virgin world of Athena, four
hundred light-years beyond the outermost boundary of the Gern Empire.
There they should have been safe from Gern detection for many years
to come; for long enough to build planetary defenses against attack.
And there they would have used Athena's rich resources to make ships

and weapons to defend mineral-depleted Earth against the inexorably
increasing inclosure of the mighty, coldly calculating colossus that was
the Gern Empire.
Success or failure of the Athena Plan had meant ultimate life or death
for Earth. They had taken every precaution possible but the Gern spy
system had somehow learned of Athena and the Constellation. Now,
the cold war was no longer cold and the Plan was dust....
* * * * *
Billy sighed and stirred in the little-boy sleep that had not been broken
by the blasts that had altered the lives of eight thousand people and the
fate of a world.
She shook his shoulder and said, "Billy."
He raised up, so small and young to her eyes that the question in her
mind was like an anguished prayer: Dear God--what do Gerns do to
five-year-old boys?
He saw her face, and the dim light, and the sleepiness was suddenly
gone from him. "What's wrong, Mama? And why are you scared?"
There was no reason to lie to him.
"The Gerns found us and stopped us."
"Oh," he said. In his manner was the grave thoughtfulness of a boy
twice his age, as there always was. "Will they--will they kill us?"
"Get dressed, honey," she said. "Hurry, so we'll be ready when they let
Daddy come back to tell us what to do."
* * * * *
They were both ready when the Attention buzzer sounded again in the
corridors. Lake spoke, his tone grim and bitter:

"There is no power for the air regenerators and within twenty hours we
will start smothering to death. Under these circumstances I could not do
other than accept the survival terms the Gern commander offered us.
"He will speak to you now and you will obey his orders without protest.
Death is the only alternative."
Then the voice of the Gern commander came, quick and harsh and
brittle:
"This section of space, together with planet Athena, is an extension of
the Gern Empire. This ship has deliberately invaded Gern territory in
time of war with intent to seize and exploit a Gern world. We are
willing, however, to offer a leniency not required by the circumstances.
Terran technicians and skilled workers in certain fields can be used in
the factories we shall build on Athena. The others will not be needed
and there is not room on the cruisers to take them.
"Your occupation records will be used to divide you into two groups:
the Acceptables and the Rejects. The Rejects will be taken by the
cruisers to an Earth-type planet near here and left, together with the
personal possessions in their compartments and additional, and ample,
supplies. The Acceptables will then be taken on to Athena and at a later
date the cruisers will return the Rejects to Earth.
"This division will split families but there will be no resistance to