Unspecialist | Page 4

my lifeblood. Even
freight duty such as this I can stomach. But manual labor! Please
captain, let the air out of the ship, if you will, but never shall these
hands--"

"Somebody call me?" asked Arnold, appearing silently.
"Yeah," said Banner, "how'd you like to help?"
"Sure, what you got."
"Couple sleds are out of phase. You and Harcraft are going to slip into
suits and go out and find the trouble."
Arnold shrugged, "O.K. with me, when do we start?"
"Pretty quick," said Banner, who had turned to look at the ship's
spec-scanner. "Looks like we're in a belt of meteorites. We'll be able to
match velocities, but we could still be creamed if the path gets too
eccentric. Show him the way, Harcraft. I don't want to take any longer
than necessary, either. Understand?"
Fifteen minutes later, both Arnold and Harcraft were out of the air lock,
each clutching a new phase unit. Harcraft called instructions to Arnold
over his suit's inter-com, but within minutes the smaller man was, if
anything, more adept at the business of maneuvering himself through
the void than his teacher. They replaced the phase unit in the first
sled--the fiftieth from the ship--with Harcraft doing the work and
Arnold watching.
"Can you do the next one alone?" Harcraft asked.
"Easy as pie," Arnold said. "Where is it?"
"About two hundred sleds farther back. Numbers on the side. Number
two hundred sixty-three. Can you remember?"
"I ain't dumb. Where you gonna be?"
"Back in the ship. We'll be waiting for you."
* * * * *
Back again in the control cabin with Banner, Harcraft was about to

congratulate himself on inventing the apprentice system, when a
piercing scream brought both men to their feet. "It's Arnold," Banner
said. "Arnold, you all right?"
Harcraft pushed Banner away from the speaker. "Arnold, what's wrong,
you O.K.?" The speaker remained silent.
"You better suit up," Banner said quietly.
"Yeah," Harcraft said, staring dumbly at the speaker. "Yeah, I better
suit up."
"Wait. Better take a look on the viewscreen."
"Hey, he's coming this way! Quick, get ready at the air lock!"
It was fifteen minutes before they could get anything out of him, and
then he wasn't too coherent. They gave him an injection of herodine to
quiet him down, but his eyes still rolled wildly and all he could manage
was: "Big hunk of rock ... big hunk of rock ... rock, quick ... monkey
ships."
"Any idea what he's talking about?"
"No," Banner said thoughtfully. "There was a sizable meteorite that
came pretty close while you were on your way back to the ship, but I'd
already tracked it before either one of you went outside."
"How close?"
"Hm-m-m. Visually, a dozen kilometers, I'd guess. I could run the tape
if you--"
"Velocities almost the same?" asked Harcraft, who was now fiddling
with the viewscreen controls.
"Yeah. Shouldn't be too hard to find. How about lugging Bean Brain
back to his bunk. I'll run the tape, then you can plot it on the screen."

When Harcraft returned to the control cabin, Banner had already
plotted it on the screen.
"I'll say it's a big piece of rock! About four kilometers in diameter."
"Yeah, but nothing out of order."
"Uh-huh. Let me turn up the magnification a little and see if--" Banner
watched as Harcraft turned control buttons, skillfully increasing
magnification without losing the held of view. Suddenly, the object
exploded into iridescence. "What--"
"Watch," Harcraft said. He bumped the magnification as much as he
dared.
"The Ankorbadian fleet," said Banner between clenched teeth.
They spent the next hour scanning the ship's micro-library for anything
at all on Ankorbadian religious practices. There was nothing. Arnold
awoke in another hour and seemed remarkably free of hysteria.
"What do you know about our friends' religious holiday?" asked
Banner. "We checked the library without any luck."
Arnold scratched the side of his face. "Lemme think. Yeah, I remember.
They go home to celebrate spring, like you said."
"They all go home?"
"Uh-huh. They got to. Only time they can mate. Only place, too."
"How long they stay? I've heard it's about one of our months, but we
have to know exactly."
"That's all I know. Read it some place a long time ago. Can I go back to
sleep now?"
"Go back to sleep," said Banner.

They spent the next three hours maneuvering carefully around the
asteroid. They took six thousand feet of movies and stared at the
projections for another three hours. One thousand seven hundred and
thirty silvery needles flashed reflected starlight into astonished, wild
eyes.
"At least," whispered Banner, "there's nobody there."
"A lot of good that does us. They'll be back from their home planet in a
few weeks, just as soon as the breeding season is over.