Second Variety and Other Stories (15 page)

"Schonerman's death is of no importance. The loss of his papers to the Government is the
determining factor." Ryan pointed at Kastner's briefcase. "Where are the papers? In there. We have
them."

"We can restore the situation by moving back into the past and delivering the papers to some
agency of the Government. Schonerman is unimportant. It's his papers that matter."

Ryan's hand moved toward the power switch.

"Wait!" Kastner said. "Don't we want to see the present? We should see what changes carry
down to our own time."

Ryan hesitated. "True."

"Then we can decide what we want to do. Whether we want to restore the papers."

"All right. We'll continue to the present and then make up our minds."

The fingers crossing the time map had returned almost to their original position. Ryan studied
them for a long time, his hand on the power switch. Kastner held on tightly to the briefcase, his arms
wrapped around it, the heavy leather bundle resting in his lap.

"We're almost there," Ryan said.

"To our own time?"

"In another few moments." Ryan stood up, gripping the switch. "I wonder what we'll see."

"Probably very little we'll recognize."

Ryan took a deep breath, feeling the cold metal under his fingers. How different would their
world be? Would they recognize anything? Had they swept everything familiar out of existence?

A vast chain had been started in motion. A tidal wave moving through time, altering each
continuum, echoing down through all the ages to come. The second part of the war had never happened.
Before the claws could be invented the war had ended. The concept of the artificial brain had never been
transformed into workable practice. The most potent engine off war had never come into existence.
Human energies had turned from war to rebuilding of the planet.

Around Ryan the meters and dials vibrated. In a few seconds they would be back. What would
Terra be like? Would anything be the same?

The Fifty Cities. Probably they would not exist. Jon, his son, sitting quietly in his room reading.
USIC. The Government. The League and its labs and offices, its buildings and roof fields and guards.
The whole complicated social structure. Would it all be gone without a trace? Probably.

And what would he find instead?

"We'll know in a minute," Ryan murmured.

"It won't be long." Kastner got to his feet and moved to the port. "I want to see it. It should be a
very unfamiliar world."

Ryan threw the power switch. The ship jerked, pulling out of the time flow. Outside the port
something drifted and turned, as the ship righted itself. Automatic gravity controls slipped into place. The
ship was rushing above the surface of the ground.

Kastner gasped.

"What do you see?" Ryan demanded, adjusting the velocity of the ship. "What's out there?"

Kastner said nothing.

"What do you see?"

After a long time Kastner turned away from the port. "Very interesting. Look for yourself."

"What's out there?"

Kastner sat down slowly, picking up his briefcase. "This opens up a whole new line of thought."

Ryan made his way to the port and gazed out. Below the ship lay Terra. But not the Terra they
had left.

Fields, endless yellow fields. And parks. Parks and yellow fields. Squares of green among the
yellow, as far as the eye could see. Nothing else.

"No cities," Ryan said thickly.

"No. Don't you remember? The people are all out in the fields. Or walking in the parks.

Discussing the nature of the universe."

Discussing the nature of the universe."

"Your son was extremely accurate."

Ryan moved back to the controls, his face blank. His mind was numb. He sat down and adjusted
the landing grapples. The ship sank lower and lower until it was coasting over the flat fields. Men and
women glanced up at the ship, startled. Men and women in robes.

They passed over a park. A herd of animals rushed frantically away. Some kind of deer.

This was the world his son had seen. This was his vision. Fields and parks and men and women
in long flowing robes. Walking along the paths. Discussing the problems of the universe.

And the other world, his world, no longer existed. The League was gone. His whole life's work
destroyed. In this world it did not exist. Jon. His son. Snuffed out. He would never see him again. His
work, his son, everything he had known had winked out of existence.

"We have to go back," Ryan said suddenly.

Kastner blinked. "Beg pardon?"

"We have to take the papers back to the continuum where they belong. We can't recreate the
situation exactly, but we can place the papers in the Government's hands. That will restore all the relevant
factors."

"Are you serious?"

Kastner stepped back, whipping out his blaster. Ryan lunged. His shoulder caught Kastner,
bowling the little businessman over. The blaster skidded across the floor of the ship, clattering against the
wall. The papers fluttered in all directions.

"You damn fool!" Ryan grabbed at the papers, dropping down to his knees.

Kastner chased after the blaster. He scooped it up, his round face set with owlish determination.
Ryan saw him out of the corner of his eye. For a moment the temptation to laugh almost overcame him.
Kastner's face was flushed, his cheeks burning red. He fumbled with the blaster, trying to aim it.

"Kastner, for God's sake --"

The little businessman's fingers tightened around the trigger. Abrupt fear chilled Ryan. He
scrambled to his feet. The blaster roared, flame crackling across the time ship. Ryan leaped out of the
way, singed by the trail of fire.

Schonerman's papers flared up, glowing where they lay scattered over the floor. For a brief
second they burned. Then the glow died out, flickering into charred ash. The thin acrid smell of the blast
drifted to Ryan, tickling his nose and making his eyes water.

"Sorry," Kastner murmured. He laid the blaster down on the control board. "Don't think you
better get us down? We're quite close to the surface."

Ryan moved mechanically to the control board. After a moment he took his seat and began to
adjust the controls, decreasing the velocity of the ship. He said nothing.

"I'm beginning to understand about Jon," Kastner murmured. "He must have had some kind of
parallel time sense. Awareness of other possible futures. As work progressed on the time ship his visions
increased, didn't they? Every day his visions became more real. Every day the time ship became more
actual."

Ryan nodded.

"This opens up whole new lines of speculation. The mystical visions of medieval saints. Perhaps
they were of other futures, other time flows. Visions of hell would be worse time flows. Visions of heaven
would be better time flows. Ours must stand some place in the middle. And the vision of the eternal
unchanging world. Perhaps that's an awareness of non-time. Not another world but this world, seen
outside of time. We'll have to think more about that, too."

The ship landed, coming to rest at the edge of one of the parks. Kastner crossed to the port and
gazed out at the trees beyond the ship.

"In the books my family saved there were some pictures of trees," he said thoughtfully. "These
trees here, by us. They're pepper trees. Those over there are what they call evergreen trees. They stay
that way all year around. That's why the name."

Kastner picked up his briefcase, gripping it tightly. He moved toward the hatch.

Kastner picked up his briefcase, gripping it tightly. He moved toward the hatch.

"What kind of ship is it?" Captain Shure demanded, staring fixedly at the viewscreen, his hands
gripping the fine adjustment.

Navigator Nelson peered over his shoulder. "Wait a minute." He swung the control camera over
and snapped a photograph from the screen. The photograph disappeared down the message tube to the
chart room. "Keep calm. We'll get a determination from Barnes."

"What are they doing here? What are they after? They must know the Sirius system is closed."

"Notice the balloon sides." Nelson traced the screen with his finger. "It's a freighter. Look at the
bulge. It's a cargo carrier."

"And while you're looking, notice that." Shure whirled the enlarger. The image of the ship
bloated, expanding until it filled the screen. "See that row of projections?"

"So?"

"Heavy guns. Countersunk. For deep-space firing. It's a freighter, but it's also armed."

"Pirates, maybe."

"Maybe." Shure toyed with the communications mike. "I'm tempted to put a call back to Terra."

"Why?"

"This may be a scout."

Nelson's eyes flickered. "You think they're in the process of sounding us out? But if there are
more, why don't our screens pick them up?"

"The rest may be out of range."

"More than two light years? I have the screens up to maximum. And they're the best screens
available."

The determination popped up the tube from the chart room, skidding out on the table. Shure
broke it open and scanned it rapidly. He passed it to Nelson. "Here."

The ship was Adharan design. First-class, from a recent freighter group. Barnes had noted in his
own hand: "But not supposed to be armed. Must have added the cannon. Not standard equipment on
Adharan freighters."

"Then it's not bait," Shure murmured. "We can rule that out. What's the story on Adhara? Why
would an Adharan ship be in the Sirius system? Terra has closed this whole region off for years. They
must know they can't trade here."

"No one knows much about Adharans. They participated in the All-galaxy Trade Conference,
but that's all."

"What race are they?"

"Arachnid type. Typical of this area. Based on the Great Murzim Stem. They're a variant of the
Murzim original. They keep mostly to themselves. Complex social structure, very rigid patterns.
Organic-state grouping."

"You mean they're insects."

"I suppose. In the same sense we're lemurs."

Shure turned his attention back to the viewscreen. He reduced magnification, watching intently.
The screen followed the Adharan ship automatically, maintaining a direct alignment with it.

The Adharan ship was heavy and black, awkward in comparison to the sleek Terran cruiser. It
bulged like a well-fed worm, its somber sides swollen almost to a full sphere. An occasional guide light
blinked on and off as the ship approached the outermost planet of the Sirius system. It moved slowly,
cautiously, feeling its way along. It entered the orbit of the tenth planet and began maneuvering for
descent. Brake jets burst on, flashing red. The bloated worm drifted down, lowering itself toward the
surface of the planet.

blinked on and off as the ship approached the outermost planet of the Sirius system. It moved slowly,
cautiously, feeling its way along. It entered the orbit of the tenth planet and began maneuvering for
descent. Brake jets burst on, flashing red. The bloated worm drifted down, lowering itself toward the
surface of the planet.

"That's fine. They'll be stationary. Good target for us."

On the surface of the tenth planet the Adharan freighter lay resting, its jets dying into silence. A
cloud of exhaust particles rose from it. The freighter had landed between two mountain ranges, on a
barren waste of gray sand. The surface of the tenth planet was utterly barren. No life, atmosphere or
water existed.

The planet was mostly rock, cold gray rock, with vast shadows and pits, a corroded sickly
surface, hostile and bleak.

Abruptly the Adharan ship came to life. Hatches popped open. Tiny black dots rushed from the
ship. The dots increased in number, a flood of specks pouring out of the freighter, scurrying across the
sand. Some of them reached the mountains and disappeared among the craters and peaks. Others gained
the far side, where they were lost in the long shadows.

"I'll be damned," Shure muttered. "It doesn't make sense. What are they after? We've gone over
these planets with a fine tooth comb. There's nothing anyone would want, down there."

"They may have different wants, or different methods."

Shure stiffened. "Look. Their cars are coming back to the ship."

The black dots had reappeared, emerging from the shadows and craters. They hurried back
toward the mother worm, racing across the sand. The hatches opened. One by one the cars popped into
the ship and disappeared. A few belated cars made their way to the ship and entered. The hatches
clamped shut.

"What in hell could they have found?" Shure said.

Communications Officer Barnes entered the control room, craning his neck. "Still down there?
Let me have a look. I've never seen an Adharan ship."

On the surface of the planet the Adharan ship stirred. Suddenly it shuddered, quivering from stem
to stern. It rose from the surface, gaining altitude rapidly. It headed for the ninth planet. For a time it
circled the ninth planet, observing the pitted, eroded surface below. Empty basins of dried-up oceans
stretched on like immense pie pans.

The Adharan ship selected one of the basins and settled down to a landing, blowing clouds of
exhaust up into the sky.

"The same damn thing again," Shure murmured.

Hatches opened. Black specks leaped out onto the surface and rushed off in all directions.

Shure's jaw jutted out angrily. "We have to find out what they're after. Look at them go! They
know exactly what they're doing." He grabbed up the communication mike. Then he dropped it. "We can
handle this alone. We won't need Terra."