Upon a Sea of Stars (26 page)

Part 1
The Rim Gods

“AND WHO,”
demanded Commodore Grimes, “will it be this time?” He added, “Or
what?
”

“I don’t know, sir, I’m sure,” simpered Miss Walton.

Grimes looked at his new secretary with some distaste. There was no denying that she was far more photogenic then her predecessor, and that she possessed a far sweeter personality. But sweetness and prettiness are not everything. He bit back a sarcastic rejoinder, looked again at the signal that the girl had just handed him. It was from a ship, a vessel with the unlikely name of
Piety
. And it was not a word in some alien language that could mean
anything
—the name of the originator of the message was Terran enough. Anglo-Terran at that. William Smith. And after that prosaic appellation there was his title—but that was odd. It was not the usual Master, Captain, Officer Commanding or whatever. It was, plainly and simply, Rector.

Piety
. . . . Rector. . . . That ship’s name, and that title of rank, had an archaic ring to them. Grimes had always been a student of naval history, and probably knew more about the vessels that had sailed Earth’s oceans in the dim and distant past than anybody on the Rim Worlds and, come to that, the vast majority of people on the home planet itself. He remembered that most of the ancient sailing ships had been given religious names. He remembered, too, that rector had once been the shipmaster’s official title.

So what was this ship coming out to the Rim, giving her ETA, details of last clearance, state of health on board and all the rest of it? Some cog, some caravel, some galleass? Grimes smiled at his own fancy. Nonetheless, strange ships, very strange ships, had drifted out to the Rim.

“Miss Walton . . .” he said.

“Yes, Commodore,” she replied brightly.

“This
Piety
. . . see what details Lloyd’s
Register
has on her.”

“Very good, sir.”

The Commodore—rugged, stocky, short, iron-gray hair over a deeply tanned and seamed face, ears that in spite of suggestions made by two wives and several mistresses still protruded—paced the polished floor of his office while the little blonde punched the buttons that would actuate the Port Forlorn robot librarian. Legally, he supposed, the impending arrival of the
Piety
was the port captain’s pigeon. Grimes was Astronautical Superintendent of Rim Runners, the Confederacy’s shipping line. But he was also the officer commanding the Rim Worlds Naval Reserve and, as such, was concerned with matters of security and defense. He wished that Sonya, his wife, were available so that he could talk things over with her. She, before her marriage to him, had held the rank of Commander in the Intelligence branch of the Interstellar Federation’s Survey Service and, when it came to mysteries and secrets of any kind, displayed the aptitudes of a highly intelligent ferret. But Sonya, after declaring that another week on Lorn would have her climbing up the wallpaper, had taken off for a long vacation—Waverley, Caribbea, Atlantia and points inward—by herself. She, when she returned, would be sorry to have missed whatever odd adventures the arrival of this queerly named ship presaged—and Grimes knew that there would be some. His premonitions were rarely, if ever, wrong.

He turned away from the banked screens and instruments that made his office look like an exceptionally well fitted spaceship’s control room, walked to the wide window that took up an entire wall, which overlooked the port. It was a fine day—for Lorn. The almost perpetual overcast was thin enough to permit a hint of blue sky to show through, and the Lorn sun was a clearly defined disk rather than the usual fuzzy ball. There was almost no wind. Discharge of
Rim Leopard
, noted, seemed to be progressing satisfactorily. There was a blue flare of welding arcs about the little spacetug
Rim Mamelute
, presently undergoing her annual survey. And there, all by herself, was the ship that Grimes—to the annoyance of his wife—often referred to as his one true love, the old, battered
Faraway Quest
. She had been built how many (too many) years ago as a standard
Epsilon
Class tramp for the Interstellar Transport Commission. She had been converted into a survey ship for the Rim Worlds’ government. In her, Grimes had made the first landings on the inhabited planets to the Galactic East, the worlds now referred to as the Eastern Circuit. In her he had made the first contact—but not a physical one—with the anti-matter systems to the Galactic West.

And would the arrival of the good ship
Piety
lead to her recommissioning? Grimes hoped so. He liked his job—it was interesting work, carrying both authority and responsibility—but he was often tired of being a deskborne commodore, and had always welcomed the chance to take the old
Quest
up and out into deep space again. As often in the past he had a hunch, a strong one. Something was cooking, and he would have a finger in the pie.

Miss Walton’s childish treble broke into his thoughts. “Sir, I have the information on
Piety
. . . .”

“Yes?”

“She was built as
Epsilon Crucis
for the Interstellar Transport Commission fifty Terran standard years ago. She was purchased from them last year, Terran reckoning, by the Skarsten Theological Institute, whose address is listed as Nuevo Angeles on Francisco, otherwise known as Beta Puppis VI. . . .”

“I’ve visited Francisco,” he told her. “A pleasant world, in many ways. But an odd one.”

“Odd? How, sir?”

“I hope I’m not treading on any of your corns, Miss Walton, but the whole planet’s no more than a breeding ground for fancy religions.”

“I’m a Latter Day Reformed Methodist myself, sir,” she told him severely. “And that’s not fancy.”

“Indeed it’s not, Miss Walton.”
And I’m a cynical, more or less tolerant agnostic,
he thought. He went on, “And does Lloyds condescend to tell us the category in which this renamed
Epsilon Crucis
is now listed? A missionary ship, perhaps?”

“No, sir. A survey ship.”

“Oh,” was all that Grimes could say.

Two days later Grimes watched, from his office window,
Piety
come in. Whatever else this Rector William Smith might or might not be he was a good ship handler. There was a nasty wind blowing across the spaceport, not quite a gale, but near enough to it; nonetheless the ship made a classic vertical descent, dropping to the exact center of the triangle formed by the berth-marker beacons. It was easy enough in theory, no more than the exact application of lateral thrust, no more than a sure and steady hand on the remote controls of the Inertial Drive. No more—and no less. Some people get the feel of ships; some never do.

This
Piety
was almost a twin to Grimes’s own
Faraway Quest
. She was a newer (less old) ship, of course, but the design of the
Epsilon
Class tramps, those trusty workhorses of the Commission, had changed very little over the years. She sat there in her assigned berth, a gray, weathered spire, the bright scarlet beacons still blinking away just clear of the broad vanes of her tripedal landing gear. From her stem a telescopic mast extended itself, and from the top of the metal staff a flag broke out, whipped to quivering rigidity by the wind. The Commodore picked up his binoculars through which to study it. It was not, as he had assumed it would be, the national ensign of Francisco, the golden
crux anasta
and crescent on a scarlet ground; even with the naked eye he could see that. This was a harshly uncompromising standard: a simple white cross on a black field.
It must be,
decided Grimes,
the houseflag of the Skarsten Institute.

The after air lock door opened and the ramp extended from it, and to it drew up the beetle-like cars of the various port officials—port captain, customs, immigration, health. The boarding party got out of their vehicles and filed up the gangway, to where an officer was waiting to receive them. They vanished into the ship. Grimes idly wondered whether or not they would get a drink, and what the views of these Skarsten people were on alcohol. He remembered his own visit to Francisco, as a junior officer in the Federation’s Survey Service, many years ago. Some of the religious sects had been rigidly abstemious, maintaining that alcohol was an invention of the devil. Others had held that wine symbolized the more beneficent aspects of the Almighty. But it was hardly a subject worthy of speculation. He would find out for himself when, after the arrival formalities were over, he paid his courtesy call on the ship’s captain.

He went back to his desk, busied himself with the paperwork that made a habit of accumulating. An hour or so later he was interrupted by the buzzing of his telephone. “Grimes here!” he barked into the instrument. “Commodore Grimes,” said a strange voice. It was a statement rather than a question. “This is William Smith, Commodore, Rector of
Piety
. I request an appointment.”

“It will be my pleasure, er, Rector.” Grimes glanced at his watch. It was almost time for his rather dreary coffee and sandwich lunch. It was not the sort of meal that one asked visitors to share. He said, “Shall we say 1400 hours, our time? In my office?”

“That will do very nicely, sir. Thank you.”

“I am looking forward to meeting you,” said Grimes, replacing the handset in its rest.
And shall I send Miss Walton out for some sacramental wine?
he asked himself.

William Smith was a tall man, thin, with almost all of his pale face hidden by a bushy black beard, from above which a great nose jutted like the beak of a bird of prey. His eyes under the thick, black brows were of a gray so pale as to be almost colorless, and they were cold, cold. A plain black uniform covered his spare frame, the buttons concealed by the fly front of the tunic, the four bands of black braid on the sleeves almost invisible against the cloth. There was a hint of white lace at his throat.

“I have been told, sir,” he said, sitting rigidly in his chair, “that you are something of an expert on the queer conditions that prevail here, on the Rim.”

“Perhaps, Rector,” said Grimes, “you will tell me first the purpose of your visit here.”

“Very well, sir.” The man’s baritone voice was as cold and as colorless as his eyes. “To begin with, we have the permission of your government, your Rim Worlds Confederacy, to conduct our pressing need of a new Revelation, a new Sinai. . . .”

“A survey, Rector? The Rim Worlds have been very well surveyed—even though I say it myself.”

“Not our kind of survey. Commodore. I shall, as you would say, put you in the picture. We of the Skarsten Institute are Neo-Calvinists. We deplore the godlessness, the heresy that is ever more prevalent throughout the galaxy—yes, even upon our own planet. We feel that Mankind is in sore and pressing need of a new Revelation, a new Sinai. . . .”

“And you honestly believe that you will find your Sinai here, out on the Rim?”

“We believe that we shall find our Sinai. If not here, then elsewhere. Perhaps, even, beyond the confines of this galaxy.”

“Indeed? But how can I help you, Rector?”

“You, we were told, know more about the odd distortions of the Continuum encountered here than anybody else on these planets.”

“Such is fame.” Grimes sighed and shrugged. “Very well, Rector, you asked for it. I’ll tell you what little I know. To begin with, it is thought by many of our scientists that here, at the very edge of the expanding galaxy, the fabric of time and space is stretched thin. We have long become used to the phenomena known as Rim Ghosts, disconcerting glimpses into alternative universes.”

“I believe that you, sir, have personally made the transition into their universes.”

“Yes. Once when the Federation’s Survey Service requested our aid in the investigation of the Rim Ghost phenomena. No doubt your people have read the Survey Service report.”

“We have.”

“The second time was when we, the Confederacy, took our own steps to deal with what we decided was a very real menace—an alternative universe in which our worlds were ruled by particularly unpleasant mutants, with human beings in a state of slavery. And then there was Captain Listowel, who was master of the first experimental lightjammer. He tried to exceed the speed of light without cheating—as
we
do with our Mannschenn Drive—and experienced quite a few different time tracks.”