Star Ship by E. C. Tubb

Author:E. C. Tubb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Worlds
Published: 1955-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

As usual the area around No-Weight was deserted. Jay led the way among a tangle of girders, slipped into a narrow tube-like corridor, and paused by one of a number of junction boxes. George, maneuvering awkwardly in the almost total absence of weight, joined him.

"Is this the one?" He didn't look down at the box.

"I think so." Jay stooped over it, touched it, then jerked back his hand as though he had received a shock. "This is it, right enough. Take a look at it, George."

"All right." George kicked himself forward and, like most people unused to free fall, kicked too hard. Jay caught him as he passed and drew him to where George could grip a stanchion.

"Thanks." The electronics man stooped over the box. "Now let's see what the trouble is."

He was wasting his time, of course, and Jay knew it. There was nothing wrong with the box at all, but it had served as a pretext to lure his victim to a place where his death could easily be accounted for. Looking at the man Jay felt a strange reluctance to finish the job and annoyed with himself for his hesitation, he moved in to make an end.

It would be simple with the simplicity of long practice. Pressure on the carotids, the great arteries of the throat leading to the brain, would bring swift unconsciousness. Continued pressure would bring painless death. Jay knew the exact spot where they lay beneath the skin. He knew just how to hold his victim so that any struggles would be useless. It would be routine, nothing more and, as he reached forward, he forced himself to ignore everything but his duty.

"Are you going to kill me, Jay?"

It wasn't so much what George said that shocked Jay into immobility, as the assumption of knowledge behind the words. He stood, swaying a little from the absence of gravity, and stared incredulously at the calm face of his intended victim.

"I've been expecting this," continued George evenly. "I guessed what you intended as soon as I saw the box. There's nothing wrong with it, and you know it."

"You refused to fight," stammered Jay desperately. He knew that at all costs he must keep the truth away from the other man. "You insulted me."

"That isn't why you wanted to kill me. Did Gregson send you?"

"Gregson?"

"Yes, Gregson, the chief of psych-police." George rested easily against the stanchion, his eyes serious as they stared at the young man. "I'm not a fool, Jay, and I've suspected you for some time now. You worked at odd hours, seemed to be missing for long periods of time, and didn't appear to have any particular duties." George shrugged. "I wouldn't have noticed it, I suppose, but for your attachment to Susan. I couldn't understand why, if you were young enough, you weren't married. That made me wonder. The final proof came when I saw you at headquarters one shift."

"You saw me there?"

"Yes. I had been to service Psycho, I'm a top-line electronic engineer, you know, and they trust me to service the machine.

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