Luna Escapade Page 3

suppressed part of hismind. He had never kidded himself about being a saint. The thing hadpossibilities. _Maybe one of the others can be talked into restraintinto her._

  He snapped out of it. "Don't be a little fool!" he grated. "If you wantmy advice, you'll--."

  "Well, I _don't_ want your goddam advice! If you're too yellow to tryit, I'll find somebody else. There'll be another rocket after yours, youknow. Maybe they'll have a _man_ on it!"

  He felt his face go white and then flush as he stared at her. He did notknow what to say. She looked like a child, but the outburst was morethan a mere tantrum.

  _Sounds as if she's never been crossed before_, he thought. _I ought tohaul off and slap a little self-restraint into her._

  Instead, he beckoned to the three men, who had been edging closer withaggrieved expressions.

  "How about taking your girl friend along?" he said flatly.

  One of them took her by the elbow and tried to murmur something in herear, but Kathi shook him off.

  "If you are afraid for your license, Dudley, I'll say I hid without yourknowing it. I'll say one of the others let me in. Please, Dudley. I'msorry I talked to you like that."

  She was making a fool of him, and of herself, he decided. And inanother minute, she would spill the whole thing, the way she wassounding off. And her friends were beginning to look hostile as it was.

  "What's the trouble?" asked one of them.

  "Nothing that won't clear up if you pour a couple of drinks into her,"said Dudley disgustedly.

  He walked away, and they held her from following.

  "_Dudley!_" she yelled after him. "They'll send me back! Please, Dudley.I won't go. You remember what I said about going back--."

  Her voice was getting too shrill. Someone in the group must have put hishand over her mouth, for when Dudley looked back, they were rounding acorner of the corridor more or less silently.

  Eileen waited in the half-open door, watching him quizzically. "Friendof yours?" she drawled.

  "After a fashion," admitted Dudley, pulling out a handkerchief to wipehis forehead. "Spoiled brat!"

  He fumbled in a pocket of his jacket, and withdrew a small package."Here's the bracelet that matches that necklace," he said. "I knew I hadit in my locker somewhere."

  Her thanks were very adequate.

  "Aren't you coming in?" Eileen asked after the pause.

  "No ... I don't ... I have to get a good night's sleep, you know. Wekick off tomorrow."

  She pursed her lips in a small pout, but shrugged. "Then look me up whenyou get back, Pete."

  "Yeah. Sure."

  He kissed her quickly and walked away, drumming the fingers of his righthand against his thigh.

  Except for the tenseness of blasting off and landing, the round trip toMars was as boring as he expected. Campiglia won too many chess games atone move per watch, and the deck of cards wore out. For a few days,Wells had a slightly infected finger after cutting himself, but it was asmall crisis. The layover on Mars was short, and the thrill was nolonger new.

  Dudley was glad to step out of the big rocket on Luna.

  They had come in during the sleeping period at Ericsson, so the four ofthem had gone to their quarters for a few hours of sleep after the firstbabble of welcome from those on duty when they landed. Dudley wasawakened by Jack Fisher.

  "So early?" he grunted, squinting at his watch. "What brings youaround?"

  Fisher settled his bulk in the only chair of the bedroom that was to beDudley's until his next Terra-bound rocket.

  "Liable to be busy today," he said easily, "so I thought I'd havebreakfast with you."

  "Fine!" said Dudley. "Wait'll I shave and I'll be with you."

  When he returned from the bathroom, he thought that he had perfectcontrol of his features. There might not be anything wrong, but itseemed odd that Jack should be around so soon. He wondered if the KathiFoster affair was in the background.

  They went up a few levels to a minor eating place and had scrambled eggsthat almost tasted natural. Over the coffee, Fisher opened up.

  "Had a little excitement while you were gone," he said.

  "Yeah? What?"

  Fisher let him wait while he carefully unwrapped the half-smoked remainsof a cigar. Tobacco in any form was strictly rationed in all Lunarsettlements.

  "Ever hear of old Robert Forgeron?" he asked.

  "The one they used to call 'Robber' Forgeron?"

  "That's right. He had so many patents on airlock mechanisms andspace-suit gadgets and rocket control instruments that he made thegoddamnedest fortune ever heard of out of space exploration. Died a fewyears ago."

  Dudley maintained a puzzled silence.

  "Seems the old man had strong ideas about that fortune," continuedFisher. "Left the bulk of it to his only granddaughter."

  "That must have made headlines," Dudley commented.

  "Sure did." Fisher had the cigar going, now, and he puffed economicallyupon it. "Especially when she ran away from home."

  "Oh?" Dudley felt it coming. "Where to?"

  "Here!"

  Fisher held his cigar between thumb and forefinger and examined itfondly.

  "Said her name was Kathi Foster instead of Kathi Forgeron. After theygot around to guessing she was on Luna, and sent descriptions, we pickedher up, of course. Shortly after you kicked off for Mars, in fact."

  Dudley was silent. The other's shrewd little eyes glinted bluely at himthrough the cigar smoke.

  "How about it, Pete? I've been trying to figure how she got here. If itwas you, you needn't worry about the regulations. There was some sort oflitigation going on, and all kinds of relatives came boiling up here toget her. All the hullabaloo is over by now."

  Dudley took a deep breath, and told his side of the story. Fisherlistened quietly, nodding occasionally with the satisfaction of one whohad guessed the answer.

  "So you see how it was, Jack. I didn't really believe the kid's story.And she was so wild about it!"

  Fisher put out his cigar with loving care.

  "Got to save the rest of this for dinner," he said. "Yes, she was wild,in a way. You should hear--well, that's in the files. Before we weresure who she was, Snowdon put her on as a secretary in his section."

  "She didn't look to me like a typist," objected Dudley.

  "Oh, she wasn't," said Fisher, without elaborating. "I suppose if she_was_ a little nuts, she was just a victim of the times. If it hadn'tbeen for the sudden plunge into space, old Forgeron wouldn't have madesuch a pile of quick money. Then his granddaughter might have grown upin a normal home, instead of feeling she was just a target. If she'dbeen born a generation earlier or later, she might have been okay."

  Dudley thought of the girl's pleading, her frenzy to escape herenvironment.

  "So I suppose they dragged her back," he said. "Which loving relativewon custody of the money?"

  "That's still going on," Fisher told him. "It's tougher than ever, Ihear, because she didn't go down with them. She talked somebody intoletting her have a space-suit and walked out to the other side of theringwall. All the way to the foothills on the other side."

  Dudley stared at him in mounting horror. Fisher seemed undisturbed, butthe pilot knew his friend better than that. It could only mean that theother had had three months to become accustomed to the idea. He wastenderly tucking away the stub of his cigar.

  "Wasn't so bad, I guess," he answered Dudley's unspoken question. "Shetook a pill and sat down. Couple of rock-tappers looking for ore foundher. Frozen stiff, of course, when her batteries ran down."

  Dudley planted his elbows on the table and leaned his head in his hands.

  "I should have taken her to Mars!" he groaned.

  "She tried that on you, too?" Fisher was unsurprised. "No, Pete, itwouldn't have done any good. Would've lost you your job, probably. LikeI said, she was born the wrong time. They won't have room for the likesof her on Mars for a good many years yet."

  "So they hauled her back to Terra, I suppose."


  "Oh, no. The relatives are fighting that out, too. So, until the judgesget their injunctions shuffled and dealt, little Kathi is sitting outthere viewing the Rockies and the stars."

  He looked up at Dudley's stifled exclamation.

  "Well, it's good and cold out there," he said defensively. "We don'thave any spare space around here to store delayed shipments, you know.We're waitin' to see who gets possession."

  Dudley rose, his face white. He was abruptly conscious once more ofother conversations around