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He took the microphone. An instant later his voice boomed in the stillness outside the ship, cutting through the thin shrill whirring of invisible small creatures. "This is the Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty," said Calhoun's voice, amplified to a shout. "I left Weald four days ago, one day after the cargo ship from here arrived with everybody on board dead.
Long, long days later the ship broke out of overdrive and Calhoun guided it to a round and sunlit world. In due time he thumbed the communicator button. "Calling ground," he said crisply. "Calling ground! Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty reporting arrival and asking coordinates for landing. Purpose of landing is planetary health inspection. Our mass is fifty standard tons."
"Calling guard ship," said Calhoun dryly. "This is Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty. I called here a couple of weeks ago. You've been talking to my tormal, Murgatroyd." A pause. A blank pause. Then profanity of deep and savage intemperance. "I've been on Dara," said Calhoun. Dead silence fell. "There's a famine there," said Calhoun deliberately.
Our mass is fifty tons, standard. We should arrive at a landing position in something under four hours. Repeat. Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty...." He finished the regular second transmission and made coffee for himself while he waited for an answer. Murgatroyd came out for a cup of coffee for himself. Murgatroyd adored coffee.
There was no answer from the ground when breakout came and Calhoun drove the Med Ship to a favorable position for a call. He patiently repeated, over and over again, that Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty notified its arrival and requested coördinates for landing.
"Med Ship Aesclipus! Med Ship Aesclipus!" Calhoun answered and the voice said anxiously; "'Sorry about the challenge, but we have the blueskin problem always with us. We have to be extremely careful! Will you come in, please?" "I'm on my way," said Calhoun. "The planetary health authorities," said the voice, more anxiously still, "are very anxious to be coöperative. We need Med Service help!
He calculated a moment. The distance was too short for even the briefest of overdrive hops, but it would take time to get there on solar-system drive. He thumbed down the communicator button and spoke into a microphone. "Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty reporting arrival and asking coordinates for landing," he said matter-of-factly. "Purpose of landing is planetary health inspection.
The scouts swept low, transmitting fine-screen images back to the fleet, of all they might see before they were shot down. They found the landing-grid. It contained nothing larger than Calhoun's Med Ship, Aesclipus Twenty. They searched here and there. They flittered to and fro, scanning wide bands of the surface of Dara.
The distance was too short for even the briefest of overdrive hops, but it would take time to get there on solar-system drive. He thumbed down the communicator-button and spoke into a microphone. "Med Ship Aesclipus Twenty reporting arrival and asking coördinates for landing. Purpose of landing, planetary health inspection. Our mass is fifty tons standard.
They were space-ships, huge by comparison with Aesclipus Twenty. They floated as the Med Ship did. They did not drive. They were not in formation. They were not at even distances from each other. They did not point in the same direction. They swung in emptiness like derelicts. Calhoun jockeyed his small ship with infinite care.
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