"On our second pass," the gaunt-faced officer said, "they let fly with something. I don't know how it got past our screens. It socked home in the stern and put the main pipe off the air. I threw full power to the emergency shields, and broadcast our identification on a scatter that should have hit every receiver within a parsec. Nothing. Then the transmitter blew. I was a fool to send the boat down but I couldn't believe, somehow...." "In a way it's lucky you did, Captain. That was my only lead."
"They tried to finish us after that. But with full power to the screens, nothing they had could get through. Then they called on us to surrender."
Retief nodded. "I take it you weren't tempted?"
"More than you know. It was a long swing out on our first circuit. Then, coming back in, we figured we'd hit. As a last resort I would have pulled back power from the screens and tried to adjust the orbit with the steering jets. But the bombardment was pretty heavy; I don't think we'd have made it. Then we swung past and headed out again. We've got a three year period. Don't think I didn't consider giving up."
"Why didn't you?"
"The information we have is important. We've got plenty of stores aboard. Enough for another ten years, if necessary. Sooner or later, I knew Search Command would find us."
Retief cleared his throat. "I'm glad you stuck with it, Captain. Even a backwater world like Groac can kill a lot of people when it runs amok."
"What I didn't know," the captain went on, "was that we're not in a stable orbit. We're going to graze atmosphere pretty deeply this pass, and in another sixty days we'd be back to stay. I guess the Groaci would be ready for us."
"No wonder they were sitting on this so tight," Retief said. "They were almost in the clear."
"And you're here now," the captain said. "Nine years, and we weren't forgotten. I knew we could count on—"
"It's over now, Captain," Retief said. "That's what counts."
"Home," the captain said. "After nine years...."
"I'd like to take a look at the films you mentioned," Retief said. "The ones showing the installations on the satellite."
The captain complied. Retief watched as the scene unrolled, showing the bleak surface of the tiny moon as the Terrific had seen it nine years before.
In harsh black and white, row on row of identical hulls cast long shadows across the pitted metallic surface of the satellite. Retief whistled.
"They had quite a little surprise in store. Your visit must have panicked them."
"They should be about ready to go, by now. Nine years...."
"Hold the picture," Retief said suddenly. "What's that ragged black line across the plain there?"
"I think it's a fissure. The crystalline structure—"
"I've got what may be an idea," Retief said. "I had a look at some classified files last night, at the foreign office. One was a progress report on a fissionable stockpile. It didn't make much sense at the time. Now I get the picture. Which is the 'north' end of that crevasse?"
"At the top of the picture."
"Unless I'm badly mistaken, that's the bomb dump. The Groaci like to tuck things underground. I wonder what a direct hit with a fifty mega-ton missile would do to it?"
"If that's an ordnance storage dump," the captain said, "it's an experiment I'd like to try."
"Can you hit it?"
"I've got fifty heavy missiles aboard. If I fire them in direct sequence, it should saturate the defenses. Yes, I can hit it."
"The range isn't too great?"
"These are the de luxe models," the captain smiled balefully. "Video guidance. We could steer them into a bar and park 'em on a stool."
"What do you say we try it?"
"I've been wanting a solid target for a long time," the captain said.
Retief waved a hand toward the screen.
"That expanding dust cloud used to be the satellite of Groac, Shluh," he said. "Looks like something happened to it."
The police chief stared at the picture.
"Too bad," Retief said. "But then it wasn't of any importance, was it, Shluh?"
Shluh muttered incomprehensibly.
"Just a bare hunk of iron, Shluh. That's what the foreign office told me when I asked for information."
"I wish you'd keep your prisoner out of sight," the captain said. "I have a hard t............