EN ROUTE

   "Commander, are the coordinates set? Are we ready to go?"
   "Yes, Commodore," replied Susanna, "we should be there within an hour."
   "An hour!" gasped a startled Ecnelav. "260,000,000 kilometers in an hour!"
   "Well, you wanted to get there fast, but you asked me not to go as fast as light, which would have gotten us there in about a quarter of an hour, if I calculate right."
   "Just under 16 minutes, Christina; if we were able to go directly to Unias right through Chromos, it would take us approximately 14.4444 minutes to arrive," said the serious voice of Colombina. "But we must skirt around the star, adding approximately 1.3847 minutes to our projected time, or a total of approximately 15.8291 minutes. Light travels at approximately 300,000 kilometers a second, or..."
   Christina interrupted her in mid-sentence. "Yes, yes, I know, Colombina, but we must continue our count-down now. Commander, if you're ready, take us approximately to Unias. And after all, let's go at the speed of light!"
   Susanna made a final check of coordinates, received input from Kwali on the status of the engines, and from April, who was acting as co-navigator, then touched the area of her computer screen designated for warp speed starts. The familiar hum of the engines reaching the designated capacity, then the rapid movement towards their destination. They were now truly on the road to Unias.
   "Lieutenant, put the exterior sights on screen. I'm sure that Dr. Enohr will want to see Damos receding in the distance, Chromos burst into view, then Unias!"
   April immediately activated the main screen in three parts, showing precisely the planet rapidly growing smaller, the sun growing in size and intensity to their right, and space deep into the solar system beyond: Unias would not be in sight for about 10 minutes. Ecnelav was overwhelmed with emotion as she saw this.  She asked if it would be possible for her colleagues Klor Emor and Noyl Zerof to come see this sight.
   "We thought you might like to share this moment with them so we made sure they'd be able to join you here. Ah! they've arrived."
   "Klor! Noyl! Look, our homeland disappearing to a point, Chromos growing huge, and soon we'll see Unias!"
   Actually, everyone in the bridge was sharing similar emotions, and the rest of the crew and the geological and biological parties as well.
   "Can you believe we'll be in orbit over Unias in just about 12 minutes?"
   Colombina decided not to be precise this time. For one thing, as soon as she announced a time it would be obsolete; for another, she thought she had sensed a bit of annoyance in Christina just before. It's so hard to understand human temperament. What's wrong with being a little bit more exact than a whole number or a fragment of an hour?
   "Commodore, if I didn't see the screens, I would not believe we're even moving. But we must be going a good 75,000 kilometers a second, or about a quarter the speed of light. It's amazing."
   Colombina could not resist giving her seal of approval on lor's rapid calculation. "That is correct, Associate Director, we are moving at approximately .25 the speed of light."
   "Thank you, Colombina. Dr. Emor, our crew has managed to put this ship together after a truly jarring episode that you have surely heard about more times than you can stand. I did promise Ecnelav that we would give you our impressions of passing through the Wormhole, but I forgot we'd have no time en route. Maybe over dinner after a hard day's work? In any case, what you noticed is
correct: you can't sense any motion when the screen's not on. A faint rumble of the engines, or a buzzing of the service lines, and that's all. Imagine going for a year like that? Or two years? Or even more, if we go at lower speeds, as our early space flights did. If we couldn't look out and see what's going on, it would be truly monotonous. Thank heavens we have a chance to get out and explore the occasional life-supporting planet we've come across."
   "Some of our theorists believe the galaxy must be fairly crawling with life-supporting planets."
   "In a way they're right, but most of the life that we've encountered is at an early stage of evolution, or the atmosphere has not right for our lungs. We've actually come across very few Earth-like planets, and as you know only one with intelligent life forms."
   "Commodore, we can now begin to see Unias, on the lower left-hand picture. I'll put a pointer on it. As you can see, it's getting bigger as we speak."
   "Thank you, Lieutenant. Sorry to break this up, but we have to get to our work stations. This has been the fastest flight from one habitable planet to another that I can remember. It will have taken us only approximately 15.8291 minutes to arrive. Commander, prepare the ship for stationary orbit at the habitual altitude, near the planetary probe."
   "I've set the coordinates for the orbit, Commodore. Now we just have to wait until we arrive."
   "Arrival is set for 1.2976 minutes at the sound." A kind of gong went off.
   Colombina has a weird sense of humor. I wonder where she got that from. Has Kwali been up to something? I'll have to check that out.

   "Chief, it might be better if we did not interrogate the terrorists, because it's pretty obvious that without our presence there would not have been a cause for terrorism."
   "Commander, what you say is true, but your presence might astonish the terrorists enough to pry at least some information from them. They've not even given us their names."
   "Well, it's worth a try. Why don't we have them come in here. You can start the interrogation, and I'll emerge from the shadows, perhaps holding a weapon--which I will not use."
   "Guard, send in the prisoners."
   "You, whom we are calling A, be seated, there; B, take a seat beside her."
   "You won't get anything out of us. We know you torture your prisoners, but we won't give in."
   "So, A, you were caught fleeing the scene of a heinous crime in which you killed a number of people. Did you hope to kill some Earth people? You failed; but you did manage to kill some police personnel, perhaps your own neighbors, wounded several others. Why did you do it? For a few weapons? As a political statement? As a religious statement?"
   B's eyes twitched slightly at this last suggestion. Martin took this as an opportunity to emerge from behind a screen. Both terrorists gasped. A whispered, "Oga..." and bit her tongue. B was visibly disturbed. Martin pulled out his weapon, still not saying a word. B shouted, "You'll never stop the STU!"
   The interrogation went on for almost an hour. At the end of the time, the prisoners had decided to remain absolutely silent, until Ylro uncovered a digitscreen which played a disk of the wounded. "Look at this, B; see anyone you know?"
   In his shock, B blurted out, "Mago!" A immediately said, "Stop swearing! You must not take the name of the great priest in vain!"
   "Mago, eh? What temple does he preach in?"
   Silence. Blank expressions.
   "High Commissioner Ylro, maybe a month on prison food and in solitary confinement will make these two come to their senses."
   "A good idea. Guard, put these two in opposite corners of Cell Block 3 in Hell's Portal. No privileges, no visitors. One hour daily for exercise and showers."
   "Yes, Commissioner."
   The two prisoners gone, Ylro said, "At least they've confirmed that they're agents of the STU, the Schadite Tactical Unit. It's a fanatical religious sect believing in a strictly literal interpretation of sacred texts; but the texts exist only in imperfect copies, and in translation from a long-dead language. Still, they've never been violent before."
   "Christina, I mean Commodore Vasa, believes that they have become active because somehow we are triggering a reaction in them. In any case, we had very few reactions in a full hour: Oga, an eye twitch when you spoke of religion, and the name of one of the wounded police officers, Mago. The accusation of cursing was clearly a cover-up, calling him a priest. We should look into Oga."
   "I'll work on that. Meanwhile, we need a plan to find out where they're from, who they are."
   "Chief, we have a substance that can be mixed in with food and that will stay inside a person for at least a month. It's not toxic, at least to humans, but it does allow us to use a personnel tracer."
   "Are you suggesting that we release them on some grounds? Maybe have a lawyer prove that they are being held illegally?"
   "No, that might make them suspicious. They'll have some time every day to be together. Suppose we make it possible for them to plan and to execute an escape. Make it realistic: some risks, we shoot at them, maybe even wound one of them. Then our tracer does its job."
   "It sounds as though you've used this before."
   "There was a similar group on Earth, and eventually on the other planets and the space stations, that went on a 400-year rampage. This is what did the trick for us in the end. You have only one planet to worry about, and you might save yourselves decades of destruction and death. If it works."
   "I like your idea. I'll get my people working on arranging things as soon as possible. Maybe in a week our prisoners will make their getaway."
   "One caution: the guards must not know anything of these plans. Unless they're superb actors, they'll subconsciously give everything away. A word, a gesture, a smile..."
   "Of course. This will not be the first unspontaneous escape from Hell's Portal."

   "Your skills and your equipment worked wonders, Mujama. Mago's recovery, in such a short time, is a miracle."
   "We have no miracles, Iborian, only solid science and medical practices. Mago's hand was found and preserved in time, and your frog's nerves were perfect. Fortunately, there are enough structural similarities between us that our technologies could function properly. If we worked miracles, we would have brought those dead officers back to life. We have lived with terrorists; they are a disturbing breed."
   "We must learn some of your techniques and learn to make some of the equipment you have shown us. Perhaps we could begin to manufacture this kind of equipment. Maybe you and your staff could instruct our medical faculty. Think of all the lives that could be saved, people made whole again!"
   "I'm sure the Commodore will approve that plan. We'll ask her permission when we speak to her tomorrow. For now, I'm exhausted, as are all my crew. We would appreciate a good night's sleep. We must visit the wounded tomorrow morning."
   "We, too, need our rest. Let me personally show you to your quarters."

   "Before we teleport to the surface, let's make sure our transmitter satellite is in position to send both sound and pictures to Damos. We have to keep in close touch during these first days, and perhaps abort the mission if things deteriorate there. Lieutenant, is everything in order?"
   "Yes, Commodore. The satellite is far enough away to transmit directly to Damos without interference from Chromos. It is also close enough for direct transmissions from the surface of Unias, or indirectly, via Constellation."
   "Our initial party of 50 will look for a suitable spot for an encampment, perhaps the place where the land probe settled and we found our cute spheres. If we can find such a spot, the full set-up party of 200 will be on ground. With luck, we can establish a base camp-laboratory within a week. By the end of that week, everyone on board will have spent at least a day or
two on the surface of this planet. Lieutenant, I'd like you to begin charting probes of the planet for seismic activity."
   A take-charge leader, one who has thought of so many things, and who acts in consequence of those thoughts. We Kolok are planners, we are logical to an extreme, but we tend to delay acting. Maybe the presence of humans will accelerate the pursuit of the terrorists, while helping us to reason a bit less and to act a bit more on intuition. On the other hand, I hope our scientific study of the biota and geology of the Unias will not be moved along too rapidly, too impulsively.
   "All the gear for the initial party is ready to be teleported down, Commodore."
   "Good, Lieutenant. The first squad, which will include me, has assembled here."
   Ju-Sen knew her routine perfectly. Still, you could never tell: the slightest miscalculation could be fatal. She verified her coordinates, then beamed down the gear. Then came the first group. Christina pointed to the radio transmitter she was carrying. Ju-Sen nodded, and pushed the switch.
   In a moment they were down. "This is a good landing spot. We'll move out of the way as soon as I can get this exuberant bunch of people to calm down a little. I never realized that the Kolok, who seem so dominated by their intellects, could be so carried away by emotions."
   Eventually, four more waves of personnel emerged from the electronic shower. The sun was shining directly overhead in a dazzling display of light. It was very warm, over 350, and humid. Much like Damos, in fact, much like Earth and especially Venus.
   April made her first transmission to Damos, testing the radio signal and then the digitscreen (Kwali had worked out a method of converting the visuscreen transmissions to the Damosian standard). Until the crew below decided where to establish camp, they were not taking pictures. But April realized, hearing the jubilation from below, that she had been wrong in judging the Kolok incapable of strong emotions. She had argued against sending pictures to Damos. But the Damosian party thought it would be important to show people back on Damos that they had indeed arrived. The first pictures came up, a shot of the Kolok team, then the humans, then the grove of fern-trees, the grassy glade. The wind made a rustling sound in the leaves of these huge trees. From the top of the hill where the spheres had first been spotted, they saw that the location was ideal: a waterfall coming from the side of the hill created a lake; a river valley stretched off to the horizon over open plains and woody groves. It looked like paradise.
   Now it was time to get to work. Quonset huts and hemispheric structures were beamed down. As Christina had promised, everyone was able to get down to the surface and help establish what they could only consider as the first interspecies home base that the galaxy had ever known.

   "Now's our chance, Lero. Let's head for the tunnel."
   "Heads down; let's not be seen. You go first, Sagev. And we'd better not talk until we're really away from here."
   Stay out of sight. Crawl just a few more meters. Lift up the debris. OK. Now we'll have to dig the rest of the way. Hope there'll be enough air. What's that noise?
   "Sagev, a siren. Our escape has been noted. Let me relieve you with the digging."
   "Time to start angling up. It's stifling in here. I don't dare go back and open up the hatch, though."
   "Why don't you pile up the dirt behind us, make them think it's just an abandoned escape route, in case they find our trail? They might have some bulas after our scent."
   "Good thinking. I'll get to that while you're pushing on ahead."
   Ah! I've hit the surface. Got to be careful. I'll dig a clump of grass out, to use as a door if we have to stay here until it gets dark. Let me take a look. Yes, the prison wall's behind us. Sirens. Guards are out. Get back down. A little hole for light and air.
   "We're out, Lero, but so are they. We've got to keep quiet. Maybe even take a nap: we'll need all the energy we can get when we leave."

   "High Commissioner, they have dug under the east wall. They must be waiting for night to fall. We should let them get out and cross the square, then fire at them, missing, and sound the alarm again. They'll have enough time to get away, perhaps lost in the crowd, especially since they were never issued prison uniforms. Your technicians can follow their movements and see where they go."
   "I'm sure they'll go to a temple run by the Holy Fellowship of Schad, but they might have a stopping-off place first."
   "Have you located this mysterious Oga?"
   "Yes. One of the leading priests of the Schadite movement is named Ogatrac. His temple is located on the seaside not far from Bobol. We have some agents alerted there. But there's a problem."
   "What's that?"
   "Ogatrac has not conducted services or preached in his temple for the past five weeks. His assistants claim they don't know where he has gone. They claim he's gone somewhere to do missionary work."
   "Some missionary. Most of them at least try to do some good. This one seems to want to blow up people."
   "It gets worse. We've found that in many police posts arms and ammunition are missing. In some cases supply authorities sympathetic to the Schadites are implicated. A few are in prison, awaiting interrogation. In other cases, there have been burglaries, often held in broad daylight. I fear there'll be another series of attacks soon. The Schadite Tactical Units seem to be well organized, and they're rapidly becoming dangerously armed. More bombings are probably their next step. It's hard to anticipate where they'll strike: it's a big planet."
   "It's getting dark out. Let's call off the search, then get over to where our burrowing animals have set up their lair. We should find out who their supporters and sympathisers are."
   "I'll have the back-up team ready to strike about two hours after they leave their way-stations. They'll know we're on their trail, so they shouldn't be too suspicious."
   "High Commissioner, do you usually get this involved in a case? I thought you'd be a political type."
   "Well, my job has its share of politics. But I'm a detective by training, and I always have a firm hand in important cases. This is without question the most important one we've ever had. It could have transgalactic consequences!"