Blind Play
By CHAN DAVIS
Nick Pappas, hired-killer from Callisto, was
strictly out for Pappas—out for Number One, as
they used to say. And now those fools in the
vanishing spaceship thought that number was up!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories May 1951.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Nick Pappas had just crossed to the instrument panel of the TangChuh-Chih's lifeboat when he heard a sound behind him. He turnedquickly.
He had left the airlock between the lifeboat and the ship open. Thathad been stupid, he realized, but it was too late to correct it now.One of the Tang's two other crew members was approaching down thecorridor just beyond the airlock; if he saw the doors slide shut nowhe'd be immediately suspicious. That would leave Pappas inside thelifeboat, and before he could drain enough fuel from the ship's tanksinto the lifeboat's, the other two could have the airlock cut open.
He still had a chance to hide—but before he could propel himself tothe other end of the lifeboat, out of sight, Arne Birkerod appeared atthe other side of the open airlock.
Birkerod smiled. Pappas stood still, gripping the pilot's seat in frontof him.
"Hello, Arne," said Pappas. "I was just checking over the—"
"Good morning, Nick—or good evening, if you like. Let's go up to thecontrol cabin and see Garcia."
For a very brief moment, Pappas considered. Although the Tangwas in free fall, he was very conscious of the weight of the gunconcealed inside his jacket. He might use it now, but the sound wouldbring Garcia. Better to bluff it through. The other two might not besuspicious yet, and in a pinch he had the advantage that they weren'tarmed. "Sure," he said, and pushed himself across to where Birkerodstood.
"After you," said Birkerod, much more politely than usual.
Pappas smiled uncertainly. He planted both feet against the side of theairlock opening, then jumped off. He floated down the ship's corridorto where it took a sharp bend; there he grabbed a rung of a ladderbolted to the corridor wall.
Birkerod had pushed off harder than Pappas had; he arrived at theladder at the same time. "After you," he said again.
Pappas saw, at the end of the long corridor ahead, the open door to thecontrol cabin. He pushed off in that direction.
Yusuf Garcia was in the ship's pilot's seat. Garcia was half Brazilianand half Malagasy. His eyes had a strong green tint which lookedstrange against the deep brown-black of his face. Pappas had alwaysbeen a little afraid of him and the present situation didn't help thatany; there was a gun in Garcia's hand.
Birkerod followed Pappas in, taking a seat facing Garcia. "What did youfind, Yusuf?" he asked casually.
"Well, Arne, I haven't finished checking up on our little conjecture;the calculator over there is still working on it. But while I waswaiting I looked through our friend Pappas's locker. You may alreadyhave noticed what I found." He waved the gun. "Where did you find ourfriend, by the way?"
Birkerod smiled. "First place I looked."
"The lifeboat?"
"Yeah."
"What was he doing?"
"Nothing. I think I know how our little conjecture's going to turn out,though." He turned to Pappas, who had followed the exchange tensely."You know, Nick, my father was a fellow-countryman of yours back onEarth."
"Countryman?"
"That's right. He lived just north of Winnipeg. My mother was aCanadian, too. Both of them were in the second batch of colonists thatleft for Callisto. But it doesn't mean much to