Episode 21: Communication
The young man in the communications room of the spaceship let his attention wander away from the scene back on Earth and experimented with some of the switches and controls. Trial and error led him to one which lit up a signal on the desk of the general.
The general flicked it on.
"Yes?" he said. He looked puzzled when he got no picture, just a voice saying, "Hello, hello."
"Yes?" he said. "Hello. Speak up, man."
"This is your agent aboard the enemy spaceship," said the young man. "Do you read me?"
"Yes," said the general. "We read you. Go ahead."
"I may not have much time. Get a fix on me if you can. And send help."
"What's your position?" the general was reacting well. He was alert and all business.
"I don't know. I've been taken prisoner, but I'm temporarily free. There isn't much time. Hafitz is bound to be back soon. He seems to be the brains of this outfit--this part of the outfit, anyway. Naomi is here, too, but I don't know whether she's with them or against them."
"Where are the plans, son?" asked the general.
"They're safe, for the moment. I can't guarantee for how long."
"I'm getting the fix," the colonel said. He was beyond the range of the young man's vision screen. "I've got him. He's still within range, but accelerating fast. We can intercept if we get up a rocket soon enough."
"Get it up," ordered the general. "Get up a squadron. Scramble the Moon patrol and send out reserves from Earth at once."
"Right!" said the colonel.
The young man was so engrossed in the makings of his rescue party that he didn't see the wall open up behind him.
There was a squeak of rubber tires and he whirled to see Hafitz, in his wheelchair, slamming toward him. The fat man's hand held a weird-looking gun.
The young man recoiled. His back pushed against a row of control buttons.
Then everything went white.
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Richard Wilson
