Conquest Over Time Read online

spectators. Good.

  "Now what in the sweet silly name--" Trippe began, but Travis stoppedhim.

  "Russ, be a good kid. See if you can get me something to eat. Haven'thad a bite in 24 hours."

  "Sure, Trav, sure, only--what's with the Lower Depths here?"

  "You might show them the showers," Travis grinned. "Or at least turnon the air conditioning. But listen, anything new on the contract?"

  Trippe's face fell. "Not a thing. Even worse. Let me tell you. But ho,the food." He dashed off. Travis collapsed into a chair. A few momentslater Trippe came back bearing food, but his eyes by now had begun topenetrate the dirt of the girl, and he stood watching her, bemused.Then suddenly he began to look happier than he had in several days.Travis told him briefly what had happened in the sewer, also about thebrains of Lappy. Trippe was impressed. But he continued to regard thegirl.

  "Well," Travis said, munching, "fill me in on what's been going on.The eclipse come off?"

  Trippe jerked. He focussed on Travis unhappily.

  "Oh boy, did it come off. Wait'll you hear. Listen, you know the wayit is now, I think they're going to kick _all_ Earthmen off thisplanet. The M.C. says we may have to leave and come back a hundredyears from now. Not anybody going to get a contract now."

  "What happened?"

  "Well, you wouldn't believe it. You have to understand these people'sastrology. You know the little moon these people have--Felda, theycall it--it's only a tiny thing, really only a few hundred yards wide.Well, when the Mapping Command first came by here they set down onthat Moon and set up a listening post before landing, you know, theway they always do, to size up the situation through telescopes,radio, all that. Mostly they just orbit but this time they landed. Godknows why. And took off again, naturally, throwing in the star drive.So today the eclipse comes off all right, but it comes off late."

  He could not help smiling.

  "You see what happened. A star drive is a hell of a force. It alteredthe orbit of the moon. Not enough to make any real difference, just afew hours a year, only minutes a day, but boy, you want to hear thesepeople howl. And I guess you can see their point. Every movement thatdamn moon makes is important to them, they know where it should be tothe inch. And now not only is it slightly off course, but so is everyephemeris printed on Mert. And they have them printed up, Iunderstand, for the next thousand years. Which runs into money. Weoffered to pay, of course, but paying isn't going to help. It seemswe've also messed up interpretations, predictions, the whole doggonephilosophy. Oh it's a real ding dong. But contract? Not in a millionyears."

  Travis sighed. That seemed to put the cap on it, all right. Afterall, when you start pushing people's moons around, where will it end?He brooded, his appetite gone. But he made a last effort.

  "Did you discover anything at all we could use?"

  "Nope. Not a thing. I finally figured the only thing to do was work onthe astrology end of it, you know, maybe we could argue aboutinterpretations. These people love to argue about interpretations. Butno soap. It's too complicated. To learn enough even to argue wouldtake a couple of years. And besides Unico is here, and also Randall,and they all have the same idea. Anyway, I don't think it would work.The eclipse is too definite. You can't argue the eclipse."

  "Well," Travis said with approval, "you were on the right track. Youdid what you could. At least we got _something_ out of the deal." Heindicated Lappy, who was at that moment fervidly examining theinterior of the viewscreen.

  Trippe nodded, but his eyes were on Navel.

  "By jing," he said suddenly, "your luck holds good, no matter what. Inever saw the beat of it--"

  "Luck?" Travis fumed, "what luck?"

  "Look, Trav, what else could you call it? You fall in a sewer, youcome up with Isaac Newton and a gorgeous doll. It's uncanny, that'swhat it is, uncanny."

  Travis lapsed into wordless musing on Navel, planets, people.

  Come to think of it, he thought, it _is_ uncanny.

  At that moment there was a pounding on the lock. Travis quickly shooedNavel and Lappy into hiding, then cautiously went to the door. Herelaxed. It was Ed Horton.

  "I saw you come back, Trav. Mighty glad. But I knew you'd make it. OldPat Travis always comes through. Aint that right, Pat?"

  He tottered in the doorway. Travis caught the sweet scent of strongbrew. He stepped forward to help him but Horton stood up grandly,waving him away. His mouth creased in an amiable grin.

  "Diomed," he announced proudly, "is a nine planet system."

  After which he fell backwards out of the door.

  Trav ran to the door, stared down into the dark. Horton sat upright atthe foot of the ladder.

  "Sall right ole buddy. Dint mean to stay. Only thought you'd like toknow natural sci-yen-tiffy fack. Diomed is nine plan' system."

  He rose on wobbly but cheerful legs.

  "No favoritism there, hey? Science. I just tell you a fack, you takeit from there. No favoritism tall."

  He lurched away mumbling cheerily, his obligation fulfilled.

  Travis stared after him, wheels turning in his brain. Fack? A nineplanet system. It jelled slowly, then broke.

  Nine planets.

  The key.

  He turned slowly on Trippe, his eyes swivelling like twin dark cannon.

  "What's he say?" Trippe said, half-smiling. "Boy, he was sure--"

  "Did you know this was a nine planet system?"

  "Why ... sure, Trav. But what--"

  "And did you take the trouble to examine their astrology?"

  "Certainly. What the heck--"

  "And you call it luck." Travis sighed, then broke into a radiant grin."Why there's your bloomin' answer, you sad silly dreamin'--there'syour bloomin' answer!" He sailed over to a drawer, grabbed a batch offresh contracts, then flashed toward the door.

  "Hold the fort," he bawled over his shoulder, "break out a big bottleand small glasses! We got a contract, lad, we got a contract!"

  He vanished triumphantly into the night.

  * * * * *

  Old 29 was homing. Travis felt the great soft peace of deep spaceclose over him. All was right with the world. A clean and sparklingNavel, well-bathed now and almost frighteningly beautiful, satworshipfully at his feet dressed in a pair of Dahlinger's pajamas.Both Trippe and Dahlinger were regarding him with wonder and delight,and as he sat gazing down at them fondly he recalled with pleasure theoutraged faces of the men from Unico, that robber outfit.

  "Pat Travis," he chuckled, patting the fat contract in his pocket,"the luckless Pat Travis rides again." He turned an eye on the staringTrippe.

  "My boy," he said paternally, "speaks me no speaks about luck, fromthis day forth. All the material was in your hands, there was no luckinvolved. All you had to do was use it."

  "But Trav, I still don't get it. I've been thinkin' all night, all thewhile you were gone...."

  "The planet Pluto," Travis said evenly, "was discovered by Earthmen,finally, in the year 1930. At that time we were approximately 300years ahead, technologically, of the people of Mert. A similar caseexists for Neptune, which was not discovered, although adequatetelescopes had long been in use, until 1846." He paused and gazedhappily around. "Does the light dawn?"

  "Holy cow!"

  "Exactly. Diomed is a nine planet system. For which 'fack' thank oldEd Horton, who returned a favor done many years ago. Luck? Only ifdoing favors for people is lucky. Which I suppose you could make acase for. But in the astrology of Diomed III--an astrology I tookgreat pains to understand--how many planets are considered? Let usexamine. Rym, Fors, Lyndal, Bonken, Huck, Weepen, and Sharb. And thenthere are also the two 'lights,' that is, the sun and the moon. Buthow many _planets_ are there? Counting Mert as one, add them up. Itcomes out eight. Not nine. Eight. But Diomed is a nine planet system.Bless Ed Horton. What happened to the missing planet?"

  Dahlinger w h o o p e d. "They didn't know they had one!"

  Travis grinned. "With surety. They didn't know it existed
. If they hadtheir astrology would certainly have shown it. So it had obviously,like our own Pluto at a similar time, never been discovered."

  He paused once again while Dahlinger and Trippe regarded him withdelight.

  "And you," Trippe said, "you showed them where it was."

  Travis clucked. "I did not. For one thing, I didn't know where it was.I simply told him, very regretfully, that there _was_ one, but thesituation being what it was, I couldn't allow him to use ourtelescopes to plot its orbit. Unless, you see, there existed aconcrete agreement between us.

  "I