The first of the medmen came down closer. Some girl? You were alone, you know, aboard the carrier." 

"The ... carrier--?" 

"You don't remember that part, even?" The medman's brow furrowed deeper. His eyes flicked to his fellow for the fraction of a second as if in wordless exclamation, then came back to Boone again. "You were aboard a sphere-ship bound for Titan. Then the monsters hit it and all hands took off. When we picked you up, you were in an EC carrier, drifting just out of Hyperion's orbit." He chuckled. "You were out of your head at the time. Someplace along the line you'd gotten pretty sick." 

Boone tried to drag himself up but found his arms were pinioned. "I was on Hyperion!" he mumbled. "I didn't leave the ship; it crashed down through the ice-shell. Eileen was with me--" 

But the medman had straightened. He was not listening. "Another shot for this lad," he clipped briskly. "Make it equal parts of vorghon and anhalsax." 

"Right, sir," the second medman nodded. Boone glimpsed an aerojet descending. 

Then he was off again--off on another nightmare chase, following Eileen through sifting spheres of light and darkness. 

This time, at last, he caught her. Only when he would have put his arms about her, she suddenly changed into a faceless, somehow leering Helgae. 

But the haze was gone when he roused again, and he felt better. Then the medmen came in, looking not quite so jovial as before. A frozen-faced ship's officer entered with them. 

There was the usual routine check. At its conclusion, the medman in charge turned to the officer. "All right. You can talk to him now." He stepped back. 

The officer moved in closer. "Your name's Fred Boone, EB rating, attached to the Ganymedan base." He said it as if it were an accusation. 

"That's right." 

"On September 3, 2156, adjusted Earth dating system, you forced the base director, Martin Krobis, to pass you onto the base grav-ramp, then paralyzed him with a nerve-shock and stowed away aboard sphere-ship XL-230, bound for Titan, in direct violation of his specific orders." 

Boone studied the officer thoughtfully, but said nothing. 

"Well?" 

 Prev. P 27/73 next