Decision Page 2

Captain went directly to the small lavatory,filled the washbowl, and plunged his face into the cold water. He wasgetting old, he thought for the hundredth time that morning. Creepingold age where you still awoke readily enough but found it more and moredifficult to keep awake. You couldn't rid yourself of the temptation ofgoing back to bed and dreaming again--dreaming, perhaps, of an Ohio townthat his own imagination had gilded and varnished and adorned untilsometimes he thought it existed only in his imagination and not inreality at all.

  He scrubbed at his face until a tingle of alertness came to it, thenwent back to the main compartment. The steward had laid out the silver,and Davis and McCandless were already there. Davis completely relaxed inthe atmosphere that could only exist between an Executive Officer and aCaptain. The Exec, as both he and the Captain well knew, was the onlyman on board with whom the Captain could maintain a relationship thatwas something other than professional. Not necessarily friendly but ...more relaxed.

  McCandless sat in the leather upholstered chair by the table, stiff andself-conscious. The hope of the nation, the Captain thought. Providedthat they learned how to hate and to keep that hate alive as long as hehad kept his.

  His own boy had been about McCandless' age, he thought suddenly.

  "Well, what are you going to do?" Davis asked.

  The Captain sat down at the table. The coffee was hot and he could smellthe eggs that the steward was frying in the small galley. He tucked in anapkin at his neck. It was old-fashioned but practical, he thought. Youdribbled down the front, you didn't spill things in your lap.

  "It isn't exactly up to me, Harry. It's up to Washington." He poured outthree cups of coffee and handed one to Davis and one to McCandless. TheLieutenant clutched the cup in a deathlike grip, as if the ship weredoing forty-degree rolls and he might lose it any minute. "I asked youup to breakfast to get your ideas on it. I have my own but on somethinglike this, anybody's ideas are as good as mine. Maybe better."

  Davis frowned and rubbed the tip of his nose thoughtfully. "Well, itlooks to me, Bill, as if we have a situation here where an unknown shipfrom somewhere--I'm not saying where--has investigated two ships onmaneuvers and finally chosen to hover over one, for what reasons wedon't know. To me it looks like the only things we can do is notifyWashington and stand by for orders."

  Great God, the Captain thought, disgusted, there was nothing worse thana Commander bucking for four stripes. A more cautious man didn't existon the face of the Earth nor, possibly, a more fearful one. Fear thatwhatever decision you made would be the wrong one and the PromotionBoard would pass you by. So you carefully avoided making any decisionsat all. He had been the same way himself. You salved your lack of gutswith the knowledge that once you made captain, things would be differentand you could assert yourself, be the man you had always consideredyourself to be. Only once you became a captain things didn't change abit, because then you were trying to get the Promotion Board torecommend you for Admiral. The only men in the Navy who had any gutswere the young men who didn't know any better and the old bastards whohad made Admiral and no longer had any ambition as far as rank went.

  * * * * *

  He turned to McCandless. "You, Lieutenant?"

  McCandless licked dry lips.

  "I think it's from out in space, sir. Maybe it's an exploration party,but more than likely it's an armed scouting party."

  "What makes you say that?"

  McCandless leaned forward, his concern over his cup of coffeemomentarily forgotten. "I think if it was an exploration party theywould have stopped at some point of civilization first. In alllikelihood a city, a big city. But we've received no reports of any shiplanding near a city. At least, not yet." He paused, a littleself-consciously. "It wouldn't be difficult to tell that we're part ofthe fighting forces of this planet, and I think it's just luck that itchose the _Josef_ instead of us. I think the alien ship is investigatingthe _Josef_. Or will shortly."

  Davis lit a cigarette, a half amused smile on his face. "For whatpurpose?"

  "To test the armament. See how good we are on the defensive."

  "What do you think they want?" the Captain asked curiously.

  McCandless hesitated, then blurted it out.

  "The whole world, sir!"

  * * * * *

  At oh five hundred the sun was just breaking over the horizon, coatingthe heavy green seas with a soft covering of pink gold. It was going tobe another hot day, the Captain thought, one where the heat stood offthe water in little waves and the sweat ran down your back and soakedyour khakis. And with GQ, the rubber life jackets would make it aboutten times as bad.

  He stood on the bridge for a moment, admiring the sunrise and smellingthe brisk salt air, then walked into the wheelhouse.

  The drone plane had been up for half an hour. By this time it shouldhave a clearer picture of the object that hovered over the _Josef_.

  It did. The object was dun colored, the color of storm clouds on a coldwinter's day. Big, easily as big as the _Josef_, and tubular shaped,slightly flattened on the bottom. There was nothing that could beidentified as gun ports but they probably didn't use guns. He wonderedjust what their armament was.

  He turned to the radarman on watch.

  "Has the _Josef_ moved any?"

  The man nodded. "Yes, sir. About oh four hundred they steamed ten milesnorth at top speed."

  "The object kept up with them?"

  "Yes, sir. It's never left them, sir. Same position directly overhead atall times."

  The captain of the _Josef_ must have realized that he couldn't get awayfrom his overhead observer and probably froze in position, afraid ofwhat would happen if he continued to run for it. He'd probably staythere until the alien ship made some hostile move or he got instructionsfrom home.

  The Captain walked back to the bridge. The ship was strangely silent.There were no jets warming up on the flight deck, there were no soundsof chipping hammers. Except for the planes overhead, it was a quietsummer day, one of those days when a perfectly smooth sea looks like asheet of plate glass.

  He glanced down at the sides of the _Oahu_. Tiny figures were huddled bythe anti-aircraft guns, their helmets glinting in the sun. A tight ship,he thought, a ship that was ready for anything.

  McCandless came out on the bridge, his eyes red-rimmed from lack ofsleep. He stood a respectful distance from the Captain, a little to theright and just behind.

  "Beautiful day, isn't it, Lieutenant?"

  "Yes, sir. It is, sir. Very fine day."

  Sir. That was the one reason why he tolerated Davis, the Captainthought. Just to hear somebody call him by his first name and treat himas something other than a symbol of rank.

  "If your theory is correct, Lieutenant," he mused aloud, "then the alienship should be opening fire--if that's what you would call it--anyminute now."

  "Yes, sir." McCandless brushed his mouth with his hand--probablysurreptitiously removing a wad of gum, the Captain thought. "I waswondering what you would do, sir, if the alien ship opens fire on the_Josef_."

  "If it wasn't against regulations, I'd issue a couple of cans of beerper man."

  McCandless gaped. "I--I don't understand you, sir."

  "If they finish off the _Josef_, Lieutenant, it'll save us the trouble.For my money, I'd be tickled pink if the Combine sent reinforcements andit really developed into a fracas."

  McCandless turned slightly so the Captain could no longer read his face.The Captain wondered if it was intentional.

  "I ... I guess I just took it for granted that we'd join forces againstthe aliens, sir. It seemed like the natural thing to do."

  So McCandless had thought they'd go to the rescue of the _Josef_, theCaptain thought slowly. To the rescue. The phrase had a funny sound toit when you coupled it with the Combine, an almost obscene sound.

  "Lieutenant," the Captain said slowly, "history has been full ofpossible turning points that the United States has almost always failedto take ad
vantage of. I think this time, just for once, we ought to playit smart. The Combine has been a threat for as long as I can remember.We've had opportunities before when we could have let two systems canceleach other out. We didn't take advantage of it then and we've regrettedit ever since."

  McCandless didn't reply immediately and the Captain thought to himself,why not be more honest? Why don't you tell him that all your life you'vefought the Combine and the conflict has been the only thing that haslent meaning to living? You hate for thirty years and you become a slaveto that hatred--you don't forget it with a snap of the fingers and gocharging to the rescue like a knight in shining armor.

  "The aliens are ... alien, sir," McCandless