"Then this is it. The takeover has begun."

"That's what I've been telling you, gentlemen. Very soon now the station will be ours." …

ADJANI NURSED THE LANDING pod along a precision course which allowed for no margin of error. The fuel cells of the small craft had not been designed for extended flight, but since they had no intention of returning to the station Adjani figured, with the help of the on-board navigation computer, that there would be enough to get them down safely and with some speed. Spence and Ari were trusting that he was right.

"They will undoubtedly be waiting for us," said Spence. "There's no telling what Hocking has been up to. It's four hours since we left. They've had time for almost anything."

"I think we ought to call my father," said Ari. "We could let him know we're okay and warn him about Hocking and the others. He could also get us landing clearance at the base."

"I don't think it will be safe to land at that base. We'll have to choose an alternate landing spot." Adjani bent over the computer monitor and tapped the keyboard quickly. "We can land anywhere within a radius of twenty-five kilometers from the base if we want to be on the safe side. Otherwise, just pick your spot and I'll do my best to put her down anywhere you say."

"In other words, you don't know where we're going to land, do you? It's a shot in the dark."

"I wouldn't say that at all. We're safer in here than in the shuttle. It's just that the computer memory isn't charged with coordinates for landing in the continental USA."

"Oh," said Spence. "So, what do we do?"

"I could put us into orbit-we'd have time to pick out a place on our first couple of passes before our orbit started to decay."

"I take it big cities are out."

"Not at all. This machine was designed to land almost anywhere. We just won't have enough fuel to be picky. Anyway, we wouldn't want to come down in Pittsburgh rush-hour traffic. Why? What are you thinking?"

"It's just that since we'd planned to go to Boston anyway, why not try Boston Metro? Land on one of the old abandoned airstrips. They're running mostly rocketjets out of there now anyway."

"Daddy could get us clearance, I'm positive," put in Ari. "He could get us our coordinates, too, while he's at it."

"Why didn't I think of that?" mused Adjani.

"You two aren't the only ones with brains, you know," Ari said with a flip of her head.

"Precisely."

Adjani fiddled with the ComCen pac and in a few moments raised the signal channel for the space station. He matched the landing pod's signal and then sent the ID code. A second later the clear, calm tones of a ComCen operator rang out.

"Hello, Daddy?" Ari chirped as soon as the call had been put through to his office.

"Ari! Darling! Are you all right?" There was the concern of a distraught parent in the director's voice.

"I'm fine, Daddy. Really, I am. You probably know all the details by now-"

"I know what's been going on, my dear. Believe me, I've taken steps to remedy the situation."

Spence and Adjani exchanged questioning glances. Perhaps Tickler and Millen had been caught.

The director continued. "It must have been awful for you, my dear."

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Where are they taking you? Do you know?"

"We're going to try to set down at Boston Metro. Can you get us clearance? We also need the coordinates, Daddy. I think if you can get those two things for us, nothing will go wrong."

"I'll do anything you ask, dearest. Anything." There was a long pause. "Are they treating you all right?"

"Of course! Don't be silly. We're going to see Mother. Daddy? Are you still there?"

Another long pause ensued, and then the director said in a voice shaken or surprised, "I'm here. Why, Ari?"

"It's really too complicated to explain right now. But I'll call you when we're through. Don't worry, it'll be all right. Just promise me you won't get your blood pressure up."

"I promise, dear. And I'll have the clearance and coordinates transmitted as soon as possible."

"Thanks." She glanced at Spence and Adjani and then said, "I guess that's all for now. I'll call you after we've seen Mother and I'll tell you all about it."

"I'll wait for your call, dear."

Ari said good-bye to her father and turned to the others. "He didn't sound too good. He's terribly worried, I can tell. He didn't even ask about either of you."

"I suppose I'd worry, too, if my daughter was galloping all over the galaxy shooting it out with ill-tempered ruffians. Of course, he's worried."

"You know," said Adjani slowly, "I think he thought we had kidnapped you."

"What makes you say that?" Ari laughed. "He would never believe such a thing. How could he?" …

" How WAS THAT? " ASKED Director Zanderson.

"Perfect," replied Hocking. "You were perfect. Very convincing."

"I guess I'll call Ground Security and have them picked up at Boston Metro."

"Not so fast! I have a better plan, Director. I believe I'll go down and apprehend them myself."

"You? But why not-"

"Tut, Director. I assume you would rather keep this thing as quiet as possible? With your daughter involved, you must consider the effect of such publicity."

"I don't trust you, Hocking."

"Then come with me, Director. Yes, that's splendid! We'll go together."

22

… TO ONE WH0 HAD endured the artificial interiors of Gotham and had left his footprints in the rock-strewn red dust of Mars, the sparkling white mansion with its three-story white columns and its red brick wall joining the white gravel drive across a lawn of smooth-shaved green grass looked to Spence inexpressibly old, almost medieval. Holyoke Haven, only shouting distance from the sea, had not changed at all in three hundred years. Once the home of a wealthy owner of sailing ships, it now sheltered, as a safe harborage, the troubled souls who roamed its corridors and muttered along its hedgerows.

Spence was surprised there was no fence. "They don't need one," explained Ari. "The patients here are very well looked after. Each one has an attendant with them virtually every minute of the day. They are very exclusive; they don't take violent or dangerous patients."

He would have been further surprised to learn that those stately walls housed the relatives of fine old families, kings of commerce, and politicians-weird sisters whose presence in public would have proven embarrassing and perhaps unsafe.

They walked quietly down cool hallways after registering at a small antique desk with a kindly elderly lady who wore a large purple orchid pinned neatly to her pink uniform. "Your mother will be so glad to see you, Ari. And your gentlemen friends, too." The old woman sent them off with a light flutter of her hands, as if to cookies and milk in the parlor.

Spence found the juxtaposition of the grand manner of the place against the grim insanity of its patients a little hard to bear. He was haunted by the feeling that he had been and, for all he knew still was, very close to taking up permanent residence in such a place. Still, it was far from the snake pits of fifty or a hundred years ago. With a morbid interest he found himself reconnoitering the asylum with the air of a value-conscious consumer and feeling a little like a potential lodger on a rental tour.

Then they were standing before a wooden door and Ari was knocking gently. The door opened and a round smiling face peeked out. "Ari! How good to see you!" The nurse glanced beyond her to the two young men. "You've come to see your mother, of course."

"Of course. Belinda, I'd like you to meet my friends." She introduced Spence and Adjani and said, "Is Mother up to a visit?"

"She's been asking about you today." The nurse opened the door wider and ushered them in. Her eyes round with animated disbelief, she said, "And here you are! I never would have believed it. She said you'd come-and here you are!"