Robert Silverberg: The Planet Killers

“Why can’t we go to the Bureau together?”

Gardner shook his head. “There’s time to start doing things together when we’re safely off Earth. There might be some hitches in getting my emigration visa, and we’d be smartest to avoid linking ourselves publicly until I’m cleared.”

“If you think that’s best,” Lori agreed.

They parted in front of the hotel, Lori heading for the bank, Gardner toward the towering headquarters of the Bureau of Emigration.

In the lobby of that great building, he found a private viewing booth and punched out this request for information. Data began to appear on the screen set in the wall. It was nearly half an hour before he had picked out the most attractive world.

It was called Herschel, and it was 383 light-years from Earth. Fourth planet of a warm G-type sun, gravity .96 Earthnorm, atmosphere Earthlike to four places. It had been settled three hundred years earlier by Terran colonists, had no native intelligent life, and had received full independence from Earth fifty years ago. The current population was only fifteen million, spread loosely over three fertile continents. New colonists were welcome, and received two hundred acres of land as a free homestead, with the option of buying more at low prices. Government was by representative legislature; taxes were at a minimum.

It sounded ideal. Gardner punched for a printed information form on Herschel to show to Lori. Then he began to fill out his application for an emigration permit. The Bureau would take care of the rest, notifying Herschel by ultrawave that a new colonist was on the way and securing a visa for him.

When he had completed the application, he joined a line. It inched along slowly. At any hour of the day or night, the Bureau hall was filled with Earthmen ready to try a change of luck on some distant, unspoiled world. Earth’s sphere of influence covered nearly five hundred planets of the galaxy, and nearly all of them were under-populated and welcomed newcomers.

Finally he reached the front of the line. He slipped his application across the ledge to the smiling clerk. The clerk scanned it briefly, maintaining the glossy professional smile.

Then, just before stamping out the validation, the clerk reached to his left and consulted a long sheet of green paper with many numbers typed on it. The smile wavered for a moment, but held firm.

Gardner stiffened. He knew what that sheet of paper was. A knowledge of the interior workings of Security could be helpful at times.

The clerk said urbanely, “There seems to be a minor difficulty, Mr. Gardner. Would you mind waiting for just a moment to the side here while we…”

Gardner did not choose to wait. Kames, he thought, had acted swiftly. The pickup order had gone out, and every branch Emigration Bureau already had the number of his passport, with instructions to detain him if he made any attempt to leave Earth.

He reached out swiftiy and snatched his application and passport back from the stunned clerk; then he turned and made his way quickly out of the crowded hall, before the clerk could recover and cry out for him to be seized.

“They’ve got me on the list,” he told Lori in the safety of the hotel room. “That means that Karnes has already regretted letting me walk out of his office the way I did.”

Lori’s face was tight with anxiety. “Do you think they’re searching the city for you?”

“I’m sure of it. I know all about how Security runs a manhunt. They’ll have every means of transportation covered. Not even a flea will be able to get out of this city without being spotted. And they’ll flash word to the city police, too. By the time twenty-four hours has passed, there’ll be close to a million people looking for me in this city. And by the time forty-eight hours has passed, the probability is about ten to one that I’ll be holed up in the Keep for an indefinite period of preventive detention.”

“No, Roy! Isn’t there some way?”

“To escape?” Gardner smiled. “Yes, one way. But only a Security man would know about it. How fond are you of my face, Lori?”

“You mean plastic surgery?”

He nodded. “It’s the only way. I know a man, a good man. He’ll give me a new face and a new identity while I wait. Also a new passport. He’s an expert. The only trouble is, there won’t be anyone on Herschel capable of giving me back my old face. The operation is a difficult one; there aren’t likely to be skilled plastic surgeons on a frontier world. But you won’t miss my face, will you? My nose is too sharp, my eyebrows too heavy. I could use a different mouth, too. I’ve gotten so used to the official Security scowl that my lips won’t smile the right way any more.”

“It’s a good face, Roy. It’s a strong face, an honest face. It’s your face.”

“I can keep my face and go to jail, or I can get a new face and settle on Herschel with you. Which do you want it to be?”

After a pause Lori said, “That’s a silly question. But make it a face I can love, Roy. Don’t let him make you unreal. Be different, but don’t be false. Do you know what I mean?”

“I think so.” Gardner scratched his chin reflectively. “Listen, get yourself down to the Bureau and make out an application for Herschel. Put yourself down as single and no prospects; colony-worlds are always happy to get good-looking unmarried women. When you’ve got your papers in order, find out when the next ship leaves and make a reservation for one. Don’t give them any hint that you figure on having a traveling companion. When you’ve done all that, check out of the hotel room and get yourself another one somewhere else. I’ll find a room near the spaceport until blastoff time. We won’t have any contact with each other from today until the time that ship leaves for Herschel, and when we meet aboard the ship it’s going to look strictly like an accident, love at first sight.”

“Do we have to do it that way, Roy? The ship might not be leaving for a month!”

“Then we go our separate ways for a month,” Gardner said. “There’s no alternative. We have to avoid giving Security any connection between us. I know how they work, Lori.”

“All right, then,” she said hesitantly. “But I hope it won’t be a month.”

He smiled. “So do I.”

They kissed and went their separate ways again, not looking back. The separation was going to be difficult, Gardner thought, but it was essential. Security would have ways of checking back on Gardner and linking him with the girl. Smee could give them that much information. All they needed to do was check forward and discover that the girl was leaving for Herschel, and they could easily pick up her traveling companion and give him an overhauling in the Interrogation Chamber. But if she kept her own counsel, had no contact with him, then Security would be helpless.

It was late afternoon now. Twilight was descending on the city; shadows were long; and people were hurrying homeward. Gardner kept close to the buildings, moving on foot, his eyes lowered to avoid calling attention to himself. He knew he still had a little time. The pickup alarm was probably flashing all over, but Karnes would be too smart to sound a general alarm, complete with pictures in the telex and all. Because if he did that, it might prove the motive for Gardner to spill what he knew about the Lurion project. And, once Gardner spoke out, the project would be hopelessly shattered. If they went through with it, it would look strangely suspicious that Lurion should die in exactly the way the renegade Security man had predicted.

But, Gardner thought, Karnes had one ace in his sleeve: the knowledge that Gardner almost certainly would not expose the project. For, if he did that, it would be a heavy blow to Earth’s prestige; it might damage forever Earth’s reputation as an ethical world. And Gardner was still loyal to his native planet. Karnes knew that. No Security man could shuck off his loyalty overnight, however strong the provocation.