Alexei Panshin: Rite of Passage

“Show us,” Jimmy said.

The officer led the way over to the lounge. There was a dart board there and newspapers and games, and on one of the tables Jimmy’s chess board. I recognized it. I don’t know who Jimmy had been intending to play with. Some of his other things were scattered about.

“Jimmy,” I said, in a voice filled with dread. “I don’t see it.”

Jimmy took a quick look himself. “No,” he said. He turned to the officer. “We’re looking for a little blocksized object about so by so. Have you seen it?”

“No,” said the officer. “I haven’t been playing with your stuff.”

I poked him with the knife. “Are you sure?”

With some asperity he said, “I be sure! I don’t remember seeing anything like that.”

“What are we going to do now?” I said to Jimmy.

“I don’t know. It must be somewhere, but I don’t know where we could look.”

I was really beginning to worry as I hadn’t before. We couldn’t run loose around this place for very long without being caught, and if we didn’t find the signal we would never get home at all.

We went back downstairs and into the office. It was then that I was suddenly struck by an idea.

“There’s the scoutship outside,” I said. “We could take that! If these people can fly it, we can.”

The chubby officer said, “No you won’t! You Ship people think you have everything, but we’ll show you. We’ve got a little ship of our own now and we be tougher people than you. You won’t take that ship.”

“No need,” Jimmy said. He picked a paperweight off one of the desks. It was his missing signal. He turned with it to the officer. “I thought you hadn’t seen this… ?”

“Oh, be that what you wanted? I never noticed it.”

The officer’s back was turned to me. I took out my pistol and somewhat squeamishly hit him with it under the ear.

“Come on, Jimmy,” I said. “If you’ve got the signal, let’s go.”

We went out into the night again. We went around the corner of the building toward the back, but then Jimmy pulled me to a stop. He put his mouth to my ear.

“It’s the guard. See?” He pointed.

We crouched there in the lee of the building as the guard paced slowly down the fence toward the other end of the building. Then, all of a sudden, the night was split with a shout.

“Guards! Guards!”

It came from the front of the building. The guard on patrol here swung around at the shout, but like a good soldier he didn’t leave his post. He simply cut off our retreat.

“Come on,” Jimmy said. We slipped along the buildings parallel to the fence. The shouting continued. Jimmy stopped by a small building at the corner of the square, a building set apart. From there we could see in two directions along the fence.

Jimmy said, “Couldn’t you have hit the officer harder?”

“I don’t like to hit people.”

There was all sorts of hoorah going on. We couldn’t see it, but we could hear it.

Then I said, “Jimmy, do you know what this building is?”

“No.”

“It’s a powder house. See the danger sign? Let’s create a diversion. Let’s blow up the scoutship.”

Jimmy smiled. He reached out and touched my hair for just a second.

We found the door and Jimmy broke the lock with his pistol butt. Whatever noise we made was amply covered. We piled inside and Jimmy swung the door shut behind us. There were small windows in the front of the building and through them we could see soldiers running about on the parade ground and lamps and torches being lit. Guards ran by on their way to reinforce the fences. It began to seem a very good thing to be inside. In the light of the torches we could see the scoutship with its ramp down. Men formed in a line on the parade ground, a formation. Then they were being talked at.

Jimmy said, “They’ll probably be searching the buildings soon.”

I found a small powder keg and set a fuse about five feet long in it. The principle was simple enough. The only thing I wasn’t sure was how long the fuse would take to burn. That was a chance.

Jimmy and I talked about what we would do while the men on the far side of the parade ground were being given their orders. It was almost like playing PaperScissors-Rock, where you both decide what you’re going to do and then reveal at the same time. We’d make our plans, and they would make theirs, and then we’d see who won. I gave Jimmy my gun and he loaded it. We then slipped out the back door again. I trailed another fuse out the door behind us.

I said, “Start firing in forty seconds.”

Jimmy said, “Yes,” and he slipped away along the buildings.

I crouched in the dark with my back to the fence and took out a match. I shielded it carefully and scratched it on the lighter board. It didn’t light and so I struck it again. It flared into light and I touched it to the fuse end. The fuse began to sputter and I waved out the match, lifted the small powder keg and went around the side of the building.

Then down the way Jimmy opened up over the heads of the men in formation. They fell to the ground and began to fire back. I trusted Jimmy to keep his head down.

I didn’t hesitate. I plunged straight out onto the parade ground. The keg was heavy and I concentrated simply on running for the scoutship ramp. I don’t know if anybody saw me or if I was shot at. I just concentrated on running. As I got to the ramp, the powder house blew up in a great flash of light and noise. Pieces of the building flew into the air. The concussion knocked me to my knees, but I got up again immediately and dashed up the ramp.

Inside the scoutship, I didn’t hesitate but went immediately to the control room. I set the keg on the pilot’s seat, right next to the main panel. Through the dome I could see men and confusion everywhere. Nobody was firing now. Fire from the powder house had spread to one of the barracks and men were running for water.

I lit another match and touched this fuse off. Then I went down the stairs as fast as I could. Outside, I looked back at the scoutship. Great shadows and ffickerings were reflected on the dull metal.

Somebody ran into me then and said, “Watch out there,” and ran on. The parade ground was a crisscrossing of men and nobody even noticed me.

I was beginning to despair, to think I’d have to go back and relight the fuse, when I felt a dull whump . These people were not going to use the scoutship again.

I slipped between the buildings, out of the parade ground, and out of the light and noise. The fences were deserted. It took me several difficult minutes to climb over. Then I climbed through the tree and brush-covered hillside slowly.

At the top, very near the place from which Jimmy and I had made our observations in the afternoon, I looked back at the army compound. The fire had spread to a second building and men like ants rushed around. I watched for a few minutes and then I went on.

Jimmy was waiting by the horses when I got there.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Yes. I’m all right. But I dropped the signal.”

I gasped.

“I’m just kidding,” he said.

I sat down on a rock and spread my torn pant leg. Somewhat gingerly, I touched my leg.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, I cut myself going over the fence the first time.”

“That’s too bad,” Jimmy said. He took a look himself. Its not too bad. Do you want me to kiss it and make it well?”

“Would you?”

Jimmy stood up then and looked toward the light-streaked sky. He waved at it. “You know, that’s an aw ful lot of trouble to make simply because you can’t bring yourself to hit somebody.”

The final morning on Tintera was beautiful. We and the horses were in a rock-enclosed aerie high on a mountainside near the coast. In the aerie were grass and a small rock spring, and this day, the final day, was bright with only a few piled clouds riding high in the sky and warm enough that we could put our coats aside. We had eaten breakfast and packed one final time, and now we were just sitting quietly in the sun.