The spectacular destruction of the Dirnan watcher ship was observed by many eyes that night, not all of them human. At the instant the generator in the ship went critical and exploded, a Kranazoi scout was swinging through its assigned surveillance arc above Montana, bound on an eastward route. The first flaring light of the blowup impinged on the sensors of the Kranazoi vessel, and only moments later the event came to the awareness of the pilot, who swung quickly into action.
The pilot’s genetic designation was Bar-48-Codon-adf. For the purposes of this mission he cloaked the angular, rough-skinned Kranazoi body with which he had been born in a mass of plump Earthman flesh, giving him a jolly, roly-poly appearance hardly in keeping with his inner nature. He shared his ship with three other members of his current mating unit, two of whom were asleep. The third, whose genetic designation was Bar-51-Codon-bgt, was processing data when the explosion came. She-it — that was her-its ambivalent role in the mating unit — looked up instantly at Bar-48-Codon-adf and said, “The Dirnan ship just blew up!”
“I know. The photon screens are going crazy.” Bar-48-Codon-adf ran his fingers over the Kranazoi ship’s sensor inputs, while Bar-51-Codon-bgt began to check the roster of known Dirnan watcher ships in the vicinity. By the time she-it had identified the particular ship on the master chart, he had found the bit of information he most feared to find: three shapes of approximately Dirnan mass, bailing out and dropping Earthward.
This is some kind of trick,” he muttered. “They’re staging a landing. Three of them just dropped from that ship before it blew!”
“Are you sure they’re alive?” Bar-51-Codon-bgt asked.
He scowled at her-it. “They got away moments before the explosion. It’s a deliberate landing! They’re violating all the covenants! We’ve got to get after them and trace them, or we’re in the stew!”
Calmly, calmly. You aren’t making sense. If they were pulling a deliberate landing, why would they let their ship explode? That splash might be registered on every screen the Earthmen have. If you’d been ordered to land on Earth, would you do it so publicly?”
Bar-48-Codon-adf subsided. “Even so, deliberate or not, they’ve landed.”
“Dead on landing, possibly.”
“Possibly. Possibly not. You want to risk it? I wouldn’t. They’ll brainburn us at Headquarters if we mess this up. We’ve got to land and track those damned Dirnans, and find out what they’re up to!”
Bar-51-Coden-bgt looked horrified. “Land? On Earth? We’re watchers!”
“The covenants permit landing in case of questionable behavior by the other side. If a couple of Kranazoi happened to drop down on Earth like that, don’t you think the Dirnans would have a swarm of their watchers following us right away? We can’t afford to let them get a jump on us. At least, I can’t. Wake the others up.”
She-it objected. The other two had had a successful mating a few hours earlier; they were entitled to their sleep. But Bar-48-Codon-adf was insistent, and when he got into a mood like that, there was no refusing him. Shortly, the remaining two members of the mating unit came stumbling from their sleep compartments, looking disgruntled and resentful, and not at all perturbed by the apparent landing of three members of the rival power on the neutral territory of Earth. It perturbed them much more that Bar-48-Codon-adf had intruded on their sleep, and they let him know about it. The bickering continued for several minutes, during which time Bar-48-Codon-adf altered the ship’s course to take it south toward the site of the Dirnan landing. He allowed the others to purge themselves of their hostilities.
When they were reasonably rational again he said, “We’ll bring the ship down to cruising altitude and I make a jump. Notify Headquarters of what we’re doing, and stay within pickup range until you hear from me again.”
“You’re going down there alone?” Bar-51-Codon-bgt asked fearfully.
“I won’t get into trouble. No one harms a fat man. I’ll look around, track the Dirnans, try to get some angle on what they’re up to. When I know something, I’ll have you come and get me.”
Bar-79-Codon-zzz said scornfully, “Hero! Medal-hunter!”
“Cut it out. Where’s your sense of responsibility? Where’s your patriotism?”
Bar-79-Codon-zzz, who was a total-female in the mating unit and also wore the disguise of a female Earthman, glowered at him. “Don’t talk to me of patriotism, will you? We’re a long way from home, doing a dull, pointless, idiotic assignment for purely ritualistic reasons, and I’ll be fried if I’ll take it as seriously as you do. Cops-and-robbers! Skimming around over this hideous planet like filthy snoops! Why don’t we just let the Dirnans have it, and—”
Bar-51-Codon-bgt gave her a nudge. “Save it,” she-it mur-mured. “His mind’s made up. Anyway, it might just be important. Let him go down there, if he wants/
The matter was settled. The Kranazoi ship dipped Earthward, slicing through the night sky on full opaquers. Bar-48-Codon-adf was annoyed by the attitude of his shipmates, but he had no wish to get into a prolonged argument with them now. Duty was duty. They were posted here not only to keep watch over Earth, but over the activities of their rivals, the Dirnans, as well. Duty required him to land and pursue — and, if necessary, to arrest the three on violation of the covenants.
With the ship at an altitude of thirty-thousand feet, Bar-48-Codon-adf filed a formal notice of his intent to land, and his reasons for so doing. At an altitude of twenty-thousand feet he donned his drop equipment, which he had never expected to use. At an altitude of ten-thousand feet he stepped through the hatch with supreme confidence and let himself fall.
The landing was bumpy, but not really bad. Bar-48-Codon-adf removed his drop gear and twisted the self-destruct stud. It ignited satisfyingly and moments later was wholly atomized. Now he wore the garments as well as the body of a heavy-set Earthman of middle years. He activated his identity training and discovered that his Earthman name was David Bridger, that he was forty-six years old, unmarried, a native of Circleville, Ohio, and a resident of San Francisco, California. He had landed several miles from the city limits of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dawn was still four or five hours away; he would be safely within the city by morning, and he could begin his quest.
If those three Dirnans were up to anything illegal, he vowed, they’d pay for this. He’d get them before the Covenant Commission and denounce them as meddlers! He’d have them brainburned! Who did they think they were, landing on Earth as though the planet belonged to them?
Scowling, David Bridger of San Francisco — until recently the Kranazoi agent and watcher Bar-48-Codon-adf — trudged briskly toward nearby Albuquerque, thinking dark thoughts about the planet Dirna and all its misbegotten citizens.