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Bindlestiff

By James Bush



It was inevitable that, occasionally, one of the
cruising cities of space would turn criminal.
And they made vicious, deadly enemies!



I.
E yEN to the men of the flying city, the Rift was awesome beyond all human experience. Loneliness was natural between the stars, and starmen were used to itЧthe stardensity of the average cluster was more than enough to give a veteran Okie claustrophobia; but the enormous empty loneliness of the Rift was unique.
To the best of Mayor AmalfiТs knowledge, no Okie city had ever crossed the Rift before. The City Fathers, who knew everything, agreed. Amalfi was none too sure that it was wise, for once, to be a pioneer.
Ahead and behind, the walls of the Rift shimmered, a haze of stars too far away to resolve into individual points of light. The walls curved gently toward a starry floor, so many parsecs
УbeneathФ the keel of the city that it seemed to be hidden in a rising haze of star dust.
УAbove,Ф there was nothing; a nothing as final as the slamming of a doorЧit was the intergalactic gap.
The Rift was, in effect, a valley cut in the face of the galaxy. A few stars swam in it, light-millennia apartЧstars which the tide of human colonization could never have reached. Only on the far side was there likely to be any inhabited planet, and, consequently, work for a migratory city.
On the near side there were the Earth police. They would not chase AmalfiТs city across the Rift; they were busy consolidating their conquests of Utopia and the Duchy of Gort, barbarian planets whose ties with Earth were being forcibly reestablished. But they would be happy to see the city turn back
Чthere was a violation of a Vacate order still on the books, and a little matter of a trickЧ Soberly, Amalfi contemplated the oppressive chasm which
the screens showed him. The picture came in by ultrawave from a string of proxy-robots, the leader of which was already parsecs out across the gap. And still the far wall was featureless, just beginning to show a faintly granular texture which gave promise of resolution into individual stars at top magnification.
УI hope the food holds out,Ф he muttered. УI never expected the cops to chase us this far.Ф
Beside him, Mark Hazieton, the city manager, drummed delicately upon the arm of his chair. УNo reason why it shouldnТt,Ф he said lazily. УOf course the oilТs low, but the Chiorella crop is flourishing. And I doubt that weТll be troubled by mutation in the tanks. ArenТt ultronic nexi supposed to vary directly with star-density?Ф
УSure,Ф Amalfi said, irritated. УWe wonТt starve if everything goes right. If we hadnТt been rich enough to risk crossing, IТd of let us be captured and paid the fine instead. But weТve never been as long as a year without planet-fall before, and this crossing is going to take all of the four years the Fathers predicted. The slightest accident, and weТll be beyond help.Ф
УThereТll be no accident,Ф Hazleton said confidently.
УThereТs fuel decompositionЧweТve never had a flash-fire
but thereТs always a first time. And if the Twenty-third Street spindizzy conks out againЧФ
He stopped abruptly. Through the corner~ of his eye, a minute pinprick of brightness poked insistently into his brain. When he looked directly at the screen, it was still there. He pointed.
УLookЧis that a cluster? No, itТs too small. If thatТs a freefloating star, itТs close.Ф
He snatched up a phone. УGive me Astronomy. Hello, Jake. Can you figure me the distance of a star from the source of an ultraphone broadcast?Ф
УWhy, yes,Ф the phone said. УWait, and IТll pick up your image. AhЧI see what you mean; something at 10:00 oТclock center, canТt tell what yet. Dinwiddie pickups on your proxies? Intensity will tell the tale.Ф The astronomer chuckled like a parrot on the rim of a cracker barrel. УNow if youТll just tell me how many proxies you have, and how far theyЧФ
УFive. Full interval.Ф
УHm-m-m. Big correction.Ф There was a long, itching silence. УAmalfi?Ф
УYeah.Ф
УAbout ten parsecs, give or take 0.4. IТd say youТve found a floater, my boy.Ф
УThanks.Ф Amalfi put the phone back and drew a deep breath. УWhat a relief.Ф
УYou wonТt find any colonists on a star that isolated,Ф Hazleton reminded him.
УI donТt care. ItТs a landing point, possibly a fuel or even a food source. Most stars have planets; a freak like this might not, or it might have dozens. Just cross your fingers.Ф
He stared at the tiny sun, his eyes aching from sympathetic strain. A star in the middle of the RiftЧalmost certainly a wild star, moving at four hundred or five hundred k.p.s. It occurred to him that a people living on a planet of that star might remember the moment when it burst through the near wall and embarked upon its journey into the emptiness.
УThere might be people there,Ф he said. УThe Rift was swept clean of stars once, somehow. Jake claims that thatТs an overdramatic way of putting it, that the mean motions of the stars probably opened the gap naturally. But either way that sun
must be a recent arrival, going at quite a clip, since itТs moving counter to the general tendency. It could have been colonized while it was still passing through a populated area. Runaway stars tend to collect hunted criminals as they go by, Mark.Ф
УPossibly,Ф Hazleton admitted. УBy the way, that image is coming in from your lead proxy, Сway out across the valley. DonТt you have any outriggers? I ordered them sent.Ф
УSure. But I donТt use them except for routine. Cruising the Rift lengthwise would be suicide. WeТll take a look if you like.Ф
He touched the board. On the screen, the far wall was wiped away. Nothing was left but thin haze; down at that end, the Rift turned, and eventually faded out into a nh of emptiness, soaking into the sands of the stars.
УNothing there. Lots of nothing.Ф
Amalfi moved the switch again.
On the screen, apparently almost within hallooing distance, a city was burning.

SPACE flight got its start, as a war weapon, amid the collapse of the great Western culture of Earth. In the succeeding centuries it was almost forgotten. The new culture, that vast planar despotism called by historiographers the Bureaucratic State, did not think that way.