The Three Planeteers For All

CHAPTER IV

  Pirate Prince

  THEY saw the distant ship coast the edge of the vast meteor swarm for some minutes and then come to a halt in space, with a prolonged flash of its bow rocket-tubes halting it.

  A moment later a cracked, shrill voice sounded from the little audiospeakers inside their helmets.

  'Ahoy, Planeteers! Are any of you alive in that wreck?'

  Thorn answered instantly. 'We're all alive—Joan Thorn speaking.'

  'I figgered it'd take more than, a meteor-swarm to finish you three,' retorted the cracked voice, chuckling.

  'Who's speaking? What ship is that?' Thorn demanded.

  'Cautious, ain't ye?' said the shrill voice, with a cackle of mirth. 'I don't blame you’ seeing how you girls was chased. But you needn't worry-this ain't no naval cruiser. We're Companions of Space. Want to come aboard?'

  'Companions of Space? Pirates, eh?' Thorn said. 'Yes, we'll come aboard.'

  'Figgered you would,' cackled the other. 'We'll stand by, and you can come across with your impellers.'

  Thorn switched off her suit-audio and spoke to her two companions, clutching their arms to conduct her voice to them.

  'Cut your audios and listen,' she said tautly. 'These pirates may plan some kind of treachery, but I don't think so. This looks like our chance to get to their base at Turkoon. But if we get there, don't mention Erebus or the radite, whatever you do,

  'We understand,' Gunda Welk muttered.

  They each got a torch-like metal impeller from a locker, and then wrenched open the door amidships. Bracing her feet’ against its edge, Joan Thorn leaped out into the abyss.

  She shot floatingly away from the wreck. As her momentum faded and she began to float back toward the wreck, Thorn switched on the impeller in her hand. The blast from it kicked her space-suited figure on through space.

  Sua Av and the big Mercurian were following closely. The three progressed thus, with frequent flashes from their impellers thrusting them on toward the distant waiting pirate ship.

  Bright stars gleamed like millions of watching eyes all around Thorn. She glimpsed the ominous red flash of colliding meteors, nearby. She had to turn constantly to make sure that they were moving toward the waiting craft. Soon they were very close to it, moving faster, now that its slight gravitational field drew them.

  Thorn eyed the long, grim ship that floated here in space just outside the edge of the vast swarm. She judged that it had once been a Neptunian or Uranian naval cruiser-the design one adapted to great distances, and ominous muzzles of atom-guns peering forth along its sides spoke of heavy armament.

  The Planeteers bumped the side of the vessel. They scrambled along it and into the waiting open air-lock.