pirate!" the big Jovian lied magnificently."Whatever gave you this crazy idea?"
Murdock's hard face did not relax. He waved the atom-pistol. "Go intothe main cabin," he ordered. "Walk ahead of me."
Helplessly, Kenniston and Holk Or obeyed. His mind was desperate as heshouldered down the corridor. The throbbing of the rockets told himthe _Sunsprite_ was still forging through the void. They must be verynear Vesta by now--and now this had to happen!
The others had been awakened by the uproar and streamed into the maincabin after Murdock and his two prisoners. Kenniston glimpsed Gloria,slim in a silken negligee, her dark eyes round with amazement.
"Hugh, have you gone crazy?" she exclaimed stupefiedly.
Murdock answered without looking toward her. "I've found out thetruth, Gloria. These men belong to John Dark's crew. They were takingus into a trap."
"Holy smoke!" gasped Robbie Boone, his jaw sagging as the chubby youthstared at Kenniston and Holk Or. "They're pirates?"
"I think you must be losing your mind!" Gloria stormed at HughMurdock. "This is ridiculous."
Holk Or yawned elaborately. "Space-sickness hits people in queer ways,Miss Loring," the Jovian told Gloria confidentially. "Some it justmakes sick, but others it makes delirious."
"I'm not delirious, and you two know it," Murdock retorted grimly. Hespoke to Gloria and the others, without taking his eyes or the muzzleof his pistol off his two captives.
"I thought from the first that this Kenniston's story of finding thewreck of Dark's ship on Vesta was a thin one," Murdock declared. "Andyesterday my suspicions were increased when I went down and lookedover the cargo of equipment they brought. It's not equipment to digout a buried wreck. It's equipment to _repair_ a damaged ship--JohnDark's ship!
"Suspecting that, last 'night' I sent a telaudiogram to Patrolheadquarters at Earth. I gave full descriptions of Kenniston and thisJovian and inquired if they had criminal records. An answer camethrough an hour ago. This fellow Holk Or has a record of criminalpiracy as long as your arm, and was definitely known to be one of JohnDark's crew!"
There was an incredulous gasp from the others. Murdock still grimlywatched Kenniston and the Jovian as he concluded.
"The Patrol hasn't yet sent through Kenniston's record, but it'sobvious enough that he's one of Dark's men too, and that his storythat he and the Jovian are meteor-miners is a flat lie."
"I can't understand this," muttered young Arthur Lanning, staring. "Ifthey're Dark's men, why should they induce us to go to Vesta?"
"Can't you see?" said Hugh Murdock. "John Dark's ship did crash onVesta after being wrecked--that must be true enough. But Dark and hispirates weren't dead as the Patrol thought. They had to have machinesand material to repair their ship. So Dark sent these two men to Marsfor the materials. The two couldn't get a ship there any other way, sothey made use of our cruiser by selling us that treasure yarn!"
* * * * *
Kenniston winced. He knew now that he had underestimated Murdock, whohad put together the evidence quickly when his suspicions were roused.
Gloria Loring, looking at Kenniston with wide dark eyes, saw thechange in his expression. Into her white face came an incredulousloathing.
"Then it's true," she whispered. "You did that--you deliberatelyplanned to lead us all into capture?"
"Aw, you're all space-struck," growled Holk Or, bluffing to the last.
Murdock spoke over his shoulder. "Call Captain Walls, Robbie."
"No need to--here he comes now!" yelped the excited youth.
Captain Walls, entering the cabin in urgent haste, had eyes only forKenniston in the first moment.
"Ah, there you are, Mr. Kenniston!" the captain exclaimed relievedly."I was just coming for you. We've reached Vesta! I've ordered thepilot to slow down, for I want you to pilot us through the swarm--"
The captain's voice trailed off. His eyes bulged as for the first timehe perceived that Murdock was covering the two men with a gun.
"We're not going in to Vesta, captain," rapped Murdock. "John Dark andhis pirates are on the asteroid--_alive_!"
Captain Walls' plump face went waxy as he heard the name of the mostdreaded corsair of the System.
"Dark--living?" he stuttered. "Good God, you must be joking!"
Mrs. Milsom, her dumpy figure shivering and her teeth chattering withterror, pointed a finger at Kenniston and the Jovian.
"They're two of the pirates!" she shrilled. "They might have murderedus all in our beds! I knew this would happen when we left Earth--"
Kenniston's mind was seething with despair as he stood there withhands upraised. His whole desperate plan was ruined at this lastmoment.
He wouldn't _let_ it be ruined! He would get this cargo of machinesand materials to John Dark if it meant his life!
"Turn back at once toward Mars, captain," Gloria was saying quietly tothe stunned officer. Her face was still very pale.
Kenniston, standing tense, had had an idea. A desperate chance to makea break, in the face of Murdock's atom-gun.
The captain had said that he had just ordered the pilot to slow downthe _Sunsprite_. In a moment would come the shock of the brakingrocket-tubes firing from the bows--
That shock came an instant after the wild expedient flashed acrossKenniston's mind. It was only a jarring vibration through the fabricof the ship, for the pilot knew his business.
It staggered them all on their feet, for just a moment. But Kennistonhad been waiting for that moment. As Hugh Murdock moved his gun-arminvoluntarily to balance himself, Kenniston lunged forward.
"The bridge, Holk!" he yelled as he hurled himself.
Kenniston's shoulder hit the captain and sent him caroming intoMurdock. The two men sprawled on the floor.
Holk Or, with instant understanding, already had the door of the cabinopen. They plunged out into the corridor together.
"Our only chance is to make the bridge and grab the controls!"Kenniston cried as they raced down the corridor. "We can keep themlong enough to land on Vesta--"
Hiss--_flash!_ The crackling blast of the atom-gun tore into the lowersteps of the ladder up which he and the Jovian frantically climbed.Murdock was running after them as he fired, and there were shouts ofalarm.
Kenniston and Holk Or burst into the glassite-walled bridge. Bray, thepilot, turned for a startled moment from his rocket-throttles.
Beyond the pilot, the transparent front wall framed a square of blackspace in which bulked the monstrous sphere of the nearby asteroid.
The World with a Thousand Moons! It loomed up only a few hundred milesaway, a big, pale-green sphere encircled by the vast globular swarm ofhundreds on hundreds of gleaming little meteor-satellites.
"Why--what--" stammered the pilot, bewildered.
Kenniston's fist caught his chin, and the man sagged to the floor.
"Bar the door, Holk!" yelled Kenniston as he leaped toward therocket-throttles.
"Hell, there's only a catch!" swore the Jovian. He braced his brawnyshoulders against the metal door. "I can hold it a little while."
* * * * *
Kenniston's hands were flashing over the throttles. The _Sunsprite_was moving at reduced speed toward the meteor-enclosed asteroid.
The cruiser shook to the bursting roar of power, as he opened up allthe tail rockets. It plunged visibly faster toward the deadly swarmaround Vesta, picking up speed by the minute.
Rocking, creaking, quivering to the dangerous rate of accelerationKenniston was maintaining, the little ship rushed ahead. But now therewas loud hammering at the bridge-room door.
"Open up or we'll burn that door down!" came Captain Walls' yell.
Kenniston didn't turn. Hunched over the throttles, peering tenselyahead, he was tautly estimating speed and direction. His eyes searchedfrantically for the periodic break in the outer meteors.
There was a muffled crackling and the smell of scorched metal floodedthe bridge-room. A hoarse exclamation of pain ca
me from Holk Or.
"They got my arm through the door, damn them!" cursed the Jovian."Hurry, Kenniston!"
Kenniston was driving the _Sunsprite_ full speed toward the whirlingcloud of meteors around the asteroid. He had spotted the break in thecloud, the periodic opening caused by the gravitational influence ofanother nearby asteroid.
It was not a real opening. It was merely a small area in the swarmwhere the rushing meteors were not so thick, and where a ship had achance to worm through by careful piloting.
Kenniston only remotely heard the struggle that Holk Or was putting upto hold the door against the hammering crowd