CHAPTER 13
"Any report from the search squadrons yet, Steve?" asked CommanderWalters.
"No, sir," replied Captain Strong. "We're concentrating on the asteroidbelt, but so far we've drawn a blank."
"Well, keep trying and let me know the minute something turns up," saidWalters.
"Yes, sir," said Strong, saluting his commanding officer as the elderspaceman left the room. He turned back to a large desk in the center ofthe room where Roger Manning was busy noting figures on a large chart,showing the areas already covered and listing the squadrons engaged inthe search.
As Strong leaned over his shoulder, Roger placed a finger on the chart."Squadron Ten has just completed a search of all asteroids in theirassigned area," he said, then added laconically, "Nothing."
Strong studied the chart a moment. "Well, we'll have to keep it up," hesaid. "It's the only way we'll find them. A systematic search of thebelt from end one to the other." He paused and then muttered, "Only onething I'm worried about."
"What's that, sir?" asked Roger.
"That when we do find them, it'll be too late to help Tom."
"You really think he's aboard Coxine's ship, Captain Strong?"
"Couldn't be anywhere else," answered Strong. "And he'll be trying tosignal us, you can bet on that. Keep me posted on all radar contactsmade by the search squadrons. I want a continuous six-way radar sweep byevery ship."
"Yes, sir," said Roger.
"One more thing," said Strong, "tell Astro to get the _Polaris_ ready toblast off. And you make sure your radar bridge is in A-one condition."
"Are we blasting off, sir?" asked Roger.
"Every ship we can get into space will give us a better chance offinding Coxine and his crew. Now that we've got the search fully underway there's no need to hang around here any longer."
"Glad to hear it, sir," replied Roger. "I was getting a little itchy tohunt for those crawlers myself. And Astro can hardly keep still."
Strong smiled. "Don't worry, we'll find Tom," he said. "Wherever he is,you can bet he's taking care of himself and doing a good job for theSolar Guard."
Roger's eyes twinkled. "Oh, I wasn't so worried about Tom as I wasAstro, sir. He'll be pretty mad if there isn't anything left of Coxineto pay him back for slugging him."
Strong rubbed his head and said grimly, "Astro's not the only one!"
The blond-haired cadet left the room, and Strong wearily turned back tostudy the chart of the search in the asteroid belt.
Immediately upon arrival at Space Academy, two days before, Strong hadbeen placed in charge of the search by Commander Walters. The attack onthe prison asteroid and the escape of the prisoners had created thebiggest sensation in his life. From one end of the Solar Alliance to theother, the visunews and the stereos were full of the attack and escapedetails, with Strong's name appearing often in the headlines and newsflashes. To search the asteroid belt had been his suggestion, and whilehe could offer no proof, he believed the attacking ship had beencommanded by Wallace and Simms. Speaking only to Commander Walters,Strong had received permission to combine the search for Wallace andSimms, with the new hunt for Coxine. Strong was convinced that Coxinewas behind the activity of Wallace and Simms, from the beginning at theSolar Exposition to the present.
Strong looked at his watch. It was past midnight. He flipped a switchand paged Lieutenant Moore on the central communicators. In a fewmoments the young officer appeared and saluted smartly.
"Take over here, Moore," said Strong. "I'm going to sack in for a littlerest and then take the _Polaris_ out. I'll be in constant contact withyou and will direct search operations from the _Polaris_. You stand byhere and relay all reports. We'll use code 'VISTA' for all contacts."
"Yes, sir," said Moore. "Shall I work up charts like that one?" Hepointed to the chart left by Roger.
"Statistics here at the academy will handle that," replied Strong. "Justshoot the information down to them as you receive it. And you'd betterget someone else up here to help you. You'll be here a long time."
Moore saluted and Strong walked wearily from the room. There wasn't anyneed for cleverness now, thought the Solar Guard captain. When we catchCoxine, he'll fight. And when he fights, that will be the end of him!
He went to his quarters and in thirty seconds was asleep.
* * * * *
"Radar bridge to control deck!" A voice crackled over the intercomaboard the newly named pirate ship, _Avenger_. "Hullo, control deck!Come in!"
"Yeah?" roared Bull Coxine. "Whaddya want?"
"Picked up a blip on the radar, Captain," replied the radar officer."Looks to me like the jet liner from Mars to Venus."
"Relay the pickup to the control-deck scanner and let me take a look atit," ordered Coxine.
In a moment the big pirate was studying the scanner carefully. Wallaceand Simms stood to one side. Coxine turned and looked at them with ahard glint in his eyes. "That's the jet liner, all right!" He rubbed thepalms of his huge hands together and smiled thinly. "It looks like we'rein business!"
Wallace stepped forward. "You mean, you're going to--?"
"I'll tell you what I mean," snapped Coxine, "when I want you to knowit!"
He turned to the intercom and began to bawl orders into the microphone.
"All hands! Stand by your stations for attack!"
There was an answering roar of approval from the crew.
"We're making our first strike, you space crawlers! A jet liner fromMars to Venus. There'll be lots of fancy things aboard her. Things theSolar Guard wouldn't give you on the Rock!"
There was another roar over the loud-speaker.
"But the first man that takes anything but what I tell him will findhimself on the wrong end of two big fists!"
"We're closing in, Captain," interrupted the voice from the radarbridge. "The angle of approach is in our favor. I don't think they'veseen us yet!"
"Keep watching her, Joe," replied Coxine, and turned to his two henchmenon the control deck. "You, Wallace! Take number-one jet boat. Russell,Stephens, Attardi, and Harris. Each man will take a paralo-ray pistoland rifle. Report to your boat when I give the order."
There was a pause as the men named scurried to their stations. Coxinecontinued, "The following men will come with me in boat number two.Shelly, Martin, and the Space Kid. The rest of you man the forward andaft blasters. But no one fires until Lieutenant Simms gives the order!"
He turned to Simms and stared at the man coldly. "I'll be in contactwith you all the time. You'll fire when I say to fire, and not before.Is that clear?"
Simms nodded.
"Range-fifty thousand yards to liner, Captain!" reported the radarbridge. "I think she's sighted us!"
"Forward turret!" roared Coxine. "Put a blast across her bow just toshow how friendly we are!"
"Aye, aye, sir," acknowledged a voice from the gun turret.
In the turret Tom listened to the orders to attack the helplessspaceship with mounting anxiety. If he could only plant the signal onthe _Avenger_ before going to the liner, he might be able to remainaboard the passenger ship and escape. He was interrupted in his thoughtsby a rough voice in back of him.
"Hey, Kid! Space Kid!" yelled Gaillard, the commander of the gun turret."Come on! You heard the orders, didn't you? Get me the range."
"Right away," answered Tom. He stepped to the range finder, quicklyfigured the speed of the jet liner, their own speed and the angle ofapproach. Racking them up on the electronic tracker, he turned back toGaillard, "Let her go!"
"Fire!"
There was a thunderous noise and the _Avenger_ rocked gently in recoilfrom the heavy blast. Tom quickly sighted on the range finder and saw aball of light flash brilliantly in front of the passenger ship. Hebreathed a sigh of relief. He had to keep up his avowed reputation ofbeing a crack marksman and at the same time could not damage the unarmedpassenger ship. The shot had been perfect.
"Good shooting, Kid," roared Coxine from the c
ontrol deck.
"Thanks, skipper," said Tom, aware that he had not called Coxinecaptain, but knowing that his earlier speech to the giant pirate hadearned him a certain amount of respect.
Coxine quickly made contact with the captain of the liner on theteleceiver and the outraged captain's face sharpened into focus on thescreen aboard the _Avenger_.
"By the craters of Luna," exploded the skipper of the passenger ship,"what's the meaning of this? There are women and children aboard thisvessel."
Coxine smiled thinly. "My name's Bull Coxine, master of the vessel_Avenger_. One funny move out of you and I'll blast your ship intoprotons! Stand by for a boarding party!"
"Captain! Captain!" the radar operator's voice screamed over thecontrol-deck loud-speaker, "they're trying to send out a signal to theSolar Guard!"
"They are, huh?" roared Coxine. "Forward turret, check in!"
"Turret, aye!" reported Tom. He had been left alone while Gaillardissued small arms to the boarding parties.
"Listen, Kid!" roared Coxine. "You said you're a good shot. Right now isthe time to prove it. Blast away her audio antenna!"
Tom gulped. At a range of fifty thousand yards, the antenna, a thickpiece of steel cable, might as well have been a needle to hit.
"Right, skipper," he finally replied. "I'll show you some of thefanciest shooting you'll ever see in your life!"
He turned back to the range finder, his mind racing like a calculatingmachine. He figured the angles of the two ships, considering that thejet liner was a dead ship in space and the _Avenger_ still under way,but slowing down at a specific rate of deceleration. He rechecked hisfigure a third and fourth time, correcting his calculations each timewith the forward movement of the _Avenger_. If he misjudged a fractionof a degree, he might kill or injure hundreds of people aboard thepassenger vessel.
"Well?" roared Coxine. "Are you going to fire or not?"
"Coming right up, skipper!" shouted Tom. "Watch this!"
Steeling himself, lest he should hit the ill-fated ship, he fired. For abrief moment he felt sick and then heard the roar of the pirate captainfrom the control deck.
"By the rings of Saturn," roared Coxine, "that was the best shot I'veever seen! Well done, Kid! All right, boarding crews! Man your boats andstand by to blast off!"
While Coxine vocally lashed the members of the murderous crew intoaction, Tom tried to figure out some way to get to the radar deckunseen. Being assigned to the jet boat with Coxine, instead of Wallace,had been a lucky break and Tom wished for a little more of the same.Lining up with his boarding crew, he received his paralo-ray pistol andrifle from Gaillard, deftly stealing a second pistol while the gunneryofficer's back was turned.
After hurriedly hiding the stolen gun, he slipped stealthily topside tothe radar bridge. Reaching the hatch, he was about to open it, when heheard footsteps. He turned and saw a man walking toward him. It wasSimms!
"Where in the blasted universe is the jet-boat deck?" snarled Tom. Hedropped his rifle on the deck and bent over to pick it up, hiding hisface.
"You're on the wrong deck," said Simms. "Two decks below. Get moving!"
The pirate lieutenant hardly gave the cadet a glance as he brushed pastand entered the radar bridge. Tom caught a fleeting glimpse of theinterior. His heart jumped. The bridge was exactly like the one on the_Polaris_! Though annoyed that his chance had slipped past, Tom wasthankful to learn that the communications equipment was thoroughlyfamiliar.
"Space Kid! Report to the jet-boat deck on the double!" Coxine's voicerumbled through the empty passageway. Tom dashed down the nearest ladderand hurried to the jet-boat deck where the pirate captain waitedimpatiently.
"I was checking the range and setting up to blast the liner in case theytry anything funny," explained Tom. "I don't trust anyone on that rangefinder but me!"
Coxine chuckled. "Good work, Kid. I like a man that thinks ahead. MaybeI made the wrong man gunnery chief." He climbed into the jet boat. "Allright, take the controls, Kid. Shelly and Martin, get in the stern." Themen climbed in and Tom slid under the controls and waited for the orderto blast off.
Wallace and his crew were on the opposite side of the ship, so Tom hadno fear of being recognized until they were all on the passenger ship.At his side, Coxine spoke to Wallace in the other jet boat over theaudioceiver.
"We'll split up. I'll handle the control deck and you go aft to thesupply lockers. Dump everything out in space and we can pick it uplater. Search the passengers, but no rough stuff. The first man thatputs his hands on anyone will never know what hit him!"
Tom listened to the pirate captain's orders and was forced to give theman credit for his tight control over his murderous crew. Howeverrebellious he might be against the Solar Guard, and whatever it was thatmade the man become the system's most notorious criminal, his ordersspoke for themselves.
"All right, Kid," roared Coxine, "blast off!"
Tom pressed the control pedal at his foot and the small ship shot outinto the black void of space. Ahead of them, thousands of yards away, hecould see the gleaming passenger ship.
In a few moments the two jet boats were braking their jets and driftingto a stop inside the catapult deck of the luxurious liner.
Almost before Tom had stopped the small craft, Coxine was out of theboat waving his paralo-ray pistols at a cluster of frightened merchantspacemen.
"Back inside!" he snarled. "Kid! Shelly! Cover me! We're going to thecontrol deck. Martin, you stay here with the jet boat."
Coxine marched straight through the ship, head up, eyes straight ahead,while behind him, Tom and Shelly swept the luxurious lounges with theirray rifles, ready to fire on any who dared resist. They marched past thefrightened passengers, climbed a flight of carpeted stairs to the nextdeck, and entered the control room.
The liner's captain, a tall, thin man with graying hair, stood waitingbeside the control panel, his eyes flashing angrily. A half-dozen juniorofficers stood stiffly in back of him.
Coxine stepped up to the elderly officer and laughed good-naturedly. "Noone will be hurt, skipper. I just want a few things for my men"--hepaused and glanced at the ship's vault--"and whatever you have inthere!"
"I'll live to see the day when you're caught and sent to the prisonasteroid for this," snorted the captain.
"Don't make me laugh, skipper," said Coxine lightly. "The Solar Guardwill have to build a new one for me. Don't think there's much left ofthe old one!"
"Then it was you! You're responsible for the attack on the asteroid!"
Coxine just smiled and turned to Tom and Shelly. "Watch these crawlersclosely, now. I'm going to open the vault."
Tom stared at the ship's officers, hoping to catch the eye of one ofthem, but they were all watching Coxine.
The pirate captain pulled a thin rod about two feet long, with a switchon one end, from his jacket. He walked to the solid titanium door of thevault and inserted the rod into a small hole, pressing the switch at theend of the rod carefully several times. He stepped back and inserted itin another hole in the face of the door and repeated the procedure.Putting the key back in his jacket he grabbed the handle of the massivedoor. It swung open at his touch. The captain of the liner and officersgasped in amazement.
Working quickly, Coxine crammed the thick bundles of credit notes andpassenger's valuables into a bag. At last he straightened up, and facingthe unbelieving officer again, he tossed them a mocking salute. Henodded to Tom and Shelly and walked out of the control room withoutanother word.
Shelly and Tom quickly followed the giant spaceman back to the jet-boatdeck, where Wallace was just returning from his own operations. Wallacemade a circle out of his fingers to Coxine and the giant pirate nodded.
"Let's get out of here!" he ordered.
"Aren't you afraid they'll try to stop you, skipper?" asked Tom.
Coxine laughed. "Just let them try. I never met a man yet that had thenerve to pull the trigger of a paralo-ray gun while my back was turned."
Tom
gulped and wondered if he would have the nerve to fire on thespaceman. He thought about it a moment and decided that he would takeany chance that came along, if he could outwit the criminal. When thetime came, he would risk his life to stop Coxine!