On the Trail of the Space Pirates

  CHAPTER 14

  "All right, line up, you space crawlers!" bawled Coxine. "When I callyour name step up to get your share of the haul!"

  The pirate captain was seated at the head of a long mess table, an openledger in front of him. There were stacks of crisp new credit notes athis elbow. He took out his paralo-ray pistols and placed them withineasy reach. On either side of him, Wallace and Simms sat, staring at themoney with greedy eyes.

  Coxine looked at the first name on the ledger.

  "Joe Brooks!" he called. "One thousand credits for spotting the liner!"

  Brooks grinned and amid cheers walked to the table. Coxine handed him asmall stack of notes carelessly and turned back to the ledger.

  "Gil Attardi!" he roared. "One thousand credits for working on theboarding crew."

  Attardi, a sly, scar-faced man, stepped forward to accept his share. Hecarried a long, thin knife with an edge so deadly keen that he could andoften did shave with it.

  Coxine continued his roll call. "Sam Bates! Five hundred credits.Straight share."

  Bates stepped forward and glared at Coxine.

  "How come I only get five hundred and the others get a thousand?" hesnarled. "It ain't my fault I'm stuck on the power deck while you graball the glory jobs!"

  The laughing, excited crowd of men grew silent as the rebelliousspaceman faced Coxine.

  "You get five hundred credits," snarled Coxine. "Take it or leave it!"

  "I want the same as Brooks and Attardi," demanded Bates.

  Quicker than the eye could follow, Coxine rose and smashed the man inthe face with a giant fist. Bates dropped to the deck like a stone.Coxine glared at the rest of the crew.

  "The next crawler that thinks he's not getting his fair share," hesnarled, "will get a trip in space for his share!" He glanced down atthe unconscious man and jerked his thumb toward the hatch. "Get him outof here!"

  Two men dragged the unconscious man away and threw a bucket of coldwater on him. He woke up, snatched at his share of the credits, anddisappeared from the room.

  The pirate captain continued reading the list of names, arbitrarily,handing out various amounts of the stolen money as he saw fit.

  Standing in the rear of the messroom, hidden by the other members of thecrew, Tom realized that to step in plain sight of Wallace and Simms forhis share would mean instant betrayal. He had to make his move now, andwith most of the crew mustered together in the messroom, it was his onechance for success.

  Gripping the stolen paralo-ray gun in his jacket pocket, he slipped outof the messroom unnoticed and headed for the radar bridge.

  As he raced up the companionway he could hear the laughter of the menbelow decks as one by one they received their shares. His name would becalled soon. Heart pounding, he stopped outside the radar hatch, pulledthe paralo-ray gun from his jacket, and taking a deep breath opened thehatch.

  Joe Brooks was seated in front of the scanner counting his sharegreedily and glancing occasionally at the finger of light that sweptacross the green globe. When Tom opened the hatch, he looked up andsmiled.

  "Hiya, Kid," he said. "Coxine's all right. I got a thousand just forpicking up that ship on the radar. How much did you collect?"

  "This," said Tom. He shoved the paralo-ray gun into Brooks' stomach. Theman gulped and finally found his voice.

  "Say, what is this? A gag? Where did you get that paralo-ray?" Thensuddenly he shoved the bundle of notes in his pocket. "Oh, no, youdon't! You're not going to steal my share!"

  "I don't want your money!" said Tom coldly. "Get into that locker andkeep your mouth shut, or I'll blast you!"

  "Locker? Say, what's the matter with you? You gone space happy?"

  "Get in there," growled Tom. At the look on the cadet's face, Brooksrose quickly and stepped into the locker. Tom slammed the door andlocked it. Then, locking the passageway hatch, he turned to the radarscanner. Working quickly with deft hands, he opened the casing aroundthe delicate instrument and began disconnecting the major terminals.Studying the complicated tangle of connections, he wished that he had asmuch knowledge of radar as Roger.

  He finally found the wires he wanted and separated them from the otherconnections. He began replacing them, altering the terminals. Afterchecking his work, to make sure it would not short-circuit, he grabbedthe intercom and began taking it apart. Sweat beaded his forehead. Timewas short. Soon Coxine would miss him and come looking for him. He hadto complete his job before that happened.

  After moments that seemed like hours he was ready. Using one of theintercom relays he began tapping out a message in Morse code on anexposed wire from the scanner. He looked at the radar scanner andwatched it flash white static lines each time he touched the wires.Carefully he tapped out a message.

  " ... emergency ... attention ... Corbett ... Space Cadet ... aboard ...Coxine ... pirate ... ship ... space quadrant ... B ... section ...twenty ... three ..."

  Over and over he repeated the desperate message, hoping against hopethat someone would be scanning space and the interference would show upon their radar.

  " ... emergency ... attention ... Corbett ... Space Cadet--"

  * * * * *

  "Captain Strong!" Roger's voice came shrieking over the ship's intercom."Captain! Quick! I'm picking up a message from Tom!"

  "What?" cried the Solar Guard officer. "Nail it! I'm coming up!"

  Scrambling up the ladder to the radar bridge from the control deck,Captain Strong rushed over to the scanner and watched eagerly asblinking flashes washed out the background of the screen.

  Slowly, at times unevenly, the message flashed and the two spacemen readit with gladdening hearts. Strong made a careful note of the positionwhile Roger continued to read the flashes. Turning to the astrogationpanel, the Solar Guard captain quickly plotted a course that would bringthem to Tom's position.

  Endlessly, during the past few days, Strong, Roger, and Astro had sweptspace in a wide arc around the asteroid belt, hoping to pick up justsuch a signal. Now, with the position of the _Avenger_ in his hands,Strong grabbed for the intercom.

  "Attention, power deck!" yelled Strong. "We've just picked up a messagefrom Tom. He's given us his position, so stand by for a course change."

  "Yeee-eooow!" roared Astro. "I knew he'd do it."

  "He's not in the clear yet. We've only got his position. We don't knowhow we're going to get him away from Coxine yet."

  "Ready to change course, sir," said Astro.

  "Three degrees on the down-plane of the ecliptic, and fifty-four degreesto starboard. Full space speed, Astro! Pile it on!"

  "Aye, aye, sir!" replied Astro. "I'll make this wagon's tail so hotit'll blast at double speed!"

  "You'd better, you Venusian ape!" cried Roger. "It's the least you cando for Tom!"

  "Stow it, Manning," growled Astro good-naturedly, "or I'll stick some ofyour hot air in the jets for extra power!"

  "Cut the chatter, both of you!" snapped Strong. "Astro, execute coursechange!"

  Astro's reply was a blast on the steering rockets. On the control deck,Strong watched the needle of the astral compass swing around and stopdead on the course he had ordered.

  "All set, Astro!" shouted Strong. "Right on course. Now pile on theneutrons!"

  "Aye, aye, sir."

  On the power deck, the big cadet turned to his control panel, took adeep breath, and opened the reactant feeders wide. The ship leapedthrough the airless void under the sudden burst of power and Astrowatched the acceleration indicator climb to the danger line. He gulpedas the needle passed the danger point and was about to cut down speedwhen the needle stopped. Astro breathed easily and settled backsatisfied. If it was up to him, they would reach Tom in record time.

  Up on the radar deck, Roger continued to read the flashing signals onthe radar scanner. Over and over, he read the same message.

  "I guess that's all he can say, sir," said Roger, turning to Strong.

  "Yes, I guess so, Roger," agreed Str
ong. "He's probably sending it outblind, on an open circuit, hoping that anyone near enough would pick itup. Wonder how he did it?"

  Roger thought a moment. "I'm not sure, sir, but I think he's crossed theimpulse on the scanner from positive to negative."

  "How do you mean?" asked Strong. The young captain was well acquaintedwith the principle of radar but, admittedly, could not match Roger'snatural ability.

  "By making the impulse negative, sir," said Roger, "he could createinterference on the scanner. Instead of bouncing against something andreturning an image to a scanner, the impulse hits itself and createsstatic which shows up in the form of those white flashes."

  "Well, in any case," said Strong with a sober nod toward the scanner,"he's done something the whole Solar Guard couldn't do. He's quite aboy!"

  Roger smiled. "I'll say he is, skipper!"

  Strong turned away and climbed down to the control deck. He sat in frontof the great control panel and watched the countless dials and needles.But his mind wasn't on the delicate handling of the great ship. He wasthinking about Tom, alone aboard a ship with a crew of desperatecriminals.

  Tom had taken his life in his hands to send out the message, that muchStrong was sure of! And the young skipper noted with pride that therewas no appeal for help in the desperate call.

  He shook his head wearily and flipped the teleceiver switch to report toCommander Walters.

  * * * * *

  "Emergency ... attention...." Tom continued to tap out the messageslowly and carefully. Behind him, he could hear Brooks hammering againstthe locker door. Tom felt like opening the door and freezing the piratewith his paralo-ray gun to keep him quiet, but he didn't dare to stopsending.

  Finally Tom decided it was time to go. "If anyone's going to pick up themessage," he thought, "they've picked it up by now. I may still havetime to get away in a jet boat."

  He tied the wires together, causing a continuous interference to be sentout, and secured the radar casing. "If I'm lucky enough to get away in ajet boat," thought Tom, "at least they won't be able to pick me up onthat!"

  Without a glance at the locker where Brooks continued to pound and yell,Tom turned to the hatch leading to the passageway. He gripped theparalo-ray gun and opened the hatch. Peering into the passageway andfinding it deserted, he slipped out and closed the hatch behind him.From below, he could hear the roar of the crew as the last of themreceived his share of the stolen credits.

  Tom raced down the companionway toward the jet-boat deck. He made thefirst deck safely and was about to climb down to the next when he wasspotted by Attardi, the scar-faced spaceman, who stood at the bottom ofthe ladder.

  "Hey, Kid!" Attardi shouted. "The skipper's been looking for ya. You gotthe biggest cut. Three thousand credits for that fancy shooting youdid!"

  Tom noticed the gleam of the knife at the man's side. The young cadetcould imagine the criminal sinking the knife in his back withouthesitation, if he suspected anything.

  "Well," demanded Attardi, "are you going to collect or not? The skippersent me to look for you."

  Tom smiled, and while still smiling, whipped the paralo-ray gun intosight and fired. His aim was true. Attardi froze, every nerve in hisbody paralyzed. He could still breathe and his heart continued to beat,but otherwise, he was a living statue, unable to even blink his eyes.

  Tom jumped past the spaceman and dashed for the jet-boat deck. He had tohurry now. Attardi would be discovered any moment and be neutralized.When neutralized, the victim returned to normal, with only violentmuscle soreness remaining.

  Tom reached the jet-boat deck, opened the hatch, and raced for thenearest small craft. Suddenly from behind he could hear the buzz of aparalo-ray on neutralizing charge. Attardi had been discovered.

  Tom jumped into the nearest jet boat, closed the hatch, and pressed thebutton releasing the sliding side of the ship's hull. Slowly, the greatwall of metal slid back exposing the cold black velvet of deep space. Assoon as the opening was wide enough, Tom pressed the acceleration leverand the small ship shot out, its jets roaring.

  Tom quickly glanced around to locate his position by the stars and sawthat he was close to the asteroid belt. He opened up to fullacceleration, and since there was nothing else to do but wait for timeto pass and hope for escape, he began to examine the contents of thesmall ship. He opened the emergency food locker and was relieved to seeit fully stocked with synthetics and water. Every second carried himfarther away from the _Avenger_, and when he looked back, Tom saw noevidence of pursuit. The cadet smiled. They would depend on the radar tofind him, instead of sending out the other jet boats. Tom almost laughedout loud. With the radar jammed, he was safe. He would make it. Onceinside the asteroids, they would never find him.

  Glancing around the few indicators on the control board of the smallvessel, Tom's smile changed to a grimace of sudden terror. The jet boathad not been refueled after their raid on the jet liner. There was lessthan three days' oxygen remaining in the tanks. In three days the jetboat would become an airless shell. A vacuum no different than the coldsilent void of space!