On the Trail of the Space Pirates

  CHAPTER 15

  "What's our position, Roger?" Captain Strong called into the intercom.

  "Space quadrant B, section twenty-three, sir," replied Roger from theradar bridge. "But I can't see a thing on the radar. That static flashTom sent out is scrambling everything."

  "But you're sure this is our position?"

  "Yes, sir. I checked it three times."

  "All right, then," said Strong grimly. "There's only one thing to do.We're too near the asteroid belt to use the _Polaris_ without radar, sowe'll search in jet boats. Astro! We're parking right here! Give me fullbraking rockets and secure the power deck. Then prepare the jet boatsfor flight."

  "Aye, aye, sir," came the reply from the Venusian.

  The ship bucked under the tremendous power of the braking rockets andcame to a dead stop in space. Strong dashed up the ladder to the radarbridge where Roger was still hunched before the radar scanner.

  "Any chance of switching the scanner to another frequency and offsettingthe effects of the static, Roger?" asked the Solar Guard captain.

  Roger shook his head. "I don't think so, sir. The interference wouldhave to be eliminated at its source."

  "Well," sighed Strong, "to go looking for Tom without the help of radarwould be like looking for an air bubble in the ammonia clouds ofJupiter. And we don't even know if he's still aboard the _Avenger_ ornot!"

  "You know, sir," said Roger speculatively, "I've been thinking. I mightbe able to get a fix on this interference."

  "A fix? How?"

  "By blanking out the radar range, so that it would only work at onepoint of the compass at one time, then testing each heading separatelyuntil the flash appears. When it does, we'd at least know in whichdirection to blast off and trail Coxine.

  "If you can do that, Roger," exclaimed Strong, "it would take us rightinto Coxine's lap! Do you think you can work it?"

  "I can try, sir."

  "All right, then," decided Strong. "Astro and I will take the jet boatsand go looking around. Meantime, you stay aboard and try to pin pointthe heading on that flash."

  "Very well, sir," replied Roger, and turned to the radar to begin thecomplicated task of rewiring the instrument.

  Strong went directly to the jet-boat deck where Astro was busilypreparing the jet boats for flight. He looked up when Strong entered thehatch.

  "All ready, sir," he said.

  "Very well," said Strong. "I'll take number one, you take number two.We're in section twenty-three of quadrant B. You take section twenty-twoand I'll take twenty-four."

  "Yes, sir," replied Astro. "Do you think there's any chance of findingTom?"

  "I don't even know if he's out here, Astro. But we can't be sure heisn't. So we'll search and hope for the best."

  "Very well, sir."

  "Keep your jet-boat audioceiver open all the time and maintain contactwith me."

  "Why not contact Roger here on the _Polaris_, sir?" asked Astro.

  "He's busy trying to find out where the flashing static on the radar iscoming from," explained Strong. "We'll make wide circles, startingoutside and working in. Blast in a continuous circle inward, like aspiral. If there's anything around here, we'll find it that way."

  "Yes, sir," said Astro. "I sure hope Tom is O.K."

  "Best answer I can give you. Astro, is to blast off and find out."

  The two spacemen climbed into the small craft, and while Strong openedthe outer lock, exposing them to the emptiness of space, Astro startedthe jets in his boat. With a wave of his hand to Strong, he roared awayfrom the sleek rocket cruiser. Strong followed right on his tail. Theycircled the _Polaris_ twice, establishing their positions, and thenroared away from each other to begin their search.

  Astro turned his midget space vessel toward the asteroid belt, ahead andbelow him. Choosing a large asteroid that he estimated to be on theouter edge of section twenty-two, he roared full power toward it. Thetiny space bodies that made up the dangerous path around the sun,between Mars and Jupiter, loomed ahead ominously. Moving toward themunder full rocket thrust, the Venusian cadet remembered fleetinglystories of survivors of space wrecks, reaching the airless littleplanetoids, only to die when help failed to arrive. He shuddered at thethought of Tom, a helpless castaway on one of the asteroids, waiting tobe saved. Astro clenched his teeth and concentrated on the search,determined to investigate every stone large enough to support anEarthman.

  Miles away, no longer visible to Astro and out of sight of the giantrocket cruiser, Captain Strong felt the same helplessness as heapproached the asteroid belt from a different angle. He realized anynumber of things could have happened on the pirate-ship. Tom could havebeen captured, or if not yet discovered, unable to escape from the ship.Strong's throat choked up with fierce pride over the gallant effort Tomhad made to warn the Solar Guard of the _Avenger's_ position.

  As he neared the outer edges of the belt, he concentrated on guiding hissmall ship in and around the drifting asteroids, his eyes constantlysweeping the area around him for some sign of a drifting space-suitedfigure. What Strong really hoped for was the sight of a jet boat, sincein a jet boat, Tom would have a better chance of survival.

  The young captain reached the outer edge of his search perimeter, turnedthe small ship into a long-sweeping curve, and flipped on theaudioceiver.

  "Attention! Attention! Jet boat one to jet boat two! Come in, Astro!"

  Across the wide abyss of space that separated the two men, Astro heardhis skipper's voice crackle in his headphones.

  "Astro here, sir," he replied.

  "I'm beginning my sweep, Astro. Any luck?"

  "Not a thing, sir."

  "All right. Let's go, and keep a sharp eye out."

  "Aye, aye, sir," replied Astro. He could not keep the worry out of hisvoice, and Strong, many miles away, nodded in silent agreement withAstro's feelings.

  * * * * *

  The _Avenger_ had long since disappeared and Tom was left alone in spacein the tiny jet boat. To conserve his oxygen supply, the curly-hairedcadet had set the controls of his boat on a steady orbit around one ofthe larger asteroids and lay down quietly on the deck. One of the firstlessons he had learned at Space Academy was, during an emergency inspace when oxygen was low, to lie down and breath as slowly as possible.And, if possible, to go to sleep. Sleep, under such conditions, servedtwo purposes. While relaxed in sleep, the body used less oxygen andshould help fail to arrive, the victim would slip into a suffocatingunconsciousness, not knowing if and when death took the place of life.

  Tom lay on the deck of the small vessel and stared at the distant starsthrough the clear crystal roof of his jet boat. He breathed as lightlyas he could, taking short, slight breaths, holding them as long as hecould and then exhaling only when his lungs felt as if they would burst.He could see Regulus overhead, and Sirius, the two great stars shiningbrilliantly in the absolute blackness of space. He raised himself slowlyon one elbow and looked at the oxygen indicator. He saw that the needlehad dropped past the empty mark. He knew it wouldn't be long now. And heknew what he had to do. He took a last long look at the two giant stars,and then closed his eyes.

  Tom no longer tried to control his breathing, but took deep satisfyinglungfuls of oxygen and in a few moments slipped into a sound sleep.

  The jet boat roared on, carrying its sleeping occupant in an endlessspiral around the nameless asteroid.

  Not too many miles away, alone on the radar bridge of the giant rocketcruiser, Roger Manning, sweat popping out on his forehead, was tryingthe radar scanner on the three-hundred-and-tenth point on the compass.He connected the wires, glanced at the scanner, and shook his headdisgustedly. The scanner screen was still dark. Having adjusted thedelicate mechanism to eliminate the white flashes of static, he couldn'tfind them again. He sat back in his chair for a moment, mopping his browand watching the white hairline in its continuous swing around the faceof the scope. As the line swept to the top of the screen, he saw theblip outline of a jet boa
t and recognized it as one belonging to the_Polaris_. Then, slowly, the line swept down and Roger suddenly saw theblip outline of a second craft. With the experienced eye of a radarveteran, Roger was able not only to distinguish the jet boats from theasteroids, but from each other. He gripped the edge of the instrumentand shouted at the top of his voice. The second boat was a differentmodel!

  He reached for the audioceiver and switched it on.

  "Attention! Attention! Captain Strong! Astro! Come in! This is Manningaboard the _Polaris_! Come in!"

  Strong and Astro replied almost together.

  "Strong here!"

  "Astro here!"

  "I've spotted a jet boat!" Roger shouted. "You think it might be--"

  "Where?" bawled Astro before Roger could finish. "Where is it, yourockethead?"

  "As close as I can figure it, he's circling an asteroid, a big one, atthe intersection of sections twenty-one and twenty-two!"

  "Twenty-one and twenty-two! Got it!" yelled Astro.

  "I'll meet you there, Astro!" said Strong.

  Astro and Strong turned their small ships in the direction of theintersecting space sections. Astro was the first to spot the asteroid,but for a moment he couldn't see the jet boat on the opposite side ofthe small celestial body. Meanwhile, Strong, coming from the otherdirection, saw the boat and relayed the position to Astro. In a fewmoments the two space craft had regulated their speeds to that of Tom'sship and were hastily donning space suits. A quick look inside had shownthem Tom's sleeping body. As Astro started to open the crystal hatch ofhis ship to cross over to the other, Strong yelled over the audioceiver.

  "Astro, wait!"

  Astro looked across at the captain's ship questioningly.

  "Tom isn't in a space suit. If we open the hatch it would kill him.We've got to tow him back to the _Polaris_ and get his boat inside theair lock before we can open the hatch!"

  Without a word, Astro nodded, ducked inside his ship, and climbed outagain with a length of rope. Working quickly, he tied one end securelyto the bow of Tom's jet boat and made the other end fast to the stern ofhis. Then returning to his cockpit, he sent the jet boat hurtling backtoward the _Polaris_.

  But he was still faced with the problem of getting Tom's jet boat insidethe air lock. It was still under acceleration and there was no way toget inside to stop its jet motors. Astro called to Strong and explainedthe situation to him.

  "Looks like the only thing we can do, sir, is keep going until it runsout of fuel."

  "That might take too long, Astro," replied Strong. "No telling how muchoxygen Tom has left."

  "There's nothing else we can do, sir," replied Astro. "We can't brakeher to land inside the _Polaris_ and we can't open the hatch to turn offthe motor. We'll have to take a chance on Tom lasting until it runs outof fuel!"

  Inside the roaring craft, Tom suddenly opened his eyes. He began tocough. There was a roaring in his ears. The stars overhead swam dizzily.And then, as though through a billowing mist, he saw the jet boat aheadof him and the rope tied to his ship. He realized he had been rescued.He tried to signal them. He had to let them know he needed oxygen. Hetried to reach the communicator near the control panel but could notlift his arm. He fell back to the deck gasping for air; his lungsscreaming for oxygen. Something, thought Tom through the haze thatfogged his brain, something to signal them. Then, with the last of hisstrength, he raised up on one elbow and reached for the accelerationlever. His fingers trembled a few inches away from their goal. His facebegan to turn violent red. He strained a little more. The lever was aninch away. Finally, with the very last ounce of his strength, he touchedthe lever and pulled it back by the weight of his falling body.

  Even before the black cloud swept over him, Tom could hear the jetsbecome silent. He had signaled them. He had stopped the jet boat. Theywould know, now, how to save him.