On the Trail of the Space Pirates

  CHAPTER 18

  "Have you got everything straight?" asked Coxine. Simms nodded his head.

  "All right, blast off," ordered the pirate. "We'll follow you and keepyou spotted on radar. If it's a trap, head for asteroid fourteen, bailout in a jet boat, and let the scout keep going. We'll pick you uplater."

  Simms nodded again and turned to his old partner, Wallace. "So long,Gus." He smiled. "This is one time the Solar Guard gets it right whereit hurts!"

  "Yeah," agreed Wallace. "See you later. Take it easy on that asteroidand don't get in trouble with the girls!"

  The two men laughed and Simms turned to climb into the waiting rocketscout. The sleek ship had been stripped down until it was hardly morethan a power deck and control panel. She was now capable of more thantwice her original speed. As the little spaceman disappeared into theair lock, Coxine turned to Wallace.

  "We'll give him an hour's head start and then blast off after him. Andremember, the first man that breaks audio silence will get blasted!"

  All eyes were on the tiny rocket scout as its jets, roaring into life,lifted free of the pirate planetoid. When the speedy little ship haddisappeared into space, Coxine turned to his crew and ordered animmediate alert. While the criminals readied the armed privateer forblast-off, Coxine and Wallace climbed directly to the radar bridge.

  Joe Brooks was hunched in front of the scanner, staring intently. Helooked up when the two pirate officers entered.

  "Just following Lieutenant Simms on the radar, skipper," said Brooks."He's blasting through the asteroid belt faster than I thought hecould."

  "Lemme see!" growled Coxine. The giant pirate stared at the scanner andhis mouth twisted into a grin. He turned away and barked several orders."Wallace, stand by to blast off in two minutes! Brooks, get me a bearingon that ship."

  "You mean Simms?" asked the radarman.

  "No! I mean that ship, right there," snapped Coxine. He pointed to awhite blip on the scanner. "And after you get the bearing I want acourse that'll intersect it in"--Coxine paused and glanced at the astralchronometer--"ten minutes!"

  Quickly calculating the bearing and working up the course as ordered,Brooks handed Coxine a slip of paper. The pirate glanced at it briefly.

  "What would you say Simms' speed would be if he kept his ship on fullthrust, Brooks?" asked Coxine.

  Brooks thought a moment. "I'd say it would be about half of what he'smaking now!"

  "Exactly!" roared Coxine. "That's why the ship on your scanner isn'tSimms' at all, but another ship!"

  The radarman studied the scanner, where, with each sweep of the thinwhite line, the blip of the ship appeared. "You mean it might be theTitan pay roll?" he breathed hopefully.

  "Yeah," breathed Coxine. "I mean it might be the Titan pay roll, andthen again it might not!" Coxine turned away, leaving the radarmanutterly confused.

  Within the two-minute deadline that Coxine had ordered, the members ofhis crew were locking the last air lock and securing ship for blast-off.Coxine sat in front of the control panel, ready to give the final orderthat would send the vessel hurtling into space. In a little while, theevil mind, the twisted brain of Bull Coxine would be pitted against themight of the Solar Guard.

  * * * * *

  Captain Strong sat on the control deck of the decoy ship, watching theradar scanner and waiting for the appearance of Bull Coxine and hiscrew. Again and again, the young Solar Guard officer, too restless toremain in one spot, got up and paced the deck.

  He flipped on a chart screen and studied the positions of thesurrounding asteroids, which he knew hid the Solar Guard fleet, ready topounce on any attacking ship. Schooled for years in facing the tedium ofspace travel and patrolling the space lanes, Strong nevertheless wasanxious for something to happen, as minute after minute slipped past andno attack came.

  Once he thought he saw something move on the scanner and gripped thesides of the instrument tightly as a blip appeared, disappeared, andthen reappeared. Finally Strong was able to distinguish what it was andhe turned away in disgust. It had been a maverick asteroid, one which,because of its positive gravity, never became a captive of other bodiesin space. It wandered aimlessly through the belt, a danger spacemenfeared more than any other, since it could not be depended upon toremain in one position.

  Unable to break audio silence and communicate with the hidden SolarGuard fleet around him, lest he give away their positions, Strong foundthe loneliness driving him into a case of jitters and nerves.

  Suddenly he jumped up and stared unbelievingly at the scanner. There infront of him was a blip, traveling at amazing speed, straight for hisship. From its size and shape, Strong could tell it was a rocket scout.He watched it for a moment dumfounded at the speed of the small ship.When he was certain that it was heading for him, he grabbed theaudioceiver microphone and began calling hurriedly.

  "Attention all ships! This is Captain Strong. Spaceship approaching me,starboard quarter, one-one-five degrees. Estimated speed--" Strongpaused and watched the moving blip. "Speed unknown. All ships close inimmediately!"

  On the scanner, Strong could see the flashes of blips as the squadronsroared out of concealment and closed in on the approaching rocket scout.Over the audioceiver he could hear the squadron commanders snappingorders to their ships as the small ship still headed, unheedingly, forhis decoy vessel.

  Suddenly the attacking ship slowed and Strong could see the blip turn ina wide-sweeping curve. But it was too late. The Solar Guard ships had itsurrounded from every possible angle. The little scout made a desperatedash straight for Strong's ship. In a flash, he saw the plan of theship's pilot. He was heading for Strong, hoping to use him as a shieldfrom the mighty six-inch blasters trained on him.

  Strong grabbed for the control and fired full thrust on his starboardjets, sending the decoy vessel into a screaming dive. The attacking shiptried to follow, but seeing it couldn't make it, turned and tried toescape from the surrounding ships. Instinctively Strong shouted awarning to the pilot to surrender, but even as he spoke, he saw thefiring flashes sparkle on the hulls of a dozen fleet vessels as theysent their deadly atomic missiles converging like lightning arrows onthe speedy rocket scout.

  There was a burst of pure white fire on the scanner and then the youngcaptain gulped as the attacking ship was blasted into a hulk of twistedmetal.

  Strong grabbed the audioceiver microphone and shouted orders to thefleet squadron leaders.

  " ... Squadron L! Put out immediate rescue jet boats and begin salvageoperations. All remaining ships will return to Solar Guard base, SpaceAcademy. End transmission!"

  Strong hurried to the air lock, hastily put on a space suit, and in afew moments was blasting in a jet boat toward the remains of theattacking scout.

  Immediately the communications of the departing fleet were filled withtalk of their victory over the pirate band. Strong alone felt uneasyabout their success. For Coxine to attack in a light rocket scout, whichStrong felt sure had been stripped down to gain more speed, did notfollow the pattern which the hardened pirate had established in previousraids.

  When he arrived at the wreckage of the rocket scout, Strong found thathis fears were justified.

  A crew chief from one of the rescue squads approached Strong; his bodyweightless in space, the man grappled for a handhold on a jutting pieceof the twisted wreck, and then spoke to Strong over the helmetspacephones.

  "We found only one person aboard, sir," he reported. "And the shipappears to have been stripped of everything but engines and controlpanel."

  Behind the protective glass of his helmet, Strong grimaced. He turned toCaptain Randolph. "We've been tricked again, Randy," said Strongbitterly. "We used a decoy and so did Coxine!"

  * * * * *

  "They're closing in!" Roger's voice crackled through the intercom fromthe radar bridge. "Do we fight or do we let those space crawlers takeover?"

  "Fight!" bellowed Astro from the power deck.
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  "No! Wait!" cried Tom. "We haven't a chance! If we don't heave to,Coxine'll blast us into space junk!"

  Rocketing through the asteroid belt with the Titan pay roll, the threespace cadets, under strict orders to maintain communications silence,were unaware that Bull Coxine had outsmarted Captain Strong. Sending inthe rocket scout, he had sprung the Solar Guard trap and had cagilyscanned the belt for another ship. Finding the _Polaris_ easily, thepirate captain was blasting in for the attack.

  On the control deck of the Solar Guard cruiser, Tom Corbett desperatelytried to think of a plan to outwit Coxine, while his unit-mates urgedhim to fight back.

  "What's the matter, Junior?" Roger called over the intercomsarcastically. "Scared to fight?"

  "You know I'm not," snapped Tom in reply.

  "By the rings of Saturn," growled Astro, "I never thought you'dsurrender to anybody, Tom!"

  "Listen, both of you!" shouted Tom. "It's no use! We've got to play thissmart!"

  "Well, start making with the brains," sneered Roger. "Coxine's in rangenow."

  "Attention--" A harsh unmistakable voice rumbled over the audioceiver."This is Bull Coxine! Heave to or you'll be blasted!"

  "All right, Junior," said Roger bitterly, "company's coming. What now?"

  "Cut all power, Astro--fast!" ordered Tom.

  "What's the matter?" growled Astro. "Afraid they'll shoot if you don'tstop fast enough?"

  "Keep your big trap shut and do as I tell you!" snapped Tom.

  "Listen, Junior!" snarled Roger. "As far as I'm concerned--"

  Tom interrupted him. "_You_ listen, you idiot! Don't you see what'shappened? Coxine must have found out about the decoy ship, and when weshowed up on his scanner, he figured right away that we might have theTitan pay roll."

  "So what?" demanded Roger. "That still doesn't let you off for notbelting that crawler with our six-inchers!"

  "Use your head!" snapped Tom. "With the Solar Guard squadrons on theother side of the belt and with no gun crews on our ship, how far do youthink we'd have gotten?"

  "You didn't have to surrender, Tom," said Astro. "I could have outrunCoxine in nothing flat. Why, I haven't got half the speed out of thisold girl I think she's got."

  "A great idea, bird brain! Run away from the very guy the Solar Guard'sgoing crazy trying to find!"

  The intercom was suddenly silent as Astro and Roger began to understandTom's decision and waited for him to elaborate on his idea.

  "Now, listen, Roger," said Tom patiently, "we've got about five minutesbefore those crawlers will be aboard. How long will it take you to makea signal beacon that'll send out a constant automatic SOS?"

  "A what?" asked Roger.

  "Beacon. One that will transmit on the Solar Guard special frequency andbe small enough to hide here on the _Polaris_."

  "Why hide it on the _Polaris_?" asked Astro. "Why not try to get it ontheir ship?" His tone was almost apologetic now that he realized Tom wasnot planning a cowardly surrender.

  "It's a cinch they'll take the _Polaris_ over," explained Tom. "She'sfast and she's got six-inch blasters."

  "I get it!" yelped Astro. "We plant the beacon on the _Polaris_, andwhen they take her over, the signal will be going out all the time."Astro paused. "But wait a minute. They'll be sure to search the shipfirst!"

  "First things first, Astro," answered Tom. "Roger, can you make thebeacon?"

  "Yeah," said Roger, "but it'll take me at least a half hour!"

  "You've got to finish it faster than that!" Tom insisted.

  "I can't, Tom. I just can't."

  "All right, then we'll have to stall as best we can. Get to work.Meantime, Astro and I will find a place to hide it. How big do you thinkit'll be?"

  There was a momentary pause and then Roger replied, "No smaller than sixinches. About like a shoe box."

  "Could you make it three inches thick, and longer, instead ofbox-shaped?"

  Roger hesitated again. "Yeah, I guess so. Why?"

  "Because I just thought of a good place to hide it. They'd have to tearthe ship apart to find it, _if_ they even hear the signal!"

  "Attention! Attention! This is Coxine--" The pirate's voice bawled overthe audioceiver again. "You are under my guns. Stand by to receive aboarding party. If you make any attempt to escape, you will be blasted!"

  Tom grabbed the microphone to the audioceiver and replied, "Ordersunderstood, but you'll have to wait until we can build up air pressurein the air lock."

  "Very well," said Coxine. "We'll give you fifteen minutes."

  Tom thought desperately. "You'll have to wait at least a half hour. Webroke a valve and have to replace it!"

  Coxine's voice became suspicious. "Hey, what're you trying to pull?"

  "Honest, Mister Coxine," whined Tom, "we're not doing anything."

  "Fifteen minutes," roared Coxine, "or I blast a hole in your ship!"

  "Yes, sir!" answered Tom, fully aware that the pirate captain wouldcarry out his threat.

  Dropping the audioceiver microphone, the young cadet hurried to thepower deck, where Astro waited impatiently.

  "Grab a couple of cutting torches, Astro," he said, "and get me alead-lined suit. I'm going into the reactant chamber."

  "What?" demanded Astro.

  "You heard me! I'm going to hide that beacon where they'll never findit."

  "In the reactant chamber?" asked Astro. "Impossible!"

  "Remember when we first arrived at the prison asteroid? How thoroughlywe were searched?"

  Astro nodded.

  "Remember, they even searched the space between the inner and outerhulls? There's three inches of clearance in there. If I cut into thatspace through the reactant chamber and put the beacon inside, the noiseof the jets will keep Coxine from hearing it, and the radioactivity inthe chamber will keep them from picking it up on their detectors!"

  Astro's face spread into a wide grin, and without another word, he beganpreparing the cutting torches. Ten minutes later Tom emerged from thechamber and nodded triumphantly. "All set, Astro! Now all we need is thebeacon."

  Suddenly the _Polaris_ was rocked by a heavy explosion.

  "They're firing!" yelled Astro.

  "Roger! Have you finished the beacon?" demanded Tom over the intercom.

  "I need another five minutes!" answered Roger. "I have to set the signalto send out the SOS."

  "Will it send out _anything_?" asked Tom.

  The _Polaris_ rocked again from a second explosion.

  "I don't know, Tom," yelled Roger. "I haven't even tested it!"

  A third explosion jarred the rocket cruiser and the curly-haired cadetknew that the air lock must have been demolished by now.

  "Bring down what you've got, Roger!" he yelled. "We'll just have to takea chance that it'll work. And grab yourself a space suit on the waydown. When they blast through the inner portal of the lock, we'll need'em!"

  "Right!" replied Roger. "Be down there in a second."

  Astro and Tom hurriedly donned space suits and waited for Roger to bringthe beacon. In a moment the blond-haired cadet appeared with thehurriedly contrived beacon. Tom quickly placed it between the two hullsand sealed the hole in the inner hull.

  A fourth explosion rocked the ship and the three cadets knew that by nowthe air lock had been blasted away. They put on their space helmets andclimbed the ladder to the upper deck.

  Coxine met them near the air lock, two paralo-ray guns clutched in hisgloved hands. Behind him, his crew swarmed in and fanned out all overthe ship.

  But the space pirate stood on the control deck, glaring at Tom. "Whaddyaknow! The Space Kid himself!"

  "That's right, Coxine," said Tom quietly, "only the real name isCorbett."

  Suddenly there was a triumphant shout from one of the pirates. "Skipper!The credits! All twenty million! We found 'em!"

  Over their spacephones the three cadets could hear the pirates yellingand cheering. Coxine bellowed for silence and the cheering quicklysubsided.

  Paying no furt
her attention to the three cadets, the pirate captainordered his men to repair the hole in the air lock and prepare forimmediate acceleration. There was a triumphant gleam in his eyes as heannounced their destination.

  "With the Solar Guard on the other side of the belt, we're going to hitthe richest prize in the universe! The colony on Ganymede!"

  He then turned and smiled at his three prisoners, adding menacingly,"And we've got three passes to get us through the defenses!"