CHAPTER XII
_Flight_
It was to Hawk Carse that the news of imminent danger came first.
He had staggered from the laboratory into a sleeping room and, clad ashe was, fallen over into a berth. He would have wakened in a fewhours, such was his custom of years to four-hour watches on ships, buthe was permitted less than an hour of sleep. A hand pulled at him; avoice kept calling his name. Awareness returned to him slowly as hisbrain roused from the coma of sleep.
"Captain Carse! Captain Carse! Wake up, sir!"
It was one of Leithgow's assistants, a man named Thorpe. His tone wasexcited and his manner distraught.
"Yes?" the Hawk muttered thickly. "What is it?"
"It's the asteroid, sir! I was instructed to watch it at intervals,but I--I guess I fell asleep, and just now--"
Carse sat up. "Yes? What?"
"--when I looked, through the glasses--it was gone!"
"Gone? You're sure? Let me see."
Swiftly, Thorpe at his heels, Carse strode out from the room to acubby just off the laboratory, the watch-post, where observationalelectelscopes and visi-screens provided a panorama of the surroundingterritory.
He gazed through the electelscope, which had been equipped with aninfra-red device and trained on the asteroid, and saw that now, wherethe massive body of rock had been poised, there was nothing. Only thebrilliant light of mid-afternoon, the cloudless sky. Carse swept theglass around. The search was fruitless. The heavens were bare. Theasteroid had gone.
In half a minute Carse had reasoned out the disappearance, saw theconsequences and made the inevitable decision. Gone was the torpor ofsleep, the weariness of the laboratory; this was a crisis, and thiswas his work. During the operations, he had been able merely to obeyorders and do manual work. Now he assumed command.
"Your lapse has imperilled us all," he said curtly to Thorpe. "Fromnow on we're in great danger. Stay here and keep on watch, and soundthe alarm immediately if the asteroid reappears."
"Yes, sir. I--I'm sorry--"
The adventurer cut him off with a frigid nod and ran on silent, rapidfeet to the laboratory, where both Ban Wilson and Friday lay fastasleep. Roughly Carse shook them into consciousness. Trained toshipboard routine and the sudden emergencies of space, they needed butlittle time to return to full wakefulness. In staccato sentences thenew situation was outlined to them.
"The asteroid's gone. That means danger to everything here. We willhave to evacuate. Ban, wake all the men, including Ku Sui and hisassistants, then come to me for further orders. Friday, see thatLeithgow's ship is ready for instant departure. Quick!"
Alarmed, but without questions, the two parted on their separateerrands. Carse went to the room where Eliot Leithgow lay asleep.
* * * * *
The pallor and weariness of the old scientist's face were emphasizedby the alarming news his friend brought him, but he took it withspirit, and his voice was level and controlled as he asked:
"What does it mean, Carse? What must we do?"
"Leave, Eliot, and at once. We have no choice. Our danger while hereis immense. The asteroid, in the hands of enemies, could crush us likea fly, simply by coming down on the top of the hill."
"But who could have taken it? There was no one on it, was there?"
The Hawk said wryly: "I thought not, but well, you remember the secretpanel in Dr. Ku's laboratory?"
"Through, which he escaped before? Yes."
"I suspected that he might have someone hidden behind it, and Iintended to question him when he was under the V-27, but in theterrific rush of things it slipped my mind. Sheer carelessness, Eliot;I'm very sorry. I should have known, for when we captured Ku Sui hespoke some words in Chinese through his helmet-radio. Now I can seethat they must have gone to some man of his hidden there; and thatman, obeying instructions, simply lay low, heard all that passed inDr. Ku's laboratory, and then, at a suitable opportunity, took theasteroid away in search of allies. He knows his master is a prisonerhere and unquestionably he will be back to release him. We must be outof here and far away by the time he arrives."
"Yes," Leithgow nodded slowly. "As you say, there is no choice."
"But your work here is finished, Eliot," Carse went on. "If only wecan get to Earth safely, with Ku Sui and the brains in their newbodies, we will have achieved everything we wanted to achieve. We haveproof of the crime done you, and we have Ku Sui, too. Your positionwill be restored and the blame put where it belongs. But we must leavefor Earth at once! God knows how near the asteroid is, or who's onit."
"All right, Carse." The scientist got up. "What are yourinstructions?"
Ban Wilson appeared in the door, reporting that all the men had beenaccounted for and awakened. Carse started the wheels moving.
"Everything of value here must be transported aboard the ship. Eliot,you know better than I what to take, so you'll assume charge of theloading. Ban, you and all the men save two of Eliot's assistants willhelp. I'll need them to move the bodies. Send them to me in thelaboratory. But first, be sure Ku Sui and his four men are safelyconfined. All right; let's go."
Within half an hour the general evacuation was finished and the shiploaded.
* * * * *
The _Sandra_, Leithgow's ship, bearing his daughter's name, was asturdy vessel designed more for comfort and utility than speed, and soher appointments, including offensive and defensive weapons, thoughmodern were limited. Her commodious cargo-holds were easily capable ofaccommodating all of the Master Scientist's laboratory instruments anddevices, the volumes of his extensive library, his great mass ofpersonal papers and more intimate effects; all the more importantstores of the place, too, and its furnishings. The laboratory and itssurrounding rooms were pretty well stripped.
The largest of the _Sandra's_ cabins was transformed under thedirection of Leithgow into a hospital bay, and the five cots bearingthe prostrate, unconscious bodies of the patients put there. Thoughhastily improvised, this hospital was complete, as fully equipped andnearly as efficient as if it were on Earth and not in the belly of aspace-ship. The chances of the patients for complete recovery were notdiminished in any way by the sudden necessity for flight.
In a second, much smaller cabin, Dr. Ku Sui was confined by himself.Its walls, of course, were of metal, and there was no possible meansof exit from it save by the door, which bore double locks. TheEurasian, silent and drugged and stupid, immediately stretched histall form out on the single berth and in seconds was again soundasleep. A third cabin was made over to his four assistants.
With everything completed, the underground refuge bare of articles ofvalue and the _Sandra_ stored and made ready for the long trip, theinner door of the exit tube swung open, and the ship slid slowly outof her cradle and into the water chamber for the last time. Her flightto Earth had begun.
Eliot Leithgow stood near the Hawk in the control cabin, and his oldface was made sad by many memories. For years, this place that he wasnow leaving had been his only home, his one sure haven. How carefully,long ago, had he and Carse planned it and built it! How many times hadthey met there, often when danger was close and enemies near, andcemented still more firmly the bonds between them! To Leithgow, thehill symbolized safety and friendship and his beloved work. Dangerous,weary years, those he had spent in the hill, but pricelessnevertheless, warmed as they were by his achievements and thefriendship of Hawk Carse.
Now he was leaving it and going back to Earth. The outlaw years, itseemed, were ended: Ku Sui was a prisoner, and the proof of his greatcrime, which had been laid to Leithgow, was aboard. Earth--greenEarth! Separate, distinct, peerless in the universe; home of men, ofhis kind! He had loved and worked and known honor and respect onEarth; it held the grave of his wife, and the fresh, warm young loveof his wife reincarnate, his daughter Sandra. He was at last goinghome to Earth from his exile on this desolate, raw frontier post.
There was a choking in Eliot Leithgow's throat
at leaving the hill,and he turned away, afraid at that moment of being observed by thesteel-gray eyes of his friend, Hawk Carse....
* * * * *
The _Sandra_ swam up through the lake's muddy tide and launchedherself, dripping, into the warm air of afternoon. Her generatorshummed with life given them by the firm hand at the controls, andswiftly she arrowed forth into the blue. With a few words as to thevisual course, Carse handed the space-stick over to Friday, anddevoted himself to the matter of the watches.
Satellite III dropped swiftly to concavity, as the _Sandra_ wasexpertly jockeyed through the rare outer layer of the stratosphere,became a true globe again. The Negro reported:
"Through the atmosphere, suh. Orders?"
"Full acceleration. Continue visually for the present. I'll work outthe true course in a few minutes."
"Yes, suh!"
The hum of the generators deepened. In a matter of ten minutes,shipboard routine was arranged, Carse, Friday and Ban splitting thewatches. The Hawk, as was his custom, took the first. Friday wasrelieved of the space-stick and immediately went back for sleep, asdid Wilson. Eliot Leithgow did not retire right away, however.
He watched Carse snap on the automatic control and go to anelectelscope which had been equipped with an infra-red device. Hedirected it rearward on Satellite III, back along the course the_Sandra_ had described, and peered through its eyepiece for severalminutes. Then he turned to the old scientist.
"Nothing," he said. "No sign of the asteroid as yet. We'll have tokeep careful watch. The visi-screen's useless against the invisibilityof the asteroid; and the high magnification of this scope, with itsresulting small field of view, will require us continually andmethodically to search through a wide circle behind, in the attempt topick up the asteroid, should it appear. A tedious job, with chances ofsighting it about even.... At any rate, we'll have some sort of ahead-start," he finished.
* * * * *
This was the opportunity Leithgow had waited for; he wanted a fewfrank words with his friend.
"Carse," he said slowly, "I wonder just where that man concealedbehind the secret panel would take the asteroid?"
"I've thought about that too," replied the Hawk. "We may be sure thathe went for allies: Dr. Ku has several on Satellite III. Of them all,I think he would go for Lar Tantril."
"Tantril?"
"Yes, I think so. Lar Tantril, the Venusian. A fellow of muchself-confidence and one of Ku Sui's chief agents, and who atpresent"--he smiled faintly--"nurses a special bitterness against me.I told you how I tricked him on his ranch. He'd be very eager topursue us in the asteroid simply for the opportunity of repaying mefor that trick." The adventurer's left hand rose to the bangs offlaxen hair combing down over his forehead, and he murmured, musingly:"I rather hope it _is_ Lar Tantril...."
"You hope so?" Leithgow repeated, surprised. "When he hates you so?And would be on the lookout for tricks? Why?"
"I would guess, Eliot, that Lar Tantril is not notable for intellect.Blustering, domineering--pretty much of a braggart, you know.Certainly he is not a model of caution; and he is not acquainted withDr. Ku's asteroid, for he did not even know it existed. He will beable to run it, of course, with the advice of this hidden man, butsurely he will not have the perception to discern the weakness in it.Yes, I hope it is he."
Leithgow went on to the main thing on his mind.
"I'm a little unsettled, Carse," he admitted. "I've been imaginingthis as the end of my outlaw years, and the beginning of myre-establishment on Earth. But this ship is slow, and I see now thatif the asteroid does pursue us and capture us.... What do you reallythink of our chances?"
* * * * *
The Hawk pursed his lips slightly, and for a little while he lookedaway and did not answer. When his voice came, it was tinged withbitterness.
"Eliot," he said, "I've been trying to find an excuse for my lapse.But there is none. It was the blunder of a novice, my not rememberingto question Ku Sui about that secret panel. That was the cardinalpoint, yet it slipped my mind, in my preoccupation with theemergencies connected with the restoration of the brains.
"Our chances are only fair, Eliot; I'm telling you frankly how itappears to me. I believe we'll be pursued, and if we are the odds aregreatly against us. The asteroid's far more powerful than we. AndJupiter only knows what new offensive resources Ku Sui may have givenit: I had no time to study the several strange mechanisms I saw in itscontrol room. Then, no nearby patrol ship would help us if we wereattacked, for to them our enemy would be invisible, and they'd thinkus crazy."
He paused. But seeing the somber expression on the other's face, hesmiled and cuffed him on the back.
"But maybe we won't even be pursued, Eliot! Maybe we'll be too farahead for them to catch us! No doubt I've made it look too serious, socheer up! We're alive, we've got everything we wanted, and we'rehitting at full speed for Earth! And you know the luck of thatspace-adventurer they call the Hawk!"
Leithgow smiled gently in answer, then left the cabin for the sleep heneeded so badly. Hawk Carse was left alone on watch in the fleeing_Sandra_.
A lonely, intent figure, he stood over the chart-table, working outtheir best course to Earth. Presently, however, he went back to theinfra-red electelscope and swept it over the leagues behind. Carsecould not detect any sign of the asteroid, but he remained for alittle while at the eyepiece, staring at Satellite III. There it lay,a diminishing globe, three-quarters of it gleaming in the light flungby Jupiter. Dark patches mottled it: they would be the jungles. Andthere was the scintillant sheet that was the Great Briney Lake, withPort o' Porno nearby. On the other side of the little world, now, laythe hill containing Leithgow's laboratory. All going ... going ...falling swiftly behind. Satellite III, scene of so many clashes, plotsand counter-plots, where so many times he and Eliot Leithgow hadfought off the reaching hand of Ku Sui--soon it would be a millionmiles away. What adventures would he have before he saw it again?...
A little sound came from the Hawk, a half-sigh. Abruptly he called oneof the men on his watch and stationed him at the 'scope, and then hereturned to the chart-table and the work of calculating their courseto Earth.