Sabotage in Space

  CHAPTER 13

  "Atom City rocket liner now loading on Ramp Two!"

  The metallic voice of the dispatcher echoed through the waiting room ofthe subspaceport on the outskirts of Marsport and the passengers beganmoving toward the field gate, where the stewards of the ship checkedeach ticket against the liner's seating plan. Near them, a squad of fourSpace Marines scrutinized all passengers carefully as they boarded thewaiting jet cars that would take them to the ship far out in the middleof the field.

  Tom Corbett sat at the refreshment stand in the waiting room, sipping aglass of milk thoughtfully and eying the squad of Space Marines. He worea big-billed hat pulled low over his face and a tight-fitting blackjacket, the standard uniform of a merchant spaceman.

  "Anything else?" asked the pretty waitress behind the counter.

  "Yeah," growled Tom. "Gimme another glass of milk and another of thesecrummy sandwiches."

  "Well, you don't have to be rude about it!" snapped the girl. "Somebodyshould teach you space tramps some manners!"

  As she flounced off angrily the young cadet smiled. He knew his disguisemust be good indeed to fool this young girl, who met hundreds of peopleat the spaceport every day and could easily recognize a person for whathe truly was. Now his only hope was that the disguise would fool thesquad of Marines at the gate.

  After having abandoned the jet truck, Tom had moved through theglittering city of Marsport carefully, keeping to the dark alleys andshadows. Gradually he had worked his way back to the area around SloppySam's where, for a few credits, he had been able to buy a merchantspaceman's clothes with no questions asked. He buried his cadet uniformin the loose ground near a construction project.

  Then, staying in the area, he wandered in and out of the dingy bars andrestaurants looking for the man he had seen at the spaceport, the driverof the truck that had crashed the fence.

  He spent three days in his search, not daring to ask questions, simplykeeping his eyes open for the man. Finally he had been forced to abandonthe search when he saw a stereo newscast reporting that the missingcadet, Tom Corbett, had been traced to Skid Row. He decided that it wastime to leave Mars and went to the huge main spaceport, hoping to getaboard a ship bound for Earth. But the Space Marines were stationed atevery gate, examining each departing passenger carefully, and Tom knewit would be impossible to get past them. Then he noticed a posteradvertising special non-scheduled flights to Atom City, Earth, atreduced rates, that would blast off from a subspaceport on the outskirtsof the city. With renewed hope, he had gone there immediately and boughta ticket. Space Marines were on guard here too, but only a small squad.The cadet resolved to make his break here. He had no other choice.

  "Here's your milk!" said the waitress, slopping it down on the counterbefore the cadet. "And your sandwich!"

  _Tom saw that the Space Marines were watching thepassengers very closely_]

  Tom paid for the order and took his time about chewing the stalesandwich. He knew he had to get aboard the ship that was loading now,but the Space Marines were watching the passengers very closely.Suddenly Tom saw a spaceport attendant race up to the squad and hand amessage to the sergeant in command of the squad. Leaving the counter,Tom walked quickly to a newsstand near the gate, where he could standclose to the Marines. The sergeant read the message quickly and turnedto his squad. Tom strained his ears to listen.

  "We have to move out of here or we'll never get out," he said. "There'sa Martian sandstorm coming this way. It should hit in about fifteenminutes. This will be the last flight. Then nothing will get off theground until it blows over. May last for days."

  "But what about that cadet?" asked the man nearest to the sergeant."What if he shows up?"

  "Just about all the passengers for this flight are aboard now," growledthe sergeant. "Besides, do you see him anywhere?"

  Tom turned his back to the troopers quickly and heard the Marine reply,"Naw."

  "Then get your gear and pile on the truck outside," ordered thesergeant, "or we'll be living in this station for a couple of days."

  The Marines quickly marched away from the gate, through the waitingroom, and out the door.

  Tom dug into his pocket for the ticket to Atom City and stepped quicklyto the gate, presenting his ticket to the steward. "Spaceman Wilson!"Tom growled.

  The steward checked his ticket casually and announced, "Seat fourteen,berth twelve!"

  Tom walked through the gate, trying to look casual.

  "Hey you!" There was a sudden cry of alarm behind Tom and for a momenthe was tempted to run. But he turned slowly and looked back. The man atthe newsstand was shouting at him.

  "Ya tryin' to steal my paper?" he yelled.

  Tom looked down and saw that he was still holding the paper he hadpicked up to hide his face from the Marines. He smiled, reached into hispocket for a coin, and flipped it back to the man.

  "Sorry," he called and walked on.

  He hurried through a tunnel to the open area of the field where theother passengers were waiting in jet cars. He slipped into the nearestone and settled down beside a fat woman. She looked at him archly,sniffed audibly, and turned to stare out the window. Tom merely grinnedand settled deeper in the seat. In a moment the jet cab was speedingacross the small field to the waiting passenger ship.

  Safely inside the ship, Tom sank into his assigned seat, buckled hisacceleration belt, and listened to the voice of the skipper counting offthe seconds until blast off.

  "Five, four, three, two, one, _zero_!"

  There was very little acceleration shock, since this was a vesseldesigned for the comfort of the passengers. In fact, Tom found itdifficult to determine just exactly when it left the ground. The forceof the drive pushed him deep in his seat, to be sure, but it was agradual pressure and not at all like the sudden violent jerk that camewhen he gunned the _Polaris_.

  He smiled. There was considerably less power in this ship than in the_Polaris_!

  The thought of the giant rocket cruiser made him think about Roger andAstro. He wondered what they were doing and if they had stayed out oftrouble.

  During the trip back to Atom City, Tom kept to himself, avoiding theother passengers on the ship as much as possible, taking his meals inhis berth. The cadet had a lot of thinking to do. Though temporarilysafe, he knew he couldn't dodge the Solar Guard forever. He kept trackof his pursuit by stereo newscasts which the ship picked up from bothMars and Earth, and he was pleased to learn that the Marines and SolarGuardsmen were still searching for him in Marsport.

  There was one bit of information that was general news to the others onthe ship, but of particular interest to Tom. He had sat up in his berthand listened.

  "... The report of a sabotage attempt on a highly secret project now inprogress at Space Academy was denied today by project officials andCommander Walters. The commander said there was no basis for the reportthat the entire control panel of a new type ship had been destroyed."

  Tom switched off his set and settled back in his bunk. He saw throughthe denial by Commander Walters. There was no need to upset the publicand, more important, let the saboteur know how successful he had been.

  Though Tom knew who was responsible, this knowledge did not mean muchwhile he was still a fugitive. He would have to have proof. He wouldhave to have more than just _his_ word and accusation to make hischarges stick. But how to get it?

  "Attention," boomed the voice of the captain over the ship'sloud-speaker. "Fasten your deceleration belts, please! We land at AtomCity in thirty minutes. Fasten your deceleration belts, please!"

  Certain he wouldn't be seen by the passengers and crew strapped in forthe landing, Tom slipped out of his berth and down the companionway tothe luggage compartment. Safely inside, he examined the contents ofseveral expensive-looking bags, opening them by springing the locks withhis knife. Finally he found a set of civilian clothes that would fithim. Leaving a hundred credits in the suitcase, more than the clotheswere worth, he returned to his berth where he quickly washed, sh
aved,and dressed in the stolen clothes, steadying himself against thelurching of the ship as it made its landing approach.

  When the ship finally touched down at the Atom City spaceport, Tomwaited in his berth until he was sure most of the passengers had left.Then he walked quickly out of the ship, head down and hat pulled lowover his face, to lose himself in the crowded spaceport.

  Safe for the time being, at least until the Solar Guard traced him toEarth, Tom moved openly through the streets of Atom City and wentdirectly to the monorail station where he purchased a ticket for SpaceAcademy. He boarded a local train instead of the express and rode thejet-propelled train in the comfort of the dining car where he had a hugemeal.

  The stop before the Academy was a small village that catered to thewants of the hundreds of civilian workers at the Academy spaceport. Tomhad been there many times with Astro and Roger, and knew of a smallhotel where he could hide out until he could contact his unit mates.

  It was early evening when Tom registered at the hotel under the name ofJoseph Cazippi, an engineer from Titan Colony. Safely in his room, Tomturned to the window and stared longingly at the Tower of Galileo in thedistance, as it caught the last of the sun's rays and gleamed proudlyagainst the gathering night sky.

  He whirled away from the window and froze as someone knocked on the doorand a young voice called:

  "Lemme in, Tom!"

  The young cadet gulped in fear. Someone had recognized him! He wonderedif he should open the door or slip out of the window and leave.

  "Hey, Tom!" the voice called. "This is Tiny! Come on, lemme in."

  "Tiny!" shouted Tom in swift relief. He opened the door and a small boyof about twelve stepped inside.

  "Hiya, Tom," greeted the boy enthusiastically.

  Tom grinned his welcome. He and Roger and Astro had met the youngster onseveral of their trips to the village and had become great friends. Theyalways had to tell him stories about the Cadet Corps.

  "How did you know I was here, Tiny?" asked Tom.

  "I followed you from the monorail station," replied the boy. "Youcouldn't fool me in those civvies. Where's your uniform?"

  "Never mind that now," said Tom, kneeling before him. "Look, Tiny, canyou keep a secret?"

  "Sure!" said the boy gleefully. "Sure I can, Tom."

  "Well, I'm on a secret assignment, see?" whispered the cadet with aconspiratorial air. "And I need someone like you to help me. But youcan't tell anyone I'm here!"

  "Sure, I understand, Tom. Whatcha want me to do?"

  "Go to the Academy and find Astro and Roger. Tell them to come here atnine o'clock tonight. But remember, don't talk to anyone else!"

  "O.K.!" replied the youngster. "I getcha! You going to catch spies,Tom?"

  "I don't know yet, Tiny. But you do what I told you and then hurry rightback to me and tell me what they said!"

  The boy nodded and hurried off. From the window, Tom watched him climbon his jet bike and roar off into the gathering darkness toward theAcademy.

  It was nearly two hours before he heard the jet bike return and hehurried to the door, waiting impatiently for the boy to come in. Whenthe door opened and Tiny stepped in, Tom sensed immediately thatsomething was wrong.

  "Tom!" gasped Tiny, his eyes wide with shock. "You know what happened?"

  "What?"

  "Roger and Astro--" the boy stopped, seemingly unable to go on.

  "Didn't you see them?" demanded Tom.

  "Naw, I couldn't. They wouldn't let me."

  "Who wouldn't let you?"

  "The guards."

  "What guards? What are you talking about, Tiny?"

  "The guards at the jail! Roger and Astro are on the enlisted man's workgang for six months!" said Tiny.

  Hiding his shocked surprise, Tom hurriedly gave the boy a ten-creditnote and swore him to silence.

  "Now you hurry home, Tiny, and don't tell anyone you've seen me!" hesaid.

  "O.K., Tom," replied the boy. "But what does it all mean?"

  "I wish I knew," said Tom grimly. "And when I find out, Tiny, I promiseyou I'll let you know."

  When Tom was finally alone, he stood at the window, staring at thegleaming tower, now lighted and shining brilliantly in the darkness. Hesuddenly felt that he would never see the tower again.