The Revolt on Venus

  CHAPTER 12

  "You're right, Tom," said Major Connel. "They must be around heresomewhere. Start looking. If they're not here, it may mean he's stillalive."

  It was Tom who had thought of looking for Astro's weapons. Refusing tobelieve that his unit mate had been killed, the curly-haired cadet wasexamining the torn jungle suit when the idea occurred to him.

  Quickly Roger, Connel, and Tom spread out over the trampled area,searching the underbrush for Astro's paralo-ray pistol or shock rifle.Connel examined the underbrush and vines closely for scorch marks madeby the blaster. Finding none, he rejoined the boys.

  "Well?" he asked.

  "Nothing, sir," replied Roger.

  "Can't find them, Major," said Tom.

  Connel smacked his fists together and spoke excitedly. "I'm sure Astrowouldn't be caught unawares by a couple of things like a snake or atyrannosaurus without putting up a fight. If he was attacked suddenly,he would have fired at least one shot, and if it went wild, it wouldhave burned the vines and brush around here. You didn't find hisweapons, and there are no scorched areas. I'll stake my life on it,Astro's alive!"

  Roger's and Tom's faces brightened. They knew Connel had no proof, butthey were willing to believe anything that would keep their hopes fortheir giant unit mate alive.

  "Now," said Connel, "assuming he is not dead, and that he is somewherein the jungle, we have to figure out what he would do."

  Roger was thoughtful a moment. "How long would he last without hisjungle suit, sir?"

  "What do you mean?" asked Connel.

  Tom's eyes lit up. "If he's alive, sir, then he's probably following apath or trail that would keep him away from heavy underbrush," he said.

  Connel thought a moment. "There's only one trail away from here." Heturned and pointed to the trail made by the tyrannosaurus. "That one."

  The three spacemen stared at the wide path left by the huge beast.Connel hesitated. "It's due north," he said finally. "We've come a fullday west and should be making a turn north. We'll follow thetyrannosaurus's trail for a full day."

  Roger and Tom grinned. They knew Connel was making every effort to findAstro, while still keeping his mission in mind.

  The three spacemen moved along the trail quickly, eyes alert for anysign Astro might have left. Connel saw the great bloodstains left by thetyrannosaurus and cautioned the two cadets. "This tyranno is woundedpretty badly. It might be heading back for its lair, but it might notmake it, and stop along the way. Be careful and keep your eyes open forany sign that he might have--"

  Connel was stopped by Tom's sudden cry. "Major! Look!"

  Connel turned and stared. A thousand yards ahead of them on the brokentrail they saw the monstrous bulk of a tyrannosaurus emerge from thegloom.

  "By the rings of Saturn," breathed Connel, "that's the one!"

  The great beast spotted the three Earthmen at the same instant. Itraised itself on its hind legs, and shaking its massive head in anger,started to charge down its own trail toward them.

  "Disperse!" cried Connel. "Take cover!"

  Tom and Roger darted to one side of the trail while Connel dived for theother. Taking cover behind a tree, the boys turned and pointed theirrifles down the trail. They saw that the tyrannosaurus had alreadycovered half the distance between them.

  "Aim for the legs!" shouted Connel, from his place of concealment."Don't try for a head shot! He's moving too fast! Give it to him in thelegs. Try to cut him down!"

  Roger and Tom lay flat on the ground and trained their rifles on theapproaching beast.

  "I'll take the right leg," said Roger. "You take the left, Tom."

  "On target!" replied Tom, squinting through the sight.

  "Ready!" Connel's voice roared across the trail.

  Only a hundred and fifty feet away the tyrannosaurus, hearing Connel'svoice, suddenly stopped. Its head weaved back and forth as though itsuspected a trap.

  "Fire!" roared Connel.

  Tom and Roger fired together, but at the same moment the monster lungedtoward Connel's position. Both shots missed, the energy charges merelyscorching its sides.

  The tyrannosaurus roared with anger and turned toward the boys, headdown and the claws of its short forelegs extended.

  At that moment Connel opened fire, aiming for the monster's vulnerableneck. But it was well protected behind its shoulders and the spacemanonly succeeded in drawing the beast's attention back to himself.

  At this instant Tom and Roger opened fire again, sending violent shockcharges into the beast's hide. Caught in the withering cross fire, itturned blindly on the boys and charged at them. The two cadets firedcoolly, rapidly, unable to miss the great bulk. The air became acridwith the sharp odor of ionized air. Maddened now beyond the limits ofits endurance, hit at least twenty times and wild with pain, the greatking of the Venusian jungle bore down on the two cadets.

  Roger and Tom saw that their fire was not going to stop thetyrannosaurus's charge. They were pouring a nearly steady stream of fireinto the monster now, while on the other side of the trail Connel wasdoing the same, raking the monstrous hulk from the forelegs to thehindquarters.

  The boys jumped back, Tom still facing the beast and firing his riflefrom the waist. But Roger stumbled in the tangle of the underbrush andfell backward, dropping his rifle. The beast's head swooped low, jawsopen.

  Seeing Roger's danger, Tom jumped downward again without hesitation andfired point-blank at the beast's scaly head, only ten feet away.

  The monster roared in sudden agony and pulled back, jerking his head upagainst a thick branch of the tree overhead. The limb tore loose underthe impact and fell crashing to the ground on top of Roger.

  From behind, Connel stepped closer to the tyrannosaurus and fired from atwenty-five-foot range. It wavered and stumbled back, obviously mortallywounded. From both sides Tom and Connel poured their weapons' power intothe giant beast. Blinded, near death, the monster wavered uncertainly.Bellowing in fear and pain, it turned and lumbered back down the trail.

  Connel and Tom watched it until they were certain it could not attackthem without warning again, and then they hurried to Roger. The heavytree limb had landed across his back, pinning him to the ground.

  "Roger!" yelled Tom. "Roger, are you all right?"

  The blond-haired cadet didn't answer. Grabbing a stout branch lying onthe ground near by, Connel and Tom worked it beneath the limb which layacross Roger's body and pried it up.

  "I've got it," said Connel, holding the weight of the limb on hisshoulder. "Pull him out!"

  Tom quickly pulled the unconscious cadet clear and laid him on theground. Dropping the limb, Connel bent down to examine the boy. He ranhis fingers along Roger's spine, feeling the bones one by one throughthe skin-tight jungle suit. Finally he straightened and shook his head."I can't tell anything," he said. "We'll have to take him back toSinclair's right away." He stood up. "I'll make a stretcher for him.Meanwhile, you go after that tyranno and finish him off. He's prettyfar gone, but you never can tell."

  "Aye, aye, sir," replied Tom. He picked up his rifle and reloaded it,checking it carefully. He repeated the precaution with Roger's blaster.

  "Hurry up," urged Connel, already reaching for a suitable branch. "Timemeans everything now."

  "Be right back, sir," replied Tom. And as he walked away, he looked backat the unconscious form of his unit mate. He could not help reflectingon the bitter fact that already two members of the expedition were indanger, and they were no closer to their goal of finding theNationalists' hidden base.

  Moving carefully, one of the two rifles slung over his shoulder, theother in his hand ready for use, Tom followed the trail of thetyrannosaurus. Two thousand yards farther along he saw a place where themonster had fallen and then struggled back to its feet to stagger on.Rounding a turn in the trail, Tom stopped abruptly. Before him, not ahundred feet away, the beast lay sprawled on the ground. The area allaround was devoid of any vegetation. It was trampled down to the blacksoil. Tom deduced
that it was the beast's lair. He pressed forwardcautiously until he was a scant thirty feet away, and crouched betweenthe roots of a huge tree where he would be protected should the monsterbe able to rise and fight again.

  Sighting carefully on the base of the monster's neck, he squeezed thetrigger of the shock rifle. A full energy charge hit the tyrannosaurusin its most vulnerable spot. It jerked under the sudden blast,involuntarily tried to rise to its feet, and then fell back, the groundshaking under the impact of its thirty tons. Then, after one convulsivekick with its hind legs that uprooted a near-by tree, the beaststiffened and lay still.

  Tom waited, watching the beast for signs of life. After five minutes hestepped forward cautiously, his rifle ready. He circled thetyrannosaurus slowly. The great bulk towered above him, and the cadet'seyes widened in amazement at the size of the fallen giant. Stopping atits head, which was as wide as he was tall, Tom looked at the jaws andteeth that had torn so many foes into bloody bits, and shook his head.He had come to the jungle to kill just such a beast. But with Astromissing and Roger unconscious the thrill of victory was somehow missing.He turned and headed back down the trail.

  Connel had finished the litter by the time Tom returned, and the officerwas leaning over the blond-haired cadet, examining his back again.

  "We'd better move out right away, Tom," said Connel. "I still can't tellwhat's wrong. It may be serious, and then it may be nothing more thanjust shock. But we can't take a chance."

  Tom nodded. "Very well, sir." He adjusted his shoulder pack, slung bothrifles over his shoulder, and started to pick up his end of the litterwhen suddenly the jungle silence was shattered by a deafening roar.Connel jumped to his feet!

  "Corbett!" he cried. "That's a rocket ship blasting off!"

  "It sure sounded like it, sir," replied Tom.

  "And I'll stake my life it's not more than a half mile away!"

  The two men jumped out into the trail and scanned the sky. Theunmistakable roar of a spaceship echoed through the jungle. The ship wasaccelerating, and the reverberations of the rocket exhaust rolled overthe treetops. Suddenly a flash of gleaming metal streaked across the skyand Connel roared.

  "We've found it, Corbett!" He slapped the cadet on the back. "TheNationalists' base! We've found it!"

  Tom nodded, a half-smile on his face. "We sure have, Major." Hehesitated a moment. "You know, sir, if Roger is really badly hurt wemight not make it back to Sinclair's in time, so--" He stopped.

  "I know what you're thinking, Tom," said the officer, "and I agree. Butone of us has to go back with the information."

  "You go, sir," said Tom. "I'll take Roger and--"

  "You can't carry him alone--"

  "I can make it somehow," protested Tom.

  Connel shook his head. "I'll help you."

  "You mean, you're going to allow yourself to be captured too?"spluttered Tom.

  "Not quite." Connel smiled. "But a good intelligence agent gets as muchinformation as he can. And he gets correct information! I'll help youget him to the base and you can take him on in for medical attention.I'll get back to Sinclair's later."

  Tom tried to protest, but the burly spaceman had turned away.