Treachery in Outer Space

  CHAPTER 15

  "Listen!"

  Captain Strong grabbed the young master sergeant by the arm and stoodstock-still in the swirling methane ammonia gas, his eyes searching themisty sky.

  "What is it, sir?" asked Morgan.

  "A spaceship decelerating," said Strong, "coming in for a touchdown!"

  "I think I hear it now, sir!" said Morgan.

  "Can you figure out where it is? I can't see a blasted thing."

  "Sounds to me as though it's to the left, sir."

  "O.K., let's go and investigate," said Strong. "There isn't any goodreason for a ship coming down in this deadly soup--or in this area."

  Walking slowly and cautiously, the two spacemen angled to the left,peering through the clouds of gas that seemed to get thicker as theymoved along. The roaring blast of the ship became louder.

  Strong put his hand out to stop Morgan. "Let's hold up a minute,Sergeant," he said. "I don't want to get too close until I know whatwe're facing."

  They stood absolutely still, the gas swirling around them in undulatingclouds that grew thicker one minute and then thinned out again. As thegas thinned for a few seconds, Strong gasped and pointed.

  "Look!" he cried. "By the craters of Luna, it's Brett's ship!"

  "Brett?" asked Morgan.

  "Charles Brett. He owns that ship. It's the one that won the space racefrom Earth. Now, what would he be doing landing out here?"

  "I think he came down beside that warehouse up ahead, sir," said Morgan,as the gas cloud closed in again, cutting off their view of the actuallanding. "It used to be a storehouse for mining gear a couple of yearsago, but it's been empty for some time."

  "I think we'd better check this, Sergeant," said Strong firmly. "Comeon."

  Strong started forward, then stopped, as a particularly heavy cloud ofthe deadly gas swirled around them. The two spacemen clung togetherblinded by the dense methane ammonia that would kill them in thirtyseconds should their oxygen masks fail. In a moment the foggy deaththinned out again and they continued toward the warehouse and the sleekblack ship behind it.

  * * * * *

  Tom Corbett and Astro heard the roaring blast of the ship's exhaust.They saw Brett and Miles haul the instruments out of the cavern. Theysaw; they could hear; but they could not move. For nearly three hoursthey had remained alone in the cavern, frozen in the exact position theywere in when Quent Miles had blasted them with his paralo-ray gun. Andthen Brett and Miles were standing before them again, Miles coveringthem with his paralo-ray gun.

  "Why should we break our backs loading the ship?" sneered Miles. "Letthem carry it out for us."

  _"Look!" Strong cried. "It's Brett's ship!"_]

  "All right, release them," agreed Brett. "But get that stuff loaded ina hurry. Walters is either getting suspicious or he's pulling a bluff.We can't take any more chances."

  Miles flipped on the neutralizer switch of the paralo ray and leveled itat Tom. "We'll take the little fella first," he said. "If he acts up,we'll just leave the other fella the way he is."

  He fired at Tom, and the young cadet began to shudder violently. Histeeth chattered and he found it difficult to focus his eyes as hisnervous system tried to shake off the effects of the ray. He crumpled toa heap on the balcony floor and gasped for breath.

  "He won't be much use to you for a while." Brett laughed. "Look at himflopping around like a fish out of water."

  "Get up!" snarled Miles at Tom, quickly flipping the ray gun back topositive charge. "Come on. You're not that bad off. Get up." He leanedover and prodded the cadet with the gun. "If you don't get up, I'llfreeze you again," he threatened.

  Tom struggled to his feet. "I'll get you for this, Miles," he gaspedweakly, his teeth still chattering.

  "Never mind the hot air!" snarled Brett. "Go down there and starthauling up those boxes."

  Tom turned helplessly and stumbled down the stairs to the floor of thecavern.

  "Now for the big fellow," said Miles. He fired the neutralizer chargeand Astro started to quiver at the shock of the release. But he clampedhis teeth together and made a quick lunge for Miles, reaching for thespaceman's throat. Expecting the attack, Miles stepped aside quickly andbrought the gun down sharply on the big cadet's head. Astro dropped tothe floor, half-stunned. The black-clad spaceman leveled the ray gun andsneered, "Try that again, you overgrown punk, and I'll drop you on yourhead."

  Astro shook his head and stumbled to his feet. He glared at Miles, spunaway, and walked down the stairs shakily.

  Miles and Brett stood on the balcony and watched the two cadets workingon the cavern floor. "Hurry it up there!" shouted Miles. "We haven't gotall day."

  Brett took his ray gun from his belt and stepped forward. "I'll handleCorbett," he said. "You take care of the big one."

  "Right," replied Miles. "But stay well in back of them and keep your gunon them all the time."

  "How long do you think it'll take to get the ship loaded?" asked Brett.

  "Couple of hours. But what are you going to do about Walters if he'swise?" Miles shrugged his shoulders.

  "Simple," said Brett. "We take the stuff we've got, haul it to thehide-out, dump it, and return to Atom City. Then we just sit tight andwait until the situation clears up here on Titan."

  "What about that investigation?" asked Miles, keeping his eyes on thecadets, who were now staggering back to the stairs, each carrying aheavy lead box containing the precious uranium pitchblende.

  "What can an investigation prove?" snorted Brett.

  "I don't know. Walters and Strong are pretty smart cookies."

  "Unless they have witnesses that you were messing around Kit Barnard'sship, which they don't, and unless they find out about Ross, which theywon't, there isn't anything they can do."

  Miles looked down at the shorter man beside him. "Ross, eh?" He laughed.

  Brett stared at him and then shrugged. "I always get mixed up," he said."But you know what I mean."

  "Sure, I know." Miles turned to watch Astro and Tom start up the stairsto the balcony, the lead boxes on their shoulders. "What are you goingto do with them?" he said.

  "Take them to the hide-out and decide later. Besides, they'll be handyfor unloading the ship."

  "Good idea," nodded Miles. He took a deep breath and smiled. "I surewish I could see Walters' face when he learns about the new load ofuranium that'll flood the market."

  Brett laughed. "Yeah, and with the customs clearance we'll get to haulin the crystal, there'll be no way they can figure out how it's gettingin."

  Miles turned and shouted at the two cadets struggling up the stairs."Come on, you two. Get a move on."

  "We're making it as fast as we can, Miles," Astro protested.

  "It ain't fast enough," sneered the spaceman. He reached out with hisfree hand and slapped Astro across the mouth. "That's just to remind youto watch your tongue, or you might wind up an icicle again."

  Astro dropped the box and crouched, his big frame ready to be releasedlike a coiled spring. Miles backed up and fingered the trigger on theray gun. "Come on, stupid," he snarled. "Come on, I'll give it to youagain, only this time--" He smiled.

  "No, Astro," called Tom. "There's nothing we can do now. No use gettingfrozen again."

  "That's using your head, Corbett." Miles laughed. "Pick up that box andget going."

  Astro picked up the lead box again and staggered after Tom toward thedoor. Miles and Brett stepped back, guns ready, and watched the twocadets walk slowly ahead of them into the tunnel.

  * * * * *

  Captain Strong and Sergeant Morgan crept to the side of the warehouseand flattened themselves against the wall. With the gas swirling aroundthem thicker than ever, they found it more difficult than ever to seewhere they were going.

  "I think I see a door ahead," said Strong.

  "Want me to see if it'll open, sir?" asked Morgan.

  "No. I'll look around in the warehouse," replied the
Solar Guardcaptain. "You investigate the ship. If anyone's aboard, keep him thereuntil I contact you. If not, come back here and wait for me."

  "Very well, sir," said Morgan, and turned toward the black ship. In amoment he was lost in the deadly mist.

  Strong made his way to the door and twisted the latch. The door slidopen easily, and he stepped inside, closing it behind him and waitingfor some signs of life or movement. The gas was like a thick fog in theroom and he inched his way forward, hands outstretched like a blindperson. Gradually he began to see the vague form of a door on theopposite wall and he made his way toward it, completely unaware that hecame within inches of falling through the open trap door in the floor.

  He opened the door in the wall slowly, peering inside cautiously. He wasstartled to feel the faint rush of air on his hands and to see the roomclear of the dangerous methane ammonia gas. He moved quickly inside andmade a hurried inspection of the gear, not bothering to look to examineit closely. He shrugged his shoulders. It was just as Morgan had said.An abandoned warehouse with old mining gear and nothing else.

  Suddenly he stopped. There was something strange about the room and helooked around again. The gas! There were no ammonia vapors in the room.He quickly searched along the walls for some outlet of oxygen,remembering now the rush of air he had felt as he opened the door. Closeto a corner near the door, he found a small opening. Air poured out ofit in a steady rush. He straightened up, his face grim. "So that's it,"he said to himself. "Somebody has been sucking off oxygen from the mainpumps!"

  Strong headed for the door. "But why?" he asked himself. "Why in thisparticular building?"

  He strode out of the room and inched his way across the outer roomtoward the front door, again narrowly missing the open trap door.

  Once outside, he made his way along the side of the building in thedirection that Morgan had taken. When he reached the corner, he couldsee the black bulk of the _Space Knight_ a hundred yards away. He rantoward the base of the ship and met Morgan coming toward him.

  "Find anything, Sergeant?" he called.

  "Nothing, sir," replied Morgan. "The ship is ready to blast off and hercargo holds are full. But that's all."

  "Full of what?"

  "I couldn't see, sir. The main hatch was locked and I could only seethrough the viewport. But it just looked like general cargo to me."

  "Couldn't have been crystal?"

  "It might have been, sir. It was pretty dark in the hold but it lookedlike a lot of boxes to me."

  "You don't put crystal blocks in boxes," said Strong.

  "Sometimes they do, sir. The more expensive grades are crated, so thatthe surfaces won't get scratched. Pieces that are going to be used forouter facings on a building, for instance."

  "All right, Sergeant. But I found something back in that building thatis going to prove very interesting."

  "The cadets, sir?"

  "No. An illegal use of oxygen!"

  Quickly Strong explained his discovery, concluding, "Come on. We'regoing back in there for a closer inspection!"

  "But we can't, sir," said Morgan.

  "Why not?"

  "We only have enough oxygen left in our tanks to get us back to thecleared area."

  "Blast it!" growled Strong. "Aren't there any masks aboard the ship?"

  "No, sir," replied Morgan.

  "Very well, then. The only thing we can do is go back and bring out asearching party in force." Strong turned and walked rapidly away. "Comeon, Sergeant, I think we're on the way to answering a lot of questionsabout the failure of the screens."

  Almost running, the two spacemen disappeared into the swirling mist ofdeadly gases.

  No sooner were they out of sight than Tom Corbett and Astro, facescovered with oxygen masks, emerged from the warehouse and headed towardthe ship, Miles and Brett close behind them with paralo-ray guns leveledat their backs.