"Haljan! Yield or I'll fire! Moa, give me the smaller one."
He had in his hand too large a projector. Its ray would kill me. If he wanted to take me alive, he would not fire. I chanced it.
"No!" I tried to draw myself beneath the window. An automatic projector was on the floor where Carter had dropped it. I pulled myself down. Miko did not fire. I reached the weapon. The bodies of the Captain and Johnson had drifted together on the floor in the center of the room.
I hitched myself back to the window. With upraised weapon I gazed cautiously out. Miko had disappeared. The deck within my line of vision, was empty.
But was it? Something told me to beware. I clung to the casement, ready upon the instant to shove myself down. There was a movement in a shadow along the deck. Then a figure rose up.
"Don't fire, Haljan!"
The sharp command, half appeal, stopped the pressure of my finger. It was the tall, lanky Englishman. Sir Arthur Coniston, he as called himself. So he too, was one of Miko's band! The light through a dome window fell full on him.
"If you fire, Haljan, and kill me—Miko will kill you then, surely."
From where he had been crouching he could not command my window. But now, upon the heels of his placating words, he abruptly shot. The low-powered ray, had it struck, would have felled me without killing me. But it went over my head as I dropped. Its aura made my senses reel.
Coniston shouted, "Haljan!"
I did not answer. I wonder if he would dare approach to see if I had been hit. A minute passed. Then another. I thought I heard Miko's voice on the deck outside. But it was an aerial, microscopic whisper close beside me.
"We see you, Haljan. You must yield!"
Their eavesdropping vibrations, with audible projection, were upon me. I retorted loudly, "Come and get me! You cannot take me alive!"
I do protest if this action of mine in the chart room may seem bravado. I had no wish to die. There was within me a very healthy desire for life. But I felt, by holding out, that some chance might come wherewith I might turn events against these brigands. Yet reason told me it was hopeless. Our loyal members of the crew were killed, no doubt. Captain Carter and Balch were dead. The lookouts and course masters, also. And Blackstone.
There remained only Dr. Frank and Snap. Their fate I did not yet know. And there was George Prince. He, perhaps, would help me if he could. But, at best, he was a dubious ally.
"You are very foolish, Haljan," murmured Miko's voice. And then I heard Coniston:
"See here, why would not a hundred pounds of gold leaf tempt you? The code words which were taken from Johnson—I mean to say, why not tell us where they are?"
So that was one of the brigands' new difficulties! Snap had taken the code word sheet that time we sealed the purser in the cage.
I said, "You'll never find them. And when a police ship sights us, what will you do then?"
The chances of a police ship were slight indeed, but the brigands evidently did not know that. I wondered again what had become of Snap. Was he captured or still holding them off?
I was watching my windows; for at any moment, under the cover of talk, I might be assailed.
Gravity came suddenly to the room. Miko's voice said: "We mean well by you, Haljan. There is your normality. Join us. We need you to chart our course."
"And a hundred pounds of gold leaf," urged Coniston. "Or more. Why, this treasure—"
I could hear an oath from Miko. And then his ironic voice. "We will not bother you, Haljan. There is no hurry. You will be hungry in good time. And sleepy. Then we will come and get you. And a little acid will help you to think differently about us...."
His vibrations died away. The pull of gravity in the room was normal. I was alone in the dim silence, with the bodies of Carter and Johnson huddled on the grid. I bent to examine them. Both were dead.
My isolation was not ruse this time. The outlaws made no further attack. Half an hour passed. The deck outside, what I could see of it, was vacant. Balch lay dead close outside the chart room door. The bodies of Blackstone and the course master had been removed from the turret window. As a forward lookout, one of Miko's men was on duty in the nearby tower. Hahn was at the turret's controls. The ship was under orderly handling, heading back upon a new course. For the Earth? The Moon? It did not seem so.
I found, in the chart room, a Benson curve light projector which poor Captain Carter had nearly assembled. I worked on it, trained it through my rear window along the empty deck; bent it into the lounge archway. Upon my grid the image of the lounge interior presently focused. The passengers in the lounge were huddled in a group. Disheveled, frightened, with Moa standing watching them. Stewards were serving them with a meal.
Upon a bench, bodies were lying. Some were dead. I saw Rance Rankin. Others were evidently only injured. Dr. Frank was moving among them, attending them. Venza was there, unharmed. And I saw the gamblers, Shac and Dud, sitting white-faced, whispering together. And Glutz's little beribboned, becurled figure on a stool.
George Prince was there, standing against the wall, shrouded in his mourning cloak, watching the scene with alert, roving eyes. And by the opposite doorway, the huge towering figure of Miko stood on guard. But Snap was missing.
A brief glimpse. Miko saw my Benson light. I could have equipped a heat ray and fired along the curved Benson light into that lounge. But Miko gave me no time.
He slid the lounge door closed, and Moa leaped to close the one on my side. My grid showed only the blank deck and door.
Another interval. I had made plans. Futile plans! I could get into the turret perhaps, and kill Hahn. I had the invisible cloak which Johnson was wearing. I took it from his body. Its mechanism could be repaired. Why, with it I could creep about the ship, kill these brigands one by one, perhaps. George Prince would be with me. The brigands who had been posing as the stewards and crew members were unable to navigate; they would obey my orders. There were only Miko, Coniston and Hahn to kill.
From my window I could gaze up to the radio room. And now, abruptly, I heard Snap's voice: "No! I tell you—no!"
And Miko, "Very well, then. We'll try this."
So Snap was captured but not killed. Relief swept me. He was in the radio room and Miko was with him. But my relief was short-lived. After a brief interval, there came a moan from Snap. It floated down the silence overhead and made me shudder.
My Benson beam shot into the radio room. It showed me Snap lying there on the floor. He was bound with wire. His torso had been stripped. His livid face was ghastly plain in my light.
Miko was bending over him. Miko with a heat cylinder no longer than a finger. Its needle beam played upon Snap's naked chest. I could see the gruesome little trail of smoke rising; and as Snap twisted and jerked, there on his flesh was the red and blistered trail of the violet ray.
"Now will you tell?"
"No!"
Miko laughed. "No? Then I shall write my name a little deeper...."
A black sear now—a trail etched in the quivering flesh.
"Oh!" Snap's face went white as chalk as he pressed his lips together.
"Or a little acid? This fire-writing does not really hurt? Tell me what you did with those code words!"
"No!"
In his absorption Miko did not notice my light. Nor did I have the wit to try and fire along it. I was trembling. Snap under torture!
As the beam went deeper. Snap suddenly screamed. But he ended, "No! I will send no message for you—"
It had been only a moment. In the chart room window beside me again a figure appeared! No image. A solid, living person, undisguised by any cloak of invisibility. George Prince had chanced my fire and crept upon me.
"Haljan! Don't attack me."
I dropped my light connections. As impulsively I stood up, I saw through the window the figure of Coniston on the deck watching the result of Prince's venture.
"Haljan—yield."
Prince no more than whispered it. He stood outside on the deck; the low window casement touched his waist. He leaned over it.
"He's torturing Snap! Call out that you will yield."
The thought had already been in my mind. Another scream from Snap filled me with horror. I shouted, "Miko! Stop!"
I rushed to the window and Prince gripped me. "Louder!"
I called louder: "Miko! Stop!" My upflung voice mingled with Snap's agony of protest. Then Miko heard me. His head and shoulders showed up there at the radio room oval.
"You—Haljan?"
Prince shouted, "I have made him yield. He will obey you if you stop that torture."
I think that poor Snap must have fainted. He was silent. I called, "Stop! I will do what you command."
Miko jeered, "That is good. A bargain, if you and Dean obey me. Disarm him, Prince, and bring him out."
Miko moved back into the radio room. On the deck, Coniston was advancing, but cautiously mistrustful of me.
"Gregg."
George Prince flung a leg over the casement and leaped lightly into the dim chart room. His small slender figure stood beside me, clung to me.
A moment, while we stood there together. No ray was upon us. Coniston could not see us, nor could he hear our whispers.
"Gregg."
A different voice; its throaty, husky quality gone. A soft pleading. "Gregg—Gregg, don't you know me? Gregg, dear...."
Why, what was this? Not George Prince? A masquerader, yet so like George Prince.
"Gregg don't you know me?"
Clinging to me. A soft touch upon my arm. Fingers, clinging. A surge of warm, tingling current was flowing between us.
My sweep of instant thoughts. A speck of human Earth dust falling free. That was George Prince who had been killed. George Prince's body, disguised by the scheming Carter and Dr. Frank, buried in the guise of his sister. And this black-robed figure who was trying to help me....
"Anita! Anita darling—"
"Gregg, dear one!"
"Anita!" My arms went around her, my lips pressed hers, and felt her tremulous eager answer.
The form of Coniston showed at our window. She cast me off. She said, with her throaty swagger of amused, masculinity:
"I have him, Sir Arthur. He will obey us."
I sensed her warning glance. She shoved me toward thewindow. She said ironically, "Have no fear, Haljan. You will not be tortured, you and Dean, if you obey our commands."
Coniston gripped me. "You fool! You caused us a lot of trouble. Move along there!"
He jerked me roughly through the window. Marched me the length of the deck, out to the stern space, opened the door of my cubby, flung me in and sealed the door upon me.
"Miko will come presently."
I stood in the darkness of my tiny room, listening to his retreating footsteps. But my mind was not upon him.
All the universe, in that instant, had changed for me. Anita was alive!
The giant Miko stood confronting me. He slid my cubby door closed behind him. He stood with his head towering close against my ceiling. His cloak was discarded. In his leather clothes, and with his clanking sword ornament, his aspect carried the swagger of a brigand of old. He was bare-headed; the light from one of my tubes fell upon his grinning, leering gray face.
"So, Gregg Haljan? You have come to your senses at last. You do not wish me to write my name on your chest? I would not have done that to Dean; he forced me. Sit back."
I had been on my bunk. I sank back at the gesture of his huge hairy arm. His forearm was bare now; the sear of a burn on it was plain to be seen. He remarked my gaze.
"True. You did that, Haljan, in Greater New York. But I bear you no malice. I want to talk to you now."
He cast about for a seat, and took the little stool which stood by my desk. His hand held a small cylinder of the Martian paralyzing ray. He rested it beside him on the desk.
"Now we can talk."
I remained silent. Alert. Yet my thoughts were whirling. Anita was alive. Masquerading as her brother. And, with the joy of it, came a shudder. Above everything, Miko must not know.
"A great adventure we are upon, Haljan."
My thoughts came back. Miko was talking with an assumption of friendly comradeship. "All is well—and we need you, as I have said before. I am no fool. I have been aware of everything that went on aboard this ship. You, of all the officers, are most clever at the routine mathematics. Is that so?"
"Perhaps."
"You are modest." He fumbled at a pocket of his jacket, produced a scroll-sheaf. I recognized it. Blackstone's figures. The calculation Blackstone made of the asteroid we had passed.
"I am interested in these," Miko went on. "I want you to verify them. And this." He held up another scroll. "This is the calculation of our present position and our course. Hahn claims he is a navigator. We have set the ship's gravity plates—see, like this."
He handed me the scrolls. He watched me keenly as I glanced over them.
"Well?" I said.
"You are sparing of words, Haljan. By the devils of the airways, I could make you talk! But I want to be friendly."
I handed him back the scrolls. I stood up. I was almost within reach of his weapon, but with a sweep of his great arm he knocked me back to my bunk.
"You dare?" Then he smiled. "Let us not come to blows!"
In truth, physical violence could get me nothing. I would have to try guile. And I saw now that his face was flushed and his eyes unnaturally bright. He had been drinking alcolite; not enough to befuddle him, but enough to make him triumphantly talkative.
"Hahn may not be much of a mathematician," I suggested. "But there is your Sir Arthur Coniston." I managed a sarcastic grin. "Is that his name?"
"Almost. Haljan, will you verify these figures?"
"Yes. But why? Where are we going?"
He laughed. "You are afraid I will not tell you! Why should I? This great adventure of mine is progressing perfectly. A tremendous stake, Haljan. A hundred million dollars in gold leaf. There will be fabulous riches for all of us—"
"But where are we going?"
"To that asteroid," he said. "I must get rid of these passengers. I am no murderer."
With a half-dozen killings in the recent fight this was hardly convincing. But he was obviously wholly serious. He seemed to read my thoughts.
"I kill only when necessary. We will land upon the asteroid. A perfect place to maroon the passengers. Is it not so? I will give them the necessities of life. They will be able to signal. And in a month or so, when we are perfectly safe and finished with our adventure, a police ship no doubt will rescue them."
"And then, from the asteroid," I suggested, "we are going—"
"To the Moon, Haljan. What a clever guesser you are! Coniston and Hahn are calculating our course. But I have no great confidence in them. And so I want you."
"You have me."
"Yes. I have you. I would have killed you long ago—I am an impulsive fellow—but my sister restrained me."
He gazed at me slyly. "Moa seems strangely to like you, Haljan."
"Thanks," I said. "I'm flattered."
"She still hopes I may really win you to join us," he went on. "Gold leaf is a wonderful thing; there would be plenty for you in this affair. And to be rich, and have the love of a woman like Moa...."
He paused. I was trying cautiously to gauge him, to get from him all the information I could. I said, with anothersmile, "That is premature, to talk of Moa. I will help you chart your course. But this venture, as you call it, is dangerous. A police ship—"
"There are not many," he declared. "The chances of our encountering one are very slim." He grinned at me. "You know that as well as I do. And we now have those code passwords—I forced Dean to tell me where he had hidden them. If we should be challenged, our password answer will relieve suspicion."
"ThePlanetara," I objected, "being overdue at Ferrok-Shahn, will cause alarm. You'll have a covey of patrol ships after you."
"That will be two weeks from now," he smiled. "I have a ship of my own in Ferrok-Shahn. It lies there waiting now, manned and armed. I am hoping that, with Dean's help, we may be able to flash them a signal. It will join us on the Moon. Fear not for the danger, Haljan. I have great interests allied with me in this thing. Plenty of money. We have planned carefully."
He was idly fingering his cylinder; he gazed at me as I sat docile on my bunk. "Did you think George Prince was a leader of this? A mere boy. I engaged him a year ago—his knowledge of science is valuable to us."
My heart was pounding but I strove not to show it. He went on calmly.
"I told you I am impulsive. Half a dozen times I have nearly killed George Prince, and he knows it." He frowned. "I wish I had killed him instead of his sister. That was an error."
There was a note of real concern in his voice. He added, "That is done—nothing can change it. George Prince is helpful to me. Your friend Dean, is another. I had trouble with him, but he is docile now."
I said abruptly, "I don't know whether your promise means anything or not, Miko. But Prince said you would use no more torture."
"I won't. Not if you and Dean obey me."
"You tell Dean I have agreed to that. You say he gave you the code words he took from Johnson?"
"Yes. There was a fool, for you! That Johnson! You blame me, Haljan, for the death of Carter? You need not. Johnson offered to try and capture you, take you both alive. He killed Carter because he was angry with him. A stupid, vengeful fool! He is dead and I'm glad of it."
My mind was on Miko's plans. I ventured, "This treasure on the Moon—did you say it was on the Moon?"
"Don't play the fool," he retorted. "I know as much about Grantline as you do."
"That's very little."
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps you know more, Miko. The Moon is a big place. Where, for instance, is Grantline located?"
I held my breath. Would he tell me that? A score of questions—vague plans were in my mind. How skilled at mathematics were these brigands? Miko, Coniston, Hahn—could I fool them? If I could learn Grantline's location on the Moon, and keep thePlanetaraaway from it. A pretended error of charting. Time lost—and perhaps Snap could find an opportunity to signal Earth, get help.
Miko answered my question as bluntly as I asked it. "I don't know where Grantline is located. But we will find out. He will not suspect thePlanetaraso when we get close to the Moon, we will signal and ask him. We can trick him into telling us. You think I do not know what is on your mind, Haljan? There is a secret code of signals arranged between Dean and Grantline. I have forced Dean to confess it. Without torture! Prince helped me in that. He persuaded Dean not to defy me. A very persuasive fellow, George Prince. More diplomatic than I am. I give him credit for that."
I strove to hold my voice calm. "If I should join you, Miko—my word, if I ever gave it, you would find dependable—I would say George Prince is very valuable to us. You shouldrein your temper. He is half your size—you might some time, without intention, do him injury."
He laughed. "Moa says so. But have no fear—"
"I was thinking," I persisted. "I'd like to have a talk with George Prince."
Ah, my pounding, tumultuous heart! But I was smiling calmly. And I tried to put into my voice a shrewd note of cupidity. "I really know very little about this treasure, Miko. If there were a million or two of gold leaf in it for me—"
"Perhaps there would be."
"Suppose you let me have a talk with Prince? I have some scientific knowledge myself about the powers of this catalyst. Prince's knowledge and mine—we might be able to come to a calculation on the value of Grantline's treasure. You don't know. You are only assuming."
I paused after this glib outburst. Whatever may have been in Miko's mind, I cannot say. But abruptly he stood up. I had left my bunk but he waved me back.
"Sit down. I am not like Moa. I would not trust you just because you protested you would be loyal." He picked up his cylinder. "We will talk again." He gestured to the scrolls he had left upon my desk. "Work on those. I will judge you by the results."
He was no fool, this brigand leader.
"Yes," I agreed. "You want a true course to the asteroid?"
"Yes. And by the gods, I warn you, I can check up on you!"
I said meekly, "Very well. But you ask Prince if he wants my calculations on Grantline's possibilities."
I shot Miko a foxy look as he stood by the door. I added, "You think you are clever. There is plenty you don't know. Our first night out from Earth—Grantline's signals—didn't it ever occur to you that I might have some figures on his treasure?"
It startled him. "Where are they?"
I tapped my forehead. "You don't suppose I was foolish enough to record them. You ask Prince if he wants to talk tome. A hundred million, or two hundred million—it would make a big difference, Miko."
"I will think about it." He backed out and sealed the door upon me.
But Anita did not come. I verified Hahn's figures, which were very nearly correct. I charted a course for the asteroid; it was almost the one which had been set.
Coniston came for my results. "I say, we are not so bad as navigators, are we? I think we're jolly good, considering our inexperience. Not bad at all, eh?"
"No."
I did not think it wise to ask him about Prince.
"Are you hungry, Haljan?"
"Yes."
A steward came with a meal. The saturnine Hahn stood at my door with a weapon upon me while I ate. They were taking no chances and they were wise not to.
The day passed. Day and night, all the same of aspect here in the starry vault of space. But with the ship's routine it was day. And then another time of sleep. I slept fitfully, worrying, trying to plan. Within a few hours we would be nearing the asteroid.
The time of sleep was nearly passed. My chronometer marked fivea.m.original Earth starting time. The seal of my cubby door hissed. The door slowly opened.
Anita!
She stood there with her cloak around her. A distance away on the shadowed deck Coniston was loitering.
"Anita!" I whispered it.
"Gregg, dear!"
She turned and gestured to the watching brigand. "I will not be long, Coniston."
She came in and half closed the door upon us, leaving it open enough so that we could make sure that Coniston did not advance.
I stepped back where he could not see us. "Anita!"
She flung herself into my opened arms.
A moment when, beyond the thought of the nearby brigand—or the possibility of an eavesdropping ray trained now upon my cubby—a moment while Anita and I held each other, and whispered those things which could mean nothing to the world, but which were all the world to us!
Then it was she whose wits brought us back from the shining fairyland of our love, into the sinister reality of thePlanetara.
"Gregg, if they are listening—"
I pushed her away. This brave little masquerader! Not for my life, or for all the lives on the ship, would I consciously have endangered her.
"But Grantline's findings!" I said aloud. "In his message—see here, Prince—"
Coniston was too far away on the deck to hear us. Anita went to my door again and waved at him reassuringly. I put my ear to the door opening and listened at the space across the grid of the ventilator over my bunk. The hum of a vibration would have been audible at those two points. But there was nothing.
"It's all right," I whispered, and she clung to me—so small beside me. With the black robe thrown aside, it seemed that I could not miss the curves of her woman's figure. A dangerous game she was playing. Her hair had been cut short to the base of her neck, in the fashion of her dead brother. Her eyelashes had been clipped: the line of her brows altered. And now, in the light of my tube as it shone upon her earnest face, I could remark other changes. Glutz, the little beauty specialist, was in this secret. With plastic skill he had altered the set of her jaw—put masculinity here.
She was whispering: "It was—was poor George whom Miko shot."
I had now the true version of what had occurred. Miko had been forcing his wooing upon Anita. George Prince was a weakling whose only good quality was his love for his sister. Some years ago he had fallen into evil ways. Been arrested, and then been discharged from his position with the Federated Corporation. He had taken up with evil companions in Greater New York. Mostly Martians. And Miko had met him. His technical knowledge, his training with the Federated Corporation, made him valuable to Miko's enterprise. And so Prince had joined the brigands.
Of all this, Anita had been unaware. She had never liked Miko. Feared him. But it seemed that the Martian had some hold upon her brother, which puzzled and frightened Anita.
Then Miko had fallen in love with her. George had not liked it. And that night on thePlanetara, Miko had come and knocked upon Anita's door, and incautiously she had opened it. He forced himself in. And when she repulsed him, struggled with him, George had been awakened.
She was whispering to me now. "My room was dark. We were all three struggling. George was holding me—the shot came—and I screamed."
And Miko had fled, not knowing whom his shot had hit in the darkness.
"And when George died, Captain Carter wanted me to impersonate him. We planned it with Dr. Frank to try and learn what Miko and the others were doing; because I didn't know that poor George had fallen into such evil ways."
She whispered, "But I love you, Gregg. I want to be the first to say it: I love you—I love you."
We had the sanity to try and plan.
"Anita, tell Miko we discussed the multiple powers of the catalyst. Discussed how carefully it would have to be transported; how to gauge its worth. You'll have to be careful, clever. Don't say too much. Tell him we estimate the value at about a hundred and thirty millions."
I repeated what Miko had told me of his plans. She knew all that. And Snap knew it. She had a few moments alonewith Snap and gave me now a message from him, "We'll pull out of this, Gregg."
With Snap she had worked out a plan. There were Snap and I; and Shac and Dud Ardley upon whom we could doubtless depend. And Dr. Frank. Against us were Miko and his sister, and Coniston and Hahn. Of course, there were the members of the crew. But we were numerically the stronger when it came to true leadership. Unarmed and guarded now. But if we could break loose—recapture the ship....
I sat listening to Anita's eager whispers. It seemed feasible. Miko did not altogether trust George Prince; Anita was now unarmed.
"But I can make opportunity! I can get one of their ray cylinders, and an invisible cloak equipment."
That cloak, that had been hidden in Miko's room when Carter searched for it in A20 was now in the chart room by Johnson's body. It had been repaired now. Anita thought she could get possession of it.
We worked out the details of the plan. Anita would arm herself, and come and release me. Together, with a paralyzing ray, we could creep about the ship, overcome these brigands, one by one. There were so few of the leaders. With them felled, and with us in control of the turret and the radio room, we could force the crew to stay at their posts. There were, Anita said, no navigators among Miko's crew. They would not dare oppose us.
"But it should be done at once, Anita. In a few hours we will be at the asteroid."
"Yes. I will go now and try to get the weapons."
"Where is Snap?"
"Still in the radio room. One of the crew guards him."
Coniston was roaming the ship. He was still loitering on the deck, watching my door. Hahn was in the turret. The morning watch of the crew were at their posts in the hull corridors. The stewards were preparing a morning meal. There were nine members of subordinates altogether, Anitahad calculated. Six of them were in Miko's pay. The other three—our own men who had not been killed in the fighting—had joined the brigands.
"And Dr. Frank, Anita?"
He was in the lounge. All the passengers were herded there, with Miko and Moa alternating on guard.
"I will arrange it with Venza," Anita whispered swiftly. "She will tell the others. Dr. Frank knows about it now. He thinks it can be done."
The possibility of it swept me anew. The brigands were of necessity scattered singly about the ship. One by one, creeping under cover of an invisible cloak, I could fell them, and replace them without alarming others. My thoughts leaped to it. We would strike down the guard in the radio room. Release Snap. At the turret we could assail Hahn, and replace him with Snap.
Coniston's voice outside broke in upon us. "Prince."
He was coming forward. Anita stood in the doorway. "I have the figures, Coniston. By God, this Haljan is with us! And clever! We think it will total a hundred and thirty millions. What a stake!"
She whispered, "Gregg dear, I'll be back soon. We can do it—be ready!"
"Anita—be careful of yourself! If they should suspect you...."
"I'll be careful. In an hour, Gregg, or less, I'll come back.... All right, Coniston. Where is Miko? I want to see him. Stay where you are, Haljan. In good time Miko will trust you with your liberty. You'll be rich like all of us. Never fear."
She swaggered out upon the deck, waved at the brigand, and banged my cubby door in my face.
I sat upon my bunk. Waiting. Would she come back? Would she be successful?
She came. I suppose it was no more than an hour: It seemed an eternity of apprehension. There was the slight hissing of the seal of my door. The panel slid. I had leaped from my bunk where in the darkness I was lying tense.
"Prince?" I did not dare say "Anita."
"Gregg."
Her voice. My gaze swept the deck as the panel opened. Neither Coniston nor anyone else was in sight, save Anita's dark-robed figure which came into my room.
"You got it?" I asked in a low whisper.
I held her for an instant, kissed her. But she pushed me away with quick hands. She was breathless.
"Yes, I have it. Give us a little light—we must hurry!"
In the blue dimness I saw that she was holding one of the Martian cylinders. The smaller size: it would paralyze but not kill.
"Only one, Anita?"
"Yes. And this—"
The invisible cloak. We laid it on my grid, and I adjusted its mechanism. I donned it and drew its hood, and threw on its current.
"All right, Anita?"
"Yes."
"Can you see me?"
"No." She had stepped back a foot or two. "Not from here. But you must let no one approach too close."
Then she came forward, put out her hand, fumbled until she found me.
It was our plan to have me follow her out. Anyone observing us would see only the robed figure of the supposed George Prince, and I would escape unnoticed.
The situation about the ship was almost unchanged. Anita had secured the weapon and the cloak and slipped away to my cubby without being observed.
"You're sure of that?"
"I think so, Gregg. I was careful."
Moa was now in the lounge, guarding the passengers. Hahn was asleep in the chart room. Coniston was in the turret. Coniston would be off duty presently, Anita said, with Hahn taking his place. There were lookouts in the forward and stern watch towers, and a guard upon Snap in the radio room.
"Is he inside the room, Anita?"
"Snap? Yes."
"No—the guard."
"The guard was sitting on the spider bridge at the door."
This was unfortunate. That guard could see all the deck clearly. He might be suspicious of George Prince wandering around: it would be difficult to get near enough to assail him. This cylinder, I knew, had an effective range of only some twenty feet.
"Coniston is the sharpest, Gregg. He will be the hardest to get near."
"Where is Miko?"
The brigand leader had gone below a few moments ago, down into the hull corridor. Anita had seized the opportunity to come to me.
"We can attack Hahn in the chart room first," I whispered. "And get the other weapons. Are they still there?"
"Yes. But the forward deck is very bright, Gregg."
We were approaching the asteroid. Already its light, like a brilliant moon, was brightening the forward deck space. It made me realize how much haste was necessary.
We decided to go down into the hull corridors. Locate Miko. Fell him and hide him. His nonappearance back on deck would very soon throw the others into confusion, especially now with our impending landing upon the asteroid. And, under cover of this confusion, we would try to release Snap.
We were ready. Anita slid my door open. She stepped through, with me soundlessly scurrying after her. The empty,silent deck was alternately dark with shadow patches and bright with blobs of starlight. A sheen of the Sun's corona was mingled with it; and from forward came the radiance of the asteroid's mellow silver glow.
Anita turned to seal my door; within my faintly humming cloak I stood beside her. Was I invisible in this light? Almost directly over us, close under the dome, the lookout sat in his little tower. He gazed down at Anita.
Amidships, high over the cabin superstructure, the radio room hung dark and silent. The guard on its bridge was visible. He too, looked down.
A tense instant. Then I breathed again. There was no alarm. The two guards answered Anita's gesture.
Anita said aloud into my empty cubby: "Miko will come for you presently, Haljan. He told me that he wants you at the turret controls to land us on the asteroid."
She finished sealing my door and turned away; started forward along the deck. I followed. My steps were soundless in my elastic-bottomed shoes. Anita swaggered with a noisy tread. Near the door of the smoking room a small incline passage led downward. We went into it.
The passage was dimly blue lit. We descended its length, came to the main corridor, which ran the length of the hull. A vaulted metal passage, with doors to the control rooms opening from it. Dim lights showed at intervals.
The humming of the ship was more apparent here. It drowned the light humming of my cloak. I crept after Anita; my hand under the cloak clutched the ray weapon.
A steward passed us. I shrank aside to avoid him.
Anita spoke to him. "Where is Miko, Ellis?"
"In the ventilator room, Miss. Prince. There was difficulty with the air renewal."
Anita nodded and moved on. I could have felled that steward as he passed me. Oh, if I only had, how different things might have been!
But it seemed needless. I let him go, and he turned into a nearby door which led to the galley.
Anita moved forward. If we could come upon Miko alone! Abruptly she turned and whispered, "Gregg, if other men are with him, I'll draw him away. You watch your chance."
What little things can overthrow one's careful plans! Anita had not realized how close to her I was following. And her turning so unexpectedly caused me to collide with her sharply.
"Oh!" She exclaimed it involuntarily. Her outflung hand had unwittingly gripped my wrist, caught the electrode there. The touch burned her, and short-circuited my robe. There was a hiss. My current burned out the tiny fuses.
My invisibility was gone! I stood, a tall, blackhooded figure, revealed to the gaze of anyone who might be near!
The futile plans of humans! We had planned so carefully! Our calculations, our hopes of what we could do, came clattering now in a sudden wreckage around us.
"Anita! Run!"
If I were seen with her, then her own disguise would probably be discovered. That above everything, would be disaster.
"Anita, get away from me! I must try it alone!"
I could hide somewhere, repair the cloak perhaps. Or, since now I was armed, why could not I boldly start an assault?
"Gregg, we must get you back to your cubby!" She was clinging to me in panic.
"No. You run! Get away from me! Don't you understand? George Prince has no business here with me! They'll kill you!"
"Gregg, let's get back to the deck."
I pushed at her, both of us in confusion.
From behind me there came a shout. That accursed steward! He had returned, to investigate perhaps what George Prince was doing in this corridor. He heard our voices. His shout in the silence of the ship sounded horribly loud. The white-cloaked shape of him was in the nearby doorway. He stood stricken with surprise at seeing me. And then turned to run.
I fired my paralyzing cylinder through my cloak. Got him! He fell. I shoved Anita violently.
"Run! Tell Miko to come—tell him you heard a shout. He won't suspect you!"
"But, Gregg—"
"You mustn't be found out. You're our only hope, Anita! I'll hide, fix the cloak, or get back to my cubby. We'll try again."
It decided her. She scurried down the corridor. I whirled the other way. The steward's shout might not have been heard.
Then realization flashed to me. That steward would be revived. He was one of Miko's men. He would be revived and tell what he had seen and heard. Anita's disguise would be revealed.
A cold-blooded killing, I do protest, went against me. But it was necessary. I flung myself upon him. I beat his skull with the metal of my cylinder.
I stood up. My hood had fallen back from my head. I wiped my bloody hands on my useless cloak. I had smashed the cylinder.
"Haljan!"
Anita's voice! A sharp note of horror and warning. I became aware that in the corridor, forty feet down its dim length, Miko had appeared with Anita behind him. His bullet projector was leveled. It spat at me. But Anita had pulled at his arm.
The explosive report was sharply deafening in the confined space of the corridor. With a spurt of flame the leaden pellet struck over my head against the vaulted ceiling.
Miko was struggling with Anita. "Prince, you idiot!"
"Miko, it's Haljan! Don't kill him—"
The turmoil brought members of the crew. From the shadowed oval near me they came running. I flung the useless cylinder at them. But I was trapped in the narrow passage.
I might have fought my way out. Or Miko might haveshot me. But there was the danger that, in her horror, Anita would betray herself.
I backed against the wall. "Don't kill me! See, I will not fight!"
I flung up my arms. And the crew, emboldened and courageous under Miko's gaze, leaped on me and bore me down.
The futile plans of humans! Anita and I had planned so carefully. And in a few brief minutes of action it had come only to this!
"So, Gregg Haljan, you are not as loyal as you pretend!"
Miko was livid with suppressed anger. They had stripped the cloak from me, and flung me back in my cubby. Miko was now confronting me: at the door Moa stood watching. And Anita was behind her. I sat outwardly defiant and sullen on my bunk. But I was tense and alert, fearful still of what Anita's emotion might betray her into doing.
"Not so loyal," Miko repeated. "And a fool!"
"How did he get out of here? Prince, you came in here!"
My heart was wildly thumping. But Anita retorted with a touch of spirit, "I came to tell him what you commanded. To check Hahn's latest figures—and to be ready to take the controls when we approached the asteroid."
"Well, how did he get out?"
"How should I know?" she parried. Little actress! Her spirit helped to allay my fear. She held her cloak close around her in the fashion they had come to expect from the George Prince who had just buried his sister. "How should I know, Miko? I sealed his door."
"But did you?"
"Of course he did," Moa put in.
"Ask your lookouts," Anita said. "They saw me—I waved to them just as I sealed the door."
I ventured, "I have been taught to open doors." I managed a sly, lugubrious smile. "I shall not try it again, Miko."
Nothing had been said about my killing of the steward. I thanked my constellations now that he was dead. "I shall not try it again," I repeated.
A glance passed between Miko and his sister. Miko said abruptly, "You seem to realize it is not my purpose to kill you. And you presume upon it."
"I shall not again." I eyed Moa. She was gazing at me steadily. She said, "Leave me with him, Miko...." She smiled. "Gregg Haljan, we are no more than twenty thousand miles from the asteroid now. The calculations for retarding are now in operation."
It was what had taken Miko below, that and trouble with the ventilating system, which was soon rectified. But the retarding of the ship's velocity when nearing a destination required accurate manipulation. These brigands were fearful of their own skill. That was obvious. It gave me confidence. I was really needed. They would not harm me. Except for Miko's impulsive temper, I was in no danger from them—not now, certainly.
Moa was saying, "I think I may make you understand, Gregg. We have tremendous riches within our grasp."
"I know it," I said with sudden thought. "But there are many with whom to divide this treasure...."
Miko caught my intended implication. "By the infernal, this fellow may have thought he could seize this treasure for himself! Because he is a navigator!"
Moa said vehemently, "Do not be an idiot, Gregg! You could not do it! There will be fighting with Grantline!"
My purpose was accomplished. They seemed to see me a willing outlaw like themselves. As though it were a bond between us.
"Leave me with him," said Moa.
Miko acquiesced. "For a few minutes only." He proffered a heat ray cylinder but she refused it.
"I am not afraid of him."
Miko swung on me. "Within an hour we will be nearing the atmosphere. Will you take the controls?"
"Yes."
He set his heavy jaw. His eyes bored into me. "You're a strange fellow, Haljan. I can't make you out. I am not angry now. Do you think, when I am deadly serious, that I mean what I say?"
His calm words set a sudden chill over me. I checked my smile.
"Yes," I said.
"Well then, I will tell you this: not for all of Prince's well-meaning interference, or Moa's liking for you, or my own need of your skill, will I tolerate more trouble from you. The next time, I will kill you. Do you believe me?"
"Yes."
"That is all I want to say. You kill my men, and my sister says I must not hurt you. I am not a child to be ruled by a woman!"
He held his huge fist before my face. "With these fingers I will twist your neck! Do you believe it?"
"Yes." I did indeed.
He swung on his heel. "Moa wants to try and put sense in your head—I hope she does it. Bring him to the lounge when you have finished. Come, Prince, Hahn will need us." He chuckled grimly. "Hahn seems to fear we will plunge into this asteroid like a wild comet gone suddenly tangent!"
Anita moved aside to let him through the door. I caught a glimpse of her set white face as she followed him down the deck. Then Moa's bulk blocked the doorway. She faced me.
"Sit where you are, Gregg." She turned and closed the door upon us. "I am not afraid of you. Should I be?"
"No."
She came and sat down beside me. "If you should attempt to leave this room, the stern lookout has orders to bore you through."
"I have no intention of leaving this room," I retorted. "I do not want to commit suicide."
"I thought you did. You seem minded in such a fashion. Gregg, why are you so heedless?"
I said carefully, "This treasure—you are many who will divide it. You have all these men on thePlanetara. And in Ferrok-Shahn, others—"
I paused. Would she tell me? Could I make her talk of that other brigand ship which Miko had said was waiting on Mars? I wondered if he had been able to signal it. The distance from here to Mars was great; yet upon other voyages Snap's signals had gotten through. My heart sank at the thought. Our situation here was desperate enough. The passengers soon would be cast upon the asteroid: there would be left only Snap, Anita and myself. We might recapture the ship, but I doubted it now. My thoughts were turning to our arrival on the Moon. We three might, perhaps, be able to thwart the attack upon Grantline, hold the brigands off until help from the Earth might come.
But with another brigand ship, fully manned and armed, coming from Mars, the condition would be immeasurably worse. Grantline had some twenty men, and his camp, I knew, would be reasonably fortified. I knew too, that Johnny Grantline would fight to his last man.
Moa was saying, "I would like to tell you our plans, Gregg."
Her gaze was on my face. Keen eyes, but they were luminous now—an emotion in them sweeping her. But outwardly she was calm.
"Well, why don't you tell me?" I said. "If I am to help...."
"Gregg, I want you with us. Don't you understand. And we are not many, really. My brother and I are guiding this affair. With your help, I would feel differently."
"The ship at Ferrok-Shahn—"
My fears were realized. She said, "I think our signals reached it. Dean tried and Coniston was checking him."
"You think the ship is coming?"
"Yes."
"Where will it join us?"
"At the Moon. We will be there in thirty hours. Your figures gave that, did they not?"
"Yes," I said. "And the other ship—how fast is it?"
"Quite fast. In eight days—perhaps nine, it will reach the Moon."
She seemed willing enough to talk. There was indeed, no reason why she shouldn't: I could not, she naturally felt, turn the knowledge to account. Certainly my position seemed desperately helpless.
"Manned—" I prompted.
"About forty men."
"And armed? Long range projectors?"
"You ask very avid questions, Gregg!"
"Why should I not? Don't you suppose I'm interested?" I touched her. "Moa, did it ever occur to you, if once you and Miko trusted me—which you don't—I might show more interest in joining you?"
The look on her face emboldened me. "Did you ever think of that, Moa? And some arrangement for my share of this treasure? I am not like Johnson, to be hired for a hundred pounds of gold leaf."
"Gregg, I will see that you get your share. Riches for you and me."
"I was thinking, Moa—when we land at the Moon tomorrow—where is our equipment?"
The Moon, with its lack of atmosphere, needed special equipment. I had never heard Captain Carter mention what apparatus thePlanetarawas carrying.
Moa laughed. "We have located air suits and helmets—a variety of suitable apparatus, Gregg. But we were not foolish enough to leave Greater New York on this voyage without our own apparatus. My brother and Coniston and Prince—all of us snipped crates of freight consigned to Ferrok-Shahn; and Rankin had special baggage marked 'theatrical apparatus.'"
I understood it now. These brigands had boarded thePlanetarawith their own Moon equipment, disguised asfreight and personal baggage. Shipped in bond, to be inspected by the tax officials of Mars.
"It is on board now. We will open it when we leave the asteroid, Gregg. We are well equipped."
She bent toward me. And suddenly her long, lean fingers were gripping my shoulders.
"Gregg, look at me!"
I gazed into her eyes. There was passion there; and her voice was intense.
"Gregg, I told you once a Martian girl goes after what she wants. It is you I want—"
Not for me to play upon a woman's emotions! "Moa, you flatter me."
"I love you." She held me off, gazing at me. "Gregg—"
I must have smiled. Abruptly she released me.
"So you think it amusing?"
"No. But on Earth—"
"We are not on Earth. Nor am I of the Earth!" She was gauging me keenly. No note of pleading was in her voice: a stern authority, and the passion was swinging to anger.
"I am like my brother: I do not understand you, Gregg Haljan. Perhaps you think you are clever?"
"Perhaps."
There was a moment of silence. "Gregg, I said I loved you. Have you no answer?"
"No." In truth, I did not know what sort of answer it would be best to make. Whatever she must have read in my eyes, it stirred her to fury. Her fingers with the strength of a man in them, dug into my shoulders. Her gaze searched me.
"You think you love someone else? Is that it?"
That was horribly startling; but she did not mean it just that way. She amended, with caustic venom: "That little Anita Prince! You thought you loved her! Was that it?"
"No!"
But I hardly deceived her. "Sacred to her memory! Herratlike little face, soft voice like a purring, sniveling cat! Is that what you're remembering, Gregg Haljan?"
I tried to laugh. "What nonsense!"
"Is it? Then why are you cold under my touch? Am I, a girl descended from the Martian flame-workers, impotent to awaken a man?"
A woman scorned! In all the universe there could be no more dangerous an enemy. An incredible venom shot from her eyes.
"That miserable mouselike creature! Well for her that my brother killed her."
It struck me cold. If Anita were unmasked, beyond all the menace of Miko's wooing, I knew that the venom of Moa's jealousy was a greater danger.
I said sharply, "Don't be simple, Moa!" I shook off her grip. "You imagine too much. You forget that I am a man of Earth and you a girl of Mars."
"Is that reason why we should not love?"
"No. But our instincts are different. Men of Earth are born to the chase."
I was smiling. With thought of Anita's danger I could find it readily in my heart to dupe this Amazon.
"Give me time, Moa. You attract me."
"You lie!"
"Do you think so?" I gripped her arm with all the power of my fingers. It must have hurt her but she gave no sign; her gaze clung to me steadily.
"I don't know what to think, Gregg Haljan...."
I held my grip. "Think what you like. Men of Earth have been known to kill the thing they love."
"You want me to fear you?"
"Perhaps."
She smiled scornfully. "That is absurd."
I released her. I said earnestly, "I want you to realize that if you treat me fairly, I can be of great advantage to this venture. There will be fighting. I am fearless."
Her venomous expression was softening. "I think that is true, Gregg!"
"And you need my navigating skill. Even now I should be in the turret."
I stood up. I half expected she would stop me, but she did not. I added, "Shall we go?"
She stood beside me. Her height brought her face level with mine.
"I think you will cause no more trouble, Gregg?"
"Of course not. I am not wholly witless."
"You have been."
"Well, that is over." I hesitated. Then I added, "A man of Earth does not yield to love while there is work to do. This treasure—"
I think that of everything I said, this last most convinced her.
She interrupted, "That I understand." Her eyes were smoldering. "When it is over—when we are rich—then I will claim you, Gregg."
She turned from me. "Are you ready?"
"Yes. No! I must get that sheet of Hahn's last figures."
"Are they checked?"
"Yes." I picked the sheet up from my desk. "Hahn is fairly accurate, Moa."
"A fool, nevertheless. An apprehensive fool."
A comradeship seemed coming between us. It was my purpose to establish it.
"Are we going to maroon Dr. Frank with the passengers?" I asked.
"Yes."
"But he may be of use to us."
Moa shook her head decisively. "My brother has decided not. We will be well rid of Dr. Frank. Are you ready, Gregg?"
"Yes."
She opened the door. Her gesture reassured the lookout, who was alertly watching the stern watchtower.
I stepped out, and followed her forward along the deck, which now was bright with the radiance of the nearby asteroid.