Now the cold expanse of the moon opened before him. ThePhantomsoared over Tycho, Aristotle and Petavius, dipped downward and came to a rest on a barren lava plain. Standish took down a space suit, and a small magno telescope and went out through the air lock. Pacing slowly across the frigid flat, he tried to fathom the growing puzzle.
A hundred yards from the ship he trained his scope on Earth, staring long and intently. But the range was too great and the scope too weak for detailed observation.
And then abruptly he stiffened. Through the powerful retinite lens a tiny dot focused his vision. A rocket ship! He adjusted the glass and studied her lines. Unquestionably she was Sirian and heading toward the moon on an oblique angle.
Standish ran for thePhantom. The air lock closed; he threw over the control lever, and the big ship headed with a lurch for the enemy.
In the pilot cuddy Dar-Ley watched the cosmoscope and intoned the distance measurements.
"Thirty thousand miles. Enemy still following same course."
"Twenty thousand. No change."
"Eight hundred."
A frown crossed Standish's face. The Sirian ship must have seen them by now. Alone and without convoy, it should have turned and fled.
Puzzled, the Earthman ordered a shot across the enemy's bows. The Sirian did not change her course. And then Dar-Ley gave a frantic cry.
"Behind us. Look!"
Six Sirian ships were racing out from the surface of the moon in battle formation. Even as Standish looked, he saw four more cruisers join the others, spread out to cut off thePhantom.
He realized then that he had blundered into a trap. The Sirians had been waiting for him. The single cruiser had been the bait which he had swallowed blindly.
"We'll have to run for it," Dar-Ley cried. "They're too many for us."
Standish's teeth came together grimly. "We'll give them a fight for their money first."
On toward the cruiser thePhantomraced. The ship staggered as the Sirian opened fire, and two of the shots glanced harmlessly off thefeloraniumhull. But with five well-placed shots Standish demolished the Sirian's guns and left her floating helplessly. Then thePhantomturned helm and ran alongside on the opposite side of the cruiser.
In an instant Dar-Ley saw Standish's strategy. ThePhantomwas now protected with the cruiser between her and the fleet. The Earthman flipped open his microphone switch.
"Rocket bomb. Full charge. Point four."
There was a deafening report as the bomb erupted from its cylinder. Through the port Standish saw the nearest Sirian ship explode into fragments. He smiled grimly and swung his helm far over.
"Here we go, Dar-Ley. If they catch us, they'll have to move."
But fast though thePhantomwas, the fleet hung steadily in her wake. Finally the Earthman switched on the boosters, auxiliary machines which drew power from intra-spacial emanations and built up the speed of the atomic motors. Gradually the fleet dropped behind.
"Close call!" Standish breathed. "Faggard almost got me that time."
X
Standish had never believed in hunches, yet the moment he entered the stratosphere of Lyra he knew something was wrong. A moment later he was free of the cloud level and over Calthedra. A wave of despair shot through him.
The city was a ruin. Not a single building remained. The great palace was a mass of debris, and the choked streets were deserted. With a great fear he headed thePhantomfor the landing field. Here a cry of dismay escaped his lips.
The sleek space ships which had dotted the level were no more. Twisted lumps of metal and scattered pieces of broken machinery were all that remained of the fleet.
"In heaven's name," cried Dar-Ley, "what has happened?"
"Drum Faggard," said Standish heavily. "He attacked while we were gone. It must have been only his lieutenants we met off the moon."
ThePhantomdropped to a landing, and the two men climbed out, followed by the crew. A death-like silence reigned. As he stood there staring at the grim devastation, the Earthman's fists clenched. The Lyrians, the prisoners, the Emperor ... had they all gone?
And then he thought of Thalia!
He lurched into a stumbling run and headed for the ruined city. In the metropolis the destruction was even more terrible. Ray guns had leveled every structure to the ground. Dead Lyrians lay on all sides. Every labor-saving device which had been constructed through Standish's efforts had been shattered.
But an instant later, in the midst of this wreckage, he saw a familiar figure stagger toward him. Ga-Marr!
The Emperor's son's face was caked with blood and his clothing was torn to shreds, but he managed to gasp a single word:
"Water...!"
Standish dispatched Dar-Ley back to thePhantomfor a canteen, then tore off his coat and rolled it into a pillow, forcing Ga-Marr to rest his head upon it. But when the Lyrian struggled up on one elbow and drank thirstily from Dar-Ley's canteen, Standish choked out the question that was uppermost in his mind.
"Thalia! Where is she?"
Ga-Marr's voice was a sob. "Drum Faggard! He surprised us with an entire fleet while you were gone. He kidnaped my father, and he took Thalia."
A blur rose up before Standish's eyes. "And the others?" he demanded. "The rest of your people? Can it be they all are dead?"
Ga-Marr shook his head. "They fled to the hills. I alone remained here because I knew you would return."
It was time, Standish realized, for action. But what action? His fleet was gone, all his work destroyed. Even the girl he had come to love had been taken from him. He turned and stared helplessly at the black hulledPhantomresting on its mooring platform. Powerful as that ship was, he knew it was not enough. He might raid more Sirian ships, destroy more transports, but what would it avail him. He had played his hand, and he had lost. He was up against a blank wall.
And then a single object on the far side of the palace ruins focused in his vision. Stone and debris were piled high there, but the little, crudely-built space ship with which he and Ga-Marr had escaped from the unknown planet had escaped damage. For a moment Standish's brow furrowed in thought; then he uttered an exclamation.
"To thePhantom!" he said. "There may yet be a way...."
With Ga-Marr supported by Standish, they hurried down the debris-choked streets and across to the landing field. Reaching the ship, the Earthman turned his crew of twenty-four over to Dar-Ley, ordering them to leave at once for the hills where they were to aid the Lyrians.
"But what are you going to do without a crew?" objected Dar-Ley.
Standish's face was a block of granite. "I'm going to fight trickery with trickery," he said.
Then the Earthman and Ga-Marr entered the destroyer alone. Slowly, Standish guided the big ship over the ruins of the city of Calthedra. Above the palace, he suddenly shot out the magnetic grappling bars and secured the little space ship.
"What can you do with that?" Ga-Marr frowned. "The thing has little power and...."
But Standish, lips set hard, was moving the controls with silent determination. Up thePhantomshot, boring forward like a hound to the hunt, carrying the crude little ship with it. Standish threw over the accelerator to the farthest notch and switched on both boosters. He motioned Ga-Marr into the control seat.
"Head directly for Earth. I'm going back and see if I can get a little more speed out of those motors."
Hour after hour the big ship plunged, rocketing madly across the star-filled heavens. Time and space were dropping behind them like falling grains of sand. Standish, returning from the motor chamber, saw the planets of Pluto and Uranus rise up far ahead. Then Earth came into sight, a pin-point almost at the limit of his vision.
The Earthman glanced at the chronometer on the instrument panel. It would be approximately midnight when they reached the North American continent, judging by their present speed. Unless the Sirians at their Frisco base were watching closely, they might be able to pass unobserved.
Earth grew. Now thePhantomwas zooming down through the stratosphere. Over New California they swept, checking trajectory by reversing motors.
Over Omaha, Standish looked through the floor plate. Were the front-line breastworks still here? Or had his people been forced to retreat farther toward the Atlantic seaboard?
"I see lights," Ga-Marr said abruptly. "There seem to be fortifications below us."
With a sigh of relief Standish guided thePhantomdownward. He was at home again.
XI
Officers and soldiers formed a cheering circle as he climbed out of the hatch, followed by Ga-Marr. Old companions rushed forward to shake the Earthman's hand and bombard him with questions. Smiling, Standish pushed his way through the throng to the building marked GHQ. An orderly ushered him inside, and a moment later he was facing Attack-Engineer McClellan whose eyes were wide with amazement.
"Listen," Standish began without preamble, "I want to see a detailed map and an aerial photograph of the Sirian's Frisco base. Have you got one?"
McClellan bit into his cigar and nodded. He opened a cabinet and laid out two large sheets.
"The pilot who made these barely got out with his life," he said. "I don't suppose you'd care to tell me where you've been or what you've got in mind, Standish."
Without answering Standish gazed at the maps and the photograph. Presently he looked up.
"Prepare for a big push," he said. "Get all your guns and men ready for immediate movement. And keep your observers watching this point, Sector Five"—he indicated the area with his forefinger—"As soon as the firing stops there, go through."
He turned then and ran back to the ship.
Straight into the stratosphere Standish guided the ship. As he continued to climb higher into the night sky, Ga-Marr watched puzzled, but made no comment. One thousand, two, three thousand miles slid behind them. At length the Earthman turned.
"Set off the emergency rocket flares," he ordered.
Ga-Marr stared. "Are you mad, Mason? The Sirians will see us and...."
"Which is just what I want," Standish replied. "Hurry, man!"
Obediently Ga-Marr strode back along the passageway, began to push contact buttons at regular intervals along the bulkhead wall. As he did, long streamers of crimson fire erupted from thePhantom'sside. In a moment the destroyer was a flaming mass. Standish set his controls and took down two space suits.
He donned one of them, motioned Ga-Marr into the other. Then he tied a rope to the lever controlling the magnetic grappling bar, trailing it across the floor to the airlock.
"All right, Ga-Marr," he said. "Here we go."
The lock door slid open at his touch. Then and not until then did Ga-Marr understand. Directly below them, held to thePhantom'shull by the magnetic bars was their crude space ship. Balancing himself cautiously, Standish reached down and opened the hatch. He climbed in, and Ga-Marr quickly followed. Then the Earthman gave the rope a jerk. The grappling bars released, and the two ships drifted apart.
Alone and unmanned, thePhantomswept downward, her exploding rockets a blaze of glory in the black sky.
"And there goes the fleet!" Standish said. "They've sighted thePhantom."
Aware that hundreds of glasses must now be turned upward, he headed south beyond the outskirts of the city. He selected a flat open space by the ocean shore and glided quickly to a landing.
A hundred yards away the white expanse of a highway snaked through the dark countryside. No one apparently had noticed their descent. At a run, Standish headed for that highway. Twin head lights swept around a curve as he reached it, and a heavy gyro truck rumbled into sight.
The truck slowed to manipulate the curve. An instant later Standish and Ga-Marr leaped, clutched at the swaying tailboard and drew themselves aboard.
Before a large white building the two men dropped from the truck, darted across to the entrance. A Sirian guard stopped them armed with a ray gun.
"Halt!"
Standish used his pistol this time, smashing its barrel down on the Sirian's skull. Then a muffled voice sounded directly before them, and the Earthman leaped across to a door and ripped it open. On the threshold he stood rigid, staring inward.
The room was a richly furnished office. At a large desk in the center sat a familiar figure. It was Drum Faggard, cigarette between his lips, microphone in his hand.
"Put down that microphone, Faggard," Standish commanded. "If you speak so much as a single word, I fire."
"Standish!" Faggard gasped.
The Earthman dropped silently into a chair, while Ga-Marr pulled a small knife switch, disconnecting the microphone. Ga-Marr then paced to the window and drew the blinds.
A gleam of cunning crossed Faggard's face. He turned the knob of the radio and leaned forward. Then his right hand shot into the desk drawer and clawed forth a small genithode gun.
But Standish had been expecting that move. His hand clamped over the gun wrist, twisted the weapon free. Jamming his own gun hard into the Sirian leader's ribs, Standish said,
"Talk. Call your officers and tell them to stand by for important orders."
There were beads of perspiration on Faggard's brow now as he twisted a dial of the radio and began to speak slowly and haltingly. On the indicator panel on the far wall Standish saw little red lights flash on as outpost-officer after officer acknowledged the call. The entire Sirian army was listening in.
Even as he finished, a terrific vibrating roar sounded from a distant point of the city. The sound trembled the walls of the building, shook the floor beneath their feet.
"ThePhantom!" said Ga-Marr. "She struck!"
Faggard's face was livid. "You fool!" he snarled. "Do you realize what you've done?"
Standish betrayed no emotion. "Perfectly. I've divided your army in half. I've cut an aisle through your defense, through which my people even now are beginning to advance."
Abruptly the Earthman's teeth clicked together. "Now what have you done with Thalia and the Emperor. Tell me or...."
Faggard's shoulders slumped in defeat. He groped to his feet like a blind man and stumbled across the room. "I'll show you," he said huskily.
He open a connecting door, and Standish saw two familiar figures in the adjoining room, an older man and a young girl. But in that instant Faggard acted. He lunged across the room, reached up to a shelf filled with chemical tubes and vials. Seizing a bottle of colorless liquid, he threw it straight at Standish.
The bottle struck the door frame, and acid geysered in all directions. The Earthman felt a hot stab of agony lance across his left arm.
But Ga-Marr was not taken off guard. His genithode pistol exploded even as Faggard reached for a second bottle. The Sirian threw up his arms, staggered and pitched forward on his face.
Thalia was in Standish's arms then, sobbing. But in the outer corridor running steps sounded. A heavy fist banged on the door.
"In here," the girl cried. "This door. It leads to a tunnel that passes under the city. It's Drum Faggard's secret avenue of retreat. He has the key in his pocket."
As they sped to safety Standish felt a wave of elation sweep over him. He had won...!
Three days later a small cruiser took off from Omaha, swept through the stratosphere and headed for the planet, Lyra, many light years distant. Four persons occupied her pilot cabin: Standish, Thalia, Ga-Marr and the emperor.
"It's all over," the Earthman said to the girl. "The war is ended. Sirius' power is forever broken, and even now the work of reconstruction has begun. Earth and the whole solar system can return to peace."
Ga-Marr nodded. "What now?" he asked.
"Now, we're going home." Standish drew Thalia close. "Your home and mine. Our future lies out there in the new frontier."