"I didn't say anything," said Greg gruffly.
"But you did. I heard you say--_Omigawd!_" Sparks made a sudden leap
toward the bench on which rested the forgotten crystal set. "It's this!
_Listen!_"
* * * * *
Static still boiled through the speaker of the tiny set. But now, above
the static, riding its vibrations, was superimposed the sound of a
human voice. And the voice was calling, over and over again,
"_Space Patrol Cruiser Orestes ... calling survivors of the Carefree.
We are looking for you. Where are you ... where are you? Come
in, Carefree survivors. Space Patrol Cruiser Orestes ... calling
survivors_...."
Greg looked at 'Tina. Then once again at Crystal, whose face, upturned
with sudden, speechless joy, was the radiant vision of unattainable
perfection. Then at Sparks, whose gaze met his reluctantly. He said,
"Sparks--press the plunger."
Hannigan's hand moved slowly toward the control that would set into
flame the gigantic brush-signal on the plain below. With strange
reluctance, everything considered. For certainly Sparks realized
as plainly as he, Greg, that the snow was falling with increasing
rapidity, that the cruiser must be almost directly overhead for its
signal to penetrate the raucous interference of static, that if this
opportunity were lost it might be years and years before....
Sparks voice was low in his ears.
"Are you sure, Greg?"
And suddenly there was deathly silence in the cave. Never until that
moment had Gregory Malcolm realized how completely was he the ruler of
this tiny clan. Here, where all life and the future of life and the
future of these men and women were concerned, the last great judgment
was relegated to him.
He looked about him uncertainly. And what he read in his comrades' eyes
surprised him. For there was reluctance in the eyes of Bert Andrews ...
a vague regret in those of old J. Foster Andrews ... hope and pleading
in those of the girl 'Tina ... frank disapproval in those of the woman
they knew as 'Aunt Maud.' Only the eyes of Crystal Andrews, who were
he to let the cruiser pass might be his wife, was there mirrored fear
and apprehension....
He shook himself. And with that small gesture he shrugged from his
shoulders an ermine that had lain there all too briefly. Quietly he
said the words that stripped him of his sceptre, that swept away his
empire of the stars.
"Press it, Sparks!" he said.
* * * * *
"A remarkably ingenious device, sir," said Captain Allengrove
approvingly. "And you made use of it in the nick of time. We were just
about to abandon the search when the snowy waste beneath us blossomed
suddenly with that signal. I'm sorry we couldn't get here sooner, sir.
But--" And he glanced about the cavern appreciatively. "But you appear
to have had matters under control."
J. Foster Andrews said, "Well--er--Captain, as a matter of fact, it
wasn't--hrrumph!--altogether my doing. Greg, here--"
Captain Allengrove dismissed Malcolm with a glance.
"Yes, yes, I quite understand. One couldn't expect you to take care of
all the minor details. But I must say, Mr. Andrews, you are a fortunate
man. Inasmuch as you established residence on Titan, the Federation
will be forced to acknowledge your priority claim to the heretofore
unknown ore deposit near your cave."
"The--er--ore deposit?" Andrews looked blank.
Sparks hollered, "Oh, my sainted tonsils! The swamp! Of course!
Pitchblende! That's why there was so much static interference! Radium!"
The cruiser's commander frowned on him.
"Exactly. Of course, Mr. Andrews, you cannot file a full claim to the
property. That requires a full year's residence. And a man as important
as yourself--"
Greg Malcolm started. He had said nothing up till now. He had been
given an opportunity to say nothing. The captain had addressed himself
solely to the one "important" man in their party, the man for whom,
primarily, the search had been made, the man to whose "genius" was
attributed the existence of the castaways.
Now he spoke up. He said, "But _I_ am establishing residence, Captain
Allengrove."
Allengrove permitted himself the luxury of a small smile.
"You, Malcolm? But really, my dear fellow, only a spaceman could
undertake such a task. A _secretary_--"
Aunt Maud waddled forward belligerently. She said, "Secretary--pah!
Fiddle-faddle, Captain! You don't know what you're talking about! And
as for you, Brother Jonathan, I'm ashamed of you! Taking credit for
all this--arragh!" She turned to Greg. "Gregory, I'm an old woman, and
perhaps I'm an old fool, as well. But I've had more fun and excitement
in the past month than I've had in the previous forty years. Be--be
_damned_ if I'll go back to Earth and piddle away my remaining years at
operas and pink teas. I'm staying here with you!"
Enid Andrews, into whose shoulders had so quickly come the grace and
ease of authority that was her charm, looked shocked. "Maud!" she
exclaimed.
Sparks Hannigan breathed a sigh of relief. "Then that makes three of
us," he said. "Any more takers?"
Tommy O'Doul pushed his way to Greg's side. "Can I stay, too, Greg? Can
I, huh? Me, too?"