"Ease her up a little more, Steve!"
Commander Walters stood at the viewport watching the mighty _Polaris_
slide alongside the black ship toward the coupling devices that would
lock the two ships together in space.
"A little more!" said Walters. "About twenty feet!"
"Short burst on the main jets!" Strong called into the intercom.
"Aye, aye!" shouted Astro from below.
The giant ship inched along, the skins of the two ships barely touching.
"That's it!" shouted Walters. "The magnetic coupling links are in place.
We're locked together!" He turned to Strong and Barnard. "Secure ship
and come with me."
"Are you going to leave anyone on the ship, sir?" asked Strong as he cut
all power.
"No, I want everyone with me," replied Walters. "No telling what Miles
might try. As soon as we get aboard, spread out and search the ship.
Find Tom and Roger if you can and then come up to the control deck."
"Aye, aye, sir," acknowledged Strong.
Walters turned to the audioceiver and spoke sharply into the microphone.
"This is Walters, Miles. We're alongside and preparing to board your
ship. I warn you not to try any tricks. I've accepted your surrender and
hold you to it on your honor as a spaceman!" He paused, waiting for
acknowledgment, then called again. "Are you there, Miles?"
There was a crackle of static over the loud-speaker and Miles' voice
rang out on the control deck of the _Polaris_. "I'm here, Walters. Come
on aboard!"
Walters turned to Strong and Kit. "Let's go. You know your jobs, so
search the ship and report on the control deck." He strode toward the
coupling locks that held the two ships together in space.
Aboard the black ship, Quent and Ross Miles smiled at each other. "You
know what to do, Quent?" said Ross.
The brother nodded. "All set!" he said.
"Get going then. And don't make a move until you hear me draw their
attention!"
"Right!"
The two brothers shook hands and Quent turned away, hurriedly leaving
the control deck. Ross walked over to Tom and Roger, who watched the
scene with anxious eyes.
"I really hate to do this, boys," he said, "but as you can see, things
are pretty tight!" With that, he suddenly brought the butt of his ray
gun down hard on Roger's head. The blond-haired cadet slumped to the
floor. Tom leaped at the spaceman, but before he could close with him,
Ross stepped back quickly and brought the gun down sharply on his head.
The cadet slumped to the deck.
Quickly Ross propped them up against the bulkhead. Then, after a fast
look around the control deck for any last thing he might have forgotten,
he walked casually over to the control station and sat down. Seconds
later Walters and Strong stepped inside.
"I arrest you for murder, willful destruction of Solar Guard property,
and illegal operation of a uranium mine, Quent Miles!" said Walters. The
spaceman shrugged and said nothing.
Strong bent over the unconscious forms of the two cadets and tried to
bring them to, but they failed to respond.
"Better leave them alone, Steve," said Walters. "We have to get a
medical officer for them. They look as if they've been bumped pretty
hard."
Strong stood up abruptly and walked over to Miles, who lounged casually
in his chair. Ignoring Walters, the Solar Guard captain stood in front
of the black-suited spaceman, his jaw within an inch of the other man's
face.
"If anything serious has happened to those two boys, Miles," he said in
a cold, flat voice, full of menace, "I'll tear you apart!"
Miles paled for an instant and then grinned uneasily. "Don't worry about
it, Strong. They're pretty tough kids."
Kit Barnard suddenly burst into the control room. "I've searched the
cargo holds, Commander," he said. "Nothing there but lead boxes. Didn't
find the boys--" Barnard stopped suddenly at the sight of the two
unconscious cadets. "Tom! Roger!" he cried.
"They were slugged, Kit," said Strong. "You go back to the _Polaris_ and
send out an emergency call. Find the closest ship with a medical
officer aboard and arrange for a meeting out here in space. We'll be
ready to blast in five minutes."
"O.K., Steve," replied Kit, turning to the door and then stopping to
glare at Miles. "And save a piece of that space rat for me!"
Under Barnard's steely look, Miles rose to his feet and stepped back
hesitantly. Then, suddenly, he jumped up on the chair, scrambled to the
top of the master control panel, and crouched there tensely.
Strong, Walters, and Kit were momentarily stunned by his strange action.
It seemed like a senseless and futile effort to get away. There was no
way Miles could get out of the control deck or off the ship.
Beyond the reach of anyone on the control deck, Miles began to laugh.
Walters turned beet red with anger. "This is stupid, Miles!" he roared.
"You can't get away and you know it!"
"That all depends on where you're standing, Walters!" said a voice from
the hatch.
The three spacemen whirled at the sound of the voice and were dumfounded
by the appearance of Quent Miles, standing to one side of the hatch,
holding an automatic paralo-ray rifle, trained on them.
"Stay right where you are," he said softly. "The first man that moves
gets frozen solid!"
Walters, Strong, and Kit were too stunned to make a move. They could
only stare in open disbelief at Quent Miles.
"Come on down, Ross!" called Quent. "And if anyone tries to stop him,
I'll let all three of you have it!"
Ross climbed down from the control panel and stripped the three
helpless spacemen of their weapons. He threw them out of the hatch and
then went to stand by his brother. As they stood side by side, Strong
and Walters couldn't help but gasp at the identical features of the two
men.
"You can never hope to get away, either of you," growled Walters, when
he finally regained his composure.
Quent laughed. "We're doing more than just hope, Walters."
"Just for your information," Ross chimed in, "we're changing ships and
taking the cargo with us." He backed toward the hatch slowly. "Come on,
Quent." The two brothers stepped back through the doorway, Ross keeping
his rifle leveled at the three men.
Safely outside, Quent slammed the heavy door closed. Then, with a rocket
wrench, he worked on the outer nuts of the door used in emergency to
seal off the ship by compartments.
"All set!" said Quent, stepping back. "They can't get out now until
someone comes and loosens up those nuts."
"Get down below and start transferring that cargo to the _Polaris_,"
ordered Ross, slinging the rifle over his shoulder. "I'll get on the
audioceiver and tell that cruiser squadron to go back."
Quent laughed. "You know, Ross, this is terrific," he chortled. "We not
only get away, but we get ourselves a Solar Guard rocket cruiser.
Nobody'll be able to touch us in that ship."
"Nobody but me, Miles!" said a voice behind them. The two brothers spun
around to see Astro, stripped to the waist, a heavy lug wrench in his
hand, legs spread apart, ready to spring.
"Had me fooled there for a while, Ross!" he growled. "I saw your brother
back at the Academy and thought it was you. But he didn't have the split
ear lobe, the one I gave you. Remember?"
Ross slowly reached for the rifle that was slung over his shoulder.
"Don't do it, Ross!" warned Astro. "Get your hands off that rifle or
I'll ram this wrench down your throat!"
Ross lowered his hand again slowly.
"Who is this guy, Ross?" asked Quent, licking his lips nervously. "How
does he know about us?"
Ross kept his eyes on Astro, glaring at the cadet in hot fury. "I met
him on a deep spacer, five years ago, when you were laid up in the
hospital," he said between his teeth. "This punk was a wiper on the
power deck. I was his petty officer."
"We got into a fight," snarled Astro, "when he wanted to send me into a
firing chamber without letting it cool off first."
"There are two of us now, Astro!" said Ross.
Astro nodded slowly. "That's right. Two of you!" Suddenly he dove toward
the two men, arms outstretched. With one mighty swipe of the wrench he
knocked Quent unconscious. Ross was hurled against the bulkhead by the
impact but managed to stay on his feet. Desperately he tore the
paralo-ray rifle from his shoulder, but before he could level it, Astro
was upon him, wrenching it out of his grasp. Pushing Ross away, he
calmly broke it in two and threw the pieces to one side. Then he faced
the black-clad spaceman squarely.
"I was a kid when I first saw you, Ross," he said between his teeth. "So
you had me fooled like everyone else. When your brother showed up at the
Academy with his ears in good shape, I thought it was a curious
coincidence two guys should look so much alike. And on Titan, when you
had me hauling up those boxes, you wore your hat all the time, along
with the oxygen mask, so I didn't think anything of it. But now I know!"
[Illustration]
All the while Astro talked, the two men circled each other like two
wrestlers, each waiting for his opponent to make a mistake.
"So you know!" sneered Ross. "All right, wiper, come on!"
The black-suited spaceman suddenly dove straight at Astro and the cadet
caught the full force of his body in his stomach. He sprawled on the
deck, gasping. Miles was on top of him in a second, hands at Astro's
throat.
[Illustration]
Fire danced in the cadet's brain as Ross Miles' steely fingers closed
around his windpipe. Slowly, with every ounce of strength he had in his
body, Astro grasped Miles' wrists in his hands and began squeezing. The
fingers around the muscular wrists were the fingers of a boy filled
with hate and revenge. Slowly, very slowly, as the seconds ticked away
and the wind whistled raggedly in his throat, Astro increased the
enormous pressure.
Now he felt the fingers around his throat begin to relax a little, and
then a little more, and he kept tightening the pressure of his mighty
hands. Expressions of surprise and then pain spread across Miles' face
and he finally relaxed his grip around Astro's throat. He struggled to
free himself from the viselike grip but it was hopeless.
Astro continued to apply pressure. He forced Miles up from his chest and
then up on his feet, never relenting. Miles' face was now twisted in
agony.
They stood on the deck, face to face, for almost a minute in silent
struggle. There seemed to be no end to the power in the cadet's hands.
Suddenly Ross Miles slumped to his knees and sprawled on the deck as
Astro let him go. The black-clad spaceman had fainted.
* * * * *
"They got a couple of hard bumps, but they'll be all right," announced
the medical officer, straightening up. "But that man outside, Ross
Miles, is going to stand trial with a broken wrist!" He turned to
Strong. "What do you feed these cadets?"
Strong smiled and replied, "These are special types we train to take
care of space rats!"
Tom and Roger lay stretched out on emergency cots set up on the control
deck of the _Polaris_. They grinned weakly at Astro, who hovered over
them solicitously.
"This is the first time we've ever wound up an assignment on our backs,
you big Venusian hick!" said Roger. "And I suppose I'll have to thank
you for saving my life!"
Astro grinned. "Wasn't much to save, Roger."
"Listen you!" Roger rose on one elbow, but the medical officer pressed
him gently back on the cot.
"Did you ever find out how Bill Sticoon's ship was sabotaged, Captain
Strong?" asked Tom.
"We sure did, Tom," said Strong. "One of Brett's confederates slugged
the Solar Guard officer in charge of monitoring the race on Deimos and
took his place. If it hadn't been for a brash stereo reporter that kept
taking pictures of everything and everyone, the impersonator wouldn't
have been caught."
"And to think that I wanted to give that reporter a few lumps!" Tom
exclaimed.
"Did you find out anything about the crash of Gigi Duarte's ship, sir?"
asked Roger.
"Yes. Ross confessed that he was in Luna City and planted a time bomb on
Gigi's ship when the French Chicken came in for refueling."
"Say," exclaimed Roger, "I just happened to think! With Miles
disqualified, Kit wins the race!"
Seated in the pilot's chair, Kit turned to Roger and waved a paper.
"Here's the contract, Roger. Signed, sealed, and with only the crystal
to be delivered."
"There's only one thing bothering me now," sighed Tom.
"What's that, Tom?" asked Strong.
"Do you think I could get a three-day pass before we go back to class at
the Academy?"
Strong and Kit looked at each other, puzzled. "With sick leave, you'll
have plenty of time," said Strong. "Why a three-day pass especially?"
Tom settled deeper into the cot. "Well, sir," he said, grinning, "I
figure it'll take just about three days for Astro and Roger to argue it
out about who did the most to catch Ross and Quent Miles. And I don't
want to have to listen to it!"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
Standardized Punctuation
Corrected " where necessary
List of Illustrations: Changed quadrant five in caption to quadrant
four to match story
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