Night Attack
Kenniston caught desperately at the hope implied by the Jovian's
words.
"What do you mean, Holk?"
"I mean that I'm a hundred times stronger on this little asteroid than
I am on my own world, Jupiter. I can break the bolt of that door any
time I want to."
"But there's an armed guard stationed outside it."
"I know, and that's where you come in, Kenniston. When I rip the door
open, you be ready to jump the guard."
Kenniston considered swiftly. The chance of their getting out of the
ship and safely through the jungles to the pirate camp, even if they
escaped this cabin, seemed a slim one. Yet it presented the only
possibility of delivering the equipment in the hold to John Dark.
The bitter irony of it struck Kenniston, for the hundredth time. He,
Lance Kenniston, honorable space-man for a dozen years, working
desperately to aid the most notorious pirate in the void! Even drawing
into danger the girl for whom he felt--
He shut Gloria out of his mind. He mustn't think of her now. He must
think only of Ricky, and of what would be lost if Ricky died. He must
risk everything, sacrifice everything, to prevent that loss.
"We might as well try it now," he told the Jovian in low tones. "The
ship seems quiet."
"I'll do my best to make as little noise as possible," Holk Or
muttered. "Are you ready?"
The Jovian's big hands grasped the knob of the door. Kenniston
crouched a little behind him, every muscle tense.
Holk Or suddenly put all his gigantically magnified strength into a
tremendous tug at the door. Its bolt snapped with a crack like that of
a pistolshot, and it swung wide open.
The man on guard outside turned startledly, his hand darting to the
atom-gun at his belt and his mouth open to yell. But Kenniston had
launched himself like a human projectile as the door was torn open.
Kenniston's fist smashed the space-sailor's chin and the man sagged
limp and unconscious with no chance to utter the cry on his lips.
Hastily, Kenniston took his atom-pistol and eased him to the floor.
He and Holk Or listened tensely. The single sharp crack of the
snapping bolt had apparently aroused no one. The ship was silent. All
aboard were sleeping exhaustedly.
"Come on," Kenniston murmured tensely to the Jovian. "We've got to
hurry to get to Dark's camp before night is over."
Holk Or chuckled. "The chief will welcome us with open arms when he
learns we've got the equipment here for him."
Kenniston gripped the atom-pistol as they stole through the dark ship
and out of the space-door. Outside, they paused in the darkness.
The scene was one of magic, unearthly beauty. The metal bulk of the
cruiser and the towering jungle around the clearing were washed by
brilliant silver light that fell from the wonderful night sky of this
World with a Thousand Moons.
A thousand moons indeed seemed blazing in the canopied heavens
overhead! The whole dark sky was crowded by the shining moonlets that
rushed ceaselessly across the firmament with the spinning of the
meteor-swarm of which they were part. It was like the glorious vista
of a world seen in dreams.
But Kenniston was familiar with the unearthly spectacle. He led the
way rapidly toward the northern edge of the jungle.
"We'll just have to plunge in and head north," he told the Jovian. "If
we reach that little lake, we can soon find Dark's camp."
They started into the dense jungle, a fairyland of silver beams
sifting through the choking fronds. Something scurried close by.
"Kenniston, shoot!" cried Holk Or instantly.
* * * * *
Kenniston had already glimpsed the white beast scurrying toward them
across a little patch of moonslight. It was one of the big
meteor-rats. On its neck bunched one of the little gray masses--a
Vestan.
The horror inspired by the hideous parasites tightened Kenniston's
finger convulsively on the trigger of the atom-pistol. The crackling
bolt of fire from the weapon ripped into the Vestan on the meteor-rat,
and both parasite and animal victim were instantly a scorched, smoking
heap.
"Hell, that's torn it!" cried the big Jovian. "We've roused the whole
ship!"
Men awakened by the blast of the atom-gun were pouring out of the
_Sunsprite_, rushing after the two escaped men. Kenniston heard
Captain Walls shouting.
"They're in the jungle here! Spread out and surround them!" the
officer was ordering.
Kenniston and the Jovian plunged forward, seeking to escape northward.
But they had come up against an impenetrable abatis of brush.
Before they could find a way around it, they heard men crashing all
around them. They were completely encircled.
"Kenniston, you and that Jovian walk back into the clearing with your
hands raised or we'll blast every inch of the brush till we get you!"
came the stentorian shout of the captain.
"The devil--they've got us boxed!" exclaimed Holk Or furiously. "We'll
try to fight our way through."
"No!" Kenniston declared. "We couldn't make it anyway. And I'm not
going to shoot innocent men."
Holk Or angrily grabbed for the atom-pistol, but Kenniston promptly
threw it away. Not even in this last extremity could he bring himself
to kill.
"You're a fool!" gritted the Jovian. "Now there's nothing for it but
surrender."
With their hands raised, they walked out of the jungle into the
brilliant silvery light of the clearing. Instantly they were
surrounded by Captain Walls, Murdock and the other armed crew-men.
The girls and their scared chaperon, and young Lanning and Robbie
Boone, were emerging in alarm from the _Sunsprite_. Kenniston did not
look toward them.
Captain Walls' face was grim in the moonslight, as he and his men
covered the two captured fugitives. "Kenniston, you and this Jovian
were going to make your way to John Dark and tell him of our presence
here, weren't you? You needn't deny it--it's plain enough."
"Sure we were!" exclaimed the angry Jovian. "We'd have made it, too,
if a Vestan hadn't jumped us in the jungle."
"That would have meant capture of us all by Dark's pirates," said the
captain grimly. "You two are a danger to us all, while you live. I'm
going to remove that danger. As master of a space-ship, I have legal
right to order summary execution of any space-pirates I capture. I'm
going to order that now."
"You're going to kill them?" exclaimed Gloria. "Oh, no--you can't!"
"It's absolutely necessary, before they betray us to the pirates, Miss
Loring," defended the captain. "They'd be sentenced to death by the
courts if we took them back to Mars, anyway. But we daren't take a
chance on keeping them prisoned that long."
"But just to shoot them down!" said Gloria horrifiedly. "I won't stand
for that!"
Murdock took her by the arm. "It's space law, Gloria," he told her
earnestly. "You'd better go back into the ship."
Kenniston stood silent in the moonslight, for he realized from the
finality of Walls' voice that appeals would be utterly useless. There
was no use trying again to explain why he'd been willing to betray
them all to save Ricky. Even if they listened, they wouldn't
understand.
He felt tired, crushed, old. He'd gone a long way in the last dozen
years, but every mile of it had only led toward this ending. He was
going to die here under the hurtling meteor-moons of Vesta, and that
meant that Ricky and Ricky's dream were going to die soon too.
"I _told_ you you were a fool to throw away that gun," Holk Or was
muttering.
* * * * *
"You two march over there to the edge of the clearing," Captain Walls
ordered grimly, gesturing with his gun. "Anything you want to say
first, Kenniston?"
"Nothing that you would listen to or understand, you people,"
Kenniston answered dully. "No, I've got nothing to say."
A crackling voice came out of the dark jungle at that moment.
"_I_ have something to say! Drop those guns, every man of you, and get
your hands up!"
Walls spun around with an oath, levelling his atom-pistol. But out of
the jungle crashed a streak of fire that hit the captain's arm and
sent him reeling.
One of the girls screamed. Another of the _Sunsprite's_ crew had tried
to aim his weapon and had been cut down by a second bolt of atomic
fire that had hit his leg.
"I _don't_ want to kill you unless you force me to," came that crisp
voice from the darkness. "You have ten seconds to drop the guns."
"That's the chief, Kenniston!" yelled Holk Or excitedly. "It's John
Dark himself!"
The dreaded name of the pirate, a synonym for cold ruthlessness,
reinforced the threat from the darkness.
Murdock let his weapon fall and shouted, "Drop the atom-guns, men! If
we try to fight, the women will be hurt!"
The _Sunsprite's_ men dropped their atom-pistols. Instantly out into
the brilliant light from the jungle rushed a score of armed pirates.
Martians, Earthmen, Venusians and others--this horde represented the
criminal under-world of every planet in the System.
In a moment they had those in the clearing completely disarmed and
lined up against the ship. All except Holk Or, who was loudly greeting
his pirate comrades.
Kenniston saw John Dark coming across the moonslit clearing toward
them. The notorious pirate was a tall, bulky Earthman, but he walked
with the lightfootedness of a cat in his moonshoes. His black hair was
bare, and in the silver light his black-browed, intelligent face was
coldly calm as his eyes searched the row of prisoners.
"So you finally got here, Kenniston. What about the repair-equipment?"
he asked sharply.
Kenniston nodded toward the _Sunsprite_. "It's in the hold. We got
everything you listed."
"Good!" Dark approved. "We saw your ship crash-landing today, and
started this way at once. We've been beating through the jungle,
fighting off the damned Vestans, until we heard the uproar going on
here. What happened? Who are these people?"
Kenniston explained briefly how he had induced Gloria Loring's party
to come on a pretended treasure-hunt. He was careful to stress the
wealth of the party, and John Dark reacted as he had expected.
"If they're that wealthy, their families can pay big ransoms. You've
done very well, Kenniston."
"What about Ricky?" asked Kenniston tensely. "He's all right?"
"Sure he's all right--he's up at the camp," Dark answered.
Gloria said bitterly to Kenniston, "You can congratulate yourself.
You've managed to save your brother."
John Dark addressed her. "Miss Loring, I presume you and your
companions are willing to pay ransom for your crew also? I never take
prisoners, unless they promise a good profit."
"Yes, of course we'll pay the ransom of the crew!" Gloria agreed
hastily.
"Good!" said the pirate calmly. "You'll not find your captivity any
more irksome than necessary."
Mrs. Milsom, the dumpy chaperon, was goggling at the notorious pirate
in an extreme of terror. A sardonic gleam came into Dark's eyes as he
glanced at her.
"You're a handsome wench," he told the plump dowager with mock
admiration. "I've half a mind to keep you and let the ransom go."
"No, no!" shrieked the terrified woman.
Dark burst into a roar of laughter. "All right, my shrinking beauty,
we'll accept ransom for you."
He turned and shot efficient orders to his subordinates, who by now
had gathered behind him.
"Get that stuff out of the hold, rig up power-sledges, and start
freighting it up to the camp. You'll have to cut a path through the
jungle--use atom-blasters to burn one out."
One of the pirates, a hard-faced Martian, said uneasily, "That will
make a racket that'll bring every Vestan on the asteroid down on us."
"You can keep the Vestans off if you keep your eyes open," Dark
retorted. "Get to work, now! We've got to get the stuff up there and
repair the _Falcon_ at once. I'll take these prisoners up to camp."
Kenniston was grouped with the other prisoners. With a strong escort
of armed pirates guarding them, and Dark and Holk Or ahead, they
started through the jungle toward the pirate camp.