"Easy, Astro," said Strong, standing behind the big cadet. "Pull that
line up slowly and gently."
"Yes, sir," gasped Astro. He didn't have to be told to pull the rope
with caution. He knew only too well that the slightest jar or bump
against the side of the shaft might dislodge Roger's unconscious body
from the tangle of line, causing him to fall to the bottom of the shaft.
How far down the shaft went, none of the anxious spacemen around the
hole in the splintered floor knew. And they didn't want to use Roger's
body to find out!
"I'll give you a hand, Astro," said Commissioner Hawks. He reached for
the line, but the big cadet warned him away.
"That's all right, sir," he said. "He's almost up now."
Astro pulled gently, hand over hand, until Roger's limp body was a mere
foot from the edge.
"Grab him, quick!" he panted.
Immediately Strong and Hawks were down on their knees at the edge of the
hole. Each taking an arm, they pulled Roger out and laid him gently on
the floor of the shack. They crouched over him and began a quick
examination.
"How is he, sir?" asked Tom, hovering anxiously over the still form of
his friend. "Will he be all right?"
Strong didn't answer for a moment, continuing his hurried, though
careful check. Then he sat back on his heels and sighed in relief. "A
few bruises but no broken bones, thank the universe. He's just suffering
from shock. A day or so in sick bay and he'll be good as new."
"I'll take him over there right away, Steve," offered Hawks.
"Thanks, Mike," replied Strong. Then as he and the commissioner lifted
the still form of the cadet and started to carry him out of the shack,
he turned to Astro. "Blast over to the _Polaris_ and call Solar Guard
headquarters in Venusport. Tell them to send an emergency crew down here
right away."
"Aye, aye, sir," snapped the big Venusian and dashed out of the shack.
Turning back to Hawks, Strong said, "Corbett and I will stay here and
try to find out where that shaft leads."
"All right, Steve," nodded the commissioner. "Too bad we had to find out
where that dirt came from the hard way."
Reaching the jet car, the two men placed Roger in the back seat, and
Hawks slid in under the wheel to start the powerful jets. Just then
Astro, racing back from the _Polaris_, pulled up breathlessly.
"Solar Guard crew is on the way, sir," he reported. He glanced anxiously
into the back seat of the jet car.
"All right, Astro," said Strong gently, "take care of Roger." Strong
gestured to the back seat and without a word Astro leaped in beside his
friend. Hawks stepped on the accelerator and the car shot away in a roar
of blasting jets.
Tom and Captain Strong watched the car disappear and then turned back to
the shack. Each felt the same emotion, an unspoken determination to see
that Wallace and Simms paid dearly for causing the accident.
Re-entering the shack, they began a careful examination of the shaft.
Strong played his emergency light down the sides, but the beam
penetrated only a short distance.
"We'll leave a note for the emergency crew," said Strong. "Our belt
communicators might not work so far underground."
"You're going down, sir?" asked Tom.
Strong nodded. "If necessary. Tie that valve on the end of the rope
Astro used and lower it into the shaft. If we can touch bottom with it,
we'll climb down and see what Wallace and Simms were after."
"Yes, sir," said Tom. He took the length of rope, tied the heavy metal
valve to the end, and began lowering it into the shaft. Strong continued
to play the light down the shaft until the valve disappeared into the
darkness.
"Rope's getting short, sir," warned Tom. "Only have about two hundred
feet left."
Strong glanced at the remaining coils of line on the floor. "I'll get
more from the _Polaris_, if we need it," he said. "How long was that
line to begin with?"
"It's a regulation space line, sir," said Tom. "Astro took it out of the
emergency locker. It's about twelve hundred feet."
By this time the line, hanging straight down the shaft, had become
increasingly heavy. Suddenly it grew slack.
"I think I've hit bottom, sir," cried the cadet. "But I can't pull the
valve back up again to make sure."
Strong grabbed the end of the line and helped the cadet pull it back up
a short distance. Then they dropped the line again and felt a distinct
slackening of weight.
"That's bottom all right," said Strong. "Take this end of the line, run
it out of the window on your right, and back through the one on your
left. Then make it fast."
"Yes, sir," said Tom. He jumped out of the window, trailing the rope
after him, and reappeared almost immediately through the other window to
tie a loop in the line. After checking the knot and testing the line by
throwing his full weight against it, Strong stripped off his jacket and
wrapped it about the line to prevent rope burns. Then, hooking the
emergency light on his belt, he stepped off into the shaft. Tom watched
his skipper lower himself until nothing but the light, a wavering pin
point in the dark hole, could be seen. At last the light stopped moving
and Tom knew Strong had reached the bottom.
"Hallooooooo!" The captain's voice echoed faintly up the dark shaft.
"The belt communicators don't work!" he yelled. "Come on down!"
"Be right with you, sir!" yelled Tom. He scratched a message on the
wooden floor of the shack for the emergency crew. Then he stripped off
his jacket, wrapped it around the rope, secured the light to his belt,
and stepped off into the darkness.
Slowly, his hands tight around the rope through his jacket, Tom slipped
down the deep shaft. He kept his eyes averted from the black hole
beneath him, looking instead at the sides of the shaft. Once, when he
thought he had gone about seven hundred feet, he saw that he was passing
through a stratum of thick clay and could see the preserved bones of
long-dead mammals, protruding from the side of the shaft.
Finally Tom's feet touched solid ground and he released the rope. It was
cold in the bottom of the shaft and he hastily put his jacket back on.
"Captain Strong?" he called. There was no answer. Tom flashed the light
around and saw a low, narrow tunnel leading off to his left.
He walked slowly, and the newly dug sides of the tunnel seemed to close
in on him menacingly. It was quiet. Not the blank silence of space that
Tom was used to, but the deathlike stillness of a tomb. It sent chills
up and down his spine. Finally he stepped around a sharp bend and
stopped abruptly.
"Captain Strong!"
The Solar Guard officer was stooping over, his light resting on the
ground, reading something he held in his hand. He looked up at Tom and
jerked his thumb back over his shoulder. Tom flashed his light in that
direction.
"By the rings of Saturn!" exclaimed Tom. There in front of him, ripped
open like a can of sardines, was the gleaming metal skin of the time
capsule! The dirt floor of the tunnel around Strong and beside the
capsule was littered with audio spools, sound disks, micropapers, and
stereo slides.
Tom kneeled down beside his skipper and stammered, "What--what does it
mean, sir?"
"It means," answered Strong slowly, "that we're dealing with two of the
cleverest men in the universe! If they've stolen what I think they have,
the entire Solar Guard, Solar Alliance, and just about everyone in the
universe is at their mercy!"
* * * * *
"How do you feel, Roger?" asked Astro.
The blond-haired cadet sat up in bed, dangled his feet over the side,
and rubbed his neck. He groaned as he moved. "I don't think I'm going to
dance much this month, if that answers your question. I feel like every
bone in my body was broken!"
"They very nearly were, Cadet Manning," said the medical officer,
standing near by.
"What happened, Manning?" asked Commissioner Hawks.
"I really don't know, sir," replied Roger. "I was moving the junk out of
the corner of the shack so I could examine it. I was piling it up in the
middle of the floor when--wham--something gave way and I took a header
into nowhere!" He looked at Astro. "Now suppose _you_ tell me what
happened!"
Astro told Roger about finding him dangling at the end of the tangled
feed lines. Then he said, "Tom and Captain Strong are out there now,
waiting for one of the Solar Guard emergency crews."
"Well, what are we hanging around here for?" asked Roger, and hopped off
the bed. He groaned, staggered, and then straightened up. "Nothing to
worry about," he said, as Astro rushed to his side. "I'm as good as
new!"
"What do you say, Doctor?" asked Hawks.
The doctor hesitated a moment and then smiled. "Well, Commissioner,
Cadet Manning has several strained muscles in his back, but the best
treatment for that is exercise."
Hawks nodded and signed a release slip which the doctor gave him. Astro
helped Roger put on his space boots, and five minutes later they were
speeding back to the exposition grounds in the commissioner's jet car.
As they sped through the streets, the two cadets speculated on what they
would find at the bottom of the shaft. Arriving at the shack, they were
immediately challenged by an enlisted Solar Guardsman.
"Halt!" said the guard gruffly. "Advance slowly for recognition!"
With Commissioner Hawks leading the way, Roger and Astro walked up to
the guard.
"Say," said Roger, nudging Astro, "look at what's going on around here!"
"Yeah," agreed Astro, wide-eyed. "Something must be plenty hot to have
guards posted!"
Hawks was immediately recognized by the guard, but he still stubbornly
demanded proof of their identity. Hawks, Roger, and Astro hauled out
their Solar Guard identification disks, small metal plates with their
images engraved in the shiny metal. On the other side was a detailed
description of the bearer.
"Very well, sir," said the guard and let them pass.
In the pale light of dawn, feverish activity could be seen taking place
around the shack. Two huge jet vans, filled with every possible piece of
emergency equipment, were parked near by. The _Polaris_ had been taken
over as a temporary headquarters and the area was crowded with
scarlet-clad enlisted men. Astro could hear the hum of generators on the
_Polaris_ and immediately felt concern for his power deck.
Proceeding to the shack they were again challenged by a guard and again
had to produce their identification disks before entering. Once inside,
they were amazed at the transformation. An aluminum tripod, ten feet
tall, had been erected over the hole in the floor, and several steel
cables, connected to a motor-driven steel drum, were looped over the
apex of the tripod, one hanging straight down into the shaft. A thick
plastic hose hung over the edge of the shaft, jerking spasmodically as
air was pumped into the dark hole.
"By the craters of Luna," cried Hawks, "what's going on here?"
A young lieutenant stepped up to the commissioner and saluted sharply.
"Lieutenant Silvers, sir. Second-in-command to Captain Allison of the
emergency crew."
Hawks returned the salute and Lieutenant Silvers continued.
"Captain Strong, Cadet Corbett, and Captain Allison are at the bottom of
the shaft, sir. The cage will be up in a moment and you may go down if
you care to."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," said Hawks.
"Congratulations, Cadet Manning," said Silvers. "I understand you had a
close call in the shaft."
"I did, sir," said Roger. "It was _very_ close."
A light suddenly flashed on and the four spacemen turned to watch a
large wire cage rise out of the shaft. It was built in three sections,
each seven feet high. A ladder on one side of the cage gave easy access
to the higher and lower levels. Astro climbed to the top section while
Hawks took the lower. Roger stepped into the center section to avoid a
climb. An enlisted man secured the gates and turned on the motor. The
cage dropped through the shaft with sickening speed.
A minute later it began to brake slowly, finally coming to a dead stop
at the bottom of the shaft. They were met by a Solar Guardsman who
directed them into the tunnel, now illuminated by a row of flowing,
self-powered emergency lights. Silently, but with rising excitement, the
two cadets followed Hawks through the brightly lighted shaft, a thousand
feet below the surface of the planet.
Turning the last corner in the tunnel they came upon Strong, Tom, and
Captain Allison huddled near the torn side of the time capsule. They
could hear Strong talking to Tom.
"There is a vault on every spaceship in the Solar Alliance, Tom," Strong
was explaining. "The vault is locked before blast-off and opened after
landing by a light-key operated only by a trusted spaceport security
officer. This key flashes a series of light vibrations, in sequence,
into the electromagnetic lock on the vault. It's really nothing more
than a highly developed flashlight except that it flashes multiple
combinations of lights, each containing certain electronic vibrations.
The electromagnetic lock can only be opened with the proper combinations
of colors and vibrations flashed by the light-key. Of course each ship
has a different code of colors and vibrations, but the code itself
wouldn't be hard to crack. The big thing would be to have an adjustable
light-key, so that if one combination of colors and light vibrations do
not work, you can try another. In that way you could open any energy
lock on any vault in the system."
"And Wallace and Simms--" Tom hesitated.
"Yes, Corbett," said Strong grimly. "Wallace and Simms stole an
information sound spool from the capsule. On that spool was a detailed
description of the energy lock and the adjustable light-key. There were
only seven keys in the system up to now. If we don't catch Wallace and
Simms, there'll be eight."
"Great galaxy," Commissioner Hawks broke in. "This will ruin the
exposition! The Alliance will close it after--"
Strong waved a calming hand at Hawks. "I've already spoken to Commander
Walters at Space Academy, Mike," he said. "He wants this to remain a
secret. No one knows about it besides us, and no one will. I'm taking
your oaths, your spaceman's word, that it will remain a secret. There's
no use in starting a panic. You'll keep the exposition going as if
nothing had happened."
"But what can the Solar Guard do, sir?" asked Tom.
"We'll start the greatest search the system has ever seen," replied
Strong calmly. "But the order for their arrest will be issued for some
other violation." The Solar Guard officer suddenly noticed Roger for the
first time.
"Oh, Manning!" he said, smiling. "Good to see you. How do you feel?"
"O.K., sir," replied Roger. "But I'd feel a lot better if those space
crawlers didn't have the combination to every safe and vault in the
universe!"
Strong nodded. "This is one of the cleverest crimes in history. And in
searching for Wallace and Simms, we'll have to be twice as smart as they
are!"
"Yes, sir," said Tom. "First we have to figure out what they will do,
and then figure out how we're going to beat them!"
"That's right, Tom," nodded Strong. "And by the stars, if we don't beat
them, the only safe place left for the credits and securities of the
people in the system will be behind rows of paralo-ray guns!"