"Have you got everything straight?" asked Coxine. Simms nodded his head.
"All right, blast off," ordered the pirate. "We'll follow you and keep
you spotted on radar. If it's a trap, head for asteroid fourteen, bail
out in a jet boat, and let the scout keep going. We'll pick you up
later."
Simms nodded again and turned to his old partner, Wallace. "So long,
Gus." He smiled. "This is one time the Solar Guard gets it right where
it hurts!"
"Yeah," agreed Wallace. "See you later. Take it easy on that asteroid
and don't get in trouble with the girls!"
The two men laughed and Simms turned to climb into the waiting rocket
scout. The sleek ship had been stripped down until it was hardly more
than a power deck and control panel. She was now capable of more than
twice her original speed. As the little spaceman disappeared into the
air lock, Coxine turned to Wallace.
"We'll give him an hour's head start and then blast off after him. And
remember, the first man that breaks audio silence will get blasted!"
All eyes were on the tiny rocket scout as its jets, roaring into life,
lifted free of the pirate planetoid. When the speedy little ship had
disappeared into space, Coxine turned to his crew and ordered an
immediate alert. While the criminals readied the armed privateer for
blast-off, Coxine and Wallace climbed directly to the radar bridge.
Joe Brooks was hunched in front of the scanner, staring intently. He
looked up when the two pirate officers entered.
"Just following Lieutenant Simms on the radar, skipper," said Brooks.
"He's blasting through the asteroid belt faster than I thought he
could."
"Lemme see!" growled Coxine. The giant pirate stared at the scanner and
his mouth twisted into a grin. He turned away and barked several orders.
"Wallace, stand by to blast off in two minutes! Brooks, get me a bearing
on that ship."
"You mean Simms?" asked the radarman.
"No! I mean that ship, right there," snapped Coxine. He pointed to a
white blip on the scanner. "And after you get the bearing I want a
course that'll intersect it in"--Coxine paused and glanced at the astral
chronometer--"ten minutes!"
Quickly calculating the bearing and working up the course as ordered,
Brooks handed Coxine a slip of paper. The pirate glanced at it briefly.
"What would you say Simms' speed would be if he kept his ship on full
thrust, Brooks?" asked Coxine.
Brooks thought a moment. "I'd say it would be about half of what he's
making now!"
"Exactly!" roared Coxine. "That's why the ship on your scanner isn't
Simms' at all, but another ship!"
The radarman studied the scanner, where, with each sweep of the thin
white line, the blip of the ship appeared. "You mean it might be the
Titan pay roll?" he breathed hopefully.
"Yeah," breathed Coxine. "I mean it might be the Titan pay roll, and
then again it might not!" Coxine turned away, leaving the radarman
utterly confused.
Within the two-minute deadline that Coxine had ordered, the members of
his crew were locking the last air lock and securing ship for blast-off.
Coxine sat in front of the control panel, ready to give the final order
that would send the vessel hurtling into space. In a little while, the
evil mind, the twisted brain of Bull Coxine would be pitted against the
might of the Solar Guard.
* * * * *
Captain Strong sat on the control deck of the decoy ship, watching the
radar scanner and waiting for the appearance of Bull Coxine and his
crew. Again and again, the young Solar Guard officer, too restless to
remain in one spot, got up and paced the deck.
He flipped on a chart screen and studied the positions of the
surrounding asteroids, which he knew hid the Solar Guard fleet, ready to
pounce on any attacking ship. Schooled for years in facing the tedium of
space travel and patrolling the space lanes, Strong nevertheless was
anxious for something to happen, as minute after minute slipped past and
no attack came.
Once he thought he saw something move on the scanner and gripped the
sides of the instrument tightly as a blip appeared, disappeared, and
then reappeared. Finally Strong was able to distinguish what it was and
he turned away in disgust. It had been a maverick asteroid, one which,
because of its positive gravity, never became a captive of other bodies
in space. It wandered aimlessly through the belt, a danger spacemen
feared more than any other, since it could not be depended upon to
remain in one position.
Unable to break audio silence and communicate with the hidden Solar
Guard fleet around him, lest he give away their positions, Strong found
the loneliness driving him into a case of jitters and nerves.
Suddenly he jumped up and stared unbelievingly at the scanner. There in
front of him was a blip, traveling at amazing speed, straight for his
ship. From its size and shape, Strong could tell it was a rocket scout.
He watched it for a moment dumfounded at the speed of the small ship.
When he was certain that it was heading for him, he grabbed the
audioceiver microphone and began calling hurriedly.
"Attention all ships! This is Captain Strong. Spaceship approaching me,
starboard quarter, one-one-five degrees. Estimated speed--" Strong
paused and watched the moving blip. "Speed unknown. All ships close in
immediately!"
On the scanner, Strong could see the flashes of blips as the squadrons
roared out of concealment and closed in on the approaching rocket scout.
Over the audioceiver he could hear the squadron commanders snapping
orders to their ships as the small ship still headed, unheedingly, for
his decoy vessel.
Suddenly the attacking ship slowed and Strong could see the blip turn in
a wide-sweeping curve. But it was too late. The Solar Guard ships had it
surrounded from every possible angle. The little scout made a desperate
dash straight for Strong's ship. In a flash, he saw the plan of the
ship's pilot. He was heading for Strong, hoping to use him as a shield
from the mighty six-inch blasters trained on him.
Strong grabbed for the control and fired full thrust on his starboard
jets, sending the decoy vessel into a screaming dive. The attacking ship
tried to follow, but seeing it couldn't make it, turned and tried to
escape from the surrounding ships. Instinctively Strong shouted a
warning to the pilot to surrender, but even as he spoke, he saw the
firing flashes sparkle on the hulls of a dozen fleet vessels as they
sent their deadly atomic missiles converging like lightning arrows on
the speedy rocket scout.
There was a burst of pure white fire on the scanner and then the young
captain gulped as the attacking ship was blasted into a hulk of twisted
metal.
Strong grabbed the audioceiver microphone and shouted orders to the
fleet squadron leaders.
" ... Squadron L! Put out immediate rescue jet boats and begin salvage
operations. All remaining ships will return to Solar Guard base, Space
Academy. End transmission!"
Strong hurried to the air lock, hastily put on a space suit, and in a
few moments was blasting in a jet boat toward the remains of the
attacking scout.
Immediately the communications of the departing fleet were filled with
talk of their victory over the pirate band. Strong alone felt uneasy
about their success. For Coxine to attack in a light rocket scout, which
Strong felt sure had been stripped down to gain more speed, did not
follow the pattern which the hardened pirate had established in previous
raids.
When he arrived at the wreckage of the rocket scout, Strong found that
his fears were justified.
A crew chief from one of the rescue squads approached Strong; his body
weightless in space, the man grappled for a handhold on a jutting piece
of the twisted wreck, and then spoke to Strong over the helmet
spacephones.
"We found only one person aboard, sir," he reported. "And the ship
appears to have been stripped of everything but engines and control
panel."
Behind the protective glass of his helmet, Strong grimaced. He turned to
Captain Randolph. "We've been tricked again, Randy," said Strong
bitterly. "We used a decoy and so did Coxine!"
* * * * *
"They're closing in!" Roger's voice crackled through the intercom from
the radar bridge. "Do we fight or do we let those space crawlers take
over?"
"Fight!" bellowed Astro from the power deck.
"No! Wait!" cried Tom. "We haven't a chance! If we don't heave to,
Coxine'll blast us into space junk!"
Rocketing through the asteroid belt with the Titan pay roll, the three
space cadets, under strict orders to maintain communications silence,
were unaware that Bull Coxine had outsmarted Captain Strong. Sending in
the rocket scout, he had sprung the Solar Guard trap and had cagily
scanned the belt for another ship. Finding the _Polaris_ easily, the
pirate captain was blasting in for the attack.
On the control deck of the Solar Guard cruiser, Tom Corbett desperately
tried to think of a plan to outwit Coxine, while his unit-mates urged
him to fight back.
"What's the matter, Junior?" Roger called over the intercom
sarcastically. "Scared to fight?"
"You know I'm not," snapped Tom in reply.
"By the rings of Saturn," growled Astro, "I never thought you'd
surrender to anybody, Tom!"
"Listen, both of you!" shouted Tom. "It's no use! We've got to play this
smart!"
"Well, start making with the brains," sneered Roger. "Coxine's in range
now."
"Attention--" A harsh unmistakable voice rumbled over the audioceiver.
"This is Bull Coxine! Heave to or you'll be blasted!"
"All right, Junior," said Roger bitterly, "company's coming. What now?"
"Cut all power, Astro--fast!" ordered Tom.
"What's the matter?" growled Astro. "Afraid they'll shoot if you don't
stop fast enough?"
"Keep your big trap shut and do as I tell you!" snapped Tom.
"Listen, Junior!" snarled Roger. "As far as I'm concerned--"
Tom interrupted him. "_You_ listen, you idiot! Don't you see what's
happened? Coxine must have found out about the decoy ship, and when we
showed up on his scanner, he figured right away that we might have the
Titan pay roll."
"So what?" demanded Roger. "That still doesn't let you off for not
belting that crawler with our six-inchers!"
"Use your head!" snapped Tom. "With the Solar Guard squadrons on the
other side of the belt and with no gun crews on our ship, how far do you
think we'd have gotten?"
"You didn't have to surrender, Tom," said Astro. "I could have outrun
Coxine in nothing flat. Why, I haven't got half the speed out of this
old girl I think she's got."
"A great idea, bird brain! Run away from the very guy the Solar Guard's
going crazy trying to find!"
The intercom was suddenly silent as Astro and Roger began to understand
Tom's decision and waited for him to elaborate on his idea.
"Now, listen, Roger," said Tom patiently, "we've got about five minutes
before those crawlers will be aboard. How long will it take you to make
a signal beacon that'll send out a constant automatic SOS?"
"A what?" asked Roger.
"Beacon. One that will transmit on the Solar Guard special frequency and
be small enough to hide here on the _Polaris_."
"Why hide it on the _Polaris_?" asked Astro. "Why not try to get it on
their ship?" His tone was almost apologetic now that he realized Tom was
not planning a cowardly surrender.
"It's a cinch they'll take the _Polaris_ over," explained Tom. "She's
fast and she's got six-inch blasters."
"I get it!" yelped Astro. "We plant the beacon on the _Polaris_, and
when they take her over, the signal will be going out all the time."
Astro paused. "But wait a minute. They'll be sure to search the ship
first!"
"First things first, Astro," answered Tom. "Roger, can you make the
beacon?"
"Yeah," said Roger, "but it'll take me at least a half hour!"
"You've got to finish it faster than that!" Tom insisted.
"I can't, Tom. I just can't."
"All right, then we'll have to stall as best we can. Get to work.
Meantime, Astro and I will find a place to hide it. How big do you think
it'll be?"
There was a momentary pause and then Roger replied, "No smaller than six
inches. About like a shoe box."
"Could you make it three inches thick, and longer, instead of
box-shaped?"
Roger hesitated again. "Yeah, I guess so. Why?"
"Because I just thought of a good place to hide it. They'd have to tear
the ship apart to find it, _if_ they even hear the signal!"
"Attention! Attention! This is Coxine--" The pirate's voice bawled over
the audioceiver again. "You are under my guns. Stand by to receive a
boarding party. If you make any attempt to escape, you will be blasted!"
Tom grabbed the microphone to the audioceiver and replied, "Orders
understood, but you'll have to wait until we can build up air pressure
in the air lock."
"Very well," said Coxine. "We'll give you fifteen minutes."
Tom thought desperately. "You'll have to wait at least a half hour. We
broke a valve and have to replace it!"
Coxine's voice became suspicious. "Hey, what're you trying to pull?"
"Honest, Mister Coxine," whined Tom, "we're not doing anything."
"Fifteen minutes," roared Coxine, "or I blast a hole in your ship!"
"Yes, sir!" answered Tom, fully aware that the pirate captain would
carry out his threat.
Dropping the audioceiver microphone, the young cadet hurried to the
power deck, where Astro waited impatiently.
"Grab a couple of cutting torches, Astro," he said, "and get me a
lead-lined suit. I'm going into the reactant chamber."
"What?" demanded Astro.
"You heard me! I'm going to hide that beacon where they'll never find
it."
"In the reactant chamber?" asked Astro. "Impossible!"
"Remember when we first arrived at the prison asteroid? How thoroughly
we were searched?"
Astro nodded.
"Remember, they even searched the space between the inner and outer
hulls? There's three inches of clearance in there. If I cut into that
space through the reactant chamber and put the beacon inside, the noise
of the jets will keep Coxine from hearing it, and the radioactivity in
the chamber will keep them from picking it up on their detectors!"
Astro's face spread into a wide grin, and without another word, he began
preparing the cutting torches. Ten minutes later Tom emerged from the
chamber and nodded triumphantly. "All set, Astro! Now all we need is the
beacon."
Suddenly the _Polaris_ was rocked by a heavy explosion.
"They're firing!" yelled Astro.
"Roger! Have you finished the beacon?" demanded Tom over the intercom.
"I need another five minutes!" answered Roger. "I have to set the signal
to send out the SOS."
"Will it send out _anything_?" asked Tom.
The _Polaris_ rocked again from a second explosion.
"I don't know, Tom," yelled Roger. "I haven't even tested it!"
A third explosion jarred the rocket cruiser and the curly-haired cadet
knew that the air lock must have been demolished by now.
"Bring down what you've got, Roger!" he yelled. "We'll just have to take
a chance that it'll work. And grab yourself a space suit on the way
down. When they blast through the inner portal of the lock, we'll need
'em!"
"Right!" replied Roger. "Be down there in a second."
Astro and Tom hurriedly donned space suits and waited for Roger to bring
the beacon. In a moment the blond-haired cadet appeared with the
hurriedly contrived beacon. Tom quickly placed it between the two hulls
and sealed the hole in the inner hull.
A fourth explosion rocked the ship and the three cadets knew that by now
the air lock had been blasted away. They put on their space helmets and
climbed the ladder to the upper deck.
Coxine met them near the air lock, two paralo-ray guns clutched in his
gloved hands. Behind him, his crew swarmed in and fanned out all over
the ship.
But the space pirate stood on the control deck, glaring at Tom. "Whaddya
know! The Space Kid himself!"
"That's right, Coxine," said Tom quietly, "only the real name is
Corbett."
Suddenly there was a triumphant shout from one of the pirates. "Skipper!
The credits! All twenty million! We found 'em!"
Over their spacephones the three cadets could hear the pirates yelling
and cheering. Coxine bellowed for silence and the cheering quickly
subsided.
Paying no further attention to the three cadets, the pirate captain
ordered his men to repair the hole in the air lock and prepare for
immediate acceleration. There was a triumphant gleam in his eyes as he
announced their destination.
"With the Solar Guard on the other side of the belt, we're going to hit
the richest prize in the universe! The colony on Ganymede!"
He then turned and smiled at his three prisoners, adding menacingly,
"And we've got three passes to get us through the defenses!"