THE PIRATES’ ASTEROID swung in a smooth, private orbit about a thousand
miles beyond the farthest extremity of the Asteroid Belt. Lurton
Zimbardo was in his private sanctum, a well-equipped workroom with
precision astronomical equipment, sky charts, and an enormous inventory
of computer files. As he turned his telescanner toward the Inner
Planets, he saw the spread of the Belt before him.
Countless celestial bodies moved in an incredibly slow pattern like a
stately dance. Reflected sunlight glinted from oblique surfaces into the
light-gathering lenses of the telescanner. When the occasional
crystalline surface or frozen lake on a passing asteroid caught the
radiance just right, an intense but transitory sparkling brilliance was
generated, and created a pattern of astonishing beauty on the scanner’s
computer screen.
Zimbardo entered a few more bits of data into the criteria of his search
pattern and then said, “Enter.” Within seconds several asteroids were
marked in his files. He brought their profiles up one by one.
M253.
Shape: oblong.
Maximum length: 0.683 miles.
Maximum width: 0.307 miles.
Composition: 90.568% iron, 6.443% tin, 0.752%
ice, 2.237% trace elements; click here for details.
Other information was provided, including the asteroid’s precise
location and its speed of motion and rotation. Zimbardo hesitated a
moment, then said, “Delete.” He went on to the next entry.
M3366.
Shape: almost perfect sphere; variation <5%.
Mean diameter, 0.057 miles.
The other information was provided. Zimbardo smiled. “Ah--nearly solid
iron and about 100 yards exactly!” he thought to himself. “That makes
five.” He told the computer to save that file, then opened the intercom.
“Gene,” he said.
“Yes sir,” came the immediate response.
“Contact Mr. Crass and tell him I want M3366.”
“Right away, sir.”
“Then call the five lieutenants up to my study at once, please. Get
Kimball, Lorry, and Jenner also. Once you’ve called them, come up
yourself.” Gene nodded and activated the personal contact codes of the
men Zimbardo wanted to see.
A quarter of an hour later, the ten men were in the lounge in Zimbardo’s
quarters. He was playing host, and pouring out a dark golden sherry wine
into luxurious spun glass goblets.
One of the men lifted up the goblet so the illumination reflected from
it, highlighting subtle rainbow whorls in the surface. He swirled his
wine before he sipped it.
“Very nice, Lurton, and the glass here is pretty top stuff.”
“The wine came from Earth but the glassware came with the asteroid,
Jeff. This place has so much in it that I haven’t found a hundredth of
what it contains, but all of it is high quality.”
The men relaxed in the comfortable chairs. The chairs automatically
adjusted to the body weight and shape of whoever sat in them. Soft,
almost imperceptible music was playing in the background. A light
fragrance in the air eased tensions and sharpened minds for thought.
Zimbardo had nothing to do with creating this atmosphere--these features
came on automatically whenever anyone entered the room.
“Petty soft life you got here, Zimbardo,” sighed the man named Lorry,
easing himself down into his chair. “I’m not used to this kind of
comfort.”
“No, Lorry, I guess not. You don’t find too many easy chairs aboard the
kind of ships you pilot when you’re transporting the Banjoman’s flilox
to his customers in the Belt. But when our plan succeeds, you’ll be able
to buy all the soft chairs you want. Let’s get down to business.”
Zimbardo stood before the assembled company. Behind him, taking up most
of the wall, was a map of a large portion of Mars. “As I was saying when
we met in the hangar assembly room yesterday, it is simply a matter of
choosing an appropriate target to convince them we have the capability.
What should our target be? Well here, gentlemen, are the five major
atmospheric generation plants on Mars.” He turned to the map and pointed
out five places--two in the northern hemisphere, two near the equator,
and one in the southern hemisphere. “Each is valued at two billion
solars and would take several years to replace. The damage won’t
bankrupt the government, but the expense is far from negligible! Even
more importantly, when they are destroyed, Starlight Enterprise’s
terraformation project will suffer a severe setback--possibly as much as
three to four years. Now, data gathered from analysis has shown that
these plants can be removed very easily by the proposal we have
suggested. Mr. Crass, do you have anything to add?”
“No, Mr. Zimbardo. I’ve checked the specs on the asteroids you’ve
selected and I’ve checked progress with what Stubb is doing. If he has
the propulsion units ready in ten days, we can deliver our first package
to Mars in precisely two weeks.”
A muscular man in short sleeves spoke up. Since no one else wore short
sleeves, everyone suspected that he wore his sleeves short to show off
his biceps. “Lurton--what about the ships that went to interrogate Vly?
We know five took off, and yesterday I only saw one return. No one else
wants to ask about it, but I’m asking. If I’m going to risk my men and
my ships on this venture of yours, I want to know what’s involved.”
As the man was speaking, Gene lowered his head and kept his eyes on the
floor.
“All right, Captain Kimball. It’s a fair question. You’re right. Five
went out and only one returned. None of the men was lost--the returning
ship brought them all back. But four of the ships were destroyed before
they could land on Montezuma’s Castle.” Zimbardo’s five lieutenants were
already aware of the setback. The visitors, Jeff Jenner and Lorry, were
stunned. Kimball grunted, as if a suspicion had been confirmed.
“Well?” he pressed, his face hard and demanding.
“Gene,” said Zimbardo, turning away. He didn’t like to deliver news of
defeat.
“The pilots of the ships tell essentially the same story,” began Gene.
“They came directly to Montezuma’s asteroid, opened communications, and
insisted that they were going to land. There was no response. But within
seconds some kind of energy beam came forth from Adamant, the
neighboring asteroid, and sliced the four ships into small sections. It
was clear that there was no intention to kill any personnel--only to
destroy the ships. The crews were left floating in space. Forces of some
kind we are not familiar with pulled them into the proximity of the
remaining ship, where they were taken aboard. Clearly, against forces
like that we are helpless. The ship returned immediately. The men are
badly shaken.”
Kimball grunted again. “And Vly?”
Zimbardo answered. “They never talked to him. But we don’t need him. A
short time after this incident he radioed to St. George and we
intercepted the beam. We’d been looking for it. Vly probably assumed
that with the destruction of our landing party he was safe and so was
St. George. But his call went directly to asteroid Z25. It was encrypted
so we couldn’t read it, but we didn’t have to know what the message was
to know where it went. Our other five ships were two days away from the
location. They went directly there and picked up all the miners,
including St. George, in a very neat operation.”
The intercom buzzed. “Mr. Zimbardo?”
“Yes, what is it?” he responded with obvious irritation.
“Sorry to bother you, sir, but you asked to be informed as soon as the
ships returned. The _Silver Cloud_ and its four companion ships are
expected to dock in approximately 45 minutes.”
“Very good!” Zimbardo’s initial irritation was instantly dispelled.
“Tell Mr. Lather to put the prisoners into the cell block. I will deal
with them later.” The intercom went off and Zimbardo turned back to the
gathering. “As you heard, St. George will be on the asteroid within the
hour.”
There were nods around the table. Many questions were asked about the
destruction of the four ships near Montezuma’s Castle, but there were no
answers. The issue was left unresolved; Zimbardo, however, was not
saying everything he suspected. He was frightened, but determined that
no one would know it. He had heard of the legend of the greegles and
took it more seriously than anyone would ever suspect.
* * * * *
Richard Starlight’s spacious office was located near the top of the
highest tower on the Moon, the giant SE headquarters building located
forty miles north of Amundsen City. Accessible only by two express
elevators, his office covered nearly an entire floor of the tower--more
than 3,000 square feet. Its walls were treated glass, harder than any
metal alloy and impervious to the constant rain of micro-meteorites,
with clarity which was nearly perfect. The office was the equivalent of
121 stories above ground level, and only an observation deck and various
antennae were above it. The lunar landscape was visible for miles in
every direction. The pass which marked the entrance to the Field of
Obsolescence was barely visible ten miles away just a little east of
north.
What he called his “office” was really a combination laboratory,
resource library, work and communications center, and lounge. In one
corner was a huge table, made of artificial material but, apart from
chemical analysis, not distinguishable from highly polished mahogany.
Its chairs matched its reflective sheen. Table and chairs rested on an
intricately patterned carpet that measured at least twenty by
twenty-five feet. Patterns in cerulean blue, silver, and gray, with
flecks of green and violet beautifully complemented the lunar gray
visible through the windows. Not far from the table was an immense,
detailed globe of the Earth, about four feet in diameter and perfectly
balanced. Equally detailed globes of the Moon and Mars on the same scale
were nearby. In another corner were globes of Mercury and Venus and a
few other celestial bodies.
“I’m sorry to put an end to the festivities this way, gentlemen,” said
Richard Starlight to the assembly. Around the table were the President
of the United States and three of his advisors, among whom were
Commander John Lewis of Space Command. Richard’s second-in-command, John
“Rock” Rwakatare, head engineer of the Advanced Design Department of SE
was also present, as were Allen Foster, Keith Seaton, and Charlie
Taylor, the fathers of the three Starmen. Robert Nolan, founder of Nolan
Mining Enterprises and a friend and colleague of Richard Starlight, and
his second-in-command Beowulf Denn filled out the number.
On two viewscreens were stationary images of Oritz Konig on Mars, and
Steve Cliff en route to the Moon from the Asteroid Belt. The time delay
for Konig was a little more than fifteen minutes, and for Cliff was
about 22 minutes, so they could not actively participate in the
discussion. Both, however, had vital reports to make and Richard was
prepared to present them by videotape at the right time.
Richard continued. “We all expected that our three Starmen would be back
with us in two days for the Reception of Honor. That will have to be
postponed. Most of you know at least something of the reason why, but
this urgent meeting was called to make sure that everyone is brought up
to date and, more importantly, to take counsel on a course of action.”
Richard summed up what had been learned about the pirates after the
liberation of Mars up to the point of the Starmen’s departure from Oritz
Konig’s office.
“Our conclusion is that, although we have 542 men in custody in Eagle
City, including their captain Troy Putnam, several dozen pirates are
still free. It would have taken a large facility to prepare the ships
and house the men used in the assault on Mars, and it is virtually
certain that a sufficient force for maintaining this operation was left
at their base. We believe that this was probably a minimal number, but
there may have been pirates in other locations in the Asteroid Belt or
elsewhere. Moreover, as you know, one ship managed to escape from Mars
during the liberation. Oritz Konig, now on special assignment at Mars
Base, will make a report on what we’ve learned about Putnam’s chief
assistant, Lurton Zimbardo.”
By pre-recorded videotape, SE’s Chief of Security presented a brief
report, similar to that which he had given to the Starmen.
At its conclusion, Richard continued. “Since the ship that escaped
headed recklessly at its highest velocity toward a certain area of the
Belt, we can reasonably assume that the pirates’ base is situated on an
asteroid not far from that area.”
Nolan asked, “Why were the ships from Space Command not able to find
this asteroid, or any trace of the pirates?” Robert Nolan was a man of
early middle age, slight of build, with thinning hair. He was noted for
his analytical mind and incisive decisions. His hard work over a
twenty-year span had built a small company into an influential
corporation, and his achievements had brought him respect throughout the
Inner Planetary system.
“This is what we are gathered here to reveal,” Richard answered. “I’m
afraid the news is quite disturbing. Steve Cliff will give us his
report.”
By videotape, Steve Cliff reported what he had seen in the area of Z25.
He concluded, “So it is obvious that the pirates have a very effective
radar bender. Their ships are, in effect, invisible to our standard
radar detection systems.”
When Steve’s report was over, Richard added, “Steve Cliff was immensely
helpful when we sent the two Starmen to Mars. He did us another favor by
following them as far as Z25 when he preferred to return to Earth. He is
on his way back to Earth now. Oritz asked him to keep an eye on the
Starmen for their own safety, and as you can tell from his report it was
a very good thing indeed that he did!”
The men at the table looked grim. The fathers of the Starmen wore
especially troubled expressions.
“Our battle with the pirates is not yet over, I’m afraid,” continued
Richard Starlight. “Their radar bender is nearly perfect. The notion of
developing a technique that makes an object invisible to radar is not
new, of course, but in spite of several decades of effort even Starlight
Enterprise has not been able to achieve the high level of effectiveness
Zimbardo’s men have available to them. From these observations we draw
two disquieting conclusions.
“First, we learned from the pirates we captured on Mars that their base
is probably invisible to radar; it can’t be seen with normal methods.
It’s likely that the pirates have outfitted _all_ their ships with the
device that makes objects invisible to radar, not just the five Steve
Cliff observed. If so, their ships can be anywhere without the
possibility of any of our bases or centers of civilization being aware
of them until they become visible to the eye. Since all our computers
track ships and contribute toward strategic battle decisions based on
radar data, it is almost impossible to guard against such pirate raids
as Zimbardo’s men are now able to carry out--and have already done on
Z25.” Richard sighed.
“Second, and most alarming of all, it is almost impossible for the
pirates to have invented the radar bender on their own. We had surmised
this shortly after our first conversations with the captive pirates on
Mars, but since then our computer has estimated the chance that they did
so to be approximately 0.0001%. That kind of technology is beyond any
earthly scientific capability. It is much more likely that they got it
from some alien civilization--a highly advanced alien civilization.
“We don’t have any solid information other than that, so we can only
guess what level of connection there may be between any such
hypothetical civilization and the pirates. At any rate, where the radar
bender came from, other devices might come too--military devices against
which Earth has no defense. And we have no idea when we will learn the
pirates’ next move, and we don’t know where the Starmen are now.”
The room was silent. Everyone was stunned. When Mars was liberated they
had thought that the conflict was at an end. Now they saw that their
situation was more desperate than they thought possible.
After a moment, Robert Nolan spoke up. His eyes were wide and his voice
was high-pitched. “Wh--, what can we do? Can’t we find these pirates?
Can’t we just send out ships and comb the entire area of the Belt where
they disappeared? Can’t we...?”
Keith Seaton broke in. “Robert, believe me, if there were _anything_ we
could do, _anything_ we could think of that wouldn’t be the equivalent
of running around in circles, we’d be doing it! The Starmen are our
sons! Richard informed us last night that they were captured, and we’ve
done just about nothing else but try to think of something we can do.”
Allen Foster joined in. His voice was level and determined, clearly
being controlled with supreme effort. “It is impossible to do a random
search of the Asteroid Belt--even if we restrict our search to the
section where the hidden base must lie. We’ve done the math. We may as
well be looking for a black marble hidden at night anywhere in North
America.”
“And invisible ships!” Nolan gasped. “The Solar System has no defense
against anything like that. Why, they could come in anywhere and invade!
They’d be invincible! We couldn’t even see what hit us!”
Commander Lewis spoke up. “And an alien civilization! They could have
science beyond what we can imagine. Earth doesn’t stand a chance against
an enemy like that!” The men were scared.
After a moment when no one else addressed the gathering, the President
spoke. “Our position is essentially the same as it was when Mars was
still in the control of the pirates. Our strength does not lie in
superior science or in superior numbers. Troy Putnam recently placed his
trust in superior strength and technology; the unsoundness of such a
hope is shown by his fall. David fought Goliath and won because his
trust was in the right place. Zimbardo might have weapons and other
technology of which we cannot even conceive and he might do great
damage, but he is still in the wrong. Evil might have its day, but in
the end it will always fall; the forces of light will overcome it as it
decays from within. With that faith and that assurance, we can make our
plans. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how we can meet this crisis?”
Allen Foster spoke again. “There are two issues here: finding and
rescuing the Starmen and their companions, and defending our
civilization from the pirates. For the first, well, we’re very hopeful
that they are still alive because they were taken aboard the pirates’
ship before the base on Z25 was destroyed. They are resourceful young
men--they are Starmen, after all.
“For the second, any solution I’m afraid will be long-term. We’ll have
to develop a detector that uses a process other than radar--perhaps
something based on gravity or light absorption. But you can appreciate
the obvious fact, I’m sure, that inventing such machinery will probably
take a very long time. No, I think that our course now must be entirely
defensive. We are, at least, forewarned. But I’m sure that the pirates
will be making the next move before we can do anything about it.”