THE CONVERSATION was very quiet, but the microphone picked it up. The
words that passed between Lurton Zimbardo and Gene were heard by every
pirate on the asteroid. There was complete silence. The pirates’
enthusiasm and their complete trust in Zimbardo’s leadership was
instantly badly damaged. Though no one spoke, many of the men began to
doubt their leader’s sanity, and became afraid.
“But sir,” pleaded Gene. “This asteroid is the key to our success, and
we’re all its passengers. If you program it to collide with Earth, I...”
words failed him.
Zimbardo smiled indulgently. “Gene,” he soothed, as if explaining
something obvious to a confused child, “I’m not going to cause us to
smash into the Earth. We want to control Earth, not destroy it, and how
better to do it than from a close orbit around the planet in this
magnificent flying base? I’m taking us to Earth, and there will be
plenty of time to adjust our course once we get close. We will
accelerate until about midway there, then decelerate until we achieve
orbital speed.
“I will, however, inform Earth that I have sent an asteroid more than
forty miles long on a collision course--an asteroid they can’t see and
can’t stop! They will meet any demands I make! They will definitely meet
any demands I make, after we destroy the five atmosphere generators on
Mars with pinpoint accuracy. Relax now. In a month or so, we will be the
undisputed masters of the third planet--and all without leaving home!”
He laughed.
Gene grinned and also laughed, but while Zimbardo’s laugh was deep and
genuine, Gene’s was a little forced. He was relieved, but his trust in
Zimbardo’s leadership had suffered a severe setback. He would be on his
guard from here on. He looked up and caught the eye of Mr. Lather. His
face was hard and unsmiling; it was difficult to tell what he was
thinking. Gene turned and looked at Gebbeth. His expression was marked
with merciless determination. He, at least, appeared convinced and
prepared to follow Zimbardo all the way. But Gene was no fool; he looked
around and surmised that the majority of those in the room were
harboring secret reservations.
Gene didn’t blame them. He felt the same way. He would stay with
Zimbardo for the time being, but he would keep a careful eye on the
situation and look for a way to ensure his personal safety if it
appeared that the pirate leader had lost touch with reality. The pirates
were looking for power and prestige, not a suicide mission.
* * * * *
For almost two days the Starmen and the miners had been drifting in
space, not using power of any kind, afraid that even using lights might
draw the attention of the vigilant pirates on the asteroid. The distance
between the ship and the massive iron asteroid with its fascinating
interior was increasing incrementally, but not quickly enough to please
Zip. He chafed with impatience.
Mark’s first duty once the fourteen men were aboard ship was to discover
their location. Since the escapees were using no power at all, Mark
could employ only observation and mathematics to get his estimate. He
guessed that they were 1,023 miles from the nearest edge of the Asteroid
Belt and drifting roughly parallel to it.
The Starmen’s plan was to head for the nearest SE facility. If Mark’s
estimate of their position was correct, the facility closest to them was
an unmanned Starlight Enterprise station on O344, a medium-sized
asteroid coming their direction. As soon as it was safe to use power Joe
would pilot the alien ship to the station.
“We’ll be okay in a few hours, Zip,” said Joe. “You got us out of the
asteroid with food and a ship. We all thought that would be impossible.
We ought to be able to turn on the energy and get blasting out of here
before too long.”
“I know,” responded Zip, with his characteristic furrowed brow. “We’re
caught between taking a chance on being recaptured by the pirates and
depleting the food. We’ll run out of supplies in a couple of days.”
“I know--and the closest base is roughly four days away, depending on
how speedy this beauty proves to be. But we’ll make it.” Joe went off to
visit with Mark, who was gazing out of the window at the immense spread
of the Milky Way.
George St. George came up to Zip, who was sitting alone at a table,
doing nothing but staring down at his hands. He sat down opposite him;
when Zip looked up, the miner smiled.
“You’ve brought us back into the heavens, young Mr. Starman,” he said,
“so you’ve got no reason to be covered with gloom. You won’t get us to
safety now any faster by worrying.”
Zip pursed his lips and looked into St. George’s eyes. “The man seems to
be protected by a shield of innocence all around him,” he thought. “His
base was destroyed, he and his men were captured and taken into a
massive iron asteroid by the Solar System’s greatest enemy, and now he’s
floating in the void with only two days’ food left, and he’s still calm
and trying to encourage me the way he encourages his men. Who is the
real leader of these men? I make the decisions, but he strengthens their
hearts. He even strengthens my heart.”
St. George smiled. Almost as if he could read Zip’s mind, he added,
“Each of us has a gift according to the grace given us, which we are to
use to benefit others. If it weren’t for you, we’d still be locked up
inside that room--or worse--under the control of Lurton Zimbardo. I have
my gift, and you have yours, and we both employ our gifts well. We
haven’t come this far to fail now. Our success doesn’t depend solely on
you, you know. Relax and just do your part. There’s still a lot to do,
but the outcome isn’t in doubt.”
Zip smiled, and before he could say anything St. George had risen and
strolled to the window where Joe and Mark stood.
All at once, Mark pointed and cried out, “Hey, look at that! Do you see
what I see?” Several men came to the window and peered out. Zip Foster
joined them. Joe answered.
“Yes! --the asteroid’s moving!”
The dark bulk of the pirates’ asteroid, which had loomed so close to
them for two days, was gradually but visibly moving away. Its silhouette
had been blocking half their view of the Asteroid Belt and the gleaming
array of stars behind it, but now, even as they watched, its profile
diminished and stars were winking into view around its edge.
“They’re heading out somewhere--moving that entire asteroid! I wonder
what’s going on?” asked Mark.
“We’ll be able to power up before too long, now! We’ll be on our way
ourselves,” announced Zip, animatedly. “Soon we can get in touch with
Starlight. It’s been over a week since we’ve been in contact. We’ve got
a lot to tell them.” The shadow that had lain over Zip for two days had
been lifted. “How long until we can turn on the power, Mark? When will
we be out of the pirates’ radar range?”
“Less than an hour, I’d say.”
Zip raised his voice so everyone could hear. “We get under way in an
hour, men!”
It was sooner than that. In 26 minutes, the asteroid was no longer
visible to the eye. Zip waited a full 45 minutes then turned on the
ship’s power at its lowest setting. Using the radar, he scanned the
quadrant where the asteroid had last been seen and turned up no object
of significance. He hadn’t expected to.
“That doesn’t mean they can’t see us,” he mused to Mark and Joe. “That
asteroid is probably sheathed just like their ships. But I think we’re
safe now--safe enough, anyway, to get moving.”
“Right. Let’s go,” said Joe. “I’ll jettison the derelict and power up!
I’ve been looking forward to this moment!”
Zip ran the power switch up to maximum and commanded everyone to prepare
for acceleration. Joe ignited the propulsion system. With the lanky
Starman at the controls the alien ship began its journey toward the
Asteroid Belt. As the ship began to cruise easily, Zip began to think of
communicating with Starlight Enterprise.
“Mark, contact SE right away. Fill them in on our recent adventures and
see if, by any chance, there’s a ship closer to us than the base on
O344.”
George St. George spoke up. “What if the pirates overhear your
transmission, Zip? Won’t they know we’ve escaped and be able to locate
us?”
“I think it’s worth the risk, George. They probably think we’re still
inside the asteroid and won’t be looking for us out here. Even if they
do overhear the transmission, I doubt they’d send some ships after us.
The distance between us is growing rapidly, and if we have to we’ve got
plenty of time to hide in the Belt. I’m worried about our dwindling
supplies; we need some relief soon, and SE needs our information as soon
as we can get it to them. Go ahead, Mark.”
“I’m on it,” said Mark.
“Provide them with a concise but complete report,” Zip went on. “Tell
them about the destruction of Z25, describe the asteroid with an
estimate of the number of pirates and their ships, and especially the
asteroid’s location. Don’t worry about details of our escape, other than
to say that we are in an alien spacecraft and heading for O344 with a
minimum of supplies. Ask Sim Sala Bim to send someone to O344 with the
_Star Ranger_ and another ship to take St. George and his men back to
Ceres or wherever they want to go.”
“Got it,” said Mark and began to prepare his report. In less than five
minutes he had sent it, but due to the interplanetary distance he didn’t
expect a response for nearly half an hour.
“Sure wish we had that realtime transmission equipment on board,” mused
Zip out loud, thinking about how his encounter with the pirates had
begun with the experiment in the control tower in Eagle City. “But I
guess it’ll be a few years before the miniaturization is worked out so
that spaceships can carry it.”
“We’ll get to the base a little faster than we thought, Zip,” said Joe.
“This ship is cruising very efficiently. We can learn a lot from it, in
time.” The sleek, forest green cruiser sped through the vacuum, rapidly
approaching the edge of the Asteroid Belt.
* * * * *
Six hours and 23 minutes after the destruction of the
atmosphere-generating plant on the edge of the Red Sea on Mars, a small
iron asteroid struck the plant located just south of the Oxia Palus on
an open plain about five degrees north of the equator and fifteen
degrees west of the central meridian. It was a few minutes past 4:00
a.m. local time. Six miles away was the settlement of Westcott.
Most of the local populace had not heard Lurton Zimbardo’s radiocast,
since it had come in just before midnight. The second asteroid followed
a near-vertical course and slammed with tremendous force into the ground
a half mile from the atmosphere-generating plant. The sun rose onto a
land choked with dust. When the dust settled back to the surface about
midday, the people of Westcott saw only a crater a mile and a half wide.
There was no sign that any human artifice had ever existed on the spot.
Almost sixteen hours later, on an overcast afternoon in the empty
northwest, the third asteroid struck. Its target was the atmosphere
plant located 51 degrees north of the equator and 141 degrees west of
the central meridian-southwest of a small crater which was the home of a
town called Morris. It was centrally located for miners, prospectors,
farmers, arborists, and mobile scientists, who lived near or roamed
throughout the locale.
By this time Zimbardo’s message was known all over the planet and the
utter destruction of the first two atmosphere generators had shown that
his threat was to be taken seriously. Morris had been abandoned, and its
25,000 residents were in panicky flight to the northeast, opposite the
plant. Few people saw the asteroid make a direct hit on the two billion
solar complex.
Seven hours and 12 minutes later, the fourth asteroid demolished the
atmosphere plant located nine degrees south of the equator and 167
degrees east of the central meridian. It was evening, and the resulting
cloud of dust created a sunset of spectacular beauty, with colors
rippling through the drifting sand like fire seen through a translucent
curtain.
The final impact occurred in the early darkness hours. The atmosphere
plant located northeast of Eagle Crater at 26 degrees north of the
equator and 85 degrees east of the central meridian was instantly turned
into rubble.
In a thirty-two-hour period, Mars had been scarred by five new craters,
each one a mile to a mile and a half across. More than ten billion
solars in damage had been done. Atmosphere generation on the red planet
could not be restored for at least five or six years.
Much more satisfying to Lurton Zimbardo was the fact that the entire
population of Mars was held inescapably captive by an hysteria of fear.
No one doubted that Zimbardo had spoken his threat accurately. The five
asteroids had arrived unseen until the last few seconds and had
pulverized their targets with accuracy of less than half a mile of
error. The fearful populace of Mars awaited the promised communication
from the pirate leader, in which he would reveal his demands.