The man walked to the water's edge, and peered out over the pool. He
saw the bubbles that were coming up from the sinking ship, and he
nodded, grunted in satisfaction, and started to turn back.
Star landed on him, knocking him sprawling on the rock. The pirate
jerked up an arm, holding the jet-gun.
The stabbing lance of blue fire cracked from the electron knife, dug
into the man's heart.
Star tossed the dead pirate's cloak over his shoulders, and thrust both
electron blade and jet-gun into his belt. He straightened, and saw the
leveled gun from the corner of his eye.
He got the jet in his right hand, the knife in his left, and went into
a dive that flipped him behind a rock. The three actions took only a
split-second, and the blast from the jet-gun flaked rock where he had
been standing.
While a jet-gun is the most deadly weapon known, you have to press a
loading stud to slide another blast-capsule into place. Death Star knew
this very well. So he knew he was safe in coming up from behind the
spur of stone to fire his own gun.
If his reflexes hadn't been as quick as they were, he would have
blasted the girl.
* * * * *
He stopped, and stood for a second, staring at the girl. She was
something to invite stares, too. In the moment that lasted between her
next move, he had time to register that she was about five feet five
tall, black-haired--the kind of black hair that looks like silken spun
darkness--dark-eyed, and possessing both a face and a form that would
make anyone stop and gulp.
Then the moment of half-awed survey was over, and she leveled the jet
on him, and said in a trembling voice, "Drop those weapons, or I'll
blast you ... _pirate_!"
Death Star said, "That jet-gun is empty. I can see the register on the
magazine. And I'm not a pirate. I'm Starrett Blade."
The useless jet-gun slid out of the girl's hand, and she gave a
half-gasp. "Starrett Blade! I--I don't believe ..." she broke off
abruptly. "So you're Death Star! A fine story for a hired killer, a
pirate."
Star reddened. "Look," he snapped, "I don't know who's been talking to
you, but ..." he whirled, and his hand whipped the jet-gun from his
belt. As he did so, the girl jerked up the jet-gun she had dropped, and
flung it with all her strength. The blow landed on his arm and side,
and paralyzed him long enough for the man who had leaped out behind him
to land a stunning blow against his head. As Star went down, he dizzily
cursed himself for becoming interested in the argument with the girl,
so that he did not heed his reflexes in time ... and dimly, he wondered
why it had seemed so important to convince the lovely dark-haired girl.
Then a bit of the cosmos seemed to fall on Star's head, and he was
hurled into blackness.
An eternity seemed to pass.
Deep in the blackness, a light was born. It leaped toward him, a
far-away comet rocketing along, coming from some far, unknown corner
of the galaxy. It became a flaming sun in a gray-green space, and
strangely, there seemed to be several odd planets circling about the
sun. Some of them were vast pieces of queer electronic machinery. Some
were vague, villainous-looking men. One was the dark-haired girl, and
there was lovely contempt in her dark-star pools of eyes.
Then into the midst of this queer universe, there swam a new planet. It
was the face of a man, and the man was Devil Garrett.
That brought Star up, out of his daze, onto his feet as though he had
been doused with cold water. He stood there, not staring, just looking
at Garrett.
The most famous killer in the void was big. He was six feet three, and
twice as strong as he looked. He wore a huge high-velocity jet-gun, and
a set of electron knives, all of the finest workmanship. He was sitting
on a laboratory chair of steel, and the chair bent slightly under his
great weight.
He smiled at Star, and there was a touch of hell in the smile. He said,
"Ah, Mr. Garrett."
Star's jaw dropped. "Garrett? What do you--" he broke off. A glance at
the girl told him what the purpose was.
"Look, Mr. Devil Garrett," said the pirate, still smiling softly, "Miss
Hinton is aware of your identity. There is no need to attempt to fool
us.... I've known it was you ever since I flashed that beam at your
ship. And you needn't flatter yourself that the Devil's luck is going
to hold out as far as you are concerned. For in a very short while,
I'm going to have you executed ... before a stellar vision screen,
connected with Section Void Headquarters! I wish the authorities to see
Devil Garrett die, so that I might collect the reward that is offered
on you!"
Star stood quiet, and looked straight into Garrett's eyes. After a
minute of silence, Garrett's lips twisted into a smile, and he said
mockingly, "Well, pirate? What are you thinking of?"
Star said, in a low, cold voice, "I'm thinking of putting an electron
fire-blade into your face, Devil Garrett!"
Garrett laughed ... huge, rather evil, bluff laughter. The mirth of a
person who is both powerful and dangerous. And then the girl leaped
forward, shaking with rage.
"You beast! Murderer! To accuse this man ... you fool, you might have
been able to complete any scheme of escape you had, if you hadn't
called yourself Starrett Blade! Mr. Blade...." She gestured toward
Garrett, who made a mocking, sardonic bow. "... has given me ample
proof that he is who he says! And this long before you came. He's shown
me papers giving a description and showing a tri-dimension picture of
you...."
Fire leaped in Star's eyes. "Listen ..." he snapped furiously, as he
started to step forward. Then Garrett made a signal with his hand, and
someone drove a fist against the base of Star's skull.
* * * * *
When Star came to, he was in a cell of sorts. A man standing by the
door told him that he was to be executed, "... after Mr. Blade and the
lady have eaten." Starrett swore at him, and the man went out, with a
mocking "Goodbye, Mr. Garrett!"
Star got up. His head spun, and he almost fell at first, but the daze
left in his head from the two blows quickly cleared away. He felt for
various weapons which he had hidden about him ... and found them gone.
Garrett's men had searched carefully.
Star sat down, his head spinning more now from mystery than from
physical pain. He had to keep himself in a whole skin, of course. That
was most important right now. But other things were bothering him,
tugging at his mind like waves slapping around a swamped ship, each
trying to shove it in a different direction.
There was the girl. Star wondered why she always leaped into his mind
first. And there was the way Garrett was trying to leave the impression
that he was Blade, so that he could kill Blade as Garrett.
Obviously, the reason for that was the girl, Miss Hinton, Garrett had
called her. She had been shown faked papers by Garrett, papers proving
that the two were ... were whatever Garrett had twisted the story into!
Star clutched at his head. He was in a mess. He was going to be killed,
and he was going to die without knowing the score. And he didn't like
that. Nor did he like dying as Star Blade shouldn't die; executed as
a "wolf's-head" pirate. The girl would be watching, and he felt as if
that would make it far worse.
His head came up, and he smiled flintily. He still had an ace card! One
hand felt for it, and he shook his head slowly. It was a gamble ... but
all the others had been found.
Blade looked up quickly, as the door opened. Two men came into the
cell, carrying jet-guns. They motioned Blade to his feet. "Come on,
Blade." One began, when the other hit him across the mouth.
"You fool!" he hissed. "You better not call him that; suppose that
girl was to hear it? Until the boss gets what he wants on Earth, that
girl has got to think that he's Blade! We're killing this guy as Devil
Garrett! And a loud-mouthed fool like you ... look out!"
Blade had landed on the bickering men, and was grappling with the one
who had called him by name. As the other leaped forward, swinging a
clubbing blow with a jet-gun, Star tripped one man into the corner, and
ducked under the gun. He hit the man in the stomach, drove a shoulder
up under his arms, and smashed the man's face in with a series of sharp
blows. The man went reeling backward across the room, and Star's hand
leaped toward that "ace card" which he still held.
Devil Garrett stepped in the door, and made a mock out of a courteous
bow. As he did so, Star snarled in rage, but stood very still, for the
electron knife in Garrett's hand did not waver.
Garrett gestured silently toward the door, and Star, equally silent,
walked over and out, at the point of the weapon.
* * * * *
Star Blade stood before a transmitter, and thought about death.
He was very close to it. Garrett stood five yards away, a gun in
his hand, and the muzzle trained on Blade's chest. The gun was the
universally used weapon of execution, an old projectile-firing weapon.
Star did not doubt that Devil Garrett was an excellent shot with it.
The girl, very round-eyed and nervous, sat by Garrett. He had explained
to her that Garrett was the type of pirate that it is law to kill, or
have executed, by anyone. Which was very true.
A man stepped away from the transmitter, and nodded to Garrett. Star
felt a surge of hope, as he saw that it was a two-way transmitter. If
the image of an Interstellar Command headquarters was tuned in--Garrett
would undoubtedly do it, if only to show the police that he had killed
Starrett Blade--then Garrett could not kill him and cut the beam in
time to prevent one of the police from giving a cry that would echo
over the sub-space beam arriving almost instantly in this room, and let
the girl know that she had been tricked. And Garrett would not want
that. Not that it would matter to Starrett Blade.
Then Star saw what kind of a transmitter it was, and he groaned. It
was not a Hineson Sub-space beamer ... it was an old-style transmitter
which had different wave speeds, because of the different space-bridger
units in it.
The visual image would arrive many seconds before the sound did. Thus
the girl would not hear Garrett revealed, but would see only Blade's
death. And then ... whatever Garrett had planned, Blade wished heartily
that he could have the chance to interfere.
The beam was coming in. Star saw the mists swimming on the screen
change, solidify into a figure ... the figure of District Commander
Weddel seated at a desk. He saw Weddel's eyebrows rise, saw his lips
move--then Garrett stepped over a pace, and Weddel saw him, saw the gun
in his hand....
The police officer yelled, silently, and came to his feet, an
expression of shocked surprise on his face--surprise, Blade thought
desperately, that the girl might interpret as shock at seeing Devil
Garrett.
Which was right, in a way.
Then, as Commander Weddel leapt to his feet, as Devil Garrett's
finger tightened on the trigger, as the girl sucked in her breath
involuntarily, Star Blade scooped up a bit of metal--a fork--and flung
it at the vision transmitter.
Not at the screen. But at the equipment behind the dial-board. At a
certain small unit, which was almost covered by wires and braces for
the large tubes. And the fork struck it, bit deep, and caused result.
Result in the form of a burned-out set. If television equipment can
curse, that set cursed them. Its spitting of sparks and blue electric
flame mingled with a strange, high-pitched whine.
It was the diversion that caused Garrett to miss Star, which gave him
time to pull three or four of Garrett's men onto the floor with him.
One of the men drove the butt of a jet-gun into the side of Star's
head, and for the third time, he went very limp. The last thing he saw
was the girl.
Somehow, the expression on her face was different from what it had
been. He was searching for the difference, when the blow struck
him. Somewhere in the space that lies between consciousness and
unconsciousness, he reflected bitterly that if he kept staring at the
girl when he should be fighting, he might not recover some day. This
was the third time that he had been knocked out that way. It was not
getting monotonous. He still felt it a novelty.
Star awoke in the same prison cell, facing the wall away from the door.
He wondered if he were still alive, tried to move his head, and decided
that he wasn't. He didn't even get up or look around when he dimly
heard the door being opened.
But when he heard the girl's voice, he came up and around very swiftly,
despite his head.
It was the girl all right. Even through the tumbled mists of his brain,
he could see that she was not a dream. And as he reeled and fell
against the wall, she was beside him in a flash, her arm supporting him.
* * * * *
At first he tried to push himself erect, his head whirling with sick
dizziness, and bewilderment. Through a twisting haze, he peered up at
the girl's face. It reflected a look that, amazingly, was one of--with
no other phrase to do--compassion. Star half-sighed, and laid his head
on the girl's breast, and closed his eyes.
In a minute or two, she said tensely, "Are you all right?" Star looked
up at her.
"I guess so. Here--give a hand while I get my balance." She held him as
he tried a step or two, and then he straightened. "I guess I'll be all
right, now," he smiled. "My head feels like--say! How come you're doing
this? What made you change your mind? And who are you?"
She said quickly, breathlessly, "I know you're Star Blade, now. That
transmission set.... I can read lips! I _knew_ what that officer was
saying! It was just as if I had _heard_ him say that ... that you were
Starrett Blade and that man out there is Devil Garrett!" she made a
choking sound. "And I've been here, alone, for a month! For a month!"
"A month? Huh--please--you...?"
Star took a breath, and started over. "You.... Who _are_ you? What are
you doing here?"
She said, "I'm Anne Hinton. My father is Old John Hinton. Have you
heard of him?"
"Of course!" said Star. "He manufactures most of the equipment '_Blade
Cosmian_' uses. Weapons, Hineson Sub-Spacers, Star-Traveler craft ...
the ship I was in when Garrett brought me down was a Hinton craft. I
should have recognized the name. But go on. What--"
"Garrett communicated with dad, secretly. He posed as Starrett
Blade, as you, and told dad that he was developing certain new power
processes. And he is! He has a new--or maybe it isn't so new--way of
electrolyzing water to liberate hydrogen and oxygen."
"I think I understand," said Star quickly. "When the oxygen and
hydrogen are allowed to combine, and produce an explosion which drive
a turbine-generator. Then that could be hitched up to a cyclotron, and
even the most barren of Alpha's lake-rock planets could be...."
"No," she shook her head puzzledly. "It's just electric power. He said
that atomics would release stray rays that would attract pirates."
"I know," Star nodded, abstractedly. "I was thinking of another
application of it ... hmm. But say! What was Garrett after? I know that
he wouldn't do this just to get a secret process sold. He must have had
another plan behind it. Got any idea?"