Grey brought up his heat ray. "Careful, Williams. You have little
enough time to live as it is."
Barry stopped, bafflement stamped on his face. A rash move would leave
Deisanocta at the mercy of this man. Craig Grey laughed.
"I figured you could solve the mystery about this place, that's why
I told my guards to let you past. I knew you'd come here instead of
trying to run to Earth--after I told them of your activities on Mars."
"Grey, you can't get away with this," gritted Barry. He took another
step--not toward Grey, but in the direction of Deisanocta.
"Stand still!" snapped the ore-king. The weapon in his hand was very
steady. "I want to look around."
* * * * *
His glittering eyes roamed about the control room. "So this is the
secret weapon of the Crypt! I knew it'd be something my boys would be
better off not seeing--no chance of a leak this way."
"Earth troops will find it," Barry threatened.
"An atomic bomb will take care of that," the ore-king countered
smoothly. "You won't be around to tell them about it, and neither will
the girl. I'll keep the secret myself."
Keeping his weapon trained on the two, Grey prowled about the room.
"Here's the ship's log," he thumbed through rapidly, not relaxing his
vigilance for an instant. "Hmm. Left Earth in 2085--during the last
Continental War. Two scientists, a rich backer--" His hand swept to the
body in the chair. "That would be him--rich backers are often seeking
power.
"Ship-full of refugees from all lands--average people. Going to
establish a Utopian world on Mars." He snapped the book shut.
"Ancestors of your savages, Grey," said Barry quietly.
"Yes," replied the ore-king. "Brains killed each other off in a locked
control room--probably the keys to the ship's stores are locked in here
with them. That left the others on their own--no sciences, no arts!
They just farmed.
"What a clincher you almost had, Williams!"
His heat ray came up, levelled. Barry shuffled another half-step. Craig
Grey laughed harshly, his little black eyes sweeping over them.
"I'm a crack shot, Williams. You can't rush me. But, just to be sure,
you'll go first."
The flaming beam of his heat ray cut across the room--and Barry leaped
at the same instant. Pain lanced through his left shoulder. But he was
not leaping toward Craig Grey--Barry was plunging toward the floor.
There was a body there, and he smashed into it--a body with an ancient
weapon still clutched in a right, long-dead hand.
Craig Grey backed away a step, the ray beam sweeping a fiery arch
toward the other. A sharp report thundered in the room bouncing in a
dozen echoes and re-echoes from the metal walls. Smoke curled from the
muzzle of the old automatic in Barry's fingers, and bitter acrid smell
was in his nostrils. Long years in the dry atmosphere of the Crypt had
brought no corrosion, no deterioration to the weapon!
Again Grey backed away, a curse ripping through his thin lips, suddenly
clenched with pain. His right arm dangled uselessly, the ray gun
dropping from nerveless fingers.
Barry Williams came to his feet, the searing pain in his right shoulder
forgotten momentarily in his triumph. "Impervium was made to stop heat
rays, Grey. But an old automatic waited here hundreds of years to bring
justice to Mars!"
He turned to Deisanocta. Her face was radiant, but the grey depths of
her lovely eyes clouded as they fixed on his seared shoulder. "Barry--"
"Never mind me," he ordered brusquely. "Get to that radio we brought.
Tell your _men_ to let loose the mist again and attack at once!"
Craig Grey's pain-twisted face went paler. "The mist! You can't--I
destroyed--"
"That's what you were supposed to think, Grey," Barry snapped. "But
you'll see that silver lining shining through the cloud you brought to
Mars. Then we'll put the mist drug and Deisanocta's hypnotism to work
on your rotten mind. We'll get enough details on your fraud to convince
any government!
"Now come on, get outside! Your men'll fall like sheep without
leadership. I'll have the Princess speed things up by offering amnesty
to those that surrender without resistance."
Craig Grey went slowly through the passage, down the ramp of the old
spaceship.
* * * * *
Twelve miles above the surface of the red planet Mars, hovered the
fleet of Earth transports. The Federal troops who'd made the trip
from Earth were never to land. For Mars was a free planet, and Earth
Government had commanded its forces to respect the sovereignty of
Deisanocta, Queen of Mars.
From below, a steady stream of smaller ships was flowing up to the
transports, and back downward for another load.
"Can't figure it out," said a puzzled soldier. "We came to fight
Martians--maybe take some Martian prisoners; and we're going home
loaded with Earthmen who are prisoners."
"There aren't any Martians," explained his irate Sergeant, "They're
really Earthmen. And these prisoners have been treating them like
Martians--or--or--"
"Never mind!" ordered his superior. "Anyway the ether between here and
Earth's been burning. Faces--pictures of documents, a confession, and
all sorts of stuff have been radiographed to the old home planet. And
we've got our orders."
The Sergeant was on firmer ground now. "Here comes the guy I wouldn't
want to be--Craig Grey! After the stuff he's admitted, three times his
money wouldn't keep him from the gas chambers!"
As the last of the Earth ships blasted homeward, Deisanocta, Queen of
Mars, turned to Barry Williams, acting Terrestrial Ambassador. Affairs
of Government weighed heavily on her, and Barry's training had been of
invaluable help.
She fixed her tired eyes on him, and they glowed softly as she spoke.
"And what will you do, Barry Williams, after the Permanent Ambassador
has been appointed and sent here?"
His blue eyes met her gaze. "Read my mind, Deisanocta. This time my
will is not opposed to it. The answer is there."
She came closer. "I will not use science to find that answer, Barry. It
is in your eyes and on your lips, but you must speak.
"There are some things a woman, even a Queen, wants to learn only from
the lips of the man she loves."