"I was voyaging to visit my brother on our satellite, Zora, when those
same raiders caught sight of me and gave chase. My space compass
broke, and I became lost. I found my way here just as my rocket motors
consumed the last of their power."
"I see." Standish lit his pipe and began to smoke slowly. "And these
raiders--they come from near here?"
"From Sirius," Ga-Marr replied. "They raid us for funds to continue
their war with a planet many light years away."
For a full moment Standish sat there rigid. Then the pipe fell from his
hands, and he leaped to his feet.
"Sirius!" he cried. "So those butchers are not content to place in
bondage all the solar system. They must plague other worlds also!"
He paced the length of the forecastle.
"Tell me," he said, whirling abruptly, "do you know of a Sirian leader
called Drum Faggard?"
Ga-Marr's eyes gleamed. "Aye. The crudest and most bloodthirsty of
them all. It was he who led the attack against my people in which my
brother was killed. It was he who directed the sacking of our city of
Calthedra. My one hope is that some day we may meet on common ground."
* * * * *
The next day Standish revealed to the newcomer his plan to build a
smaller space ship out of the wreckage of the old.
"Your own craft is useless without power for its rocket motors," he
told Ga-Marr. "Yet it contains parts that will be valuable. Have I your
consent to dismantle it?"
The stranger nodded.
"To work then. And remember, if we succeed, we may yet be able to
strike at Drum Faggard."
It was the desire for revenge that spurred them on. Quickly they set
about dismantling Ga-Marr's ship. Rivets were cut, bolts unscrewed,
plates ripped off. Using the dismantled parts of the space liner's
atomic motors, Standish fashioned a smaller but powerful engine.
Gradually out of the mass a crude craft began to take form.
But they were working on counted time. Days were growing shorter; the
nights, longer. Icy winds began to sweep across the ravine, bringing
sleet and flurries of snow.
With the change in seasons came new dangers. Strange animal life,
following the perverse migrational instinct of the planet, swept out of
the jungle.
First came the lizard-birds, similar to, but larger than, the one which
had attacked Standish. They came over the cliff in squadron formation,
a dense cloud that blotted out the sky.
For two days the men were kept prisoners, while the flock stalked back
and forth about the ravine like a vast Roman encampment.
A week later the thrads came. It was Ga-Marr who called them thrads.
They were a tiny species of anthropoid, no larger than a squirrel, with
bright red bodies. Inquisitive and bold, they hampered the two men as
they gathered close to watch the work.
The ship was nearing completion. While Standish labored at the control
adjustments, Ga-Marr carried in a supply of food concentrates from
the wrecked liner. Along the length of the ravine an inclined runway
was built for a take-off. At the end of this, Standish constructed a
rifle-like catapult, using the parts of Ga-Marr's rocket motor and a
quantity of trinitrate cellulose he found in the liner. If the device
worked, it would multiply their initial trajectory power and quicken
their passage through the planet's gravitational field.
At length Standish fastened the last bolt of the crude new ship in its
place. Nervously, he pressed the starting button. The single motor
began with a smooth powerful hum. The ship strained at its moorings.
"Ready, Ga-Marr? We'll give her a trial flight and see how she handles."