_In Earth's Shadow_
Hour after hour and day after day, for a week the _Sandra_ tracked on
through the boundless leagues, the waxing sunlight beating steadily on
her starboard bow and her silent gravity-plates and singing generators
bringing Earth ever nearer. Friday, who possessed an extensive
knowledge of all the practical sciences, did extra service in the role
of cook, and his regularly served meals disguised the undifferentiated
hours of space into Earth-mornings, noons and nights. Watch in and
watch out, and nothing to disturb the even routine.
As for the ever-feared pursuit, there was no sign of it.
Systematically and carefully the men stationed at the electelscope
turned it through the region behind, but never did their watching eyes
discern the bulk of the asteroid. Its disappearance, and the kindred
mystery of who had been on it, remained unsolved.
Therefore peace came to Eliot Leithgow's face, and the tiredness left
his eyes. The long, hunted years were beginning to be washed from him,
and daily, to Carse, he appeared younger. Often in the control cabin
or over a meal he talked of what lay ahead, and the happiness Earth
held waiting for him. There was his daughter, Sandra, whom he had seen
last as a girl of fourteen, and even then interested in his work. She
would be matured now, and she would perhaps be eager to help him in
the work he intended to resume. There was so much of it! Discoveries,
theories, evolved during his fugitive years--now he could complete
them and give them to his old circles of brother scientists. All this
was in his conversations; but secret and unworded in his thoughts were
anticipations of the old dear beauty of Earth, that beauty for which
his ageing heart had pined so long....
And Earth was drawing nearer.
* * * * *
Another week passed.
Twice a day the door of Dr. Ku Sui's cabin was unlocked and he was
brought out under guard for several turns through the ship. Though for
safety's sake they continued to dose him with the V-27, it was
apparent that the gas had less and less effect on him. Four, then
eight, then twelve times a day they re-gassed him--as often as they
dared, considering its ultimate destructive mental effect--but more
and more of the frankness and serenity foreign to his green eyes
melted away. Gradually the normal veil came to hide their depths and
make them enigmatic; and sometimes there was again on his face the
hint of something strong and tigerish and cruel lying waiting. They no
longer trusted him to attend to the five patients. He spoke seldom. A
tall, reserved figure in black silk, attended either by Ban Wilson or
Friday, he strolled through the ship for fifteen minutes and was
returned to his lonely cabin. Of all the marks his experience must
have left upon him, the only one apparent was his silence.
It was on the seventeenth day that he forsook that silence and
directly accosted Carse. He had a request. The saffron face impassive,
the long lashes lying low over the eyes, he said softly:
"I wonder, Captain Carse, if I might be permitted a glimpse of the
subjects of my transplantation?"
Leithgow and Wilson were at the time with Carse in the control cabin,
and they regarded their friend intently, curious as to what the reply
would be. They saw his steel-gray eyes meet Dr. Ku's gaze squarely;
and the two men looked at each other: Hawk Carse, complete victor at
last, and Ku Sui, the vanquished.
The adventurer answered:
"Your request is only natural, Dr. Ku. Certainly you may see them, and
perhaps offer an opinion on their progress, which has so far been in
the hands of your assistants. But I shall have to accompany you."
"You are kind."
"Take the controls, Ban," Carse directed, and together they left the
cabin.
* * * * *
There was no visible change in the five bodies. They lay stretched out
in cots, sheets drawn up to their necks, and it seemed almost as if
they were quietly slumbering and would presently wake up; though in
reality consciousness would not return to the fine brains in their
hideous, distorted bodies for many weeks, and then only if the healing
processes were successful. Bandages swathed the heads, leaving eyes
and nostrils alone visible. An assistant of Leithgow's, at present on
watch there, moved occasionally with instrument in hand to time the
fevered pulses.
"I must ask you to stand back here, Dr. Ku," said the Hawk, indicating
a spot some five feet from the nearest cot. His left arm hung easily
by his side, the hand resting by the butt of his holstered raygun; and
the position was not accidental.
Ku Sui nodded and doubtless noted the gun, but his eyes were on the
bodies. He stood regarding his own handiwork in silence, his face
inscrutable, and Carse did not disturb him. At last, in a low tone he
asked the assistant:
"The food injections take successfully?"
The man nodded.
"I remember," the beautifully modulated voice went on. "I was not sure
of one subject. Swanson's brain, was it not? Is his condition any
better?"
"We are not sure."
"Ah, yes ... yes...." He appeared to muse, and no one disturbed him in
the minutes of silence that followed. Finally he looked away and said:
"It was a great feat. Thank you, Captain Carse. I am pleased by this
glimpse of the miracle my hands were made to perform. I am ready to
return."
But at the door of his cabin he paused, and his eyes rested again on
the cold, firm face close to him. He said:
"I suppose, Captain Carse, you intend to bring me before Earth's World
Court of Justice?"
"Yes. Along with our living proof of your abduction of the five
scientists."
The Eurasian smiled. "I see. And since there is no questioning that
proof, it would appear that Earthlings will soon levy punishment on
Dr. Ku Sui.... So.... You know, Captain Carse, I find your caution a
great handicap. You keep gassing me; I am locked in; and since I have
observed no excitement aboard the ship, apparently there are no
friends anywhere near me. You have stripped me of everything." His
eyes lowered for a moment. "Everything save this ring."
On the forefinger of his right hand, set simply in a platinum band,
was a large dark stone.
"A black opal," said Dr. Ku. "I have worn it for years and I prize it
highly. Perhaps at the last I will give it to you as a memento of
these past years, Captain Carse." And he went into the cabin, where
they gassed him again.
* * * * *
The third week passed.
Crossing the orbit of Mars, now approximately in opposition to
Jupiter, the _Sandra_ streaked on into the last leg of her long
voyage. The sun was a vast, flame-belching disk on her starboard side,
and ahead lay Earth, growing each hour. Cheerfulness pervaded the
ship, nerves were relaxing, faces lightening. Carse could not remember
when Eliot Leithgow had worn a smile so constantly. It was only
natural, for to the old scientist and his personal assistants Earth
was home, the fulfillment of every desire, the reality and symbol of
normal life and love of man.
But to Hawk Carse the Green Planet was not home. He was the
adventurer, and wanderer, the seeker of new places with the alluring
lustre of peril. Earth was to him little more than a port of call, and
it brought him sadness to see how eagerly Leithgow stared at her
growing face. Their parting was not far away now.
The _Sandra_ logged off the miles. Then came the day when only ten
thousand were left, and, soon after, five thousand. Deceleration had
long since been begun. Slightly but unvaryingly the ship's momentum
slackened until she arrived at the two thousand mile mark, where the
great curving stretch of the planet filled her bow windows, and the
well-remembered continents and seas stood out as clearly as on a
tilted classroom globe.
Carse leaned musing in a corner of the control cabin, oblivious to the
well-meaning but toneless voice with which Ban Wilson, at the
electelscope was butchering a song. A gentle tap on the shoulder
summoned him out of his study.
He turned and saw that Leithgow had come to him. Carse smiled at the
old scientist, and said:
"Well, Eliot, we'll be in soon now. Apparently we've made it safely,
and there's nothing to stand between you and the day you've waited for
so long."
* * * * *
"Yes. But Carse--what of you? How long will you stay? I only wish I
could persuade you--"
"To retire, Eliot? Settle down? Become a humdrum landlocked
Earthling?" He chuckled, and shook his head. "No, no, old friend. Oh,
I'll stay on Earth for a few weeks; I suppose I'll have to, to testify
before the World Court of Justice when it takes up your case; but
after that's settled, I'll be going back. You know me, Eliot: I'll
never change. There are a number of things I must attend to at once.
My ship, the _Star Devil_, is still on Iapetus, remember; I must find
her and get her tuned up again. She's the fastest craft in space, bar
none. Then I must make the round of my ranches and see that things are
running smoothly. I've a lot of work on the Iapetus ranch,
particularly. Then, there's that Pool of Radium--not that I need the
wealth, if it really exists; but the job has killed so many who have
sought for it that I'd like to take a crack at it myself. Oh, plenty
to do!"
Leithgow looked at him, and there was all affection in his eyes, and
friendship as close as it can be between men.
"No, Carse," said Leithgow softly. "I suppose Earth will never get her
gravity on you for keeps. But I hope you will come down occasionally
to see me, and perhaps once a year, say, spend a month with Sandra and
me in our--"
"Carse!"
Ban shouted the name out. His face, turned from the electelscope, was
alive with excitement.
"Here! Look!"
"What is it?"
"The asteroid! It's close!"
In two strides Carse was at the eyepiece of the infra-red glass
attached to the instrument. One look through it served to verify Ban's
report. The asteroid of Dr. Ku Sui had at last appeared.
* * * * *
It was not more than fifty miles from the _Sandra_, a craggy fragment
of rock, peanut-shaped, and tipped by its gleaming dome. Its speed
seemed the same as theirs, but its course was different; and to Carse,
that fact immediately explained its sudden appearance. He turned from
the eyepiece with a face grown hard and cold.
"Well, it's happened," he said. "Instead of a stern chase, which would
give us some chance of spotting them, they at once got off to the side
and have all this time been flanking us. Now they're cutting in,
straight behind, no doubt ready for business. All right. Ban, sound
the alarm."
Like a gladiator about to step sword in hand into the arena, the
_Sandra_, though a ship never designed for space duels, girded her
loins and made herself ready for what at its best could only be an
unequal struggle. She was outclassed in weapons, weight and speed--in
all save pilots. She had Hawk Carse at her helm.
The harsh alarm bell at once rang through the ship, an emergency call
to stations. Carse, at the controls, rapped out another order.
"Defensive web on, Ban, and build up power for the ray batteries."
As the echoes of the bell died, a piercing whine grew amidships, and
shreds of blue light swiftly scattered by the _Sandra's_ ports. They
were quickly gone, but they left behind an almost invisible envelope
of blue which enwrapped the ship completely. The defensive web against
attacking rays was on.
Friday tumbled into the control cabin, and on his heels two of
Leithgow's assistants, the third being on duty with the patients.
Carse briefly explained what had happened. "Friday," he ordered, "you
take the stern ray batteries. Ban--"
But Ban Wilson had returned to the electelscope, and it had given him
more news. Interrupting, he cried out:
"They must be attacking! A light just flashed in the dome!"
With his words they all saw the light. The visi-screen, though it did
not reveal the asteroid, showed the first weapon with which it
struck--a lustrous ray of purple which in a blink had leaped out to
the _Sandra_ and enfolded her. A shower of sparks crackled out from
the ship's defensive web, but the purple ray continued.
"I don't know that ray, Eliot." Carse said. "What's on our speed
indicator?"
The scientist's gasp was plainly audible as he read the dial. "Why,
it--it's dropping! Much faster than our deceleration accounts for!
That ray--why, it must have magnetic properties! Carse, the asteroid's
stopping us!"