Brigands of the Moon

by Ray Cummings

  XXIV

  The duty man at the exit locks stood at his window and watched mecuriously. He saw me go up the spider stairs. He could see the figurehe thought was Wilks, standing at the top. He saw me join Wilks, sawus locked together in combat.

  For a brief instant the duty man stood amazed. There were twofantastic figures, fighting at the very brink of the cliff. They weresmall, dwarfed by distance, alternately dim and bright as they swayedin and out of the shadows. The duty man could not tell one from theother. To him it was Haljan and Wilks, fighting to the death!

  The duty man sprang into action. An interior siren call was on theinstrument panel near him. He rang it frantically.

  The men came rushing to him, Grantline among them.

  "What's this? Good God, Franck!"

  They had seen the silent, deadly combat up there on the cliff.

  Grantline stood stricken with amazement. "That's Wilks!"

  "And Haljan," the duty man gasped. "He went out--something wrong withWilks' actions--"

  The interior of the camp was in a turmoil. The men, awakened fromsleep, ran out into the corridors shouting questions.

  "An attack?"

  "Is it an attack?"

  "The brigands?"

  But it was Wilks and Haljan in a fight up there on the cliff. The mencrowded at the bull's-eye windows.

  And over all the confusion the alarm siren, with no one thinking toshut it off, was screaming.

  Grantline, momentarily stricken, stood gazing. One of the figuresbroke away from the other, bounded up to the summit from the stairplatform to which they had both fallen. The other followed. Theylocked together, swaying at the brink. For an instant it seemed thatthey would go over; then they surged back, momentarily out of sight.

  Grantline found his wits. "Stop them! I'll go out and stop them! Whatfools!"

  He was hastily donning one of the Erentz suits. "Cut off that siren!"

  Within a minute Grantline was ready. The duty man called from thewindow, "Still at it, the fools. By the infernal--they'll killthemselves!"

  "Franck, let me out."

  "I'll go with you, Commander." But the volunteer was not equipped.Grantline would not wait.

  The duty man turned to his panel. The volunteer shoved a weapon atGrantline.

  Grantline jammed on his helmet, took the weapon.

  He moved the few steps into the air chamber which was the first of thethree pressure locks. Its interior door panel swung open for him. Butthe door did not close after him!

  Cursing the man's slowness, he waited a few seconds. Then he turned tothe corridor. The duty man came running.

  Grantline took off his helmet. "What in hell--"

  "Broken! Dead!"

  "What!"

  "Smashed from outside," gasped the duty man. "Look there--my tubes--"

  The control tubes of the ports had flashed into a short circuit andburned out. The admission ports would not open!

  "And the pressure controls smashed! Broken from outside!"

  There was no way now of getting through the pressure locks. The doors,the entire pressure lock system, was dead. Had it been tampered withfrom outside?

  As if to answer Grantline's question there came a chorus of shoutsfrom the men at the corridor windows.

  "Commander! By God--look!"

  A figure was outside, close to the building! Clothed in suit andhelmet, it stood, bloated and gigantic. It had evidently been lurkingat the port entrance, had ripped out the wires there.

  It moved past the windows, saw the staring faces of the men, and madeoff with giant bounds. Grantline reached the window in time to see itvanish around the building corner.

  It was a giant figure, larger than an Earth man. A Martian?

  * * * * *

  Up on the summit of the crater the two small figures were stillfighting. All this turmoil had taken no more than a minute or two.

  A lurking Martian outside? The brigand, Miko? More than ever,Grantline was determined to get out. He shouted to his men to don someof the other suits, and called for some of the hand projectors.

  But he could not get out through these main admission ports. He couldhave forced the panels open perhaps; but with the pressure changingmechanism broken, it would merely let the air out of the corridor. Arush of air, probably uncontrollable. How serious the damage was, noone could tell as yet. It would perhaps take hours to repair it.

  Grantline was shouting, "Get those weapons! That's a Martian outside!The brigand leader, probably! Get into your suits, anyone who wants togo with me! We'll go by the manual emergency exit."

  But the prowling Martian had found it! Within a minute Grantline wasthere. It was a smaller two-lock gateway of manual control, so thatthe person going out could operate it himself. It was in a corridor atthe other end of the main building. But Grantline was too late! Thelever would not open the panels!

  Had someone gone out this way and broken the mechanisms after him? Atraitor in the camp? Or had someone come in from outside? Or had theskulking Martian outside broken this lock as he had broken the other?

  The questions surged on Grantline. His men crowded around him. Thenews spread. The camp was a prison! No one could get out!

  And outside, the skulking Martian had disappeared. But Wilks andHaljan were still fighting. Grantline could see the two figures up onthe observatory platform. They bounded apart, then together again.Crazily swaying, bouncing, striking the rail.

  They went together in a great leap off the platform onto the rocks,and rolled in a bright patch of Earthlight. First one on top, then theother.

  They rolled unheeding to the brink. Here, beyond the midway ledgewhich held the camp, it was a sheer drop of a thousand feet, on downto the crater floor.

  The figures were rolling; then one shook himself loose; rose up,seized the other and, with desperate strength, shoved him--

  The victorious figure drew back to safety. The other fell, hurtlingdown into the shadows past the camp level--down out of sight in thedarkness of the crater floor.

  Snap, who was in the group near Grantline at the window gasped, "God!Was that Gregg who fell?"

  No one could say. No one answered. Outside, on the camp ledge, anotherhelmeted figure now became visible. It was not far from the mainbuilding when Grantline first noticed it. It was running fast,bounding toward the spider staircase. It began mounting.

  And now still another figure became visible--the giant Martian again.He appeared from around the corner of the main Grantline building. Heevidently saw the winner of the combat on the cliff, who now wasstanding in the Earthlight, gazing down. And he saw too, no doubt, thesecond figure mounting the stairs. He stood quite near the windowthrough which Grantline and his men were gazing, with his back to thebuilding, looking up to the summit. Then he ran with tremendous leapstoward the ascending staircase.

  Was it Haljan standing up there on the summit? Who was it climbing thestairs? And was the third figure Miko?

  Grantline's mind framed the questions. But his attention was torn fromthem, and torn even from the swift silent drama outside. The corridorwas ringing with shouts.

  "We're imprisoned! Can't get out! Was Haljan killed? The brigands areoutside!"

  And then an interior audiphone blared a calling for Grantline. Someonein the instrument room of the adjoining building was talking.

  "Commander, I tried the telescope to see who got killed--"

  But he did not say who got killed, for he had greater news.

  "Commander! The brigand ship!"

  Miko's reinforcements had come.