minutes it was pitch black. Refusing to take anyone along with him,Holden crept out of the air-lock, and with an occasional glance at thecompass fastened inside his suit, always pointing toward the _SanFrancisco_, he set out in the general direction of the wrecked spaceships he had seen piled along the base of the cliff. He made good time,despite the weight of his suit and the poor footing afforded by theloosely piled dust, and finally saw ahead of him the silvery gleam of aship's side. Afraid to use his light, he crept toward the bow of thecraft, past a huge hole, and reached the name-plate. Following thedeeply engraved characters, he slowly spelled out the name "G-L-O-R-,"his heart gave a great thump. _Gloriana_, the Earth-Mars passengertransport into which his own Jean had stepped so happily a yearpreviously!
A sudden hope flared up and then died down as he remembered the gapinghole he had just passed. The cowards had probably attacked withoutwarning; the terrible cold of outer space had flooded through theopening made by that sharp-pointed prow,--. He could not bear to carrythe image further; with a sob in his throat and murderous hatred in hisheart, he continued his search for the pirate stronghold.
Winding his way among other shattered ships, he came to the base of thetowering cliff, and turned to the right along it, finding his way byconstantly touching the hard rock with his gloved hand. Suddenly therewas a space where he could touch nothing, then the texture of thematerial changed.
Carefully shielding the glow, he flashed a light on the wall for amoment. It was metal, not rock! The pirates had walled in a cave withplates from the captured transports; probably they were living within,in all the luxury of their stolen wealth.
A few yards farther on his searching hand touched a seam in the metal,still farther, another, evidently the air-lock through which the piratestook their ship into the cave. Holden sat down to think. At that momentthe wall against which he leaned began to move slowly outward! A dim rayof light came from the opening, which, as he turned to look, he saw tobe an air-lock. The inner door was closed, obviously someone wasexpected to enter. He drew a deep breath, clasped his gun firmly in hisright hand, and plunged in.
As soon as he entered, the outer door closed; he heard valves clickopen, air rushed into the chamber, and the inner door slowly opened,revealing a long hall, dark and ominous.
Without removing the helmet of his space-suit, he started down the hall,but had gone no more than a few steps before he felt a hand on hissleeve, drawing him through a darkened doorway. The door closed, a lightflashed on, and before him stood, smiling and happy, his sweetheart,Jean!
With a single movement he flung off his helmet and seized her in hisarms. For a short, delicious moment she clung to him, whispering thosewords that lovers know so well. At last she said, "We haven't a minuteto lose, Jack. Let me tell you all I know about this place."
"But Jean, how did you get here? How does it happen that you had accessto the air-lock?"
"I was captured by these fiends, and am a prisoner, together with aboutfifteen others, only five of them being men. All the rest were killed,either when the pirates rammed the ships, or here, when they decided theplace was becoming crowded." Her face paled at the memory of thehorrible massacres, but she went bravely on.
"We have no space-suits, and the pirates, of whom there are perhapsseventy-five, let us wander around pretty much as we please. We know ofpractically everything that goes on. I happened to hear your namementioned in the phone room the other day, when a spy on your ship senta message. When the pirates brought their ship in, crippled by thefight, I was sure that you were around somewhere. I have been watchingever since, making use of a sound detector pieced together from somescraps of material I picked up unnoticed.
"There aren't any guards because the gang is busy repairing the _SilverDeath_, as they call their ship, preparatory to finishing the job theystarted today. Oh, Jack, you must go, now. They may be through at anytime. I don't know when I will see you again, if ever, but I couldn'tresist talking to you, touching you, just once more."
"One moment, dear. I have an idea. Is there any compartment, fartherback or lower down, where you could gather the prisoners together, andbe safe in case the outer wall was broken down?"
* * * * *
"Yes," she replied breathlessly, "one of the older, smaller caves isstill airtight, and while the gang is busy on the _Silver Death_ wecould go there and close the locks. What good would that do, though?They are certain you can't get in here, or they wouldn't leave the placeunguarded. They have your ship surrounded by a wave-proof shield, so youcan't communicate with the others of your fleet, you know."
"I know that, but I think I can steal a leaf from their own book. Willthey all be working, say three hours from now?"
"I think so. Your guns did a great deal of damage, weakening the forwardstructures of their craft."
"All right. Get your friends together in the old cave you mentioned,seal it, and then wait till I come back."
Tenderly he kissed her good-bye, then hastened away, anxious to get hiswork done before the shadow of the cliff again receded.
Thanking the fates for the good fortune that had saved Jean, and had ledher to the air-lock at the moment he was there, he stumbled over therocks and dust piles until halted by the picket line surrounding the_San Francisco_. He called the men into the ship, and hastened to thepilot room, where Edwards was testing the controls.
"Any luck?"
"Yes, a lot. Can you get the ship in shape to travel in three hours?"
"She's in pretty good shape now, although not capable of the trip backto Earth."
Captain Linet entered at that moment, and with him Professor Erickson.
Holden recounted his adventures of the last hour and then set forth hisplan.
"The cave is walled up with thin plating from the ships the pirates havebrought in here. The entire gang is at work, repairing their own flier;none of them, or at least only a few, are wearing space suits. I proposeto drive the bow of the _San Francisco_ into the wall of their cave,previously weakening it by a few bursts from the _hexoxen_ guns!"
"It is possible," replied Edwards, "but it will probably put us out ofcommission altogether."
"In any case," put in Erickson, "we will be rid of this damnable shield,and can communicate with our companions."
It certainly was the only plan, for, as soon as the pirates had repairedtheir ship, another unequal battle would be waged, with the result verylittle in doubt.
All hands set to work completing repairs on the main stern tubes, theonly ones necessary to drive the _San Francisco_ forward. In less thanthree hours, Edwards pronounced the work done to his satisfaction.
As the light began to creep in toward the base of the cliff, the hugeship rose slightly off the ground, the tubes glowed red and, guided by apowerful searchlight installed on the bow, Edwards pointed his crafttoward the gleaming metal patch that marked the position of the piratecave.
At short range, Holden, Linet, and Erickson opened with the three_hexoxen_ guns. They saw the bursts take effect on the metal. Edwardsturned the power on full, and they felt the floor leaping under them.Would the bow of the _San Francisco_ hold? Would they all be crushed todeath at the impact? Another moment would tell. Holden saw the metalplates dead ahead, could distinguish the seams marking the air-lock.
He fired one final shot, and flung himself to the floor of the pilotroom, endeavoring to find some means of bracing himself for the shock.Then it came! Torn from his position, he saw the plates buckling andheaving about him. The lights went out. A great crash sounded in hisears, and everything went black. In a moment he regained consciousness,and staggered to his feet, bruised and dizzy. Thank God, his space suithad not been harmed! A faint glow from the outside made things visibleand he saw that the shock had torn a huge piece out of the plating ofthe pilot room.
A hand clutched his elbow, and through the phone in his space suit heheard Linet's voice.
"Erickson and Edwards are knocked out. Let's see what we did to thesec
haps here."
* * * * *
Rushing back through the corridor, they collected as many of the crew aswere able to move, flung open the heavy doors of the air-lock, andscrambled down to the floor of the cave.
Here and there lay bodies, pirates caught unawares. Suddenly Holden sawa blue flash. One of the mechanics clutched at his breast and fell, deadin an instant.
"Some of these fellows are still alive. They're using ray pistols,"Holden shouted into his suit phone.
Even as he spoke he heard the sound of running feet from the darkness inthe rear of the cave, where the bow of the _Silver Death_ was barelyvisible in her cradle, and in a moment at least fifty figures, pirateswho had somehow escaped the fatal cold of space, clad in clumsy suitsand brandishing pistols, flung themselves desperately upon the smallerparty.
Blue flashes were everywhere as the battle commenced, but the only soundwas of struggling feet, with an occasional thud as a body hit the floor.The pirates had been weakened by their long stay on the moon, and movedslowly, but the surprise of their attack, and the superiority of numbershad given them some advantage. It was man to man fighting, savage andmerciless.
Holden, with a neat dive, knocked the feet from under a huge fellow whohad trained a pistol on him, and they rolled over and over, each tryingdesperately to gain a second's advantage. He heard a dull crash to oneside, as Captain Linet, jumping high into the air, landed with stunningforce on a bewildered assailant. Thinking of Jean, waiting for him insome dim corner of the cave, he redoubled his efforts.
For a fraction of a second his pistol pointed toward his antagonist'sbody, and that was enough. He pressed the release, and the deadly rayshot into the body beneath him, dealing instant death. Freeing himselffrom the cold grip, he ducked an empty pistol flung at him by a newassailant. Again his finger bent, and another body dropped to join thoselying motionless on the floor.
A fast-moving shadow caught his eye. He saw one of the pirates detachhimself from a writhing group and head for the side of the cave. Thatwas the place where Jean had said she would be waiting!
Pausing only an instant to make sure that his pistol was still charged,Holden sprang in pursuit of the fleeing form. He saw him stoop and pickup a heavy bar from the floor. The coward was going to burst open thechamber where the helpless captives waited! It was impossible to aim atthat speed, so Holden forced his flying feet to move still faster, andfoot by foot he drew closer to the man he pursued. Metal plates againgleamed in front of him, and he saw the pirate raise the bar high overhis head, preparing for a blow which would crush the thin plates. Thetiniest hole would mean death to the captives, who had no means ofprotecting themselves.
With one last desperate effort, Holden jumped, his Earth-trained musclescarrying him high into the air, while his pistol stabbed the partialdarkness with vivid rays. Dodging and ducking, the pirate evaded thefatal stabs, while his bar beat a loud tattoo against the metal. Holdenstruck at him with his now useless pistol as he landed. The blow missed,and, losing his balance, he staggered and fell, past his foe, whoquickly turned, raising his bar for a _coup de grace_ which neverlanded. The familiar flash of a pistol once more illuminated the scene,the bar dropped from dead hands, and Holden scrambled to his feet.
A voice was speaking through his suit phone, and he recognized it asErickson's. "I just came to, tumbled out of that hole in the pilot room,saw the flash of your pistol, and here I am."
The old professor appeared, wobbling slightly, but still game. Theflashes toward the mouth of the cave had grown fewer. Leaving Ericksonto guard the compartment of the captives, Holden hurried back to thefight. Even as he went, the flashes died out altogether, and he heardLinet's hearty voice in the phone. "Holden, where are you? We've cleanedout them all down here."
Light was now flooding in from outside, and bodies could be seen lyingthick on the floor, cold and stiff in death. Sadly Holden recognizedmany of them as his own men. After a hasty conference with Linet, hegathered together fifteen space suits, and with an escort helping tocarry them, he hurried back to Jean.
* * * * *
The door of the air-lock opened as his party approached. They went in,heard the swish of air entering, and in a few minutes the inner doorswung wide. A happy crowd of men and women surrounded them, as they ridthemselves of their helmets. Holden felt Jean's arms around him, hersweet lips once more on his. For a second they clung together, thenparted, for there was work to be done. The space suits were distributedand, as he led the way back to the _San Francisco_, Jean told himbriefly the details of the long year of imprisonment.
"They gave us warning before they rammed us, as they wanted to save thewomen, for a purpose you can guess. Fortunately, there were never enoughof us to go around, and these men, exiles from two planets, were alwaysquarreling among themselves, so we were quite safe. We just existed,praying that some exploring expedition would find us, or that the_Silver Death_ would meet a ship too strong for her to ram and, fleeinghere for refuge, be trailed."
Holden sighted Captain Linet hurrying toward them. In the light nowflooding the entire cavern, he could see lines of despair andhopelessness written over the florid face.
"What's the matter?"
"Matter enough," came the ominous answer. "The space phone on our shipis entirely disabled. We won't be able to get in touch with the_Ganymede_ or the _Los Angeles_. In a few days, the _hexoxen_ chargesthey plant will commence to go off, and that will be the end of us."
Holden stopped, stunned by the news. Fleeting visions of happiness withJean vanished into thin air. He would be destroyed by the chemical hehad invented, with which he had hoped to save the world.
"I thought we might get out in the _Silver Death_," continued thecaptain, "but the entrance is entirely blocked by our own ship, and I'mafraid it will never move again."
Then Jean's clear voice cut in. "How about the space phone on the_Silver Death_? Won't it work?"
"Why, of course it will," laughed the captain, amused at his ownstupidity.
Stumbling and tripping in their haste, the three hurried through theopen air lock of the pirate craft, into the pilot room.
Holden feverishly set to work, whirling the strange dials, pushing thisbutton, then that. At last a faint roar sounded in the loud speaker.Pressing his helmet against the transmitter, so that the vibrationswould carry his voice, he shouted, "_Ganymede_, _Los Angeles_, Holdencalling."
"What ho?" came a cheery voice, which he recognized as belonging toHuges, commander of the _Los Angeles_.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he explained the situation. Busy daysfollowed. _Hexoxen_ and Europium from the _San Francisco_ weretransferred to the other ships, with as much of the treasure collectedby the pirates as could be loaded into the cramped quarters.
With Huges and Rogers assisting, Holden revised the schedule forplanting the charges.
"We simply haven't time," he explained, "to set the charges as closetogether as I had planned. There's nothing to do but get all of them inthat we can, and then hope that conditions in the interior of the moonwill be of a nature to promote the action of the _hexoxen_."
The ships' crews understood only too well the importance and danger oftheir work, and during the days that followed they toiled like a gang ofmadmen. Parties raced each other over the rough surface of the deadsatellite, grimly determined that their efforts to save the world shouldnot be in vain. Even the men of the party which had been rescued,weakened as they were by their long stay in the pirate cave, insisted ongiving what help they could.
Finally came the day when the first charges were set to go off. Holdensat in the pilot room of the _Ganymede_, his eyes on the chronometer,while Captain Linet swept the desolate plain with powerful binocularsfor the cloud of dust which would signal the return of the last party.
"Five minutes yet, Captain," Holden said in a low voice. "Tell the _LosAngeles_ to pull out. The first charges are scarcely two hundred milesfrom here, and I'm not
certain how fast the reaction will travel."
Five minutes. Two minutes. The silver shape of the _Los Angeles_ wasalready fading in the distance. Suddenly a sharp shock rocked the stonybed on which the _Ganymede_ was resting. Simultaneously five figuresappeared, racing at full speed for the ship. Shock after shock tore atthe ground beneath their feet. Holden stood at the controls, waiting forthe signal that his five comrades were safely aboard. To his tensednerves it seemed hours before the welcome sound came to his ears, andwith a sigh of relief he opened the power into the stern tubes, andlaughed happily as the huge ship shot away from the heaving surface ofthe dying moon.
Anxious seconds passed. From the height to which they had risen, a greatpart of the moon was visible, and for the first time Holden realized thefull power of the chemical which his ingenuity had devised. Immensetongues of flame ripped through the dust and rock of the satellite,sending dense clouds of vapor bellowing out into space. Mighty mountainsdisappeared in an instant.
The _Ganymede_ was traveling at full speed, and yet it seemed as thoughat any moment the conflagration might reach out, consuming the spaceship in that all-engulfing reaction. Holden manipulated the controlswith flying fingers, seeking to get every available bit of speed fromthe metal monster which was carrying its precious cargo of human beingsaway from a terrible death.
Far ahead he could see the shape of the _Los Angeles_, now safelyoutside the danger zone. Thin clouds of vapor floated around the_Ganymede_, then suddenly cleared.
Captain Linet gave a shout of joy as he read the distance recorded onthe dials. "Jack, my boy, we're safe. We're outside the limit to whichthe reaction can extend."
With the three ships
The Moon Destroyers Page 6