In the Orbit of Saturn
Page 6
brother!" the pirate whined. "I'm with Gore in thisdeal. Lay off!"
"Where you bound for?"
"I have to relieve Burke at the ventilating turbines."
"Let Burke wait. Lead on to the invisibility generators."
"Oh, I can't do that, mister! I got to have a pass. Say, mister, I wasjust kidding about being one of Gore's men. I'm for the cap'n, yes,sir!"
"You lying scum!" Quirl barked impatiently. "Get going!"
The white-faced and bewildered pirate led the way down the tube to theafter end. He unlatched a door and tried to enter, but as soon as hehad dropped through to the platform he was met by a guard with leveledionizer.
"This gem'man," he started to explain. But Quirl dropped after him andgave him a powerful shove, so that he crashed into the guard. Thelatter pulled the trigger, and the unfortunate pirate crashed over theplatform's edge to the floor. Quirl had out his own electrogun anddispatched the guard. At the same time he felt a stunning shock. Hissenses reeled, but the grating had taken part of the discharge loosedby a pirate electrician at the foot of the ladder. Quirl threw hisriot club and followed that up with another lightning bolt.
* * * * *
He was then the only living person in the room, in which twogenerators hummed softly. Connected to them was a bank of U-shapedtubes, each as tall as a man, which were filled with silent lividfire. Quirl picked up a wrench and started hammering at the thicktubes until the glass cracked. Each time he was engulfed by a wave ofheat, and the tube became black. The great generators idled andautomatically came to a stop. Quirl was certain now that the pirateship would be visible, but the position of the captives was stilldesperate. He hoped that none of the surviving pirates would think ofcalling at the generator room, or find out in some other way that theywere now visible in the eternal day of space.
Quietly he climbed back to the passage and closed the hatch. He castabout for his next move. He was looking toward the bow, but on hearingthe subdued clink of metal on metal, he turned.
A dozen of the pirates were coming toward him.
It would have been useless to draw his weapon. Theirs were out andcould have burned him to a crisp before he could move. Silently andwith deadliness apparent in every move they approached him.
"Hope they try to capture me alive!" he thought. "What a dog-fightthat'll be!"
Now they were nearly up to him.
"Come along, you fool!" barked the leader of the group as they wereall around him. "Sapheads like you'll give the whole game away."
Quirl could have laughed. This was evidently part of the mutineers'crew bent on their errand of murder. In the dim light they had takenhim for one of their number. He went with them, meekly.
"Unlocked!" The leader whom Quirl had not seen before, exclaimed withsatisfaction. He pulled the hatch open softly and the hinges had beenoiled. Quietly as panthers they descended the ladder. They stood atthe bottom. Still another door barred the way. Quirl now realized thatthey were attacking the captain's quarters. But the leader produced akey, and silently swung the door open.
"So, you dogs! You've come!"
* * * * *
Like an infuriated bull Captain Strom charged them, a riot club ineach hand. He could have killed them all with a ray, but he chose tovent in physical action his consuming anger at their treachery, whichhe had in some way anticipated. Three or four went sprawling under hismighty blows. The others sought shelter behind tables and chests, andbegan stabbing at him with their electroguns. Electricity crackled,and the air became pungent with ozone. A pair of the twin rays struckthe captain's gold braid, and he went down. With a triumphant yell aman dashed at him, murderous club up-raised. But Quirl was faster, andthe pirate fell dead with a crushed skull.
Strom was up again, fighting beside Quirl. The pirates remaining fellunder their furious blows, and the two dashed out. Strom said nothing,and Quirl was not sure that he had been recognized. The captaincharged straight for the navigating bow. Here, unless he should beattacked by the I.F.P. he could still control the situation. He wasperhaps still ignorant of the ship's visibility.
But Quirl made for the prisoners' hold. They would be cowering there,probably in darkness, not knowing what was going on. It was hisintention to rally them, provide them with the weapons of the fallenpirates, and so be in a position to advantageously make terms withwhoever was victorious in this battle.
He saw, as he approached that the light was on. He was hardly a dozenfeet away when the door was darkened. Quirl did not have to hear hercry to know that Gore had Lenore.
* * * * *
Running with remarkable speed, the mate carried his prize toward theafter end of the tube. A hatch stood open there, and he droppedthrough, slamming it after him.
Quirl picked up a bar that someone had dropped. It was but a matter ofmoments to break the lock and pull open the hatch. The hold waslighted, and empty. In its middle, holding the helpless Lenore, stoodGore, the electrogun in his hand covering the platform.
"Boy scout to the rescue again!" Gore sneered. He was even morerepulsive than before, with the marks Quirl had left on him in thelast battle. But he was fearless and utterly reckless. "Well, m'lad, Iknow when I'm done. And when a fellow's done he don't care whathappens. So here's the lay: When I get out of here, I'll be dead. And_she'll_ be dead, or you'll wish she was. Get it? She'll be killed,too, if you jolt me--the shock'll pass to her. And the first man-jackwho crosses that grating'll get his from me. Now then, go ahead andpull! Goin' to kill us both, or leave her to me?" He laugheddefiantly, like one who counts himself already dead.
Quirl tentatively placed one foot on the platform. Instantly a fatspark jumped from the metal to his foot, and sent him sprawling intothe tube. He saw Strom coming toward him. He had killed his enemies inthe control room and was now on the hunt for more.
"Thanks for what you did," he grunted. As a forlorn hope, Quirlexplained the situation. Strom smiled a rare smile.
"That's all right," he said mildly. "Quirl, you're a square man, andI'd rather do something for a square enemy than a false friend. Oh, Ican do it cheaply. The jig's up for me, anyway!"
Quickly he dropped through the door and launched himself. Gore saw himcoming, and Strom's body shuddered as the bolt struck squarely. Hewas dead when he hit, but his great weight knocked Gore down.
* * * * *
Quirl had time to jump after him, knocking the wind out of Gore beforehe could rise. Lenore picked up Gore's weapon, but dared not use itfor fear of injuring her lover. As the two fighting men circledwarily, seeking openings in this battle that must be fatal to one ofthem, they did not see the slight, shadowy figure that dropped down tothem. There was a flash, and Gore slumped, a knife in his back.
"I done it! I done for him!" chattered Sorko. "The dirty, lousy--"
"Come, Lenore, let's get up to the bow before the pirates think ofit." They dashed up the ladder. Some more of the disks were out, andit was nearly dark. Three sinewy forms pounced on Quirl the moment heentered the passage. The girl, too, was caught, though she fought andbit.
"Lights! Let's have some lights!" commanded an authoritative voice.
"Coming, sir!" came a far-away answer.
The passage became bright, and Quirl looked into the faces of hiscaptors, in the uniforms of the I.F.P.
"Got you, you dirty pirate!" gloated the husky young man on his chest.
"Mike!" Quirl gasped, "don't you know me? How'd you get here?"
"Dog-gone! Finner! Leggo his legs, you eggs."
"Trailed you," he added. "Glommed our magnets on the navigating bow.Expected a fight, but some big guy let us in through an airlock. Well,he'd done plenty of scrapping--all the clothes torn off him. Half adozen dead pirates in there. Who is he?"
Quirl thought of the stiffening body of Lieutenant Burroughs, aliasCaptain Strom, who had just purchased his life and that of Lenore atthe cost of his own. Was his
undeserved shame now to follow him tohis grave? Quirl was no lawyer, and he decided not to take any chanceswith the law's mercy. He said:
"I don't know his name. A prisoner from some other ship, I think. Hewas very homesick for Earth, and I'll see he gets a decent grave onEarth. He died to save me."
"As for the lady," he added, "let her go. She's a captive. And,anyway, I think she is the future Mrs. Quirl Finner."
She smiled, and the men of the Force looked somewhat enviously atQuirl.
"Say," Quirl said, taking Lenore's hand and anxious to be rid of them,"if you find a little monkey-faced guy down in that hold, go easy withhim.