by Various
It decided her. She scurried down the corridor. I whirled the other way. The steward's shout might not have been heard.
Then realization flashed to me. That steward would be revived. He was one of Miko's men: for two voyages he had been a spy upon the Planetara. He would be revived and tell what he had seen and heard. Anita's disguise would be revealed.
A cold-blooded killing I do protest went against me. But it was necessary. I flung myself upon him. I beat his skull with the metal of my cylinder.
I stood up. My hood had fallen back from my head. I wiped my bloody hands on my useless cloak. I had smashed the cylinder.
"Haljan!"
* * * * *
Anita's voice! A sharp note of horror and warning. I became aware that in the corridor, forty feet down its dim length, Miko had appeared, with Anita behind him. His rifle-bullet-projector was leveled. It spat at me. But Anita had pulled at his arm.
The explosive report was sharply deafening in the confined space of the corridor. With a spurt of flame the leaden pellet struck over my head against the vaulted ceiling.
Miko was struggling with Anita. "Prince, you idiot!"
"Miko, don't! It's Haljan! Don't kill him--"
The turmoil brought members of the crew. From the shadowed oval near me they came running. I flung the useless cylinder at them. But I was trapped in the narrow passage.
I might have fought my way out. Or Miko might have shot me. But there was the danger that, in her horror, Anita would betray herself.
I backed against the wall. "Don't kill me! See, I will not fight!"
I flung up my arms. And the crew, emboldened, and courageous under Miko's gaze, leaped on me and bore me down.
The futile plans of humans! Anita and I had planned so carefully, and in a few brief minutes of action it had come only to this!
CHAPTER XVII - A Woman of Mars
"So, Gregg Haljan, you are not as loyal as you pretend!"
Miko was livid with suppressed anger. They had stripped the cloak from me, and flung me back in my cubby. Miko was now confronting me; at the door Moa stood watching. And Anita was behind her. I sat outwardly defiant and sullen on my bunk. But I was alert and tense, fearful still of what Anita's emotion might betray her into doing.
"Not so loyal," Miko repeated. "And a fool! Do you think I am such a child you can escape me!"
He swung around. "How did he get out of here? Prince, you came in here!"
My heart was wildly thumping. But Anita retorted with a touch of spirit:
"I came to tell him what you commanded. To check Hahn's latest figures--and to be ready to take the controls when we go into the asteroid's atmosphere."
"Well, how did he get out?"
"How should I know?" she parried. Little actress! Her spirit helped to allay my fear. She held her cloak close around her in the fashion they had come to expect from the George Prince who had just buried his sister. "How should I know, Miko? I sealed his door."
"But did you?"
"Of course he did," Moa put in.
"Ask your look-outs," said Anita. "They saw me--I waved to them just as I sealed the door."
I ventured, "I have been taught to open doors." I managed a sly, lugubrious smile. "I shall not try it again, Miko."
Nothing had been said about my killing of the steward. I thanked my constellations now that he was dead. "I shall not try it again," I repeated.
A glance passed between Miko and his sister. Miko said abruptly, "You seem to realize that it is not my purpose to kill you. And you presume upon it."
"I shall not again." I eyed Moa. She was gazing at me steadily. She said, "Leave me with him, Miko...." She smiled. "Gregg Haljan, we are no more than twenty thousand miles from the asteroid now. The calculations for retarding are now in operation."
* * * * *
It was what had taken Miko below, that and trouble with the ventilating system, which was soon rectified. But the retarding of the ship's velocity when nearing a destination required accurate manipulation. These brigands were fearful of their own skill. That was obvious. It gave me confidence. I was really needed. They would not harm me. Except for Miko's impulsive temper, I was in no danger from them--not now, certainly.
Moa was saying, "I think I may make you understand, Gregg. We have tremendous riches within our grasp."
"I know it," I added with sudden thought. "But there are many with whom to divide this treasure...."
Miko caught my intended implication. "By the infernal, this fellow may have felt he could seize the treasure for himself! Because he is a navigator!"
Moa said vehemently, "Do not be an idiot, Gregg! You could not do it! There will be fighting with Grantline."
My purpose was accomplished. They seemed to see me a willing outlaw like themselves. As though it were a bond between us. And they could win me.
"Leave me with him," said Moa.
Miko acquiesced. "For a few minutes only." He proffered a heat-ray cylinder, but she refused it.
"I am not afraid of him."
Miko swung on me. "Within an hour we will be nearing the atmosphere. Will you take the controls?"
"Yes."
* * * * *
He set his heavy jaw. His eyes bored into me. "You're a strange fellow, Haljan. I can't make you out. I am not angry now. Do you think, when I am deadly serious, that I mean what I say?"
His calm words set a sudden shiver over me. I checked my smile.
"Yes," I said.
"Well then, I will tell you this: not for all of Prince's well-meaning interference, or Moa's liking for you, or my own need of your skill, will I tolerate more trouble from you. The next time--I will kill you. Do you believe me?"
"Yes."
"That is all I want to say. You kill my men, and my sister says I must not hurt you. I am not a child to be ruled by a woman!"
He held his huge fist before my face. "With these fingers I will twist your neck! Do you believe it?"
"Yes." I did indeed.
He swung on his heel. "If Moa wants to try and put sense into your head--I hope she does. Bring him to the lounge when you are finished, Moa. Come, Prince--Hahn will need us." He chuckled grimly. "Hahn seems to fear we will plunge into this asteroid like a wild comet gone suddenly tangent!"
Anita moved aside to let him through the door. I caught a glimpse of her set white face as she followed him down the deck.
Then Moa's bulk blocked the doorway. She faced me.
"Sit where you are, Gregg." She turned and closed the door upon us. "I am not afraid of you. Should I be?"
"No," I said.
She came and sat down beside me. "If you should attempt to leave this room, the stern look-out has orders to bore you through."
"I have no intention of leaving the room," I retorted. "I do not want to commit suicide."
"I thought you did. You seem minded in such a fashion. Gregg, why are you so foolish?"
* * * * *
I remained silent.
"Why?" she demanded.
I said carefully, "This treasure--you are many who will divide it. You have all these men on the Planetara. And in Ferrok-Shahn, others, no doubt."
I paused. Would she tell me? Could I make her talk of that other brigand ship which Miko had said was waiting on Mars? I wondered if he had been able to signal it. The distance from here to Mars was great; yet upon other voyages Snap's signals had gotten through. My heart sank at the thought. Our situation here was desperate enough. The passengers soon would be cast upon the asteroid: there would be left only Snap, Anita and myself. We might recapture the ship, but I doubted it now. My thoughts were turning to our arrival upon the Moon. We three might, perhaps, be able to thwart the attack upon Grantline, hold the brigands off until help from the Earth might come.
But with another brigand ship, fully manned and armed, coming from Mars, the condition would be immeasurably worse. Grantline had some twenty men, and his camp, I knew, would be reasonably fortified. I knew, too, that Johnny Gra
ntline would fight to his last man.
Moa was saying, "I would like to tell you our plans, Gregg."
Her gaze was on my face. Keen eyes, but they were luminous now--an emotion in them sweeping her. But outwardly she was calm, stern-lipped.
"Well, why don't you tell me?" I said. "If I am to help you...."
"Gregg, I want you with us. Don't you understand? We are not many. My brother and I are guiding this affair. With your help, I would feel differently."
"The ship at Ferrok-Shahn--"
* * * * *
My fears were realized. She said, "I think our signals reached it. Dean tried, and Coniston was checking him."
"You think the ship is coming?"
"Yes."
"Where will it join us?"
"At the Moon. We will be there in thirty hours. Your figures gave that, did they not, Gregg?"
"Yes. And the other ship--how fast is it?"
"Quite fast. In eight days--or nine, perhaps--it will reach the Moon."
She seemed willing enough to talk. There was indeed, no particular reason for reticence; I could not, she naturally felt, turn the knowledge to account.
"Manned--" I prompted.
"About forty men."
"And armed? Long range projectors?"
"You ask very avid questions, Gregg!"
"Why should I not? Don't you suppose I'm interested?" I touched her. "Moa, did it ever occur to you, if once you and Miko trusted me--which you don't--I might show more interest in joining you?"
The look on her face emboldened me. "Did you ever think of that, Moa? And some arrangement for my share of this treasure? I am not like Johnson, to be hired for a hundred pounds of gold-leaf."
"Gregg, I will see that you get your share. Riches, for you--and me."
"I was thinking, Moa, when we land at the Moon to-morrow--where is our equipment?"
The Moon, with its lack of atmosphere, needed special equipment. I had never heard Carter mention what apparatus the Planetara was carrying.
* * * * *
Moa laughed. "We have located air-suits and helmets--a variety of suitable apparatus, Gregg. But we were not foolish enough to leave Great-New York on this voyage without our own arrangements. My brother, and Coniston and Prince--all of us shipped crates of freight consigned to Ferrok-Shahn--and Rankin had special baggage marked 'theatrical apparatus.'"
I understood it now. These brigands had boarded the Planetara with their own Moon equipment, disguised as freight and personal baggage. Shipped in bond, to be inspected by the tax officials of Mars.
"It is on board now. We will open it when we leave the asteroid, Gregg. We are well equipped."
She bent toward me. And suddenly her long lean fingers were gripping my shoulders.
"Gregg, look at me!"
I gazed into her eyes. There was passion there; and her voice was suddenly intense.
"Gregg, I told you once a Martian girl goes after what she wants. It is you I want--"
Not for me to play like a cad upon a woman's emotions! "Moa, you flatter me."
"I love you." She held me off, gazing at me. "Gregg--"
I must have smiled. And abruptly she released me.
"So you think it amusing?"
"No. But on Earth--"
"We are not on the Earth. Nor am I of the Earth!" She was gauging me keenly. No note of pleading was in her voice; a stern authority; and the passion was swinging to anger.
"I am like my brother: I do not understand you, Gregg Haljan. Perhaps you think you are clever? It seems stupidity, the fatuousness of man!"
"Perhaps," I said.
* * * * *
There was a moment of silence. "Gregg, I said I loved you. Have you no answer?"
"No." In truth, I did not know what sort of answer it would be best to make. Whatever she must have read in my eyes, it stirred her to fury. Her fingers with the strength of a man in them, dug into my shoulders. Her gaze searched me.
"You think you love someone else? Is that it?"
That was horribly startling; but she did not mean it just that way. She amended with caustic venom: "That little Anita Prince! You thought you loved her! Was that it?"
"No!"
But I hardly deceived her. "Sacred to her memory! Her ratlike little face--soft voice like a purring, sniveling cat! Is that what you're remembering, Gregg Haljan?" she sneered.
I tried to laugh. "What nonsense!"
"Is it? Then why are you cold under my touch? Am I--a girl descended from the Martian flame-workers--impotent now to awaken a man?"
A woman scorned! In all the Universe there could be no more dangerous an enemy. An incredible venom shot from her eyes.
"That miserable mouselike creature! Well for her that my brother killed her."
It struck me cold. If Anita was unmasked, beyond all the menace of Miko's wooing, I knew that the venom of Moa's jealousy was a greater danger.
I said sharply, "Don't be simple, Moa!" I shook off her grip. "You imagine too much. You forget that I am a man of the Earth and you a girl of Mars."
"Is that reason why we should not love?"
"No. But our instincts are different. Men of the Earth are born to the chase."
* * * * *
I was smiling. With thought of Anita's danger I could find it readily in my heart to dupe this Amazon.
"Give me time, Moa. You attract me."
"You lie!"
"Do you think so?" I gripped her arm with all the power of my fingers. It must have hurt her, but she gave no sign; her gaze clung to me steadily.
"I don't know what to think, Gregg Haljan...."
I held my grip. "Think what you like. Men of Earth have been known to kill the thing they love."
"You want me to fear you?"
"Perhaps."
She smiled scornfully. "That is absurd."
I released her. I said earnestly, "I want you to realize that if you treat me fairly, I can be of great advantage to this venture. There will be fighting--I am fearless."
Her venomous expression was softening. "I think that is true, Gregg."
"And you need my navigating skill. Even now I should be in the turret."
I stood up. I half expected she would stop me, but she did not. I added, "Shall we go?"
She stood beside me. Her height brought her face level with mine.
"I think you will cause no more trouble, Gregg?"
"Of course not. I am not wholly witless."
"You have been."
"Well, that is over." I hesitated. Then I added, "A man of Earth does not yield to love when there is work to do. This treasure--"
I think that of everything I said, this last most convinced her.
She interrupted, "That I understand." Her eyes were smoldering. "When it is over--when we are rich--then I will claim you, Gregg."
* * * * *
She turned from me. "Are you ready?"
"Yes. No! I must get that sheet of Hahn's last figures."
"Are they checked?"
"Yes." I picked the sheet up from my desk. "Hahn is fairly accurate, Moa."
"A fool nevertheless. An apprehensive fool."
A comradeship seemed coming between us. It was my purpose to establish it.
"Are we going to maroon Dr. Frank with the passengers?" I asked.
"Yes."
"But he may be of use to us." I wanted Dr. Frank kept aboard. I still felt that there was a chance for us to recapture the ship.
But Moa shook her head decisively. "My brother has decided not. We will be well rid of Dr. Frank. Are you ready, Gregg?"
"Yes."
She opened the door. Her gesture reassured the look-out, who was alertly watching the stern watch-tower.
"Come, Gregg."
I stepped out, and followed her forward along the deck, which now was bright with the radiance of the nearby asteroid.
CHAPTER XVIII - Marooned on an Asteroid
A fair little world. I had thought so before; and I thought so now
as I gazed at the asteroid hanging so close before our bow. A huge, thin crescent, with the Sun off to one side behind it. A silver crescent, tinged with red. From this near viewpoint, all of the little globe's disc was visible. The shadowed portion lay dimly red, mysteriously; the sunlit crescent--widening visibly is we approached--was gleaming silver. Inky moonlike shadows in the hollows, brilliant light upon the mountain heights. The seas lay in gray patches. The convexity of the disc was sharply defined. So small a world! Fair and beautiful, shrouded with clouded areas.
"Where is Miko?"
"In the lounge, Gregg."
"Can we stop there?"
Moa turned into the lounge archway. Strange, tense scene. I saw Anita at once. Her robed figure lurked in an inconspicuous corner; her eyes were upon me as Moa and I entered, but she did not move. The thirty-odd passengers were huddled in a group. Solemn, white-faced men, frightened women. Some of them were sobbing. One Earth-woman--a young widow--sat holding her little girl, and wailing with uncontrolled hysteria. The child knew me. As I appeared now, with my gold-laced white coat over my shoulders, the little child seemed to see in my uniform a mark of authority. She left her mother and ran to me.
"You, please--you will help us? My moms is crying."
I sent her gently back. But there came upon me then a compassion for these innocent passengers, fated to have embarked upon this ill-starred voyage. Herded here in this cabin, with brigands like pirates of old guarding them. Waiting now to be marooned on an uninhabited asteroid roaming in space. A sense of responsibility swept me. I swung upon Miko. He stood with a nonchalant grace, lounging against the wall with a cylinder dangling in his hand. He anticipated me.
"So, Haljan--she put some sense into your head? No more trouble? Then get into the turret. Moa, stay there with him. Send Hahn here. Where is that ass Coniston? We will be in the atmosphere shortly."
I said, "No more trouble from me, Miko. But these passengers--what preparation are you making for them on the asteroid?"
* * * * *
He stared in surprise. Then he laughed. "I am no murderer. The crew is preparing food, all we can spare. And tools. They can build themselves shelter--they will be picked up in a few weeks."