impact and haddoubtless fallen into the Gorm.
Grant felt that he had come to the end of the rope. There was notremor of fear in him, only regret that he had met the girl and losther so soon. What would she do, out in space, alone with Miro? No timeto think of that now, though. The foremost of the Ganymedans werealmost upon him. They intended taking him alive, did they? He bracedhimself for the attack, ready to go down fighting.
* * * * *
Then a brilliant plan beat suddenly upon his dazzled mind. It wasbreath-taking, so simple, yet so desperate did it appear. If itworked--he would win through. If not--but Grant dismissed that thoughtquickly; one form of death was no worse than another.
Without an instant's hesitation, he whirled and jumped as high as hecould--directly over the Gorm! There was a yell of astonishment fromthe Ganymedans--one had already clutched at his intended victim--asthey fell back in horror from the edge. This Earthling was mad tobrave the terrors of the Gorm!
But Grant heard nothing. He was instantly conscious of a searing,racking pain that penetrated his every fiber. He forced his eyesupward, anywhere but beneath him. Was his theory correct, or was hedestined to drop into the fiery lake. For a single interminableinstant, he suffered untold agonies.
Then his body quivered, and he felt an unmistakable push against him.He was moving upward, just as he had hoped. The Gorm was repellinghim, even as it had the ship.
Faster and faster he shot up, chasing the liner. Would he catch upwith it? He strained his eyes. Exultation flooded through him as herealized that the distance was rapidly lessening between them. Theadded impetus of his leap over the Gorm had given him the requiredextra fillip of speed. By now, rays were streaking by him.
Soon he was directly underneath. For an instant he had a quick fearthat he might overshoot his mark. But no--he was sliding past the openair-lock. He threw himself sideways and caught at it. This time hisfingers held.
As he squirmed and wriggled into the lock, they were already careeninginto the orange tube through the red swirling clouds. There was nolonger any air. Choking, he managed with numbed fingers to screw hishelmet on. Then, closing the lock, he proceeded into the ship.
Nona was guarding her prisoner vigilantly. Miro sat there, sullen,defiant. Her glad, welcoming cry filled Grant with a new strangewarmth.
"I was so afraid for you when the ship started and you didn't showup," she said, "but I didn't dare leave him alone." She indicatedMiro.
"Good girl," he said admiringly. "We'll bind him now and then I wantto show you something."
* * * * *
They stood a little later at the bow quartz port-hole. Down the longshaft through which they had risen they saw the glaring flame of theGorm. As they looked, its regular pulsations turned irregular: itleaped and splashed as though it was a stormy, choppy sea. Then itgave one final mighty heave, and the universe seemed to shatterbeneath them. The "walls" of the shaft collapsed about them and theywere enswathed in a raging storm of red clouds.
Nona turned to Grant. "Now, will you explain?"
"Certainly," he grinned boyishly. "I simply reversed the switch thatchanges the current of the Gorm. I knew that it would then repel theliner out into space, as Miro was incautious enough to inform me.
"Then I figured that if instead of direct current, an alternating flowcould be induced, so as to attract and repel in quick succession,enough of a disturbance would be raised in that highly unstablemixture to start fireworks. So I rigged up an automatic break in thecircuit, timed it to permit us to get up enough speed from therepulsion to be safely on our way before it would start. Thecircuit-breaker worked and the alternating current did the rest. Thatisland is wiped out, and so is the Gorm. There'll be no further threatof danger to the solar system from that."
"And Miro, what are we going to do with him?"
"Turn him over to the Service. They'll take care of him. And now,young lady, if you have no further questions, shall I say it again?"
She smiled up at him tenderly, answering:
"If you wish."
* * * * *
Pirates of the Gorm Page 7