The Runaway Asteroid, Michael D. Cooper [mobi reader android TXT] 📗

were wide and his voice was high-pitched. "Wh-, what can we do? Can't we find these pirates? Can't we just send out ships and comb the entire area of the Belt where they disappeared? Can't we…?"

Keith Seaton broke in. "Robert, believe me, if there were anything we could do, anything we could think of that wouldn't be the equivalent of running around in circles, we'd be doing it! The Starmen are our sons! Richard informed us last night that they were captured, and we've done just about nothing else but try to think of something we can do."

Allen Foster joined in. His voice was level and determined, clearly being controlled with supreme effort. "It is impossible to do a random search of the Asteroid Belt-even if we restrict our search to the section where the hidden base must lie. We've done the math. We may as well be looking for a black marble hidden at night anywhere in North America."

"And invisible ships!" Nolan gasped. "The Solar System has no defense against anything like that. Why, they could come in anywhere and invade! They'd be invincible! We couldn't even see what hit us!"

Commander Lewis spoke up. "And an alien civilization! They could have science beyond what we can imagine. Earth doesn't stand a chance against an enemy like that!" The men were scared.

After a moment when no one else addressed the gathering, the President spoke. "Our position is essentially the same as it was when Mars was still in the control of the pirates. Our strength does not lie in superior science or in superior numbers. Troy Putnam recently placed his trust in superior strength and technology; the unsoundness of such a hope is shown by his fall. David fought Goliath and won because his trust was in the right place. Zimbardo might have weapons and other technology of which we cannot even conceive and he might do great damage, but he is still in the wrong. Evil might have its day, but in the end it will always fall; the forces of light will overcome it as it decays from within. With that faith and that assurance, we can make our plans. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how we can meet this crisis?"

Allen Foster spoke again. "There are two issues here: finding and rescuing the Starmen and their companions, and defending our civilization from the pirates. For the first, well, we're very hopeful that they are still alive because they were taken aboard the pirates' ship before the base on Z25 was destroyed. They are resourceful young men-they are Starmen, after all.

"For the second, any solution I'm afraid will be long-term. We'll have to develop a detector that uses a process other than radar-perhaps something based on gravity or light absorption. But you can appreciate the obvious fact, I'm sure, that inventing such machinery will probably take a very long time. No, I think that our course now must be entirely defensive. We are, at least, forewarned. But I'm sure that the pirates will be making the next move before we can do anything about it."

7: Prisoners on the Pirates' Asteroid

"WHAT'S the word for 'walk'?" asked Mark.

"Gentrikian," answered Zip automatically.

"That makes forty-seven points for you," said Joe. "I need fifteen more just to catch up. C'mon Mark, give me an easy one-help me out."

"Okay. Do you want English to Titanian or Titanian to English?"

"Titanian to English. That's easier."

"K'intrishian."

Joe thought for a moment. Languages seemed to come easily to Mark-he could absorb concepts and find mental hooks to hang them on with no noticeable effort at all. Joe found languages far more difficult. He preferred engine diagrams and flow charts.

"I don't know!" The lean pilot blasted, exasperated. The Starmen, like the crew from Z25, were passing time as they entered the third day of their captivity aboard the Silver Cloud. Mark was teaching Zip and Joe some of the Titanian vocabulary he'd been working on for two years.

"This one should be easy for you, Joe, even if it isn't 'sleep' or 'eat.' The answer is just about all we've been able to do on this trip so far."

"Well, sleeping and eating is all we've done!"

"'K'intrishian' means 'wait.'"

Joe grinned. "We've certainly been doing a lot of that on this outing! The past couple of weeks have seemed about pointless! Just about all we've been doing is bouncing from place to place! We blasted off from Eagle City to the Asteroid Belt and then went right back to Mars. Then back to Ceres in the Asteroid Belt. Then to Montezuma's Castle and on to Z25, and we complete our mission just in time to get captured by the enemy! Now we're being taken to this 'secret asteroid' where Lurton Zimbardo has his base and I'll bet anything we're going right back to where we started-where we lost track of that ship we were chasing into the Belt!"

An announcement came through the intercom. "Prepare for deceleration in two minutes."

The Starmen looked at one another, then at the crew of Z25. St. George was already walking toward his acceleration couch. Each of them could feel his heart suddenly beating a little faster. They strapped themselves into their couches. Zip looked out of the window but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

A moment later, the rockets on the Silver Cloud ignited and the ship began to slow. About half an hour later, the had slowed to a crawl and the view of the stars disappeared. It became apparent to the prisoners that they had entered a tunnel. After a few seconds, the ship touched down and secured itself to the landing pad. The prisoners waited. No one spoke.

Minutes passed, then the door to their quarters opened. Spelford stood in the opening, with several other men behind him. All were armed.

"Time to go," Spelford announced. The prisoners were escorted single file through the ship and down the access ladder to the floor of the landing pad. They were under observation at all times by armed men in front of them and behind.

Joe reached the bottom of the ladder and turned to look around. To his right was an enormous clear wall which sealed off the landing area from the immense tunnel through which the ships had come. In front of him and to his left was a complex of charcoal-dark structures, lined with silver trim and glinting with many panels of glass. The entire area was powerfully lit by dozens of sources hundreds of feet above him. He was both impressed and intimidated at the same time.

As soon as the prisoners had debarked from the Silver Cloud, Spelford began giving orders.

"Move. This way. Stay in single file."

The line crossed the field and passed through a second airlock. Leaving the field behind, they entered a large manufacturing area. Several dozen men were working feverishly at massive tables and work centers. Sparks from welding areas were visible in the back parts of the area. Flashing lights from many desks lit up the faces of men with intent gazes, whose attention was fixed on close work on numerous small circuit boards. A few workers glanced curiously at the line of prisoners, but they didn't waste time on a thorough investigation of the newcomers.

Spelford and his detail escorted the prisoners through an immense double door, down a wide passageway, and into a large elevator. The elevator could accommodate fifty men easily. When all were inside, Spelford tapped a number into the control pad and the elevator began to descend. It stopped in seconds and the door opened into an area where several corridors came together. Two small elevator doors flanked the one from which the men emerged. The procession entered a dimly-lit corridor that extended for about a hundred yards. Many doors were set into the walls, but none was open.

Spelford led the way down the corridor. After covering about two-thirds of the distance, he stopped and slid open a plain, dark portal set into the right side of the passage. He glanced into the room beyond, then stepped back and said, "In here." The prisoners entered, and the door closed behind the last one.

George St. George broke the silence. "We're not going to be able to absquatulate from these pirate yaps very easily, that's for sure. Guess we'll have to make the most of our stay here."

Zip strode into the center of the room and looked around. Indirect lighting provided plenty of illumination. "Clearly a dormitory of some sort," he observed to no one in particular. Bunk-style beds were spaced around the walls. Through another door was a resting area with tables and chairs. In another room were washing facilities. On one side of the main room was a large window which overlooked the landing area and primary work center of the asteroid.

Joe and Mark strode over to the window and looked out. "The rotation of the asteroid provides the equivalent of gravity," observed Joe. "About what we're used to on the Moon-about one-sixth Earth. What do you think, Mark?"

"Feels like a little less to me," answered Mark. "We'll have to step up our exercises if we're going to maintain muscle tone."

"Nothing fancy, but everything we need," said one of St. George's men after a quick look around the rooms.

"For a long stay, maybe," said another.

"'K'intrishian' means 'wait,' if I remember correctly, Mark," said Joe.

"That's thirty-three points for you," responded the tall Starman.

Time passed. From the window in the wall of the asteroid, the three Starmen looked down and saw a buzz of activity. About two dozen ships were docked on the field, and workers were still hovering around tables in the work center.

"Here comes another one," said Joe, as a spacecraft passed into view from the large tunnel that led to the outside.

"How many is that since we've been here?" asked Mark. "Six?"

"Yes, six in less than twenty-four hours," stated Zip.

The Starmen chafed under the burden of their powerlessness. They had already scoured the rooms carefully and found no sign of weakness they could exploit. Their food was delivered through an automated shaft that they could find no way of using as an escape route. They had neither seen nor spoken to anyone since Spelford had brought them to their prison.

Once again Zip looked out the window. "This place is amazing! This could not have been anticipated by anyone! It must have been quite a shock when you found this asteroid, George."

"Oh yes, I was awestruck, completely, absolutely electrified! Imagine stepping into a remnant of an astounding civilization like this. When I found it, it was abandoned. It seemed as if no one had been in it for probably thousands of years."

"Tell us everything you know about this place," ordered Zip, looking intently at the asteroid miner and drawing him over to the nearest table. Zip gently eased the miner into a chair, then turned another chair around and sat in it, folding his arms over its back and facing George. The asteroid miner told the Starmen the story of his discovery of the asteroid and how Troy Putnam had learned about it. They had already heard a brief version of the story from Oritz Konig back at Mars Base.

"Of course, I didn't know this Putnam was a bad egg at the time. He just seemed like a friendly, curious spaceman to me."

"What about the asteroid?" pressed Joe. "What have you figured out about the race that built it?"

"As I said, the asteroid was abandoned when I ran across it, but whoever built it couldn't have been too different from us. Same body type, same size, that's obvious. Look around you-beds, chairs, everything, just the way we'd make them. Their language was quite different, though. Took me a long time to learn how to use some of their stuff."

"How'd you learn your way around here?"

"When I first came upon the asteroid, the airlock was open. A huge orifice, made for spaceships, as you can tell. I came through and landed. Went through one of the airlocks into the building portion here, where we are now, and just explored. Trial and error. It's not too difficult to get the basics down-opening and closing doors, and all that. Then figuring out the right mix of atmosphere. I had plenty of time. I got access to the first four or five stories, but I'm pretty certain the place is much bigger than that. At first, I couldn't get any further than the first few stories, but after a while I found my way around a couple of deeper sections."

"And