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  6. The Last Run of the Scavenger

  To Greg Hunter the siege of the orbit-ship had been a nerve-wrackinggame of listening and waiting for something to happen.

  In the darkness of the control cabin he stretched his fingers, crampedfrom gripping the heavy Markheim stunner, and checked the corridoroutside again. There was no sound in the darkness there, no sign ofmovement. Somewhere far below he heard metal banging on metal; minutesbefore he thought he had heard the sharp ripping sound of a stunnerblast overhead, but he wasn't sure. Wherever the fighting was going on,it was not here.

  He shook his head as his uneasiness mounted. Why hadn't Johnny comeback? He'd gone off to try and disable the Ranger ship leaving Greg toguard the control cabin. Why no sign of the marauders in the controlcabin corridor? This should have been the first place they would headfor, if they planned to take the ship, but there had been nothing butsilence and darkness. Johnny had been gone near 15 minutes already. Gregbecame more uneasy.

  He waited. Suddenly, bitterly, he realized the hopelessness of it. Evenif Johnny did manage to damage the Ranger ship, what difference would itmake? They had been fools to come out here, idiots to ignore Tawney'swarning, the three of them. Tawney had told them in so many words thatthere would be trouble, and they had come out anyway, just begging forit.

  Well, now they had what they'd begged for. Greg slammed his fist intohis palm angrily. What had they expected? That the big company wouldstep humbly aside for them, with a fortune hanging in the balance? Ifthey had even begun to think it through before they started....

  But they hadn't, and now it was too late. They were under attack; Johnnywas off on a fool's errand, gone too long for comfort, and Tom ... Gregglanced at his watch. It had been ten minutes since Tom's call. What hadhe meant by it? A plan, he said. A long chance.

  He couldn't shake off the cold feeling in his chest when he thoughtabout Tom. What if something happened to him....

  Greg remembered how he had grown to resent his brother. The time whenthey were very young and Tom had been struck by the sickness, a nativeMartian virus they called it. He remembered the endless nights ofattention given to Tom alone. From then on somehow they weren't friendsany more. But now all that seemed to disappear and Greg only wished thatTom would appear down the corridor....

  A sound startled him. He tensed, gripping the stunner, peering into thedarkness. Had he heard something? Or was it his own foot scraping onthe deck plate? He held his breath, listening, and the sound cameagain, louder.

  Someone was moving stealthily up the corridor.

  Greg waited, covered by the edge of the hatchway. It might be Johnnyreturning, or maybe even Tom ... but there was no sign of recognition.Whoever it was was coming silently....

  Then a beam of light flared from a headlamp, and he saw the blue crackleof a stunner. He jerked back as the beam bounced off the metal walls.Then he was firing point blank down the corridor, his stunner on a tightbeam, a deadly pencil of violent energy. He heard a muffled scream and abulk loomed up in front of him, crashed to the deck at his feet.

  He fired again. Another crash, a shout, and then the sound of footstepsretreating. He waited, his heart pounding, but there was nothing more.

  The first attempt on the control cabin had failed.

  * * * * *

  Five minutes later the second attempt began. This time there was nowarning sound. A sudden, ear-splitting crash, a groan of tortured metal,and the barricaded hatchway glowed dull red. Another crash followed. Theedge of the hatch split open, pouring acrid Murexide fumes into thecabin. A third explosion breached the door six inches; Greg could seeheadlamps in the corridor beyond.

  He fired through the crack, pressing down the stud until the stunnerscorched his hand. Then he heard boots clanging up the other corridor.He pressed back against the wall, waited until the sounds were near,then threw open the hatch. For an instant he made a perfect target, butthe raiders did not fire. The stunner buzzed in his hand, and once againthe footfalls retreated.

  They _were_ being careful!

  Silence then, and blackness. Minutes passed ... five, ten.... Gregchecked the time again. It was over twenty minutes since Tom had talkedto him. What had happened? Whatever Tom had planned must have misfired,or something would have happened by now. For a moment he consideredleaving his post and starting down the dark corridor to search ... butwhere to search? There was nothing to do but wait and hope for amiracle.

  Then suddenly the lights blazed on in the control cabin and the corridoroutside. An attention signal buzzed in Greg's earphones. "All right,Hunter, it's all over," a voice grated. "You've got five minutes to getdown to No. 3 lock. If you make us come get you, you'll get hurt."

  "I'll chance it," Greg snapped back. "Come on up."

  "We're through fooling," the voice said. "You'd better get down here.And bring your brother with you."

  "Sure," Greg said. "Start holding your breath."

  The contact broke for a moment, then clicked on again. This time it wasanother voice. "We've got Johnny Coombs down here," it said. "You wanthim to stay alive, you start moving. Without your stunner."

  Greg chewed his lip. They could be bluffing ... but they might not be."I want to see Johnny," he said.

  On the control panel a viewscreen flickered to life. "Take a look,then," the voice said in his earphones.

  They had Johnny, all right. A burly guard was holding his good armbehind his back. Greg could see the speaker wires jerked loose from hishelmet.

  "It's up to you," the voice said. "You've got three minutes. If you'renot down here by then, this helmet comes off and your friend goes outthe lock. It's quick that way, but it's not very pleasant."

  Johnny was shaking his head violently; the guard wrenched at his arm,and the miner's face twisted in pain. "Two minutes," the voice said.

  "Okay," Greg said. "I'm coming down."

  "Drop the stunner right there."

  He dropped the weapon onto the deck. Three steps out into the corridor,and two guards were there to meet him, stunners raised. They marched himup the ramp to the outer level corridor and around to No. 3 lock.

  They were waiting there with Johnny. A moment later the guards herdedthem through the lock and into the hold of the Ranger ship, stripped offtheir suits, and searched them.

  A big man with a heavy face and coarse black hair came into the cabin.He looked at Johnny and Greg and grunted. "You must be Hunter," he saidto Greg. "Where's the other one?"

  "What other one?" Greg said.

  "Your brother. Where is he?"

  "How would I know?" Greg said.

  The man's face darkened. "You'd be smart to watch your tongue," he said."We know there were three of you, we want the other one."

  The man turned to a guard. "What about it?"

  "Don't know, Doc. Nobody's reported him."

  "Then take a crew and search the ship. We were due back hours ago. He'sin there somewhere."

  "Sure, Doc." The guard disappeared through the lock. The man called Docmotioned Greg and Johnny through into the main cabin.

  "What are you planning to do with us?" Greg demanded.

  "You'll find out soon enough." Doc's mouth twisted angrily.

  A guard burst into the cabin. "Doc, there's just nobody there! We'vescoured the ship."

  "You think he just floated away in his space suit?" Doc growled. "_Findhim._ Tawney only needs one of them, but we can't take a chance on theother one getting back...." He broke off, his eyes on the viewscreen."Did you check those scout ships?"

  "No, I thought...."

  "Get down there and check them." Doc turned back to the viewscreenimpatiently.

  Greg caught Johnny's eye, saw the big miner's worried frown. "Where ishe?" he whispered.

  "I don't know. Thought you did...."

  "All I know is that he had some kind of scheme in mind."

  "Shut up," Doc said to them. "If you're smart, you'll be strapping downbefore we...." He broke off in mid s
entence, listening.

  Quite suddenly, the Ranger ship had begun to vibrate. Somewhere, faraway, there was the muffled rumble of engines.

  Doc whirled to the viewscreen. Greg and Johnny looked at the sameinstant, and Johnny groaned.

  Below them, the _Scavenger_'s jets were flaring. First the pale starterflame, then a long stream of fire, growing longer as the enginesdeveloped thrust.

  Doc slammed down a switch, roared into a speaker. "That scoutship ... stop it! He's trying to make a break!"

  Two guards appeared at the lock almost instantly, but it was too late.Already she was straining at her magnetic cable moorings; then theexhaust flared, and the little scout ship leaped away from theorbit-ship, moving out at a tangent to the asteroid's orbit, picking upspeed, moving faster and faster....

  In toward the orbit of Mars.

  The man called Doc had gone pale. Now he snapped on the speaker again."Frank? Stand by on missile control. He's asking for it."

  "Right," the voice came back. "I'm sighting in."

  The _Scavenger_ was moving fast now, dwindling in the viewscreen. Onepanel of the screen went telescopic to track her. "All right," Doc said."Fire one and two."

  From both sides of the Ranger, tiny rockets flared. Like twin bulletsthe homing shells moved out, side by side, in the track of the escaping_Scavenger_. With a strangled cry, Greg leaped forward, but Johnnycaught his arm.

  "Johnny, _Tom's on ... that thing_...."

  "I know. But he's got a chance."

  Already the homing shells were out of sight; only the twin flares werevisible. Greg stared helplessly at the tiny light-spot of the_Scavenger_. At first she had been moving straight, but now she wasdodging and twisting, her side-jets flaring at irregular intervals. Thetwin pursuit shells mimicked each change in course, drawing closer toher every second.

  And then there was a flash, so brilliant it nearly blinded them, and the_Scavenger_ burst apart in space. The second shell struck a fragment;there was another flash. Then there was nothing but a nebulous powderingof tiny metal fragments.

  The last run of the _Scavenger_ had ended.

  Dazed, Greg turned away from the screen, and somewhere, as if in adream, he heard Doc saying, "All right, boys, strap this pair down.We've got a lot of work to do before we can get out of here."