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Gold In The Sky

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<h2>15. The Final Move</h2> "I realize I'm much earlier than you expected, Major. You did a very neat job of camouflaging your takeoff ... we were almost fooled ... and no doubt the dummy ship you sent off later got full fanfare. I suppose there will be a dozen Patrol ships converging on this spot in a few hours, expecting to surprise a Jupiter Equilateral ship making a desperate attempt to hijack your little treasure here." The little fat man laughed cheerfully. "Unfortunately for you," he added, "we have many friends on Mars ... including a man in the Map room ... and I'm afraid your little trap isn't going to work after all." The Major's face was gray. "How did you get here?" "By hitch-hiking. How else? Most uncomfortable, back there, even with a pile of pressure suits for padding, but your pilot was really very skillful." Johnny Coombs turned on the Major. "What does he mean, a trap? I don't get this...." The Major sighed wearily. "I had to try to force his hand. Even if we found what we were looking for, we had no case that could stand up against them. We needed proof ... and I thought that with this as bait we could trap them. He's right about the Patrol ships ... but they won't be near for hours." "And that will be a little late to help," Tawney said pleasantly. The Major glared at him. "Maybe so ... but you've gone too far this time. This is an official U.N. ship. You'll never be able to go back to Mars." "Really?" the fat man said. "And why not? Officially I'm on Mars right now, with plenty of people to swear to the fact." He chuckled. "You seem to forget that little matter of proof, Major. When your Patrol ships find a gutted ship and five corpses, they may suspect that something more than an accident was involved, but what can they prove? Nothing more than they could prove in the case of Roger Hunter's accident. Scout-ships have been known to explode before." He ran his hand over the metal cylinder. "And as for this ... it's really a surprise. Of course when we failed to find any evidence of mining activity, we were certain that Roger Hunter's bonanza was something more than a vein of ore, but this! You can be certain that we will exploit the secret of a star-drive to the very fullest." "How do you think you can get away with it?" the Major said. "Turning up with something like that right after a whole series of suspicious accidents in space?" "Oh, we aren't as impatient as some people. We wouldn't be so foolish as to break the news now. Five years from now, maybe ten years, one of our orbit-ships will happen upon a silvery capsule on one of our asteroid claims, that's all. I wouldn't be surprised if a non-company observer might be on board at the time, maybe even a visiting Senator from Earth. For something this big, we can afford to be patient." There was silence in the little scout-ship cabin. The end seemed inevitable. This was a desperate move on Tawney's part. He was gambling everything on it; he would not take the chance of letting any of them return to Mars or anywhere else to testify. Greg caught Tom's eye, saw the hopelessness on his brother's face. He clenched his fists angrily at his side. If it were not for Tom, Dad's bonanza might have gone on circling the sun for centuries, maybe forever, wedged in its hiding place on the rocky surface of the eccentric asteroid. But it had been found. Earth needed a star-drive badly; a few more years, and the need would be desperate. And if a group of power-hungry men could control a star-drive and hold it for profit, they could blackmail an entire planet for centuries, and build an empire in space that could never be broken. He knew that it must not happen that way. Dad had died to prevent it. Now it was up to them. <hr style='width: 45%;' /> Greg glanced quickly around the cabin, searching for some way out, something that might give them a chance. His eyes stopped on the control panel, and he sucked in his breath, his heart pounding. A possibility.... It would require a swift, sure move, and someone to help, someone with fast reflexes. It was dangerous; they might all be killed. But if his training at Star-jump was good for anything, it might work. He caught Johnny Coombs' eye, winked cautiously. A frown creased Johnny's forehead. He shot a quick look at Tawney, then lowered his eyelid a fraction of an inch. Greg could see the muscles of his shoulders tightening. Greg took quick stock of the cabin again. Then he took a deep breath and bellowed, "Johnny ... duck!" Almost by reflex, Johnny Coombs hurled himself to the floor. Tawney swung the gun around. There was an ugly ripping sound as the stunner fired ... but Greg was moving by then. In two bounds he was at the control panel. He hooked an arm around a shock bar, and slammed the drive switch on full. There was a roar from below as the engines fired. Greg felt a jolt of pain as the accelleration jerked at his arm. Tom and the Major were slammed back against a bulkhead, then fell in a heap on top of Johnny and the Lieutenant as the awful force of the accelleration dragged them back. Across the cabin Tawney sprawled on the floor. The stunner flew from his hand and crashed against the rear bulkhead. On the panel Greg could see the accelleration gauge climbing swiftly ... past four g's, up to five, to six. The ship was moving wildly; there was no pilot, no course. With all the strength he could muster Greg tightened his arm on the shock bar, lifting his other arm slowly toward the cut-off switch. He had spent many hours in the accelleration centrifuge at Star-Jump, learning to withstand and handle the enormous forces of accelleration for brief periods, but the needle was still climbing and he knew he could not hold on long. His fingers touched the control panel. He strained, inching them up toward the switch.... His fingers closed on the stud, and he pulled. The engine roar ceased. On the floor behind him Tawney moved sluggishly, trying to sit up. Blood was dripping from his nose. He was still too stunned to know what had happened. Greg leaped across the room, caught up the stunner, and then sank to the floor panting. "All right," he said as his breath came back, "that's all. Your ship may have trouble finding us now ... but I bet our pilot can get us back to Mars." <hr style='width: 45%;' /> When they left the Sun Lake City infirmary it was almost noon, and the red sun was gleaming down from overhead. Walking slowly, the Hunter twins moved along the surface street toward the U.N. building. "He'll recover without any trouble," the doctor had assured them. "He caught the stunner beam in the shoulder, and it will be a while before he can use it, but Johnny Coombs will be hard to keep down." They had promised Johnny to return later. They had had check-ups themselves. Both Tom's eyes were surrounded by purple splotches, and his broken left arm was in a sling. Greg's arms and legs were so stiff he could hardly move them. The Major and the Lieutenant had been sore but uninjured. Now the boys walked without talking. Already a U.N. linguist was at work on the record tapes from the metal cylinder, and a mathematician was doing a preliminary survey on the math symbols on the metal block. "I hope there's no trouble reading them," Greg said. "There won't be. It'll take time, but the records are decipherable. And Dr. Raymond was certain that the engineering can be figured out. Earth is going to get her star-ship, all right." "And we've got work to do." "You mean the trial? I guess. The Major says that Jupiter Equilateral is trying to pin the whole thing on Tawney now. They won't get away with it, but it may be nasty just the same." "Well, one thing's sure ... there'll be some changes made, with the U.N. moving out into the Belt," Greg said. Somewhere in the distance the twins heard the rumble of engines. They stopped and watched as a great silvery cargo ship lifted from the space port and headed up into the dark blue sky. They watched it until it disappeared from sight. They were both thinking the same thing. An Earth-bound ship, powerful and beautiful, but limited now to the sun and nine planets, unable to reach farther out. But someday soon a different kind of ship would rise. THE END <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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