The Space Rover Read online

the air-lock in their bulging spacesuits, awaiting his order to leave the tender. He quickly got into asuit, clamped on the helmet and screwed tight the connections. Then heopened the door of the air-lock and motioned the others into it,following the last man in.

  Nizzo and Ragna were waiting there, and as the inner door closed,automatically opening the outer door, they pointed to the cablestretching away across forty yards of empty space to the side of the bigfreighter. Winford could make out faintly the form of Jarl, who wasclambering cautiously up the bulging side of the ship on hands andknees, seeking the emergency air-lock. Winford beckoned to the others tofollow, and leaped out into space along the cable.

  It was a terrifying experience, for no matter how often a man made sucha trip, there was always the primitive fear of falling into thosemillions upon millions of miles of space below where the stars gleamed,red, green, white and blue in the cold depths. Yet a man had no weight.He merely pulled himself along the cable, which kept him from gettinglost.

  He reached the bulging side of the hull and continued upward on handsand knees, now held to it by its own attraction for his body. The othersfollowed, and scattered out seeking the emergency entrance lock.

  * * * * *

  At the end of an hour they were in despair. There was no emergencyentrance lock! Winford bitterly resigned himself to their fate. This wasthe end of their daring attempt. He must go forward now to the controlroom windows and attract the attention of the navigating officer. Itmeant surrender and subsequent death in the teeth of the caged saurians,but if they remained much longer where they were they would freeze todeath anyway, for the batteries that warmed their suits were runningdown under the continued strain, and when they ceased to function, thedeadly cold of interstellar space would claim them. He managed to makeknown his intentions to the others and was starting forward when Fatetook a hand.

  The prison tender ship, which was still floating at the end of its cableat the side of the freighter, relinquished itself to the play of theforces that rule the measureless void and began to set up an orbit ofits own about the bigger ship. It came to the end of its tether andswung gently against the hull of the freighter, sending a violentvibration through it; then it rebounded and struck with another crashwhich was utterly soundless to the stranded men on the outside of thehull, who, nevertheless, felt the vibration plainly.

  Winford halted abruptly. The crew inside the ship would investigate.Fate was offering the desperate men on the outside another chance. Heturned and beckoned to the others and hurried aft toward the regularair-lock, which was operated only from inside the ship. Hastily heplaced the men about the outer door. Then they waited.

  Five minutes later it opened, and two men in space suits crawled out.Jarl captured the first man single-handed, and Nizzo and Ragna, withperfect teamwork, overpowered the second before he realized what wastaking place. Within a minute the men crowded into the air-lock, andshut the outer portal. Automatically, the inner door slid open.

  Winford stepped out into the passageway with his ray pistols, coveringthe half dozen members of the crew who gaped at the intruders inspeechless astonishment. One man recovered his wits and started to run.Winford's pistol stabbed a ray after him, and he collapsed. The othermembers of the crew silently raised their hands in surrender and wereherded into a nearby stateroom and locked in, including the two in spacesuits who had been captured on the hull outside.

  "Overpower and imprison the crew at once," Winford ordered, as heemerged from his space suit. "Jarl, you take charge, and work throughthe ship. Miss no one. Bind them, imprison them, if you can, and if youmust, use sterner measures. Remember you are now pirates, and if wedon't capture this ship, the ship will capture us. I'll go ahead aloneto the control room and introduce myself to the officers there. When youhave cleaned things up, join me."

  * * * * *

  Captain Robers was peering out through the window at the dark blob ofthe space tender near the rear of the big freighter when the door of thecontrol room opened softly and Winford slipped inside with leveled raypistols. The two navigation officers on duty gasped in astonishment.Captain Robers whirled around. His momentary amazement gave way towrath.

  "Who the devil are you, and what do you want?" he bellowed.

  Winford's eyes blazed coldly. The ray pistols in his hands twitchedmeaningly.

  "Civility first, Captain. Hands off those instruments, gentlemen. Standup. Face the windows. Thank you."

  With catlike quickness Winford leaped behind the chart table. A glanceshowed that the ship was holding to its course with unchecked speed.Only the meteor detector fluctuated from the presence of the littlespace ship outside. No worry there. Disintegrator rays would soondissolve it, and with it the last visible evidence of their presence onthe ship.

  "Now, Captain, you may turn about facing me. I want a littleinformation."

  "You'll sniff gas for this!" snarled the officer. "This is piracy pureand simple. Who are you, anyway?"

  Winford smiled ironically. Captain Robers' eyes widened suddenly and hepaled slightly, as he recognized the dirty white uniform.

  "The mines of Mercury!" he ejaculated. "We received a heliogram nottwenty-four hours ago warning us of your escape. You're Evan Winford ofEarth!"

  Winford bowed slightly.

  "At your service, Captain. My six companions are even now trussing upthe remainder of your crew down below. Don't choke, Captain. You are inno danger, unless you make it yourself. I desire a little informationabout the Universe. You see I have been out of touch for the last threeyears during my enforced sojourn on Mercury."

  Captain Robers glared at Winford.

  "Tell me, Captain, who are you, and what is this craft?"

  The officer thrust out his chin stubbornly, then glanced at the pistolcovering him and changed his mind.

  "Captain Robers. The freighter is the _Golden Fleece_."

  "Port?"

  "New York. I am homeward bound with a cargo from Ceres of theAsteroids."

  Winford's eyes gleamed momentarily.

  "Iridium, eh?"

  Captain Robers declined to answer. The valuable metal, which was foundmostly in abundance among the Asteroids and particularly on Ceres, hadproved the bait that lured pirates in flocks from all parts of theUniverse to prey on the freighters that carried it, usually under heavyguard. The _Golden Fleece_ had obviously been trying to slip throughunder the camouflage of an ordinary tramp freighter when Winford and hisfollowers boarded her. Robers saw no reason for trying to lie aboutCeres, since Winford would discover it later when he examined the log.Winford, however, did not press the question about the cargo.

  "Who is the owner, Captain?"

  "The Interstellar Transportation Company, New York, Silas Teutoberg,president."

  Winford leaped to his feet.

  "Repeat that name, Captain," he ordered harshly.

  "Silas Teutoberg," sullenly complied the officer. "But don't be soexcited. He has already resigned."

  "Why?"

  A crafty light appeared in the captain's eyes. He sensed a slightadvantage in retaining this knowledge himself.

  "I decline to answer," he stated.

  The lambent flames leaped ominously in Winford's eyes. He toyed with theray pistol expressively, then glanced up at a sudden interruption. Thecontrol room door had opened, admitting Jarl and Ragna.

  "The crew is all accounted for," announced Jarl. "We imprisoned ahundred men and have control."

  "Very good, Jarl," replied Winford calmly. "Ragna, take these twonavigating officers down and lock them up with the rest. Jarl, youremain here. I have a little task for you."

  "Awah," replied Jarl, using the Martian term for "very good, sir."

  "Captain Robers here is going to strip off his clothing and pass outthrough the air-lock into space." Winford spoke each word with coldprecision.

  The officer jerked up his head in sudden terror. He had once witnessedthe modern equivalent for the
ancient piratical sentence of walking theplank and the vivid memory rose before him. He saw again the nude mancowering inside the air-lock as the inner door shut, the wafting outinto interstellar space of his struggling body as the atmosphere insidethe lock rushed out of the outer opening door, and the fatal bloating ofthe body from the sudden pressure from within. The horror of it unlockedthe officer's tongue.

  "I'll answer, I'll answer!" he cried. "What do you want to know?"

  "Tell me why Silas Teutoberg is resigning as president of theInterstellar Transportation Company."

  In the momentary silence that followed, Jarl's eyes narrowed with suddenintensity. His interest escaped Winford, who was watching Robersclosely. The officer gulped with relief.

  "Teutoberg has been named governor of the new