Loot of the Void Page 4

power over thesemonsters. Hurry into those clothes! Do you want to be bitten in thesmall of the back and lie paralyzed for years in a hammock like theseother unfortunates, then suffer untold agony for months while spiders'larvae eat out your vitals? Hurry, I say! We must get out of here atonce!"

  He turned away. He wanted to see that old Englishman who said he hadknown Shakespeare. His wish was in vain. The old man's sightless eyesstared up at the silken roof. The long, heavy beard that lay acrossthe breast stirred. The beady, glittering eyes of an infant spiderpeeped out. Penrun uttered a curse of loathing. His pistol stabbeddeath into the foul insect.

  He felt a touch on his arm. The girl was waiting.

  "I am ready," she said quietly. "Oh, let us hurry!"

  Dawn was lighting the world outside, and the driving blizzard wasalready changing to rain. Penrun seized the girl's hand and ran madlyup the mountainside toward the peak. The spiders usually did notventure out in the rain, but in the face of danger from the ship theywould be abroad as early as possible this morning.

  Penrun suddenly spurted madly. Half a dozen gigantic spiders weremoving cautiously along the lower edge of the city, their bodieslooming up grotesquely in the misty rain. The girl stumbled, struckher head against a boulder, and lay still. Penrun caught her up in hisarms and sprinted madly up the steep slope.

  * * * * *

  A rock loosened by his flying feet rattled and pounded down thehillside. Instantly the monsters whirled round, sighted him andstarted in pursuit. With a mighty leap he cleared a ten-foot ledge,carrying his unconscious burden, and plunged into the sheltering mistof the clouds. Up, up! Thank God for the weak gravity!

  A swishing rattle of claws on rock shot by them in the fog, turned andswept back. Penrun sprang straight upward, rising nearly a dozen feetin the air as the monsters streaked past underneath.

  Only a little farther! Savagely he forced his failing strength tocarry them up the slope. The air was chilling fast and the mistthinning. He broke into clear air as the fog behind them filled withthe rattle of racing claws on the barren granite and the grating roarof the baffled monsters, seeking frantically for their intendedvictims.

  He staggered on another hundred yards before he collapsed with lungslaboring desperately in the rarefied air.

  Below them a bristly monster charged out of the fog, sighted themlying up among the rocks, and leaped after them. Penrun jerked up apistol with trembling fingers and loosed its deadly ray. The hugespider stumbled and ploughed head-on among the rocks with a flurry oflegs. It rose loggily, for its fierce energy was dwindling rapidly inthe biting cold. Again the pistol crackled. The gigantic insecttoppled over and rolled down the mountainside into the fog andvanished.

  "Are we safe now?"

  Penrun turned. The girl was now sitting up somewhat unsteadily, withan ugly bruise on her forehead.

  "I think so," he replied. "Up there in my space-sphere we shall bequite safe."

  * * * * *

  Together they plodded silently up the sharp incline of the peak, herhand in his. And as they went he marveled that her eyes could be sobeautiful now that the fear and horror had vanished from theirdepths.

  The storm clouds below had broken up and dissolved under theincreasing heat, revealing the Trap-Door City, seemingly deserted, andthe motionless black ship still resting on the plateau. Penrun turnedto the girl beside him in the control nest of the space-sphere.

  "What are your friends waiting for all this time?" he asked abruptly.

  "They're not my friends," she retorted. "And you might have guessedthat they are waiting for you to arrive with the other third of themap. They are planning to surprise you and rob you of it. The entranceto the Caves is under the edge of the Cataract over there, and bywaiting here they are sure to be on hand when you arrive. Only"--herbrows puckered in a little frown--"I don't understand why they remainout there on the open rock after Helgers has picked a hiding-place forthe ship."

  "Helgers?"

  "He is the leader of the gang, and he is the man who killed that poorold Martian aboard the _Western Star_ for the map. Helgers learnedabout the treasure and the existence of the map through a convict whowas with Lozzo in the prison. Helgers pretends to be an importer inChicago--he actually owns a nice little business there--but in realityhe is one of the biggest smugglers in the Universe."

  "How do you come to be with him?"

  "I was coming to that," she replied. "My parents live on Ganymede."

  Penrun nodded. He was familiar with the fourth satellite of Jupiterand its fertile provinces.

  "My father is an American, but my grandfather on my mother's side wasa Medan nobleman. He was ruined by that notorious pirate, CaptainHalkon, who descended with his ships on our city and carried offeverything of value, including the vast amount of scrip credits ownedby the state which were entrusted to my grandfather. You know theGanymedan debtor's law?"

  He did indeed! It was one of the most infamous laws of the Universe:ruling that the debts of the father descended to the children andtheir children's children until paid.

  * * * * *

  "My family is now poor," she went on. "For a century or more we havestriven to pay off the debt caused by the loss of those state funds.That's the way matters stood when I received a letter from my brotherTom in Chicago, who was employed in the office of Helgers' legitimateimporting business, little aware of the smuggling. Tom had somehow gotwind of the near discovery of Halkon's treasure, and I saw a chance toget a part of it by joining Helgers' party. He might not want us, buthe would be practically forced to take us to keep our mouths shut. Ifelt that we were honestly entitled to a part of that treasure whichhad been stolen from our family, and with it we could pay off that olddebt that had ridden our family like an Old Man of the Sea for morethan a century.

  "Getting into the expedition proved much simpler than I had expected.When Tom told Helgers about me he was very eager to help us--he is oneof those men who is always anxious to help a girl if he thinks she isgood-looking enough. So you see when I held you up in your stateroom Iwas merely performing my part of the scheme, although I didn't knowthen that Helgers had already slain the old Martian and leaped outinto space.

  "After that the _Osprey_--the ship down there on theplateau--overhauled the _Western Star_ and took us off, and shortlyafterward I learned most unpleasantly that Helgers had no intention ofgiving Tom and me our share unless I gave myself to him in exchange. Itold Tom, and trouble started. It came to a head yesterday and therewas a fight and--and Helgers killed Tom."

  She began to weep quietly. Penrun stared grimly down at the black,motionless ship. Presently the girl resumed her story.

  "I managed to get the air-lock open and escaped from the ship. Thenthat horrid spider caught me. You know the rest."

  Her voice trailed off. Penrun remained silent for a while.

  "You haven't even told me your name," he reminded her gently.

  "Irma Boardle," she replied with a wan smile.

  "I am Dick Penrun, in case you don't already know me. Captain Halkonwas my grandfather. We always tried to keep the knowledge of it afamily secret, since we were ashamed of it. If I--we get our hands onthat treasure, I can promise you that the debt hanging over yourfamily shall be paid first, Miss Boardle."

  "Not Miss Boardle. Call me Irma," she said, the wan smile growingsuddenly warm.

  Penrun looked at her thoughtfully.

  "But we aren't near the treasure yet," he said. "Between the spidermonsters and the human monsters in the ship, our chances are ratherslim. We'll just have to wait until we get a break."

  * * * * *

  As the day wore on there was a note of menace in the silence that hungover the Trap-Door City. It was nothing tangible, unless it was theappearance of two long silvery rods mounted on the top of the hugecocoon-palace of the Queen aiming down at Helgers' ship. Penrun couldhave sworn they were not there yeste
rday. The sight of them made himuneasy.

  Helgers must have interpreted the silence differently, for presently aman emerged from the ship, protected against the heat by a clumsyspace-suit. He hesitated, then walked slowly away from the ship, andpaused again, waiting for the spiders to attack. Not a movement wasmade in the city. Presently he moved on again toward the cataractwhich had dwindled in the heat of the day to a mere trickle of hotwater down to the pool in the gorge more than half a mile below.

  After a time the man reached the cataract. He descended the short paththat led down under the lip of rock to another ledge a few feet belowit. The entrance to the Caves opened out onto this lower ledge. Littlewonder, thought Penrun, that no one knew where the Caves were.

  Some time later two other men from the ship followed him.

  "Fools!" muttered Penrun, following them through his glasses. "Theythink the spiders are afraid of their ray artillery. I'll bet themonsters are either waiting until all the men wander out of the ship,or else they're getting ready to spring some hellish surprise."

  Other men came out of the ship, carrying rock drills, a roll of cableand a powerful little windlass. Instead of going to the Caves, theywent round the ship to the other side under the doubtful protection ofthe ray-guns, and sank two shafts into the granite. Into these theydrove steel posts and anchored the windlass. One end of the cable wasattached to the windlass and the other to the nose of the ship. Thenthey slowly dragged the big craft across the plateau on rollers fromthe ship's store room.

  * * * * *

  "That's strange!" exclaimed Penrun. "The ship can't rise! I wonderwhat's wrong, and why they are pulling it away from instead of towardthe Caves."

  "I don't know what's the matter with the ship, but I believe I knowwhy they are moving it," volunteered Irma. "They're taking it to thathiding-place I told you Helgers picked out--there behind that upthrustof rock. You see, they think you know where the Caves are because youhave explored Titan, and they think you will come directly here, sothey want the ship hidden to make sure you land."

  Half a hundred men in their space-suits toiled like ants about the bigcylindrical craft until they at last jockeyed it into position behindthe natural screen of rock. Even before it was in place other men wereswarming over the ship with paint machines, coloring it a granitegray. When they had finished the ship was nearly invisible from thesky.

  Penrun paid little attention to their preparations. His attention wascentered on those two shining rods atop the Queen's silken palace.They now aimed at the ship in its new position. A strange idea flashedthrough his mind. Those rods had in some mysterious way put theelevating machinery of the _Osprey_ out of commission!

  Suppose the spiders turned them next on his own space-sphere up hereon the peak? The thought sent a shudder through him. Visions of thefinal flight across the nightmarish, distorted granite, the runningdown and capture of himself and Irma, the paralyzing bite of themonsters in the cavern of the Living Dead flashed across his mind.Cold sweat stood out on his forehead. Instinctively his hand leaped tothe propulsion control and hovered there.

  * * * * *

  Yet why hadn't the spiders attacked the ship, now that they had ithelpless? It was not their usual tactics to give their victims achance to free themselves. Why, why? There could be only one answer.They were waiting for something! Penrun's eyes glinted suddenly.

  "Irma," he said rapidly, "we are in serious danger. The spiders haveobviously put the elevating machinery of the _Osprey_ out ofcommission. Helgers and his men are doomed to the Living Death assurely as though they were already lying in the silken hammocks. Ifthe monsters choose, they could do the same thing to our sphere anddoom us to the same fate. I believe they are waiting for something.While they wait we have a chance to get the treasure and escape. Shallwe risk it, or shall we go while we know we are safe?"

  She looked up at him evenly.

  "If you think we have a fair chance to get the treasure and escape, Isay let's risk it," she said firmly.

  "Good!" he exclaimed. "Here we go!"

  The little sphere slipped out of its cleft in the peak and droppedswiftly into the valley on the side opposite the Trap-Door City andits mysterious menace. Day was swiftly dying, and the lower passes ofthe mountains were already hazy with rapidly forming storm-clouds.

  "Look!" cried Irma excitedly. "What are those things?"

  Far in the distance a long line of wavering red lights snaked swiftlythrough the dusky valley toward them. Penrun picked up his binoculars.

  "Spiders," he announced. "Scores of them. Each is carrying a sort ofred torch. I have a feeling that those are what the monsters of theTrap-Door City have been waiting for."

  He urged the sphere to swifter flight along the range. Miles from theCaves, he swept up over the peaks, and dropped down on the lowlandsside. Dusk was deepening rapidly as he raced back toward the WhiteRiver cataract under the pall of the gathering storm.

  * * * * *

  Among the boulders on the rough mountainside near the mouth of theCaves he eased the craft down to a gentle landing.

  "Wait here," he told Irma. "I'll investigate and see if it is safe toenter the Caves."

  They had seen the three men return to the ship, but others might havegone to the Caves after that. Penrun made his way down the slope tothe lip of the cataract and the yawning blackness of the abysmal gorgebelow it.

  Overhead the storm was gathering swiftly, and the saffron light of thedying day illuminated the plateau eerily. Half a mile away theTrap-Door City shimmered fantastically in the uncertain light. Penrunrepressed a shudder. The Devil's own playground! Thank God, he andIrma would be out of it soon!

  He crept down the narrow path that led under the ledge of thetrickling cataract. Outside, a bolt of lightning stabbed down from thedarkened heavens. Its lurid flash revealed the huge figure of a man,pistol in hand, beside the entrance to the Caves.

  Too late to retreat now, even had he wished to. Penrun's weaponflashed first. A scream of pain and fury answered the flash, and theman's pistol clattered down on the rock. The next instant Penrun washelpless in the clutch of a mighty pair of arms that tried to squeezethe life out of him.

  "Burn, me, will ye, ye dirty scum!" roared the giant of a mantightening his grip. "I'll break your damned back for ye and heave yeinto the gorge!"

  Penrun writhed frenziedly, trying to twist his pistol around againsthis enemy's back, while they struggled desperately about the ledgeabove the dizzy blackness of the gorge. But the pistol struck the wallbeside the entrance and fell under their trampling feet.

  Penrun was gasping in agony at the intolerable pain in his spine.Darting points of light danced before his eyes. Then from the openingin the rock showed a beam of white light and a man slowly emerged fromthe Caves. The grip on Penrun relaxed slightly as the man came towardthe two combatants. Penrun could distinguish him closely now. A heavy,pasty face with liquid black eyes and a crown of thinning hair.Helgers! He was staggering and grunting under the weight of a heavymetal box.

  * * * * *

  "What's the matter, Borgain?" he asked.

  "Got this bird, Penrun, we been waitin' for!"

  "We don't need him, now that we already have the treasure. Still, it'sa good thing we found him. Just as well to have no tales circulatingabout the Universe about our find. Toss him into the gorge, and godown and watch the other three chests until I get--"

  "Dick, Dick!" Irma's excited voice floated down from up among theboulders. "The spiders with those red cylinder torches have arrived!They are attacking the _Osprey_!"

  Helgers jerked up his head.

  "Why, if it isn't the little spitfire!" he exclaimed in pleasedastonishment. "I thought the damned spiders had eaten her long beforethis. Rather changes things, Borgain. I'll just go on up and let mylittle playmate know I am here. Toss our friend over the edge there,and bring up another treasure chest."
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  "What was that she was sayin' about the spiders attackin' the_Osprey_?" Borgain's voice was anxious.

  "Oh, that's nothing the boys can't handle," said Helgers confidently."In case they don't, we'll have to feel sorry for them and take ourfriend's sphere. Only have to split the treasure two ways, in thatcase," he added, moving up the slope.

  Borgain's answer was a grunt of surprise, for his captive had squirmedsuddenly out of his clutch. The big man plunged forward recklesslywith arms outstretched in the groping darkness. Penrun, desperatelyremembering the sickening drop at their feet to the pool threethousand feet below, backed against the rock.

  A flash of lightning. Borgain's ape-like arms were nearing him. Penrunlashed out at the darkened features. His knuckles bit deep into theflesh. He slipped aside as Borgain, mouthing fearful curses, rammedinto the rock wall and rebounded.

  * * * * *

  Again the fumbling search. Another lightning flash. Penrun struck withfrenzied desperation. Borgain took the blow behind the ear andstaggered. He whirled, wild with fury, and charged vainly along thenarrow ledge.

  "I'll get ye this time, damn your dirty carcass--ugh!"

  Guided by the sound of his voice, Penrun struck with all his strength.Borgain's nose flattened under the blow. He whirled half around.

  "I'll kill ye! I'll kill--help, help--a-ah!"

  Lost in the blackness he had plunged over the lip of the rock,thinking he was charging Penrun. Down