Tom sighed, and waited. Jupiter Equilateral would have its prisoners, all right. He wished now that he had not discarded the stunner, but those extra pounds might have made the difference between life and death during the blast-off. He was not completely unarmed though. He still had Dad’s revolver at his side.
He smiled to himself. The pirates would” have their prisoners, indeed, but they would also have one factor to deal with that they had not counted on.
For Greg it was a bitter, lonely trip. Johnny was there, of course, and occasionally they exchanged a word or two, but the guards were always nearby, watching, listening. And after all, what was there to say?
They knew the ship was moving deeper into the belt. Six hours passed, eight, ten. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity in the control cabin. A sighting was recorded, the crew strapped down, and the braking jets were fired.
They saw the huge Jupiter Equilateral orbit ship loom up in the view screen like a minor planet. Skillfully, Doc maneuvered the ship into the launching rack. The guards unstrapped the prisoners and handed them pressure suits.
Moments later they were moving through the airlock into the main corridor of the big orbit ship. “Move along, now,” Doc was saying. “And no tricks. Be a pity to have to mark you up after all this trouble.”
In a section in the crew’s quarters they stripped off their suits. This orbit ship was much larger than Roger Hunter’s; the gravity was almost Mars-normal, and it was comforting just to stretch and relax cramped muscles.
As long as they didn’t think of what was ahead.
Finally Johnny grinned and slapped Greg’s shoulder. “Cheer up,” he said. “We’ll be honored guests for a while, you can bet on that.”
“For a while,” Greg repeated bitterly.
“Well, we may be able to stretch that while out a bit,” Johnny said. He looked to make sure the guard wasn’t listening. “We don’t know what they think we do, but they don’t know that. We may be able to string them along for a while. Meanwhile, we might just get a break.”
“Maybe,” Greg said. “I don’t know how, but maybe.”
They were just slipping out of their suits when the hatchway opened. “Well, whom do we have here?” a familiar voice said. “Returning a call, you might say. And maybe this time you’ll be ready for a bit of bargaining.”
They turned to see the heavy face and angry eyes of Merrill Tawney.
Chapter Eight
The Scavengers Of Space
The casual observer might have been fooled. Tawney’s guard was down only for an instant; then the expression of cold fury and determination dropped away as though the shutter of a camera had clicked, and he was all smiles and affability. They were honored guests here, one would have thought, and this pudgy agent of the Jupiter Equilateral combine was their genial host, anxious for their welfare, eager to do anything he could for their comfort.
But Greg had seen the mask dropped into place, and caught a momentary glimpse of the viciousness underneath. He had known people like this before, the ones who hid behind smiles, and he had always hated them. Now every instinct screamed at him to throw himself at the fat little company man, but he fought down the impulse, clenching his fists at his sides.
Tawney was talking as he led them out into the corridor. “The trip was comfortable, I hope? Of course, those scout ships are always cramped, but you’ll find things here much more commodious.” He stopped beside a small oval shuttle car that hung from a single track overhead. “You may be surprised at the size of this ship, it’s a fully equipped city in space, really. These cars save hours of transit time.”
He motioned them into the front seats, then climbed into the rear with the guard. The car started up, moving swiftly through a maze of corridors. They crossed from the outer level through several of the inner levels before the car slid to a halt, and Tawney ushered them through a hatchway.
In spite of himself, Greg’s mouth fell open in amazement He had never seen such luxury in a space ship; there was hardly an apartment in all of Sun Lake City that matched the richness of the room they were standing in. It was a beautiful lounge; thick carpeting “covered the metal deck plates. There were soft chairs, pleasant, concealed lighting, paintings on the walls. A table was set at one side, and a white-coated steward hovered near by. Real Earth-side beefsteaks were sizzling on the grill. Greg suddenly remembered that they hadn’t eaten in over twelve hours and found the aroma of food tantalizing.
Tawney smiled, nibbing his hands together. “I suppose you’ve been thinking that you’d be kept in a cell, and starved and tortured, and things like that, eh? But we don’t believe in doing things that way. Let’s just say you’re my guests. Some food now, and then we can talk.”
He left them, and the guard retired to the far end of the lounge. Johnny looked at the steaks and shrugged. “We might as well eat,” he said. “No sense in starvin’ ourselves. We’re likely to be here for a long time, and if we get a chance to make a break, well need our strength.”
They dug in. The steaks were perfect, the first real steaks that Greg had ever eaten. “What do you think Tawney has in mind?” he asked between bites. “Why all the red carpet treatment?”
“Just enjoy it while it lasts,” Johnny advised, “but don’t get carried away. Tawney is Tawney, red carpet or no red carpet. Tawney wants somethin’ and he wants it bad. Once he gets it—” Johnny drew his finger across his throat, and took another bite of steak.
They were finishing their second cup of coffee when Tawney returned. “Feeling better, gentlemen?”
“You do things in a big way,” .Johnny said. “This is real coffee, made from coffee beans. Must have cost a fortune to ship it out here.”
Tawney spread his hands. “We keep it for special occasions. Like when we have special visitors.”
“Even when the visits aren’t voluntary,” Greg added sourly.
“We have to be realistic,” Tawney said. “Would you have come if we invited you? Of course not. You gentlemen chose to come out to the belt in spite of my warnings. You thus made things very awkward for us, upset certain of our plans.” He looked at Greg. “We don’t ordinarily allow people to upset our plans, but now we find that we’re forced to include you in our plans, whether you happen to like the idea or not.”
“You’re doing a lot of talking,” Greg said. “Why don’t you come to the point?”
“I think you know the point,” Tawney said.
“I’m pretty stupid,” Greg said. “I like to have things spelled out.”
“Then I’ll spell it out for you.” Tawney was no longer smiling. “We happen to know that your father struck a rich lode on one of his claims.”
“That’s interesting,” Greg said. “Did Dad tell you that?”
“He didn’t have to. A man can’t keep a secret like that, not for very long. Ask your friend here, if you don’t believe me. And we make it our business to know what’s going on out here. We have to, in order to survive.”
“Well, suppose you heard right. The law says that what a man finds on his own claim is his.”
“Certainly,” Tawney said. “Nobody would think of claim jumping, these days. But when a man happens to die before he can bring in his bonanza, then it’s a question of who gets there first, wouldn’t you think?”
“Not when the man is murdered,” Greg said hotly, “not by a long shot.”
“But you can’t prove that your father was murdered.”
“If I could, I wouldn’t be here.”