Vernon grinned. The course suggested by his brother struck a chord of grim humour in him.
Vince seated himself on the bed and threw an arm over Vernon’s shoulder. “It’s a tough break, kid,” he said. “We are in the hands of the system’s worst outlaw. We…..”
He stopped, groping for words.
“Yes, I know,” said Vernon and the two of them sat, staring straight at the grey wall in front of them. Vince broke the silence. “No use kidding ourselves,” he said.
“None at all,” agreed Vernon and his voice matched his brother’s in tenseness.
“But we must always remember, kid,” went on Vince, “that this isn’t the first time a Drake has been in a tight spot. Some of them have gotten out of it and some of them haven’t. But they always were Drakes. Not a sniveling coward among them. Not a single whimper for mercy. They’ve never forgotten their savoir faire. We’ve got something that Robinson never had and never can have and maybe we can beat him yet. He’ll get small satisfaction out of this deal, no matter what happens.”
They sat in silence again.
“Let’s get some sleep,” suggested Vernon, and Vince nodded.
“Good idea,” he said and almost crunched the bones in his brother’s shoulder with the grip of an understanding hand.
Dog-tired after hours in space suits, with the labor of wresting the golden fortune from the isolated little asteroid, they slept long and when they awoke a table bearing food stood in the room.
Vernon went to the single port-hole opening out of the prison room. Staring through it he could see feverish activity outside. Several cranes had been rigged up on the surface of the little world and the entire crew of the Star Wanderer seemed to be engaged in looting the planetoid of its golden hoard. It was a weird picture. Huge floodlights hastily erected lit up the surface and made the place a plain of light and shadow. Space armor glistened and shone and sudden flashes spurted against the utter blackness of space as charges of explosives were fired. As each charge exploded the Star Wanderer vibrated from end to end. Men with heavy loads of ore toiled up the gangplank and into the airlock.
“What are they doing?” asked Vince sleepily from his bed.
“Come and see,” invited Vernon.
Together the two brothers gazed out upon the scene.
“Our mine,” said Vernon. Vince nodded bitterly.
The two turned from the window and gave their attention to the food on the table.
“Poison,” suggested Vernon, but Vince shook his head.
“Not Robinson’s way of doing things,” he declared. “Not bloody enough. No entertainment just sending two poor souls into eternity with a dose of strychnine. Robinson demands dramatics.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Vernon.
“What does it matter if I am or not?” demanded Vince. “We have to eat, don’t we? I’d rather eat poison every time in preference to starvation.”
The food was good and the brothers, not having eaten for twenty-four hours, did justice to it.
An hour later the same man who had conducted them to their cell appeared and took away the food.
“The captain says to tell you that he’s found gold,” he stated.
“Tell the captain that he’s found lead,” corrected Vince.
Hours passed. Ten times the Twin circled its mate in space. Still the work of mining the gold went on without a stop. Apparently Robinson had divided his crew into shifts and was working every minute. Greats pits were being gouged in the surface of the planetoid. It was plain that the pirate would not halt mining operations until either the ore pinched out or until his ship was loaded to capacity.
Food was served the prisoners at regular intervals and they slept when they felt sleepy. Part of the time they spent at the port watching the activity outside. They requested a deck of cards from their keeper and whiled away hours playing for immense imaginary stakes. Neither of them mentioned what lay in store for them. Neither was there talk of escape. They knew there was no escape.
Escape from the ship without space suits meant death of the most horrible kind on the airless surface of the asteroid. Escape even with space suits would have to be made in the face of the pirates swarming outside. Even if they were able to safely reach the Space Pup, they knew that the Star Wanderer carried weapons which could blast the little ship out of existence.
The Twin had circled its companion eighteen times when they were summoned out of their prison to face Robinson again. As they walked up the corridor with their keeper stalking in their wake, Vernon’s hand reached out and grasped his brother’s for just an instant in a bonecrushing clasp. They were walking the road to death. Not for a moment was there a doubt in their mind of that. It was not after the manner of Max Robinson to allow men he had plundered to live. It was not well for him to have too many men in the system hating him with that fierce hate which can only come through personal injury.
But they walked with their shoulders square, with their chins up and in their swinging stride there was no hint of condemned men on their way to the scaffold.
Reaching the door of Robinson’s office they did not wait for the guard to announce them. Vince beat a tattoo upon the metal.
“Come in, “ said the pirate, and once more they stood before the beautifully carved desk behind which sat the most feared, most hated man of the solar system.
Robinson regarded them with narrowed eyes, but his throat gurgled with cruel laughter.
“This asteroid of yours,” he said, “is very precious. It is rich beyond dreams. It is full of gold.”
“It is full of lead and, at present, cluttered up with damned robbers,” said Vince softly.
Robinson seemed not to hear him, but Vernon, watching closely, knew that his brother’s words had flicked him on the raw.
“It is regrettable,” purred the pirate, “that having discovered such a vast deposit of gold, it should be lost to you. Under the circumstances your fortitude has been truly amazing. You have earned something better than the fate which I generally mete out to my…. my…..”
“Victims,” suggested Vernon.
“That’s it,” beamed Robinson. “How did you think of the word?”
“I am way ahead of you all of the time,” Vernon told him.
Robinson, however, was determined not to lose face by losing his temper. He had deliberately set out to taunt these men in an attempt to break them. He forced himself to maintain his light tone.
He wagged his head.
“I have taken all I want,” he said. “More, perhaps, than I was rightly entitled to, after all it was your mine. You discovered it. Still there is plenty more. I don’t plan on returning, for there are many other such treasures in the system and the treasure itself means nothing to Max Robinson, rather the satisfaction of acquiring it.”
“I hope,” said Vince, “that you have derived considerable satisfaction from our explorations.”
Robinson bowed, mocking them.
“Exactly,” he said, “So I have decided not to kill you. I will leave you here with your mine. I have done enough wrong in my life. I am sorely in need of a few acts of mercy to counterbalance my sins.”
Vernon stirred at Vince’s side, but his brother reached out with a hand and gripped him. He steadied…. waiting for the joker in Robinson’s proposal.
“It is regrettable, however,” stated the pirate, “that I am short on oxygen tanks. All I shall be able to give you will be three tanks. One for each of you and one to be divided between you as you see fit.”