CHAPTER XVI
_In the Blue-lit Corridor_
She came. I suppose it was no more than an hour: it seemed an eternityof apprehension. There was the slight hissing of the seal of my door.The panel slid. I had leaped from my bunk where in the darkness I waslying tense.
"Prince?" I did not dare say, "Anita."
"Gregg."
Her voice. My gaze swept the deck as the panel opened. Neither Conistonnor anyone else was in sight, save Anita's dark-robed figure which cameinto my room.
"You got it?" I asked her in a low whisper.
I held her for an instant, kissed her. But she pushed me away with quickhands.
"Gregg, dear--"
She was breathless. My kisses, and the tenseness of what lay before uswere to blame.
"Gregg, see, I have it. Give us a little light--we must hurry!"
In the blue dimness I saw that she was holding one of the Martiancylinders. The smallest size; it would paralyze, but not kill.
"Only one, Anita?"
"Yes. I had it before, but Miko took it from me. It was in his room. Andthis--"
The invisible cloak. We laid it on my grid, and I adjusted itsmechanism. A cloak of the reflecting-absorbing variety.[A]
[A] The principle of this invisible cloak involves the use of an electronized fabric. All color is absorbed. The light rays reflected to the eye of the observer thus show an image of empty blackness. There is also created about the cloak a magnetic field which by natural laws bends the rays of light from objects behind it. This principle of the natural bending of light when passing through a magnetic field was first recognized by Albert Einstein, a scientist of the Twentieth century. In the case of this invisible cloak, the bending light rays, by making visible what was behind the cloak's blackness, thus destroyed its solid black outline and gave a pseudo-invisibility which was fairly effective under favorable conditions.
* * * * *
I donned it, and drew its hood, and threw on its current.
"All right, Anita?"
"Yes."
"Can you see me?"
"No." She stepped back a foot or two further. "Not from here. But youmust let no one approach too close."
Then she came forward, put out her hand, fumbled until she found me.
It was our plan to have me follow her out. Anyone observing us would seeonly the robed figure of the supposed George Prince, and I would escapenotice.
The situation about the ship was almost unchanged. Anita had secured theweapon and the cloak and slipped away to my cubby without beingobserved.
"You're sure of that?"
"I think so, Gregg. I was careful."
Moa was now in the lounge, guarding the passengers. Hahn was asleep inthe chart-room; Coniston was in the turret. Coniston would be off dutypresently, Anita said, with Hahn taking his place. There were look-outsin the forward and stern watch-towers, and a guard upon Snap in thehelio-room.
"Is he inside the room, Anita?"
"Snap? Yes."
"No--the guard."
"No. He was sitting upon the spider bridge at the door."
* * * * *
This was unfortunate. That guard could see all the deck clearly. Hemight be suspicious of George Prince wandering around; it would bedifficult to get near enough to assail him. This cylinder, I knew, hadan effective range of only some twenty feet.
Anita and I were swiftly whispering. It was necessary now to decideexactly what we were to do; once under observation outside, there mustbe no hesitation, no fumbling.
"Coniston is sharpest, Gregg. He will be the hardest to get near."
The languid-spoken Englishman was the one Anita most feared. His alerteyes seemed to miss nothing. Perhaps he was suspicious of this GeorgePrince--Anita thought so.
"But where is Miko?" I whispered.
The brigand leader had gone below a few moments ago, down into thehull-corridor. Anita had seized the opportunity to come to me.
"We can attack Hahn in the chart-room first," I suggested. "And get theother weapons. Are they still there?"
"Yes. But Gregg, the forward deck is very bright."
We were approaching the asteroid. Already its light like a brilliantmoon was brightening the forward deck-space. It made me realize how muchhaste was necessary.
We decided to go down into the hull-corridors. Locate Miko. Fell him,and hide him. His non-appearance back on deck would very soon throw theothers into confusion, especially now with our impending landing uponthe asteroid. And under cover of this confusion we would try and releaseSnap.
We had been arguing no more than a minute or two. We were ready. Anitaslid my door wide. She stepped through, with me soundlessly scurryingafter her. The empty, silent deck was alternately dark withshadow-patches and bright with blobs of starlight. A sheen of the Sun'scorona was mingled with it; and from forward came the radiance of theasteroid's mellow silver glow.
* * * * *
Anita turned to seal my door; within my faintly humming cloak I stoodbeside her. Was I invisible in this light? Almost directly over us,close under the dome, the look-out sat in his little tower. He gazeddown at Anita.
Amidships, high over the cabin superstructure, the helio-room hung darkand silent. The guard on its bridge was visible. He, too, looked down.
A tense instant. Then I breathed again. There was no alarm. The twoguards answered Anita's gesture.
Anita said aloud into my empty cubby: "Miko will come for you presently,Haljan. He told me to tell you that he wants you at the turret controlsto land us on the asteroid."
She finished sealing my door and turned away; started forward along thedeck. I followed. My steps were soundless in my elastic-bottomed shoes.Anita swaggered with a noisy tread. Near the door of the smoking room asmall incline passage led downward. We went into it.
The passage was dimly blue-lit. We descended its length, came to themain corridor, which ran the length of the hull. A vaulted metalpassage, with doors to the control rooms opening from it. Dim lightsshowed at intervals.
* * * * *
The humming of the ship was more apparent here. It drowned the slighthumming of my cloak. I crept after Anita; my hand under the cloakclutched the ray weapon.
A steward passed us. I shrank aside to avoid him.
Anita spoke to him. "Where is Miko, Ellis?"
"In the ventilator-room, Mr. Prince. There was difficulty with the airrenewal."
Anita nodded, and moved on. I could have felled that steward as hepassed me. Oh, if I only had, how different things might have been!
But it seemed needless. I let him go, and he turned into a nearby doorwhich led to the galley.
Anita moved forward. If we could come upon Miko alone. Abruptly sheturned, and whispered, "Gregg, if other men are with him, I'll draw himaway. You watch your chance."
What little things may overthrow one's careful plans! Anita had notrealized how close to her I was following. And her turning sounexpectedly caused me to collide with her sharply.
"Oh!" She exclaimed it involuntarily. Her outflung hand had unwittinglygripped my wrist, caught the electrode there. The touch burned her, andclose-circuited my robe. There was a hiss. My current burned out thetiny fuses.
My invisibility was gone! I stood, a tall black-hooded figure, revealedto the gaze of anyone who might be near!
The futile plans of humans! We had planned so carefully! Ourcalculations, our hopes of what we could do, came clattering now in asudden wreckage around us.
"Anita, run!"
If I were seen with her, then her own disguise would probably bediscovered. That above everything would be disaster!
"Anita, get away from me! I must try it alone!"
* * * * *
I could hide somewhere, repair the cloak perhaps. Or, since now I wasarmed, why could I not boldly start an assault?
"Gregg, we must get you back to your cubby!" She was clinging to me in apanic.
"No! You run! Get away from me! Don't you understand? George Prince hasno business here with me! They'd kill you!"
Or worse--- Miko would discover it was Anita, not George Prince.
"Gregg, let's get back to the deck."
I pushed at her. Both of us in sudden confusion.
From behind me there came a shout. That accursed steward! He hadreturned, to investigate perhaps what George Prince was doing in thiscorridor. He heard our voices; his shout in the silence of the shipsounded horribly loud. The white-clothed shape of him was in the nearbydoorway. He stood stricken in surprise at seeing me. And then turned torun.
I fired my paralyzing cylinder through my cloak. Got him! He fell. Ishoved Anita violently.
"Run! Tell Miko to come--tell him you heard a shout! He won't suspectyou!"
"But Gregg--"
"You mustn't be found out! You're our only hope, Anita! I'll hide, fixthe cloak, or get back to my cubby. We'll try it again."
It decided her. She scurried down the corridor. I whirled the other way.The steward's shout might not have been heard.
Then realization flashed to me. That steward would be revived. He wasone of Miko's men: for two voyages he had been a spy upon the_Planetara_. He would be revived and tell what he had seen and heard.Anita's disguise would be revealed.
A cold-blooded killing I do protest went against me. But it wasnecessary. I flung myself upon him. I beat his skull with the metal ofmy cylinder.
I stood up. My hood had fallen back from my head. I wiped my bloodyhands on my useless cloak. I had smashed the cylinder.
"Haljan!"
* * * * *
Anita's voice! A sharp note of horror and warning. I became aware thatin the corridor, forty feet down its dim length, Miko had appeared, withAnita behind him. His rifle-bullet-projector was leveled. It spat at me.But Anita had pulled at his arm.
The explosive report was sharply deafening in the confined space of thecorridor. With a spurt of flame the leaden pellet struck over my headagainst the vaulted ceiling.
Miko was struggling with Anita. "Prince, you idiot!"
"Miko, don't! It's Haljan! Don't kill him--"
The turmoil brought members of the crew. From the shadowed oval near methey came running. I flung the useless cylinder at them. But I wastrapped in the narrow passage.
I might have fought my way out. Or Miko might have shot me. But therewas the danger that, in her horror, Anita would betray herself.
I backed against the wall. "Don't kill me! See, I will not fight!"
I flung up my arms. And the crew, emboldened, and courageous underMiko's gaze, leaped on me and bore me down.
The futile plans of humans! Anita and I had planned so carefully, and ina few brief minutes of action it had come only to this!