to step up that pile."
Maher rushed off, and Ann came in. "What's up?" she asked.
"Cruiser after us," said Gene, his face grim. "Looks like we won't getto Chicago unless MacNamara has something up that old sleeve of his."
Ann went white, and together they waited for the old Engineer.
When he came in, Gene gestured to the telescope. "Take a look."
MacNamara squinted through the eyepiece with his double popeyes. "Don'tsee a thing," he grumbled.
"Well, it's a Company Cruiser, gunned to the limit. She's going to benear enough to shoot us down in about three hours."
"Three hours, you say?" MacNamara scratched his head. "How near we toEarth?"
"Half a million miles."
"You could make it in the lifeboat."
Gene snorted. "That Cruiser'd shoot down the lifeboat as easy as it willthe ship--a lot easier."
"If they can catch you," said MacNamara. "Some of us must die, that therest may live."
"Don't start that again, Mac," said Maher impatiently. "What we want toknow is whether you can soup up that pile so we can beat that Cruiserdown to Earth?"
"Not a thing I can do," said the Chief Engineer. "We've only one set oftubes. Full power would shoot us all over the sky. But I _can_ dosomething as good."
"What?"
The old Engineer considered them through his double eyes. "The rest ofyou'll take the lifeboat and make for Earth. I'll remain here on theship and shield your flight. I'm sure I can hide the little boat forawhile, and then, even with one jet, I think I can delay the cruiseruntil you get away. Someone's got to make a sacrifice. I'm old, and Ididn't want any of this to begin with."
Maher gasped. "Mac, you old fool. D'ya mind if I apologize for what Ijust said? But you're right, that's a possible answer. Only I'll be theone to stay."
"Do you know how to adjust the pile and the jets to make a weapon out ofthem?" asked MacNamara.
"No ..." began Maher.
MacNamara grinned, "Nor am I going to tell you! So, you see, you can'tbe the one to stay."
Maher gripped the old man's hand and pumped it. "You win," he said. "Youold ... crackpot!" There was real affection in his voice.
"Then be off with you," said the Chief Engineer. "You've not a minute tolose. Every man jack of you into the boat, including the Captain and theMates. I'll not have _my_ ship cluttered up with extra hands that mightcramp my style...." And turning, the old man made his way back to thepile room, mumbling to himself.
Eyes wet, Gene gave the orders to abandon ship, and within thirtyminutes every living soul was aboard the lifeboat.
MacNamara had finished his work with the pile and was back in thecontrol room, waiting for the lifeboat to cast off. As it did so, hewaved, then turned to the controls.
As the lifeboat darted away on its chemical jet engines, they could seethe old man maneuvering the big ship so as to keep it ever between themand the Cruiser. An hour later when they were within a hundred thousandmiles of Earth, MacNamara sent up a flare denoting surrender.
Tensely they watched the distant speck of light that was the ship withMacNamara on it. Then, around its side came the Company Cruiser,steering in toward it to make the capture. It was scarcely a thousandmiles from the disabled ship. Gradually it drew closer, then edged in.Now it was only a few miles away, and at this distance, both specksseemed to merge.
"They got him!" Maher said.
"Yah!" Schwenky boomed, disappointment in his voice. "Me, I should havebeen the one to stay. I would slap them."
Suddenly, out in space, a bright flower grew. A flower of incandescentlight that blossomed with terrifying rapidity, until it seemed to engulfall space in the area of the two ships. The familiar sphere ofbrilliance that marked an exploding atom bomb hung there in the heavensan instant, then it was gone. In its place was only a vast cloud ofsmoke, the dust and scattered atoms that were all that remained of twogigantic space ships.
"He detonated the pile!" said Gene, "He turned himself into an atombomb!"
"Yah!" said Schwenky, his voice strangely muted. "Yah!" Awkwardly heturned and patted Ann's head as she began to sob.
* * * * *
"Is it not handsome?" asked Schwenky proudly, holding the front page ofthe newspaper up for all to see. "I have my picture in the paper! Is itnot nice?"
Laughing, Ann kissed the big Swede right on the lips, and hugged him,paper and all. "It's beautiful, you big lug!" she said. "The handsomestpicture I've ever seen in any paper."
"Nah!" denied Schwenky. "It is not the handsomest. All of us have ourpictures in the paper. We are all very good looking! Not only Schwenky.Is it not so, Gene, my friend?"
Gene grinned at him, and at the others. Maher pounded him on the back,and over the uproar came the voice of the editor of the _Sentinel_."Telephone for Mr. Schwenky!"
Schwenky looked dazed, cocked his big ears at the editor. "ForSchwenky?" he asked stupidly. "Telephone? Who would call Schwenky on thetelephone?"
"How do I know?" said the editor. "It's some lady...." He thrust thephone into the big Swede's hand.
"Lady?" said Schwenky wonderingly. "Hello ... lady ..." he spoke intothe receiver, his booming voice making it rattle.
"The other ..." began Gene, then desisted. "Never mind, she'll hearyou...."
"What? You want to marry me? Lady...." Schwenky's eyes bulged even more,and he roared into the transmitter. "Lady! You wait! I come!" He thrustthe phone into the editor's hands and made for the door like a lumberingbull.
"Where you going?" yelled Gene.
Schwenky halted, turned with a big grin, "I go to marry lady. She askedme to become my wife!"
"Where is she?" asked Gene. "Where are you going to meet her?"
Schwenky looked stupidly at the now silent phone. "By golly! I forget toask her!" There was tragedy in his voice. "Now I never find her!"
The editor laughed. "Never mind--you'll get a hundred more proposalsbefore the day's over. You can take your pick!"
Schwenky's eyes opened wide. Then he grinned again. "Yah!" he roared. "Itake my pick! She will be so beautiful! Yah!"
The chatter of the teletype interrupted him, and the editor turned towatch the tape as it came from the machine. Then he began to read:
"Washington. April 23. President Walworth has grounded all spaceshipsand ordered all those enroute to proceed to the nearest port. ACongressional committee has been picked, including top members of thecabinet, to investigate the ships, the atomic drives, and the system ofsecret slavery among crews. In a statement to the Press, PresidentWalworth said that space travel will not be resumed until proper shieldsare developed. But he added that he had been informed by leadingphysicists that the problem can be solved within a year if sufficientfunds were available. Said the President: 'I will see that the funds aremade available!'"
The editor dropped the tape and turned to Gene. "I have one more bit ofinformation, this one direct from the President by phone. He has askedme to inform you that he has appointed you new head of FAST."
"FAST?" asked Gene. "What's that?"
"Federal Agency for Space Travel," grinned the editor. "Andcongratulations. I hate to lose a good reporter, but maybe you'll beback after you finish in Washington--at a substantial increase insalary."
Gene grinned back. "Maybe I will," he said. "And I'll need the money."He put an arm around Ann and drew her to him. "Two can't live as cheapas one, you know."
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends