CHAPTER 11
It was not until late the same afternoon that Astro, following the trailof the tyrannosaurus, realized that the giant beast was seriously hurt.At first the traces of blood on the ground and underbrush were slight,but gradually the blood spots became more profuse and the trail wascovered with huge blotches of red. The Venusian cadet grew morecautious. The tyrannosaurus would be ten times as dangerous now. And itmight be close by, lying in the jungle, licking its wounds.
As the sun began to sink in the western Venusian sky, Astro began tothink about the coming night. He would have to hole up. He couldn'tchance stumbling into the beast in the dark. But it would also meantaking time to make another sleeping bag. Suddenly he saw a movement inthe brush to his left. He dropped to the ground and aimed the shockrifle in that direction, eyes probing the green tangle for furthermovement.
"Make one move and you'll die!" a harsh voice cut through the jungle.Astro remained still, his eyes darting to left and right, trying tolocate the owner of the voice.
"Throw down your gun and stand up with your hands over your head!" cameanother voice, this one immediately behind him.
_His eyes probed the jungle for further movement_]
A patrol! Astro swore at himself for blindly walking into a trap anddropped his gun. He stood up and raised his hands over his head, turningslowly.
"Don't turn around! Stand still!"
Astro stopped.
He could hear the rustle of movement in the underbrush behind him andthen someone called, "Circle around to the right. Spread out and see ifthere are any others!"
Off to the side, he could hear the crashing of footsteps moving away inthe jungle.
"All right," continued the unknown voice, "drop that paralo-ray pistolto the ground. But no smart tricks. We can see you and you can't see us,so take it easy and do as we say."
Astro lowered his hands and unbuckled the gun belt, letting it fall tothe ground. There was a sudden burst of movement behind him and powerfularms gripped his wrists. Within seconds his hands were tied quickly andexpertly, and he was spun around to face his captors.
There were ten men, all dressed in the same green uniforms and plasticheadgear he had seen at the Sinclair plantation. They stood in asemicircle around him, their guns leveled at his naked chest. The leaderof the party nudged the nearest man and commented, "Never thought I'dsee any animal like this in the jungle!" The other men laughedappreciatively.
"Who are you?" the leader demanded. "What are you doing here?"
"My name is Astro," replied the big cadet boldly. "I'm a Space Cadet,_Polaris_ unit, Space Academy, U.S.A. I'm here in the jungle with therest of my unit hunting tyrannosaurus."
"Tyranno, eh?" queried the man. "How long have you been trailing thisone?"
"Just today. I saw him fight a big snake and lost my jungle gear in athicket where I was hiding. I was separated from my space buddies twodays ago."
"Say, Helia," suddenly called one of the other men, "he sounds like aVenusian."
"Is that true?" asked the leader. "Are you from Venus?"
Astro nodded. "Venusport."
"Then why are you in Space Academy?"
"I want to be a spaceman."
"Why didn't you go to school on Venus, instead of Earth. We have goodspace schools here."
"I want a commission in the Solar Guard. You can only get that throughthe Academy," replied Astro stoutly.
"Solar Guard!" snorted the leader, and then turned to the nearest man,speaking rapidly in a strange tongue.
For a moment the language confused Astro, then he recognized it as theancient Venusian dialect. He understood it and started to answer, butthen, on second thought, he decided not to reveal his knowledge of thelanguage.
The leader turned back to Astro and asked a question.
Astro shook his head and said, "If you're talking to me, you have tospeak English. I know that's the Venusian dialect you're speaking, but Inever learned it."
The leader's fist shot out and crashed against Astro's jaw. The bigcadet rocked back with the punch and then he lunged forward, strainingagainst his bonds.
"Why, you--!" he exploded angrily.
"That was for not being a true Venusian!" snapped the leader. "Every sonof Venus should understand his mother tongue!"
Astro bit his lip and fell silent.
The leader turned away, and shouting a command, started off through thejungle. Astro knew that the patrol had been ordered to move out, but hestood still, waiting for them to push him. They did. A hard jab in hisnaked side with the butt of a gun sent him stumbling forward in thecenter of the patrol.
Well, there was one consolation, he thought grimly. At least he wouldn'thave to spend the night out in the jungle alone again!
Astro had expected a long march, but to his surprise, he was pushedalong a well-worn jungle trail for only three hundred yards in from thetyrannosaurus's track. Finally they stopped before a huge teakwood tree.The leader pounded his rifle butt on the trunk three times.
Mystified, Astro watched a small section of the trunk open to reveal amodern vacuum-tube elevator shaft. He was pushed inside with the men ofthe patrol and the tree-trunk door was closed. The leader pushed a leverand the car dropped so suddenly that Astro nearly lost his balance. Hejudged that they must have fallen two hundred feet when the car stoppedand another door opened. He was pushed out into a high-vaulted tunnelwith cement walls.
"Hurry up!" snapped the leader.
The big cadet moved along the tunnel, followed by the patrol, turningfrom one tunnel into another, all of them slanting downhill. Astroguessed that he was being taken to some subterranean cave. He asked hiscaptors where they were taking him.
"Don't talk!" snapped one of the men at his side.
"This jungle will be swarming with Solar Guardsmen once they discoverI'm lost," said Astro. "Who are you and what are you holding me prisonerfor?" The big cadet decided it would be better to feign ignorance of theexistence of the rebel organization.
"Let the Solar Guard come!" snapped the leader. "They'll find somethingthey never expected."
"But what do you want with _me_?" asked the cadet.
"You'll know soon enough!"
They had been walking for nearly an hour and the tunnels still slanteddownward but more sharply now. Turning into a much larger tunnel thanany of the rest, Astro noticed a huge door on one side. Through itscrystal-covered ports he saw racks of illegal heat blasters andparalo-ray guns. A man stepped out of the door, and raising his hand ina form of salute, called out a few words in the Venusian tongue. Astrorecognized it as a greeting, "Long live Venusians!" and suppressed asmile.
One by one, the men of the patrol handed over their rifles and ray guns,while the man in the armory checked off their names. Then they allremoved their knee-length jungle boots and traded their plastic helmetsfor others of the same design but of a lighter material. Each man turnedhis back while switching helmets, obviously to avoid being recognized byany of the others, since the new helmet was also frosted except for aslit at eye level. Wearing the lighter headgear and common street shoes,the men continued their march through the tunnel. They passed into astill larger tunnel, and for the first time, Astro could see daylight.As they drew nearer to the mouth of the tunnel, the cadet could seeoutside, and the scene before him made him gasp for breath.
A full twenty miles long and fifteen miles wide, a canyon stretchedbefore him. And it seemed to the big cadet that every square inch of thecanyon floor was occupied by buildings and spaceships. Hundreds ofgreen-clad men were moving around the ships and buildings.
"By the craters of Luna!" gasped Astro as the patrol paused in the mouthof the tunnel. "What--what is this?"
"The first city of Venus. True Venus. Built by Venusians with Venusianmaterials only!" said the leader proudly. "There's the answer to yourSolar Guard!"
"I don't understand," said Astro. "What are you going to do?"
"You'll see." The man chuckled. "You'll see. Move on!"
As they trooped out of the tunnel and down into the canyon they passedgroups of men working on the many ships. The cadet recognized what theywere doing at once. The unmistakable outlines of gun ports were beingcut into the sides of several bulky space freighters. Elsewhere, thesteady pounding of metal and grinding of machinery told the cadet thatmachine shops were going at full blast. He noticed a difference betweenthe men of the patrol and the workers. Neither spoke to the other. Infact, Astro saw that it was rarely that a worker even glanced at them asthey passed by.
Up ahead, Astro saw a huge building, wide and sprawling but only a fewstories high. It was nearly dark now and lights began to wink on in themany windows. He guessed that he was being taken to the building and wasnot surprised when the leader pulled him by the arm, guiding him towarda small side door. There was a curious look about the building and thecadet couldn't figure out what it was. Glancing quickly at the wall ashe passed through the door, he nearly burst out laughing. The buildingwas made of wood! He guessed that the rebels were using materials athand rather than importing anything from outside planets. And sinceVenus was largely a planet of jungles and vegetation, with few largemineral deposits, wood would be the easiest thing to use.
The inside of the building was handsomely decorated and designed. He sawwalls covered with carvings, depicting old legends about the firstcolonists. He shook his head. "Boy," he thought, "they sure go for theVenusian stuff in a big way!"
"All right!" snapped the leader. "Stop here!"
Astro stood before a huge double door that had been polished to abrilliant luster. The cadet waited for the leader to enter, but theNationalist stood perfectly still, eyes straight ahead. Suddenly thedoors swung open, revealing a huge chamber, at least a hundred and fiftyfeet long. At the far end a man dressed in white with a green bandacross his chest sat in a beautifully carved chair. Arrayed on eitherside of him were fifty or more men dressed in various shades of green.The man in white lifted his hand and the patrol leader stepped forward,pushing Astro before him. They walked across the polished floor andstopped ten feet away from the man in white, the patrol leader bowingdeeply. Astro glanced at the men standing at either side of the man inwhite. The bulge of paralo-ray pistols was plainly visible beneath theirflowing robes.
The man in white lifted his hand in the salute Astro had seen before.Then the patrol leader straightened up and began to speak rapidly in theVenusian dialect. Translating easily, Astro heard him report hiscapture. When he concluded, the man in white looked at Astro closely andspoke three words. Astro shook his head.
"He does not speak our mother tongue, Lactu," volunteered the patrolleader.
The man in white nodded. "How is it," he said in English, "that you area native-born Venusian and do not speak the language of your planet?"
"I was an orphan. I had very little formal education," said Astro. "Andas long as we're asking questions around here, how about my asking afew? Who in space are you? What's the idea of holding me a prisoner?"
"One question at a time, please, brother Venusian," said the man inwhite. "And when you address me, my name is Lactu."
"Lactu what?" asked Astro belligerently.
"Your own name should tell you that we on Venus only have one name."
"Never mind that rocket wash!" barked Astro. "When do I get out ofhere?"
"You will never leave here as you came," said Lactu quietly.
"What does that mean?" demanded the cadet.
"You have discovered the existence of our base. Ordinarily you wouldhave been burned to a crisp and left in the jungle. Fortunately, you area Venusian by birth, and therefore have the right to join ourorganization."
"What does that mean?"
"It means," said Lactu, "that you will take an oath to fight until deathif necessary to free the planet Venus and the Venusian citizens from theslavery of the Solar Alliance and--"
"Awright, buster!" roared Astro. "I've had enough of that rocket wash! Itook an oath of allegiance to the Solar Guard and the Solar Alliance, touphold the cause of peace throughout the universe and defend theliberties of the planets. Your idea is to destroy peace and make slavesout of the people of Venus--like these dummies you've got here!" Astrogestured contemptuously at the men standing on both sides of Lactu. "Idon't want any part of you, so start blasting!" continued the big cadet,his voice booming out in the big room. "But make it good, 'cause I'mtough!"
There was a murmur among the men and several put their hands on thebutts of their paralo-ray guns. Even the calm expression in Lactu's eyeschanged.
"You are not afraid of us, are you?" he asked in a low, almost surprisedtone of voice.
"You, nor anything that crawls in the jungle like you!" shouted Astro."If you're not happy with the way things are run on Venus, why don'tyou take your beef to the Solar Alliance?"
"We prefer to do it our way!" snapped one of the men near Lactu. "And asfor you, a few lashes with a Venusian wet whip will teach you to keep acivil tongue!"
Astro turned around slowly, looking at each of the men individually. "Ipromise you," he said slowly, "the first man who lays a whip on me willdie."
"And who, pray, will do the killing?" snorted a short, stout figure inthe darkest of the green uniforms. "You? Hardly!"
"If it isn't me"--Astro turned to face the man--"it will be any one of athousand Space Cadets."
"You have a lot of confidence in yourself and your friends," said Lactu."Death apparently doesn't frighten you."
"No more than it does any man of honor," said the cadet. "I've faceddeath before. As for my friends"--Astro shrugged and grinned--"touch meand wait for what happens. And by the stars, mister, you can depend onit happening!"
"Enough of this, Lactu!" said a man near the end of the group. "We haveimportant business to conduct. Take this foolish boy out and do awaywith him!"
Lactu waved his hand gently. "Observe, gentlemen, here is the truespirit of Venus. This boy is not an Earthman, nor a Martian. He is aVenusian--a proud Venusian who has drifted with the tides of space andtaken life where he found it. Tell me honestly, gentlemen, what wouldyou have thought of Astro, a Venusian, if he had acted any differentlythan he has? If he had taken an oath he does not believe and groveled atour feet? No, gentlemen, to kill this proud, freeborn Venusian would bea crime. Tell me, Astro, do you have any skills?"
"I can handle nuclear materials in any form."
"We are wasting time, Lactu!" exclaimed one of the men suddenly. "Settlewith this upstart later. Now let us take a vote on the issue before us.The ship is waiting to blast off for Mercury. Do we ask for herassistance, or not?"
There was a loud murmur among the assembled men, and Lactu held up hishand. "Very well, we will vote. All in favor of asking the people ofMercury to join our movement against the Alliance will say aye!"
"Aye," chorused the men.
"Against?"
Lactu looked around, but there was no reply.
Lactu turned back to Astro. "Well, Venusian, this is your last chance tojoin forces with us and to fight for your mother planet."
"Go blast your jets!" snapped Astro. Immediately Lactu's eyes becamehard steely points.
"That was your last chance!" he said. "Take him out and kill him!"
The door suddenly burst open and a green-clad trooper raced across thebare floor, bowing hastily before Lactu. "Forgive this interruption,Lactu," he said breathlessly. "There are men in the jungle headed forthe canyon rim. Three of them!"
Lactu turned to Astro. "Your friends, no doubt!" He snapped an order."Capture them and bring them to me. And as for you, Astro, we are inneed of capable men to build war heads for our space torpedoes. Toensure the safety of your friends, I would advise your working for us.If not, your friends will die before another night falls."