CHAPTER 13
"Stand where you are!"
Tom and Major Connel stiffened and looked around, the unconscious formof Roger stretched between them on the litter. From the jungle aroundthem, green-clad Nationalists suddenly emerged, brandishing their guns.
"Put Roger down," muttered Connel quietly. "Don't try anything."
"Very well, sir," replied Tom, and they lowered the litter to the groundgently.
"Raise your hands!" came the second command from a man who appeareddirectly in front of them.
Standing squarely in front of them, the little man said something in theVenusian dialect and waited, but Connel and Tom remained silent.
"I guess you don't speak the Venusian tongue," he sneered. "So I'll haveto use the disgusting language of Earth!" He looked down at theunconscious form of Roger. "What happened to him?"
"He was injured in a fight with a tyrannosaurus," replied Connel. "May Iremind you that you and these men are holding guns on an officer of theSolar Guard. Such a crime is punishable by two years on a prisonasteroid!"
"You'll be the one to go to prison, my stout friend!" The man laughed."A little work in the shops will take some of that waistline off you!"
"Are you taking us prisoner?"
"What do you think?"
"I see." Connel seemed to consider for a moment. "Who are you?" heasked.
"I am Drifi, squad officer of the jungle patrol."
"Connel, Senior Officer, Solar Guard," acknowledged Connel. "If we arebeing held prisoner, I wish to make a request."
"Prisoners don't make requests," said Drifi, and then addedsuspiciously, "What is it?"
"See that this man"--Connel indicated Roger--"is given medical attentionat once."
Drifi eyed the major cautiously.
"I make this request as one officer to another," said Connel. "A pointof honor between opponents."
Drifi's eyes gleamed visibly at the word _officer_, and Tom almostgrinned at Connel's subtle flattery.
"You--and you," snapped Drifi at the green-clad men around them, "seethat this man is taken to the medical center immediately!" Two menjumped to pick up the litter.
"Thank you," said Connel. "Now will you be so kind as to tell me whatthis is all about?"
"You'll find out soon enough. We have a special way of treating spies."
"Spies!" roared Connel. The officer sounded so indignant that Tom wasalmost fooled by his tone. "We're hunters! One of our party is lost herein the jungle. We were searching for him when we were attacked by atyrannosaurus. During the fight, this man was injured. We're not spies!"
Drifi shrugged his shoulders, and barking a command to his men, turnedinto the jungle. Connel and Tom were forced to follow.
They were taken to the giant teakwood that Astro had seen, and Tom andConnel watched silently as the door opened, revealing the vacuum tube.The men crowded into the car and it dropped to the lower level.
Following the same twisting turns in the tunnels, Tom and Connel werebrought to the armory and saw the men surrender their weapons and changetheir helmets and shoes. They tried desperately to get a look at thefaces of the men around them while the headgear was being changed, but,as before, the men were careful to keep their faces averted.
Continuing down the tunnel, Connel tried to speak to Drifi again. "Iwould appreciate it greatly, sir," he said in his most formal militarymanner, "if you could give me any news about the other man of our party.Have you seen him?"
Drifi did not answer. He marched stiffly ahead, not even bothering tolook at Connel.
As they neared the exit, Connel drifted imperceptibly closer to Tom andwhispered out of the side of his mouth, "Keep your eyes open for ships.Count as many as you can. How many are armed, their size, and so on.Look for ammunition dumps. Check radar and communications installations.Get as much information as you can, in case only one of us can escape."
"Yes, sir," whispered Tom. "Do you think they might have Astro?"
"It's a good guess. We were following the tyrannosaurus's trail whenthey caught us, and I'm pretty sure Astro had been doing the samething."
"Stop that talking!" snapped Drifi, suddenly whirling on them. "You," heshouted at one of the guards, "get up here and keep them apart!"
A guard stepped quickly between Tom and Connel, and the conversationended.
At the exit Connel and Tom stopped involuntarily at the sight beforethem. Astro had entered the canyon near twilight, but the two spacemengot a view of the Nationalists' base under the full noon sun. Connelgasped and muttered a space oath. Tom turned halfway to his superior andwas starting to speak when both were shoved rudely ahead. "Keep moving,"a guard growled.
As they walked, their eyes flicked over the canyon, alert for details.Tom counted the ships arrayed neatly on the spaceport some distanceaway, then counted others outside repair shops with men scurrying overthem like so many ants. Near the center of the canyon the bare trunk ofa giant teakwood soared skyward, a gigantic communications tower. Tomscanned the revolving antenna, and from its shape and size deduced thepower and type of radar being used at the base. He admitted to himselfthat the Nationalists had the latest and best. Connel was busy too,noting buildings of identical design scattered around the canyon floorthat were too small to be spaceship hangars or storage depots. Heguessed that they were housings for vacuum-tube elevator shafts that ledto underground caves.
The canyon echoed with the splutter of arc welders, the slow banging ofiron workers, the cough and hissing of jet sleds, the roar of activitythat meant deadly danger to the Solar Alliance. Connel noticed as hemoved across the canyon floor that the workers were in good spirits. Themorale of the rebels, thought the space officer, was good! Too good!
At a momentary halt in their march, when Drifi stopped to speak with asentry, Tom and Connel found an opportunity to speak again.
"I've counted a dozen big converted freighters on the blast ramps, sir,"whispered Tom hurriedly. "Three more being repaired, nearly finished,and there are about fifty smaller ships, all heavily armed."
"That checks with my count, Tom," replied Connel hurriedly. "What do youmake of the radar?"
"At least as good as we have!"
"I thought so, too! If a Solar Guard squadron tried to attack this basenow, they'd be spotted and blasted out of space!"
"What about stores, sir?" asked Tom. "I didn't see anything like asupply depot."
Connel told him of the small buildings which he believed housed theelevator shafts to underground storerooms. "Only one thing is missing!"he concluded.
"What's that, sir?"
"The nuclear chambers where they produce ammunition for their fleet."
"It must be underground too, sir," said Tom. "There isn't a building inthe canyon that's made of concrete and steel."
"Right. Either that, or it's back up there in the cliffs in one of thosetunnels!" The officer snorted. "By the stars, Corbett, this place is anatom bomb ready to go off in the lap of the Solar Alliance."
"What are we going to do, sir?" asked Tom. "So far, it looks as if it'sgoing to be tough to get out again."
"We'll have to wait for a break, Tom," sighed Connel.
"I hope they've taken good care of Roger," said the cadet in a lowvoice. "And I hope they've got Astro."
"Watch it," warned Connel. "Drifi's coming back. Remember, if we'reseparated and you do manage to escape, get back to Sinclair's. ContactCommander Walters and tell him everything that's happened. The codename for direct emergency contact through Solar Guard communicationscenter in Venusport is Juggernaut!"
"Juggernaut!" repeated Tom in a whisper. "Very well, sir. But I surehope we aren't separated."
"Well have to take what comes. _Sh!_ Here he comes."
"All right, let's go," said the patrol leader.
They continued across the canyon until they reached a four-story woodenstructure without windows. Drifi opened a small door and motioned theminside.
"What is this?" Connel demanded.
; "This is where you'll stay until Lactu sends for you. Right now, he isin conference with the Division Leaders."
"Divisions of what? Ships? Men?" asked Connel offhandedly, trying not toshow any more than idle curiosity.
"You'll find out when the Solar Guard comes looking for a fight," saidDrifi. "Now get in there!"
Tom and Connel were shoved inside and the door closed behind them. Itwas pitch black, and they couldn't see an inch in front of their faces.But both Tom and Connel knew instantly that they were not alone.
* * * * *
"Come on. Gimme that wrench!" barked Astro. The little man beside himhanded up the wrench and leaned over the side of the engine casing towatch Astro pull the nut tight. "Now get over there and throw on theswitch," snapped the big cadet.
The little man scurried over to one side of the vast machine shop andflipped on the wall switch. There was an audible hum of power and thenslowly the machine Astro had just worked on began to speed up, soonrevving up to ten thousand revolutions per minute.
"Is it fixed?" demanded the shop foreman, coming up beside Astro.
"Yeah, she's fixed. But I don't work on another job until you give meanother helper. That asteroid head you gave me doesn't know a--" Astrostopped. Something out beyond the double doors caught his eye. It wasthe sight of Tom and Connel entering the wooden building.
"What's the matter with him?" demanded the foreman.
"Huh? What? Oh--ah--well, he's O.K., I guess," Astro stammered. "It'sjust that he's a little green, that's all."
"Well, get to work on that heater in chamber number one. It's burned abearing. Change it, and hurry up about it!"
"Sure--sure!" The big cadet grinned.
"Say, what's the matter with you?" asked the foreman, staring at himsuspiciously.
"I'm O.K.," replied Astro quickly.
The foreman continued to stare at Astro as the big cadet turned to hisassistant nonchalantly. "Come on, genius, get that box of tools over tothe heater!" he shouted. As he turned away, the foreman nodded to thegreen-clad guard, who followed closely behind Astro, his hand on thebutt of his paralo-ray gun.
Seeing the little assistant struggling with the heavy box, Astro stoppedand picked it out of his arms with one hand. Grinning, he held itstraight out and then slowly brought it around in a complete circle overhis head, still holding it with only one hand. The guard's eyes widenedbehind his plastic helmet at this show of strength.
"You're very strong, Astro," he said, "but you are altogether toocontemptuous of a fellow Venusian." He nodded to the small assistant.
"That's right," said Astro. His grin hardened and he leaned forwardslightly, balancing on the balls of his feet. "That goes for you andevery other green space monkey in this place. Drop that ray gun and I'lltie you up in a knot!"
Frightened, the guard pulled the paralo-ray gun out of its holster, butAstro quickly stepped in and sank his fist deep into the guard'sstomach. The man dropped like a stone. Astro grinned and turned his backto walk toward the heater. He heard the other workers begin to chatterexcitedly, but he didn't pay any attention to them.
"Astro! Astro!" His little assistant ran up beside him. "You hit adivision guard!"
"I did, huh?" replied the big cadet in an innocent tone. "What kind of adivision?"
"Don't you know? Venus has been divided into areas called divisions.Each division has a chief, and every Venusian citizen in that divisionis under his personal jurisdiction."
"Uh-huh," said Astro vaguely. He climbed up on to the machine and begantaking off the outer casing.
"The best men in the division are made the Division Chief's personalguards."
"What happens to the second and third and fourth best men?"
"Well, they're given jobs here according to their knowledge andcapacities."
"What was your job before you came here?"
"I was a field worker on my chief's plantation."
"Why did you join?" asked Astro. "Did you think it better to haveVenusians ruling Venus, instead of belonging to the Solar Alliance?"
"I didn't think about it at all," admitted the little man. "Besides, Ididn't join. I was recruited. My chief just put me on a ship and here Iam."
"Well, what do you think of it, now that you're here?" asked Astro. Hebegan running his fingers along a few of the valves, apparently payingno attention to the guard who was just now staggering to his feet.
The little assistant paused and considered Astro's question. Finally hereplied weakly, "I don't know. It's all right, I guess. It's better herein the shops than in the caves where the others go."
"Others? What others?"
"Those that don't like it," replied the man. "They're sent to thecaves."
"What caves?"
"Up in the cliff. The tunnels--" He suddenly stopped when an angry shoutechoed in the machine shop. The guard Astro had hit rushed up. He turnedto several workmen near by. "Take this blabbering idiot to the caves!"he ordered angrily.
Astro slowly climbed down from the machine and faced the guardmenacingly. As the guard's finger tightened on the trigger of hisparalo-ray gun, the foreman suddenly rushed up and knocked the gun outof his hand. "You fool! You stiffen this man and we'll be held up inproduction for hours!"
"So what!" sneered the guard.
"Lactu and your Division Chief will tell you so what!" barked theforeman. He turned to Astro. "And as for you, if you try anything likethat again, I'll--"
"You won't do a thing," said Astro casually. "I'm the best man you'vegot and you know it. Lactu knows it too. So don't threaten me and keepthese green space jerks away from me! I'll fix your machines, because Iwant to, not because you can make me!"
The foreman eyed the big cadet curiously. "Because you want to? You'vechanged your tune since you first came here."
"Maybe," said Astro. "Maybe I like what I see around here. It alldepends."
"Well, make up your mind later," barked the foreman. "Now get thatmachine fixed!"
"Sure," said Astro simply, turning back to the machine and starting towhistle. Strangely enough, he was happy. He was a prisoner, but he feltbetter than he had in days. Just knowing that Tom and Major Connel wereright across the canyon gave him a surge of confidence. Working over themachine quickly, surely, the big cadet began to formulate a plan. Nowwas the time! They were together again. Now was the time to escape!