"Gregg, what is it?"
I gazed, held my breath. A moving speck out there. A blob now.
And then I realized that it was not a large object, far away, but small, and already very close--only a few hundred feet off, dropping toward the top of our dome. A narrow, flat, ten-foot object, like a wingless volplane. There were no lights on it, but in the Earthlight I could see two crouching, helmeted figures riding it.
"Anita! Don"t you remember!"
I was swept with dawning comprehension. Back in the Grantline camp Snap and I had discussed how to use the _Planetara"s_ gravity plates.
We had gone to the wreck and secured them, had rigged this little volplane flyer....
The brigands on the rocks saw it now. A flash went up at it. One of the figures crouching on it opened a flexible fabric like a wing over its side. I saw another flash from below, harmlessly striking the insulated shield.
I gasped to Anita, "Light your helmet! It"s from Grantline! Let them see us!"
I stood erect. The little flying platform went over us, fifty feet up, circling, dropping to the dome-top.
I waved my helmet-light. The exit-lock from below--up which we had come--was near us. The advancing brigands were already in it! I had forgotten to demolish the manuals. And I saw that the darkness down on the rocks was almost gone now, dissipating in the airless night. The brigands down there began firing up at us.
It was a confusion of flashing lights. I clutched at Anita.
"Come this way--run!"
The platform barely missed our heads. It sailed lengthwise of the dome-top, and crashed silently on the central runway near the stern-tip. Anita and I ran to it.
The two helmeted figures seized us, shoved us p.r.o.ne on the metal platform. It was barely four feet wide: a low railing, handles with which to cling, and a tiny hooded cubby in front, with banks of controls.
"Gregg!"
"Snap!"
It was Snap and Venza. She seized Anita, held her crouching in place.
Snap flung himself face down at the controls.
The brigands in the lock were out on the dome now. I took a last shot as we lifted. My bullet punctured one of them; he fell, slid scrambling off the rounded dome and dropped out of sight.
Light-rays and silent flashes seemed to envelop us. Venza held the side-shields higher.
We tilted, swayed crazily, and then steadied.
The ship"s dome dropped away beneath us. The rocks of the open ledge were under us. Then the abyss, with the moving climbing specks of Miko"s lights far down.
I saw, over the side-shield, the already distant brigand ship resting on the ledge with the ma.s.sive Archimedes" wall behind it. A confusion back there of futile flashing rays.
It all faded into a remote glow as we sailed smoothly up into the starlight and away, heading for the Grantline camp.
CHAPTER x.x.xIII
_Besieged!_
"Wake up, Gregg! They"re coming!"
I forced myself to consciousness. "Coming--"
"Yes. Wake up!"
I leaped from my bunk, followed Snap with a rush into the corridor. We had returned safely to the Grantline Camp. Anita and I found ourselves exhausted from lack of sleep, our arduous climb of Archimedes and that tense time on the brigand ship. On the flight back Snap had explained how the landing of the ship on Archimedes was observed through the Grantline telescope, using but little of its power for this local range. They had read with amazement my signals to the brigands. Snap had rushed to completion the first of our contemplated flying platforms. Then he had seen Miko"s signals from the crater-base, seen the lights of the fight to capture Anita and me in the cubby, and had come to rescue us.
Back at the camp we were given food, and Grantline forced me to try and sleep.
"They"ll be on us in a few hours, Gregg. Miko will have joined them by now. He"ll lead them to us. You must rest, for we need everyone at his best."
And surprisingly, in the midst of the camp"s turmoil of last minute activities, I slept soundly, until Snap called me that the ship was coming.
The corridor echoed with the tramp of Grantline"s busy crew. But there was no confusion now; a grim calmness had settled upon everyone.
Anita and Venza rushed up to join us. "It"s in sight!"
There was no need of going to the instrument room. From the windows fronting the brink of the cliff the brigand ship was plainly visible.
It came sailing from Archimedes, a dark shape blurring the stars. All its lights were extinguished save a single white search-beam in the bow-peak, slanting diagonally down.
The beam presently caught our little group of buildings; its glare shone in the windows as it clung for a moment. I could envisage the triumphant curiosity, of Potan and his fellows up there, gazing along the beam.
Then it swung away. The ship was at an alt.i.tude of no more than three thousand feet when I first saw it, coming upon a level keel. Would it circle over us, firing at us? Or sail past, after inspecting us? Or land, perhaps, boldly crowded upon our little ledge?
We were ready--as ready as we could be with our meager equipment. The camp was in a state of siege. The cliff-lights were extinguished: the interior lights were dim, save in the workshops of the main building, where the final a.s.sembling of Snap"s other flying platforms and their insulated protective shields was still in progress.
We had dimmed the lights to conserve our power, and to enable the Erentz motors to run at full capacity. Our buildings would have to withstand the brigand rays which soon would be upon us.
Outside on our dim, Earthlit cliff, the tiny lights showed where our few guards were lurking. As I stood at the window watching the oncoming ship, Grantline"s voice sounded:
"Call in those men! Ring the call-lights, Franck!"
The siren buzzed over the camp"s interior; the warning call-lights on the roof brought in the outer guards. They came running to the admission portes, which had been repaired after Miko disabled them.
The guards came in. We dimmed our lights further. The treasure sheds were black against the cliff behind us. No need for guards there--the bulk of the ore was such that we reasoned the brigands would not attempt to move it until our buildings were captured. But, if they should try it, we were prepared to sally out with our hand-weapons and defend it.
In the dim lights we crouched. A silence was upon us, save for the clanging in the workshop down the corridor. Most of us wore our Erentz suits, with helmets ready, though I am sure there was not a man of us but who prayed he might not have to go out. At many of the windows--our weakest points to withstand the rays--insulated fabric shields were hung like curtains.
The brigand ship slowly advanced. It was soon over the opposite rim of our little crater. Its search-beam swung about the rim and down into the valley.
My thoughts ran like a turgid stream as I stood tensely watching.