My invisibility was gone! I stood, a tall, blackhooded figure, revealed to the gaze of anyone who might be near!
The futile plans of humans! We had planned so carefully! Our calculations, our hopes of what we could do, came clattering now in a sudden wreckage around us.
"Anita! Run!"
If I were seen with her, then her own disguise would probably be discovered. 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 was armed, why could not I boldly start an a.s.sault?
"Gregg, we must get you back to your cubby!" She was clinging to me in panic.
"No. You run! Get away from me! Don"t you understand? George Prince has no business here with me! They"ll kill you!"
"Gregg, let"s get back to the deck."
I pushed at her, both of us in confusion.
From behind me there came a shout. That accursed steward! He had returned, to investigate perhaps what George Prince was doing in this corridor. He heard our voices. His shout in the silence of the ship sounded horribly loud. The white-cloaked shape of him was in the nearby doorway. He stood stricken with surprise at seeing me. And then turned to run.
I fired my paralyzing cylinder through my cloak. Got him! He fell. I shoved Anita violently.
"Run! Tell Miko to come--tell him you heard a shout. He won"t suspect you!"
"But, Gregg--"
"You mustn"t be found out. You"re our only hope, Anita! I"ll hide, fix the cloak, or get back to my cubby. We"ll try 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 was one of Miko"s men. 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 was necessary. I flung myself upon him. I beat his skull with the metal of my cylinder.
I stood up. My hood had fallen back from my head. I wiped my b.l.o.o.d.y hands on my useless cloak. I had smashed the cylinder.
"Haljan!"
Anita"s voice! A sharp note of horror and warning. I became aware that in the corridor, forty feet down its dim length, Miko had appeared with Anita behind him. His bullet projector was leveled. It spat at me. But Anita had pulled at his arm.
The explosive report was sharply deafening in the confined s.p.a.ce of the corridor. With a spurt of flame the leaden pellet struck over my head against the vaulted ceiling.
Miko was struggling with Anita. "Prince, you idiot!"
"Miko, it"s Haljan! Don"t kill him--"
The turmoil brought members of the crew. From the shadowed oval near me they came running. I flung the useless cylinder at them. But I was trapped in the narrow pa.s.sage.
I might have fought my way out. Or Miko might have shot me. But there was 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 under Miko"s gaze, leaped on me and bore me down.
The futile plans of humans! Anita and I had planned so carefully. And in a few brief minutes of action it had come only to this!
XVII
"So, Gregg Haljan, you are not as loyal as you pretend!"
Miko was livid with suppressed anger. They had stripped the cloak from me, and flung me back in my cubby. Miko was now confronting me: at the door Moa stood watching. And Anita was behind her. I sat outwardly defiant and sullen on my bunk. But I was tense and alert, fearful still of what Anita"s emotion might betray her into doing.
"Not so loyal," Miko repeated. "And a fool!"
"How did he get out of here? Prince, you came in here!"
My heart was wildly thumping. But Anita retorted with a touch of spirit, "I came to tell him what you commanded. To check Hahn"s latest figures--and to be ready to take the controls when we approached the asteroid."
"Well, how did he get out?"
"How should I know?" she parried. Little actress! Her spirit helped to allay my fear. She held her cloak close around her in the fashion they had come to expect from the George Prince who had just buried his sister. "How should I know, Miko? I sealed his door."
"But did you?"
"Of course he did," Moa put in.
"Ask your lookouts," Anita said. "They saw me--I waved to them just as I sealed the door."
I ventured, "I have been taught to open doors." I managed a sly, lugubrious smile. "I shall not try it again, Miko."
Nothing had been said about my killing of the steward. I thanked my constellations now that he was dead. "I shall not try it again," I repeated.
A glance pa.s.sed between Miko and his sister. Miko said abruptly, "You seem to realize it is not my purpose to kill you. And you presume upon it."
"I shall not again." I eyed Moa. She was gazing at me steadily. She said, "Leave me with him, Miko...." She smiled. "Gregg Haljan, we are no more than twenty thousand miles from the asteroid now. The calculations for r.e.t.a.r.ding are now in operation."
It was what had taken Miko below, that and trouble with the ventilating system, which was soon rectified. But the r.e.t.a.r.ding of the ship"s velocity when nearing a destination required accurate manipulation. These brigands were fearful of their own skill. That was obvious. It gave me confidence. I was really needed. They would not harm me. Except for Miko"s impulsive temper, I was in no danger from them--not now, certainly.
Moa was saying, "I think I may make you understand, Gregg. We have tremendous riches within our grasp."
"I know it," I said with sudden thought. "But there are many with whom to divide this treasure...."
Miko caught my intended implication. "By the infernal, this fellow may have thought he could seize this treasure for himself! Because he is a navigator!"