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.
"Gregg!"
"You, Snap!"
It was Snap and Venza. She seized Anita, held her crouching in place.
Snap flung himself face down at the controls.
The brigands were out on the dome now. I took a last shot as we lifted. My bullet punctured one of them: he slid, fell scrambling off the rounded dome and dropped out of sight.
Light rays and silent flashes seemed to envelope 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 beneath 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.
x.x.xIII
"Wake up. Gregg! They"re coming!"
I forced myself to consciousness. "Coming--"
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. They had read with amazement my signals to the brigands. Snap had rushed to completion the first of our flying platforms. Then he had seen Miko"s signals from the crater base, seen the lights and the fight to capture Anita and me, and had come to rescue us.
Back at the camp we were given food, and Grantline forced me to try to sleep.
"They"ll be on us in a few hours, Gregg. Miko wall 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, telling me the ship was coming.
The corridor echoed with the tramp of Grantline"s busy crew. But there was no confusion; a grim calmness had settled on 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 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 men up there, gazing along the beam.
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 brigands" 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 incoming 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 ports, 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--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 defend it.
In the dim light 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 sheets were hung like curtains.
The brigand ship slowly advanced. It was soon over the opposite rim of our little crater. Its searchbeam swung about the rim and down the valley.
My thoughts ran like a turgid stream as I stood tensely watching.
Four hours ago I had sent that flash signal to Earth. If it was received, a patrol ship could come to our rescue and arrive here in another eight hours--or perhaps even less.
Ah, that "if!" _If_ the signal was received! _If_ the patrol ship were immediately available. _If_ it started at once....
Eight hours at the very least. I tried to a.s.sure myself that we could hold out that long.
The brigand ship crossed the opposite crater rim. It dropped lower. It seemed poised over the crater valley, almost at our own level and less than two miles from us. Its searchbeam vanished. For a moment it hung, a sleek, cylindrical silver shape, gleaming in the Earthlight.
Snap looked at me and murmured, "It"s descending."
It slowly settled, cautiously picked its landing place amid the crags and pits of the tumbled, scarred valley floor. It came to rest, a vague, menacing silver shape lurking in the lower shadows, close at the foot of the inner opposite crater wall.
A few moments of tense waiting pa.s.sed. Soon tiny lights were moving down there, some out on the rocks near the ship, others up under its deck dome.
A stab of searchlight shot across the valley, swung along our ledge and clung with its glaring ten foot circle to the front of our main building. Then a ray flashed.