Skilfully, Denver poured sparkling liquid against the inside curve of the third gla.s.s. With exaggerated care, he refilled his own and the girl"s. He shoved the odd gla.s.s toward Big Ed with a careless gesture that was not defiance but held a hint of something cold and deadly and menacing.
"Drink hearty, champ," he suggested. "You"ll need strength and Dutch courage to hear some of the things I"ve wanted to tell you. I"ve been holding them for a long time. This is it."
Big Ed nodded slowly, ponderously. "I"m listening."
Denver began a long bill of particulars against Big Ed Caltis of Crystal City. He omitted little, though some of it was mere scandalous gossip with which solo-prospectors who had been the objects of a squeeze-play consoled themselves and took revenge upon their tormentor from safe distance. Denver paused once, briefly, to re-a.s.sess and recapture the delight he took in gazing at Darbor"s beauty seated opposite. Then he resumed his account of the life and times of Big Ed, an improvised essay into the folly and stupidity of untamed greed which ended upon a sustained note of vituperation.
Big Ed smiled with sardonic amus.e.m.e.nt. He was in his late forties, running a bit to blubber, but still looked strong and capable. He waited until Tod Denver ran down, waited and smiled patiently.
"If you"ve finished," he said. "I should compliment you on the completeness of the picture you paint of me. When I need a biographer, I"ll call on you. Just now I have another business proposition. I understand you know the location of some ancient Martian mine-workings. You need a partner. I"m proposing myself."
Denver paled. "I have a partner," he said, nodding toward the girl.
Big Ed smiled thinly. "That"s settled then. Her being your partner makes it easy. What she has is mine. I bought her. She works for me and everything she has is mine."
Darbor"s eyes held curious despair. But hatred boiled up in her.
"Not altogether," she corrected him evenly. "You never got what you wanted most--me! And you never will. I just resigned. Get yourself another dummy."
But Ed stood up. "Very good. Maudlin but magnificent. Let me offer my congratulations to both of you. But you"re mistaken. I"ll get everything I want. I always do. I"m not through with either of you."
Darbor ignored him. "Dance?" she asked Denver. He rose and gallantly helped her from her chair.
Big Ed Caltis, after a black look, vanished toward the offices and gambling rooms upstairs. He paused once and glanced back.
Denver laughed suddenly. Darbor studied him and caught the echo of her own fear in his eyes. He mustered a hard core of courage in himself, but it required distinct effort.
"When I was a kid I liked to swing on fence-gates. Once, the hinges broke. I skinned my knee."
Her body was trembling. Some of it got into her voice. "It could happen again."
He met the challenge of her. She was bright steel, drawn to repel lurking enemies.
"I have another knee," he said, grinning. "But yours are too nice to bark up. Where"s the back door?"
The music was Venusian, a swaying, sensuous thing of weirdest melodies and off-beat rhythms. Plucked and bowed strings blended with wailing flutes and an exotic tympany to produce music formed of pa.s.sion and movement. Tod Denver and Darbor threaded their way through stiffly-paired swaying couples toward the invisible door at the rear.
"I hope you don"t mind scar tissue on your toes," he murmured, bending his cheek in impulsive caress. He wished that he were nineteen again and could still dream. Twenty-seven seemed so aged and battered and cynical. And dreams can become nightmares.
They were near the door.
"Champagne tastes like vinegar if it"s too cold," she replied. "My mouth is puckery and tastes like swill. I hope it"s the blank champagne. Maybe I"m scared."
They dropped pretense and bolted for the door.
In the alley, they huddled among rubbish and garbage cans because the shadows lay thicker there.
The danger was real and ugly and murderous. Three thugs came boiling through the alley door almost on their heels. They lay in the stinking refuse, not daring to breathe. Brawny, muscular men with faces that shone brutally in the blazing, reflected Earthlight scurried back and forth, trying locked doors and making a hurried expedition to scout out the street. Pa.s.sersby were b.u.t.tonholed and roughly questioned. No one knew anything to tell.
One hatchetman came back to report.
Big Ed"s voice could be heard in shrill tirade of fury.
"You fools. Don"t let them get away. I"ll wring the ears off the lot of you if they get to the s.p.a.ceport. He was there; he was the one who spotted us. He can identify my ship. Now get out and find them. I"ll pay a thousand vikdals Martian to the man who brings me either one.
Kill the girl if you have to, but bring him back alive. I want his ears, and he knows where the stuff is. Now get out of here!"
More dark figures spurted from the dark doorway. Darbor gave involuntary shudder as they swept past in a flurry of heavy-beating footsteps. Denver held her tightly, hand over her mouth. She bit his hand and he repressed a squeal of pain. She made no outcry and the pounding footsteps faded into distance.
Big Ed Caltis went inside, loudly planning to call the watch-detail at the s.p.a.ceport. His word was law in Crystal City.
"Can we beat them to the ship?" Denver asked.
"We can try," Darbor replied....
The s.p.a.ceport was a blaze of light. Tod Denver expertly picked the gatelock. The watchman came out of his shack, picking his teeth. He looked sleepy, but grinned appreciatively at Darbor.
"Hi, Tod! You sure get around. Man just called about you. Sounded mad.
What"s up?"
"Plenty. What did you tell him?"
The watchman went on picking his teeth. "Nothing. He don"t pay my wages. Want your ship? Last one in the line-up. Watch yourself. I haven"t looked at it, but there"ve been funny noises tonight. Maybe you"ve got company."
"Maybe I have. Lend me your gun, Ike?"
"Sure, I"ve eaten. I"m going back to sleep. If you don"t need the gun, leave it on the tool-locker. If you do, I want my name in the papers.
They"ll misspell it, but the old lady will get a kick. So long. Good luck. If it"s a boy, Ike"s a good, old-fashioned name."
Tod Denver and Darbor ran the length of the illuminated hangar to the take-off pits at the far end. His s.p.a.ce sled was the last in line.
That would help for a quick blast-off.
Darbor was panting, ready to drop from exhaustion. But she dragged gamely on. Gun ready, he reached up to the airlock flap.
Inside the ship was sudden commotion. A scream was cut off sharply.
Scurried movement became bedlam. Uproar ceased as if a knife had cut through a ribbon of sound.
Denver flung open the flap and scrabbled up and through the valve to the interior.
Two of Big Ed"s trigger men lay on the floor. One had just connected with a high-voltage charge from Charley. The other had quietly fainted. Denver dumped them outside, helped Darbor up and closed the ship for take-off. He switched off cabin lights.
He wasted no time in discussion until the ship was airborne and had nosed through the big dome-valves into the airless Lunar sky.
A fat hunk of Earth looked like a blueberry chiffon pie, but was brighter. It cast crazy shadows on the terrain unreeling below.
Darbor sat beside him. She felt dazed, and wondered briefly what had happened to her.