"Couldn"t be anywhere else," answered Strong. "And he"ll be trying to signal us, you can bet on that. Keep me posted on all radar contacts made by the search squadrons. I want a continuous six-way radar sweep by every ship."
"Yes, sir," said Roger.
"One more thing," said Strong, "tell Astro to get the _Polaris_ ready to blast off. And you make sure your radar bridge is in A-one condition."
"Are we blasting off, sir?" asked Roger.
"Every ship we can get into s.p.a.ce will give us a better chance of finding c.o.xine and his crew. Now that we"ve got the search fully under way there"s no need to hang around here any longer."
"Glad to hear it, sir," replied Roger. "I was getting a little itchy to hunt for those crawlers myself. And Astro can hardly keep still."
Strong smiled. "Don"t worry, we"ll find Tom," he said. "Wherever he is, you can bet he"s taking care of himself and doing a good job for the Solar Guard."
Roger"s eyes twinkled. "Oh, I wasn"t so worried about Tom as I was Astro, sir. He"ll be pretty mad if there isn"t anything left of c.o.xine to pay him back for slugging him."
Strong rubbed his head and said grimly, "Astro"s not the only one!"
The blond-haired cadet left the room, and Strong wearily turned back to study the chart of the search in the asteroid belt.
Immediately upon arrival at s.p.a.ce Academy, two days before, Strong had been placed in charge of the search by Commander Walters. The attack on the prison asteroid and the escape of the prisoners had created the biggest sensation in his life. From one end of the Solar Alliance to the other, the visunews and the stereos were full of the attack and escape details, with Strong"s name appearing often in the headlines and news flashes. To search the asteroid belt had been his suggestion, and while he could offer no proof, he believed the attacking ship had been commanded by Wallace and Simms. Speaking only to Commander Walters, Strong had received permission to combine the search for Wallace and Simms, with the new hunt for c.o.xine. Strong was convinced that c.o.xine was behind the activity of Wallace and Simms, from the beginning at the Solar Exposition to the present.
Strong looked at his watch. It was past midnight. He flipped a switch and paged Lieutenant Moore on the central communicators. In a few moments the young officer appeared and saluted smartly.
"Take over here, Moore," said Strong. "I"m going to sack in for a little rest and then take the _Polaris_ out. I"ll be in constant contact with you and will direct search operations from the _Polaris_. You stand by here and relay all reports. We"ll use code "VISTA" for all contacts."
"Yes, sir," said Moore. "Shall I work up charts like that one?" He pointed to the chart left by Roger.
"Statistics here at the academy will handle that," replied Strong. "Just shoot the information down to them as you receive it. And you"d better get someone else up here to help you. You"ll be here a long time."
Moore saluted and Strong walked wearily from the room. There wasn"t any need for cleverness now, thought the Solar Guard captain. When we catch c.o.xine, he"ll fight. And when he fights, that will be the end of him!
He went to his quarters and in thirty seconds was asleep.
"Radar bridge to control deck!" A voice crackled over the intercom aboard the newly named pirate ship, _Avenger_. "Hullo, control deck!
Come in!"
"Yeah?" roared Bull c.o.xine. "Whaddya want?"
"Picked up a blip on the radar, Captain," replied the radar officer.
"Looks to me like the jet liner from Mars to Venus."
"Relay the pickup to the control-deck scanner and let me take a look at it," ordered c.o.xine.
In a moment the big pirate was studying the scanner carefully. Wallace and Simms stood to one side. c.o.xine turned and looked at them with a hard glint in his eyes. "That"s the jet liner, all right!" He rubbed the palms of his huge hands together and smiled thinly. "It looks like we"re in business!"
Wallace stepped forward. "You mean, you"re going to--?"
"I"ll tell you what I mean," snapped c.o.xine, "when I want you to know it!"
He turned to the intercom and began to bawl orders into the microphone.
"All hands! Stand by your stations for attack!"
There was an answering roar of approval from the crew.
"We"re making our first strike, you s.p.a.ce crawlers! A jet liner from Mars to Venus. There"ll be lots of fancy things aboard her. Things the Solar Guard wouldn"t give you on the Rock!"
There was another roar over the loud-speaker.
"But the first man that takes anything but what I tell him will find himself on the wrong end of two big fists!"
"We"re closing in, Captain," interrupted the voice from the radar bridge. "The angle of approach is in our favor. I don"t think they"ve seen us yet!"
"Keep watching her, Joe," replied c.o.xine, and turned to his two henchmen on the control deck. "You, Wallace! Take number-one jet boat. Russell, Stephens, Attardi, and Harris. Each man will take a paralo-ray pistol and rifle. Report to your boat when I give the order."
There was a pause as the men named scurried to their stations. c.o.xine continued, "The following men will come with me in boat number two.
Sh.e.l.ly, Martin, and the s.p.a.ce Kid. The rest of you man the forward and aft blasters. But no one fires until Lieutenant Simms gives the order!"
He turned to Simms and stared at the man coldly. "I"ll be in contact with you all the time. You"ll fire when I say to fire, and not before.
Is that clear?"
Simms nodded.
"Range-fifty thousand yards to liner, Captain!" reported the radar bridge. "I think she"s sighted us!"
"Forward turret!" roared c.o.xine. "Put a blast across her bow just to show how friendly we are!"
"Aye, aye, sir," acknowledged a voice from the gun turret.
In the turret Tom listened to the orders to attack the helpless s.p.a.ceship with mounting anxiety. If he could only plant the signal on the _Avenger_ before going to the liner, he might be able to remain aboard the pa.s.senger ship and escape. He was interrupted in his thoughts by a rough voice in back of him.
"Hey, Kid! s.p.a.ce Kid!" yelled Gaillard, the commander of the gun turret.
"Come on! You heard the orders, didn"t you? Get me the range."
"Right away," answered Tom. He stepped to the range finder, quickly figured the speed of the jet liner, their own speed and the angle of approach. Racking them up on the electronic tracker, he turned back to Gaillard, "Let her go!"
"Fire!"
There was a thunderous noise and the _Avenger_ rocked gently in recoil from the heavy blast. Tom quickly sighted on the range finder and saw a ball of light flash brilliantly in front of the pa.s.senger ship. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had to keep up his avowed reputation of being a crack marksman and at the same time could not damage the unarmed pa.s.senger ship. The shot had been perfect.
"Good shooting, Kid," roared c.o.xine from the control deck.
"Thanks, skipper," said Tom, aware that he had not called c.o.xine captain, but knowing that his earner speech to the giant pirate had earned him a certain amount of respect.
c.o.xine quickly made contact with the captain of the liner on the teleceiver and the outraged captain"s face sharpened into focus on the screen aboard the _Avenger_.