by Don Wilcox
“What?”
“Three murdered Zandonian soldiers in the flashiest uniforms you ever saw!”
CHAPTER III
Zandonian Gems Adrift
The handsome King Ajo Baustobub sat in his cabin looking at himself in the mirror. It was not his finely chiselled features nor his clear olive complexion—heritage from the best royal blood of Zandonia and Egypt— that impressed him; rather it was the bloodshot eyes, the pouches of sleepless vigilance beneath them. This voyage was terrifying.
Hourly his perils multiplied. Nine of his twelve guardsmen were gone. Murdered, according to Captain Kiger, during encounters with space pirates.
A knock sounded at his door.
“Who it is?”
“Miss Udell.”
He turned the key cautiously. The smartly uniformed hostess entered. As always, her beauty sent a thrill through his manly frame.
“With your permission,” he said suavely, “I shall lock the door upon us.”
“After all that’s happened, I certainly don’t blame you.” The girl crossed to a luxurious chair, glanced about, let her eyes linger upon the three small trunks of glittering jewels which lay open on the floor.
“You’re not afraid—being locked in this room with me?” he pursued.
“Why should I be? I’m simply an official on this liner.”
“But you are also very beautiful,” he persisted.
She smiled. “Your majesty is too well mannered to cause me any fear. Besides, I carry my own keys to every door.”
The king raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Yes, of course.” His eyes went to the jewels and back to the girl. He twitched uncomfortably.
“Moreover, I carry a gun,” she added calmly. “One never knows what may happen on a space trip. You carry a gun too, I presume?”
“Yes, I—” he gestured toward the table where it lay, newly polished.
“Good. The way things are going, you may need it.”
“Yes, I—” The king swallowed a lump of fear, inhaled a breath of boldness. He was a handsome figure in his white uniform, gold braided.
“You are in the greatest danger,” the girl said quietly. “I hope you arrive at Venus in safety, but you must keep on your guard.”
“Yes, I—” Ajo edged toward the table. “I didn’t know when I booked passage that the pirates could be so bad.”
Susette looked away for an instant, then faced him with the bombshell: “Do you realize that you are the only one left on the ship now—except the crew?”
“But my three guardsmen—?”
“The last three are gone.”
The king staggered. For a minute he was stupefied. He tried to speak in a controlled voice. “Murdered, of course, by space pirates—as the others were?”
Susette’s lips twisted slightly. “So I was told.”
Then anger burst like an explosion. The king’s fist came down on the table, he snatched up his revolver, sprang toward the door. Susette barred the way. “Your pardon, Miss,” he demanded coldly.
“Wait!” she cried. “What are you going to do?”
“Get to the bottom of this!” The bite of hate was in his words. “Face Captain Kiger! Demand to know who has murdered my men!”
“Then you think—”
“Someone on board has done it! I’ve kept watch every minute since we disposed of the last three bodies—and there has been no pirate ship. The pirates are on board, I tell you! Maybe Kiger is the pirate! Maybe you—” He cut short as the girl paled. “Anyway I’m going to find out!”
He struggled to tear her terrified body from the door.
“No!” she cried. “Don’t go out there in a rage!”
He drew back and gazed at her. It was his policy never to trust a beautiful face, but the girl’s alarm went through him. He calmed.
“Were the bodies of my last three heroes saved?”
“Yes,” she answered. “They are lying in the corridor near the disposal chute, if you wish to see them.”
“Perhaps later. For the present— no. Bring me cigarettes, please. And coffee.”
She went out, through the corridor, through the dining room, to the grill.
Kiger set the ship’s controls and gathered his crew of three into conference. They huddled over a breakfast table near the grill, but made no effort to conceal their words from Susette. She listened as she prepared coffee for the ship’s only passenger.
“The coast’s clear now,” Kiger growled. “One more bullet will finish the job and we’ll head for Mars, where those gems will bring the best price. Back home we’ll chalk ’em up to space pirates.”
One of the men nodded. Vietoff, first mate, grunted. “Where’s the need to kill the king? Just go in and demand the ice! Four of us to one of him. He’ll fork over.”
“And then what comes of him?” Brewer asked.
“That’s the point!” snapped Kiger. “We better make a clean job of it. It’s safer. We could have pushed them all out, and saved our bullets, but we’d always worry about it, knowing that now and then some one gets lifted out of absolute zero and comes back to life.”
Macey grumbled, “My guess is, we’ll have trouble on our hands from Ajo. He’s got a cold eye and a quick hand—and gun play is bad business in a space ship.”
Kiger’s heavy jaw jutted. “We can fix that.” He called “Udell!”
Susette, starting through the doorway with a tray, turned.
“Come here with that coffee,” her superior officer barked. “Here’s the thing boys.” He fished a small black pill from his pocket and dropped it into the cup. “That’ll put him under for twenty-four hours. Before he comes to, we’ll plug some lead in his belly and dump him. Simple as A B C. Okey, sister, run along with that coffee. And then you’d better roll those last three ‘heroes’ on the trap. We don’t want no tale tellers, living or dead.”
“Or male or female!” Brewer added, as the girl went out of hearing.
Macey seized on the point. “It’s time we knew where the girl stands, Kiger. She’s damned independent, if you ask me.”
“You’re jittery, Macey,” the pilot growled. “She stands with us. She’s stood by without a murmur while we put the works on twelve guardsmen. She’ll never talk.”
“The way to be sure,” said Vietoff, “is to give her a cut of the swag.”
“Cut, hell” Macey cried. “It’s hard enough to cut three chests four ways, let alone five.”
“Aw, you make me sick,” Kiger snarled.
“Yeah? Maybe you’ve got a crush on the girl,” Macey muttered.
“Maybe I have!” Kiger snapped. For an instant his mind jumped back to a vague impression that bothered him—the impression that he had seen the girl somewhere before she came aboard his ship. He threw off the thought and faced his three men. “Go get some sleep while you’ve got the chance,” he ordered.
Though it revolted her, Susette rolled the bodies onto the automatic disposal trap with dispatch, for now she burned with purpose. She reentered the royal cabin. King Ajo had finished his coffee and was already in a heavy stupor.
“His highness may not appreciate this kindness,” she whispered to herself, “but it has to be done.”
Then stealthily she locked the chests, rolled them out into the corridor and onto the trap. One by one, they plummeted through the automatic air locks and out into space.
An hour later Kiger grew restless at the controls, decided he would clean up the grisly business single-handed. He found Ajo dead to the world. He drew a gun and pressed it against the kingly temple, studied the drooping olive eyelids, heavy with sleep. A moment’s hesitation. A glance about the room.
Something disconcerted him. That space on the floor. The jewel cases— where were they? Gone!
A chill of terror went through Kiger. He holstered his gun, stormed about the room. Frantic minutes of vain search— bewilderment—then sullen reflection.
Susette sat in the lounge lost in a book when Kiger stro
de in and roared at her. “I’ve just recollected where I saw you, before you were a space hostess!”
“Saw me?” Susette reddened.
“You! It was in a class I visited. A young fellow named Kendrick worked out a problem, and you were there! You caught it!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the girl stammered.
“Yeah? You were swift enough to catch the problem, and you’re swift enough to play your own wits for the gems—”
“But I don’t understand—”
“I understand!” the heavy jawed pilot snarled. “I know about the gravitational funnel we’re in, the same as you do, and I figure I can find the end of it. We change our course this minute!” He slammed the door and stalked to the control room.
CHAPTER IV
Crisis Comes to “Jones”
Ebbtide Jones steadied the sign-board, “JONES,” while Stan Kendrick piled bucket-sized boulders around its base. Every few days (earth time) they had to dig it out and replant it for more meteorids rolled in constantly. The floating rock pile which they called their planet was three times larger than when they came.
Any many times richer! At least, in the beach comber’s estimation.
The inpouring wealth kept Ebb so excited he grew thin from forgetting to eat. Every new speck of light that spiralled in from the void met his critical inspection.
Suddenly he dropped the sign and leaped far out into space to bring down something. “Well, I’m a seahoss!” Stan heard him exclaim through the radio, “if it ain’t another Zandonian cop! Must be a murder epidemic somewhere out there.”
They disposed of the twelfth Zandonian body and took the uniform to Ebb’s cache, near the well-hidden space flivver. They pondered glumly. Foul business on the space routes! Pirates! Or possibly an international space chase. The mystery had an ugly look. It troubled Stan; especially when Ebb spoke of the fingernail marks on the wrists of the corpse and said, “There’s a gal helpin’ with this job!”
Then a week-old newspaper clipping shook out of the uniform and gave them the dazzling story of King Ajo Baustobub, his decision to charter a ship to Venus, take twelve guardsmen and the priceless Zandonian Gems.
Stan grew silent, thoughtful. Ebb kicked himself and bawled like a child. Zandonian Gems at the mercy of pirates! And here he plodded, collecting rocket motors, space guns, pocketbooks, uniforms! Why hadn’t he gone in for piracy!
Stan clutched his wrist. Ebb looked up, saw, shrieked, leaped out into space to seize the spiralling trunk, ride it down.
Ten minutes later they sat petrified, stared into three trunks of glittering gems. Ebb’s eyes bugged out against his space helmet. He had lived all his life for this moment.
Stan shook his head. “We can’t take them, Ebb.”
“Can’t—” Ebb gagged like a drowned cat. “But you told me I could have everything! You promised me—”
“I’m sorry, Ebb, but—”
“I’ll give you part of it, Stan. I’ll split it with you. I was goin’ to anyway—”
Stan smiled but remained adamant, even though Ebb’s face told him their friendship would shatter. “No, Ebb, it belongs to King Ajo. So far as we know, he’s still alive; it’s our duty to restore his property to him.”
The frustrated Ebb peered into the blackness, desperately praying that the body of King Ajo would come in next. He wouldn’t have been surprised, as swiftly as these magic events came.
A silk handkerchief lay in the corner of a jewel chest. Stan wadded it in his hand, stunned to discover it bore the initials, S.U.
“Let’s cover these jewels, Ebb,” he said. “We’re going to have some company, and we’d better watch our step.”
The great space liner nosed into the vortex and crept cautiously several times around the boulder-studded sphere. Spiralling space balls bounced over its nose and rolled off its fins.
Within, the crew pressed their faces against the portholes and grumbled. They had learned Kiger’s reason for coming here and they thought him crazy. Recover gems lost in space! Absurd!
“I still think it was the girl that dumped them overboard,” said Macey, “even though Ajo claims he did it. I figure he’s lyin’ to protect her.”
“Yeah? Kiger says the king did it.”
“He’s lyin’ too, cause he’s got a crush on the girl.”
“We shoulda got her out of the way beforehand. I’d bet my helmet the stuff’s gone for good.”
The ship stopped and the captain faced his crew. “All right, you backbiters, before we go look for those gems, I’m ready to buy out any of you that wants to sell your cut. Who’s first?” The men hushed, reconsidered. Kiger gave orders. Baustobub was left securely locked in his cabin. The others donned their space suits, went forth. After much floundering and bouncing out into space, they stumbled upon a path of ropes and scraps of wreckage.
“Someone’s been here,” Kiger muttered through the radios. “Udell, what do you know about this?”
“No more than you do,” the girl answered.
At that moment on the other side of the sphere Stan and Ebb faced each other in surprise. Stan motioned his companion not to speak, scribbled a command to him, “Cut off your transmitter. They’re on our wave length.” Ebb tried to obey, fumbled, muttered, “How the hell—” before Stan could chop him off. Every word from the party came to their ears. They heard Kiger roar, “Who said that?” No answer.
“Who said, ‘How the hell’ ?” he repeated. The men looked at each other blankly. “Someone’s here!” Kiger snapped. “Follow me close and keep your guns ready. Udell, you walk ahead. You’re good protection. Brewer, for God’s sake, quit bumping out into space. Can’t you tread light and hang on?”
They moved to a pole of the sphere where the artificial path ended at a signboard, “JONES.” Kiger kicked it and it sailed over into the dark.
Sun rays caught the figure of a man in space uniform who approached over the curved horizon. Susette gasped, looked for a sign of recognition, but got none.
“Gentlemen,” Stan spoke cooly, “and Miss, I welcome you to the planet of Jones. What can I do—”
“Save your gab!” Kiger thundered. “We didn’t come for a tea party. We want the gems.”
“Mind your manners!” said Stan sharply. “You’re trespassing on private property.”
“Cut the stallin’ ! Your friend here, Miss Udell, knows your game as well as I do. Now you cough up three boxes of jewels—”
“If you’re referring to the Zandonian gems,” Stan came closer to the row of muzzles, “I have every intention of returning them to the owner.”
“Then trot ’em out!” Kiger demanded. “The owner is waiting in my ship.” He forced Susette to verify this statement, but Stan ignored her words. “Let him come and claim them!” Kiger snorted. “You think Ajo Baustobub would risk his life on this shaky rock pile? He sent us to get them.”
“Tell him that won’t do!” Stan cracked. “I want to see him in person —and ask him who murdered his guards—and why!”
The gun muzzles quivered.
“All right, boys,” Kiger snarled. “We can’t waste words on this fellow. He knows too much. We’ll find the jewels for ourselves. Let him have it!”
Three guns blazed as Stan fell to cover. Hot rays passed over him. He crowded a cluster of barrel sized boulders toward the gunmen, emptied his own automatic at them through the crevices. Shots went wild, men lost their footing, rolling boulders threw them into a heap.
Stan heard Susette’s cry, wondered where she cast her lot and whether her savage superior had captured her, heart and soul. A passing flash through his mind, swift as his muscles. He plunged into the dog pile of men, siezed a gun in time to bat a drawn revolver out of Kiger’s hands. Then a shot blew the weapon from his own hands, and a blow across his back felled him.
As he fainted off he knew a muzzle came against his space helmet and a girl screamed.
He did not hear the voice that froze the me
n in their tracks. Ebb’s voice that cried, “I’ve got the jewels packed in, Stan! Ship’s all ready. Where are you?”
Kiger smiled. “That simplifies matters. Let’s find that ship.” A glance told him Stan was out of the picture. “Get along, Udell, and no more of that screaming.”
Ebb’s wail continued to pour in their ears. “I’m all set, Stan. Where are you?”
The frightened beach comber followed the path half a circumference before he spied the party toiling in his direction. The sun was on him, he saw the guns come up, ducked to cover as the stream of fire poured past him. Chilled to the marrow, he made for the darkened face of the sphere.
Too late he realized his mistake in opening the flivver’s hiding place. The path they followed led to it. He fled over the boulders in torment. What to do? If he could only find Stan—or had they killed him?
Mutterings in his earphones sickened him, told him all was lost. “One’s ship’s as good as another,” came Kiger’s voice. “We’ll pick up the liner later.” The four men dragged the flivver out into the open. “Check up on the jewels!” And soon someone reported back. “All three chests in the rear cabin.”
Ebb crept closer, looked on, dazed. They gave the lithe ship a push out into space, caught the ladders, made for the air locks. In another moment rockets would fire and the thugs would be off with their booty.
Funny the gal didn’t try to get aboard. She stood there like a mute statue. But the instant the last man entered, she set up a cry for Stan that chilled Ebb’s blood.
Then her words broke. Out of the black horizon the leaping body of Stan caught the sun’s gleam. The sphere’s rotation was in his favor. Three low jumps brought him near. Pain showed in his movements as he snatched up something and bounded outward. A strange startling sight.
His leap was true. He caught the rear fin of the drifting boat. He battered the rear porthole with a stone. The glass was stubborn.
Kiger saw from within, caught the danger. If that glass went, the flivver’s oxygen went with it. Out to the ladder came Kiger. He swung, seized a deadly grip on the perilously perched body, yanked the struggling, weightless form of Stan through the air locks, into the ship.
