"Hm-m! There's something funny about this," mused Walters.
Strong stepped forward quickly. "Would you like me to investigate, sir?" he asked eagerly.
"Of course not," snapped Walters. "What's the matter with you? We've got a whole planet full of people about to lose their homes and you want to take time off to investigate pure speculation!"
"I'm sorry, sir." Strong's face flushed at the rebuke.
"Carry on! Work with Joe Howard."
"Yes, sir."
Strong saluted and started for the door. He passed Tom, Astro, Sid, and Kit without so much as a glance. His jaw was set like a rock.
Tom Corbett shuffled uncomfortably, embarrassed at the rebuke Strong had just suffered from Walters. It was not like the commander to flare up so quickly. The situation on Titan must be extremely serious. He and Astro ducked out of the room quickly.
"Come on, Astro," muttered the young cadet. "Let's get a bite to eat. I'm starved."
"I was," said the giant Venusian. "But I lost my appetite."
"Boy, do I wish I had Roger here now!"
"Yeah, me too!"
CHAPTER 12
Olympia, the largest colony on Titan, was gripped by a wave of fear. The broad streets were empty; the shops and stores were deserted; and the population waited in line at the spaceport, with their most valuable belongings, for their turn to leave the threatened settlement. Slowly the satellite of Saturn was dying, and through the methane ammonia atmosphere, the glittering rings of the mother planet shone down on her death struggle.
Tom Corbett and Astro walked through the streets silently, overcome by the desolation around them. Many parts of the city were completely abandoned, and the few remaining citizens wore cumbersome oxygen masks as the deadly atmosphere of gas seeped through the force field to reach the ground surface of the satellite.
As the two cadets continued their dismal tour, they could only find one small restaurant open, a self-service food center that required no help. They were the only customers. During the meal they hardly talked, as they watched the slow procession of people outside, heading for the spaceport.
When the two cadets left the restaurant, a jet car suddenly blasted to a stop beside them and a master sergeant, dressed in the scarlet red of the enlisted Solar Guard, jumped out to face them.
"All persons are required to wear oxygen masks, Cadets," the sergeant announced, handing over two masks. "And I would suggest that you leave this section of the city as quickly as possible. The screens are leaking badly again. We may have to close off this section too."
Tom and Astro took the masks but did not put them on.
"Thanks, Sergeant," said Tom. "But we'll probably be around here for some time. We're on special duty with Commander Walters and Captain Strong."
At the mention of Strong's name, the sergeant started, looked at the boys closely, and then smiled. "Say, aren't you Corbett and Astro?"
"That's right," acknowledged Tom.
"Well, don't you remember me?" asked the sergeant.
Tom looked at him closely and then smiled in sudden recognition. "Morgan! Phil Morgan!" he cried.
"Of course," chimed in Astro.
"Sure," said the sergeant. "We went through our first test together at the Academy and I washed out."
"And you became an enlisted man!" exclaimed Tom. "Man, you're a real space buster!"
"I figured if I couldn't get into space one way, I'd do it another," said Morgan proudly. "A lot of times I wished I was still a cadet with you, but now I don't think I'd change it for anything in the world."
"I can believe that," said Tom, smiling. "And a master sergeant at that! McKenny told us once it took a man nearly fifteen years to get top rating. It must really be a labor of love for you to have made it this quickly." He stuck out his hand. "Congratulations, Morgan."
They shook hands. "Well, I've got to get rolling," said Morgan. "I sure hope you fellows find out what's cooking here. I've got a lot of friends here and they stand to lose everything they own if Titan is abandoned."
"With Captain Strong on the job, you can bet we'll find out the trouble," declared Astro.
Morgan smiled. "See you around," he said, and jumped back into the jet car. A second later it was roaring down the street to the western part of the city.
"Boy, sure makes you feel good to know that a guy loves space so much that he would fight his way to the top of the enlisted guard as Morgan did!" said Tom.
Suddenly Astro jerked Tom by the sleeve and pulled him back into the restaurant to crouch behind the door.
"Hey, what's the matter with you?" growled Tom.
"Sh-h-h!" hissed Astro and pointed across the street. "Look!"
Tom poked his head around the corner of the doorway and quickly jerked it back again. Quent Miles was hurrying down the street.
"Wonder what he's doing around here?" whispered Astro, watching the black-clad spaceman pass directly opposite them and continue down the street, seemingly unaware that he was being watched.
"He must be heading for the evacuated section," said Tom.
"How do you figure that?" asked Astro, as they peered cautiously around the edge of the doorway.
"He's wearing his oxygen mask."
"Come on!" said Astro. "Let's find out what that heel is up to."
Hugging the buildings, the two cadets walked down the street, following Miles. There was a puzzled frown on Astro's face as he stared at the spaceman, a hundred feet away. "I swear, Tom," he complained, "I'm about to bust a rocket. Every time I see that guy, I think I know him, but when I try to pin it down, it slips away from me."
"Watch it!" cried Tom. "He's stopping."
The boys ducked behind a deserted jet car as Quent Miles suddenly spun around to stare suspiciously back down the street.
"I don't know if he saw us or not," whispered Tom.
"With that oxygen mask," replied the big cadet, "maybe he can't see very well."
"He's going on," replied Tom. "Come on. We've got to find out what he's up to. He wouldn't be concerned about someone following him if he weren't trying to hide something."
They slipped around the jet car and stepped back on the sidewalk. Ahead of them, Quent Miles was walking quickly, reading all the street signs. Suddenly he turned down a side street, and the two cadets raced after him.
They were in the outskirts of the city now. Great areas were covered with rolling grass fields where the citizens of Titan spent their leisure hours playing ball and picnicking, and it was easy for the cadets to follow the black-suited spaceman. They had to put on their oxygen masks as the deadly fumes of the methane ammonia atmosphere began to swirl around them. They were near the outer limits of the atmosphere screen's effectiveness.
"I think he's going into that building up ahead, Astro," said Tom, his voice distorted to a low metallic hiss by the miniature amplifier in the face of the mask.
Astro nodded and they ducked into a gully as Quent Miles turned once again and glanced down the street.
"Wonder what's in that building?" mused Tom.
"One way to find out," said Astro. "Come on. He's moving again."
The gas began to thicken now, and the two cadets found it difficult to see more than a few feet ahead as they moved cautiously through the swirling death around them. After what seemed like an hour, but was actually hardly more than a few minutes, they found the building Miles had entered.
"I'd give two weeks' leave for a ray gun now," said Tom.
"Want me to try the door?" asked Astro.
"Go ahead. We can't learn anything standing out here."
Astro put his hand on the circular latch and twisted it slowly. The door slid back on rollers, exposing a dark interior. The two boys slipped inside.
"Better close the door, Astro," said Tom. "The ammonia doesn't seem to be so thick in here."
Astro twisted the latch on the inner side and the heavy door rolled back into place. They turned slowly and saw a room that was dark except for a
single light gleaming weakly through the haze of the gas. When their eyes became adjusted to the semidarkness, they moved, searching for another door in the huge room.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Astro.
"I can't be positive," said Tom. "The stuff outside was too thick—" He stopped, touched Astro on the arm, and pointed to his left. There was the sound of a door sliding back and light filtered into the murky room. Quent Miles stood framed in the doorway, the unmistakable outline of a paralo-ray gun in his right hand.
"Drop to the floor," hissed Tom.
The two cadets dropped lightly to the floor and lay face down, while Quent Miles walked toward them fanning the gun around menacingly. Then, as he was about to step on Astro's hand, he turned and walked quickly back to the door. "You must be nuts, Charley," the two cadets heard him say. "There's nobody here."
The door rolled closed and the light was cut off. Tom and Astro rose and quietly made their way toward the door. They stopped, leaned against the door, and tried to hear what was going on inside, but were unable to distinguish more than a vague mumble of voices, because of their masks and the thickness of the door. Suddenly, however, they were conscious of footsteps approaching from the other side.
There was no time to hide. Each boy flattened himself against the wall on opposite sides of the door and held his breath as the door opened slowly.
* * * * *
"There can be no doubt about it, Steve," said Commander Walters to the young captain. "What we need are more powerful pumping stations for oxygen and additional generators for supplying power to the force field."
"How do you figure that, sir?" asked Strong.
"It's simply this," replied Walters. "The population here has nearly tripled in the past two years. The force-field screens were set up originally to accommodate only a minimum number of miners and their families. With the heavy demand for crystal, and therefore, more civilians to dig it out, the force field has been overloaded."
"But I still don't see how, sir," Strong protested.
"The more people, the more oxygen needed to keep them alive, right?"
Strong nodded.
"The force screens hold back the methane ammonia gas and create a vacuum into which we pump oxygen, right?"
Again Strong nodded.
"Now we have a demand for more and more oxygen, and we pump it into the vacuum, but eventually we arrive at the point where the pressure of the oxygen inside is greater than the pressure outside. Therefore, the screening force field is broken in its weaker points and the oxygen escapes. When the balance is restored, the rupture isn't sealed and gas seeps in."
Strong glanced questioningly at Captain Howard and at Kit Barnard, who had been asked to remain on Titan and lend his assistance to the problem of the screens.
"Well, gentlemen?" asked Walters, noticing Strong's glance. "That is my theory. Do any of you have a better one? Or a more reasonable explanation?"
Strong, Barnard, and Howard shook their heads. A complete check of every possible source of trouble had been made by the four men and they had found nothing.
"We still have to wait for a report from the electronics sections, sir," said Howard, rubbing his eyes. He started to get up and then suddenly slumped to the floor.
"By the craters of Luna!" cried Walters, jumping to the young officer's side. Howard was picked up and placed on a nearby couch. While Strong and Kit loosened his clothing, Walters grabbed the nearest oxygen mask and slipped it over the spaceman's face.
"Funny that he should pass out like that," commented Strong, sniffing the air. "I still don't smell anything."
Kit looked up at Strong and grinned. "He's not gassed. He's asleep."
"Asleep!" exclaimed Walters.
The enlisted spaceman standing on guard at the door stepped forward and saluted smartly. "Captain Howard hasn't slept for the last five days," he said. "He's been working night and day."
Walters smiled. "All right, Sergeant, take him to his quarters." Then he held up his hand. "No, let him stay where he is." He turned to Steve. "Come on, Steve. You too, Kit. Let's see if we can't get a report from the electronics section before we speculate any further."
The three men left the control-tower office under the watchful eyes of a squad of Space Marines. Trouble had already started at the spaceport when a crowd of excited miners had charged a detachment of enlisted men guarding Solar Guard cruisers. The crowds were growing panicky as the deadly gas filled the city, unchecked.
Strong, Walters, and Kit Barnard climbed into a waiting jet car, amid the hoots and catcalls from the waiting miners, and hurtled away to the giant building housing the electronic "brain" that controlled the force-field screens.
Walters' face was grim. Beside him, Strong and Kit were silent as they raced through the empty streets. If there was no positive discovery by the electronics section of the huge screening operations, then it would have to be assumed that Commander Walters was right in his theory of overpopulation. To remedy that situation would require complete reconstruction of the satellite settlement and temporary abandonment of Titan. Millions of dollars would be lost and thousands of people thrown out of work. It would be a severe blow to the Solar Alliance.
The jet car slowed to a stop. They were in front of the electronics building and the three men climbed out wearily. They would know in a few minutes now.
CHAPTER 13
"You're afraid of your own shadow!" Miles snarled over his shoulder to Charley Brett who followed him out of the room. Brett was adjusting his oxygen mask with one hand and gripping a paralo-ray gun tightly with the other.
"Never mind the cracks," snapped Brett, his voice muffled by the mask. "I tell you I heard someone moving around in here."
Miles laughed again and walked straight to the middle of the room. With their backs pressed to the wall beside the door, Tom and Astro saw Miles bend over and lift a trap door in the middle of the floor.
The two men flashed a light down into the opening and climbed down, pulling the trap door closed after them.
No sooner was it shut than Tom and Astro jumped forward to examine it cautiously. Astro started to pull it open but Tom held out a warning hand. He turned and pointed toward the room that Miles and Brett had left. Astro nodded and they walked quickly back to the door. Sliding it open, they stepped inside.
"By the rings of Saturn!" cried Astro.
"Well, blast my jets!" Tom exclaimed.
The air in the room was clear, completely free of the misty whirling methane ammonia of death that swirled around them outside. Recovering from his surprise quickly, Astro closed the door and walked to the center of the room, looking around curiously. Tom had already slipped off his mask and was examining the equipment lying on the floor. Astro bent over an oddly shaped machine that looked somewhat like an ancient compressed-air drill, with a long bar protruding from one end. He examined the bar closely and then turned slowly to Tom.
"Do you know what this machine is?" he asked in almost a whisper.
Tom looked at it and then shook his head.
"I haven't seen one of these since I left Venus, and then only when I was a kid hanging around the spaceports where the space rats used to blast off for the asteroids looking for uranium."
"You mean you hunt uranium with that thing?" asked Tom.
"No, you dig it out with this."
Tom gazed at the machine thoughtfully. "Why would it be here?" he mused. "It's already been used," said Astro, standing up. "Look, the drill head is dull."
"That trap door!" Tom exclaimed. "It leads to a mine. Miles and Brett have discovered high-grade uranium right here on Titan where everyone thought there was nothing but crystal!"
Astro nodded grimly. "And that isn't all. This room is free of ammonia gas."
"But how in the star-blazing dickens can they keep it out of here when everything else outside is flooded with it?" asked Tom.
Astro spun around and began to examine the walls. "Just as I thought!" he
exclaimed. "This room is airtight! Sealed! Oxygen is being pumped in here."
"From where?"
"Might be from somewhere below," replied the big Venusian. "Down that trap where Miles and Brett went."
Tom put his mask back on and headed for the door. Astro followed him. They opened it a little and peered into the swirling mist.
"Then it's being pumped in directly," Tom asserted. "Through a duct leading directly up into this room from somewhere below."
Astro nodded. "Then there's only one thing left to do. Go down through that trap door and see what we can find." He stepped forward.
"Wait a minute, Astro," said Tom, stopping him. "Let me check our oxygen. There might not be any down there. Remember, Miles and Brett wore their masks."
Making a quick check of their oxygen supply, Tom patted Astro on the back and started forward. "It's O.K. We've got another four hours left. Come on!"
They moved toward the trap door slowly.
"I still wish I had a ray gun," whispered Tom.
"As long as I can use these"—Astro balled his hamlike hands into fists—"we're O.K."
When they reached the trap door, Tom got down on his knees and felt around for the opening. He found a small ring bolt, motioned to Astro to step back, and pulled. The trap door swung back easily and a shaft of white light gleamed in his face. The young cadet leaned down and looked through the opening. What he saw made him gasp.
"What is it?" demanded Astro.
Tom got down on his knees and felt around for an opening
Tom motioned for him to get down and look. The big cadet dropped lightly to his knees to peer through the opening. "By the moons of Jupiter," he exclaimed, "it's a—a mining shaft!"
"Just what we thought it was," whispered Tom. "Come on. Let's go down and find out where it leads."
"Maybe we'd better go back and tell Captain Strong about this first," Astro said speculatively.
"There's no telling what Brett and Miles are liable to do while we're gone," said Tom. "You find Captain Strong and I'll go down into the shaft and look around."
Tom Corbett Space Cadet Page 92
