Jezzan, thrusting back the angry captain."We've got a say here. Headquarters wants this man. He's got moreinformation than he's given. There's some other affairs he can talkabout. He's going back with us."
Cragley didn't argue the matter. It was beyond his authority. Besides,if I received my just dues, he cared little where I was executed.
They placed me under strong guard on the outlaw ship, and we flew backto Deliphon. Knowing me for the clever, resourceful criminal which Ipride myself on being, Jezzan and Cartley personally conducted me to theearth. There, I was given a brief examination.
At present, I find myself in the interplanetary penal colony of Phoboswhere I am being held for reasons peculiar to the Hayko Unit. I expectdeath most any day. In the meantime, I spend much of my numbered hoursgazing out of my prison into the realms of space. The rotating sphere ofMars stands prominent against starlit skies. Occasionally, I see Phobos'companion moon, Deimos. Beyond the transparent facing of my prison cellstretches an airless void. There is but one escape. I await it, absorbedin fatalistic reflection.
THE END
Spacewrecked on Venus Page 7
