Tom Swift and the Asteroid Pirates (16 page)

"NO MATTER what happens now, Skipper, the Cobra can’t hold Nestria," Bud pointed out. "If the
Unstoppable
can get through with your magnetic gizmo, so could a flock of missiles. He’s wide open to a missile counterpunch!"

Tom nodded. "When he realizes that fact, he may be willing to negotiate." Tom knew that nevertheless, before such a counterattack could be launched, the fate of the base personnel would have to be ascertained. Tom wondered grimly if any were still alive. For that matter, would he and his loyal comrade ever return safely to their homes and families?

Clenching his teeth, the young inventor forced himself to concentrate on the immediate dangers of landing. Nestria was looming ahead now, growing larger by the moment through the pilot’s viewdome.

They were approaching the night side of the tiny asteroid, but its crags and craters were thinly visible by earthshine. A tiny spot of light near the equator marked the American base.

Tom now activated the repelatrons and swiveled them to brake the ship’s speed by pushing against the mass of Little Luna. Then he switched off all lights. Instantly the cabin was illuminated only by the ghostly glow from the instrument panels and the faint starlight.

"Depending on how sharp a lookout they’re keeping, from the
Fanshen
or the surface, I think we have a fair chance to land unnoticed," Tom declared softly. "With our Antitec sheathing we won’t show up on radar, and they don’t expect anyone to get past the barrier."

The scientist-inventor did not finish the thought—
unless
their detection instruments had alerted them to the brief disruption of the Great Wall as the ship passed through!

They came in very low to the ground, so low that they passed between spires of rock and the walls of desolate canyons, working their way toward Base Galileo. Anxious minutes dragged by as they watched for any sign of detection or attack. None came. At last the
Unstoppable
landed gently in a barren secluded valley, an arroyo that had never known water, at a safe distance from the base.

"So far, so good," Bud murmured. "What now, Tom? Continue with the plan?"

"Yup. The only way to find out the situation is to scout the base up close," Tom replied. He winked at his friend. "Want to tag along?"

"You won’t get away without me, pal—plan or no plan!"

For ease of movement in Nestria’s breathable air and slight gravity, they left their spacesuits and helmets behind, stripping down to comfortable work garments. After crisply reporting their success, via the craft’s PER unit, to the jubilant team aboard the
Challenger
, the two emerged through the airlock and headed off into the stark landscape.

A dozen minutes of rugged trekking brought them in sight of the base. Its barracks and workshops were ringed with floodlights—but half the support poles were twisted, their lamps shattered and dark. In the light of the remaining lamps, Tom and Bud could see a scene of terrible ruin. There were deep, cup-shaped craters everywhere, some still smoking amid ground halos of soot and cooling lava. Many of the habitat structures had collapsed from a violent impact, and the great canopy of the covered Brungarian facility, known as Astra Volkon, sagged to the ground. The main building, where Kent Rockland would have been while speaking to Tom, was a chaos of tortured metal supports and shreds of half-melted plastic.

There were moving silhouettes. After checking for residual radiation, the two reconnoiterers dropped down and wormed up as close as they dared to the ragged circle of light. "Jetz!—rat-bellied space rustlers!" Bud hissed under his breath.

The Black Cobra’s pirate force had taken over the base completely. Tough-looking sentries in the uniform of the Cobra’s elite guard were posted at intervals, armed with high-tech guns. Tom noted that a construction crew was already at work on missile and gun emplacements. From the launch and landing area on the far side of the base, the enemy spaceship protruded into view above the wreckage. The boys could see that utility cranes were unloading bulky equipment from the brooding
Fanshen
.

Tom gave a sudden, stifled exclamation. "That man by the spaceship—I’m sure it’s Achmet Rahj!"

"I can top that, Skipper—I see our old pal ‘Mr. Fun’ over by the Astra Volkon dome!"

"But no sign of Li Ching," Tom whispered. "Whether that’s a good or bad thing I’m not sure."

Responded Bud, "I’ll tell you one good thing. I don’t see any sign of bodies in the wreckage, or anyplace else."

"Then they weren’t injured and might have escaped before the ship landed—that’s what I
have
to believe, Bud," said the stricken young inventor.

"They’ll be waiting for us at the cave," urged his friend. "All of them—Chow too!"

"That’s where we’re headed. Even with our impulse guns, there’s no way the two of us could take this whole bunch," Tom murmured. "Good gosh, even if we remove the space barrier, how can the
Challenger
crew possibly cope with such a force? The Cobra’s army could be spread out all across Nestria!"

"Listen!" Bud whispered suddenly. "What about that idea of knocking out the atmosphere machines?" There was one at each pole of the asteroid to provide Nestria with a breathable atmosphere. If Tom and his companions engineered their destruction, the nets of nanotubules maintaining atmospheric pressure would dissolve away. The Cobra’s men would be deprived of air and have to withdraw!

It was a tempting idea, but Tom shook his head reluctantly. "Too inhuman, Bud. We can’t do such a thing unless our backs are really to the wall! And besides, our own colonists might die, unless the Cobra already has them captive aboard his ship or in pressurized cells somewhere."

The two had been whispering. Yet, in the cold air of night on Little Luna, the sound must have carried across the stretch of open ground toward the base.

Suddenly Tom realized the nearest sentry was peering in their direction! An instant later the man gave a shout of alarm and raised his gun!

Tom had kept his i-gun fingertip ready, and he whipped it into position at the first hint of danger. He triggered it before the sentry could fire. Just as the man started forward, the silent blast of the electric pulse jolted him like a blow from an unseen fist. He reeled backward, lost his balance, and crashed heavily to the ground, the gun flying from his hand.

"He walked right into that one!" Bud chuckled gleefully. "It’ll hold him for a few minutes." Then he added: "Say, maybe I should give him another jolt myself—one for the road!"

"Let’s get going!" Tom urged. "The only thing that matters now is finding our guys!" In a moment the two youths had scrambled to their feet and were running for their lives toward the
Unstoppable
.

They took to the air again, keeping low. The cave of the gravity cube was miles distant, but the flight took only minutes. Detecting a shadow-cloaked ridge near the cliffside entrance to the cave, Tom set down the
Unstoppable
and the boys emerged into the night.

As they approached the cave entrance, marked by a space symbol inscribed in the rock, Tom could not help feeling heartsick. There was no sign of life.

"But you told Rockland about the other tunnel before he was cut off," Bud reminded him. "They would have gone there, wouldn’t they?"

"Yes—right. Let’s head down toward the base of the cliff."

They were perched on a cliff ledge in a range of miniature Alpine crags and mountains. They now began a steep descent, made easier by Nestria’s weak gravitational pull. As they approached a rock stairstep near the base of the blocky mountain, Tom pointed to the slope rising sharply on their right.

"There’s the trail that leads up to the energizer chamber. From here on, we just follow the foot of this cliff. It may be a long walk."

Bud exclaimed in relief as they finally sighted an arched opening in the cliff face. "Must be the tunnel. Thank goodness! A place to rest!" He added hopefully: "Maybe some ‘material substance to sustain life,’ too, if the space people aren’t just yanking our Earthling chains!"

"No space symbols. But this sure looks artificial." Tom shone his flashlight into the cavernous recess and they entered cautiously, knowing that they had no guarantee that the wily Black Cobra and his troops hadn’t already seized the extraterrestrials’ secret.

The corridor narrowed and curved. The next moment Tom and Bud stiffened in alarm as a voice barked out of the darkness:

"
Get your hands up and don’t move!
"

TOM fought down a wave of despair as he raised his hands. Had they eluded the Cobra only to walk straight into a trap?

A glare of light was beamed at the prisoners so their captor could scrutinize them. "Holy—!
It’s the Skipper!
"

"Kent!"

Joyful voices filled the tunnel. Tom dropped his hands as figures crowded out of the gloom.

The Galileo colonists!

Bud gave out a happy chortle. "
Chow
! Waistline and all!"

"B-b-brand my star stew!" Chow gabbled as Bud rushed up to give him a mighty hug.

Relieved and jubilant, Tom was shaking a dozen hands at once. "Ilgan! Violet! Dr. Jatczak! To think of finding you and the gang here and in one piece!"

"We knew you’d get to Nestria sooner or later, Tom!" exclaimed Doc Simpson, emerging from the darkness.

"It was just a matter of time," Kent Rockland stated happily. "No big deal. Of course, some of the Ukrainians were getting nervous ... "

"Not even!" came a voice with an accent. "And now we’re safe!"

But Tom Swift corrected him soberly. "The truth is, the enemy’s in complete control of the asteroid."

Rockland nodded. "We’ve been assuming as much." He related that it had been a fresh volley of the antimatter microcharges that had interrupted Kent’s PER call to Tom. "The attack came in waves, and we all had time to head for the hills. We saw the main structures getting the works just as we ducked out of sight."

"I imagine he scattered you and let you escape so he could follow you to the gravity cube chamber," Tom noted.

"If so, we outwitted him. The several national teams regrouped and we all made our way across Little Luna on foot. We kept to the shadows and overhangs, the cracks and the deeper craters."

"Carried me on a jim-dang stretcher!" Chow interjected. "Don’t much envy ’em, even if I don’t weigh much more than a coyote up here."

"We were able to take care of all the invalids with the help of Dr. Simpson and Dr. Wohl," said Kent. "Didn’t lose a one. And we found the mine entrance without any difficulty."

Bud asked if the Cobra or his troops had been seen in the area. It was Dr. Jatczak, the elderly astronomer, who answered. "No, my friend, not a trace of him or that spaceship of his. But surely he would choose to concentrate his invasion force in the beginning. Our moon here, minute though it may be, is nonetheless too big to be easily searched."

Kent Rockland went on, "Maybe they were too busy setting things up to chase us far. Guess they figured we’d either starve or give up in the long run."

"Good thing we kept the exact location of the energizer chamber a secret," mused Tom. "But Kent—did you say
mine
?"

Quiet chuckles rippled through the crowd. "And wait until you sample the ore!" one of the Brungarians called out. "You will be impressed—even you, Tom Swift!"

With a wink Chow motioned for Tom and Bud to follow him deeper into the tunnel.

"Gotta say, pardner, you sure don’t look like a bunch of starvin’ critters!" Bud remarked, mystified. "And what about that infection?"

Doc Simpson grinned. "Let’s just say this installation is a threat to two professions—mine and Chow’s!"

Walking along with great vigor, Chow and the others led the newcomers deeper into what was, it seemed, a mine excavated by the space friends. As light was beamed on the walls, Tom noticed they were streaked with a reddish-orange deposit.

"There she is, boss," Chow said. "You can scoop it out easily."

"But why? What the heck is it?" demanded Bud.

"Material substance to sustain life!" Tom pronounced with conviction. Borrowing a scalpel offered by Doc Simpson Tom pried out a handful of the "ore." It was of firm consistency, but not hard, and could be broken into smaller pieces. "Almost feels like a hunk of dry cheese," murmured the young inventor. Then, to Bud’s surprise, Tom thrust the piece into his mouth and chewed! "Not bad, flyboy—though I don’t think Chow’s armadillo stew has any reason to feel threatened." The strange food softened when chewed and communicated a weird flavor to human tastebuds, albeit somewhat resembling beefsteak.

"Brand my barby-cue, that tastes like prime Texas steer!" Chow burst out. "Doncha think? O’ course I jest may be givin’ it a break, since it fixed me right up when I ’as sick."

"Whatever this mineral food is, it acts as a powerful stimulant to the body’s self-repair mechanisms and immune system," noted Violet Wohl, a physician, as Doc nodded in confirmation. "Every sign of the contagion vanished within minutes of eating even a small amount."

Bud now gave a tentative nibble. "Wow!" he exclaimed in abrupt surprise. "Kind of a rush!—and it feels like ... " He pulled off one of his suit gloves and touched the side of his face.

"Your bruises—from your fight with Bao—they’re fading away!" Tom boggled.

"Good night, maybe it’ll teach me how to play the piano!"

"The mineral stuff saved our lives," declared Kent. "One square meal and we were back on top of the world! And Tom, this mine’s loaded with it!" The base commander pointed further along. Passageways branching outward from the central tunnel had been excavated to follow the major veins of the deposit.

"Eat hearty, boys!" urged Dr. Jatczak. "Even without the accompaniment of a good wine—though what color goes with rock I cannot fathom—it’s quite marvelous in its effect. Violet tells me my heart condition is already much improved."

The many stresses and tensions of their mission to Nestria had left Tom and Bud starved. Grabbing some delicate mineralogist’s trowels they ate with gusto. Amazingly, the food seemed to satisfy their thirst, too.