Charles L. Fontenay

“ Jonner answered out of the knowledge that no ships which had accelerated as these two had in the past hour would have more than enough fuel left to get them back to Phobos. The Egg, trailing far behind Mars now, would overtake the planet gradually as the pull of the sun sped it up, but it would pass Mars well to sunward in its plunge toward the orbit of Earth. Any ship that tried to intercept it from Mars now would fight increasing solar gravity and would run the risk of not getting back to Mars. ”

“ As Tyruss had suggested several times, why couldn't they have just blasted The Egg out of space, if the purpose was to get rid of it? Why go to all the trouble of shifting it to an Earthward orbit? The Earth would be nowhere near the intersection point when The Egg reached Earth's orbit, if that made any difference.
Jonner had at last let the others know, as he should have before, that one of them was a spy. But he would not tell them, as he had told Tyruss, that he had disconnected the radio transmitter. Let the spy try to get in touch with Marscorp now! ”

“ Without it, we'd have no more protection than a naked man in space. The reason we're in for a bad sunburn every year is that the blue mist dissipates partially at every Earth-sun conjunction."
"But what would The Egg have to do with that?" asked Jonner.
"The Egg amplifies the effect of magnetic fields, the way a lens concentrates light rays," answered Sir Stanrich. "It's the Earth's magnetic field, not that of Mars, that interferes with the blue mist every time the Earth passes between Mars and the sun. ”

“ As some of you may have learned, the Charax Rebellion is in danger of collapsing, because our supplies have been running out since Marscorp intercepted and destroyed our last space fleet from Earth. Plan Red, which was our master plan for defeating Marscorp in the field by capturing the dome-cities one by one, has failed. Regina and Charax are being evacuated because we couldn't hold them much longer anyway, and all our people are being transported around the Marscorp territory to the secret underground spaceport we established in the Isidis Desert two years ago. ”

“ As for you fellows, you're better off than you realize."
"How's that?" asked Stein.
"Why, if you aren't tried as war criminals, you ought to be freed pretty quickly. According to the latest news reports from Mars City, our armies are driving your people back into your underground base in the Isidis Desert. The war will be over as soon as we've cracked that."
Jonner, Stein and Aron lay around in the Marscorp brig on Phobos for more than a month. To be precise, they floated around, for Phobos had little more surface gravity than a spaceship in orbit. ”

“ The sun was settling over the iron-red wastes of the Isidis Desert. The groundcars clustered like giant beetles at the top of the cliff that dropped straight down to the shadowed lowland of Syrtis Major. ”

“ This time we haven't been able to get anything through at all."
"Well, maybe it's true that we've lost and the war's about over," said Jonner. "But the three of us still want to be transferred to the surface. Free fall can drive you nuts when you're in an eight-by-eight cell."
"As a matter of fact," said the adjutant, "there hasn't been any G-boat traffic to and from the surface since the radio went out. It's a dangerous business, trying to land at a spaceport without any radio guide. ”

“ One earphone of his helmet receiver was tuned with his speaker to the Rebel band they used, the other was tuned to the local frequency used by Marscorp. Jonner listened with one ear to the occasional reports and orders that were passed around the spaceport.
Jonner punched Tyruss, next to him, twice on the shoulder. It was the signal. The six men rose and moved forward together.
The sentry who loomed before them had no chance. A heat-gun beam is invisible. They cut him down and scurried to the edge of the spaceport, into the circle of light, running in long leaps toward the nearest G-boat. ”

“ But one of them was—must be—a Marscorp spy.
Jonner could not check with Sir Stanrich by radio—Mars City was too close, and they would be overheard. He had no time to spend investigating his personnel—Sir Stanrich had impressed on him that their mission must be carried out on schedule.
He decided he would not tell them just yet that one of them could not be trusted. He might be able to trip the spy. But he said:
"One or more of us may be killed or captured, so I'm going to brief everyone. No matter how many of us are lost, those who are left must carry out the mission. ”

“ Did Aron's eyes widen apprehensively?
Stein started.
"Why, no," he admitted. "Farlan was on the engine deck, and I was down in the airlock checking the spacesuits before blast-off. That's routine, you know. They herded Farlan down and caught me by surprise."
"That's right," said Farlan. "I was checking the engines when they came through the hatch from above with heat-guns."
"Damn!" exploded Jonner. "I gave everyone strict orders—all right, it's too late now. It just cost us two men, and one of the four of us left is a Marscorp spy. Everyone get above and strap down for acceleration." ”

“ Following Stein and Aron, he climbed into the G-boat. It had a crew of two, plus an armed guard for the prisoners.
"There'll be no unstrapping during free fall," announced the G-boat pilot. "Everybody will remain strapped down until we land. With the Earth-sun conjunction over, we've re-established radio communication partially, but it's spotty, and we may crash."
"Is the war over?" asked Jonner.
"How the hell should I know?" grunted the pilot. "We haven't had a single news broadcast that makes sense since the radio came back in. They're all chopped up with static." ”

“ He's our Marscorp spy."
"He is?" Aron's eyes widened. "How do you know?"
"Because you haven't been out of my sight since we took The Egg in tow, and you haven't been near that control board while we were on duty. Stein must have let Farlan get away from him again."
"Why not Stein?"
"You forget. Stein and Wessfeld arrived together from Charax, at the rendezvous. They had to be clean."
Aron unstrapped and arose.
"Shouldn't we boost acceleration and try to evade them?" he asked, gesturing at the radar screen.
"We can't now," said Jonner. ”

“ Aron went below. Jonner watched the screen anxiously. The Marscorp ships must have set an interception course, for their acceleration was much too high to be following their own escape orbit. They were getting closer rapidly.
Jonner looked at the chronometer and at the tape still ticking through the ship's control mechanism. Eleven minutes was a brief time, but it seemed long when enemy ships were overtaking them at twice their acceleration. ”