Michael D. Cooper

“ Far above was the roof of the great chamber like an iron sky. The natural lights of the complex once again blazed throughout the structures. The air seemed fresher.
He and Madera watched Gene descend the ladder and jump the last few rungs to the pad. Then he turned and paced quickly to the closest entrance in the great wall. He came through the airlock, discarded his helmet, and hurried to the small group that was waiting for him.
"We have restored power," said Madera.
"So I see!" said Gene with a great smile. "That's terrific! Do you want me to pilot the asteroid away from Earth?" ”

“ Look at that!" exulted Joe, pointing out of the front of the ship. A light came over the horizon like a flame too bright to be looked at comfortably. The sun was reflecting off the glass-sheathed buildings of Mars Base, Starlight Enterprise's primary headquarters on the fourth planet.
As the Star Ranger rapidly closed the distance, Mark radioed for landing clearance.
"Gorgeous!" said Joe. From the pilot's seat he could make out the airport, the hangar, the sprawling laboratory and research buildings and the manufacturing centers. Men, robots, and machines scurried around the plant. ”

“ President, you're gambling with the very existence of life on Earth! If an asteroid forty miles long strikes Earth, it will not only cause the extinction of every life form on the planet, there is every likelihood that it will crack the Earth's crust! There will be no escape! No escape!! Don't you see that we have to cooperate with Zimbardo? It will be easier to meet his challenge once he has turned away the asteroid! ”

“ The big Starman stepped up next to the console with Madera. Mark felt a bit of stage fright. Anxiety coursed through him as he suddenly realized that there was so little time left and that the ability to turn the asteroid aside depended on him. Having an audience of more than thirty men daunted him.
"It doesn't depend entirely on you, Mark," said Madera, appearing to read Mark's mind. "Now let's power up."
Mark felt the anxiety drain away. He pressed the power button he had discovered before, when the Starmen had been escaping from the pirates. The computer screen surged into life. ”

“ A wailing screech filled the room and everyone but Zimbardo covered his ears. The screech increased in intensity until men fell to the floor and writhed, pressing their hands firmly to the sides of their heads. Then there was sudden silence and the lights went out. Men began to moan, and someone's voice quavered: "The atmosphere recycler has stopped!"
"Everything has stopped," said Gene from the darkness.
Twelve Firewasps came upon the eighteen pirate ships with a suddenness that took the pirates completely by surprise. ”

“ At the end of their journey, the Star Ranger touched down gently on the tarmac at Amundsen Base, near the south pole of the Moon on the edge of the largest city in the Earth-Moon system-Amundsen City, with over eight million inhabitants. The Starmen debarked from their ship, crossed the field and entered the airlock that led into the receiving area. Through the second door, they could see an enormous crowd.
"Man! This place is jammed!" said Joe. "I've never seen so many people here!" As air filled the airlock, the Starmen removed their helmets and tucked them under their arms. ”

“ After a moment, Robert Nolan spoke up. His eyes were wide and his voice was high-pitched. "Wh-, what can we do? Can't we find these pirates? Can't we just send out ships and comb the entire area of the Belt where they disappeared? Can't we...?"
Keith Seaton broke in. "Robert, believe me, if there were anything we could do, anything we could think of that wouldn't be the equivalent of running around in circles, we'd be doing it! The Starmen are our sons! Richard informed us last night that they were captured, and we've done just about nothing else but try to think of something we can do." ”

“ Zimbardo paused and tried hard to get control of himself. "They were our prisoners! -and now they've escaped! They're loose inside this asteroid, and we don't know where!"
"But sir," inserted Lather when Zimbardo paused to take a breath and clutch the air. "There aren't many places they can hide. There's not much to the inside of the complex-only five floors."
Zimbardo turned to the ship captain. With words that smoldered, he said, "The complex of this asteroid is far larger than you think! I have barely begun to explore, and St. George knows more than I do!" ”

“ Mark felt very badly that he hadn't been able to see the Titanians. Four days before, they had left Mars without notice to begin the frantic chase of the escaping pirates, and now they were urgently called to Mars Base with no time permitted to see their friends. Personal relationships were important to Mark. As the Star Ranger returned to Mars from the Asteroid Belt, he had made a recorded greeting and farewell for Jack and Jill and entrusted it to Steve. Mark was beginning to realize that for him, the life of a Starman would be marked with frequent partings and sorrows. ”

“ Without any preamble, Zip retrieved the sealed envelope from the Starventure's safe. As he did so, the men gathered around him. He turned and faced the crew. Glancing into their faces, he could almost feel their apprehension.
"It's only a planet," he said, trying to sound normal. "It's just stone and ice such as we've seen in many other places of the Solar System." He tore open the envelope, unfolded the paper that was inside it, and stared at what Dr. O had written.
"Well?" asked Joe.
"The planet's name is Nyx. Dr. O named it after the Roman goddess of night." ”

“ George is?" asked Mark.
"That's where your assignment begins," answered Konig. "Like St. George, Montezuma Vly is an asteroid miner. Unlike St. George, he doesn't wander far from his home. But Vly has a deep distrust of any authority figures. He lives on an asteroid he calls Montezuma's Castle. He claimed it over thirty years ago and enjoys his privacy. No government officials have any right to enter his domain. He is completely independent. We're hoping that where officialdom can't act, you young Starmen can. When he knows that George St. George is at risk, I'm sure he'll help you." ”

“ George chuckled again. "You haven't heard of this 'asteroid miner's legend'? Most people think it's in a class with leprechauns and mermaids, the story of the greegles, but it's all true. The greegles are the inhabitants of the asteroids. Don't know if they're alive or not. They're made of metal-some kind of metal-or maybe they just wear a metal suit. They're about a foot high. Now, don't stare at me like that; you're looking thoroughly obflisticated, probably thinking I've been out in the vacuum too long, but I've seen them! They're little and they're old, very old, but they're powerful! ”

“ Zimbardo might have weapons and other technology of which we cannot even conceive and he might do great damage, but he is still in the wrong. Evil might have its day, but in the end it will always fall; the forces of light will overcome it as it decays from within. With that faith and that assurance, we can make our plans. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how we can meet this crisis?"
Allen Foster spoke again. "There are two issues here: finding and rescuing the Starmen and their companions, and defending our civilization from the pirates. ”

“ Only the dark red Star Ranger and one other ship touched down. Sim Sala Bim was the first to debark.
"So pleased to see you young men are safe!" he spouted. "So much has happened in these three weeks! Here is your Star Ranger, ready for duty!" The Indian was excited. Zip had shaken off his own dark mood and was rising to the challenge. The other two Starmen were eager to lift off and get back into the battle against Lurton Zimbardo.
"Nice to see you, Sim!" cried out Zip, as he and the man from Ceres shook hands through their spacesuits. "George and his men will be ready in a moment. ”

“ Zimbardo turned toward the man. "Yes, I have a plan. You, Gebbeth, will be my chief assistant and the pilot of the Tartarus, my personal ship. I can depend on you. Space Command's celebration on Mars will be extremely short-lived."
"You were always the strong one, Lurton," said another. "I kind of always figured you for the real leader, and I always wished it was you instead of Putnam."
"Now you got your wish, Bolcher. I've taken charge. I'm moving this asteroid out of its orbit into a place outside the Belt. Here's my plan." ”

“ George reached out and pressed one button. The elevator began to move-not down or up as the men expected, but away from the chamber where they had fought the airbot.
"What's wrong with these men?" asked one of the miners. "They're completely unconscious and their arms and legs are swinging around like they're puppets or something."
"They're just out temporarily, not hurt," answered Joe. "Airbots disrupt certain neural connections to bring on sleep and complete relaxation of all muscle functions. I'm not sure how high the airbot's beam was set, but I'd guess pretty high. ”

“ Robert Nolan could not contain himself any further, and lurched backward as if he had been struck. "You don't intend to cooperate with him?" he almost screeched. "But he'll destroy the entire planet if we don't! There is no way we can detect an asteroid he's made invisible to radar!"
"Dr. Nolan," responded the President, "we believe that we have a method which will allow us to locate the asteroid that Zimbardo has directed toward Earth. We have a very good chance of locating it and destroying it." ”

“ John Rwakatare and Richard Starlight remained alone in Richard's office. They were seated on a sofa, looking out over the vast lunar landscape. An enormous dark gray field stretched out for several miles before breaking up at the far side into jumbled, light gray boulders.
"What do you make of it, Rock?" asked Richard. "Why did Zimbardo tell the entire planet that he was going to pulverize it, and then set his projectile on a fly-by course?"
"I don't think he merely made a mistake," said Rock. "He's shown he can guide asteroids to near-pinpoint accuracy." ”

“ Starman," he said, "so you've got no reason to be covered with gloom. You won't get us to safety now any faster by worrying."
Zip pursed his lips and looked into St. George's eyes. "The man seems to be protected by a shield of innocence all around him," he thought. "His base was destroyed, he and his men were captured and taken into a massive iron asteroid by the Solar System's greatest enemy, and now he's floating in the void with only two days' food left, and he's still calm and trying to encourage me the way he encourages his men. Who is the real leader of these men? ”

“ I wonder what's going on?" asked Mark.
"We'll be able to power up before too long, now! We'll be on our way ourselves," announced Zip, animatedly. "Soon we can get in touch with Starlight. It's been over a week since we've been in contact. We've got a lot to tell them." The shadow that had lain over Zip for two days had been lifted. "How long until we can turn on the power, Mark? When will we be out of the pirates' radar range?" ”

“ Then the intership communications system was deactivated. The pirates' ships, being sheathed to radar, were equally invisible to each other as to the men of Space Command, but each pirate captain knew where the others were supposed to be. The ships usually communicated by closed-system radio and thereby kept in close contact with each other, but now they could not risk revealing their position by engaging in radio contact when they were in the proximity of other ships.
Moments went by without a word being said. Lather could feel the adrenaline surging through him. ”

“ Lurton Zimbardo called his five most trusted leaders to a meeting in one of the libraries on the pirates' asteroid. Each was dressed in the gray and black uniform that Troy Putnam had designed for the pirates for their failed mission to take over Mars. The meeting had been going on for several hours and had involved a lot of detailed organizational work. The men were tired and showing it. As usual, Zimbardo showed no signs of fatigue.
"Yes, gentlemen," said Zimbardo, "You know what to do now. We will need to get all of our men busy and you must drive them, drive them relentlessly! ”

“ It should give us the power we need, but-but it's clear that it hasn't been activated for thousands of years. There's no way to tell whether it's safe. This is a complicated system. If something is wrong," Mark slowly turned to face Zip, "If something is wrong, if a bolt has slipped into the wrong place, if Zimbardo bypassed a vital circuit somewhere, or if a conduit is stopped up anywhere, all the energy this plant can produce could blow back at us. The entire works could explode into a million pieces." ”

“ The Starmen gasped. "Pure...crystal...?" stammered Mark. "Why, there can't be a larger one in the Solar System! It's priceless!"
"Next largest was in the Smithsonian Institution, a little more than twelve inches in diameter. This one's sixteen and three-quarters inches. Found it myself on Adamant-that's the parent asteroid from which this sliver I live on was busted off a few millennia ago." Mark knew he was referring to what he had called a "worthless chunk" before they landed. ”

“ No one owns a theme. But the creators of Starman have shown that they share some of the beliefs that you express in your subjects. Their young men of the stars prove that they too are brave, adventurous and willing to sacrifice for freedom and justice. With a loyalty toward each other that would create envy in every generation, they test themselves against cunning scoundrels. As they conquer villains, they, and we along with them, learn whether they measure up. ”

“ But Richard was wrong. Nothing and no one on Earth had the capability of finding and entering the inner sanctum on the asteroid. The revelation of the alien inhabitants would come only if and when the aliens wished it, and even Richard Starlight could not determine or predict when that might be.
Zip said, "But it's not over yet, is it, sir? Whatever or whoever the aliens were afraid of hasn't even been identified, much less overcome. And there are still six pirates who haven't been captured. Zimbardo is still free and we haven't any idea where he is. ”

“ The grim, forbidding, pocked asteroid became the site of frenzied work. The crewmen removed sheet after sheet of dark metal from the crates and fastened them to the floating chunk of iron. Tiny flames showed where the irregular metal of the asteroid was being shaped to fit the plates the pirates were anchoring to its surface.
In one hemisphere three other men were attaching power and propulsion units. They sank holes several feet deep and inserted tubes, fuel tanks, and a control mechanism. At one place near the asteroid's equator a technician was installing a communications unit. ”