The Runaway Asteroid Part 26

All were armed. Only the lights of the s.p.a.ceship lit up the cavernous hall of shadows.

"Eerie," observed Captain Marks-Owens as she set foot on the pavement.

"Follow me. We'll see if the place is as abandoned as it looks." Nine s.p.a.ce-suited figures fell in behind her as she approached the airlock into the manufacturing area. When she was unable to open it, she called for a portable power supply. Two additional men brought one from the ship, opened the airlock, and allowed the landing party to enter the complex. Once inside, the members of the crew were able to dispense with their helmets.

Slowly and carefully they made their way through the blackness, pushing it back with the radiance of the lights they carried. They were in awe of the huge, obviously alien place.

"The place feels almost haunted," observed one man in a quiet voice.

"Somewhat," agreed the Captain, "but there's more to it than that.

There's something deeper. I don't think this is an evil place. It is a place that needs to be cleansed."

The party pa.s.sed through the great doors. Before they had crossed the courtyard a man emerged from the far side, carrying a light. The members of the landing party quickly spread out, and the Captain ordered, "Halt!"

"Don't shoot!" came the voice from behind the tiny light across the room. "I'm unarmed. I've been waiting for you."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Gene Newman. I was the control officer for Lurton Zimbardo.

He's gone."

"Come forward slowly, hands up." Gene walked forward cautiously with his hands extended over his head, holding his light in one hand. When he was a few yards away, Captain Marks-Owens ordered him to stop and directed two men to search him. When it was definite that he was unarmed, she called him to approach her.

"What's been going on here?" she asked.

Gene explained that Zimbardo had aimed the asteroid at Earth, burned out the power system, and fled two hours earlier. The Captain's face paled as he told the story.

"Radio the ships that are still en route and have them check the course of this rock," she ordered one of the men, who put on his helmet and contacted the ship. "And tell Mr. Madera to come here at once." The order was given.

While they were waiting for Mr. Madera, Captain Marks-Owens quizzed Gene further. "Why did you stay behind?"

"I-, I joined Putnam's organization because it seemed a sure thing. He was captured, but Zimbardo took over and made it seem an even better proposition. But I could see him getting crazier and crazier! I'm not ashamed to say that he began to frighten me-and he frightened others, too! And when he aimed the asteroid toward Earth..." Gene's eyes widened and he began to tremble, "I knew there was something seriously wrong with him! I had to get away! I wanted to fix things-if I could!"

"Are there any others here?"

"I don't know. There may be. I haven't seen anyone else. Apart from Zimbardo and the smugglers, there were seventeen men left on the asteroid. I don't know how many went with him. There were also some prisoners-three Starmen and some asteroid miners, but they escaped from the room where they were being held and disappeared into the depths of the asteroid. I don't know where they are now. We never saw a trace of them after that."

"They escaped from the asteroid three weeks ago. In fact, we expect them to arrive here soon in their own ship."

Gene's face showed out-and-out surprise at this news. "They escaped?

They got off the asteroid? How did they do that?"

At this point, they were joined by the young man for whom the Captain had asked. He was about thirty years old, with a full crown of thick brown hair and deep brown eyes. This was Jesus Madera-Cruz, Chief Ioneer for Starlight Enterprise. He was adept with engines and micro-electronics. Noted for a placid nature, nothing ever seemed to bother him, and his expertise in power systems had never failed the trust which Richard Starlight had placed in him.

"You asked for me, Captain?" he asked.

"Yes, Mr. Madera. We need your skills urgently. This is Gene, one of Zimbardo's men. Zimbardo has been gone for two hours. Gene tells us that before he fled he burned out the power. Before the power went out, he also redirected the asteroid on a collision course with Earth. I've asked our ships outside to confirm that. In the meantime, I'd like you to check out the power system and see if you can bring it back up.

Obviously, if what Gene says is true, this is a matter of extreme urgency, not just convenience."

"Yes, ma'am," answered the man with a brief nod. The Captain detailed several men to go with Gene and Madera to wherever Zimbardo's former chief control officer wanted to take them. Gene took them first to the control deck.

Captain Marks-Owens detailed the rest of her men to search the complex in pairs. As other ships landed, minutes apart from each other, she directed their crews to the search. After an hour, ten other pirates had been located. All had been eager to turn themselves in. They were taken into captivity and led to one of the s.p.a.ce Command ships where they were fed and kept under guard.

Soon there were over a hundred men searching the facility. Operations officers began connecting portable power systems to various parts of the complex to reestablish the lights and get the airlocks working again. The atmosphere recycling system was not yet accessible, but the air would last for a long time.

An ensign brought a report to Captain Marks-Owens during the search, confirming Gene's account that the asteroid was on a collision course with Earth.

"Details?" asked the Captain.

"The asteroid will collide with Earth in approximately eight days, at a speed of nearly 300,000 miles per hour," responded the ensign. "It was vastly accelerated for a few minutes before the power burned out, and the sun's gravity continues to increase the rate of acceleration. We have not yet determined precisely where it will strike, but we are forwarding the data to SE and that will be determined."

At that point, Gene and Madera came up to Marks-Owens.

"Captain," said Madera. "I have made a preliminary examination of the control system. Gene has been more than cooperative, I am happy to say.

With his help, just by looking at the controls and hearing him describe what Zimbardo did, I can conjecture what kind of power we're dealing with. If we can get the power back on, we should not have any difficulty in changing the course of the asteroid. Restoring the power, however, will not be easy. Gene has never been to the power plant. In fact, it seems that no one has, even including Zimbardo. No one knows where it is or how to learn its location."

"Go back to the Tempest and contact George St. George and the Starmen.

St. George is on Ceres and the Starmen are in the Star Ranger on their way here. These men have been inside the power plant and know how to find it."

"Yes ma'am." Madera bowed his head slightly and turned toward the airlock that led out to the launching pad. He showed no signs whatever of being ruffled. In sharp contrast, Gene was visibly anxious.

"Gene," said Captain Marks-Owens; "you've apparently been eager to cooperate. Mr. Madera is easy to get along with but hard to please. If he commends you, I am satisfied that you are not a threat to us. You go on to the Tempest also and get some food and some rest, as you need. We can't do more until we hear from the Starmen or St. George. We'll want you later, and you'll need to be rested."

"Yes ma'am," said the distraught man. He turned toward the SE flagship, swallowed hard, and stepped toward the airlock. He ran to catch up to Madera.

Captain Marks-Owens watched them for a moment, then turned her attention back to the activity of the men who were supplying the temporary power to the complex before her. The grandeur of the view impressed her.

"This place that seemed so menacing when we first landed is beginning to look a little less threatening now," she thought. "Hard to believe we are aboard a runaway asteroid that will destroy Earth in eight days, unless we can turn it aside somehow."

20: Desperation

THE STAR RANGER sped through s.p.a.ce toward its rendezvous point with the racing asteroid. Given the urgency of the situation, Zip had ordered the maximum acceleration that their bodies could tolerate. Mark had programmed their course to bring them as quickly as possible up to boarding speed with the asteroid. Having done that, he pored through the printed material he had taken from the asteroid's power plant. He felt hopelessness creeping over him since he didn't know what Zimbardo had done to burn it out.

Zip came over and stood near where Mark was seated with a dim lamp illuminating the papers in front of him. The lamp was designed to burn with a soft light tinged with the faintest trace of light green, to be easiest on the eyes. It was devised for periods of long study.

"Anything yet, Mark?" Zip asked, knowing that the question was pointless. If Mark had found even a tiny piece of information which could be remotely connected to the situation on the asteroid, he would have spoken up.

"No, Zip," replied Mark. "I can follow the diagrams pretty well now, and I think I understand how one part connects to another, but I can't envision how any part of it could have burned out. I've tried to calculate how much power Zimbardo would have needed to generate the EMP of the size he did, but I can only guess at it. Even at my highest estimates, I can't see how it would burn out the power supplies of a huge iron asteroid that can be used as a s.p.a.cecraft. All I can imagine is that much of the power supply of the asteroid had been shut down before."

"You mean that its reserves were not in place?"

"Something like that. We have guessed that the asteroid was a huge s.p.a.cecraft. We also know that it had been stationary and abandoned-or at least unused-for eons. I suspect that the asteroid's full power had never been accessible to Zimbardo. He was able to operate life-support systems, lights, airlocks, and so forth in his own section without drawing much power. When he tried to 'power up' the asteroid and move it out of orbit, he reached the limit of its available power. Then he suddenly initiated the electromagnetic pulse to fry the microwave probes, but he also fried his own system. But the asteroid must have more power than that to be able to do what it must have done in the past. You saw the power plant as well as I did! Did it look to you as if Zimbardo could have burned that whole thing out with one EMP, no matter how intense?"

"Makes sense, Mark. Where, then, is the rest of the power?"

Mark looked up at Zip with a wan smile. "If you want to find it, you can help me look through these papers, if you want."

"All right, I will," said Zip, and sat down. Mark handed him a stack of paper, showed Zip what to look for, and went back to his own study.