Page 27 - Astounding Pulp V2

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NEUTRAL VESSEL Zl
Z6
ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION
Signs of activity showed in the cor- line, just the slightest angularity would
Joung~ a nd pocketed the key. "Well?" in his enthusiasm and she clidn 't seem ridors as soon as the viewplates lighted. do. In fact, more than this would be as
] 1e said try· - to mind.
So l ' , mg to keep his voice stern. ''Girl, you've got it!" he exulted. Lock hatches were being opened one by disastrous as the collision toward which
me 10w you c uJd '
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they were heading. But only for them-
one. One by one the individual audio
Zona Philiips. o n t stay angry wit 1
''With the lifeboats we'll do it." He connections plugged in. selves.
"I was o J · - - "Blast" forward jets gently," Brand Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-
. d b n Y trymg to 0 et a\rny " she began ba\.vling into the audio frame .
sa1 reathlessl ''b i::. , • told them, watching the cross lines of four, sixty-two, sixty-thnee and six--ty-
to a t . Y, ecause I'm planning " But you said-" began the girl.
/;'e m~rned on V,enus." ''Never mind what I said." Brand's the course indicator. They blasted gen- four lifeboats blasting. Still Venus came
Married ?" ·d B tly. "Inner seals holding all right?" he in ever larger, rushing madly. Still
"v · sai rand blankl_x. bro~d face was alight. ;·We'll do it
·
T i: es to a b oy 111 the Venus forces with the lifeboats. \Vatch!" asked. The boats had driven back sol- centered precisely on the crosshairs.
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k ommy Blake. It's forbidden you He talked swiftly in clipped words to idly by now. Twenty-five and sixty-five boats re-
now, all d 111 Y passport's no good ex- the frame when Rosso came in. ,- One by one the men in the corridor ported blasting. No one moved on the
cept for · · reported them 0. K : bridge. No one seemed to breathe.
. d a visit. The Martians prom-
ise to land me secretly. That's all. I "Increase blasts· slowly," Brand or- ·Brand choked on the remains of his
V.
haven't done anything i·eally dered. The glowing, rapidly enlarging cigar and threw it away. . Twenty-six
have I?" wrong,
"Rosso !" he chirped. "And you, too, 01·b of Venus had not budged from the and sixty-five in. Twenty-seven, twenty-
"W II r 11 cross-line cente1·ing. eight. The crosshairs began a slow
e ' be d-doo-goned." Captain Worthman"-two ,·oices having come in
Brand look d I · · i::. Carefully, as he would have done on march eastward across Venus.
e 11 s amazement. Then he by now-"listen closely. Man lifeboats
spoke to the · 1 . eleven to twenty and fifty-one to sixty. a full-crew ship, Brand had them in- "Hold it there!" Brand yelped. "No
. gir seriously : "\,Vrong,
no, but foolish d . And don't ask any questions till I 'm crease the power of their jets until the more." The crosshairs kept on in their
h f ' my ear. Do you reahze
ow ast we're going,,, finished. That's ten above and ten be- inner lock seals had all he thought they .slow march. Venus -yvas out of line.
"N " . could stand of the reaction of the sm.all . '.'Enough," called the captain. "Cut ev-
-no.
'd
The a ir]'
the· f . . i::. s eyes w 1 ene d t o low on the port side astern. P lug in lifeboats pushing to get through them erything off." He slumped back weakly
ir u 11 11 J ind1ng blue. an audio connection to each. Close all
Bra nd told her. He told her what inner seals when manned. Seal boats and inside the ship. Then he added in his chair.
woudld )iaye happened if she had suc- themselves. Open outer seals of air boat after boat to the number until all , Brand didn't even hear the thunder-
cee ed 111 gett' "' twenty he had designated were blasting, ous . explosion as Brinkerhof finally cut
. lllg away from those Mar- locks. At my orders,. we'll blast for-
tiansl;l t_hat th e little lifeboat would use v,·ard rockets." shoving mightily agt inst the inner seals. the mad flow of current to the jets-
up a its f J • T here were no automatic relays to take quite safely and easily when he, almost
ti ue trymg to decelerate and "Of the lif~boats ?" inquired Wonh-
1 care of things ; Brand was jockeying to simultaneously with Brand's inspiration,
~~ woald go drifting forever in a solar man incredulously.
or it, a frozen, a irless tomb at last. That "Certainly. They've weak jets, to be get a balance of energies the way you . saw the an!t_wer. From , spar~s, he got
th
efv~n no:v e Spirit of T erra was headed sure. But ,vith twenty of them blast- . would jockey a horse. And )1e loved it. a series of the heavy emergency fuses,
01 a chsaster ti t • ing, we may be able to get out of the But Venus still swooped in toward rigged a short by-pass line around a
l
ti ,e.p anet Ve 1a would likely destroy them. They hadn'i budged the tiniest section of the main bus ·bars to a steer-
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I
"And nus a ong with themselves. lane."
you make trouble for me " he " Will .the air-lock seals hold ?" fraction of an inch from the magnetic ing jet, and inserted the fuses in the by-
1
cone uded glumly. ' ''We'll chance that. P ut a watch on course. Traveling 720 miles a second pass. Then a hand power saw readily
"I'm sorr " Tl 1e girl'::; voice was each. I'll stand by the audio. and only about half a million miles to go. sliced out a two-foot section of the by-
· . y.
t l SI Brand dripped perspiration. passed, and hence unloaded, bus bar.
ru Y contrite
. · 1e stared at the cap- "Now," he said to Carlin when they
tam as the ( II reached the bridge controls, ''this is go- "Quick, Rosso," he c_a.lled. ".Same . . One of tl:!e heavy fuses paralleled in the
.
u purport of his words
san k 111 "Tl , thing on boats twenty-one to thirty and · by-pass circut was then pulled out of the
· ' ien we II all die anyway?" ing to work like a full-crew ship. Give
she asked "A ' . sixty-one to seventy forward, star- socket with the insulated pole, and the
too?" · nd-T~mmy'II be killed, me visuals clown stern lifeboat corri-
dors on the port side. ·we're going to hoard." He'd twist the Spirit of T erra .other promptly blew from the overload,
_Bra nd nodded. "Unless maintenance pull out of the magnetic lane." off this lane if it was his last act. And · with a roar of triumph interrupting and
wms o~t with their new cuttino- r10-," "You mean-" tryjng would be his last act if he didn't. killing the jet circuit! Nor did Brand
he admitted. i::. i::. "With t,he lifeboats." The men responded swiftly. All knew hear Jarvis repor_ting that one of the
f The girl pursed her luscious lips and A slow red suffused the mate's cheeks the importance of speed. In another generators was again in commission and
}owned prettily. "It seems," she said, as he watched the smile that wreathed minute two lifeboats were blasting · on the radio operative. Ahead of time .
th
. at something might he done with the Zona P hillips' lips. He'd be willing to 1 the opposite side of the liner, up near •
hfehoats." bet she had something to do with this. the nose, trying desperately to turn het; G. H . Q. was even more stubborn
. That was all, but it set Brand think- And he hadn't thought of it himself. vast bulk like a pinwlieel. But only. a ._ .than Tommy Blake had anticipated. He
~ng. Suddenly he was a madly whirl- Of course the lifeboats would do ii- fraction of an inch from her present finally did manage to get Major Varejo
mg tornado. He hugged Zona Phillips i£-
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