The Runaway Asteroid Part 19

All at once, Mark pointed and cried out, "Hey, look at that! Do you see what I see?" Several men came to the window and peered out. Zip Foster joined them. Joe answered.

"Yes! -the asteroid's moving!"

The dark bulk of the pirates' asteroid, which had loomed so close to them for two days, was gradually but visibly moving away. Its silhouette had been blocking half their view of the Asteroid Belt and the gleaming array of stars behind it, but now, even as they watched, its profile diminished and stars were winking into view around its edge.

"They're heading out somewhere-moving that entire asteroid! 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?"

"Less than an hour, I'd say."

Zip raised his voice so everyone could hear. "We get under way in an hour, men!"

It was sooner than that. In 26 minutes, the asteroid was no longer visible to the eye. Zip waited a full 45 minutes then turned on the s.h.i.+p's power at its lowest setting. Using the radar, he scanned the quadrant where the asteroid had last been seen and turned up no object of significance. He hadn't expected to.

"That doesn't mean they can't see us," he mused to Mark and Joe. "That asteroid is probably sheathed just like their s.h.i.+ps. But I think we're safe now-safe enough, anyway, to get moving."

"Right. Let's go," said Joe. "I'll jettison the derelict and power up!

I've been looking forward to this moment!"

Zip ran the power switch up to maximum and commanded everyone to prepare for acceleration. Joe ignited the propulsion system. With the lanky Starman at the controls the alien s.h.i.+p began its journey toward the Asteroid Belt. As the s.h.i.+p began to cruise easily, Zip began to think of communicating with Starlight Enterprise.

"Mark, contact SE right away. Fill them in on our recent adventures and see if, by any chance, there's a s.h.i.+p closer to us than the base on O344."

George St. George spoke up. "What if the pirates overhear your transmission, Zip? Won't they know we've escaped and be able to locate us?"

"I think it's worth the risk, George. They probably think we're still inside the asteroid and won't be looking for us out here. Even if they do overhear the transmission, I doubt they'd send some s.h.i.+ps after us.

The distance between us is growing rapidly, and if we have to we've got plenty of time to hide in the Belt. I'm worried about our dwindling supplies; we need some relief soon, and SE needs our information as soon as we can get it to them. Go ahead, Mark."

"I'm on it," said Mark.

"Provide them with a concise but complete report," Zip went on. "Tell them about the destruction of Z25, describe the asteroid with an estimate of the number of pirates and their s.h.i.+ps, and especially the asteroid's location. Don't worry about details of our escape, other than to say that we are in an alien s.p.a.cecraft and heading for O344 with a minimum of supplies. Ask Sim Sala Bim to send someone to O344 with the Star Ranger and another s.h.i.+p to take St. George and his men back to Ceres or wherever they want to go."

"Got it," said Mark and began to prepare his report. In less than five minutes he had sent it, but due to the interplanetary distance he didn't expect a response for nearly half an hour.

"Sure wish we had that realtime transmission equipment on board," mused Zip out loud, thinking about how his encounter with the pirates had begun with the experiment in the control tower in Eagle City. "But I guess it'll be a few years before the miniaturization is worked out so that s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps can carry it."

"We'll get to the base a little faster than we thought, Zip," said Joe.

"This s.h.i.+p is cruising very efficiently. We can learn a lot from it, in time." The sleek, forest green cruiser sped through the vacuum, rapidly approaching the edge of the Asteroid Belt.

Six hours and 23 minutes after the destruction of the atmosphere-generating plant on the edge of the Red Sea on Mars, a small iron asteroid struck the plant located just south of the Oxia Palus on an open plain about five degrees north of the equator and fifteen degrees west of the central meridian. It was a few minutes past 4:00 a.m. local time. Six miles away was the settlement of Westcott.

Most of the local populace had not heard Lurton Zimbardo's radiocast, since it had come in just before midnight. The second asteroid followed a near-vertical course and slammed with tremendous force into the ground a half mile from the atmosphere-generating plant. The sun rose onto a land choked with dust. When the dust settled back to the surface about midday, the people of Westcott saw only a crater a mile and a half wide. There was no sign that any human artifice had ever existed on the spot.

Almost sixteen hours later, on an overcast afternoon in the empty northwest, the third asteroid struck. Its target was the atmosphere plant located 51 degrees north of the equator and 141 degrees west of the central meridian-southwest of a small crater which was the home of a town called Morris. It was centrally located for miners, prospectors, farmers, arborists, and mobile scientists, who lived near or roamed throughout the locale.

By this time Zimbardo's message was known all over the planet and the utter destruction of the first two atmosphere generators had shown that his threat was to be taken seriously. Morris had been abandoned, and its 25,000 residents were in panicky flight to the northeast, opposite the plant. Few people saw the asteroid make a direct hit on the two billion solar complex.

Seven hours and 12 minutes later, the fourth asteroid demolished the atmosphere plant located nine degrees south of the equator and 167 degrees east of the central meridian. It was evening, and the resulting cloud of dust created a sunset of spectacular beauty, with colors rippling through the drifting sand like fire seen through a translucent curtain.

The final impact occurred in the early darkness hours. The atmosphere plant located northeast of Eagle Crater at 26 degrees north of the equator and 85 degrees east of the central meridian was instantly turned into rubble.

In a thirty-two-hour period, Mars had been scarred by five new craters, each one a mile to a mile and a half across. More than ten billion solars in damage had been done. Atmosphere generation on the red planet could not be restored for at least five or six years.

Much more satisfying to Lurton Zimbardo was the fact that the entire population of Mars was held inescapably captive by an hysteria of fear.

No one doubted that Zimbardo had spoken his threat accurately. The five asteroids had arrived unseen until the last few seconds and had pulverized their targets with accuracy of less than half a mile of error. The fearful populace of Mars awaited the promised communication from the pirate leader, in which he would reveal his demands.

15: A Microwave Net

s.p.a.cE COMMAND and Starlight Enterprise were filled with intense activity. The previous day had been a roller-coaster ride of messages from Mars and the Asteroid Belt. First came the dismal news of the destruction of the Martian atmosphere-generating plants, one after the other. Then just before the tidings that the plant near Eagle City had been demolished, the message from the missing Starmen had come into Starlight Enterprise. The euphoria with which that word had been received was quickly dampened by the ultimatum Lurton Zimbardo had issued.

In words similar to those Troy Putnam had used weeks earlier, Zimbardo demanded control of Earth's wealth and resources, with specific demands for access to Earth's coded defense mechanisms, authority over major ports of travel, and power over the major decision-making processes and information systems. He closed his threat with the chilling announcement that he had already directed a sheathed asteroid more than forty miles long into a collision course with Earth. When his demands had been met and verified, he would then turn the asteroid aside.

Immediately after receiving the message, the President called a meeting in one of his maximum-security offices on Earth. Joining him at the table were some of his senior advisors as well as Richard Starlight, his chief a.s.sistant John Rwakatare, and other representatives of SE.

Robert Nolan with his chief a.s.sistant Beowulf Denn and other representatives of Nolan Mining Enterprise filled out the gathering.

"Although he has demanded control of Earth's systems of communication, exchange, and security, I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that Zimbardo's real object is not clear." The President was drawing conclusions after a brief introduction of the facts. "It is impossible for one man simply to become dictator of the entire planet, no matter who he is or what engines of destruction he can call upon. I suspect that his aim is other than he has announced, and I am determined not to provide the access codes to our most sensitive systems."

There was a slight rustle of movement around the table. Whatever course of action was to be decided at this meeting, calling Zimbardo's bluff had not been considered by many to be a viable option. The President continued.

"His ruination of the atmosphere plants on Mars proves that he is able to direct asteroids to targets with high accuracy, and that we are unable to detect them. Although the loss of the plants is a severe blow, it is not crippling. They can be rebuilt in a few years. At worst, the process of terraformation will be delayed for that long.

Replacement will cost about ten billion solars-obviously a huge amount of money, but an amount that Mars can afford. The plants were over a century old however, and in the long run replacing the plants will be more effective and probably achieve the goal of terraformation faster than if we had continued to use the plants that were destroyed.

Frankly, there were plans already in the works for modernizing the plants.

"No, the real damage has been psychological: the people of Earth and Mars are terrified. This, undoubtedly, was Zimbardo's major goal in destroying the plants, and he has achieved it completely and thoroughly. His demands to us are clear, but it is difficult for us to perceive what he would achieve, even if we capitulated-which we do not intend to do."

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."

"A chance? Mr. 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 President responded in gentle tones. "You have not yet heard our plan, Bob. Believe me, I can sympathize with your quandary, but I am simply not going to deal with any evil force as if it had a right to negotiate. It doesn't. This has been the principle behind the decisions we have made in order to meet the threat of the pirates from the first day."

"Principle?" Nolan was almost shouting now. "For your principle you're willing to risk the destruction of all life on Earth? That's the evil we're facing here!"

"Bob-please listen to what Dr. Hos.h.i.+no has to tell us. There is a plan.

Dr. Hos.h.i.+no?"

Robert Nolan leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table, and cradled his head in his hands. He was trembling. Richard Starlight looked over at his friend and colleague and felt very badly for him. He knew that Robert was under a tremendous strain. Richard agreed that the fate of the Earth was at stake and would probably be decided at this meeting. He was tremendously anxious himself, but he was eager to hear what Dr. Hos.h.i.+no had to say.

Dr. Stephen Hos.h.i.+no was a brilliant astrophysicist whom the President had commanded to work on a plan to counteract Zimbardo's chief weapon-the radar bender. He was a slight man of j.a.panese ancestry who, in spite of his compactness, exuded power. Even his smallest movements were made with precision. Although he was only in his middle thirties, from his late teens he had been granted virtual carte blanche in his research. Even at that young age, his genius had become known throughout the inhabited Solar System. His voice was calm and mellifluous.

"Thank you, Mr. President. My team and I have been working around the clock for eight days to develop a system for detecting an object which is invisible to radar. We have succeeded. The theory was not difficult to develop, but the method provided somewhat of a challenge. We have now designed a technique for locating a body as small as, very roughly, two-thirds the size of the average s.p.a.cecraft, by detecting its gravitational field."