The Three Planeteers Page 4

  "And now,” Thorn said ironically, “it sees the Companions led by a girl."

  "Aye, boy,” shrilled the old pirate, “it sees a girl leading us now. But she's Martin Cain's daughter—as deadly dangerous as ever her sire was. Aye, and as great a leader."

  * * * *

  The Venture roared closer to the green asteroid and then dropped rapidly toward it, air whistling outside its walls.

  "I didn't think an asteroid this small could have an atmosphere,” commented Sual Av, peering downward.

  "'It must have unusual mass for its size—probably a core of neutronium or other super-heavy elements,” Thorn guessed. “Otherwise, the escape of its air molecules would be inevitable, and it wouldn't be able to hold an atmosphere."

  "Let's hope that nothing holds us here, once we get what we're after,” muttered Gunner Welk.

  Thorn was taut with the same thought. Down in this hell's nest of pirates was a girl with a secret that would save four worlds from conquest—if they could get it from her.

  Turkoon widened beneath them, a little world blanketed by thick green fern-jungles. Directly underneath was a raw brown oval, a big clearing that had been blasted from the jungle. At one end of it gleamed the straggling chromaloy buildings of a town of considerable size, while parked ships covered the rest of the field.

  The Venture landed with a roar of brake-blasts and a bumping jar beside the scores of parked ships. The door ports were rapidly unscrewed, and warm, heavy air hit the Planeteers’ faces as they followed old Stilicho Keene out of the ship.

  "We'll go right up to the Council House. Martin Cain's house, it was, and Lana lives there now,” the old pirate told the three. His rheumy eyes glistened. “I want to see the faces of some of these young milksop captains when they learn that I've brought in the Three Planeteers!"

  They went with Stilicho Keene across the field and through the main street of the straggling pirate town.

  Turkoon Town sprawled, unkempt and somnolent, in the pale wash of light from the shrunken, setting sun. The looming dark green wall of the jungle was only rods from the outermost metal cabins.

  Solemn, green and dark towered the fifty-foot jungle all around. Colossal ferns crowded each other, the space between their huge trunks choked with underbrush. Here and there in the tangle, blindly writhed “crawler vines,” parasitic fungoid creepers that wandered with their peculiar power of self-locomotion, searching for a host. Through the upper jungle and out over the town drifted “floating flowers,” white blooms that drank sunlight and water vapor from the air, and never touched ground after they budded free.

  Thorn and his two comrades were eyed without interest by the motley population of the town—a population as varied in origin as the pirate crew they had already met. The men were from every inhabited world in the system. And there were also many women here—hot-eyed red Martian girls, languid white Venusian women, tall, awkward green girls from Saturn, brazen-faced Earth girls. All were clad in incongruously rich tunics and jewels-pirate loot.

  Children, hybrids of a half dozen different peoples, fought and chased each other along the dusty brown street. And there was an astounding variety of animals from all planets, some chained, others running free. Solemn-eyed, furry Martian vardaks, green Venusian swamp pups, a big, hopping uniped from Io, and many others-all of them brought home here by the far-ranging pirate crews.

  The crew of the Venture was stumping into town behind them, caning loudly to let all know they had returned. But by now, Stilicho Keene had brought the Planeteers to the long, low chromaloy building that faced the end of the main street.

  The snow-haired old pirate painfully climbed the steps, and led them into a big, low-ceilinged, dusky room.

  A small group of men stood in it, all wearing atom pistols.

  "Where's Lana?” demanded the old pirate as this little group turned toward him.

  "We're waiting for her. She'll be out in a moment,” answered a squat, scarred-faced Jovian who was one of the group. “So you finally got back, Stilicho!"

  "Yes, I'm back,” shrilled the ancient Martian. “And a cursed strange thing it is that old Stilicho Keene has to go out on reconnaissance while you younger men rest your bones."

  The old pirate spat real juice viciously out the open door and then turned to Thorn and his two comrades.

  "Boy, I hate to admit it, but these are the captains of the Companions now,” he told Thorn. “Aye, these; the worthless lot who call themselves pirates in these degenerate days. Yon ox of a Jovian is Brun Abo. The pretty fellow beside him is Kinnel King, and the fat hog yonder is Jenk Cheerly, the latest to join our ranks."

  Thorn's black eyes swept the pirate leaders. The man beside the Jovian, the man called Kinnel King, was an Earthman, middle-aged, with a very handsome face and brooding eyes.

  Jenk Cheerly, the third pirate captain, was a Uranian of incredible obesity. His fat, puffy body seemed about to burst his jacket, and his pale-green, rotund face was featureless except for two bright, pig-like little eyes.

  The obese Uranian stared at Thorn and his two comrades with those little eyes, and then spoke in an incongruously high and squeaky voice to old Stilicho Keene.

  "Where did you pick up these three?” he asked. “And why did you bring them here?"

  Stilicho Keene cackled, his rheumy eyes glistening.

  "You'll find out who they are in a minute, Jenk,” he shrilled. “It's going to be a surprise for you, and all you other louts who call yourselves pirates."

  A door in the rear of the room suddenly opened, and a girl in white silk jacket and trousers entered the room.

  "You're back, Stilicho?” she exclaimed eagerly as she saw the old Martian. “What did you learn at Jupiter?"

  Thorn's gaze riveted on the girl. He heard a low whisper from Sual Av behind him.

  "So that's Lana Cain,” whispered the Venusian.

  Lana Cain's eyes looked past the old Martian into Thorn's face. He felt the impact of her challenging stare as though it were a tangible shock.

  The pirate girl was a slender, imperious figure in her silk garments. Her proud, graceful form seemed somehow vibrant with force. The bronze-gold hair that hung to her shoulders was like a casque of dull gold flame around her face, catching the glints of sunlight in its strands.

  Her face was white, dynamic, with hardness in the straight red mouth and in the stubborn set of her small chin. Her dark blue eyes, as they stared into Thorn's face, were growing slowly darker, as though storm were gathering in them, tiny lightnings seeming to flash in their depths.

  Thorn was momentarily bewildered, badly startled. He had expected some blowsy, barbaric, aging wench, whom he could, without difficulty, trick out of the secret he wanted. But this girl was as beautiful-and as dangerous-looking-as a sword blade.

  CHAPTER V

  Secret Enemy

  IN the queerly tense silence Thorn stared at Lana Cain. Then the silence was suddenly broken by the shuffling entrance of a grotesque, four-legged creature that had followed the pirate girl into the room. It stared at Thorn with blazing green eyes.

  "It's a space dog, John!” exclaimed Sual Av wonderingly. “You've heard of them."

  "I've heard of them,” Thorn muttered. “But this is the first one I've ever seen."

  The space dog stood three feet high at the shoulder. Its body was of dusty, mineraline gray flesh that had an inorganic look. Its four legs ended in heavy digging paws, and its mouth was furnished with great grindingtusks. It had no nostrils, for the creature was not an air-breathing animal.

  It was, in fact, one of a unique species. The early explorers who first visited the asteroid Ceres had been amazed to find these creatures living on that airless little world. They were the product of an evolution working without atmosphere, creatures able to assimilate the inorganic elements they dug from the ground, and consume them by a chemical process other than oxidization. They had dim telepathic powers by which their rudimentary minds communed.

  "Ool w
ill not hurt you,” said Lana Cain crisply to Thorn.

  She glanced at the blazing-eyed creature, and it lay down at her feet as it received her telepathic command.

  "Stilicho, you brought these three men here?” the girl asked the old Martian. “Who are they?"

  "Yes, who are they?” squeaked Jenk Cheerly, the obese, beady-eyed Uranian. “What's all the mystery about them?"

  Stilicho Keene's rheumy eyes glistened, and his wrinkled face quivered with excitement as he answered.

  "Why, they're just three lads I picked off a wreck coming back, and fetched along to Turkoon,” he quavered. The old man paused to enjoy his coming triumph, then added, “Maybe you've heard of these three boys. They're called the Three Planeteers."

  "The Three Planeteers!"

  Brun Abo, the squat Jovian, uttered that startled cry. He and everyone else in the room stared at John Thorn and Sual Av and Gunner Welk in rigidly frozen amazement.

  The beady eyes of Jenk Cheerly, the fat Uranian, were wide with astonishment. Kinnel King, the Earthman, stiffened. And Lana Cain's dark blue eyes narrowed incredulously as she stared at Thorn's dark face.

  "It's them, all right,” muttered the Jovian in a moment. “I've seen their pictures on reward notices."

  "Those pictures on the notices were poor likenesses,” said Sual Av, a grin on his froglike face. “They hardly did me justice, as you can see for yourselves."

  "What do you Planeteers want here, if you are the Planeteers?” demanded Jenk Cheerly suspiciously.

  Gunner Welk stiffened at the fat green pirate's question.

  "We're not in the custom of asking anybody's leave for our coming and goings, Uranian!” he flared.

  "Not even the Planeteers can talk to me like that!” squeaked Jenk Cheerly furiously, his hand dropping to his side.

  "Draw that atom-pistol, and I'll shove it down your fat throat,” warned the towering Mercurian ominously.

  "Quiet, Gunner,” snapped John Thorn. “I'll do the talking."

  "Let them fight!” urged old Stilicho Keene with quavering eagerness, a ghoulish avidity in his rheumy eyes as he leaned forward. “There's nothing to warm the blood like the sight of two good men in a stand-up fight."

  "There'll be no fighting here!” flared Lana Cain. “You all know my rules! If any of you doesn't like them he can get out of Turkoon and out of the Zone!"

  The girl's voice cracked like a silver whip, and her dark blue eyes were stormy now with little lightnings. The space dog, Ool, had sprung to his feet, his great green eyes blazing.

  Thorn sensed the electric force in this girl which had kept her the acknowledged leader of the wild Companions of Space. The others in the room were stricken to sullen silence by it.

  Lana's stormy eyes swung back to Thorn.

  "Jenk's question was a fair one, John Thorn,” she declared. “What are you Planeteers doing here? You’ never came into the Zone before—you always worked by yourselves."

  Thorn shrugged. “We didn't come here by choice. Perhaps you heard of the trouble we got into at Earth?"

  "We heard of your attempt to kidnap the Chairman there,” Lana nodded curtly. “Go on."

  "We bungled the job and had to run for it with half the Earth Navy on our tail,” Thorn continued coolly. “We tried to lose them in a swarm and got wrecked. The old Martian there picked us up and brought us here to Turkoon. It's not a place we'd have picked voluntarily.” Lana stiffened, and asked dangerously, “You don't think much then of we Companions and our ways?"

  "Not much,” Thorn answered coolly. “I've no doubt your followers are good fighters, but they look like rather an undisciplined rabble."

  Thorn was playing his part to the hilt. He knew well that for the famous Planeteers to seem too friendly on first acquaintance, too eager to join the pirates, would quickly arouse suspicion.

  "But, boy, I was hoping that you three would join’ up with us!” quavered old Stilicho Keene dismayedly.

  "The Planeteers work alone,” Thorn declared frowningly. Then he appeared to hesitate, and added, “It's true that we're stranded here now without a ship—"

  Sual Av instantly played up to him. “Yes, John, we need a ship and equipment. Maybe we could work with these people for a while, and take a new cruiser as our share of loot."

  "You haven't been asked to join the Companions yet,” flared Lana Cain. “You Planeteers are just three men here. I could order you gunned down and it would be done."

  John Thorn looked at her steadily with cool black eyes. “Would you do that?"

  "No, I wouldn't,” she admitted after a moment. “Turkoon is a refuge for every outlaw who comes into the Zone, as long as he obeys my rules. And I don't countenance killing here."

  Thorn smiled. “After all, we Planeteers are in no position to be choosers. We need a ship. We'll join up with you for a while, if you're agreeable, and take a ship as our share of spoil, and then be on our way. What do you say?"

  Lana frowned in thought, her anger gone. “We do need captains,” she murmured.

  "And where will you find better ones than the Planeteers?” cried old Stilicho Keene with shrill eagerness. “Take them in, lass—it's heaven sent them here to help us in the big new foray we've planned."

  "We can pull that job without their help,” squeaked Jenk Cheerly, his pig-like eyes malignant. “What do we need with the Planeteers?"

  Brun Abo, the squat Jovian, nodded sullen agreement. But Kinnel King, the handsome Earthman, turned on the obese Uranian.

  "After all, Jenk,” said Kinnel King silkily, “you yourself are still a newcomer in our midst. We don't need advice from you on this."

  "No brawling!” Lana ordered imperiously. She continued, “John Thorn, I'm taking you three into the Companions. But understand one thing. When we blast off Turkoon, everyone is under my command, even the Planeteers."

  Thorn frowned, though inwardly his heart was pounding with elation.

  "We're not used to being under orders of anyone,” he declared.

  "Take it or leave it!” Lana flashed. “There can only be one leader when ships go into action."

  Thorn finally shrugged. “Well, as I said, we're not in a position to be choosers. We follow your orders in space."

  "That's settled, then,” Lana said curtly. Her slender figure swung round to Stilicho Keene. “Now what about your reconnaissance, Stilicho? Did you find out anything at Jupiter about those scheduled freighters?"

  The old Martian nodded his white head vigorously. “Sure did. We slipped in to Jupiter without bein’ spotted, and landed secretly in that big marsh near Vosek. Me and one of my boys went into the city in disguise and hung around the docks. We saw rich cargo bein’ loaded in them freighters—thirty of ‘em. We waited till they took off, a bunch of tankers with ‘em. They're blasting along without any naval convoy. I figger them to cross under the Zone tomorrow, on their way to Saturn."

  "Didn't I tell you they'd sail without convoy?” squeaked Jenk Cheerly, the obese Uranian's eyes glistening. “Wasn't my tip right? This'll be a rich haul, and without even a fight."

  Lana Cain turned to Thorn and his two comrades and explained crisply.

  "Jenk just joined us two weeks ago. He came with his ship from Jupiter, where he had a secret base on one of the outer moons. He brought advance notice of these rich Jovian freighters scheduled to transit across the inner orbits of the system to reach Saturn which is now approaching opposition.

  "They're without convoy,” the pirate girl continued rapidly, “because the League of Cold Worlds is concentrating all its cruisers at Saturn right now, preparing for the great attack they're going to make on the Alliance. I sent Stilicho to check their sailing and make sure they had rich cargo. We'll surprise them tomorrow when they pass under the Zone."

  "Yes, and fine loot there'll be to divide,” squeaked the obese Uranian gloatingly. “We'll gun them to a wreck, and gut them of every scrap of spoil, and leave not a man alive on them to take the tale to Saturn."

 
"No!” exclaimed Lana hotly. “No massacre! I told you my rules when you joined us, Jenk. The Companions willfully spill no blood as long as I lead them!"

  "My rule has always been to leave nobody alive to testify against me in a space-court,” grumbled the fat Uranian shrilly. “This tenderheartedness—"

  "It isn't just tenderheartedness; it's good strategy!” flashed Lana Cain, her blue eyes determined. “When freighter-men know they're going to be massacred if they surrender, they fight to the last man. But when they know that only their cargo will be taken, and their lives spared, they surrender a lot more quickly. Further, the hunt against us is never so bitter. It was my father's rule to take no life, and it's mine, and it's paid returns to the Companions."

  "That it has!” declared Brun Abo, the Jovian, “It's saved us many a bitter fight-and possibly extermination."

  The girl looked around them as he gave her orders.

  "Our chief spatial navigator will check their course against Saturn's and ours. We'll blast off tomorrow dawn, with forty ships. That'll give us time enough to be waiting in the Zone, and when the Jovian freighters pass underneath, we'll swoop down on them."

  "What about Gunner and Sual Av and me?” John Thorn asked her. “We have no ship, remember."

  "You'll be furnished one, and a crew to go with it,” Lana answered crisply. “From what I've heard of you Planeteers, you'll be able to handle your part."

  She ran her hand a little tiredly through her mop of dull-gold hair.

  "That's all, men. See that your ships and men are ready to blast off at dawn. And not too much drinking tonight!"

  As the pirate captains started to troop out, the girl added to the old Martian, “Stilicho, find a cabin for the Planeteers."

  Thorn was starting out with his two comrades after the old pirate, when Lana's voice halted him.

  "Wait, John Thorn. There's something I want to ask you."