Chapter 14: Rockets Away!

The next lap of their journey was uneventful. Saturn, the next outward planet from the Sun, and the second largest, would present the same problem as Jupiter. This world, famous for its mysterious rings, was about 71,000 miles in diameter and had a large family of satellites--nine in all. The Sun-tap station would be on one of these, Burl thought.

Saturn was also almost as far out from Jupiter as Jupiter itself had been from the Sun. This meant that the trip would be as long for the Magellan as the distance they had already traveled to get to Jupiter. Fortunately the A-G drive was a remarkable thing--it was possible to accelerate to fantastic speeds--in theory, probably right up to the speed of light. And so, where great distances were concerned, the ship simply rushed its fall through on Saturn’s line of gravitation.

Boulton had fully recovered and showed no lingering signs of the strange electronic charge. Because of the limited size of the crew, Lockhart put the Marine captain back on full duty--he would participate in future landings as if nothing had ever happened.

At the same time, Lockhart cautioned Haines, Burl and Ferrati to keep their eyes on him. It was always possible that the foe’s weapon had made some more lasting mark.

Haines had his group make a new inventory of their weapons. Burl, working with them in a space suit, in the partially protected region of the cargo hull, was surprised at the variety. There was a second rocket plane, a two-man outfit. In addition, they had a large store of offensive weapons, including a small but formidable supply of atomic explosives.

Haines gave Burl and Ferrati--who were new to military weapons--brief introductory lectures on their use. Burl saw just what a hand-sized, tactical atomic shell looked like and how it worked. He learned how to operate the heavy-caliber rocket gun which hurled this tiniest of atomic bombs.

And so the time passed, and the amazing disc of Saturn began to grow in their viewplates. It was banded, much like Jupiter, and its brilliant rings surrounded it with a mystic halo that set it apart from all the other worlds of the Sun’s family.

Burl was watching Saturn through the largest of the nose viewplates when he thought that he saw a black dot crossing its face. He had located the known moons of Saturn and this was not one of them. Excited, he called Russell Clyde. “Could it be a tenth satellite?” he asked, pointing out the tiny dot.

Russ squinted his eyes; then, calculating mentally, he shook his head, “I don’t think so. It looks to me more like something that’s in space between us and Saturn. In fact--it must be fairly close to us for us to see it at all.” He turned to Lockhart who was at the control panel with Oberfield.

“You’d better have a look. Could be a giant meteor coming in our direction.”

“We’re moving mighty fast,” commented Oberfield. “It should have passed us already if it were a meteor. Instead, it seems to be maintaining the same distance--neither growing larger nor smaller. Acts very odd for a natural body.”

“Uh, uh,” said Lockhart. “This calls for caution.” He quickly went back to the controls, pressed the general alarm button, then called into the intercom. “All hands to emergency stations. Haines and party, please prepare defensive positions.”

“This means me,” gulped Burl, and scooted down the central hatch, almost colliding with Caton and Shea on their way to the engine room. He met Haines, and, with neat dispatch, all four slipped into space suits. Then out through the cargo hold to posts by escape hatches.

Burl and Haines, at the main entry port, unlimbered the long rocket launcher that had been set up in the passageway. Haines placed three shells of differing strength in position.

They heard through their helmet phones that the mysterious dot was drawing closer. Haines set up one of the launching racks, which was equipped with a telescopic sighter, and peered through the eyepiece. Apparently he caught it, for he grunted, then motioned to Burl to take a look.

It was no natural object. It was the shape of a dumbbell--two spheres joined together by a short middle bar. One sphere was a deep, golden color, the other a bluish-silver, the connecting rod a coppery metal.

“The pattern of spheres certainly suggests the Sun-tappers to me,” said Burl. Haines murmured his agreement.

Lockhart’s voice came on the phones. “We’ve decided it’s one of the Sun-tapper ships. We’re not going to wait to make sure. Before we left Earth, I can now inform you, I received a directive from the President to regard the builders of these Sun-tap stations as active enemies. My orders are that we are not to attempt to undertake peaceful contact, but are to treat them on sight as armed foes in the field. To do otherwise is to risk Earth’s last active defense--this ship.

“I think I don’t have to argue this further, considering our recent experiences.” His voice hesitated, then rang out firmly, “Haines, you can commence firing at will!”

Haines clicked his tongue and reached for one of the shells. “Okay, Burl, aim at her direct. This one’s got a proximity nose that’ll beam at her and drive itself where ever she ducks.”

He slid the rocket shell into the launcher, Burl sighted, and then Haines pressed the trigger. There was a whoosh of fire and a flare from the launcher’s nose. A minute spark winged into the darkness toward the spot, still many miles away, where the strange ship hung.

They watched with bated breath. Suddenly there was a flash of light from the other ship--a vivid lightning bolt which leaped out and flared up briefly in space. Then darkness again.

“They fired a burst of energy at us. It hit the rocket shell instead,” said Haines. “Well, now we know. They use bolts of pure energy--something like the one they fired at Boulton.”

He fitted another shell into the launcher, and fired again. Again a spark winged its way, and the bolt of energy burst out to detonate the shell. Burl whistled. “How did they spot it so fast?” he asked.

“I don’t think they did. They’re firing at us--the rocket shell only happened to be between,” snapped Haines.