Chapter 13

“What in the world?” Jon’s eyes snapped open and immediately began scanning the various telltales on the panel, while from the other three came a chorused, “What’s wrong?”

“Something out here using atomic energy.” Jon’s surprised voice made them raise their seats quickly to upright, so they could better see for themselves.

Mr. Carver hastily adjusted his visiplate to maximum magnification, and began searching the heavens surrounding them. “A ship, you think?”

“Yes, and quite close.” And a moment later, aided more surely by his more complex instruments, Jon cried, “There it is! RA 11; square 17 on the plate.”

His father’s flying fingers found the object, then narrowed his focus of vision and stepped up the magnification. His eyes grew large, then hard and tense, as he studied the close-up image. “Slik Bogin’s ship--I’d know that anywhere!” he exclaimed, and the boys looked at him in puzzled concern.

“Then I must have been right, that day I thought I heard a ship,” Mrs.

Carver declared.

“You must have been,” Jak agreed.

“But what’s Bogin doing out here?” Jon asked with a touch of fear in his voice.

“Nothing good, you can bet.” His father’s voice was grimmer than any of them had ever heard it before. “Any time you run across that pirate, you can lay mighty big odds there’s skullduggery afoot.”

“Great catfish! He’s trying to beat us out of this system.”

“I’ll lay a thousand to one he is, if he thinks he can get away with it.”

“What can we do about it, Father?” There was now a trace of a tremor in Jak’s voice. “Jon and I have worked so hard to map these planets--how can Bogin possibly do the same and still beat us?”

“No telling. He’s a slippery cuss, and if he really wants to try claim-jumping, he’ll figure out some dirty scheme.”

“Can’t we get back to Earth ahead of him, Mr. C., and report to the Colonial Board first?” Mrs. Carver was almost in tears.

Her husband gave her a tight-lipped smile. “We’ll sure try, Honey.” His forehead creased with a frown of concentration for some minutes, then he faced Jon, who was watching him from the pilot’s seat.

“Bogin’s headed in the opposite direction, so no use chasing him to see what he’s doing. Besides, I’ve heard his ship is armed, and we aren’t, except for our rifles, which are absolutely no good in space. I say, continue our course, checking our signals, then beat it for home.

After all, we don’t know for sure that Bogin’s trying anything--and our best bet is to finish our job as though nothing had happened, but not waste any time doing it ... just in case.”

“Right, Pop. As near as I could tell, we have twice his speed, and we don’t need to worry. We have all the data and pictures to prove we’re the Prime Discoverers, and we didn’t hear any signals to show he’s put out any senders.”

But there was an uneasy and unhappy silence as the little space-yacht continued to eat up the millions of miles.

Tad Carver had intended having his younger son slow down near Planet Three and go into an orbit close enough so he could get a good generalized view of this other Earthlike, though colder, planet. But now he would not do so. Speed and time were essential in getting back to Terra. He would try to keep his worries from the others as much as possible, but there was a deep foreboding in his mind.

Only too well he knew the various types of men who braved the spaceways, and that many of them were out and out criminals. And this Slik Bogin was the most ruthless pirate and cutthroat of them all, from reports. There were so many, many crimes charged against him ... though it was true that none had ever been proven. Yet such was the man’s evil reputation that all honest spacemen hated him, even as they were somewhat in fear of him.

Mr. Carver was sure that the man’s spacer was almost a warship in her armament. Nor did he doubt that the master criminal would not hesitate to use his heavy rays to blast out of existence anyone he felt was a menace to his nefarious plans.

And this new system the Carvers had discovered was a prize well worth stealing, if possible. Although Mr. Carver had not seen these splendid worlds with his own eyes, he had carefully studied the boys’ concise and complete reports, and their many detailed pictures, so he knew what a rich treasure they had struck in finding this sun and its planets and moons.

It would make him and his family rich beyond their fondest dreams ... and he would be worse than flat broke if they lost out on getting their claim approved.

For Mr. Carver had not told even his wife that all their possessions, including their ship, were mortgaged for every credit he could secure, to enable them to make this costly journey. It was true he had won great wealth on his previous trips into space--but several of his largest investments on Terra had gone sour, and this was a last desperate chance to recoup his fortune in one intensive campaign.

As they neared the point in their trajectory that brought them to the Earthward side of Planet Three, Jon began tuning his receiver and turning his directional antenna-loops, so he could pick up the continuous message of their sender. Soon he began hearing words, and tuned more closely, stepping up his power. The four sat erect, expectant.

Then their faces blanched and their fists tightened as they heard the words:

“This sun and system of five planets, of which this is the third, were discovered and surveyed by Michael Bogin and his crew, on the tenth day of January in the Terran year of 2136.”

Over and over the message was repeated, while the Carvers stared at each other in horrified surprise and consternation.

But Mr. Carver rallied quickly. “He has changed the tape in your senders, boys. We’ll probably find the same on Four and Five, and he’s on his way to Two now to do the same.”

“But he’ll not be able to change the one we set out around the sun, will he, Pop?” Jon’s voice quavered and broke into a boyish soprano.

“He can’t get in as close as we did, and still slow down enough to retrieve such a small thing, can he?”

“I don’t see how he could. But he has some darned good technies in that pirate crew of his. They’ll figure out some way to destroy ours and substitute one of their own, I’ll bet. Well, this changes the picture.

Now we know what he’s up to, so we’ll just have to get to Terra ahead of him, and lay our facts before the Board first.”

“They’ll take our word against his, won’t they, especially since we have such complete records and so many photographs?” Jak asked, hoping to be reassured.

“There’s no telling,” Mr. Carver spoke slowly, shaking his head. “If Bogin is trying to get this claim--and now we know he is--he’ll work out some way of getting pictures and records, too. We can only hope.”

“And pray,” their mother added determinedly.

“We’ll make out some way,” Jon tried to cheer them all. “Meanwhile, I suggest I cut to one G and that Mom fixes us some grub. We have to eat.”

“That’s a good idea,” his father agreed, and Jon manipulated his controls. They all felt the sudden relief of once more being their accustomed weight. Mrs. Carver unstrapped herself and left for the galley. Jak also unstrapped, saying, “I’ll go help Mom.”

“Ask her to make a pile of sandwiches, too, and to bring plenty of drinks so we can eat later without slowing our acceleration,” his father called, then added, “Don’t let your mother talk about this. Get her mind on something else and keep it there.”

“Right, Father.”

“This is serious, Jon,” Mr. Carver said when the two were alone in the control room. “I don’t like to worry any of you any more than’s necessary, but our chances aren’t too good, now that those signals have been changed.”

“We’ve got some hope left, though, haven’t we?” came the anxious inquiry.

“I see two fairly good ones--but it all depends on so many factors,”

Mr. Carver answered after a moment of thought. “We’ve got to try to get back first and report and show them our records and pictures--which are very detailed, thanks to you two boys. Second, we’ve got to hope someone back there caught our original signals, and then noticed the change--if they could tell they came from the same system.”

“How are you making out under this acceleration?”

“All right. I don’t seem to be any weaker ... but then, what with all the excitement and disappointment, there may be a relapse. But that’s not important...” Then, hearing his son’s gasp of dismay, he continued rapidly and grimly, “No, Jon, really. I mean that, and I want you to keep it in mind at all times on the rest of this trip. I’m expendable, if we can prove our case. Not that I intend to die,” he hastened to add with a grin as Jon started to protest. “But I’d rather take longer to get well and know that you all are provided for the way you should be.”

“If we cut for Terra right away, without waiting to go on to Four and Five, Bogin couldn’t possibly build up speed enough to beat us in, could he?” Jon questioned anxiously.

“Not unless his ship’s a lot faster than ours. It probably is, because his crew can undoubtedly stand more acceleration, and he’ll drive to the limit. But if he stops to change those other signals, I don’t see how he can do it. Go ahead, change course, and let’s hike for home.”

“Right. Let’s see, now. Terra’s behind and down from where we are and the way we’re heading. I’ll set us into a circle while we’re figuring out our course.”

“Make it just an approximation for now. We can refine it as we go.”

“Right.” Jon worked swiftly at his computer, then at his controls, and they could feel the gallant little ship begin to strain toward the right.

“Don’t try too short a turn,” his father warned.

“OK, I’ll let up a bit. I was figuring on a two million radius.”

“Better make it three for safety.”

In time their circling was completed, the new homeward bound course figured. For days the little ship and its anxious crew were on their way. Three times each day their acceleration was stepped up to two Earth-gravities for a period of four hours, then back to one and a quarter for the same period--four on and four off continually, to give them a rest from the burden of doubled weight, and to make it easier to prepare and eat their meals, and to do what personal and ship’s chores had to be done. In between times, as they could, they slept.

Jon had set their receptor and analyzer to react to atomics. It was now fanning out behind them in a cone-shaped funnel of force. He hoped by this to be able to tell if Bogin began overtaking them.

Of course, space was so vast, and the distance to Sol and Terra so great, and their points of trajectory so different, that the pirate ship might be taking an entirely different course, and not come anywhere near them until the two ships were almost home. On the other hand, Jon was taking the most direct route--and he was sure Bogin would undoubtedly do the same--so they were quite apt to converge sooner or later.

And since Jon’s receptors covered an ever-larger sphere of space the farther away they reached, he and his father hoped they would be able to tell if and when their enemy began catching up with them.

Meantime, the two studied almost continuously together the problem of that supposedly new fuel-metal they had discovered on the planet Marci--hoping it could be used in their engines. They were sadly handicapped, both because neither was an atomic physicist, and because their little ship--well-stocked and provided with many instruments as it was--did not contain anywhere near all the testing equipment needed for such a delicate and complex and dangerous task.