The Runaway Asteroid by Michael D. Cooper (diy ebook reader txt) 📗

Inside the Star Ranger, Mark cried out, "Hey! Listen to this!" He directed the communication system to public announcement mode and restarted the message from Richard Starlight. In exultant tones, Richard related the events of the previous two days, concluding with the capture of the eighteen pirate ships and the coming attack on Zimbardo's asteroid.

The Starmen cheered. They all jumped up and danced. After a moment, Zip asked, "How soon can we get to the asteroid, Mark?"

Mark sat down and quickly figured. "We're only about a day and a half away."

"What are we waiting for?!" exclaimed Joe.

"Let's go!" said Zip. "We could use a little diversion on our way back to Earth."

Mark set a new course and Joe initiated it. The Star Ranger turned slightly to intercept the asteroid where they had been imprisoned nearly three weeks before.

As the power system aboard that same asteroid screeched into disruption and then silence, a massive electromagnetic shock wave was dispensed from its surface. A great pulse of destruction moved through space at the speed of light. Although it was not strong enough to harm spacecraft, the microwave probes were no match for its power. As the pulse swept past the probes, they winked out in flashes of golden light.

On the master screen aboard the Tempest and in Richard Starlight's office, viewers watched the golden net disappear. Although it was past midnight, Richard and John Rwakatare were wide awake with their eyes glued to the screen. From the center where the asteroid was indicated, an expanding circle of darkness went forth, gradually swallowing up all the probes. It was obvious to Richard that the microwave net was doomed.

"Computer," he said in a dull voice. "How much longer until the net disappears?"

"Four minutes, twelve seconds," came the mellow voice.

"The eighteen ships are adrift," Richard said. "We can't lose them. But if this asteroid is maneuverable, as it must be, Zimbardo can speed up, slow down, or change course and avoid our attack. He can disappear."

Richard's body tensed and he raised his voice. "How did he know about the probes?!" he exclaimed, with exasperation.

"The spy," responded John Rwakatare.

Aboard the pirates' asteroid, power was returning. An emergency backup system had kicked in, causing the lights to flicker back on and the atmosphere recycler to hum quietly back into efficiency. With covert glances back at Zimbardo, the men returned to their stations.

Zimbardo barked out a command.

"Status report!"

"Right away, sir," said Gene, taking his own seat. He attended to various dials and incoming signals.

Zimbardo stood up and walked over to the great window that overlooked the huge rocket pad outside. There were seven ships left-six belonging to the independent smugglers, Jeff Jenner, Lorry, and Captain Kimball, and his own personal ship, the Tartarus. Even the Silver Spear had been taken by Lorry. The asteroid was nearly empty of men; only his support crew, the smugglers and their crews, and a few others remained.

"Sir," spoke up Gene. His voice trembled. He spoke as one apologizing. "Mr. Zimbardo. Mr. Lather sent in a frantic message that all eighteen ships were under attack. The transmission was cut off in mid-sentence. I scanned their location, sir, and detected three large Space Command ships approaching our convoy. They are about to be captured, sir."

Zimbardo turned slowly and looked at Gene without a change in expression. "And?" he said. "There's more, I can tell. And…"

"And there is a large fleet of ships belonging to Space Command and Starlight Enterprise converging on our location. In less than three hours, fourteen ships will be arriving within minutes of each other. Approximately the same number again will join them over the next twenty-four hour period." Gene hesitated, then decided to deliver the last sentence. "Even if we are sheathed, sir, with that many ships so close, they will be able to find us before long."

Lurton Zimbardo turned his eyes obliquely to the floor and joined his hands behind his back. He rocked for a moment on his feet, almost as if pondering a challenging philosophical question.

"I see," he said at last. He walked quietly over to his console, sat for a moment without moving, then began to move dials and enter numbers into the navigational program. He consulted various tables of information and referred to a number of measuring devices whose sensitive detectors were on the surface of the asteroid.

Minutes passed. Zimbardo grew increasingly agitated as he worked. His men had stopped their own work and watched him. Where his hands had begun to move gently and carefully, they began to exhibit higher and higher degrees of animation. Soon he was pressing his keyboard vehemently and muttering under his breath. Once in a while he chortled.

Finally he shouted, "Hah! That will do it! I won't be outsmarted!" He pressed the "Enter" button and then roared, "Yes! I win!" He leaped from his chair and lifted up both arms. "I win!" he screamed.

As the program Zimbardo had activated was engaged, the power it required began draining the emergency resources of the asteroid. The lights dimmed and the usual hum of the atmosphere recycler began to stutter.

"What did you do?" Gene asked with trepidation. "Even the backup power system is being strained."

"Just keeping a promise," said Zimbardo jovially. "I told Earth I had sent them an asteroid. I wasn't very truthful at the time, I'm afraid. But now I have kept my promise. I have redirected the asteroid so that it will collide with the planet! -and I've pushed the acceleration up to full!"

A soul-wrenching moan escaped from Gene's lips. He stumbled over to his chair and collapsed into it. He stared ahead, seeing nothing. The other men were frozen in their places.

Zimbardo strolled over to the wall-screen that provided a map of the Inner Planetary system and indicated their position. With the power drain, the images were going in and out of focus and numbers were fading from the screen.

"Hmm. About ten days to impact," he muttered. "Can't tell for sure with the images fading like this, but no matter. By that time we'll be long gone."

A few minutes later the insides of the complex began to screech as they had before. The screech did not rise in intensity but gradually turned into a groan. The light slowly faded and then went out completely.

"The power is out for good now!" Gene wailed. "and we're prisoners on the asteroid! Now it's a runaway! We can't stop it!"

"Why would we want to stop it? We'll take the Tartarus and leave to fight again another day! Pack up, get the men, and let's go. We've got less than three hours, I think you said."

Panicked, Gene fled from the room, feeling his way desperately through the darkness. "I've got to warn Kimball, Lorry, and Jenner! We've got to escape!" Fear unlike anything he had ever experienced or imagined filled his entire being.

19: Change of Guard

GENE FLEW down the corridor with his arms outstretched, not knowing exactly where he was going and not caring, as long as it was away from the control deck. He was breathing hard and fast, on the verge of hysteria. Realizing that he was in danger of losing his grip, he paused to catch his breath, and leaned against the wall.

 A moment later he saw moving lights in the stairwell a long way ahead.
In the growing gray illumination, he dashed forward and saw Kimball,
Lorry, and Jenner coming up, carrying flashlights. When Kimball saw
Gene hurrying toward him, he flashed the light directly into his eyes
and roared, "What in blazes is going on in this place?"

Gene threw his hands up over his eyes, but continued to stumble forward. "You've got to get out of here," he choked out. "Get your men, get your ships, go!"

Jenner put a firm hand on Gene's shoulder, and Kimball lowered the light. "What's going on? Where's Zimbardo?" Jenner's voice was a little quieter than Kimball's but just as demanding.

Gene gulped and looked up. "He-, he's aimed the asteroid at Earth! It's on a collision course! He burned out all the power-all the power! He can't stop it! He doesn't want to stop it!"

There was a stunned silence. Jenner, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, finally blurted out, "Why did he do that?"

"All the men in the fleets have been captured! We're the only ones left, and Space Command will be boarding us in less than three hours!"

The three smugglers gasped in dismay. Jenner pushed Gene away and the three of them shot back down the stairwell. When they reached the lower level, Gene heard them shouting for their men. The light gradually diminished until Gene was once again in complete darkness.

"Gene! Gene! Where are you?" came the voice of Lurton Zimbardo from far behind him. Startled, Gene quickly whirled and peered into the darkness. From far away came a sound as of scurrying feet. There were men coming-the men from the control center, with Zimbardo. Gene spun again and ran for his own room. He had decided what he was going to do. Frantically he rummaged through his belongings until he found his own flashlight. Without turning it on yet, he ran from the room and hastened farther away from the control center.

"Gene? Gene! Is that you?" came the voice of Lurton Zimbardo. Gene inhaled quickly and looked back. There was still no light. He hesitated for a moment, then answered,

"Yes, it's me." His voice was squeaky.

"Where are you?" echoed down the corridor.

"I'm not going with you! Go on without me!"

"What?" Zimbardo's voice had a note of complete incredulity in it. "Why not? Hurry up, Gene! We have to go! I don't want Space Command on my tail!"

"I'm not going!" Gene shouted. He turned and fled. He sped down the corridor as fast as he could go, came to its end, turned the corner, and kept going. In less than a minute he was many turns and twists away from the main level. He switched on his light, put it on its lowest setting, and slowed down to a walk. "He won't wait for me! He won't look for me! He'll want to go! Soon he'll be gone and I'll be safe!" These thoughts came through Gene's mind almost like a flow of clear water.

He came to a storeroom, pushed the door open, and flashed his light around. The room was crammed with stacks of boxes and various other items. Seeing there was no one else inside, he shut the door, crawled under a cabinet, and turned off his light.

After a short while, he felt the floor tremble slightly. He knew that a spaceship had lifted off. It was followed quickly by five others. "The smugglers are gone," he thought. "Just one more now. If I hear one more, I'll know that he's gone." He waited, desperately hoping he wouldn't hear the sound of the door opening.

After they left Gene, the smugglers Kimball, Lorry, and Jenner quickly gathered together their men and supplies and headed for the airlock to the launching pad. There were thirty-seven men altogether. All had their spacesuits on and most of them carried lights.

"How are we going to get out of here?" asked one of the men as they approached the airlock. "The airlock won't open. Nothing's working."

"Portable power pack," said Kimball. He took a small box from another man, set it down by the airlock, and in seconds had established a makeshift connection. The airlock opened. In that fashion, the men boarded their ships without delay.

Kimball lifted off first and entered the vast, stone tunnel that led to the outside. As soon as the enormous airlock became visible down the shaft, he fired a laser cannon at it. Unable to resist an attack from within, the great door, thousands of years old, shattered into fragments. The atmosphere of the launching pad rushed out, hurling the shards of the airlock door into space. Kimball's ship then came through the tunnel and exited, followed in short order by the five other ships. They set a course for the Asteroid Belt and at top acceleration left the pirates' asteroid behind them.

After Gene had fled out of earshot, Zimbardo turned to the few men who were behind him. "I'm lifting off in the Tartarus in ten minutes. It's the only ship left on the asteroid. Meet me at the great doors. Tell everyone else you see." He swiveled and walked to the