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Snap murmured in my ear, "Don't move, Gregg! She's reckless." She heard it. She whirled on him. "We have lost George Prince, it seems. Well, we will survive without his scientific knowledge. And you, Dean and this Haljan, mark me I will kill you both if you cause trouble!" Miko was gloating. "Don't kill them yet, Moa. What was it Grantline said? Near the crater of Archimedes. Ring us down, Haljan.
Captain Carter and Balch were dead. The lookouts and course masters, also. And Blackstone. There remained only Dr. Frank and Snap. Their fate I did not yet know. And there was George Prince. He, perhaps, would help me if he could. But, at best, he was a dubious ally. "You are very foolish, Haljan," murmured Miko's voice.
And occasionally the roar of his voice at the passengers, sounded. My vagrant thoughts flung back into Earth's history. Like this, ancient travelers of the surface of the sea were herded by pirates to walk the plank, or be put ashore, marooned upon some fair desert island of the tropic Spanish main. Hahn came mounting our turret incline. "All is well, Gregg Haljan?"
Nerves and muscles paralyzed. My tongue was thick and inert. I could not speak, nor move. But I could see Miko bending over me, and hear him: "I don't want to kill you, Haljan. We need you." He gathered me up like a bundle in his huge arms; carried me swiftly across the deserted deck. Snap's radio room in the network under the dome was diagonally overhead.
The port and dome windows slid closed. Moa hissed against my ear: "If you want life, Gregg Haljan, you will start your duties!" Venza had failed. Whatever it was, it had come to nothing. Down in the purple forest, disconnected now from the ship, the last of our friends stood marooned. I could distinguish them through the blur of the closed dome only a swaying, huddled group was visible.
His voice, with the horrible gurgling rasp of death in it, rattled my ear-grids. "Not such a fool are you, Haljan " Moa's helmeted head was close over us. I saw that she had seized the knife, jerked it from her brother's throat. She leaped backward, waving it. I twisted from beneath Miko's lifeless, inert body. As I got to my feet, Anita flung herself to shield me.
We'll land." He signaled the turret, gave Coniston the Grantline message, and audiphoned it below to Hahn. The news spread about the ship. The bandits were jubilant. "We'll land now, Haljan. Come, Anita and I will go with you to the turret." I found my voice. "To what destination?" "Near Archimedes. The Apennine side. Keep well away from the Grantline camp.
On the descending incline there was chaos. The disembarking women were clinging to the gang rail; some of them had evidently surged forward and fallen. Down on the ground in the purple-shadowed starlight, I could vaguely see the chained line of men. They too, were in confusion, trying to shove themselves toward the fallen women. Miko roared: "Light those tubes! Gregg Haljan!
If you should need us, we're ready...." "We won't!" I said shortly. "But if you should...." Venza put in, "If Snap and I hadn't come for you, you wouldn't be here, Gregg Haljan. I didn't notice you were so horrified to see me holding that shield up over you!" It silenced me. She added, "Commander, let us alone. We won't smash anything." Grantline laughed. "I hope you won't!"
To me, it was a confusion of crossing beams, with the stars overhead, the swaying little platform under me, and the shield tingling in my hands when the blasts struck us. Moments of blurred terror.... The voice of the man beside me sounded in my ears: "Now, Haljan, give them one!" We were up over the peak of the rim with the hostile projectors under us.
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