Chapter IV

They were in. All big monkeys with their helmets peeled back, and every one with a blaster in his hand you could put your thumb in. They came in fast and fanned out to cover the room in a way that showed they knew their business, and the muzzles of their weapons never wavered an inch. I looked at Betty. She was quite pale. It didn't matter about the lock. We couldn't have kept them out anyway.

I didn't have a chance to tell her so. The boss of the show spoke. "Over against the wall," he said. Quietly, but we went. It was that kind of voice. There was no tone to it, and not much volume. It reminded me of the noise we used to make by rubbing rocks together under water when we were kids. He grinned, exposing thirty or forty grayish teeth shaped like old-fashioned tombstones. His whole face was grayish and stony, with heavy brows and a thick jaw. The 20 cm blaster in his hand looked like a water pistol. I might have called it a slight case of acromegaly, but I was not interested in diagnosis at the moment. I was busy getting mad. That was easy enough with such a subject, but I didn't see what I was going to do about it.

He followed us over to the wall, walking slowly, not cautiously, but as if he knew there was no need to hurry.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" he asked. He looked at me.

"That's all there is," I said. "There isn't any more." I didn't see any use in lying to him, but I didn't see any use in telling him the truth, and I would sooner lie to him than not. That's the way I felt about it.

"Wise, huh?" he said. His expression didn't change. He didn't have any expression.

He turned to Betty. "Where's the rest of the crew?"

"There aren't any more. There's just the two of us." Good girl. She was going to back my play. If I had any play. I was trying, but looking at that face slowed my mind down into first gear.

Back to me again. "Where's your ship?"

"Ship?" I asked. The innocent line. "We don't have a ship."

He looked toward the rest of his gang. Two of them came up alongside of me and grabbed my elbows.

"Do you hear that?" he complained. "They don't have any ship. They walked all the way out here." He moved in close to me. His face wasn't really rock or I could have seen the moss on it.

"Look, chum," he said. "Do you have to get wise? This ain't no game of marbles. I'm telling you."

"Take it or leave it," I cracked. "What would we want with a ship? They bring us out here and leave us, and a year later they come back to get us and drop off the new crew." It sounded like a good way to run an asteroid station at that.

He cursed. It had a horrible sound, in that muted rocky voice of his. He faced Betty again. "That true?"

"Of course it's true!" The contempt in her voice would have withered him, only stones don't wither.

I still couldn't see where we were getting. Hold him here until the Patrol cruiser came in? That wouldn't work. If the Patrol boat came in first they would think the Astra was the expedition ship, and Ed Day would think it was the Patrol. And Stoneface here would sit back just like a hunter in a duck blind and wait for an easy shot. If we could figure out some way to signal. Come on, Denby, think it out. There's an answer to everything.

He was talking again. "How long have you been here?"

"Six months."

"When's that ship due?"

"In six months more."

"How long?" This was to Betty.

"Five months and twenty-three days, to be exact," she told him. "Earth time."

He cursed again. I was sweating. The way Betty was following my lead, she must think I had a plan. Maybe I did, at that. It was pretty hazy, but the way Stony kept worrying about a ship made me think. That, and the wobbly jet I had seen.

"Six months, huh?" he mused. "Well, we can wait. It won't be bad. Not with the company we'll have." He put one of his big shovel-shaped hands on Betty. "No, not bad at all."

I jerked one elbow loose and swung at his jaw. I might have done better if it hadn't been for the ribs, but as it was I felt it all the way up to my shoulder. His head snapped back but his feet never moved. The two gunsels grabbed my hands and twisted them up under my shoulder blades.

* * * * *

Old Stony stood for a minute rubbing his jaw and looking at me. Just looking. It was a look like you might see in the eye of a snake. Then he hit me in the cheek with the flat of his hand. It wasn't a slap. I tasted blood. He swung his foot at my ankles, and I hit the floor. He swung it again. I felt another rib let go.

"Pick him up," he said. "Tie him in that chair." His boys did as they were told.

He came and stood in front of me. "I told you this wasn't no game of marbles. Now look, chum. You're going to be a good boy and keep your trap shut and do like I tell you or I'm going to take you apart. That's going to be fun, too, only not for you." I didn't say anything.

Stoneface ground around on his heel and began grating out orders. "Slats and Joker, you tie up the girl till I decide what to do with her. Tubby, see what they've got to eat in this shack. Trigger--back to the ship and tell the boys we'll relieve them in an hour and they're to keep their eyes open in the meantime. Bring back a couple of bottles of juice with you. Karns, you keep a rod on this monkey in case he didn't understand what I told him."

In a few minutes they were all sitting around the mess table washing down about a week's supply of Expedition rations with raw juice. When they had finished Stony belched vigorously, stood up, and walked over to look out of one of the portholes. I followed him with my eyes, and was surprised to see that it was night outside. I hadn't realized how short these six-hour days would be. Stony began talking again.

"Slats, you and Karns get back to the ship and let the other boys come over here and stretch their legs and get some chow. After that we all got to get busy and ditch the ship and set up the artillery on the ground to get ready for that Patrol boat when it shows up. Me, I got some other business on hand."

He walked over to Betty and picked her up under one arm, chair and all.

"Put the girl down!" I told him.

He set her down on the deck again and came at me, balling up one of his cobblestone fists. "I said I was going to take you apart if you didn't act nice," he snarled. "Well, here goes!"

"Wait a minute," I said. "I know what you want and I know where to get it."

That stopped him. "What do you mean?" he growled.

"I mean a new power slug. I saw how sloppy your jet was when you came in. You haven't got one G-hour left. You might take off from a little rock like this, but you'd never make Venus again and you know it. That's why you're willing to wait around here for six months on the slim chance of being able to shoot down a Patrol cruiser and salvage a slug out of it."

He blinked when I mentioned Venus, but I didn't let him see I noticed it. My mind was beginning to click now. This wasn't the way I would have preferred to handle the matter, but I didn't see anything else to do.

Stony ground his teeth at me. "Well?"

"I know where you can get a new slug just for picking it up."

One of his hands reached out and wrapped around my neck, and he started shaking. "Where is it then!" he gritted. "Out with it!"

"I didn't say I was going to tell you," I reminded him, as soon as I started breathing again. "I'm willing to talk about it, though."

"I'm listening. But talk fast, chum."

"Cut the girl loose, and me too."

Stoneface waved a command, and in a moment we were rubbing the circulation back into our wrists. Betty wasn't looking at me.

"Here's my proposition," I said. "I'll trade you the slug for the girl. You give her a suit with full tanks and rations and turn her loose now. That will give her enough head start so you won't be able to find her. Then in the morning I'll show you where this slug is, and as soon as you get it you take off and we'll all be happy. That saves you a six months' wait and a fight with the Patrol."

"Tom!" Betty broke out. "You're not going to let these apes get away!"

"Sorry, Betty. It's the only way."

"Oh, you--!" She stamped her foot. She was crying. I couldn't blame her for being mad. She was not the kind to stop fighting anywhere this side of the last ditch. Well, for me it was the last ditch when he put his hand on her.

"Can the chatter, you two," Stony gritted. "Look, how do I even know you got a slug?"

"You don't," I agreed. "That's the chance you take."

"Yeah. And you know the chance you're taking if you don't produce?"

"I can imagine," I assured him.

"Okay," he decided. "I'll play. But I'm warning you, chum, if you're trying to run a bluff--you'll be sorry!" He turned to Betty. "Come on, babe, climb into your rubber pants and scram!"

Betty didn't even glance in my direction while she was putting on her space-suit. She gave me one look as she went out through the air lock, and one was enough. It was pure poison.