"By the craters of Luna," exploded the skipper of the pa.s.senger ship, "what's the meaning of this? There are women and children aboard this vessel."

c.o.xine smiled thinly. "My name's Bull c.o.xine, master of the vessel _Avenger_. One funny move out of you and I'll blast your ship into protons! Stand by for a boarding party!"

"Captain! Captain!" the radar operator's voice screamed over the control-deck loud-speaker, "they're trying to send out a signal to the Solar Guard!"

"They are, huh?" roared c.o.xine. "Forward turret, check in!"

"Turret, aye!" reported Tom. He had been left alone while Gaillard issued small arms to the boarding parties.

"Listen, Kid!" roared c.o.xine. "You said you're a good shot. Right now is the time to prove it. Blast away her audio antenna!"

Tom gulped. At a range of fifty thousand yards, the antenna, a thick piece of steel cable, might as well have been a needle to hit.

"Right, skipper," he finally replied. "I'll show you some of the fanciest shooting you'll ever see in your life!"

He turned back to the range finder, his mind racing like a calculating machine. He figured the angles of the two ships, considering that the jet liner was a dead ship in s.p.a.ce and the _Avenger_ still under way, but slowing down at a specific rate of deceleration. He rechecked his figure a third and fourth time, correcting his calculations each time with the forward movement of the _Avenger_. If he misjudged a fraction of a degree, he might kill or injure hundreds of people aboard the pa.s.senger vessel.

"Well?" roared c.o.xine. "Are you going to fire or not?"

"Coming right up, skipper!" shouted Tom. "Watch this!"

Steeling himself, lest he should hit the ill-fated ship, he fired. For a brief moment he felt sick and then heard the roar of the pirate captain from the control deck.

"By the rings of Saturn," roared c.o.xine, "that was the best shot I've ever seen! Well done, Kid! All right, boarding crews! Man your boats and stand by to blast off!"

While c.o.xine vocally lashed the members of the murderous crew into action, Tom tried to figure out some way to get to the radar deck unseen. Being a.s.signed to the jet boat with c.o.xine, instead of Wallace, had been a lucky break and Tom wished for a little more of the same.

Lining up with his boarding crew, he received his paralo-ray pistol and rifle from Gaillard, deftly stealing a second pistol while the gunnery officer's back was turned.

After hurriedly hiding the stolen gun, he slipped stealthily topside to the radar bridge. Reaching the hatch, he was about to open it, when he heard footsteps. He turned and saw a man walking toward him. It was Simms!

"Where in the blasted universe is the jet-boat deck?" snarled Tom. He dropped his rifle on the deck and bent over to pick it up, hiding his face.

"You're on the wrong deck," said Simms. "Two decks below. Get moving!"

The pirate lieutenant hardly gave the cadet a glance as he brushed past and entered the radar bridge. Tom caught a fleeting glimpse of the interior. His heart jumped. The bridge was exactly like the one on the _Polaris_! Though annoyed that his chance had slipped past, Tom was thankful to learn that the communications equipment was thoroughly familiar.

"s.p.a.ce Kid! Report to the jet-boat deck on the double!" c.o.xine's voice rumbled through the empty pa.s.sageway. Tom dashed down the nearest ladder and hurried to the jet-boat deck where the pirate captain waited impatiently.

"I was checking the range and setting up to blast the liner in case they try anything funny," explained Tom. "I don't trust anyone on that range finder but me!"

c.o.xine chuckled. "Good work, Kid. I like a man that thinks ahead. Maybe I made the wrong man gunnery chief." He climbed into the jet boat. "All right, take the controls, Kid. Sh.e.l.ly and Martin, get in the stern." The men climbed in and Tom slid under the controls and waited for the order to blast off.

Wallace and his crew were on the opposite side of the ship, so Tom had no fear of being recognized until they were all on the pa.s.senger ship.

At his side, c.o.xine spoke to Wallace in the other jet boat over the audioceiver.

"We'll split up. I'll handle the control deck and you go aft to the supply lockers. Dump everything out in s.p.a.ce and we can pick it up later. Search the pa.s.sengers, but no rough stuff. The first man that puts his hands on anyone will never know what hit him!"

Tom listened to the pirate captain's orders and was forced to give the man credit for his tight control over his murderous crew. However rebellious he might be against the Solar Guard, and whatever it was that made the man become the system's most notorious criminal, his orders spoke for themselves.

"All right, Kid," roared c.o.xine, "blast off!"

Tom pressed the control pedal at his foot and the small ship shot out into the black void of s.p.a.ce. Ahead of them, thousands of yards away, he could see the gleaming pa.s.senger ship.

In a few moments the two jet boats were braking their jets and drifting to a stop inside the catapult deck of the luxurious liner.

Almost before Tom had stopped the small craft, c.o.xine was out of the boat waving his paralo-ray pistols at a cl.u.s.ter of frightened merchant s.p.a.cemen.

"Back inside!" he snarled. "Kid! Sh.e.l.ly! Cover me! We're going to the control deck. Martin, you stay here with the jet boat."

c.o.xine marched straight through the ship, head up, eyes straight ahead, while behind him, Tom and Sh.e.l.ly swept the luxurious lounges with their ray rifles, ready to fire on any who dared resist. They marched past the frightened pa.s.sengers, climbed a flight of carpeted stairs to the next deck, and entered the control room.

The liner's captain, a tall, thin man with graying hair, stood waiting beside the control panel, his eyes flashing angrily. A half-dozen junior officers stood stiffly in back of him.

c.o.xine stepped up to the elderly officer and laughed good-naturedly. "No one will be hurt, skipper. I just want a few things for my men"--he paused and glanced at the ship's vault--"and whatever you have in there!"

"I'll live to see the day when you're caught and sent to the prison asteroid for this," snorted the captain.

"Don't make me laugh, skipper," said c.o.xine lightly. "The Solar Guard will have to build a new one for me. Don't think there's much left of the old one!"

"Then it was you! You're responsible for the attack on the asteroid!"

c.o.xine just smiled and turned to Tom and Sh.e.l.ly. "Watch these crawlers closely, now. I'm going to open the vault."

Tom stared at the ship's officers, hoping to catch the eye of one of them, but they were all watching c.o.xine.

The pirate captain pulled a thin rod about two feet long, with a switch on one end, from his jacket. He walked to the solid t.i.tanium door of the vault and inserted the rod into a small hole, pressing the switch at the end of the rod carefully several times. He stepped back and inserted it in another hole in the face of the door and repeated the procedure.

Putting the key back in his jacket he grabbed the handle of the ma.s.sive door. It swung open at his touch. The captain of the liner and officers gasped in amazement.

Working quickly, c.o.xine crammed the thick bundles of credit notes and pa.s.senger's valuables into a bag. At last he straightened up, and facing the unbelieving officer again, he tossed them a mocking salute. He nodded to Tom and Sh.e.l.ly and walked out of the control room without another word.

Sh.e.l.ly and Tom quickly followed the giant s.p.a.ceman back to the jet-boat deck, where Wallace was just returning from his own operations. Wallace made a circle out of his fingers to c.o.xine and the giant pirate nodded.

"Let's get out of here!" he ordered.

"Aren't you afraid they'll try to stop you, skipper?" asked Tom.

c.o.xine laughed. "Just let them try. I never met a man yet that had the nerve to pull the trigger of a paralo-ray gun while my back was turned."

Tom gulped and wondered if he would have the nerve to fire on the s.p.a.ceman. He thought about it a moment and decided that he would take any chance that came along, if he could outwit the criminal. When the time came, he would risk his life to stop c.o.xine!

CHAPTER 14

"All right, line up, you s.p.a.ce crawlers!" bawled c.o.xine. "When I call your name step up to get your share of the haul!"

The pirate captain was seated at the head of a long mess table, an open ledger in front of him. There were stacks of crisp new credit notes at his elbow. He took out his paralo-ray pistols and placed them within easy reach. On either side of him, Wallace and Simms sat, staring at the money with greedy eyes.