On the northeast edge of the massive area on the surface of Mars called the Mare Hadriacum, stood a complex of domes and cylinders. Made of metal and glass, it stood on an open plain about 35 degrees south of the equator and 85 degrees east of the central meridian. The complex was one of five atmosphere-generating plants on Mars, and the only one in the southern hemisphere. In a small crater nearby was the settlement of New Emmaus, with a population of about 12,500.
The long process of terraforming Mars had begun when a meteor shower struck the fourth planet in 2009, significantly raising the temperature of the atmosphere and altering the weather systems. With this jump start serendipitously provided by meteorites, Earth had hastened the process of making Mars livable by scattering the surface with spores and seeds, introducing desert—hardy animals, and establishing the five atmosphere-generating plants. Thanks to Earth’s efforts, the planet’s temperature had continued to rise. Eventually water had emerged from below ground and from the ice caps around the poles, and the air was gradually thickening.
Terraformation had been taking place for almost 150 years, and it would be at least another two centuries before it would be possible to live anywhere on Mars without a spacesuit. The atmosphere-generating plants were critical to the process. The plants themselves were automated, with all systems operated and monitored by robots, and the major centers of population on Mars were located in craters not far from each plant. The complexes were on the open surface of the planet rather than in craters, but the air they created flowed first into the nearest depressions in the surface, and it was here that most settlements were located.
The plant located in the southern hemisphere was the most remote, but had been filling the Mare Hadriacum, locally known as the Red Sea, for decades. This great depression was 2,500 miles in diameter. When much of the southern ice cap had melted, it filled the Red Sea with water up to about three-fourths capacity, making the region a delightful place for quiet living.
In the early morning of August 15, 2151, the cloudless sky was a brilliant violet, and the sun was rising like a bowl of molten gold. Marshal and Averette North, a retired couple, had climbed to the top of the crater wall to enjoy the sunrise. Six miles away was the atmosphere plant, gleaming in the newly-risen sun.
They were the only ones to see what happened next, but it happened so quickly that there was almost nothing to see. In the thin atmosphere, there was only a slight vapor trail and a short-lived but powerful whine; then with a dull, gut-churning thud a ball of black and orange flame slammed obliquely into the desert floor within a quarter of a mile of the atmosphere plant. An enormous wave of pinkish-ochre sand rose up in front of the impact site like a great wall. The shock wave quickly blew the wall of sand upward and outward, so that it sparkled like luminous rain until the sand particles became too scattered to be seen.
The shock wave struck the atmosphere plant and shoved it aside as if a giant, invisible hand were violently clearing a table of unwanted crockery. The crater wall where the Norths were standing rocked and heaved as if in an earthquake. The shock wave passed them, blowing their hair and rippling their clothing as if it were a pleasant breeze that died away as quickly as it had come.
The elderly couple stood frozen in shock and watched the cloud of dust gradually fill the entire eastern sky. After several minutes, the dust was thin enough to reveal a horseshoe-shaped crater almost a mile across. On the southwestern edge of the crater, where it trailed off into the desert without a sharp boundary, was the place where the atmosphere plant had been. Now the plant was broken into many thousands of pieces and the wreckage was scattered for three or four miles in a wide fan across the sand.
13: The Brink of Disaster
THE ALIEN SPACECRAFT was beautifully designed and well equipped. The Starmen had spent more than two days exploring it fully and tracking its electronics systems. It was planned for a crew of twenty. The galley was not stocked, but Zip assigned some of St. George’s men to store their food in it. The storage area inside the ship included spacesuits for the entire crew. The suits were shaped slightly differently from what the Earthmen were used to. They squeezed a little in the chest and were somewhat baggy between abdomen and knee, especially for the shorter men, but they could be used.
Joe and Mark were working to the point of exhaustion, trying to figure out the controls in the cockpit. Mark had to trace innumerable leads from the panel through the walls of the craft back to the wings, tail, and especially the propulsion compartment. The Starmen found the work exhilarating but time-consuming. Mark estimated at the end of the second day that he had figured out about 80% of the control panel, including all the major systems. Joe confirmed his reckoning and, without even igniting the power, was learning to pilot the alien craft. Both Starmen kept Zip informed of their progress.
It was still up to Zip to find a way to escape from the asteroid. Even if they could pilot the ship, it was certain that the pirates would locate them by radar within seconds of their departure and the chances of their escape would be practically nil.
The atmosphere tanks supplied with the spacesuits were empty, so Zip had to fill them from large storage tanks of pure gases he found to one side of the hangar. Since Zip was unable to read any labels, he had to analyze the gas in each supply tank to determine which gases the tanks contained. Once he had succeeded in identifying nitrogen and oxygen, he was able to fill the tanks for the spacesuits with a mixture similar to that of air on Earth. This project was tedious and physically demanding, but St. George’s men assisted him with the heavy work. Since the gravity was so low, two men were easily able to move even the largest equipment needed for the work. By the end of the second day, all the tanks had been filled.
That evening, Zip put on one of the spacesuits and practiced operating it and moving around inside the hangar. When he was satisfied that the mixture of air was breathable and that he could maneuver in the suit, he took off the helmet and walked over to where Joe and Mark were sprawled under the spacecraft with a panel open over their heads. The deep green of the highly reflective metal hull was marvelously soothing to the eye. For a moment, Zip paused and wondered about the race that had built the ships. Then he called out to the others.
“Joe, Mark—I’m going through the airlock to see what’s out there.”
Joe skidded out from under the hinged panel. “Are you sure that’s wise, Zip? We don’t know where the pirates are.”
“That’s why I’m going out. I have a plan for our escape, but I have to explore a little bit outside to see if it’ll work.”
“Want some company?”
“Thanks, I do, but I’ll take George. You and Mark keep up the work.” Zip went over to where George St. George was sitting at a table with several other miners.
“George, could you come with me? I’d like to see what’s outside.”
“Sure, Zip,” said the blond man, standing up. The asteroid miner suited up and the two men walked to the far end of the hangar. Zip was carrying a small iron plate. In front of them was a huge panel that could open to permit spacecraft to pass through the airlock, and on either side of it were sets of doors to allow men through. These doors entered a hallway that proceeded to the outside of the asteroid and allowed passage without the major airlock’s having to be emptied.
“Ready?” asked Zip through the suits’ intercom system.
“Sure. Let’s go.” Zip opened the door into the airlock and they passed through and closed the door behind them. Zip operated the controls that sucked the air out of the hallway. The two men walked about 50 yards to the far end of the passage and opened the door to the outside. They stepped out onto the surface of the asteroid.
They looked around, but could see no evidence that there was an airlock adjacent to where they were standing!
“Camouflaged!” said Zip.
“Whoever made this wondrous thing,” commented George, “apparently had a reason for wanting to be hidden. Let’s make sure we can still get back in. Can you open the door we just came out of?”
“No need to worry. I’m not about to close a door behind me for good until I know I can open it again.” He took the small iron plate and used it to jam the door open. From the inside, the door was transparent; from the outside, it looked like the surface of the iron asteroid. Its hinges were completely hidden. “Now let’s see what’s out here.”
For the first time, the two men gazed outward. The Milky Way blazed above and to the right, its countless stars bright enough to cast slight shadows behind the two men.
“I never tire of seeing that view,” said George. “I’ve missed it, just in the few days we’ve been inside.”
“Yes, it’s inspiring,” answered Zip, but he was already in motion, walking and scanning the ground on both sides of him. George followed. Their asteroid boots gripped the surface of the asteroid.
“What are you looking for, Zip?”
“Evidence of the pirates. I’ve got a plan for escaping them, but our exit point here can’t be too close to their entrance.”
“We’ve walked a dozen miles through the asteroid from their headquarters—they can’t be too close.”
“I’m sure you’re right, but there may be other entrances. We found one, didn’t we?”
“Even if there were other entrances, they’re bound to be as invisible to the eye as the one we just came out of.”
“Right again, I’m sure, George, but I don’t want to take any chances. Our escape depends on our being unseen—at least for most of the time. Then I want to be seen.”
“What do you mean, Zip? I—” George suddenly stopped talking, almost as if his communicator had been turned off. Zip looked over.
“What’s wrong, George?” Through his helmet, George’s eyes were opened wide and his mouth was agape. “What is it?” Zip repeated.
“We, we, we’re not in the Asteroid Belt,” George stammered. “Look, there’s the Belt over there.” He raised his hand and pointed. The slow rotation of the asteroid that gave it its slight gravity had brought the Belt into view over the horizon. Motionless on the asteroid’s surface, Zip and George were slowly moving into the dawn. A pale sun far away was coming into view, and a golden line of light began to grow over the 45-mile-long chunk of almost pure iron. The spacesuits’ faceplates automatically darkened slightly. The sunlight came through a scattering of asteroids orbiting at least a thousand miles away.
“He’s moved the asteroid. He knows more about it than I gave him credit for,” Zip said grimly. “My plan will still work, but the situation has changed. Now we have to hurry. Let’s go back.”
Back inside the hangar, Zip called a meeting of the fourteen men and explained his plan for escape.
“Sounds good, Zip,” affirmed Mark, and Joe agreed.
“What about food and water?” asked one of the miners.
“What’s left?” responded Zip. “How many days can we go if we ration even more strictly?”
“About five until the food runs out, and there’s about a gallon of water for each man left.”
“We can do it. No choice anyway. Let’s get some sleep and start things rolling first thing tomorrow.”
Immediately after they awoke, the Starmen put Zip’s plan into action. Joe opened another of the alien spacecraft. The Starmen had taken a quick look at the other ships in the hangar and found them to be identical. Quickly they made the ship look as if it had been abandoned in panic. When they were finished, two men carried a small tank of oxygen into the storage area. Joe then piloted the ship through the airlock to a point where it hovered just above the asteroid. Zip, Mark, and two miners stood outside on the ground. An explosion rocked the ship, and a panel was blown out from the wall of the storage area. Joe had detonated the oxygen tank to make it look as if some cargo had ignited and destroyed the ship.
Joe emerged from the main door and jumped to the ground. He had been tethered and the others pulled him in. They went back through the airlock and shut the door. They were still able to watch what happened through the immense window, transparent on their side. The ship began to drift away from the asteroid on a pre-arranged course Joe had set.
“The pirates should be seeing that on their radar in a few minutes,” said Zip. “I figure the ship has to be at least a quarter mile from the surface for it to register on their screens.”
But it was nearly ten minutes later that three pirate ships appeared. The pirates could easily see the ripped panel on the ship and took only a few precautions on approaching the derelict. Zip turned to a “reception only” channel on the communicator his suit provided.
“It’s not an Earth ship, sir,” said a voice, “and it’s empty. Completely derelict. Must have been clamped to the surface of the asteroid and got shaken off when you moved it out of the Belt.”
“Go inside! Make sure there’s no one in it!” It was the commanding voice of Lurton Zimbardo. “Look for any sign that the Starmen had something to do with it!”
“Yes sir!” The orders were given and six men left one of the pirate ships and went through the open door of the alien craft. It took less than a minute to get a report.
“Nothing here, sir,” said one of the spacesuited men to his officer. “The cargo area has been completely destroyed in an explosion, and the wall has been blown open into empty space. There are no suits, no signs of any habitation.”
“It’s an old wreck, sir, and so damaged that it can’t be used,” reported the pirate officer to headquarters.
“Probably left by the beings who built the asteroid,” said Zimbardo. “Come on back to work. I’d like to take a look at it, but we don’t have the men or time right now. Other matters are pressing.”
“Yes sir.” The communication terminated. The pirate ship took back its six crew members and the three ships cruised over the horizon.
“Part one, the least risky part, successful,” said Zip. “Let’s get going on part two, right now. Joe?”
“Ready Zip,” the lanky Starman responded. He stepped through the airlock and leaped off the iron surface of the asteroid toward the derelict. Powered by small jets of oxygen he sped to the ship and disappeared through the open door.
“Everyone else get busy,” called Zip. They ran back through the airlock to the hangar. The others were already aboard their escape craft. Zip piloted it through the airlock and kept the ship close to the surface of the asteroid. The airlock closed behind them. In the meantime Joe had caused the damaged ship to drift back down toward the asteroid out of radar range. He and Zip brought the two ships together and made a link. Joe left the broken ship and joined the others.
“Ready, Zip” he announced, once he was aboard. Zip put the slightest possible power into the escape ship, then turned the power off. Both ships began to drift away from the asteroid, so slowly as to be almost unnoticeable. Zip was hoping that when the pirates saw the blip on their radar, they would conclude it was the derelict and pay no attention. He was ready to drift for as long as it took to escape the notice of the pirates before turning on the power and setting a course for freedom. But now that the asteroid was not in the Belt any longer, he knew that they would have to drift for much longer than he had anticipated.
They were free. But the tension was thick. It would not dissipate for a long time.
Forty-two hours later, Marshal and Averette North witnessed the impact of an asteroid that turned their atmosphere plant into rubble. Within an hour of the impact, Lurton Zimbardo opened a channel that allowed him to speak through nearly every communication system on Mars. Gene had previously discovered a method for entering and using all communication bands on Mars except those that were most closely guarded. He had surreptitiously placed automatic signal points into the Martian system without activating them until this moment. Now that the moment had arrived, the voice of the pirate leader was heard throughout Mars.
“This is Lurton Zimbardo. The atmosphere plant at New Emmaus has just been destroyed by an asteroid impact. You were not able to detect the asteroid by radar. It struck without warning. This is to prove that I am able to render asteroids invisible and send them wherever I wish. You cannot see them and you cannot stop them. Within a day the four remaining atmosphere plants on Mars will be similarly destroyed. This will convince you that I have more power than you can imagine, and that you are helpless to oppose me. After the last asteroid has struck your planet, I will announce my demands.”
Lurton Zimbardo shut off the microphone in the control center of the asteroid. A crowd of at least forty men jammed the center where Zimbardo sat at the console. The rest of the pirates were standing in the factory or at their assigned work places in the facility. All had heard the broadcast. A feeling of immense power and invulnerability surged through them. A few men began to cheer, and within seconds the enthusiasm had infected the rest of the pirates and the cheer became a roar. It rang throughout the control center and along the corridors, and filled the factory. Zimbardo’s smile was wide. He looked down almost modestly, as if he were reluctant to accept the men’s accolades.
When the cheers had died down at last, Zimbardo said simply but so that all could hear, “And now for the last step in the plan.” The room was quiet. He took out a set of notes from his pocket. The paper was marked with scrawls, lines, and columns of figures. His eyes flicked rapidly from the notes to the controls. His fingers began to fly over the keyboard. He punched in coordinates and set the power grid. He marked the timing of various operations.
Gene, Zimbardo’s closest associate, was watching. Gradually his smile narrowed. His eyebrows creased. Then his eyes widened and his face drained.
“Sir!” he exclaimed in a quiet voice. “Those are the coordinates of Earth! If you use those, you’ll take this whole asteroid directly to Earth!”
“Exactly,” nodded Zimbardo. “In about 32 days, as I figure it.” He was smiling widely again as he pressed “Enter” and activated the asteroid’s propulsion system.
14: The Shield of St. George
THE CONVERSATION was very quiet, but the microphone picked it up. The words that passed between Lurton Zimbardo and Gene were heard by every pirate on the asteroid. There was complete silence. The pirates’ enthusiasm and their complete trust in Zimbardo’s leadership was instantly badly damaged. Though no one spoke, many of the men began to doubt their leader’s sanity, and became afraid.
“But sir,” pleaded Gene. “This asteroid is the key to our success, and we’re all its passengers. If you program it to collide with Earth, I...” words failed him.
Zimbardo smiled indulgently. “Gene,” he soothed, as if explaining something obvious to a confused child, “I’m not going to cause us to smash into the Earth. We want to control Earth, not destroy it, and how better to do it than from a close orbit around the planet in this magnificent flying base? I’m taking us to Earth, and there will be plenty of time to adjust our course once we get close. We will accelerate until about midway there, then decelerate until we achieve orbital speed.
“I will, however, inform Earth that I have sent an asteroid more than forty miles long on a collision course—an asteroid they can’t see and can’t stop! They will meet any demands I make! They will definitely meet any demands I make, after we destroy the five atmosphere generators on Mars with pinpoint accuracy. Relax now. In a month or so, we will be the undisputed masters of the third planet—and all without leaving home!” He laughed.
Gene grinned and also laughed, but while Zimbardo’s laugh was deep and genuine, Gene’s was a little forced. He was relieved, but his trust in Zimbardo’s leadership had suffered a severe setback. He would be on his guard from here on. He looked up and caught the eye of Mr. Lather. His face was hard and unsmiling; it was difficult to tell what he was thinking. Gene turned and looked at Gebbeth. His expression was marked with merciless determination. He, at least, appeared convinced and prepared to follow Zimbardo all the way. But Gene was no fool; he looked around and surmised that the majority of those in the room were harboring secret reservations.
Gene didn’t blame them. He felt the same way. He would stay with Zimbardo for the time being, but he would keep a careful eye on the situation and look for a way to ensure his personal safety if it appeared that the pirate leader had lost touch with reality. The pirates were looking for power and prestige, not a suicide mission.
For almost two days the Starmen and the miners had been drifting in space, not using power of any kind, afraid that even using lights might draw the attention of the vigilant pirates on the asteroid. The distance between the ship and the massive iron asteroid with its fascinating interior was increasing incrementally, but not quickly enough to please Zip. He chafed with impatience.
Mark’s first duty once the fourteen men were aboard ship was to discover their location. Since the escapees were using no power at all, Mark could employ only observation and mathematics to get his estimate. He guessed that they were 1,023 miles from the nearest edge of the Asteroid Belt and drifting roughly parallel to it.
The Starmen’s plan was to head for the nearest SE facility. If Mark’s estimate of their position was correct, the facility closest to them was an unmanned Starlight Enterprise station on O344, a medium-sized asteroid coming their direction. As soon as it was safe to use power Joe would pilot the alien ship to the station.
“We’ll be okay in a few hours, Zip,” said Joe. “You got us out of the asteroid with food and a ship. We all thought that would be impossible. We ought to be able to turn on the energy and get blasting out of here before too long.”
“I know,” responded Zip, with his characteristic furrowed brow. “We’re caught between taking a chance on being recaptured by the pirates and depleting the food. We’ll run out of supplies in a couple of days.”
“I know—and the closest base is roughly four days away, depending on how speedy this beauty proves to be. But we’ll make it.” Joe went off to visit with Mark, who was gazing out of the window at the immense spread of the Milky Way.
George St. George came up to Zip, who was sitting alone at a table, doing nothing but staring down at his hands. He sat down opposite him; when Zip looked up, the miner smiled.
“You’ve brought us back into the heavens, young Mr. Starman,” he said, “so you’ve got no reason to be covered with gloom. You won’t get us to safety now any faster by worrying.”
Zip pursed his lips and looked into St. George’s eyes. “The man seems to be protected by a shield of innocence all around him,” he thought. “His base was destroyed, he and his men were captured and taken into a massive iron asteroid by the Solar System’s greatest enemy, and now he’s floating in the void with only two days’ food left, and he’s still calm and trying to encourage me the way he encourages his men. Who is the real leader of these men? I make the decisions, but he strengthens their hearts. He even strengthens my heart.”
St. George smiled. Almost as if he could read Zip’s mind, he added, “Each of us has a gift according to the grace given us, which we are to use to benefit others. If it weren’t for you, we’d still be locked up inside that room—or worse—under the control of Lurton Zimbardo. I have my gift, and you have yours, and we both employ our gifts well. We haven’t come this far to fail now. Our success doesn’t depend solely on you, you know. Relax and just do your part. There’s still a lot to do, but the outcome isn’t in doubt.”
Zip smiled, and before he could say anything St. George had risen and strolled to the window where Joe and Mark stood.
All at once, Mark pointed and cried out, “Hey, look at that! Do you see what I see?” Several men came to the window and peered out. Zip Foster joined them. Joe answered.
“Yes! —the asteroid’s moving!”
The dark bulk of the pirates’ asteroid, which had loomed so close to them for two days, was gradually but visibly moving away. Its silhouette had been blocking half their view of the Asteroid Belt and the gleaming array of stars behind it, but now, even as they watched, its profile diminished and stars were winking into view around its edge.
“They’re heading out somewhere—moving that entire asteroid! I wonder what’s going on?” asked Mark.
“We’ll be able to power up before too long, now! We’ll be on our way ourselves,” announced Zip, animatedly. “Soon we can get in touch with Starlight. It’s been over a week since we’ve been in contact. We’ve got a lot to tell them.” The shadow that had lain over Zip for two days had been lifted. “How long until we can turn on the power, Mark? When will we be out of the pirates’ radar range?”
“Less than an hour, I’d say.”
Zip raised his voice so everyone could hear. “We get under way in an hour, men!”
It was sooner than that. In 26 minutes, the asteroid was no longer visible to the eye. Zip waited a full 45 minutes then turned on the ship’s power at its lowest setting. Using the radar, he scanned the quadrant where the asteroid had last been seen and turned up no object of significance. He hadn’t expected to.
“That doesn’t mean they can’t see us,” he mused to Mark and Joe. “That asteroid is probably sheathed just like their ships. But I think we’re safe now—safe enough, anyway, to get moving.”
“Right. Let’s go,” said Joe. “I’ll jettison the derelict and power up! I’ve been looking forward to this moment!”
Zip ran the power switch up to maximum and commanded everyone to prepare for acceleration. Joe ignited the propulsion system. With the lanky Starman at the controls the alien ship began its journey toward the Asteroid Belt. As the ship began to cruise easily, Zip began to think of communicating with Starlight Enterprise.
“Mark, contact SE right away. Fill them in on our recent adventures and see if, by any chance, there’s a ship closer to us than the base on O344.”
George St. George spoke up. “What if the pirates overhear your transmission, Zip? Won’t they know we’ve escaped and be able to locate us?”
“I think it’s worth the risk, George. They probably think we’re still inside the asteroid and won’t be looking for us out here. Even if they do overhear the transmission, I doubt they’d send some ships after us. The distance between us is growing rapidly, and if we have to we’ve got plenty of time to hide in the Belt. I’m worried about our dwindling supplies; we need some relief soon, and SE needs our information as soon as we can get it to them. Go ahead, Mark.”
“I’m on it,” said Mark.
“Provide them with a concise but complete report,” Zip went on. “Tell them about the destruction of Z25, describe the asteroid with an estimate of the number of pirates and their ships, and especially the asteroid’s location. Don’t worry about details of our escape, other than to say that we are in an alien spacecraft and heading for O344 with a minimum of supplies. Ask Sim Sala Bim to send someone to O344 with the Star Ranger and another ship to take St. George and his men back to Ceres or wherever they want to go.”
“Got it,” said Mark and began to prepare his report. In less than five minutes he had sent it, but due to the interplanetary distance he didn’t expect a response for nearly half an hour.
“Sure wish we had that realtime transmission equipment on board,” mused Zip out loud, thinking about how his encounter with the pirates had begun with the experiment in the control tower in Eagle City. “But I guess it’ll be a few years before the miniaturization is worked out so that spaceships can carry it.”
“We’ll get to the base a little faster than we thought, Zip,” said Joe. “This ship is cruising very efficiently. We can learn a lot from it, in time.” The sleek, forest green cruiser sped through the vacuum, rapidly approaching the edge of the Asteroid Belt.
Six hours and 23 minutes after the destruction of the atmosphere-generating plant on the edge of the Red Sea on Mars, a small iron asteroid struck the plant located just south of the Oxia Palus on an open plain about five degrees north of the equator and fifteen degrees west of the central meridian. It was a few minutes past 4:00 a.m. local time. Six miles away was the settlement of Westcott.
Most of the local populace had not heard Lurton Zimbardo’s radiocast, since it had come in just before midnight. The second asteroid followed a near-vertical course and slammed with tremendous force into the ground a half mile from the atmosphere-generating plant. The sun rose onto a land choked with dust. When the dust settled back to the surface about midday, the people of Westcott saw only a crater a mile and a half wide. There was no sign that any human artifice had ever existed on the spot.
Almost sixteen hours later, on an overcast afternoon in the empty northwest, the third asteroid struck. Its target was the atmosphere plant located 51 degrees north of the equator and 141 degrees west of the central meridian-southwest of a small crater which was the home of a town called Morris. It was centrally located for miners, prospectors, farmers, arborists, and mobile scientists, who lived near or roamed throughout the locale.
By this time Zimbardo’s message was known all over the planet and the utter destruction of the first two atmosphere generators had shown that his threat was to be taken seriously. Morris had been abandoned, and its 25,000 residents were in panicky flight to the northeast, opposite the plant. Few people saw the asteroid make a direct hit on the two billion solar complex.
Seven hours and 12 minutes later, the fourth asteroid demolished the atmosphere plant located nine degrees south of the equator and 167 degrees east of the central meridian. It was evening, and the resulting cloud of dust created a sunset of spectacular beauty, with colors rippling through the drifting sand like fire seen through a translucent curtain.
The final impact occurred in the early darkness hours. The atmosphere plant located northeast of Eagle Crater at 26 degrees north of the equator and 85 degrees east of the central meridian was instantly turned into rubble.
In a thirty-two-hour period, Mars had been scarred by five new craters, each one a mile to a mile and a half across. More than ten billion solars in damage had been done. Atmosphere generation on the red planet could not be restored for at least five or six years.
Much more satisfying to Lurton Zimbardo was the fact that the entire population of Mars was held inescapably captive by an hysteria of fear. No one doubted that Zimbardo had spoken his threat accurately. The five asteroids had arrived unseen until the last few seconds and had pulverized their targets with accuracy of less than half a mile of error. The fearful populace of Mars awaited the promised communication from the pirate leader, in which he would reveal his demands.
15: A Microwave Net
SPACE COMMAND and Starlight Enterprise were filled with intense activity. The previous day had been a roller-coaster ride of messages from Mars and the Asteroid Belt. First came the dismal news of the destruction of the Martian atmosphere-generating plants, one after the other. Then just before the tidings that the plant near Eagle City had been demolished, the message from the missing Starmen had come into Starlight Enterprise. The euphoria with which that word had been received was quickly dampened by the ultimatum Lurton Zimbardo had issued.
In words similar to those Troy Putnam had used weeks earlier, Zimbardo demanded control of Earth’s wealth and resources, with specific demands for access to Earth’s coded defense mechanisms, authority over major ports of travel, and power over the major decision-making processes and information systems. He closed his threat with the chilling announcement that he had already directed a sheathed asteroid more than forty miles long into a collision course with Earth. When his demands had been met and verified, he would then turn the asteroid aside.
Immediately after receiving the message, the President called a meeting in one of his maximum-security offices on Earth. Joining him at the table were some of his senior advisors as well as Richard Starlight, his chief assistant John Rwakatare, and other representatives of SE. Robert Nolan with his chief assistant Beowulf Denn and other representatives of Nolan Mining Enterprise filled out the gathering.
“Although he has demanded control of Earth’s systems of communication, exchange, and security, I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that Zimbardo’s real object is not clear.” The President was drawing conclusions after a brief introduction of the facts. “It is impossible for one man simply to become dictator of the entire planet, no matter who he is or what engines of destruction he can call upon. I suspect that his aim is other than he has announced, and I am determined not to provide the access codes to our most sensitive systems.”
There was a slight rustle of movement around the table. Whatever course of action was to be decided at this meeting, calling Zimbardo’s bluff had not been considered by many to be a viable option. The President continued.
“His ruination of the atmosphere plants on Mars proves that he is able to direct asteroids to targets with high accuracy, and that we are unable to detect them. Although the loss of the plants is a severe blow, it is not crippling. They can be rebuilt in a few years. At worst, the process of terraformation will be delayed for that long. Replacement will cost about ten billion solars—obviously a huge amount of money, but an amount that Mars can afford. The plants were over a century old however, and in the long run replacing the plants will be more effective and probably achieve the goal of terraformation faster than if we had continued to use the plants that were destroyed. Frankly, there were plans already in the works for modernizing the plants.
“No, the real damage has been psychological: the people of Earth and Mars are terrified. This, undoubtedly, was Zimbardo’s major goal in destroying the plants, and he has achieved it completely and thoroughly. His demands to us are clear, but it is difficult for us to perceive what he would achieve, even if we capitulated—which we do not intend to do.”
Robert Nolan could not contain himself any further, and lurched backward as if he had been struck. “You don’t intend to cooperate with him?” he almost screeched. “But he’ll destroy the entire planet if we don’t! There is no way we can detect an asteroid he’s made invisible to radar!”
“Dr. Nolan,” responded the President, “we believe that we have a method which will allow us to locate the asteroid that Zimbardo has directed toward Earth. We have a very good chance of locating it and destroying it.”
“A chance? Mr. President, you’re gambling with the very existence of life on Earth! If an asteroid forty miles long strikes Earth, it will not only cause the extinction of every life form on the planet, there is every likelihood that it will crack the Earth’s crust! There will be no escape! No escape!! Don’t you see that we have to cooperate with Zimbardo? It will be easier to meet his challenge once he has turned away the asteroid!”
The President responded in gentle tones. “You have not yet heard our plan, Bob. Believe me, I can sympathize with your quandary, but I am simply not going to deal with any evil force as if it had a right to negotiate. It doesn’t. This has been the principle behind the decisions we have made in order to meet the threat of the pirates from the first day.”
“Principle?” Nolan was almost shouting now. “For your principle you’re willing to risk the destruction of all life on Earth? That’s the evil we’re facing here!”
“Bob—please listen to what Dr. Hoshino has to tell us. There is a plan. Dr. Hoshino?”
Robert Nolan leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table, and cradled his head in his hands. He was trembling. Richard Starlight looked over at his friend and colleague and felt very badly for him. He knew that Robert was under a tremendous strain. Richard agreed that the fate of the Earth was at stake and would probably be decided at this meeting. He was tremendously anxious himself, but he was eager to hear what Dr. Hoshino had to say.
Dr. Stephen Hoshino was a brilliant astrophysicist whom the President had commanded to work on a plan to counteract Zimbardo’s chief weapon—the radar bender. He was a slight man of Japanese ancestry who, in spite of his compactness, exuded power. Even his smallest movements were made with precision. Although he was only in his middle thirties, from his late teens he had been granted virtual carte blanche in his research. Even at that young age, his genius had become known throughout the inhabited Solar System. His voice was calm and mellifluous.
“Thank you, Mr. President. My team and I have been working around the clock for eight days to develop a system for detecting an object which is invisible to radar. We have succeeded. The theory was not difficult to develop, but the method provided somewhat of a challenge. We have now designed a technique for locating a body as small as, very roughly, two-thirds the size of the average spacecraft, by detecting its gravitational field.”
As he spoke, many of those listening to him felt the level of their anxiety diminishing slightly. Robert Nolan lifted his head. Though his expression was drawn, he was paying attention.
“We must manufacture millions of tiny probes and release these into space in a systematic fashion over many millions of cubic miles. Their design is quite simple. The laboratories and manufacturing centers of organizations like Starlight Enterprise, Nolan Mining Enterprise, and other companies can create these probes in vast quantities very quickly, using robotic techniques. Each probe will have gravity instrumentation. Using the microwaves naturally occurring in space, they will be connected by a vast neural network and thus act as a single instrument, with all data being fed back to various information centers.
“With the data from these probes we should be able to detect any massive objects in places where they shouldn’t be. Certainly a large asteroid cannot be hidden. The very size of the asteroid with which Zimbardo threatens our planet will work in our favor, since detecting such a large object can be achieved easier and sooner than if he sent, for example, a number of small asteroids such as those that struck Mars.”
“Where will the probes be deployed, Dr. Hoshino?” asked Richard. “Our time is short, very short indeed, if we have to manufacture, launch, and deploy the probes in time to locate and then destroy the asteroid. Even if we produce millions of probes, as you have said, we have millions of cubic miles of space to search through. In the time available, even trillions of the little probes can’t help much. Theoretically, the asteroid can be anywhere. There are asteroids inside the orbit of Mercury and outside the orbit of Jupiter. But I suspect that you already have an idea where we are to search.”
The President answered. “When Zimbardo sent his first message to Mars, evidence of his tampering with the Martian communication system was discovered. This allowed us to trace how his tampering was done and therefore where the signal came from—at least in a general direction. After he sent his second message, the one to Earth yesterday evening, the signal was traced again. We have learned that his base is moving toward Earth and we have an idea of the speed his base is moving and its direction. The information the Starmen provided confirms what we had learned through our investigations.
“Of course, our figures are somewhat imprecise, and we still have a lot of searching to do, but we have an excellent chance of locating him. It is highly logical that the asteroid he harnessed is from a place in the Belt close to his own asteroid. From what the Starmen reported, he just didn’t have time to locate an asteroid as large as he claims to have launched toward Earth from any place too distant from his own base. The probes will therefore be cast in a net in the space between Earth and the area of the Asteroid Belt in which the pirates’ asteroid was found.”
Richard Starlight, Robert Nolan, and others had a number of technical questions for Dr. Hoshino regarding the manufacture and deployment of the probes and the time schedule necessary to achieve their goal. At the end of the discussion it was agreed that the two companies, with others, would begin to manufacture the probes according to Stephen Hoshino’s design. Launch was planned for five days later, with deployment six to seven days after that.
“O344 coming up on the screen, Zip,” announced Mark.
“Not a moment too soon!” shouted Joe. “Food at last!”
It had been a week since the fourteen men aboard the alien spaceship had left the pirates’ asteroid. They had been traveling under power for four days. Although they had been very sparing in their consumption of the food, they had run out two days earlier. A few ounces of water per person remained in the containers; it had been carefully measured and rationed to last the entire journey to O344. Everyone was thirsty but no one was in danger of becoming dehydrated. All, however, suffered from the pangs of hunger. Mark had a headache that blurred his vision and made his responses slow.
“If it’s on the screen, we ought to touch down in a few minutes,” said Zip. He was moving slowly and often sat down with his eyes closed. Of the three Starmen, Joe seemed to be the least affected by the two days’ lack of food. The miners were lying down on their bunks. Other than Joe, only George St. George had exhibited much energy in the previous two days, coming forward to the flight deck every few hours to chat with the Starmen.
Zip asked George to prepare his men for touchdown. Deceleration had been gradual, so there was no need for the men to strap into the acceleration couches. However, they would need to be in spacesuits in order to leave the ship and enter the SE facility.
An asteroid about ten miles across loomed up on the screen. Joe circled it slowly.
“There it is,” he said as a landing pad came into view. A small dome next to the pad was barely visible, since the landscape that had been artificially shaped was on the dark side of the asteroid, away from the sun. The site on O344 was one of dozens of such places marked on the navigational maps. They were unmanned stations stocked with supplies and maintained for explorers, scientists, and others in the employ of Starlight Enterprise. They contained large quantities of food, water, and other basic necessities, and provided rustic living facilities.
It didn’t take Joe long to land the ship on the surface of the small asteroid. It settled down gently just a few yards from the dome.
“I’ll need someone to go into the supply cache and get some bolts, Zip. This ship doesn’t have any to keep it fixed to the asteroid—or if it does, I haven’t found the controls for them. I’ll have to stay aboard until the ship is secure.”
“Okay, Joe,” Zip responded. “Great flying. You pilot this ship as if you were trained in it.”
“That’s my job,” said Joe. “Don’t take too long, though. I’m hungry!”
The men went through the ship’s airlock, made the brief walk across the surface of the asteroid, and entered the dome. The dome contained a small airlock leading to a ladder that descended about 15 feet into the asteroid. Zip asked two of St. George’s men to locate bolts and go back up to clamp their ship to the surface. Within minutes the alien ship was fastened down tightly and all fourteen men were inside the supply station.
“Food! Toothbrushes! Showers! Clean clothes!” shouted various voices as the men scattered to look over the spartan facility.
“Food!” shouted Joe, and headed for the pantry where George St. George was already standing.
“Relax, Starman!” said St. George, placing his hand on Joe’s chest. “You three men have worked without rest to get us here. Just sit down. Let us show our gratitude by fixing up the best meal this larder can make possible.”
The three Starmen were only too ready to comply. They allowed their tired bodies to sink slowly into the rest sofas, the minimal gravity nestling them gently into the concave surface. The miners who were not assisting in the preparation of the meal lay down on bunks in the sleeping quarters.
“I don’t know if I need sleep or food more,” said Mark. He had been at the navigation and communications stations almost without respite for all of his waking hours—and he had slept little. Zip had relieved Joe at the helm some of the time, but the trip had not been an easy one. They had made the journey as quickly as they could in an unfamiliar ship, having to keep watch at all times against a surprise attack from any pirate ships. Their communications with SE had been limited only to those most urgent, to minimize their exposure to any possible enemies.
SE had made an immediate and joyful response to the Starmen’s initial communication. That had been followed within an hour by a report to inform them of Lurton Zimbardo’s ultimatum about a large asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The latter message had draped the men in a somber mood. SE had also assured them that a rescue mission was under way from Ceres, and several ships, including their own Star Ranger, were due in nineteen hours. The Starmen and the miners planned to put that time to good use by resting.
Under St. George’s direction, three of the miners put together a feast of canned goods. St. George made a blend of canned meat, potatoes, and vegetable soups, and warmed it to create a hot stew that was more than passable. Dried biscuits, rehydrated and quick-baked, were added to the feast. A huge pot of strong, brewed coffee soon added to the savory smells coming from the kitchen.
“It’s ready!” called out Sabbath George. He and the others brought huge serving bowls to a large table that was situated in the middle of the room, adjacent to the kitchen. Places had been previously set.
Tired as the men were, it took them only seconds to assemble at the table. George said a few words of thanks and passed the first bowl to his right where Joe was seated. Joe grasped the large serving spoon. The bowl was steaming with the mixture and wisps rose lazily from the ladle as it made several trips from serving bowl to Joe’s plate. After he had dished out at least two pounds of stew, he shoved the bowl on to the man at his right and took two biscuits from the central supply.
“Only two biscuits, Joe?” prodded Mark. “Has hunger made you too weak to eat?”
“I’ll show you whether I’m too weak to eat. Watch this!” He shoveled a heaping spoonful of stew into his mouth. His chin lifted a notch, his eyes closed, and a satisfied moan escaped his closed lips. He slowly lowered the spoon to the table and lifted both hands as if he were about to embrace someone.
“Taste good?” asked Zip, reaching for the aromatic bowl as it came his way.
Joe chewed and swallowed. “Someone back at the Academy told me once that there was no such thing as a dumb question. He was wrong. That was one.” Joe turned to George. “George, this is delicious! I’ve never tasted anything better!”
George glanced over at the food cans that had been in storage for several years. “A hungry man will enjoy anything. A very hungry man will consider even canned goods to be ambrosia.” But by that time the serving bowl had gotten around to George, and he stopped to fill his own plate.
16: A Dark Spirit
TO STARMAN David Foster, it was a soft, rainy morning. He had just awakened after a night on the SE supply asteroid O344, and the only sound was the faint hum of the operating system. He wrapped himself a little more snugly into his blanket and kept his eyes shut. His imagination easily turned the murmur into the soft sound of rain sifting through the leaves of the tree outside his bedroom window on his uncle’s farm in West Virginia. With slightly more effort he could imagine a drizzle drumming lightly on the wooden shingles above and drifting out onto the empty fields in the early autumn days shortly after harvest.
His Uncle Francis and Aunt Clare were dear to David. Although he had been raised on the Moon, close to his father’s work, he had been born in Clark’s Bridge Crossing, the village near their farm. From the time he was old enough to show any notice of the world around him, David had loved the stars. Even now, he loved interplanetary travel, exploration, and adventure better than anything, but in his heart was an emotionally-intense place where he kept his memories of the West Virginia farm where he had spent so much of his childhood.
The small towns and family-owned farms had become indispensable to the rebuilding of America after the Collapse. In the United States the nuclear devastation of those horrifying years had been severe. Most major cities had been destroyed, but much of the outlying and rural areas had survived. In the latter half of the 21st century new leadership arose from these areas, and the American spirit, which for a hundred years had gradually been eclipsed by special-interest groups, lobbyists, fringe organizations, and major corrupt economic interests, was largely purified. The “old values” became popular again, if not always followed. A generation of leaders arose with an appeal similar to that enjoyed by the “log cabin” presidents. A candidate who claimed to have basic values and homespun philosophy was guaranteed to win support from the remaining American population.
With his eyes still closed, David smiled. He tried to imagine the aroma of his Aunt Clare’s freshly-ground coffee coming from the kitchen, mingled with the smell of hot-off-the-griddle blueberry pancakes. The drizzle was stopping, and the dawnlight of the newly-risen sun was sending sparkles through the light rainy haze that shrouded the fields and crowning the eastern fields with the arc of a rainbow. The haze would soon burn off, leaving the dark earth sodden and leaves dripping. He smiled even wider. He could hear his aunt’s voice now...
“Come and get it, Starmen!” pealed the voice of George St. George. “Got some more of that engine-oil coffee steaming away, and I managed to whip together some biscuits from some powdered stuff I found!”
Zip’s eyes shot open and took in the neutral walls of the cubicle where he, Mark, and Joe had slept. The faint hum of O344’s system was drowned out now with the rustle of human movement as the asteroid miners gathered around the table.
“There’s some sort of orangy liquid I mixed up from some other powder, too! Probably has some good vitamins in it!”
In minutes the Starmen and miners were tucking in to the best that George St. George could do with the supplies at hand.
After breakfast, the Starmen sat in the lounge. Mark was poring over the printout that he had taken from the power plant on the pirates’ asteroid. He had a digital copy of much of the layout of the asteroid, and information on the power plants, propulsion structures, and sheathing equipment. The papers were filled with charts, maps, and diagrams; a few sections were written in an unintelligible, alien language. He couldn’t even tell which symbols were letters and which were numbers.
“I hope they didn’t use a pictorial alphabet like Chinese,” said Joe, looking over Mark’s shoulder.
“No,” the big Starman answered. “There are plenty of recurring symbols, so I assume it’s a language like our own, with letters and words. Somebody will be able to decipher this without too much difficulty. It’s far beyond my skill, though.” He rubbed his chin. “But I can recognize a lot of the machinery.”
Zip was sitting nearby. He hadn’t spoken much during breakfast. The images of the farm pulled at him again. “Mark, Joe,” he began. He hesitated a moment while they turned to him. They could see he was puzzling through something, and waited patiently for him to continue. “SE says that Zimbardo has targeted Earth with an asteroid over forty miles long. What’ll that do to home?”
Mark was suddenly deeply saddened. Zip always referred to the Moon as home. He spoke softly.
“One of my professors at Starlight University talked about a study conducted in the early 21st century. Back then, scientists started becoming concerned about asteroid impacts, and they built a complex computer model to see what would happen if a large asteroid struck Earth.”
“What did they find?” whispered Joe.
“Well, the model found that, depending on the angle of entry, the impact can produce a massive corridor of incineration ahead of the impact site. In that area, just about all life ends in minutes. But the model predicted other changes that destroyed nearly all life on Earth within a few years.”
“Like what?” Zip’s voice was dusky.
“I’m sounding like a textbook,” complained Mark.
“Go on,” insisted Zip.
Mark closed his eyes and tilted his head back. “A few hours after the impact, clouds of noxious gases billow up and block out the sun for months. Temperatures drop drastically all over the Earth and corrosive acid snow and rain fall. These short-term effects alone—intense cold, darkness, and acid rain and snow—kill the plants and photosynthetic plankton, the base of most food chains. Herbivores starve, and then the carnivores that feed on the herbivores starve. This is enough to kill most of the remaining human life on the planet. After the clouds clear, the atmosphere is thick with carbon dioxide from fires and decaying matter. Then the carbon dioxide contributes to global warming that lasts for ages.”
Tears slowly escaped from Zip’s closed eyes and made tracks down his cheeks. He remembered that when he was small his aunt and uncle had taken him on a two-hour flight in their small plane to the place closest to their home where there was a field of nuclear devastation. His first view of the terrain beyond the boundary had been indelibly burned into his seven-year-old mind. The cities and towns surrounded by fields, orchards, streams, ponds, and woods had rapidly tapered off below a slight rise into a land of gray, utterly lifeless, gasping dust thatreached as far southeastward as the eye could see. The center of the field had been the nation’s capital, the third of the great American cities to be destroyed in the holocaust of 2048.
“How big was the asteroid they modeled?” asked Joe.
“About six to ten miles across,” said Mark.
“And the one Zimbardo has aimed at Earth is forty miles long?”
“Bigger. A little bigger than that,” answered Zip quietly. “Bigger.” He felt a chilling darkness come over him, almost as if he had walked into an inky refrigerator. He shivered uncontrollably for a moment, then sat up and took control of himself.
“Today we get the Star Ranger back!” he announced in a clear voice. “and we’re heading back to Earth! Be ready for immediate departure!”