The Copper-Clad World

the U

s slits as he peered into the diamond-studded ebon of the heavens. A million miles astern he knew the red disk of the planet

Of course there was the attempt at secrecy and the shippers had sent along those guards. His engineer, Tom Farley, was thoroughly r

into the mike. "F

audio-phone drawled after

engineer's round face appeared at the

cket-tube ignition jammed so it's firing continuously," he said; "and the others

e're headed out into the belt o

d freeze to death and run out of oxygen. These ships ought to have a spare en

d to the igni

ne," he whispered. "I'm sure of it. Tool marks on the breech of the s

now their men; they picked thes

t? There's only the

n by itself. And, come to think of it, one of those guards was a queer looking bird: dwarfe

here, Tommy,

lanets ever ventured out this far, and Blaine knew there was grave danger of colliding with some of the small bodies w

, big, husky fellows of stolid countenance and armed

rf?" Blaine asked, his susp

ith a meaning look. "He said

rs, where your metal was to be delivered. We're speeding out into the unknown, out past the limits of space-travel toward the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn,

y and meself had nothin' to do with it. But we've been suspicionin' that little

think

nterrupted, "Never mind what he thinks,

arment of bright metallic stuff that shimmered with shifting colors like those of a soap bubble. A mask of similar s

That lustrous garment was an insulating armor; the traitorous guard should have been shriveled to a

a brief instant in horrid blue fire: tottering, swaying, their mouths opened wide in a last agonized effort, to cry out. Tiny pinpoints of brilliant pyrotechnics flashing and exploding within t

cried out in futile protest, "My God, man

eep the beast from his feet. His own flame-pistol was missing; it was a case of killing this monster with his bare hands. Tom w

of that metallic garment. He was coughing and gasping; helpless. Muscles refused to do his bidding. With a moan he dropped into the pi

nce of the stuff too, creeping there on hands

assist me in restoring the ignition system to normal. You, Carson, will keep to the controls a

ant assent from wh

ly at the mercy of this madman's will-a robot of flesh and blood. "Jupiter!" he excla

RX8 is very fast. And it's not the planet itself we're bound for, but its second satellite.

t-b

ne's face and turned to Tom. "Come, Farley," he sa

der the steady discharge of gases from the stern rocket-tube and had already reached the speed of one thousand miles a second. If one of those tiny asteroids

own there in the engine room the power of his will was effective. The devil must be an Ionian, he thought. But how in the name of the sky-lane imps had

along the side and caromed off into the void. One of those little planetoids. Probably no bigger than

rols brought no response. Would they

s time through the telescope, convinced him it was growing larger. Drawing nearer, it was, and resolving itself into a well defined orb

e mike. "Are you fellows eve

ward them. He consulted the chart. Pallas-an asteroid some three hundred

y, unnaturally through the audiophone. A minute! Ninety th

nly the dwarf let out a shriek of terror when he looked through the port and saw the brilliant body that n

into his own tongue. Then, remembering, he

ittle vessel groaned and shivered under the strain as a full blast from the forward tubes retarded them. Her hull plates twisted and screeched as the steering t

eys, and mysterious crevasses from which clouds of steam and yellow vapor curled. Still it seemed they must crash against on

thousands of miles astern, the danger w

. His fingers shook crazily when he untwis

he jabbered, his chin quivering in nervou

llided with the spire, set himself grimly