Edwin K. Sloat - The Space Rover.pdf - Edwin K. Sloat - widez2

The Space Rover

Sloat, Edwin K.

Published: 1932

Type(s): Short Fiction, Science Fiction

Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/29702

Also available on Feedbooks for Sloat:

• Loot of the Void (1932)

check the copyright status in your country.

Note: This book is brought to you by Feedbooks.

http://www.feedbooks.com

Strictly for personal use, do not use this file for commercial purposes.

Transcriber's note: This etext was produced from Astounding Stories

February 1932. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the

U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.

Evan Winford leaned wearily against the controls of the little space

sphere, and stared out of the window at the planet, Mercury, which lay a

million miles sunward. Fail now? He gritted his teeth. No! He would

wrench victory from Fate after all, even though at this moment mine

guards must be searching the nearby mountains, for him and his com-

panions, and a warning was being broadcast to all the planets and space

ships to watch the little prison tender ship, the one that was used to

transfer prisoners from liners out in space to Mercury and its Interplanet-

ary Council prison mines to which all who were sentenced came on one-

way tickets only. This was the first time, Winford reflected grimly, that

the sphere had ever carried outbound passengers.

A long, quavering wail sounded from the hold below. Winford

scowled. That fellow, Agar, again. Too bad, for he was unquestionably

an engineering genius and thoroughly dependable when he didn't get

one of his spells and imagine he was a godo-dog on the red steppes of

his native Mars. A little rest and gentle treatment would unquestionably

work wonders. Again the wail, followed this time by a series of growls.

Winford slid open the door that separated the control nest from the

hold of the little prison tender ship. The other five men had withdrawn

to the other side of the cabin and were watching listlessly the big,

ragged, barrel-chested Martian crouching on all fours against the side of

the cabin and ferociously baring his teeth.

"What's the matter down there?" called Winford sharply.

Six pairs of eyes looked up at him. Agar forgot he was a dog and

stared with the rest. They were an unkempt, ragged lot with unshaven

faces and the dirty, white canvas uniforms of mine prisoners. The group

was composed of four Martians and two Venusians.

"Let's go back," growled Nizzo, whose squat, powerful body and long

arms bespoke his Venus ancestry. "It's death out here. No food. No wa-

ter, excepting the emergency ration you have up there in the box. That

will scarcely last till we can reach Mercury again. Now you tell us that

the fuel is nearly exhausted. Let's go back. I say! We don't want to swing

about the Sun in this as our tomb for all eternity. At least we eat and

drink at the mines, even though the whips of the drivers hurry us on to

an early death."

"You're crazy, Nizzo," harshly retorted Winford. "You know what they

do when escaped prisoners are brought back, or come of their own free

will. The Universe knows nothing of the caged saurians in the warden's

gardens, nor of the incorrigible prisoners that go to feed them. But I

know—we all of us know. Far better to remain out here and die whole,

than to be devoured alive by a slobbering horror."

A heated argument ensued among the men below. Presently Nizzo

looked up again.

"But you have no plan," he shouted at the Earthman. "We have fol-

lowed you blindly so far, and here we are off the traffic lanes. Our only

hope of being picked up now is one of space patrol ships. And short

shrift may we expect from them!"

Winford scowled impatiently.

"Listen, men," he began. "This is a desperate venture, I know, and I

picked every one of you carefully. You are not common scum of the pris-

on mines. Every man of you can be depended upon to put through a dar-

ing escape of this nature. Every man of you is an innocent victim of the

rotten politicians and corrupt officials that now hold sway in the Three

Planets. Take Jarl there, for example." He indicated a big, patient,

resigned Martian. "He is under life sentence in the penal mines simply

because his brother-in-law wanted his lands and wealth. As for myself, I

had a sister who suffered the misfortune of being seen and coveted by

Silas Teutoberg, a member of the Earth Council… ."

He choked at the thought, his pale face rigid with emotion. Those be-

low saw the flash of his lambent eyes. He controlled himself with an ef-

fort, and continued:

"I have said nothing of any plan beyond that of making our escape in

this prison tender off Mercury, but I had a plan behind that. It is true that

we seem to be off the regular traffic lanes, but space liners between

Venus and Earth just now are cutting in quite close to Mercury, due to

the position of the three planets in their orbits. This formed the basis of

the whole venture.

"During the three interplanetary days we have floated out here, I have

repeatedly scanned the Void, thinking every minute we would sight a

craft we could reach. But so far luck has been against us. All I ask is that

you do not allow yourselves to be discouraged, for sooner or later we'll

get a break."

A chorus of enthusiastic approval answered him. Winford sighed with

relief, then stared abruptly through the window and gave a shout. The

others below swarmed up the ladder and crowded into the tiny control

nest. Winford pointed.

Edwin K. Sloat - The Space Rover.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: