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Dingo looked at the other pirates. "Doesn't he throw the comet-dust, though?"
Lucky said, "I warn you again. The captain will take anything that happens to me out on you."
128 LUCKY STARR
"No he won't," snarled Dingo, "because he knows who you are and so do I, Mr. David Lucky Starr.
Come on, move out into the middle of the room."
Dingo rose. He said to his two companions, "Get those bins out of the way. Pull them over to one side."
They looked at his staring, blood-congested face once and did as he said. Dingo's bulbously thickset
body was slightly stooped, his head sank down into his bulging shoulders, and his thick, somewhat
bandy, legs planted themselves firmly. The scar on his upper lip was a vivid white.
He said, "There are easy ways of finishing you and there are nice ways. I don't like a nark and I
especially don't like a nark who fouls me in a push-gun fight. So before I finish you, I'm breaking you into
little pieces."
Lucky, looking tall and spindly in comparison with the other, said, "Are you man enough to take care of
me alone, Dingo, or will your two friends help you?"
"I don't need help, pretty boy." He laughed nastily. "But if you try to run, they'll stop you, and if you keep
on trying to run, they've got neuronic whips that willreally stop you." He raised his voice. "And use them,
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you two, if you have to."
Lucky waited for the other to make his move. He knew that the one most nearly fatal tactic would be to
try to mix it up at close quarters. Let the pirate enclose his chest in the hug of those enormous arms and
broken ribs would be the nearly certain result.
Dingo, right fist drawn back, ran forward. Lucky stood his ground as long as he dared, then stepped
quickly to his right, seized his opponent's extended left arm, pulled
AT CLOSE QUARTERS 129
backward, taking advantage of the other's forward momentum, and caught the other's ankle against his
foot.
Dingo went sprawling forward and down heavily. He was up immediately, however, one cheek scraped
and little lights of madness dancing in his eyes.
He thundered toward Lucky, who retired nimbly toward one of the bins lining the wall.
Lucky seized the ends of the bin and swung his legs up and out. Dingo caught them in his chest, halted
momentarily. Lucky whirled out of the way and was free in the center of the room again.
One of the pirates called out, "Hey, Dingo, let's stop fooling around."
Dingo panted, "I'll kill him. I'll kill him."
But he was more cautious now. His little eyes were nearly buried in the fat and gristle that surrounded his
eyeballs. He crept forward, watching Lucky, waiting for the moment he might strike.
Lucky said, "What's the matter, Dingo? Afraid of me? You get afraid very quick for such a big talker."
As Lucky expected, Dingo roared incoherently and dashed heavily and directly at him. Lucky had no
trouble in evading the bull rush. The side of his hand came sharply and swiftly down on the back of
Dingo's neck.
Lucky had seen any number of men knocked unconscious by that particular blow; he had seen more
than one killed. But Dingo merely staggered. He shook it off and turned, snarling.
He walked flat-footedly toward the dancing Lucky. Lucky lashed out with his fist, which landed sharply
on Dingo's scraped cheek bone. Blood flowed, but Dingo
130 LUCKY STARR
did not so much as attempt to block the blow, nor did he blink when it landed.
Lucky squirmed away and struck sharply twice more at the pirate. Dingo paid no attention. He came
forward, always forward.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, he went down, apparently as a man who had stumbled. But his arms shot out
as he fell and one hand closed about Lucky's right ankle. Lucky went down too.
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"I've got you now," whispered Dingo.
He reached up to catch Lucky's waist and in a moment, fast-locked, they were rolling across the floor.
Lucky felt the growing, enclosing pressure and pain washed inward like an advancing flame. Dingo's
fetid panting was in his ear.
Lucky's right arm was free, but his left was enclosed in the numbing vise of the other's grip about his
chest. With the last of his fading strength, Lucky brought his right fist up. The blow traveled no more than
four inches, catching the point where Dingo's chin met his neck with a force that sent stabs of pain the
length of Lucky's arm.
Dingo's grip loosened for a moment and Lucky, writhing, flung himself out of the deadly embrace and
onto his feet.
Dingo got up more slowly. His eyes were glassy, and fresh blood was trickling out the corner of his
mouth.
He muttered thickly, "The whip! The whip!"
Unexpectedly he turned upon one of the pirates who had been standing there a frozen onlooker. He
wrested the weapon from the other's hand and send him sprawling.
Lucky tried to duck, but the neurom'c whip was up
AT CLOSE QUARTERS 131
and flashing. It caught his right side and stimulated the nerves of the area it struck into a bath of pain.
Lucky's body stiffened and went down again.
For a moment his senses recorded only confusion, and with what consciousness he possessed he
expected death to be a second off. Dimly he heard a pirate's voice.
"Look, Dingo, the captain said to make it look like an accident. He's a Council of Science man and . . ."
It was all Lucky heard.
When he swam back to consciousness with an excruciating tingle of pins and needles down the length of
his side, he found himself in a space-suit again. They were just afyout to put on his helmet. Dingo, lips
puffed, cheek and jaw bruised, watched malignantly.
There was a voice in the doorway. A man was entering hurriedly, full of talk.
Lucky heard him say, "-for Post 247. It's getting so I can't keep track of all the requisitions. I can't even
keep our own orbit straight enough to keep up the co-ordinate corrections of----"
The voice flickered out. Lucky twisted his head and caught sight of a small man with spectacles and gray
hair. He was just inside the doorway, looking with mingled astonishment and disbelief at the disorder that
met his eyes.
"Get out," roared Dingo.
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"But I've got to have a requisition----"
"Later!"
The little man left and the helmet was fitted over Lucky's head.
They took him out again, through the air-lock, to a
132 LUCKY STARR
surface which was now in the feeble blaze of the distant Sun. A catapult waited on a relatively flat table
of rock. Its function was no mystery to Lucky. An automatic winch was drawing back a large metal lever
which bent more and more slowly till its original slant had strained back into a complete horizontal at the
tip. Light straps were attached to the bent lever and then buckled about Lucky's waist.
"Lie still," said Dingo. His voice was dim and scratchy in Lucky's ear. There was something wrong with
the helmet receiver, Lucky realized. "You're just wasting your oxygen. Just to make you feel better, we're
sending ships up to blast your friend down before he can pick up speed, if he feels like running."
An instant after that Lucky felt the sharp tingling vibration of the lever as it was released. It sprang
elas-tically back into its original position with terrific force. The buckles about him parted smoothly and
he was cast off at a speed of a mile a minute or better, with no gravitational field to slow him. There was
one glimpse of the asteroid with the pirates looking up at him. The whole was shrinking rapidly even as he
watched.
He inspected his suit. He already knew that his helmet radio had been maltreated. Sure enough, the
sensitivity knob hung loose. It meant his voice could penetrate no more than a few miles of space. They [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
Dingo looked at the other pirates. "Doesn't he throw the comet-dust, though?"
Lucky said, "I warn you again. The captain will take anything that happens to me out on you."
128 LUCKY STARR
"No he won't," snarled Dingo, "because he knows who you are and so do I, Mr. David Lucky Starr.
Come on, move out into the middle of the room."
Dingo rose. He said to his two companions, "Get those bins out of the way. Pull them over to one side."
They looked at his staring, blood-congested face once and did as he said. Dingo's bulbously thickset
body was slightly stooped, his head sank down into his bulging shoulders, and his thick, somewhat
bandy, legs planted themselves firmly. The scar on his upper lip was a vivid white.
He said, "There are easy ways of finishing you and there are nice ways. I don't like a nark and I
especially don't like a nark who fouls me in a push-gun fight. So before I finish you, I'm breaking you into
little pieces."
Lucky, looking tall and spindly in comparison with the other, said, "Are you man enough to take care of
me alone, Dingo, or will your two friends help you?"
"I don't need help, pretty boy." He laughed nastily. "But if you try to run, they'll stop you, and if you keep
on trying to run, they've got neuronic whips that willreally stop you." He raised his voice. "And use them,
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
you two, if you have to."
Lucky waited for the other to make his move. He knew that the one most nearly fatal tactic would be to
try to mix it up at close quarters. Let the pirate enclose his chest in the hug of those enormous arms and
broken ribs would be the nearly certain result.
Dingo, right fist drawn back, ran forward. Lucky stood his ground as long as he dared, then stepped
quickly to his right, seized his opponent's extended left arm, pulled
AT CLOSE QUARTERS 129
backward, taking advantage of the other's forward momentum, and caught the other's ankle against his
foot.
Dingo went sprawling forward and down heavily. He was up immediately, however, one cheek scraped
and little lights of madness dancing in his eyes.
He thundered toward Lucky, who retired nimbly toward one of the bins lining the wall.
Lucky seized the ends of the bin and swung his legs up and out. Dingo caught them in his chest, halted
momentarily. Lucky whirled out of the way and was free in the center of the room again.
One of the pirates called out, "Hey, Dingo, let's stop fooling around."
Dingo panted, "I'll kill him. I'll kill him."
But he was more cautious now. His little eyes were nearly buried in the fat and gristle that surrounded his
eyeballs. He crept forward, watching Lucky, waiting for the moment he might strike.
Lucky said, "What's the matter, Dingo? Afraid of me? You get afraid very quick for such a big talker."
As Lucky expected, Dingo roared incoherently and dashed heavily and directly at him. Lucky had no
trouble in evading the bull rush. The side of his hand came sharply and swiftly down on the back of
Dingo's neck.
Lucky had seen any number of men knocked unconscious by that particular blow; he had seen more
than one killed. But Dingo merely staggered. He shook it off and turned, snarling.
He walked flat-footedly toward the dancing Lucky. Lucky lashed out with his fist, which landed sharply
on Dingo's scraped cheek bone. Blood flowed, but Dingo
130 LUCKY STARR
did not so much as attempt to block the blow, nor did he blink when it landed.
Lucky squirmed away and struck sharply twice more at the pirate. Dingo paid no attention. He came
forward, always forward.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, he went down, apparently as a man who had stumbled. But his arms shot out
as he fell and one hand closed about Lucky's right ankle. Lucky went down too.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"I've got you now," whispered Dingo.
He reached up to catch Lucky's waist and in a moment, fast-locked, they were rolling across the floor.
Lucky felt the growing, enclosing pressure and pain washed inward like an advancing flame. Dingo's
fetid panting was in his ear.
Lucky's right arm was free, but his left was enclosed in the numbing vise of the other's grip about his
chest. With the last of his fading strength, Lucky brought his right fist up. The blow traveled no more than
four inches, catching the point where Dingo's chin met his neck with a force that sent stabs of pain the
length of Lucky's arm.
Dingo's grip loosened for a moment and Lucky, writhing, flung himself out of the deadly embrace and
onto his feet.
Dingo got up more slowly. His eyes were glassy, and fresh blood was trickling out the corner of his
mouth.
He muttered thickly, "The whip! The whip!"
Unexpectedly he turned upon one of the pirates who had been standing there a frozen onlooker. He
wrested the weapon from the other's hand and send him sprawling.
Lucky tried to duck, but the neurom'c whip was up
AT CLOSE QUARTERS 131
and flashing. It caught his right side and stimulated the nerves of the area it struck into a bath of pain.
Lucky's body stiffened and went down again.
For a moment his senses recorded only confusion, and with what consciousness he possessed he
expected death to be a second off. Dimly he heard a pirate's voice.
"Look, Dingo, the captain said to make it look like an accident. He's a Council of Science man and . . ."
It was all Lucky heard.
When he swam back to consciousness with an excruciating tingle of pins and needles down the length of
his side, he found himself in a space-suit again. They were just afyout to put on his helmet. Dingo, lips
puffed, cheek and jaw bruised, watched malignantly.
There was a voice in the doorway. A man was entering hurriedly, full of talk.
Lucky heard him say, "-for Post 247. It's getting so I can't keep track of all the requisitions. I can't even
keep our own orbit straight enough to keep up the co-ordinate corrections of----"
The voice flickered out. Lucky twisted his head and caught sight of a small man with spectacles and gray
hair. He was just inside the doorway, looking with mingled astonishment and disbelief at the disorder that
met his eyes.
"Get out," roared Dingo.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"But I've got to have a requisition----"
"Later!"
The little man left and the helmet was fitted over Lucky's head.
They took him out again, through the air-lock, to a
132 LUCKY STARR
surface which was now in the feeble blaze of the distant Sun. A catapult waited on a relatively flat table
of rock. Its function was no mystery to Lucky. An automatic winch was drawing back a large metal lever
which bent more and more slowly till its original slant had strained back into a complete horizontal at the
tip. Light straps were attached to the bent lever and then buckled about Lucky's waist.
"Lie still," said Dingo. His voice was dim and scratchy in Lucky's ear. There was something wrong with
the helmet receiver, Lucky realized. "You're just wasting your oxygen. Just to make you feel better, we're
sending ships up to blast your friend down before he can pick up speed, if he feels like running."
An instant after that Lucky felt the sharp tingling vibration of the lever as it was released. It sprang
elas-tically back into its original position with terrific force. The buckles about him parted smoothly and
he was cast off at a speed of a mile a minute or better, with no gravitational field to slow him. There was
one glimpse of the asteroid with the pirates looking up at him. The whole was shrinking rapidly even as he
watched.
He inspected his suit. He already knew that his helmet radio had been maltreated. Sure enough, the
sensitivity knob hung loose. It meant his voice could penetrate no more than a few miles of space. They [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]