CHAPTER 15. THE PIRATE'S LAIR.
Neville was a little puzzled by his decision to go and tidy the Captain's cabin in the Atlas. He was suddenly worried that one of the criminals had taken the solid gold comets which had been awarded to Captain Stephens. There was certainly some evidence of a search but nothing was broken and the uniforms were still hung up in the wardrobes.
Sure enough on the ceremonial uniform were the two golden comets which sparkled even in the subdued lighting. Neville reverently unfastened them and concealed them in an inner pocket of his trousers.
"One of his relations will probably treasure those,” he thought to himself.
As he looked through a porthole it became obvious that they were moving nearer to some rock clusters. "It looks as though it is time to go into hiding," he thought to himself.
He had already decided that he was going to bide his time and hide out in one of the containers. His first thought had been to commandeer the container which housed the Captain's Moon Shuttle but had decided that this would be too obvious. He had even considered making a break in the Shuttle and trying to reach a base of some kind to bring help, but he was a novice pilot and the cannon on the Black Swan had left an indelible impression on his memory. That ruse could be tried as a desperation measure if the situation deteriorated.
However, in the meantime, he had to be more practical. Neville went to the quarters of Henry Hirst to see what he could find. The accommodation was set out with military precision and everything was neatly stowed and labelled. Neville was looking for a cargo manifest and he knew that the crew of the Black Swan had taken the copy belonging to the First Officer. He reasoned that since Henry had been in charge of putting the cargo together, he would have complete records somewhere.
It was stupid to feel guilty but Neville felt like a thief in the night as he rifled through Henry's files, but he soon had what he required a general layout and a detailed list of the items in each container. He studied the documents carefully and started a process of elimination.
There were twenty-four containers but numbers one to six were taken up by the extra power packs and the Moon Shuttle with its accompanying spares. Numbers twenty-one to twenty-four were too near the rear for comfort, so they were out. It was evident that some containers carried only one kind of goods such as food or mining spares which were being shipped wholesale for the main suppliers on Ceres. This took care of numbers seven to ten, which contained food in vast quantities and seventeen to twenty, which contained all manner of mining equipment and the unique hand tools required by this specialized work. Container eleven was exclusively air cylinders and number twelve, totally rocket spares.
Containers thirteen to sixteen were a different matter. These were specific orders by four of the more successful prospecting companies who could afford to ship their own wholesale containers stocked with the items they required. These, quite understandably were filled with a plethora of assorted articles.
Most of container thirteen was taken up by a large rock crusher, its associated spares and gas tanks. These machines were equipped with internal combustion engines which used a sealed carburettor and a pre-mixed gas which allowed them to operate in their hostile, space environment. The engines were built with lubrication free bearings, large tolerances and huge cooling fins which were necessary for the radiation based cooling systems.
Number fourteen contained one of the ugliest space vehicles ever produced. It was still in kit form but, when assembled, was best described as a space dumper truck. They had a mechanical grab on the front and due to their odd configuration were affectionately known as 'Lobsters' by the prospectors.
Number fifteen was a definite possibility. It had an inventory like a general store with food, clothing, bedding, air bottles, water bottles, beer and small amounts of mining tools, spare space suits, magazines, books and music tapes. However number sixteen, the last choice, was just perfect.
Again it had a wide ranging inventory, but the main article in the container was a portable site cabin complete with airlock. This would allow him the luxury of eating and breathing normally. In addition some comfort could be gained from the chemical heater, which was a flameless and fumeless source of heat.
Neville studied the manifest very carefully and was disappointed to find that there were no weapons of any sort in any of the containers. He already knew that the official arms chest had been transferred to the Black Swan, thus leaving him defenceless. Then an idea came to him which gave him one last forlorn hope.
He made his way to the quarters which had belonged to Gary Mitchell. Gary had often talked with affection about his own weapons collection and, knowing that Gary had been a man of action, Neville had a strong suspicion that Gary would have had an illegal weapon concealed somewhere.
Neville looked everywhere he could think of, in bags, drawers, clothing and even under his bunk, but found nothing. He then started a systematic search of the cabin, taking out drawers, and checking to see if a weapon was concealed under it or taped to the drawer recess but the effort was fruitless. The next things to be searched were the tops and backs of lockers; the wardrobe was then emptied of clothing and all the boots and shoes examined. Again the search yielded nothing.
He sat down on the bunk feeling a little bit cheated. His eyes fell on the rather large collection of books that Gary had taken with him whenever he was on a mission: to his amazement he found himself looking at a large, beautiful volume entitled 'A Pictorial Guide to Trees and Flowers.'
Although he had not known Gary very long he had never, ever seen or heard him mention anything as mundane as flowers and trees, except, perhaps, how to blow them up and the title was completely at odds with the other technical books on explosives and their applications. The book looked to be well thumbed and regularly used so Neville took it down to inspect it.
It was the oldest trick in the world; so simple and yet so effective. The pages had been carefully carved away to conceal the contours of the weapon. Neville was overjoyed with his discovery and with the weapon itself. It was one which had originally been designed for use by the British Secret Service and was the only duel-system weapon made. The body of the weapon contained only non- metallic substances and was virtually undetectable by normal scanning methods. It was capable of firing a large calibre, low velocity bullet which exploded on impact and had a clip which contained ten of these projectiles. Again the ammunition was non-metallic.
In addition to the projectiles there was the standard, electronic 'Stun Gun' facility which was directed from a tube immediately below the main barrel. Neville was relieved to find that Gary had brought three power packs and six clips of ammunition; with this useful weapon he could hit back and hit hard. He replaced the book, fitted a power pack to the weapon and returned to his own quarters. He looked again at the contents of container number sixteen and calculated that there was enough oxygen, food and water to keep him alive for at least twelve months. All he had to do was broach the packing and gain access.
He tidied up after himself to destroy any evidence of his recent occupation. He then went and changed into a spare space suit and hid the one he had come aboard in. This time he decided that he was taking no chances and found a pack of three air tanks which would keep him alive for a week. He also found a lifeline, carefully fastened his weapon on a strong lanyard, fitted a new jet pack, picked up a strong kitchen knife and his hand pick and made his way to the rear airlock. Just as he was ready to fasten his helmet he realised that he would need a source of light. Quickly he returned to the store room and picked up a powerful hand lamp and some chemical emergency lights to illuminate the cabin.
Soon he was outside the Atlas and making his way along the containers towards number sixteen. He was careful to keep himself hidden as much as possible from the Black Swan and soon arrived outside his destination.
He had a choice of entries. He could use the main power-assisted door of the container or he could use the small, man-sized access panel on the top. As he was pondering his decision he was quite alarmed as some large rocks rushed past. It helped to remind him that they were probably getting very close to the end of the journey.
He decided that he would risk using the smaller opening. Climbing up the side of the container he lay as flat as he could, thanking his lucky stars that it was very dark. The panel had a screw down, submarine-type fitting and with a few spins of the wheel he was able to open it. There was a thick layer of polystyrene foam underneath it, but Neville was ready for that.
He drew his weapon and set the electronic charge on low and fired a good blast through the opening. This effectively melted the polystyrene and the protective bag. A few more blasts cleared enough of a path to allow him entry. He quickly slipped inside and sealed the hatch after himself. He switched on his high powered torch and to his disappointment he could not see the cabin which was to be his refuge. What he could see were the sharp edges of a pile of rocket spares and already his space suit was snagged on one.
He carefully unhooked it and was relieved to see that the suit had not been punctured. It was likely that the cabin had been loaded into the container as the first item. Gritting his teeth he started to pick his way through the spares and slowly made his way towards the rear of the container. Several times he had to blast away the polystyrene to make progress.
Soon he was sliding across many boxes of the spring-Ioaded cans which had now become commonplace. The spring-Ioaded bottoms made it easier to eject the food into the plates and pans in low, or no gravity situations.
The next obstacles were stacked ranks of oxygen bottles and sundry crates of tools and utensils and, finally, there it was; a small but invaluable refuge. Quickly he cleared away all the obstructions to free the airlock and the external tank connections. He had to be careful where he placed the cargo which he moved, for his own protection.
Very soon the Black Swan would decelerate and all the loose cargo would shoot across the container until it either hit the side or some other item. He did not want the cabin to be damaged for obvious reasons and, unfortunately, he would receive no warning when the retro-rockets would be fired.
As he shifted the big crates he was glad that in this environment they possessed only mass and not weight. He packed and wedged them as tightly as possible. Next he connected three full tanks to the air inlet valves on the site cabin and turned them on. Having done that he searched around and found a case of food, manhandled it to the airlock and stacked the cans inside the outer door. He did the same thing with some water containers and other essential supplies such as blankets, heating packs and lighting packs. Finally he went into the airlock himself, sealed the outer door, opened the inner one and soon both Neville and the supplies were safely installed inside the little cabin.
The cabins were fitted with a full complement of utensils and a special chemical stove with its matching magnetic-bottomed pans which stayed safely in place. Neville did not possess much in the way of 'Cordon Bleu' skills but after a struggle he managed to make himself a hot drink of chocolate and warmed a can of stew which he ate with relish. To complete his day he made up a bed, set the heater going, took off the remainder of his space suit and settled down to get as much rest as possible.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
There was a sullenness aboard the Black Swan which annoyed Harry Morgan. He had a mental picture of himself as the leader of a band of swashbuckling, dedicated pirates who were all keen and loyal to him; at this moment in time nothing could be further from the truth. He was totally fed up with his injuries which gave him a lot of pain and the prisoners were troublesome. Some of the new prisoners had worked quite well, others had not.
In the interests of safety, Archie Murphy and Alfred Brown had done a thorough structural survey of the Black Swan and had found many faults; some were very serious and were the results of metal fatigue which only a trained eye could notice. Harry had gratefully accepted their recommendations and had actually worked with them to make the ship safe and sound to the best of their abilities.
Both Murphy and Brown had made it clear to Harry that their co-operation was in no way a gesture of goodwill. They had worked merely to increase the life-expectancy of everyone aboard, including Harry's own, an observation which had not gone unnoticed.
Archie, in fact, had a sneaking admiration for Harry's engineering and the concept of the vessel which he had created, but the complexity of the control systems with so many remotely controlled rockets required a specialism which was a little more refined than Harry's more practical ability.
Archie was very tempted to kill Harry in spite of his admiration; he could have done it easily, many times. If Captain Stephens had still been on board he would already have done so. It could have been made to look accidental and, indeed, it could very well have been a genuine accident. Several times it had been necessary to deal with high-voltage D.C. cables and Harry had become so familiar with this type of work that he had become contemptuous of the danger. Several times it had been the restraining hand of Archie which had prevented Harry from picking up and cutting the wrong cable.
But Harry's death would have served no purpose. Harry knew where the other vessels were and Archie believed that this was where they were headed for. To kill him would have meant aborting the main reason for their mission.
Much of the time the crew were kept separated so they could not plan, but Archie knew that all the ex-professional military men, and probably the Company men as well, realised that the mission was not over just because the Captain had been killed. As far as he was concerned the First Officer, Ben Rimmer, was now in command. His sole task now was to carry on and complete the work which they had started.
There was a lot of cooking to do and the most eminently qualified man for the job was Ron Naylor. Harry had asked Ron, quite pleasantly, if he would be the Ship's Chef for a while. He had discussed the matter with Mister Rimmer and they had decided to humour Harry in all reasonable requests. It would be better for Ron to cook for them than to become weakened by starvation. In the style of the good old days, Mister Rimmer now had the official duty of 'Taster' of all Harry's food, just in case Ron had any ideas of feeding him something nasty.
Harry was not really a murderer, he had genuinely regretted the death of Gary Mitchell and he had only cast the three Captains adrift out of sheer necessity. However, in the case of Henry Hurst and Arnie Sidebottom he was very tempted. Inwardly he was terrified of what would happen should either of these men get their immensely strong arms on him. So Harry was trying to break them by working their resentment out of them. Henry was currently employed cleaning the very large floor of the Control Room with a bucket of water and a toothbrush.
Arnie was in the hold and was stacking and restacking heavy metal ingots into neat piles for the umpteenth time. As soon as he had finished he was given a new location and the task was repeated yet again. There was no argument, no dissension and no menacing comments. Both men simply did as they were told without question.
Harry thought he was winning slowly, but he was wrong. Both Arnie and Henry had simply switched off mentally and were biding their time. The exercise was keeping them fit and mean; they were both prepared to fight to the death when the signal came.
Sergeant Brody was in solitary confinement. He had been locked away on his own for refusing to maintain the weaponry on the Black Swan. Although the crew had used the weapons, they did not know the correct procedure for stripping and cleaning, an operation fraught with danger to those who were ignorant of the processes of electronic weapons. They were puzzled by the Company weapons, particularly the pistols with their extra functions. No amount of threats or coercion would persuade Sergeant Brody to teach them anything or help them in any way.
“Learn by your own trial and error, but you’ll only make one mistake.” had been his suggestion to Harry. Harry had not taken him up on his challenge.
Benjamin Rimmer and David Boothman were also in solitary confinement and undergoing a poor attempt at brainwashing. Captain Stephens had not convinced Harry that he had been the only pilot on the Atlas and Harry was leaning on these two Officers to try and get them to teach him the secrets of C.A.M.I.D. operation. Flashing lights and loud noises were a poor attempt to break their resistance, but Harry had a lot of time.
Meanwhile, in her solitude, Charlotte was still resisting Harry's advances. He had relented a little and was now trying to win her over by kindness. She spurned it all and remained aloof and unattainable, which did absolutely nothing for Harry's peace of mind.
Mister Rimmer had considered their position very carefully. The horror of losing his friend and colleague had depressed him immensely at first; now he was feeling angry and vengeful. Fortunately years of military service had given him the strength not to act emotionally. The situation was quite clear in his mind, he would allow Harry to lead them to the others and locate the missing vessels before he acted. Ben was able to hold some hope for the future because he believed Neville Johnson to be alive and well and biding his time.
Harry Morgan had not forgotten about Neville. There had been a half- hearted search and they had found the airlock which had been tampered with. The previous day a team had gone across to the Atlas and continued the search but had failed to find any evidence that Neville had been there. Harry, therefore, had presumed that he had met the same fate as his Captain; Ben thought differently, he knew that Neville was intelligent and cunning.
Ben knew that it was up to him to give the order to fight and he knew instinctively that the others would back him up and fight to the death if necessary, it was just a matter of recognising the correct moment in time. So, like a coiled up spring, everybody waited, wanting and wishing for the confrontation they knew would eventually happen.
Later the same day all the prisoners were taken to their quarters and strapped to their bunks. Everybody now knew that arrival time was rapidly approaching and that this was a prelude to a deceleration procedure. With all the prisoners safely secured, the Officers and the Crew of the Black Swan assembled on the bridge with their Captain. The ship was well into the rock field and was on its final approach to their H.Q.
Harry was a unique navigator, he seemed to know and recognize the empty fabric of space. He had scarcely looked at his instruments but he was in exactly the correct position.
"Prepare retro-rockets two, four and six for a ten second burn,” commanded Harry in his recently acquired nasal tones.
"Retros primed and ready, Skipper," replied the First Officer.
“I will count back from fifteen... fire on ten and cut- off on zero."
“Understood, Skipper,” replied the First Officer in a bored, matter-of-fact tone.
Harry made the count, the retros fired and the Black Swan slowed perceptively. Meanwhile in container number sixteen Neville Johnson sat in a crumpled heap, festooned in all the loose debris of his little site cabin; some of the things he was saying were most unbecoming of an Officer and a Gentleman. The language did not improve when the main rockets were fired for a slight correction and Neville landed on the opposite wall along with the accompanying trash. He finally ran out of words and tried to cling on as best he could.
Back on the bridge the view out of the front was deteriorating. More and bigger rocks were visible and floating past at an uncomfortable speed. Harry guided the Black Swan with his one good eye alternating between the view ahead and the predictions of the monitor in front of him.
He reduced speed again and became more vigilant. Suddenly there was a huge rock dead ahead. It was a strange crystalline shape and due to its dark colour was hardly visible it rapidly increased in size as they approached closer. Harry sheered off to starboard when he was about a mile away, much to Neville’s continued discomfort. The Black Swan suddenly appeared to be travelling down a kind of natural tunnel; at this point Harry switched on the floodlights and the rocks were illuminated.
The view was dazzling, light was reflected off the many different coloured quartzite rocks and crystals which made the corridor resemble a huge kaleidoscope. Suddenly it finished and the Black Swan floated serenely into a huge void surrounded by smaller Asteroids. In truth it was not completely natural, but one of Harry's creations. He had seen the area on his instruments and had recognised its potential. A team armed with powerful jet packs had been sent in to move those rocks which were in the way and soon the hideout had been created. It was a superb natural sanctuary.
Floating in the centre of the void was a single, huge torus-shaped formation which was more like a small planetoid than a rock, being about a mile in circumference. Anchored to it were the mooring cables of the Hercules and the Titan. Both ships had been stripped of six of their containers which were now mounted on the planetoid. Each container had been fitted out with a crude but efficient airlock. Their cargo had been stacked and anchored to the planetoid and the containers were being used as essential living quarters and store rooms. Although the quarters on the Hercules and Titan were more comfortable, Harry was taking no chances; nobody was allowed on board.
With great skill Harry gently brought the Black Swan to its moorings and the Atlas was boarded and uncoupled. It, too, was soon tethered next to the Titan, having been delicately moved there by externally fitted jet-packs. The three vessels themselves were worth in the region of three hundred million pounds, plus the value of the cargo which was probably about another sixty million pounds. There was no doubt about it, Harry was the greatest robber of all time if the value of his booty was anything to go by.
The prisoners were not released, they were still strapped to their bunks and it became apparent to all that this was to be a fleeting visit. Ben Rimmer was able to see the other company vessels through a port hole and experienced a strange feeling of calm. The ships were there, they now only needed to be retaken; he knew that their time would come.
Several of the containers carried by the Titan were actually tankers containing rocket fuel. One of these specialised tankers was being used to refuel the Black Swan. It was a long job and it was not to Harry's credit that as he waited he was haunted by a recurring vision of Charlotte lying there strapped to her bunk. He shook off the temptation by convincing himself that there was time enough for his fantasies when he had finished the job in hand.
The Crew of the Atlas were left on board and the prisoners from the Hercules were transferred to the base. Harry had decided that the Crew of the Atlas were much more of a threat than the others at this moment in time, so he was going to use them to work the original field in the eccentric orbit. It was his considered opinion that a dose of prolonged suffering would eventually force them to concede to his point of view.
As the refuelling progressed more supplies were loaded onto the Black Swan in readiness for a long journey. The Moon Shuttle which had been Captain Stephens pride and joy was gently brought out of its container and took the place of the old prospecting vessel. Morgan was looking forward to indulging himself with that little, sleek vessel. Harry waited patiently for his engineers to give him the all clear. Two hours later the job was done and the Black Swan slipped her mooring cable.
Carefully she retraced her steps from the hideout with Harry manually piloting the ship without reference to any instruments. Once clear of the belt he locked in the computer and fed it the rendezvous co-ordinates of the original rock field which was presently swinging back from its Jovian approach.
At precisely the correct moment four rocket motors fired and the gargantuan vessel rapidly picked up speed. Five minutes later two more rockets fired to assist the acceleration sequence and with a jaunty twitch of her tail the Black Swan shot off into the void to make her rendezvous.
Harry stepped down from the bridge and said, "Release the prisoners and feed them, then put them all to work. Miss Linaker can start by scrubbing the galley "
A few hours later, back at the hideout, Neville listened for signs of life. He listened intently for thirty minutes and heard nothing. He donned his space suit and decided to play a gamble. He knew he was now somewhere in the hideout and fully intended to briefly break radio silence.
He left the comparative safety of his site cabin and picked his way through the cargo which had shifted a little as the deceleration had taken place. Eventually he found his way back to the manhole where he had gained entry. As he slowly lifted the lid he felt for the comforting feel of his weapon and then switched off his lamp.
Very cautiously he looked around and was astonished to see that the three missing vessels were all moored together. This unexpected sight gave him a renewed determination and like a predator he made his way back to the rear airlock. He made his entry and once inside knew instinctively that the vessel was unoccupied. Carefully he made his way to the bridge where he proceeded to the radio booth. He was relieved to discover that the radio had not been disassembled and put out of commission.
Neville switched it on and allowed it a few minutes to warm up. There was an official Company code for emergency use; one letter in Morse code carried either information or an instruction.
He racked his brains trying to think how best to transmit his message. Neville was intelligent enough to realise that any message was going to cause considerable consternation when it arrived, he suspected that they had been given up for dead a long time ago.
Having selected the scrambled channel and maximum power, he firmly gripped the Morse key and tapped out the following Morse message F...3S...C...N...R...X. Neville quickly shut down the radio set and waited anxiously for a response from the small settlement. He waited for a full quarter of an hour and there was no sign of activity; Neville was happy that the signal had got away undetected.
He quickly returned to his hideout and celebrated by opening a couple of cans of beer and a one hundredweight sack of potato crisps.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sir Richard and Fred Ford were having their daily meeting. "Do you have the projected Cargo Manifests for next month, Fred?" asked Sir Richard.
"Yes Sir," replied Fred without much enthusiasm. He reached into his case and pulled them out. "I have received two letters of complaint this morning from the Amalgamated Asteroid Trading Company. I'm afraid we have been a little lax in the handling of our day to day affairs. We should have duplicated the lost shipments immediately, the Company is crying out for their supplies.”
“What shall we do, Fred?" asked Sir Richard without his usual sense of urgency.
"May I suggest that we ignore the letters for a week and then alert the Authorities and own up to what has really happened? I can get an interim shipment off in two days time," replied Fred.
"I really wanted to wait until after our next meeting with Clive before making an official announcement, " said Sir Richard who was wracked with indecision.
At that moment the video-com lit up with the lovely face of Sir Richard's personal secretary. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Sir Richard, but the Head of Security has just requested a personal interview to discuss a matter of great importance.”
"Oh dear!" growled Sir Richard. "I wonder what the devil has gone wrong now?" To his secretary he said, "Show him in straight away please, Louisa... I will release the room from secure mode immediately."
One minute later the Head of Security stepped over the threshold and crisply instructed Sir Richard to return the room to its secure mode.