Brigands of the Moon | Page 9

was breathing calmly now.
He sat up in amazement at my wild-eyed appearance, and the ash jarred from his cigar.
"Gregg! What in the devil--"
I tried to grin. "I'm on my way to bed--worked all night helping Snap."
I went past him, out the door into the main corridor. It was the only way the invisible
prowler could have gone. But I was too late now--I could hear nothing. I dashed forward
into the main lounge. It was empty, dim and silent, a silence broken presently by a faint
click, a stateroom door hastily closing. I swung and found myself in a tiny transverse
passage. The twin doors of A20 and A22 were before me.

The invisible eavesdropper had gone into one of these rooms! I listened at each of the
panels, but there was only silence within.
The interior of the ship was suddenly singing with the steward's siren--the call to awaken
the passengers. It startled me. I moved swiftly away. But as the siren shut off, in the
silence I heard a soft, musical voice:
"Wake up, Anita, I think that's the breakfast call."
And her answer, "All right, George."

IV
I did not appear at that morning meal. I was exhausted and drugged with lack of sleep. I
had a moment with Snap to tell him what had occurred. Then I sought out Carter. He had
his little chart room insulated. And we were cautious. I told him what Snap and I had
learned: the rays from the Moon, proving that Grantline had concentrated a considerable
ore body. I also told him of Grantline's message.
"We'll stop on the way back, as he directs, Gregg." He bent closer to me. "At
Ferrok-Shahn I'm going to bring back a cordon of Interplanetary Police. The secret will
be out, of course, when we stop at the Moon. We have no right, even now, to be flying
this vessel as unguarded as it is."
He was very solemn. And he was grim when I told him of the invisible eavesdropper.
"You think he overheard Grantline's message? Who was it? You seem to feel it was
George Prince?"
I told him I was convinced the prowler went into A20. When I mentioned the purser, who
seemed to have been watching me earlier in the night, and again was sitting in the
smoking room when the eavesdropper fled past, Carter looked startled.
"Johnson is all right, Gregg."
"Does he know anything about this Grantline affair?"
"No--no," said Carter hastily. "You haven't mentioned it, have you?"
"Of course I haven't. But why didn't Johnson hear that eavesdropper? And what was he
doing there, anyway, at that hour of the morning?"
The Captain ignored my questions. "I'm going to have that Prince suite searched--we
can't be too careful.... Go to bed, Gregg, you need rest."
I went to my cabin. It was located aft, on the stern deck, near the stern watch tower. A
small metal room with a chair, a desk and a bunk. I made sure no one was in it. I sealed

the lattice grill and the door, set the alarm trigger against any opening of them, and went
to bed.
The siren for the midday meal awakened me. I had slept heavily. I felt refreshed.
I found the passengers already assembled at my table when I arrived in the dining salon.
It was a low vaulted metal room with blue and yellow tube lights. At its sides the oval
windows showed the deck, with its ports on the dome side, through which a vista of the
starry firmament was visible. We were well on our course to Mars. The Moon had
dwindled to a pin point of light beside the crescent Earth. And behind them our Sun
blazed, visually the largest orb in the heavens. It was some sixty-eight million miles from
the Earth to Mars. A flight, ordinarily, of some ten days.
There were five tables in the dining salon, each with eight seats. Snap and I had one of
the tables. We sat at the ends, with the passengers on each of the sides.
Snap was in his seat when I arrived. He eyed me down the length of the table. In a gay
mood, he introduced me to the three men already seated:
"This is our third officer, Gregg Haljan. Big, handsome fellow, isn't he? And as pleasant
as he is good-looking. Gregg, this is Sero Ob Hahn."
I met the keen, somber gaze of a Venus man of middle age. A small, slim graceful man,
with sleek black hair. His pointed face, accentuated by the pointed beard, was pallid. He
wore a white and purple robe; upon his breast was a huge platinum ornament, a device
like a star and cross entwined.
"I am happy to