The Runaway Asteroid | Page 8

I'm afraid we
don't have time to do more than get you briefed on the situation. I can't even take the time
to commend you for the outstanding work you did against the pirates. Richard is busting
with pride over his newest Starmen! I can't say I blame him-you did marvelous work!
You three are wanted on Earth for some special recognition, but unfortunately we have a
brief mission for you first."
"Richard" was Richard Starlight, the head of Starlight Enterprise who had entrusted Mark
and Joe with their Martian assignment.
"Thank you, Mr. Konig," responded Zip simply.
"The pirates only had a few men placed here at the Base, but they were enough to shut
down operations for the few days they needed to paralyze Eagle City. Frankly, it was a
surprise for us and Richard wanted me to take personal charge of security on Mars until it
was quite clear that the threat was past. Actually, I flew in with the invasion fleet. My
most important assignment here is to set up a secret base for Starlight Enterprise, which
will be a backup and defense unit prepared for any events such as the one we've just
experienced."
"A secret base?"
"Yes. I'll be looking for the best site, recruiting the right people to man it, and drawing up
plans for construction and the tasks it will have to perform. I don't need to tell you that
the project is highly confidential. I'm only telling you about it because you're Starmen,
and it will be a resource you'll need to become familiar with. Of course, there will be
much more information coming your way later."
Oritz Konig spoke cleanly and clearly, but gave the [DB1]impression that his thoughts
were racing faster than he could speak. He had had to discipline himself to speak so that
others could follow him. There were few wasted words when he had to get a message
across, but he was able to converse in a way that assured his listeners that he valued them
as people and needed their cooperation. Konig manifested an extremely rare combination
of being a "people person" as well as having a supremely disciplined and task-oriented
mind.
"We interrogated the pirates while you were in the Asteroid Belt. We started with Troy
Putnam, of course, but he won't say a word. He's got a strange kind of strength to
him-genial in a lot of ways, but utterly inflexible and unbreakable when he doesn't want
to cooperate.
"We questioned other pirate leaders, too, of course, and a lot of the rank and file. Not all
of them cooperated, but enough did that we learned that they have a base in the Belt. It's
no ordinary base. Most of the pirates don't know its origin but they can describe what it

looks like.
"It's a fairly good-sized chunk of hard stone, mostly iron. It's hollow, and the base is
inside. The access port is concealed. More to the point, it cannot be detected by radar.
"Some of the toughest of the pirates sneered that we'd never find it-that it couldn't be seen
even if you were right on top of it."
Joe jumped in. "But sir, this technology is not new. There have been craft since the late
twentieth century that were invisible to radar. There are other ways to find
them-gravitational influences, to name one."
"Of course, Starman Taylor. This asteroid, however, appears to be the work of some
advanced race, other than Earth. The pirates didn't create it-they took it over. Its
sheathing system is highly effective, highly effective indeed. The pirates could be lying,
of course, but once the word got out to them that we knew about the asteroid, most of
them seemed to swell with a kind of arrogant pride, even welcoming the fact that we had
the information. They were confident that we couldn't do anything about it."
"And that explains, I'm sure, why we couldn't find them in spite of an exceedingly
thorough search of the area," concluded David Foster, feeling somewhat vindicated.
"So are we to go find the asteroid?" put forth Joe, leaning forward in his chair.
"No, Mr. Taylor. We want you to find the man who discovered it."
Joe leaned back into his chair, a puzzled look on his face. Oritz Konig continued.
"The asteroid was discovered almost twenty years ago by an asteroid miner named
George St. George. He's a loner, like so many of the asteroid miners. He makes a good
living, but has no fixed address. He's constantly on the move and spends most of his time
away from settlements in the Belt. He'll disappear for months, maybe a year or two-then
show up on Ceres or in Eagle City with what he has found in the Belt and