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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa09cd8 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61794 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61794) diff --git a/old/61794-h.zip b/old/61794-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 10e45f3..0000000 --- a/old/61794-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/61794-h/61794-h.htm b/old/61794-h/61794-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index b789183..0000000 --- a/old/61794-h/61794-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1926 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Buccaneer of the Star Seas, by Ed Earl Repp. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Buccaneer of the Star Seas, by Ed Earl Repp - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Buccaneer of the Star Seas - -Author: Ed Earl Repp - -Release Date: April 9, 2020 [EBook #61794] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUCCANEER OF THE STAR SEAS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="352" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>BUCCANEER OF THE STAR SEAS</h1> - -<h2>By Ed EARL REPP</h2> - -<p>"... and thou shalt be immortal!" Such was the<br /> -curse of that 13th Century sorcerer. Now Carlyle<br /> -roamed the uncharted star-seas, seeking Death<br /> -as he sought the richly-laden derelicts in that<br /> -sargossa of long-vanished space-galleons.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Fall 1940.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>An unpleasant shudder went through Thaddeus Carlyle as the great iron -door thundered behind him. Reading Gaol's raw, damp atmosphere seemed -to settle into his bones. Hobbling on rheumatic legs, the aged turnkey -preceded him down the vaulted stone corridor.</p> - -<p>"'Tis the first time my key has disturbed Friar Bacon's lock these six -months," his grumbling voice came to Carlyle's ears. "Plagued few they -are that visit the roguish priest. Not even the canon comes now, to -exhort him to renounce his black magic."</p> - -<p>Thaddeus Carlyle's dark eyes flamed with quick interest. "Then he -practices still these works of the devil?" he queried softly.</p> - -<p>The turnkey stopped, his narrowed eyes mirroring fearful thoughts. With -his crooked forefinger he tapped the young nobleman's gold-cloth tabard.</p> - -<p>"Only last month he asked for brimstone, charcoal and niter. We gave -him the stuff, seeing no harm. A week ago, as I am passing his cell, -there was a great flash and roar. The devil's powders had exploded as -steam bursts a tight-lidded vessel! He carries still the marks of a -burn."</p> - -<p>"No!" Carlyle's smooth features were blank. "Fire—from such stuff as -that?"</p> - -<p>"That's not all, my Lord. Friar Bacon tells me that if we would give -him enough of the stuff and a long tube, he could throw an iron ball -across the Thames!"</p> - -<p>Turning away with a crafty nod and a meaningful blink, the turnkey led -on to the mean little cell in which Roger Bacon had now spent nine -years. The visitor was openly affected by the jailer's incredulous -story. He had heard strange and terrible things of the Gray Friar. The -church, in incarcerating him, had accused him of consorting with the -devil. Some whispered that he had learned the secret of immortality. -That was the rumor which had brought Thaddeus Carlyle, the second Lord -Monfort, into the gloomy confines of Reading Gaol.</p> - -<p>The lock scraped shrilly as the jailer turned it. Throwing the heavy -door open, he grinned: "Lucky for him you came, my Lord! In another -month this lock should have been rusted past turning. Then Friar Bacon -would have been forever without hope!"</p> - -<p>"Have I, indeed, such hope now?" a soft and gloomy voice inquired.</p> - -<p>The turnkey merely winked at the nobleman and hobbled off.</p> - -<p>Carlyle was suddenly seized by panic. Now that he was so close to the -notorious philosopher, fear smote him and he was on the point of -turning back. Yet, ridden by an even greater fear, he stiffened his -purpose and advanced. Closing the door, he stared at the white-bearded -man seated before a great calfskin-bound book on a ponderous table.</p> - -<p>"What hast thou with me, young man?" demanded Roger Bacon, peering -shrewdly from under ragged brows.</p> - -<p>"Only the admiration of an ignorant man for a very learned one," said -Thaddeus Carlyle simply.</p> - -<p>Bacon's eyes misted. Precious years of his waning life had he spent in -prison because there was no man to say such a thing before.</p> - -<p>"You—you do not believe what they say of me, that I consort with -Satan?" he queried. "That my science and my secrets are Lucifer's?"</p> - -<p>"Well—as to that," said Carlyle, his confidence returning, "I am again -the ignorant one. Where you get your knowledge I neither know nor care. -I only know that your learning is great ... and that that learning can -help me!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Gray Friar wagged his head wonderingly. His eyes went over -Thaddeus. He saw a strapping young man over six feet in height, with a -muscular development such as came only from constant participation in -the strenuous contests popular among the nobility. His skin was brown -as leather, burned, Bacon reckoned, by hot Oriental suns during the -last Crusade. He saw a man whose rich clothing spoke of a fat purse. -And he was asked to help him—he, who could not help himself!</p> - -<p>"Who are you, young man?" he asked, at last.</p> - -<p>"Thaddeus Carlyle, the second Lord Monfort," was the reply.</p> - -<p>"A noble—!" Bacon murmured. "But you—you jest with me!"</p> - -<p>"Not so!" Carlyle threw a leg across the corner of the table and peered -earnestly into the monk's face. "You are old and wise, Friar Bacon. -Perhaps you do not know the fear of death. I do! Always it is with me, -haunting my pleasures, disturbing my sleep—Fear of growing old and -toothless, of losing my strength—of dying as helpless as the day I was -born!"</p> - -<p>"But how can I help you?" frowned Bacon. "All men must face that fear."</p> - -<p>"But not as I know it! I, who have so much to make life worth the -living." Thaddeus rubbed his sweaty palms on his velvet-clad thighs, -his brown young face set. Abruptly, he blurted: "They say you possess -the secret of immortality, Friar. Is that true?"</p> - -<p>"They say many things of me," muttered the philosopher.</p> - -<p>Carlyle leaned toward him. "That doesn't answer my question," he -snapped. "I have heard that you added twenty years to your own life by -magic!"</p> - -<p>Bacon stared strangely at him. "You believe that I could save you from -death?"</p> - -<p>"Implicitly!" Carlyle replied. "If you wished to!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For the first time, Bacon stirred from the chair. His eyes flashed -briefly to a brass-bound chest, near his pallet of straw. Then he -stopped with his back to the wall, staring at the young nobleman.</p> - -<p>"But even if I could do this—!" he frowned. "You do not know what -immortality means. Perhaps it would be worse than death!"</p> - -<p>"If so, I could easily put an end to my immortality," retorted the -other.</p> - -<p>Roger Bacon did not speak for long seconds. Then: "They speak true of -me. I do possess this secret. But to release it would mean one more -atom of misery thrown upon the world."</p> - -<p>With his first words, Thaddeus had hunched forward, teeth shining -behind drawn lips, eyes glittering. "Has the world been good to you?" -he shot at him. "Do you owe it any consideration?"</p> - -<p>"None," the Gray Friar muttered. "Tell me; what month is this?"</p> - -<p>"November, Friar," the younger man replied frowningly.</p> - -<p>"November!"</p> - -<p>In Bacon's mournful syllables lay all the bitter coldness of the winter -itself. "November, Anno Domini twelve hundred and eighty-seven. Nine -years since I was thrown into this place of stone and despair. The -world has little loved me, my friend, and I hold no love for the world. -<i>Inopem me copia fecit</i>—abundance made me poor. Abundance of foresight -and inventiveness that might have made the world over."</p> - -<p>The monk had paced to the window through which he got his only small -view of the world. Now he swung back. "Yes, my Lord Monfort. I will do -what you ask!"</p> - -<p>Carlyle lurched forward to grasp his arm. "Friar," he breathed. "I only -dared hope. But if you do what you promise, I will see that you are -freed within the year!"</p> - -<p>"<i>Dominus vobiscum!</i>" Bacon said, tiny lights shining in his eyes. He -crossed to the massive chest and opened it. Digging around for a moment -among hundreds of curious objects the like of which Carlyle had never -seen, he at last returned to the table with two shining articles in his -hand.</p> - -<p>"I told you this would bring a certain amount of grief to the world," -he said, when Carlyle was seated beside him on a stool. "I say it -again. For each lifetime you add to your own, another must die. And -always it shall be a woman ... a woman whose love you have won."</p> - -<p>Carlyle stared at the philosopher with a mixture of hope and horror in -his face.</p> - -<p>"You must understand," said the Gray Friar, "that the life-spirit, as -I call it, is not so deeply rooted in a woman as a man. You hear often -of a woman dying of a broken heart, yet never of a man. This is because -the woman simply wills her spirit to leave her. It will be your task -to cause a woman to give you her life-spirit because she loves you -sufficiently."</p> - -<p>"Yes, Friar," Thaddeus whispered, his heart hammering against his ribs.</p> - -<p>Bacon placed in his palm a tiny crystal heart dependent from a silver -chain. It was crudely carved, yet alight with unholy brilliance.</p> - -<p>"You will give this to the woman to wear. You yourself will wear this -plain silver band I now give you. The process may take days or weeks. -When you are with her, cause your own ring to be always touching the -crystal heart. Gradually she will grow weaker, while your own strength -increases boundlessly. When she dies ... you will have earned perhaps -seventy years more of life."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="559" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>"Must it be this way?" Thaddeus groaned, staring horrified at the -baubles.</p> - -<p>"It is the only way," Bacon murmured. "If at any time you decide that -you prefer death to immortality, destroy either the heart or the ring -and you will not long survive it. Old age will come swiftly."</p> - -<p>Thaddeus got to his feet, his stomach a lump of ice in him. He suddenly -felt a necessity to get into the open air, where he could think. -Hastily he muttered:</p> - -<p>"I will do as you say, Friar Bacon. Thank you for what you have done. I -will see that you are freed as soon as possible."</p> - -<p>Wise old Roger Bacon knew the struggle that was going on within -the young lord, and he made no attempt to prolong the visit. "<i>Pax -vobiscum</i>," he nodded soberly. "The Lord guide you in this."</p> - -<p>"Th-thank you, Friar!" Thaddeus faltered, and hastily fumbled at the -door and left.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For a month the crystal heart and the ring lay untouched in a small -chest in his treasure-room. Then his old fears and nightmares drove him -to take them out. He had become accustomed to the grisly demands and -they no longer loomed so blackly in his mind. Pictures of himself as an -ancient ruin with the skin hanging loosely from all his bones helped in -this.</p> - -<p>For a long time Thaddeus had known that the young daughter of Lord -Cartwright secretly loved him. Tremblingly, one night, he bestowed on -her the gift of death ... in the form of a tiny crystal pendant. Within -a month the girl was dead.</p> - -<p>And Thaddeus Carlyle ... in his body surged and leaped such strength -as he had never dreamed of. He felt he must live forever. His friends -began to change, growing wrinkled and less virile, but never he. Soon -he saw he must change his abode, lest men suspect him.</p> - -<p>It was ninety years before the need came upon him to renew the -life-spirit in his body. He found a dark-eyed girl in Seville on one -of his journeys whom he nominated for his second victim. It was easier, -this time. Before she was laid away that old feeling of boundless youth -was his again.</p> - -<p>And so Thaddeus Carlyle saw kings change and nations dissolve, saw a -German named Gutenberg print the first book and an Englishman named -William Shakespeare write the most perfect prose ever devised. Saw wars -and tragedy and comedy, and grew sick with the seeing. Gladly would he -have given it up, had he the courage.</p> - -<p>Down the corridors of time he passed, seeking death as many seek -wealth. In peace and war, he was ever in the most dangerous -occupations. When aviation came in, he was one of the first and most -reckless pilots. Then space travel merged from dreams into reality.... -Carlyle became a test pilot, taking on million-mile journeys any craft -with a rocket tube and a steering device. To his disgust, he always -came back.</p> - -<p>He had not the courage to shatter the crystal heart and grow old -swiftly. He who had condemned so many beautiful women to death was now -chained to something worse—eternal life.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>"Mr. Carlyle! <i>Mr. Carlyle.</i> Are you all right?"</p> - -<p>Thaddeus Carlyle came out of his revery with a start, to hear the -shrill rasping of the <i>televis</i> on his desk. His hand snapped the -instrument on.</p> - -<p>"Sorry, Mrs. Loomis," he muttered. "I must have been napping."</p> - -<p>The face of his middle-aged secretary looked relieved. "Captain Wolfe -is here," she told him. "About the new secretary, you know."</p> - -<p>"Send them in," Carlyle grunted.</p> - -<p>He swore softly to himself. Too often lately he had dozed off at the -wrong times. He was due for another replenishment, and he cursed his -luck that it had to come now. Tomorrow he was leaving in his giant -salvage ship, the <i>Friar Bacon</i>, for the newly-discovered sargasso off -the orbit of Pluto. Nor could the trip be postponed.</p> - -<p>But the renewal of his life-spirit could not wait either. He was -a little too tired at night, a little too slow to react. But the -certainty was in him that he would not survive the trip to the new -salvage fields, with its attendant rigors.</p> - -<p>Captain Wolfe, chief officer of the <i>Friar</i>, entered with a small, -dark-haired young person at his side.</p> - -<p>"You're in luck, Chief!" he grinned. "I told you I'd find an A-1 -secretary for you, and I think I've got her. Miss Holland, meet -Thaddeus Carlyle—and don't say you haven't heard of him. Mr. Carlyle, -this is Ann Holland."</p> - -<p>The two exchanged acknowledgments, and Carlyle drew up chairs. "We'll -have to be brief," he said. "I've got a thousand things to attend to -before night. Now—you have the report from the company doctor?"</p> - -<p>Ann Holland took a folded slip from her purse and tendered it to the -owner of Salvage Lines, Incorporated. Carlyle took the opportunity to -appraise her swiftly. He hardly need to scan the physician's report -to know her health was boundless. It glowed in the soft rose color of -her cheeks, the sparkle of her dark eyes. Her brown hair was carefully -combed back from a smooth forehead.</p> - -<p>The report bore out his supposition. Carlyle questioned her briefly -about her qualifications as a stenographer and secretary. Everything -was satisfactory, and the references she had to show were excellent.</p> - -<p>Carlyle handed back the papers. "I think I'm lucky to get so -well-spoken of a secretary on such short notice," he smiled.</p> - -<p>"I know darned well you are, Chief!" Larry Wolfe laughed. "I had to -fight every officer in Ann's company to make them let her go."</p> - -<p>Ann Holland laid a hand on his arm. "I think I had a little to do -with my quitting, too," she reproved. "I can't tell you how I've been -fascinated by the stories of your salvage trips, Mr. Carlyle. And, of -course, hearing Larry talk of his work with you—"</p> - -<p>Thaddeus's dark eyes opened wider. "Oh—Then you have known each other -previously?" he queried.</p> - -<p>Blond Larry Wolfe held up the girl's left hand, showing the sparkling -diamond on the third finger. "Three years previously," he laughed. -"We're going to be married after this trip."</p> - -<p>Against the flash of resentment and disappointment that struck him, -Thaddeus Carlyle brought a smile to his lips. "That's fine," he said. -"Congratulations, both of you."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>What he didn't voice was the strain of remorse coursing through his -mind: "Fine, hell! It's bad enough preying on unattached girls. But the -fiancee of your chief officer—"</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, it was too late to change. Mrs. Loomis couldn't go -because she was married. Besides, she was old. There wasn't much life -to be stolen from her.</p> - -<p>"Of course, you'll be wanting to know the type of work you're to do," -he got out. "Frankly, it will be more tedious than adventuresome. I've -been considering doing a book on the navigation conditions obtaining in -the sargassos. You'll take dictation from me most of the time we're in -the salvage field. I'll want the notes neatly typed up when we return. -That's about all, except that the pay will be seventy-five dollars a -week. Satisfactory?"</p> - -<p>"Perfectly!" Ann breathed, and put her hand out to retrieve the papers -from the desk. As she did so, Carlyle's brown, strong fingers picked up -the references and tendered them. For an instant their fingers met....</p> - -<p>Ann's eyes went suddenly wide, and they flashed up to lock with -Carlyle's. She started, as if from a chill. It seemed as if a strong -current flowed from his body into hers ... and yet, had she but -known, the phenomenon was exactly an opposite one. By now, Carlyle's -parasitical work was second nature to him, hardly requiring the jewel -and ring.</p> - -<p>It struck the girl that his eyes were the strangest ones she had ever -gazed into. They were so clear she seemed to look through them and far -past him. Clear—but yet somehow they were filled with wisdom. It was -as though she was looking into vast, forgotten depths of time.</p> - -<p>Abruptly, she recalled herself. Her hand drew swiftly away from his.</p> - -<p>"Thank you so much," she murmured. "We're leaving at six, I think you -said? I'll be ready."</p> - -<p>When they were in the outer office, Larry Wolfe took her arm. He was -more than happy at the prospect of having the girl along on the long -trip.</p> - -<p>"Drive you home?" he suggested.</p> - -<p>A frown scored Ann's brow. "No, thanks, Larry," she murmured. "I've got -some things to buy uptown. Then I want to go home and rest. I feel a -little tired."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Thaddeus Carlyle stood at his window and watched the last bit of -loading being done out on the field. The <i>Friar Bacon</i>, with her six -tiny salvage ships in their bulging hangars growing out of the mother -ship's shell, like pilot fish clinging to the body of a shark, was -nearly ready for the trip. Carlyle sighed and wished again that he had -time to linger a few weeks before leaving.</p> - -<p>But it was out of the question. Even a man who possesses immortality -must earn his living, and salvaging treasure ships from space was -Carlyle's way of doing it. Right now that living was threatened by the -savage competition of Brand Haggard, owner of another salvage outfit.</p> - -<p>Haggard cared little for the ethics of the business. He'd double-cross, -steal, murder, lie, to gain his ends. It was such tactics that had put -Carlyle in his present hole.</p> - -<p>Coming in on his last expedition, he had found the sargasso off Pluto -and duly registered it with the Universal Salvage Commission, applying -at the same time for exclusive salvage rights. But Haggard had used his -crooked political affiliations to get in on the pie. Carlyle had had to -share the rights with him. Now it was a bitter fight to be the first in -the field, for the first ship there gutted the most treasure from the -wrecked space vessels.</p> - -<p>A delay of three weeks or a month would mean the <i>Friar Bacon</i> returned -with empty holds. And that might mean ruin for Carlyle. Lately, salvage -pickings were getting smaller and smaller. He intended to get into -another business for his next lifetime.</p> - -<p>The question of the girl still lay like a bitter pellet in his mind, -but with an effort he shelved his remorse. He decided to return to his -packing. There were two more things to be stowed away in his private -lockers. One was a plain silver ring, and the other was a little -crystal heart.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>At six o'clock the next morning the <i>Friar Bacon</i> rested in its deep -starting-tube in the center of the field. At seven o'clock it had -proceeded so far on its journey that Earth was but a silver quarter -hanging in the sky behind it.</p> - -<p>Larry Wolfe was on the bridge. His engineer's eyes sparkled as he -regarded the instruments. Fuel—brimming over; speed—one-quarter; -retarding gravity quotient—three percent. Ideal conditions, and an -ideal ship. He had faith in the <i>Friar Bacon</i>, and in its owner. He -knew about Brand Haggard, but it didn't worry him particularly, with -the best of materials and men to work with.</p> - -<p>Larry was on the point of inching the speed up a trifle when a bell -began to tinkle. Swiftly he twisted in his seat. Immediately he saw -what had aroused the alarm. A ship was coming up fast, behind them. -Haggard already! he thought. He stabbed at the buzzer to Carlyle's -quarters.</p> - -<p>The hard, brown features of the ship's owner snapped into view on the -<i>televis</i>. "Yes?" was the metallic query.</p> - -<p>"Ship approaching, sir!" Larry clipped. "I think it's Haggard's -<i>Martian</i>. Shall I give her the gun?"</p> - -<p>"No, let him come up with us. No use racing yet. We'd just strain the -seams before they've heated properly."</p> - -<p>"But if he beats us to the fields, sir!"</p> - -<p>Thaddeus Carlyle's eyes crinkled. "He won't, Wolfe. I registered a -false location with the Commission! He'll either go hell-for-leather -out toward Uranus or he'll pace us. Either way, I'm not worrying."</p> - -<p>"Very good, sir." Larry Wolfe turned from the instrument to his -controls. "Hard as nails!" he chuckled to himself. "He wouldn't hurry -for the devil himself. You'd think he'd lived five hundred years, the -way he thinks of all the angles and beats hell out of every other ship -in the fleet. He's too smart for one man."</p> - -<p>That very night, trouble boarded the <i>Friar Bacon</i>. In a way, it was -Larry Wolfe's fault.</p> - -<p>Coming off duty eight hours after they left, he hurried to Ann -Holland's stateroom near Carlyle's suite, eager to hear how she had -enjoyed her first day aboard a space-liner.</p> - -<p>He found her tired and curiously subdued.</p> - -<p>"Excitement get you?" he asked her.</p> - -<p>Ann's eyes flashed as she thought of the thousand new things she had -seen. "A little, I guess," she admitted. "But, Larry, it's wonderful! -Such a feeling of freedom, so many strange things to be seen. Here we -are darting through space like a liner plowing the Atlantic!"</p> - -<p>"You'll get over that pretty soon," Larry grinned. "Then you'll be like -the rest of us space-sailors, cursing our luck that man can't push his -darned ships along at the speed of light."</p> - -<p>"I don't think I ever will," the girl mused. "They build these ships -just like Swiss watches, don't they? Every beam and girder machined by -hand, every nut and bolt a masterpiece. I went over the whole ship with -Thad. I feel like an authority already!"</p> - -<p>She laid her head against the cushioned back of the chair, glancing -through drowsy eyes out the port-hole. With her face turned away from -Larry's, she did not see the swift bolt of jealousy that shot through -him.</p> - -<p>"Thad?" he echoed. "That's funny, Ann. I've never been allowed to get -that familiar with him myself. It's always 'Chief' or 'sir' to us crew -members."</p> - -<p>The girl's eyes widened a little; then she shrugged her slim shoulders. -"I don't know how I happened to call him that. He seems to be a person -so very likeable you can't be formal with him."</p> - -<p>"I hadn't noticed it," Larry Wolfe snapped.</p> - -<p>Ann sat up wearily, brushed stray hair back from her ear. "Oh, now, -Larry," she reproved him. "Are you going to start acting like a -high-school boy the minute we start?"</p> - -<p>The young ship officer's jaw had set like cement. "What'd you do all -day? Talk, I suppose?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, we talked! For eight hours! I don't know where the time went, but -I do know I've never had a better time in my life!"</p> - -<p>She said it defiantly, and in the wake of the angry words grew a high -wall of pride between them. Ann made one final effort at conciliation.</p> - -<p>"Larry, do you have to be like this?" she pleaded. "I'm wearing your -ring, isn't that enough?"</p> - -<p>Larry stood up. "That's exactly it," he snapped. "You're wearing my -ring and the men are going to be watching pretty damn closely when they -see you hobnobbing constantly with Carlyle. Oh, don't get me wrong; -he's a fine fellow and I think the world of him. But I'm going to ask -you not to be with him any more than your work requires!"</p> - -<p>Ann's fingers tugged at the diamond ring, and suddenly she was handing -it to him. "Then here's something for you to mull over, Mr. Larry -Wolfe," she said frigidly. "While we're on the trip you can just -pretend that you've never met me before. I won't have your jealousy -preventing me from doing a good job."</p> - -<p>Larry let the tiny platinum band drop into his broad palm. His eyes -showed the pain that twisted through him, but all he said was: "All -right, Ann. But when you want the ring back, you'll have to ask for it."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>Brand Haggard's sleek, black <i>Martian</i> did not try to pass them, as -Carlyle had prophesied. For three weeks the ship was back there on the -starboard quarter, matching them move for move. It was on Larry Wolfe's -mind constantly while he stood on the bridge, doing little to ease the -tension of his nerves.</p> - -<p>Strange, unpredictable currents suddenly developed about the ship, -and Larry knew that they were only a day or so from the sargasso. -Staring through the finder, he made out the diaphonous cloud he had -been searching for so long—the sargasso in which they hoped to find -millions of dollars in salvage prizes.</p> - -<p>Magnetic currents, as yet unidentified by scientists, drew space -wreckage here from all over the solar system. Ruined space liners, -flotsam and jetsam of fifty years of interplanetary traffic, here -collected bit by bit. For the salvage crews who made lucky finds, there -was wealth; for those who made the tiniest of errors in their dangerous -work, there was death.</p> - -<p>Larry Wolfe's thoughts were on the long-missing Astral as he stood his -watch that last night. The <i>Astral</i>, lost gold transport from Mars -to Earth, had been the dream of salvage men for twenty-five years. -Somewhere in the solar system it still drifted about. The chances were -good that it had been sucked into one of the many sargasso fields; -still better, that this newest field, largest of all, had caught it.</p> - -<p>In Thaddeus Carlyle's rooms, Ann had been hearing the same story that -Larry was dreaming over even now. Carlyle's quiet, powerful words -painted romantic highlights over it. The girl found her heart beating -faster in anticipation of the days ahead.</p> - -<p>"But in all this trackless wilderness of—of ether," she frowned, "how -can you hope to find anything at all? Let alone the <i>Astral</i>—"</p> - -<p>Carlyle smiled, glanced out the port at the vague gray shadow into -which they were heading.</p> - -<p>"If we worked with just the one ship, we wouldn't find much," he -admitted. "Actually, we use six. We drop the smaller salvage ships here -and there as we enter the sargasso. The three men in each craft cruise -about within a one-hundred-thousand-mile radius. After we've dropped -all the ships, we circle back to the spot where we left the first one -and wait for the flare signal from it. There's no radio transmission -out here, you know. The scout ships are pretty much on their own. When -they've located a prize, they tie up to it and go to work dismantling -the craft. If they haven't located anything after the first scouting -trip, we move them along to the front of the line. It's something like -playing leap-frog."</p> - -<p>"I suppose your ships and Haggard's honor each other's finds?"</p> - -<p>"Supposed to," said Carlyle grimly. His dark eyes flashed to the slim, -shark-like hull haunting their wake. His big, sturdy body seemed to -tighten. "Haggard's got the reputation of being a pirate. I'm not -looking for trouble, but if there is any—well, we can take care of -ourselves. I know a few tricks more than Brand Haggard, I think."</p> - -<p>Looking at him, Ann knew a thrill of admiration. His attraction for -her had been growing with every hour they spent together. "You seem so -confident about it," she murmured.</p> - -<p>"After twenty years of this sort of work you get your lines pretty well -in mind," Carlyle chuckled.</p> - -<p>"Twenty years!" Ann's brow arched. "But you don't seem to be over -thirty—!"</p> - -<p>"I'm a little older than that," the laughing answer came. "I began as a -galley-boy."</p> - -<p>Silence fell for a moment, while Ann tried to figure his age from what -he had said. Then suddenly Thaddeus Carlyle was saying softly:</p> - -<p>"You aren't wearing Captain Wolfe's ring any more. I couldn't help -noticing. Anything wrong between you two?"</p> - -<p>"We—we decided it was best, during the trip, to forget our -engagement," the girl faltered, the color rising into her cheeks. She -knew he saw through her evasive answer. His eyes, so piercing and yet -gentle, seemed to know everything she thought.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Abruptly, Carlyle's fingers slipped about her hand. "Ann, if you and -Larry ever do break it off," he pleaded, "will you remember that -I—could love you very much?"</p> - -<p>Ann was startled. Still more startled to feel the almost irresistible -link between them, drawing them together. "I'll remember, Thad," she -murmured.</p> - -<p>Carlyle slipped something from his pocket. "And just to make sure -you don't forget," he said sternly, "you're going to wear this as a -reminder. I found it in a wrecked ship, a long time ago. Like it?" He -leaned forward to slip the thin silver chain about her neck.</p> - -<p>Ann's eyes widened as she accepted the necklace. She held the tiny -crystal heart in her fingers as Carlyle snapped the tiny lock.</p> - -<p>"I've never seen anything like it!" she breathed. "So crudely cut, and -yet every line so perfect. Thad, look! The color of it! There seems to -be just a suggestion of pink in the very heart of it—"</p> - -<p>Thaddeus Carlyle let the gem fall into his palm, so that the crystal -contacted his silver ring. Ann gasped. The suggestion of pink was now a -glowing atom of scarlet, as though the heart held one drop of blood. It -throbbed and pulsed with life of its own. The heart grew warm against -Carlyle's palm—</p> - -<p>Suddenly the girl fell back against the chair.</p> - -<p>"I—I'm so tired, all of a sudden," she whispered. "Almost too -tired—to breathe. Take me—to my cabin—Thad. I think I want—to lie -down."</p> - -<p>Carlyle swore under his breath. "Fool!" he muttered. "I've been wearing -you out with work, and excitement piled on that. You're going to bed, -young lady. The ship's surgeon is going to have a look at you, too."</p> - -<p>"No, I'm all right," Ann murmured. "Just—tired."</p> - -<p>But Thaddeus Carlyle's strong arms were under her, now, and even as he -carried her from the cabin she fell asleep. Looking down on her placid -features, so like death, he felt a stab of remorse.</p> - -<p>Why did it have to be like this? he groaned. A life for a life—Carlyle -knew within himself that he was willing to die right now. He'd seen -enough of life and its disappointments. But always there was that -strain of cowardice in his soul—fear of growing old, of dying. He'd -courted death so long, hoping for a quick end on some battlefield, in -some remote part of interstellar space. But never did it come. Friar -Bacon had indeed cursed him with eternal life.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Six hours later, just as his shift was ending, Larry Wolfe spotted the -first loose cluster of drifted wreckage. This meant they had entered -the actual salvage field. He rang for Carlyle and the ship owner -responded immediately, ducking to enter the bridge.</p> - -<p>Larry's clipped voice masked the jealousy he felt toward Carlyle. -"Flotsam off the starboard bow sir," he said mechanically.</p> - -<p>Through powerful glasses, the other examined the wreckage. He lowered -the glasses hurriedly. Apparently it was merely the torn, gutted shell -of a barge, but—</p> - -<p>"Rest of it may be near," he grunted. "We'll drop off Murphy, Stoller -and Cass. Seen anything of Haggard lately? Anything to worry about, I -mean?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir. He's drawn closer ... much too close considering we should -be splitting apart now."</p> - -<p>Carlyle pivoted and shot a glance back at the darkly looming <i>Martian</i>. -His brows drew into a solid bar across his angry eyes. "Half speed -astern, Captain," he clipped.</p> - -<p>Larry glanced back at him. "You mean that?"</p> - -<p>"Exactly. Pull in beside the devil. I'm going to speak him."</p> - -<p>The <i>Friar Bacon</i> rolled and wallowed as the message was flashed to -the engine room. Larry braced himself against the forward lurch of -his body. The ship owner stood with legs spread wide, fists on hips, -watching the <i>Martian</i> shoot ahead, seemingly, until it was nearly -even with them. Its stern jets, firing pale columns of flame, did not -slacken.</p> - -<p>"Send up a flare," ordered Carlyle. "I'm going to the air-lock. And by -the way, tell Murphy to cut his ship loose right now."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir." The bridge door clanged shut and Larry sprang to his -round of duties, sending up a purple flare—"we wish to speak you" -signal—relaying the message to Murphy to drop away in the scout ship -with his two-man crew, swinging the ship over until the <i>Martian</i> was -so close they could see the faces at the ports.</p> - -<p>The purple answering flare went up, and Larry moved to maneuver the -ship alongside, so that air-lock was to air-lock. The other pilot was -an expert, handling his ship like a toy in the hands of a giant. The -shock was almost imperceptible.</p> - -<p>Larry left the bridge just after he saw Murphy, Stoller, and Cass -silently pull away, keeping the tiny scout in the umbra of the <i>Friar -Bacon</i>, hidden from Brand Haggard's eyes.</p> - -<p>He found Carlyle waiting for him. Together they closed themselves -into the tube. The outer end was now locked firmly against the glass -door of the <i>Martian's</i> air-lock. Forms shifted eerily behind the -double-thickness glass. At a tap on the glass, Carlyle swung his own -window back. The other ship's master did the same.</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, they were standing face to face, Haggard and Thaddeus -Carlyle, Larry and the captain of the other craft.</p> - -<p>Carlyle was not one to spar for openings.</p> - -<p>"Let's have an understanding right now, Haggard," he snapped. "You've -cut yourself in on this deal but you'll play it according to the rules. -Make one misstep and it's war to the last man. Is that clear?"</p> - -<p>Haggard chuckled. "I think I get it," he said. "Well, it's okay by -me, mister. I'll work this section and you work the other side of the -field."</p> - -<p>"You will like hell," barked Carlyle. "I've got a ship in the field -already. That, according to the Universal Salvage Code, gives me prior -rights. Find yourself another playground."</p> - -<p>Larry watched the other ship-man's eyes dwindle to steely pin-points, -but still he kept a grin on his wide mouth. Haggard was a powerfully -built Swede, one of those laughing, blond-headed men who seem a -throwback to the days when giants fought with seventy-pound broadswords -and wore chain mail. His savagery belonged to another era, too. Men who -had shipped with him never did so again, and thanked their stars they -were still alive and more or less sane.</p> - -<p>"All right, Carlyle," he chuckled, at last. "Round one is yours. You -keep your boys toeing the mark and I'll try to do the same." His eyes -dropped to Larry's face. "Got your course mapped out?"</p> - -<p>Larry handed his captain the chart he had brought with him, and the -man glanced at it with shrewd, faded blue eyes. He was a hard-case -old-timer, leathery of skin, short coupled, and tough as oak. But he -knew his business, and handed the sheet back directly.</p> - -<p>"Fair enough," he gruffed. "That gives us room enough to turn around -in."</p> - -<p>"I guess we're agreed, then," Thaddeus Carlyle said curtly, extending a -broad palm to Haggard. "Good luck."</p> - -<p>They shook hands, and once more the glass ports were rolled back in -place, the locks opened, and the ships drew apart.</p> - -<p>"The damned liar," Carlyle said darkly, watching the <i>Martian</i> arch -itself high above them and surge away. "We'll have trouble with him -before two watches are down on the log."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>It was not until just before he himself quitted the mother ship that -Larry Wolfe learned of Ann's illness. Climbing above his pride, he had -gone to her cabin to say good-bye.</p> - -<p>Doctor Van Doren, ship's surgeon, met him at the door. "You must not -excite her," he said, in a low tone. "Say good-bye if you like, but—"</p> - -<p>"<i>Doctor!</i>" Larry seized his arm. "I—I hadn't heard Ann was sick. What -is it?"</p> - -<p>"I don't know. Just a complete physical collapse. She's too tired to -eat, even. Ever since last night."</p> - -<p>Larry was pushing past him into the cabin. He went down on his knees -beside the girl's bed and his hand closed on her cold fingers. "Ann!" -he choked. "They didn't tell me...."</p> - -<p>Ann wouldn't meet his eyes. "I asked them not to. I'm all right, Larry. -Just tired."</p> - -<p>A cold blade stabbed at Larry's heart. "Why wouldn't you let me know?" -he asked.</p> - -<p>Ann's eyes seemed fixed on a rivet in the ceiling. "Because I didn't -want to worry you. And—I didn't want to fight with you again."</p> - -<p>"As if I'd so much as raise my voice, with you sick," Larry groaned. -Then his eyes fastened on a ruby-colored heart lying on the girl's -breast. "What's that?" he asked, half in alarm. "I've never seen it -before; it looks—like it's alive, Ann!"</p> - -<p>The girl's fingers toyed with it. "It was a gift," she murmured -absently.</p> - -<p>"Carlyle!" Larry could not restrain the angry syllables. "I don't like -it, Ann! It's like a serpent's eye, or something. It looks so alive—"</p> - -<p>Ann's eyes at last met his, and they were cold as space. "We won't -argue about it," she said wearily.</p> - -<p>Larry got up, striving against the hot resentment searing his heart. -"You know I'm leaving now?"</p> - -<p>"Yes. Good luck, Larry."</p> - -<p>"Thanks!" Larry snorted, and strode from the room.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Larry's was the last scout to be dropped from the <i>Friar Bacon</i>. The -mother ship was now piloted by Carlyle, who swung it back to the first -salvage ship they had dropped.</p> - -<p>For hours it was a matter of cruising this way and that, searching the -sky for traces of wreckage. Bits of flotsam were everywhere, but large -fragments were scarce indeed. Larry's heart was leaden, but he buried -himself in the work and succeeded in half-forgetting his worries.</p> - -<p>Lanky Jeff Adams was at the controls of the cramped little vessel when -the first dark splinter was sighted in the void. Braced against the -lurch and roll of the ship, Larry scrutinized the wrecked ship as they -neared it. So unbelievable was the sight he saw that for an instant -after he lowered the glasses it did not penetrate his reflexes. His -fingers were tracing the vessel's name into the log when suddenly he -stared at what he had written: "11:46 A. M. sighted derelict <i>Astral</i>. -Good condition...."</p> - -<p>Larry Wolfe dropped the glasses and let out a yell. Jeff leaped as -though he had been stung, his magnificent red beak of a nose growing -redder with the excitement. Abe Miller, stocky, beetle-browed helper, -stared at the officer.</p> - -<p>"What's amatter, Chief?" he jerked.</p> - -<p>Dumbly, Larry pointed. "That's—the <i>Astral</i>!" he gasped. "Two hundred -million dollars—in gold—!"</p> - -<p>Abe and Jeff were stunned; then they crowded the port to stare at the -ancient craft dead ahead. The scout had drawn near enough now that the -name of the transport was plainly visible in letters running from stem -half-way to stern. Weakly, Jeff let himself back into his seat and -muttered:</p> - -<p>"Two—hundred—million ... in Martian gold! And we get ten percent for -findin' 'er. Ten percent of two hundred million, divided three ways—"</p> - -<p>Larry laughed and poked playfully at his big nose. "Don't count your -shekels before you hear them jingle," he counseled. "The <i>Astral</i> may -have been gutted by pirates. Give her the gun, mister; we're finding -out!"</p> - -<p>The little space-craft slewed and rocked to a stop beside the giant -transport. Shock struck the three men dumb with their first glimpse -close up. Faces crowded the ports, staring out at them. Larry fancied -he saw movement among the watchers on the bridge. To all appearances -the <i>Astral</i> might have been a vessel in mid-flight.</p> - -<p>They cruised slowly up the side, not ten feet from the ghostly faces -that watched them with staring eyes. Foot by foot they proceeded. -Rounding the front of the craft, they could see into the bridge. Two -men were working over charts and a man in blue-and-gray uniform was at -the controls. Another, a pencil over his ear, stood reading a gauge -high on the wall.</p> - -<p>Then the meaning of it all came home to them.</p> - -<p>The port side of the ship was ripped open from stem to stern. -Something—no doubt a jagged meteor fragment—had sliced and torn its -way through the shell of the speeding transport. The occupants of -the open side had exploded like deep-sea fish drawn to the surface. -These in the space-tight, unharmed cabins opposite had been frozen -instantly by the outrush of pent-up air. And there they had stood in -the attitudes in which Death had found them, staring out as they forged -through the meteor-swarm, hoping they would not be hit.</p> - -<p>In the silence they tied up to the derelict, their magnet-plates -clinging like suction cups. Donning space suits and carrying kits of -tools, they leaped through the rent into the dead ship.</p> - -<p>A vague twilight dwelt in the interior. Larry led the way to the -bridge. The frozen lock was cut out by means of a torch. With set jaws -he went inside.</p> - -<p>"Better load 'em out quick, boys. If the sunlight starts to thaw -'em there'll be a hell of a mess. Throw 'em clear of the ship. It's -tough—but it's a sky-man's end, and we may all meet the same some day."</p> - -<p>While Abe and Jeff carried the corpses away, he found the log and -traced back to the vessel's start. There he located the cargo list. Two -hundred million was correct, as the refining company had stated when -the ship was lost.</p> - -<p>Their next job was to cut into the hold. The sight of two hundred -million dollars in gold bullion took their breath away. Jeff sat down -and began laying the ponderous bars into three piles, muttering:</p> - -<p>"One for me, one for you, and one for Abe. One for—"</p> - -<p>Larry laughed, "Get to work, you half-baked lout. We've got to lug all -these out to where they'll make quick loading. <i>Friar Bacon</i> should -loom up in about four hours. I'll set the flares—"</p> - -<p>And then they all went stiff, hands reaching for energy-pistols. -Through the ship's floor came the thud-thud-thud of walking men!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Larry sprang into the hall. Three whirled at his advance. He snapped on -his transmitter, the instrument operating through the metal floor like -a telegraph.</p> - -<p>"Get the hell out of here!" he barked. "You're fifty thousand miles out -of your territory. Is this how Haggard keeps a bargain?"</p> - -<p>The foremost pirate said not a word, but suddenly the pistol in his -hand flared redly. Larry flung himself aside, blasted away with his own -weapon. The wall of the corridor dissolved beneath his shoulder.</p> - -<p>A scream rang through his helmet, chopped off clean as the pirate's -space suit was blown open. Jeff and Abe were yelling for Larry to get -out of their way and give them a clear shot. Larry's answer was to duck -into the hole blasted in the wall by the energy bolt.</p> - -<p>He got the second pirate in his sights and saw him crumple under a wave -of atom-dissolving force. A mere fringe of the charge scored the helmet -of the last man. Screaming shrilly, air rushed from his suit. His body -blew up like a balloon in a decompression-bell, until he filled the -bulging suit. Then there was a ghastly moment of seeing blood spurt -through the hole in the helmet. And after that he was only a sickening -smatter of glass and blood and powdered bone.</p> - -<p>The swiftness with which it was all over left the three salvage men -weak. Larry forced himself down the hall. There might be more of them. -But a glance outside showed only one <i>Martian</i> scout tied up. As a -precaution, he turned his force weapon on the little ship until the -hammering and searing energy shocks melted its magnet plates and hurled -it away.</p> - -<p>Hastily, then, he turned to Jeff and Abe.</p> - -<p>"Pile aboard," he cracked out. "We're dropping this until we contact -Carlyle. Haggard will be back looking for his scout. We want more than -hand guns to use when he returns. This is war!"</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">V</p> - -<p>They sighted the <i>Friar Bacon</i> well toward the front of the line of -scouts. Only one ship lay in its carrier. The mother ship hove to while -the tiny craft nuzzled into the waiting pocket.</p> - -<p>Carlyle was waiting at the air-lock when they sprang out. Larry's words -crackled with tension.</p> - -<p>"We've raised the <i>Astral</i>, sir! Afraid Haggard's going to know about -it in a few hours, too. One of his scouts jumped us and we killed the -men. Better let us go back with Murphy's ship while you round up the -rest of the fleet. This is going to mean trouble!"</p> - -<p>Carlyle's eyes glowed, and his features seemed to shine with inner -energy.</p> - -<p>"Great work!" he breathed. "I'll drop off Murphy directly. Mark the way -out there with flares. We'll get the rest of the boys and be there in -three hours. If we're lucky we can unload the <i>Astral</i> and be out of -the territory without crossing his path."</p> - -<p>Larry Wolfe saluted and turned back to the scout. He tried to summon -the fierce dislike he had for the salvage boss when he was away from -him, but it would not rise. Carlyle's personality was a strong one. Men -instinctively took orders from him and liked it, and women—Well, Ann -had certainly changed. Yet there was a shading of something sinister -under the man's smooth, forceful exterior. Larry could not isolate the -things about him he distrusted.</p> - -<p>Once more they dropped away from the <i>Friar</i>. Murphy, Stoller and Cass -came booming along after them, jets belching and the whole, tiny craft -leaping like a released whippet in the effort to pace Larry.</p> - -<p>It was an hour and a half before they saw the <i>Astral</i> in their glasses -once more. In their path they had dropped red fluctuating flares to -guide the mother ship to the derelict. The scout sidled in beside the -space-barge. Magnets sent out invisible tentacles and hauled them -against the vessel with a stiff shock. Murphy's red head bobbed into -view as his own craft made landing.</p> - -<p>Larry Wolfe snapped orders. Stoller and Cass tackled the job of cutting -away the ragged metal to provide more room for the loading of the -salvage ship. Jeff, Abe, and Murphy joined Larry in the back-breaking -toil of moving the gold.</p> - -<p>And all the time they were conscious of the precious weapon that was -slipping from their fingers ... <i>time</i>! Minutes, seconds, fleeing from -them, while they wondered which ship would be first to return, the -<i>Friar Bacon</i> with its glittering silver hull, or the black tiger-shark -of the void—the <i>Martian</i>.</p> - -<p>Without warning there was a terrific crash against the side of the -derelict. The six sweating workmen were flung to their faces on the -floor. One of the scout ships was torn lose and went rolling away.</p> - -<p>Larry ripped out his gun and crawled to the opening in the vessel's -shell. What he saw caused him to sigh with new relief.</p> - -<p>"Meteor shower," he called to the others. "We took the biggest part of -it right then. You can hear the dust pattering against us now. Nothing -to worry about."</p> - -<p><i>Nothing to worry about—!</i></p> - -<p>But right then another impact came that up-tilted the barge and hurled -them from their feet, stunned. A shadow fell over the sunlight splashed -room and a long, black shape glided past, a mile or two away. The -<i>Martian</i> was back and ready for war.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>There was a second shot that sprawled them around. In the bow of the -attacking cruiser winked a malevolent green eye. At Larry's signal, -every man jammed the range setting on his pistol up to full. Even with -the guns taxed to their utmost, they would be pitiful answer to the -cannon aboard the other craft.</p> - -<p>"Murphy!" Larry yelled. "Take your men up to the bridge where you can -keep your eye on 'em. Keep firing. Don't let 'em rest."</p> - -<p>But there was no slowing down Brand Haggard. With the cunning of a -tiger, he swooped and curvetted about the <i>Astral</i>, never stopping long -enough to let one of those pistol shots burn deep. There was not an -instant when the derelict was still; constantly it rolled in a sea of -searing, churning ether, burned fiercely by force-charges. From time to -time a great hole was gashed through the barge.</p> - -<p>Then there came a blasting concussion that piled Larry, Jeff, and Abe -in a corner like three rats in a box. Blood filtered down Larry's -neck where his space suit had gashed him. Light spilled into the ship -through the fore parts. With his heart hammering, he ran forward to the -bridge.</p> - -<p>He found the hole where the bridge had been, but Murphy, Stoller and -Cass were gone. A hundred yards away the <i>Martian</i> was maneuvering for -another shot.</p> - -<p>Larry ran back to the others.</p> - -<p>"They're gone," he bit out. "And we're slated for the same if we hold -out any longer. Let's grab the scout and head for the <i>Friar</i>. Maybe we -can get back here before Haggard guts this barge."</p> - -<p>All three men seemed to sense the cessation of the <i>Astral's</i> rolling -at the same instant. They glanced dumbly at each other. <i>What had -caused the pirate to stop its barrage?</i></p> - -<p>All at once, Jeff was pointing, yelling like a madman. Cheers broke -from the others' throats. With the swift grace of a bullet, the <i>Friar -Bacon</i> was shooting across the sky in pursuit of Haggard's ship!</p> - -<p>For a few minutes it was like watching a pair of clever fencers feint -and lunge. The speed of the ships went for little now. It was the -daring and skill of the man at the controls that spelled victory or -defeat.</p> - - - -<p>But in the end it was the <i>Martian</i> that drew off. A shot ripped away -most of a scout carrier and showed Brand Haggard, temporarily, at -least, that he was bucking a tougher, smarter man.</p> - -<p>Carlyle did not chase him. Such a pursuit, zig-zagging on full -throttles through space, could easily last a week. He brought the big -cruiser alongside the wrecked <i>Astral</i> and the survivors sprang aboard.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">VI</p> - -<p>Larry, Jeff, and Abe were pounded on the back by their companions, -while eager hands dropped to the derelict to begin the transfer of -cargo.</p> - -<p>"You three better hie yourselves down to the galley and get some grub," -Carlyle grinned.</p> - -<p>Jeff and Abe took him at his word; but Larry, lingering, asked Carlyle -pointedly:</p> - -<p>"How's Ann? She was pretty sick when I left her."</p> - -<p>He would have taken oath that the salvage boss' dark eyes flinched. -Those piercing eyes searched his face for an instant before Carlyle -replied. Finally:</p> - -<p>"Not so good, Captain," he said. "Why don't you look at her? Might do a -lot for her, you know."</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid I don't know, sir," Larry Wolfe ground out. "I seemed to be -so much excess cargo last time."</p> - -<p>He turned stiffly and passed him. But, drawn by something more powerful -than his wounded pride, he went straight to Ann's room and knocked -softly.</p> - -<p>A voice so weak he scarcely recognized it answered him.</p> - -<p>Larry went in. Ann was lying back against the pillows. The deathly -pallor of her face caused him to start.</p> - -<p>"Ann!" he groaned. "What is it? What's happening to you?"</p> - -<p>The girl's bloodless features did not warm at sight of him. But a -strain of fear coursed through her throaty tones.</p> - -<p>"I don't know," she whispered. Her fingers went to toying with the -little heart lying against her throat.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Larry was striding forward, to stand looking down at the jewel -with blazing eyes. "Damn that thing!" he gritted. "You're going to turn -it over to me right now. I don't know what it is, but I'll swear it's -alive with some deadly force of its own. It's glowing like a piece of -red radium!"</p> - -<p>Ann's waxen fingers closed over it. "You're talking like an insane man, -Larry!" she panted. "You may as well understand right now that I'm not -taking orders from you like a stevedore. If I want to wear a simple -piece of jewelry, no amount of your ranting will prevent me!"</p> - -<p>Larry's cheeks grew scarlet, his fists knotting up hard. "Maybe it -won't," he retorted, "but by Heaven, Carlyle knows the secret of that -stone and I'm going to wring it out of him right now!"</p> - -<p>"Larry!" The girl's voice followed him, laden with sharp fear. -Larry Wolfe ignored her cry and strode to the loading deck. What he -contemplated was mutiny, perhaps, but it was Ann's life at stake.</p> - -<p>Carlyle was not on the loading deck, nor did Larry locate him on the -bridge. As a final resort he strode to the ship owner's room. The door -was unlocked, and he barged in without knocking.</p> - -<p>Staring angrily about him, he saw no sign of his quarry. Then a sort -of madness laid hold of him. He began to ransack Carlyle's belongings, -searching—what he sought, he couldn't have said. But he was seeking -proof that Thaddeus Carlyle was something more than he represented -himself to be.</p> - -<p>There was nothing he wouldn't have expected to find there. Nothing -but one small article: an oval-shaped brooch of yellowed ivory, a -tiny painting of a man's head on it. He had examined similar ones in -museums. Carrying it over to the light, Larry was shocked to note the -resemblance of the man's face to Carlyle.</p> - -<p>Then he found the minute, hair-line script below it: "Thaddeus -Carlyle, Lord Mon—" The last word had been obliterated by time. -Larry's breath rattled in his throat as a queer panic gripped him. -Feverishly he shoved stiff fingers through his hair. <i>Lord Monfort—!</i> -They hadn't made miniatures like this one for hundreds of years.</p> - -<p>Larry turned the brooch over and discovered on the back the words: -"From Helene. Nov. 1346."</p> - -<p>The brooch struck the floor with a clink. The sound seemed to pour -new life into Larry. He shouted, "Ann!" and sprang into the hall and -swiftly toward the girl's room.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Voices stopped him just before he touched the knob. Carlyle's voice, -softer than he had dreamed it could be, murmuring:</p> - -<p>"If only there weren't Larry—if I weren't afraid he might steal your -love back. You say he means nothing to you, and yet—"</p> - -<p>"You <i>know</i> he means nothing to me!" For all its animation, Ann's voice -held the monotonous cadence of one who is half-asleep.</p> - -<p>"You do love me, Ann—more than life itself?"</p> - -<p>"More—than life—Thad!"</p> - -<p>"Ann, I'm going to ask you something—wait, dear! I know you're tired; -but you must keep your eyes open a moment longer...."</p> - -<p>The door crashed inward. Larry Wolfe was through it and upon Carlyle -before the latter could get to his feet. He had been sitting on the -edge of Ann's bunk. With steel fingers Larry hauled him to his feet.</p> - -<p>"You damned parasite!" he shouted. "You thought you'd prey upon Ann the -same way you did the others, did you?" His fist struck out, but the -salvage boss caught his wrist and held it.</p> - -<p>"Are you insane?" he roared.</p> - -<p>Larry's mood was not one of arguing. Again he struck, and this time the -blow chopped into Carlyle's mouth and brought blood.</p> - -<p>Ordinarily the bigger man could have cut Larry down with a few -man-killing punches, but the madness in Larry Wolfe knew neither pain -nor weakness. He took savage blows to the face and ribs, but stayed on -his feet. A lucky uppercut jarred Carlyle's teeth in his head, and for -an instant he was sagging against the wall.</p> - -<p>Larry seized that split-second to spring to the bedside of the -terrified girl and tear the necklace from her throat. He threw it -at Carlyle with all his force. The gem missed, shivered into tiny, -glittering crystals on the floor, like shining drops of blood.</p> - -<p>Thaddeus Carlyle's face paled under its deep tan. He glanced down at -the wreck of the crystal heart. He was on the point of drawing his -pistol when the alarm began to ring.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Carlyle! Captain Wolfe!" the voice boomed through the ship. -"<i>Martian</i> returning. All hands at their posts!"</p> - -<p>On the tail of the warning came a shock that tore the <i>Friar Bacon</i> -from the side of the derelict. Larry had a glimpse through the port, of -men in space suits left hanging in the void between the two ships, of -gold ingots floating grotesquely around them.</p> - -<p>The battle was forgotten, as fighters toppling over a cliff forget -their differences and scramble for safety. Larry followed the ship -owner up the corridor, climbed the ladder to the top deck, sprang to -the firing lever of the big energy gun stationed in the nose.</p> - -<p>The other men darted from the control room to their posts. The <i>Friar</i> -was stationary for a second, while Carlyle located the other ship. With -a surge of swift power that took the passengers' breath, the craft shot -after it.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Haggard's strategy had been to get in line with the sun and keep in -line with it while he rushed down on the unsuspecting salvage ship. -Reports were crackling in from all parts of the ship regarding the -damage done. Nothing had been touched, it seemed, except one of the -forward scout carriers, which was blasted loose.</p> - -<p>Larry was tensely vigilant as he crouched over the firing lever. He did -not glance at Carlyle. The salvage boss' face seemed to have set into -grimmer lines than ever. Up ahead the <i>Martian</i> was fighting to keep -out of line. Haggard's poor shot had put them in the disadvantage.</p> - -<p>Carlyle piloted like a demon, straining the ship until the bulkheads -chattered in their steps. Haggard's slightest error meant the gap -between them closed that much more. Suddenly something seemed to go -wrong. The <i>Martian</i> faltered for a tenth of a second. In the next -moment Thaddeus Carlyle swerved until the pirate's rocket tubes were -straight before them.</p> - -<p>"Fire!" he clipped.</p> - -<p>Larry pulled swiftly at the lever. There was no response. Harder, he -tugged.</p> - -<p>"I said <i>fire</i>!" Carlyle shouted at him. "I can't hold this point any -longer. They're under way again."</p> - -<p>Sweat started from Larry's pores. "The thing's jammed, Chief!" he -groaned. "They got our gun with that first shot."</p> - -<p>Carlyle seemed to wilt a little. What it meant was that they were up -against a fast, armed vessel with no means of defending themselves. As -if Brand Haggard sensed the trouble, too, he put the <i>Martian</i> about -and came booming down the line at them, head-on.</p> - -<p>Carlyle's response was slow. The ship heaved violently as a rear -stabilizer melted under Haggard's shot. Only the fact that the shock -threw them away from the pirate's line of fire saved them.</p> - -<p>Now it was the <i>Friar Bacon</i> that dodged and ran. The air boiled all -about them. Larry could envision Haggard's grinning, savage countenance -hovering over the firing lever, ceaselessly yanking at it.</p> - -<p>And there was something wrong with the staggering <i>Friar</i>. Larry -thought for a while that their stabilizers were not functioning. Always -they were a fraction of a second late in diving out of range. It was -when Haggard was not over a few hundred yards in the rear that Larry -glanced over at Carlyle. In a flash he was on his feet....</p> - -<p>He saw sunken, shrivelled cheeks and glazing eyes. Gray hair straggling -from under the jaunty officer's cap. A scrawny neck going down into a -collar many sizes too large.</p> - -<p>Larry was cold all over. He took Carlyle by the shoulders and hauled -him out of the chair, surprised at the lightness of his body. The bony -fingers clawed at the controls and then gave them up. Larry let him sag -to the floor and grabbed the controls.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="406" height="500" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Haggard was diving again, with throttles wide open. A few miles ahead -lay the wreckage of the <i>Astral</i>. Larry suddenly saw his chance. He -had no gun, nothing to fight back with; but here was where courage and -skill might count heavily.</p> - -<p>With the <i>Martian</i> a hundred yards in the rear, dead on the stern, -Larry fired both bow rockets and the port stern rocket. Braces screamed -and loose objects toppled, as the <i>Friar Bacon</i> slowed and went into a -tight pin-wheel. The <i>Martian</i> roared up alongside. Larry blasted out -with the other stern rocket and the two craft jarred together. At the -same instant he turned on the boarding magnets, so that the ships were -held together as though welded.</p> - -<p>Brand Haggard's blond head bobbed into view only fifteen feet away. He -stood up from the firing lever and stared through the bridge port at -Larry. This was the first time Larry had ever seen him when he was not -grinning that arrogant wicked grin of his.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Haggard was shaking his fist and yelling. His gun was useless now. And -he knew only too well what lay in Larry's mind: To carry him dead into -the <i>Astral</i> and pile the <i>Martian</i> up like a racing car striking a -brick wall!</p> - -<p>The captain of the black vessel tried every strategy he knew. But Larry -held it down to the course he had set. The two ships flashed on toward -destruction.</p> - -<p>Haggard's face showed in the glass, threatening, cajoling, pleading. At -the last moment he held up two fist-fulls of paper money, trying to buy -another chance. Larry laughed and dropped his hand on the magnet lever.</p> - -<p>Screams of terror built up within the <i>Friar Bacon</i> as the crew -discovered the derelict dead ahead. They were drowned under the roar of -rockets as Larry cut the pirate loose and moved to avoid the <i>Astral</i>.</p> - -<p>He had a horrible moment of watching a fin on the wrecked vessel reach -out to rake the belly of the slewing salvage ship. Then all dissolved -in a shower of wreckage, the fin crumpling away and flames shooting up -where it had been. The <i>Martian</i> had crumpled up like an accordion.</p> - -<p>Bodies flew past the windows, to explode as the pressureless atmosphere -inflated them. Gold ingots mingled with them. Everywhere there was -death, and the horror that can come only from a wreck of two such -space-giants as the <i>Martian</i> and the long-dead <i>Astral</i>.</p> - -<p>The <i>Friar</i> toppled end over end, a chip caught in a maelstrom. Miles -away from the carnage, Larry Wolfe managed to right it. He stood up -from the controls to find Ann Holland standing white and silent above -Carlyle's body.</p> - -<p>Larry shuddered. Carlyle's face was that of a mummy. His hands were -crooked brown hooks like the dried talons of a buzzard. His uniform -draped his shrivelled body like a gunny sack over a skeleton.</p> - -<p>Ann pressed against Larry's side, seemingly unconscious that there -had ever been anything wrong between them. "What was he, Larry?" she -whispered.</p> - -<p>"I don't know," he admitted. "But he was old—Lord knows how old. That -crystal heart he gave you ... there was something queer about it. I -think that when I destroyed it, I killed him, too."</p> - -<p>The girl suddenly buried her face against his chest. "Oh, Larry!" she -sobbed. "It's so horrible. Let's go back ... now!"</p> - -<p>"Just as soon as we comb a few gold bars out of the sky," he told -her softly. "Then we're going back and carry on with those plans we -had before you gave me back my ring. But—I'd like to find out some -time—just how old he was, and <i>what</i> he was."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Sooner than they had expected, they were to find at least the answer to -Thaddeus Carlyle's age. Larry and Ann were married the day they docked -in New York. For their honeymoon they sailed to England. It occurred to -Larry while they were there to look for the Monfort tomb in Westminster -Abbey.</p> - -<p>They found it, an ancient stone crypt with the names of thirteen Lord -Monforts inscribed, hidden in the shadows of the building's oldest -wing. Birth and death dates followed each name. But after Thaddeus -Carlyle's name were engraved only the numerals:</p> - -<p>"1262—"</p> - -<p>"Wish I had the courage of my convictions," muttered Larry. "I'd get -them to finish it for the poor devil: '—died, 1970.'"</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Buccaneer of the Star Seas, by Ed Earl Repp - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUCCANEER OF THE STAR SEAS *** - -***** This file should be named 61794-h.htm or 61794-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/7/9/61794/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Buccaneer of the Star Seas - -Author: Ed Earl Repp - -Release Date: April 9, 2020 [EBook #61794] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUCCANEER OF THE STAR SEAS *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - BUCCANEER OF THE STAR SEAS - - By Ed EARL REPP - - "... and thou shalt be immortal!" Such was the - curse of that 13th Century sorcerer. Now Carlyle - roamed the uncharted star-seas, seeking Death - as he sought the richly-laden derelicts in that - sargossa of long-vanished space-galleons. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Fall 1940. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -An unpleasant shudder went through Thaddeus Carlyle as the great iron -door thundered behind him. Reading Gaol's raw, damp atmosphere seemed -to settle into his bones. Hobbling on rheumatic legs, the aged turnkey -preceded him down the vaulted stone corridor. - -"'Tis the first time my key has disturbed Friar Bacon's lock these six -months," his grumbling voice came to Carlyle's ears. "Plagued few they -are that visit the roguish priest. Not even the canon comes now, to -exhort him to renounce his black magic." - -Thaddeus Carlyle's dark eyes flamed with quick interest. "Then he -practices still these works of the devil?" he queried softly. - -The turnkey stopped, his narrowed eyes mirroring fearful thoughts. With -his crooked forefinger he tapped the young nobleman's gold-cloth tabard. - -"Only last month he asked for brimstone, charcoal and niter. We gave -him the stuff, seeing no harm. A week ago, as I am passing his cell, -there was a great flash and roar. The devil's powders had exploded as -steam bursts a tight-lidded vessel! He carries still the marks of a -burn." - -"No!" Carlyle's smooth features were blank. "Fire--from such stuff as -that?" - -"That's not all, my Lord. Friar Bacon tells me that if we would give -him enough of the stuff and a long tube, he could throw an iron ball -across the Thames!" - -Turning away with a crafty nod and a meaningful blink, the turnkey led -on to the mean little cell in which Roger Bacon had now spent nine -years. The visitor was openly affected by the jailer's incredulous -story. He had heard strange and terrible things of the Gray Friar. The -church, in incarcerating him, had accused him of consorting with the -devil. Some whispered that he had learned the secret of immortality. -That was the rumor which had brought Thaddeus Carlyle, the second Lord -Monfort, into the gloomy confines of Reading Gaol. - -The lock scraped shrilly as the jailer turned it. Throwing the heavy -door open, he grinned: "Lucky for him you came, my Lord! In another -month this lock should have been rusted past turning. Then Friar Bacon -would have been forever without hope!" - -"Have I, indeed, such hope now?" a soft and gloomy voice inquired. - -The turnkey merely winked at the nobleman and hobbled off. - -Carlyle was suddenly seized by panic. Now that he was so close to the -notorious philosopher, fear smote him and he was on the point of -turning back. Yet, ridden by an even greater fear, he stiffened his -purpose and advanced. Closing the door, he stared at the white-bearded -man seated before a great calfskin-bound book on a ponderous table. - -"What hast thou with me, young man?" demanded Roger Bacon, peering -shrewdly from under ragged brows. - -"Only the admiration of an ignorant man for a very learned one," said -Thaddeus Carlyle simply. - -Bacon's eyes misted. Precious years of his waning life had he spent in -prison because there was no man to say such a thing before. - -"You--you do not believe what they say of me, that I consort with -Satan?" he queried. "That my science and my secrets are Lucifer's?" - -"Well--as to that," said Carlyle, his confidence returning, "I am again -the ignorant one. Where you get your knowledge I neither know nor care. -I only know that your learning is great ... and that that learning can -help me!" - - * * * * * - -The Gray Friar wagged his head wonderingly. His eyes went over -Thaddeus. He saw a strapping young man over six feet in height, with a -muscular development such as came only from constant participation in -the strenuous contests popular among the nobility. His skin was brown -as leather, burned, Bacon reckoned, by hot Oriental suns during the -last Crusade. He saw a man whose rich clothing spoke of a fat purse. -And he was asked to help him--he, who could not help himself! - -"Who are you, young man?" he asked, at last. - -"Thaddeus Carlyle, the second Lord Monfort," was the reply. - -"A noble--!" Bacon murmured. "But you--you jest with me!" - -"Not so!" Carlyle threw a leg across the corner of the table and peered -earnestly into the monk's face. "You are old and wise, Friar Bacon. -Perhaps you do not know the fear of death. I do! Always it is with me, -haunting my pleasures, disturbing my sleep--Fear of growing old and -toothless, of losing my strength--of dying as helpless as the day I was -born!" - -"But how can I help you?" frowned Bacon. "All men must face that fear." - -"But not as I know it! I, who have so much to make life worth the -living." Thaddeus rubbed his sweaty palms on his velvet-clad thighs, -his brown young face set. Abruptly, he blurted: "They say you possess -the secret of immortality, Friar. Is that true?" - -"They say many things of me," muttered the philosopher. - -Carlyle leaned toward him. "That doesn't answer my question," he -snapped. "I have heard that you added twenty years to your own life by -magic!" - -Bacon stared strangely at him. "You believe that I could save you from -death?" - -"Implicitly!" Carlyle replied. "If you wished to!" - - * * * * * - -For the first time, Bacon stirred from the chair. His eyes flashed -briefly to a brass-bound chest, near his pallet of straw. Then he -stopped with his back to the wall, staring at the young nobleman. - -"But even if I could do this--!" he frowned. "You do not know what -immortality means. Perhaps it would be worse than death!" - -"If so, I could easily put an end to my immortality," retorted the -other. - -Roger Bacon did not speak for long seconds. Then: "They speak true of -me. I do possess this secret. But to release it would mean one more -atom of misery thrown upon the world." - -With his first words, Thaddeus had hunched forward, teeth shining -behind drawn lips, eyes glittering. "Has the world been good to you?" -he shot at him. "Do you owe it any consideration?" - -"None," the Gray Friar muttered. "Tell me; what month is this?" - -"November, Friar," the younger man replied frowningly. - -"November!" - -In Bacon's mournful syllables lay all the bitter coldness of the winter -itself. "November, Anno Domini twelve hundred and eighty-seven. Nine -years since I was thrown into this place of stone and despair. The -world has little loved me, my friend, and I hold no love for the world. -_Inopem me copia fecit_--abundance made me poor. Abundance of foresight -and inventiveness that might have made the world over." - -The monk had paced to the window through which he got his only small -view of the world. Now he swung back. "Yes, my Lord Monfort. I will do -what you ask!" - -Carlyle lurched forward to grasp his arm. "Friar," he breathed. "I only -dared hope. But if you do what you promise, I will see that you are -freed within the year!" - -"_Dominus vobiscum!_" Bacon said, tiny lights shining in his eyes. He -crossed to the massive chest and opened it. Digging around for a moment -among hundreds of curious objects the like of which Carlyle had never -seen, he at last returned to the table with two shining articles in his -hand. - -"I told you this would bring a certain amount of grief to the world," -he said, when Carlyle was seated beside him on a stool. "I say it -again. For each lifetime you add to your own, another must die. And -always it shall be a woman ... a woman whose love you have won." - -Carlyle stared at the philosopher with a mixture of hope and horror in -his face. - -"You must understand," said the Gray Friar, "that the life-spirit, as -I call it, is not so deeply rooted in a woman as a man. You hear often -of a woman dying of a broken heart, yet never of a man. This is because -the woman simply wills her spirit to leave her. It will be your task -to cause a woman to give you her life-spirit because she loves you -sufficiently." - -"Yes, Friar," Thaddeus whispered, his heart hammering against his ribs. - -Bacon placed in his palm a tiny crystal heart dependent from a silver -chain. It was crudely carved, yet alight with unholy brilliance. - -"You will give this to the woman to wear. You yourself will wear this -plain silver band I now give you. The process may take days or weeks. -When you are with her, cause your own ring to be always touching the -crystal heart. Gradually she will grow weaker, while your own strength -increases boundlessly. When she dies ... you will have earned perhaps -seventy years more of life." - -"Must it be this way?" Thaddeus groaned, staring horrified at the -baubles. - -"It is the only way," Bacon murmured. "If at any time you decide that -you prefer death to immortality, destroy either the heart or the ring -and you will not long survive it. Old age will come swiftly." - -Thaddeus got to his feet, his stomach a lump of ice in him. He suddenly -felt a necessity to get into the open air, where he could think. -Hastily he muttered: - -"I will do as you say, Friar Bacon. Thank you for what you have done. I -will see that you are freed as soon as possible." - -Wise old Roger Bacon knew the struggle that was going on within -the young lord, and he made no attempt to prolong the visit. "_Pax -vobiscum_," he nodded soberly. "The Lord guide you in this." - -"Th-thank you, Friar!" Thaddeus faltered, and hastily fumbled at the -door and left. - - * * * * * - -For a month the crystal heart and the ring lay untouched in a small -chest in his treasure-room. Then his old fears and nightmares drove him -to take them out. He had become accustomed to the grisly demands and -they no longer loomed so blackly in his mind. Pictures of himself as an -ancient ruin with the skin hanging loosely from all his bones helped in -this. - -For a long time Thaddeus had known that the young daughter of Lord -Cartwright secretly loved him. Tremblingly, one night, he bestowed on -her the gift of death ... in the form of a tiny crystal pendant. Within -a month the girl was dead. - -And Thaddeus Carlyle ... in his body surged and leaped such strength -as he had never dreamed of. He felt he must live forever. His friends -began to change, growing wrinkled and less virile, but never he. Soon -he saw he must change his abode, lest men suspect him. - -It was ninety years before the need came upon him to renew the -life-spirit in his body. He found a dark-eyed girl in Seville on one -of his journeys whom he nominated for his second victim. It was easier, -this time. Before she was laid away that old feeling of boundless youth -was his again. - -And so Thaddeus Carlyle saw kings change and nations dissolve, saw a -German named Gutenberg print the first book and an Englishman named -William Shakespeare write the most perfect prose ever devised. Saw wars -and tragedy and comedy, and grew sick with the seeing. Gladly would he -have given it up, had he the courage. - -Down the corridors of time he passed, seeking death as many seek -wealth. In peace and war, he was ever in the most dangerous -occupations. When aviation came in, he was one of the first and most -reckless pilots. Then space travel merged from dreams into reality.... -Carlyle became a test pilot, taking on million-mile journeys any craft -with a rocket tube and a steering device. To his disgust, he always -came back. - -He had not the courage to shatter the crystal heart and grow old -swiftly. He who had condemned so many beautiful women to death was now -chained to something worse--eternal life. - - - II - -"Mr. Carlyle! _Mr. Carlyle._ Are you all right?" - -Thaddeus Carlyle came out of his revery with a start, to hear the -shrill rasping of the _televis_ on his desk. His hand snapped the -instrument on. - -"Sorry, Mrs. Loomis," he muttered. "I must have been napping." - -The face of his middle-aged secretary looked relieved. "Captain Wolfe -is here," she told him. "About the new secretary, you know." - -"Send them in," Carlyle grunted. - -He swore softly to himself. Too often lately he had dozed off at the -wrong times. He was due for another replenishment, and he cursed his -luck that it had to come now. Tomorrow he was leaving in his giant -salvage ship, the _Friar Bacon_, for the newly-discovered sargasso off -the orbit of Pluto. Nor could the trip be postponed. - -But the renewal of his life-spirit could not wait either. He was -a little too tired at night, a little too slow to react. But the -certainty was in him that he would not survive the trip to the new -salvage fields, with its attendant rigors. - -Captain Wolfe, chief officer of the _Friar_, entered with a small, -dark-haired young person at his side. - -"You're in luck, Chief!" he grinned. "I told you I'd find an A-1 -secretary for you, and I think I've got her. Miss Holland, meet -Thaddeus Carlyle--and don't say you haven't heard of him. Mr. Carlyle, -this is Ann Holland." - -The two exchanged acknowledgments, and Carlyle drew up chairs. "We'll -have to be brief," he said. "I've got a thousand things to attend to -before night. Now--you have the report from the company doctor?" - -Ann Holland took a folded slip from her purse and tendered it to the -owner of Salvage Lines, Incorporated. Carlyle took the opportunity to -appraise her swiftly. He hardly need to scan the physician's report -to know her health was boundless. It glowed in the soft rose color of -her cheeks, the sparkle of her dark eyes. Her brown hair was carefully -combed back from a smooth forehead. - -The report bore out his supposition. Carlyle questioned her briefly -about her qualifications as a stenographer and secretary. Everything -was satisfactory, and the references she had to show were excellent. - -Carlyle handed back the papers. "I think I'm lucky to get so -well-spoken of a secretary on such short notice," he smiled. - -"I know darned well you are, Chief!" Larry Wolfe laughed. "I had to -fight every officer in Ann's company to make them let her go." - -Ann Holland laid a hand on his arm. "I think I had a little to do -with my quitting, too," she reproved. "I can't tell you how I've been -fascinated by the stories of your salvage trips, Mr. Carlyle. And, of -course, hearing Larry talk of his work with you--" - -Thaddeus's dark eyes opened wider. "Oh--Then you have known each other -previously?" he queried. - -Blond Larry Wolfe held up the girl's left hand, showing the sparkling -diamond on the third finger. "Three years previously," he laughed. -"We're going to be married after this trip." - -Against the flash of resentment and disappointment that struck him, -Thaddeus Carlyle brought a smile to his lips. "That's fine," he said. -"Congratulations, both of you." - - * * * * * - -What he didn't voice was the strain of remorse coursing through his -mind: "Fine, hell! It's bad enough preying on unattached girls. But the -fiancee of your chief officer--" - -Nevertheless, it was too late to change. Mrs. Loomis couldn't go -because she was married. Besides, she was old. There wasn't much life -to be stolen from her. - -"Of course, you'll be wanting to know the type of work you're to do," -he got out. "Frankly, it will be more tedious than adventuresome. I've -been considering doing a book on the navigation conditions obtaining in -the sargassos. You'll take dictation from me most of the time we're in -the salvage field. I'll want the notes neatly typed up when we return. -That's about all, except that the pay will be seventy-five dollars a -week. Satisfactory?" - -"Perfectly!" Ann breathed, and put her hand out to retrieve the papers -from the desk. As she did so, Carlyle's brown, strong fingers picked up -the references and tendered them. For an instant their fingers met.... - -Ann's eyes went suddenly wide, and they flashed up to lock with -Carlyle's. She started, as if from a chill. It seemed as if a strong -current flowed from his body into hers ... and yet, had she but -known, the phenomenon was exactly an opposite one. By now, Carlyle's -parasitical work was second nature to him, hardly requiring the jewel -and ring. - -It struck the girl that his eyes were the strangest ones she had ever -gazed into. They were so clear she seemed to look through them and far -past him. Clear--but yet somehow they were filled with wisdom. It was -as though she was looking into vast, forgotten depths of time. - -Abruptly, she recalled herself. Her hand drew swiftly away from his. - -"Thank you so much," she murmured. "We're leaving at six, I think you -said? I'll be ready." - -When they were in the outer office, Larry Wolfe took her arm. He was -more than happy at the prospect of having the girl along on the long -trip. - -"Drive you home?" he suggested. - -A frown scored Ann's brow. "No, thanks, Larry," she murmured. "I've got -some things to buy uptown. Then I want to go home and rest. I feel a -little tired." - - * * * * * - -Thaddeus Carlyle stood at his window and watched the last bit of -loading being done out on the field. The _Friar Bacon_, with her six -tiny salvage ships in their bulging hangars growing out of the mother -ship's shell, like pilot fish clinging to the body of a shark, was -nearly ready for the trip. Carlyle sighed and wished again that he had -time to linger a few weeks before leaving. - -But it was out of the question. Even a man who possesses immortality -must earn his living, and salvaging treasure ships from space was -Carlyle's way of doing it. Right now that living was threatened by the -savage competition of Brand Haggard, owner of another salvage outfit. - -Haggard cared little for the ethics of the business. He'd double-cross, -steal, murder, lie, to gain his ends. It was such tactics that had put -Carlyle in his present hole. - -Coming in on his last expedition, he had found the sargasso off Pluto -and duly registered it with the Universal Salvage Commission, applying -at the same time for exclusive salvage rights. But Haggard had used his -crooked political affiliations to get in on the pie. Carlyle had had to -share the rights with him. Now it was a bitter fight to be the first in -the field, for the first ship there gutted the most treasure from the -wrecked space vessels. - -A delay of three weeks or a month would mean the _Friar Bacon_ returned -with empty holds. And that might mean ruin for Carlyle. Lately, salvage -pickings were getting smaller and smaller. He intended to get into -another business for his next lifetime. - -The question of the girl still lay like a bitter pellet in his mind, -but with an effort he shelved his remorse. He decided to return to his -packing. There were two more things to be stowed away in his private -lockers. One was a plain silver ring, and the other was a little -crystal heart. - - * * * * * - -At six o'clock the next morning the _Friar Bacon_ rested in its deep -starting-tube in the center of the field. At seven o'clock it had -proceeded so far on its journey that Earth was but a silver quarter -hanging in the sky behind it. - -Larry Wolfe was on the bridge. His engineer's eyes sparkled as he -regarded the instruments. Fuel--brimming over; speed--one-quarter; -retarding gravity quotient--three percent. Ideal conditions, and an -ideal ship. He had faith in the _Friar Bacon_, and in its owner. He -knew about Brand Haggard, but it didn't worry him particularly, with -the best of materials and men to work with. - -Larry was on the point of inching the speed up a trifle when a bell -began to tinkle. Swiftly he twisted in his seat. Immediately he saw -what had aroused the alarm. A ship was coming up fast, behind them. -Haggard already! he thought. He stabbed at the buzzer to Carlyle's -quarters. - -The hard, brown features of the ship's owner snapped into view on the -_televis_. "Yes?" was the metallic query. - -"Ship approaching, sir!" Larry clipped. "I think it's Haggard's -_Martian_. Shall I give her the gun?" - -"No, let him come up with us. No use racing yet. We'd just strain the -seams before they've heated properly." - -"But if he beats us to the fields, sir!" - -Thaddeus Carlyle's eyes crinkled. "He won't, Wolfe. I registered a -false location with the Commission! He'll either go hell-for-leather -out toward Uranus or he'll pace us. Either way, I'm not worrying." - -"Very good, sir." Larry Wolfe turned from the instrument to his -controls. "Hard as nails!" he chuckled to himself. "He wouldn't hurry -for the devil himself. You'd think he'd lived five hundred years, the -way he thinks of all the angles and beats hell out of every other ship -in the fleet. He's too smart for one man." - -That very night, trouble boarded the _Friar Bacon_. In a way, it was -Larry Wolfe's fault. - -Coming off duty eight hours after they left, he hurried to Ann -Holland's stateroom near Carlyle's suite, eager to hear how she had -enjoyed her first day aboard a space-liner. - -He found her tired and curiously subdued. - -"Excitement get you?" he asked her. - -Ann's eyes flashed as she thought of the thousand new things she had -seen. "A little, I guess," she admitted. "But, Larry, it's wonderful! -Such a feeling of freedom, so many strange things to be seen. Here we -are darting through space like a liner plowing the Atlantic!" - -"You'll get over that pretty soon," Larry grinned. "Then you'll be like -the rest of us space-sailors, cursing our luck that man can't push his -darned ships along at the speed of light." - -"I don't think I ever will," the girl mused. "They build these ships -just like Swiss watches, don't they? Every beam and girder machined by -hand, every nut and bolt a masterpiece. I went over the whole ship with -Thad. I feel like an authority already!" - -She laid her head against the cushioned back of the chair, glancing -through drowsy eyes out the port-hole. With her face turned away from -Larry's, she did not see the swift bolt of jealousy that shot through -him. - -"Thad?" he echoed. "That's funny, Ann. I've never been allowed to get -that familiar with him myself. It's always 'Chief' or 'sir' to us crew -members." - -The girl's eyes widened a little; then she shrugged her slim shoulders. -"I don't know how I happened to call him that. He seems to be a person -so very likeable you can't be formal with him." - -"I hadn't noticed it," Larry Wolfe snapped. - -Ann sat up wearily, brushed stray hair back from her ear. "Oh, now, -Larry," she reproved him. "Are you going to start acting like a -high-school boy the minute we start?" - -The young ship officer's jaw had set like cement. "What'd you do all -day? Talk, I suppose?" - -"Yes, we talked! For eight hours! I don't know where the time went, but -I do know I've never had a better time in my life!" - -She said it defiantly, and in the wake of the angry words grew a high -wall of pride between them. Ann made one final effort at conciliation. - -"Larry, do you have to be like this?" she pleaded. "I'm wearing your -ring, isn't that enough?" - -Larry stood up. "That's exactly it," he snapped. "You're wearing my -ring and the men are going to be watching pretty damn closely when they -see you hobnobbing constantly with Carlyle. Oh, don't get me wrong; -he's a fine fellow and I think the world of him. But I'm going to ask -you not to be with him any more than your work requires!" - -Ann's fingers tugged at the diamond ring, and suddenly she was handing -it to him. "Then here's something for you to mull over, Mr. Larry -Wolfe," she said frigidly. "While we're on the trip you can just -pretend that you've never met me before. I won't have your jealousy -preventing me from doing a good job." - -Larry let the tiny platinum band drop into his broad palm. His eyes -showed the pain that twisted through him, but all he said was: "All -right, Ann. But when you want the ring back, you'll have to ask for it." - - - III - -Brand Haggard's sleek, black _Martian_ did not try to pass them, as -Carlyle had prophesied. For three weeks the ship was back there on the -starboard quarter, matching them move for move. It was on Larry Wolfe's -mind constantly while he stood on the bridge, doing little to ease the -tension of his nerves. - -Strange, unpredictable currents suddenly developed about the ship, -and Larry knew that they were only a day or so from the sargasso. -Staring through the finder, he made out the diaphonous cloud he had -been searching for so long--the sargasso in which they hoped to find -millions of dollars in salvage prizes. - -Magnetic currents, as yet unidentified by scientists, drew space -wreckage here from all over the solar system. Ruined space liners, -flotsam and jetsam of fifty years of interplanetary traffic, here -collected bit by bit. For the salvage crews who made lucky finds, there -was wealth; for those who made the tiniest of errors in their dangerous -work, there was death. - -Larry Wolfe's thoughts were on the long-missing Astral as he stood his -watch that last night. The _Astral_, lost gold transport from Mars -to Earth, had been the dream of salvage men for twenty-five years. -Somewhere in the solar system it still drifted about. The chances were -good that it had been sucked into one of the many sargasso fields; -still better, that this newest field, largest of all, had caught it. - -In Thaddeus Carlyle's rooms, Ann had been hearing the same story that -Larry was dreaming over even now. Carlyle's quiet, powerful words -painted romantic highlights over it. The girl found her heart beating -faster in anticipation of the days ahead. - -"But in all this trackless wilderness of--of ether," she frowned, "how -can you hope to find anything at all? Let alone the _Astral_--" - -Carlyle smiled, glanced out the port at the vague gray shadow into -which they were heading. - -"If we worked with just the one ship, we wouldn't find much," he -admitted. "Actually, we use six. We drop the smaller salvage ships here -and there as we enter the sargasso. The three men in each craft cruise -about within a one-hundred-thousand-mile radius. After we've dropped -all the ships, we circle back to the spot where we left the first one -and wait for the flare signal from it. There's no radio transmission -out here, you know. The scout ships are pretty much on their own. When -they've located a prize, they tie up to it and go to work dismantling -the craft. If they haven't located anything after the first scouting -trip, we move them along to the front of the line. It's something like -playing leap-frog." - -"I suppose your ships and Haggard's honor each other's finds?" - -"Supposed to," said Carlyle grimly. His dark eyes flashed to the slim, -shark-like hull haunting their wake. His big, sturdy body seemed to -tighten. "Haggard's got the reputation of being a pirate. I'm not -looking for trouble, but if there is any--well, we can take care of -ourselves. I know a few tricks more than Brand Haggard, I think." - -Looking at him, Ann knew a thrill of admiration. His attraction for -her had been growing with every hour they spent together. "You seem so -confident about it," she murmured. - -"After twenty years of this sort of work you get your lines pretty well -in mind," Carlyle chuckled. - -"Twenty years!" Ann's brow arched. "But you don't seem to be over -thirty--!" - -"I'm a little older than that," the laughing answer came. "I began as a -galley-boy." - -Silence fell for a moment, while Ann tried to figure his age from what -he had said. Then suddenly Thaddeus Carlyle was saying softly: - -"You aren't wearing Captain Wolfe's ring any more. I couldn't help -noticing. Anything wrong between you two?" - -"We--we decided it was best, during the trip, to forget our -engagement," the girl faltered, the color rising into her cheeks. She -knew he saw through her evasive answer. His eyes, so piercing and yet -gentle, seemed to know everything she thought. - - * * * * * - -Abruptly, Carlyle's fingers slipped about her hand. "Ann, if you and -Larry ever do break it off," he pleaded, "will you remember that -I--could love you very much?" - -Ann was startled. Still more startled to feel the almost irresistible -link between them, drawing them together. "I'll remember, Thad," she -murmured. - -Carlyle slipped something from his pocket. "And just to make sure -you don't forget," he said sternly, "you're going to wear this as a -reminder. I found it in a wrecked ship, a long time ago. Like it?" He -leaned forward to slip the thin silver chain about her neck. - -Ann's eyes widened as she accepted the necklace. She held the tiny -crystal heart in her fingers as Carlyle snapped the tiny lock. - -"I've never seen anything like it!" she breathed. "So crudely cut, and -yet every line so perfect. Thad, look! The color of it! There seems to -be just a suggestion of pink in the very heart of it--" - -Thaddeus Carlyle let the gem fall into his palm, so that the crystal -contacted his silver ring. Ann gasped. The suggestion of pink was now a -glowing atom of scarlet, as though the heart held one drop of blood. It -throbbed and pulsed with life of its own. The heart grew warm against -Carlyle's palm-- - -Suddenly the girl fell back against the chair. - -"I--I'm so tired, all of a sudden," she whispered. "Almost too -tired--to breathe. Take me--to my cabin--Thad. I think I want--to lie -down." - -Carlyle swore under his breath. "Fool!" he muttered. "I've been wearing -you out with work, and excitement piled on that. You're going to bed, -young lady. The ship's surgeon is going to have a look at you, too." - -"No, I'm all right," Ann murmured. "Just--tired." - -But Thaddeus Carlyle's strong arms were under her, now, and even as he -carried her from the cabin she fell asleep. Looking down on her placid -features, so like death, he felt a stab of remorse. - -Why did it have to be like this? he groaned. A life for a life--Carlyle -knew within himself that he was willing to die right now. He'd seen -enough of life and its disappointments. But always there was that -strain of cowardice in his soul--fear of growing old, of dying. He'd -courted death so long, hoping for a quick end on some battlefield, in -some remote part of interstellar space. But never did it come. Friar -Bacon had indeed cursed him with eternal life. - - * * * * * - -Six hours later, just as his shift was ending, Larry Wolfe spotted the -first loose cluster of drifted wreckage. This meant they had entered -the actual salvage field. He rang for Carlyle and the ship owner -responded immediately, ducking to enter the bridge. - -Larry's clipped voice masked the jealousy he felt toward Carlyle. -"Flotsam off the starboard bow sir," he said mechanically. - -Through powerful glasses, the other examined the wreckage. He lowered -the glasses hurriedly. Apparently it was merely the torn, gutted shell -of a barge, but-- - -"Rest of it may be near," he grunted. "We'll drop off Murphy, Stoller -and Cass. Seen anything of Haggard lately? Anything to worry about, I -mean?" - -"Yes, sir. He's drawn closer ... much too close considering we should -be splitting apart now." - -Carlyle pivoted and shot a glance back at the darkly looming _Martian_. -His brows drew into a solid bar across his angry eyes. "Half speed -astern, Captain," he clipped. - -Larry glanced back at him. "You mean that?" - -"Exactly. Pull in beside the devil. I'm going to speak him." - -The _Friar Bacon_ rolled and wallowed as the message was flashed to -the engine room. Larry braced himself against the forward lurch of -his body. The ship owner stood with legs spread wide, fists on hips, -watching the _Martian_ shoot ahead, seemingly, until it was nearly -even with them. Its stern jets, firing pale columns of flame, did not -slacken. - -"Send up a flare," ordered Carlyle. "I'm going to the air-lock. And by -the way, tell Murphy to cut his ship loose right now." - -"Yes, sir." The bridge door clanged shut and Larry sprang to his -round of duties, sending up a purple flare--"we wish to speak you" -signal--relaying the message to Murphy to drop away in the scout ship -with his two-man crew, swinging the ship over until the _Martian_ was -so close they could see the faces at the ports. - -The purple answering flare went up, and Larry moved to maneuver the -ship alongside, so that air-lock was to air-lock. The other pilot was -an expert, handling his ship like a toy in the hands of a giant. The -shock was almost imperceptible. - -Larry left the bridge just after he saw Murphy, Stoller, and Cass -silently pull away, keeping the tiny scout in the umbra of the _Friar -Bacon_, hidden from Brand Haggard's eyes. - -He found Carlyle waiting for him. Together they closed themselves -into the tube. The outer end was now locked firmly against the glass -door of the _Martian's_ air-lock. Forms shifted eerily behind the -double-thickness glass. At a tap on the glass, Carlyle swung his own -window back. The other ship's master did the same. - -Then, suddenly, they were standing face to face, Haggard and Thaddeus -Carlyle, Larry and the captain of the other craft. - -Carlyle was not one to spar for openings. - -"Let's have an understanding right now, Haggard," he snapped. "You've -cut yourself in on this deal but you'll play it according to the rules. -Make one misstep and it's war to the last man. Is that clear?" - -Haggard chuckled. "I think I get it," he said. "Well, it's okay by -me, mister. I'll work this section and you work the other side of the -field." - -"You will like hell," barked Carlyle. "I've got a ship in the field -already. That, according to the Universal Salvage Code, gives me prior -rights. Find yourself another playground." - -Larry watched the other ship-man's eyes dwindle to steely pin-points, -but still he kept a grin on his wide mouth. Haggard was a powerfully -built Swede, one of those laughing, blond-headed men who seem a -throwback to the days when giants fought with seventy-pound broadswords -and wore chain mail. His savagery belonged to another era, too. Men who -had shipped with him never did so again, and thanked their stars they -were still alive and more or less sane. - -"All right, Carlyle," he chuckled, at last. "Round one is yours. You -keep your boys toeing the mark and I'll try to do the same." His eyes -dropped to Larry's face. "Got your course mapped out?" - -Larry handed his captain the chart he had brought with him, and the -man glanced at it with shrewd, faded blue eyes. He was a hard-case -old-timer, leathery of skin, short coupled, and tough as oak. But he -knew his business, and handed the sheet back directly. - -"Fair enough," he gruffed. "That gives us room enough to turn around -in." - -"I guess we're agreed, then," Thaddeus Carlyle said curtly, extending a -broad palm to Haggard. "Good luck." - -They shook hands, and once more the glass ports were rolled back in -place, the locks opened, and the ships drew apart. - -"The damned liar," Carlyle said darkly, watching the _Martian_ arch -itself high above them and surge away. "We'll have trouble with him -before two watches are down on the log." - - - IV - -It was not until just before he himself quitted the mother ship that -Larry Wolfe learned of Ann's illness. Climbing above his pride, he had -gone to her cabin to say good-bye. - -Doctor Van Doren, ship's surgeon, met him at the door. "You must not -excite her," he said, in a low tone. "Say good-bye if you like, but--" - -"_Doctor!_" Larry seized his arm. "I--I hadn't heard Ann was sick. What -is it?" - -"I don't know. Just a complete physical collapse. She's too tired to -eat, even. Ever since last night." - -Larry was pushing past him into the cabin. He went down on his knees -beside the girl's bed and his hand closed on her cold fingers. "Ann!" -he choked. "They didn't tell me...." - -Ann wouldn't meet his eyes. "I asked them not to. I'm all right, Larry. -Just tired." - -A cold blade stabbed at Larry's heart. "Why wouldn't you let me know?" -he asked. - -Ann's eyes seemed fixed on a rivet in the ceiling. "Because I didn't -want to worry you. And--I didn't want to fight with you again." - -"As if I'd so much as raise my voice, with you sick," Larry groaned. -Then his eyes fastened on a ruby-colored heart lying on the girl's -breast. "What's that?" he asked, half in alarm. "I've never seen it -before; it looks--like it's alive, Ann!" - -The girl's fingers toyed with it. "It was a gift," she murmured -absently. - -"Carlyle!" Larry could not restrain the angry syllables. "I don't like -it, Ann! It's like a serpent's eye, or something. It looks so alive--" - -Ann's eyes at last met his, and they were cold as space. "We won't -argue about it," she said wearily. - -Larry got up, striving against the hot resentment searing his heart. -"You know I'm leaving now?" - -"Yes. Good luck, Larry." - -"Thanks!" Larry snorted, and strode from the room. - - * * * * * - -Larry's was the last scout to be dropped from the _Friar Bacon_. The -mother ship was now piloted by Carlyle, who swung it back to the first -salvage ship they had dropped. - -For hours it was a matter of cruising this way and that, searching the -sky for traces of wreckage. Bits of flotsam were everywhere, but large -fragments were scarce indeed. Larry's heart was leaden, but he buried -himself in the work and succeeded in half-forgetting his worries. - -Lanky Jeff Adams was at the controls of the cramped little vessel when -the first dark splinter was sighted in the void. Braced against the -lurch and roll of the ship, Larry scrutinized the wrecked ship as they -neared it. So unbelievable was the sight he saw that for an instant -after he lowered the glasses it did not penetrate his reflexes. His -fingers were tracing the vessel's name into the log when suddenly he -stared at what he had written: "11:46 A. M. sighted derelict _Astral_. -Good condition...." - -Larry Wolfe dropped the glasses and let out a yell. Jeff leaped as -though he had been stung, his magnificent red beak of a nose growing -redder with the excitement. Abe Miller, stocky, beetle-browed helper, -stared at the officer. - -"What's amatter, Chief?" he jerked. - -Dumbly, Larry pointed. "That's--the _Astral_!" he gasped. "Two hundred -million dollars--in gold--!" - -Abe and Jeff were stunned; then they crowded the port to stare at the -ancient craft dead ahead. The scout had drawn near enough now that the -name of the transport was plainly visible in letters running from stem -half-way to stern. Weakly, Jeff let himself back into his seat and -muttered: - -"Two--hundred--million ... in Martian gold! And we get ten percent for -findin' 'er. Ten percent of two hundred million, divided three ways--" - -Larry laughed and poked playfully at his big nose. "Don't count your -shekels before you hear them jingle," he counseled. "The _Astral_ may -have been gutted by pirates. Give her the gun, mister; we're finding -out!" - -The little space-craft slewed and rocked to a stop beside the giant -transport. Shock struck the three men dumb with their first glimpse -close up. Faces crowded the ports, staring out at them. Larry fancied -he saw movement among the watchers on the bridge. To all appearances -the _Astral_ might have been a vessel in mid-flight. - -They cruised slowly up the side, not ten feet from the ghostly faces -that watched them with staring eyes. Foot by foot they proceeded. -Rounding the front of the craft, they could see into the bridge. Two -men were working over charts and a man in blue-and-gray uniform was at -the controls. Another, a pencil over his ear, stood reading a gauge -high on the wall. - -Then the meaning of it all came home to them. - -The port side of the ship was ripped open from stem to stern. -Something--no doubt a jagged meteor fragment--had sliced and torn its -way through the shell of the speeding transport. The occupants of -the open side had exploded like deep-sea fish drawn to the surface. -These in the space-tight, unharmed cabins opposite had been frozen -instantly by the outrush of pent-up air. And there they had stood in -the attitudes in which Death had found them, staring out as they forged -through the meteor-swarm, hoping they would not be hit. - -In the silence they tied up to the derelict, their magnet-plates -clinging like suction cups. Donning space suits and carrying kits of -tools, they leaped through the rent into the dead ship. - -A vague twilight dwelt in the interior. Larry led the way to the -bridge. The frozen lock was cut out by means of a torch. With set jaws -he went inside. - -"Better load 'em out quick, boys. If the sunlight starts to thaw -'em there'll be a hell of a mess. Throw 'em clear of the ship. It's -tough--but it's a sky-man's end, and we may all meet the same some day." - -While Abe and Jeff carried the corpses away, he found the log and -traced back to the vessel's start. There he located the cargo list. Two -hundred million was correct, as the refining company had stated when -the ship was lost. - -Their next job was to cut into the hold. The sight of two hundred -million dollars in gold bullion took their breath away. Jeff sat down -and began laying the ponderous bars into three piles, muttering: - -"One for me, one for you, and one for Abe. One for--" - -Larry laughed, "Get to work, you half-baked lout. We've got to lug all -these out to where they'll make quick loading. _Friar Bacon_ should -loom up in about four hours. I'll set the flares--" - -And then they all went stiff, hands reaching for energy-pistols. -Through the ship's floor came the thud-thud-thud of walking men! - - * * * * * - -Larry sprang into the hall. Three whirled at his advance. He snapped on -his transmitter, the instrument operating through the metal floor like -a telegraph. - -"Get the hell out of here!" he barked. "You're fifty thousand miles out -of your territory. Is this how Haggard keeps a bargain?" - -The foremost pirate said not a word, but suddenly the pistol in his -hand flared redly. Larry flung himself aside, blasted away with his own -weapon. The wall of the corridor dissolved beneath his shoulder. - -A scream rang through his helmet, chopped off clean as the pirate's -space suit was blown open. Jeff and Abe were yelling for Larry to get -out of their way and give them a clear shot. Larry's answer was to duck -into the hole blasted in the wall by the energy bolt. - -He got the second pirate in his sights and saw him crumple under a wave -of atom-dissolving force. A mere fringe of the charge scored the helmet -of the last man. Screaming shrilly, air rushed from his suit. His body -blew up like a balloon in a decompression-bell, until he filled the -bulging suit. Then there was a ghastly moment of seeing blood spurt -through the hole in the helmet. And after that he was only a sickening -smatter of glass and blood and powdered bone. - -The swiftness with which it was all over left the three salvage men -weak. Larry forced himself down the hall. There might be more of them. -But a glance outside showed only one _Martian_ scout tied up. As a -precaution, he turned his force weapon on the little ship until the -hammering and searing energy shocks melted its magnet plates and hurled -it away. - -Hastily, then, he turned to Jeff and Abe. - -"Pile aboard," he cracked out. "We're dropping this until we contact -Carlyle. Haggard will be back looking for his scout. We want more than -hand guns to use when he returns. This is war!" - - - V - -They sighted the _Friar Bacon_ well toward the front of the line of -scouts. Only one ship lay in its carrier. The mother ship hove to while -the tiny craft nuzzled into the waiting pocket. - -Carlyle was waiting at the air-lock when they sprang out. Larry's words -crackled with tension. - -"We've raised the _Astral_, sir! Afraid Haggard's going to know about -it in a few hours, too. One of his scouts jumped us and we killed the -men. Better let us go back with Murphy's ship while you round up the -rest of the fleet. This is going to mean trouble!" - -Carlyle's eyes glowed, and his features seemed to shine with inner -energy. - -"Great work!" he breathed. "I'll drop off Murphy directly. Mark the way -out there with flares. We'll get the rest of the boys and be there in -three hours. If we're lucky we can unload the _Astral_ and be out of -the territory without crossing his path." - -Larry Wolfe saluted and turned back to the scout. He tried to summon -the fierce dislike he had for the salvage boss when he was away from -him, but it would not rise. Carlyle's personality was a strong one. Men -instinctively took orders from him and liked it, and women--Well, Ann -had certainly changed. Yet there was a shading of something sinister -under the man's smooth, forceful exterior. Larry could not isolate the -things about him he distrusted. - -Once more they dropped away from the _Friar_. Murphy, Stoller and Cass -came booming along after them, jets belching and the whole, tiny craft -leaping like a released whippet in the effort to pace Larry. - -It was an hour and a half before they saw the _Astral_ in their glasses -once more. In their path they had dropped red fluctuating flares to -guide the mother ship to the derelict. The scout sidled in beside the -space-barge. Magnets sent out invisible tentacles and hauled them -against the vessel with a stiff shock. Murphy's red head bobbed into -view as his own craft made landing. - -Larry Wolfe snapped orders. Stoller and Cass tackled the job of cutting -away the ragged metal to provide more room for the loading of the -salvage ship. Jeff, Abe, and Murphy joined Larry in the back-breaking -toil of moving the gold. - -And all the time they were conscious of the precious weapon that was -slipping from their fingers ... _time_! Minutes, seconds, fleeing from -them, while they wondered which ship would be first to return, the -_Friar Bacon_ with its glittering silver hull, or the black tiger-shark -of the void--the _Martian_. - -Without warning there was a terrific crash against the side of the -derelict. The six sweating workmen were flung to their faces on the -floor. One of the scout ships was torn lose and went rolling away. - -Larry ripped out his gun and crawled to the opening in the vessel's -shell. What he saw caused him to sigh with new relief. - -"Meteor shower," he called to the others. "We took the biggest part of -it right then. You can hear the dust pattering against us now. Nothing -to worry about." - -_Nothing to worry about--!_ - -But right then another impact came that up-tilted the barge and hurled -them from their feet, stunned. A shadow fell over the sunlight splashed -room and a long, black shape glided past, a mile or two away. The -_Martian_ was back and ready for war. - - * * * * * - -There was a second shot that sprawled them around. In the bow of the -attacking cruiser winked a malevolent green eye. At Larry's signal, -every man jammed the range setting on his pistol up to full. Even with -the guns taxed to their utmost, they would be pitiful answer to the -cannon aboard the other craft. - -"Murphy!" Larry yelled. "Take your men up to the bridge where you can -keep your eye on 'em. Keep firing. Don't let 'em rest." - -But there was no slowing down Brand Haggard. With the cunning of a -tiger, he swooped and curvetted about the _Astral_, never stopping long -enough to let one of those pistol shots burn deep. There was not an -instant when the derelict was still; constantly it rolled in a sea of -searing, churning ether, burned fiercely by force-charges. From time to -time a great hole was gashed through the barge. - -Then there came a blasting concussion that piled Larry, Jeff, and Abe -in a corner like three rats in a box. Blood filtered down Larry's -neck where his space suit had gashed him. Light spilled into the ship -through the fore parts. With his heart hammering, he ran forward to the -bridge. - -He found the hole where the bridge had been, but Murphy, Stoller and -Cass were gone. A hundred yards away the _Martian_ was maneuvering for -another shot. - -Larry ran back to the others. - -"They're gone," he bit out. "And we're slated for the same if we hold -out any longer. Let's grab the scout and head for the _Friar_. Maybe we -can get back here before Haggard guts this barge." - -All three men seemed to sense the cessation of the _Astral's_ rolling -at the same instant. They glanced dumbly at each other. _What had -caused the pirate to stop its barrage?_ - -All at once, Jeff was pointing, yelling like a madman. Cheers broke -from the others' throats. With the swift grace of a bullet, the _Friar -Bacon_ was shooting across the sky in pursuit of Haggard's ship! - -For a few minutes it was like watching a pair of clever fencers feint -and lunge. The speed of the ships went for little now. It was the -daring and skill of the man at the controls that spelled victory or -defeat. - -But in the end it was the _Martian_ that drew off. A shot ripped away -most of a scout carrier and showed Brand Haggard, temporarily, at -least, that he was bucking a tougher, smarter man. - -Carlyle did not chase him. Such a pursuit, zig-zagging on full -throttles through space, could easily last a week. He brought the big -cruiser alongside the wrecked _Astral_ and the survivors sprang aboard. - - - VI - -Larry, Jeff, and Abe were pounded on the back by their companions, -while eager hands dropped to the derelict to begin the transfer of -cargo. - -"You three better hie yourselves down to the galley and get some grub," -Carlyle grinned. - -Jeff and Abe took him at his word; but Larry, lingering, asked Carlyle -pointedly: - -"How's Ann? She was pretty sick when I left her." - -He would have taken oath that the salvage boss' dark eyes flinched. -Those piercing eyes searched his face for an instant before Carlyle -replied. Finally: - -"Not so good, Captain," he said. "Why don't you look at her? Might do a -lot for her, you know." - -"I'm afraid I don't know, sir," Larry Wolfe ground out. "I seemed to be -so much excess cargo last time." - -He turned stiffly and passed him. But, drawn by something more powerful -than his wounded pride, he went straight to Ann's room and knocked -softly. - -A voice so weak he scarcely recognized it answered him. - -Larry went in. Ann was lying back against the pillows. The deathly -pallor of her face caused him to start. - -"Ann!" he groaned. "What is it? What's happening to you?" - -The girl's bloodless features did not warm at sight of him. But a -strain of fear coursed through her throaty tones. - -"I don't know," she whispered. Her fingers went to toying with the -little heart lying against her throat. - -Suddenly Larry was striding forward, to stand looking down at the jewel -with blazing eyes. "Damn that thing!" he gritted. "You're going to turn -it over to me right now. I don't know what it is, but I'll swear it's -alive with some deadly force of its own. It's glowing like a piece of -red radium!" - -Ann's waxen fingers closed over it. "You're talking like an insane man, -Larry!" she panted. "You may as well understand right now that I'm not -taking orders from you like a stevedore. If I want to wear a simple -piece of jewelry, no amount of your ranting will prevent me!" - -Larry's cheeks grew scarlet, his fists knotting up hard. "Maybe it -won't," he retorted, "but by Heaven, Carlyle knows the secret of that -stone and I'm going to wring it out of him right now!" - -"Larry!" The girl's voice followed him, laden with sharp fear. -Larry Wolfe ignored her cry and strode to the loading deck. What he -contemplated was mutiny, perhaps, but it was Ann's life at stake. - -Carlyle was not on the loading deck, nor did Larry locate him on the -bridge. As a final resort he strode to the ship owner's room. The door -was unlocked, and he barged in without knocking. - -Staring angrily about him, he saw no sign of his quarry. Then a sort -of madness laid hold of him. He began to ransack Carlyle's belongings, -searching--what he sought, he couldn't have said. But he was seeking -proof that Thaddeus Carlyle was something more than he represented -himself to be. - -There was nothing he wouldn't have expected to find there. Nothing -but one small article: an oval-shaped brooch of yellowed ivory, a -tiny painting of a man's head on it. He had examined similar ones in -museums. Carrying it over to the light, Larry was shocked to note the -resemblance of the man's face to Carlyle. - -Then he found the minute, hair-line script below it: "Thaddeus -Carlyle, Lord Mon--" The last word had been obliterated by time. -Larry's breath rattled in his throat as a queer panic gripped him. -Feverishly he shoved stiff fingers through his hair. _Lord Monfort--!_ -They hadn't made miniatures like this one for hundreds of years. - -Larry turned the brooch over and discovered on the back the words: -"From Helene. Nov. 1346." - -The brooch struck the floor with a clink. The sound seemed to pour -new life into Larry. He shouted, "Ann!" and sprang into the hall and -swiftly toward the girl's room. - - * * * * * - -Voices stopped him just before he touched the knob. Carlyle's voice, -softer than he had dreamed it could be, murmuring: - -"If only there weren't Larry--if I weren't afraid he might steal your -love back. You say he means nothing to you, and yet--" - -"You _know_ he means nothing to me!" For all its animation, Ann's voice -held the monotonous cadence of one who is half-asleep. - -"You do love me, Ann--more than life itself?" - -"More--than life--Thad!" - -"Ann, I'm going to ask you something--wait, dear! I know you're tired; -but you must keep your eyes open a moment longer...." - -The door crashed inward. Larry Wolfe was through it and upon Carlyle -before the latter could get to his feet. He had been sitting on the -edge of Ann's bunk. With steel fingers Larry hauled him to his feet. - -"You damned parasite!" he shouted. "You thought you'd prey upon Ann the -same way you did the others, did you?" His fist struck out, but the -salvage boss caught his wrist and held it. - -"Are you insane?" he roared. - -Larry's mood was not one of arguing. Again he struck, and this time the -blow chopped into Carlyle's mouth and brought blood. - -Ordinarily the bigger man could have cut Larry down with a few -man-killing punches, but the madness in Larry Wolfe knew neither pain -nor weakness. He took savage blows to the face and ribs, but stayed on -his feet. A lucky uppercut jarred Carlyle's teeth in his head, and for -an instant he was sagging against the wall. - -Larry seized that split-second to spring to the bedside of the -terrified girl and tear the necklace from her throat. He threw it -at Carlyle with all his force. The gem missed, shivered into tiny, -glittering crystals on the floor, like shining drops of blood. - -Thaddeus Carlyle's face paled under its deep tan. He glanced down at -the wreck of the crystal heart. He was on the point of drawing his -pistol when the alarm began to ring. - -"Mr. Carlyle! Captain Wolfe!" the voice boomed through the ship. -"_Martian_ returning. All hands at their posts!" - -On the tail of the warning came a shock that tore the _Friar Bacon_ -from the side of the derelict. Larry had a glimpse through the port, of -men in space suits left hanging in the void between the two ships, of -gold ingots floating grotesquely around them. - -The battle was forgotten, as fighters toppling over a cliff forget -their differences and scramble for safety. Larry followed the ship -owner up the corridor, climbed the ladder to the top deck, sprang to -the firing lever of the big energy gun stationed in the nose. - -The other men darted from the control room to their posts. The _Friar_ -was stationary for a second, while Carlyle located the other ship. With -a surge of swift power that took the passengers' breath, the craft shot -after it. - - * * * * * - -Haggard's strategy had been to get in line with the sun and keep in -line with it while he rushed down on the unsuspecting salvage ship. -Reports were crackling in from all parts of the ship regarding the -damage done. Nothing had been touched, it seemed, except one of the -forward scout carriers, which was blasted loose. - -Larry was tensely vigilant as he crouched over the firing lever. He did -not glance at Carlyle. The salvage boss' face seemed to have set into -grimmer lines than ever. Up ahead the _Martian_ was fighting to keep -out of line. Haggard's poor shot had put them in the disadvantage. - -Carlyle piloted like a demon, straining the ship until the bulkheads -chattered in their steps. Haggard's slightest error meant the gap -between them closed that much more. Suddenly something seemed to go -wrong. The _Martian_ faltered for a tenth of a second. In the next -moment Thaddeus Carlyle swerved until the pirate's rocket tubes were -straight before them. - -"Fire!" he clipped. - -Larry pulled swiftly at the lever. There was no response. Harder, he -tugged. - -"I said _fire_!" Carlyle shouted at him. "I can't hold this point any -longer. They're under way again." - -Sweat started from Larry's pores. "The thing's jammed, Chief!" he -groaned. "They got our gun with that first shot." - -Carlyle seemed to wilt a little. What it meant was that they were up -against a fast, armed vessel with no means of defending themselves. As -if Brand Haggard sensed the trouble, too, he put the _Martian_ about -and came booming down the line at them, head-on. - -Carlyle's response was slow. The ship heaved violently as a rear -stabilizer melted under Haggard's shot. Only the fact that the shock -threw them away from the pirate's line of fire saved them. - -Now it was the _Friar Bacon_ that dodged and ran. The air boiled all -about them. Larry could envision Haggard's grinning, savage countenance -hovering over the firing lever, ceaselessly yanking at it. - -And there was something wrong with the staggering _Friar_. Larry -thought for a while that their stabilizers were not functioning. Always -they were a fraction of a second late in diving out of range. It was -when Haggard was not over a few hundred yards in the rear that Larry -glanced over at Carlyle. In a flash he was on his feet.... - -He saw sunken, shrivelled cheeks and glazing eyes. Gray hair straggling -from under the jaunty officer's cap. A scrawny neck going down into a -collar many sizes too large. - -Larry was cold all over. He took Carlyle by the shoulders and hauled -him out of the chair, surprised at the lightness of his body. The bony -fingers clawed at the controls and then gave them up. Larry let him sag -to the floor and grabbed the controls. - -Haggard was diving again, with throttles wide open. A few miles ahead -lay the wreckage of the _Astral_. Larry suddenly saw his chance. He -had no gun, nothing to fight back with; but here was where courage and -skill might count heavily. - -With the _Martian_ a hundred yards in the rear, dead on the stern, -Larry fired both bow rockets and the port stern rocket. Braces screamed -and loose objects toppled, as the _Friar Bacon_ slowed and went into a -tight pin-wheel. The _Martian_ roared up alongside. Larry blasted out -with the other stern rocket and the two craft jarred together. At the -same instant he turned on the boarding magnets, so that the ships were -held together as though welded. - -Brand Haggard's blond head bobbed into view only fifteen feet away. He -stood up from the firing lever and stared through the bridge port at -Larry. This was the first time Larry had ever seen him when he was not -grinning that arrogant wicked grin of his. - - * * * * * - -Haggard was shaking his fist and yelling. His gun was useless now. And -he knew only too well what lay in Larry's mind: To carry him dead into -the _Astral_ and pile the _Martian_ up like a racing car striking a -brick wall! - -The captain of the black vessel tried every strategy he knew. But Larry -held it down to the course he had set. The two ships flashed on toward -destruction. - -Haggard's face showed in the glass, threatening, cajoling, pleading. At -the last moment he held up two fist-fulls of paper money, trying to buy -another chance. Larry laughed and dropped his hand on the magnet lever. - -Screams of terror built up within the _Friar Bacon_ as the crew -discovered the derelict dead ahead. They were drowned under the roar of -rockets as Larry cut the pirate loose and moved to avoid the _Astral_. - -He had a horrible moment of watching a fin on the wrecked vessel reach -out to rake the belly of the slewing salvage ship. Then all dissolved -in a shower of wreckage, the fin crumpling away and flames shooting up -where it had been. The _Martian_ had crumpled up like an accordion. - -Bodies flew past the windows, to explode as the pressureless atmosphere -inflated them. Gold ingots mingled with them. Everywhere there was -death, and the horror that can come only from a wreck of two such -space-giants as the _Martian_ and the long-dead _Astral_. - -The _Friar_ toppled end over end, a chip caught in a maelstrom. Miles -away from the carnage, Larry Wolfe managed to right it. He stood up -from the controls to find Ann Holland standing white and silent above -Carlyle's body. - -Larry shuddered. Carlyle's face was that of a mummy. His hands were -crooked brown hooks like the dried talons of a buzzard. His uniform -draped his shrivelled body like a gunny sack over a skeleton. - -Ann pressed against Larry's side, seemingly unconscious that there -had ever been anything wrong between them. "What was he, Larry?" she -whispered. - -"I don't know," he admitted. "But he was old--Lord knows how old. That -crystal heart he gave you ... there was something queer about it. I -think that when I destroyed it, I killed him, too." - -The girl suddenly buried her face against his chest. "Oh, Larry!" she -sobbed. "It's so horrible. Let's go back ... now!" - -"Just as soon as we comb a few gold bars out of the sky," he told -her softly. "Then we're going back and carry on with those plans we -had before you gave me back my ring. But--I'd like to find out some -time--just how old he was, and _what_ he was." - - * * * * * - -Sooner than they had expected, they were to find at least the answer to -Thaddeus Carlyle's age. Larry and Ann were married the day they docked -in New York. For their honeymoon they sailed to England. It occurred to -Larry while they were there to look for the Monfort tomb in Westminster -Abbey. - -They found it, an ancient stone crypt with the names of thirteen Lord -Monforts inscribed, hidden in the shadows of the building's oldest -wing. Birth and death dates followed each name. But after Thaddeus -Carlyle's name were engraved only the numerals: - -"1262--" - -"Wish I had the courage of my convictions," muttered Larry. "I'd get -them to finish it for the poor devil: '--died, 1970.'" - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Buccaneer of the Star Seas, by Ed Earl Repp - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUCCANEER OF THE STAR SEAS *** - -***** This file should be named 61794.txt or 61794.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/7/9/61794/ - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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