Feline Red Page 4

balanced easily in his hands. Too easily. He could scarcely feel itpress against his gloves. The heat control in his suit was jammed again.His hands streamed sweat.

  He inched past the cats. A quick cold thrill passed through his stomach.With the energy of the ore almost gone, the scarlet beasts were growingincreasingly uneasy. They were casting about for a new supply. It wouldbe easy enough for a foot to slip, he thought. To spill the ore acrossthe floor. New food for the cats--and the loss of the _Bertha's_ lastchance as strange space beasts sucked away the last purified ore.

  He slipped cautiously past the last row of cells. A quick dash now forthe open hatchway beyond....

  Half a dozen of the bounding red beasts surged about his feet. Theirweight drove his right leg forward. He staggered, caught at his balance.The lead cell above his head began to slip.

  "Watch it, Scott!" Durval's voice cracked in his ears.

  Straining every muscle against the queer weightlessness of no gravity,Scott struggled to regain his balance. He expected another blow at hislegs as the cats leaped for the ore. It was hard to breathe theover-heated air of his suit.

  But the cats had spun away. As he caught his balance, he stared afterthem, uncomprehending for an instant. The cats ran twisting in a somehowsinister dance. The bodies were queerly bloated. Down the upper portionof their bodies ran a heavy indentation. As they leaped and twisted, theindentation became a fissure, a crevice.

  Then two of the beasts leaped, slammed together in mid-air. But morethan two cats fell to the floor.

  Their sharply angled bodies whisking back toward the depleted uraniumcells, four cats appeared with shocking suddenness.

  Reproduction. Elemental fission.

  Scott had to clean them out, and fast. Soon the ship would be overrunwith the energy-hungry felines.

  He dashed toward the open hatch. Outside the opening, a great lead box,eight feet by eight feet, gaped upward. Beyond, four men tenselysupported a vast lead cover.

  "Is the uranium poured into the box?" he barked sharply.

  "Yes, sir. All ready, Mister Jerill."

  "Good." Turning from the hatch, he inverted his cell, poured out theuranium ore in a thick stream from the open hatch back across the holdtoward the scrambling mass of cats upon the now empty rows of cells.

  But he never reached the beasts.

  A brawling torrent of animals leaped toward him. Hurling the containerinto their mass, he leaped to one side. They lunged into the trail ofore. Rolled, leaped, darted along the line. At the hatch edge, apyramiding mass of cats paused a moment. Then plummeted over. Scott fellback against the bulkhead, his eyes fixed on the cats still scavengingamong the empty cells.

  Then these too were darting for the trail of ore. The uranium wasscattered now. Cats plunged toward the new radiation in the box beyondthe hold entrance.

  The inarticulate cheers of Durval and his men rang in Scott's helmet.But his mind was already working at the next step of the problem.

  "Durval," he ordered. "Get a decontamination unit in here. Clean thisplace out." Cats poured in a frenzied stream from the ship. "Call MisterVaugn. Start purification of his ore as soon as it arrives."

  Past the hatch, he saw the swift flash of the lead top dropping over thebox. Excitement pounded hotly in his throat.

  "I'm going to get rid of these cats once and for all," he called. "Beback in an hour."

  "But what about the _Kastil_?"

  "We'll worry about the _Kastil_ later. Get that ore purified. We'reblasting out of here in forty hours."

  He swung from the cargo entrance to the top of the lead box. Under hisfeet, the lid trembled with the frantic struggling of the cats. "Loadthis crate in the cargo jet," he cried. "And hurry. We only have half anhour left."

  * * * * *

  The pounding of the jets matched the pounding of the blood in Scott'stemples. "When we land," he instructed, "get this crate out fast.Everything depends on how fast you can take the cats down to the pit. Iwant you to bury it as fast as you can. Understand?"

  He glanced sharply about the group, feeling their eyes clinging to him.

  "Get as much rubbish on the crate as possible. And then obey every orderI give you as fast as possible no matter how foolish the order mayseem."

  The jet thundered down over the landing strip, rasped to a halt. "Out,"roared Scott. "Fast. Make it fast."

  The loading compartment swung open. But as the men lifted the cratetoward the door, the jet's intercom burst into life. "Jerill. Jerill,this is Captain Elderburg. I order you to return at once."

  Elderburg had freed himself too quickly.

  "This is a criminal offense, Jerill. Come back at once."

  "Get that crate out," Scott roared. "Hurry. Hurry!"

  "Mister Jerill," blared the intercom. "You are under arrest, accordingto the Articles of Space, for conspiracy, armed assault...." Scott cutthe voice off in mid-sentence. He leaped into the hold, threw his weightbehind the box. "Quick. Get it to the pit."

  The men lumbered off into the darkness. Even with the light gravity ofthe asteroid, it was difficult to handle the crate as the scramblingcats pitched it from side to side.

  Scott scaled a boulder. The hulk of the _Kastil_ loomed just beyond,dark and threatening. A thin square of light showed at their cargoentrance. They were still completing loading.

  "Hurry," Scott muttered feverishly. "Hurry."

  The men reached the pit. Carefully, slowly, they lowered the crate intothe shadows.

  Sweat streaming down his face, Scott tore his eyes from the _Kastil_hatch, grimly watched as his men scooped rubbish into the pit.

  A motion in the darkness. Out where no motion should be. Movement amongthe sunless stones.

  Scott's breathing stopped.

  A group of men closing in toward the cargo jet. Men racing out of theshadows. Men of the _Kastil_.

  "Stop," Scott shouted frantically into his radio. "Get that crate backto the jet. Get it out of the pit. Back to the jet. It's too late.Hurry. Hurry!"

  For a single astounded moment the men paused. Then, sweeping the rubblefrom the crate, they fumbled it toward the surface of the pit.

  Scott leaped down among them. Pushed. "They're going to trap us." Thecrate struck on the pit's edge. Scott seized one end, forced it up over."Grab that other end, Masters. Move, man. Don't argue. Move!"

  Staggering over the uneven ground, they lurched toward the jet.

  "I think you ought to rest for a moment." It was the cool voice ofRandell, who stepped from the darkness with a blaster turned full onthem.

  Crewmen from the _Kastil_ poured from among the rocks. Their blastersswung a menacing ring about Scott and his men.

  "Step back away from the crate." Randell stepped forward, tapped hisblaster against the side of the box. "Now what do we have here."

  "Keep away from that," Scott snarled. "That's property of the _Bertha_."

  "Is it?" Randell turned carelessly to his men. "Property of the_Bertha_," he drawled. "Well, we'd better have a look at it now. To makesure you haven't accidentally salvaged some of the _Kastil's_ equipment.Oh, quite by accident, I understand."

  He began to loosen the screw-clamps of the lid.

  "Stop!" Scott leaped forward, no longer conscious of the weaponsswinging on him. He dropped his hand upon the box.

  "This is mine," he said. "I forbid you to touch it."

  "Have you ever seen a man die of a blaster bolt?" Randell asked. "Stepback."

  The men of the _Bertha_ fell back. Their shoulders touched the toothedrim of stone about the pit.

  Randell chuckled. "Perhaps it's just as well we didn't blast off when wewere loaded. There was always a chance you'd found something else ofvalue here."

  He flicked the muzzle of the blaster about. "If you don't mind, we'llinspect this crate in a better light. Back at the _Kastil_."

  Triumph leaped through Scott. "This is piracy," he said, and soundedsincere.

  "Piracy is what is proven," Randell laug
hed. "Do you really think youhave a case in our courts?" He sighed softly. "Now, thank you for thisunexpected pleasure. And good-bye. We'll see each other again on Earth,perhaps."

  Then they were gone and immediately afterward, the _Kastil_, balancingon a white line of flame, leaped away from the asteroid and flashed outpast the stars.

  Scott stared after it, a faint smile touching his lips. About him rangthe triumphant laughter of the crew.

  Someone gripped Scott's shoulder. "Captain Elderburg on the intercom,Mister Scott. I just told him. And--congratulations, sir."

  Scott grinned. Entering the jet, he faced the intercom, said: "It's overnow, Captain."

  "Good work, Mister Scott." Elderburg's voice was unsteady. "How did youdo it?"

  "Pretended to be taking something of value," Scott said. He relaxed backagainst the seat. "I knew Randell couldn't resist making a clean sweepof everything we had. So I gave him the chance."

  Elderburg's laugh filled the cabin. "And when they open the crate...."

  "Good-bye uranium." Pale eyes smiling, Scott waved a knotted fist. "Andnow, sir, we're going to start mining ore. This is our claim now. Andwe'll be blasting out of here in forty hours with the biggest load ofuranium ore Earth ever got its hands on."