The World with a Thousand Moons, Page 2

from here out to Jupiter's moons."

  Kenniston perceived that these bored, spoiled youngsters were out herehunting for new thrills on the interplanetary frontier. His dislike ofthem increased.

  A clean-cut, sober-faced young man who seemed older and more seriousthan the rest of the party, was speaking to the heiress.

  "Unhardened space-travellers like us are likely to get hit bygravitation paralysis out in the outer planets, Gloria," he was sayingto the heiress. "I don't think we ought to go farther out than Mars."

  Gloria looked at him mockingly. "If you're scared, Hugh, why did youleave your nice safe office on Earth and come along with us?"

  The chubby youth called Robbie laughed loudly. "We all know why HughMurdock came along. It's not thrills he wants--it's you, Gloria."

  They were all ignoring Kenniston now. He felt that he had beendismissed but he was desperately reluctant to lose his last hope ofgetting a ship. Somehow he _must_ get that cruiser!

  A stratagem occurred to him. If these spoiled scions wouldn't give uptheir ship, at least he might induce them to go where he wanted.

  Kenniston hesitated. It would mean leading them all into the deadliestkind of peril. But a man's life depended on it. A man who was worthall these rich young wastrels put together. He decided to try it.

  "Miss Loring, if it's thrills you're after, maybe I can furnish them,"Kenniston said. "Maybe we can team up on this. How would you like togo on a voyage after the biggest treasure in the System?"

  "Treasure?" exclaimed the heiress surprisedly. "Where is it?"

  They were all leaning forward, with quick interest. Kenniston saw thathis bait had caught them.

  "You've heard of John Dark, the notorious space-pirate?" he asked.

  Gloria nodded. "Of course. The telenews was full of his exploits untilthe Patrol caught and destroyed his ship a few weeks ago."

  Kenniston corrected her. "The Patrol caught up to John Dark's ship inthe asteroid, but didn't completely destroy it. They gunned the piratecraft to a wreck in a running fight. But Dark's wrecked ship driftedinto a dangerous zone of meteor swarms where they couldn't follow."

  "I remember now--that's what the telenews said," conceded the heiress."But Dark and his crew were undoubtedly killed, they said."

  "John Dark," Kenniston went on, "looted scores of ships during hiscareer. He amassed a hoard of jewels and precious metals. And he keptit right with him in his ship. That treasure's still in that lostwreck."

  "How do you know?" asked Hugh Murdock bluntly.

  "Because I found the lost wreck of Dark's ship myself," Kennistonanswered. He hated to lie like this, but knew that he had no choice.

  * * * * *

  He plunged on. "I'm a meteor-miner by profession. Two weeks ago myJovian partner and I were prospecting in the outer asteroid zone inour little rocket. Our air-tanks got low and to replenish them, welanded on the asteroid Vesta. That's the big asteroid they call theWorld with a Thousand Moons, because it's circled by a swarm ofhundreds of meteors.

  "It's a weird, jungled little world, inhabited by some very queerforms of life. In landing, my partner and I noticed where some greatobject had crashed down into the jungle. We discovered it was thewreck of John Dark's ship. The wreck had drifted until it crashed onVesta, almost completely burying itself in the ground. No one wasalive on it, of course."

  Kenniston concluded. "We knew Dark's treasure must still be in theburied wreck. But it would take machinery and equipment to dig out thewreck. So we came here to Mars, intending to get a small cruiser, loadit with the necessary equipment, and go back to Vesta and lift thetreasure. Only we haven't been able to get a ship of any kind."

  He leaned toward the girl. "Here's my proposition, Miss Loring. Youtake us and our equipment to Vesta in your cruiser, and we'll sharethe treasure with you fifty-fifty. What do you say?"

  The blonde girl beside Gloria uttered a squeal of excitement. "Piratetreasure! Gloria, let's do it--what a thrill it would be!"

  The others showed equal excitement. The romance of a treasure hunt inthe wild asteroids lured them, rather than the possible rewards.

  "We'd certainly be able to take back a wonderful story to Earth if wefound John Dark's treasure," admitted Gloria, with quick, eagerinterest.

  Hugh Murdock was an exception to the general enthusiasm. He askedKenniston, "How do you know the treasure's still in the buried wreck?"

  "Because the wreck was still undisturbed," Kenniston answered. "Andbecause we found these jewels on the body of one of John Dark's crew,who had been flung clear somehow when the wreck crashed."

  He held out a half-dozen gems he took from his pocket. They wereSaturnian moon-stones, softly shining white jewels whose brilliancewaxed and waned in perfect periodic rhythm.

  "These jewels," Kenniston said, "must have been that pirate's share ofthe loot. You can imagine how rich John Dark's own hoard must be."

  The jewels, worth many thousands, swept away the lingering incredulityof the others as Kenniston had known they would.

  "You're sure no one else knows the wreck is there?" Gloria askedbreathlessly.

  "We kept our find absolutely secret," Kenniston told her. "But since Ican't get a ship any other way, I'm willing to share the hoard withyou. If I wait too long, someone else may find the wreck."

  "I accept your proposition, Mr. Kenniston!" Gloria declared. "We'llstart for Vesta just as soon as you can get the equipment you'll needloaded on the _Sunsprite_."

  "Gloria, you're being too hasty," protested Hugh Murdock. "I've heardof this world with a Thousand Moons. There're stories of queer,unhuman creatures they call Vestans, who infest that asteroid. Thedanger--"

  Gloria impatiently dismissed his objections. "Hugh, if you are goingto start worrying about dangers again, you'd better go back to Earthand safety."

  Murdock flushed and was silent. Kenniston felt a certain sympathy forthe young businessman. He knew, if these others did not, just how realwas the alien menace of those strange creatures, the Vestans.

  "I'll go right down to the spaceport and see about loading theequipment aboard your cruiser," Kenniston told the heiress. "You'dbetter give me a note to your captain. We ought to be able to starttomorrow."

  "Pirate treasure on an unexplored asteroid!" exulted the enthusiasticRobbie. "Ho for the World with a Thousand Moons!"

  Kenniston felt guilty when he and Holk Or left the big hotel. Theseyoungsters, he thought, hadn't the faintest idea of the peril intowhich he was leading them. They were as ignorant as babies of the darkevil and unearthly danger of the interplanetary frontier.

  He hardened himself against the qualms of conscience. There was thatat stake, he told himself fiercely, against which the safety of a lotof spoiled, rich young people was absolutely nothing.

  Holk Or was chuckling as they emerged into the chill Martian night. Hetold Kenniston admiringly, "That was one of the smoothest jobs oflying I ever heard, that story about finding John Dark's treasure.Take it from me, it was slick!"

  The Jovian guffawed loudly as he added, "What would their faces belike if they knew that John Dark and his crew are still living? Thatit was John Dark himself who sent us here?"

  "Be quiet, you idiot!" ordered Kenniston hastily. "Do you want thewhole Patrol to hear you?"

  CHAPTER II

  Discovered

  The _Sunsprite_ throbbed steadily through the vast, dangerouswilderness of the asteroidal zone. To the eye, the cruiser moved in ablack void starred by creeping crumbs of light. In reality thosebright, crawling specks were booming asteroids or whirlingmeteor-swarms rushing in complicated, unchartable orbits andconstantly threatening destruction.

  For three days now, the cruiser had cautiously groped deeper into thismost perilous region of the System. Now a bright, tiny disk of whitelight was shining far ahead like a beckoning beacon. It was theasteroid Vesta--their goal.

  Kenniston, leaning against the glassite deck-wall, somberly eyed thedistant asteroid.

  "We'll rea
ch it by tomorrow," he thought. "Then what? I suppose JohnDark will hold these rich youngsters for ransom."

  Kenniston knew that the pirate leader would instantly see the chanceof extorting vast sums by holding this group of wealthy young peopleas captives.

  "I wish to God I hadn't had to bring them into this," Kennistonsweated. "But what else could I do? It was the only way I could getback to Vesta with the materials."

  His mind was going back over the disastrous events since the day threeweeks before, when the Patrol had caught up to