"End to the affair!" shouted Quent. "That's perfect."
The audioceiver behind them crackled into life, and there was a clear, piercing signal, a sign that an emergency transmission was taking over all channels. The signal continued until the clear, strong voice of Commander Walters flooded the control deck of the ship.
"Attention! Attention! This is Commander Walters of the Solar Guard! Attention all Solar Guard units in space quadrants one through seven—repeat, all ships in quadrants one through seven. This is emergency alert for the rocket ship Space Knight, believed to be heading for the asteroid belt. All ships are to institute an immediate search of quadrants one through seven for the Space Knight and arrest any and all persons aboard. Repeat. All ships...."
Ross Miles rose up and snapped off the audioceiver. "Come on. We've got to get out of here!"
"What about them?" asked Quent, pointing to Roger and Tom. "Will we have time to—?"
"Plenty of time," said Ross coldly. "Blast 'em now."
"With pleasure," replied Quent Miles, taking his gun from his holster.
"Jump, Roger!" shouted Tom.
Both boys threw themselves sideways as Miles leveled his gun.
Tom plunged headlong through the hatch door and scrambled down the ladder. Roger tried to follow, but Quent fired as Roger started to jump feet first through the hatch. His body became rigid as he tumbled through the hatch. Tom looked up just in time to break his unit mate's fall, but seeing that it would be useless to stay with him, left him on the deck and turned to flee through the depths of the black ship.