Mrs. Milsom, her dumpy figure shivering and her teeth chattering with terror, pointed a finger at Kenniston and the Jovian.
"They're two of the pirates!" she shrilled. "They might have murdered us all in our beds! I knew this would happen when we left Earth—"
Kenniston's mind was seething with despair as he stood there with hands upraised. His whole desperate plan was ruined at this last moment.
He wouldn't let it be ruined! He would get this cargo of machines and materials to John Dark if it meant his life!
"Turn back at once toward Mars, captain," Gloria was saying quietly to the stunned officer. Her face was still very pale.
Kenniston, standing tense, had had an idea. A desperate chance to make a break, in the face of Murdock's atom-gun.
The captain had said that he had just ordered the pilot to slow down the Sunsprite. In a moment would come the shock of the braking rocket-tubes firing from the bows—
That shock came an instant after the wild expedient flashed across Kenniston's mind. It was only a jarring vibration through the fabric of the ship, for the pilot knew his business.
It staggered them all on their feet, for just a moment. But Kenniston had been waiting for that moment. As Hugh Murdock moved his gun-arm involuntarily to balance himself, Kenniston lunged forward.
"The bridge, Holk!" he yelled as he hurled himself.