"I'm afraid they won't, lass,” Stilicho said apprehensively. “To the Companions, the war between the League and the Alliance doesn't mean anything."
"I think I can get them to follow me,” Lana insisted with desperate determination. “It's the last chance for the Alliance, John!"
"We'll take it!” Thorn cried. “Quick, get the radite into the Venture! Every minute counts now!"
With urgent haste, the precious radite was transferred to the pirate ship. Also the few dazed survivors in the Saturnian cruiser were brought along as prisoners by Thorn and his party. In a few moments it had been done, and Thorn ordered Stilicho to start.
"Top speed toward the Zone, Stilicho!” he cried. “Everything may depend on how soon we reach Turkoon."
Like a shooting star, the Venture swept sunward as it again built up to phenomenal speed. For hour after hour it raced toward the Zone, while the Planeteers and Lana took turns relieving the old pirate at the controls.
Thorn's state of mind was chaotic, hope alternating with despair. The knowledge that the long-menaced attack of the League had finally been launched, that the Alliance navies were desperately retreating from the overpowering armada of the outer planets, was a goading agony.
Stilicho was again at the firing-keys when the Venture at last swept into the Zone. Speed had necessarily been reduced, and Thorn chafed at the delay as the old pirate navigated through the wilderness of great meteor-swarms and planetoids.
Then Turkoon appeared, a pale green speck in the distance, largening rapidly. Down through the atmosphere of the pirate asteroid swept the ship, toward the field of parked ships that adjoined the straggling metal patch of Turkoon Town.
When they landed, Lana and the old pirate and the Planeteers were first outside the Venture. A crowd of hundreds of pirates and their women was approaching hastily from the town.