They rapidly inspected their prison. But Thorn found that there was no chance whatever of escape from it.
The building was wholly constructed of inertrum, most intractable of metals. The two tiny, barred windows were mere loopholes, and the wave-lock of the door could only be operated by the secret frequencies of its wave-key applied from the outside.
"There's no getting out of here," grunted Gunner Welk. “Damn that fat Jenk Cheerly! It was he who suspected you were up to something, John, and followed you with Kinnel King—"
"Either Cheerly or Brun Abo must be the League spy here!” Sual Av declared tensely. “And it looks to me as though Cheerly is the man. He only joined the pirates recently, and it was he who tipped them off about the Jovian freighters, the League trap that, nearly succeeded in capturing Lana."
"What the devil are we going to do?” demanded the big Mercurian. “We can't break out of this place and we're due to be blasted at dawn."
"There's only one chance left us,” Thorn rapped. “When they take us out in the morning, we'll make a break and try to seize Lana. I don't think the pirates would take a chance of hurting her by firing at us then. We might get away with her."
Gunner Welk's rumbling voice came slowly, “But the girl might get hurt in the fight, John. I thought you were sort of in love with her."
"Yes,” added Sual Av. “and it looked to me as though she was beginning to feel the same way about you."
"Are you two space-struck to say such things?” Thorn demanded fiercely. “Me, in love with that wild pirate girl?"
Then his voice wavered a little. “Even if I did love her, I'd have to forget it. For we have to get that secret out of her somehow, if the Alliance is to have a chance. That is bigger and more important than everybody in the entire zone."