“Everyone else get busy,” called Zip. They ran back through the airlock to the hangar. The others were already aboard their escape craft. Zip piloted it through the airlock and kept the ship close to the surface of the asteroid. The airlock closed behind them. In the meantime Joe had caused the damaged ship to drift back down toward the asteroid out of radar range. He and Zip brought the two ships together and made a link. Joe left the broken ship and joined the others.
“Ready, Zip” he announced, once he was aboard. Zip put the slightest possible power into the escape ship, then turned the power off. Both ships began to drift away from the asteroid, so slowly as to be almost unnoticeable. Zip was hoping that when the pirates saw the blip on their radar, they would conclude it was the derelict and pay no attention. He was ready to drift for as long as it took to escape the notice of the pirates before turning on the power and setting a course for freedom. But now that the asteroid was not in the Belt any longer, he knew that they would have to drift for much longer than he had anticipated.
They were free. But the tension was thick. It would not dissipate for a long time.
Forty-two hours later, Marshal and Averette North witnessed the impact of an asteroid that turned their atmosphere plant into rubble. Within an hour of the impact, Lurton Zimbardo opened a channel that allowed him to speak through nearly every communication system on Mars. Gene had previously discovered a method for entering and using all communication bands on Mars except those that were most closely guarded. He had surreptitiously placed automatic signal points into the Martian system without activating them until this moment. Now that the moment had arrived, the voice of the pirate leader was heard throughout Mars.
“This is Lurton Zimbardo. The atmosphere plant at New Emmaus has just been destroyed by an asteroid impact. You were not able to detect the asteroid by radar. It struck without warning. This is to prove that I am able to render asteroids invisible and send them wherever I wish. You cannot see them and you cannot stop them. Within a day the four remaining atmosphere plants on Mars will be similarly destroyed. This will convince you that I have more power than you can imagine, and that you are helpless to oppose me. After the last asteroid has struck your planet, I will announce my demands.”
Lurton Zimbardo shut off the microphone in the control center of the asteroid. A crowd of at least forty men jammed the center where Zimbardo sat at the console. The rest of the pirates were standing in the factory or at their assigned work places in the facility. All had heard the broadcast. A feeling of immense power and invulnerability surged through them. A few men began to cheer, and within seconds the enthusiasm had infected the rest of the pirates and the cheer became a roar. It rang throughout the control center and along the corridors, and filled the factory. Zimbardo’s smile was wide. He looked down almost modestly, as if he were reluctant to accept the men’s accolades.
When the cheers had died down at last, Zimbardo said simply but so that all could hear, “And now for the last step in the plan.” The room was quiet. He took out a set of notes from his pocket. The paper was marked with scrawls, lines, and columns of figures. His eyes flicked rapidly from the notes to the controls. His fingers began to fly over the keyboard. He punched in coordinates and set the power grid. He marked the timing of various operations.
Gene, Zimbardo’s closest associate, was watching. Gradually his smile narrowed. His eyebrows creased. Then his eyes widened and his face drained.
“Sir!” he exclaimed in a quiet voice. “Those are the coordinates of Earth! If you use those, you’ll take this whole asteroid directly to Earth!”
“Exactly,” nodded Zimbardo. “In about 32 days, as I figure it.” He was smiling widely again as he pressed “Enter” and activated the asteroid’s propulsion system.