The Star Kings

'Durk Undis will go with you with a full crew of trusted men,' Shorr Kan continued.

That was bad news to Gordon. That fanatic young Cloud-man hated him, he knew.

'But if Durk Undis learns that I'm not really Zarth Arn-' he began to object.

'He won't,' Shorr Kan interrupted. 'He'll simply know that he's to take you to your laboratory on earth for a brief time, and that he's to bring you back safely.'

Gordon eyed the Cloud-man. 'It sounds as though he's to be a guard. You don't entirely trust me?'

'What the devil made you think I did?' Shorr Kan retorted cheerfully. 'I trust no man entirely. I do trust to men following their self-interest, and that's why I feel I can rely on you. But just to make sure-Durk Undis and a crew of picked men go with you.'

Again, Gordon chilled to a realization that he was playing his desperate game against a man so shrewd and skilled in intrigue that it seemed almost hopeless he could succeed.

He nodded coolly, however. 'That's fair enough. But I might also say that I don't entirely trust you, Shorr Kan. And for that reason, I don't go on this mission unless Lianna goes with me.'

Shorr Kan looked genuinely surprised for a moment. 'The Fomalhaut girl? Your fiancee?'

Then an ironic smile flickered in his eyes. 'So that's your weak point, Gordon-that girl?'

'I love her and I'm not going to leave her here for you to tamper with,' Gordon asserted sullenly.

Shorr Kan snorted. 'If you knew me better, you'd know that one woman means no more to me than another. Do you think I'd risk my plans for a pretty face? But if you're jealous, you can take her with you.'

He added, 'How are you going to explain it all to her, though? You can't very well tell her the truth about our deal.'

Gordon had thought of that already. He said slowly, 'I'll make up a story that you're going to let us go if I bring you certain valuable scientific secrets from my Earth laboratory.'

Shorr Kan nodded understandingly. 'That will be your best course.'

He added rapidly, 'I'll give orders at once to have our best phantom-cruiser prepared. You ought to be able to start tomorrow night.'

Gordon stood up. 'I'll be glad to get some rest. I feel as though I've been through a grinder.'

Shorr Kan laughed. 'Man, that's nothing to what the brain-scanner would have made of you if it had run longer than a few minutes. What a twist of fate! Instead of a mindless idiot, you're to be nominal emperor of the galaxy!'

He added, his face setting for just a moment to a steely hardness, 'But never forget that your power is only nominal and that it is I who will give the orders '

Gordon met his searching gaze steadily 'I might forget it if I thought I'd gain by that. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't. I'm pretty sure that once I'm ruler, I'll fall if you fall. So you will be able to rely on me-or on my self- interest.'

The Cloud-man chuckled. 'You're right. Didn't I say I always like to deal with intelligent people? We'll get along.'

He pressed a button. When Durk Undis quickly entered the room, he told him:

'Escort Prince Zarth back to his quarters and then return here for orders.'

All the way back through the corridors, Gordon's thoughts were feverish. Relaxation from the intolerable strain of playing his part left him trembling.

So far, his precarious scheme for escape was succeeding. He had gambled on Shorr Kan's ruthless, cynical personality reacting in a certain way, and had won.

But he well knew that this success was only the beginning. Ahead loomed far greater difficulties which he had not yet found the least way of solving.

He'd have to go ahead, even though his scheme was suicidal in riskiness! There was no other way.

When he entered the somber apartment, Lianna sprang from a chair and ran toward him. She grasped his arm.

'Zarth, you're all right?' she cried, her gray eyes shining. 'I was afraid-'

She loved him, still. Gordon knew it from her face, and again he felt that wild, hopeless rapture.

He had to fight his impulse to take her into his arms. Something of what he felt must have showed in his face, for Lianna flushed and stepped back a little.

'Lianna, I'm all right though a little shaky,' Gordon told her, sinking into a chair. 'I had a taste of Cloud science and it wasn't pleasant.'

'They tortured you? They made you tell the Disrupter secret?'

He shook his head. 'I didn't tell that secret. And I'm not going to. I convinced Shorr Kan he couldn't get it from me.'

Gordon went on, telling her as much of the truth as he could. 'I made that devil believe that I would have to go to my Earth laboratory to get that secret for him. And he's sending us to get it. We'll leave in a phantom-cruiser tomorrow night.'

Lianna's eyes flashed. 'You're going to outwit him? You have some plan?'

'I wish I did,' groaned Gordon. 'This is as far as my plan goes. It will get us out of the Cloud, that's all. Then it's up to me. Somehow, I'll have to find a way for us to escape that ship and get a warning of Corbulo's treachery to Jhal Arn.'

He added wearily, 'The only way I can think of is somehow to sabotage the phantom-cruiser so it'll be captured by Empire warships. But how to do that, I don't know. That young fanatic Durk Undis is going with a picked crew to guard us, and it won't be easy.'

Faith and courage shone in Lianna's eyes. 'You'll find a way somehow, Zarth. I know you will.'

Her faith could not overcome the chill realization in Gordon's mind that his hare-brained scheme was almost impossible.

He might be dooming both Lianna and himself by trying it. But they were doomed anyway unless he betrayed the real Zarth Arn and the Empire, and the momentary temptation to do that had left Gordon forever.

He slept heavily, well into the next day. It was dusk when Shorr Kan and Durk Undis finally came.

'Durk Undis has all his orders, and the phantom is ready,' Shorr Kan told Gordon. 'You should get to Earth in five days, and be back here in eleven.'

His face lit. 'Then I'll announce to the galaxy that we have the Disruptor secret and that Zarth Arn has joined us, and will give Corbulo the secret signal and launch the League's attack!'

Two hours later, from the huge Thallarna spaceport, the slim, shining phantom-cruiser on which Gordon and Lianna had embarked rose from its dock and plunged headlong out through the Cloud.

16: Sabotage in Space

When Gordon and Lianna had entered the Dendra, the phantom-cruiser that was to bear them on the mission, they were led to the mid-deck corridor by Durk Undis.

The fanatic young Cloud-man bowed stiffly to them and gestured toward the door of a small suite of two tiny cabins. 'These cabins will be your quarters. You will remain in them until we reach Earth.'

'We will not remain in them!' Gordon flared. 'The princess Lianna is already suffering from the confinement of the voyage here. We'll not stay cooped up in those tiny rooms for days more.'

Durk Undis' lean face hardened. 'The commander gave orders that you were to be strictly guarded.'

'Did Shorr Kan say we were to be imprisoned in two tiny rooms every minute?' Gordon demanded. He saw the slight uncertainty in Durk Undis' face, and pressed his attack. 'Unless we have a chance to get a little exercise, we'll refuse to carry out this whole plan.'

The fanatic Cloud-man hesitated. Gordon had guessed rightly that Durk Undis did not want to go back to his superior and report the mission aborted by such a slight difficulty.

Finally, Durk Undis said grudgingly, 'Very well, you will be permitted to walk in this corridor twice each day. But you will not be allowed in it any other time, or when we're running 'dark.' '