The Star Kings

Verlin and Gordon plunged into a big, crowded stereo-room whose tubes and motor-generators were humming. Two bewildered-looking technicians were at the control panel.

Chan Corbulo, an atom-pistol gripped in his hand, stood on the transmitter-plate speaking loudly and rapidly.

'I command all nearby battleships to send boarding parties aboard the Ethne at once to restore order! You will arrest-'

Corbulo, from the tail of his eye, saw the two men burst into the room. He swung swiftly around and triggered his pistol.

The pellet that flew from it was aimed at Gordon. But Verlin, plunging ahead, took it full in his breast.

Gordon tripped headlong over the falling body of the young Earthman. That stumble made Corbulo's quick second shot flick just over Gordon's head.

As he fell, Gordon had hurled himself forward. He tackled Corbulo's knees and brought him crashing to the floor.

The two technicians ran forward and hauled Gordon off the Commander. But their grip on him relaxed when they glimpsed his face.

'Good God, it's Prince Zarth Arn!' one of them cried.

Instinctive respect for the ruling house of the Empire confused the two men. Gordon wrenched free from them and grabbed for the pistol in Verlin's holster.

Corbulo had regained his feet, on the other side of the room. He was again raising his weapon.

'You'll never go to Throon!' he roared. 'By-'

Gordon shot, from where he crouched on the floor. The atomic pellet, loosed more by guess than by aim, hit Corbulo's neck and exploded. It flung him backwards as though a giant hand had hit him.

Val Marlann and Hull Burrel came bursting into the stereo-room with other officers. The whole great ship seemed suddenly quiet.

Marlann bent over Corbulo's blasted body. 'Dead!'

Hull Burrell, panting, his face flaming, told Gordon grimly, 'We've killed our Commander. God help us if your story is not true, Prince Zarth!'

'It's true-and Corbulo was only one of a score of traitors in Shorr Kan's hire,' Gordon husked, shaken with reaction. 'I'll prove it all at Throon.'

The image of a dark, towering Centaurian battleship captain suddenly appeared on the receiver-plate of the stereo.

'Vice-Commander Ron Giron calling from the Shaar! What the devil is going on aboard the Ethne? We're coming alongside to board you as Commander Corbulo ordered.'

'No one will board this ship!' Val Marlann answered swiftly. 'We're going at once to Throon.'

'What does this mean?' roared the vice-commander. 'Let me speak to Commander Corbulo himself!'

'You can't-he's dead,' clipped Hull Burrel. 'He was betraying the fleet to the Cloud. At Throon, we'll prove that.'

'It is mutiny, then?' cried Ron Giron. 'You'll stand by for boarding parties and consider yourselves under arrest, or we'll open fire!'

'If you fire on the Ethne, you'll destroy the Empire's only chance to foil Shorr Kan's plot!' cried Val Marlann. 'We've staked our lives on the truth of what Prince Zarth Arn has told us, and we're taking him to Throon.'

John Gordon himself stepped forward to make an appeal to the glaring vice-commander.

'Commander Giron, they're telling you the truth! Give us this chance to save the Empire from disaster!'

Giron hesitated. 'This is all insane! Corbulo dead and accused of treachery, Zarth Arn returned-'

He seemed to reach decision. 'It's beyond me but they can sift it at Throon. To make sure that you go there, four battleships will escort the Ethne. They'll have orders to blast you if you try to go anywhere but Throon!'

'That's all we ask!' Gordon cried. 'One more word of warning! A League attack may come at any time now. I know it is coming, and soon.'

Commander Giron's towering figure stiffened. 'The devil you say! But we've already taken all possible dispositions. I'll call the Emperor and report all this to him.'

The image disappeared. Through the portholes, they saw four big battleships move up and take positions on either side of the Ethne.

'We start for Throon at once,' Val Marlann said swiftly. 'I'll give the orders.'

As the officer hurried out, and annunciators and bells started buzzing through the ship, Gordon asked a question.

'Am I to consider myself still a prisoner?'

'Blazes, no!' Hull Burrel exclaimed. 'If you've told us the truth, there's no reason to keep you a prisoner. If you haven't told the truth, then we're due for court-martial and execution anyway!'

Gordon found Lianna in the corridor, hurrying in search of him. He told her rapidly what had happened.

'Corbulo dead? One great danger removed!' she exclaimed. 'But Zarth, now our lives and the Empire's fate depend on whether we can prove to your brother that our story is true!'

At that moment the mighty Ethne began to move ponderously through the void, as its great turbines roared loud.

In a few minutes, the big battleship and its four grim escorts were hurtling headlong across the starry spaces toward Throon.

22: Galactic Crisis

Huge, glaring white Canopus flared in the star-sown heavens in blinding splendor, as the five great battleships rushed toward it at rapidly decreasing speed.

Once again, John Gordon looked from a ship's bridge at the glorious capital sun of the Empire and its green, lovely world. But how much had happened since first he had come to Throon!

'We dock at Throon City in two hours,' Hull Burrel was saying. And he added grimly, 'There'll be a reception committee waiting for us. Your brother has been advised of our coming.'

'All I ask is a chance to prove my story to Jhal,' declared Gordon, 'I'm sure I can convince him.'

But, inwardly, he had a sickening feeling that he was not entirely sure. It all depended on one man, and on whether Gordon had correctly judged that man's reactions.

All the hours and days of the headlong homeward flight across the Empire, Gordon had been tortured by that haunting doubt. He had slept but little, had scarcely eaten, consumed by growing tension.

He must convince Jhal Arn! Once that was done, once the last traitor was rooted out, then the Empire would be ready to meet the Cloud's attack. His, John Gordon's, duty would be fulfilled and he could return to Earth for his re-exchange of bodies with the real Zarth Arn. And the real Zarth could come back to help defend the Empire.

But Gordon felt an agony of spirit every time he thought of that re-exchange of bodies. For on that day when he returned to his own time, he would be leaving Lianna forever.

Lianna came into the wide bridge as he thought of her. She stood beside him with her slim fingers clasping his hand encouragingly as they looked ahead.

'Your brother will believe you, Zarth-I know he will.'

'Not without proof,' Gordon muttered. 'And only one man can prove my story. Everything hinges on whether or not he has heard of Corbulo's death and my return, and has fled.'

That tormenting uncertainty deepened in him as the five big battleships swung down toward Throon City.

It was night in the capital. Under the light of two hurtling moons glimmered the fairylike glass mountains and the silver sea. The shimmering towers of the city rose boldly in the soft glow, a pattern of lacy light.