'Sound idea. There is a program here of the mental retardation of a longtime DnDrf sniffer whose chitin is about to go soft.'
'No, I think not, not in a railroad station.'
'Then how about this. A low-type mind working on computations for betting on the daily jeddak races.'
'That's more like it, sort of person who would work here, I imagine. Plug it in.'
They entered an area of wide corridors and great stacks of boxes. Occasionally a flatbed cargo carrier would appear, driven by a Hagg-Loos, but they were so noisy that they announced their arrival, and there was always time to hide. Soon after this they found one of the cargo carriers standing idle, and after a swift look at the controls, they climbed their machine aboard. With a twist of the handles they were off, moving much faster now, part of the busy workings and ignored by all the other workers they passed. Jerry was whistling happily when they spotted a high arched exit ahead with a patch of blue sky shining through.
'This looks like it,' he told Slug-Togath. 'Press the button, and let's get out of here.'
They rumbled forward and were almost free of the station when the ugly form of a Hagg-Loos popped out of an opening in the waIl. A very official-looking monster with cop written all over it, from the golden shield nailed to its chitin in front to the ugly-looking weapon it clutched, and even to the fiat claws on its feet. As the thing trundled in their direction, Jerry flipped a switch that allowed thoughts to enter but not leave.
'You jeddak racing fan moron,' the thought arrived,
'what do you think you are doing driving out of the station with that load of bombs? Can't you read? Now let me see your ID, and get away from those controls before I let you have it.'
It was disaster.
14
BIRTH OF THE GALAXY RANGERS!
Really a disaster for the cop. Jerry was ready at the gun controls, and he swiveled the tail about and pressed the right button, and from the poison sting the supersonic crumbler beam lashed out. The hapless minion of the law instantly crumbled into a heap of white chitin dust, and the cargo carrier rumbled on.
But the alarm was out! Sirens warbled and alarms clanged while the guards converged from all directions.
'We had better leave the cargo carrier here,' SlugTogath shouted, busy at the controls.
'Not just leave it – make them a real present of it!' Jerry yodeled, spinning the wheel that sent the clumsy machine crashing into the doorway.
Great motors hummed in the legs of their robot Hagg-Loos machine as it jumped clear just in time. At full power they sprinted away from the station and the growing excitement at the jammed exit, and just before they turned the corner, Jerry sighted carefully and put a quick zap of the heat ray into the load of bombs.
They blew up nicely indeed, shaking the ground with a mighty thunder and bringing down half the station behind them. Chortling, they fled, strolled rather, so they would not be noticed. Inside the strolling machine Slug- Togath unfolded a map of Haggis City that the spy had sent them and guided them swiftly toward the secret lair of the spy, X-9.
'Careful now,' Jerry cozened, 'we are getting close.'
'I can read a map just as well as you can,' Slug-Togath grumbled.
'That's nice,' Jerry mused. 'Say, do you notice that that manhole lid – the one over there about twelve feet in diameter – is sort of lifted up, and I think I can see two glowing eyes watching us from under it.'
'The police!' Slug-Togath wailed, and his tentacles stumbled over the controls so that their robot danced a little two-step on the pavement.
'Easy does it there, old squid-head,' Jerry consoled.
'Don't get carried away until we find out what it is. Might just be the sewer men at work, you know.' From a loudspeaker on the wall came an impatient hissing.
'The manhole is also hissing,' Jerry observed. 'And it may just be hissing for attention. Let's sidle over in that direction.'
Attempting to look innocent, the twenty-foot-long machine disguised as a great white scorpion foxtrotted sideways until it was close to the manhole. The glowing eyes followed them, and when they were close a hoarse voice whispered, 'One, two, three, four, five. . . .'
'The password!' Slug-Togath shouted, then switched on an external loudspeaker. 'Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,' he said into it.
'What kind of cockamamie password is that?' Jerry asked, aggrieved. 'A five-year-old could figure that one out.'
'It's what they call native psychology.' The manhole lifted higher, and a white claw beckoned them forward. After a quick look around to make sure they weren't being watched, the machine shot forward and down the giant manhole. 'The Hagg-Loos have such short tempers that they can't count past four without getting so irritated they stop. In this manner do we know that the great beast lurking here is none other than the Hagg-Inder spy who goes by the name of X-9.'
'Hiya, X-9,' Jerry said into the microphone.
'You took your own sweet time about getting here,' X-9 grumbled. 'I been lurking in this damn sewer so long that I'm covered with fungus.'
'Hazard of the game,' Jerry said offhandedly, ignoring the other's bitter tongue. 'We came as soon as we could after you stopped answering the radio on the secret wavelength. What happened?'
'They caught me cracking into the secret laboratory and became suspicious. I talked them out of it for a while; after all, I am head of intelligence on this filthy planet. But I couldn't convince the Lortonoi of my innocence, they were too shrewd for that, and when they wanted to subject me to their infamous mind-vacuum technique, I fled and have been hiding out here ever since waiting for you.'
'But you know the location of the secret laboratory!' Slug-Togath exulted.
'That I do.'
'Would someone let me in onto what's going on?' Jerry muttered petulantly.
'Chuckee hungry,' a new voice said as Chuck woke up with a wide yawn.
'Here is what has happened since you were sold into slavery,' Slug-Togath explained, counting off the different points on his tentacle tips. 'First, experiments showed that the new cheddite was far stronger than the original piece, perhaps owing to the presence of certain gastric acids of your female companion. More experiments are planned to determine validity of this, although female companion presents great resistance to sample takers. Suffice for the moment that not only has the cheddite projector been aligned to project the Pleasantville Eagle, within which it is installed, to a precise and distant spot, but it can take with the Eagle at least one hundred other ships.'
'Chuckee thirstee,' the almost brainless hulk muttered and struggled against the strap that held it to the chair. Jerry gave it a couple of inches of straight rye in a glass which soothed it somewhat.
'So the massive attack is planned and ready,' SlugTogath continued, 'but could not begin until the precise location of secret laboratory was known. Since the first attack must blast straight to the lab and stop any attempt to escape with the cheddite projector there, nothing could be done until that information was obtained. Which, if you will pardon my saying so, X-9, is the purpose of our presence here and if you have the coordinates for the secret laboratory they would be greatly appreciated.'
'83556.98 by 23976.23,' the master spy instantly replied.
Slug-Togath wasted no time. He flipped the switches that hurled power into the ultlra-radio with the secret wavelength and, with a certain smugness in his voice said,
'Slug-Togath reporting from Hagg-Loos. The coordinates of the secret laboratory are 83556.98 by 2396.23. Do you read me?'
They read him all right, for the results of his message were dramatic to say the least. The instant he had stopped speaking the sky above became black with Hagg-Inder battle cruisers, one hundred of them, instantly transported there across the gulf of space by the power of the cheddite projector. As soon as they had appeared,
