in that direction, trying to see what was going on at the ship. But there was nothing to see that made sense.
Approximately fifty guards stood at the far side of the ship, with drawn guns. They were watching something eagerly, but Bob couldn’t see what.
The tree lay ahead then, and he slipped under it, and moved forward to draw back the branches for a view of the clearing.
Simon Jakes was already there, a wide grin on his face. In one hand, he held a long piece of string stretched out tightly and running back into the Icarius. With the other, he was busy taking a cover off one of the little tractor-beam installations that were holding the Icarius locked to the concrete base on which it sat. The cover came off, and he probed about expertly inside.
For a moment, his face tensed, as if something had to be done very carefully. Then he relaxed again, and tossed the tractor-beam gadget back easily.
“The right combination or it explodes—and just the right spots,” Juan breathed in Bob’s ear.
“He explained it to me once when I was to escape with him. It locks itself, one place to the ship, one place deep in the earth, until it is released. But what is he doing with the string?”
Bob could guess, but there was no need for it. Simon stood up and faced toward the crowd of guards.
“All right, you,” he called out. “Get over there fifty feet to the left. And you’d better make sure you keep any new arrivals from getting ideas. Hey, new arrivals!”
He was in his glory, the obvious hero, in complete control of the crowd against him, and on his way to perform what he thought were great deeds. The amazing fact was that somehow he now did manage to seem like a dominating, forceful man, in spite of his appearance.
Waiting until he was sure of enough attention, he pointed to the string. “You see this, all of you. Well, if you don’t already know it, this is all that’s keeping a switch inside that ship from closing. And when that switch closes, your president’s son is going to get five thousand volts right out of the engines through him. He’s in there. Don’t worry about that. He’s all tied up, but he’s perfectly safe—just as long as I keep this line good and tight.”
They obviously believed him, or were afraid to take any chances that he might be right. And they had already decided that Emo couldn’t be hurt without letting go of the string.
The crowd had already moved toward the new spot Jakes had selected. Some of the guards were moving about at the far edge, talking to others who were just arriving. And Bob saw more of them keeping a careful eye on all approaching cars, to make sure that no guard acted before he found the facts.
Jakes moved over to another of the tractor-beam devices, and waited until the watching guards were quiet Then he began working on the mechanism.
Juan clutched Bob’s arm. “What can we do? You know him better than I do.”
Bob shook his head. He’d known Simon as well as anyone had known him. But the boy was never easy to understand. And Bob had no idea whether Jakes would trust him now or not.
He’d been suspicious enough not to tell everything about his plans. And his experience with Juan, on whom he’d counted, had probably made him more suspicious.
Bob was still waiting for a break, hoping he’d have enough sense to recognize it when it came.
This time, Simon stopped in the middle of the operation to rest. Whatever he did to the gadgets must have required a cool nerve.
“How would he know what combinations these were set for?” Bob asked Juan.
“Thule made them all the same, I guess,” Juan answered. “Or so Simon guessed. He thought that the explosion was from a sudden, uncontrolled release of the energy of the beam—that it was not Intended to keep people from releasing the locks or examining the machine. They were not meant for war, really.”
Now Simon bent over and probed again. His face broke into a grin of satisfaction, and he picked up the device.
“All right,” he called out. “Now all of you keep back—well back. I’m going home.”
Winding the string up carefully as he went, he moved toward the lock of the Icarius. There, he opened the outer seal, placed the tractor-beam device Inside.
It had to be now or never, Bob decided. He broke out from under the tree and leaped toward the little ship. “Simon, wait!”
But either Jakes hadn’t heard him, or wasn’t interested. The little lock began closing before Bob was halfway there, and it snapped shut with a definite click, just as he reached it.
The guards who had been at the presidential chambers obviously considered it better to get in some action, and they also recognized Bob as someone they were to stop. With Simon inside the ship, it was time for them to do something.
The first bullet missed by several feet, but the second one was closer.
CHAPTER 19
Flight to Nowhere
BOB HIT THE LITTLE LOCK BUTTON with his fist, hoping that Jakes hadn’t yet had tune to seal it from inside. Then, just as Juan pounded up behind, it snapped open.
He leaped inside, with Juan at his heels, amazed at the poor marksmanship of the guards, which he didn’t want to test further, though, for bullets were still flying. His finger found the button that controlled the locks from inside, and they snapped closed behind him.
“Bob!” Jakes’s voice sounded happy. “Hey, doggone it, I was wishing you could have been here.”
He was already settling into the control seat, but now he relaxed a trifle. “Neat, the way I fooled those Thulians! Had a piece of string tied to the seat, and they thought I had it fixed to kill Emo. You should…”
For the first tune, he seemed to see Juan, and his face hardened. “What are you doing here?”
“He came to me, and I got him to come along,” Bob said quickly.
Simon nodded uncertainly. “Well… we’ll talk about that later. Grab seats, because here we go!”
He didn’t wait, but hit the throttle at once. Bob felt the acceleration begin to build up, and staggered to one of the seats, while Juan found another. Then Jakes moved over to full high-drive, and they were lifting from Thule.
And behind them almost at once would come the ships from Thule. The war was on, as of this minute.
“What happened to Emo?” Bob managed to ask.
“Back of you, in the fourth seat. I had him tied in while I freed the Icarius. Hey Emo, how you doing?” Jakes’s voice sounded completely confident now.
From in back of Bob, a high voice piped up. “I’m all right, but you’d better take me back, you had! When my father catches you, you’re going to be sorry!”
“You’ll like the Federation men, Emo,” Simon told him. Then bitterness crept into his voice.
“Did Juan tell you, Bob, that he tried to stop me? He actually started throwing his fists around, when he heard my plan. You’d think he’d sold out to the enemy!”
“He was right, Simon,” Bob told him. “You had no business in starting this. I told you about Emo’s position back there.”
“Sure. That’s why I took him. They can’t touch us now, and they won’t dare let us get in any trouble with that network of bombs and warnings they have.”
Juan sighed softly. “Maybe you were right, Simon. But I was afraid. That is why I wanted to stop you until I could see Bob.”
Simon cut the drive suddenly until the pressure on ‘ them was only a little more than the gravity of Earth. “Don’t know why I’m in such a hurry,” he told them. “We’re safe enough with Emo aboard. Hey, you know, you’re right, Juan. I guess I forgot about Bob. When I found those Thulians had switched papers on me, all I could think of was to get out of there fast. I guess maybe I was a bit too hasty. Okay, Juan, I’ll forget it if you will.”
“It is already forgotten,” Juan said. “But what shall we now do with Emo? We cannot bring war about, Simon. And as Bob has said, to keep him from his family of Thule means war.”
“We’ll keep him, all right. Maybe they switched papers on me, but I can remember what the originals said. I sure proved that when I got the old Icarius free, didn’t I? Anyhow, we always knew it had to be war. This just
