As the sun sank below the trees, the Grand Dragon offered to fly Jeff and Fargo to her palace where they might spend the night. It seemed to the appalled Jeff that Fargo might actually accept the invitation, and he said, "I think we had better stay in the Hopeful, in case our small robot returns."
Fargo, looking guilty for a moment, agreed.
But Norby did not return: The night was very dark because Jamya had no satellite and seemed to be in a section of space rich in cosmic dust that dimmed most of the stars that might have been visible in the sky.
"Fargo," Jeff said, as he lay in the top bunk of their cabin. "I'm so worried I can't sleep:'
Only snores answered him. Fargo could sleep through anything.
Jeff stared gloomily at the darkness above with increasingly dire visions passing through his mind, when he heard Oola's paws plunk against the floor and pad down the corridor to the control room. Apparently, she had leaped down from Fargo's stomach, where she had been curled up when the lights were put out.
Jeff slid over the edge of his bunk, dropped quietly to the cabin floor, and followed her.
"What is it, girl?" he said, scratching her behind the ears. She must have changed into a cattish phase now, for her eyes shone in the dim lights from the control panels.
Crash! A falling object struck the Captain's chair, bounced to the floor, and rolled.
Jeff put on the room light. Out of the falling object, half a head popped up and large eyes peered from under a metal derby hat.
"Norby!" Jeff cried out in sheer joy. The pleasantest sight in the world, it seemed to him, was the little robot appearing out of nowhere, even if he failed to make a good landing. What other robot would be as clumsy as delightful, wonderful, mixed-up Norby?
Norby said, "Sorry, Jeff. I was so upset I forgot to turn on my antigrav when I reappeared from hyperspace. Didn't you get my telepathic message warning you I was trying to get back?"
"No, but I think Oola did."
"That's very annoying," said Norby. "We're going to have to work on your long-distance telepathy…but that's for later. Right now, you've got to wake up Fargo, and both of you had better help me take the Hopeful back to the Terran solar system. After we refueled in hyperspace, the Mentor First and I tuned into the Others' supply ship and found it on an asteroid, but so have the pirates. I came back here to get help."
"What about Mentor First?"
"He's holding off the pirates, and I don't know how long he can do that, so we'd better get to him fast."
"Did I hear you say pirates?" asked Fargo from the doorway.
"I'll say it again. Pirates! Pirates!" yelled Norby. "Let's get going." He grabbed both brothers and all three ran to the computer.
The Hopeful emerged in normal space next to the asteroid.
"Wow-from Jamya slam-bang through hyperspace to my own solar system! And right on target, Norby," said Fargo softly.
"Have you stopped being mixed up?" asked Jeff.
"I'm tuned to Mentor First. Getting us here was easy. Do you have any suggestions as to how to cope with those pirates who are trying to steal the Jamya's supply ship? Look at the size of it!"
Following Norby's pointing finger, Jeff watched the viewscreen intently while Fargo was whispering rapidly to the little robot.
Another ship, tiny by comparison, but larger than the Hopeful was anchored to the small asteroid. Jeff could dimly see the huge outline of a strange wreck on the asteroid, partially hidden by its irregularities. On the asteroid, Mentor First was confronting three men in spacesuits who were holding weapons.
"But are they pirates?" asked Jeff, doubtful. "They could be Federation police."
"No chance," said Fargo. "Those are known pirates; I recognize their ship. They're renegades from the Inventors Union. Up and at 'em."
"With what?" asked Jeff. "The Hopeful doesn't carry weapons."
"You're not up-to-date, little brother. Admiral Yobo insisted that once I became one of Space Command's secret agents, my ship would have to be armed. You and I will go out in suits and distract the pirates, and Norby will plug into system G6YY of the computer. The computer will tell you what to do, Norby."
Norby was plugging in. "Right, Fargo. Are you sure you also want me to notify…"
"Yes, those are my orders. I'm certain," said Fargo hastily, pulling Jeff to the airlock and throwing him a space suit from the three hanging there.
"Fortunately, we don't need antigrav in open space-or on an asteroid either," he added, readying the jet propulsion system of the suit. He and Jeff stepped into the airlock.
"I wish you'd tell me what we're planning to do," said Jeff in exasperation, over the suit's intercom.
"Just follow me."
Jeff followed, landing between the Mentor and the three pirates.
"Howdy," said Fargo. "How about cutting me in on the spoils, boys? If you've found anything, that is."
The pirates were clearly startled at the sudden and unexpected voice in their radio receivers. Apparently they had not been aware of a ship materializing silently out of hyperspace and into their vicinity.
One of the pirate guns turned on Fargo and Jeff, with the clumsiness that attended all movements in open space.
"Who are you?" demanded the pirate.
"Fargo Wells, descended from an ancestor who was tarred and feathered in North Dakota, American sector of the Terran Federation. My buddy here and I are interested in what you found. An old robot?"
"That robot's alive, mister," said the pirate leader, "and it's dangerous. If you want anything out of us besides destruction, you'd better get ready to help us. That thing is holding some gadget that repels our force guns and produces a nasty shock when you get near enough. If you two do something useful, maybe you'll get something in exchange."
Fargo said, "Sounds good, if you can really get something out of an old robot. Is that all you've got here?"
"The wreck of an alien ship, too, that the Inventors Union might pay a lot for."
"Why should they? Is there anything on the ship?"
"That's what we aim to find out, and we don't figure on delaying things with talk. Are you going to help us or do we poke holes in your suits and let out all that nice air?"
"As it happens," said Fargo, "we're attached to our air. My buddy here is a robotics expert, so let him approach that monster."
The three pirates touched fingers and conferred in sound, the waves being carried by the material of the suits. The first pirate, clearly the leader, switched back to radio.
"You have one chance," he said. "If you can handle the robot, fine! If not, say good-bye to each other real fast, because we're not going to wait for you to say your prayers."
Jeff used rocket microsurges to bring himself down to the asteroid surface and approached Mentor First in the slow, swaying steps enforced by a nearly gravitationless world. He touched Mentor First and said, telepathically and in Jamyn, -Hold on, First, Fargo and I have come to…
— I recognized your ship, said Mentor First telepathically. I am recharged and in much better health, but this weapon is nearly exhausted. I have very few options. I could tear off their suits and kill them, but I cannot bring myself to destroy living things. It is against my programming. And yet I must keep them from taking the ship.
The pirate leader said tensely to Fargo, "How did your pal get past the repulsion field? And is he talking to that thing? How can he talk to an alien robot?"
"Maybe it's not an alien robot," said Fargo. "It could be an advanced experimental gadget of Space Command. My pal would be able to speak to a Command robot. He knows Martian Swahili."
But while Fargo and Jeff had been engaging the attention of the pirates, the Hopeful had been edging closer to the pirate ship. Now the Hopeful plunged outward and away from the asteroid, dragging the pirate ship with it so the pirates would be stranded.