Scavengers In Space
by Alan E. Nourse
Cover
Intriguing and fast-peaced.
This fast-moving tale of the far future deals with the quest of the Hunter brothers for a mysterious bonanza located somewhere in the asteroid belt. The dangers and details of asteroid mining are carefully outlined, and the bonanza itself proves to be an open gate to wider future in the stars.
Realistic background, good plotting and vivid writing add up to a good adventure.
About the Author
ALAN E. NOURSE is a young doctor who is successfully combining his vocation, medicine, with his avocation, writing. He is generally recognized as one of the outstanding writers of science-fiction today, and his sound medical background stands him in good stead for the many technical and scientific details which lend authenticity to his stories.
Dr. Nourse lives in North Bend, Washington, with his wife and young son and daughter.
Ace Books have also published his novels: A Man Obsessed (D-96), The Invaders Are Coming (D-366), and Rocket To Limbo (D-385).
Copyright Page
Scavengers In Space
“Between Jupiter and Mars I will put a planet. . . .”
Prologue
Roger Hunter had completed his work long before the marauders appeared.
For two days now he had spent his waking hours down on the rock, prospecting it, taking samples of ore back to the little orbit ship for testing, doing the things that any miner in the Asteroid Belt would be expected to do. But he didn’t really care what he found on the rock, because the important work was done. The incredible thing that he had found was hidden now, hidden and safe in a place that no one would think of searching, and that was all that mattered to Roger Hunter.
His treasure, he thought to himself as he worked. His big strike, safe now, until the time came to reveal it. He had not expected to find it when he had come out here the last time. He had never dreamed that such a thing was here, but when he found it he knew what he had to do.
It was on the second day that he saw the dark ship appear, moving in swiftly on contact course with his own ship. He knew what it was the instant he saw it, long before the golden triangle-and-J insignia became visible on its hull.
He dropped the samples he had been working with and strapped himself quickly onto the scooter. He opened the valve and saw the little asteroid drop away from him as he moved swiftly up toward the loading lock of his ship. He knew what his visitors wanted, he knew too well why they were here.
Once in the control cabin he tore the roll of microfilm from the camera he had been using and thrust it into the storage bin. They would read it, of course, but it would have no meaning to them. In the view screen he saw the dark ship move closer, almost close enough for boarding.
Then he saw the leather gun case lying on the drafting board, and his heart sank.
He picked it up, searching wildly for a place to hide it. His eye stopped on his space pack lying on the floor, the battered aluminum case he had used for so many years. Quickly he threw open the lid, thrust the leather case under the pile of clothing, and slammed the lid down again.
It was bad. If they searched it they might discover the truth, but it was a risk he had to take.
For just a moment he thought of the boys and wondered if he would ever see them again. Then he heard the lock crash open somewhere below. Heavy boots pounded the corridor, and three men walked into the control cabin.
Quietly, Roger Hunger turned to face them.
Chapter One
Trouble Times Two
The sun was glowing dull red as it slipped down behind the curving horizon of Mars, but Gregory Hunter was not able to see it.
There was no view screen in the ship’s cabin; it was too tiny for that. Greg twisted around in the cockpit that had been built just big enough to hold him, and shifted his long legs against the brace-webbing, trying to get them comfortable. He took a deep breath and wrinkled his nose. Already the cabin was taking on the dank, musty smell of mechanically replaced air that made him think of the locker rooms and crowded gymnasiums of his school days. He shifted his legs again, fiddling with the straps across his chest to keep his hands from trembling.
His earphones crackled, and a familiar voice said, “Five minutes, Greg.”
“Right.” His own voice sounded harsh. He realized that he was frightened. Quickly he made the final check-through that he had rehearsed so many times in the past weeks. The straps were all secure; he could reach the buttons on the control panel easily; and the handgrips felt right. He leaned back, forcing himself to relax, closing his eyes for a moment.
Here in the tiny experimental ship’s cabin, he had no sense of time or motion, but he knew that the ship was clinging to its launching rack on the shell of the Star-Jump satellite station, spinning slowly in its twenty-four-hour orbit around Mars. Somewhere far below was the surface of the red planet itself, a huge dull-orange ball that filled the horizon from side to side.
Suddenly now, Greg wished he could see it for just a moment. Many times during his off-duty hours he had stood on the observation deck of the satellite station, watching the line of darkness crawl across Mars’ surface. Sometimes, when the atmosphere was free of clouds, he could see the lights going on in Sun Lake City, Elysium, Poke’s Hole, and a dozen other colony settlements dotting the equatorial surface of the planet. There were people down there . . . thousands of people . . . but here he was alone.
He knew he was afraid . . . but nobody else knew that, not even the captain waiting at the control board on the satellite, and in spite of the fear Greg Hunter would not have traded places at this moment with anyone else in the universe. He had worked too hard and waited too long for this moment.
He heard the count-down monitor clicking in his ears, and his hands clenched into fists. How far from Mars would he be ten minutes from now? He didn’t know. Farther than any man had ever traveled before in the space of ten minutes, he knew, and faster. How far and how fast would depend on him alone. He gripped the handgrips, waiting.
“All set, Greg?” The captain’s voice in the earphones cut into the silence.
“All set, Captain.”
“You understand the program?”
Greg nodded. “Twenty-four hours out, twenty-four hours back, ninety degrees to the ecliptic, and all the acceleration I can stand both ways,” he said slowly.
“That’s right. But Greg—” the captain hesitated. “Don’t overdo it. This is only a test run. We want you back in one piece.”
Greg grinned to himself. He thought of the months of conditioning he had gone through to prepare for this run, the hours in the centrifuge to build up his tolerance to acceleration, the careful diet, the rigorous hours of physical conditioning. It was only one experiment, one tiny step in the work that could someday give men the stars, but to Gregory Hunter at this moment it was everything. “Ill be all right,” he said.