He stared solemnly at them.
“I am sorry to say, too, that I shall be obliged to take your ship out of your reach temporarily. If I left it where you could use it immediately, I fear that you might hasten to Mars and report my presence in this part of the solar system and it does not suit my plans to have my presence known for some time.”
“Canny,” declared Vince, “always the old fox.”
Robinson grinned.
“I am going to take your ship and anchor it just a few miles away, on the Twin, where you can see it. One of my crew, a reputable instructor of mathematics in an Earth college before he committed a certain indiscretion and sought my protection, informs me that in the matter of a few thousands years the revolutions of the two asteroids will slow down and their orbits will close in, until they finally come together, joining one another. When that occurs you can reach your ship and return to Earth or Mars without harming me in the least.”
“If the oxygen holds out,” suggested Vince.
“I never thought of that,” declared the pirate. “Maybe the oxygen wouldn’t last that long.”
“I’m afraid it wouldn’t,” said Vince.
“At least,” pointed out the other, “you will have the satisfaction of always having your ship in sight when the Twin is in view.” As he spoke Vince leaped. His body, striking against the desk, shoved it backward and toppled the pirate out of his chair. The chair thudded against the carpeted floor. A vase tottered and fell from a shallow wall bracket, smashing to a thousand bits as it struck against a piece of statuary standing beneath it.
Vince, his body bruised by the force of its impact against the heavy desk, scrambled to his feet.
Vernon was vaulting the desk, and disappeared behind it. With a single effort, Vince followed. Vernon and Robinson were locked on the floor in a tangle of flying arms and legs.
Vince flung himself into the struggle. His hands found and closed with a vice-like grip upon a massive throat.
There was a hammering of feet in the corridor.
“Quick,” screamed Vince, “The trick Kan taught us.”
Like a flash Vernon was on his feet. With a thud he placed his left knee into the small of Robinson’s back, bearing down with his entire weight. Up and back Vince forced the upper part of the body and then, with his fingers still wrapped like tentacles of steel about the pirate’s throat, put his full strength into a final thrust. There was a sharp snap as the vertebrae slipped out of place.
Vince released his grip and the body slumped to the floor.
The door burst inward. The brothers vaulted the desk as one man and were in the center of the dozen members of the crew before a gun could be used. With fists working like driving pistons the two went to the attack. Back and forth the fight surged across the room, with the pirates afraid to use their guns at such close quarters.
Vince accounted for his first opponent with a clean smash to the temple, but fumbled the second blow when his fist slid off the granite chin of the second man. Someone hit him hard over the heart and he retaliated with a blow that lifted the man off his feet and sent him staggering. A monstrous fist lashed at his head and almost floored him. Groggy as he was, he failed to duck another fist that smashed him against the wall. A face appeared in front of him and he flailed at it. A red smear appeared on the face as it slumped out of his line of vision. Then there were other fists hitting him… hitting hard.
He caught sight of Vernon in the center of the melee in the middle of the room; saw a man wilt as his brother drove his fist into his throat; saw his brother topple as someone struck him from behind. Then a fist he could not duck, hard as he tried…..a moment of dull pain, of flashing lights within his head and then…..nothing.
He awoke with the glare of electric bulbs in his eyes and a throbbing pain in his head. Weakly he gained a sitting position and glanced about him.
Members of the crew thronged the room, all of them clutching weapons. A short distance away Vernon was struggling to his feet.
Walking unsteadily, his brother advanced toward him. Vince forced his aching body to rise and faced Vernon.
“It was a good fight,” said Vernon, “while it lasted.”
He grinned, wryly. Vince noted that one of his front teeth was missing and that bloodstains were about his mouth.
“Our last good fight, kid,” said Vince.
The pirates rimmed them in a tight circle, watching them warily.
“Why don’t they polish us off, kid?” asked Vince.
“Orders from Robinson,” Vernon explained, “he is still alive.”
“What’s that!”
“Robinson is still alive.”
“The hell you say,” exclaimed Vince. “He’s the first man I ever knew who could outlive old Kan’s trick.”
“Too tough to kill. Born to hang,” said Vernon.
There was a stir at the edge of the circle which hemmed them in. It parted to let two men pass through. The two cradled a broken man in their arms.
Robinson glared at the brothers out of haggard eyes. His legs dangled grotesquely, seeming to reach despairingly toward the floor. His face was a twisted mask of pain and anger.
“You thought to kill me,” he boomed.
“I am sorry,” said Vince.
“Sorry!”
“Sorry I didn’t succeed.”
Robinson was muttering to himself.
“Delirious,” said Vernon and Vince nodded.
But they were mistaken.
“Hard men to break,” mumbled the pirate, “but loneliness on an asteroid, with a space ship just out of reach, will break you. Too bad I won’t be here to see you fight over the third oxygen tank. Too bad I can’t hear you scream when you watch the ship, so near…. yet just too far. Yes, it is too bad I can’t wait to see you break.”
Vince, his fists clenched hard at his side, took a step toward the man.
“Listen, Robinson, you won’t be anywhere again. You are just a twisted cripple. You’ll never walk again. There isn’t a man in God’s creation who can mend that back of yours. Your spinal column is shattered…. and you are hanging on by a thread. You will live, knowing every minute that just one little twist, one wrong move may send you to eternity. I hope to God you live a hundred years and fear every moment you will die.
“You are a broken man…. a useless worn-out shell. These hands broke you…. broke you, do you hear…. and I am damn glad we were able to do it… you sneering, low-lived swine!”
“Take him out,” commanded Robinson.
Men sprang forward, and pinioned their arms behind them, forcing them to the door.
The Twin was rising over the rim of the tumbling world.
Two men, seated on a rocky ridge, arms thrown over one another’s shoulders, stared up at it. Against its dull lustre could be seen a speck of silver, etched in familiar outline, the Space Pup.
“We’ll see it just once more,” said Vince, “Our oxygen won’t last more than another revolution of the asteroids.”
“What are we going to do with this?” Vernon touched the extra tank with the toe of his boot.
“You know what we are going to do with it.”
Vernon nodded.
“We’ll furnish a great newspaper story some day,” he said, “if we ever are found. Two dead men in space suits with a tank full of oxygen at their feet. Mystery — why didn’t one of them use the oxygen?”
“I have something I want to say, “said Vince. “Hard to word it. Would think a fellow could say things to his brother… but you know how it is.”
“Sure. Better not say it. I feel the same way.”
“You’ve been regular,” declared Vince.
“Not so bad yourself,” replied Vernon.
“It’s not hard to die with you, kid. I always pictured us going out differently. Maybe with guns flaming in some out of way station or with the old Space Pup busted wide open somewhere out in space…. but not like this. Doesn’t matter after all…..”