On the Trail of the Space Pirates Part 17

Strong dropped a hundred-credit note on the bar and turned away without another word. Tom followed, and as they pa.s.sed Roger and Astro, a knowing look pa.s.sed between them, and Tom gestured for them to follow.

Having heard the conversation, Astro and Roger walked over to the bartender who was folding the credit note before putting it in his pocket.

"You sell your information pretty cheap, s.p.a.ceman," snarled Roger.

"Suppose those two were Solar Guardsmen in disguise?"

The bartender paused, then shook his head. "Couldn't be!" he said.

"Why not?" asked Roger.

"Because the Solar Guard has a guy salted away that knows exactly where Wallace is."

CHAPTER 9

"That's the story, sir," said Strong to Commander Walters, after the Solar Guard captain had related the information he had wormed out of the bartender at the s.p.a.celanes Bar and the news Roger and Astro had brought.

"All right, Steve," nodded the commander. "I'll have the man picked up right away and psychographed. Meantime, you go on to Venus and see Nicholas s.h.i.+nny."

"Very well, sir," said Strong. "End transmission!"

"End transmission," acknowledged Walters. Strong flipped the switch and the teleceiver screen darkened.

Fifteen minutes later, the _Dog Star_ blasted off from Mars, heading for Venus.

During the trip back to the young planet that was rapidly growing into a major industrial center rivaling Earth, Strong received a report from s.p.a.ce Academy that the bartender had been picked up. His name was Joseph Price, and after questioning him under truth serum, Solar Guard security officers found the man's mind to be so filled with criminal plots and counter-plots, it would take several weeks for the psychograph a.n.a.lyst to learn the name of the man he claimed would know the whereabouts of Wallace. This was disappointing news for Strong, especially since the report included news of a second, third, and fourth strike by Wallace and Simms on s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps near the asteroid belt.

Reaching the starting place of their adventure, Venusport and the Solar Exposition, Strong and the three cadets went immediately to a small suburban section of the great city and the home of Nicholas s.h.i.+nny.

s.h.i.+nny lived comfortably in a small house made of t.i.tan crystal, enjoying himself during the day catching Venusian fatfish and watching the stereos at night. Once an enlisted s.p.a.ceman, he had been retired with full pension and was living in ease and comfort. When Strong and the three cadets arrived at the elderly s.p.a.ceman's house, they found him busy teaching a young Venusian wolfhound puppy how to retrieve.

"Well, blast my jets!" cried the old man. "If it ain't Tommy, Roger, and the big fella, Astro! And Captain Strong!"

"h.e.l.lo, Nick!" said Strong with a smile. "You're a sight for s.p.a.ce-blind eyes!"

"Heh-heh-heh," cackled s.h.i.+nny, his merry eyes twinkling against his deep s.p.a.ce tan. "It's mighty good to see you boys. Come on in the house. I got a mess of fatfish just pulled out of the stream and some of the most delicious biscuits you ever had in your life!"

"Well, thanks, Nick," hesitated the captain. "But we're in--"

"Can't be in too much of a hurry to eat," snapped the old man with a grin. "Anything you got to say is better said when you got a bellyful of Molly's cookin'."

"Molly!" cried Tom. "But, Mr. s.h.i.+nny--"

"When--" gulped Astro, "when did you--"

"Hey! Hold on!" cried the old s.p.a.ceman. "Just damp your tubes there, youngsters! You're way off course. Molly ain't nothing but an electronic cook I got installed in the kitchen. She cooks better'n any s.p.a.ce-brained woman and she never opens her mouth to give me any sa.s.s!"

The four s.p.a.cemen laughed at s.h.i.+nny's obvious indignation.

"Now come on!" he growled. "Let's eat. I'm hungry!"

Refusing to allow them to get near Molly, s.h.i.+nny began pus.h.i.+ng food into slots, compartments, turning on switches and punching b.u.t.tons. In the cozy living room, Strong relaxed while the three cadets played with the Venusian wolfhound. Finally s.h.i.+nny announced dinner and they fell to with gusto. There wasn't much talk during the course of the meal. Strong and the boys felt that s.h.i.+nny would let them know when he was ready.

Finally the meal was over. s.h.i.+nny sprawled in his chair, lit his pipe, then looked at his guests, his eyes twinkling. "All right, me friends, I think you've held back long enough. Let's have it."

Strong immediately told the old s.p.a.ceman the entire story, from Wallace and Simms' false concession at the exposition to the present.

"You see, Nick," he concluded, "with an adjustable light-key enabling them to open any lock in the solar system, nothing is safe. Personally, I think it's only because they haven't a larger or faster s.h.i.+p and aren't better armed that they haven't tried more daring piracy. They'll reach that point soon, though. They've already robbed four s.h.i.+ps for arms alone."

"I'll do anything I can to help you, Captain," said s.h.i.+nny. "What is it you want to know?"

"We suspect that Wallace has a secret hide-out in the asteroid belt,"

said Strong. "Since you once prospected the asteroids with him I thought you might know where the hide-out is."

s.h.i.+nny grew reflective and knocked the ashes out of his pipe before he answered. "That was a long time ago, Captain. More'n ten years. And Gus Wallace was a real square s.p.a.ceman then. He didn't turn bad until after we split up and he met that other feller."

"What other fellow?" asked Strong.

Skinny paused. There was a hard glint in his eyes. "Bull c.o.xine!" He spat the name out as though it had left a bad taste in his mouth.

"c.o.xine!" exclaimed Strong.

"You heard me," snorted s.h.i.+nny. "Bull c.o.xine and Gus Wallace got together after me and Wallace lost our stake hunting for uranium pitchblende in the asteroids and split up. Next thing I heard, him and c.o.xine was mixed up in that business up on Ganymede when the Credit Exchange was held up."

Strong's face had turned the color of chalk. "c.o.xine!" he repeated under his breath.

Noticing Strong's reaction to s.h.i.+nny's statement, Tom asked, "Who is c.o.xine, Captain Strong?"

Strong was silent and s.h.i.+nny turned to the cadets.

"When your skipper here was a young feller just starting out in the Solar Guard," the old man explained, "he was on a routine flight out to t.i.tan and there was a mutiny. c.o.xine was the ringleader. The captain joined up with c.o.xine after they had put his skipper in the brig. When he had c.o.xine's confidence, he regained control of the s.h.i.+p and sent c.o.xine and the others to a prison asteroid. c.o.xine has hated the captain ever since and swore to get him."

"But how did he pull the holdup on Ganymede, then?" asked Roger.

"c.o.xine escaped from the prison asteroid in a jet boat, disguised as a guard," continued s.h.i.+nny. "Only man ever to escape. He drifted around in the belt for a while and was picked up by a freighter going to Ganymede.

The freighter had been out rocket-hopping among the asteroids, collecting the prospectors' small supplies of uranium and taking the stuff back to Ganymede for refining. Wallace happened to be dead-heading on the freighter. When they got to Ganymede, and c.o.xine saw all the money lying around at the Credit Exchange to pay off the prospectors, he convinced Wallace to go in with him and they robbed the Exchange. c.o.xine was caught red-handed, but Wallace got away. In fact, the Solar Guard didn't know Wallace had anything to do with it. So c.o.xine was taken back to the prison asteroid, and Wallace has been driftin' around the system ever since."

"But, Mr. s.h.i.+nny," asked Astro, "if you knew Wallace was tied up with the robbery of the Credit Exchange, why didn't you tell the Solar Guard before now?"

"Sonny," sighed s.h.i.+nny, "most of what I know is s.p.a.ce dust and s.p.a.ce gas. But even so, I don't think Commander Walters or Captain Strong, or even you boys, would think much of me if I went around like an old s.p.a.ce crawler, blowin' my jets all over the place."

Strong had listened to s.h.i.+nny fill in the background of Bull c.o.xine with a thoughtful look in his eyes. He remembered all too clearly the mutiny on the s.h.i.+p out to t.i.tan. c.o.xine had been an enlisted Solar Guard petty officer aboard the s.h.i.+p. He had made great strides in two years and was being considered as an officer candidate on the very day he tried to take over the s.h.i.+p. When Strong regained control later, he talked to c.o.xine, trying to find out why he had started the mutiny. But the man had only cursed him, swearing vengeance. Strong hadn't seen him since.

"So you think he would know where Wallace and Simms might be hiding out?" Strong asked finally.