CHAPTER VI

They were singing in the dungeons--a wild _Chonya_ song that had echoed down through the reckless years since that fateful day when the first great raider ship blasted off from the asteroids across the void:

_"Oh, they've hunted us for ages, Through the Belt and to the stars; They have sought advice of sages, And they've set up puppet gars. But there's Chonya blood within us, And when Chonyas take their stand, There'll be blood upon the hatches And a blight upon the land!"_

"My whole crew?" Shane asked tonelessly.

One of the Martian _falas_ of the escort nodded.

"Then why bother with me? They can tell you as much about the ship as I."

The _fala_ shrugged. But a _Pervod_ snarled: "The fools will do nothing without your orders--not even tell us which are the technicians. We broke the captain's back, but still he refused to explain the mechanism."

Shane's blue eyes grew cold as the pits of Neptune. "He's dead, then?"

"Yes, and so will the rest of them be, unless you tell them to obey."

"I'll give them their orders," Shane answered curtly. The muscles were standing out along his jaws.

They moved on, into the dungeon's outer room, where crowding _Chonyas_ shouted their hate and shook the bars.

A crewman with a bloody bandage about his head leaped onto a bench and, pointing, cried out, "_Gar Shane_!"

The singing died away.

"Your first trick is your last!" the guard in charge snarled in Shane's ear. Roughly, he shoved the Earthman forward.

Shane strode through the settling silence. Wordless, he looked about him--at the glittering, unbreachable, green telonium walls; at the lean, tough horde of _Chonya_ crewmen, pressing hot-eyed and intense against the bars; at the guards who flanked and backed him, light-guns out and lance-prods ready.

* * * * *

He swung back till again he faced the _Chonyas_; took a step or two with a reckless swagger. His back was stiff, his head unbowed.

In a hard flat voice he said: "These slavers who hold us here want full technical data on the Abaquist meteor repellers on our ship. Already, they have broken your captain's back because he would not give it to them."

The silence echoed.

"We were brought here with our minds locked in the control of a Paulsini beam. Through it, these _starbos_ can drag out our innermost thoughts--force us to do their will. They would use it on us now, if they could. But they have insulated this whole satellite against it, so it is useless so long as we are here."

Still there was no sound, save for the restless scrape of feet, the rustle of heavy breathing.

"We are their prisoners, utterly and completely. They have even taken away the belt your chieftains gave me--" Shane ran his hands along his waist, "the _Chonya_ belt, the great iron belt of the asteroids."

The scraping and rustling grew louder. A low, guttural rumble ran through the crowd.

"They say they'll cut us down if we do not obey them, and they've smeared their hands in your captain's blood to prove it!"

From somewhere in the back of the crowd, a _Chonya_ shouted, "Where do you stand, _Gar_ Shane? What would you have us do?"

"I?" Shane swept them with his gaze. "I? What would you have me say? We are their prisoners, are we not? They have conquered us, even if by a trick. We have no choice but to do their will ... for now." He paused; laughed harshly, cynically. "Were I to tell you otherwise, I, too, would die within the moment--and we all know it."

The captive crew flung back his bitter laughter. The first flush of hate was washed from the fierce faces, replaced by narrowed eyes and calculating glances.

Shane called: "Repeller crew--forward!" And then, quickly: "Orshawn ... Dylar ... Hebza ... Tisban ... Korch--"

* * * * *

Men pressed through to the bars. Without waiting, Shane wheeled to the guards. "Here are your men--the repeller crew itself! They will give you everything."

A _fala_ shoved him aside, against the bars of the cage. A Mercurian threw the lever that controlled the lock.

Barely audible, one of the _Chonyas_ whispered, "_Gar_ Shane! You know--?"

"--that the repeller is fully automatic? That there is no crew?" Shane bared his teeth in the caricature of a smile. His eyes were very hard and bright. "Yes, _Chonya_; I know."

Now the crewmen that Shane had named were out. The door of bars clanged shut again.

A Thorian caught the Earthman by the arm. "Get on! And if these dogs of the asteroids do not tell us all Quos Reggar wants to know, both you and they will die by inches!" He cuffed Shane towards the dungeon's entrance.

Shane reeled ahead, half falling, and the guards laughed at the sight of him; and one booted him from behind so that he nearly sprawled on the glistening green telonium floor. But he clutched the outer door and recovered, hanging by the edge of it as it swung on its hinges till he was almost into the corridor beyond.

Only two guards remained there, both _Pervods_.

The fire in Shane's cold blue eyes burst into wild, singing flame. Of a sudden the laxness left his face. The awkwardness fell from his stance.

"_Now, Chonyas!_" he shouted.

In the same instant he whirled and shoved the great door open with all his might.

The edge caught the first of the guards behind him, a _fala_, full in the face.

Shane leaped upon the creature as it staggered. He caught the barrel of the thing's light-pistol; wrested it away.

With a hoarse cry the guard sprang after him, clawing for the weapon.

Rock-steady, Shane triggered the exciter. The pistol's purple beam struck the _fala_ full in the face. Still clawing--clawing in the agonies of death, now--the creature lurched backward.

* * * * *

Beyond it boiled a scene of strange, wild carnage. The _Chonyas_ of Shane's mythical "repeller crew" had leaped upon the other guards--tearing away weapons, beating them down.

Now one wrenched the ray-key that activated the locking lever from the Mercurian and slammed it home. The bolt that held the door of bars lifted.

With a wild roar, the _Chonyas_ inside the cage burst forth.

The _Pervods_ in the corridor beyond the dungeons rushed to bar the great outer door.

Shane blasted the first before he had even crossed the threshold.

The second turned to flee.

The Earthman's light-beam caught him in the middle of his first step.

A _Chonya_ came running, a bloody lance-prod in his hands, eyes blazing with excitement. "_Gar_ Shane! What now? The ship--?"

"You know where it is?"

"Yes. Close by here--"

"No matter. Get the men aboard and man the guns. Blast all the corridors but one. I'll need that to get back to you."

"But where--?"

"There's a job to do before we leave, if we're not to be dragged back here as we were before."

"The Paulsini--!"

"Right!" Shane laughed harshly. The sheer joy of battle shone in his face. "They'll expect us to blast off the instant the crew's aboard."

The _Chonya's_ eyes gleamed fiercely. "You'll need help--"

"Three men, and a guard to guide us--"

The _Chonya_ laughed aloud. "Two others and a guard, _Gar_ Shane! I am the first!" he cried, exulting.

Commands crackled, then, and other crewmen crowded forward; and in brief seconds Shane and the _Chonyas_ and a bloody-headed, bewildered Uranian were roaring down the echoing dimness of the corridor in a guard-car.

* * * * *

Then, on the Uranian's order, they changed direction, and now they were hurtling through vast, high-ceilinged chambers where giant machines stood row on row in countless thousands. No living being was anywhere evident ... only the machines, churning endlessly at their task with cold efficiency.

"Converters!" Shane muttered, half beneath his breath. "Power converters.... A different kind, one I've never seen before."

"Nor I," a _Chonya_ technician at his side echoed grimly. "Who needs such power today, _Gar_ Shane? And the source--where is it? It would take whole seas of energy to feed these monsters. There are too many!"

"Too many," Shane nodded. For a long moment he peered through the vision slot in silence, then backed away again. "A slaver is a slaver, Dylar. Some are small, and some are big. But this is too big for any slaver. The whole surface of this moon is covered with a rabbit-warren such as this, twelve levels deep. We find power converters by the million--more than a major planet could use, even in the days before the Federation began to broadcast free power to all."

Another of the _Chonyas_ broke in now: "The Uranian says the Paulsini lies just beyond the next stop, _Gar_ Shane--and his fear runs too high for him to lie."

Shane studied the great, hairy beast through narrowed eyes. "Is there a guard?" he clipped.

The Uranian shook his head jerkily.

"Get ready, then!" the Earthman rapped. Again his eyes sought out the Uranian, and after a moment he gestured towards him. "Shove him off first, and then land running."

The guard-car slowed.

Shane shaded his eyes and studied the dim spaces ahead through the vision port, the light-pistol ready in his hand.

Then the car was swaying, grinding to a stop. Two of the _Chonyas_ pushed the Uranian towards the door.

But before they reached it their prisoner suddenly sprang aside. He caught one of the crewmen and hurled him bodily through the doorway by brute strength.

* * * * *

Outside, the corridor was suddenly laced with lances of purple light. A scream of anguish choked off in the _Chonya's_ throat.

"A trap!" the technician, Dylar, cried. He jerked back levers on the control panel, and the car lurched forward again.

The Uranian lunged for him.

But Shane was already pivoting. He fired as he moved, and the great beast slammed to the floor, its four mighty arms flailing in a death-spasm.

"Stop the car!" Shane shouted.

Dylar threw a switch. The vehicle's mechanism shuddered and went dead.

"This way!" the Earthman snapped. He leaped to the corridor and ran back towards the Paulsini station. The _Chonyas_ followed, close on his heels.

More of Reggar's men were there, clustered about the body of the fallen crewman. Then the sound of running feet reached them. They whirled.

Not even breaking stride, Shane blasted at them. Hastily, they fell back into a doorway, the same doorway from which they had loosed their barrage at the guard-car.

The Earthman moved in close to the left wall, out of their range of vision, and crept closer.

Abruptly, a purple beam lanced past his head, so close he could feel the searing heat of it. He jerked back against the crewman behind him.

"It's a stalemate till we can think of something," he clipped savagely. "They can't move, but neither can we."

The _Chonya_ laughed. "Dylar will take care of that!" he chortled gleefully.

Like an echo, the now distant guard-car roared to life again. The next instant it was racing towards them.

Shane and the _Chonya_ pressed back against the wall.

The car hurtled past them. A light-beam slashed from it as it came abreast the doorway where the guards were huddled.

There was a flurry of motion; hoarse shouts of panic.

Shane and the other _Chonya_ moved in.

The last of Reggar's men sought to flee. But the technician, Dylar, cut them down.

Then Shane was bursting into the place where the great Paulsini mind-control projector was housed.

* * * * *

It was an awesome sight, a shaft that seemed to stretch away to infinity overhead. And in its center stood the incredible Paulsini tube, that infinitely delicate electronic unit that was the heart of the projector, core of the whole weird device that so deftly changed the frequencies of the waves within men's brains. A gigantic tube, almost unbelievable, so large that it staggered the imagination.

Even Shane stood half-incredulous as he stared up at it.

"It must be a hundred feet tall!" he said numbly. "No wonder they can reach out into space--"

Dylar nodded. "Yes. The whole center floor of the shaft is a huge lift, a hydratomic elevator to push the tube up into the air above this structure that covers the surface." He pointed a quivering finger. "See! There is a great lid capping off the shaft! No doubt it is linked to the lift mechanism so that it opens as the tube rises--"

Behind them, the other _Chonya_ suddenly slammed shut the corridor door. "Guard-cars!" he called tensely. "A whole line of them, headed this way!"

It broke the spell of Shane's fascination.

"Our only hope for getting away from this moon alive is to smash this projector," he clipped tightly.

"And that means--smash this tube," Dylar answered. "Any other thing that we might do could be repaired."

Shane strode to the tube; hammered savagely at the transparent silicon with his light-gun's butt.

"It is no use," the _Chonya_ technician told him grimly. "A tube as incredibly huge as this one will stand up against anything smaller than a proton cannon. It has been designed for strength--to handle power ... temperature changes ... shock and impact ... the sheer weight of its own structure." He shook his head. "I fear we've come here for nothing, _Gar_ Shane. No efforts of ours can hope to smash this."

* * * * *

Bleakly, Shane stared at the monster tube ... at the glittering metal of the lift on which it stood ... at the great shaft, rising high above them to the cap of the dome.

The _Chonya_ at the door said: "They're unloading here by hundreds, and they've brought enough equipment for a siege! When they start moving in, there'll be no stopping them."

Dylar's eyes flicked swiftly about the shaft. "There may be another way out--"

"No!" Shane snapped. His jaw was hard. He brought up a clenched fist; shook it grimly. "We came here to smash this thing. We're going to do it." He turned on his heel and ran to the nearest door. "Come on! We've got to find the control room!"

"The control room--?"

"Here! This is the place!" It was a windowless cubicle, but with a second door set opposite the one by which Shane stood. He scanned the massive control panels, the complicated dials and instruments. "Quick! How do you start the lift?"

Outside, the other _Chonya_ called: "They're coming! I'll try to hold them--!" His voice was a trifle ragged.

"The lift--?" Dylar stared at the Earthman. "But why--?"

"Forget 'why'!" Shane slashed fiercely. "Quick! Show me!"

The technician scanned the maze of instruments. "This must be it! See! Here is the linking mechanism that couples it to the shaft cap, so that the top opens as the tube rises--"

Out beyond the shaft, something crashed. "They're trying to smash in the door!" the crewman there shouted. "There--! I got him!"

Shane whipped up his light-pistol. Face etched with strain, he focussed the beam on the linking mechanism. Wires gave way.

Dylar stared.

Gears twisted under the heat of the beam. A shaft snapped.

"Start the lift!" Shane clipped between clenched teeth.

"Of course!" cried Dylar. He threw switches.

"Here they come!" the Chonya outside shouted.

The next instant, his voice bubbled off in a scream. Shane leaped to the doorway, lanced a beam of light as a tentacled Thorian came into view. The creature slid back out of range.

The Earthman shot a glance at the Paulsini tube.

Smoothly, silently, it was rising, climbing swiftly towards the top of the shaft.

* * * * *

A _fala_ hurled a lance-prod at Shane. It grazed his ribs. The sting of it hurt. Cursing, he dropped to one knee and triggered a beam at the Martian.

"It's almost there!" Dylar cried.

Shane risked another glance.

Even as he looked, the end of the tube reached the dome. For an instant it seemed to hesitate there. Then, with a faint groaning as of machinery under strain, it thrust on again ... harder ... harder ... harder....

The machinery of the lift groaned louder.

"Watch out!" shouted Dylar.

Shane leaped back in the same fraction of a second that the great tube burst. The noise was like a thunder-clap. It was as if the tube had exploded in mid-air. Shane glimpsed a Uranian racing towards him, and knew that he had waited too long, that he could never bring his pistol up in time; then saw the hairy thing reduced to bloody pulp by a great shard of blast-driven silicon.

It broke the paralysis that gripped him. He caught Dylar's arm. "Come on! Quick! To the ship!"

"Through that horde in the corridor?" The technician shook his head. "No, _Gar_ Shane. You have performed a miracle--but not even you can travel that road."

A woman's voice said: "Then come this way."

Shane and the _Chonya_ whirled.

She stood in the shadows of the control room's second doorway--a slim, shining figure in a toga of silver cloth.

Shane said: "Kyrsis--!"

"Yes, Shane." Her voice still had its strange, alien lilt. The rich purple lips parted in a smile, and she reached for his hand. "Come quickly. I shall take you to your ship."

"To the ship--?" Shane stared at her blankly. "But why--?"

"Why?" She laughed softly, and now there was mockery in the violet eyes. "Why not, Shane? It is the only way you can hope to escape this moon of madness. And the reason I help you to escape is--I want you to take me with you!"