"Sincro: wyxchari" "Keep moving!" "All right!" "There's no need for that!" "Back!" "Back!" "Back!" "Quick!" "Down this passage!" "Run!" "Oh Doctor, are you all right?" "No!" "What's the matter?" "Just a minute." "What are you counting drawing pins for?" "I like drawing pins - normally." "Right!" "They won't give us any more trouble." "Oh..." "Oh, my leg!" "Are you all right?" "I must have twisted it when I landed." "Ah, now where are we?" "It looks like some sort of a prison cell." "Yes." "What's that?" "Doctor, there's something over there." "Oh dear." "What is it?" "Look!" "Hey, it's that chap from the beacon - the one that was shooting at us." "Yes, he's injured!" "Look!" "I think it's his shoulder." "I..." "I think it's only a bruise." "It's not broken." "Lift him up - very gently." "What's this?" "Ah, wait a minute..." "Yes, that's all right." "Ah, he's coming around." "Come in, Beta Buccaneer." "I want permission to return to base." "Caven, do you hear me?" "I'm bringing the ship in." "Calm down man." "Report your position." "We're forty-three thousand miles out, on course for the beacon sections." "You should be among them in twenty minutes." "What's wrong?" "Why the panic?" "We're running our heads into a trap, Caven." "The Space Corp cruiser is less than three hours away, and on a convergent course!" "Those beacon sections have got to be diverted to Lobos." "How long will that take?" "It will take at least, two hours!" "We just can't do it on time." "You'll have to, Dervish!" "Just find some way of cutting the time." "Those minnow fighters will blast us to bits!" "I'm bringing the ship in!" "Now wait, don't be so impulsive." "Surely you recognise this, Dervish?" "You designed it." "Well, it's a UHF detonator!" "What are you playing at, Caven!" "I'm not playing at all." "It is a detonator, and it is keyed to a charge right under the atomic drive to the Buccaneer." "I..." "I..." "I don't believe it." "Why you... you're bluffing." "If you think I'm bluffing, just you try turning back." "You see Dervish, you've got a fair chance of escaping the V-ship and the minnows, but you've no chance at all of getting away from this." "All right, Caven." "I knew you wouldn't let me down." "Report as soon as you reach Lobos!" "Major Warne's just come on abroad, sir." "He's coming up to the bridge." "Good." "Bridge to power room." "We're under way again." "Half-boost." "Set course for Lobos, Penn." "Very good, sir." "Thanks for the rescue, sir." "Ah..." "What happened to you anyway?" "Copper needles?" "Yes sir." "I warned Clancey I was about to fire with the Martian missiles." "I pressed the button and the next thing I ran slap into a cloud of these." "The computer blew and the whole machine just stopped." "Copper!" "Of course!" "Attracted by the argonite hull of the minnow." "Yes sir!" "It won't happen again, sir." "It had better not!" "When one old man in a worn out junk-heap like the LIZ, makes a complete fool of a highly trained fighter pilot in a sophisticated flight ship I..." "Yes sir, well I'll hit him with a deflection shot next time, sir." "I worked out how to do it." "You see..." "Never mind the theories, Major." "With a bit of luck, Clancey will not be able to exploit your limitations again, because, we shall take him on the ground." "On the ground, sir?" "Yes, we're on course for Lobos." "The headquarters of the Clancey Mining Company." "You think that's where he's gone?" "I'm sure of it." "Apart from Ta it's the next nearest planet." "Yes, that's where Clancey will be and that's where we shall find our evidence - the sections of Beacon Alpha Four." "Are you feeling better?" "You were on the beacon..." "What are you doing here?" "Oh look, it's all right." "We're friends." "Friends?" "You led my men into a trap." "Aye we were in the same trap ourselves." "The pirates left us for dead." "I thought you were decoys." "Oh look we wouldn't be here now if we were helping them." "Then how did you get off the beacon?" "Well... well it's a long story, but the important thing is to ah... to escape from here now." "You think I haven't tried?" "That shaft is the only way in." "It's impossible to get out." "Oh, there's another entrance here somewhere." "I've searched every inch of this cell." "Solid rock." "There's a hidden door." "The problem of course is going to be finding it." "There's no door, believe me." "You're only wasting your time." "No, no, no." "There's obviously a less painful way of getting in here - so there must be a way of getting out." "What makes you so sure?" "I mean it could be a sort of tomb." "Aye, a burial pit." "Look." "Water, in a fragile bowl." "Well that couldn't have been thrown down that chute, now could it?" "Caven, I've got the crews out realigning the auxiliary rockets for Lobos, but one of the beacon sections is missing!" "That's not possible!" "Look there's only seven sections here, there should be eight!" "I checked back right along the flight path, but there's not a sign of it." "It's completely disappeared." "Nothing disappears in space." "Even if the rocket exploded there would be debris along the flight-path." "There's no debris, there's nothing!" "It's completely disappeared!" "The scanner shows zero hind." "But that's crazy!" "There must be some explanation." "Oh yeah, there's an explanation all right, but you're not going to like it!" "Well, come on, come on!" "Somebody must have engineered the section out of its flight-path." "How could anybody manage that?" "Well, I don't know..." "Wait a minute." "That space guard - the one we took off the beacon." "Lieutenant Sorba?" "Yes." "He said something about seeing strangers on board." "Perhaps he wasn't raving." "Perhaps we've got competition, Dervish." "Someone trying to cut themselves in, hey?" "Just a minute." "Look I've got to go." "Once of the spider team wants picking up." "Right." "I'll question Sorba about these strangers he saw." "Call in as soon as you get the sections on the new flight-path." "You're mad, it's solid rock!" "When the Doctor gets an idea nobody can change his mind." "Oh look Doctor, this is doing no good at all." "Patience Jamie, patience!" "We'll not find anything." "We've been over it three times already!" "It's got to be here - look!" "Aye I know, cracks in the wall." "Yes, but see the way they run." "There are marks like that all over the place." "Yes, well we're going to go on trying." "Now what's he doing?" "Oh, search me." "There's ah... there's got to be a control unit here somewhere." "Just a question of locating it, that's all." "What sort of control unit?" "Shh, Shh." "Just a minute." "Yes, yes." "It's under there." "What's under there?" "An audio lock." "An audio lock!" "Oh now, wait a minute, what's an audio lock?" "Well ah... they were used in outer space, Jamie." "Combination locks became a little too easy to open when burglars took to taking miniature computers with them on their expeditions." "Now I..." "I have my tuning forks here somewhere." "What are you going to do with a tuning fork?" "I usually carry them..." "Ah, yes!" "Here we are, now then... get these sorted out." "Right." "Which end did you land on when you fell down that shaft?" "Contact ahead, sir!" "What contact?" "It could be the sections of Alpha Four, sir." "There are seven objects moving quite slowly." "If it's the beacon sir, there should be eight sections." "What's their course, Penn?" "Approximately the same as ours, sir." "The convergence is less than half a degree." "Then the flight destination must be Lobos!" "Clancey's home planet." "We've got him, Ian!" "We can't be sure it is the beacon, sir." "Well we counted eight sections originally." "Just a minute!" "What's that, on the edge of the scanner?" "I'm trying to get a fix on it now, sir!" "It's just come into frame." "It must be the missing section." "No sir, it's too big and it's moving too fast." "I think it's some kind of ship." "Out there!" "No, with any luck it's the pirates." "He seems to be circling." "Can't you magnify that signal, Penn?" "No sir, she's right out on the fringe." "Ian, get down to the minnow deck." "I want you ready to go as soon as we've got an identification." "Right, sir." "Power room!" "I want main boost for as long as we can hold it." "Don't worry about those beacon sections Penn - that ship is our target!" "Right sir." "Shall I get those wreck simmers?" "Not yet." "Go to half-speed." "General Hermack." "I want all crews at emergency stations." "I repeat, all crews at emergency stations." "X-X 2 ready to go." "Any news yet V-Master?" "The range is down to forty minutes." "Penn has just made a positive identification." "It is a Beta Dart, so they can still outrun us." "He won't outrun a minnow, sir." "Sir, she's boosting." "She must have spotted us!" "Right!" "V-Master to X-X 2." "Blast away!" "Right, sir." "I'll bring back a chunk of her." "There's a Space Corps lieutenant in the punishment cell under tunnel nine." "He's injured." "I want him brought here for questioning." "Yes, sir." "Here's the audio-lock tuner key." "This is Beta Buccaneer." "Caven!" "There's a minnow-fighter on our tail." "Only one?" "What's his range." "Thirty minutes, but closing fast." "And we're on maximum boost." "Can't you hold him off long enough to reach the camouflage cone?" "That's just what I'm going to try and do." "X-X 2 to V-Master." "I seem to have lost contact." "Can you steer me in please?" "Stand by." "Major Warne's lost her." "I thought he would sir, she's doubled round." "I'll switch it through on audio." "You get an RT track for him to track on." "Very good sir." "This is Navigator Penn to X-X 2." "Are you reading me?" "Yes, I just don't have a nice picture of that Beta Dart any more." "OK sir." "Now, if you steer round seven under TDC." "Now thirty-seven degrees up." "Should be in range now sir." "Right." "I can see her on the visual scanners." "Switch video through Ian, we might as well all enjoy this." "Cutting you in now, sir." "That's an Issigri ship!" "Flash out!" "Flash out!" "Contact broken." "You didn't fire at her?" "!" "No, sir." "I was just in range when I got the flash out." "What's gone wrong?" "We nearly wiped out one of the Issigri Mining Company's new freighters!" "You mean to say that wasn't the pirate ship?" "Then where's it got to?" "I don't know." "Anyway, we'll abort the mission." "You'd better return." "Oh Doctor, will you stop it!" "What's that noise?" "It's getting on everybody's nerves." "You want to get out of here, don't you?" "Oh, that's not going to get us out!" "Yes Jamie it is!" "An audio-lock is a simple solenoid switch which is only activated by a particular sound." "It's just a question of finding it, that's all." "Oh look, I can't stand any more!" "Jamie!" "Jamie!" "Jamie, you found the right note!" "Oh come on, we can get away now!" "Oh no we can't." "What?" "I've been trying to find my way in here for the last hour." "Now come on now!" "Come on where?" "What's the matter with you boy?" "You don't think I'm in cahoots with the pirates, do you?" "Well they're here, you know." "We've seen them." "I know." "They've got nothing to do with me." "Well it might help if you didn't point that thing in our direction." "Oh come on now!" "If I was in cahoots with the pirates, why would I be trying to rescue you." "We don't know that you are trying to rescue us." "No." "That's a fine thing to say, isn't it." "Didn't I get you off that beacon?" "You would have died if I hadn't helped you then." "Aye, you only got us off of there because you were curious to know who we were." "And that Space Corp ship opened fire on you." "Hmm." "If that don't beat jumping grasshoppers!" "Now you listen to me, you three sourpusses." "You're only in this pickle now because you did the very thing I told you not to do - you went wandering off into these mine workings." "I've had a whale of a time trying to find you, and if you want to get out of here alive, Milo Clancey is the only person who can show you the way!" "Now, you either come with me, or am I going to leave you here to rot?" "Well well, well yes, yes if you put it that way..." "Right." "Good thinking." "It's about time one of you showed a bit of sense." "Who's this?" "My name is Sorba." "Lieutenant Sorba." "The pirates took him prisoner when they attacked the beacon." "Oh, there's no love lost between me and the Space Corp, Sonny Jim, but, well you'd better come with us I guess..." "Shh!" "Shh!" "Somebody's coming!" "Keep back there!" "The door's open!" "Take his gun, it might come in useful." "Right." "_ _!" "A couple of years ago I'd have nailed him before he got ten yards." "What, you mean he got away?" "Aye he did." "It means we're in real trouble." "There... there'll be guards swarming round that tunnel now like a buzz of bees!" "Oh, we'd better get away. hadn't we?" "We sure had, come on!" "What's that?" "I told you, that's the alarm signal!" "Now come on, let's get out of here." "Where are they now?" "They've gone through into the small bore workings on level eight." "I've sent five men after them." "I thought I told you to cordon off those lower caverns." "Yes, well they got through somehow." "They must have used one of the old ventilators." "They seem to know their way better than our own guards." "Milo Clancey!" "What was that Chief?" "There's only one man who can get through these tunnels like that." "All right Jupiter, I'm coming down!" "I want these people either caught or killed, I don't care which, you understand?" "Just a minute Chief..." "They've just passed the perimeter eye on level six!" "Level six already?" "!" "All right, listen!" "I want every man up to level three." "Use the elevators." "I want every inch of that level sealed off." "And it had better done by the time I get there." "Milo!" "What?" "Can we rest a moment?" "Why?" "Oh no, don't bother with me, I'm all right." "Oh, well I want a rest anyway." "It's this climate." "Well just for a minute then, but remember they're closing in on us all the time we stay here." "Oh dear!" "Where are we... where are we heading for, Milo?" "The... the Issigri Mining Company." "We got to get to their headquarters." "It's only a couple of levels from here now." "But didn't you say that Madeleine Issigri was your sworn enemy?" "Yeah, well I ah..." "I thought she was." "I thought it was her lot that was behind all this piracy - trying to do me out of business." "You've changed your mind." "Why?" "Well, I..." "I thought Madeleine blamed me for her father's death." "Poor old Dom." "He just disappeared - years ago now" " I wasn't even here at the time." "Then all this piracy started and Madeleine started to find argonite in workings that Dom and I had abandoned years ago." "Well it all seemed to fit together somehow." "Yes, well it fits together a bit too well, if you ask me." "Aren't we jumping out of the frying pan into the fire?" "No!" "No!" "When I found you down that shaft I recognised the leader of these pirates - he's a murderous criminal called Maurice Caven!" "You know this man?" "Yeah, I've seen his picture on home planet." "He's notorious." "Someone's coming." "Come on, let's get out of here." "Hey, come on there." "Come on." "It's no use." "Oh come on, we're almost there now!" "I'll never make it." "You go on." "No, we've got you this far, we're not going to leave you here." "We could carry him Milo." "Oh Doctor, they're not far behind us!" "Aye, well they won't get much further, don't worry." "Oh Jamie, come back!" "He won't hold them off for long." "He got no recharge units for that gun." "Oh Doctor, can't you think of something." "I'm not a magician Zoe, I..." "What's this?" "An old power distributor box, we got one on every level." "Really, oh well I..." "I wonder if it's connected up." "Oh!" "Oh, ooh, ooh!" "Yes, it's connected." "Zoe, attach these to that metal ring there." "D'you see?" "Yes, all right, but hurry Doctor!" "I AM hurrying!" "Wh... what's this contraption supposed to do Doctor - trip them up?" "Right, step over the wire." "What?" "Come on." "That's it." "Now I'm going to..." "I'm going to test this, so stand clear." "Is that all?" "Yes, I think it's working." "Right now, you two, you carry along." "I'll stay here and help Jamie." "Right now, come on." "Doctor!" "Now wait Jamie, wait!" "What?" "Right." "Look!" "Stand clear." "Here they come!" "I thought it was some sort of joke, when my company guards told me that Milo Clancey was on his way up in the main elevator." "Who are your friends?" "No joke doll." "Now look, will you do one thing for me before you start asking me any fool questions?" "What?" "I want you to get onto General Hermack, and get him to get that V-ship here as soon as he can." "Why?" "There you go, asking questions!" "Because you're harbouring a nest of vipers down there in those mine workings, and they're on their way up here at this very moment." "He... he means that the argonite pirates are using the old mine workings as a secret hideout." "Argonite pirates?" "Oh really..." "Oh child, will you listen to me..." "Right, come on!" "If what you say is true and I don't believe it for one moment..." "Mean to say that you don't know of this fiend Caven?" "You don't know what kind of villain he is?" "Well if he is using the old mine workings as you say, then my company guards can perfectly easily take care of him." "Look child, he's got a whole army of thugs out there!" "I assure you there's no need to call in the Space Corps." "I can deal with it." "Ah!" "You're an idiot girl!" "She's as stubborn as her old man!" "Now look here child!" "Your guards wouldn't last five minutes against that gang of thugs out there." "Now look, I am going to contact General Hermack whether you want me to or not!" "Stop!" "Don't touch that call-button, Milo." "Anybody else want to die like a hero?" "You must have walked in here with your eyes wide open, Clancey." "How very naive of you."