d Wallace over his helmet spacephones. "All the air's out.
Open the outer lock."

Simms cranked the heavy handle, and the door in the opposite wall of the
chamber slowly swung open. They stepped out into the airless black void
of space and onto the surface of an asteroid, drifting in the thickest
part of the belt. Surrounding the asteroid were countless smaller
secondary satellites circling the mother body like a wide curving
blanket. The mother body was perfectly hidden from outside observation.
It made a perfect base of operations for the two space pirates.

The freighter that they had used at the concession at the Solar
Exposition and later to make their escape was a far different ship from
the one now resting on the asteroid. Two powerful three-inch atomic
blasters could be seen sticking out of the forward part of the ship. And
near the stern, two gaping holes showed the emplacements for two
additional guns not yet installed.

The two men walked over to the ship, and while Wallace entered the ship,
Simms picked up a cutting torch and ignited it, preparing to finish the
two holes in the stern.

When Wallace reappeared, he was carrying a coil of wire with a double
plug to attach to the spacephones inside their helmets. He jammed the
plug into Simms' helmet and then into his own. Simms' eyes lit up with
surprise as he heard....

"...This is a general emergency announcement from Solar Guard
headquarters. Squadrons A and B of the Marsopolis garrison will proceed
to space quadrants W, sections forty-one to fifty. It is believed that
Gus Wallace and Luther Simms are in that vicinity. Approach with
caution, they are armed with atomic blasters and are believed to be
psychologically unable to surrender. It is believed they will resist
arrest...."

The voice repeated the announcement and added a general call for the
men, if they were listening, to surrender. Wallace pulled out the two
plugs and grinned at Simms.

"Picked it up on the teleceiver inside the ship. Thought you might like
to know how safe we are here."

Simms grinned back, "And how far off the track they are. Where is that
space quadrant they think we're in?"

"Out past Saturn," said Wallace with a grin. "With the Mars garrison
chasing us at one end of the system, we'll hit them on the other and be
gone before they know what happened!"

Simms patted the barrel of the nearest atomic blaster. "And, spaceman,
we're going to hit them hard!"

CHAPTE