weep of the thin
white line, the blip of the ship appeared. "You mean it might be the
Titan pay roll?" he breathed hopefully.

"Yeah," breathed Coxine. "I mean it might be the Titan pay roll, and
then again it might not!" Coxine turned away, leaving the radarman
utterly confused.

Within the two-minute deadline that Coxine had ordered, the members of
his crew were locking the last air lock and securing ship for blast-off.
Coxine sat in front of the control panel, ready to give the final order
that would send the vessel hurtling into space. In a little while, the
evil mind, the twisted brain of Bull Coxine would be pitted against the
might of the Solar Guard.

* * * * *

Captain Strong sat on the control deck of the decoy ship, watching the
radar scanner and waiting for the appearance of Bull Coxine and his
crew. Again and again, the young Solar Guard officer, too restless to
remain in one spot, got up and paced the deck.

He flipped on a chart screen and studied the positions of the
surrounding asteroids, which he knew hid the Solar Guard fleet, ready to
pounce on any attacking ship. Schooled for years in facing the tedium of
space travel and patrolling the space lanes, Strong nevertheless was
anxious for something to happen, as minute after minute slipped past and
no attack came.

Once he thought he saw something move on the scanner and gripped the
sides of the instrument tightly as a blip appeared, disappeared, and
then reappeared. Finally Strong was able to distinguish what it was and
he turned away in disgust. It had been a maverick asteroid, one which,
because of its positive gravity, never became a captive of other bodies
in space. It wandered aimlessly through the belt, a danger spacemen
feared more than any other, since it could not be depended upon to
remain in one position.

Unable to break audio silence and communicate with the hidden Solar
Guard fleet around him, lest he give away their positions, Strong found
the loneliness driving him into a case of jitters and nerves.

Suddenly he jumped up and stared unbelievingly at the scanner. There in
front of him was a blip, traveling at amazing speed, straight for his
ship. From its size and shape, Strong could tell it was a rocket scout.
He watched it for a moment dumfounded at the speed of the small ship.
When he was certain that it was heading for him, he grabbed the
audioceiver microphone and began calling hurriedly.