Rocket from Infinity by Lester del Rey Page A

had used to pirate the claim.
    â€œThey’ll come after us,” Jane said. “They’ll have to. And that scout’s bigger and faster than we are. Open up your jets! Gain whatever distance you can.”
    â€œThanks—thanks for saving my life,” Pete mumbled as he peered backward and saw the three men climbing into the scout.
    â€œShut up and move this go-cart! Your life isn’t saved yet by any means.”
    They sat silent now as Pete opened the jets wide and took chance after chance with possible collision in order to maintain the speed. The initial shock over, Pete’s mind was beginning to work again. He was surprised at his own lack of fear even as he looked back and saw the scout already in space, circling to locate the still visible monocar.
    â€œYou’re right about the speed difference. They’ll run us down in ten minutes.”
    â€œIf we dodge and twist—”
    â€œNo. We can’t run, so we’ve got to hide. I think I can make the Badlands before they catch us. In there we’ll have a chance.”
    Jane relinquished leadership, her silence an acknowledgment of this.
    â€œHang on for possible collision,” Pete ordered. “I’ve got to cut across the stream.”
    â€œBe careful,” Jane whispered. And reverting from strong savior to the fragile female, she closed her eyes and put her face against Pete’s shoulder.
    The agile, highly responsive monocar did insane loops and turns as Pete kept changing course to avoid the asteroid stream that would have casually crushed them and gone on its way undisturbed. Once a lumbering asteroid twice the size of the monocar hit the bubble. But the crushing surface was smooth rather than murderously jagged, and the car bounced away to roll over several times before it balanced off. As they approached the edge of the Badlands, Pete guessed wrong and blundered into a swarm of fist-sized asteroids that smashed savagely against the little car’s plates. But again, providentially, none of them were large enough nor was there a differential in speed great enough to allow damage.
    Two minutes later Pete reduced speed and crept into the vast, moving field of supreme danger known as the Badlands. It was an eerie place at the point they entered, with the sunlight sifting through only in ever-changing shafts and the continual ominous sound of too-closely clustered boulders grinding each other to dust.
    â€œThey may follow us in if they’re desperate enough, but now we’ve got an even chance,” Pete said.
    â€œEven if they don’t find us, we may not get out alive.” Jane, pale from reaction, lay with her head back against the rest, her eyes closed, possibly to blot out the dangerously tumbling asteroids around them.
    â€œWe’ll try and hide out here for a while. Maybe they’ll give up. Then we’ll cross to the other side of this cluster.”
    â€œCross over—that’s so easily said. But not quite so easily done.”
    Pete began searching for a likely refuge. Concentrating on the job, he was hardly aware of the silence that fell between them. Then Jane said, “I’m sorry.”
    â€œSorry for what?”
    â€œYou were right. And finally, I had no way out. I had to admit the truth of what Uncle Homer really is.”
    â€œYou had no way of knowing.”
    â€œOh, I knew,” Jane retorted bitterly. “I’ve known for a long time. Mother is sweet and wonderful but—well, she has a way of believing what she wants to believe. She doesn’t like to think badly of anyone. And Uncle Homer is close to us. But I knew.”
    â€œYou had to be loyal to your family.”
    â€œHe wasn’t really a part of the family. No, that wasn’t the reason. Like Mother, I believed him because I wanted to. He was a pretty sorry specimen of a man, but he was all we had, and I guess the thought of the four of us being alone scared me. And