"Okay,"
he agreed. "This room can't go on forever. Let's find the end of it."
Lurton Zimbardo was in the control center of the asteroid. A small
group of his most trusted assistants stood silently by. Through the
wall of glass on his right he could see the cavern where the pirates'
spaceships were anchored to the landing field. Five of them were out on
assignment in the Belt. As the work crew on the asteroid was able to
produce sufficient sheathing, power, and propulsion units, a space crew
was assigned the task of outfitting the asteroids that Lurton had
previously chosen.
The first, under the leadership of Crass, had returned that morning.
Another had gone out almost immediately afterward and one more would
depart the next morning. By the end of the following day, the last two
crews would be launched.
Crass' assignment had included the destruction of the sats while he
performed his task. Now that the pirates knew how easy and fast it was
to complete the work, they did not bother to destroy the sats in the
remaining four sites. Zimbardo knew that the destruction of the sats
would alert Space Command, but the authorities would not be able to
stop the project before his ships returned. Once they learned what he
was doing they would expect that he had only one asteroid to command.
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