"Sir!" he exclaimed in a quiet voice. "Those are the coordinates of
Earth! If you use those, you'll take this whole asteroid directly to
Earth!"
"Exactly," nodded Zimbardo. "In about 32 days, as I figure it." He was
smiling widely again as he pressed "Enter" and activated the asteroid's
propulsion system.
14: The Shield of St. George
THE CONVERSATION was very quiet, but the microphone picked it up. The
words that passed between Lurton Zimbardo and Gene were heard by every
pirate on the asteroid. There was complete silence. The pirates'
enthusiasm and their complete trust in Zimbardo's leadership was
instantly badly damaged. Though no one spoke, many of the men began to
doubt their leader's sanity, and became afraid.
"But sir," pleaded Gene. "This asteroid is the key to our success, and
we're all its passengers. If you program it to collide with Earth,
I..." words failed him.
Zimbardo smiled indulgently. "Gene," he soothed, as if explaining
something obvious to a confused child, "I'm not going to cause us to
smash into the Earth. We want to control Earth, not destroy it, and how
better to do it than from a close orbit around the planet in this
magnificent flying base? I'm taking us to Earth, and there will be
plenty of time to adjust our course once we get close.
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