“Here’s your skinny guy and his pal!” Max boomed. “I knew I’d catch this sneak sometime!” Tom and the others cheered, with Max guffawing loudly, “I guess if this pip-squeak ain’t scared o’ the little men, I needn’t be either!”
“Well done, Max!” Tom acclaimed him. “You even got back the plans of my inventions!”
“And in here’s the stuff he stole from me!” Max went on, shaking the knapsack.
The thin man’s face was livid with fear, but he tried to brazen his way out.
“You fellows have no right to hold me!” he whined. “This is a frame-up!”
“No, it’s not, Mr. Aaron Felzer,” said Tom icily.
Luis Rodriguez snapped a pair of handcuffs on the man. “You and Mr.
Hutchcraft will stand trial for assault, theft, and attempted murder!”
Both men started to argue but Ahau Quetzal silenced them, and remarked, “Now we can learn what the symbols say.”
The next morning Tom and his assistants re—
SPACEMEN’S FATE 183
entered the tomb through the newly uncovered doorway. This time, they were amply provided with good lights and Tom brought a copy of the space dictionary.
He made his way down the stone steps into the burial chamber and immediately set about translating the wall inscriptions. After half an hour of work, he read off the translation to his companions: ” ‘There are huge animals here which have killed several of us. We have tried to fly away but our … blank … will not work.’”
“What’s the ‘blank’ for, boss?” Chow asked.
Tom sighed and frowned. “That’s a symbol I can’t figure out, Chow, even with the dictionary. It might be some kind of spaceship-or even something we’ve never heard of!”