Glances were exchanged again. One of the guards shrugged. They didn't want trouble. Jansen's very boldness was his best weapon. Finally, exchanging glances once more, they waved him on.
The second swamp-buggy was by then out of sight down the domed corridor. But half an hour later Jansen reached the big, white, squat structure which housed the irrigation machinery. And Bareen's streamlined swamp-buggy was parked outside on the dry ground.
He went inside and an armed man stood in his path. "Well?"
"Bodyguard," Jansen said promptly. It had worked once.
"Hell, then you ought to know. Why ask me?"
"You know Mr. Bareen," Jansen said, smiling. "Impulsive."
"Look. Ordinarily I wouldn't mind passing the time of day with you, but I'm not supposed to let Bareen out of my sight. So if you'll just tell me where he is...."
"What did you say?" Jansen asked with a sickening realization of what the guard wanted.
Jansen swung his fist in a quick, blurring arc and hit the man. He felt the pain of good contact and the man went over on his back, striking the ground hard. Jansen knelt quickly by his side: he was breathing normally. Quickly Jansen searched him and found a small hand-blaster. He pocketed it and got up, dragging the unconscious man into an alcove which housed an inter-office communications system. On impulse, Jansen picked up the microphone and said:
"I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Bareen has taken the sub-spacer back to the interplanetary sub-space tunnel."
"Thank you," Jansen said automatically. There was a small sub-space tunnel connecting the irrigation station with the big interplanetary space-warp, Jansen knew. Even now Bareen and Wendy Hilliard, having inspected the plant, were a hundred thousand miles away, in deep space, at the tunnel station.
While Jansen was thinking, the communications system board flashed and a voice said:
"Emergency! Emergency! Someone has stolen a buggy and is believed heading for the irrigation station. He may be armed and is probably dangerous."
Jansen acknowledged the information, then said: "The buggy just passed this way, but it kept going."
That ruse would give him a few minutes, Jansen knew. But for what purpose?
Bareen and Wendy Hilliard! If they used the sub-space tunnel, why couldn't he?