Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids

Twenty-five years before, Lucky Starr’s parents had been destroyed during a pirate raid on the Terrestrial Empire. Now Lucky was a man, and an officer of the Council of Science. His ship was heavily armed and the pirates were at hand. The time for sweet blaster vengeance was near! Lucky Starr and the Pirates of Asteroids is the second book in the Lucky Starr series written by the legendary Isaac Asimov, author of I, Robot, Foundation, and the Galactic Empire series. Lucky Starr’s Ergometrics probed space with widely stretching fingers. It detected many ships, but Lucky watched only for the one which he would recognize with certainty the instant it appeared. Nor did he fail. At a distance of twenty-million miles, the first quiverings roused his suspicions. At 100-thousand miles, his telescope showed it as a faint dot. At ten thousand, it had form and shape—it was the flagship of Anton, the pirate chieftain! At a thousand miles, Lucky sent out his first message—a demand that Anton return to Earth. At one hundred miles, Lucky received his reply—a blast of energy that made his generators whine and rocked his ship as if he had collided with another. Lucky’s tired face took on a drawn look. Anton’s ship was heavily armed. It was not what Lucky had expected …