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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20782-h.zip b/20782-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..608953b --- /dev/null +++ b/20782-h.zip diff --git a/20782-h/20782-h.htm b/20782-h/20782-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9d8d39 --- /dev/null +++ b/20782-h/20782-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6786 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> + +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> +<title>The Project Gutenburg eBook of, Triplanetary by E. E. Smith</title> + +<style type="text/css" media="screen"> +body +{ +margin:5% 10%; +} +body > p {text-align:justify;} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align:center;} + +img {border:3px solid black;} + +.indent { margin:0 10%;} + +.TN +{ +border:1px solid black; +background:#CCCCCC; +margin:0 15% 5% ; +} + +.center {width:55%; margin:0 auto;} +.floatleft +{ +float:left; +margin:0 2em 0 0; +} +.floatright +{ +float:right; +margin:0 0 0 1em; +} +.caption +{ +font-weight:bold; +font-size:.80em; +} +</style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Triplanetary, by Edward Elmer Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Triplanetary + +Author: Edward Elmer Smith + +Release Date: March 8, 2007 [EBook #20782] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRIPLANETARY *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, V. L. Simpson, Flash Sheridan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. This file is gratefully uploaded to +the PG collection in honor of Distributed Proofreaders +having posted over 10,000 ebooks. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="TN"> +<p>Transcriber's note:</p> + +<p>Typographical errors have been corrected.</p> + +<p>This etext was produced from Amazing Stories January, February, March +and April 1934. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the +U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="center"> +<a href="images/eest_C1.jpg"> +<img src="images/eest_C1th.jpg" alt=""> +</a> +</div> + +<h1><i>Triplanetary</i></h1> + +<h2>By EDWARD E. SMITH, Ph.D.</h2> + +<div class="indent"> +<p>We are sure that our readers will be highly pleased to have us give +the first installment of a story by Dr. Smith. It will continue for +several numbers and is a worthy follower of the "Skylark" stories which +were so much appreciated by our readers. We think that they will find +this story superior to the earlier ones. Dr. Smith certainly has the +narrative power, and that, joined with his scientific position, makes +him an ideal author for our columns.</p> +</div> + +<p>Illustrated by MOREY</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>Pirates of Space</h3> + +<p>Apparently motionless to her passengers and crew, the Interplanetary +liner <i>Hyperion</i> bored serenely onward through space at normal +acceleration. In the railed-off sanctum in one corner of the control +room a bell tinkled, a smothered whirr was heard, and Captain Bradley +frowned as he studied the brief message upon the tape of the recorder--a +message flashed to his desk from the operator's panel. He beckoned, and +the second officer, whose watch it now was, read aloud:</p> + +<p>"Reports of scout patrols still negative."</p> + +<p>"Still negative." The officer scowled in thought. "They've already +searched beyond the widest possible location of the wreckage, too. Two +unexplained disappearances inside a month--first the <i>Dione</i>, then +the <i>Rhea</i>--and not a plate nor a lifeboat recovered. Looks bad, +sir. One might be an accident; two might possibly be a coincidence...." +His voice died away. What might that coincidence mean?</p> + +<p>"But at three it would get to be a habit," the captain finished the +thought. "And whatever happened, happened quick. Neither of them had +time to say a word--their location recorders simply went dead. But of +course they didn't have our detector screens nor our armament. According +to the observatories we're in clear ether, but I wouldn't trust them +from Tellus to Luna. You have given the new orders, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Detectors full out, all three courses of defensive screen +on the trips, projectors manned, suits on the hooks. Every object +detected in the outer space to be investigated immediately--if vessels, +they are to be warned to stay beyond extreme range. Anything entering +the fourth zone is to be rayed."</p> + +<p>"Right--we are going through!"</p> + +<p>"But no known type of vessel could have made away with them without +detection," the second officer argued. "I wonder if there isn't +something in those wild rumors we've been hearing lately?"</p> + +<div class="floatleft" style="width:402px"> +<img src="images/eest011i.jpg" alt=""> +<span class="caption">Now, systematically and precisely, the great Cone +of Battle was coming into being; a formation developed during the Jovian +Wars while the forces of the Three Planets were fighting in +space.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Bah! Of course not!" snorted the captain. "Pirates in ships faster +than light--fifth order rays--nullification of gravity--mass without +inertia--ridiculous! Proved impossible, over and over again. No, sir, if +pirates are operating in space--and it looks very much like it--they +won't get far against a good big battery full of kilowatt-hours behind +three courses of heavy screen, and a good solid set of multiplex rays. +Properly used, they're good enough for anybody. Pirates, Neptunians, +angels, or devils--in ships or on sunbeams--if they tackle +the <i>Hyperion</i> we'll burn them out of the ether!"</p> + +<p>Leaving the captain's desk, the watch officer resumed his tour of +duty. The six great lookout plates into which the alert observers peered +were blank, their far-flung ultra-sensitive detector screens +encountering no obstacle--the ether was empty for thousands upon +thousands of kilometers. The signal lamps upon the pilot's panel were +dark, its warning bells were silent. A brilliant point of white in the +center of the pilot's closely ruled micrometer grating, exactly upon the +cross-hairs of his directors, showed that the immense vessel was +precisely upon the calculated course, as laid down by the automatic +integrating course-plotters. Everything was quiet and in order.</p> + +<p>"All's well, sir," he reported briefly to Captain Bradley--but all +was not well.</p> + +<p>Danger--more serious far in that it was not external--was even then, +all unsuspected, gnawing at the great ship's vitals. In a locked and +shielded compartment, deep down in the interior of the liner, was the +great air purifier. Now a man leaned against the primary duct--the aorta +through which flowed the stream of pure air supplying the entire vessel. +This man, grotesque in full panoply of space armor, leaned against the +duct, and as he leaned a drill bit deeper and deeper into the steel wall +of the pipe. Soon it broke through, and the slight rush of air was +stopped by the insertion of a tightly fitting rubber tube. The tube +terminated in a heavy rubber balloon, which surrounded a frail glass +bulb. The man stood tense, one hand holding before his silica-and-steel +helmeted head a large pocket chronometer, the other lightly grasping the +balloon. A sneering grin was upon his face as he awaited the exact +second of action--the carefully pre-determined instant when his right +hand, closing, would shatter the fragile flask and force its contents +into the primary air stream of the <i>Hyperion</i>!</p> + +<p>Far above, in the main saloon, the regular evening dance was in full +swing. The ship's orchestra crashed into silence, there was a patter of +applause and Clio Marsden, radiant belle of the voyage, led her partner +out into the promenade and up to one of the observation plates.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we can't see the earth any more!" she exclaimed. "Which way do +you turn this, Mr. Costigan?"</p> + +<p>"Like this," and Conway Costigan, burly young first officer of the +liner, turned the dials. "There--this plate is looking back, or down, at +Tellus; this other one is looking ahead."</p> + +<p>Earth was a brilliantly shining crescent far beneath the flying +vessel. Above her, ruddy Mars and silvery Jupiter blazed in splendor +ineffable against a background of utterly indescribable blackness--a +background thickly besprinkled with dimensionless points of dazzling +brilliance which were the stars.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't it wonderful!" breathed the girl, awed. "Of course, I +suppose that it's old stuff to you, but I--a ground-gripper, you know, +and I could look at it forever, I think. That's why I want to come out +here after every dance. You know, I ..."</p> + +<p>Her voice broke off suddenly, with a queer, rasping catch, as she +seized his arm in a frantic clutch and as quickly went limp. He stared +at her sharply, and understood instantly the message written in her +eyes--eyes now enlarged, staring hard, brilliant, and full of +soul-searing terror as she slumped down, helpless but for his support. +In the act of exhaling as he was, lungs almost entirely empty, yet he +held his breath until he had seized the microphone from his belt and had +snapped the lever to "emergency."</p> + +<p>"Control room!" he gasped then, and every speaker throughout the +great cruiser of the void blared out the warning as he forced his +already evacuated lungs to absolute emptiness. "Vee-Two Gas! Get +tight!"</p> + +<p>Writhing and twisting in his fierce struggle to keep his lungs from +gulping in a draft of that noxious atmosphere, and with the unconscious +form of the girl draped limply over his left arm, Costigan leaped toward +the portal of the nearest lifeboat. Orchestra instruments crashed to the +floor and dancing couples fell and sprawled inertly while the tortured +First Officer swung the door of the lifeboat open and dashed across the +tiny room to the air-valves. Throwing them wide open, he put his mouth +to the orifice and let his laboring lungs gasp their eager fill of the +cold blast roaring from the tanks. Then, air-hunger partially assuaged, +he again held his breath, broke open the emergency locker, donned one of +the space-suits always kept there, and opened its valves wide in order +to flush out of his uniform any lingering trace of the lethal gas.</p> + +<p>He then leaped back to his companion. Shutting off the air, he +released a stream of pure oxygen, held her face in it, and made shift to +force some of it into her lungs by compressing and releasing her chest +against his own body. Soon she drew a spasmodic breath, choking and +coughing, and he again changed the gaseous stream to one of pure air, +speaking urgently as she showed signs of returning consciousness. Now, +it was Clio Marsden's life.</p> + +<p>"Stand up!" he snapped. "Hang onto this brace and keep your face in +this air-stream until I get a suit around you! Got me?"</p> + +<p>She nodded weakly, and, assured that she could now hold herself at +the valve, it was the work of only a minute to encase her in one of the +protective coverings. Then, as she sat upon a bench, recovering her +strength, he flipped on the lifeboat's visiphone projector and shot its +invisible beam up into the control room, where he saw space-armored +figures furiously busy at the panels.</p> + +<p>"Dirty work at the cross-roads!" he blazed to his captain, man to +man--formality disregarded, as it so often was in the Triplanetary +service. "There's skulduggery afoot somewhere in our primary air! Maybe +that's the way they got those other two ships--pirates! Might have been +a timed bomb--don't see how anybody could have stowed away down there +through the inspections, and nobody but Franklin can neutralize the +shield of the air-room--but I'm going to look around, anyway. Then I'll +join you fellows up there."</p> + +<p>"What was it?" the shaken girl asked. "I think that I remember your +saying 'Vee-Two gas.' That's forbidden! Anyway, I owe you my life, +Conway, and I'll never forget it--never. Thanks--but the others--how +about all the rest of us?"</p> + +<p>"It was Vee-Two, and it is forbidden," Costigan replied grimly, eyes +fast upon the flashing plate, whose point of projection was now deep in +the bowels of the vessel. "The penalty for using it or having it is +death on sight. Gangsters and pirates use it, since they have nothing to +lose, being on the death list already. As for your life, I haven't saved +it yet--you may wish I'd let it ride before we get done. The others are +too far gone for oxygen--couldn't have brought even you around a few +seconds later, quick as I got to you. But there's a sure antidote--we +all carry it in a lock-box in our armor--and we all know how to use it, +because crooks all use Vee-Two and so we're always expecting it. But +since the air will be pure again in half an hour we'll be able to revive +the others easily enough if we can get by with whatever is going to +happen next. There's the bird that did it, right in the air-room! It's +the chief engineer's suit, but that isn't Franklin that's in it. Some +passenger--disguised--slugged the chief--took his suit and +projectors--hole in duct--p-s-s-t! All washed out! Maybe that's all he +was scheduled to do to us in this performance, but he'll do nothing else +in this life!"</p> + +<p>"Don't go down there!" protested the girl. "His armor is <i>so</i> +much better than that emergency suit you are wearing, and he's got Mr. +Franklin's Lewiston, besides!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be an idiot!" he snapped. "We can't have a live pirate +aboard--we're going to be altogether too busy with outsiders directly. +Don't worry, I'm not going to give him a break. I'm taking a Standish +and I'll rub him out like a blot. Stay right here until I come back +after you," he commanded, and the heavy, vacuum insulated door of the +lifeboat clanged shut behind him as he leaped out into the +promenade.</p> + +<p>Straight across the saloon he made his way, paying no attention to +the inert forms scattered here and there. Going up to a blank wall, he +manipulated an almost invisible dial set flush with its surface, swung a +heavy door aside, and lifted out the Standish--a fearsome weapon. Squat, +huge, and heavy, it resembled somewhat an overgrown machine rifle, but +one possessing a thick, short telescope, with several opaque condensing +lenses and parabolic reflectors. Laboring under the weight of the thing, +he strode along corridors and clambered heavily down short stairways. +Finally he came to the purifier room, and grinned savagely as he saw the +greenish haze of light obscuring the door and walls--the shield was +still in place; the pirate was still inside, still flooding with the +terrible Vee-Two the <i>Hyperion's</i> primary air.</p> + +<p>He set his peculiar weapon down, unfolded its three massive legs, +crouched down behind it and threw in a switch. Dull red beams of +frightful intensity shot from the reflectors and sparks, almost of +lightning proportions, leaped from the shielding screen under their +impact. Roaring and snapping, the conflict went on for seconds; then, +under the superior force of the Standish, the greenish radiance gave +way. Behind it the metal of the door ran the gamut of color--red, +yellow, blinding whiter--then literally exploded; molten, vaporized, +burned away. Through the aperture thus made Costigan could plainly see +the pirate in the space-armor of the chief engineer--an armor which was +proof against rifle fire and which could reflect and neutralize for some +little time even the terrific beam Costigan was employing. Nor was the +pirate unarmed--a vicious flare of incandescence leaped from his +Lewiston, to spend its force in spitting, crackling pyrotechnics against +the ether-wall of the squat and monstrous Standish. But Costigan's +infernal machine did not rely only upon vibratory destruction. At almost +the first flash of the pirate's weapon the officer touched a trigger; +there was a double report, ear-shattering in that narrowly confined +space; and the pirate's body literally flew into mist as a half-kilogram +shell tore through his armor and exploded. Costigan shut off his beam, +and, with not the slightest softening of one hard lineament, stared +around the air-room; making sure that no serious damage had been done to +the vital machinery of the air-purifier--the very lungs of the great +space-ship.</p> + +<p>Dismounting the Standish, he lugged it back up to the main saloon, +replaced it in its safe and again set the combination lock. Thence to +the lifeboat, where Clio cried out in relief as she saw that he was +unhurt.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Conway, I've been so afraid something would happen to you!" she +exclaimed, as he led her rapidly upward toward the control room. "Of +course you...." she paused.</p> + +<p>"Sure," he replied, laconically. "Nothing to it. How do you +feel--about back to normal?"</p> + +<p>"All right, I think, except for being scared to death and just about +out of control. I don't suppose that I'll be good for anything, but +whatever I can do, count me in on."</p> + +<p>"Fine--you may be needed, at that. Everybody's out, apparently, +except those who, like me, had a warning and could hold their breath +until they got to their suits."</p> + +<p>"But how did you know what it was? You can't see it, nor smell it, +nor anything."</p> + +<p>"You inhaled a second before I did, and I saw your eyes. I've been in +it before--and when you see a man get a jolt of that stuff just once, +you never forget it. The engineers down below got it first, of +course--it must have wiped them out. Then we got it in the saloon. Your +passing out warned me, and luckily I had enough breath left to give the +word. Quite a few of the fellows up above should have had time to get +away--we'll see 'em all in the control room."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that was why you revived me--in payment for so kindly +warning you of the gas attack?" The girl laughed; shaky, but game.</p> + +<p>"Something like that, probably," he answered, lightly. "Here we +are--now we'll soon find out what's going to happen next."</p> + +<p>In the control room they saw at least a dozen armored figures; not +now rushing about, but seated at their instruments, tense and ready. +Fortunate it was that Costigan--veteran of space as he was, though young +in years--had been down in the saloon; fortunate that he had been +familiar with that horrible outlawed gas; fortunate that he had had the +presence of mind enough and sheer physical stamina enough to send his +warning without allowing one paralyzing trace to enter his own lungs. +Captain Bradley, the men on watch, and several other officers in their +quarters or in the wardrooms--space-hardened veterans all--had obeyed +instantly and without question the amplifiers' gasped command to "get +tight." Exhaling or inhaling, their air-passages had snapped as that +dread "Vee-Two" was heard, and they had literally jumped into their +armored suits of space--flushing them out with volume after volume of +unquestionable air; holding their breath to the last possible second, +until their straining lungs could endure no more.</p> + +<p>Costigan waved the girl to a vacant bench, cautiously changed into +his own armor from the emergency suit he had been wearing, and +approached the captain.</p> + +<p>"Anything in sight, sir?" he asked, saluting. "They should have +started something before this."</p> + +<p>"They've started, but we can't locate them. We tried to send out a +general sector alarm, but that had hardly started when they blanketed +our wave. Look at that!"</p> + +<p>Following the captain's eyes, Costigan stared at the high powered set +of the ship's operator. Upon the plate, instead of a moving, living, +three-dimensional picture, there was a flashing glare of blinding white +light; from the speaker, instead of intelligible speech, was issuing a +roaring, crackling stream of noise.</p> + +<p>"It's impossible!" Bradley burst out, violently. "There's not a gram +of metal inside the fourth zone--within a hundred thousand +kilometers--and yet they must be close to send such a wave as that. But +the Second thinks not--what do you think, Costigan?" The bluff +commander, reactionary and of the old school as was his breed, was +furious--baffled, raging inwardly to come to grips with the invisible +and undetectable foe. Face to face with the inexplicable, however, he +listened to the younger men with unusual tolerance.</p> + +<p>"It's not only possible; it's quite evident that they've got +something we haven't." Costigan's voice was bitter. "But why shouldn't +they have? Service ships never get anything until it's been experimented +with for years, but pirates and such always get the new stuff as soon as +it's discovered. The only good thing I can see is that we got part of a +message away, and the scouts can trace that interference out there. But +the pirates know that, too--it won't be long now," he concluded, +grimly.</p> + +<p>He spoke truly. Before another word was spoken the outer screen +flared white under a beam of terrific power, and simultaneously there +appeared upon one of the lookout plates a vivid picture of the pirate +vessel--a huge, black globe of steel, now emitting flaring offensive +beams of force. Her invisibility lost, now that she had gone into +action, she lay revealed in the middle of the first zone--at point-blank +range.</p> + +<p>Instantly the powerful weapons of the <i>Hyperion</i> were brought to +bear, and in the blast of full-driven beams the stranger's screens +flamed incandescent. Heavy guns, under the recoil of whose fierce +salvos, the frame of the giant globe trembled and shuddered, shot out +their tons of high-explosive shell. But the pirate commander had known +accurately the strength of the liner, and knew that her armament was +impotent against the forces at his command. His screens were +invulnerable, the giant shells were exploded harmlessly in mid-space, +miles from their objective. And suddenly a frightened pencil of flame +stabbed brilliantly from the black hulk of the enemy. Through the empty +ether it tore, through the mighty defensive screens, through the tough +metal of the outer and inner walls. Every ether-defence of +the <i>Hyperion</i> vanished, and her acceleration dropped to a quarter +of its normal value.</p> + +<p>"Right through the battery room!" Bradley groaned. "We're on the +emergency drive now. Our rays are done for, and we can't seem to put a +shell anywhere near her with our guns!"</p> + +<p>But ineffective as the guns were, they were silenced forever as a +frightful beam of destruction stabbed relentlessly through the control +room, whiffing out of existence the pilot, gunnery, and lookout panels +and the men before them. The air rushed into space, and the suits of the +three survivors bulged out into drumhead tightness as the pressure in +the room decreased.</p> + +<p>Costigan pushed the captain lightly toward a wall, then seized the +girl and leaped in the same direction.</p> + +<p>"Let's get out of here, quick!" he cried, the miniature radio +instruments of the helmets automatically taking up the duty of +transmitting speech as the sound disks refused to function. "They can't +see us--our ether wall is still up and their spy-sprays can't get +through it from the outside, you know. They're working from blue-prints, +and they'll probably take your desk next," and even as they bounded +toward the door, now become the outer seal of an airlock, the +annihilating ray tore through the space which they had just quitted in +their flight.</p> + +<p>Through the airlock, down through several levels of passengers' +quarters they hurried, and into a lifeboat, whose one doorway commanded +the full length of the third lounge--an ideal spot, either for defense +or for escape outward by means of the miniature cruiser. As they entered +their retreat they felt their weight begin to increase. More and more +force was applied to the helpless liner, until it was moving at normal +acceleration.</p> + +<p>"What do you make of that, Costigan?" asked the captain. "Tractor +beams?"</p> + +<p>"Apparently. They've got something, all right. They're taking us +somewhere, fast. I'll go get a couple of Standishes, and another suit of +armor--we'd better dig in," and soon the small room became a veritable +fortress, housing as it did, those two formidable engines of +destruction. Then the first officer made another and longer trip, +returning with a complete suit of triplanetary space armor, exactly like +those worn by the two men, but considerably smaller.</p> + +<p>"Just as an added factor of safety, you'd better put this on, +Clio--those emergency suits aren't good for much in a battle. I don't +suppose that you ever fired a Standish, did you?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I can soon learn how to do it," she replied, pluckily.</p> + +<p>"Two is all that can work here at once, but you should know how to +take hold in case one of us goes out. And while you're changing suits +you'd better put on some stuff I've got here--Service special phones and +detectors. Stick this little disk onto your chest with this bit of tape; +low down, out of sight. Just under your wishbone is the best place. Take +off your wrist-watch and wear this one <i>continuously</i>--never take +it off for a second. Put on these pearls, and wear them all the time, +too. Take this capsule and hide it against your skin, some place where +it can't be found except by the most rigid search. Swallow it in an +emergency--it goes down easily and works just as well inside as outside. +It is the most important thing of all--you can get along with it alone +if you lose everything else, but without that capsule the whole system's +shot to pieces. With that outfit, if we should get separated, you can +talk to us--we're both wearing 'em, although somewhat different forms. +You don't need to talk loud--just a mutter will be enough. They're handy +little outfits, almost impossible to find, and capable of a lot of +things."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Conway--I'll remember that, too," Clio replied, as she +turned toward the tiny locker to follow his instructions. "But won't the +scouts and patrols be catching us pretty quick? The operator sent a +warning."</p> + +<p>"Afraid the ether's empty, as far as we're concerned. They could +neutralize our detector screens, and the scouts' detectors are the same +as ours."</p> + +<p>Captain Bradley had stood by in silent astonishment during this +conversation. His eyes had bulged slightly at Costigan's "we're both +wearing 'em," but he had held his peace and as the girl disappeared a +look of dawning comprehension came over his face.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see, sir," he said, respectfully--far more respectfully than +he had ever before addressed a mere first officer. "Meaning that we +both <i>will be</i> wearing them shortly, I assume. 'Service +Specials'--but you didn't specify exactly <i>what</i> Service, did +you?"</p> + +<p>"Now that you mention it, I don't believe that I did," Costigan +grinned.</p> + +<p>"That explains several things about you--particularly your +recognition of Vee-Two and your uncanny control and speed of reaction. +But aren't you...."</p> + +<p>"No," Costigan interrupted, positively. "This situation is apt to get +altogether too serious to overlook any bets. If we get away, I'll take +them away from her and she'll never know that they aren't routine +equipment in the Triplanetary Service. As for you, I know that you can +and do keep your mouth shut. That's why I'm hanging this junk on you--I +had a lot of stuff in my kit, but I flashed it all with the Standish, +except what I brought in here for us three. Whether you think so or not, +we're in a real jam--our chance of getting away is mightly close to +zero. Now that I've gone this far, I might as well tell you that I don't +believe these birds are pirates at all, in the ordinary sense of the +word. And it may be possible that they're after me, but I don't think +so--we've covered up too...."</p> + +<p>He broke off as the girl came back, now to all appearances a small +Triplanetary officer, and the three settled down to a long and eventless +wait. Hour after hour they flew through the ether, but finally there was +a lurching swing and an abrupt increase in their acceleration. After a +short consultation Captain Bradley turned on the visiray set and, with +the beam at its minimum power, peered cautiously downward, in the +direction opposite to that in which he knew the pirate vessel must be. +All three stared into the plate, seeing only an infinity of emptiness, +marked only by the infinitely remote and coldly brilliant stars. While +they stared into space a vast area of the heavens was blotted out and +they saw, faintly illuminated by a peculiar blue luminescence, a vast +ball--a sphere so large and so close that they seemed to be dropping +downward toward it as though it were a world! They came to a +stop--paused, weightless--a vast door slid smoothly aside--they were +drawn <i>upward</i> through an airlock and floated quietly in the air +above a small, but brightly-lighted and orderly city of metallic +buildings! Gently the <i>Hyperion</i> was lowered, to come to rest in +the embracing arms of a regulation landing cradle.</p> + +<p>"Well, wherever it is, we're here," remarked Captain Bradley, +grimly.</p> + +<p>"And now the fireworks start," assented Costigan, with a questioning +glance at the girl.</p> + +<p>"Don't mind me," she answered his unspoken question. "I don't believe +in surrendering, either."</p> + +<p>"Right," and both men squatted down behind the ether-walls of their +terrific weapons; the girl prone behind them.</p> + +<p>They had not long to wait. A group of human beings--men and to all +appearance Americans--appeared unarmed in the little lounge. As soon as +they were well inside the room, Bradley and Costigan released upon them +without compunction the full power of their frightful projectors. From +the reflectors, through the doorway, there tore a concentrated double +beam of pure destruction--but that beam did not reach its goal. Yards +from the men it met a screen of impenetrable density. Instantly the +gunners pressed their triggers and a stream of high-explosive shells +issued from the roaring weapons. But shells, also, were futile. They +struck the shield and vanished--vanished without exploding and without +leaving a trace to show that they had ever existed.</p> + +<p>Costigan sprang to his feet, but before he could launch his intended +attack a vast tunnel appeared beside him--an annihilating ray had swept +through the entire width of the liner, cutting instantly a smooth +cylinder of emptiness. Air rushed in to fill the vacuum, and the three +visitors felt themselves seized by invisible forces and drawn into the +tunnel. Through it they floated, up to and over the buildings, finally +slanting downward toward the door of a great high-powered structure. +Doors opened before them and closed behind them, until at last they +stood upright in a room which was evidently the office of a busy +executive. They faced a desk which, in addition to the usual equipment +of the business man, carried a bewilderingly complete switchboard and +instrument panel.</p> + +<p>Seated impassively at the desk there was a gray man. Not only was he +dressed entirely in gray, but his heavy hair was gray, his eyes were +gray, and even his tanned skin seemed to give the impression of grayness +in disguise. His overwhelming personality radiated an aura of +grayness--not the gentle gray of the dove, but the resistless, driving +gray of the super-dreadnaught; the hard, inflexible, brittle gray of the +fracture of high-carbon steel.</p> + +<p>"Captain Bradley, First Officer Costigan, Miss Marsden," the man +spoke quietly, but crisply. "I had not intended you two men to live so +long. That is a detail, however, which we will pass by for the moment. +You may remove your suits."</p> + +<p>Neither officer moved, but both stared back at the speaker +unflinchingly.</p> + +<p>"I am not accustomed to repeating instructions," the man at the desk +continued; voice still low and level, but instinct with deadly menace. +"You may choose between removing those suits and dying in them, here and +now."</p> + +<p>Costigan moved over to Clio and slowly took off her armor. Then, +after a flashing exchange of glances and a muttered word, the two +officers threw off their suits simultaneously and fired at the same +instant; Bradley with his Lewiston, Costigan with a heavy automatic +pistol whose bullets were explosive shells of tremendous power. But the +man in gray, surrounded by an impenetrable wall of force, only smiled at +the fusillade, tolerantly and maddeningly. Costigan leaped fiercely, +only to be hurled backward as he struck that unyielding, invisible wall. +A vicious beam snapped him back into place, the weapons were snatched +away, and all three captives were held in their former positions.</p> + +<p>"I permitted that, as a demonstration of futility," the gray man +said, his hard voice becoming harder, "but I will permit no more +foolishness. Now I will introduce myself. I am known as Roger. You +probably have heard nothing of me yet but you will--if you live. Whether +or not you two live depends solely upon yourselves. Being something of a +student of men, I fear that you will both die shortly. Able and +resourceful as you have just shown yourselves to be, you could be +valuable to me, but you probably will not--in which case you shall, of +course, cease to exist. That, however, in its proper time--you shall be +of some slight service to me in the process of being eliminated. In your +case, Miss Marsden, I find myself undecided between two courses of +action; each highly desirable, but unfortunately mutually exclusive. +Your father will be glad to ransom you at an exceedingly high figure, +but, in spite of that fact, I may decide to keep you for--well, let us +say for certain purposes."</p> + +<p>"Yes?" Clio rose magnificently to the occasion. Fear forgotten, her +courageous spirit flashed from her clear, young eyes and emanated from +her slender, rounded young body, erect in defiance. "Since I am a +captive, you can of course do anything you please with me up to a +certain point--but no further, believe me!"</p> + +<p>With no sign of having heard her outburst Roger pressed a button and +a tall, comely woman, appeared--a woman of indefinite age and of +uncertain nationality.</p> + +<p>"Show Miss Marsden to her apartment," he directed, and as the two +women went out a man came in.</p> + +<p>"The cargo is unloaded, sir," the newcomer reported. "The two men and +the five women indicated have been taken to the hospital," was the +report of the man.</p> + +<p>"Very well, dispose of the others in the usual fashion." The minion +went out, and Roger continued, emotionlessly:</p> + +<p>"Collectively, the other passengers may be worth a million or so, but +it would not be worth while to waste time upon them."</p> + +<p>"What are you, anyway?" blazed Costigan, helpless but enraged beyond +caution. "I have heard of mad scientists who tried to destroy the earth, +and of equally mad geniuses who thought themselves Napoleons capable of +conquering even the Solar System. Whichever you are, you should know +that you can't get away with it."</p> + +<p>"I am neither. I am, however, a scientist, and I direct many other +scientists. I am not mad. You have undoubtedly noticed several peculiar +features of this place?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, particularly the artificial gravity, which has always been +considered impossible, and those screens. An ordinary ether-wall is +opaque in one direction, and doesn't bar matter--yours are transparent +both ways and something more than impenetrable to matter. How do you do +it?"</p> + +<p>"You could not understand them if I explained them to you, and they +are merely two of our smaller developments. I have no serious designs +upon the earth nor upon the Solar System, nor have I any desire to rule +over, or to control the destinies of masses of futile and brainless men. +I have, however, certain ends of my own in view. To accomplish my plans +I require hundreds of millions in gold, other hundreds of millions in +platinum and noble metal, and some five kilograms of the bromide of +radium--all of which I shall take from the planets of this Solar System +before I leave it. I shall take them in spite of the puerile efforts of +the fleets of your Triplanetary League.</p> + +<p>"This structure, floating in a planetary orbit, was designed by me +and built under my direction. It is protected from meteorites by certain +forces of my devising. It is undetectable and invisible--your detectors +do not touch it and light-waves are bent around it without loss or +distortion. I am discussing these points at such length so that you may +realize exactly your position. As I have intimated, you can be of +assistance to me if you will."</p> + +<p>"Now just what could you offer any <i>man</i> to make him join your +outfit?" demanded Costigan, venomously.</p> + +<p>"Many things." Roger's cold tone betrayed no emotion, no recognition +of Costigan's open and bitter contempt. "I have under me many men, bound +to me by many ties. Needs, wants, longings and desires differ from man +to man, and I can satisfy practically any of them. Personally, I take +delight in the society of young and beautiful women, and many men have +that same taste; but there are other urges which I have found quite +efficient. Greed, thirst for fame, longing for power, and so on, +including many qualities usually regarded as 'noble.' And what I +promise, I deliver. I demand only loyalty to me, and that only in +certain things and for a relatively short period. In all else, my men do +as they please. In conclusion, I can use you two conveniently, but I do +not need you. Therefore you may choose now between my service and--the +alternative."</p> + +<p>"Exactly what is the alternative?"</p> + +<p>"We will not go into that. Suffice it to say that it has to do with a +minor research, which is not progressing satisfactorily. It will result +in your extinction, and perhaps I should mention that that extinction +will not be particularly pleasant."</p> + +<p>"I say NO, you...." Bradley roared. He intended to give an +unexpurgated classification, but was rudely interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Hold on a minute!" snapped Costigan. "How about Miss Marsden?"</p> + +<p>"She has nothing to do with this discussion," returned Roger, icily. +"I do not bargain--in fact, I believe that I shall keep her for a time. +She has it in mind to destroy herself, if I do not allow her to be +ransomed, but she will find that door closed to her until I permit it to +open."</p> + +<p>"In that case, I string along with the Chief--take what he started to +say about you and run it clear across the board for me!" barked +Costigan.</p> + +<p>"Very well. That decision was to be expected from men of your type." +The gray man touched two buttons and two of his creatures entered the +room. "Put these men into separate cells on the second level," he +ordered. "Search them to the skin: all their weapons may not have been +in their armor. Seal the doors and mount special guards, tuned to me +here."</p> + +<p>Imprisoned they were, and carefully searched; but they bore no arms, +and nothing had been said or thought of communicators. Even if such +instruments could be concealed, Roger would detect their use instantly. +At least, so would have run his thought had the subject entered his +mind. But even Roger had no inkling of the possibility of Costigan's +"Service Special" phones, detectors and spy-ray--instruments of minute +size and of infinitesimal power, but yet instruments which, working as +they were, below the level of the ether, were effective at great +distances and caused no vibrations in the ether by which their use could +be detected. And what could be more innocent than the regulation, +personal equipment of every officer of space? The heavy goggles, the +wrist-watch and its supplementary pocket chronometer, the flash-lamp, +the automatic lighter, the sender, the money-belt?</p> + +<p>All these items of equipment were examined with due care; but the +cleverest minds of Triplanetary's Secret Service had designated those +communicators to pass any ordinary search, however careful, and when +Costigan and Bradley were finally locked into the designated cells, they +still possessed their ultra-instruments.</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>In Roger's Planetoid</h3> + +<p>In the hall Clio glanced around her wildly, her bosom heaving, eyes +darting here and there, seeking even the narrowest avenue of escape. +Before she could act, however, her body was clamped inflexibly, as +though in a vise, and she struggled, motionless.</p> + +<p>"It is useless to attempt to escape, or to do anything except what +Roger wishes," the guide informed her somberly, snapping off the +instrument in her hand and thus restoring to the thoroughly cowed girl +her freedom of motion.</p> + +<p>"His lightest wish is law," she continued as they walked down a long +corridor. "The sooner you realize that you must do exactly as he +pleases, in all things, the easier your life will be."</p> + +<p>"But I wouldn't <i>want</i> to keep on living!" Clio declared, with a +flash of spirit. "And I can <i>always</i> die, you know."</p> + +<p>"You will find that you cannot," the passionless creature returned, +monotonously. "If you do not yield, you will long and pray for death, +but you will not die unless Roger wills it. I was like you once. I also +struggled, and I became what I am now--whatever it is. Here is your +apartment. You will stay here until Roger gives further orders +concerning you."</p> + +<p>The living automaton opened a door and stood silent and impassive, +while Clio, staring at her in unutterable horror, shrank past her and +into the sumptuously furnished suite. The door closed soundlessly and +utter silence descended as a pall. Not an ordinary silence, but the +indescribable perfection of the absolute, complete absence of all sound. +In that silence Clio stood motionless. Tense and rigid, hopeless, +despairing, she stood there in that magnificent room, fighting an almost +overwhelming impulse to scream. Suddenly she heard the cold voice of +Roger, speaking from the empty air.</p> + +<p>"You are over-wrought, Miss Marsden. You can be of no use to yourself +or to me in that condition. I command you to rest; and, to insure that +rest, you may pull that cord, which will establish about this room an +ether wall: a wall cutting off even this my voice...."</p> + +<p>The voice ceased as she pulled the cord savagely and threw herself +upon a divan in a torrent of gasping, strangling, but rebellious sobs. +Then again came a voice, but not to her ears. Deep within her, pervading +every bone and muscle, it made itself felt rather than heard.</p> + +<p>"Clio?" it asked. "Don't talk yet...."</p> + +<p>"Conway!" she gasped in relief, every fiber of her being thrilled +into new hope at the deep, well-remembered voice of Conway Costigan.</p> + +<p>"Keep still!" he snapped. "Don't act so happy! He may have a spy-ray +on you. He can't hear me, but he may be able to hear you. When he was +talking to you you must have noticed a sort of rough, sandpapery feeling +under that necklace I gave you? Since he's got an ether-wall around you +the beads are dead now. If you feel anything like that under the +wrist-watch, breathe deeply, twice. If you don't feel anything there, +it's safe for you to talk, as loud as you please.</p> + +<p>"I don't feel a thing, Conway!" she rejoiced. Tears forgotten, she +was her old, buoyant self again. "So that wall <i>is</i> real, after +all? I only about half believed it."</p> + +<p>"Don't trust it too much, because he can cut it off from the outside +any time he wants to. Remember what I told you: that necklace will warn +you of any spy-ray in the ether, and the watch will detect anything +below the level of the ether. It's dead now, of course, since our three +phones are direct-connected; I'm in touch with Bradley, too. Don't be +too scared; we've got a lot better chance that I thought we had."</p> + +<p>"What? You don't mean it!"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely. I'm beginning to think that maybe we've got something he +doesn't know exists--our ultra-wave. Of course I wasn't surprised when +his searchers failed to find our instruments, but it never occurred to +me that I might have a clear field to use them in! I can't quite believe +it yet, but I haven't been able to find any indication that he can even +detect the bands we are using. I'm going to look around over there with +my spy-ray ... I'm looking at you now--feel it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the watch feels that way, now."</p> + +<p>"Fine! Not a sign of interference over here, either. I can't find a +trace of ultra-wave--anything below ether-level, you know--anywhere in +the whole place. He's got so much stuff that we've never heard of that I +supposed of course he'd have ultra-wave, too; but if he hasn't, that +gives us the edge. Well, Bradley and I've got a lot of work to do.... +Wait a minute, I just had a thought. I'll be back in about a +second."</p> + +<p>There was a brief pause, then the soundless, but clear voice went +on:</p> + +<p>"Good hunting! That woman that gave you the blue willies isn't +alive--she's full of the prettiest machinery and communicators you ever +saw!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Conway!" and the girl's voice broke in an engulfing wave of +thanksgiving and relief. "It was so unutterably horrible, thinking of +what must have happened to her and to others like her!"</p> + +<p>"He's running a colossal bluff, I think. He's good, all right, but he +lacks quite a lot of being omnipotent. But don't get too cocky, either. +Plenty has happened to plenty of women here, and men too--and plenty may +happen to us unless we put out a few jets. Keep a stiff upper lip, and +if you want us, yell. 'Bye!"</p> + +<p>The silent voice ceased, the watch upon Clio's wrist again became an +unobtrusive timepiece, and Costigan, in his solitary cell far below her +tower room, turned his peculiarly goggled eyes toward other scenes. In +his pockets his hands manipulated tiny controls, and through the lenses +of those goggles Costigan's keen and highly-trained eyes studied every +concealed detail of mechanism of the great globe, the while he planned +what must be done. Finally, he took off the goggles and spoke in a low +voice to Bradley, confined in another windowless room across the +hall.</p> + +<p>"I think I've got dope enough, Captain. I've found out where he put +our armor and guns, and I've located all the main leads, controls, and +generators. There are no ether-walls around us here, but every door is +shielded, and there are guards outside our doors--one to each of us. +They're robots, not men. That makes it harder, since they're undoubtedly +connected direct to Roger's desk, and will give an alarm at the first +hint of abnormal performance. We can't do a thing until he leaves his +desk. See that black panel, a little below the cord-switch to the right +of your door? That's the conduit cover. When I give you the word, tear +that off and you'll see one red wire in the cable. It feeds the +shield-generator of your door. Break that wire and join me out in the +hall. Sorry I had only one of these ultra-wave spies, but once we're +together it won't be so bad. Here's what I thought we could do," and he +went over in detail the only course of action which his surveys had +shown to be possible.</p> + +<p>"There, he's left his desk!" Costigan exclaimed after the +conversation had continued for almost an hour. "Now as soon as we find +out where he's going, we'll start something ... he's going to see Clio, +the swine! This changes things, Bradley!" His hard voice was a +curse.</p> + +<p>"Somewhat!" blazed the captain. "I know how you two have been getting +on all during the cruise. I'm with you, but what can we do?"</p> + +<p>"We'll do something," Costigan declared grimly. "If he makes a pass +at her I'll get him if I have to blow this whole sphere out of space, +with us in it!"</p> + +<p>"Don't do that, Conway." Clio's low voice, trembling but determined, +was felt by both men and both gasped audibly: they had forgotten that +there were three instruments in the circuit. "If there's a chance for +you to get away and do anything about fighting him, don't mind me. Maybe +he only wants to talk about the ransom, anyway."</p> + +<p>"He wouldn't talk ransom to <i>you</i>--he's going to talk something +else entirely," Costigan gritted; then his voice changed suddenly. "But +say, maybe it's just as well this way. They didn't find our specials +when they searched us, you know, and we're going to do plenty of damage +right soon now. Roger probably isn't a fast worker--more the +cat-and-mouse type, I'd say--and after we get started he'll have +something on his mind besides you. Think you can stall him off and keep +him interested for about fifteen minutes?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I can--I'll do <i>anything</i> to help us, or you, get away +from this horrible...." Her voice ceased as Roger broke the ether-wall +of her apartment and walked toward the divan upon which she crouched in +wide-eyed, helpless, trembling terror.</p> + +<p>"Get ready, Bradley!" Costigan directed tersely. "He's left Clio's +ether-wall off, so that any abnormal signals would be relayed to him +from his desk--he knows that there's no chance of anyone disturbing him +in <i>that</i> room. But I'm holding my beam on that switch--it's as +good a conductor as metal--so that the wall is on, full strength. No +matter what we do now, he can't get a warning. I'll have to hold the +beam exactly on the switch, though, so you'll have to do the dirty work. +Tear out that red wire and kill those two guards. You know how to kill a +robot, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes--break his eye-lenses and his eardrums and he'll stop whatever +he's doing and send out distress calls.... Got 'em both. Now what?"</p> + +<p>"Open my door--the shield switch is to the right."</p> + +<p>Costigan's door flew open and the Triplanetary captain leaped into +the room.</p> + +<p>"Now for our armor!" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Not yet!" snapped Costigan. He was standing rigid, goggled eyes +staring immovably at a spot upon the ceiling. "I can't move a millimeter +until you've closed Clio's ether-wall switch. If I take this ray off it +for a second we're sunk. Five floors up, straight ahead down a +corridor--fourth door on right. When you're at the switch you'll feel my +ray on your watch. Snap it up!"</p> + +<p>"Right!" and the captain leaped away at a pace to be equaled by few +men of half his years.</p> + +<p>Soon he was back, and after Costigan had tested the ether-wall of the +"bridal suite" to make sure that no warning signal from his desk or his +servants could reach Roger within it, the two officers hurried away +toward the room in which their discarded space-armor had been +stored.</p> + +<p>"Too bad they don't wear uniforms," panted Bradley, short of breath +from the many flights of stairs. "Might have helped some as +disguise."</p> + +<p>"I doubt it--with so many robots around, they've probably got signals +that we couldn't understand, anyway. If we meet anybody it'll mean a +battle. Hold it!" Peering through walls with his spy-ray, Costigan had +seen two men approaching, blocking an intersecting corridor into which +they must turn. "Two of 'em, a man and a robot--the robot's on your +side. We'll wait here, right at the corner--when they round it, take +'em!" And Costigan put away his goggles in readiness for strife.</p> + +<p>All unsuspecting, the two pirates came into view, and as they +appeared the two officers struck. Costigan, on the inside, drove a +short, hard right low into the human pirate's abdomen. The fiercely +driven fist sank to the wrist into the soft tissues and the stricken man +collapsed. But even as the blow landed, Costigan had seen that there was +a third enemy, following close behind the two he had been watching, a +pirate who was even then training a ray projector upon him. Reacting +automatically, Costigan swung his unconscious opponent around in front +of him, so that it was into that insensible body that the vicious ray +tore, and not into his own. Crouching down into the smallest possible +compass, he straightened his powerful body with the lashing force of a +mighty steel spring, hurling the corpse straight at the flaming mouth of +the projector. The weapon crashed to the floor and dead pirate and +living went down in a heap. Upon that heap Costigan hurled himself, +feeling for the enemy's throat. But the pirate had wriggled clear, and +countered with a gouging thrust that would have torn out the eyes of a +slower man, following it up instantly with a savage kick for the groin. +No automaton this, geared and set to perform certain fixed duties with +mechanical precision, but a lithe, strong man in hard training, fighting +with every foul trick known to his murderous ilk.</p> + +<p>But Costigan was no tyro in the art of dirty fighting. Few indeed are +the maiming tricks of foul combat unknown to even the rank and file of +the highly efficient Secret Service of the Triplanetary League; and +Costigan, a Sector Chief of that unknown organization, knew them all. +Not for pleasure, sportsmanship, nor million-dollar purses do those +secret agents use Nature's weapons. They come to grips only when it +cannot possibly be avoided, but when they are forced to fight in that +fashion they go into it with but one grim purpose--to kill, and to kill +in the shortest possible space of time. Thus it was that Costigan's +opening soon came. The pirate launched a particularly vicious kick, the +dreaded "coup de sabot," which Costigan avoided by a lightning shift. It +was a slight shift, barely enough to make the kicker miss, and two +powerful hands closed upon that flying foot in midair like the sprung +jaws of a bear-trap. Closed and twisted viciously, in the same fleeting +instant. There was a shriek, smothered as a heavy boot crashed to its +carefully pre-determined mark: the pirate was out, definitely and +permanently.</p> + +<p>The struggle had lasted scarcely ten seconds, coming to its close +just as Bradley finished blinding and deafening the robot. Costigan +picked up the projector, again donned his spy-ray goggles, and the two +hurried on.</p> + +<p>"Nice work, Chief--it must be a gift to rough-house the way you do," +Bradley exclaimed. "That's why you took the live one?"</p> + +<p>"Practice helps some, too! I've been in brawls before, and I'm a lot +younger and maybe some faster than you are," Costigan explained briefly, +penetrant gaze rigidly to the fore as they ran along one corridor after +another.</p> + +<p>Several more guards, both living and mechanical, were encountered on +the way, but they were not permitted to offer any opposition. Costigan +saw them first. In the furious beam of the projector of the dead pirate +they were riven into nothingness, and the two officers sped on to the +room which Costigan had located from afar. The three suits of +Triplanetary space armor had been sealed into a cabinet whose doors +Costigan literally blew off with a blast of force, rather than consume +time in tracing the power leads.</p> + +<p>"I feel like something now!" Costigan, once more encased in his own +armor, heaved a great sigh of relief. "Rough-and-tumble's all right with +one or two, but that generator room is full of grief, and we won't have +any too much stuff as it is. We've got to take Clio's suit along--we'll +carry it down to the door of the power room, drop it there, and pick it +up after we've wrecked the works."</p> + +<p>Contemptuous now of possible guards, the armored pair strode toward +the room which housed the pulsating heart of the immense fortress of +space. Guards were encountered, and captains--officers who signaled +frantically to their chief, since he alone could unleash the frightful +forces at his command, and who profanely wondered at his unwonted +silence--but the enemy beams were impotent against the mighty +ether-walls of that armor; and the pirates, without armor in the +security of their own planet as they were, vanished utterly in the +ravening beams of the twin Lewistons. As they paused before the door of +the power room, both men felt Clio's voice raised in her first and last +appeal, an appeal wrung from her against her will by the extremity of +her position.</p> + +<p>"Conway! Hurry! Oh, hurry! I can't last much longer--good-bye, dear!" +In the horror-filled tones both men read clearly the girl's dire +extremity. Each saw plainly a happy, care-free young earth girl, upon +her first trip into space, locked inside an ether-wall with an +over-brained, under-conscienced human machine--a super-intelligent but +lecherous and unmoral mechanism of flesh and blood, acknowledging no +authority, ruled by nothing save his own scientific drivings and the +almost equally powerful urges of his desires and passions! She had +fought with every resource at her command. She had wept and pleaded, she +had stormed and raged, she had feigned submission and had played for +time--and her torment had not touched in the slightest degree the +merciless and gloating brain of the being who called himself Roger. Now +his tantalizing, ruthless cat-play was done, the horrible gray-brown +face was close to hers--she wailed her final despairing message to +Costigan and attacked that hideous face with the fury of a tigress.</p> + +<p>Costigan bit off a bitter imprecation. "Hold him just a second +longer, sweetheart!" he cried, and the power room door vanished.</p> + +<p>Through the great room the two Lewistons swept at full aperture and +at maximum power, two rapidly opening fans of death and destruction. +Here and there a guard, more rapid than his fellows, trained a futile +projector--a projector whose magazine exploded at the touch of that +frightful field of force, liberating instantaneously its thousands upon +thousands of kilowatt-hours of stored-up energy. Through the delicately +adjusted, complex mechanisms the destroying beams tore. At their touch +armatures burned out, high-tension leads volatilized in crashing, +high-voltage sparks, masses of metal smoked and burned in the path of +vast forces now seeking the easiest path to neutralization, delicate +instruments blew up, copper ran in streams like water. As the last +machine subsided into a semi-molten mass of metal the two wreckers, each +grasping a brace, felt themselves become weightless and knew that they +had accomplished the first part of their program.</p> + +<p>Costigan leaped for the outer door. His the task to go to Clio's +aid.... Bradley would follow more slowly, bringing the girl's armor and +taking care of any possible pursuit. As he sailed through the air he +spoke.</p> + +<p>"Coming, Clio! All right, girl?" Questioningly, half fearfully.</p> + +<p>"All right, Conway." Her voice was almost unrecognizable, broken in +retching agony. "When everything went crazy he ... found out that the +ether-wall was up ... forgot all about me. He shut it off ... and seemed +to go crazy, too ... he is floundering around like a wild man now.... +I'm trying to keep ... him from ... going down-stairs."</p> + +<p>"Good girl--keep him busy one minute more--he's getting all the +warnings at once and wants to get back to his board. But what's the +matter with you? Did he ... hurt you, after all?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; not that. But I'm sick--horribly sick. I'm falling.... I'm +so dizzy I can scarcely see ... my head is breaking up into little +pieces ... I just <i>know</i> I'm going to die, Conway! Oh ... oh!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, is <i>that</i> all!" In his sheer relief that they had been in +time, Costigan did not think of sympathizing with Clio's very real +present distress of mind and body. "I forgot that you're a +ground-gripper--that's just a little touch of space-sickness. It'll wear +off directly.... All right, I'm coming! Let go of him and get as far +away from him as you can!"</p> + +<p>He was now in the street. Perhaps two hundred feet distant and a +hundred feet above him was the tower room in which were Clio and Roger. +He sprang directly toward its large window, and as he floated "upward" +he corrected his course and accelerated his pace by firing backward at +various angles with his heavy service pistol, uncaring that at the point +of impact of each of those shells a small blast of destruction erupted. +He missed the window a trifle, but that did not matter--his flaming +Lewiston opened a way for him, partly through the window, partly through +the wall. As he soared through the opening he trained projector and +pistol upon Roger, now almost to the door, noticing as he did so that +Clio was clinging convulsively to a lamp-bracket upon the wall. Door and +wall vanished in the Lewiston's terrific beam, but the pirate stood +unharmed. Neither ravening ray nor explosive shell could harm him--he +had snapped on the protective shield whose generator was always upon his +person.</p> + +<p>But Roger, while not exactly a ground-gripper, did not know how to +handle himself without weight; whereas Costigan, given six walls against +which to push, was even more efficient in weightless combat than when +handicapped by the force of gravitation. Keeping his projector upon the +pirate, he seized the first club to hand--a long, slender pedestal of +metal--and launched himself past the pirate chief. With all the momentum +of his mass and velocity and all the power of his mighty right arm he +swung the bar at the pirate's head. That fiercely driven mass of metal +should have taken Roger's head from his shoulders, but it did not. That +shield of force was utterly rigid and impenetrable; the only effect of +the frightful blow was to set him spinning, end over end, like the +flying baton of an acrobatic drum-major. As the spinning form crashed +against the opposite wall of the room, Bradley floated in, carrying +Clio's armor. Without a word the captain loosened the helpless girl's +grip upon the bracket and encased her in the suit. Then, supporting her +at the window, he held his Lewiston upon the captive's head while +Costigan propelled him toward the opening. Both men knew that Roger's +shield of force must be threatened every instant--that if he were +allowed to release it he probably would bring to bear a hand-weapon even +superior to their own.</p> + +<p>Braced against the wall, Costigan sighted along Roger's body toward +the most distant point of the lofty dome of the artificial planet and +gave him a gentle push. Then, each grasping Clio by an arm, the two +officers shoved mightily with their feet and the three armored forms +darted away toward their only hope of escape--an emergency boat which +could be launched through the shell of the great globe. To attempt to +reach the <i>Hyperion</i> and to escape in one of her lifeboats would +have been useless; they could not have forced the great gates of the +main air-locks and no other exits existed. As they sailed onward through +the air, Costigan keeping the slowly-floating form of Roger enveloped in +his beam, Clio began to recover.</p> + +<p>"Suppose they get their gravity fixed?" she asked, apprehensively. +"And they're raying us and shooting at us!"</p> + +<p>"They may have fixed it already. They undoubtedly have spare parts +and duplicate generators, but if they turn it on the fall will kill +Roger too, and he wouldn't like that. They'll have to get him down with +an airship, and they know that we'll get them as fast as they come up. +They can't hurt us with hand-weapons, and before they can bring up any +heavy stuff they'll be afraid to use it, because we'll be too close to +their shell.</p> + +<p>"I wish we could have brought Roger along," he continued, savagely, +to Bradley. "But you were right, of course--it'd be altogether too much +like a rabbit capturing a wildcat. My Lewiston's about done right now, +and there can't be much left of yours--what he'd do to us would be a sin +and a shame."</p> + +<p>Now at the great wall, the two men heaved mightily upon a lever, the +gate of the emergency port swung slowly open, and they entered the +miniature cruiser of the void. Costigan, familiar with the mechanism of +the craft from careful study from his prison cell, manipulated the +controls. Through gate after massive gate they went, until finally they +were out in open space, shooting toward distant Tellus at the maximum +acceleration of which their small craft was capable.</p> + +<p>Costigan cut the other two phones out of circuit and spoke, his +attention fixed upon some extremely distant point.</p> + +<p>"Samms!" he called, sharply. "Costigan. We're out ... all right ... +yes ... sure ... absolutely ... you tell 'em, Sammy; I've got company +here."</p> + +<p>Through the sound-disks of their helmets the girl and the captain had +heard Costigan's share of the conversation. Bradley stared at his +erstwhile first officer in amazement, and even Clio had often heard that +mighty, half-mythical name. Surely that bewildering young man must rank +high, to speak so familiarly to Virgil Samms, the all-powerful head of +the space-pervading Secret Service of the Triplanetary League!</p> + +<p>"You've turned in a general call-out," Bradley stated, rather than +asked.</p> + +<p>"Long ago--I've been in touch right along," Costigan answered. "Now +that they know what to look for and know that ether-wave detectors are +useless, they can find it. Every vessel in seven sectors, clear down to +the scout patrols, is concentrating on this point, and the call is out +for all battleships and cruisers afloat. There are enough operatives out +there with ultra-waves to locate that globe, and once they spot it +they'll point it out to all the other vessels."</p> + +<p>"But how about the other prisoners?" asked the girl. "They'll all be +killed, won't they?"</p> + +<p>"Hard telling," Costigan shrugged. "Depends on how things turn out. +We lack a lot of being safe ourselves yet, and it's my personal opinion +that there's going to be a real war."</p> + +<p>"What's worrying me mostly is our own chance," Bradley assented. +"They will chase us, of course."</p> + +<p>"Sure, and they'll have more speed than we have. Depends on how far +away the nearest Triplanetary vessels are. Anyway, we've done everything +we can do--it's in the laps of the gods now."</p> + +<p>Silence fell, and Costigan cut in Clio's phone and came over to the +seat upon which she was reclining, white and stricken--worn out by the +horrible and terrifying ordeals of the last few hours. As he seated +himself beside her she blushed vividly, but her deep blue eyes met his +gray ones steadily.</p> + +<p>"Clio, I ... we ... you ... that is," he flushed hotly and stopped. +This secret agent, whose clear, keen brain no physical danger could +cloud; who had proved over and over again that he was never at a loss in +any emergency, however desperate--this quick-witted officer floundered +in embarrassment like any schoolboy, but continued, doggedly: "I'm +afraid that I gave myself away back there, but...."</p> + +<p>"We gave ourselves away, you mean," she filled in the pause. "I did +my share, but I won't hold you to it if you don't want--but +I <i>know</i> that you love me, Conway!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Love</i> you!" The man groaned, his face lined and hard, his +whole body rigid. "That doesn't half tell it, Clio. You don't need to +hold me--I'm held for life. There never was a woman who meant anything +to me before, and there never will be another. You're the only woman +that ever existed. It isn't that. Can't you see that it's +impossible?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I can't--it isn't impossible, at all." She released her +finger shields, four hands met and tightly clasped; and her low voice +thrilled with feeling as she went on: "You love me and I love you. That +is all that matters."</p> + +<p>"I wish it were," Costigan returned bitterly, "but you don't know +what you'd be letting yourself in for. It's who and what you are and who +and what I am that's eating me. You, Clio Marsden, Curtis Marsden's +daughter. Nineteen years old. You think you've been places and done +things. You haven't. You haven't seen or done anything--you don't know +what it's all about. And who am I to love a girl like you? A homeless +space-flea who hasn't been on any planet three weeks in three years. A +hard-boiled egg. A trouble-shooter and a brawler by instinct and +training. A sp...." He bit off the word and went on quickly: "Why, you +don't know me at all, and there's a lot of me that you never <i>will</i> +know--that I can't let you know! You'd better lay off me, girl, while +you can. It'll be best for you, believe me."</p> + +<p>"But I can't Conway, and neither can you," the girl answered softly, +a glorious light in her eyes. "It's too late for that. On the ship it +was just another of those things, but since then we've come really to +know each other, and we're sunk. The situation is out of control, and we +both know it--and neither of us would change it if we could, and you +know that, too. I don't know very much, I admit, but I do know what you +thought you'd have to keep from me, and I admire you all the more for +it. We all honor the Service, Conway dearest--it is only you men who +have made and are keeping the Three Planets fit places to live in--and I +know that Virgil Samms' chief lieutenant would have to be a man in four +thousand million...."</p> + +<p>"What makes you think that?" he demanded sharply.</p> + +<p>"You told me so yourself, indirectly. Who else in the known Universe +could possibly call him 'Sammy'? You are hard, of course, but you must +be so--and I never did like soft men, anyway. And you brawl in a good +cause. You are very much a <i>man</i>, my Conway; a real, <i>real</i> +man, and I love you! Now, if they catch us, all right--we'll die +together, at least!" she finished, passionately.</p> + +<p>"You're right, sweetheart, of course," he admitted. "I don't believe +that I <i>could</i> really let you let me go, even though I know you +ought to," and their hands locked together even more firmly than before. +"If we ever get out of this jam I'm going to kiss you, but this is no +time to be taking off your helmet. In fact, I'm taking too many chances +with you in keeping your finger shields off. Snap 'em on, Clio mine; the +pirates ought to be getting fairly close by this time."</p> + +<p>Hands released and armor again tight, Costigan went over to join +Bradley at the control board.</p> + +<p>"How're they coming, Captain?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Not so good. Quite a ways off yet. At least an hour, I'd say, before +a cruiser can get within range."</p> + +<p>"I'll see if I can locate any of the pirates chasing up. If I do, +it'll be by accident; this little spy-ray isn't good for much except +close work. I'm afraid the first warning we'll have will be when they +take hold of us with a beam or spear us with a ray. Probably a beam, +though; this is one of their emergency lifeboats and they wouldn't want +to destroy it unless they have to. Also, I imagine that Roger wants us +alive pretty badly. He has unfinished business with all three of us, and +I can well believe that his 'not particularly pleasant extinction' will +be even less so after the way we rooked him."</p> + +<p>"I want you to do me a favor, Conway." Clio's face was white with +horror at the thought of facing again that unspeakable creature of gray. +"Give me a gun or something, please. I don't want him to touch me again +while I'm alive."</p> + +<p>"He won't," Costigan assured her, narrow of eye and grim of jaw. He +was, as she had said, hard. "But you don't want a gun. You might get +nervous and use it too soon. I'll take care of you at the last possible +moment, because if he gets hold of us we won't stand a chance of getting +away again."</p> + +<p>For minutes there was silence, Costigan surveying the ether in all +directions with his ultra-wave device. Suddenly he laughed, deeply and +with real enjoyment, and the others stared at him in surprise.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm not crazy," he told them. "This is really funny; it had +never occurred to me that all these pirate ships are invisible to any +ether wave as long as they're using power. I can see them, of course, +with this sub-ether spy, but they can't see us! I knew that they should +have overtaken us before this. I've finally found them. They've passed +us, and are now tacking around, waiting for us to cut off our power for +a minute so that they can see us! They're heading right into the +Fleet--they think they're safe, of course, but what a surprise they've +got coming to them!"</p> + +<p>But it was not only the pirates who were to be surprised. Long before +the pirate ship had come within extreme visibility range of the +Triplanetary Fleet, it lost its invisibility and was starkly outlined +upon the lookout plates of the three fugitives. For a few seconds the +pirate craft seemed unchanged, then it began to glow redly, with a red +that seemed to become darker as it grew stronger. Then the sharp +outlines blurred, puffs of air burst outward, and the metal of the hull +became a viscous, fluid-like something, flowing away in a long, red +streamer into seemingly empty space. Costigan turned his ultra-gaze into +that space and saw that it was actually far from empty. There lay a vast +something, formless and indefinite even to his sub-ethereal vision; a +something into which the viscid stream of transformed metal plunged. +Plunged, and vanished.</p> + +<p>Powerful interference blanketed his ultra-wave and howled throughout +his body; but in the hope that some part of his message might get +through he called Samms, and calmly and clearly he narrated everything +that had just happened. He continued his crisp report, neglecting not +the smallest detail, while their tiny craft was drawn inexorably toward +a redly impermeable veil; continued it until their lifeboat, still +intact, shot through that veil and he found himself unable to move. He +was conscious, he was breathing normally, his heart was beating; but not +a voluntary muscle would obey his will.</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>Fleet Against Planetoid</h3> + +<p>One of the newest and fleetest of the Law Enforcement Vessels of the +Triplanetary League, the heavy cruiser <i>Chicago</i>, of the North +American Division of the Tellurian Contingent, plunged stolidly through +interplanetary vacuum. For five long weeks she had patrolled her +allotted volume of space. In another week she would report back to the +city whose name she bore, where her space-weary crew, worn by their long +"trick" in the awesomely oppressive depths of the limitless void, would +enjoy to the full their fortnight of refreshing planetary leave.</p> + +<p>She was performing certain routine tasks--charting meteorites, +watching for derelicts and other obstructions to navigation, checking in +constantly with all scheduled space-ships in case of need, and so +on--but primarily she was a warship. She was a mighty engine of +destruction, hunting for the unauthorized vessels of whatever power or +planet it was, that had not only defied the Triplanetary League, but +were evidently attempting to overthrow it; attempting to plunge the +Three Planets back into the ghastly sink of bloodshed and destruction +from which they had so recently emerged. Every space-ship within range +of her powerful detectors was represented by two brilliant, slowly +moving points of light; one upon a great micrometer screen, the other in +the "tank"--the immense, three-dimensional, minutely cubed model of the +entire Solar System.</p> + +<p>A brilliantly intense red light flared upon a panel and a bell +clanged brazenly the furious signals of the sector alarm. Simultaneously +a speaker roared forth its message of a ship in dire peril.</p> + +<p>"Sector alarm! N. A. T. <i>Hyperion</i> gassed with Vee-Two. Nothing +detectable in space, but...."</p> + +<p>The half-uttered message was drowned out in a crackling roar of +meaningless noise, the orderly signals of the bell became a hideous +clamor, and the two points of light which had marked the location of the +liner disappeared in widely spreading flashes of the same high-powered +interference. Observers, navigators, and control officers were alike +dumfounded. Even the captain, in the shell-proof, shock-proof, and +doubly ray-proof retreat of his conning compartment, was equally at a +loss. No ship or thing could <i>possibly</i> be close enough to be +sending out interfering waves of such tremendous power--yet there they +were!</p> + +<p>"Maximum acceleration, straight for the point where +the <i>Hyperion</i> was when her tracers went out," the captain ordered, +and through the fringe of that widespread interference he drove a solid +beam, reporting concisely to G. H. Q. Almost instantly the emergency +call-out came roaring in--every vessel of the Sector, of whatever class +or tonnage, was to concentrate upon the point in space where the +ill-fated liner had last been known to be.</p> + +<p>Hour after hour the great globe drove on at maximum acceleration, +captain and every control officer alert and at high tension. But in the +Quartermaster's Department, deep down below the generator rooms, no +thought was given to such minor matters as the disappearance of +a <i>Hyperion</i>. The inventory did not balance, and two Q. M. privates +were trying, profanely, and without much success, to find the +discrepancy.</p> + +<p>"Charged cells for model DF Lewistons, none requisitioned, on hand +eighteen thous...." The droning voice broke off short in the middle of a +word and the private stood rigid, in the act of reaching for another +slip, every faculty concentrated upon something, imperceptible to his +companion.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Cleve--snap it up!" the second commanded, but was silenced +by a vicious wave of the listener's hand.</p> + +<p>"What!" the rigid one exclaimed. "Reveal ourselves! Why, it's ... Oh, +all right.... Oh, that's it.... Uh-huh.... I see.... Yes, I've got it +solid. Maybe I'll see you again some time. If not, so long!"</p> + +<p>The inventory sheets fell unheeded from his hand, and his fellow +private stared after him in amazement as he strode over to the desk of +the officer in charge. That officer also stared as the hitherto +easy-going and gold-bricking Cleve saluted briskly, showed him something +flat in the palm of his left hand, and spoke.</p> + +<p>"I've just got some of the funniest orders ever put out, +Lieutenant"--his voice was low and intense--"but they came from 'way, +'way up. I'm to join the brass hats in the Center. You'll know about it +directly, I imagine. Cover me up as much as you can, will you?" And he +was gone.</p> + +<p>Unchallenged he made his way to the control room, and his curt +"urgent report for the Captain" admitted him there without question. But +when he approached the sacred precincts of the Captain's own and +inviolate room, he was stopped in no uncertain fashion by no less a +personage than the Officer of the Day.</p> + +<p>" ... and report yourself under arrest immediately!" the O. D. +concluded his brief but pointed speech.</p> + +<p>"You were right in stopping me, of course," the intruder conceded, +unmoved. "I wanted to get in there without giving everything away, if +possible, but it seems that I can't. Well, I've been ordered by Virgil +Samms to report to the Captain, at once. See this? Touch it!" He held +out a flat, insulated disk, cover thrown back to reveal a tiny golden +meteor, at the sight of which the officer's truculent manner altered +markedly.</p> + +<p>"I've heard of them, of course, but I never saw one before," and the +officer touched the shining symbol lightly with his finger, jerking +backward involuntarily as there shot through his whole body a thrilling +surge of power, shouting into his very bones an unpronounceable +syllable--the password of the Secret Service. "Genuine or not, it gets +you to the Captain. He'll know, and if it's a fake you'll be breathing +space in five minutes."</p> + +<p>Projector at the ready, the Officer of the Day followed Cleve into +the Holy of Holies. There the grizzled four-striper touched the golden +meteor lightly, then drove his piercing gaze deep into the unflinching +eyes of the younger man. But that captain had won his high rank neither +by accident nor by "pull"--he understood at once.</p> + +<p>"It <i>must</i> be an emergency," he growled, half-audibly, still +staring at his lowly Q. M. clerk, "to make Samms uncover his whole +organization." He turned and curtly dismissed the wondering O. D. Then: +"All right! Out with it!"</p> + +<p>"Serious enough so that every one of us afloat has just received +orders to reveal himself to his commanding officer and to anyone else, +if necessary to reach that officer at once--orders never before issued. +The enemy have been located. They have built a base, and have ships +better than our best. Base and ships cannot be seen nor detected by any +ether wave. However, the Service has been experimenting for years with a +new type of communicator beam; and, while pretty crude yet, it was given +to us when the <i>Dione</i> went out without leaving a trace. One of our +men was in the <i>Hyperion</i>, managed to stay alive, and has been +sending data. I am instructed to attach my new phone set to one of the +universal plates in your conning room, and to see what I can find."</p> + +<p>"Go to it!" The captain waved his hand and the operative bent to his +task.</p> + +<p>"Commanders of all vessels of the Fleet!" The Headquarters speaker, +receiver sealed upon the wave-length of the Admiral of the Fleet, broke +the long silence. "All vessels, in sectors L to R, inclusive, will +interlock location signals. Some of you have received, or will receive +shortly, certain communications from sources which need not be +mentioned. Those commanders will at once send out red K4 screens. +Vessels so marked will act as temporary flagships. Unmarked vessels will +proceed at maximum to the nearest flagship, grouping about it in +regulation squadron cone in order of arrival. Squadrons most distant +from objective point designated by flagship observers will proceed +toward it at maximum; squadrons nearest it will decelerate or reverse +velocity--that point must not be approached until full Fleet formation +has been accomplished. Heavy and Light Cruisers of all other sectors +inside the orbit of Mars ..." the orders went on, directing the +mobilization of the stupendous forces of the League, so that they would +be in readiness in the highly improbable event of the failure of the +massed power of seven sectors to reduce the pirate base.</p> + +<p>In those seven sectors perhaps a dozen vessels threw out enormous +spherical screens of intense red light, and as they did so their tracer +points upon all the interlocked lookout plates also became ringed about +with red. Toward those crimson markers the pilots of the unmarked +vessels directed their courses at their utmost power; and while the +white lights upon the lookout plates moved slowly toward and clustered +about the red ones--the ultra-instruments of the Secret Service +operatives were probing into space, sweeping the neighborhood of the +computed position of the pirate's stronghold.</p> + +<p>But the object sought was so far away that the small spy-ray sets of +the Secret Service men, intended as they were for close-range work, were +unable to make contact with the invisible planetoid for which they were +seeking. In the captain's sanctum of the <i>Chicago</i>, the operative +studied his plate for only a minute or two, then shut off his power and +fell into a brown study, from which he was rudely aroused.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you even going to <i>try</i> to find them?" demanded the +captain.</p> + +<p>"No," Cleve returned shortly. "No use--not half enough power or +control. I'm trying to think ... maybe ... say, Captain, will you please +have the Chief Electrician and a couple of radio men come in here?"</p> + +<p>They came, and for hours, while the other ultra-wave men searched the +apparently empty ether with their ineffective beams, the three technical +experts and the erstwhile Quartermaster's clerk labored upon a huge and +complex ultra-wave projector--the three blindly and with doubtful +questions; the one with sure knowledge at least of what he was trying to +do. Finally the thing was done, the crude but efficient graduated +circles were set, and the tubes glowed redly as their solidly massed +output was driving into a tight beam of ultra-vibration. "There it is, +sir," Cleve reported, after some ten minutes of delicate manipulation, +and the vast structure of the miniature world flashed into being upon +his plate. "You may notify the fleet--co-ordinates H 11.62, RA +124-31-16, and Dx about 173.2."</p> + +<p>The report made and the assistants out of the room, the captain +turned to the observer and saluted gravely.</p> + +<p>"We have always known, sir, that the Service had <i>men</i>; but I +had no idea that any one man could possibly do, on the spur of the +moment, what you have just done--unless that man happened to be Lyman +Cleveland."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it doesn't ..." the observer began, but broke off, muttering +unintelligibly at intervals; then swung the visiray beam toward the +earth. Soon a face appeared upon the plate, the keen but careworn face +of Virgil Samms!</p> + +<p>"Hello, Lyman." His voice came clearly from the speaker, and the +Captain gasped--his ultra-wave observer and sometime clerk was Lyman +Cleveland himself, probably the greatest living expert in beam +transmission! "I knew that you'd do something, if it could be done. How +about it--can the others install similar sets on their ships? I'm +betting that they can't."</p> + +<p>"Probably not," Cleveland frowned in thought. "This is a patchwork +affair, made of gunny-sacks and hay-wire. I'm holding it together by +main strength and awkwardness, and even at that it's apt to go to pieces +any minute."</p> + +<p>"Can you rig it up for photography?"</p> + +<p>"I think so. Just a minute--yes, I can. Why?"</p> + +<p>"Because there's something going on out there that neither we nor the +so-called pirates know anything about. The Admiralty seems to think that +it's the Jovians again, but we don't see how it can be--if it is, they +have developed a lot of stuff that none of our agents has even +suspected," and he recounted briefly what Costigan had reported to him, +concluding: "Then there was a burst of interference--on +the <i>ultra-band</i>, mind you--and I've heard nothing from him since. +Therefore I want you to stay out of the battle entirely. Stay as far +away from it as you can and still get good pictures of everything that +happens. I will see that orders are issued to the <i>Chicago</i> to that +effect."</p> + +<p>"But listen...."</p> + +<p>"Those are orders!" snapped Samms. "It is of the utmost importance +that we know every detail of what is going to happen. The answer is +pictures. The only possibility of obtaining pictures is that machine you +have just developed. If the fleet wins, nothing will be lost. If the +fleet loses--and I am not half as confident of success as the Admiral +is--the <i>Chicago</i> doesn't carry enough power to decide the issue, +and we will have the pictures to study, which is all-important. Besides, +we've probably lost Conway Costigan to-day, and we don't want to +lose <i>you</i>, too."</p> + +<p>Cleveland remained silent, pondering this startling news, but the +grizzled Captain, veteran of the Fourth Jovian War that he was, was not +convinced.</p> + +<p>"We'll blow them out of space, Mr. Samms!" he declared.</p> + +<p>"You just think you will, Captain. I have suggested, as forcibly as +possible, that the general attack be withheld until after a thorough +investigation is made, but the Admiralty will not listen. They see the +advisability of withdrawing a camera ship, but that is as far as they +will go."</p> + +<p>"And that's plenty far enough!" growled the <i>Chicago's</i> +commander, as the beam snapped off. "Mr. Cleveland, I don't like the +idea of running away under fire, and I won't do it without direct orders +from the Admiral."</p> + +<p>"Of course you won't--that's why you are going...."</p> + +<p>He was interrupted by a voice from the Headquarters speaker. The +captain stepped up to the plate and, upon being recognized, he received +the exact orders which had been requested by the Chief of the Secret +Service--now not as secret as it had been heretofore.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that the <i>Chicago</i> reversed her acceleration, cut +off her red screen, and fell rapidly behind, while the vessels following +her in their loose cone formation shot away toward another +crimson-flaring leader. Farther and farther back she dropped, back to +the limiting range of the ultra-cameras upon which Cleveland and his +highly trained assistants were furiously and unremittingly at work. And +during all this time the forces of the seven sectors had been +concentrating. The pilot vessels, with their flaming red screens, each +followed by a cone of space-ships, drew closer and closer together, +approaching the <i>Fearless</i>--the British super-dreadnaught which was +to be the flagship of the Fleet--the mightiest and heaviest space-ship +which had yet lifted her stupendous mass into the ether.</p> + +<p>Now, systematically and precisely, the great Cone of Battle was +coming into being; a formation developed during the Jovian Wars while +the forces of the Three Planets were fighting in space for their very +civilizations' existence, and one never used since the last space-fleets +of Jupiter's murderous hordes had been wiped out.</p> + +<p>The mouth of that enormous hollow cone was a ring of scout patrols, +the smallest and most agile vessels of the fleet. Behind them came a +somewhat smaller ring of light cruisers, then rings of heavy cruisers +and of light battleships, and finally of heavy battleships. At the apex +of the cone, protected by all the other vessels of the formation and in +best position to direct the battle, was the flagship. In this formation +every vessel was free to use her every weapon, with a minimum of danger +to her sister ships; and yet, when the gigantic main projectors were +operated along the axis of the formation, from the entire vast circle of +the cone's mouth there flamed a cylindrical field of force of such +intolerable intensity that in it no conceivable substance could endure +for a moment!</p> + +<p>The artificial planet of metal was now close enough so that it was +visible to the ultra-vision of the Secret Service men, so plainly +visible that the warships of the pirates were seen issuing from the +enormous air-locks. As each vessel shot out into space it sped straight +for the approaching fleet without waiting to go into any formation--gray +Roger believed his structures invisible to Triplanetary eyes, thought +that the presence of the fleet was the result of mathematical +calculations, and was convinced that his mighty vessels of the void +would destroy even that vast fleet without themselves becoming known. He +was wrong. The foremost globes were allowed actually to enter the mouth +of that conical trap before an offensive move was made. Then the +vice-admiral in command of the fleet touched a button, and +simultaneously every generator in every Triplanetary vessel burst into +furious activity. Instantly the hollow volume of the immense cone became +a coruscating hell of resistless energy, an inferno which, with the +velocity of light, extended itself into a far-reaching cylinder of +rapacious destruction. Ether-waves they were, it is true, but vibrations +driven with such fierce intensity that the screens of deflection +surrounding the pirate vessels could not handle even a fraction of their +awful power. Invisibility lost, their defensive screens flared briefly; +but even the enormous force backing Roger's inventions, greater far than +that of any single Triplanetary vessel, could not hold off the +incredible violence of the massed attack of the hundreds of mighty +vessels composing the Fleet. Their defensive screens flared briefly, +then went down; their great spherical hulls first glowing red, then +shining white, then in a brief moment exploding into flying masses of +red hot, molten, and gaseous metal.</p> + +<p>A full two-thirds of Roger's force was caught in that raging, +incandescent beam; caught and obliterated: but the remainder did not +retreat to the planetoid. Darting out around the edge of the cone at a +stupendous acceleration, they attacked its flanks and the engagement +became general. But now, since enough beams were kept upon each ship of +the enemy so that invisibility could not be restored, each Triplanetary +war vessel could attack with full efficiency. Magnesium flares and +star-shells illuminated space for a thousand miles, and from every unit +of both fleets was being hurled every item of solid, explosive, and +vibratory destruction known to the highly scientific warfare of that +age. Offensive beams, rods and daggers of frightful power struck and +were neutralized by defensive screens equally capable; the long range +and furious dodging made ordinary solid or high-explosive projectiles +useless; and both sides were filling all space with such a volume of +blanketing frequencies that such radio-dirigible torpedoes as were +launched could not be controlled, but darted madly and erratically +hither and thither, finally to be exploded harmlessly in mid-space by +the touch of some fiercely insistent, probing beam of force.</p> + +<p>Individually, however, the pirate vessels were far more powerful than +those of the fleet, and that superiority soon began to make itself felt. +The power of the smaller ships began to fail as their accumulators +became discharged under the awful drain of the battle, and vessel after +vessel of the Triplanetary fleet was hurled into nothingness by the +concentrated blasts of the pirates' rays. But the Triplanetary forces +had one great advantage. In furious haste the Secret Service men had +been altering the controls of the radio-dirigible torpedoes, so that +they would respond to ultra-wave control; and, few in number though they +were, each was highly effective.</p> + +<p>A hard-eyed observer, face almost against his plate and both hands +and both feet manipulating controls, hurled the first torpedo. +Propelling rockets viciously aflame, it twisted and looped around the +incandescent rods of destruction so thickly and starkly outlined, under +perfect control; unaffected by the hideous distortion of all ether-borne +signals. Through a pirate screen it went, and under the terrific blast +of its detonation one entire panel of the stricken battleship vanished, +crumpled and broken. It should have been out, cold--but, to the +amazement of the observers, it kept on fighting with scarcely lessened +power! Three more of the frightful space-bombs had to be exploded in +it--it had to be reduced to junk--before its terrible rays went out; Not +a man in that great fleet had even an inkling of the truth; that those +great vessels, those terrible engines of destruction, did not contain a +single living creature: that they were manned and fought by automatons; +robots controlled by keen-eyed, space-hardened veterans inside the +planetoid so distant by means of tight, interference-proof communicator +beams!</p> + +<p>But they were to receive an inkling of it. As ship after ship of the +pirate fleet was blown to pieces, Roger realized that his navy was +beaten, and forthwith all his surviving vessels darted toward the apex +of the cone, where the heaviest battleships were stationed. There each +hurled itself upon a Triplanetary warship, crashing to its own +destruction, but in that destruction insuring the loss of one of the +heaviest vessels of the enemy. Thus passed the <i>Fearless</i>, and +twenty of the finest space-ships of the fleet as well. But the ranking +officer assumed command, the war-cone was re-formed, and, yawning maw to +the fore, the great formation shot toward the pirate stronghold, now +near at hand. It again launched its stupendous cylinder of annihilation, +but even as the mighty defensive screens of the planetoid flared into +incandescently furious defense, the battle was interrupted and pirates +and Triplanetarians learned alike that they were not alone in the +ether.</p> + +<p>Space became suffused with a redly impenetrable opacity, and through +that indescribable pall there came reaching huge arms of force +incredible; writhing, coruscating beams of power which glowed a baleful, +although almost imperceptible, red. A vessel of unheard-of armament and +power, hailing from a distant solar system of the Galaxy, had come to +rest in that space. For months her commander had been investigating sun +after sun in quest of one precious substance. Now his detectors had +found it; and, feeling neither fear of Triplanetarian weapons nor +reluctance to sacrifice those thousands of Triplanetarian lives, he was +about to take it!</p> + +<div class="center"> +<a href="images/eest_C2.jpg"> +<img src="images/eest_C2th.jpg" alt=""> +</a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>Within the Red Veil</h3> + +<p>Nevia, the home planet of the marauding space-ship, would have +appeared peculiar indeed to Terrestrial senses. High in the deep red +heavens a fervent blue sun poured down its flood of brilliant purplish +light upon a world of water. Not a cloud was to be seen in that flaming +sky, and through that dustless atmosphere the eye could see the +horizon--a horizon three times as distant as the one to which we are +accustomed--with a distinctness and clarity impossible in our Terra's +dust-filled air. As that mighty sun dropped below the horizon the sky +would fill suddenly with clouds and rain would fall violently and +steadily until midnight. Then the clouds would vanish as suddenly as +they had come into being, the torrential downpour would cease, and, +through that huge world's wonderfully transparent, gaseous envelope, the +full glory of the firmament would be revealed. Not the firmament as we +know it--for that hot blue sun and Nevia, her one planet-child, were +many light-years distant from Old Sol and his numerous brood--but a +strange and glorious firmament containing not one constellation familiar +to earthly eyes.</p> + +<div class="floatright" style="width:384px"> +<img src="images/eest074i.jpg" alt=""><br> +<span class="caption">Many bridges and more tubes extended through the air +from building to building, and the watery "streets" teemed with surface +craft, and with submarines.</span> +</div> + +<p>Out of the vacuum of space a fish-shaped vessel of the void--the +vessel that was shortly to attack so boldly both the massed fleet of +Triplanetary and Roger's planetoid--plunged into the rarefied outer +atmosphere, and crimson beams of force tore shriekingly the thin air as +it braked its terrific speed. A third of the circumference of Nevia's +mighty globe was traversed before the velocity of the craft could be +reduced sufficiently to make a landing possible. Then, approaching the +twilight zone, the vessel dived vertically downward, and it became +evident that Nevia was neither entirely aqueous nor devoid of +intelligent life. For the blunt nose of the space-ship was pointing +toward what was evidently a half-submerged city, a city whose buildings +were flat-topped, hexagonal towers, exactly alike in size, shape, color, +and material. These buildings were arranged as the cells of a honeycomb +would be if each cell were separated from its neighbors by a relatively +narrow channel of water, and all were built of the same white metal. +Many bridges and more tubes extended through the air from building to +building, and the watery "streets" teemed with surface craft, and with +submarines.</p> + +<p>The pilot, stationed immediately below the conical prow of the +space-ship, peered intently through the thick windows of crystal-clear +metal which afforded unobstructed vision in every direction except +vertically upward and behind him. His four huge and contractile eyes +were active, each operating independently in sending its own message to +his peculiar but capable brain. One was watching the instruments, the +others scanned narrowly the immense, swelling curve of the ship's belly, +the water upon which his vessel was to land, and the floating dock to +which it was to be moored. Four hands--if hands they could be +called--manipulated levers and wheels with infinite delicacy of touch, +and with scarcely a splash the immense mass of the Nevian sky-wanderer +struck the water and glided to a stop within a foot of its exact +berth.</p> + +<p>Four mooring bars dropped neatly into their sockets and the +captain-pilot, after locking his controls in neutral, released his +safety straps and leaped lightly from his padded bench to the floor. +Scuttling across the floor and down a runway upon his four short, +powerful, heavily scaled legs, he slipped smoothly into the water and +flashed away, far below the surface. For Nevians are true amphibians. +Their blood is cold; they use with equal comfort and efficiency gills +and lungs for breathing; their scaly bodies are equally at home in the +water or in the air; their broad, flat feet serve equally well for +running about upon a solid surface or for driving their stream-lined +bodies through the water at a pace few of our fishes can equal.</p> + +<p>Through the water the Nevian commander darted along, steering his +course accurately by means of his short, vaned tail. Through an opening +in a wall he sped and along a submarine hallway, emerging upon a broad +ramp. He scurried up the incline and into an elevator which lifted him +to the top floor of the hexagon, directly into the office of the +Secretary of Commerce of all Nevia.</p> + +<p>"Welcome, Captain Nerado!" The Secretary waved a tentacular arm and +the visitor sprang lightly upon a softly cushioned bench, where he lay +at ease, facing the official across his low, flat "desk." "We +congratulate you upon the success of your final trial flight. We +received all your reports, even while you were traveling with many times +the velocity of light. With the last difficulties overcome, you are now +ready to start?"</p> + +<p>"We are ready," the captain-scientist replied, soberly. +"Mechanically, the ship is as nearly perfect as our finest minds can +make her. She is stocked for two years. All the iron-bearing suns within +reach have been plotted. Everything is ready except the iron. Of course +the Council refused to allow us any of the national supply--how much +were you able to purchase for us in the market?"</p> + +<p>"Nearly ten pounds...."</p> + +<p>"Ten pounds! Why, the securities we left with you could not have +bought two pounds, even at the price then prevailing!"</p> + +<p>"No, but you have friends. Many of us believe in you, and have dipped +into our own resources. You and your fellow scientists of the expedition +have each contributed his entire personal fortune; why should not some +of the rest of us also contribute, as private citizens?"</p> + +<p>"Wonderful--we thank you. Ten pounds!" The captain's great triangular +eyes glowed with an intense violet light. "A full year of cruising. But +... what if, after all, we should be wrong?"</p> + +<p>"In that case you shall have consumed ten pounds of irreplaceable +metal." The Secretary was unmoved. "That is the viewpoint of the Council +and of almost everyone else. It is not the waste of treasure they object +to; it is the fact that ten pounds of iron will be forever lost."</p> + +<p>"A high price truly," the Columbus of Nevia assented, "And after all, +I may be wrong."</p> + +<p>"You probably are--of course you are wrong," his host made a +startling answer. "It is practically certain--it is almost a +demonstrable mathematical fact--that no other sun within hundreds of +thousands of light-years of our own has a planet. In all probability +Nevia is the only planet in the entire Universe. We are the only +intelligent life in the Universe. But there is one chance in numberless +millions that, somewhere with the cruising range of your newly perfected +space-ship, there may be an iron-bearing planet upon which you can +effect a landing, and it is upon that infinitesimal chance that some of +us are staking a portion of our wealth. We expect no return whatever, +but if you <i>should</i> by some miracle happen to find stores of iron +somewhere in space, what then? Deep seas being made shallow, +civilization extending itself over the globe, science advancing by leaps +and bounds, Nevia becoming populated as she should be peopled--that, my +friend, is a chance well worth taking!"</p> + +<p>The Secretary called in a group of guards, who escorted the small +package of priceless metal to the space-ship, and before the massive +door was sealed the friends bade each other farewell.</p> + +<p>" ... I will keep in touch with you on the ultra-wave," the Captain +concluded. "After all, I do not blame the Council for refusing to allow +the other ship to go with us. Ten pounds of iron will be a fearful loss +to the world. If we <i>should</i> find iron, however, see to it that the +other vessel loses no time in following us."</p> + +<p>"No fear of that! If you find iron all space will be full of vessels, +as soon as they can possibly be built--good-bye!"</p> + +<p>The last opening was sealed and Nerado shot the great vessel into the +air. Up and up, out beyond the last tenuous trace of atmosphere, on and +on through space it flew with ever-increasing velocity until Nevia's +gigantic blue sun had been left so far behind that it became a splendid +blue-white star. Then, projectors cut off to save the precious iron +whose disintegration furnished them power, for week after week Captain +Nerado and his venturesome crew of scientists drifted idly through the +illimitable void. Sun after sun, as visible in their ultra-instruments +as though the flying vessel were moving slower than light, they studied +without finding a single planet.</p> + +<p>Three months passed. Nerado had already applied the slight power +which was to swing the vessel around in an immense circle, back toward +his native world. In that course he was rapidly approaching a sun, an +ordinary G-type dwarf, whose spectrum revealed a blaze of lines of the +precious element for which he was searching. Now at close observing +range--he had long since abandoned his former eager habit of studying a +sun as soon as it showed the tiniest perceptible disk in his most +powerful telescope--he turned on his powerful visiray beam without +enthusiasm, swung it upon that very commonplace sun, and shrieked aloud +in exultation. Not only one planet had that yellowish luminary--it had +six, seven, eight; yes, possibly nine or ten; and several of those +planets were themselves apparently centers of attraction around which +were circling other tiny worlds! Nerado thrilled with joy as he applied +a full retarding force, and every creature aboard that great vessel had +to peer into a plate or through a telescope, before he could believe +that planets other than Nevia did in reality exist!</p> + +<p>Velocity checked to the merest crawl, as space-speed goes, and with +electro-magnetic detector screens full out, the Nevian vessel crept +toward our sun. Finally the detectors encountered an obstacle, a +conductive substance which the patterns showed conclusively to be +practically pure iron. Iron--an enormous mass of it--floating alone out +in space! Without waiting to investigate the nature, appearance, or +structure of the precious mass, Nerado ordered power into the converters +and drove an enormous softening field of force upon the object--a force +of such a nature that it would condense the metallic iron into an +allotropic modification of much smaller bulk; a red, viscous, extremely +dense and heavy liquid which could be stored conveniently in his +tanks.</p> + +<p>No sooner had the precious fluid been stored away than the detectors +again broke into an uproar. In one direction was an enormous mass of +iron, scarcely detectable; in another a great number of smaller masses; +in a third an isolated mass, comparatively small in size. Space seemed +to be full of iron, and Nerado drove his most powerful beam toward +distant Nevia and sent an exultant message.</p> + +<p>"We have found iron--easily obtained and in unthinkable quantity--not +in fractions of milligrams, but in millions upon unmeasured millions of +tons! Send our sister ship here as once!"</p> + +<p>"Nerado!" The captain was called to one of the observation plates as +soon as he had opened his key. "I have been investigating the mass of +iron now nearest us, the small one. It is an artificial structure, a +small space-boat, and there are three creatures in it--monstrosities +certainly, but they must possess some intelligence or they could not be +navigating space."</p> + +<p>"What? Impossible!" exclaimed the chief explorer. "Probably, then, +the other was--but no matter, we had to have the iron. Bring the boat in +without converting it, so that we may study at our leisure both the +beings and their mechanisms," and Nerado swung his own visiray beam into +the emergency boat, seeing there the armored figures of Clio Marsden and +the two Triplanetary officers.</p> + +<p>"They are indeed intelligent," Nerado commented, as he detected and +silenced Costigan's ultra-beam communicator. "Not, however, as +intelligent as I had supposed," he went on, after studying the peculiar +creatures and their tiny space-ship more in detail. "They have immense +stores of iron, yet use it for nothing other than building material. +They apparently have a rudimentary knowledge of ultra-waves, but do not +use them intelligently--they cannot neutralize even these ordinary +forces we are now employing. They are of course more intelligent than +the lower ganoids, or even than some of the higher fishes, but by no +stretch of the imagination can they be compared to us. I am quite +relieved--I was afraid that in my haste I might slay members of a highly +developed race."</p> + +<p>The helpless boat, all her forces neutralized, was brought up close +to the immense flying fish. There flaming knives of force sliced her +neatly into sections and the three rigid armored figures, after being +bereft of their external weapons, were brought through the air-locks and +into the control room, while the pieces of their boat were stored away +for future study. The Nevian scientists first analyzed the air inside +the space-suits of the Terrestrials, then removed without ado the +protective covering of the captives.</p> + +<p>Costigan--fully conscious through it all and now able to move a +little, since the peculiar temporary paralysis was wearing off--braced +himself for he knew not what shock, but it was needless; their grotesque +captors were not torturers. The air, while somewhat less dense than +earth's and of a peculiar odor, was eminently breathable, and even +though the vessel was motionless in space, an almost-normal gravitation +gave them a large fraction of their usual weight. The space suits were +removed with care, and after the three had been relieved of their +pistols and other articles which the Nevians thought might prove to be +weapons, the strange paralysis was lifted entirely. The earthly clothing +puzzled the captors immensely, but so strenuous were the objections +raised to its removal, but they did not press the point, but fell back +to study their find in detail.</p> + +<p>Then faced each other the representatives of the civilizations of two +widely separated solar systems. The Nevians studied the human beings +with interest and curiosity blended largely with loathing and repulsion; +the three Terrestrials regarded the unmoving, expressionless "faces"--if +those coned heads could be said to possess such things--with horror and +disgust, as well as with other emotions, each according to his type and +training. For to human eyes the Nevian is a fearful thing. Even to-day +there are few Terrestrials--or Solarians for that matter--who can look +at a Nevian, eye to eye, without feeling a creeping of the skin and +experiencing a "gone" sensation in the pit of the stomach. The horny, +wrinkled, drought-resisting Martian, whom we all know and rather like, +is a hideous being indeed. The bat-eyed, colorless, hairless, +practically skinless Venerian is worse. But they both are, after all, +remote cousins of Terra's humanity, and we get along with them quite +well whenever we are compelled to visit Mars or Venus. But the +Nevians--</p> + +<p>The horizontal, flat, fish body is not so bad, even supported as it +is by four, short, powerful, scaly, flat-footed legs; and terminating as +it does in the weird, four-vaned tail. The neck, even, is endurable, +although it is long and flexible, heavily scaled, and is carried in +whatever eye-wringing loops, knots, or angles the owner considers most +convenient or ornamental at the time. Even the smell of a Nevian--a +malodorous reek of over-ripe fish--does in time become tolerable, +especially if sufficiently disguised with creosote, which purely +Terrestrial chemical is the most highly prized perfume of Nevia. But the +head! It is that member that makes the Nevian so appalling to earthly +eyes, for it is a thing utterly foreign to all Solarian history or +experience. As most Tellurians already know, it is fundamentally a +massive cone, covered with scales, based spearhead-like upon the neck. +Four great sea-green, triangular eyes are spaced equidistant from each +other about half way up the cone. The pupils are contractile at will, +like the eyes of the cat, permitting the Nevian to see equally well in +any ordinary extreme of light or darkness. Immediately below each eye +springs out a long, jointless, boneless, tentacular arm; an arm which at +its extremity divides into eight delicate and sensitive, but very +strong, fingers. Below each arm is a mouth: a beaked, needle-tusked +orifice of dire potentialities. Finally, under the overhanging edge of +the cone-shaped head are the delicately frilled organs which serve +either as gills or as nostrils and lungs, as may be desired. To other +Nevians the eyes and other features are highly expressive, but to us +they appear utterly cold and unmoving. Terrestrial senses can detect no +changes of expression in a Nevian's "face." Such were the frightful +beings at whom the three prisoners stared with sinking hearts.</p> + +<p>But if we human beings have always considered Nevians grotesque and +repulsive, the feeling has always been mutual. For those "monstrous" +beings are a highly intelligent and extremely sensitive race, and +our--to us--trim and graceful human forms seems to them the very +quintessence of malformation and hideousness.</p> + +<p>"Good Heavens, Conway!" Clio exclaimed, shrinking against Costigan as +his left arm flashed around her. "What monstrosities! And they can't +talk--not one of them has made a sound--suppose they can be deaf and +dumb?"</p> + +<p>But at the same time Nerado was addressing his fellows.</p> + +<p>"What hideous, deformed creatures they are! Truly a low form of life, +even though they do possess some intelligence. They cannot talk, and +have made no signs of having heard our words to them--do you suppose +that they communicate by sight? That those weird contortions of their +peculiarly placed organs serve as speech?"</p> + +<p>Thus both sides, neither realizing that the other had spoken. For the +Nevian voice is pitched so high that the lowest note audible to them is +far above our limit of hearing. The shrillest note of a Terrestrial +piccolo is to them so profoundly low that it cannot be heard.</p> + +<p>"We have much to do." Nerado turned away from the captives. "We must +postpone further study of the specimens until we have taken aboard a +full cargo of the iron which is so plentiful here."</p> + +<p>"What shall we do with them, sir?" asked one of the Nevian officers. +"Lock them in one of the storage rooms?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! They might die there, and we must by all means keep them in +good condition, to be studied most carefully by the fellows of the +College of Science. What a commotion there will be when we bring in this +group of strange creatures, living proof that there are other suns +possessing planets; planets which are supporting organic and intelligent +life! You may put them in three communicating rooms, say in the fourth +section--they will undoubtedly require light and exercise. Lock all +exits, of course, but it would be best to leave the doors between the +rooms unlocked, so that they can be together or apart, as they choose. +Since the smallest one, the female, stays so close to the larger male, +it may be that they are mates. But since we know nothing of their habits +or customs, it will be best to give them all possible freedom compatible +with safety."</p> + +<p>Nerado turned back to his instruments and three of the frightful crew +came up to the human beings. One walked away, waving a couple of arms in +an unmistakable signal that the prisoners were to follow him. The three +obediently set out after him, the other two guards falling behind.</p> + +<p>"Now's our best chance!" Costigan muttered, as they passed through a +low doorway and entered a narrow corridor. "Watch that one ahead of you, +Clio--hold him for a second if you can. Bradley, you and I'll take the +two behind us--now!"</p> + +<p>Costigan stopped and whirled. Seizing a cable-like arm, he pulled the +outlandish head down, the while the full power of his mighty right leg +drove a heavy service boot into the place where scaly neck and head +joined. The Nevian fell, and instantly Costigan leaped at the leader, +ahead of the girl. Leaped; but dropped to the floor, again paralyzed. +For the Nevian leader had been alert, his four eyes covering the entire +circle of vision, and he had acted rapidly. Not in time to stop +Costigan's first Berserk attack--the First Officer's reactions were +practically instantaneous, and he moved like chain lightning--but in +time to retain command of the situation. Another Nevian appeared and, +while the stricken guard was recovering, all four arms wrapped tightly +around his convulsively looping, knotting neck, the three helpless +Terrestrials were lifted into the air and carried bodily into the +quarters to which Nerado had assigned them. Not until they had been +placed upon cushions in the middle room and the heavy metal doors had +been locked upon them did they again find themselves able to use arms or +legs.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's another round we lose," Costigan commented, cheerfully. +"A guy can't mix it very well when he can neither kick, strike, nor +bite. I expected those lizards to rough me up, but they didn't."</p> + +<p>"They don't want to hurt us. They want to take us home with them, +wherever that is, as curiosities, like wild animals or something," +decided the girl, shrewdly. "They're pretty bad, of course, but I like +them a lot better than I do Roger and his robots, anyway."</p> + +<p>"I think you have the right idea, Miss Marsden," Bradley rumbled. +"That's it, exactly. I feel like a bear in a cage. I should think you'd +feel worse than ever. What chance has an animal of escaping from a +menagerie?"</p> + +<p>"These animals, lots. I'm feeling better and better all the time," +Clio answered, and her serene bearing bore out her words. "You two got +us out of that horrible place of Roger's, and I'm pretty sure that you +will get us away from here, somehow or other. They may think we're +stupid animals, but before you two and the Secret Service get done with +them they'll have another think coming."</p> + +<p>"That's the old fight, Clio!" cheered Costigan. "I haven't got it +figured out as close as you have, but I see you, eye to eye. These +four-legged fish carry considerably heavier stuff than Roger did, I'm +thinking; but they'll be up against something themselves pretty quick, +that is NO light-weight, believe me!"</p> + +<p>"Do you <i>know</i> something, or are you just whistling in the +dark?" Bradley demanded.</p> + +<p>"I know a little; not much. The Science Service has been working on a +new ship for a long time; a ship to travel so much faster than light +that it can go anywhere in the Galaxy and back in a month or so. New +sub-ether drive, new power, new armament, new everything. Only bad thing +about it is that it doesn't work so good yet--it's fuller of "bugs" than +a Venerian's kitchen. It has blown up five times that I know of, and has +killed twenty-nine men. But when they get it licked they'll <i>have +something!</i>"</p> + +<p>"When, or if?" asked Bradley, pessimistically.</p> + +<p>"I said <i>when!</i>" snapped Costigan, his voice cutting like a +knife. "When that gang goes after anything they get it, and when they +get it it stays...." He broke off abruptly and his voice lost its edge. +"Sorry. Didn't mean to get high, but I think we'll have help, if we can +keep our heads up a while. And it looks good--these are first-class +cages they've given us. All the comforts of home, even to lookout +plates. Let's see what's going on, shall we?"</p> + +<p>After some experimenting with the unfamiliar controls Costigan +learned how to operate the Nevian visiray, and upon the plate they saw +the Cone of Battle hurling itself toward Roger's planetoid. They saw the +pirate fleet rush out to do battle with Triplanetary's massed forces, +and with bated breath they watched every maneuver of that epic battle to +its savagely sacrificial end. And that same battle was being watched, +also with intense interest, by the Nevians.</p> + +<p>"It is indeed a blood-thirsty combat," mused Nerado at his +observation plate. "And it is peculiar--or rather, probably only to be +expected from a race of such a low stage of development--that they +employ only ether-borne forces. Warfare seems universal among primitive +types--indeed, it is not so long ago that our own cities, few in number +though they are, ceased fighting each other and combined against the +semi-civilized fishes of the greater deeps."</p> + +<p>He fell silent, and for many minutes watched the furious battle +between the two navies of the void. That conflict ended, he watched the +Triplanetary fleet reform its battle cone and rush upon the +planetoid.</p> + +<p>"Destruction, always destruction," he sighed, adjusting his power +switches. "Since they are bent upon mutual destruction I can see no +purpose in refraining from destroying all of them. We need the iron, and +they are a useless race."</p> + +<p>He launched his softening, converting field of dull red energy. Vast +as that field was, it could not encompass the whole of the fleet, but +half of the lip of the gigantic cone soon disappeared, its component +vessels subsiding into a sluggishly flowing stream of allotropic iron. +Instantly the fleet abandoned the attack upon the planetoid and swung +its cone around, to bring the flame-erupting axis to bear upon the +inchoate something dimly perceptible to the ultra-vision of the Secret +Service observers. Furiously the gigantic composite beam of the massed +fleet was hurled, nor was it alone.</p> + +<p>For Roger in his floating citadel had realized at once that something +untoward was happening; something altogether beyond even his knowledge +and experience. He could not see anything--space was apparently +empty--but he took his rays off the battleships and directed his every +force just beyond the point in space where that red stream of +transformed metal was disappearing. Then, for the first time in +Triplanetary history, the forces of law and order joined hands with +those of piracy and banditry against a common foe. Rods, beams, planes, +and stilettoes of unbearable energy the doomed fleet launched, in +addition to its main beam of annihilation, and Roger also hurled out +into space every weapon at his command. Bombs, high-explosive shells, +and deadly radio-dirigible torpedoes--all alike disappeared ineffective +in that redly murky veil of nothingness. And the fleet was being melted. +In quick succession the vessels flamed red, shrank together, gave out +their air, and merged their component iron into the intensely red, +sullenly viscous stream which was flowing through the impenetrable veil +upon which Triplanetarians and pirates alike were directing their every +possible weapon of offense.</p> + +<p>The last vessel of the Triplanetary armada converted and the +resulting metal stored away in their capacious reservoirs, the Nevians +turned their attention upon the stronghold of the pirates. There ensued +a battle royal. For this vast planetoid was no feeble warship, depending +solely upon the limited power available in its accumulators. It was the +product of a really mighty brain, a brain re-enforced by the many +perverted but powerful intellects which Roger had won over to his cause. +It was powered by the incalculable force of cosmic radiation, powered to +drive its unimaginable mass through space, against any possible +attractions, for an indefinite number of years. It was armed and +equipped to meet any emergency which Roger's coldly analytical mind had +been able to foresee.</p> + +<p>The fact that the scientists of the Secret Service had discovered +ultra-waves as yet unknown to him was unfortunate. That Service was +itself unfortunate--impenetrable as it was, and incorruptible. He could +learn nothing whatever about it. He had heard vague rumors of certain +experiments--but even if they should discover something it would be too +late to do them any good. Even without invisibility he would have no +trouble in annihilating the massed Grand Fleet of the Triplanetary +League. He would very shortly collect his tribute and disappear. And +this new enemy, himself invisible and armed with heretofore unknown +weapons of dire power, who was apparently unaffected by his beams--even +he would discover that Roger the Great was no puny opponent. He would +analyze those unknown forces, regenerate them, and hurl them back upon +their senders.</p> + +<p>Thinking thus, the man of gray sat coldly motionless at his great +multi-shielded desk, whose top was now swung up to become a board of +massed and tiered instruments and controls. He shut off his offensive +beams and surrounded the entire planetoid with the peculiarly rigid and +substantial shield which had so easily warded off Costigan's fiercest +attacks. And that shield was more effective than even its designer had +supposed--gray Roger had builded even better than he knew. For the +voracious and all-powerful converting beam of the Nevians, below the +level of the ether though it was, struck that perfectly transparent wall +and rebounded, defeated and futile. Struck and rebounded, then struck +and clung hungrily, licking out over that impermeable surface in darting +tongues of red flame as the surprised Nerado doubled and then quadrupled +his power. Fiercer and fiercer drove in the Nevian flood of force until +the whole immense globe of the planetoid was one scintillant ball of +scarlet energy, but still the pirates' shield remained intact--at what +awful drain of resource, Roger alone knew.</p> + +<p>"Here is the analysis of his screen, sir." A Nevian computer handed +his chief a sheet of metal, upon which were engraved rows of +symbols.</p> + +<p>"Ah, a sixth-phase polycyclic. A screen of that type was scarcely to +have been expected from such a low form of life," Nerado commented, and +rapidly adjusted the many dials and switches before him.</p> + +<p>As he did so the character of the clinging mantle of force changed. +From red it flamed quickly through the spectrum, became unbearably +violet, then disappeared; and as it disappeared the shielding wall began +to give way. It did not cave in abruptly, but softened locally, sagging +into a peculiar grouping of valleys and ridges--contesting stubbornly +every inch of position lost. And gray Roger knew that the planetoid was +doomed. His supposedly impregnable screen was failing in spite of its +utmost measure of energy, and, that defense down, the citadel would not +last a minute. Therefore he summoned a chosen few of his motley crew of +renegade scientists and issued brief instructions. For minutes a host of +robots toiled mightily, then a portion of the shield bulged out, +extended into a tube beyond the attacking layers of force, and from it +there erupted a beam of violence incredible. A beam behind which was +every volt and ampere that the gigantic generators and accumulators of +the planetoid could yield. A beam that tore screamingly through the +ether; that by the very vehemence of its incalculable energy tore a hole +through the redly impenetrable Nevian field and hurled itself upon the +inner screen of the fish-shaped cruiser in frenzied incandescence. And +was there, or was there not, a lesser eruption upon the other side--an +almost imperceptible flash, as though something had shot from the doomed +planetoid out into space?</p> + +<p>Nerado's looped neck straightened convulsively as his tortured +drivers whined and shrieked at the terrific overload; but Roger's effort +was far too intense to be long maintained. Even before his accumulators +failed, generator after generator burned out, the defensive screen +collapsed, and the red converter beam attacked voraciously the +unresisting metal of those prodigious walls. Soon there was a terrific +explosion as the pent-up air of the planetoid broke through its +weakening container, and the sluggish river of allotropic iron flowed in +an ever larger stream, ever faster.</p> + +<p>"It is well that we had an unlimited supply of iron." Nerado tied a +knot in his neck and spoke in huge relief. "With but the seven pounds +remaining of our original supply, I fear that it would have been +difficult to parry that last thrust."</p> + +<p>"Difficult?" asked the second in command. "We would now be swimming +in space. But what shall I do with this iron? Our reservoirs will not +hold it all."</p> + +<p>"Seal up one or two of the lower storage compartments, to make room +for this lot. Immediately it is loaded, we return to Nevia. There we +shall install reservoirs in all the spare space, and come back here for +more."</p> + +<p>The last drop of the precious liquid secured, the vessel moved away, +sluggishly now because of its prodigious load. In their quarters in the +fourth section the three Terrestrials, who had watched with strained +attention the downfall and absorption of the planetoid, stared at each +other with drawn faces. Clio broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Conway, this is ghastly! It's ... it's just simply perfectly +horrible!" she gasped, then recovered a measure of her customary spirit +as she stared in surprise at Costigan's face. For it was thoughtful, his +eyes were bright and keen--no trace of fear or disorganization was +visible in any line of his hard young face.</p> + +<p>"It's not so good," he admitted frankly. "I wish I wasn't such a dumb +cluck--if Lyman Cleveland or Ford Rodebush were here they could help a +lot, but I don't know enough about any of their stuff to flag a +hand-car. I can't even interpret that funny flash--if it really was a +flash--that we saw."</p> + +<p>"Why bother about one little flash, after all that really did +happen?" asked Clio, curiously.</p> + +<p>"You think Roger launched something? He couldn't have--I didn't see a +thing," Bradley argued.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to think. I've never seen anything material sent +out so fast that I couldn't trace it with an ultra-wave--but on the +other hand, Roger's got a lot of stuff that I never saw anywhere else. +However, I don't see that it has anything to do with the fix we're in +right now--but at that, we might be worse off. We're still breathing +air, you notice, and if they don't blanket my wave I can still +talk."</p> + +<p>He put both hands in his pockets and spoke.</p> + +<p>"Samms? Costigan. Put me on a recorder, quick--I probably haven't got +much time," and for ten minutes he talked, concisely and as rapidly as +he could utter words, reporting clearly and exactly everything that had +transpired. Suddenly he broke off, writhing in agony. Frantically he +tore his shirt open and hurled a tiny object across the room.</p> + +<p>"Wow!" he exclaimed. "They may be deaf, but they can certainly detect +an ultra-wave, and the interference they can set up on it is enough to +pulverize your bones. No, I'm not hurt," he reassured the anxious girl, +now at his side, "but it's a good thing I had you out of circuit--it +would have jolted you loose from six or seven of your back teeth."</p> + +<p>"Have you any idea where they're taking us?" she asked, soberly.</p> + +<p>"No," he answered flatly, looking deep into her steadfast eyes. "No +use lying to you--if I know you at all you'd rather take it standing up. +That talk of Jovians or Neptunians is the bunk--nothing like that ever +grew in our Solarian system. All the signs say that we're going for a +long, long ride!"</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>Nevian Strife</h3> + +<p>The Nevian space-ship was hurtling upon its way. Space-navigators +both, the two Terrestrial officers soon discovered that it was even then +moving with a velocity far above that of light and that it must be +accelerating at a stupendous rate, even though to them it seemed +stationary--they could feel only a gravitational force somewhat less +than that of their native earth.</p> + +<p>Bradley, seasoned old campaigner that he was, had retired promptly as +soon as he had completed a series of observations, and was sleeping +soundly upon a pile of cushions in the first of the three +inter-connecting rooms. In the middle room, which was to be Clio's, +Costigan was standing very close to the girl, but was not touching her. +His body was rigid, his face was tense and drawn.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong, Conway; all wrong," Clio was saying, very seriously. +"I know how you feel, but it's false chivalry."</p> + +<p>"That isn't it, at all," he insisted, stubbornly. "It isn't only that +I've got you out here in space, in danger and alone, that's stopping me. +I know you and I know myself well enough to know that what we start now +we'll go through with for life. It doesn't make any difference, that +way, whether I start making love to you now or whether I wait until +we're back on Tellus--I've been telling you for half an hour that for +your own good you'd better pass me up entirely. I've got enough +horsepower to keep away from you if you tell me to--not otherwise."</p> + +<p>"I know it, both ways, dear, but...."</p> + +<p>"But nothing!" he interrupted. "Can't you get it into your skull what +you'll be letting yourself in for if you marry me? Assume that we get +back, which isn't sure, by any means. But even if we do, some day--and +maybe soon, too, you can't tell--somebody is going to collect fifty +grams of radium for my head."</p> + +<p>"Fifty grams--and everybody knows that Samms himself is rated at only +sixty? I <i>knew</i> that you were somebody, Conway!" Clio exclaimed, +undeterred. "But at that, something tells me that any pirate will earn +even that much reward several times over before he collects it. Don't be +silly, dear heart--good-night."</p> + +<p>She tipped her head back, holding up to him her red, sweetly curved, +smiling lips, and his eager arms, hitherto kept away from her by sheer +force of will, swept around her in almost fierce intensity. As his hot +lips met hers, her arms crept up around his neck and they stood, clasped +together in the motionless ecstasy of love's first embrace.</p> + +<p>"Girl, girl, how I love you!" Costigan's voice was husky, his usually +hard eyes were glowing with a tender light. "That settles that. I'll +really <i>live</i> now, anyway, while...."</p> + +<p>"Stop it!" she commanded, sharply. "You're going to live until you +die of old age--see if you don't. You'll simply <i>have</i> to, +Conway!"</p> + +<p>"That's so, too--no percentage in dying now. All the pirates between +Tellus and Andromeda couldn't take me after this--I've got too much to +live for. Well, good-night, sweetheart, I'd better beat it--you need +some sleep."</p> + +<p>The lovers' parting was not as simple and straightforward a procedure +as Costigan's speech would indicate, but finally he did seek his own +room and relaxed upon a pile of cushions, his stern visage transformed. +Instead of the low metal ceiling he saw a beautiful, oval, tanned young +face, framed in a golden-blonde corona of hair. His gaze sank into the +depths of loyal, honest, dark-blue eyes; and looking deeper and deeper +into those blue wells he fell asleep. Upon his face, too set and grim by +far for a man of his years--the lives of Sector Chiefs of the T. S. S. +are never easy, nor as a rule are they long--there lingered as he slept +that newly acquired softness of expression, the reflection of his +transcendent happiness.</p> + +<p>For eight hours he slept soundly, as was his wont; then, also +according to his habit and training, he came wide awake, with no +intermediate stage of napping.</p> + +<p>"Clio?" he whispered. "Awake, girl?"</p> + +<p>"Awake!" Her voice came through the ultra-phone, relief in every +syllable. "Good heavens, I thought you were going to sleep until we got +to wherever it is that we're going! Come on in, you two--I don't see how +you can possibly sleep, just as though you were home in bed."</p> + +<p>"You've got to learn to sleep anywhere if you expect to keep in...." +Costigan broke off as he opened the door and saw Clio's wan face. She +had evidently spent a sleepless and wracking eight hours. "Good Lord, +Clio, why didn't you call me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm all right, except for being a little jittery. No need of +asking how <i>you</i> feel, is there?"</p> + +<p>"No--I feel hungry," he answered cheerfully. "I'm going to see what +we can do about it--or say, guess I'll see whether they're still +interfering on Samms' wave."</p> + +<p>He took out a small, insulated case and touched the contact stud +lightly with his fingers. His arm jerked away powerfully.</p> + +<p>"Still at it," he gave the necessary explanation. "They don't seem to +want us to talk outside, but his interference is as good as my +talking--they can trace it, of course. Now I'll see what I can find out +about our breakfast."</p> + +<p>He stepped over to the plate and shot its projector beam forward into +the control room, where he saw Nerado lying, doglike, at his instrument +panel. As Costigan's beam entered the room a blue light flashed on and +the Nevian turned an eye and an arm toward his own small observation +plate. Knowing that they were now in visual communication, Costigan +beckoned an invitation and pointed to his mouth in what he hoped was the +universal sign of hunger. The Nevian waved an arm and fingered controls, +and as he did so a wide section of the floor of Clio's room slid aside. +The opening thus made revealed a table which rose upon its low pedestal, +a table equipped with three softly cushioned benches and spread with a +glittering array of silver and glassware. Bowls and platters of +dazzlingly white metal, narrow-waisted goblets of sheerest crystal; all +were hexagonal, beautifully and intricately carved or etched in +apparently conventional marine designs. And the table utensils of this +strange race were peculiar indeed. There were tearing forceps of sixteen +needle-sharp curved teeth; there were flexible spatulas; there were deep +and shallow ladles with flexible edges; there were many other peculiarly +curved instruments at whose uses the Terrestrials could no even guess; +all having delicately fashioned handles to fit the long, slender fingers +of the Nevians.</p> + +<p>But if the table and its appointments were surprising to the +Terrestrials, revealing as they did a degree of culture which none of +them had expected to find in a race of beings so monstrous, the food was +even more surprising, although in another sense. For the wonderful +crystal goblets were filled with a grayish-green slime of a nauseous and +overpowering odor, the smaller bowls were full of living sea spiders and +other such delicacies; and each large platter contained a fish fully a +foot long, raw and whole, garnished tastefully with red, purple, and +green strands of seaweed!</p> + +<p>Clio looked once, then gasped, shutting her eyes and turning away +from the table, but Costigan flipped the three fish into a platter and +set it aside before he turned back to the visiplate.</p> + +<p>"They'll go good fried," he remarked to Bradley, signaling vigorously +to Nerado that the meal was not acceptable and that he wanted to talk to +him, <i>in person</i>. Finally he made himself clear, the table sank +down out of sight, and the Nevian commander cautiously entered the +room.</p> + +<p>At Costigan's insistence, he came up to the plate, leaving near the +door three guards armed with projectors in instant readiness. The +operative then shot the beam into the galley of the pirate's lifeboat, +suggesting that they should be allowed to live there. For some time the +argument of arms and fingers raged--though not exactly a fluent +conversation, both sides managed to convey their meanings quite clearly. +Nerado would not allow the Terrestrials to visit their own ship--he was +taking no chances--but after a thorough ultra-ray inspection he did +finally order some of his men to bring into the middle room the electric +range and a supply of Terrestrial food. Soon the Nevian fish were +sizzling in a pan and the appetizing odors of coffee and of browning +biscuit permeated the room. But at the first appearance of those odors +the Nevians departed hastily, content to watch the remainder of the +curious and repulsive procedure in their visiray plates.</p> + +<p>Breakfast over and everything made tidy and shipshape, Costigan +turned to Clio.</p> + +<p>"Look here, girl; you've got to learn how to sleep. You're all in. +Your eyes look like you'd been on a Martian picnic and you didn't eat +half enough breakfast. You've got to sleep and eat to keep fit. We don't +want you passing out on us, so I'll put out this light, and you'll lie +down here and sleep until noon."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; don't bother. I'll sleep to-night. I'm quite...."</p> + +<p>"You'll sleep now," he informed her, levelly. "I never thought of you +being nervous, with Bradley and me on each side of you. We're both right +here now, though, and we'll stay here. We'll watch over you like a +couple of old hens with one chick between them. Come on; lie down and go +bye-bye."</p> + +<p>Clio laughed at the simile, but lay down obediently. Costigan sat +upon the edge of the great divan, holding her hand, and they chatted +idly. The silences grew longer, Clio's remarks became fewer, and soon +her long-lashed lids fell and her deep, regular breathing showed that +she was sound asleep. The man stared at her, his very heart in his eyes. +So young, so beautiful, so lovely--and <i>how</i> he did love her! He +was not formally religious, but his every thought was a sincere prayer. +If he could only get her out of this mess ... he wasn't fit to live on +the same planet with her, but ... just give him one chance, just +one!</p> + +<p>But Costigan had been laboring for days under a terrific strain, and +had been going very short on sleep. Half hypnotized by his own mixed +emotions and by his staring at the smooth curves of Clio's cheek, his +own eyes closed and, still holding her hand, he sank down into the soft +cushions beside her and into oblivion.</p> + +<p>Thus sleeping hand-in-hand like two children Bradley found them, and +a tender, fatherly expression came over his face as he looked down at +them.</p> + +<p>"Nice little girl, Clio," he mused, "and when they made Costigan they +broke the mould. They'll do--about as fine a couple of kids as old +Tellus ever produced. I could do with some more sleep myself." He yawned +prodigiously, lay down at Clio's left, and almost instantly was himself +asleep.</p> + +<p>Hours later, both men were awakened by a merry peal of laughter. Clio +was sitting up, regarding them with sparkling eyes. She was refreshed, +buoyant, ravenously hungry and highly amused. Costigan was amazed and +annoyed at what he considered a failure in a self-appointed task; +Bradley was calm and matter-of-fact.</p> + +<p>"Thanks for being such a nice bodyguard, you two," Clio laughed +again, but sobered quickly. "I slept wonderfully well, but I wonder if I +can sleep to-night without making you hold my hand all night?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he doesn't mind doing that," Bradley commented.</p> + +<p>"Mind it!" Costigan exclaimed, and his eyes and his tone spoke +volumes that his tongue left unsaid.</p> + +<p>They prepared and ate another meal, one to which Clio did full +justice; and, rested and refreshed, had begun to discuss possibilities +of escape when Nerado and his three armed guards entered the room. The +Nevian scientist placed a box upon a table and began to make adjustments +upon its panels, eyeing the Terrestrials attentively after each setting. +After a time a staccato burst of articulate speech issued from the box, +and Costigan saw a great light.</p> + +<p>"You've got it--hold it!" he exclaimed, waving his arms excitedly. +"You see, Clio, their voices are pitched either higher or lower than +ours--probably higher--and they've built an audio-frequency changer. +He's nobody's fool, that fish!"</p> + +<p>Nerado heard Costigan's voice; there was no doubt of that. His long +neck looped and angled in Nevian gratification, and, although neither +side could understand the other, both knew that intelligent speech and +hearing were attributes common to the two races. This fact altered +markedly the relations between captors and captives. The Nevians +admitted among themselves that the strange bipeds might be quite +intelligent, after all; and the Terrestrials at once became more +hopeful.</p> + +<p>"It isn't so bad, if they can talk," Costigan summed up the +situation. "We might as well take it easy and make the best of it, +particularly since we haven't been able to figure out any possible way +of getting away from them. They can talk and hear, and we can learn +their language in time. Maybe we can make some kind of a deal with them +to take us back to our own system, if we can't make a break."</p> + +<p>The Nevians being as eager as the Terrestrials to establish +communication, Nerado kept the newly devised frequency-changer in +constant use. There is no need of describing at length the details of +that interchange of languages. Suffice it to say that starting at the +very bottom they learned as babies learn, but with the great advantage +over babies of possessing fully developed and capable brains. And while +the human beings were learning the tongue of Nevia, several of the +amphibians (and incidentally Clio Marsden) were learning Triplanetarian; +the two officers knowing well that it would be much easier for the +Nevians to learn the logically-built common language of the Three +Planets than to master the senseless intricacies of English.</p> + +<p>In a few weeks the two parties were able to understand each other +after a fashion, by using a weird mixture of both languages. As soon as +a few ideas had been exchanged, the Nevian scientists built transformers +small enough to be worn collar-like by the Terrestrials, and the +captives were allowed to roam at will throughout the great vessel; only +the compartment in which was stored the dismembered pirate lifeboats +being sealed to them. Thus it was that they were not left long in doubt, +when another fish-shaped cruiser of the world was revealed upon their +lookout plates in the awful emptiness of interstellar space.</p> + +<p>"That is our sister-ship, going to your Solarian system for a cargo +of the iron which is so plentiful there," Nerado explained to his +involuntary guests.</p> + +<p>"I hope the gang has got the bugs worked out of our super-ship," +Costigan muttered savagely to his companions as Nerado turned away. "If +they have, that outfit will get something more than a load of iron when +they get there!"</p> + +<p>More weeks passed; weeks during which a blue-white star separated +itself from the infinitely distant firmament and began to show a +perceptible disk. Larger and larger it grew, becoming bluer and bluer as +the flying space-ship approached it, until finally Nevia could be seen, +apparently close beside her parent orb.</p> + +<p>Heavily laden though the vessel was, such was her power that she was +soon dropping vertically toward a large lagoon in the middle of the +Nevian city. That bit of open water was strangely devoid of life, for +this was to be no ordinary landing. Under the terrific power of the +beams braking the descent of that unimaginable load of allotropic iron +the water seethed and boiled; and instead of floating gracefully upon +the surface of the sea, this time the huge ship of space sank like a +plummet to the bottom. Having accomplished this delicate feat of docking +the vessel safely in the immense cradle prepared for her, Nerado turned +to the Terrestrials, who, now under guard, had been brought before +him.</p> + +<p>"While our cargo of iron is being discharged, I am to take you three +Tellurians to the College of Science, where you are to undergo a +thorough physical and psychological examination. Follow me."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute!" protested Costigan, with a quick and furtive wink at +his companions. "Do you expect us to go <i>through water</i>, and at +this frightful depth?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," replied the Nevian, in surprise. "You are air-breathers, +of course, but you must be able to swim a little, and this slight +depth--but little more than thirty of your meters--will not trouble +you."</p> + +<p>"You are wrong, twice," declared the Terrestrial, convincingly. "If +by 'swimming' you mean propelling yourself in or through the water, we +know nothing of it. In water over our heads we drown helplessly in a +minute or two, and the pressure at this depth would kill us +instantly."</p> + +<p>"Well, I could take a lifeboat, of course, but that...." The Nevian +Captain began, doubtfully, but broke off at the sound of a staccato call +from his signal panel.</p> + +<p>"Captain Nerado, attention!"</p> + +<p>"Nerado," he acknowledged into a microphone.</p> + +<p>"The Third City is being attacked by the fishes of the greater deeps. +They have developed new and powerful mobile fortresses mounting +unheard-of weapons and the city reports that it cannot long withstand +their attack. The inhabitants are asking for all possible help. Your +vessel not only has vast stores of iron, but also mounts weapons of +power. You are requested to proceed to their aid at the earliest +possible moment."</p> + +<p>Nerado snapped out orders and the liquid iron fell in streams from +wide-open ports, forming a vast, red pool in the bottom of the dock. In +a short time the great vessel was in equilibrium with the water she +displaced, and as soon as she had attained a slight buoyancy the ports +snapped shut and Nerado threw on the power.</p> + +<p>"Go back to your own quarters and stay there until I send for you," +the Nevian directed, and as the Terrestrials obeyed the curt orders the +fish-shaped cruiser of space tore herself from the water and flashed up +into the crimson sky.</p> + +<p>"What a barefaced liar!" Bradley exclaimed. The three, transformers +cut off, were back in the middle room of their suite. "You can outswim +an otter, and I happen to know that you came up out of the old DZ83 from +a depth of...."</p> + +<p>"Maybe I did exaggerate a trifle," Costigan interrupted him, "but the +more helpless he thinks we are the better for us. And we want to stay +out of any of their cities as long as we can, because they may be hard +places to escape from. I've got a couple of ideas, but they aren't ripe +enough to pick yet.... Wow! how this bird's been traveling! We're there +already! If he hits the water going like this, he'll split himself, +sure!"</p> + +<p>With undiminished velocity they were flashing downward in a long +slant toward the beleaguered Third City, and from the flying vessel +there was launched toward the city's central lagoon a torpedo. No +missile this, but a capsule containing a full ton of allotropic iron, +which would be of more use to the Nevian defenders than millions of men. +For the Third City was sore pressed indeed. Around it was one unbroken +ring of boiling, exploding water--water billowing upward with searing, +blinding bursts of superheated steam, or being hurled bodily in all +directions in solid masses by the cataclysmic forces being released by +the embattled fishes of the greater deeps. Her outer defenses were +already down, and even as the Terrestrials stared in amazement another +of the immense hexagonal buildings burst into fragments; its upper +structure flying wildly into scrap metal, its lower half subsiding +drunkenly below the surface of the boiling sea.</p> + +<p>The three Terrestrials involuntarily seized whatever supports were at +hand as the Nevian space-ship struck the water with undiminished speed, +but the precaution was needless--Nerado knew thoroughly his vessel, its +strength and its capabilities. There was a mighty splash, but that was +all. The artificial gravity was unchanged by the impact; to the +passengers the vessel was still motionless and on even keel as, now a +submarine, she snapped around like a very fish and attacked the rear of +the nearest fortress.</p> + +<p>For fortresses they were; vast structures of green metal, plowing +forward implacably upon immense caterpillar treads. And as they crawled +they destroyed, and Costigan, exploring the strange submarine with his +visiray beam, watched and marveled. For the fortresses were full of +water; water artificially cooled and aerated, entirely separate from the +boiling flood through which they moved. They were manned by fish some +five feet in length. Fish with huge, goggling eyes; fish plentifully +equipped with long, armlike tentacles; fish poised before control panels +or darting about intent upon their various duties. Fish with intelligent +brains, waging desperate war upon a hated foe!</p> + +<p>Nor was their warfare ineffectual. Their heat-rays boiled the water +for hundreds of yards before them and their torpedoes were exploding +against the Nevian defenses in one appallingly continuous concussion. +But most potent of all was a weapon unknown to Triplanetary warfare. +From a fortress there would shoot out, with the speed of a meteor, a +long, jointed, telescopic rod, tipped with a tiny, brilliantly shining +ball. Whenever this glowing tip encountered any obstacle, that obstacle +disappeared in an explosion world-wracking in its intensity. Then what +was left of the rod, dark now, would be retracted into the +fortress--only to emerge again in a moment with a tip once more shining +and potent.</p> + +<p>Nerado, apparently as unfamiliar with the peculiar weapon as were the +Terrestrials, attacked cautiously; sending out far to the fore his +murkily impenetrable screens of red. But the submarine was entirely +non-ferrous, and its officers were apparently quite familiar with the +Nevian beams which licked at and clung to the green walls in impotent +fury. Through the red veil came stabbing tiny ball after brilliant ball, +and only the most frantic dodging saved the space-ship from destruction +in those first few furious seconds. And now the Nevian defenders of the +Third City had secured and were employing the vast store of allotropic +iron so opportunely delivered by Nerado.</p> + +<p>From the city there pushed out immense nets of metal, extending from +the surface of the ocean to its bottom; nets radiating such terrific +forces that the very water itself was beaten back and stood motionless +in vertical, glassy walls. Torpedoes were futile against that wall of +energy. The most fiercely driven rays of the fishes flamed incandescent +against it, in vain. Even the incredible violence of a concentration of +every available force-ball against one point could not break through. At +that unimaginable explosion water was hurled for miles. The bed of the +ocean was not only exposed, but in it there was blown a crater at whose +dimensions the Terrestrials dared not even guess. The crawling +fortresses themselves were thrown backward violently and the very world +was rocked to its core by the concussion, but that iron-driven wall +held. The massive nets swayed and gave back, and tidal waves hurled +their mountainously destructive masses through the Third City, but the +mighty barrier remained intact. And Nerado, still attacking two of the +powerful tanks with his every weapon, was still dodging those flashing +balls charged with the quintessence of destruction. The fishes could not +see through the sub-ethereal veil, but all the rod-gunners of the two +fortresses were combing it thoroughly with ever-lengthening, +ever-thrusting rods, in a desperate attempt to wipe out the new and +apparently all-powerful Nevian submarine, whose sheer power was slowly +but inexorably crushing even their gigantic walls.</p> + +<p>"Well, I think that right now's the best chance we'll ever have of +doing something for ourselves." Costigan turned away from the absorbing +scenes pictured upon the visiplate and faced his two companions.</p> + +<p>"But what can we possibly do?" asked Clio, and</p> + +<p>"Whatever it is, we'll try it!" Bradley exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Anything's better than staying here and letting them analyze us--no +telling what they'd do to us," Costigan went on. "I know a lot more +about things than they think I do. They never did catch me using my +spy-ray--it's on an awfully narrow beam, you know, and uses almost no +power at all--so I've been able to dope out quite a lot of stuff. I can +open most of their locks, and I know how to run their small boats. This +battle, fantastic as it is, is deadly stuff, and it isn't one-sided, by +any means, either, so that every one of them, from Nerado down, seems to +be on emergency duty. There are no guards watching us, or stationed +where we want to go--our way out is open. And once out, this battle is +giving us our best possible chance to get away from them. There's so +much emission out there already that they probably couldn't detect the +driving rays of the lifeboat, and they'll be too busy to chase us, +anyway."</p> + +<p>"Once out, then what?" asked Bradley, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to decide that before we start, of course. I'd say make a +break back for our own Solarian system. We know the direction, from our +own observation, and we'll have plenty of power."</p> + +<p>"But good Heavens, Conway, it's so far!" exclaimed Clio. "How about +food, water, and air--would we ever get there?"</p> + +<p>"You know as much about that as I do. I think so, but of course +anything might happen. This ship is none too big, is considerable slower +than the big space-ship, and we're a long ways from home. Another bad +thing is the food question. The boat is well stocked according to Nevian +ideas, but it's pretty foul stuff for us to eat. However, it's +nourishing, and we'll have to eat it, since we can't carry enough of our +own supplies to the boat to last long. Even so, we may have to go on +short rations, but I think that we'll be able to make it. On the other +hand, what happens if we stay here? We will certainly strike trouble +sooner or later, and we don't know any too much about these +ultra-weapons. We are land-dwellers, and there is mighty little land on +this planet. Then, too, we don't know where to look for what little land +there is, and, even if we could find it, we know that it is all over-run +with amphibians already. There's a lot of things that might be better, +but they might be a lot worse, too. How about it? Do we try it or do we +stay here?"</p> + +<p>"We try it!" exclaimed Clio and Bradley as one.</p> + +<p>"All right. I'd better not waste any more time talking--let's +go!"</p> + +<p>Stepping up to the locked and shielded door, he took out a peculiarly +built torch and pointed it briefly at the Nevian lock. There was no +light, no noise, but the massive portal swung smoothly open. They +stepped out and Costigan relocked and reshielded the entrance.</p> + +<p>"How ... what...?" Clio demanded, almost stuttering in her +surprise.</p> + +<p>"I've been going to school for the last few weeks," Costigan grinned, +"and I've picked up quite a few things here and there--literally as well +as figuratively speaking. Snap it up, guys! Our armor is stored away +with the pieces of the pirates' lifeboat, and I'll feel a lot better +when we've got it on and have hold of a few fresh Lewistons."</p> + +<p>They hurried down corridors, up ramps, and along hallways, with +Costigan's spy-ray investigating the course ahead for chance Nevians. +Bradley and Clio were unarmed, but the secret agent had found a piece of +flat metal and had ground it to a razor edge.</p> + +<p>"I think I can throw this thing straight enough and fast enough to +chop off a Nevian's head before he can put a paralyzing ray on us," he +explained grimly, but he was not called upon to show his skill with the +improvised cleaver.</p> + +<p>As he had concluded from his careful survey, every Nevian was at some +control or weapon, doing his part in that frightful combat with the +denizens of the greater deeps. Their part was open, they were neither +molested nor detected as they ran toward the compartment within which +was sealed all their Terrestrial belongings. The door of that room +opened, as had the other, to Costigan's knowing beam; and all three set +hastily to work. They made up packs of food, filled their capacious +pockets with emergency rations, recharged and buckled on Lewistons and +automatics, donned their armor, and clamped into their external holsters +a full complement of additional weapons.</p> + +<p>"Now comes the ticklish part of the business," Costigan informed +them. His helmet was slowly turning this way and that, and the others +knew that through his spy-ray goggles he was studying their route. +"There's only one boat we stand a chance of reaching, and somebody's +mighty apt to see us. There's a lot of detectors up there, and we'll +have to cross a corridor full of communicator beams. There, that line's +off ... scoot!"</p> + +<p>At his word they dashed out into the hall and hurried along for +minutes, dodging to right or left as the leader snapped out orders. +Finally he stopped.</p> + +<p>"Here's those beams I told you about. We'll have to roll under 'em. +They're less than waist high--right there's the lowest one. Watch me do +it, and when I give you the word, one at a time, you do the +same. <i>Keep low</i>--don't let an arm or a leg get up into the path of +a ray or they may see us."</p> + +<p>He threw himself flat, rolled upon the floor a yard or so, and +scrambled to his feet. He gazed intently at the blank wall for a space, +then:</p> + +<p>"Bradley--now!" he snapped, and the Interplanetary captain duplicated +his performance.</p> + +<p>But Clio, unused to the heavy and cumbersome space-armor she was +wearing, could not roll in it with any degree of success. When Costigan +barked his order she tried, but stopped, floundering, almost directly +below the invisible network of communicator beams. As she struggled one +mailed arm went up, and Costigan saw in his ultra-goggles the faint +flash as the beam encountered the interfering field. But already he had +acted. Crouching low, he struck down the arm, seized it, and dragged the +girl out of the zone of visibility. Then in furious haste he opened a +nearby door and all three sprang into a tiny compartment.</p> + +<p>"Shut off all the fields of your suits, so that they can't +interfere!" he hissed into the utter darkness. "Not that I'd mind +killing a few of them, but if they start an organized search we're sunk. +But even if they did get a warning by touching your glove, Clio, they +probably won't suspect us. Our rooms are still shielded, and the chances +are that they're too busy to bother much about us, anyway."</p> + +<p>He was right. A few beams darted here and there, but the Nevians saw +nothing amiss and ascribed the interference to the falling into the beam +of some chance bit of charged metal. With no further misadventures the +Terrestrials gained entrance to the Nevian lifeboat, where Costigan's +first act was to disconnect one steel boot from his armor of space. With +a sigh of relief he pulled his foot out of it, and from it carefully +poured into the small power-tank of the craft fully thirty pounds of +allotropic iron!</p> + +<p>"I pinched it off them," he explained, in answer to amazed and +inquiring looks, "and maybe you don't think it's a relief to get it out +of that boot! I couldn't steal a flask to carry it in, so this was the +only place I could put it in. These lifeboats are equipped with only a +couple of grams of iron apiece, you know, and we couldn't get half-way +back to Tellus on that, even with smooth going; and we may have to +fight. With this much to go on, though, we could go to Andromeda, +fighting all the way. Well, we'd better break away."</p> + +<p>Costigan watched his plate closely, and, when the maneuvering of the +great vessel brought his exit port as far away as possible from the +Third City and the warring citadels of the deep, he shot the little +cruiser out and away. Straight out into the ocean it sped, through the +murky red veil, and darted upward toward the surface. The three +wanderers sat tense, hardly daring to breathe, staring into the +plates--Clio and Bradley pushing at metal levers and stepping down hard +upon metal brakes in unconscious efforts to help Costigan dodge the +beams and rods of death flashing so appallingly close upon all sides. +Out of the water and into the air the darting, dodging lifeboat flashed +in safety; but in the air, supposedly free from menace, came disaster. +There was a crunching, grating shock and the vessel was thrown into a +dizzy spiral, from which Costigan finally leveled it into headlong +flight away from the scene of battle. Watching the pyrometers which +recorded the temperature of the outer shell, he drove the lifeboat ahead +at the highest safe atmospheric speed while Bradley went to inspect the +damage.</p> + +<p>"Pretty bad, but better than I thought," the captain reported. "Outer +and inner plates broken away on a seam. Inter-wall vacuum all lost, and +we wouldn't hold carpet-rags, let alone air. Any tools aboard?"</p> + +<p>"Some--and what we haven't got we'll make," Costigan declared. "We'll +put a lot of distance behind us, then we'll fix her up and get away from +here."</p> + +<p>"What are those fish, anyway, Conway?" Clio asked, as the lifeboat +tore along. "The Nevians are bad enough, Heaven knows, but the very idea +of intelligent and <i>educated</i> FISH is enough to drive one mad!"</p> + +<p>"You know Nerado mentioned several times the 'semi-civilized fishes +of the greater deeps'?" he reminded her. "I gather that there are at +least three intelligent races here. We know two--the Nevians, who are +amphibians, and the fishes of the greater deeps. The fishes of the +lesser deeps are also intelligent. As I get it, the Nevian cities were +originally built in very shallow water, or perhaps were upon islands. +The development of machinery and tools gave them a big edge on the fish; +and those living in the shallow seas, nearest the islands, gradually +became tributary nations, if not actually slaves. Those fish not only +serve as food, but work in the mines, hatcheries, and plantations, and +do all kinds of work for the Nevians. Those so-called 'lesser deeps' +were conquered first, of course, and all their races of fish are docile +enough now. But the deep-sea breeds, who live in water so deep that the +Nevians can hardly stand the pressure down there, were more intelligent +to start with, and more stubborn besides. But the most valuable metals +here are deep down--this planet is very light for its size, you know--so +the Nevians kept at it until they conquered some of the deep-sea fish, +too, and put 'em to work. But those high-pressure boys were nobody's +fools. They realized that as time went on the amphibians would get +further and further ahead of them in development, so they let themselves +be conquered, learned how to use the Nevians' tools and everything else +they could get hold of, developed a lot of new stuff of their own, and +now they're out to wipe the amphibians off the slate completely, before +they get too far ahead of them to handle."</p> + +<p>"And the Nevians are afraid of them, and want to kill them all, as +fast as they possibly can," guessed Clio.</p> + +<p>"That would be the logical thing, of course," commented Bradley. "Got +pretty nearly enough distance now, Costigan?"</p> + +<p>"There isn't enough distance on the planet to suit me," Costigan +replied. "We'll need all we can get. A full diameter away from that crew +of amphibians is too close for comfort--their detectors are keen."</p> + +<p>"Then they can detect us?" Clio asked. "Oh, I wish they hadn't hit +us--we'd have been away from here long ago."</p> + +<p>"So do I," Costigan assented, feelingly. "But they did--no use +squawking. We can rivet and weld those seams and pump out the shell, and +we'd have to fill our air-tanks to capacity for the trip, anyway. And +things could be a lot worse--we are still breathing air!"</p> + +<p>In silence the lifeboat flashed onward, and half of Nevia's mighty +globe was traversed before it was brought to a halt, in the emptiest +reaches of the planet's desolate and watery waste. Then in furious haste +the two officers set to work, again to make their small craft sound and +spaceworthy.</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>Worm, Submarine, and Freedom</h3> + +<p> +Since both Costigan and Bradley had often watched their captors at work +during the long voyage from the Solar System to Nevia, they were quite +familiar with the machine tools of the amphibians. Their stolen +lifeboat, being an emergency craft, of course carried full repair +equipment; and to such good purpose did the two officers labor that even +before their air-tanks were fully charged, all the damage had been +repaired.</p> + +<p>The lifeboat lay motionless upon the mirror-smooth surface of the +ocean. Captain Bradley had opened the upper port and the three stood in +the opening, gazing in silence toward the incredibly distant horizon, +while powerful pumps were forcing the last possible ounces of air into +the practically unbreakable storage cylinders. Mile upon strangely flat +mile stretched that waveless, unbroken expanse of water, merging finally +into the violent redness of the Nevian sky. The sun was setting; a vast +ball of purple flame dropping rapidly toward the horizon. Darkness came +suddenly as that seething ball disappeared, and the air became bitterly +cold, in sharp contrast to the pleasant warmth of a moment before. And +as suddenly clouds appeared in blackly banked masses and a cold, driving +rain began to beat down in torrents.</p> + +<p>"Br-r-r, it's cold! Let's go in--Oh! <i>Shut the door!</i>" Clio +shrieked, and leaped wildly down into the compartment below, out of +Costigan's way, for he and Bradley also had seen slithering toward them +the frightful arm of the Thing.</p> + +<p>Almost before the girl had spoken Costigan had leaped to the levers, +and not an instant too soon; for the tip of that horrible tentacle +flashed into the rapidly narrowing crack just before the door clanged +shut. As the powerful toggles forced the heavy screw threads into +engagement and drove the massive disk home into its bottle-tight, +insulated seat, that grisly tip fell severed to the floor of the +compartment and lay there, twitching and writhing with a loathsome and +unearthly vigor. Two feet long the piece was, and larger than a strong +man's leg. It was armed with spiked and jointed metallic scales, and +instead of sucking disks it was equipped with a series +of <i>mouths</i>--mouths filled with sharp metallic teeth which gnashed +and ground together furiously, even though sundered from the horrible +organism which they were designed to feed.</p> + +<p>The little submarine shuddered in every plate and member as monstrous +coils encircled her and tightened inexorably in terrific, rippling +surges eloquent of mastodonic power; and a strident vibration smote +sickeningly upon Terrestrial eardrums as the metal spikes of the +monstrosity crunched and ground upon the outer plating of their small +vessel. Costigan stood unmoved at the plate, watching intently; hands +ready upon the controls. Due to the artificial gravity of the lifeboat +it seemed perfectly stationary to its occupants. Only the weird +gyrations of the pictures upon the lookout screens showed that the craft +was being shaken and thrown about like a rat in the jaws of a terrier; +only the gauges revealed that they were almost a mile below the surface +of the ocean already, and were still going downward at an appalling +rate. Finally Clio could stand no more.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to do something, Conway?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"Not unless I have to," he replied, composedly. "I don't believe that +he can really hurt us, and if I use a ray of any kind I'm afraid that it +will kick up enough disturbance to bring Nerado down on us like a hawk +after a chicken. However, if he takes us much deeper I'll have to go to +work on him. We're getting down pretty close to our limit, and the +bottom's a long way down yet."</p> + +<p>Deeper and deeper the lifeboat was dragged by its dreadful opponent, +whose spiked teeth still tore savagely at the tough outer plating of the +craft until Costigan reluctantly threw in his power switches. Against +the full propellant thrust the monster could draw them no lower, but +neither could the lifeboat make any headway toward the surface. The +Terrestrial then turned on his rays, but found that they were +ineffective. So closely was the creature wrapped around the submarine +that his weapons could not be brought to bear upon it without melting +the vessel's own outer skin.</p> + +<p>"What can it possibly be, anyway, and what can we do about it?" Clio +asked.</p> + +<p>"I thought at first it was something like a devilfish, or possibly an +overgrown starfish, but it's too flat, and has no body that I can see," +Costigan made answer. "It must be a kind of flat worm. That doesn't +sound reasonable--the thing must be all of a hundred meters long--but +there it is. The only thing left to do now, as I see it, is to try to +boil him alive."</p> + +<p>He closed other circuits, diffusing a terrific beam of pure heat, and +the water all about them burst into furious clouds of steam. The boat +leaped upward as the metallic fins of the gigantic worm fanned vapor +instead of water, but the creature neither released its hold nor ceased +its relentlessly grinding attack. Minute after minute went by, but +finally the worm dropped limply away--cooked through and through; +vanquished only by death.</p> + +<p>"Now we've put our foot in it, clear to the knee!" Costigan +exclaimed, as he shot the lifeboat upward at its maximum power. "Look at +that! I knew that Nerado could trace us, but I didn't have any idea +that <i>they</i> could. It's a good thing these ultra-vision plates +don't need light to see by or we'd be <i>'spurlos versenkt'</i> in a +hurry!"</p> + +<p>Staring with Costigan into the plate, Bradley and the girl saw, not +the Nevian sky-rover they had expected, but a fast submarine cruiser, +manned by the frightful fishes of the greater deeps. It was coming +directly toward the lifeboat, and even as Costigan hurled the little +vessel off at an angle and then upward into the air one of the deadly +offensive rods, tipped with its glowing ball of pure destruction, +flashed through the spot where they would have been had they held their +former course.</p> + +<p>But powerful as were the propellant forces and fiercely though +Costigan applied them, the denizens of the deep clamped a tractor ray +upon the flying vessel before it had gained a mile of altitude. Costigan +aligned his every driving projector as his vessel came to an abrupt halt +in the invisible grip of the beam, then experimented with various +dials.</p> + +<p>"There ought to be some way of cutting that beam," he pondered +audibly, "but I don't know enough about their system to do it, and I'm +afraid to monkey around with things too much, because I might +accidentally release the screens we've already got out, and they're +stopping altogether too much stuff for us to do without them right +now."</p> + +<p>He frowned as he studied the flaring defensive screens, now radiating +an incandescent violet under the concentration of the forces being +hurled against them by the warlike fishes, then stiffened suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I thought so--they <i>can</i> shoot 'em!" he exclaimed, throwing the +lifeboat into a furious corkscrew turn, and the very air blazed into +flaming splendor as a dazzlingly scintillating ball of energy sped past +them and high into the air beyond.</p> + +<p>Then for minutes a spectacular battle raged. The twisting, turning, +leaping airship, small as she was agile, kept on eluding the explosive +projectiles of the fishes, and her screens neutralized and re-radiated +the full power of the attacking beams. More--since Costigan did not need +to think of sparing his iron, the ocean around the great submarine began +furiously to boil under the full-driven offensive beams of the tiny +Nevian ship. But escape Costigan could not. He could not cut that +tractor beam and the utmost power of his drivers could not wrest the +lifeboat from its tenacious clutch. And slowly but inexorably the ship +of space was being drawn downward toward the ship of ocean's depths. +Downward, in spite of the utmost possible effort of every projector and +penetrator, and the two Terrestrial spectators, sick at heart, looked +once at each other. Then they looked at Costigan, who, jaw hard set and +eyes unflinchingly upon his plate, was concentrating his attack upon one +turret of the green monster as they settled lower and lower.</p> + +<p>"If this is ... if our number is going up, Conway," Clio began, +unsteadily.</p> + +<p>"Not yet, it isn't!" he snapped. "Keep a stiff upper lip, girl. We're +still breathing air, and the battle's not over yet!"</p> + +<p>Nor was it; but it was not Costigan's efforts, mighty though they +were, that ended the attack of the fishes of the greater deeps. The +tractor beam snapped without warning, and so prodigious were the forces +being exerted by the lifeboat that, as it hurled itself away, the three +passengers were thrown violently to the floor, in spite of the powerful +gravity controls. Scrambling up on hands and knees, bracing himself as +best he could against the terrific forces, Costigan managed finally to +force a hand up to his panel. He was barely in time; for even as he cut +the driving power to its normal value the outer shell of the lifeboat +was blazing at white heat from the friction of the atmosphere through +which it had been tearing with such an insane acceleration!</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see--Nerado to the rescue," Costigan commented, after a glance +into the plate. "I hope that those fish blow him clear out of the +Galaxy!"</p> + +<p>"Why?" demanded Clio. "I should think that you'd...."</p> + +<p>"Think again," he advised her. "The worse Nerado gets licked the +better for us. I don't really expect that, but if they can keep him busy +long enough, we can get far enough away so that he won't bother about us +any more."</p> + +<p>As the lifeboat tore upward through the air at the highest +permissible atmospheric velocity Bradley and Clio peered over Costigan's +shoulders into the plate, watching in absorbed interest the scene which +was being kept in focus upon it. The Nevian ship of space was plunging +downward in a long, slanting dive, her terrific beams of force screaming +out ahead of her. The rays of the little lifeboat had boiled the waters +of the ocean; those of the parent craft seemed literally to blast them +out of existence. All about the green submarine there had been volumes +of furiously-boiling water and dense clouds of vapor; now water and fog +alike disappeared, converted into transparent superheated steam by the +blasts of Nevian energy. Through that tenuous gas the enormous mass of +the submarine fell like a plummet, her defensive screens flaming an +almost invisible violet, her every offensive weapon vomiting forth solid +and vibratory destruction toward the Nevian cruiser so high in the +angry, scarlet heavens.</p> + +<p>For miles the submarine dropped, until the frightful pressure of the +depth drove water into Nerado's beam faster than his forces could +volatilize it. Then in that seething funnel there was waged desperate +conflict. At that funnel's wildly turbulent bottom lay the submarine, +now apparently trying to escape, but held fast by the tractor rays of +the space-ship; at its top, smothered almost to the point of +invisibility by billowing masses of steam, hung poised the Nevian +cruiser.</p> + +<p>As the atmosphere had grown thinner and thinner with increasing +altitude Costigan had regulated his velocity accordingly, keeping the +outer shell of the vessel at the highest temperature consistent with +safety. Now beyond measurable atmospheric pressure, the shell cooled +rapidly and he applied full touring acceleration. At an appalling and +constantly increasing speed the miniature space-ship shot away from the +strange, red planet; and smaller and smaller upon the plate became its +picture. Long since the great vessel of the void had plunged beneath the +surface of the sea, more closely to come to grips with the vessel of the +fishes; for a long time nothing of the battle had been visible save +immense clouds of steam, blanketing hundreds of square miles of the +ocean's surface. But just before the picture became too small to reveal +details a few tiny dark spots appeared above the banks of cloud, now +brilliantly illuminated by the rays of the rising sun--dots which might +have been fragments of either vessel, blown bodily from the depths of +the ocean and, riven asunder, hurled high into the air by the incredible +forces at the command of the other.</p> + +<p>Nevia a tiny moon and the fierce blue sun rapidly growing smaller in +the distance, Costigan swung his visiray beam into the line of travel +and turned to his companions.</p> + +<p>"Well, we're off," he said, scowling. "I hope it was Nerado that got +blown up back there, but I'm afraid it wasn't. He whipped two of those +submarines that we know of, and probably half their fleet besides. +There's no particular reason why that one should be able to take him, so +it's my idea that we should get ready for great gobs of trouble.</p> + +<p>"They'll chase us, of course; and I'm afraid that with their immense +power, they'll catch us."</p> + +<p>"But what can we do, Conway?" asked Clio.</p> + +<p>"Several things," he grinned. "I managed to get quite a lot of dope +on that paralyzing ray and some of their other stuff, and we can install +the necessary equipment in our suits easily enough."</p> + +<p>They removed their armor, and Costigan explained in detail the +changes which must be made in the Triplanetary field generators. All +three set vigorously to work--the two officers deftly and surely; Clio +uncertainly and with many questions, but with undaunted spirit. Finally, +having done all they could do to strengthen their position, they settled +down to the watchful routine of the flight, with every possible +instrument set to detect any sign of the pursuit they so feared.</p> + +<div class="center"> +<a href="images/eest_C3.jpg"> +<img src="images/eest_C3th.jpg" alt=""> +</a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>The Hill</h3> + +<div class="floatleft" style="width:369px;"> +<img src="images/eest114i.jpg" alt=""> +<span class="caption">Its atmosphere was withdrawn, the outer door opened, +and he glanced across a bare hundred feet of space at the rocket-plane +which, keel ports fiercely aflame, was braking her terrific speed to +match the slower pace of the gigantic ship of war.</span> +</div> + +<p>The heavy cruiser <i>Chicago</i> hung motionless in space, thousands +of miles distant from the warring fleets of space-ships so viciously +attacking and so stubbornly defending the planetoid of the enemy. In the +captain's sanctum Lyman Cleveland crouched tensely above his +ultra-cameras, his sensitive fingers touching lightly their micrometric +dials. His body was rigid, his face was set and drawn. Only his eyes +moved: flashing back and forth between the observation plates and +smoothly-running rolls which were feeding into the cameras the hardened +steel tapes upon which were being magnetically recorded the frightful +scenes of carnage and destruction there revealed.</p> + +<p>Silent and bitterly absorbed, though surrounded by staring officers, +whose fervent, almost unconscious cursing was prayerful in its +intensity, the visiray expert kept his ultra-instruments upon that awful +struggle to its dire conclusion. Flawlessly those instruments noted +every detail of the destruction of Roger's fleet, of the transformation +of the armada of Triplanetary into an unknown fluid, and finally of the +dissolution of the gigantic planetoid itself. Then furiously Cleveland +drove his beams against the crimsonly opaque obscurity into which the +peculiar, viscous stream of substance was disappearing. Time after time +he applied his every watt of power, with no result. A vast volume of +space, roughly ellipsodial in shape, was closed to him by forces +entirely beyond his experience or comprehension. But suddenly, while his +rays were still trying to pierce that impenetrable murk, it disappeared +instantly and, without warning, the illimitable infinity of space once +more lay revealed upon his plates and his beams flashed on and on +through the void, unimpeded.</p> + +<p>"Back to Tellus, sir?" The <i>Chicago</i>'s captain broke the +strained silence.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't say so, if I had the say." Cleveland, baffled and +frustrate, straightened up and shut off his cameras. "We should report +back as soon as possible, of course, but there seems to be a lot of +wreckage out there yet, that we can't photograph in detail at this +distance. A close study of it might help us a lot in understanding what +they did and how they did it. I'd say that we should get close-ups of +whatever is left, and do it right away, before it gets scattered all +over space; but of course I can't give you orders."</p> + +<p>"You can, though," the captain made surprising answer. "My orders are +that you are in command of this vessel."</p> + +<p>"In that case we will proceed at full emergency acceleration to +investigate the wreckage," Cleveland replied, and the cruiser--sole +survivor of Triplanetary's supposedly invincible force--shot away with +every projector delivering its maximum blast.</p> + +<p>As the scene of the disaster was approached there was revealed upon +the plates a confused mass of debris; a mass whose individual units were +apparently moving at random: yet which was as a whole still following +the orbit of Roger's planetoid. Space was full of machine parts, +structural members, furniture, flotsam of all kinds; and everywhere were +the bodies of men. Some were encased in space-suits, and it was to these +that the rescuers turned first--space-hardened veterans though the men +of the <i>Chicago</i> were, they did not care even to look at the +others. Strangely enough, however, not one of the floating figures spoke +or moved, and space-line men were hurriedly sent out to investigate.</p> + +<p>"All dead." Quickly the dread report came back. "Been dead a long +time. The armor is all stripped off the suits, and the generators and +the other apparatus are all shot. Something funny about it, too--none of +them seem to have been touched, but the machinery of the suits seems to +be about half of it missing."</p> + +<p>"I've got it all on the spools, sir." Cleveland, his close-up survey +of the wreckage finished, turned to the captain. "What they've just +reported checks up with what I've photographed everywhere. I've got an +idea of what might have happened, but it's so dizzy that I'll have to +have a lot of reenforcement before I'll believe it myself. But you might +have them bring in a few of the armored bodies, a couple of those +switchboards and panels floating around out there, and half a dozen +miscellaneous pieces of junk--the nearest things they get hold of, +whatever they happen to be."</p> + +<p>"Then back to Tellus at maximum?"</p> + +<p>"Right--back to Tellus, as fast as we can possibly go there."</p> + +<p>While the <i>Chicago</i> hurtled through space at full power, +Cleveland and the ranking officers of the vessel grouped themselves +about the salvaged wreckage. Familiar with space-wrecks as were they +all, none of them had ever seen anything like the material before them. +For every part and instrument was weirdly and meaninglessly +disintegrated. There were no breaks, no marks of violence, and yet +nothing was intact. Bolt-holes stared empty, cores, shielding cases and +needles had disappeared, the vital parts of every instrument hung awry, +disorganization reigned rampant and supreme.</p> + +<p>"I never imagined such a mess," the captain said, after a long and +silent study of the objects. "If you have any theory to +cover <i>that</i>, Cleveland, I would like to hear it!"</p> + +<p>"I want you to notice something first," the visiray expert replied. +"But don't look for what's there--look for what <i>isn't</i> there."</p> + +<p>"Well, the armor is gone. So are the shielding cases, shafts, +spindles, the housings and stems...." The captain's voice died away as +his eyes raced over the collection. "Why, everything that was made of +wood, bakelite, copper aluminum, silver, bronze, or anything but steel +hasn't been touched, and every bit of steel is gone. But that doesn't +make sense--what does it mean?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know--yet," Cleveland replied, slowly. "But I'm afraid that +there's more, and worse." He opened a space-suit reverently, revealing +the face; a face calm and peaceful, but utterly, sickeningly white. +Still reverently, he made a deep incision in the brawny neck, severing +the jugular vein, then went on, soberly:</p> + +<p>"You never imagined such a thing as <i>white</i> blood, either, but +it all checks up. Someway, somehow, every particle--probably every +atom--of free or combined iron in this whole volume of space was made +off with."</p> + +<p>"Huh? How come? And above all, <i>why</i>?" from the amazed and +staring officers.</p> + +<p>"You know as much as I do," grimly, ponderingly. "If it were not for +the fact that there are solid asteroids of iron out beyond Mars, I would +say that somebody wanted iron badly enough to wipe out the fleets and +the planetoid to get it. But anyway, whoever they were, they carried +enough power so that our armament didn't bother them at all. They simply +took the metal they wanted and went away with it--so fast that I +couldn't trace them with an ultra-beam. There's only one thing plain; +but that's so plain that it scares me stiff. This whole affair spells +intelligence, with a capital "I", and that intelligence is anything but +friendly. As for me I want to get Fred Rodebush at work on this +soon--think I'll hurry it up a little."</p> + +<p>He stepped over to his ultra-projector and called the Terrestrial +headquarters of the T. S. S. Samms' face soon appeared upon his +screen.</p> + +<p>"We got it all, Virgil," he reported.</p> + +<p>"It's something extraordinary--bigger, wider, and deeper than any of +us dreamed. It may be urgent, too, so I think I had better shoot the +pictures in on the ultra-wave and save a few days. Fred has a +telemagneto recorder there that he can synchronize with this camera +outfit easily enough. Right?"</p> + +<p>"Right. Good work, Lyman--thanks," came back terse approval and +appreciation, and soon the steel tapes were again flashing between the +feed-rolls. This time, however, their varying magnetic charges were +modulating an ultra-wave so that every detail of that calamitous battle +of the void was being screened and recorded in the innermost private +laboratory of the Triplanetary Secret Service.</p> + +<p>Eager though he naturally was to join his fellow-scientists, +Cleveland did not waste his time during the long, but uneventful journey +back to earth. There was much to study, many improvements to be made in +his comparatively crude first ultra-camera. Then, too, there were long +conferences with Samms, and particularly with Rodebush, the mathematical +physicist, whose was the task of solving the riddles of the energies and +weapons of the Nevians. Thus it did not seem long before green Terra +grew large beneath the flying sphere of the <i>Chicago</i>.</p> + +<p>"Going to have to circle at once, aren't you?" Cleveland asked the +chief pilot. He had been watching that officer closely for minutes, +admiring the delicacy and precision with which the great vessel was +being maneuvered preliminary to entering the earth's atmosphere.</p> + +<p>"Yes," the pilot replied. "We had to come in in the shortest possible +time, and that meant a velocity here that we can't check without a +spiral. However, even at that we saved a lot of time. You can save quite +a bit more, though, by having a rocket-plane come out to meet us +somewhere around fifteen or twenty thousand kilometers, depending upon +where you want to land. With their power-to-mass ratio they can match +our velocity and still make the drop direct."</p> + +<p>"Guess I'll do that--thanks," and the operative called his chief, +only to learn that his suggestion had already been acted upon.</p> + +<p>"We beat you to it, Lyman," Samms smiled. "The <i>Silver Sliver</i> +is out there now, looping to match your course, acceleration, and +velocity at twenty-two thousand kilometers. You'll be ready to +transfer?"</p> + +<p>"I'll be ready!" and the Quartermaster's ex-clerk went to his +quarters and packed his dunnage-bag.</p> + +<p>In due time the long, slender body of the rocket-plane came into +view, creeping 'down' upon the space-ship from 'above,' and Cleveland +bade his friends good-bye. Donning a space-suit, he stationed himself in +the starboard airlock. Its atmosphere was withdrawn, the outer door +opened, and he glanced across a bare hundred feet of space at the +rocket-plane which, keel ports fiercely aflame, was braking her terrific +speed to match the slower pace of the gigantic ship of war. Shaped like +a toothpick, needle-pointed fore and aft, with ultra-stubby wings and +vanes, with flush-set rocket ports everywhere, built of a lustrous +silvery alloy of noble and almost infusible metals--such was the private +speedboat of the chief of the T. S. S. The fastest thing known, whether +in planetary air, the stratosphere, or the vacuus depth of +interplanetary space, her first flashing trial spins had won her the +nickname of the <i>Silver Sliver</i>. She had had a more formal name, +but that title had long since been buried in the Departmental files.</p> + +<p>Lower and slower dropped the <i>Silver Sliver</i>, her rockets +flaming even brighter, until her slender length lay level with the +airlock door. Then her blasting discharges subsided to the power +necessary to match exactly the <i>Chicago</i>'s deceleration.</p> + +<p>"Ready to cut, <i>Chicago</i>! Give me a three-second call!" snapped +from the pilot room of the <i>Sliver</i>.</p> + +<p>"Ready to cut!" the pilot of the <i>Chicago</i> replied. "Seconds! +Three! Two! One! CUT!"</p> + +<p>At the last word the power of both vessels was instantly cut off and +everything in them became weightless. In the tiny airlock of the slender +craft crouched a space-line man with coiled cable in readiness, but he +was not needed. As the flaring exhausts ceased Cleveland swung out his +heavy bag and stepped lightly off into space, and in a right line he +floated directly into the open doorway of the rocket-plane. The door +clanged shut behind him and in a matter of moments he stood in the +control room of the racer, divested of his armor and shaking hands with +his friend and co-laborer, Frederick Rodebush.</p> + +<p>"Well, Fred, what do you know?" Cleveland asked, as soon as greetings +had been exchanged. "How do the various reports dovetail together? I +know that you couldn't tell me anything on the wave, but there's no +danger of eavesdroppers <i>here</i>."</p> + +<p>"You can't tell," Rodebush soberly replied. "We're just beginning to +wake up to the fact that there are a lot of things we don't know +anything about. Better wait until we're back at the Hill. We have a full +set of ultra-screens around there now. There's a couple of other good +reasons, too--it would be better for both of us to go over the whole +thing with Virgil, from the ground up; and we can't do any more talking, +anyway. Our orders are to get back there at maximum, and you know what +that means aboard the <i>Sliver</i>. Strap yourself solid in that +shock-absorber there, and here's a pair of ear-plugs."</p> + +<p>"When the <i>Sliver</i> really cuts loose it means a rough party, all +right," Cleveland assented, snapping about his body the heavy +spring-straps of his deeply cushioned seat, "but I'm just as anxious to +get back to the Hill as anybody can be to get me there. All set."</p> + +<p>Rodebush waved his hand at the pilot and the purring whisper of the +exhausts changed instantly to a deafening, continuous explosion. The men +were pressed deeply into their shock-absorbing chairs as the <i>Silver +Sliver</i> spun around her longitudinal axis and darted away from +the <i>Chicago</i> with such a tremendous acceleration that the +spherical warship seemed to be standing still in space. In due time the +calculated mid-point was reached, the slim space-plane rolled over +again, and, mad acceleration now reversed, rushed on toward the earth, +but with constantly diminishing speed. Finally a measurable atmospheric +pressure was encountered, the needle prow dipped downward, and +the <i>Silver Sliver</i> shot forward upon her tiny wings and vanes, +nose-rockets now drumming in staccato thunder. Her metal grew hot: dull +red, bright red yellow, blinding white; but it neither melted nor +burned. The pilot's calculations had been sound, and though the limiting +point of safety of temperature was reached and steadily held, it was not +exceeded. As the density of the air increased so decreased the velocity +of the man-made meteorite. So it was that a dazzling lance of fire sped +high over Seattle, lower over Spokane, and hurled itself eastward, a +furiously flaming arrow; slanting downward in a long, screaming dive +toward the heart of the Rockies. As the now rapidly cooling greyhound of +the skies passed over the western ranges of the Bitter Roots it became +apparent that her goal was a vast, flat-topped, and conical mountain, +shrouded in livid light; a mountain whose height awed even its +stupendous neighbors.</p> + +<p>While not artificial, the Hill had been altered markedly by the +Triplanetary engineers who had built into it the headquarters of the +Secret Service. Its mile-wide top was a jointless expanse of gray armor +steel; the steep, smooth surface of the truncated cone was a +continuation of the same immensely thick sheet of metal. No known +vehicle could climb that smooth, hard, forbidding slope of steel; no +known projectile could mar that armor; no known craft could even +approach the Hill without detection. Could not approach it at all, in +fact, for it was constantly inclosed in a vast hemisphere of lambent +violet flame through which neither material substance nor destructive +ray could pass.</p> + +<p>As the <i>Silver Sliver</i>, crawling along at a bare three-hundred +miles an hour, approached that transparent, brilliantly violet wall of +destruction, a violet light filled her control room and as suddenly went +out; flashing on and off again and again.</p> + +<p>"Giving us the once-over, eh?" Cleveland asked. "That is something +new, isn't it, Fred?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's a high-powered ultra-wave spy," Rodenbush returned. "The +light is simply a warning, which can be carried if desired. It can also +carry voice and vision...."</p> + +<p>"Like this," Samms' voice interrupted from the powerful dynamic +speaker upon the pilots' panel and his clear-cut face appeared upon the +television screen. "I don't suppose Fred thought to mention it, but this +is one of his inventions of the last few days. We are just trying it out +on you. It doesn't mean a thing though, as far as the <i>Sliver</i> is +concerned. Come ahead!"</p> + +<p>A circular opening appeared in the wall of force, an opening which +disappeared as soon as the plane had darted through it; and at the same +time her landing-cradle rose into the air through a great trap-door. +Slowly and gracefully the space-plane settled downward into that +cushioned embrace. Then cradle and nestled <i>Sliver</i> sank from view +and, turning smoothly upon mighty trunnions, the plug of armor drove +solidly back into its place in the metal pavement of the mountain's +lofty summit. The cradle-elevator dropped rapidly, coming to rest many +levels down in the heart of the Hill, and Cleveland and Rodebush leaped +lightly out of their transport, through her still hot outer walls. A +door opened before them and they found themselves in a large room of +full daylight illumination; the anteroom of the private office of Virgil +Samms. Chiefs of Departments sat at their desks, concentrated upon +problems or at ease, according to the demands of the moment; +televisotypes and recorders flashed busily but silently; calmly +efficient men and women went wontedly about the all-embracing business +of Triplanetary's space-pervading Secret Service.</p> + +<p>"Right of way, Norma?" Rodebush paused briefly before the desk of the +Chief's private secretary; but even before he had spoken she had pressed +a button and the door behind her swung wide.</p> + +<p>"You two do not need to be announced," the attractive young woman +smiled. "Go right in."</p> + +<p>Samms met them at the door eagerly, shaking hands particularly +vigorously with Cleveland.</p> + +<p>"Congratulations on that camera, Lyman!" he exclaimed. "You did a +wonderful piece of work on that. Help yourselves to smokes and sit +down--there are a lot of things we want to talk over. Your pictures +carried most of the story, but they would have left us pretty much at +sea without Costigan's reports. But as it was, Fred here and his crew +worked out most of the answers from the dope the two of you got; and +what few they haven't got yet they soon will have."</p> + +<p>"Nothing new on Conway?" Cleveland was almost afraid to ask the +question.</p> + +<p>"No." A shadow came over Samms' face. "I'm afraid ... but I'm hoping +it's only that those creatures, whatever they are, have taken him so far +away that he can't reach us."</p> + +<p>"They certainly are so far away that we can't reach them." Rodenbush +volunteered. "We can't even get their ultra-wave interference any +more."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's a hopeful sign," Samms went on. "I hate to think of +Conway Costigan checking out. There, fellows, was a real observer. He +was the only man, I have ever known, who combined the two qualities of +the perfect witness. He could actually see everything he looked at, and +could report it truly, to the last, least detail. Take all this stuff, +for instance; especially their ability to transform iron into a fluid +allotrope, and in that form to use its intra-atomic energy as power. +Something brand new--unheard of except in the ravings of imaginative +fiction--and yet he described their converters and projectors so +minutely that Fred was able to work out the underlying theory in three +days, and to tie it in with our own super-ship. My first thought was +that we'd have to rebuild it iron-free, but Fred showed me my error--you +found it first yourself, of course."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't do any good to make the ship non-ferrous unless you +could so change our blood chemistry that we could get along without +hemoglobin, and that would be quite a feat," Cleveland agreed. "Then, +too, our most vital electrical machinery is built around iron cores. No, +we'll have to develop a screen for those forces--screens, rather, so +powerful that they can't drive anything through them."</p> + +<p>"We've been working along those lines ever since you reported," +Rodebush said, "and we're beginning to see light. And in that same +connection it's no wonder that we couldn't handle our super-ship. We had +some good ideas, but they were wrongly applied. However, things look +quite promising now. We have that transformation of iron all worked out +in theory, and as soon as we get a generator going we can straighten out +everything else in short order. And think what that unlimited power +means! All the power we want--power enough even to try out such hitherto +purely theoretical possibilities as the neutralization of gravity, and +even of the inertia of matter!"</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" protested Samms. "You certainly can't do <i>that</i>! +Inertia is--<i>must</i> be--a basic attribute of matter, and surely +cannot be done away with without destroying the matter itself. Don't +start anything like that. Fred--I don't want to lose you and Lyman, +too."</p> + +<p>"Don't worry about us, Chief." Rodebush replied with a smile. "If you +will tell me what matter is, fundamentally, I may agree with you.... No? +Well, then, don't be surprised at anything that happens. We are going to +do a lot of things that nobody ever thought of doing before."</p> + +<p>Thus for a long time the argument and discussion went on, to be +interrupted by the voice of the secretary.</p> + +<p>"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Samms, but some things have come up that +you will have to handle. Knobos is calling from out near Mars. He has +caught the <i>Endymion</i>, and has killed about half her crew doing it. +Milton has finally reported from Venus, after being out of touch for +five days. He trailed the Wintons into Thalleron swamp. They crashed him +there, but he won out and has what he went after. And just now I got a +flash from Fletcher, in the asteroid belt. I think that he has finally +traced that dope line. But Knobos is on now--what do you want him to do +about the <i>Endymion</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Tell him to--no, put him on here, I'd better tell him myself," Samms +directed, and his face hardened in ruthless decision as the horny, +misshapen face of the Martian lieutenant appeared upon the screen. "What +do you think, Knobos? Shall they come to trial or not?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"I don't think so, either. It is better that a few gangsters should +disappear in space than run the risk of another uprising. See to +it."</p> + +<p>"Right." The screen darkened and Samms spoke to his secretary. "Put +Milton and Fletcher on whenever their rays come in." He then turned to +his guests. "We've covered the ground quite thoroughly. Good-bye--I wish +I could go with you, but I'll be pretty well tied up for the next week +or two."</p> + +<p>"Tied up, doesn't half express it," Rodebush remarked as the two +scientists walked along a corridor toward an elevator. "He probably is +the busiest man on the three planets."</p> + +<p>"As well as the most powerful," Cleveland supplemented. "And very few +men could use his power as fairly--but he's welcome to it, as far as I'm +concerned. I'd have the pink fantods for a month if I had to do only +once what he's just done--and to him it's just part of a day's +work."</p> + +<p>"You mean the <i>Endymion</i>? What else could he do?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing--that's just what I'm talking about. It had to be done, +since bringing them to trial would probably mean killing half the people +of Morseca; but at the same time it's a ghastly thing to have to order a +job of deliberate, cold-blooded, and illegal murder."</p> + +<p>"You're right, of course, but you would...." he broke off, unable to +put his thoughts into words. For while inarticulate, manlike, concerning +their deepest emotions, in both men was ingrained the code of their +organization; both knew that to every man chosen for it <i>The +Service</i> was everything, himself nothing.</p> + +<p>"But enough of that, we'll have plenty of grief of our own right +here," Rodebush changed the subject abruptly as they stepped into a vast +room, almost filled by the immense bulk of the <i>Boise</i>--the +sinister space-ship which, although never flown, had already lined with +black so many pages of Triplanetary's roster. She was now, however, the +center of a furious activity. Men swarmed over her and through her, in +the orderly confusion of a fiercely driven but carefully planned program +of reconstruction.</p> + +<p>"I hope your dope is right, Fred!" Cleveland called, as the two +scientists separated to go to their respective laboratories. "If it is, +we'll make a perfect lady out of this unmanageable man-killer yet!"</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>The Super-Ship Is Launched</h3> + +<p> +After weeks of ceaseless work, during which was lavished upon her every +resource of mind and material afforded by three planets, +the <i>Boise</i> was ready for her maiden flight. As nearly ready, that +is, as the thought and labor of man could make her. Rodebush and +Cleveland had finished their last rigid inspection of the craft and, +standing beside the center door of the main airlock, were talking with +their chief.</p> + +<p>"You say that you think that it's safe, and yet you won't take a +crew," Samms argued. "In that case it isn't safe enough for you men, +either. We need you too badly to permit you to take such chances."</p> + +<p>"You've <i>got</i> to let us go; because we are the only ones who are +thoroughly familiar with her theory," Rodebush insisted. "I said, and +still say, that I <i>think</i> it is safe. I can't prove it, however, +except mathematically; because she's altogether too full of too many new +and untried mechanisms, too many extrapolations beyond all existing or +possible data. Theoretically, she is sound, but you know that theory can +go only so far, and that mathematically negligible factors may become +operative at those velocities. We do not need a crew for a short trip. +We can take care of any minor mishaps, and if our fundamental theories +are wrong, all the crews between here and Jupiter wouldn't do any good. +Therefore we two are going--alone."</p> + +<p>"Well, be very careful, anyway. Start out slow and take it easy."</p> + +<p>"Start out slow? We can't! We can't neutralize half of gravity, nor +half of the inertia of matter--it's got to be everything or nothing, as +soon as the neutralizers go on. We could start out on the projectors, of +course, instead of on the neutralizers, but that wouldn't prove anything +and would only prolong the agony."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, be as careful as you can."</p> + +<p>"We'll do that, Chief," Cleveland put in. "We think a lot of us, and +we aren't committing suicide just yet if we can help it. And remember +about everybody staying inside when we take off--it's barely possible +that we'll take up a lot of room. Good-bye to all of you."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, fellows!"</p> + +<p>The massive insulating doors were shut, the metal side of the +mountain opened, and huge, squat caterpillar tractors came roaring and +clanking into the room. Chains and cables were made fast and, mighty +steel rails groaning under the load, the space-ship upon her rolling +ways was dragged out of the Hill and far out upon the level floor of the +surface before the tractors cast off and returned to the fortress.</p> + +<p>"Everybody is under cover." Samms informed Rodebush. The chief was +staring intently into his plate, upon which was revealed the control +room of the untried super-ship. He heard Rodebush speak to Cleveland; +heard the observer's brief reply; saw the navigator throw his +switches--then the communicator plate went blank. Not the ordinary +blankness of a cut-off, but a peculiarly disquieting fading out into +darkness. And where the great space-ship had rested there was for an +instant nothing. Exactly nothing--a vacuum. Vessel, falsework, rollers, +trucks, the enormous steel I-beams of the tracks, even the deep-set +concrete piers and foundations and a vast hemisphere of the solid +ground; all had disappeared utterly and instantaneously. But almost as +suddenly as it had been formed the vacuum was filled by a cyclonic rush +of air. There was a detonation as of a hundred vicious thunderclaps made +one, and, through the howling, shrieking blasts of wind, there rained +down upon the valley, plain and metaled mountain a veritable avalanche +of debris: bent, twisted, and broken rails and beams, splintered +timbers, masses of concrete, and thousands of cubic yards of soil and +rock. For inertia and gravitation had not been neutralized at precisely +the same instant, and for a moment everything within the radius of +action of the iron-driven gravity nullifiers of the <i>Boise</i> had +continued its absolute motion with inertia unimpaired. Then, left behind +immediately by the almost infinite velocity of the cruiser, all this +material had again become subject to all of Nature's everyday laws and +had crashed back to the ground.</p> + +<p>"Could you hold your beam, Randolph?" Samm's voice cut sharply +through the daze of stupefaction which held spellbound most of the +denizens of the Hill. But all were not so held--no conceivable emergency +could take the attention of the chief ultra-wave operator from his +instruments.</p> + +<p>"No, sir," Radio Center shot back. "It faded out and I couldn't +recover it. I put everything I've got behind a tracer on that beam, but +haven't been able to lift a single needle off the pin."</p> + +<p>"And no wreckage of the vessel itself," Samms went on, half audibly. +"Either they have succeeded far beyond their wildest hopes or else ... +more probably...." He fell silent and switched off the plate. Were his +two friends, those intrepid scientists, alive and triumphant, or had +they gone to lengthen the list of victims of that man-killing +space-ship? Reason told him that they were gone. They <i>must be</i> +gone, or else his ultra-beams--energies of such unthinkable velocity of +propagation that man's most sensitive instruments had never been able +even to estimate it--would have held the ship's transmitter in spite of +any velocity attainable by any matter under any conceivable conditions. +The ship must have been disintegrated as soon as Rodebush released his +forces. And yet, had not the physicist dimly foreseen the possibility of +such an actual velocity--or had he? However, individuals could came and +could go, but Triplanetary went on. Samms squared his shoulders +unconsciously, and slowly, grimly, made his way back to his private +office.</p> + +<p>He had scant time to mourn. Scarcely had he seated himself at his +desk when an emergency call came snapping in; a call of such import that +his secretary's usually calm voice trembled as she put it on his +plate.</p> + +<p>"Commissioner Hinkle is calling, sir," she announced. "Something +terrible is going on again, out toward Orion. Here he is," and there +appeared upon the screen the face of the Commissioner of Public Safety, +the commander of Triplanetary's every armed force--whether of land or of +water, of air or of empty space.</p> + +<p>"They've come back, Samms!" the Commissioner rapped out, without +preliminary or greeting. "Four vessels gone--a freighter and a passenger +liner, with her escort of two heavy cruisers. All in Sector M; Dx about +151. I have ordered all traffic out of space for the duration of the +emergency, and since even our warships seem useless, every ship is +making for the nearest dock at maximum. How about that new flyer of +yours--got anything that will do us any good?" No one beyond the +"Hill's" shielding screens knew that the <i>Boise</i> had already been +launched.</p> + +<p>"I don't know. We don't even know whether we have a super-ship or +not," and Samms described briefly the beginning--and very probably the +ending--of the trial flight, concluding: "It looks bad, but if there was +any possible way of handling her, Rodebush and Cleveland did it. All our +tracers are negative yet, so nothing definite has...."</p> + +<p>He broke off as a frantic call came in from the Pittsburgh station +for the Commissioner, a call which Samms both heard and saw.</p> + +<p>"The city is being attacked!" came the urgent message. "We need all +the reinforcements you can send us!" and a picture of the beleaguered +city appeared in ghastly detail upon the screens of the observers; a +view being recorded from the air. It required only seconds for the +commissioner to order every available man and engine of war to the seat +of conflict; then, having done everything they could, Hinkle and Samms +stared in helpless, fascinated horror into their plates, watching the +scenes of carnage and destruction depicted there.</p> + +<p>The Nevian vessel--the sister-ship, the craft which Costigan had seen +in mid-space as it hurtled earthward in response to Nerado's +summons--hung poised in full visibility, high above the metropolis. +Scornful of the pitiful weapons wielded by man she hung there, her +sinister beauty of line sharply defined against the cloudless sky. From +her shining hull there reached down a tenuous but rigid rod of crimson +energy; a rod which slowly swept hither and thither as the detectors of +the amphibians searched out the richest deposits of the precious iron +for which the inhuman visitors had come so far. Iron, once solid, now a +viscous red liquid, was sluggishly flowing in an ever-thickening stream +up that intangible crimson duct and into the capacious storage tanks of +the Nevian raider; and wherever that flaming beam went there went also +ruin, destruction, and death. Office buildings, skyscrapers towering +majestically in their architectural symmetry and beauty, collapsed into +heaps of debris as their steel skeletons were abstracted. Deep into the +ground the beam bored; flood, fire, and explosion following in its wake +as the mazes of underground piping disappeared. And the humanity of the +buildings died: instantaneously and painlessly, never knowing what +struck them, as the life-bearing iron of their bodies went to swell the +Nevian stream.</p> + +<p>Pittsburgh's defenses had been feeble indeed. A few antiquated +railway rifles had hurled their shells upward in futile defiance, and +had been quietly absorbed. The district planes of Triplanetary, newly +armed with iron-driven ultra-beams, had assembled hurriedly and had +attacked the invader in formation, with but little more success. Under +the impact of their beams the stranger's screens had flared white, then +poised ship and flying squadron alike had been lost to view in a murkily +opaque shroud of crimson flame. The cloud had soon dissolved, and from +the place where the planes had been there had floated or crashed down a +litter of non-ferrous wreckage. And now the cone of space-ships from the +Buffalo base of Triplanetary was approaching Pittsburgh, hurling itself +toward the Nevian plunderer and toward known, gruesome and hopeless +defeat.</p> + +<p>"Stop them, Hinkle!" Samms cried. "It's sheer slaughter! They haven't +got a thing--they aren't even equipped yet with the iron drive!"</p> + +<p>"I know it," the commissioner groaned, "and Admiral Barnes knows it +as well as we do, but it can't be helped--wait a minute! The Washington +cone is reporting. They're as close as the other, and they have the new +armament. Philadelphia is close behind, and so is New York. Now perhaps +we can do something!"</p> + +<p>The Buffalo flotilla slowed and stopped, and in a matter of minutes +the detachments from the other bases arrived. The cone was formed and +iron-driven vessels in the van, the old-type craft far in the rear, it +bore down upon the Nevian, vomiting from its hollow front a solid +cylinder of annihilation. Once more the screens of the Nevian flared +into brilliance, once more the red cloud of destruction was flung +abroad. But these vessels were not entirely defenseless. Their +iron-driven ultra-generators threw out screens of the Nevians' own +formulae, screens of prodigious power to which the energies of the +amphibians clung and at which they clawed and tore in baffled, wildly +coruscant displays of power unthinkable. For minutes the furious +conflict raged, while the inconceivable energy being dissipated by those +straining screens hurled itself in terribly destructive bolts of +lightning upon the city far beneath.</p> + +<p>No battle of such incredible violence could long endure. +Triplanetary's ships were already exerting their utmost power, while the +Nevians, contemptuous of Solarian science, had not yet uncovered their +full strength. Thus the last desperate effort of mankind was proved +futile as the invaders forced their beams deeper and deeper into the +overloaded, defensive screens of the war-vessels; and one by one the +supposedly invincible space-ships of humanity dropped in horribly +dismembered wreckage upon the ruins of what had once been +Pittsburgh.</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>Specimens</h3> + +<p>Only too well founded was Costigan's conviction that the submarine of +the deep-sea fishes had not been able to prevail against Nerado's +formidable engines of destruction. For days the Nevian lifeboat with its +three Terrestrial passengers hurtled through the interstellar void +without incident, but finally the operative's fears were realized--his +far-flung detector screens reacted; upon his observation plate lay +revealed Nerado's mammoth space-ship, in full pursuit of its fleeing +lifeboat!</p> + +<p>"On your toes, folks--it won't be long now!" Costigan called, and +Bradley and Clio hurried into the tiny control room.</p> + +<p>Armor donned and tested, the three Terrestrials stared into the +observation plates, watching the rapidly enlarging pictures of the +Nevian space-ship. Nerado had traced them and was following them, and +such was the power of the great vessel that the nearly inconceivable +velocity of the lifeboat was the veriest crawl in comparison to that of +the pursuing cruiser.</p> + +<p>"And we've hardly started to cover the distance back to Tellus. Of +course you couldn't get in touch with anybody yet?" Bradley stated, +rather than asked.</p> + +<p>"I kept on trying until they blanketed my wave, but all negative. +Thousands of times too far for my transmitter. Our only hope of reaching +anybody was the mighty slim chance that our super-ship might be prowling +around out here already, but it isn't, of course. Here they are!"</p> + +<p>Reaching out to the control panel, Costigan shot out against the +great vessel wave after wave of lethal vibrations, under whose fiercely +clinging impacts the Nevian defensive screens flared white; but, +strangely enough, their own screens did not radiate. As if contemptuous +of any weapons the lifeboat might wield, the mother ship simply defended +herself from the attacking beams, in much the same fashion as a wildcat +mother wards off the claws and teeth of her spitting, snarling kitten +who is resenting a touch of needed maternal discipline.</p> + +<p>"They probably won't fight us, at that," Clio first understood the +situation. "This is their own lifeboat, and they want us alive, you +know."</p> + +<p>"There's one more thing we can try--hang on!" Costigan snapped, as he +released his screens and threw all his power into one enormous pressor +beam.</p> + +<p>The three were thrown to the floor and held there by an awful weight, +as if the lifeboat darted away at the stupendous acceleration of the +beam's reaction against the unimaginable mass of the Nevian sky-rover; +but the flight was of short duration. Along that pressor beam there +crept a dull rod of energy, which surrounded the fugitive shell and +brought it slowly to a halt. Furiously then Costigan set and reset his +controls, launching his every driving force and his every weapon, but no +beam could penetrate that red murk, and the lifeboat remained motionless +in space. No, not motionless--the red rod was shortening, drawing the +truant craft back toward the launching port from which she had so +hopefully emerged a few days before. Back and back it was drawn; +Costigan's utmost efforts futile to affect by a hair's breadth its line +of motion. Through the open port the boat slipped neatly, and as it came +to a halt in its original position within the multilayered skin of the +monster, the prisoners heard the heavy doors clang shut behind them, one +after another.</p> + +<p>And then sheets of blue fire snapped and crackled all about the three +suits of Triplanetary armor--the two large human figures and the small +one were outlined starkly in blinding blue flame.</p> + +<p>"That's the first thing that has come off according to schedule." +Costigan laughed, a short, fierce bark. "That is their paralyzing ray; +we've got it stopped cold, and we've each got enough iron to hold it +forever."</p> + +<p>"But it looks as though the best we can do is to stalemate," Bradley +argued. "Even if they can't paralyze us, we can't hurt them, and we are +heading back for Nevia."</p> + +<p>"I think Nerado will come in for a conference, and we'll be able to +make terms of some kind. He must know what these Lewistons will do, and +he knows that we'll get a chance to use them, some way or other, before +he gets to us again," Costigan asserted confidently--but again he was +wrong.</p> + +<p>The door opened, and through it there waddled, rolled, or crawled a +metal-clad monstrosity--a thing with wheels, legs, and writhing +tentacles of jointed bronze; a thing possessed of defensive screens +sufficiently powerful to absorb the full blast of the Triplanetary +projectors without effort. Three brazen tentacles reached out through +the ravening beams of the Lewistons, smashed them to bits, and wrapped +themselves in unbreakable shackles about the armored forms of the three +human beings. Through the door the machine or creature carried its +helpless load, and out into and along a main corridor. And soon the +three Terrestrials, without armor, without arms, and almost without +clothing, were standing in the control room, again facing the calm and +unmoved Nerado. To the surprise of the impetuous Costigan, the Nevian +commander was entirely without rancor.</p> + +<p>"The desire for freedom is perhaps common to all forms of animate +life," he commented, through the transformer. "As I told you before, +however, you are specimens to be studied by the College of Science, and +you shall be so studied in spite of anything you may do. Resign +yourselves to that."</p> + +<p>"Well, say that we don't try to make any more trouble; that we +co-operate in the examination and give you whatever information we can," +Costigan suggested. "Then you will probably be willing to give us a ship +and let us go back to our own world?"</p> + +<p>"You will not be allowed to cause any more trouble," the amphibian +declared, coldly. "Your co-operation will not be required. We will take +from you whatever knowledge and information we wish. In all probability +you will never be allowed to return to your own system, because as +specimens you are too unique to lose. But enough of this idle +chatter--take them back to their quarters!"</p> + +<p>And back to their inter-communicating rooms the prisoners were led +under heavy guard.</p> + +<p>True to his word, Nerado made certain that they had no more +opportunities to escape. All the way back to far-distant Nevia the +space-ship sped, where at once, in manacles, the Terrestrials were taken +to the College of Science, there to undergo the physical and psychical +examinations which Nerado had promised them.</p> + +<p>Clio and Costigan learned that the Nevian scientist-captain had not +erred in stating that their co-operation was neither needed nor desired. +Furious but impotent, the human beings were studied in laboratory after +laboratory by the coldly analytical, unfeeling scientists of Nevia, to +whom they were nothing more nor less than specimens; and in full measure +they came to know what it meant to play the part of an unknown, lowly +organism in a biological research. They were photographed, externally +and internally. Every bone, muscle, organ, vessel, and nerve was studied +and charted. Every reflex and reaction was noted and discussed. Meters +registered every impulse and recorders filmed every thought, every idea, +and every sensation. Endlessly, day after day, the nerve-wracking +torture went on, until the frantic subjects could bear no more. +White-faced and shaking, Clio finally screamed wildly, hysterically, as +she was being strapped down upon a laboratory bench; and at the sound +Costigan's nerves, already at the breaking point, gave way in an +outburst of Berserk fury.</p> + +<p>The man's struggles and the girl's shrieks were alike futile, but the +surprised Nevians, after a consultation, decided to give the specimens a +vacation. To that end they were installed, together with their earthly +belongings, in a three-roomed structure of transparent metal, floating +in the large central lagoon of the city. There they were left +undisturbed for a time--undisturbed, that is, except by the continuous +gaze of the crowd of hundreds of amphibians which constantly surrounded +the floating cottage.</p> + +<p>"First we're bugs under a microscope," Bradley growled, "then we're +goldfish in a bowl. I don't know that...."</p> + +<p>He broke off as two of their jailers entered the room. Without a word +into the transformers, they seized Bradley and the girl. As those +tentacular arms stretched out toward Clio, Costigan leaped. A vain +attempt. In midair the paralyzing ray of the Nevians touched him and he +crashed heavily to the crystal floor; and from that floor he looked on +in helpless, raging fury while his sweetheart and his captain were +carried out of their prison and into a waiting submarine.</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>The <i>Boise</i> Acts</h3> + +<p>But what of the super-ship? What happened after that inertialess, +that terribly destructive take-off?</p> + +<p>Doctor Frederick Rodebush sat at the control panel of Triplanetary's +newly reconstructed space-ship, his hands grasping the gleaming, ebonite +handles of two double-throw switches. Facing the unknown though the +physicist was, yet he grinned whimsically at his friend.</p> + +<p>"Something, whatever it is, is about to take place. The <i>Boise</i> +is taking off, under full neutralization. Ready for anything to happen, +Cleve?"</p> + +<p>"All ready--shoot!" Laconically. Cleveland also was constitutionally +unable to voice his deeper sentiments in time of stress.</p> + +<p>Rodebush flipped the switches clear over in flashing arcs, and +instantly over both men there came a sensation akin to a tremendously +intensified vertigo; but a vertigo as far beyond the space-sickness of +weightlessness, as that horrible sensation is beyond mere terrestrial +dizziness. The pilot tried to reverse the switches he had just thrown, +but his leaden hands utterly refused to obey the dictates of his reeling +mind. His brain was a writhing, convulsive mass of torment +indescribable; expanding, exploding, swelling out with an unendurable +pressure against its confining skull. Fiery spirals, laced with +streaming, darting lances of black and green, flamed inside his bursting +eyeballs. The Universe spun and whirled in mad gyrations about him as he +reeled drunkenly to his feet, staggering and sprawling. He fell. He +realized that he was falling, yet he could not fall! Thrashing wildly, +grotesquely in agony, he struggled madly and blindly across the room, +directly toward the thick steel wall. The tip of one hair of his unruly +thatch touched the wall, and the slim length of that single hair did not +even bend as its slight strength brought to an instant halt the +hundred-and-eighty-odd pounds of mass--mass now entirely without +inertia--that was his body.</p> + +<p>But finally the sheer brain power of the man began to triumph over +his physical torture. By indomitable force of will he compelled his +groping hands to seize a life-line, almost meaningless to his dazed +intelligence; and through that nightmare incarnate of hellish torture he +fought his way back to the control board. Hooking one leg around a +standard, he made a seemingly enormous effort and drove the two switches +back into their original positions; then fell flat upon the floor, +weakly but in a wave of relief and thankfulness, as his racked body felt +again the wonted phenomena of weight and of inertia. White, trembling, +frankly and openly sick, the two men stared at each other in half-amazed +joy.</p> + +<p>"It worked." Cleveland smiled wanly as he recovered sufficiently to +speak, then leaped to his feet. "Snap it up, Fred! We must be falling +fast--we'll be wrecked when we hit!"</p> + +<p>"We're not falling anywhere." Rodebush, foreboding in his eyes, +walked over to the main observation plate and scanned the heavens. +"However, it's not as bad as I was afraid it might be. I can still +recognize a few of the constellations, even though they are all pretty +badly distorted. That means that we can't be more than a couple of +light-years or so away from the Solar System. Of course, since we had so +little thrust on, practically all of our time and energy was spent in +getting out of the atmosphere; but, even at that, it's a good thing that +space isn't an absolutely perfect vacuum or we would have been clear out +of the Universe by this time."</p> + +<p>"Huh? Impossible--where are we anyway? Then we must be making mil ... +Oh, I see!" Cleveland exclaimed in disjointed sentences as he also +stared into the plate.</p> + +<p>"Right. We aren't traveling at all <i>now</i>." Rodebush replied. "We +are perfectly stationary relative to Tellus, since we made the hop +without inertia. We must have attained one hundred percent +neutralization, which we didn't quite expect, and therefore we must have +stopped instantaneously when our inertia was restored. But it +isn't <i>where</i> we are that is worrying me the most--we can fix our +place in space accurately enough by a few +observations--it's <i>when</i>."</p> + +<p>"That's right, too. Say we're two light-years away. You think maybe +we're two years older than we were ten minutes ago, then? That's +possible, of course, maybe probable: there's been a lot of discussion on +that theory. Now's a good time to prove or to disprove it. Let's snap +back to Tellus and find out."</p> + +<p>"We'll do that, after a little more experimenting. You see, I had no +intention of giving us such a long push. I was going to throw the +switches over and back, but you know what happened. However, there's one +good thing about it--it's worth two years of anybody's life to settle +that relativity-time thing definitely, one way or the other."</p> + +<p>"I'll say it is. But say, we've got a lot of power on our ultra-wave: +enough to reach Tellus, I think. Let's locate the sun and get in touch +with Samms."</p> + +<p>"Let's work on these controls a little first, so we'll have something +to report. Out here's a fine place to try the ship out--nothing in the +way."</p> + +<p>"All right with me. But I <i>would</i> like to find out whether I'm +two years older than I think I am, or not!"</p> + +<p>Then for hours they put the great super-ship through her paces, just +as test-pilots check up on every detail of performance of an airplane of +new and radical design. They found that the horrible vertigo could be +endured, perhaps in time even conquered as space-sickness could be +conquered, by a strong will in a sound body; and that their new +conveyance had possibilities of which even Rodebush had never dreamed. +Finally, their most pressing questions answered, they turned their most +powerful ultra-beam communicator toward the yellowish star which they +knew to be Old Sol.</p> + +<p>"Samms ... Samms." Cleveland spoke slowly and distinctly. "Rodebush +and Cleveland reporting from the 'Space-Eating Wampus', now directly in +line with Beta Ursae Minoris from the sun, distance about two point two +light years. It will take six banks of tubes on your tightest beam, +LSV3, to reach us. Barring a touch of an unusually severe type of +space-sickness, everything worked beautifully; even better than our +calculations showed. There's something we want to know right away--have +we been gone four hours and some odd minutes, or better than two +years?"</p> + +<p>He shut off the power, turned to Rodebush, and went on:</p> + +<p>"Nobody knows how fast this ultra-wave travels, but if it goes as +fast as we did coming out it's certainly moving. I'll give him about +thirty minutes, then shoot in another call."</p> + +<p>But in less than two minutes the care-ravaged face of their chief +appeared sharp and clear upon their plates and his voice snapped curtly +from the speaker.</p> + +<p>"Thank God you're alive, and twice that the ship works!" he +exclaimed. "You've been gone four hours, eleven minutes, and forty-one +seconds, but never mind about abstract theorizing. Get back here, to +Pittsburgh, as fast as you can drive. That Nevian vessel or another like +her is mopping up the city, and has destroyed half the Fleet +already!"</p> + +<p>"We'll be back there in nine minutes!" Rodebush snapped into the +transmitter. "Two to get from here to atmosphere, four from atmosphere +down to the Hill, and three to cool off. Notify the full four-shift +crew--everybody we've picked out. Don't need anybody else. Ship, +batteries, and armament are <i>ready</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Two minutes to atmosphere, and it took ten coming out? Think you can +do it?" Cleveland asked, as Rodebush flipped off the power and leaped to +the control panel.</p> + +<p>"We could do it in a few seconds if we had to. We used scarcely any +power at all coming out, and I'm not using very much going back," the +physicist explained rapidly, as he set the dials which would determine +their flashing course.</p> + +<p>The master switches were thrown and the pangs of inertialessness +again assailed them--but weaker far this time than ever before--and upon +their lookout plates they beheld a spectacle never before seen by eye of +man. For the ultra-beam, with its heterodyned vision, is not distorted +by any velocity yet attained, as are the ether-borne rays of light. +Converted into light only at the plate, it showed their progress as +truly as though they had been traveling at a pace to be expressed in the +ordinary terms of miles per hour. The yellow star that was the sun +detached itself from the firmament and leaped toward them, swelling +visibly, momentarily, into a blinding monster of incandescence. And +toward them also flung the earth, enlarging with such indescribable +rapidity that Cleveland protested involuntarily, in spite of his +knowledge of the peculiar mechanism of the vessel in which they +were.</p> + +<p>"Hold it, Fred, hold it! Way 'nuff!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I'm using only ten thousand dynes, so she'll stop herself as soon as +we touch atmosphere, long before she can even begin to heat," Rodebush +explained. "Looks bad, but we'll stop without a jar."</p> + +<p>And they did. Weightless and without inertia, gravitation powerless +against her neutralizing generators, the great super-ship came from her +practically infinite velocity to an almost instantaneous halt in the +outermost, most tenuous layer of the earth's atmosphere. Her halt was +but momentary. Inertia restored and gravitation allowed again to affect +her mass, she dropped at a sharp angle downward. More than dropped; she +was forced downward by one full battery of projectors; projectors driven +by iron-powered generators. Soon they were over the Hill, whose violet +screens went down at a word.</p> + +<p>Flaming a dazzling white from the friction of the atmosphere through +which she had torn her way, the <i>Boise</i> slowed abruptly as she +neared the ground, plunging toward the surface of the small but deep +artificial lake below the Hill's steel apron. Into the cold waters the +space-ship dove, and even before they could close over her, furious +geysers of steam and boiling water erupted as the stubborn alloy gave up +its heat to the cooling liquid. Endlessly the three necessary minutes +dragged their slow way into time, but finally the water ceased boiling +and Rodebush tore the ship from the lake and hurled her into the gaping +doorway of her dock. The massive doors of the air-locks opened, and +while the full crew of picked men hurried aboard with their personal +equipment, Samms talked earnestly to the two scientists in the control +room.</p> + +<p>" ... and about half the fleet is still in the air. They aren't +attacking; they are just trying to keep her from doing much more damage +until you can get there. How about your take-off? We can't launch you +again--the tracks are gone--but you handled her easily enough coming +in?"</p> + +<p>"That was all my fault," Rodebush admitted. "I should have +neutralized inertia first, but I had no idea that the fields would +extend beyond the hull, nor that they wouldn't act simultaneously. We'll +take her out on the projectors this time, though, the same as we brought +her in--she handles like a bicycle. The projector blast tears things up +a little, but nothing serious. Have you got that Pittsburgh beam for me +yet? We're about ready to go."</p> + +<p>"Here it is, Doctor Rodebush," came the secretary's voice, and upon +the screen there flashed into being the view of the events transpiring +above that doomed city. "The dock is empty and sealed against your +blast," and thereupon "Good-bye, and power to your tubes!" came Samms' +ringing voice.</p> + +<p>As the words were being spoken, mighty blasts of power raved from the +driving projectors and the immense mass of the super-ship shot out +through the portals and upward into the stratosphere. Through the +tenuous atmosphere the huge ship rushed with ever-mounting speed, and +while the hope of Triplanetary drove eastward Rodebush studied the +ever-changing scene of battle upon his plate and issued detailed +instructions to the highly trained specialists manning every offensive +and defensive weapon.</p> + +<p>But the Nevians did not wait to join battle until the newcomers +arrived. Their detectors were sensitive--operative over untold thousands +of miles--and the ultra-screen of the Hill had already been noted by the +invaders as the earth's only possible source of trouble. Thus the +departure of the <i>Boise</i> had not gone unnoticed, and the fact, +that, not even with his most penetrant rays could he see into her +interior, had already given the Nevian commander some slight concern. +Therefore, as soon as it was determined that the great ship was being +directed toward Pittsburgh the fish-shaped cruiser of the void went into +action.</p> + +<p>High in the stratosphere, speeding eastward, the immense mass of +the <i>Boise</i> slowed abruptly, although no projector had slackened +its effort. Cleveland, eyes upon interferometer grating and +spectrophotometer charts, fingers flying over calculator keys, grinned +as he turned toward Rodebush.</p> + +<p>"Just as you thought, Skipper; an ultra-band pusher. C4V63L29. Shall +I give him a little pull?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet; let's feel him out a little before we force a close-up. +We've got plenty of mass. See what he does when I put full push on the +projectors."</p> + +<p>As the full power of the Terrestrial vessel was applied the Nevian +was forced backward, away from the threatened city, against the full +drive of her every projector. Soon, however, the advance was again +checked, and both scientists read the reason upon their plates. The +enemy had put down re-enforcing rods of tremendous power. Three +compression members spread out fanwise behind her, bracing her against +the low mountainside, while one huge tractor beam was thrust directly +downward, holding in an unbreakable grip a cylinder of earth extending +deep down into bedrock.</p> + +<p>"Two can play at that game!" And Rodebush drove down similar beams, +and forward-reaching tractors as well. "Strap yourselves in solid, +everybody!" he sounded a general warning. "Something is going to give +way somewhere soon, and when it does we'll get a jolt!"</p> + +<p>And the promised jolt did indeed come soon. Prodigiously massive and +powerful as the Nevian was, the <i>Boise</i> was even more massive and +more powerful; and as the already enormous energy feeding the tractors, +pushers, and projectors was raised to its inconceivable maximum, the +vessel of the enemy was hurled upward, backward; and that of earth shot +ahead with a bounding leap that threatened to strain even her mighty +members. The Nevian anchor-rods had not broken; they had simply pulled +up the vast cylinders of solid rock that had formed their +anchorages.</p> + +<p>"Grab him now!" Rodebush yelled, and even while an avalanche of +falling rock was burying the countryside, Cleveland snapped a tractor +ray upon the flying fish and pulled tentatively.</p> + +<p>Nor did the Nevian now seem averse to coming to grips. The two +warring super-dreadnaughts darted toward each other, and from the +invader there flooded out the dread crimson opacity which had +theretofore meant the doom of all things Solarian. It flooded out and +engulfed the immense mass of humanity's hope in its spreading cloud of +redly impenetrable murk. But not for long. Triplanetary's super-ship +boasted no ordinary Terrestrial defense, but was sheathed in screen +after screen of ultra-vibrations: imponderable walls, it is true, but +barriers impenetrable to any unfriendly wave. To the outer screen the +red veil of the Nevians clung tenaciously, licking greedily at every +square inch of the shielding sphere of force, but unable to find an +opening through which to feed upon the steel of the <i>Boise</i>'s +armor.</p> + +<p>"Get back--'way back! Go back and help Pittsburgh!" Rodebush drove an +ultra-communicator beam through the murk to the instruments of the +Terrestrial admiral; for the surviving warships of the Fleet--its most +powerful units--were hurling themselves forward, to plunge into that red +destruction. "None of you will last a second in this red field. And +watch out for a violet field pretty soon--it'll be worse than this. We +can handle them alone, I think; but if we can't, there's nothing in the +System that can help us!"</p> + +<p>And now the hitherto passive screen of the super-ship became active. +At first invisible, it began to glow in livid, violet light, and as the +glow brightened to unbearable intensity the entire spherical shield +began to increase in size. Driven outward from the super-ship as a +center, its advancing surface of seething energy consumed the crimson +murk as a billow of blast-furnace heat consumes a cloud of snowflakes in +the air above its shaft. Nor was the red death-mist all that was +consumed. Between that ravening surface and the armor skin of +the <i>Boise</i> there was nothing. No debris, no atmosphere, no vapor, +no single atom of material substance--the first time in Terrestrial +experience that an absolute vacuum had ever been attained!</p> + +<p>Stubbornly contesting every foot of way lost, the Nevian fog +retreated before the violet sphere of nothingness. Back and back it +fell, disappearing altogether from all space as the violet tide engulfed +the enemy vessel; but the flying fish did not disappear. Her triple +screens flashed into furiously incandescent splendor and she entered, +unscathed, that vacuous sphere, which collapsed instantly into an +enormously elongated ellipsoid, at each focus a madly warring ship of +space.</p> + +<p>Then in that tube of vacuum was waged a spectacular duel of +ultra-weapons--weapons impotent in air, but deadly in empty space. +Beams, rays, and rods of Titanic power smote cracklingly against +ultra-screens equally capable. Time after time each contestant ran the +gamut of the spectrum with his every available ultra-force, only to find +all channels closed. For minutes the terrible struggle went on, +then:</p> + +<p>"Cooper, Adlington, Spencer, Dutton!" Rodebush called into his +transmitter. "Ready? Can't touch him on the ultra, so I'm going onto the +macro-bands. Give him everything you have as soon as I collapse the +violet. Go!"</p> + +<p>At the word the violet barrier went down, and with a crash as of a +disrupting Universe the atmosphere rushed into the void. And through the +hurricane there shot out the deadliest material weapons of Triplanetary. +Torpedoes--non-ferrous, ultra-screened, beam-dirigible torpedoes charged +with the most effective forms of material destruction known to man. +Cooper hurled his canisters of penetrating gas, Adlington his atomic +iron explosive bombs, Spencer his indestructible armor-piercing +projectiles, and Dutton his shatterable flasks of the quintessence of +corrosion--a sticky, tacky liquid of such dire potency that only one +rare Solarian element could contain it. Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred +were thrown as fast as automatic machinery could launch them; and the +Nevians found themselves adversaries not to be despised. Size for size, +their screens were quite as capable as those of the <i>Boise</i>. The +Nevians' destructive rays glanced harmlessly from their shields, and the +Nevians' elaborate screens, neutralized at impact by those of the +torpedoes, were impotent to impede their progress. Each projectile must +needs be caught and crushed individually by beams of the most prodigious +power; and while one was being annihilated dozens more were rushing to +the attack. Then, while the twisting, dodging invader was busiest with +the tiny but relentless destroyers, Rodebush launched his heaviest +weapon.</p> + +<p>The macro-beams! Prodigious streamers of bluish-green flame which +tore savagely through course after course of Nevian screen! Malevolent +fangs, driven with such power and velocity that they were biting into +the very walls of the enemy vessel before the amphibians knew their +defensive shells of force had been punctured! And the emergency screens +of the invaders were equally futile. Course after course was sent out, +only to flare viciously through the spectrum and to go black!</p> + +<p>Outfought at every turn, the now frantically dodging Nevian leaped +away in headlong flight, only to be brought to a staggering, crashing +halt as Cleveland nailed her with a tractor beam. But the Terrestrials +were to learn that the Nevians held in reserve a means of retreat. The +tractor snapped--sheared off squarely by a sizzling plane of force--and +the fish-shaped cruiser faded from Cleveland's sight, just as +the <i>Boise</i> had disappeared from the communicator plates of Radio +Center, back in the Hill, when she was launched. But though the plates +in the control room could not hold the Nevian, she did not vanish beyond +the ken of Randolph, now Communications Officer in the super-ship. For, +warned and humiliated by his losing one speeding vessel from his plates +in Radio Center, he was now ready for any emergency. Therefore as the +Nevian fled, Randolph's spy-ray held her, automatically behind it as +there was the full output of twelve special banks of iron-driven power +tubes; and thus it was that the vengeful Terrestrials flashed +immediately along the Nevians' line of flight. Inertialess now, pausing +briefly from time to time to enable the crew to accustom themselves to +the new sensations, the <i>Boise</i> pursued the invader; hurtling +through the void with a velocity unthinkable.</p> + +<p>"He was easier to take than I thought he would be," Cleveland +grunted, staring into the plate.</p> + +<p>"I thought he had more stuff, too," Rodebush assented; "but I guess +Costigan got almost everything they had. If so, with all our own stuff +and most of theirs besides, we should be able to take them. They must +have neutralization, too, to take off like that; and if it's one hundred +per cent we'll never catch them ... but it isn't--there they are!"</p> + +<p>"And this time I'm going to hold her or burn out all our generators +trying," Cleveland declared, grimly. "Are you fellows down there able to +handle yourselves yet? Fine! Start throwing out your cans!"</p> + +<p>Space-hardened veterans all, the other Terrestrial officers had +fought off the horrible nausea of inertialessness, just as Rodebush and +Cleveland had done. Again the ravening green macro-beams tore at the +flying cruiser, again the mighty frames of the two space-ships shuddered +sickeningly as Cleveland clamped on his tractor rod, again the highly +dirigible torpedoes dashed out with their freights of death and +destruction. And again the Nevian shear-plane of force slashed at the +Terrestrial's tractor beam; but this time the mighty puller did not give +way. Sparkling and spitting high-tension sparks, the plane bit deeply +into the stubborn rod of energy. Brighter, thicker, and longer grew the +discharges as the gnawing plane drew more and more power; but in direct +ratio to that power the rod grew larger, denser, and ever harder to cut. +More and more vivid became the pyrotechnic display of electric +brilliance, until suddenly the entire tractor rod disappeared. At the +same instant a blast of intolerable flame erupted from +the <i>Boise</i>'s flank and the whole enormous fabric of her shook and +quivered under the force of a terrific detonation.</p> + +<p>"Randolph! I don't see them! Are they attacking or running?" Rodebush +demanded. He was the first to realize what had happened.</p> + +<p>"Running--fast!"</p> + +<p>"Just as well, perhaps, but get their line. Adlington!"</p> + +<p>"Here!"</p> + +<p>"Good! Was afraid you were gone--that was one of your bombs, wasn't +it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Well launched, just inside the screens. Don't see how it could +have detonated unless something hot and hard struck it in the tube; it +would need about that much time to explode. Good thing it didn't go off +any sooner, or none of us would have been here. As it is, Area Six is +pretty well done in, but the bulkheads held the damage to Six. What +happened?"</p> + +<p>"We don't know, exactly. Both generators on the tractor beam went +out. At first, I thought that was all, but my neutralizers are dead and +I don't know what else. When the G-4's went out the fusion must have +shorted the neutralizers. They would make a mess; it must have burned a +hole down into number six tube. Cleveland and I will come down, and +we'll all look around."</p> + +<p>Donning space-suits, the scientists let themselves into the damaged +compartment through the emergency air-locks, and what a sight they saw! +Both outer and inner walls of alloy armor had been blown away by the +awful force of the explosion. Jagged plates hung awry; bent, twisted, +and broken. The great torpedo tube, with all its intricate automatic +machinery, had been driven violently backward and lay piled in hideous +confusion against the backing bulkheads. Practically nothing remained +whole in the entire compartment.</p> + +<p>"Nothing much we can do here," Rodebush said finally, through his +transmitter, "Let's go see what number four generator room looks +like."</p> + +<p>That room, although not affected by the explosion from without, had +been quite as effectively wrecked from within. It was still stiflingly +hot; its air was still reeking with the stench of burning lubricant, +insulation, and metal; its floor was half covered by a semi-molten mass +of what had once been vital machinery. For with the burning out of the +generator bars the energy of the disintegrating allotropic iron had had +no outlet, and had built up until it had broken through its insulation +and in an irresistible flood of power had torn through all obstacles in +its path of neutralization.</p> + +<p>"Hm-m-m. Should have had an automatic shut-off--one detail we +overlooked," Rodebush mused. "The electricians <i>can</i> rebuild this +stuff here, though--that hole in the hull is something else again."</p> + +<p>"I'll say it's something else," the grizzled Chief Engineer agreed. +"She's lost all her spherical strength--anchoring a tractor with this +ship now would turn her inside out. Back to the nearest Triplanetary +shop for us, I would say."</p> + +<p>"Come again, Chief!" Cleveland advised the engineer. "None of us +would live long enough to get there. We can't travel inertialess until +the repairs are made, so if they can't be made without very much +traveling, it's just too bad."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how we could support our jacks...." The engineer paused, +then went on. "If you can't give me Mars or Tellus, how about some other +planet? I don't care about atmosphere, or about anything but mass. I can +stiffen her up in three or four days if I can sit down on something +heavy enough to hold our jacks and presses; but if we have to rig up +space-cradles around the ship herself it'll take a long time--months, +probably. Haven't got a spare planet on hand, have you?"</p> + +<p>"We might have, at that," Rodebush made surprising answer. "A couple +of seconds before we engaged we were heading toward a sun with at least +two planets. I was just getting ready to dodge them when we cut the +neutralizers, so they should be fairly close somewhere--yes, there's the +sun, right over there. Rather pale and small; but it's close, +comparatively speaking. We'll go back up into the control room and find +out about the planets."</p> + +<p>The strange sun was found to have three large and easily located +children, and observation showed that the crippled space-ship could +reach the nearest of these in about five days. Power was therefore fed +to the driving projectors, and each scientist, electrician, and mechanic +bent to the task of repairing the ruined generators; rebuilding them to +handle any load which the converters could possibly put upon them. For +two days the <i>Boise</i> drove on; then her acceleration was reversed, +and finally a landing was effected upon the forbidding, rocky soil of +the strange world.</p> + +<p>It was larger than the earth, and of a somewhat stronger gravitation. +Although its climate was bitterly cold, even in its short daytime, it +supported a luxuriant but outlandish vegetation. Its atmosphere, while +rich enough in oxygen and not really poisonous, was so rank with +indescribably fetid vapors as to be scarcely breathable.</p> + +<p>But these things bothered the engineers not at all. Paying no +attention to temperature or to scenery and without waiting for chemical +analysis of the air, the space-suited mechanics leaped to their tasks; +and in only a little more time than had been mentioned by the chief +engineer the hull and giant frame of the super-ship were as staunch as +of yore.</p> + +<p>"All right, Skipper!" came finally the welcome word. "You might try +her out with a fast hop around this world before you shove off in +earnest."</p> + +<p>Under the fierce blast of her projectors the vessel leaped ahead, and +time after time, as Rodebush hurled her mass upon tractor beam or +pressor, the engineers sought in vain for any sign of weakness. The +strange planet half girdled and the severest tests passed flawlessly, +Rodebush reached for his neutralizer switches. Reached and paused, +dumfounded, for a brilliant purple light had sprung into being upon his +panel and a bell rang out insistently.</p> + +<p>"What the blue blazes!" Rodebush shot out an exploring beam along the +detector line and gasped. He stared, mouth open, then yelled:</p> + +<p>"<i>Roger</i> is here, rebuilding his planetoid! <i>STATIONS +ALL</i>!"</p> + +<div class="center"> +<a href="images/eest_C4.jpg"> +<img src="images/eest_C4th.jpg" alt=""> +</a> +</div> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>Roger Carries On</h3> + +<p>For gray Roger had not perished in the floods of Nevian energy which +had destroyed his planetoid. While those terrific streamers of force +emanating from the crimson obscurity surrounding the amphibians' +space-ship were driving into his defensive screens, Roger sat impassive +and immobile at his desk. His hard gray eyes moved methodically over his +instruments and recorders; and after a few minutes he smiled coldly, +while an expression of relief struggled fleetingly to move his +expressionless face. Even though his screens were better than anyone had +supposed, why admit it?</p> + +<p>"Baxter, Hartkopf, Chatelier, Anandrusung, Penrose, Nishimura, +Mirsky...." He called off a list of names. "Report to me here at +once!"</p> + +<p>"The planetoid is lost," he informed his select group of scientists +when they had assembled, "and we must abandon it in exactly fifteen +minutes, which will be the time required for the robots to fill this +first section with our most necessary machinery and instruments. Pack +each of you one box of the things he most wishes to take with him, and +report back here in not more than thirteen minutes. Say nothing to +anyone else."</p> + +<p>They filed out calmly, and as they passed out into the hall Baxter, +perhaps a trifle less case-hardened than his fellows, at least voiced a +thought for those they were so brutally deserting.</p> + +<p>"I say, it seems a bit thick to dash off this way and leave the rest +of them; but still, I suppose...."</p> + +<p>"You suppose correctly." Bland and heartless Nishimura filled in the +pause. "A small part of the planetoid may be able to escape; which, to +me at least, is pleasantly surprising news. It cannot carry all of our +men and mechanisms, therefore only the most important of both are saved. +What would you? For the rest it is simply what you call 'the fortune of +war,' no?"</p> + +<p>"But the beautiful...." began the amorous Chatelier.</p> + +<p>"Hush, fool!" snorted Hartkopf. "One word of that to the ear of Roger +and you too are left behind. Of such non-essentials the Universe is +full, to be collected in times of ease, but in times hard to be +disregarded. Und this is a time of schrecklichkeit indeed!"</p> + +<div class="floatleft" style="width:403px"> +<img src="images/eest234i.jpg" alt=""> +<span class="caption">And through that terrific conduit came speeding +package after package of destruction.</span> +</div> + +<p>The group broke up, each man going to his own quarters; to meet again +in the First Section a few minutes before the zero time. Roger's +"office" was now packed so tightly with machinery and supplies that but +little room was left for the scientists. The gray monstrosity still sat +unmoved behind his dials.</p> + +<p>"But of what use is it, Roger?" the Russian physicist demanded. +"Those waves are of some ultra-band, of a frequency immensely higher +than anything heretofore known. Our screens should not have stopped them +for an instant. It is a mystery that they have held so long, and +certainly this single section will not be permitted to leave the +planetoid without being destroyed."</p> + +<p>"There are many things you do not know, Mirsky," came the cold and +level answer. "Our screens, which you think are of your own devising, +have several improvements of my own in the formulae, and would hold +forever had I the power to drive them. The screens of this section, +being smaller, can be held as long as will be found necessary."</p> + +<p>"Power!" the dumfounded Russian exclaimed. "Why, we have almost +infinite power--unlimited--sufficient for a lifetime of high +expenditure!"</p> + +<p>But Roger made no reply, for the time of departure was at hand. He +pressed down a tiny lever, and a robot in the power room threw in the +gigantic plunger switches which launched against the Nevians the +stupendous beam which so upset the complacence of Nerado the +amphibian--the beam into which was poured recklessly every resource of +power afforded by the planetoid, careless alike of burn-out and of +exhaustion. Then, all the attention of the Nevians and the greater part +of their power output devoted to the neutralization of that last +desperate thrust, the metal wall of the planetoid opened and the First +Section shot out into space. Full-driven as they were, Roger's screens +flared white as he drove through the temporarily lessened attack of the +Nevians; but in their preoccupation the amphibians did not notice the +additional disturbance and the section tore on, unobserved and +undetected. Far out in space, Roger raised his eyes from the instrument +panel and continued the conversation as though it had not been +interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Everything is relative, Mirsky, and you have misused gravely the +term 'unlimited.' Our power was, and is, very definitely limited. True, +it then seemed ample for our needs, and is far superior to that +possessed by the inhabitants of any solar system with which I am +familiar; but the beings behind that red screen, whoever they are, have +sources of power as far above ours as ours are above those of the +Solarians."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?"</p> + +<p>"That power, what is it?" "We have, then, the analyses of those +fields recorded!" Came simultaneous questions and explanations.</p> + +<p>"Their power-source is very probably the intra-atomic energy of iron; +and if so, much remains to be done before I can proceed with my plan. I +must have the most powerful structure in the known Universe before I can +act. In the light of what I have just learned, the loss of the planetoid +is but a trifle." Roger, as unmoved as one of his own automatons, was +coldly analyzing the situation, thinking the thing through to its +logical conclusion, paying no attention whatever to the losses of life, +time and treasure now behind him.</p> + +<p>"But what can you do about it?" growled the Russian.</p> + +<p>"Many things. From the charts of the recorders we can compute their +fields of force, and from that point it is only a step to their method +of liberating the energy. We shall build robots. They shall build other +robots, who shall in turn construct another planetoid; one this time +that, wielding the theoretical maximum of power, will be suited to my +needs."</p> + +<p>"And where will you build it? We are marked. Invisibility now is +useless. Triplanetary will find us, even if we take up an orbit beyond +that of Pluto!"</p> + +<p>"We have already left your Solarian system far behind. We are going +to another system; one far enough removed so that the spy-rays of +Triplanetary will never find us, and yet one that we can reach in a +reasonable length of time with the energies at our command. Some fifteen +days will be required for the journey, however, and our quarters are +cramped. Therefore make places for yourselves wherever you can, and +lessen the tedium of those fifteen days by working upon whatever +problems are most pressing in your respective researches."</p> + +<p>The gray monster fell silent, immersed in what thoughts no one knew, +and the scientists set out to obey his orders. Baxter, the British +chemist, followed Penrose, the lantern-jawed, saturnine American +engineer and inventor, as he made his way to the furthermost cubicle of +the section.</p> + +<p>"I say, Penrose, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions, if you +don't mind?"</p> + +<p>"Go ahead. Ordinarily it's dangerous to be a cackling hen anywhere +around <i>him</i>, but he can't hear anything here now. His system is +pretty well shot to pieces. You want to know all I know about +Roger?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly so. You have been with him so much longer than I have, you +know. In some ways he impresses one as being scarcely human, if you know +what I mean. Ridiculous, of course, but of late I have been wondering +whether he really <i>is</i> human. He knows too much, about too many +things. He seems to be acquainted with many solar systems, to visit +which would require life-times. Then, too, he has dropped remarks which +would imply that he actually saw things that happened long before any +living man could possibly have been born. Finally, he looks--well, +peculiar--and certainly does not act human. I have been wondering, and +have been able to learn nothing about him; as you have said, such talk +as this aboard the planetoid was impossible."</p> + +<p>"You needn't worry about being paid your price; that's one thing. If +we live--and that was part of the agreement, you know--we will all get +what we sold out for. You will become a belted earl. I have already made +millions, and shall make many more. Similarly, Chatelier has had and +will have his women, Anandrusung and Nishimura their cherished revenges. +Hartkopf his power, and so on." He eyed the other speculatively, then +went on:</p> + +<p>"I might as well spill it all, since I'll never have a better chance +and since you should know what the rest of us do. You're in the same +boat with us and tarred with the same brush. There's a lot of gossip, +that may or may not be true, but I know one very startling fact. Here it +is. My great-great-grandfather left some notes which, taken in +connection with certain things I myself saw on the planetoid, prove +beyond question that our Roger went to Harvard University at the same +time he did. Roger was a grown man then, and the elder Penrose noted +that he was marked, like this," and the American sketched a cabalistic +design.</p> + +<p>"What!" Baxter exclaimed. "An adept of North Polar +Jupiter--<i>them?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Yes. That was before the First Jovian War, you know, and it was +those medicine-men--really high-caliber scientists--that prolonged that +war so...."</p> + +<p>"But I say, Penrose, that's really a bit thick. When they were wiped +out it was proved a lot of hocus-pocus...."</p> + +<p>"Some of it was, but most of it wasn't," Penrose interrupted in turn. +"I'm not asking you to believe anything except that one fact; I'm just +telling you the rest of it. But it is also a fact that those adepts knew +things and did things that take a lot of explaining. Now for the gossip, +none of which is guaranteed. Roger is undoubtedly of Tellurian +parentage, and the story is that his father was a moon-pirate, his +mother a Greek adventuress. When the pirates were chased off the moon +they went to Ganymede, you know, and some of them were captured by the +Jovians. It seems that Roger was born at an instant of time sacred to +the adepts, so they took him on. He worked his way up through the +Forbidden Society as all adepts did, by various kinds of murder and job +lots of assorted deviltries, until he got clear to the top--the +seventy-seventh mystery...."</p> + +<p>"The secret of eternal youth!" gasped Baxter, awed in spite of +himself.</p> + +<p>"Right, and he stayed Chief Devil, in spite of all the efforts of all +his ambitious sub-devils to kill him, until the turning-point of the +First Jovian War. He cut away then in a space-ship, and ever since then +he has been working--and working hard--on some stupendous plan of his +own that nobody else has ever got even an inkling of. That's the story. +True or not, it explains a lot of things that no other theory can touch. +And now I think you'd better shuffle along; enough of this is a great +plenty!"</p> + +<p>Baxter went to his own cubby, and each man of the adept's +cold-blooded crew methodically took up his task. True to prediction, in +fifteen days a planet loomed beneath them and their vessel settled +through a reeking atmosphere toward a rocky and forbidding plain. Then +for another day they plunged along, a few thousand feet above the +surface of that strange world, while Roger with his analytical detectors +sought the most favorable location from which to wrest the materials +necessary for his program of construction.</p> + +<p>It was a world of cold; its sun was distant, pale, and wan. It had +monstrous forms of vegetation, of which each branch and member writhed +and fought with a grotesque and horrible individual activity. Ever and +anon a struggling part broke from its parent plant and darted away in +independent existence; leaping upon and consuming or being consumed by a +fellow creature equally monstrous. This flora was of a uniform color--a +lurid, sickly yellow. In form some of it was fern-like, some +cactus-like, some vaguely tree-like; but it was all outrageous, +inherently repulsive to all Solarian senses. And no less hideous were +the animal-like forms of life, which slithered and slunk rapaciously +through that fantastic pseudo-vegetation. Snake-like, reptile-like, +bat-like, the creatures squirmed, crawled, and flew; each covered with a +dankly oozing yellow hide and each motivated by twin common impulses--to +kill and insatiably and indiscriminately to devour. Over this reeking +wilderness Roger drove his vessel, untouched by its disgusting, its +appalling ferocity and horror.</p> + +<p>"There should be intelligence, of a kind," he mused, and swept the +surface of the planet with an exploring beam. "Ah, yes, there is a city, +of sorts," and in a few minutes the outlaws were looking down upon a +metal-walled city of roundly conical buildings.</p> + +<p>Inside these structures and between and around them there scuttled +formless blobs of matter, one of which Roger brought up into his vessel +by means of a tractor ray. Held immovable by the beam it lay upon the +floor, a strangely extensile, amoeba-like metal-studded mass of leathery +substance. Of eyes, ears, limbs, or organs it apparently had none, yet +it radiated an intensely hostile aura; a mental effluvium concentrated +of rage and of hatred.</p> + +<p>"Apparently the ruling intelligence of the planet," Roger commented. +"Such creatures are useless to us; we can build robots in half the time +required for their subjugation and training. Still, it should not be +permitted to carry back what it may have learned of us." As he spoke the +adept threw the peculiar being out into the air and dispassionately +rayed it out of existence.</p> + +<p>"That thing reminds me of a man I used to know, back in Penobscot." +Penrose was as coldly callous as his unfeeling master. "The +evenest-tempered man in town--mad all the time!"</p> + +<p>Eventually Roger found a location which satisfied his requirements of +raw materials, and made a landing upon that unfriendly soil. Sweeping +beams denuded a great circle of life, and into that circle leaped +robots. Robots requiring neither rest nor food, but only lubricants and +power; robots insensible alike to that bitter cold and to that noxious +atmosphere.</p> + +<p>But the outlaws were not to win a foothold upon that inimical planet +easily, nor were they to hold it without effort. Through the weird +vegetation of the circle's bare edge there scuttled and poured along a +horde of the metal-studded men--if "men" they might be called--who, +ferocity incarnate, rushed the robot line. Mowed down by hundreds, still +they came on; willing, it seemed to expend any number of lives in order +that one living creature might once touch a robot with one out-thrust +metallic stud. Whenever that happened there was a flash as of lightning, +the heavy smoke of burning insulation, grease and metal, and the robot +went down out of control. Recalling his remaining automatons, Roger sent +out a shielding screen, against which the defenders of their planet +raged in impotent fury. For days they hurled themselves and their every +force against that impenetrable barrier, then withdrew: temporarily +stopped, but by no means acknowledging defeat.</p> + +<p>Then, while Roger and his cohorts directed affairs from within their +comfortable and now sufficiently roomy vessel, there came into being +around it an industrial city of metal, peopled by metallic and insensate +mechanisms. Mines were sunk, furnaces were blown in, smelters belched +forth into the already unbearable air their sulphurous fumes, rolling +mills and machine shops were built and equipped: and as fast as new +enterprises were completed additional robots were ready to man them. In +record time the heavy work of girders, members, and plates was well +under way; and shortly thereafter light, deft, and multi-fingered +mechanical men began the interminable task of building and installing +the prodigious amount of precise machinery required for the vast +structure. Roger was well content: but one day he was rudely awakened +from his dream of complete isolation.</p> + +<p>Even though he had no reason to believe that there was anything +dangerous within hundreds of millions of miles, it was Roger's cautious +custom to release the screens from time to time, in order to allow his +detectors to range out. This day, as he sent out his beams, his hard +gray eyes grew even harder.</p> + +<p>"Mirsky! Nishimura! Come here!" he snapped, and showed them upon his +plate an enormous sphere of steel, its rays flaming viciously. "Is there +any doubt whatever in your minds as to the System to which that ship +belongs?"</p> + +<p>"None at all--Triplanetarian," replied the Russian. "While larger +than any I have seen before, its construction is unmistakable. They +managed to trace us, and are testing out their weapons before attacking. +Do we attack or do we run away?"</p> + +<p>"If Triplanetarian, and it surely is, we attack," coldly. "This one +section is armed and powered to defeat Triplanetary's entire navy. We +shall take that ship, and shall add its slight resources to our own. And +it may even be that they have picked up the three who escaped me.... I +have never yet been balked for long. Yes, we shall take that vessel. And +those three sooner or later. Bradley I care nothing about ... but +Costigan handled me ... and the woman...." Diamond-hard eyes glared +balefully at the urge of thoughts to a clean and normal mind +unthinkable.</p> + +<p>"To your posts," he ordered. "The robots will continue to function +under their automatic controls during the short time it will require to +abate this nuisance."</p> + +<p>"<i>One moment!</i>" A strange voice roared from the speakers. +"Consider yourselves under arrest, by order of the Triplanetary Council! +Surrender and you shall receive impartial hearing; fight us and you +shall never come to trial. From what we have learned of Roger, we do not +expect him to surrender, but if any of you other men wish to avoid +immediate death, leave your vessel at once. We will come back for you +later."</p> + +<p>"Any of you wishing to leave this vessel have my full permission to +do so," Roger announced, disdaining any reply to the challenge of +the <i>Boise</i>. "Any such, however, will not be allowed inside the +planetoid area after the rest of us return from wiping out that patrol. +We attack in one minute."</p> + +<p>"Would not one do better by stopping on?" Baxter, in the quarters of +the American, was in doubt as to the most profitable course to pursue. +"I should leave immediately if I thought that that ship could win; but I +do not fancy that it can, do you?"</p> + +<p>"That ship? <i>One</i> Triplanetary ship against <i>us</i>?" Penrose +laughed raucously. "Do as you please. I'd go in a minute if I thought +that there was any chance of us losing; but there isn't, so I'm staying. +I know which side <i>my</i> bread's buttered on. Those cops are +bluffing, that's all. Not bluffing exactly, either, because they'll go +through with it as long as they last. Foolish, but it's a way they +have--they'll die trying every time, instead of running away, even when +they know they're licked before they start. They don't use good +judgment."</p> + +<p>"None of you are leaving? Very well, you each know what to do," came +Roger's emotionless voice. The stipulated minute having elapsed, he +advanced a lever and the outlaw cruiser slid quietly into the air.</p> + +<p>Toward the poised <i>Boise</i> Roger steered. Within range, he flung +out a weapon new-learned and supposedly irresistible to any ferrous +thing or creature, the red converter-field of the Nevians. For Roger's +analytical detectors had stood him in good stead during those frightful +minutes in the course of which the planetoid had borne the brunt of +Nerado's superhuman attack; in such good stead that from the records of +those ingenious instruments he and his scientists had been able to +reconstruct not only the generators of the attacking forces, but also +the screens employed by the amphibians in the neutralization of similar +beams. With a vastly inferior armament the smallest of Roger's vessels +had defeated the most powerful battleships of Triplanetary; what had he +to fear in such a heavy craft as the one he now was driving, one so +superlatively armed and powered? Well it was for his peace of mind that +he had no inkling that the harmless-looking sphere he was so blithely +attacking was in reality the much-discussed, half-mythical "super-ship" +of Triplanetary's Secret Service; nor that its already unprecedented +armament had been re-enforced, thanks to that hated Costigan, with +Roger's own every worth-while idea, as well as with every weapon and +defense known to that arch-Nevian, Nerado!</p> + +<p>Unknowing and contemptuous, Roger launched his converter field, and +instantly found himself fighting for his very life. For from Rodebush at +the controls down, the men of the Secret Service countered with wave +after wave and with salvo after salvo of vibratory and material +destruction. No thought of mercy for the men of the pirate ship could +enter their minds. The outlaws had each been given a chance to +surrender, and each had refused it. Refusing, they knew, as the +Triplanetarians knew and as all modern readers know, meant that they +were staking their lives upon victory. For with modern armaments it is +seldom indeed that a single man lives through the defeat in battle of a +war-vessel of space.</p> + +<p>Roger launched his field of red opacity, but it did not reach +even <i>Boise</i>'s screens. All space seemed to explode into violet +splendor as Rodebush neutralized it, drove it back with his obliterating +zone of force; but even that all-devouring zone could not touch Roger's +peculiarly efficient screen. The outlaw vessel stood out, unharmed. +Ultra-violet, infra-red, pure heat, infra-sound, solid beams of +high-tension high-frequency current in whose paths the most stubborn +metals would be volatilized instantly; all iron-driven, every deadly and +torturing vibration known was hurled against that screen; but it, too, +was iron-driven, and it held. Even the awful force of the macro-beam was +dissipated by it--reflected, hurled away on all sides in coruscating +torrents of blinding, dazzling energy. Cooper, Adlington, Spencer, and +Dutton hurled against it their bombs and torpedoes--and still it held. +But Roger's fiercest blasts and heaviest projectiles were equally +impotent against the force-shields of the super-ship. The adept, having +no liking for a battle upon anything like equal terms, sought safety in +flight, only to be brought to a crashing, stunning halt by a massive +tractor beam.</p> + +<p>"That must be that sixth-phase polycyclic screen that Conway reported +on," Cleveland frowned in thought. "I've been doing a lot of work on +that, and I think I've calculated an opener for it, Fred, but I'll have +to have number ten projector and the whole output of number ten power +room. Can you let me play with that much juice for a while? All right, +Blake, tune her up to fifty-five thousand--there, hold it! Now, you +other fellows, listen! I'm going to try to drill a hole through that +screen with a hollow, quasi-solid beam: like a diamond drill cutting out +a core. You won't be able to shove anything into the hole from outside +the beam, so you'll have to steer your cans out through the central +orifice of number ten projector--that'll be cold, since I'm going to use +only the edge. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold the hole open, +though so shoot them along as fast as you can. Ready? Here goes!"</p> + +<p>He pressed a series of contacts. Far below, in number ten converter +room, massive switches drove home and the enormous mass of the vessel +quivered under the terrific reaction of the newly-calculated, +semi-material beam of energy that was hurled out, backed by the +mightiest of all the mighty converters and generators of Triplanetary's +super-dreadnaught. That beam, a pipe-like hollow cylinder of intolerable +energy, flashed out, and there was a rending, tearing crash as it struck +Roger's hitherto impenetrable wall. Struck and clung, grinding, boring +in, while from the raging inferno that marked the circle of contact of +cylinder and shield the pirates' screen radiated scintillating torrents +of cracking, streaming sparks, lightning-like in length and in +intensity.</p> + +<p>Deeper and deeper the gigantic drill was driven. It was through! +Pierced Roger's polycyclic screen; exposed the bare metal of Roger's +walls! And now, concentrated upon one point, flamed out in seemingly +redoubled fury Triplanetary's raging rays--in vain. For even as they +could not penetrate the screen, neither could they penetrate the wall of +Cleveland's drill, but rebounded from it in the cascaded brilliance of +thwarted lightning.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a dumb-bell I am!" groaned Cleveland. "Why, oh why didn't I +have somebody rig up a secondary SX7 beam on Ten's inner rings? Hop to +it, will you, Blake, so that we'll have it in case they are able to stop +the cans?"</p> + +<p>But the pirates could not stop all of Triplanetary's projectiles, now +hurrying along inside the pipe as fast as they could be driven. In fact, +for a few minutes desperate Roger, knowing that he faced his long life's +gravest crisis, paid no attention to them at all, nor to any of his own +useless offensive weapons: he struggled only and madly to break away +from the savage grip of the <i>Boise</i>'s tractor rod. Futile. He could +neither cut nor stretch that inexorably anchoring beam. Then he devoted +his every resource to the closing of that unbelievable breach in his +shield; the barrier which through all previous emergencies had kept +death at bay. Equally futile. His most desperate efforts resulted only +in more frenzied displays of incandescence along the curved surface of +contact of that penetrant cylinder. And through that terrific conduit +came speeding package after package of destruction. Bombs, and +armor-piercing shells, gas shells, and shells of poisonous and corrosive +fluids followed each other in close succession. The surviving scientists +of the planetoid, expert gunners and ray-men all, destroyed many of the +projectiles, but it was not humanly possible to frustrate them all. And +the breach could not be forced shut against the all but irresistible +force of Cleveland's "opener". And with all his power Roger could not +shift his vessel's position in the grip of Triplanetary's tractors +sufficiently to bring a projector to bear upon the super-ship along the +now unprotected axis of that narrow, but deadly tube.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that the end came soon. A war-head touched steel plating +and there ensued a world-wracking explosion of atomic iron. Gaping wide, +helpless, with all defenses down, other torpedoes entered the stricken +hulk and completed its destruction even before they could be recalled. +Explosive bombs literally tore the pirate vessel to fragments, while +vials of pure corrosion dissolved her substance into dripping corruption +and reeking gases filled every cranny of the wreckage as its torn and +dismembered fragments began their long plunge to the ground. The +space-ship followed the pieces down, and Rodebush sent out an exploring +ray.</p> + +<p>" ... resistance was such that it was necessary to use corrosive, and +ship and contents were completely disintegrated," he dictated into his +vessel's log, some time later. "While there were of course no remains +recognizable as human, it is practically certain that Roger and his last +eleven men died.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Fred," Cleveland called his attention to the plate, upon +which was pictured a horde of the peculiar inhabitants of the ghastly +planet, wreaking their frenzied electrical wrath upon everything within +the circle bared by Roger. "I was just going to suggest that we clean up +that planetoid Roger started, but I see that the local boys are +attending to it."</p> + +<p>"Just as well, perhaps. I would like to stay and study these people a +little while, but we must get back on the trail of the Nevians," and +the <i>Boise</i> leaped away into space, toward the line of flight of +the amphibians.</p> + +<p>They reached that line and along it they traveled at full normal +blast. As they traveled their detecting receivers and amplifiers were +reaching out with their utmost power; ultra-instruments capable of +rendering audible any signal originating within many light-years of +them, upon any known frequency. And constantly at least two men were +listening to those instruments with every sense concentrated in their +ears. Listening--straining to distinguish in the deafening roar of +background noise from the over-driven tubes any sign of voice or signal. +Listening--while, millions upon untold millions of miles beyond even the +prodigious reach of those ultra-instruments, three human beings, pitted +against overwhelming odds, were even then sending out into empty space +an almost hopeless appeal for the aid so desperately needed!</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>The Specimens Escape</h3> + +<p>Knowing well that conversation with its fellows is one of the +greatest needs of any intelligent being, the Nevians had permitted the +Terrestrial specimens to retain possession of their ultra-beam +communicators. Thus it was that Costigan had been able to keep in touch +with his sweetheart and with Bradley. He learned that each had been +placed upon exhibition in a different Nevian city: that the three had +been separated in response to an insistent popular demand for such a +distribution of the peculiar, but highly interesting creatures from a +distant solar system. They had not been harmed. In fact, each was +visited daily by a specialist, who made sure that his charge was being +kept in the pink of condition.</p> + +<p>As soon as he became aware of this condition of things Costigan +became morose. He sat still, drooped, and pined away visibly. He refused +to eat, and of the worried specialist he demanded liberty. Then, failing +in that as he knew he would fail, he demanded something to <i>do</i>. +They pointed out to him, reasonably enough, that in such a civilization +as theirs there was nothing he <i>could</i> do. They assured him that +they would do anything they could to alleviate his mental suffering, but +that since he was a museum piece he must see, himself, that he must be +kept on display for a short time. Wouldn't he please behave himself and +eat, as a reasoning being should? Costigan sulked a little longer, then +wavered. Finally he agreed to compromise. He would eat and exercise if +they would fit up a laboratory in his apartment, so that he could +continue the studies he had begun upon his own native planet. To this +they agreed, and thus it came about that one day the following +conversation was held:</p> + +<p>"Clio? Bradley? I've got something to tell you this time. Haven't +said anything before, for fear things might not work out, but they did. +I went on a hunger strike and made them give me a complete laboratory. +As a chemist I'm a darn good electrician; but luckily, with the +sea-water they've got here, it's a very simple thing to make...."</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" snapped Bradley. "Somebody may be listening in on us!"</p> + +<p>"They aren't. They can't, without my knowing it, and I'll cut off the +second anybody tries to synchronize with my beam. To resume--making +Vee-Two is a very simple process, and I've got everything around here +that's hollow clear full of it...."</p> + +<p>"How come they let you?" asked Clio.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they don't know what I'm doing. They watched me for a few days, +and all I did was make up and bottle the weirdest messes imaginable. +Then I finally managed to separate oxygen and nitrogen, after trying +hard all of one day; and when they thought they saw that I didn't know +anything about either one of them or what to do with them after I had +them, they gave me up in disgust as a plain dumb ape and haven't paid +any attention to me since. So I've got me plenty of kilograms of liquid +Vee-Two, all ready to touch off. I'm getting out of here in about three +minutes and a half, and I'm coming over after you folks, in a new, +iron-powered space-speedster that they don't know I know anything about. +They've just given it its final tests, and it's the slickest thing you +ever saw."</p> + +<p>"But Conway, dearest, you can't possibly rescue me," Clio's voice +broke. "Why, there are thousands of them, all around here. If you can +get away, go, dear, but don't...."</p> + +<p>"I said I was coming after you, and if I can get away I'll be there. +A good whiff of this stuff will lay out a thousand of them just as +easily as it will one. Here's the idea. I've made a gas mask for myself, +since I'll be in it where it's thick, but you two won't need any. The +gas is soluble enough in water so that three or four thicknesses of wet +cloth over your noses will be enough. I'll tell you when to wet down. +We're going to break away or go out trying--there aren't enough +amphibians between here and Andromeda to keep us humans cooped up like +menagerie animals forever! But here comes my specialist with the keys to +the city; time for the overture to start. See you later!"</p> + +<p>The Nevian physician directed his key-tube upon the transparent wall +of the chamber and an opening appeared, an opening which vanished as +soon as he had stepped through it; Costigan kicked a valve open; and +from various innocent tubes there belched forth into the water of the +central lagoon and into the air over it a flood of deadly vapor. As the +Nevian turned toward the prisoner there was an almost inaudible hiss and +a tiny jet of the frightful, outlawed stuff struck his open gills, just +below his huge, conical head. He tensed momentarily, twitched +convulsively just once, and fell motionless to the floor. And outside, +the streams of avidly soluble liquefied gas rushed out into air and into +water. It spread, dissolved, and diffused with the extreme mobility +which is one of its characteristics; and as it diffused and was borne +outward the Nevians, in their massed hundreds, died. Died not knowing +what killed them; not knowing even that they died. Costigan, bitterly +resentful of the inhuman treatment accorded the three and fiercely +anxious for the success of his plan of escape, held his breath and, +grimly alert, watched the amphibians die. When he could see no more +motion anywhere he donned his gas-mask, strapped upon his back a large +canister of the poison--his capacious pockets were already full of +smaller containers--and two savagely exultant sentences escaped him.</p> + +<p>"I am a poor, ignorant specimen of ape, that can be let play with +apparatus, am I?" he rasped, as he picked up the key-tube of the +specialist and opened the door of his prison. "Maybe they'll learn +sometime that it ain't always safe to judge by the looks of a flea how +far he can jump!"</p> + +<p>He stepped out through the opening into the water, and, burdened as +he was, made shift to swim to the nearest ramp. Up it he ran, toward a +main corridor. But ahead of him there was wafted a breath of dread +Vee-Two, and where that breath went, went also unconsciousness--an +unconsciousness which would deepen gradually into permanent oblivion +save for the prompt intervention of one who possessed, not only the +necessary antidote, but the equally important knowledge of exactly how +to use it. Upon the floor of that corridor were strewn Nevians, who had +dropped in their tracks. Past or over their bodies Costigan strode, +pausing only to direct a jet of lethal vapor into whatever branching +corridor or open doorway caught his eye. He was going to the intake of +the city's ventilation plant, and no unmasked creature dependent for +life upon oxygen could bar his path. He reached the intake, tore the +canister from his back, and released its full, vast volume of horrid +contents into the primary air stream of the entire city.</p> + +<p>And all throughout that doomed city Nevians dropped; quietly and +without a struggle, unknowing. Busy executives dropped upon their +cushioned, flat-topped desks; hurrying travelers and messengers dropped +upon the floors of the corridors or relaxed in the noxious waters of the +ways; lookouts and observers dropped before their flashing screens; +central operators of communications dropped under the winking lights of +their panels. Observers and centrals in the outlying sections of the +city wondered briefly at the unwonted universal motionlessness and +stagnation; then the racing taint in water and in air reached them, too, +and they ceased wondering--forever.</p> + +<p>Then through those quiet halls Costigan stalked to a certain storage +room, where with all due precaution he donned his own suit of +Triplanetary armor. Making an ungainly bundle of the other Solarian +equipment stored there, he dragged it along behind him as he clanked +back toward his prison, until he neared the dock at which was moored the +Nevian space-speedster which he was determined to take. Here, he knew, +was the first of many critical points. The crew of the vessel was +aboard, and, with its independent air-supply, unharmed. They had +weapons, were undoubtedly alarmed, and were very probably highly +suspicious. They, too, had ultra-beams and might see him, but his very +closeness to them would tend to protect him from ultra-beam observation. +Therefore he crouched tensely behind a buttress, staring through his +spy-ray goggles, waiting for a moment when none of the Nevians would be +near the entrance, but grimly resolved to act instantly should he feel +any touch of a spying ultra-beam.</p> + +<p>"Here's where the pinch comes," he growled to himself. "I know the +combination, but if they're suspicious enough and act quick enough they +can seal that door on me before I can get it open, and then rub me out +like a blot; but ... ah!"</p> + +<p>The moment had arrived, before the touch of any revealing ray. He +trained the key-tube, the entrance opened, and through that opening in +the instant of its appearance there shot a brittle bulb of glass, whose +breaking meant death. It crashed into fragments against a metallic wall +and Costigan, entering the vessel, consigned its erstwhile crew one by +one to the already crowded waters of the lagoon. He then leaped to the +controls and drove the captured speedster through the air, to plunge it +down upon the surface of the lagoon beside the door of the isolated +structure which had for so long been his prison. Carefully he +transferred to the vessel the motley assortment of containers of +Vee-Two, and after a quick check-up to make sure that he had overlooked +nothing, he shot his craft straight up into the air. Then only did he +close his ultra-wave circuits and speak.</p> + +<p>"Clio, Bradley--I got away clean, without a bit of trouble. Now I'm +coming after you, Clio."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's wonderful that you got away, Conway!" the girl exclaimed. +"But hadn't you better get Captain Bradley first? Then, if anything +should happen, he would be of some use, while I...."</p> + +<p>"I'll knock him into an outside loop if he does!" the captain +snorted, and Costigan went on:</p> + +<p>"You won't need to. You come first, Clio, of course. But you're too +far away for me to see you with my spy, and I don't want to use the +high-powered beam of this boat for fear of detection; so you'd better +keep on talking, so that I can trace you."</p> + +<p>"That's one thing I <i>am</i> good at!" Clio laughed in sheer relief. +"If talking were music, I'd be a full brass band!" and she kept up a +flow of inconsequential chatter, until Costigan told her that it was no +longer necessary; that he had established the line.</p> + +<p>"Any excitement around there yet?" he asked her then.</p> + +<p>"Nothing unusual that I can see," she replied. "Why? Should there be +some?"</p> + +<p>"I hope not, but when I made my get-away I couldn't kill them all, of +course, and I thought maybe they might connect things up with my +jail-break and tell the other cities to take steps about you two. But I +guess they're pretty well disorganized back there yet, since they can't +know who hit them, or what with, or why. I must have got about everybody +that wasn't sealed up somewhere, and it doesn't stand to reason that +those who are left can check up very closely for a while yet. But +they're nobody's fools--they'll certainly get conscious when I snatch +you, maybe before ... there, I see your city, I think."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"Same as I did back there, if I can. Poison their primary air and all +the water I can reach...."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Conway!" Her voice rose to a scream. "They must know--they're +all getting out of the water and are rushing inside the buildings as +fast as they possibly can!"</p> + +<p>"I see they are," grimly. "I'm right over you now, 'way up. Been +locating their primary intake. They've got a dozen ships around it, and +have guards posted all along the corridors leading to it; and <i>those +guards are wearing masks!</i> They're clever birds, all right, those +amphibians--they know what they got back there and how they got it. That +changes things, girl! If we use gas here we won't stand a chance in the +world of getting old Bradley. Stand by to jump when I open that +door!"</p> + +<p>"Hurry, dear! They are coming out here after me!"</p> + +<p>"Sure they are." Costigan had already seen the two Nevians swimming +out toward Clio's cage, and had hurled his vessel downward in a +screaming power dive. "You're too valuable a specimen for them to let +you be gassed, but if they can get there before I do they're traveling +fast!"</p> + +<p>He miscalculated slightly, so that instead of coming to a halt at the +surface of the liquid medium the speedster struck with a crash that +hurled solid masses of water for hundreds of yards. But no ordinary +crash could harm that vessel's structure, her gravity controls were not +overloaded, and she shot back to the surface; gallant ship and reckless +pilot alike unharmed. Costigan trained his key-tube upon the doorway of +Clio's cell, then tossed it aside.</p> + +<p>"Different combinations over here!" he barked. "Got to cut you +out--lie down in that far corner!"</p> + +<p>His hands flashed over the panel, and as Clio fell prone without +hesitation or question a heavy beam literally blasted away a large +portion of the roof of the structure. The speedster shot into the air +and dropped down until she rested upon the tops of opposite walls; walls +still glowing, semi-molten. The girl piled a stool upon the table and +stood upon it, reached upward, and seized the mailed hands extended +downward toward her. Costigan heaved her up into the vessel with a +powerful jerk, slammed the door shut, leaped to the controls, and the +speedster darted away.</p> + +<p>"Your armor's in that bundle there. Better put it on, and check your +Lewistons and pistols--no telling what kind of jams we'll get into," he +snapped, without turning. "Bradley, start talking ... all right, I've +got your line. Better get your wet rags ready and get organized +generally--every second will count by the time we get there. We're +coming so fast that our outer plating's white hot, but it may not be +fast enough, at that."</p> + +<p>"It isn't fast enough, quite," Bradley announced, calmly. "They're +coming out after me now."</p> + +<p>"Don't fight them and probably they won't paralyze you. Keep on +talking, so that I can find out where they take you."</p> + +<p>"No good, Costigan." The voice of the old space-flea did not reveal a +sign of emotion as he made his dread announcement. "They have it all +figured out. They're not taking any chances at all--they're going to +paral...." His voice broke off in the middle of the word.</p> + +<p>With a bitter imprecation Costigan flashed on the powerful ultra-beam +projector of the speedster and focused the plate upon Bradley's prison; +careless now of detection, since the Nevians were already warned. Upon +that plate he watched the Nevians carry the helpless body of the captain +into a small boat, and continued to watch as they bore it into one of +the largest buildings of the city. Up a series of ramps they took the +still form, placing it finally upon a soft couch in an enormous and +heavily guarded central hall. Costigan turned to his companion, Clio, +and even through the helmets she could see plainly the white agony of +his expression. He moistened his lips and tried twice to speak--tried +and failed: but he made no move either to cut off their power or to +change their direction.</p> + +<p>"Of course," she approved, steadily. "We are going through. I know +that you <i>want</i> to run with me, but if you actually did it, I would +never want to see you or hear of you again, and you would hate me +forever."</p> + +<p>"Hardly that." The anguish did not leave his eyes and his voice was +hoarse and strained, but his hands did not vary the course of the +speedster by so much as a hair's breadth. "You're the finest little +fellow that ever waved a plume, and I would love you no matter what +happened. I'd trade my immortal soul to the devil if it would get you +out of this mess, but we're both in it up to our necks and we can't dog +it now. If they kill him we beat it--he and I both knew that it was on +the chance of that happening that I took you first--but as long as all +three of us are alive it's all three or none."</p> + +<p>"Of course," she said again, as steadily, thrilled this time to the +depths of her being by the sheer manhood of him who had thus simply +voiced his Code; a man of such fiber that neither love of life, nor the +infinitely more powerful love of her which she knew he bore, could make +him lower its high standard.</p> + +<p>"We are going through. Forget that I am a woman. We are three human +beings, fighting a world full of monsters. I am simply one of us three. +I will steer your ship, fire your projectors, or throw your bombs. What +can I do best?"</p> + +<p>"Throw bombs," he directed, briefly. He knew what must be done were +they to have even the slightest chance of winning clear. "I'm going to +blast a hole down into the auditorium, and when I do you stand by that +port and start dropping bottles of perfume. Throw a couple of big ones +right down the shaft I make, and the rest of them most anywhere, after I +cut the wall open. They'll do good wherever they hit, land or +water."</p> + +<p>"But Captain Bradley--he'll be gassed, too." Her fine eyes were +troubled.</p> + +<p>"Can't be helped. I've got the antidote, and it'll work any time +under an hour. That'll be lots of time--if we aren't gone in less than +ten minutes we'll be staying here. They're bringing in platoons of +militia in full armor, and if we don't beat those boys to it we're in +for plenty of grief. All right--start throwing!"</p> + +<p>The speedster had come to a halt directly over the imposing edifice +within which Bradley was incarcerated, and a mighty beam had flared +downward, digging a fiery well through floor after floor of stubborn +metal. The ceiling of the amphitheater pierced, the beam expired; and +down into that assembly hall there dropped two canisters of Vee-Two; to +crash and to fill its atmosphere with imperceptible death. Then the beam +flashed on again, this time at maximum power, and with it Costigan +burned away half of the gigantic building. Burned it away until room +above room gaped open, shelf-like, to outer atmosphere; the great hall +now resembling an over-size pigeon-hole surrounded by smaller ones. Into +that largest pigeon-hole the speedster darted, and cushioned desks and +benches crashed down, crushed flat under its enormous weight as it came +to rest upon the floor.</p> + +<p>Every available guard had been thrown into that room, regardless of +customary occupation or of equipment. Most of them had been ordinary +watchmen, not even wearing masks, and all such were already down. Many, +however, were protected by masks, and a few were dressed in full armor. +But no portable armor could mount defenses of sufficient power to +withstand the awful force of the speedster's weapons, and one flashing +swing of a projector swept the hall almost clear of life.</p> + +<p>"Can't shoot very close to Bradley with this big beam, but I'll mop +up on the rest of them by hand. Stay here and cover me, Clio!" Costigan +ordered, and went to open the door.</p> + +<p>"I can't--I won't!" Clio replied instantly. "I don't know the +controls well enough. I'd kill you or Captain Bradley, sure; but +I <i>can</i> shoot, and I'm going to!" and she leaped out, close upon +his heels.</p> + +<p>Thus, flaming Lewiston in one hand and barking automatic in the +other, the two mailed figures advanced toward Bradley; now doubly +helpless: paralyzed by his enemies and gassed by his friends. For a time +the Nevians melted away before them, but as they approached more nearly +the couch, upon which the captain was, they encountered six figures +encased in armor fully as capable as their own. The beams of the +Lewistons rebounded from that armor in futile pyrotechnics, the bullets +of the automatics spattered and exploded impotently against it. And +behind that single line of armored guards were massed perhaps twenty +unarmored, but masked, soldiers; and scuttling up the ramps leading into +the hall were coming the platoons of heavily-armored figures which +Costigan had previously seen.</p> + +<p>Decision instantly made, Costigan ran back toward the speedster, but +he was not deserting his companions.</p> + +<p>"Keep the good work up!" he instructed the girl as he ran. "I'll pick +those jaspers off with a pencil ray and then stand off the bunch that's +coming while you rub out the rest of that crew there and drag Bradley +back here."</p> + +<p>Back at the control panel, he trained a narrow, but intensely dense +pencil of livid flame, and one by one the six armored figures fell. +Then, knowing that Clio could handle the remaining opposition, he +devoted his attention to the reenforcements so rapidly approaching from +the sides. Again and again the heavy beam lashed out, now upon this +side, now upon that, and in its flaming path Nevians disappeared. And +not only Nevians--in the incredible energy of that beam's blast, floor, +walls, ramps, and every material thing vanished in clouds of thick and +brilliant vapor. The room temporarily clear of foes, he sprang again to +Clio's assistance, but her task was nearly done. She had "rubbed out" +all opposition and, tugging lustily at Bradley's feet, had already +dragged him almost to the side of the speedster.</p> + +<p>"'At-a-girl, Clio!" cheered Costigan, as he picked up the burly +captain and tossed him through the doorway. "Highly useful, girl of my +dreams, as well as ornamental. In with you, and we'll start out to go +places!"</p> + +<p>But getting the speedster out of the now completely ruined hall +proved to be much more of a task than driving it in had been, for +scarcely had the Terrestrials closed their locks than a section of the +building collapsed behind them, cutting off their retreat. Nevian +submarines and airships were beginning to arrive upon the scene, and +were raying the building viciously in an attempt to entrap or to crush +the Terrestrials in its ruins. Costigan managed finally to blast his way +out, but the Nevians had had time to assemble in force and he was met by +a concentrated storm of beams and of metal from every inimical weapon +within range.</p> + +<p>But not for nothing had Conway Costigan selected for his dash for +liberty the craft which, save only for the two immense interstellar +cruisers, was the most powerful vessel ever built upon red Nevia. And +not for nothing had he studied minutely and to the last, least detail +every item of its controls and of its armament during wearily long days +and nights of solitary imprisonment. He had studied it under test, in +action, and at rest; studied it until he knew thoroughly its every +possibility--and what a ship it was! The iron-driven generators of his +shielding screens handled with ease the terrific load of the Nevians' +assault, his polycyclic screens were proof against any material +projectile, and the machines supplying his offensive beams with power +were more than equal to their tasks. Driven now at full rating those +frightful weapons lashed out against the Nevian blocking the way, and +under their impacts her screens flared brilliantly through the spectrum +and went down. And in the instant of their failure the enemy vessel was +literally blown into nothingness--no unprotected metal, however +resistant, could exist for a moment in the pathway of those iron-driven +tornadoes of pure energy.</p> + +<p>Ship after ship of the Nevians plunged toward the speedster in +desperately suicidal attempts to ram her down, but each met the same +flaming fate before its mass could collide with the ship of the +Terrestrials. Then, from the grouped submarines far below, there reached +up red rods of force, which seized the space-ship and began relentlessly +to draw her down.</p> + +<p>"What are they doing that for, Conway? <i>They</i> can't fight +us!"</p> + +<p>"They don't want to fight us. They want to hold us, but I know what +to do about that, too," and the powerful tractor rods snapped as a plane +of lurid light drove through them. Upward now at the highest permissible +velocity the speedster leaped, and past the few ships remaining above +her she dodged; there was nothing now between her and the freedom of +boundless space.</p> + +<p>"You did it, Conway; you did it!" Clio exulted. "Oh, Conway, you're +just simply wonderful!"</p> + +<p>"I haven't done it yet," Costigan cautioned her. "The worst is yet to +come. Nerado. He's why they wanted to hold us back, and why I was in +such a hurry to get away. That boat of his is bad medicine, girl, and we +want to put plenty of kilometers behind us before he gets started."</p> + +<p>"But do you think he will chase us?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Think</i> so? I <i>know</i> so! The mere facts, that we are rare +specimens and that he told us that we were going to stay there all the +rest of our lives, would make him chase us clear to Dustheimer's Nebula. +Besides that, we stepped on their toes pretty heavily before we left. We +know altogether too much now to be let get back to Tellus; and finally, +they'd all die of acute enlargement of the spleen if we get away with +this prize ship of theirs. I hope to tell you they'll chase us!"</p> + +<p>He fell silent, devoting his whole attention to his piloting, driving +his craft onward at such velocity that its outer plating held steadily +at the highest point of temperature compatible with safety. Soon they +were out in open space, hurtling toward the sun under the drive of every +possible iota of power, and Costigan took off his armor and turned +toward the helpless body of the captain.</p> + +<p>"He looks so ... so ... so <i>dead</i>, Conway! Are you really sure +that you can bring him to?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely. Lots of time yet. Just three simple squirts in the right +places will do the trick." He took from a locked compartment of his +armor a small steel box, which housed a surgeon's hypodermic and three +vials. One, two, three, he injected small, but precisely measured +amounts of the fluids into the three vital localities, then placed the +inert form upon a deeply cushioned couch.</p> + +<p>"There! That'll take care of the gas in five or six hours. The +paralysis will wear off before that, so he'll be all right when he wakes +up; and we're going away from here with every watt of power we can put +out. We have done everything I know how to do, for the present."</p> + +<p>Then only did Costigan turn and look down, directly into Clio's eyes. +Wide, eloquent blue eyes that gazed back up into his, tender and +unafraid; eyes freighted with the oldest message of woman to chosen man. +His hard young face softened wonderfully as he stared at her; there were +two quick steps and they were in each other's arms. Clio's lithely +rounded form nestled against Costigan's powerful body as his mighty arms +tightened around her; his neck and shoulder were no less +enthusiastically clasped, and less strongly only because of her woman's +slighter musculature. Lips upon eager lips, blue eyes to gray, +motionless they stood clasped in ecstasy; thinking nothing of the +dreadful past, nothing of the fearful future, conscious only of the +glorious, the wonderful present.</p> + +<p>"Clio mine ... darling ... girl, girl, how I love you!" Costigan's +deep voice was husky with emotion. "I haven't kissed you for seven +thousand years! I don't rate you, by hundreds of steps; but if I can +just get you out of this mess, I swear by all the space...."</p> + +<p>"You needn't, lover. Rate <i>me</i>? Good Heavens, Conway? It's just +the other way...."</p> + +<p>"Chop it!" he commanded in her ear. "I'm still dizzy at the idea of +your loving me at all, to say nothing of loving me <i>this</i> way! But +you do, and that's all I ask, here or hereafter!"</p> + +<p>"Love you? <i>Love</i> you!" Their mutual embrace tightened and her +low voice thrilled brokenly as she went on: "Conway, dearest.... I can't +say a thing, but you know.... Oh, Conway!"</p> + +<p>After a time Clio drew a long and tremulous, but supremely happy +breath as the realities of their predicament once more obtruded +themselves upon her consciousness. She released herself gently from +Costigan's arms.</p> + +<p>"Do you really think that there is a chance of us getting back to the +earth, so that we can be together ... always?"</p> + +<p>"A chance, yes. A probability, no," he replied, unequivocally. "It +depends upon two things. First, how much of a start we got on Nerado. +His ship is the biggest and fastest thing I ever saw, and if he strips +her down and drives her--which he will--he'll catch us long before we +can make Tellus. On the other hand, I gave Rodebush a lot of data, and +if he and Lyman Cleveland can add it to their own stuff and get that +super-ship of ours rebuilt in time, they'll be out here on the prowl; +and they'll have what can give even Nerado plenty of argument. No use +worrying about it, anyway. We won't know anything until we can detect +one or the other of them, and then will be the time to do something +about it."</p> + +<p>"If Nerado catches us, will you...." She paused.</p> + +<p>"Rub you out? I will not. Even if he does catch us, and takes us back +to Nevia, I won't. There's lots more time coming onto the clock. Nerado +won't hurt either of us badly enough to leave scars, either physical, +mental, or moral. I'd kill you in a second if it were Roger; he's dirty +and he's thoroughly bad. But Nerado's a good enough old scout, in his +way. He's big and he's clean. You know, I could really like that fish, +if I could meet him on terms of equality sometime?"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> couldn't!" she declared, vigorously. "He's crawly and scaly +and snaky; and he smells so ... so...."</p> + +<p>"So rank and fishy?" Costigan laughed deeply. "Details, girl; mere +details. I've seen people who looked like money in the bank and who +smelled like a bouquet of violets that you couldn't trust half the +length of Nerado's neck."</p> + +<p>"But look what he did to us!" she protested. "And they weren't trying +to recapture us back there; they were trying to kill us."</p> + +<p>"That was perfectly all right, what he did and what they did--what +else could they have done?" he wanted to know. "And while you're +looking, look at what we did to them--plenty, I'd say. But we all had it +to do, and neither side will blame the other for doing it. He's a square +shooter, I tell you."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe, but I don't like him a bit, and let's not talk about +him any more. Let's talk about us. Remember what you said once, when you +advised me to 'let you lay,' or whatever it was?" Woman-like, she wished +to dip again lightly into the waters of pure emotion, even though she +had such a short time before led the man out of their profoundest +depths. But Costigan, into whose hard life love of woman had never +before entered, had not yet recovered sufficiently from his soul-shaking +plunge to follow her lead. Inarticulate, distrusting his newly found +supreme happiness, he must needs stay out of those enchanted waters or +plunge again. And he was afraid to plunge--diffident, still deeming +himself unworthy of the miracle of this wonder-girl's love--even though +every fiber of his being shrieked its demand to feel again that slender +body in his clasping arms. He did not consciously think those thoughts. +He acted them without thinking; they were inherent in his +personality.</p> + +<p>"I do remember, and I still think it's a sound idea, even though I am +too far gone now to let you put it into effect," he assured her, half +seriously. He kissed her, tenderly and reverently, then studied her +carefully. "But you look as though you'd been on a Martian picnic. When +did you eat last?"</p> + +<p>"I don't remember, exactly. This morning, I think."</p> + +<p>"Or maybe last night, or yesterday morning? I thought so! Bradley and +I can eat anything that's chewable, and drink anything that will pour, +but you can't. I'll scout around and see if I can't fix up something +that you'll be able to eat."</p> + +<p>He rummaged through the store-rooms, emerging with sundry viands from +which he prepared a highly satisfactory meal.</p> + +<p>"Think you can sleep now, sweetheart?" After supper, once more within +the circle of Costigan's arms, Clio nodded her head against his +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Of course I can, dear. Now that you are with me, out here alone, I'm +not a bit afraid any more. You will get us back to the earth some way, +sometime; I just know that you will. Good-night, Conway."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Clio ... little sweetheart," he whispered, and went back +to Bradley's side.</p> + +<p>In due time the captain recovered consciousness, and slept. Then for +days the speedster flashed on toward our distant solar system; days +during which her wide-flung detector screens remained cold.</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether I'm afraid they'll hit something or afraid that +they won't," Costigan remarked more than once, but finally those tenuous +sentinels did in fact encounter an interfering vibration. Along the +detector line a visibeam sped, and Costigan's face hardened as he saw +the unmistakable outline of Nerado's interstellar cruiser, far behind +them.</p> + +<p>"Well, a stern chase always was a long one," Costigan said finally. +"He can't catch us for plenty of days yet ... now what?" for the alarms +of the detectors had broken out anew. There was still another point of +interference to be investigated. Costigan traced it; and there, almost +dead ahead of them, between them and their sun, nearing them at the +incomprehensible rate of the sum of the two vessels' velocities, came +another cruiser of the Nevians!</p> + +<p>"Must be the sister-ship, coming back from our System with a load of +iron," Costigan deduced. "Heavily loaded as she is, we may be able to +dodge her; and she's coming so fast that if we can stay out of her range +we'll be all right--she won't be able to stop for probably three or four +days. But if our super-ship is anywhere in these parts, now's the time +for her to rally 'round!"</p> + +<p>He gave the speedster all the side-thrust she would take; then, +putting every available communicator tube behind a tight beam, he drove +it sunward and began sending out a long-continued call to his fellows of +Triplanetary's Secret Service.</p> + +<p>Nearer and nearer the Nevian flashed, trying with all her power to +intercept the speedster; and it soon became evident that, heavily laden +though she was, she could make enough sideway to bring her within range +at the time of meeting.</p> + +<p>"Of course, they've got partial neutralization of inertia, the same +as we have," Costigan cogitated, "and by the way he's coming I'd say +that he had orders to blow us out of the ether--he knows as well as we +do that he can't capture us alive at anything like the relative +velocities we've got now. I can't give her any more side thrust without +overloading the gravity controls, so overloaded they've got to be. Strap +down, you two, because they may go out entirely."</p> + +<p>"Do you think that you can pull away from them, Conway?" Clio was +staring in horrified fascination into the plate, watching the pictured +vessel increase in size, moment by moment.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, girl, but I'm going to try. Just in case we don't, +though, I'm going to keep on yelling for help. In solid? All right, +boat, DO YOUR STUFF!"</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>The Meeting of the Giants</h3> + +<p>"Check your blast, Fred, I think I hear something trying to come +through!" Cleveland called out, sharply. For days the <i>Boise</i> had +torn through the illimitable reaches of empty space, and now the long +vigil of the keen-eared listeners was to be ended. Rodebush cut off his +power, and through the deafening roar of tube-noise an almost inaudible +voice made itself heard.</p> + +<p>" ... all the help you can give us. +Samms--Cleveland--Rodebush--anybody of Triplanetary who can hear me, +listen! This is Costigan, with Miss Marsden and Captain Bradley, heading +for where we think the sun is, from right ascension about six hours, +declination about plus fourteen degrees. Distance unknown, but probably +hundreds of light-years. Trace my call. One Nevian ship is overhauling +us slowly, another is coming toward us from the sun. We may or may not +be able to dodge it, but we need all the help you can give us. +Samms--Rodebush--Cleveland--anybody of Triplanetary...."</p> + +<p>Endlessly the faint, faint voice went on, but Rodebush and Cleveland +were no longer listening. Sensitive ultra-loops had been swung, and +along the indicated line shot Triplanetary's super-ship at a velocity +which she had never before even approached; the utterly +incomprehensible, almost incalculable velocity attained by inertialess +matter, driven through an almost perfect vacuum by the <i>Boise</i>'s +maximum projector blast--a blast which would lift her stupendous normal +tonnage against a gravity five times that of earth's! At the full +frightful measure of that velocity the super-ship literally annihilated +distance, while ahead of her the furiously driven, but scarcely faster +spy-ray beam tore on in quest of the three Terrestrials who were calling +for help.</p> + +<p>"Got any idea how fast we're going?" Rodebush demanded, glancing up +for an instant from the observation plate. "We should be able to see +him, since we could hear him, and our range is certainly as great as +anything he can have."</p> + +<p>"No, can't figure velocity without any reliable data on how many +atoms of matter exist per cubic meter out here." Cleveland was staring +at the calculator. "It's constant, of course, at the value at which the +friction of the medium is equal to our thrust. Incidentally, we can't +hold it long. We're running a temperature, which shows that we're +stepping along faster than anybody ever computed before. Taking +Throckmorton's estimates it figures somewhere near the order of +magnitude of ten to the twenty-seventh. Fast enough, anyway, so you'd +better bend an eye on that plate. Even after you see him you won't know +anything about where he really is, because we don't know any of the +velocities involved--our own, his, or that of the beam--and we may be +right on top of him."</p> + +<p>"Or, if we are outrunning the beam, we won't see him at all. That +makes it nice piloting."</p> + +<p>"How are you going to handle things when we get there?"</p> + +<p>"Lock to them and take them aboard if we're in time. If not, if they +are fighting already--<i>there they are</i>!"</p> + +<p>The picture of the speedster's control room flashed upon the plate +and Costigan's voice greeted them from the speaker.</p> + +<p>"Hello, fellows, welcome to our city! Where are you?"</p> + +<p>"We don't know," Cleveland snapped back, "and we don't know where you +are, either. Can't figure anything without data. I see you're still +breathing air. Where are the Nevians? How much time we got yet?"</p> + +<p>"Not enough, I'm afraid. By the looks of things they will be within +range of us in a couple of hours, and you're so far away yet that it +took our voices four minutes and about fifty seconds to make the round +trip, <i>on the ultra</i>! Play that on your calculator, Lyman! You +haven't even touched our detector screen yet. I'm mighty glad to have +seen you fellows again, though, anyway."</p> + +<p>"A couple of hours!" In his relief Cleveland almost shouted the +words. "That's time to burn. We can be clear out of the Galaxy in less +than...." He broke off at a yell from Rodebush.</p> + +<p>"Broadcast, Conway, broadcast!" that worthy had cried, as Costigan's +image had disappeared utterly from his plate.</p> + +<p>Now he cut off the <i>Boise</i>'s power, stopping her instantaneously +in mid-space, but the connection had been broken. Costigan could not +possibly have heard the orders to change his beam signal to a broadcast, +so that they could pick it up; nor would it have done any good if he had +heard and had obeyed. So immeasurably great had been their velocity that +they had flashed past the speedster without seeing it, even upon the +ultra-plates, and now they were unknown billions of miles beyond the +fugitives they had come so far to help--far beyond the range of any +possible broadcast. But Cleveland had understood instantly what had +happened. He now had a little data upon which to work, and his fingers +were flying over the keys of the calculator.</p> + +<p>"Back blast, maximum, seventeen seconds!" he directed, crisply. "Not +exact, of course, but that'll put us close enough to find 'em with our +detectors!"</p> + +<p>Then for the calculated seventeen seconds the super-ship retraced her +path, at the same awful speed with which she had come so far. The blast +expired and there, plainly limned upon the observation plates, was the +Nevian speedster.</p> + +<p>"As a computer you're good," Rodebush applauded. "So close that we +can't use the neutralizers to catch him. If we use a dyne of driving +force we'll overshoot him a million kilometers before I can snap the +switches out."</p> + +<p>"And yet he's so far away and going so fast that if we keep our +inertia on it'll take all day at full drive to overtake him." Cleveland +was frankly puzzled. "What to do? Shunt in a potentiometer?"</p> + +<p>"No, we don't need it." Rodebush turned to the transmitter. +"Costigan! We are going to take hold of you with a very light tractor. +Don't cut it!"</p> + +<p>"A tractor--inertialess?" Cleveland wondered.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" Rodebush launched the tractor, set at its absolute minimum +of power, and threw in his master switches.</p> + +<p>While hundreds of thousands of miles separating the two vessels and +the tractor beam was exerting the least effort of which it was capable, +yet the super-ship leaped toward the smaller craft at a pace which +covered that distance in the twinkling of an eye. So rapidly were the +objectives enlarging upon the plates that the automatic focusing devices +could scarcely function rapidly enough to keep them in place. Cleveland +flinched involuntarily and seized his arm-rests in a spasmodic clutch as +he watched this, the first inertialess space-approach; and even +Rodebush, who knew better than anyone else what to expect, held his +breath and swallowed hard at the unbelievable rate at which the two +vessels were rushing together.</p> + +<p>And if these two, who had rebuilt the space-flyer, could hardly +control themselves, what of the three in the speedster, who knew nothing +whatever of the super-ship's potentialities? Clio, staring into the +plate with Costigan, uttered a piercing shriek, as she sank her fingers +into his shoulders. Bradley swore a mighty deep-space oath and braced +himself against certain annihilation. Costigan stared for an instant, +unable to believe his eyes, then his hand darted to the contacts which +would cut the beam. Too late. Before his flying fingers could reach the +studs the <i>Boise</i> was upon them; had struck them in direct central +impact. Moving at the full measure of her unthinkable velocity though +the super-ship was at the moment of impact, yet the most delicate +recording instruments of the speedster could not detect the slightest +shock as the enormous globe struck the comparatively tiny torpedo and +clung to it; accommodating instantly and effortlessly her own terrific +pace to that of the smaller and infinitely slower craft. Clio sobbed in +relief and Costigan, one arm around her, sighed hugely.</p> + +<p>"Hey, you space-fleas!" he cried. "Glad to see you and all that, but +you might as well kill a man outright as scare him to death! So that's +the super-ship, huh? SOME ship!"</p> + +<p>"Hello, Conway!" "Clear ether, Conway!" The two scientists answered +the hail of their fellow.</p> + +<p>"I didn't realize that an inertialess approach would be quite such a +terrifying spectacle, or I would have warned you," Rodebush went on. +"Yes, thanks to you, the super-ship works as she should, at last. But +you had better put on your suits and transfer. You might get your things +ready...."</p> + +<p>"'Things' is good!" Costigan laughed, and Clio giggled sunnily.</p> + +<p>"We've made so many transfers already that what you see us in is all +we have," Bradley explained. "We'll bring ourselves, and we'll hurry; +that Nevian is coming up fast."</p> + +<p>"Is there anything on this ship you fellows want?" Costigan +asked.</p> + +<p>"There may be, but we haven't any locks big enough to let her inside +and we haven't time to study her now. You might leave her controls in +neutral, so that Lyman can calculate her position if we should want her +later on."</p> + +<p>"All right." The three armor-clad figures stepped into +the <i>Boise</i>'s open lock, the tractor beam was cut off, and the +speedster flashed away from the now stationary super-ship.</p> + +<p>"Better let formalities go for a while," Captain Bradley interrupted +the general introduction taking place. "I was scared out of nine years' +growth when I saw you coming at us, and maybe I've still got the humps; +but that Nevian is coming up fast, and if you don't already know it I +can tell you that he's no light cruiser."</p> + +<p>"That's so, too," Costigan concurred. "Have you fellows got enough +stuff so that you think you can take him? You've got the legs on him, +anyway--you can certainly run if you want to!"</p> + +<p>"Run?" Cleveland laughed. "We have a bone of our own to pick with +that ship. We licked her to a standstill once, until we burned out a set +of generators, and since we got them fixed we've been chasing her all +over space. We were chasing her when we picked up your call. See there? +She's doing the running."</p> + +<p>The Nevian was running, in truth. Her commander had seen and had +recognized the great vessel which had flashed out of nowhere to the +rescue of the three Terrestrials; and, having once been at grips with +that vengeful super-dreadnaught, he had little stomach for another +encounter. Therefore his side-thrust was now being exerted in the +opposite direction; he was frankly trying to put as much distance as +possible between himself and Triplanetary's formidable cruiser. In vain. +A light tractor was clamped on and the <i>Boise</i> flashed up to close +range before Rodebush threw on her inertia and Cleveland brought the two +vessels relatively to rest by increasing gradually his tractor's pull. +And this time the Nevian could not cut the tractor. Again that shearing +plane of force bit into it and tore at it, but it neither yielded nor +broke. The rebuilt generators of Number Four were designed to carry the +load, and they carried it. And again Triplanetary's every mighty weapon +was brought into play.</p> + +<p>The "cans" were thrown, ultra-and infra-beams were driven, the +furious macro-beam gnawed hungrily at the Nevian's defenses; and one by +one those defenses went down. In desperation the enemy commander threw +his every generator behind a polycyclic screen; only to see Cleveland's +even more powerful drill bore relentlessly through it. Punctured that +last defense, the end came soon. A secondary SX7 beam was now in place +on mighty Ten's inner rings, and one fierce blast blew a hole completely +through the Nevian cruiser. Into that hole entered Adlington's terrific +bombs and their gruesome fellows, and where they entered, life departed. +All defenses vanished, and under the blasts of the <i>Boise</i>'s +projectors, now unopposed, the metal of the Nevian vessel exploded +instantly into a widely spreading cloud of vapor. Sparkling vapor, with +perhaps here and there a droplet or two of material which had only been +liquefied.</p> + +<p>So passed the sister-ship, and Rodebush turned his plates upon the +vessel of Nerado. But that highly intelligent amphibian had seen all +that had occurred. He had long since given over the pursuit of the +speedster, and he did not rush in to do hopeless battle beside his +fellow Nevians against the Terrestrials. His analytical detectors had +written down each detail of every weapon and of every screen employed; +and even while prodigious streamers of red force were raving out from +his vessel, braking her terrific progress and swinging her around in an +immense circle back toward far Nevia, his scientists and mechanics were +doubling and redoubling the power of his already Titanic installations, +to match and if possible to overmatch those of Triplanetary's +super-dreadnaught.</p> + +<p>"Do we kill him now or do we let him suffer a while longer?" Costigan +demanded.</p> + +<p>"I don't think so, yet," replied Rodebush. "Would you, Lyman?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet," replied Cleveland, grimly, reading the thought of the +other and agreeing with it. "Let him pilot us to Nevia; we might not be +able to find it without a guide. While we're at it we want to so +pulverize that crowd that if they never come near the Solarian system +again they'll think it's twenty minutes too soon!"</p> + +<p>Thus it was that the <i>Boise</i>, under only a few dynes of +propulsion, pursued the Nevian ship. Apparently exerting every effort, +she never came quite within range of the fleeing raider; yet never was +she so far behind that the Nevian space-ship was not in clear register +upon her observation plates. Nor was Nerado alone in strengthening his +vessel. Costigan knew well and respected highly the Nevian +scientist-captain, and at his suggestion the entire time of the long and +uneventful flight was spent in re-enforcing the super-ship's armament to +the iron-driven limit of theoretical and mechanical possibility.</p> + +<p>Thus, when Nevia and her hot, blue sun appeared upon his plates +Rodebush was ready for any emergency, and hurled his battleship upon the +Nevian with every weapon aflame. But so was Nerado ready; and, unlike +her sister-ship, his vessel was manned by scientists well versed in the +fundamental theory of the weapons with which they fought. Beams, rods, +and lances of energy flamed and flared; planes and pencils cut, slashed, +and stabbed; defensive screens glowed redly or flashed suddenly into +intensely brilliant, coruscating incandescence. Crimson opacity +struggled sullenly against violet curtain of annihilation. Material +projectiles and torpedoes were launched under full beam control; only to +be exploded harmlessly in mid-space, to be rayed into nothingness, or to +disappear innocuously against impenetrable polycyclic screens. Both +vessels were equipped completely with iron-driven mechanisms; both were +manned by scientists capable of wringing the last possible watt of power +from their sources. They were approximately equal in size, and each ship +now wielded the theoretical ultimate of power for her mass; therefore +neither could harm the other, furiously though each was trying. And more +and more nearly they were approaching the red atmosphere of the world of +the amphibians. Down into that crimson blanket the two warring +space-ships dropped, down toward a city which Costigan recognized as +that in which Nerado made his headquarters.</p> + +<p>"Better hold off a bit," Costigan cautioned. "If I know that bird at +all, he's cooking up something," and even as he spoke there shot upward +from the city a multitude of flashing balls. The Nevians had mastered +the secret of the explosive of the fishes of the greater deeps and were +launching it in a veritable storm against the Terrestrial visitor.</p> + +<p>"Those?" asked Rodebush, calmly. The detonating balls of destruction +were literally annihilating even the atmosphere beyond the polycyclic +screen, but that barrier was scarcely affected.</p> + +<p>"No, that," pointing out a hemispherical dome which, redly +translucent, surrounded a group of buildings towering high above their +neighbors. "Neither those high towers nor those screens were there the +last time I was in this town. They're stalling for time down there, +that's all those fireballs are for. Good sign, too--maybe they aren't +ready for us yet. If not, you'd better take 'em while the taking's good; +and if they <i>are</i> ready for us, we'd better get out of here while +we're all in one piece."</p> + +<p>And in fact Nerado had been in touch with the scientists of his city; +had been instructing them in the construction of converters and +generators of such weight and power that they could crush even the +defenses of the super-ship. They were not, however, quite done; the +entirely unsuspected possibilities of speed inherent in absolute +inertialessness had not entered into Nerado's calculations.</p> + +<p>"Better drop a few cans down on that dome, fellows, before they make +trouble for us," suggested Rodebush to his gunners.</p> + +<p>"We can't," came Adlington's instant reply. "We've been trying it, +but that's a polycyclic screen. Can you drill it? If you can, I've got a +real bomb here--that special we built--that will do the trick if you can +protect it from their beams until it gets down into the water."</p> + +<p>"I'll try it," Cleveland answered, at a nod from the physicist. "I +couldn't drill Nerado's polycyclics, but I couldn't use any momentum on +him. Couldn't ram him--he fell back with my thrust. But that screen down +there can't back off, so maybe I can work on it. Get your special ready, +and hang on, everybody!"</p> + +<p>The <i>Boise</i> looped upward, and from an altitude of miles dove +downward through a storm of force-balls, rays, and shells; a dive +checked abruptly as the hollow tube of energy, which was Cleveland's +drill, snarled savagely down ahead of her and struck the shielding +hemisphere with a grinding, lightning-splitting shock. As it struck, +backed by all the enormous momentum of the plunging space-ship and +driven by the full power of her mightiest generators, it bored in, +clawing and gouging viciously through the tissue of that rigid and +unyielding barrier of pure energy. Then, mighty drill and plunging mass +against iron-driven wall, eye-tearing and furiously spectacular warfare +was waged. Well it was for Triplanetary, that day, that its super ship +carried ample supply of allotropic iron; well it was that her originally +Gargantuan converters and generators had been doubled and quadrupled in +power on the long Nevian way! For that oven-girdled fortress was powered +to withstand any conceivable assault; but the <i>Boise</i>'s power and +momentum were now inconceivable, and every watt and every dyne was +solidly behind that hellishly flaming, that voraciously tearing, that +irresistibly ravening cylinder of energy incredible!</p> + +<p>Through the Nevian shield that cylinder gnawed its frightful way, and +down its protecting length there drove Adlington's "Special" bomb. +"Special" it was indeed; so great of girth that it could barely pass +through the central orifice of Ten's mighty projector, so heavily +charged with sensitized atomic iron that its detonation upon any planet +would not have been considered for an instant if that planet's integrity +meant anything to its attackers. Down the shielding pipe of force the +"Special" screamed under full propulsion, and beneath the surface of +Nevia's ocean it plunged.</p> + +<p>"Cut!" yelled Adlington, and as the scintillating drill expired, the +bomber snapped his detonating switch.</p> + +<p>For a moment the effect of the explosion seemed unimportant. A dull, +low rumble was all that was to be heard of a concussion that jarred red +Nevia to her very center; and all that could be seen was a slow heaving +of the water. But that heaving did not cease. Slowly, <i>so</i> slowly +it seemed to the observers now high in the heavens, the waters rose up +and parted; revealing a vast chasm blown deep into the ocean's rocky +bed. Higher and higher the lazy, mountains of water reared; effortlessly +to pick up, to smash, to grind into fragments, and finally to toss aside +every building, every structure, every scrap of material substance +pertaining to the whole Nevian city.</p> + +<p>Flattened out, driven backward for miles the tortured waters were +urged, leaving exposed bare ground and broken rock where once had been +the ocean's busy floor; while tremendous blasts of incandescent gas +raved upward, buffeting even the enormous masses of the two space-ships, +poised by their breathless crews so high above the site of the +explosion. Then the displaced millions of tons of water rushed back into +that newly rived pit, seeming to seek in that mad rush to make even more +complete the already total destruction of the city. The raging torrents +poured into that yawning cavern, filled it, and piled mountainously +above it; receding and piling up, again and again, causing tidal waves +which swept a full half of Nevia's mighty, watery globe.</p> + +<p>The city forever silenced, Rodebush again directed his weapons upon +Nerado's vessel, but the Nevian was no longer fighting. For the first +time in that long and bitter engagement, not a Nevian beam was in +operation. His screens, however, were as capable as ever, and after a +few fruitless attempts to make an impression upon them, Rodebush cut off +his own offensive and turned to Costigan.</p> + +<p>"What do you make of it, Conway? You know these people better than we +do; what are they up to?"</p> + +<p>"I wish to talk to you," Nerado's voice came from the speaker, "and I +could not do so while the beams were operating. You are, I now perceive, +a much higher form of life than any of us had thought possible; a form +perhaps as high in evolution as our own. It is a pity that we did not +meet you when we first neared your planet, so that much life, both +Tellurian and Nevian, might have been spared. But what is past cannot be +recalled. As reasoning beings, however, you will see the futility of +continuing a contest in which neither of us is capable of injuring the +other. You may, of course, destroy more of our Nevian cities, in which +case I should be compelled to go and destroy similarly upon your earth; +but, to reasoning minds, such a course of procedure is sheerest +folly."</p> + +<p>Rodebush cut the communicator beam.</p> + +<p>"Does he mean it?" he demanded of Costigan. "It sounds reasonable, +but...."</p> + +<p>"But fishy," broke in Cleveland. "Altogether too reasonable for +a...."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he means it; every word of it," interrupted Costigan in turn. +"That's the way they are. Reasonable, passionless. Funny--they lack a +lot of things we have, but they've got a lot of things that I wish more +of us Tellurians had too. Give me the plate--I'll talk for +Triplanetary," and the beam was restored.</p> + +<p>"Captain Nerado." he greeted the Nevian commander. "Having been with +you and among your people, I know that you mean what you say and that +you speak for your race. Similarly, I believe that I can speak for the +Triplanetary Council--the government of three of the planets of our +solar system--in saying that there need be no more conflict between our +peoples. I also was compelled by circumstances to do certain things +which I now wish could be undone; but as you have said, the past is +past. Our two races have much to gain from each other by friendly +exchanges of materials and of ideas, while we can expect nothing except +mutual extermination, if we elect to continue this warfare. I offer you +the friendship of Triplanetary. Will you release your screens and come +aboard to sign a treaty?"</p> + +<p>"I will come; my screens are down." Rodebush likewise cut off his +power, although somewhat apprehensively, and a Nevian lifeboat entered +the main airlock of the <i>Boise</i>.</p> + +<p>Then, at a table in the control room of Triplanetary's first +super-ship, there was written the first Inter-Systemic Treaty. Upon one +side the three Nevians; amphibious, cone-headed, loop-necked, +scale-bodies, four-legged things to us monstrosities: upon the other the +three humans, air-breathing, rounded-headed, shortnecked, smooth-bodied, +two-legged creatures equally monstrous to the fastidious Nevians. Yet +each of these representatives, of two races so different, felt respect +for the other race increase within him minute by minute as the +conversation went on.</p> + +<p>The Nevians had destroyed Pittsburgh, but Adlington's bomb had blown +an equally populous Nevian city out of existence. One Nevian vessel had +wiped out an entire unit of Triplanetary's fleet; but Costigan, +practically unaided, had depopulated one Nevian city and had seriously +damaged another. He had also beamed down many Nevian ships. Therefore +loss of life and material could be balanced. The Solarian system was +rich in iron, to which the Nevians were welcome; red Nevia possessed +abundant stores of substances which upon earth were extremely rare and +of vital importance. Therefore commerce was to be encouraged. The +Nevians had knowledges and skills unknown to earthly science, but were +entirely ignorant of many things, to us commonplace. Therefore +interchange of students and of books was highly desirable. And so +on.</p> + +<p>Thus was signed the Triplanetario-Nevian Treaty of Eternal Peace. +Nerado and his two companions were escorted ceremoniously to their +vessel, and the <i>Boise</i> took off in an inertialess dash toward +earth, bearing the good news that the Nevian menace was no more.</p> + +<p>Clio, now a hardened space-flea, immune even to the horrible nausea +of inertialessness, wriggled lithely in the curve of Costigan's arm and +laughed up at him.</p> + +<p>"You can talk all you want to, Conway, but I don't like them a bit. +They give me the purple jitters! I suppose that they are really +estimable folks; talented, cultured, and everything; but just the same +I'll bet that it will be a long, long time before anybody on earth will +really, truly <i>like</i> them!"</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Triplanetary, by Edward Elmer Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRIPLANETARY *** + +***** This file should be named 20782-h.htm or 20782-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/8/20782/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, V. L. Simpson, Flash Sheridan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Triplanetary + +Author: Edward Elmer Smith + +Release Date: March 8, 2007 [EBook #20782] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRIPLANETARY *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, V. L. Simpson, Flash Sheridan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. This file is gratefully uploaded to +the PG collection in honor of Distributed Proofreaders +having posted over 10,000 ebooks. + + + + + + + + [Transcriber's note: + + Typographical errors have been corrected. + + This etext was produced from Amazing Stories January, + February, March and April 1934. Extensive research did not + uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this + publication was renewed.] + + + +_Triplanetary_ + +By EDWARD E. SMITH, Ph.D. + + + We are sure that our readers will be highly pleased to have + us give the first installment of a story by Dr. Smith. It + will continue for several numbers and is a worthy follower + of the "Skylark" stories which were so much appreciated by + our readers. We think that they will find this story + superior to the earlier ones. Dr. Smith certainly has the + narrative power, and that, joined with his scientific + position, makes him an ideal author for our columns. + + +Illustrated by MOREY + + + + +CHAPTER I + + Pirates of Space + + +Apparently motionless to her passengers and crew, the Interplanetary +liner _Hyperion_ bored serenely onward through space at normal +acceleration. In the railed-off sanctum in one corner of the control +room a bell tinkled, a smothered whirr was heard, and Captain Bradley +frowned as he studied the brief message upon the tape of the recorder--a +message flashed to his desk from the operator's panel. He beckoned, and +the second officer, whose watch it now was, read aloud: + + "Reports of scout patrols still negative." + +"Still negative." The officer scowled in thought. "They've already +searched beyond the widest possible location of the wreckage, too. Two +unexplained disappearances inside a month--first the _Dione_, then the +_Rhea_--and not a plate nor a lifeboat recovered. Looks bad, sir. One +might be an accident; two might possibly be a coincidence...." His voice +died away. What might that coincidence mean? + +"But at three it would get to be a habit," the captain finished the +thought. "And whatever happened, happened quick. Neither of them had +time to say a word--their location recorders simply went dead. But of +course they didn't have our detector screens nor our armament. According +to the observatories we're in clear ether, but I wouldn't trust them +from Tellus to Luna. You have given the new orders, of course?" + +"Yes, sir. Detectors full out, all three courses of defensive screen on +the trips, projectors manned, suits on the hooks. Every object detected +in the outer space to be investigated immediately--if vessels, they are +to be warned to stay beyond extreme range. Anything entering the fourth +zone is to be rayed." + +"Right--we are going through!" + +"But no known type of vessel could have made away with them without +detection," the second officer argued. "I wonder if there isn't +something in those wild rumors we've been hearing lately?" + + [Illustration: + + Now, systematically and precisely, the great Cone of + Battle was coming into being; a formation developed during + the Jovian Wars while the forces of the Three Planets were + fighting in space.] + +"Bah! Of course not!" snorted the captain. "Pirates in ships faster than +light--fifth order rays--nullification of gravity--mass without +inertia--ridiculous! Proved impossible, over and over again. No, sir, if +pirates are operating in space--and it looks very much like it--they +won't get far against a good big battery full of kilowatt-hours behind +three courses of heavy screen, and a good solid set of multiplex rays. +Properly used, they're good enough for anybody. Pirates, Neptunians, +angels, or devils--in ships or on sunbeams--if they tackle the +_Hyperion_ we'll burn them out of the ether!" + +Leaving the captain's desk, the watch officer resumed his tour of duty. +The six great lookout plates into which the alert observers peered were +blank, their far-flung ultra-sensitive detector screens encountering no +obstacle--the ether was empty for thousands upon thousands of +kilometers. The signal lamps upon the pilot's panel were dark, its +warning bells were silent. A brilliant point of white in the center of +the pilot's closely ruled micrometer grating, exactly upon the +cross-hairs of his directors, showed that the immense vessel was +precisely upon the calculated course, as laid down by the automatic +integrating course-plotters. Everything was quiet and in order. + +"All's well, sir," he reported briefly to Captain Bradley--but all was +not well. + + * * * * * + +Danger--more serious far in that it was not external--was even then, all +unsuspected, gnawing at the great ship's vitals. In a locked and +shielded compartment, deep down in the interior of the liner, was the +great air purifier. Now a man leaned against the primary duct--the aorta +through which flowed the stream of pure air supplying the entire vessel. +This man, grotesque in full panoply of space armor, leaned against the +duct, and as he leaned a drill bit deeper and deeper into the steel wall +of the pipe. Soon it broke through, and the slight rush of air was +stopped by the insertion of a tightly fitting rubber tube. The tube +terminated in a heavy rubber balloon, which surrounded a frail glass +bulb. The man stood tense, one hand holding before his silica-and-steel +helmeted head a large pocket chronometer, the other lightly grasping the +balloon. A sneering grin was upon his face as he awaited the exact +second of action--the carefully pre-determined instant when his right +hand, closing, would shatter the fragile flask and force its contents +into the primary air stream of the _Hyperion_! + + * * * * * + +Far above, in the main saloon, the regular evening dance was in full +swing. The ship's orchestra crashed into silence, there was a patter of +applause and Clio Marsden, radiant belle of the voyage, led her partner +out into the promenade and up to one of the observation plates. + +"Oh, we can't see the earth any more!" she exclaimed. "Which way do you +turn this, Mr. Costigan?" + +"Like this," and Conway Costigan, burly young first officer of the +liner, turned the dials. "There--this plate is looking back, or down, at +Tellus; this other one is looking ahead." + +Earth was a brilliantly shining crescent far beneath the flying vessel. +Above her, ruddy Mars and silvery Jupiter blazed in splendor ineffable +against a background of utterly indescribable blackness--a background +thickly besprinkled with dimensionless points of dazzling brilliance +which were the stars. + +"Oh, isn't it wonderful!" breathed the girl, awed. "Of course, I suppose +that it's old stuff to you, but I--a ground-gripper, you know, and I +could look at it forever, I think. That's why I want to come out here +after every dance. You know, I ..." + +Her voice broke off suddenly, with a queer, rasping catch, as she seized +his arm in a frantic clutch and as quickly went limp. He stared at her +sharply, and understood instantly the message written in her eyes--eyes +now enlarged, staring hard, brilliant, and full of soul-searing terror +as she slumped down, helpless but for his support. In the act of +exhaling as he was, lungs almost entirely empty, yet he held his breath +until he had seized the microphone from his belt and had snapped the +lever to "emergency." + +"Control room!" he gasped then, and every speaker throughout the great +cruiser of the void blared out the warning as he forced his already +evacuated lungs to absolute emptiness. "Vee-Two Gas! Get tight!" + +Writhing and twisting in his fierce struggle to keep his lungs from +gulping in a draft of that noxious atmosphere, and with the unconscious +form of the girl draped limply over his left arm, Costigan leaped toward +the portal of the nearest lifeboat. Orchestra instruments crashed to the +floor and dancing couples fell and sprawled inertly while the tortured +First Officer swung the door of the lifeboat open and dashed across the +tiny room to the air-valves. Throwing them wide open, he put his mouth +to the orifice and let his laboring lungs gasp their eager fill of the +cold blast roaring from the tanks. Then, air-hunger partially assuaged, +he again held his breath, broke open the emergency locker, donned one of +the space-suits always kept there, and opened its valves wide in order +to flush out of his uniform any lingering trace of the lethal gas. + +He then leaped back to his companion. Shutting off the air, he released +a stream of pure oxygen, held her face in it, and made shift to force +some of it into her lungs by compressing and releasing her chest against +his own body. Soon she drew a spasmodic breath, choking and coughing, +and he again changed the gaseous stream to one of pure air, speaking +urgently as she showed signs of returning consciousness. Now, it was +Clio Marsden's life. + +"Stand up!" he snapped. "Hang onto this brace and keep your face in this +air-stream until I get a suit around you! Got me?" + +She nodded weakly, and, assured that she could now hold herself at the +valve, it was the work of only a minute to encase her in one of the +protective coverings. Then, as she sat upon a bench, recovering her +strength, he flipped on the lifeboat's visiphone projector and shot its +invisible beam up into the control room, where he saw space-armored +figures furiously busy at the panels. + +"Dirty work at the cross-roads!" he blazed to his captain, man to +man--formality disregarded, as it so often was in the Triplanetary +service. "There's skulduggery afoot somewhere in our primary air! Maybe +that's the way they got those other two ships--pirates! Might have been +a timed bomb--don't see how anybody could have stowed away down there +through the inspections, and nobody but Franklin can neutralize the +shield of the air-room--but I'm going to look around, anyway. Then I'll +join you fellows up there." + +"What was it?" the shaken girl asked. "I think that I remember your +saying 'Vee-Two gas.' That's forbidden! Anyway, I owe you my life, +Conway, and I'll never forget it--never. Thanks--but the others--how +about all the rest of us?" + +"It was Vee-Two, and it is forbidden," Costigan replied grimly, eyes +fast upon the flashing plate, whose point of projection was now deep in +the bowels of the vessel. "The penalty for using it or having it is +death on sight. Gangsters and pirates use it, since they have nothing to +lose, being on the death list already. As for your life, I haven't saved +it yet--you may wish I'd let it ride before we get done. The others are +too far gone for oxygen--couldn't have brought even you around a few +seconds later, quick as I got to you. But there's a sure antidote--we +all carry it in a lock-box in our armor--and we all know how to use it, +because crooks all use Vee-Two and so we're always expecting it. But +since the air will be pure again in half an hour we'll be able to revive +the others easily enough if we can get by with whatever is going to +happen next. There's the bird that did it, right in the air-room! It's +the chief engineer's suit, but that isn't Franklin that's in it. Some +passenger--disguised--slugged the chief--took his suit and +projectors--hole in duct--p-s-s-t! All washed out! Maybe that's all he +was scheduled to do to us in this performance, but he'll do nothing else +in this life!" + +"Don't go down there!" protested the girl. "His armor is _so_ much +better than that emergency suit you are wearing, and he's got Mr. +Franklin's Lewiston, besides!" + +"Don't be an idiot!" he snapped. "We can't have a live pirate +aboard--we're going to be altogether too busy with outsiders directly. +Don't worry, I'm not going to give him a break. I'm taking a Standish +and I'll rub him out like a blot. Stay right here until I come back +after you," he commanded, and the heavy, vacuum insulated door of the +lifeboat clanged shut behind him as he leaped out into the promenade. + +Straight across the saloon he made his way, paying no attention to the +inert forms scattered here and there. Going up to a blank wall, he +manipulated an almost invisible dial set flush with its surface, swung a +heavy door aside, and lifted out the Standish--a fearsome weapon. Squat, +huge, and heavy, it resembled somewhat an overgrown machine rifle, but +one possessing a thick, short telescope, with several opaque condensing +lenses and parabolic reflectors. Laboring under the weight of the thing, +he strode along corridors and clambered heavily down short stairways. +Finally he came to the purifier room, and grinned savagely as he saw the +greenish haze of light obscuring the door and walls--the shield was +still in place; the pirate was still inside, still flooding with the +terrible Vee-Two the _Hyperion's_ primary air. + +He set his peculiar weapon down, unfolded its three massive legs, +crouched down behind it and threw in a switch. Dull red beams of +frightful intensity shot from the reflectors and sparks, almost of +lightning proportions, leaped from the shielding screen under their +impact. Roaring and snapping, the conflict went on for seconds; then, +under the superior force of the Standish, the greenish radiance gave +way. Behind it the metal of the door ran the gamut of color--red, +yellow, blinding whiter--then literally exploded; molten, vaporized, +burned away. Through the aperture thus made Costigan could plainly see +the pirate in the space-armor of the chief engineer--an armor which was +proof against rifle fire and which could reflect and neutralize for some +little time even the terrific beam Costigan was employing. Nor was the +pirate unarmed--a vicious flare of incandescence leaped from his +Lewiston, to spend its force in spitting, crackling pyrotechnics against +the ether-wall of the squat and monstrous Standish. But Costigan's +infernal machine did not rely only upon vibratory destruction. At almost +the first flash of the pirate's weapon the officer touched a trigger; +there was a double report, ear-shattering in that narrowly confined +space; and the pirate's body literally flew into mist as a half-kilogram +shell tore through his armor and exploded. Costigan shut off his beam, +and, with not the slightest softening of one hard lineament, stared +around the air-room; making sure that no serious damage had been done to +the vital machinery of the air-purifier--the very lungs of the great +space-ship. + +Dismounting the Standish, he lugged it back up to the main saloon, +replaced it in its safe and again set the combination lock. Thence to +the lifeboat, where Clio cried out in relief as she saw that he was +unhurt. + +"Oh, Conway, I've been so afraid something would happen to you!" she +exclaimed, as he led her rapidly upward toward the control room. "Of +course you...." she paused. + +"Sure," he replied, laconically. "Nothing to it. How do you feel--about +back to normal?" + +"All right, I think, except for being scared to death and just about out +of control. I don't suppose that I'll be good for anything, but whatever +I can do, count me in on." + +"Fine--you may be needed, at that. Everybody's out, apparently, except +those who, like me, had a warning and could hold their breath until they +got to their suits." + +"But how did you know what it was? You can't see it, nor smell it, nor +anything." + +"You inhaled a second before I did, and I saw your eyes. I've been in it +before--and when you see a man get a jolt of that stuff just once, you +never forget it. The engineers down below got it first, of course--it +must have wiped them out. Then we got it in the saloon. Your passing out +warned me, and luckily I had enough breath left to give the word. Quite +a few of the fellows up above should have had time to get away--we'll +see 'em all in the control room." + +"I suppose that was why you revived me--in payment for so kindly warning +you of the gas attack?" The girl laughed; shaky, but game. + +"Something like that, probably," he answered, lightly. "Here we are--now +we'll soon find out what's going to happen next." + +In the control room they saw at least a dozen armored figures; not now +rushing about, but seated at their instruments, tense and ready. +Fortunate it was that Costigan--veteran of space as he was, though young +in years--had been down in the saloon; fortunate that he had been +familiar with that horrible outlawed gas; fortunate that he had had the +presence of mind enough and sheer physical stamina enough to send his +warning without allowing one paralyzing trace to enter his own lungs. +Captain Bradley, the men on watch, and several other officers in their +quarters or in the wardrooms--space-hardened veterans all--had obeyed +instantly and without question the amplifiers' gasped command to "get +tight." Exhaling or inhaling, their air-passages had snapped as that +dread "Vee-Two" was heard, and they had literally jumped into their +armored suits of space--flushing them out with volume after volume of +unquestionable air; holding their breath to the last possible second, +until their straining lungs could endure no more. + +Costigan waved the girl to a vacant bench, cautiously changed into his +own armor from the emergency suit he had been wearing, and approached +the captain. + +"Anything in sight, sir?" he asked, saluting. "They should have started +something before this." + +"They've started, but we can't locate them. We tried to send out a +general sector alarm, but that had hardly started when they blanketed +our wave. Look at that!" + +Following the captain's eyes, Costigan stared at the high powered set of +the ship's operator. Upon the plate, instead of a moving, living, +three-dimensional picture, there was a flashing glare of blinding white +light; from the speaker, instead of intelligible speech, was issuing a +roaring, crackling stream of noise. + +"It's impossible!" Bradley burst out, violently. "There's not a gram of +metal inside the fourth zone--within a hundred thousand kilometers--and +yet they must be close to send such a wave as that. But the Second +thinks not--what do you think, Costigan?" The bluff commander, +reactionary and of the old school as was his breed, was +furious--baffled, raging inwardly to come to grips with the invisible +and undetectable foe. Face to face with the inexplicable, however, he +listened to the younger men with unusual tolerance. + +"It's not only possible; it's quite evident that they've got something +we haven't." Costigan's voice was bitter. "But why shouldn't they have? +Service ships never get anything until it's been experimented with for +years, but pirates and such always get the new stuff as soon as it's +discovered. The only good thing I can see is that we got part of a +message away, and the scouts can trace that interference out there. But +the pirates know that, too--it won't be long now," he concluded, grimly. + +He spoke truly. Before another word was spoken the outer screen flared +white under a beam of terrific power, and simultaneously there appeared +upon one of the lookout plates a vivid picture of the pirate vessel--a +huge, black globe of steel, now emitting flaring offensive beams of +force. Her invisibility lost, now that she had gone into action, she lay +revealed in the middle of the first zone--at point-blank range. + +Instantly the powerful weapons of the _Hyperion_ were brought to bear, +and in the blast of full-driven beams the stranger's screens flamed +incandescent. Heavy guns, under the recoil of whose fierce salvos, the +frame of the giant globe trembled and shuddered, shot out their tons of +high-explosive shell. But the pirate commander had known accurately the +strength of the liner, and knew that her armament was impotent against +the forces at his command. His screens were invulnerable, the giant +shells were exploded harmlessly in mid-space, miles from their +objective. And suddenly a frightened pencil of flame stabbed brilliantly +from the black hulk of the enemy. Through the empty ether it tore, +through the mighty defensive screens, through the tough metal of the +outer and inner walls. Every ether-defence of the _Hyperion_ vanished, +and her acceleration dropped to a quarter of its normal value. + +"Right through the battery room!" Bradley groaned. "We're on the +emergency drive now. Our rays are done for, and we can't seem to put a +shell anywhere near her with our guns!" + +But ineffective as the guns were, they were silenced forever as a +frightful beam of destruction stabbed relentlessly through the control +room, whiffing out of existence the pilot, gunnery, and lookout panels +and the men before them. The air rushed into space, and the suits of the +three survivors bulged out into drumhead tightness as the pressure in +the room decreased. + +Costigan pushed the captain lightly toward a wall, then seized the girl +and leaped in the same direction. + +"Let's get out of here, quick!" he cried, the miniature radio +instruments of the helmets automatically taking up the duty of +transmitting speech as the sound disks refused to function. "They can't +see us--our ether wall is still up and their spy-sprays can't get +through it from the outside, you know. They're working from blue-prints, +and they'll probably take your desk next," and even as they bounded +toward the door, now become the outer seal of an airlock, the +annihilating ray tore through the space which they had just quitted in +their flight. + +Through the airlock, down through several levels of passengers' quarters +they hurried, and into a lifeboat, whose one doorway commanded the full +length of the third lounge--an ideal spot, either for defense or for +escape outward by means of the miniature cruiser. As they entered their +retreat they felt their weight begin to increase. More and more force +was applied to the helpless liner, until it was moving at normal +acceleration. + +"What do you make of that, Costigan?" asked the captain. "Tractor +beams?" + +"Apparently. They've got something, all right. They're taking us +somewhere, fast. I'll go get a couple of Standishes, and another suit of +armor--we'd better dig in," and soon the small room became a veritable +fortress, housing as it did, those two formidable engines of +destruction. Then the first officer made another and longer trip, +returning with a complete suit of triplanetary space armor, exactly like +those worn by the two men, but considerably smaller. + +"Just as an added factor of safety, you'd better put this on, +Clio--those emergency suits aren't good for much in a battle. I don't +suppose that you ever fired a Standish, did you?" + +"No, but I can soon learn how to do it," she replied, pluckily. + +"Two is all that can work here at once, but you should know how to take +hold in case one of us goes out. And while you're changing suits you'd +better put on some stuff I've got here--Service special phones and +detectors. Stick this little disk onto your chest with this bit of tape; +low down, out of sight. Just under your wishbone is the best place. Take +off your wrist-watch and wear this one _continuously_--never take it off +for a second. Put on these pearls, and wear them all the time, too. Take +this capsule and hide it against your skin, some place where it can't be +found except by the most rigid search. Swallow it in an emergency--it +goes down easily and works just as well inside as outside. It is the +most important thing of all--you can get along with it alone if you lose +everything else, but without that capsule the whole system's shot to +pieces. With that outfit, if we should get separated, you can talk to +us--we're both wearing 'em, although somewhat different forms. You don't +need to talk loud--just a mutter will be enough. They're handy little +outfits, almost impossible to find, and capable of a lot of things." + +"Thanks, Conway--I'll remember that, too," Clio replied, as she turned +toward the tiny locker to follow his instructions. "But won't the scouts +and patrols be catching us pretty quick? The operator sent a warning." + +"Afraid the ether's empty, as far as we're concerned. They could +neutralize our detector screens, and the scouts' detectors are the same +as ours." + +Captain Bradley had stood by in silent astonishment during this +conversation. His eyes had bulged slightly at Costigan's "we're both +wearing 'em," but he had held his peace and as the girl disappeared a +look of dawning comprehension came over his face. + +"Oh, I see, sir," he said, respectfully--far more respectfully than he +had ever before addressed a mere first officer. "Meaning that we both +_will be_ wearing them shortly, I assume. 'Service Specials'--but you +didn't specify exactly _what_ Service, did you?" + +"Now that you mention it, I don't believe that I did," Costigan grinned. + +"That explains several things about you--particularly your recognition +of Vee-Two and your uncanny control and speed of reaction. But aren't +you...." + +"No," Costigan interrupted, positively. "This situation is apt to get +altogether too serious to overlook any bets. If we get away, I'll take +them away from her and she'll never know that they aren't routine +equipment in the Triplanetary Service. As for you, I know that you can +and do keep your mouth shut. That's why I'm hanging this junk on you--I +had a lot of stuff in my kit, but I flashed it all with the Standish, +except what I brought in here for us three. Whether you think so or not, +we're in a real jam--our chance of getting away is mightly close to +zero. Now that I've gone this far, I might as well tell you that I don't +believe these birds are pirates at all, in the ordinary sense of the +word. And it may be possible that they're after me, but I don't think +so--we've covered up too...." + +He broke off as the girl came back, now to all appearances a small +Triplanetary officer, and the three settled down to a long and eventless +wait. Hour after hour they flew through the ether, but finally there was +a lurching swing and an abrupt increase in their acceleration. After a +short consultation Captain Bradley turned on the visiray set and, with +the beam at its minimum power, peered cautiously downward, in the +direction opposite to that in which he knew the pirate vessel must be. +All three stared into the plate, seeing only an infinity of emptiness, +marked only by the infinitely remote and coldly brilliant stars. While +they stared into space a vast area of the heavens was blotted out and +they saw, faintly illuminated by a peculiar blue luminescence, a vast +ball--a sphere so large and so close that they seemed to be dropping +downward toward it as though it were a world! They came to a +stop--paused, weightless--a vast door slid smoothly aside--they were +drawn _upward_ through an airlock and floated quietly in the air above a +small, but brightly-lighted and orderly city of metallic buildings! +Gently the _Hyperion_ was lowered, to come to rest in the embracing arms +of a regulation landing cradle. + +"Well, wherever it is, we're here," remarked Captain Bradley, grimly. + +"And now the fireworks start," assented Costigan, with a questioning +glance at the girl. + +"Don't mind me," she answered his unspoken question. "I don't believe in +surrendering, either." + +"Right," and both men squatted down behind the ether-walls of their +terrific weapons; the girl prone behind them. + +They had not long to wait. A group of human beings--men and to all +appearance Americans--appeared unarmed in the little lounge. As soon as +they were well inside the room, Bradley and Costigan released upon them +without compunction the full power of their frightful projectors. From +the reflectors, through the doorway, there tore a concentrated double +beam of pure destruction--but that beam did not reach its goal. Yards +from the men it met a screen of impenetrable density. Instantly the +gunners pressed their triggers and a stream of high-explosive shells +issued from the roaring weapons. But shells, also, were futile. They +struck the shield and vanished--vanished without exploding and without +leaving a trace to show that they had ever existed. + +Costigan sprang to his feet, but before he could launch his intended +attack a vast tunnel appeared beside him--an annihilating ray had swept +through the entire width of the liner, cutting instantly a smooth +cylinder of emptiness. Air rushed in to fill the vacuum, and the three +visitors felt themselves seized by invisible forces and drawn into the +tunnel. Through it they floated, up to and over the buildings, finally +slanting downward toward the door of a great high-powered structure. +Doors opened before them and closed behind them, until at last they +stood upright in a room which was evidently the office of a busy +executive. They faced a desk which, in addition to the usual equipment +of the business man, carried a bewilderingly complete switchboard and +instrument panel. + +Seated impassively at the desk there was a gray man. Not only was he +dressed entirely in gray, but his heavy hair was gray, his eyes were +gray, and even his tanned skin seemed to give the impression of grayness +in disguise. His overwhelming personality radiated an aura of +grayness--not the gentle gray of the dove, but the resistless, driving +gray of the super-dreadnaught; the hard, inflexible, brittle gray of the +fracture of high-carbon steel. + +"Captain Bradley, First Officer Costigan, Miss Marsden," the man spoke +quietly, but crisply. "I had not intended you two men to live so long. +That is a detail, however, which we will pass by for the moment. You may +remove your suits." + +Neither officer moved, but both stared back at the speaker +unflinchingly. + +"I am not accustomed to repeating instructions," the man at the desk +continued; voice still low and level, but instinct with deadly menace. +"You may choose between removing those suits and dying in them, here and +now." + +Costigan moved over to Clio and slowly took off her armor. Then, after a +flashing exchange of glances and a muttered word, the two officers threw +off their suits simultaneously and fired at the same instant; Bradley +with his Lewiston, Costigan with a heavy automatic pistol whose bullets +were explosive shells of tremendous power. But the man in gray, +surrounded by an impenetrable wall of force, only smiled at the +fusillade, tolerantly and maddeningly. Costigan leaped fiercely, only to +be hurled backward as he struck that unyielding, invisible wall. A +vicious beam snapped him back into place, the weapons were snatched +away, and all three captives were held in their former positions. + +"I permitted that, as a demonstration of futility," the gray man said, +his hard voice becoming harder, "but I will permit no more foolishness. +Now I will introduce myself. I am known as Roger. You probably have +heard nothing of me yet but you will--if you live. Whether or not you +two live depends solely upon yourselves. Being something of a student of +men, I fear that you will both die shortly. Able and resourceful as you +have just shown yourselves to be, you could be valuable to me, but you +probably will not--in which case you shall, of course, cease to exist. +That, however, in its proper time--you shall be of some slight service +to me in the process of being eliminated. In your case, Miss Marsden, I +find myself undecided between two courses of action; each highly +desirable, but unfortunately mutually exclusive. Your father will be +glad to ransom you at an exceedingly high figure, but, in spite of that +fact, I may decide to keep you for--well, let us say for certain +purposes." + +"Yes?" Clio rose magnificently to the occasion. Fear forgotten, her +courageous spirit flashed from her clear, young eyes and emanated from +her slender, rounded young body, erect in defiance. "Since I am a +captive, you can of course do anything you please with me up to a +certain point--but no further, believe me!" + +With no sign of having heard her outburst Roger pressed a button and a +tall, comely woman, appeared--a woman of indefinite age and of uncertain +nationality. + +"Show Miss Marsden to her apartment," he directed, and as the two women +went out a man came in. + +"The cargo is unloaded, sir," the newcomer reported. "The two men and +the five women indicated have been taken to the hospital," was the +report of the man. + +"Very well, dispose of the others in the usual fashion." The minion went +out, and Roger continued, emotionlessly: + +"Collectively, the other passengers may be worth a million or so, but it +would not be worth while to waste time upon them." + +"What are you, anyway?" blazed Costigan, helpless but enraged beyond +caution. "I have heard of mad scientists who tried to destroy the earth, +and of equally mad geniuses who thought themselves Napoleons capable of +conquering even the Solar System. Whichever you are, you should know +that you can't get away with it." + +"I am neither. I am, however, a scientist, and I direct many other +scientists. I am not mad. You have undoubtedly noticed several peculiar +features of this place?" + +"Yes, particularly the artificial gravity, which has always been +considered impossible, and those screens. An ordinary ether-wall is +opaque in one direction, and doesn't bar matter--yours are transparent +both ways and something more than impenetrable to matter. How do you do +it?" + +"You could not understand them if I explained them to you, and they are +merely two of our smaller developments. I have no serious designs upon +the earth nor upon the Solar System, nor have I any desire to rule over, +or to control the destinies of masses of futile and brainless men. I +have, however, certain ends of my own in view. To accomplish my plans I +require hundreds of millions in gold, other hundreds of millions in +platinum and noble metal, and some five kilograms of the bromide of +radium--all of which I shall take from the planets of this Solar System +before I leave it. I shall take them in spite of the puerile efforts of +the fleets of your Triplanetary League. + +"This structure, floating in a planetary orbit, was designed by me and +built under my direction. It is protected from meteorites by certain +forces of my devising. It is undetectable and invisible--your detectors +do not touch it and light-waves are bent around it without loss or +distortion. I am discussing these points at such length so that you may +realize exactly your position. As I have intimated, you can be of +assistance to me if you will." + +"Now just what could you offer any _man_ to make him join your outfit?" +demanded Costigan, venomously. + +"Many things." Roger's cold tone betrayed no emotion, no recognition of +Costigan's open and bitter contempt. "I have under me many men, bound to +me by many ties. Needs, wants, longings and desires differ from man to +man, and I can satisfy practically any of them. Personally, I take +delight in the society of young and beautiful women, and many men have +that same taste; but there are other urges which I have found quite +efficient. Greed, thirst for fame, longing for power, and so on, +including many qualities usually regarded as 'noble.' And what I +promise, I deliver. I demand only loyalty to me, and that only in +certain things and for a relatively short period. In all else, my men do +as they please. In conclusion, I can use you two conveniently, but I do +not need you. Therefore you may choose now between my service and--the +alternative." + +"Exactly what is the alternative?" + +"We will not go into that. Suffice it to say that it has to do with a +minor research, which is not progressing satisfactorily. It will result +in your extinction, and perhaps I should mention that that extinction +will not be particularly pleasant." + +"I say NO, you...." Bradley roared. He intended to give an unexpurgated +classification, but was rudely interrupted. + +"Hold on a minute!" snapped Costigan. "How about Miss Marsden?" + +"She has nothing to do with this discussion," returned Roger, icily. "I +do not bargain--in fact, I believe that I shall keep her for a time. She +has it in mind to destroy herself, if I do not allow her to be ransomed, +but she will find that door closed to her until I permit it to open." + +"In that case, I string along with the Chief--take what he started to +say about you and run it clear across the board for me!" barked +Costigan. + +"Very well. That decision was to be expected from men of your type." The +gray man touched two buttons and two of his creatures entered the room. +"Put these men into separate cells on the second level," he ordered. +"Search them to the skin: all their weapons may not have been in their +armor. Seal the doors and mount special guards, tuned to me here." + +Imprisoned they were, and carefully searched; but they bore no arms, and +nothing had been said or thought of communicators. Even if such +instruments could be concealed, Roger would detect their use instantly. +At least, so would have run his thought had the subject entered his +mind. But even Roger had no inkling of the possibility of Costigan's +"Service Special" phones, detectors and spy-ray--instruments of minute +size and of infinitesimal power, but yet instruments which, working as +they were, below the level of the ether, were effective at great +distances and caused no vibrations in the ether by which their use could +be detected. And what could be more innocent than the regulation, +personal equipment of every officer of space? The heavy goggles, the +wrist-watch and its supplementary pocket chronometer, the flash-lamp, +the automatic lighter, the sender, the money-belt? + +All these items of equipment were examined with due care; but the +cleverest minds of Triplanetary's Secret Service had designated those +communicators to pass any ordinary search, however careful, and when +Costigan and Bradley were finally locked into the designated cells, they +still possessed their ultra-instruments. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + In Roger's Planetoid + + +In the hall Clio glanced around her wildly, her bosom heaving, eyes +darting here and there, seeking even the narrowest avenue of escape. +Before she could act, however, her body was clamped inflexibly, as +though in a vise, and she struggled, motionless. + +"It is useless to attempt to escape, or to do anything except what Roger +wishes," the guide informed her somberly, snapping off the instrument in +her hand and thus restoring to the thoroughly cowed girl her freedom of +motion. + +"His lightest wish is law," she continued as they walked down a long +corridor. "The sooner you realize that you must do exactly as he +pleases, in all things, the easier your life will be." + +"But I wouldn't _want_ to keep on living!" Clio declared, with a flash +of spirit. "And I can _always_ die, you know." + +"You will find that you cannot," the passionless creature returned, +monotonously. "If you do not yield, you will long and pray for death, +but you will not die unless Roger wills it. I was like you once. I also +struggled, and I became what I am now--whatever it is. Here is your +apartment. You will stay here until Roger gives further orders +concerning you." + +The living automaton opened a door and stood silent and impassive, while +Clio, staring at her in unutterable horror, shrank past her and into the +sumptuously furnished suite. The door closed soundlessly and utter +silence descended as a pall. Not an ordinary silence, but the +indescribable perfection of the absolute, complete absence of all sound. +In that silence Clio stood motionless. Tense and rigid, hopeless, +despairing, she stood there in that magnificent room, fighting an almost +overwhelming impulse to scream. Suddenly she heard the cold voice of +Roger, speaking from the empty air. + +"You are over-wrought, Miss Marsden. You can be of no use to yourself or +to me in that condition. I command you to rest; and, to insure that +rest, you may pull that cord, which will establish about this room an +ether wall: a wall cutting off even this my voice...." + +The voice ceased as she pulled the cord savagely and threw herself upon +a divan in a torrent of gasping, strangling, but rebellious sobs. Then +again came a voice, but not to her ears. Deep within her, pervading +every bone and muscle, it made itself felt rather than heard. + +"Clio?" it asked. "Don't talk yet...." + +"Conway!" she gasped in relief, every fiber of her being thrilled into +new hope at the deep, well-remembered voice of Conway Costigan. + +"Keep still!" he snapped. "Don't act so happy! He may have a spy-ray on +you. He can't hear me, but he may be able to hear you. When he was +talking to you you must have noticed a sort of rough, sandpapery feeling +under that necklace I gave you? Since he's got an ether-wall around you +the beads are dead now. If you feel anything like that under the +wrist-watch, breathe deeply, twice. If you don't feel anything there, +it's safe for you to talk, as loud as you please. + +"I don't feel a thing, Conway!" she rejoiced. Tears forgotten, she was +her old, buoyant self again. "So that wall _is_ real, after all? I only +about half believed it." + +"Don't trust it too much, because he can cut it off from the outside any +time he wants to. Remember what I told you: that necklace will warn you +of any spy-ray in the ether, and the watch will detect anything below +the level of the ether. It's dead now, of course, since our three phones +are direct-connected; I'm in touch with Bradley, too. Don't be too +scared; we've got a lot better chance that I thought we had." + +"What? You don't mean it!" + +"Absolutely. I'm beginning to think that maybe we've got something he +doesn't know exists--our ultra-wave. Of course I wasn't surprised when +his searchers failed to find our instruments, but it never occurred to +me that I might have a clear field to use them in! I can't quite believe +it yet, but I haven't been able to find any indication that he can even +detect the bands we are using. I'm going to look around over there with +my spy-ray ... I'm looking at you now--feel it?" + +"Yes, the watch feels that way, now." + +"Fine! Not a sign of interference over here, either. I can't find a +trace of ultra-wave--anything below ether-level, you know--anywhere in +the whole place. He's got so much stuff that we've never heard of that I +supposed of course he'd have ultra-wave, too; but if he hasn't, that +gives us the edge. Well, Bradley and I've got a lot of work to do.... +Wait a minute, I just had a thought. I'll be back in about a second." + +There was a brief pause, then the soundless, but clear voice went on: + +"Good hunting! That woman that gave you the blue willies isn't +alive--she's full of the prettiest machinery and communicators you ever +saw!" + +"Oh, Conway!" and the girl's voice broke in an engulfing wave of +thanksgiving and relief. "It was so unutterably horrible, thinking of +what must have happened to her and to others like her!" + +"He's running a colossal bluff, I think. He's good, all right, but he +lacks quite a lot of being omnipotent. But don't get too cocky, either. +Plenty has happened to plenty of women here, and men too--and plenty may +happen to us unless we put out a few jets. Keep a stiff upper lip, and +if you want us, yell. 'Bye!" + +The silent voice ceased, the watch upon Clio's wrist again became an +unobtrusive timepiece, and Costigan, in his solitary cell far below her +tower room, turned his peculiarly goggled eyes toward other scenes. In +his pockets his hands manipulated tiny controls, and through the lenses +of those goggles Costigan's keen and highly-trained eyes studied every +concealed detail of mechanism of the great globe, the while he planned +what must be done. Finally, he took off the goggles and spoke in a low +voice to Bradley, confined in another windowless room across the hall. + +"I think I've got dope enough, Captain. I've found out where he put our +armor and guns, and I've located all the main leads, controls, and +generators. There are no ether-walls around us here, but every door is +shielded, and there are guards outside our doors--one to each of us. +They're robots, not men. That makes it harder, since they're undoubtedly +connected direct to Roger's desk, and will give an alarm at the first +hint of abnormal performance. We can't do a thing until he leaves his +desk. See that black panel, a little below the cord-switch to the right +of your door? That's the conduit cover. When I give you the word, tear +that off and you'll see one red wire in the cable. It feeds the +shield-generator of your door. Break that wire and join me out in the +hall. Sorry I had only one of these ultra-wave spies, but once we're +together it won't be so bad. Here's what I thought we could do," and he +went over in detail the only course of action which his surveys had +shown to be possible. + +"There, he's left his desk!" Costigan exclaimed after the conversation +had continued for almost an hour. "Now as soon as we find out where he's +going, we'll start something ... he's going to see Clio, the swine! This +changes things, Bradley!" His hard voice was a curse. + +"Somewhat!" blazed the captain. "I know how you two have been getting on +all during the cruise. I'm with you, but what can we do?" + +"We'll do something," Costigan declared grimly. "If he makes a pass at +her I'll get him if I have to blow this whole sphere out of space, with +us in it!" + +"Don't do that, Conway." Clio's low voice, trembling but determined, was +felt by both men and both gasped audibly: they had forgotten that there +were three instruments in the circuit. "If there's a chance for you to +get away and do anything about fighting him, don't mind me. Maybe he +only wants to talk about the ransom, anyway." + +"He wouldn't talk ransom to _you_--he's going to talk something else +entirely," Costigan gritted; then his voice changed suddenly. "But say, +maybe it's just as well this way. They didn't find our specials when +they searched us, you know, and we're going to do plenty of damage right +soon now. Roger probably isn't a fast worker--more the cat-and-mouse +type, I'd say--and after we get started he'll have something on his mind +besides you. Think you can stall him off and keep him interested for +about fifteen minutes?" + +"I'm sure I can--I'll do _anything_ to help us, or you, get away from +this horrible...." Her voice ceased as Roger broke the ether-wall of her +apartment and walked toward the divan upon which she crouched in +wide-eyed, helpless, trembling terror. + +"Get ready, Bradley!" Costigan directed tersely. "He's left Clio's +ether-wall off, so that any abnormal signals would be relayed to him +from his desk--he knows that there's no chance of anyone disturbing him +in _that_ room. But I'm holding my beam on that switch--it's as good a +conductor as metal--so that the wall is on, full strength. No matter +what we do now, he can't get a warning. I'll have to hold the beam +exactly on the switch, though, so you'll have to do the dirty work. Tear +out that red wire and kill those two guards. You know how to kill a +robot, don't you?" + +"Yes--break his eye-lenses and his eardrums and he'll stop whatever he's +doing and send out distress calls.... Got 'em both. Now what?" + +"Open my door--the shield switch is to the right." + +Costigan's door flew open and the Triplanetary captain leaped into the +room. + +"Now for our armor!" he cried. + +"Not yet!" snapped Costigan. He was standing rigid, goggled eyes staring +immovably at a spot upon the ceiling. "I can't move a millimeter until +you've closed Clio's ether-wall switch. If I take this ray off it for a +second we're sunk. Five floors up, straight ahead down a +corridor--fourth door on right. When you're at the switch you'll feel my +ray on your watch. Snap it up!" + +"Right!" and the captain leaped away at a pace to be equaled by few men +of half his years. + +Soon he was back, and after Costigan had tested the ether-wall of the +"bridal suite" to make sure that no warning signal from his desk or his +servants could reach Roger within it, the two officers hurried away +toward the room in which their discarded space-armor had been stored. + +"Too bad they don't wear uniforms," panted Bradley, short of breath from +the many flights of stairs. "Might have helped some as disguise." + +"I doubt it--with so many robots around, they've probably got signals +that we couldn't understand, anyway. If we meet anybody it'll mean a +battle. Hold it!" Peering through walls with his spy-ray, Costigan had +seen two men approaching, blocking an intersecting corridor into which +they must turn. "Two of 'em, a man and a robot--the robot's on your +side. We'll wait here, right at the corner--when they round it, take +'em!" And Costigan put away his goggles in readiness for strife. + +All unsuspecting, the two pirates came into view, and as they appeared +the two officers struck. Costigan, on the inside, drove a short, hard +right low into the human pirate's abdomen. The fiercely driven fist sank +to the wrist into the soft tissues and the stricken man collapsed. But +even as the blow landed, Costigan had seen that there was a third enemy, +following close behind the two he had been watching, a pirate who was +even then training a ray projector upon him. Reacting automatically, +Costigan swung his unconscious opponent around in front of him, so that +it was into that insensible body that the vicious ray tore, and not into +his own. Crouching down into the smallest possible compass, he +straightened his powerful body with the lashing force of a mighty steel +spring, hurling the corpse straight at the flaming mouth of the +projector. The weapon crashed to the floor and dead pirate and living +went down in a heap. Upon that heap Costigan hurled himself, feeling for +the enemy's throat. But the pirate had wriggled clear, and countered +with a gouging thrust that would have torn out the eyes of a slower man, +following it up instantly with a savage kick for the groin. No automaton +this, geared and set to perform certain fixed duties with mechanical +precision, but a lithe, strong man in hard training, fighting with every +foul trick known to his murderous ilk. + +But Costigan was no tyro in the art of dirty fighting. Few indeed are +the maiming tricks of foul combat unknown to even the rank and file of +the highly efficient Secret Service of the Triplanetary League; and +Costigan, a Sector Chief of that unknown organization, knew them all. +Not for pleasure, sportsmanship, nor million-dollar purses do those +secret agents use Nature's weapons. They come to grips only when it +cannot possibly be avoided, but when they are forced to fight in that +fashion they go into it with but one grim purpose--to kill, and to kill +in the shortest possible space of time. Thus it was that Costigan's +opening soon came. The pirate launched a particularly vicious kick, the +dreaded "coup de sabot," which Costigan avoided by a lightning shift. It +was a slight shift, barely enough to make the kicker miss, and two +powerful hands closed upon that flying foot in midair like the sprung +jaws of a bear-trap. Closed and twisted viciously, in the same fleeting +instant. There was a shriek, smothered as a heavy boot crashed to its +carefully pre-determined mark: the pirate was out, definitely and +permanently. + +The struggle had lasted scarcely ten seconds, coming to its close just +as Bradley finished blinding and deafening the robot. Costigan picked up +the projector, again donned his spy-ray goggles, and the two hurried on. + +"Nice work, Chief--it must be a gift to rough-house the way you do," +Bradley exclaimed. "That's why you took the live one?" + +"Practice helps some, too! I've been in brawls before, and I'm a lot +younger and maybe some faster than you are," Costigan explained briefly, +penetrant gaze rigidly to the fore as they ran along one corridor after +another. + +Several more guards, both living and mechanical, were encountered on the +way, but they were not permitted to offer any opposition. Costigan saw +them first. In the furious beam of the projector of the dead pirate they +were riven into nothingness, and the two officers sped on to the room +which Costigan had located from afar. The three suits of Triplanetary +space armor had been sealed into a cabinet whose doors Costigan +literally blew off with a blast of force, rather than consume time in +tracing the power leads. + +"I feel like something now!" Costigan, once more encased in his own +armor, heaved a great sigh of relief. "Rough-and-tumble's all right with +one or two, but that generator room is full of grief, and we won't have +any too much stuff as it is. We've got to take Clio's suit along--we'll +carry it down to the door of the power room, drop it there, and pick it +up after we've wrecked the works." + +Contemptuous now of possible guards, the armored pair strode toward the +room which housed the pulsating heart of the immense fortress of space. +Guards were encountered, and captains--officers who signaled frantically +to their chief, since he alone could unleash the frightful forces at his +command, and who profanely wondered at his unwonted silence--but the +enemy beams were impotent against the mighty ether-walls of that armor; +and the pirates, without armor in the security of their own planet as +they were, vanished utterly in the ravening beams of the twin Lewistons. +As they paused before the door of the power room, both men felt Clio's +voice raised in her first and last appeal, an appeal wrung from her +against her will by the extremity of her position. + +"Conway! Hurry! Oh, hurry! I can't last much longer--good-bye, dear!" In +the horror-filled tones both men read clearly the girl's dire extremity. +Each saw plainly a happy, care-free young earth girl, upon her first +trip into space, locked inside an ether-wall with an over-brained, +under-conscienced human machine--a super-intelligent but lecherous and +unmoral mechanism of flesh and blood, acknowledging no authority, ruled +by nothing save his own scientific drivings and the almost equally +powerful urges of his desires and passions! She had fought with every +resource at her command. She had wept and pleaded, she had stormed and +raged, she had feigned submission and had played for time--and her +torment had not touched in the slightest degree the merciless and +gloating brain of the being who called himself Roger. Now his +tantalizing, ruthless cat-play was done, the horrible gray-brown face +was close to hers--she wailed her final despairing message to Costigan +and attacked that hideous face with the fury of a tigress. + +Costigan bit off a bitter imprecation. "Hold him just a second longer, +sweetheart!" he cried, and the power room door vanished. + +Through the great room the two Lewistons swept at full aperture and at +maximum power, two rapidly opening fans of death and destruction. Here +and there a guard, more rapid than his fellows, trained a futile +projector--a projector whose magazine exploded at the touch of that +frightful field of force, liberating instantaneously its thousands upon +thousands of kilowatt-hours of stored-up energy. Through the delicately +adjusted, complex mechanisms the destroying beams tore. At their touch +armatures burned out, high-tension leads volatilized in crashing, +high-voltage sparks, masses of metal smoked and burned in the path of +vast forces now seeking the easiest path to neutralization, delicate +instruments blew up, copper ran in streams like water. As the last +machine subsided into a semi-molten mass of metal the two wreckers, each +grasping a brace, felt themselves become weightless and knew that they +had accomplished the first part of their program. + +Costigan leaped for the outer door. His the task to go to Clio's aid.... +Bradley would follow more slowly, bringing the girl's armor and taking +care of any possible pursuit. As he sailed through the air he spoke. + +"Coming, Clio! All right, girl?" Questioningly, half fearfully. + +"All right, Conway." Her voice was almost unrecognizable, broken in +retching agony. "When everything went crazy he ... found out that the +ether-wall was up ... forgot all about me. He shut it off ... and seemed +to go crazy, too ... he is floundering around like a wild man now.... +I'm trying to keep ... him from ... going down-stairs." + +"Good girl--keep him busy one minute more--he's getting all the warnings +at once and wants to get back to his board. But what's the matter with +you? Did he ... hurt you, after all?" + +"Oh, no; not that. But I'm sick--horribly sick. I'm falling.... I'm so +dizzy I can scarcely see ... my head is breaking up into little pieces +... I just _know_ I'm going to die, Conway! Oh ... oh!" + +"Oh, is _that_ all!" In his sheer relief that they had been in time, +Costigan did not think of sympathizing with Clio's very real present +distress of mind and body. "I forgot that you're a +ground-gripper--that's just a little touch of space-sickness. It'll wear +off directly.... All right, I'm coming! Let go of him and get as far +away from him as you can!" + +He was now in the street. Perhaps two hundred feet distant and a hundred +feet above him was the tower room in which were Clio and Roger. He +sprang directly toward its large window, and as he floated "upward" he +corrected his course and accelerated his pace by firing backward at +various angles with his heavy service pistol, uncaring that at the point +of impact of each of those shells a small blast of destruction erupted. +He missed the window a trifle, but that did not matter--his flaming +Lewiston opened a way for him, partly through the window, partly through +the wall. As he soared through the opening he trained projector and +pistol upon Roger, now almost to the door, noticing as he did so that +Clio was clinging convulsively to a lamp-bracket upon the wall. Door and +wall vanished in the Lewiston's terrific beam, but the pirate stood +unharmed. Neither ravening ray nor explosive shell could harm him--he +had snapped on the protective shield whose generator was always upon his +person. + +But Roger, while not exactly a ground-gripper, did not know how to +handle himself without weight; whereas Costigan, given six walls against +which to push, was even more efficient in weightless combat than when +handicapped by the force of gravitation. Keeping his projector upon the +pirate, he seized the first club to hand--a long, slender pedestal of +metal--and launched himself past the pirate chief. With all the momentum +of his mass and velocity and all the power of his mighty right arm he +swung the bar at the pirate's head. That fiercely driven mass of metal +should have taken Roger's head from his shoulders, but it did not. That +shield of force was utterly rigid and impenetrable; the only effect of +the frightful blow was to set him spinning, end over end, like the +flying baton of an acrobatic drum-major. As the spinning form crashed +against the opposite wall of the room, Bradley floated in, carrying +Clio's armor. Without a word the captain loosened the helpless girl's +grip upon the bracket and encased her in the suit. Then, supporting her +at the window, he held his Lewiston upon the captive's head while +Costigan propelled him toward the opening. Both men knew that Roger's +shield of force must be threatened every instant--that if he were +allowed to release it he probably would bring to bear a hand-weapon even +superior to their own. + +Braced against the wall, Costigan sighted along Roger's body toward the +most distant point of the lofty dome of the artificial planet and gave +him a gentle push. Then, each grasping Clio by an arm, the two officers +shoved mightily with their feet and the three armored forms darted away +toward their only hope of escape--an emergency boat which could be +launched through the shell of the great globe. To attempt to reach the +_Hyperion_ and to escape in one of her lifeboats would have been +useless; they could not have forced the great gates of the main +air-locks and no other exits existed. As they sailed onward through the +air, Costigan keeping the slowly-floating form of Roger enveloped in his +beam, Clio began to recover. + +"Suppose they get their gravity fixed?" she asked, apprehensively. "And +they're raying us and shooting at us!" + +"They may have fixed it already. They undoubtedly have spare parts and +duplicate generators, but if they turn it on the fall will kill Roger +too, and he wouldn't like that. They'll have to get him down with an +airship, and they know that we'll get them as fast as they come up. They +can't hurt us with hand-weapons, and before they can bring up any heavy +stuff they'll be afraid to use it, because we'll be too close to their +shell. + +"I wish we could have brought Roger along," he continued, savagely, to +Bradley. "But you were right, of course--it'd be altogether too much +like a rabbit capturing a wildcat. My Lewiston's about done right now, +and there can't be much left of yours--what he'd do to us would be a sin +and a shame." + +Now at the great wall, the two men heaved mightily upon a lever, the +gate of the emergency port swung slowly open, and they entered the +miniature cruiser of the void. Costigan, familiar with the mechanism of +the craft from careful study from his prison cell, manipulated the +controls. Through gate after massive gate they went, until finally they +were out in open space, shooting toward distant Tellus at the maximum +acceleration of which their small craft was capable. + +Costigan cut the other two phones out of circuit and spoke, his +attention fixed upon some extremely distant point. + +"Samms!" he called, sharply. "Costigan. We're out ... all right ... yes +... sure ... absolutely ... you tell 'em, Sammy; I've got company here." + +Through the sound-disks of their helmets the girl and the captain had +heard Costigan's share of the conversation. Bradley stared at his +erstwhile first officer in amazement, and even Clio had often heard that +mighty, half-mythical name. Surely that bewildering young man must rank +high, to speak so familiarly to Virgil Samms, the all-powerful head of +the space-pervading Secret Service of the Triplanetary League! + +"You've turned in a general call-out," Bradley stated, rather than +asked. + +"Long ago--I've been in touch right along," Costigan answered. "Now that +they know what to look for and know that ether-wave detectors are +useless, they can find it. Every vessel in seven sectors, clear down to +the scout patrols, is concentrating on this point, and the call is out +for all battleships and cruisers afloat. There are enough operatives out +there with ultra-waves to locate that globe, and once they spot it +they'll point it out to all the other vessels." + +"But how about the other prisoners?" asked the girl. "They'll all be +killed, won't they?" + +"Hard telling," Costigan shrugged. "Depends on how things turn out. We +lack a lot of being safe ourselves yet, and it's my personal opinion +that there's going to be a real war." + +"What's worrying me mostly is our own chance," Bradley assented. "They +will chase us, of course." + +"Sure, and they'll have more speed than we have. Depends on how far away +the nearest Triplanetary vessels are. Anyway, we've done everything we +can do--it's in the laps of the gods now." + +Silence fell, and Costigan cut in Clio's phone and came over to the seat +upon which she was reclining, white and stricken--worn out by the +horrible and terrifying ordeals of the last few hours. As he seated +himself beside her she blushed vividly, but her deep blue eyes met his +gray ones steadily. + +"Clio, I ... we ... you ... that is," he flushed hotly and stopped. This +secret agent, whose clear, keen brain no physical danger could cloud; +who had proved over and over again that he was never at a loss in any +emergency, however desperate--this quick-witted officer floundered in +embarrassment like any schoolboy, but continued, doggedly: "I'm afraid +that I gave myself away back there, but...." + +"We gave ourselves away, you mean," she filled in the pause. "I did my +share, but I won't hold you to it if you don't want--but I _know_ that +you love me, Conway!" + +"_Love_ you!" The man groaned, his face lined and hard, his whole body +rigid. "That doesn't half tell it, Clio. You don't need to hold me--I'm +held for life. There never was a woman who meant anything to me before, +and there never will be another. You're the only woman that ever +existed. It isn't that. Can't you see that it's impossible?" + +"Of course I can't--it isn't impossible, at all." She released her +finger shields, four hands met and tightly clasped; and her low voice +thrilled with feeling as she went on: "You love me and I love you. That +is all that matters." + +"I wish it were," Costigan returned bitterly, "but you don't know what +you'd be letting yourself in for. It's who and what you are and who and +what I am that's eating me. You, Clio Marsden, Curtis Marsden's +daughter. Nineteen years old. You think you've been places and done +things. You haven't. You haven't seen or done anything--you don't know +what it's all about. And who am I to love a girl like you? A homeless +space-flea who hasn't been on any planet three weeks in three years. A +hard-boiled egg. A trouble-shooter and a brawler by instinct and +training. A sp...." He bit off the word and went on quickly: "Why, you +don't know me at all, and there's a lot of me that you never _will_ +know--that I can't let you know! You'd better lay off me, girl, while +you can. It'll be best for you, believe me." + +"But I can't Conway, and neither can you," the girl answered softly, a +glorious light in her eyes. "It's too late for that. On the ship it was +just another of those things, but since then we've come really to know +each other, and we're sunk. The situation is out of control, and we both +know it--and neither of us would change it if we could, and you know +that, too. I don't know very much, I admit, but I do know what you +thought you'd have to keep from me, and I admire you all the more for +it. We all honor the Service, Conway dearest--it is only you men who +have made and are keeping the Three Planets fit places to live in--and I +know that Virgil Samms' chief lieutenant would have to be a man in four +thousand million...." + +"What makes you think that?" he demanded sharply. + +"You told me so yourself, indirectly. Who else in the known Universe +could possibly call him 'Sammy'? You are hard, of course, but you must +be so--and I never did like soft men, anyway. And you brawl in a good +cause. You are very much a _man_, my Conway; a real, _real_ man, and I +love you! Now, if they catch us, all right--we'll die together, at +least!" she finished, passionately. + +"You're right, sweetheart, of course," he admitted. "I don't believe +that I _could_ really let you let me go, even though I know you ought +to," and their hands locked together even more firmly than before. "If +we ever get out of this jam I'm going to kiss you, but this is no time +to be taking off your helmet. In fact, I'm taking too many chances with +you in keeping your finger shields off. Snap 'em on, Clio mine; the +pirates ought to be getting fairly close by this time." + +Hands released and armor again tight, Costigan went over to join Bradley +at the control board. + +"How're they coming, Captain?" he asked. + +"Not so good. Quite a ways off yet. At least an hour, I'd say, before a +cruiser can get within range." + +"I'll see if I can locate any of the pirates chasing up. If I do, it'll +be by accident; this little spy-ray isn't good for much except close +work. I'm afraid the first warning we'll have will be when they take +hold of us with a beam or spear us with a ray. Probably a beam, though; +this is one of their emergency lifeboats and they wouldn't want to +destroy it unless they have to. Also, I imagine that Roger wants us +alive pretty badly. He has unfinished business with all three of us, and +I can well believe that his 'not particularly pleasant extinction' will +be even less so after the way we rooked him." + +"I want you to do me a favor, Conway." Clio's face was white with horror +at the thought of facing again that unspeakable creature of gray. "Give +me a gun or something, please. I don't want him to touch me again while +I'm alive." + +"He won't," Costigan assured her, narrow of eye and grim of jaw. He was, +as she had said, hard. "But you don't want a gun. You might get nervous +and use it too soon. I'll take care of you at the last possible moment, +because if he gets hold of us we won't stand a chance of getting away +again." + +For minutes there was silence, Costigan surveying the ether in all +directions with his ultra-wave device. Suddenly he laughed, deeply and +with real enjoyment, and the others stared at him in surprise. + +"No, I'm not crazy," he told them. "This is really funny; it had never +occurred to me that all these pirate ships are invisible to any ether +wave as long as they're using power. I can see them, of course, with +this sub-ether spy, but they can't see us! I knew that they should have +overtaken us before this. I've finally found them. They've passed us, +and are now tacking around, waiting for us to cut off our power for a +minute so that they can see us! They're heading right into the +Fleet--they think they're safe, of course, but what a surprise they've +got coming to them!" + +But it was not only the pirates who were to be surprised. Long before +the pirate ship had come within extreme visibility range of the +Triplanetary Fleet, it lost its invisibility and was starkly outlined +upon the lookout plates of the three fugitives. For a few seconds the +pirate craft seemed unchanged, then it began to glow redly, with a red +that seemed to become darker as it grew stronger. Then the sharp +outlines blurred, puffs of air burst outward, and the metal of the hull +became a viscous, fluid-like something, flowing away in a long, red +streamer into seemingly empty space. Costigan turned his ultra-gaze into +that space and saw that it was actually far from empty. There lay a vast +something, formless and indefinite even to his sub-ethereal vision; a +something into which the viscid stream of transformed metal plunged. +Plunged, and vanished. + +Powerful interference blanketed his ultra-wave and howled throughout his +body; but in the hope that some part of his message might get through he +called Samms, and calmly and clearly he narrated everything that had +just happened. He continued his crisp report, neglecting not the +smallest detail, while their tiny craft was drawn inexorably toward a +redly impermeable veil; continued it until their lifeboat, still intact, +shot through that veil and he found himself unable to move. He was +conscious, he was breathing normally, his heart was beating; but not a +voluntary muscle would obey his will. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Fleet Against Planetoid + + +One of the newest and fleetest of the Law Enforcement Vessels of the +Triplanetary League, the heavy cruiser _Chicago_, of the North American +Division of the Tellurian Contingent, plunged stolidly through +interplanetary vacuum. For five long weeks she had patrolled her +allotted volume of space. In another week she would report back to the +city whose name she bore, where her space-weary crew, worn by their long +"trick" in the awesomely oppressive depths of the limitless void, would +enjoy to the full their fortnight of refreshing planetary leave. + +She was performing certain routine tasks--charting meteorites, watching +for derelicts and other obstructions to navigation, checking in +constantly with all scheduled space-ships in case of need, and so +on--but primarily she was a warship. She was a mighty engine of +destruction, hunting for the unauthorized vessels of whatever power or +planet it was, that had not only defied the Triplanetary League, but +were evidently attempting to overthrow it; attempting to plunge the +Three Planets back into the ghastly sink of bloodshed and destruction +from which they had so recently emerged. Every space-ship within range +of her powerful detectors was represented by two brilliant, slowly +moving points of light; one upon a great micrometer screen, the other in +the "tank"--the immense, three-dimensional, minutely cubed model of the +entire Solar System. + +A brilliantly intense red light flared upon a panel and a bell clanged +brazenly the furious signals of the sector alarm. Simultaneously a +speaker roared forth its message of a ship in dire peril. + +"Sector alarm! N. A. T. _Hyperion_ gassed with Vee-Two. Nothing +detectable in space, but...." + +The half-uttered message was drowned out in a crackling roar of +meaningless noise, the orderly signals of the bell became a hideous +clamor, and the two points of light which had marked the location of the +liner disappeared in widely spreading flashes of the same high-powered +interference. Observers, navigators, and control officers were alike +dumfounded. Even the captain, in the shell-proof, shock-proof, and +doubly ray-proof retreat of his conning compartment, was equally at a +loss. No ship or thing could _possibly_ be close enough to be sending +out interfering waves of such tremendous power--yet there they were! + +"Maximum acceleration, straight for the point where the _Hyperion_ was +when her tracers went out," the captain ordered, and through the fringe +of that widespread interference he drove a solid beam, reporting +concisely to G. H. Q. Almost instantly the emergency call-out came +roaring in--every vessel of the Sector, of whatever class or tonnage, +was to concentrate upon the point in space where the ill-fated liner had +last been known to be. + +Hour after hour the great globe drove on at maximum acceleration, +captain and every control officer alert and at high tension. But in the +Quartermaster's Department, deep down below the generator rooms, no +thought was given to such minor matters as the disappearance of a +_Hyperion_. The inventory did not balance, and two Q. M. privates were +trying, profanely, and without much success, to find the discrepancy. + +"Charged cells for model DF Lewistons, none requisitioned, on hand +eighteen thous...." The droning voice broke off short in the middle of a +word and the private stood rigid, in the act of reaching for another +slip, every faculty concentrated upon something, imperceptible to his +companion. + +"Come on, Cleve--snap it up!" the second commanded, but was silenced by +a vicious wave of the listener's hand. + +"What!" the rigid one exclaimed. "Reveal ourselves! Why, it's ... Oh, +all right.... Oh, that's it.... Uh-huh.... I see.... Yes, I've got it +solid. Maybe I'll see you again some time. If not, so long!" + +The inventory sheets fell unheeded from his hand, and his fellow private +stared after him in amazement as he strode over to the desk of the +officer in charge. That officer also stared as the hitherto easy-going +and gold-bricking Cleve saluted briskly, showed him something flat in +the palm of his left hand, and spoke. + +"I've just got some of the funniest orders ever put out, +Lieutenant"--his voice was low and intense--"but they came from 'way, +'way up. I'm to join the brass hats in the Center. You'll know about it +directly, I imagine. Cover me up as much as you can, will you?" And he +was gone. + +Unchallenged he made his way to the control room, and his curt "urgent +report for the Captain" admitted him there without question. But when he +approached the sacred precincts of the Captain's own and inviolate room, +he was stopped in no uncertain fashion by no less a personage than the +Officer of the Day. + +" ... and report yourself under arrest immediately!" the O. D. concluded +his brief but pointed speech. + +"You were right in stopping me, of course," the intruder conceded, +unmoved. "I wanted to get in there without giving everything away, if +possible, but it seems that I can't. Well, I've been ordered by Virgil +Samms to report to the Captain, at once. See this? Touch it!" He held +out a flat, insulated disk, cover thrown back to reveal a tiny golden +meteor, at the sight of which the officer's truculent manner altered +markedly. + +"I've heard of them, of course, but I never saw one before," and the +officer touched the shining symbol lightly with his finger, jerking +backward involuntarily as there shot through his whole body a thrilling +surge of power, shouting into his very bones an unpronounceable +syllable--the password of the Secret Service. "Genuine or not, it gets +you to the Captain. He'll know, and if it's a fake you'll be breathing +space in five minutes." + +Projector at the ready, the Officer of the Day followed Cleve into the +Holy of Holies. There the grizzled four-striper touched the golden +meteor lightly, then drove his piercing gaze deep into the unflinching +eyes of the younger man. But that captain had won his high rank neither +by accident nor by "pull"--he understood at once. + +"It _must_ be an emergency," he growled, half-audibly, still staring at +his lowly Q. M. clerk, "to make Samms uncover his whole organization." +He turned and curtly dismissed the wondering O. D. Then: "All right! Out +with it!" + +"Serious enough so that every one of us afloat has just received orders +to reveal himself to his commanding officer and to anyone else, if +necessary to reach that officer at once--orders never before issued. The +enemy have been located. They have built a base, and have ships better +than our best. Base and ships cannot be seen nor detected by any ether +wave. However, the Service has been experimenting for years with a new +type of communicator beam; and, while pretty crude yet, it was given to +us when the _Dione_ went out without leaving a trace. One of our men was +in the _Hyperion_, managed to stay alive, and has been sending data. I +am instructed to attach my new phone set to one of the universal plates +in your conning room, and to see what I can find." + +"Go to it!" The captain waved his hand and the operative bent to his +task. + +"Commanders of all vessels of the Fleet!" The Headquarters speaker, +receiver sealed upon the wave-length of the Admiral of the Fleet, broke +the long silence. "All vessels, in sectors L to R, inclusive, will +interlock location signals. Some of you have received, or will receive +shortly, certain communications from sources which need not be +mentioned. Those commanders will at once send out red K4 screens. +Vessels so marked will act as temporary flagships. Unmarked vessels will +proceed at maximum to the nearest flagship, grouping about it in +regulation squadron cone in order of arrival. Squadrons most distant +from objective point designated by flagship observers will proceed +toward it at maximum; squadrons nearest it will decelerate or reverse +velocity--that point must not be approached until full Fleet formation +has been accomplished. Heavy and Light Cruisers of all other sectors +inside the orbit of Mars ..." the orders went on, directing the +mobilization of the stupendous forces of the League, so that they would +be in readiness in the highly improbable event of the failure of the +massed power of seven sectors to reduce the pirate base. + +In those seven sectors perhaps a dozen vessels threw out enormous +spherical screens of intense red light, and as they did so their tracer +points upon all the interlocked lookout plates also became ringed about +with red. Toward those crimson markers the pilots of the unmarked +vessels directed their courses at their utmost power; and while the +white lights upon the lookout plates moved slowly toward and clustered +about the red ones--the ultra-instruments of the Secret Service +operatives were probing into space, sweeping the neighborhood of the +computed position of the pirate's stronghold. + +But the object sought was so far away that the small spy-ray sets of the +Secret Service men, intended as they were for close-range work, were +unable to make contact with the invisible planetoid for which they were +seeking. In the captain's sanctum of the _Chicago_, the operative +studied his plate for only a minute or two, then shut off his power and +fell into a brown study, from which he was rudely aroused. + +"Aren't you even going to _try_ to find them?" demanded the captain. + +"No," Cleve returned shortly. "No use--not half enough power or control. +I'm trying to think ... maybe ... say, Captain, will you please have the +Chief Electrician and a couple of radio men come in here?" + +They came, and for hours, while the other ultra-wave men searched the +apparently empty ether with their ineffective beams, the three technical +experts and the erstwhile Quartermaster's clerk labored upon a huge and +complex ultra-wave projector--the three blindly and with doubtful +questions; the one with sure knowledge at least of what he was trying to +do. Finally the thing was done, the crude but efficient graduated +circles were set, and the tubes glowed redly as their solidly massed +output was driving into a tight beam of ultra-vibration. "There it is, +sir," Cleve reported, after some ten minutes of delicate manipulation, +and the vast structure of the miniature world flashed into being upon +his plate. "You may notify the fleet--co-ordinates H 11.62, RA +124-31-16, and Dx about 173.2." + +The report made and the assistants out of the room, the captain turned +to the observer and saluted gravely. + +"We have always known, sir, that the Service had _men_; but I had no +idea that any one man could possibly do, on the spur of the moment, what +you have just done--unless that man happened to be Lyman Cleveland." + +"Oh, it doesn't ..." the observer began, but broke off, muttering +unintelligibly at intervals; then swung the visiray beam toward the +earth. Soon a face appeared upon the plate, the keen but careworn face +of Virgil Samms! + +"Hello, Lyman." His voice came clearly from the speaker, and the Captain +gasped--his ultra-wave observer and sometime clerk was Lyman Cleveland +himself, probably the greatest living expert in beam transmission! "I +knew that you'd do something, if it could be done. How about it--can the +others install similar sets on their ships? I'm betting that they +can't." + +"Probably not," Cleveland frowned in thought. "This is a patchwork +affair, made of gunny-sacks and hay-wire. I'm holding it together by +main strength and awkwardness, and even at that it's apt to go to pieces +any minute." + +"Can you rig it up for photography?" + +"I think so. Just a minute--yes, I can. Why?" + +"Because there's something going on out there that neither we nor the +so-called pirates know anything about. The Admiralty seems to think that +it's the Jovians again, but we don't see how it can be--if it is, they +have developed a lot of stuff that none of our agents has even +suspected," and he recounted briefly what Costigan had reported to him, +concluding: "Then there was a burst of interference--on the +_ultra-band_, mind you--and I've heard nothing from him since. Therefore +I want you to stay out of the battle entirely. Stay as far away from it +as you can and still get good pictures of everything that happens. I +will see that orders are issued to the _Chicago_ to that effect." + +"But listen ..." + +"Those are orders!" snapped Samms. "It is of the utmost importance that +we know every detail of what is going to happen. The answer is pictures. +The only possibility of obtaining pictures is that machine you have just +developed. If the fleet wins, nothing will be lost. If the fleet +loses--and I am not half as confident of success as the Admiral is--the +_Chicago_ doesn't carry enough power to decide the issue, and we will +have the pictures to study, which is all-important. Besides, we've +probably lost Conway Costigan to-day, and we don't want to lose _you_, +too." + +Cleveland remained silent, pondering this startling news, but the +grizzled Captain, veteran of the Fourth Jovian War that he was, was not +convinced. + +"We'll blow them out of space, Mr. Samms!" he declared. + +"You just think you will, Captain. I have suggested, as forcibly as +possible, that the general attack be withheld until after a thorough +investigation is made, but the Admiralty will not listen. They see the +advisability of withdrawing a camera ship, but that is as far as they +will go." + +"And that's plenty far enough!" growled the _Chicago's_ commander, as +the beam snapped off. "Mr. Cleveland, I don't like the idea of running +away under fire, and I won't do it without direct orders from the +Admiral." + +"Of course you won't--that's why you are going...." + +He was interrupted by a voice from the Headquarters speaker. The captain +stepped up to the plate and, upon being recognized, he received the +exact orders which had been requested by the Chief of the Secret +Service--now not as secret as it had been heretofore. + +Thus it was that the _Chicago_ reversed her acceleration, cut off her +red screen, and fell rapidly behind, while the vessels following her in +their loose cone formation shot away toward another crimson-flaring +leader. Farther and farther back she dropped, back to the limiting range +of the ultra-cameras upon which Cleveland and his highly trained +assistants were furiously and unremittingly at work. And during all this +time the forces of the seven sectors had been concentrating. The pilot +vessels, with their flaming red screens, each followed by a cone of +space-ships, drew closer and closer together, approaching the +_Fearless_--the British super-dreadnaught which was to be the flagship +of the Fleet--the mightiest and heaviest space-ship which had yet lifted +her stupendous mass into the ether. + +Now, systematically and precisely, the great Cone of Battle was coming +into being; a formation developed during the Jovian Wars while the +forces of the Three Planets were fighting in space for their very +civilizations' existence, and one never used since the last space-fleets +of Jupiter's murderous hordes had been wiped out. + +The mouth of that enormous hollow cone was a ring of scout patrols, the +smallest and most agile vessels of the fleet. Behind them came a +somewhat smaller ring of light cruisers, then rings of heavy cruisers +and of light battleships, and finally of heavy battleships. At the apex +of the cone, protected by all the other vessels of the formation and in +best position to direct the battle, was the flagship. In this formation +every vessel was free to use her every weapon, with a minimum of danger +to her sister ships; and yet, when the gigantic main projectors were +operated along the axis of the formation, from the entire vast circle of +the cone's mouth there flamed a cylindrical field of force of such +intolerable intensity that in it no conceivable substance could endure +for a moment! + +The artificial planet of metal was now close enough so that it was +visible to the ultra-vision of the Secret Service men, so plainly +visible that the warships of the pirates were seen issuing from the +enormous air-locks. As each vessel shot out into space it sped straight +for the approaching fleet without waiting to go into any formation--gray +Roger believed his structures invisible to Triplanetary eyes, thought +that the presence of the fleet was the result of mathematical +calculations, and was convinced that his mighty vessels of the void +would destroy even that vast fleet without themselves becoming known. He +was wrong. The foremost globes were allowed actually to enter the mouth +of that conical trap before an offensive move was made. Then the +vice-admiral in command of the fleet touched a button, and +simultaneously every generator in every Triplanetary vessel burst into +furious activity. Instantly the hollow volume of the immense cone became +a coruscating hell of resistless energy, an inferno which, with the +velocity of light, extended itself into a far-reaching cylinder of +rapacious destruction. Ether-waves they were, it is true, but vibrations +driven with such fierce intensity that the screens of deflection +surrounding the pirate vessels could not handle even a fraction of their +awful power. Invisibility lost, their defensive screens flared briefly; +but even the enormous force backing Roger's inventions, greater far than +that of any single Triplanetary vessel, could not hold off the +incredible violence of the massed attack of the hundreds of mighty +vessels composing the Fleet. Their defensive screens flared briefly, +then went down; their great spherical hulls first glowing red, then +shining white, then in a brief moment exploding into flying masses of +red hot, molten, and gaseous metal. + +A full two-thirds of Roger's force was caught in that raging, +incandescent beam; caught and obliterated: but the remainder did not +retreat to the planetoid. Darting out around the edge of the cone at a +stupendous acceleration, they attacked its flanks and the engagement +became general. But now, since enough beams were kept upon each ship of +the enemy so that invisibility could not be restored, each Triplanetary +war vessel could attack with full efficiency. Magnesium flares and +star-shells illuminated space for a thousand miles, and from every unit +of both fleets was being hurled every item of solid, explosive, and +vibratory destruction known to the highly scientific warfare of that +age. Offensive beams, rods and daggers of frightful power struck and +were neutralized by defensive screens equally capable; the long range +and furious dodging made ordinary solid or high-explosive projectiles +useless; and both sides were filling all space with such a volume of +blanketing frequencies that such radio-dirigible torpedoes as were +launched could not be controlled, but darted madly and erratically +hither and thither, finally to be exploded harmlessly in mid-space by +the touch of some fiercely insistent, probing beam of force. + +Individually, however, the pirate vessels were far more powerful than +those of the fleet, and that superiority soon began to make itself felt. +The power of the smaller ships began to fail as their accumulators +became discharged under the awful drain of the battle, and vessel after +vessel of the Triplanetary fleet was hurled into nothingness by the +concentrated blasts of the pirates' rays. But the Triplanetary forces +had one great advantage. In furious haste the Secret Service men had +been altering the controls of the radio-dirigible torpedoes, so that +they would respond to ultra-wave control; and, few in number though they +were, each was highly effective. + +A hard-eyed observer, face almost against his plate and both hands and +both feet manipulating controls, hurled the first torpedo. Propelling +rockets viciously aflame, it twisted and looped around the incandescent +rods of destruction so thickly and starkly outlined, under perfect +control; unaffected by the hideous distortion of all ether-borne +signals. Through a pirate screen it went, and under the terrific blast +of its detonation one entire panel of the stricken battleship vanished, +crumpled and broken. It should have been out, cold--but, to the +amazement of the observers, it kept on fighting with scarcely lessened +power! Three more of the frightful space-bombs had to be exploded in +it--it had to be reduced to junk--before its terrible rays went out; Not +a man in that great fleet had even an inkling of the truth; that those +great vessels, those terrible engines of destruction, did not contain a +single living creature: that they were manned and fought by automatons; +robots controlled by keen-eyed, space-hardened veterans inside the +planetoid so distant by means of tight, interference-proof communicator +beams! + +But they were to receive an inkling of it. As ship after ship of the +pirate fleet was blown to pieces, Roger realized that his navy was +beaten, and forthwith all his surviving vessels darted toward the apex +of the cone, where the heaviest battleships were stationed. There each +hurled itself upon a Triplanetary warship, crashing to its own +destruction, but in that destruction insuring the loss of one of the +heaviest vessels of the enemy. Thus passed the _Fearless_, and twenty of +the finest space-ships of the fleet as well. But the ranking officer +assumed command, the war-cone was re-formed, and, yawning maw to the +fore, the great formation shot toward the pirate stronghold, now near at +hand. It again launched its stupendous cylinder of annihilation, but +even as the mighty defensive screens of the planetoid flared into +incandescently furious defense, the battle was interrupted and pirates +and Triplanetarians learned alike that they were not alone in the ether. + +Space became suffused with a redly impenetrable opacity, and through +that indescribable pall there came reaching huge arms of force +incredible; writhing, coruscating beams of power which glowed a baleful, +although almost imperceptible, red. A vessel of unheard-of armament and +power, hailing from a distant solar system of the Galaxy, had come to +rest in that space. For months her commander had been investigating sun +after sun in quest of one precious substance. Now his detectors had +found it; and, feeling neither fear of Triplanetarian weapons nor +reluctance to sacrifice those thousands of Triplanetarian lives, he was +about to take it! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + Within the Red Veil + + +Nevia, the home planet of the marauding space-ship, would have appeared +peculiar indeed to Terrestrial senses. High in the deep red heavens a +fervent blue sun poured down its flood of brilliant purplish light upon +a world of water. Not a cloud was to be seen in that flaming sky, and +through that dustless atmosphere the eye could see the horizon--a +horizon three times as distant as the one to which we are +accustomed--with a distinctness and clarity impossible in our Terra's +dust-filled air. As that mighty sun dropped below the horizon the sky +would fill suddenly with clouds and rain would fall violently and +steadily until midnight. Then the clouds would vanish as suddenly as +they had come into being, the torrential downpour would cease, and, +through that huge world's wonderfully transparent, gaseous envelope, the +full glory of the firmament would be revealed. Not the firmament as we +know it--for that hot blue sun and Nevia, her one planet-child, were +many light-years distant from Old Sol and his numerous brood--but a +strange and glorious firmament containing not one constellation familiar +to earthly eyes. + + [Illustration: + + Many bridges and more tubes extended through the air + from building to building, and the watery "streets" teemed + with surface craft, and with submarines.] + +Out of the vacuum of space a fish-shaped vessel of the void--the vessel +that was shortly to attack so boldly both the massed fleet of +Triplanetary and Roger's planetoid--plunged into the rarefied outer +atmosphere, and crimson beams of force tore shriekingly the thin air as +it braked its terrific speed. A third of the circumference of Nevia's +mighty globe was traversed before the velocity of the craft could be +reduced sufficiently to make a landing possible. Then, approaching the +twilight zone, the vessel dived vertically downward, and it became +evident that Nevia was neither entirely aqueous nor devoid of +intelligent life. For the blunt nose of the space-ship was pointing +toward what was evidently a half-submerged city, a city whose buildings +were flat-topped, hexagonal towers, exactly alike in size, shape, color, +and material. These buildings were arranged as the cells of a honeycomb +would be if each cell were separated from its neighbors by a relatively +narrow channel of water, and all were built of the same white metal. +Many bridges and more tubes extended through the air from building to +building, and the watery "streets" teemed with surface craft, and with +submarines. + +The pilot, stationed immediately below the conical prow of the +space-ship, peered intently through the thick windows of crystal-clear +metal which afforded unobstructed vision in every direction except +vertically upward and behind him. His four huge and contractile eyes +were active, each operating independently in sending its own message to +his peculiar but capable brain. One was watching the instruments, the +others scanned narrowly the immense, swelling curve of the ship's belly, +the water upon which his vessel was to land, and the floating dock to +which it was to be moored. Four hands--if hands they could be +called--manipulated levers and wheels with infinite delicacy of touch, +and with scarcely a splash the immense mass of the Nevian sky-wanderer +struck the water and glided to a stop within a foot of its exact berth. + +Four mooring bars dropped neatly into their sockets and the +captain-pilot, after locking his controls in neutral, released his +safety straps and leaped lightly from his padded bench to the floor. +Scuttling across the floor and down a runway upon his four short, +powerful, heavily scaled legs, he slipped smoothly into the water and +flashed away, far below the surface. For Nevians are true amphibians. +Their blood is cold; they use with equal comfort and efficiency gills +and lungs for breathing; their scaly bodies are equally at home in the +water or in the air; their broad, flat feet serve equally well for +running about upon a solid surface or for driving their stream-lined +bodies through the water at a pace few of our fishes can equal. + +Through the water the Nevian commander darted along, steering his course +accurately by means of his short, vaned tail. Through an opening in a +wall he sped and along a submarine hallway, emerging upon a broad ramp. +He scurried up the incline and into an elevator which lifted him to the +top floor of the hexagon, directly into the office of the Secretary of +Commerce of all Nevia. + +"Welcome, Captain Nerado!" The Secretary waved a tentacular arm and the +visitor sprang lightly upon a softly cushioned bench, where he lay at +ease, facing the official across his low, flat "desk." "We congratulate +you upon the success of your final trial flight. We received all your +reports, even while you were traveling with many times the velocity of +light. With the last difficulties overcome, you are now ready to start?" + +"We are ready," the captain-scientist replied, soberly. "Mechanically, +the ship is as nearly perfect as our finest minds can make her. She is +stocked for two years. All the iron-bearing suns within reach have been +plotted. Everything is ready except the iron. Of course the Council +refused to allow us any of the national supply--how much were you able +to purchase for us in the market?" + +"Nearly ten pounds...." + +"Ten pounds! Why, the securities we left with you could not have bought +two pounds, even at the price then prevailing!" + +"No, but you have friends. Many of us believe in you, and have dipped +into our own resources. You and your fellow scientists of the expedition +have each contributed his entire personal fortune; why should not some +of the rest of us also contribute, as private citizens?" + +"Wonderful--we thank you. Ten pounds!" The captain's great triangular +eyes glowed with an intense violet light. "A full year of cruising. But +... what if, after all, we should be wrong?" + +"In that case you shall have consumed ten pounds of irreplaceable +metal." The Secretary was unmoved. "That is the viewpoint of the Council +and of almost everyone else. It is not the waste of treasure they object +to; it is the fact that ten pounds of iron will be forever lost." + +"A high price truly," the Columbus of Nevia assented, "And after all, I +may be wrong." + +"You probably are--of course you are wrong," his host made a startling +answer. "It is practically certain--it is almost a demonstrable +mathematical fact--that no other sun within hundreds of thousands of +light-years of our own has a planet. In all probability Nevia is the +only planet in the entire Universe. We are the only intelligent life in +the Universe. But there is one chance in numberless millions that, +somewhere with the cruising range of your newly perfected space-ship, +there may be an iron-bearing planet upon which you can effect a landing, +and it is upon that infinitesimal chance that some of us are staking a +portion of our wealth. We expect no return whatever, but if you _should_ +by some miracle happen to find stores of iron somewhere in space, what +then? Deep seas being made shallow, civilization extending itself over +the globe, science advancing by leaps and bounds, Nevia becoming +populated as she should be peopled--that, my friend, is a chance well +worth taking!" + +The Secretary called in a group of guards, who escorted the small +package of priceless metal to the space-ship, and before the massive +door was sealed the friends bade each other farewell. + +" ... I will keep in touch with you on the ultra-wave," the Captain +concluded. "After all, I do not blame the Council for refusing to allow +the other ship to go with us. Ten pounds of iron will be a fearful loss +to the world. If we _should_ find iron, however, see to it that the +other vessel loses no time in following us." + +"No fear of that! If you find iron all space will be full of vessels, as +soon as they can possibly be built--good-bye!" + +The last opening was sealed and Nerado shot the great vessel into the +air. Up and up, out beyond the last tenuous trace of atmosphere, on and +on through space it flew with ever-increasing velocity until Nevia's +gigantic blue sun had been left so far behind that it became a splendid +blue-white star. Then, projectors cut off to save the precious iron +whose disintegration furnished them power, for week after week Captain +Nerado and his venturesome crew of scientists drifted idly through the +illimitable void. Sun after sun, as visible in their ultra-instruments +as though the flying vessel were moving slower than light, they studied +without finding a single planet. + +Three months passed. Nerado had already applied the slight power which +was to swing the vessel around in an immense circle, back toward his +native world. In that course he was rapidly approaching a sun, an +ordinary G-type dwarf, whose spectrum revealed a blaze of lines of the +precious element for which he was searching. Now at close observing +range--he had long since abandoned his former eager habit of studying a +sun as soon as it showed the tiniest perceptible disk in his most +powerful telescope--he turned on his powerful visiray beam without +enthusiasm, swung it upon that very commonplace sun, and shrieked aloud +in exultation. Not only one planet had that yellowish luminary--it had +six, seven, eight; yes, possibly nine or ten; and several of those +planets were themselves apparently centers of attraction around which +were circling other tiny worlds! Nerado thrilled with joy as he applied +a full retarding force, and every creature aboard that great vessel had +to peer into a plate or through a telescope, before he could believe +that planets other than Nevia did in reality exist! + +Velocity checked to the merest crawl, as space-speed goes, and with +electro-magnetic detector screens full out, the Nevian vessel crept +toward our sun. Finally the detectors encountered an obstacle, a +conductive substance which the patterns showed conclusively to be +practically pure iron. Iron--an enormous mass of it--floating alone out +in space! Without waiting to investigate the nature, appearance, or +structure of the precious mass, Nerado ordered power into the converters +and drove an enormous softening field of force upon the object--a force +of such a nature that it would condense the metallic iron into an +allotropic modification of much smaller bulk; a red, viscous, extremely +dense and heavy liquid which could be stored conveniently in his tanks. + +No sooner had the precious fluid been stored away than the detectors +again broke into an uproar. In one direction was an enormous mass of +iron, scarcely detectable; in another a great number of smaller masses; +in a third an isolated mass, comparatively small in size. Space seemed +to be full of iron, and Nerado drove his most powerful beam toward +distant Nevia and sent an exultant message. + +"We have found iron--easily obtained and in unthinkable quantity--not in +fractions of milligrams, but in millions upon unmeasured millions of +tons! Send our sister ship here as once!" + +"Nerado!" The captain was called to one of the observation plates as +soon as he had opened his key. "I have been investigating the mass of +iron now nearest us, the small one. It is an artificial structure, a +small space-boat, and there are three creatures in it--monstrosities +certainly, but they must possess some intelligence or they could not be +navigating space." + +"What? Impossible!" exclaimed the chief explorer. "Probably, then, the +other was--but no matter, we had to have the iron. Bring the boat in +without converting it, so that we may study at our leisure both the +beings and their mechanisms," and Nerado swung his own visiray beam into +the emergency boat, seeing there the armored figures of Clio Marsden and +the two Triplanetary officers. + +"They are indeed intelligent," Nerado commented, as he detected and +silenced Costigan's ultra-beam communicator. "Not, however, as +intelligent as I had supposed," he went on, after studying the peculiar +creatures and their tiny space-ship more in detail. "They have immense +stores of iron, yet use it for nothing other than building material. +They apparently have a rudimentary knowledge of ultra-waves, but do not +use them intelligently--they cannot neutralize even these ordinary +forces we are now employing. They are of course more intelligent than +the lower ganoids, or even than some of the higher fishes, but by no +stretch of the imagination can they be compared to us. I am quite +relieved--I was afraid that in my haste I might slay members of a highly +developed race." + +The helpless boat, all her forces neutralized, was brought up close to +the immense flying fish. There flaming knives of force sliced her neatly +into sections and the three rigid armored figures, after being bereft of +their external weapons, were brought through the air-locks and into the +control room, while the pieces of their boat were stored away for future +study. The Nevian scientists first analyzed the air inside the +space-suits of the Terrestrials, then removed without ado the protective +covering of the captives. + +Costigan--fully conscious through it all and now able to move a little, +since the peculiar temporary paralysis was wearing off--braced himself +for he knew not what shock, but it was needless; their grotesque captors +were not torturers. The air, while somewhat less dense than earth's and +of a peculiar odor, was eminently breathable, and even though the vessel +was motionless in space, an almost-normal gravitation gave them a large +fraction of their usual weight. The space suits were removed with care, +and after the three had been relieved of their pistols and other +articles which the Nevians thought might prove to be weapons, the +strange paralysis was lifted entirely. The earthly clothing puzzled the +captors immensely, but so strenuous were the objections raised to its +removal, but they did not press the point, but fell back to study their +find in detail. + +Then faced each other the representatives of the civilizations of two +widely separated solar systems. The Nevians studied the human beings +with interest and curiosity blended largely with loathing and repulsion; +the three Terrestrials regarded the unmoving, expressionless "faces"--if +those coned heads could be said to possess such things--with horror and +disgust, as well as with other emotions, each according to his type and +training. For to human eyes the Nevian is a fearful thing. Even to-day +there are few Terrestrials--or Solarians for that matter--who can look +at a Nevian, eye to eye, without feeling a creeping of the skin and +experiencing a "gone" sensation in the pit of the stomach. The horny, +wrinkled, drought-resisting Martian, whom we all know and rather like, +is a hideous being indeed. The bat-eyed, colorless, hairless, +practically skinless Venerian is worse. But they both are, after all, +remote cousins of Terra's humanity, and we get along with them quite +well whenever we are compelled to visit Mars or Venus. But the Nevians-- + +The horizontal, flat, fish body is not so bad, even supported as it is +by four, short, powerful, scaly, flat-footed legs; and terminating as it +does in the weird, four-vaned tail. The neck, even, is endurable, +although it is long and flexible, heavily scaled, and is carried in +whatever eye-wringing loops, knots, or angles the owner considers most +convenient or ornamental at the time. Even the smell of a Nevian--a +malodorous reek of over-ripe fish--does in time become tolerable, +especially if sufficiently disguised with creosote, which purely +Terrestrial chemical is the most highly prized perfume of Nevia. But the +head! It is that member that makes the Nevian so appalling to earthly +eyes, for it is a thing utterly foreign to all Solarian history or +experience. As most Tellurians already know, it is fundamentally a +massive cone, covered with scales, based spearhead-like upon the neck. +Four great sea-green, triangular eyes are spaced equidistant from each +other about half way up the cone. The pupils are contractile at will, +like the eyes of the cat, permitting the Nevian to see equally well in +any ordinary extreme of light or darkness. Immediately below each eye +springs out a long, jointless, boneless, tentacular arm; an arm which at +its extremity divides into eight delicate and sensitive, but very +strong, fingers. Below each arm is a mouth: a beaked, needle-tusked +orifice of dire potentialities. Finally, under the overhanging edge of +the cone-shaped head are the delicately frilled organs which serve +either as gills or as nostrils and lungs, as may be desired. To other +Nevians the eyes and other features are highly expressive, but to us +they appear utterly cold and unmoving. Terrestrial senses can detect no +changes of expression in a Nevian's "face." Such were the frightful +beings at whom the three prisoners stared with sinking hearts. + +But if we human beings have always considered Nevians grotesque and +repulsive, the feeling has always been mutual. For those "monstrous" +beings are a highly intelligent and extremely sensitive race, and +our--to us--trim and graceful human forms seems to them the very +quintessence of malformation and hideousness. + +"Good Heavens, Conway!" Clio exclaimed, shrinking against Costigan as +his left arm flashed around her. "What monstrosities! And they can't +talk--not one of them has made a sound--suppose they can be deaf and +dumb?" + +But at the same time Nerado was addressing his fellows. + +"What hideous, deformed creatures they are! Truly a low form of life, +even though they do possess some intelligence. They cannot talk, and +have made no signs of having heard our words to them--do you suppose +that they communicate by sight? That those weird contortions of their +peculiarly placed organs serve as speech?" + +Thus both sides, neither realizing that the other had spoken. For the +Nevian voice is pitched so high that the lowest note audible to them is +far above our limit of hearing. The shrillest note of a Terrestrial +piccolo is to them so profoundly low that it cannot be heard. + +"We have much to do." Nerado turned away from the captives. "We must +postpone further study of the specimens until we have taken aboard a +full cargo of the iron which is so plentiful here." + +"What shall we do with them, sir?" asked one of the Nevian officers. +"Lock them in one of the storage rooms?" + +"Oh, no! They might die there, and we must by all means keep them in +good condition, to be studied most carefully by the fellows of the +College of Science. What a commotion there will be when we bring in this +group of strange creatures, living proof that there are other suns +possessing planets; planets which are supporting organic and intelligent +life! You may put them in three communicating rooms, say in the fourth +section--they will undoubtedly require light and exercise. Lock all +exits, of course, but it would be best to leave the doors between the +rooms unlocked, so that they can be together or apart, as they choose. +Since the smallest one, the female, stays so close to the larger male, +it may be that they are mates. But since we know nothing of their habits +or customs, it will be best to give them all possible freedom compatible +with safety." + +Nerado turned back to his instruments and three of the frightful crew +came up to the human beings. One walked away, waving a couple of arms in +an unmistakable signal that the prisoners were to follow him. The three +obediently set out after him, the other two guards falling behind. + +"Now's our best chance!" Costigan muttered, as they passed through a low +doorway and entered a narrow corridor. "Watch that one ahead of you, +Clio--hold him for a second if you can. Bradley, you and I'll take the +two behind us--now!" + +Costigan stopped and whirled. Seizing a cable-like arm, he pulled the +outlandish head down, the while the full power of his mighty right leg +drove a heavy service boot into the place where scaly neck and head +joined. The Nevian fell, and instantly Costigan leaped at the leader, +ahead of the girl. Leaped; but dropped to the floor, again paralyzed. +For the Nevian leader had been alert, his four eyes covering the entire +circle of vision, and he had acted rapidly. Not in time to stop +Costigan's first Berserk attack--the First Officer's reactions were +practically instantaneous, and he moved like chain lightning--but in +time to retain command of the situation. Another Nevian appeared and, +while the stricken guard was recovering, all four arms wrapped tightly +around his convulsively looping, knotting neck, the three helpless +Terrestrials were lifted into the air and carried bodily into the +quarters to which Nerado had assigned them. Not until they had been +placed upon cushions in the middle room and the heavy metal doors had +been locked upon them did they again find themselves able to use arms or +legs. + +"Well, that's another round we lose," Costigan commented, cheerfully. "A +guy can't mix it very well when he can neither kick, strike, nor bite. I +expected those lizards to rough me up, but they didn't." + +"They don't want to hurt us. They want to take us home with them, +wherever that is, as curiosities, like wild animals or something," +decided the girl, shrewdly. "They're pretty bad, of course, but I like +them a lot better than I do Roger and his robots, anyway." + +"I think you have the right idea, Miss Marsden," Bradley rumbled. +"That's it, exactly. I feel like a bear in a cage. I should think you'd +feel worse than ever. What chance has an animal of escaping from a +menagerie?" + +"These animals, lots. I'm feeling better and better all the time," Clio +answered, and her serene bearing bore out her words. "You two got us out +of that horrible place of Roger's, and I'm pretty sure that you will get +us away from here, somehow or other. They may think we're stupid +animals, but before you two and the Secret Service get done with them +they'll have another think coming." + +"That's the old fight, Clio!" cheered Costigan. "I haven't got it +figured out as close as you have, but I see you, eye to eye. These +four-legged fish carry considerably heavier stuff than Roger did, I'm +thinking; but they'll be up against something themselves pretty quick, +that is NO light-weight, believe me!" + +"Do you _know_ something, or are you just whistling in the dark?" +Bradley demanded. + +"I know a little; not much. The Science Service has been working on a +new ship for a long time; a ship to travel so much faster than light +that it can go anywhere in the Galaxy and back in a month or so. New +sub-ether drive, new power, new armament, new everything. Only bad thing +about it is that it doesn't work so good yet--it's fuller of "bugs" than +a Venerian's kitchen. It has blown up five times that I know of, and has +killed twenty-nine men. But when they get it licked they'll _have +something!_" + +"When, or if?" asked Bradley, pessimistically. + +"I said _when!_" snapped Costigan, his voice cutting like a knife. "When +that gang goes after anything they get it, and when they get it it +stays...." He broke off abruptly and his voice lost its edge. "Sorry. +Didn't mean to get high, but I think we'll have help, if we can keep our +heads up a while. And it looks good--these are first-class cages they've +given us. All the comforts of home, even to lookout plates. Let's see +what's going on, shall we?" + +After some experimenting with the unfamiliar controls Costigan learned +how to operate the Nevian visiray, and upon the plate they saw the Cone +of Battle hurling itself toward Roger's planetoid. They saw the pirate +fleet rush out to do battle with Triplanetary's massed forces, and with +bated breath they watched every maneuver of that epic battle to its +savagely sacrificial end. And that same battle was being watched, also +with intense interest, by the Nevians. + +"It is indeed a blood-thirsty combat," mused Nerado at his observation +plate. "And it is peculiar--or rather, probably only to be expected from +a race of such a low stage of development--that they employ only +ether-borne forces. Warfare seems universal among primitive +types--indeed, it is not so long ago that our own cities, few in number +though they are, ceased fighting each other and combined against the +semi-civilized fishes of the greater deeps." + +He fell silent, and for many minutes watched the furious battle between +the two navies of the void. That conflict ended, he watched the +Triplanetary fleet reform its battle cone and rush upon the planetoid. + +"Destruction, always destruction," he sighed, adjusting his power +switches. "Since they are bent upon mutual destruction I can see no +purpose in refraining from destroying all of them. We need the iron, and +they are a useless race." + +He launched his softening, converting field of dull red energy. Vast as +that field was, it could not encompass the whole of the fleet, but half +of the lip of the gigantic cone soon disappeared, its component vessels +subsiding into a sluggishly flowing stream of allotropic iron. Instantly +the fleet abandoned the attack upon the planetoid and swung its cone +around, to bring the flame-erupting axis to bear upon the inchoate +something dimly perceptible to the ultra-vision of the Secret Service +observers. Furiously the gigantic composite beam of the massed fleet was +hurled, nor was it alone. + +For Roger in his floating citadel had realized at once that something +untoward was happening; something altogether beyond even his knowledge +and experience. He could not see anything--space was apparently +empty--but he took his rays off the battleships and directed his every +force just beyond the point in space where that red stream of +transformed metal was disappearing. Then, for the first time in +Triplanetary history, the forces of law and order joined hands with +those of piracy and banditry against a common foe. Rods, beams, planes, +and stilettoes of unbearable energy the doomed fleet launched, in +addition to its main beam of annihilation, and Roger also hurled out +into space every weapon at his command. Bombs, high-explosive shells, +and deadly radio-dirigible torpedoes--all alike disappeared ineffective +in that redly murky veil of nothingness. And the fleet was being melted. +In quick succession the vessels flamed red, shrank together, gave out +their air, and merged their component iron into the intensely red, +sullenly viscous stream which was flowing through the impenetrable veil +upon which Triplanetarians and pirates alike were directing their every +possible weapon of offense. + +The last vessel of the Triplanetary armada converted and the resulting +metal stored away in their capacious reservoirs, the Nevians turned +their attention upon the stronghold of the pirates. There ensued a +battle royal. For this vast planetoid was no feeble warship, depending +solely upon the limited power available in its accumulators. It was the +product of a really mighty brain, a brain re-enforced by the many +perverted but powerful intellects which Roger had won over to his cause. +It was powered by the incalculable force of cosmic radiation, powered to +drive its unimaginable mass through space, against any possible +attractions, for an indefinite number of years. It was armed and +equipped to meet any emergency which Roger's coldly analytical mind had +been able to foresee. + +The fact that the scientists of the Secret Service had discovered +ultra-waves as yet unknown to him was unfortunate. That Service was +itself unfortunate--impenetrable as it was, and incorruptible. He could +learn nothing whatever about it. He had heard vague rumors of certain +experiments--but even if they should discover something it would be too +late to do them any good. Even without invisibility he would have no +trouble in annihilating the massed Grand Fleet of the Triplanetary +League. He would very shortly collect his tribute and disappear. And +this new enemy, himself invisible and armed with heretofore unknown +weapons of dire power, who was apparently unaffected by his beams--even +he would discover that Roger the Great was no puny opponent. He would +analyze those unknown forces, regenerate them, and hurl them back upon +their senders. + +Thinking thus, the man of gray sat coldly motionless at his great +multi-shielded desk, whose top was now swung up to become a board of +massed and tiered instruments and controls. He shut off his offensive +beams and surrounded the entire planetoid with the peculiarly rigid and +substantial shield which had so easily warded off Costigan's fiercest +attacks. And that shield was more effective than even its designer had +supposed--gray Roger had builded even better than he knew. For the +voracious and all-powerful converting beam of the Nevians, below the +level of the ether though it was, struck that perfectly transparent wall +and rebounded, defeated and futile. Struck and rebounded, then struck +and clung hungrily, licking out over that impermeable surface in darting +tongues of red flame as the surprised Nerado doubled and then quadrupled +his power. Fiercer and fiercer drove in the Nevian flood of force until +the whole immense globe of the planetoid was one scintillant ball of +scarlet energy, but still the pirates' shield remained intact--at what +awful drain of resource, Roger alone knew. + +"Here is the analysis of his screen, sir." A Nevian computer handed his +chief a sheet of metal, upon which were engraved rows of symbols. + +"Ah, a sixth-phase polycyclic. A screen of that type was scarcely to +have been expected from such a low form of life," Nerado commented, and +rapidly adjusted the many dials and switches before him. + +As he did so the character of the clinging mantle of force changed. From +red it flamed quickly through the spectrum, became unbearably violet, +then disappeared; and as it disappeared the shielding wall began to give +way. It did not cave in abruptly, but softened locally, sagging into a +peculiar grouping of valleys and ridges--contesting stubbornly every +inch of position lost. And gray Roger knew that the planetoid was +doomed. His supposedly impregnable screen was failing in spite of its +utmost measure of energy, and, that defense down, the citadel would not +last a minute. Therefore he summoned a chosen few of his motley crew of +renegade scientists and issued brief instructions. For minutes a host of +robots toiled mightily, then a portion of the shield bulged out, +extended into a tube beyond the attacking layers of force, and from it +there erupted a beam of violence incredible. A beam behind which was +every volt and ampere that the gigantic generators and accumulators of +the planetoid could yield. A beam that tore screamingly through the +ether; that by the very vehemence of its incalculable energy tore a hole +through the redly impenetrable Nevian field and hurled itself upon the +inner screen of the fish-shaped cruiser in frenzied incandescence. And +was there, or was there not, a lesser eruption upon the other side--an +almost imperceptible flash, as though something had shot from the doomed +planetoid out into space? + +Nerado's looped neck straightened convulsively as his tortured drivers +whined and shrieked at the terrific overload; but Roger's effort was far +too intense to be long maintained. Even before his accumulators failed, +generator after generator burned out, the defensive screen collapsed, +and the red converter beam attacked voraciously the unresisting metal of +those prodigious walls. Soon there was a terrific explosion as the +pent-up air of the planetoid broke through its weakening container, and +the sluggish river of allotropic iron flowed in an ever larger stream, +ever faster. + +"It is well that we had an unlimited supply of iron." Nerado tied a knot +in his neck and spoke in huge relief. "With but the seven pounds +remaining of our original supply, I fear that it would have been +difficult to parry that last thrust." + +"Difficult?" asked the second in command. "We would now be swimming in +space. But what shall I do with this iron? Our reservoirs will not hold +it all." + +"Seal up one or two of the lower storage compartments, to make room for +this lot. Immediately it is loaded, we return to Nevia. There we shall +install reservoirs in all the spare space, and come back here for more." + +The last drop of the precious liquid secured, the vessel moved away, +sluggishly now because of its prodigious load. In their quarters in the +fourth section the three Terrestrials, who had watched with strained +attention the downfall and absorption of the planetoid, stared at each +other with drawn faces. Clio broke the silence. + +"Oh, Conway, this is ghastly! It's ... it's just simply perfectly +horrible!" she gasped, then recovered a measure of her customary spirit +as she stared in surprise at Costigan's face. For it was thoughtful, his +eyes were bright and keen--no trace of fear or disorganization was +visible in any line of his hard young face. + +"It's not so good," he admitted frankly. "I wish I wasn't such a dumb +cluck--if Lyman Cleveland or Ford Rodebush were here they could help a +lot, but I don't know enough about any of their stuff to flag a +hand-car. I can't even interpret that funny flash--if it really was a +flash--that we saw." + +"Why bother about one little flash, after all that really did happen?" +asked Clio, curiously. + +"You think Roger launched something? He couldn't have--I didn't see a +thing," Bradley argued. + +"I don't know what to think. I've never seen anything material sent out +so fast that I couldn't trace it with an ultra-wave--but on the other +hand, Roger's got a lot of stuff that I never saw anywhere else. +However, I don't see that it has anything to do with the fix we're in +right now--but at that, we might be worse off. We're still breathing +air, you notice, and if they don't blanket my wave I can still talk." + +He put both hands in his pockets and spoke. + +"Samms? Costigan. Put me on a recorder, quick--I probably haven't got +much time," and for ten minutes he talked, concisely and as rapidly as +he could utter words, reporting clearly and exactly everything that had +transpired. Suddenly he broke off, writhing in agony. Frantically he +tore his shirt open and hurled a tiny object across the room. + +"Wow!" he exclaimed. "They may be deaf, but they can certainly detect an +ultra-wave, and the interference they can set up on it is enough to +pulverize your bones. No, I'm not hurt," he reassured the anxious girl, +now at his side, "but it's a good thing I had you out of circuit--it +would have jolted you loose from six or seven of your back teeth." + +"Have you any idea where they're taking us?" she asked, soberly. + +"No," he answered flatly, looking deep into her steadfast eyes. "No use +lying to you--if I know you at all you'd rather take it standing up. +That talk of Jovians or Neptunians is the bunk--nothing like that ever +grew in our Solarian system. All the signs say that we're going for a +long, long ride!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + + Nevian Strife + + +The Nevian space-ship was hurtling upon its way. Space-navigators both, +the two Terrestrial officers soon discovered that it was even then +moving with a velocity far above that of light and that it must be +accelerating at a stupendous rate, even though to them it seemed +stationary--they could feel only a gravitational force somewhat less +than that of their native earth. + +Bradley, seasoned old campaigner that he was, had retired promptly as +soon as he had completed a series of observations, and was sleeping +soundly upon a pile of cushions in the first of the three +inter-connecting rooms. In the middle room, which was to be Clio's, +Costigan was standing very close to the girl, but was not touching her. +His body was rigid, his face was tense and drawn. + +"You are wrong, Conway; all wrong," Clio was saying, very seriously. "I +know how you feel, but it's false chivalry." + +"That isn't it, at all," he insisted, stubbornly. "It isn't only that +I've got you out here in space, in danger and alone, that's stopping me. +I know you and I know myself well enough to know that what we start now +we'll go through with for life. It doesn't make any difference, that +way, whether I start making love to you now or whether I wait until +we're back on Tellus--I've been telling you for half an hour that for +your own good you'd better pass me up entirely. I've got enough +horsepower to keep away from you if you tell me to--not otherwise." + +"I know it, both ways, dear, but...." + +"But nothing!" he interrupted. "Can't you get it into your skull what +you'll be letting yourself in for if you marry me? Assume that we get +back, which isn't sure, by any means. But even if we do, some day--and +maybe soon, too, you can't tell--somebody is going to collect fifty +grams of radium for my head." + +"Fifty grams--and everybody knows that Samms himself is rated at only +sixty? I _knew_ that you were somebody, Conway!" Clio exclaimed, +undeterred. "But at that, something tells me that any pirate will earn +even that much reward several times over before he collects it. Don't be +silly, dear heart--good-night." + +She tipped her head back, holding up to him her red, sweetly curved, +smiling lips, and his eager arms, hitherto kept away from her by sheer +force of will, swept around her in almost fierce intensity. As his hot +lips met hers, her arms crept up around his neck and they stood, clasped +together in the motionless ecstasy of love's first embrace. + +"Girl, girl, how I love you!" Costigan's voice was husky, his usually +hard eyes were glowing with a tender light. "That settles that. I'll +really _live_ now, anyway, while...." + +"Stop it!" she commanded, sharply. "You're going to live until you die +of old age--see if you don't. You'll simply _have_ to, Conway!" + +"That's so, too--no percentage in dying now. All the pirates between +Tellus and Andromeda couldn't take me after this--I've got too much to +live for. Well, good-night, sweetheart, I'd better beat it--you need +some sleep." + +The lovers' parting was not as simple and straightforward a procedure as +Costigan's speech would indicate, but finally he did seek his own room +and relaxed upon a pile of cushions, his stern visage transformed. +Instead of the low metal ceiling he saw a beautiful, oval, tanned young +face, framed in a golden-blonde corona of hair. His gaze sank into the +depths of loyal, honest, dark-blue eyes; and looking deeper and deeper +into those blue wells he fell asleep. Upon his face, too set and grim by +far for a man of his years--the lives of Sector Chiefs of the T. S. S. +are never easy, nor as a rule are they long--there lingered as he slept +that newly acquired softness of expression, the reflection of his +transcendent happiness. + +For eight hours he slept soundly, as was his wont; then, also according +to his habit and training, he came wide awake, with no intermediate +stage of napping. + +"Clio?" he whispered. "Awake, girl?" + +"Awake!" Her voice came through the ultra-phone, relief in every +syllable. "Good heavens, I thought you were going to sleep until we got +to wherever it is that we're going! Come on in, you two--I don't see how +you can possibly sleep, just as though you were home in bed." + +"You've got to learn to sleep anywhere if you expect to keep in...." +Costigan broke off as he opened the door and saw Clio's wan face. She +had evidently spent a sleepless and wracking eight hours. "Good Lord, +Clio, why didn't you call me?" + +"Oh, I'm all right, except for being a little jittery. No need of asking +how _you_ feel, is there?" + +"No--I feel hungry," he answered cheerfully. "I'm going to see what we +can do about it--or say, guess I'll see whether they're still +interfering on Samms' wave." + +He took out a small, insulated case and touched the contact stud lightly +with his fingers. His arm jerked away powerfully. + +"Still at it," he gave the necessary explanation. "They don't seem to +want us to talk outside, but his interference is as good as my +talking--they can trace it, of course. Now I'll see what I can find out +about our breakfast." + +He stepped over to the plate and shot its projector beam forward into +the control room, where he saw Nerado lying, doglike, at his instrument +panel. As Costigan's beam entered the room a blue light flashed on and +the Nevian turned an eye and an arm toward his own small observation +plate. Knowing that they were now in visual communication, Costigan +beckoned an invitation and pointed to his mouth in what he hoped was the +universal sign of hunger. The Nevian waved an arm and fingered controls, +and as he did so a wide section of the floor of Clio's room slid aside. +The opening thus made revealed a table which rose upon its low pedestal, +a table equipped with three softly cushioned benches and spread with a +glittering array of silver and glassware. Bowls and platters of +dazzlingly white metal, narrow-waisted goblets of sheerest crystal; all +were hexagonal, beautifully and intricately carved or etched in +apparently conventional marine designs. And the table utensils of this +strange race were peculiar indeed. There were tearing forceps of sixteen +needle-sharp curved teeth; there were flexible spatulas; there were deep +and shallow ladles with flexible edges; there were many other peculiarly +curved instruments at whose uses the Terrestrials could no even guess; +all having delicately fashioned handles to fit the long, slender fingers +of the Nevians. + +But if the table and its appointments were surprising to the +Terrestrials, revealing as they did a degree of culture which none of +them had expected to find in a race of beings so monstrous, the food was +even more surprising, although in another sense. For the wonderful +crystal goblets were filled with a grayish-green slime of a nauseous and +overpowering odor, the smaller bowls were full of living sea spiders and +other such delicacies; and each large platter contained a fish fully a +foot long, raw and whole, garnished tastefully with red, purple, and +green strands of seaweed! + +Clio looked once, then gasped, shutting her eyes and turning away from +the table, but Costigan flipped the three fish into a platter and set it +aside before he turned back to the visiplate. + +"They'll go good fried," he remarked to Bradley, signaling vigorously to +Nerado that the meal was not acceptable and that he wanted to talk to +him, _in person_. Finally he made himself clear, the table sank down out +of sight, and the Nevian commander cautiously entered the room. + +At Costigan's insistence, he came up to the plate, leaving near the door +three guards armed with projectors in instant readiness. The operative +then shot the beam into the galley of the pirate's lifeboat, suggesting +that they should be allowed to live there. For some time the argument of +arms and fingers raged--though not exactly a fluent conversation, both +sides managed to convey their meanings quite clearly. Nerado would not +allow the Terrestrials to visit their own ship--he was taking no +chances--but after a thorough ultra-ray inspection he did finally order +some of his men to bring into the middle room the electric range and a +supply of Terrestrial food. Soon the Nevian fish were sizzling in a pan +and the appetizing odors of coffee and of browning biscuit permeated the +room. But at the first appearance of those odors the Nevians departed +hastily, content to watch the remainder of the curious and repulsive +procedure in their visiray plates. + +Breakfast over and everything made tidy and shipshape, Costigan turned +to Clio. + +"Look here, girl; you've got to learn how to sleep. You're all in. Your +eyes look like you'd been on a Martian picnic and you didn't eat half +enough breakfast. You've got to sleep and eat to keep fit. We don't want +you passing out on us, so I'll put out this light, and you'll lie down +here and sleep until noon." + +"Oh, no; don't bother. I'll sleep to-night. I'm quite...." + +"You'll sleep now," he informed her, levelly. "I never thought of you +being nervous, with Bradley and me on each side of you. We're both right +here now, though, and we'll stay here. We'll watch over you like a +couple of old hens with one chick between them. Come on; lie down and go +bye-bye." + +Clio laughed at the simile, but lay down obediently. Costigan sat upon +the edge of the great divan, holding her hand, and they chatted idly. +The silences grew longer, Clio's remarks became fewer, and soon her +long-lashed lids fell and her deep, regular breathing showed that she +was sound asleep. The man stared at her, his very heart in his eyes. So +young, so beautiful, so lovely--and _how_ he did love her! He was not +formally religious, but his every thought was a sincere prayer. If he +could only get her out of this mess ... he wasn't fit to live on the +same planet with her, but ... just give him one chance, just one! + +But Costigan had been laboring for days under a terrific strain, and had +been going very short on sleep. Half hypnotized by his own mixed +emotions and by his staring at the smooth curves of Clio's cheek, his +own eyes closed and, still holding her hand, he sank down into the soft +cushions beside her and into oblivion. + +Thus sleeping hand-in-hand like two children Bradley found them, and a +tender, fatherly expression came over his face as he looked down at +them. + +"Nice little girl, Clio," he mused, "and when they made Costigan they +broke the mould. They'll do--about as fine a couple of kids as old +Tellus ever produced. I could do with some more sleep myself." He yawned +prodigiously, lay down at Clio's left, and almost instantly was himself +asleep. + +Hours later, both men were awakened by a merry peal of laughter. Clio +was sitting up, regarding them with sparkling eyes. She was refreshed, +buoyant, ravenously hungry and highly amused. Costigan was amazed and +annoyed at what he considered a failure in a self-appointed task; +Bradley was calm and matter-of-fact. + +"Thanks for being such a nice bodyguard, you two," Clio laughed again, +but sobered quickly. "I slept wonderfully well, but I wonder if I can +sleep to-night without making you hold my hand all night?" + +"Oh, he doesn't mind doing that," Bradley commented. + +"Mind it!" Costigan exclaimed, and his eyes and his tone spoke volumes +that his tongue left unsaid. + +They prepared and ate another meal, one to which Clio did full justice; +and, rested and refreshed, had begun to discuss possibilities of escape +when Nerado and his three armed guards entered the room. The Nevian +scientist placed a box upon a table and began to make adjustments upon +its panels, eyeing the Terrestrials attentively after each setting. +After a time a staccato burst of articulate speech issued from the box, +and Costigan saw a great light. + +"You've got it--hold it!" he exclaimed, waving his arms excitedly. "You +see, Clio, their voices are pitched either higher or lower than +ours--probably higher--and they've built an audio-frequency changer. +He's nobody's fool, that fish!" + +Nerado heard Costigan's voice; there was no doubt of that. His long neck +looped and angled in Nevian gratification, and, although neither side +could understand the other, both knew that intelligent speech and +hearing were attributes common to the two races. This fact altered +markedly the relations between captors and captives. The Nevians +admitted among themselves that the strange bipeds might be quite +intelligent, after all; and the Terrestrials at once became more +hopeful. + +"It isn't so bad, if they can talk," Costigan summed up the situation. +"We might as well take it easy and make the best of it, particularly +since we haven't been able to figure out any possible way of getting +away from them. They can talk and hear, and we can learn their language +in time. Maybe we can make some kind of a deal with them to take us back +to our own system, if we can't make a break." + +The Nevians being as eager as the Terrestrials to establish +communication, Nerado kept the newly devised frequency-changer in +constant use. There is no need of describing at length the details of +that interchange of languages. Suffice it to say that starting at the +very bottom they learned as babies learn, but with the great advantage +over babies of possessing fully developed and capable brains. And while +the human beings were learning the tongue of Nevia, several of the +amphibians (and incidentally Clio Marsden) were learning Triplanetarian; +the two officers knowing well that it would be much easier for the +Nevians to learn the logically-built common language of the Three +Planets than to master the senseless intricacies of English. + +In a few weeks the two parties were able to understand each other after +a fashion, by using a weird mixture of both languages. As soon as a few +ideas had been exchanged, the Nevian scientists built transformers small +enough to be worn collar-like by the Terrestrials, and the captives were +allowed to roam at will throughout the great vessel; only the +compartment in which was stored the dismembered pirate lifeboats being +sealed to them. Thus it was that they were not left long in doubt, when +another fish-shaped cruiser of the world was revealed upon their lookout +plates in the awful emptiness of interstellar space. + +"That is our sister-ship, going to your Solarian system for a cargo of +the iron which is so plentiful there," Nerado explained to his +involuntary guests. + +"I hope the gang has got the bugs worked out of our super-ship," +Costigan muttered savagely to his companions as Nerado turned away. "If +they have, that outfit will get something more than a load of iron when +they get there!" + +More weeks passed; weeks during which a blue-white star separated itself +from the infinitely distant firmament and began to show a perceptible +disk. Larger and larger it grew, becoming bluer and bluer as the flying +space-ship approached it, until finally Nevia could be seen, apparently +close beside her parent orb. + +Heavily laden though the vessel was, such was her power that she was +soon dropping vertically toward a large lagoon in the middle of the +Nevian city. That bit of open water was strangely devoid of life, for +this was to be no ordinary landing. Under the terrific power of the +beams braking the descent of that unimaginable load of allotropic iron +the water seethed and boiled; and instead of floating gracefully upon +the surface of the sea, this time the huge ship of space sank like a +plummet to the bottom. Having accomplished this delicate feat of docking +the vessel safely in the immense cradle prepared for her, Nerado turned +to the Terrestrials, who, now under guard, had been brought before him. + +"While our cargo of iron is being discharged, I am to take you three +Tellurians to the College of Science, where you are to undergo a +thorough physical and psychological examination. Follow me." + +"Wait a minute!" protested Costigan, with a quick and furtive wink at +his companions. "Do you expect us to go _through water_, and at this +frightful depth?" + +"Certainly," replied the Nevian, in surprise. "You are air-breathers, of +course, but you must be able to swim a little, and this slight +depth--but little more than thirty of your meters--will not trouble +you." + +"You are wrong, twice," declared the Terrestrial, convincingly. "If by +'swimming' you mean propelling yourself in or through the water, we know +nothing of it. In water over our heads we drown helplessly in a minute +or two, and the pressure at this depth would kill us instantly." + +"Well, I could take a lifeboat, of course, but that...." The Nevian +Captain began, doubtfully, but broke off at the sound of a staccato call +from his signal panel. + +"Captain Nerado, attention!" + +"Nerado," he acknowledged into a microphone. + +"The Third City is being attacked by the fishes of the greater deeps. +They have developed new and powerful mobile fortresses mounting +unheard-of weapons and the city reports that it cannot long withstand +their attack. The inhabitants are asking for all possible help. Your +vessel not only has vast stores of iron, but also mounts weapons of +power. You are requested to proceed to their aid at the earliest +possible moment." + +Nerado snapped out orders and the liquid iron fell in streams from +wide-open ports, forming a vast, red pool in the bottom of the dock. In +a short time the great vessel was in equilibrium with the water she +displaced, and as soon as she had attained a slight buoyancy the ports +snapped shut and Nerado threw on the power. + +"Go back to your own quarters and stay there until I send for you," the +Nevian directed, and as the Terrestrials obeyed the curt orders the +fish-shaped cruiser of space tore herself from the water and flashed up +into the crimson sky. + +"What a barefaced liar!" Bradley exclaimed. The three, transformers cut +off, were back in the middle room of their suite. "You can outswim an +otter, and I happen to know that you came up out of the old DZ83 from a +depth of...." + +"Maybe I did exaggerate a trifle," Costigan interrupted him, "but the +more helpless he thinks we are the better for us. And we want to stay +out of any of their cities as long as we can, because they may be hard +places to escape from. I've got a couple of ideas, but they aren't ripe +enough to pick yet.... Wow! how this bird's been traveling! We're there +already! If he hits the water going like this, he'll split himself, +sure!" + +With undiminished velocity they were flashing downward in a long slant +toward the beleaguered Third City, and from the flying vessel there was +launched toward the city's central lagoon a torpedo. No missile this, +but a capsule containing a full ton of allotropic iron, which would be +of more use to the Nevian defenders than millions of men. For the Third +City was sore pressed indeed. Around it was one unbroken ring of +boiling, exploding water--water billowing upward with searing, blinding +bursts of superheated steam, or being hurled bodily in all directions in +solid masses by the cataclysmic forces being released by the embattled +fishes of the greater deeps. Her outer defenses were already down, and +even as the Terrestrials stared in amazement another of the immense +hexagonal buildings burst into fragments; its upper structure flying +wildly into scrap metal, its lower half subsiding drunkenly below the +surface of the boiling sea. + +The three Terrestrials involuntarily seized whatever supports were at +hand as the Nevian space-ship struck the water with undiminished speed, +but the precaution was needless--Nerado knew thoroughly his vessel, its +strength and its capabilities. There was a mighty splash, but that was +all. The artificial gravity was unchanged by the impact; to the +passengers the vessel was still motionless and on even keel as, now a +submarine, she snapped around like a very fish and attacked the rear of +the nearest fortress. + +For fortresses they were; vast structures of green metal, plowing +forward implacably upon immense caterpillar treads. And as they crawled +they destroyed, and Costigan, exploring the strange submarine with his +visiray beam, watched and marveled. For the fortresses were full of +water; water artificially cooled and aerated, entirely separate from the +boiling flood through which they moved. They were manned by fish some +five feet in length. Fish with huge, goggling eyes; fish plentifully +equipped with long, armlike tentacles; fish poised before control panels +or darting about intent upon their various duties. Fish with intelligent +brains, waging desperate war upon a hated foe! + +Nor was their warfare ineffectual. Their heat-rays boiled the water for +hundreds of yards before them and their torpedoes were exploding against +the Nevian defenses in one appallingly continuous concussion. But most +potent of all was a weapon unknown to Triplanetary warfare. From a +fortress there would shoot out, with the speed of a meteor, a long, +jointed, telescopic rod, tipped with a tiny, brilliantly shining ball. +Whenever this glowing tip encountered any obstacle, that obstacle +disappeared in an explosion world-wracking in its intensity. Then what +was left of the rod, dark now, would be retracted into the +fortress--only to emerge again in a moment with a tip once more shining +and potent. + +Nerado, apparently as unfamiliar with the peculiar weapon as were the +Terrestrials, attacked cautiously; sending out far to the fore his +murkily impenetrable screens of red. But the submarine was entirely +non-ferrous, and its officers were apparently quite familiar with the +Nevian beams which licked at and clung to the green walls in impotent +fury. Through the red veil came stabbing tiny ball after brilliant ball, +and only the most frantic dodging saved the space-ship from destruction +in those first few furious seconds. And now the Nevian defenders of the +Third City had secured and were employing the vast store of allotropic +iron so opportunely delivered by Nerado. + +From the city there pushed out immense nets of metal, extending from the +surface of the ocean to its bottom; nets radiating such terrific forces +that the very water itself was beaten back and stood motionless in +vertical, glassy walls. Torpedoes were futile against that wall of +energy. The most fiercely driven rays of the fishes flamed incandescent +against it, in vain. Even the incredible violence of a concentration of +every available force-ball against one point could not break through. At +that unimaginable explosion water was hurled for miles. The bed of the +ocean was not only exposed, but in it there was blown a crater at whose +dimensions the Terrestrials dared not even guess. The crawling +fortresses themselves were thrown backward violently and the very world +was rocked to its core by the concussion, but that iron-driven wall +held. The massive nets swayed and gave back, and tidal waves hurled +their mountainously destructive masses through the Third City, but the +mighty barrier remained intact. And Nerado, still attacking two of the +powerful tanks with his every weapon, was still dodging those flashing +balls charged with the quintessence of destruction. The fishes could not +see through the sub-ethereal veil, but all the rod-gunners of the two +fortresses were combing it thoroughly with ever-lengthening, +ever-thrusting rods, in a desperate attempt to wipe out the new and +apparently all-powerful Nevian submarine, whose sheer power was slowly +but inexorably crushing even their gigantic walls. + +"Well, I think that right now's the best chance we'll ever have of doing +something for ourselves." Costigan turned away from the absorbing scenes +pictured upon the visiplate and faced his two companions. + +"But what can we possibly do?" asked Clio, and + +"Whatever it is, we'll try it!" Bradley exclaimed. + +"Anything's better than staying here and letting them analyze us--no +telling what they'd do to us," Costigan went on. "I know a lot more +about things than they think I do. They never did catch me using my +spy-ray--it's on an awfully narrow beam, you know, and uses almost no +power at all--so I've been able to dope out quite a lot of stuff. I can +open most of their locks, and I know how to run their small boats. This +battle, fantastic as it is, is deadly stuff, and it isn't one-sided, by +any means, either, so that every one of them, from Nerado down, seems to +be on emergency duty. There are no guards watching us, or stationed +where we want to go--our way out is open. And once out, this battle is +giving us our best possible chance to get away from them. There's so +much emission out there already that they probably couldn't detect the +driving rays of the lifeboat, and they'll be too busy to chase us, +anyway." + +"Once out, then what?" asked Bradley, eagerly. + +"We'll have to decide that before we start, of course. I'd say make a +break back for our own Solarian system. We know the direction, from our +own observation, and we'll have plenty of power." + +"But good Heavens, Conway, it's so far!" exclaimed Clio. "How about +food, water, and air--would we ever get there?" + +"You know as much about that as I do. I think so, but of course anything +might happen. This ship is none too big, is considerable slower than the +big space-ship, and we're a long ways from home. Another bad thing is +the food question. The boat is well stocked according to Nevian ideas, +but it's pretty foul stuff for us to eat. However, it's nourishing, and +we'll have to eat it, since we can't carry enough of our own supplies to +the boat to last long. Even so, we may have to go on short rations, but +I think that we'll be able to make it. On the other hand, what happens +if we stay here? We will certainly strike trouble sooner or later, and +we don't know any too much about these ultra-weapons. We are +land-dwellers, and there is mighty little land on this planet. Then, +too, we don't know where to look for what little land there is, and, +even if we could find it, we know that it is all over-run with +amphibians already. There's a lot of things that might be better, but +they might be a lot worse, too. How about it? Do we try it or do we stay +here?" + +"We try it!" exclaimed Clio and Bradley as one. + +"All right. I'd better not waste any more time talking--let's go!" + +Stepping up to the locked and shielded door, he took out a peculiarly +built torch and pointed it briefly at the Nevian lock. There was no +light, no noise, but the massive portal swung smoothly open. They +stepped out and Costigan relocked and reshielded the entrance. + +"How ... what ...?" Clio demanded, almost stuttering in her surprise. + +"I've been going to school for the last few weeks," Costigan grinned, +"and I've picked up quite a few things here and there--literally as well +as figuratively speaking. Snap it up, guys! Our armor is stored away +with the pieces of the pirates' lifeboat, and I'll feel a lot better +when we've got it on and have hold of a few fresh Lewistons." + +They hurried down corridors, up ramps, and along hallways, with +Costigan's spy-ray investigating the course ahead for chance Nevians. +Bradley and Clio were unarmed, but the secret agent had found a piece of +flat metal and had ground it to a razor edge. + +"I think I can throw this thing straight enough and fast enough to chop +off a Nevian's head before he can put a paralyzing ray on us," he +explained grimly, but he was not called upon to show his skill with the +improvised cleaver. + +As he had concluded from his careful survey, every Nevian was at some +control or weapon, doing his part in that frightful combat with the +denizens of the greater deeps. Their part was open, they were neither +molested nor detected as they ran toward the compartment within which +was sealed all their Terrestrial belongings. The door of that room +opened, as had the other, to Costigan's knowing beam; and all three set +hastily to work. They made up packs of food, filled their capacious +pockets with emergency rations, recharged and buckled on Lewistons and +automatics, donned their armor, and clamped into their external holsters +a full complement of additional weapons. + +"Now comes the ticklish part of the business," Costigan informed them. +His helmet was slowly turning this way and that, and the others knew +that through his spy-ray goggles he was studying their route. "There's +only one boat we stand a chance of reaching, and somebody's mighty apt +to see us. There's a lot of detectors up there, and we'll have to cross +a corridor full of communicator beams. There, that line's off ... +scoot!" + +At his word they dashed out into the hall and hurried along for minutes, +dodging to right or left as the leader snapped out orders. Finally he +stopped. + +"Here's those beams I told you about. We'll have to roll under 'em. +They're less than waist high--right there's the lowest one. Watch me do +it, and when I give you the word, one at a time, you do the same. _Keep +low_--don't let an arm or a leg get up into the path of a ray or they +may see us." + +He threw himself flat, rolled upon the floor a yard or so, and scrambled +to his feet. He gazed intently at the blank wall for a space, then: + +"Bradley--now!" he snapped, and the Interplanetary captain duplicated +his performance. + +But Clio, unused to the heavy and cumbersome space-armor she was +wearing, could not roll in it with any degree of success. When Costigan +barked his order she tried, but stopped, floundering, almost directly +below the invisible network of communicator beams. As she struggled one +mailed arm went up, and Costigan saw in his ultra-goggles the faint +flash as the beam encountered the interfering field. But already he had +acted. Crouching low, he struck down the arm, seized it, and dragged the +girl out of the zone of visibility. Then in furious haste he opened a +nearby door and all three sprang into a tiny compartment. + +"Shut off all the fields of your suits, so that they can't interfere!" +he hissed into the utter darkness. "Not that I'd mind killing a few of +them, but if they start an organized search we're sunk. But even if they +did get a warning by touching your glove, Clio, they probably won't +suspect us. Our rooms are still shielded, and the chances are that +they're too busy to bother much about us, anyway." + +He was right. A few beams darted here and there, but the Nevians saw +nothing amiss and ascribed the interference to the falling into the beam +of some chance bit of charged metal. With no further misadventures the +Terrestrials gained entrance to the Nevian lifeboat, where Costigan's +first act was to disconnect one steel boot from his armor of space. With +a sigh of relief he pulled his foot out of it, and from it carefully +poured into the small power-tank of the craft fully thirty pounds of +allotropic iron! + +"I pinched it off them," he explained, in answer to amazed and inquiring +looks, "and maybe you don't think it's a relief to get it out of that +boot! I couldn't steal a flask to carry it in, so this was the only +place I could put it in. These lifeboats are equipped with only a couple +of grams of iron apiece, you know, and we couldn't get half-way back to +Tellus on that, even with smooth going; and we may have to fight. With +this much to go on, though, we could go to Andromeda, fighting all the +way. Well, we'd better break away." + +Costigan watched his plate closely, and, when the maneuvering of the +great vessel brought his exit port as far away as possible from the +Third City and the warring citadels of the deep, he shot the little +cruiser out and away. Straight out into the ocean it sped, through the +murky red veil, and darted upward toward the surface. The three +wanderers sat tense, hardly daring to breathe, staring into the +plates--Clio and Bradley pushing at metal levers and stepping down hard +upon metal brakes in unconscious efforts to help Costigan dodge the +beams and rods of death flashing so appallingly close upon all sides. +Out of the water and into the air the darting, dodging lifeboat flashed +in safety; but in the air, supposedly free from menace, came disaster. +There was a crunching, grating shock and the vessel was thrown into a +dizzy spiral, from which Costigan finally leveled it into headlong +flight away from the scene of battle. Watching the pyrometers which +recorded the temperature of the outer shell, he drove the lifeboat ahead +at the highest safe atmospheric speed while Bradley went to inspect the +damage. + +"Pretty bad, but better than I thought," the captain reported. "Outer +and inner plates broken away on a seam. Inter-wall vacuum all lost, and +we wouldn't hold carpet-rags, let alone air. Any tools aboard?" + +"Some--and what we haven't got we'll make," Costigan declared. "We'll +put a lot of distance behind us, then we'll fix her up and get away from +here." + +"What are those fish, anyway, Conway?" Clio asked, as the lifeboat tore +along. "The Nevians are bad enough, Heaven knows, but the very idea of +intelligent and _educated_ FISH is enough to drive one mad!" + +"You know Nerado mentioned several times the 'semi-civilized fishes of +the greater deeps'?" he reminded her. "I gather that there are at least +three intelligent races here. We know two--the Nevians, who are +amphibians, and the fishes of the greater deeps. The fishes of the +lesser deeps are also intelligent. As I get it, the Nevian cities were +originally built in very shallow water, or perhaps were upon islands. +The development of machinery and tools gave them a big edge on the fish; +and those living in the shallow seas, nearest the islands, gradually +became tributary nations, if not actually slaves. Those fish not only +serve as food, but work in the mines, hatcheries, and plantations, and +do all kinds of work for the Nevians. Those so-called 'lesser deeps' +were conquered first, of course, and all their races of fish are docile +enough now. But the deep-sea breeds, who live in water so deep that the +Nevians can hardly stand the pressure down there, were more intelligent +to start with, and more stubborn besides. But the most valuable metals +here are deep down--this planet is very light for its size, you know--so +the Nevians kept at it until they conquered some of the deep-sea fish, +too, and put 'em to work. But those high-pressure boys were nobody's +fools. They realized that as time went on the amphibians would get +further and further ahead of them in development, so they let themselves +be conquered, learned how to use the Nevians' tools and everything else +they could get hold of, developed a lot of new stuff of their own, and +now they're out to wipe the amphibians off the slate completely, before +they get too far ahead of them to handle." + +"And the Nevians are afraid of them, and want to kill them all, as fast +as they possibly can," guessed Clio. + +"That would be the logical thing, of course," commented Bradley. "Got +pretty nearly enough distance now, Costigan?" + +"There isn't enough distance on the planet to suit me," Costigan +replied. "We'll need all we can get. A full diameter away from that crew +of amphibians is too close for comfort--their detectors are keen." + +"Then they can detect us?" Clio asked. "Oh, I wish they hadn't hit +us--we'd have been away from here long ago." + +"So do I," Costigan assented, feelingly. "But they did--no use +squawking. We can rivet and weld those seams and pump out the shell, and +we'd have to fill our air-tanks to capacity for the trip, anyway. And +things could be a lot worse--we are still breathing air!" + +In silence the lifeboat flashed onward, and half of Nevia's mighty globe +was traversed before it was brought to a halt, in the emptiest reaches +of the planet's desolate and watery waste. Then in furious haste the two +officers set to work, again to make their small craft sound and +spaceworthy. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + Worm, Submarine, and Freedom + + +Since both Costigan and Bradley had often watched their captors at work +during the long voyage from the Solar System to Nevia, they were quite +familiar with the machine tools of the amphibians. Their stolen +lifeboat, being an emergency craft, of course carried full repair +equipment; and to such good purpose did the two officers labor that even +before their air-tanks were fully charged, all the damage had been +repaired. + +The lifeboat lay motionless upon the mirror-smooth surface of the ocean. +Captain Bradley had opened the upper port and the three stood in the +opening, gazing in silence toward the incredibly distant horizon, while +powerful pumps were forcing the last possible ounces of air into the +practically unbreakable storage cylinders. Mile upon strangely flat mile +stretched that waveless, unbroken expanse of water, merging finally into +the violent redness of the Nevian sky. The sun was setting; a vast ball +of purple flame dropping rapidly toward the horizon. Darkness came +suddenly as that seething ball disappeared, and the air became bitterly +cold, in sharp contrast to the pleasant warmth of a moment before. And +as suddenly clouds appeared in blackly banked masses and a cold, driving +rain began to beat down in torrents. + +"Br-r-r, it's cold! Let's go in--Oh! _Shut the door!_" Clio shrieked, +and leaped wildly down into the compartment below, out of Costigan's +way, for he and Bradley also had seen slithering toward them the +frightful arm of the Thing. + +Almost before the girl had spoken Costigan had leaped to the levers, and +not an instant too soon; for the tip of that horrible tentacle flashed +into the rapidly narrowing crack just before the door clanged shut. As +the powerful toggles forced the heavy screw threads into engagement and +drove the massive disk home into its bottle-tight, insulated seat, that +grisly tip fell severed to the floor of the compartment and lay there, +twitching and writhing with a loathsome and unearthly vigor. Two feet +long the piece was, and larger than a strong man's leg. It was armed +with spiked and jointed metallic scales, and instead of sucking disks it +was equipped with a series of _mouths_--mouths filled with sharp +metallic teeth which gnashed and ground together furiously, even though +sundered from the horrible organism which they were designed to feed. + +The little submarine shuddered in every plate and member as monstrous +coils encircled her and tightened inexorably in terrific, rippling +surges eloquent of mastodonic power; and a strident vibration smote +sickeningly upon Terrestrial eardrums as the metal spikes of the +monstrosity crunched and ground upon the outer plating of their small +vessel. Costigan stood unmoved at the plate, watching intently; hands +ready upon the controls. Due to the artificial gravity of the lifeboat +it seemed perfectly stationary to its occupants. Only the weird +gyrations of the pictures upon the lookout screens showed that the craft +was being shaken and thrown about like a rat in the jaws of a terrier; +only the gauges revealed that they were almost a mile below the surface +of the ocean already, and were still going downward at an appalling +rate. Finally Clio could stand no more. + +"Aren't you going to do something, Conway?" she cried. + +"Not unless I have to," he replied, composedly. "I don't believe that he +can really hurt us, and if I use a ray of any kind I'm afraid that it +will kick up enough disturbance to bring Nerado down on us like a hawk +after a chicken. However, if he takes us much deeper I'll have to go to +work on him. We're getting down pretty close to our limit, and the +bottom's a long way down yet." + +Deeper and deeper the lifeboat was dragged by its dreadful opponent, +whose spiked teeth still tore savagely at the tough outer plating of the +craft until Costigan reluctantly threw in his power switches. Against +the full propellant thrust the monster could draw them no lower, but +neither could the lifeboat make any headway toward the surface. The +Terrestrial then turned on his rays, but found that they were +ineffective. So closely was the creature wrapped around the submarine +that his weapons could not be brought to bear upon it without melting +the vessel's own outer skin. + +"What can it possibly be, anyway, and what can we do about it?" Clio +asked. + +"I thought at first it was something like a devilfish, or possibly an +overgrown starfish, but it's too flat, and has no body that I can see," +Costigan made answer. "It must be a kind of flat worm. That doesn't +sound reasonable--the thing must be all of a hundred meters long--but +there it is. The only thing left to do now, as I see it, is to try to +boil him alive." + +He closed other circuits, diffusing a terrific beam of pure heat, and +the water all about them burst into furious clouds of steam. The boat +leaped upward as the metallic fins of the gigantic worm fanned vapor +instead of water, but the creature neither released its hold nor ceased +its relentlessly grinding attack. Minute after minute went by, but +finally the worm dropped limply away--cooked through and through; +vanquished only by death. + +"Now we've put our foot in it, clear to the knee!" Costigan exclaimed, +as he shot the lifeboat upward at its maximum power. "Look at that! I +knew that Nerado could trace us, but I didn't have any idea that _they_ +could. It's a good thing these ultra-vision plates don't need light to +see by or we'd be _'spurlos versenkt'_ in a hurry!" + +Staring with Costigan into the plate, Bradley and the girl saw, not the +Nevian sky-rover they had expected, but a fast submarine cruiser, manned +by the frightful fishes of the greater deeps. It was coming directly +toward the lifeboat, and even as Costigan hurled the little vessel off +at an angle and then upward into the air one of the deadly offensive +rods, tipped with its glowing ball of pure destruction, flashed through +the spot where they would have been had they held their former course. + +But powerful as were the propellant forces and fiercely though Costigan +applied them, the denizens of the deep clamped a tractor ray upon the +flying vessel before it had gained a mile of altitude. Costigan aligned +his every driving projector as his vessel came to an abrupt halt in the +invisible grip of the beam, then experimented with various dials. + +"There ought to be some way of cutting that beam," he pondered audibly, +"but I don't know enough about their system to do it, and I'm afraid to +monkey around with things too much, because I might accidentally release +the screens we've already got out, and they're stopping altogether too +much stuff for us to do without them right now." + +He frowned as he studied the flaring defensive screens, now radiating an +incandescent violet under the concentration of the forces being hurled +against them by the warlike fishes, then stiffened suddenly. + +"I thought so--they _can_ shoot 'em!" he exclaimed, throwing the +lifeboat into a furious corkscrew turn, and the very air blazed into +flaming splendor as a dazzlingly scintillating ball of energy sped past +them and high into the air beyond. + +Then for minutes a spectacular battle raged. The twisting, turning, +leaping airship, small as she was agile, kept on eluding the explosive +projectiles of the fishes, and her screens neutralized and re-radiated +the full power of the attacking beams. More--since Costigan did not need +to think of sparing his iron, the ocean around the great submarine began +furiously to boil under the full-driven offensive beams of the tiny +Nevian ship. But escape Costigan could not. He could not cut that +tractor beam and the utmost power of his drivers could not wrest the +lifeboat from its tenacious clutch. And slowly but inexorably the ship +of space was being drawn downward toward the ship of ocean's depths. +Downward, in spite of the utmost possible effort of every projector and +penetrator, and the two Terrestrial spectators, sick at heart, looked +once at each other. Then they looked at Costigan, who, jaw hard set and +eyes unflinchingly upon his plate, was concentrating his attack upon one +turret of the green monster as they settled lower and lower. + +"If this is ... if our number is going up, Conway," Clio began, +unsteadily. + +"Not yet, it isn't!" he snapped. "Keep a stiff upper lip, girl. We're +still breathing air, and the battle's not over yet!" + +Nor was it; but it was not Costigan's efforts, mighty though they were, +that ended the attack of the fishes of the greater deeps. The tractor +beam snapped without warning, and so prodigious were the forces being +exerted by the lifeboat that, as it hurled itself away, the three +passengers were thrown violently to the floor, in spite of the powerful +gravity controls. Scrambling up on hands and knees, bracing himself as +best he could against the terrific forces, Costigan managed finally to +force a hand up to his panel. He was barely in time; for even as he cut +the driving power to its normal value the outer shell of the lifeboat +was blazing at white heat from the friction of the atmosphere through +which it had been tearing with such an insane acceleration! + +"Oh, I see--Nerado to the rescue," Costigan commented, after a glance +into the plate. "I hope that those fish blow him clear out of the +Galaxy!" + +"Why?" demanded Clio. "I should think that you'd...." + +"Think again," he advised her. "The worse Nerado gets licked the better +for us. I don't really expect that, but if they can keep him busy long +enough, we can get far enough away so that he won't bother about us any +more." + +As the lifeboat tore upward through the air at the highest permissible +atmospheric velocity Bradley and Clio peered over Costigan's shoulders +into the plate, watching in absorbed interest the scene which was being +kept in focus upon it. The Nevian ship of space was plunging downward in +a long, slanting dive, her terrific beams of force screaming out ahead +of her. The rays of the little lifeboat had boiled the waters of the +ocean; those of the parent craft seemed literally to blast them out of +existence. All about the green submarine there had been volumes of +furiously-boiling water and dense clouds of vapor; now water and fog +alike disappeared, converted into transparent superheated steam by the +blasts of Nevian energy. Through that tenuous gas the enormous mass of +the submarine fell like a plummet, her defensive screens flaming an +almost invisible violet, her every offensive weapon vomiting forth solid +and vibratory destruction toward the Nevian cruiser so high in the +angry, scarlet heavens. + +For miles the submarine dropped, until the frightful pressure of the +depth drove water into Nerado's beam faster than his forces could +volatilize it. Then in that seething funnel there was waged desperate +conflict. At that funnel's wildly turbulent bottom lay the submarine, +now apparently trying to escape, but held fast by the tractor rays of +the space-ship; at its top, smothered almost to the point of +invisibility by billowing masses of steam, hung poised the Nevian +cruiser. + +As the atmosphere had grown thinner and thinner with increasing altitude +Costigan had regulated his velocity accordingly, keeping the outer shell +of the vessel at the highest temperature consistent with safety. Now +beyond measurable atmospheric pressure, the shell cooled rapidly and he +applied full touring acceleration. At an appalling and constantly +increasing speed the miniature space-ship shot away from the strange, +red planet; and smaller and smaller upon the plate became its picture. +Long since the great vessel of the void had plunged beneath the surface +of the sea, more closely to come to grips with the vessel of the fishes; +for a long time nothing of the battle had been visible save immense +clouds of steam, blanketing hundreds of square miles of the ocean's +surface. But just before the picture became too small to reveal details +a few tiny dark spots appeared above the banks of cloud, now brilliantly +illuminated by the rays of the rising sun--dots which might have been +fragments of either vessel, blown bodily from the depths of the ocean +and, riven asunder, hurled high into the air by the incredible forces at +the command of the other. + +Nevia a tiny moon and the fierce blue sun rapidly growing smaller in the +distance, Costigan swung his visiray beam into the line of travel and +turned to his companions. + +"Well, we're off," he said, scowling. "I hope it was Nerado that got +blown up back there, but I'm afraid it wasn't. He whipped two of those +submarines that we know of, and probably half their fleet besides. +There's no particular reason why that one should be able to take him, so +it's my idea that we should get ready for great gobs of trouble. + +"They'll chase us, of course; and I'm afraid that with their immense +power, they'll catch us." + +"But what can we do, Conway?" asked Clio. + +"Several things," he grinned. "I managed to get quite a lot of dope on +that paralyzing ray and some of their other stuff, and we can install +the necessary equipment in our suits easily enough." + +They removed their armor, and Costigan explained in detail the changes +which must be made in the Triplanetary field generators. All three set +vigorously to work--the two officers deftly and surely; Clio uncertainly +and with many questions, but with undaunted spirit. Finally, having done +all they could do to strengthen their position, they settled down to the +watchful routine of the flight, with every possible instrument set to +detect any sign of the pursuit they so feared. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + The Hill + + + [Illustration: + + Its atmosphere was withdrawn, the outer door opened, and he + glanced across a bare hundred feet of space at the + rocket-plane which, keel ports fiercely aflame, was braking + her terrific speed to match the slower pace of the gigantic + ship of war.] + +The heavy cruiser _Chicago_ hung motionless in space, thousands of miles +distant from the warring fleets of space-ships so viciously attacking +and so stubbornly defending the planetoid of the enemy. In the captain's +sanctum Lyman Cleveland crouched tensely above his ultra-cameras, his +sensitive fingers touching lightly their micrometric dials. His body was +rigid, his face was set and drawn. Only his eyes moved: flashing back +and forth between the observation plates and smoothly-running rolls +which were feeding into the cameras the hardened steel tapes upon which +were being magnetically recorded the frightful scenes of carnage and +destruction there revealed. + +Silent and bitterly absorbed, though surrounded by staring officers, +whose fervent, almost unconscious cursing was prayerful in its +intensity, the visiray expert kept his ultra-instruments upon that awful +struggle to its dire conclusion. Flawlessly those instruments noted +every detail of the destruction of Roger's fleet, of the transformation +of the armada of Triplanetary into an unknown fluid, and finally of the +dissolution of the gigantic planetoid itself. Then furiously Cleveland +drove his beams against the crimsonly opaque obscurity into which the +peculiar, viscous stream of substance was disappearing. Time after time +he applied his every watt of power, with no result. A vast volume of +space, roughly ellipsodial in shape, was closed to him by forces +entirely beyond his experience or comprehension. But suddenly, while his +rays were still trying to pierce that impenetrable murk, it disappeared +instantly and, without warning, the illimitable infinity of space once +more lay revealed upon his plates and his beams flashed on and on +through the void, unimpeded. + +"Back to Tellus, sir?" The _Chicago_'s captain broke the strained +silence. + +"I wouldn't say so, if I had the say." Cleveland, baffled and frustrate, +straightened up and shut off his cameras. "We should report back as soon +as possible, of course, but there seems to be a lot of wreckage out +there yet, that we can't photograph in detail at this distance. A close +study of it might help us a lot in understanding what they did and how +they did it. I'd say that we should get close-ups of whatever is left, +and do it right away, before it gets scattered all over space; but of +course I can't give you orders." + +"You can, though," the captain made surprising answer. "My orders are +that you are in command of this vessel." + +"In that case we will proceed at full emergency acceleration to +investigate the wreckage," Cleveland replied, and the cruiser--sole +survivor of Triplanetary's supposedly invincible force--shot away with +every projector delivering its maximum blast. + +As the scene of the disaster was approached there was revealed upon the +plates a confused mass of debris; a mass whose individual units were +apparently moving at random: yet which was as a whole still following +the orbit of Roger's planetoid. Space was full of machine parts, +structural members, furniture, flotsam of all kinds; and everywhere were +the bodies of men. Some were encased in space-suits, and it was to these +that the rescuers turned first--space-hardened veterans though the men +of the _Chicago_ were, they did not care even to look at the others. +Strangely enough, however, not one of the floating figures spoke or +moved, and space-line men were hurriedly sent out to investigate. + +"All dead." Quickly the dread report came back. "Been dead a long time. +The armor is all stripped off the suits, and the generators and the +other apparatus are all shot. Something funny about it, too--none of +them seem to have been touched, but the machinery of the suits seems to +be about half of it missing." + +"I've got it all on the spools, sir." Cleveland, his close-up survey of +the wreckage finished, turned to the captain. "What they've just +reported checks up with what I've photographed everywhere. I've got an +idea of what might have happened, but it's so dizzy that I'll have to +have a lot of reenforcement before I'll believe it myself. But you might +have them bring in a few of the armored bodies, a couple of those +switchboards and panels floating around out there, and half a dozen +miscellaneous pieces of junk--the nearest things they get hold of, +whatever they happen to be." + +"Then back to Tellus at maximum?" + +"Right--back to Tellus, as fast as we can possibly go there." + +While the _Chicago_ hurtled through space at full power, Cleveland and +the ranking officers of the vessel grouped themselves about the salvaged +wreckage. Familiar with space-wrecks as were they all, none of them had +ever seen anything like the material before them. For every part and +instrument was weirdly and meaninglessly disintegrated. There were no +breaks, no marks of violence, and yet nothing was intact. Bolt-holes +stared empty, cores, shielding cases and needles had disappeared, the +vital parts of every instrument hung awry, disorganization reigned +rampant and supreme. + +"I never imagined such a mess," the captain said, after a long and +silent study of the objects. "If you have any theory to cover _that_, +Cleveland, I would like to hear it!" + +"I want you to notice something first," the visiray expert replied. "But +don't look for what's there--look for what _isn't_ there." + +"Well, the armor is gone. So are the shielding cases, shafts, spindles, +the housings and stems...." The captain's voice died away as his eyes +raced over the collection. "Why, everything that was made of wood, +bakelite, copper aluminum, silver, bronze, or anything but steel hasn't +been touched, and every bit of steel is gone. But that doesn't make +sense--what does it mean?" + +"I don't know--yet," Cleveland replied, slowly. "But I'm afraid that +there's more, and worse." He opened a space-suit reverently, revealing +the face; a face calm and peaceful, but utterly, sickeningly white. +Still reverently, he made a deep incision in the brawny neck, severing +the jugular vein, then went on, soberly: + +"You never imagined such a thing as _white_ blood, either, but it all +checks up. Someway, somehow, every particle--probably every atom--of +free or combined iron in this whole volume of space was made off with." + +"Huh? How come? And above all, _why_?" from the amazed and staring +officers. + +"You know as much as I do," grimly, ponderingly. "If it were not for the +fact that there are solid asteroids of iron out beyond Mars, I would say +that somebody wanted iron badly enough to wipe out the fleets and the +planetoid to get it. But anyway, whoever they were, they carried enough +power so that our armament didn't bother them at all. They simply took +the metal they wanted and went away with it--so fast that I couldn't +trace them with an ultra-beam. There's only one thing plain; but that's +so plain that it scares me stiff. This whole affair spells intelligence, +with a capital "I", and that intelligence is anything but friendly. As +for me I want to get Fred Rodebush at work on this soon--think I'll +hurry it up a little." + +He stepped over to his ultra-projector and called the Terrestrial +headquarters of the T. S. S. Samms' face soon appeared upon his screen. + +"We got it all, Virgil," he reported. + +"It's something extraordinary--bigger, wider, and deeper than any of us +dreamed. It may be urgent, too, so I think I had better shoot the +pictures in on the ultra-wave and save a few days. Fred has a +telemagneto recorder there that he can synchronize with this camera +outfit easily enough. Right?" + +"Right. Good work, Lyman--thanks," came back terse approval and +appreciation, and soon the steel tapes were again flashing between the +feed-rolls. This time, however, their varying magnetic charges were +modulating an ultra-wave so that every detail of that calamitous battle +of the void was being screened and recorded in the innermost private +laboratory of the Triplanetary Secret Service. + +Eager though he naturally was to join his fellow-scientists, Cleveland +did not waste his time during the long, but uneventful journey back to +earth. There was much to study, many improvements to be made in his +comparatively crude first ultra-camera. Then, too, there were long +conferences with Samms, and particularly with Rodebush, the mathematical +physicist, whose was the task of solving the riddles of the energies and +weapons of the Nevians. Thus it did not seem long before green Terra +grew large beneath the flying sphere of the _Chicago_. + +"Going to have to circle at once, aren't you?" Cleveland asked the chief +pilot. He had been watching that officer closely for minutes, admiring +the delicacy and precision with which the great vessel was being +maneuvered preliminary to entering the earth's atmosphere. + +"Yes," the pilot replied. "We had to come in in the shortest possible +time, and that meant a velocity here that we can't check without a +spiral. However, even at that we saved a lot of time. You can save quite +a bit more, though, by having a rocket-plane come out to meet us +somewhere around fifteen or twenty thousand kilometers, depending upon +where you want to land. With their power-to-mass ratio they can match +our velocity and still make the drop direct." + +"Guess I'll do that--thanks," and the operative called his chief, only +to learn that his suggestion had already been acted upon. + +"We beat you to it, Lyman," Samms smiled. "The _Silver Sliver_ is out +there now, looping to match your course, acceleration, and velocity at +twenty-two thousand kilometers. You'll be ready to transfer?" + +"I'll be ready!" and the Quartermaster's ex-clerk went to his quarters +and packed his dunnage-bag. + +In due time the long, slender body of the rocket-plane came into view, +creeping 'down' upon the space-ship from 'above,' and Cleveland bade his +friends good-bye. Donning a space-suit, he stationed himself in the +starboard airlock. Its atmosphere was withdrawn, the outer door opened, +and he glanced across a bare hundred feet of space at the rocket-plane +which, keel ports fiercely aflame, was braking her terrific speed to +match the slower pace of the gigantic ship of war. Shaped like a +toothpick, needle-pointed fore and aft, with ultra-stubby wings and +vanes, with flush-set rocket ports everywhere, built of a lustrous +silvery alloy of noble and almost infusible metals--such was the private +speedboat of the chief of the T. S. S. The fastest thing known, whether +in planetary air, the stratosphere, or the vacuus depth of +interplanetary space, her first flashing trial spins had won her the +nickname of the _Silver Sliver_. She had had a more formal name, but +that title had long since been buried in the Departmental files. + +Lower and slower dropped the _Silver Sliver_, her rockets flaming even +brighter, until her slender length lay level with the airlock door. Then +her blasting discharges subsided to the power necessary to match exactly +the _Chicago_'s deceleration. + +"Ready to cut, _Chicago_! Give me a three-second call!" snapped from the +pilot room of the _Sliver_. + +"Ready to cut!" the pilot of the _Chicago_ replied. "Seconds! Three! +Two! One! CUT!" + +At the last word the power of both vessels was instantly cut off and +everything in them became weightless. In the tiny airlock of the slender +craft crouched a space-line man with coiled cable in readiness, but he +was not needed. As the flaring exhausts ceased Cleveland swung out his +heavy bag and stepped lightly off into space, and in a right line he +floated directly into the open doorway of the rocket-plane. The door +clanged shut behind him and in a matter of moments he stood in the +control room of the racer, divested of his armor and shaking hands with +his friend and co-laborer, Frederick Rodebush. + +"Well, Fred, what do you know?" Cleveland asked, as soon as greetings +had been exchanged. "How do the various reports dovetail together? I +know that you couldn't tell me anything on the wave, but there's no +danger of eavesdroppers _here_." + +"You can't tell," Rodebush soberly replied. "We're just beginning to +wake up to the fact that there are a lot of things we don't know +anything about. Better wait until we're back at the Hill. We have a full +set of ultra-screens around there now. There's a couple of other good +reasons, too--it would be better for both of us to go over the whole +thing with Virgil, from the ground up; and we can't do any more talking, +anyway. Our orders are to get back there at maximum, and you know what +that means aboard the _Sliver_. Strap yourself solid in that +shock-absorber there, and here's a pair of ear-plugs." + +"When the _Sliver_ really cuts loose it means a rough party, all right," +Cleveland assented, snapping about his body the heavy spring-straps of +his deeply cushioned seat, "but I'm just as anxious to get back to the +Hill as anybody can be to get me there. All set." + +Rodebush waved his hand at the pilot and the purring whisper of the +exhausts changed instantly to a deafening, continuous explosion. The men +were pressed deeply into their shock-absorbing chairs as the _Silver +Sliver_ spun around her longitudinal axis and darted away from the +_Chicago_ with such a tremendous acceleration that the spherical warship +seemed to be standing still in space. In due time the calculated +mid-point was reached, the slim space-plane rolled over again, and, mad +acceleration now reversed, rushed on toward the earth, but with +constantly diminishing speed. Finally a measurable atmospheric pressure +was encountered, the needle prow dipped downward, and the _Silver +Sliver_ shot forward upon her tiny wings and vanes, nose-rockets now +drumming in staccato thunder. Her metal grew hot: dull red, bright red +yellow, blinding white; but it neither melted nor burned. The pilot's +calculations had been sound, and though the limiting point of safety of +temperature was reached and steadily held, it was not exceeded. As the +density of the air increased so decreased the velocity of the man-made +meteorite. So it was that a dazzling lance of fire sped high over +Seattle, lower over Spokane, and hurled itself eastward, a furiously +flaming arrow; slanting downward in a long, screaming dive toward the +heart of the Rockies. As the now rapidly cooling greyhound of the skies +passed over the western ranges of the Bitter Roots it became apparent +that her goal was a vast, flat-topped, and conical mountain, shrouded in +livid light; a mountain whose height awed even its stupendous neighbors. + +While not artificial, the Hill had been altered markedly by the +Triplanetary engineers who had built into it the headquarters of the +Secret Service. Its mile-wide top was a jointless expanse of gray armor +steel; the steep, smooth surface of the truncated cone was a +continuation of the same immensely thick sheet of metal. No known +vehicle could climb that smooth, hard, forbidding slope of steel; no +known projectile could mar that armor; no known craft could even +approach the Hill without detection. Could not approach it at all, in +fact, for it was constantly inclosed in a vast hemisphere of lambent +violet flame through which neither material substance nor destructive +ray could pass. + +As the _Silver Sliver_, crawling along at a bare three-hundred miles an +hour, approached that transparent, brilliantly violet wall of +destruction, a violet light filled her control room and as suddenly went +out; flashing on and off again and again. + +"Giving us the once-over, eh?" Cleveland asked. "That is something new, +isn't it, Fred?" + +"Yes, it's a high-powered ultra-wave spy," Rodenbush returned. "The +light is simply a warning, which can be carried if desired. It can also +carry voice and vision...." + +"Like this," Samms' voice interrupted from the powerful dynamic speaker +upon the pilots' panel and his clear-cut face appeared upon the +television screen. "I don't suppose Fred thought to mention it, but this +is one of his inventions of the last few days. We are just trying it out +on you. It doesn't mean a thing though, as far as the _Sliver_ is +concerned. Come ahead!" + +A circular opening appeared in the wall of force, an opening which +disappeared as soon as the plane had darted through it; and at the same +time her landing-cradle rose into the air through a great trap-door. +Slowly and gracefully the space-plane settled downward into that +cushioned embrace. Then cradle and nestled _Sliver_ sank from view and, +turning smoothly upon mighty trunnions, the plug of armor drove solidly +back into its place in the metal pavement of the mountain's lofty +summit. The cradle-elevator dropped rapidly, coming to rest many levels +down in the heart of the Hill, and Cleveland and Rodebush leaped lightly +out of their transport, through her still hot outer walls. A door opened +before them and they found themselves in a large room of full daylight +illumination; the anteroom of the private office of Virgil Samms. Chiefs +of Departments sat at their desks, concentrated upon problems or at +ease, according to the demands of the moment; televisotypes and +recorders flashed busily but silently; calmly efficient men and women +went wontedly about the all-embracing business of Triplanetary's +space-pervading Secret Service. + +"Right of way, Norma?" Rodebush paused briefly before the desk of the +Chief's private secretary; but even before he had spoken she had pressed +a button and the door behind her swung wide. + +"You two do not need to be announced," the attractive young woman +smiled. "Go right in." + +Samms met them at the door eagerly, shaking hands particularly +vigorously with Cleveland. + +"Congratulations on that camera, Lyman!" he exclaimed. "You did a +wonderful piece of work on that. Help yourselves to smokes and sit +down--there are a lot of things we want to talk over. Your pictures +carried most of the story, but they would have left us pretty much at +sea without Costigan's reports. But as it was, Fred here and his crew +worked out most of the answers from the dope the two of you got; and +what few they haven't got yet they soon will have." + +"Nothing new on Conway?" Cleveland was almost afraid to ask the +question. + +"No." A shadow came over Samms' face. "I'm afraid ... but I'm hoping +it's only that those creatures, whatever they are, have taken him so far +away that he can't reach us." + +"They certainly are so far away that we can't reach them." Rodenbush +volunteered. "We can't even get their ultra-wave interference any more." + +"Yes, that's a hopeful sign," Samms went on. "I hate to think of Conway +Costigan checking out. There, fellows, was a real observer. He was the +only man, I have ever known, who combined the two qualities of the +perfect witness. He could actually see everything he looked at, and +could report it truly, to the last, least detail. Take all this stuff, +for instance; especially their ability to transform iron into a fluid +allotrope, and in that form to use its intra-atomic energy as power. +Something brand new--unheard of except in the ravings of imaginative +fiction--and yet he described their converters and projectors so +minutely that Fred was able to work out the underlying theory in three +days, and to tie it in with our own super-ship. My first thought was +that we'd have to rebuild it iron-free, but Fred showed me my error--you +found it first yourself, of course." + +"It wouldn't do any good to make the ship non-ferrous unless you could +so change our blood chemistry that we could get along without +hemoglobin, and that would be quite a feat," Cleveland agreed. "Then, +too, our most vital electrical machinery is built around iron cores. No, +we'll have to develop a screen for those forces--screens, rather, so +powerful that they can't drive anything through them." + +"We've been working along those lines ever since you reported," Rodebush +said, "and we're beginning to see light. And in that same connection +it's no wonder that we couldn't handle our super-ship. We had some good +ideas, but they were wrongly applied. However, things look quite +promising now. We have that transformation of iron all worked out in +theory, and as soon as we get a generator going we can straighten out +everything else in short order. And think what that unlimited power +means! All the power we want--power enough even to try out such hitherto +purely theoretical possibilities as the neutralization of gravity, and +even of the inertia of matter!" + +"Hold on!" protested Samms. "You certainly can't do _that_! Inertia +is--_must_ be--a basic attribute of matter, and surely cannot be done +away with without destroying the matter itself. Don't start anything +like that. Fred--I don't want to lose you and Lyman, too." + +"Don't worry about us, Chief." Rodebush replied with a smile. "If you +will tell me what matter is, fundamentally, I may agree with you ... No? +Well, then, don't be surprised at anything that happens. We are going to +do a lot of things that nobody ever thought of doing before." + +Thus for a long time the argument and discussion went on, to be +interrupted by the voice of the secretary. + +"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Samms, but some things have come up that you +will have to handle. Knobos is calling from out near Mars. He has caught +the _Endymion_, and has killed about half her crew doing it. Milton has +finally reported from Venus, after being out of touch for five days. He +trailed the Wintons into Thalleron swamp. They crashed him there, but he +won out and has what he went after. And just now I got a flash from +Fletcher, in the asteroid belt. I think that he has finally traced that +dope line. But Knobos is on now--what do you want him to do about the +_Endymion_?" + +"Tell him to--no, put him on here, I'd better tell him myself," Samms +directed, and his face hardened in ruthless decision as the horny, +misshapen face of the Martian lieutenant appeared upon the screen. "What +do you think, Knobos? Shall they come to trial or not?" + +"No." + +"I don't think so, either. It is better that a few gangsters should +disappear in space than run the risk of another uprising. See to it." + +"Right." The screen darkened and Samms spoke to his secretary. "Put +Milton and Fletcher on whenever their rays come in." He then turned to +his guests. "We've covered the ground quite thoroughly. Good-bye--I wish +I could go with you, but I'll be pretty well tied up for the next week +or two." + +"Tied up, doesn't half express it," Rodebush remarked as the two +scientists walked along a corridor toward an elevator. "He probably is +the busiest man on the three planets." + +"As well as the most powerful," Cleveland supplemented. "And very few +men could use his power as fairly--but he's welcome to it, as far as I'm +concerned. I'd have the pink fantods for a month if I had to do only +once what he's just done--and to him it's just part of a day's work." + +"You mean the _Endymion_? What else could he do?" + +"Nothing--that's just what I'm talking about. It had to be done, since +bringing them to trial would probably mean killing half the people of +Morseca; but at the same time it's a ghastly thing to have to order a +job of deliberate, cold-blooded, and illegal murder." + +"You're right, of course, but you would...." he broke off, unable to put +his thoughts into words. For while inarticulate, manlike, concerning +their deepest emotions, in both men was ingrained the code of their +organization; both knew that to every man chosen for it _The Service_ +was everything, himself nothing. + +"But enough of that, we'll have plenty of grief of our own right here," +Rodebush changed the subject abruptly as they stepped into a vast room, +almost filled by the immense bulk of the _Boise_--the sinister +space-ship which, although never flown, had already lined with black so +many pages of Triplanetary's roster. She was now, however, the center of +a furious activity. Men swarmed over her and through her, in the orderly +confusion of a fiercely driven but carefully planned program of +reconstruction. + +"I hope your dope is right, Fred!" Cleveland called, as the two +scientists separated to go to their respective laboratories. "If it is, +we'll make a perfect lady out of this unmanageable man-killer yet!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + The Super-Ship Is Launched + + +After weeks of ceaseless work, during which was lavished upon her every +resource of mind and material afforded by three planets, the _Boise_ was +ready for her maiden flight. As nearly ready, that is, as the thought +and labor of man could make her. Rodebush and Cleveland had finished +their last rigid inspection of the craft and, standing beside the center +door of the main airlock, were talking with their chief. + +"You say that you think that it's safe, and yet you won't take a crew," +Samms argued. "In that case it isn't safe enough for you men, either. We +need you too badly to permit you to take such chances." + +"You've _got_ to let us go; because we are the only ones who are +thoroughly familiar with her theory," Rodebush insisted. "I said, and +still say, that I _think_ it is safe. I can't prove it, however, except +mathematically; because she's altogether too full of too many new and +untried mechanisms, too many extrapolations beyond all existing or +possible data. Theoretically, she is sound, but you know that theory can +go only so far, and that mathematically negligible factors may become +operative at those velocities. We do not need a crew for a short trip. +We can take care of any minor mishaps, and if our fundamental theories +are wrong, all the crews between here and Jupiter wouldn't do any good. +Therefore we two are going--alone." + +"Well, be very careful, anyway. Start out slow and take it easy." + +"Start out slow? We can't! We can't neutralize half of gravity, nor half +of the inertia of matter--it's got to be everything or nothing, as soon +as the neutralizers go on. We could start out on the projectors, of +course, instead of on the neutralizers, but that wouldn't prove anything +and would only prolong the agony." + +"Well, then, be as careful as you can." + +"We'll do that, Chief," Cleveland put in. "We think a lot of us, and we +aren't committing suicide just yet if we can help it. And remember about +everybody staying inside when we take off--it's barely possible that +we'll take up a lot of room. Good-bye to all of you." + +"Good-bye, fellows!" + +The massive insulating doors were shut, the metal side of the mountain +opened, and huge, squat caterpillar tractors came roaring and clanking +into the room. Chains and cables were made fast and, mighty steel rails +groaning under the load, the space-ship upon her rolling ways was +dragged out of the Hill and far out upon the level floor of the surface +before the tractors cast off and returned to the fortress. + +"Everybody is under cover." Samms informed Rodebush. The chief was +staring intently into his plate, upon which was revealed the control +room of the untried super-ship. He heard Rodebush speak to Cleveland; +heard the observer's brief reply; saw the navigator throw his +switches--then the communicator plate went blank. Not the ordinary +blankness of a cut-off, but a peculiarly disquieting fading out into +darkness. And where the great space-ship had rested there was for an +instant nothing. Exactly nothing--a vacuum. Vessel, falsework, rollers, +trucks, the enormous steel I-beams of the tracks, even the deep-set +concrete piers and foundations and a vast hemisphere of the solid +ground; all had disappeared utterly and instantaneously. But almost as +suddenly as it had been formed the vacuum was filled by a cyclonic rush +of air. There was a detonation as of a hundred vicious thunderclaps made +one, and, through the howling, shrieking blasts of wind, there rained +down upon the valley, plain and metaled mountain a veritable avalanche +of debris: bent, twisted, and broken rails and beams, splintered +timbers, masses of concrete, and thousands of cubic yards of soil and +rock. For inertia and gravitation had not been neutralized at precisely +the same instant, and for a moment everything within the radius of +action of the iron-driven gravity nullifiers of the _Boise_ had +continued its absolute motion with inertia unimpaired. Then, left behind +immediately by the almost infinite velocity of the cruiser, all this +material had again become subject to all of Nature's everyday laws and +had crashed back to the ground. + +"Could you hold your beam, Randolph?" Samm's voice cut sharply through +the daze of stupefaction which held spellbound most of the denizens of +the Hill. But all were not so held--no conceivable emergency could take +the attention of the chief ultra-wave operator from his instruments. + +"No, sir," Radio Center shot back. "It faded out and I couldn't recover +it. I put everything I've got behind a tracer on that beam, but haven't +been able to lift a single needle off the pin." + +"And no wreckage of the vessel itself," Samms went on, half audibly. +"Either they have succeeded far beyond their wildest hopes or else ... +more probably...." He fell silent and switched off the plate. Were his +two friends, those intrepid scientists, alive and triumphant, or had +they gone to lengthen the list of victims of that man-killing +space-ship? Reason told him that they were gone. They _must be_ gone, or +else his ultra-beams--energies of such unthinkable velocity of +propagation that man's most sensitive instruments had never been able +even to estimate it--would have held the ship's transmitter in spite of +any velocity attainable by any matter under any conceivable conditions. +The ship must have been disintegrated as soon as Rodebush released his +forces. And yet, had not the physicist dimly foreseen the possibility of +such an actual velocity--or had he? However, individuals could came and +could go, but Triplanetary went on. Samms squared his shoulders +unconsciously, and slowly, grimly, made his way back to his private +office. + +He had scant time to mourn. Scarcely had he seated himself at his desk +when an emergency call came snapping in; a call of such import that his +secretary's usually calm voice trembled as she put it on his plate. + +"Commissioner Hinkle is calling, sir," she announced. "Something +terrible is going on again, out toward Orion. Here he is," and there +appeared upon the screen the face of the Commissioner of Public Safety, +the commander of Triplanetary's every armed force--whether of land or of +water, of air or of empty space. + +"They've come back, Samms!" the Commissioner rapped out, without +preliminary or greeting. "Four vessels gone--a freighter and a passenger +liner, with her escort of two heavy cruisers. All in Sector M; Dx about +151. I have ordered all traffic out of space for the duration of the +emergency, and since even our warships seem useless, every ship is +making for the nearest dock at maximum. How about that new flyer of +yours--got anything that will do us any good?" No one beyond the +"Hill's" shielding screens knew that the _Boise_ had already been +launched. + +"I don't know. We don't even know whether we have a super-ship or not," +and Samms described briefly the beginning--and very probably the +ending--of the trial flight, concluding: "It looks bad, but if there was +any possible way of handling her, Rodebush and Cleveland did it. All our +tracers are negative yet, so nothing definite has...." + +He broke off as a frantic call came in from the Pittsburgh station for +the Commissioner, a call which Samms both heard and saw. + +"The city is being attacked!" came the urgent message. "We need all the +reinforcements you can send us!" and a picture of the beleaguered city +appeared in ghastly detail upon the screens of the observers; a view +being recorded from the air. It required only seconds for the +commissioner to order every available man and engine of war to the seat +of conflict; then, having done everything they could, Hinkle and Samms +stared in helpless, fascinated horror into their plates, watching the +scenes of carnage and destruction depicted there. + + * * * * * + +The Nevian vessel--the sister-ship, the craft which Costigan had seen in +mid-space as it hurtled earthward in response to Nerado's summons--hung +poised in full visibility, high above the metropolis. Scornful of the +pitiful weapons wielded by man she hung there, her sinister beauty of +line sharply defined against the cloudless sky. From her shining hull +there reached down a tenuous but rigid rod of crimson energy; a rod +which slowly swept hither and thither as the detectors of the amphibians +searched out the richest deposits of the precious iron for which the +inhuman visitors had come so far. Iron, once solid, now a viscous red +liquid, was sluggishly flowing in an ever-thickening stream up that +intangible crimson duct and into the capacious storage tanks of the +Nevian raider; and wherever that flaming beam went there went also ruin, +destruction, and death. Office buildings, skyscrapers towering +majestically in their architectural symmetry and beauty, collapsed into +heaps of debris as their steel skeletons were abstracted. Deep into the +ground the beam bored; flood, fire, and explosion following in its wake +as the mazes of underground piping disappeared. And the humanity of the +buildings died: instantaneously and painlessly, never knowing what +struck them, as the life-bearing iron of their bodies went to swell the +Nevian stream. + +Pittsburgh's defenses had been feeble indeed. A few antiquated railway +rifles had hurled their shells upward in futile defiance, and had been +quietly absorbed. The district planes of Triplanetary, newly armed with +iron-driven ultra-beams, had assembled hurriedly and had attacked the +invader in formation, with but little more success. Under the impact of +their beams the stranger's screens had flared white, then poised ship +and flying squadron alike had been lost to view in a murkily opaque +shroud of crimson flame. The cloud had soon dissolved, and from the +place where the planes had been there had floated or crashed down a +litter of non-ferrous wreckage. And now the cone of space-ships from the +Buffalo base of Triplanetary was approaching Pittsburgh, hurling itself +toward the Nevian plunderer and toward known, gruesome and hopeless +defeat. + +"Stop them, Hinkle!" Samms cried. "It's sheer slaughter! They haven't +got a thing--they aren't even equipped yet with the iron drive!" + +"I know it," the commissioner groaned, "and Admiral Barnes knows it as +well as we do, but it can't be helped--wait a minute! The Washington +cone is reporting. They're as close as the other, and they have the new +armament. Philadelphia is close behind, and so is New York. Now perhaps +we can do something!" + +The Buffalo flotilla slowed and stopped, and in a matter of minutes the +detachments from the other bases arrived. The cone was formed and +iron-driven vessels in the van, the old-type craft far in the rear, it +bore down upon the Nevian, vomiting from its hollow front a solid +cylinder of annihilation. Once more the screens of the Nevian flared +into brilliance, once more the red cloud of destruction was flung +abroad. But these vessels were not entirely defenseless. Their +iron-driven ultra-generators threw out screens of the Nevians' own +formulae, screens of prodigious power to which the energies of the +amphibians clung and at which they clawed and tore in baffled, wildly +coruscant displays of power unthinkable. For minutes the furious +conflict raged, while the inconceivable energy being dissipated by those +straining screens hurled itself in terribly destructive bolts of +lightning upon the city far beneath. + +No battle of such incredible violence could long endure. Triplanetary's +ships were already exerting their utmost power, while the Nevians, +contemptuous of Solarian science, had not yet uncovered their full +strength. Thus the last desperate effort of mankind was proved futile as +the invaders forced their beams deeper and deeper into the overloaded, +defensive screens of the war-vessels; and one by one the supposedly +invincible space-ships of humanity dropped in horribly dismembered +wreckage upon the ruins of what had once been Pittsburgh. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + Specimens + + +Only too well founded was Costigan's conviction that the submarine of +the deep-sea fishes had not been able to prevail against Nerado's +formidable engines of destruction. For days the Nevian lifeboat with its +three Terrestrial passengers hurtled through the interstellar void +without incident, but finally the operative's fears were realized--his +far-flung detector screens reacted; upon his observation plate lay +revealed Nerado's mammoth space-ship, in full pursuit of its fleeing +lifeboat! + +"On your toes, folks--it won't be long now!" Costigan called, and +Bradley and Clio hurried into the tiny control room. + +Armor donned and tested, the three Terrestrials stared into the +observation plates, watching the rapidly enlarging pictures of the +Nevian space-ship. Nerado had traced them and was following them, and +such was the power of the great vessel that the nearly inconceivable +velocity of the lifeboat was the veriest crawl in comparison to that of +the pursuing cruiser. + +"And we've hardly started to cover the distance back to Tellus. Of +course you couldn't get in touch with anybody yet?" Bradley stated, +rather than asked. + +"I kept on trying until they blanketed my wave, but all negative. +Thousands of times too far for my transmitter. Our only hope of reaching +anybody was the mighty slim chance that our super-ship might be prowling +around out here already, but it isn't, of course. Here they are!" + +Reaching out to the control panel, Costigan shot out against the great +vessel wave after wave of lethal vibrations, under whose fiercely +clinging impacts the Nevian defensive screens flared white; but, +strangely enough, their own screens did not radiate. As if contemptuous +of any weapons the lifeboat might wield, the mother ship simply defended +herself from the attacking beams, in much the same fashion as a wildcat +mother wards off the claws and teeth of her spitting, snarling kitten +who is resenting a touch of needed maternal discipline. + +"They probably won't fight us, at that," Clio first understood the +situation. "This is their own lifeboat, and they want us alive, you +know." + +"There's one more thing we can try--hang on!" Costigan snapped, as he +released his screens and threw all his power into one enormous pressor +beam. + +The three were thrown to the floor and held there by an awful weight, as +if the lifeboat darted away at the stupendous acceleration of the beam's +reaction against the unimaginable mass of the Nevian sky-rover; but the +flight was of short duration. Along that pressor beam there crept a dull +rod of energy, which surrounded the fugitive shell and brought it slowly +to a halt. Furiously then Costigan set and reset his controls, launching +his every driving force and his every weapon, but no beam could +penetrate that red murk, and the lifeboat remained motionless in space. +No, not motionless--the red rod was shortening, drawing the truant craft +back toward the launching port from which she had so hopefully emerged a +few days before. Back and back it was drawn; Costigan's utmost efforts +futile to affect by a hair's breadth its line of motion. Through the +open port the boat slipped neatly, and as it came to a halt in its +original position within the multilayered skin of the monster, the +prisoners heard the heavy doors clang shut behind them, one after +another. + +And then sheets of blue fire snapped and crackled all about the three +suits of Triplanetary armor--the two large human figures and the small +one were outlined starkly in blinding blue flame. + +"That's the first thing that has come off according to schedule." +Costigan laughed, a short, fierce bark. "That is their paralyzing ray; +we've got it stopped cold, and we've each got enough iron to hold it +forever." + +"But it looks as though the best we can do is to stalemate," Bradley +argued. "Even if they can't paralyze us, we can't hurt them, and we are +heading back for Nevia." + +"I think Nerado will come in for a conference, and we'll be able to make +terms of some kind. He must know what these Lewistons will do, and he +knows that we'll get a chance to use them, some way or other, before he +gets to us again," Costigan asserted confidently--but again he was +wrong. + +The door opened, and through it there waddled, rolled, or crawled a +metal-clad monstrosity--a thing with wheels, legs, and writhing +tentacles of jointed bronze; a thing possessed of defensive screens +sufficiently powerful to absorb the full blast of the Triplanetary +projectors without effort. Three brazen tentacles reached out through +the ravening beams of the Lewistons, smashed them to bits, and wrapped +themselves in unbreakable shackles about the armored forms of the three +human beings. Through the door the machine or creature carried its +helpless load, and out into and along a main corridor. And soon the +three Terrestrials, without armor, without arms, and almost without +clothing, were standing in the control room, again facing the calm and +unmoved Nerado. To the surprise of the impetuous Costigan, the Nevian +commander was entirely without rancor. + +"The desire for freedom is perhaps common to all forms of animate life," +he commented, through the transformer. "As I told you before, however, +you are specimens to be studied by the College of Science, and you shall +be so studied in spite of anything you may do. Resign yourselves to +that." + +"Well, say that we don't try to make any more trouble; that we +co-operate in the examination and give you whatever information we can," +Costigan suggested. "Then you will probably be willing to give us a ship +and let us go back to our own world?" + +"You will not be allowed to cause any more trouble," the amphibian +declared, coldly. "Your co-operation will not be required. We will take +from you whatever knowledge and information we wish. In all probability +you will never be allowed to return to your own system, because as +specimens you are too unique to lose. But enough of this idle +chatter--take them back to their quarters!" + +And back to their inter-communicating rooms the prisoners were led under +heavy guard. + +True to his word, Nerado made certain that they had no more +opportunities to escape. All the way back to far-distant Nevia the +space-ship sped, where at once, in manacles, the Terrestrials were taken +to the College of Science, there to undergo the physical and psychical +examinations which Nerado had promised them. + +Clio and Costigan learned that the Nevian scientist-captain had not +erred in stating that their co-operation was neither needed nor desired. +Furious but impotent, the human beings were studied in laboratory after +laboratory by the coldly analytical, unfeeling scientists of Nevia, to +whom they were nothing more nor less than specimens; and in full measure +they came to know what it meant to play the part of an unknown, lowly +organism in a biological research. They were photographed, externally +and internally. Every bone, muscle, organ, vessel, and nerve was studied +and charted. Every reflex and reaction was noted and discussed. Meters +registered every impulse and recorders filmed every thought, every idea, +and every sensation. Endlessly, day after day, the nerve-wracking +torture went on, until the frantic subjects could bear no more. +White-faced and shaking, Clio finally screamed wildly, hysterically, as +she was being strapped down upon a laboratory bench; and at the sound +Costigan's nerves, already at the breaking point, gave way in an +outburst of Berserk fury. + +The man's struggles and the girl's shrieks were alike futile, but the +surprised Nevians, after a consultation, decided to give the specimens a +vacation. To that end they were installed, together with their earthly +belongings, in a three-roomed structure of transparent metal, floating +in the large central lagoon of the city. There they were left +undisturbed for a time--undisturbed, that is, except by the continuous +gaze of the crowd of hundreds of amphibians which constantly surrounded +the floating cottage. + +"First we're bugs under a microscope," Bradley growled, "then we're +goldfish in a bowl. I don't know that...." + +He broke off as two of their jailers entered the room. Without a word +into the transformers, they seized Bradley and the girl. As those +tentacular arms stretched out toward Clio, Costigan leaped. A vain +attempt. In midair the paralyzing ray of the Nevians touched him and he +crashed heavily to the crystal floor; and from that floor he looked on +in helpless, raging fury while his sweetheart and his captain were +carried out of their prison and into a waiting submarine. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + The _Boise_ Acts + + +But what of the super-ship? What happened after that inertialess, that +terribly destructive take-off? + +Doctor Frederick Rodebush sat at the control panel of Triplanetary's +newly reconstructed space-ship, his hands grasping the gleaming, ebonite +handles of two double-throw switches. Facing the unknown though the +physicist was, yet he grinned whimsically at his friend. + +"Something, whatever it is, is about to take place. The _Boise_ is +taking off, under full neutralization. Ready for anything to happen, +Cleve?" + +"All ready--shoot!" Laconically. Cleveland also was constitutionally +unable to voice his deeper sentiments in time of stress. + +Rodebush flipped the switches clear over in flashing arcs, and instantly +over both men there came a sensation akin to a tremendously intensified +vertigo; but a vertigo as far beyond the space-sickness of +weightlessness, as that horrible sensation is beyond mere terrestrial +dizziness. The pilot tried to reverse the switches he had just thrown, +but his leaden hands utterly refused to obey the dictates of his reeling +mind. His brain was a writhing, convulsive mass of torment +indescribable; expanding, exploding, swelling out with an unendurable +pressure against its confining skull. Fiery spirals, laced with +streaming, darting lances of black and green, flamed inside his bursting +eyeballs. The Universe spun and whirled in mad gyrations about him as he +reeled drunkenly to his feet, staggering and sprawling. He fell. He +realized that he was falling, yet he could not fall! Thrashing wildly, +grotesquely in agony, he struggled madly and blindly across the room, +directly toward the thick steel wall. The tip of one hair of his unruly +thatch touched the wall, and the slim length of that single hair did not +even bend as its slight strength brought to an instant halt the +hundred-and-eighty-odd pounds of mass--mass now entirely without +inertia--that was his body. + +But finally the sheer brain power of the man began to triumph over his +physical torture. By indomitable force of will he compelled his groping +hands to seize a life-line, almost meaningless to his dazed +intelligence; and through that nightmare incarnate of hellish torture he +fought his way back to the control board. Hooking one leg around a +standard, he made a seemingly enormous effort and drove the two switches +back into their original positions; then fell flat upon the floor, +weakly but in a wave of relief and thankfulness, as his racked body felt +again the wonted phenomena of weight and of inertia. White, trembling, +frankly and openly sick, the two men stared at each other in half-amazed +joy. + +"It worked." Cleveland smiled wanly as he recovered sufficiently to +speak, then leaped to his feet. "Snap it up, Fred! We must be falling +fast--we'll be wrecked when we hit!" + +"We're not falling anywhere." Rodebush, foreboding in his eyes, walked +over to the main observation plate and scanned the heavens. "However, +it's not as bad as I was afraid it might be. I can still recognize a few +of the constellations, even though they are all pretty badly distorted. +That means that we can't be more than a couple of light-years or so away +from the Solar System. Of course, since we had so little thrust on, +practically all of our time and energy was spent in getting out of the +atmosphere; but, even at that, it's a good thing that space isn't an +absolutely perfect vacuum or we would have been clear out of the +Universe by this time." + +"Huh? Impossible--where are we anyway? Then we must be making mil ... +Oh, I see!" Cleveland exclaimed in disjointed sentences as he also +stared into the plate. + +"Right. We aren't traveling at all _now_." Rodebush replied. "We are +perfectly stationary relative to Tellus, since we made the hop without +inertia. We must have attained one hundred percent neutralization, which +we didn't quite expect, and therefore we must have stopped +instantaneously when our inertia was restored. But it isn't _where_ we +are that is worrying me the most--we can fix our place in space +accurately enough by a few observations--it's _when_." + +"That's right, too. Say we're two light-years away. You think maybe +we're two years older than we were ten minutes ago, then? That's +possible, of course, maybe probable: there's been a lot of discussion on +that theory. Now's a good time to prove or to disprove it. Let's snap +back to Tellus and find out." + +"We'll do that, after a little more experimenting. You see, I had no +intention of giving us such a long push. I was going to throw the +switches over and back, but you know what happened. However, there's one +good thing about it--it's worth two years of anybody's life to settle +that relativity-time thing definitely, one way or the other." + +"I'll say it is. But say, we've got a lot of power on our ultra-wave: +enough to reach Tellus, I think. Let's locate the sun and get in touch +with Samms." + +"Let's work on these controls a little first, so we'll have something to +report. Out here's a fine place to try the ship out--nothing in the +way." + +"All right with me. But I _would_ like to find out whether I'm two years +older than I think I am, or not!" + +Then for hours they put the great super-ship through her paces, just as +test-pilots check up on every detail of performance of an airplane of +new and radical design. They found that the horrible vertigo could be +endured, perhaps in time even conquered as space-sickness could be +conquered, by a strong will in a sound body; and that their new +conveyance had possibilities of which even Rodebush had never dreamed. +Finally, their most pressing questions answered, they turned their most +powerful ultra-beam communicator toward the yellowish star which they +knew to be Old Sol. + +"Samms ... Samms." Cleveland spoke slowly and distinctly. "Rodebush and +Cleveland reporting from the 'Space-Eating Wampus', now directly in line +with Beta Ursae Minoris from the sun, distance about two point two light +years. It will take six banks of tubes on your tightest beam, LSV3, to +reach us. Barring a touch of an unusually severe type of space-sickness, +everything worked beautifully; even better than our calculations showed. +There's something we want to know right away--have we been gone four +hours and some odd minutes, or better than two years?" + +He shut off the power, turned to Rodebush, and went on: + +"Nobody knows how fast this ultra-wave travels, but if it goes as fast +as we did coming out it's certainly moving. I'll give him about thirty +minutes, then shoot in another call." + +But in less than two minutes the care-ravaged face of their chief +appeared sharp and clear upon their plates and his voice snapped curtly +from the speaker. + +"Thank God you're alive, and twice that the ship works!" he exclaimed. +"You've been gone four hours, eleven minutes, and forty-one seconds, but +never mind about abstract theorizing. Get back here, to Pittsburgh, as +fast as you can drive. That Nevian vessel or another like her is mopping +up the city, and has destroyed half the Fleet already!" + +"We'll be back there in nine minutes!" Rodebush snapped into the +transmitter. "Two to get from here to atmosphere, four from atmosphere +down to the Hill, and three to cool off. Notify the full four-shift +crew--everybody we've picked out. Don't need anybody else. Ship, +batteries, and armament are _ready_!" + +"Two minutes to atmosphere, and it took ten coming out? Think you can do +it?" Cleveland asked, as Rodebush flipped off the power and leaped to +the control panel. + +"We could do it in a few seconds if we had to. We used scarcely any +power at all coming out, and I'm not using very much going back," the +physicist explained rapidly, as he set the dials which would determine +their flashing course. + +The master switches were thrown and the pangs of inertialessness again +assailed them--but weaker far this time than ever before--and upon their +lookout plates they beheld a spectacle never before seen by eye of man. +For the ultra-beam, with its heterodyned vision, is not distorted by any +velocity yet attained, as are the ether-borne rays of light. Converted +into light only at the plate, it showed their progress as truly as +though they had been traveling at a pace to be expressed in the ordinary +terms of miles per hour. The yellow star that was the sun detached +itself from the firmament and leaped toward them, swelling visibly, +momentarily, into a blinding monster of incandescence. And toward them +also flung the earth, enlarging with such indescribable rapidity that +Cleveland protested involuntarily, in spite of his knowledge of the +peculiar mechanism of the vessel in which they were. + +"Hold it, Fred, hold it! Way 'nuff!" he exclaimed. + +"I'm using only ten thousand dynes, so she'll stop herself as soon as we +touch atmosphere, long before she can even begin to heat," Rodebush +explained. "Looks bad, but we'll stop without a jar." + +And they did. Weightless and without inertia, gravitation powerless +against her neutralizing generators, the great super-ship came from her +practically infinite velocity to an almost instantaneous halt in the +outermost, most tenuous layer of the earth's atmosphere. Her halt was +but momentary. Inertia restored and gravitation allowed again to affect +her mass, she dropped at a sharp angle downward. More than dropped; she +was forced downward by one full battery of projectors; projectors driven +by iron-powered generators. Soon they were over the Hill, whose violet +screens went down at a word. + +Flaming a dazzling white from the friction of the atmosphere through +which she had torn her way, the _Boise_ slowed abruptly as she neared +the ground, plunging toward the surface of the small but deep artificial +lake below the Hill's steel apron. Into the cold waters the space-ship +dove, and even before they could close over her, furious geysers of +steam and boiling water erupted as the stubborn alloy gave up its heat +to the cooling liquid. Endlessly the three necessary minutes dragged +their slow way into time, but finally the water ceased boiling and +Rodebush tore the ship from the lake and hurled her into the gaping +doorway of her dock. The massive doors of the air-locks opened, and +while the full crew of picked men hurried aboard with their personal +equipment, Samms talked earnestly to the two scientists in the control +room. + +" ... and about half the fleet is still in the air. They aren't +attacking; they are just trying to keep her from doing much more damage +until you can get there. How about your take-off? We can't launch you +again--the tracks are gone--but you handled her easily enough coming +in?" + +"That was all my fault," Rodebush admitted. "I should have neutralized +inertia first, but I had no idea that the fields would extend beyond the +hull, nor that they wouldn't act simultaneously. We'll take her out on +the projectors this time, though, the same as we brought her in--she +handles like a bicycle. The projector blast tears things up a little, +but nothing serious. Have you got that Pittsburgh beam for me yet? We're +about ready to go." + +"Here it is, Doctor Rodebush," came the secretary's voice, and upon the +screen there flashed into being the view of the events transpiring above +that doomed city. "The dock is empty and sealed against your blast," and +thereupon "Good-bye, and power to your tubes!" came Samms' ringing +voice. + +As the words were being spoken, mighty blasts of power raved from the +driving projectors and the immense mass of the super-ship shot out +through the portals and upward into the stratosphere. Through the +tenuous atmosphere the huge ship rushed with ever-mounting speed, and +while the hope of Triplanetary drove eastward Rodebush studied the +ever-changing scene of battle upon his plate and issued detailed +instructions to the highly trained specialists manning every offensive +and defensive weapon. + +But the Nevians did not wait to join battle until the newcomers arrived. +Their detectors were sensitive--operative over untold thousands of +miles--and the ultra-screen of the Hill had already been noted by the +invaders as the earth's only possible source of trouble. Thus the +departure of the _Boise_ had not gone unnoticed, and the fact, that, not +even with his most penetrant rays could he see into her interior, had +already given the Nevian commander some slight concern. Therefore, as +soon as it was determined that the great ship was being directed toward +Pittsburgh the fish-shaped cruiser of the void went into action. + +High in the stratosphere, speeding eastward, the immense mass of the +_Boise_ slowed abruptly, although no projector had slackened its effort. +Cleveland, eyes upon interferometer grating and spectrophotometer +charts, fingers flying over calculator keys, grinned as he turned toward +Rodebush. + +"Just as you thought, Skipper; an ultra-band pusher. C4V63L29. Shall I +give him a little pull?" + +"Not yet; let's feel him out a little before we force a close-up. We've +got plenty of mass. See what he does when I put full push on the +projectors." + +As the full power of the Terrestrial vessel was applied the Nevian was +forced backward, away from the threatened city, against the full drive +of her every projector. Soon, however, the advance was again checked, +and both scientists read the reason upon their plates. The enemy had put +down re-enforcing rods of tremendous power. Three compression members +spread out fanwise behind her, bracing her against the low mountainside, +while one huge tractor beam was thrust directly downward, holding in an +unbreakable grip a cylinder of earth extending deep down into bedrock. + +"Two can play at that game!" And Rodebush drove down similar beams, and +forward-reaching tractors as well. "Strap yourselves in solid, +everybody!" he sounded a general warning. "Something is going to give +way somewhere soon, and when it does we'll get a jolt!" + +And the promised jolt did indeed come soon. Prodigiously massive and +powerful as the Nevian was, the _Boise_ was even more massive and more +powerful; and as the already enormous energy feeding the tractors, +pushers, and projectors was raised to its inconceivable maximum, the +vessel of the enemy was hurled upward, backward; and that of earth shot +ahead with a bounding leap that threatened to strain even her mighty +members. The Nevian anchor-rods had not broken; they had simply pulled +up the vast cylinders of solid rock that had formed their anchorages. + +"Grab him now!" Rodebush yelled, and even while an avalanche of falling +rock was burying the countryside, Cleveland snapped a tractor ray upon +the flying fish and pulled tentatively. + +Nor did the Nevian now seem averse to coming to grips. The two warring +super-dreadnaughts darted toward each other, and from the invader there +flooded out the dread crimson opacity which had theretofore meant the +doom of all things Solarian. It flooded out and engulfed the immense +mass of humanity's hope in its spreading cloud of redly impenetrable +murk. But not for long. Triplanetary's super-ship boasted no ordinary +Terrestrial defense, but was sheathed in screen after screen of +ultra-vibrations: imponderable walls, it is true, but barriers +impenetrable to any unfriendly wave. To the outer screen the red veil of +the Nevians clung tenaciously, licking greedily at every square inch of +the shielding sphere of force, but unable to find an opening through +which to feed upon the steel of the _Boise_'s armor. + +"Get back--'way back! Go back and help Pittsburgh!" Rodebush drove an +ultra-communicator beam through the murk to the instruments of the +Terrestrial admiral; for the surviving warships of the Fleet--its most +powerful units--were hurling themselves forward, to plunge into that red +destruction. "None of you will last a second in this red field. And +watch out for a violet field pretty soon--it'll be worse than this. We +can handle them alone, I think; but if we can't, there's nothing in the +System that can help us!" + +And now the hitherto passive screen of the super-ship became active. At +first invisible, it began to glow in livid, violet light, and as the +glow brightened to unbearable intensity the entire spherical shield +began to increase in size. Driven outward from the super-ship as a +center, its advancing surface of seething energy consumed the crimson +murk as a billow of blast-furnace heat consumes a cloud of snowflakes in +the air above its shaft. Nor was the red death-mist all that was +consumed. Between that ravening surface and the armor skin of the +_Boise_ there was nothing. No debris, no atmosphere, no vapor, no single +atom of material substance--the first time in Terrestrial experience +that an absolute vacuum had ever been attained! + +Stubbornly contesting every foot of way lost, the Nevian fog retreated +before the violet sphere of nothingness. Back and back it fell, +disappearing altogether from all space as the violet tide engulfed the +enemy vessel; but the flying fish did not disappear. Her triple screens +flashed into furiously incandescent splendor and she entered, unscathed, +that vacuous sphere, which collapsed instantly into an enormously +elongated ellipsoid, at each focus a madly warring ship of space. + +Then in that tube of vacuum was waged a spectacular duel of +ultra-weapons--weapons impotent in air, but deadly in empty space. +Beams, rays, and rods of Titanic power smote cracklingly against +ultra-screens equally capable. Time after time each contestant ran the +gamut of the spectrum with his every available ultra-force, only to find +all channels closed. For minutes the terrible struggle went on, then: + +"Cooper, Adlington, Spencer, Dutton!" Rodebush called into his +transmitter. "Ready? Can't touch him on the ultra, so I'm going onto the +macro-bands. Give him everything you have as soon as I collapse the +violet. Go!" + +At the word the violet barrier went down, and with a crash as of a +disrupting Universe the atmosphere rushed into the void. And through the +hurricane there shot out the deadliest material weapons of Triplanetary. +Torpedoes--non-ferrous, ultra-screened, beam-dirigible torpedoes charged +with the most effective forms of material destruction known to man. +Cooper hurled his canisters of penetrating gas, Adlington his atomic +iron explosive bombs, Spencer his indestructible armor-piercing +projectiles, and Dutton his shatterable flasks of the quintessence of +corrosion--a sticky, tacky liquid of such dire potency that only one +rare Solarian element could contain it. Ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred +were thrown as fast as automatic machinery could launch them; and the +Nevians found themselves adversaries not to be despised. Size for size, +their screens were quite as capable as those of the _Boise_. The +Nevians' destructive rays glanced harmlessly from their shields, and the +Nevians' elaborate screens, neutralized at impact by those of the +torpedoes, were impotent to impede their progress. Each projectile must +needs be caught and crushed individually by beams of the most prodigious +power; and while one was being annihilated dozens more were rushing to +the attack. Then, while the twisting, dodging invader was busiest with +the tiny but relentless destroyers, Rodebush launched his heaviest +weapon. + +The macro-beams! Prodigious streamers of bluish-green flame which tore +savagely through course after course of Nevian screen! Malevolent fangs, +driven with such power and velocity that they were biting into the very +walls of the enemy vessel before the amphibians knew their defensive +shells of force had been punctured! And the emergency screens of the +invaders were equally futile. Course after course was sent out, only to +flare viciously through the spectrum and to go black! + +Outfought at every turn, the now frantically dodging Nevian leaped away +in headlong flight, only to be brought to a staggering, crashing halt as +Cleveland nailed her with a tractor beam. But the Terrestrials were to +learn that the Nevians held in reserve a means of retreat. The tractor +snapped--sheared off squarely by a sizzling plane of force--and the +fish-shaped cruiser faded from Cleveland's sight, just as the _Boise_ +had disappeared from the communicator plates of Radio Center, back in +the Hill, when she was launched. But though the plates in the control +room could not hold the Nevian, she did not vanish beyond the ken of +Randolph, now Communications Officer in the super-ship. For, warned and +humiliated by his losing one speeding vessel from his plates in Radio +Center, he was now ready for any emergency. Therefore as the Nevian +fled, Randolph's spy-ray held her, automatically behind it as there was +the full output of twelve special banks of iron-driven power tubes; and +thus it was that the vengeful Terrestrials flashed immediately along the +Nevians' line of flight. Inertialess now, pausing briefly from time to +time to enable the crew to accustom themselves to the new sensations, +the _Boise_ pursued the invader; hurtling through the void with a +velocity unthinkable. + +"He was easier to take than I thought he would be," Cleveland grunted, +staring into the plate. + +"I thought he had more stuff, too," Rodebush assented; "but I guess +Costigan got almost everything they had. If so, with all our own stuff +and most of theirs besides, we should be able to take them. They must +have neutralization, too, to take off like that; and if it's one hundred +per cent we'll never catch them ... but it isn't--there they are!" + +"And this time I'm going to hold her or burn out all our generators +trying," Cleveland declared, grimly. "Are you fellows down there able to +handle yourselves yet? Fine! Start throwing out your cans!" + +Space-hardened veterans all, the other Terrestrial officers had fought +off the horrible nausea of inertialessness, just as Rodebush and +Cleveland had done. Again the ravening green macro-beams tore at the +flying cruiser, again the mighty frames of the two space-ships shuddered +sickeningly as Cleveland clamped on his tractor rod, again the highly +dirigible torpedoes dashed out with their freights of death and +destruction. And again the Nevian shear-plane of force slashed at the +Terrestrial's tractor beam; but this time the mighty puller did not give +way. Sparkling and spitting high-tension sparks, the plane bit deeply +into the stubborn rod of energy. Brighter, thicker, and longer grew the +discharges as the gnawing plane drew more and more power; but in direct +ratio to that power the rod grew larger, denser, and ever harder to cut. +More and more vivid became the pyrotechnic display of electric +brilliance, until suddenly the entire tractor rod disappeared. At the +same instant a blast of intolerable flame erupted from the _Boise_'s +flank and the whole enormous fabric of her shook and quivered under the +force of a terrific detonation. + +"Randolph! I don't see them! Are they attacking or running?" Rodebush +demanded. He was the first to realize what had happened. + +"Running--fast!" + +"Just as well, perhaps, but get their line. Adlington!" + +"Here!" + +"Good! Was afraid you were gone--that was one of your bombs, wasn't it?" + +"Yes. Well launched, just inside the screens. Don't see how it could +have detonated unless something hot and hard struck it in the tube; it +would need about that much time to explode. Good thing it didn't go off +any sooner, or none of us would have been here. As it is, Area Six is +pretty well done in, but the bulkheads held the damage to Six. What +happened?" + +"We don't know, exactly. Both generators on the tractor beam went out. +At first, I thought that was all, but my neutralizers are dead and I +don't know what else. When the G-4's went out the fusion must have +shorted the neutralizers. They would make a mess; it must have burned a +hole down into number six tube. Cleveland and I will come down, and +we'll all look around." + +Donning space-suits, the scientists let themselves into the damaged +compartment through the emergency air-locks, and what a sight they saw! +Both outer and inner walls of alloy armor had been blown away by the +awful force of the explosion. Jagged plates hung awry; bent, twisted, +and broken. The great torpedo tube, with all its intricate automatic +machinery, had been driven violently backward and lay piled in hideous +confusion against the backing bulkheads. Practically nothing remained +whole in the entire compartment. + +"Nothing much we can do here," Rodebush said finally, through his +transmitter, "Let's go see what number four generator room looks like." + +That room, although not affected by the explosion from without, had been +quite as effectively wrecked from within. It was still stiflingly hot; +its air was still reeking with the stench of burning lubricant, +insulation, and metal; its floor was half covered by a semi-molten mass +of what had once been vital machinery. For with the burning out of the +generator bars the energy of the disintegrating allotropic iron had had +no outlet, and had built up until it had broken through its insulation +and in an irresistible flood of power had torn through all obstacles in +its path of neutralization. + +"Hm-m-m. Should have had an automatic shut-off--one detail we +overlooked," Rodebush mused. "The electricians _can_ rebuild this stuff +here, though--that hole in the hull is something else again." + +"I'll say it's something else," the grizzled Chief Engineer agreed. +"She's lost all her spherical strength--anchoring a tractor with this +ship now would turn her inside out. Back to the nearest Triplanetary +shop for us, I would say." + +"Come again, Chief!" Cleveland advised the engineer. "None of us would +live long enough to get there. We can't travel inertialess until the +repairs are made, so if they can't be made without very much traveling, +it's just too bad." + +"I don't see how we could support our jacks...." The engineer paused, +then went on. "If you can't give me Mars or Tellus, how about some other +planet? I don't care about atmosphere, or about anything but mass. I can +stiffen her up in three or four days if I can sit down on something +heavy enough to hold our jacks and presses; but if we have to rig up +space-cradles around the ship herself it'll take a long time--months, +probably. Haven't got a spare planet on hand, have you?" + +"We might have, at that," Rodebush made surprising answer. "A couple of +seconds before we engaged we were heading toward a sun with at least two +planets. I was just getting ready to dodge them when we cut the +neutralizers, so they should be fairly close somewhere--yes, there's the +sun, right over there. Rather pale and small; but it's close, +comparatively speaking. We'll go back up into the control room and find +out about the planets." + +The strange sun was found to have three large and easily located +children, and observation showed that the crippled space-ship could +reach the nearest of these in about five days. Power was therefore fed +to the driving projectors, and each scientist, electrician, and mechanic +bent to the task of repairing the ruined generators; rebuilding them to +handle any load which the converters could possibly put upon them. For +two days the _Boise_ drove on; then her acceleration was reversed, and +finally a landing was effected upon the forbidding, rocky soil of the +strange world. + +It was larger than the earth, and of a somewhat stronger gravitation. +Although its climate was bitterly cold, even in its short daytime, it +supported a luxuriant but outlandish vegetation. Its atmosphere, while +rich enough in oxygen and not really poisonous, was so rank with +indescribably fetid vapors as to be scarcely breathable. + +But these things bothered the engineers not at all. Paying no attention +to temperature or to scenery and without waiting for chemical analysis +of the air, the space-suited mechanics leaped to their tasks; and in +only a little more time than had been mentioned by the chief engineer +the hull and giant frame of the super-ship were as staunch as of yore. + +"All right, Skipper!" came finally the welcome word. "You might try her +out with a fast hop around this world before you shove off in earnest." + +Under the fierce blast of her projectors the vessel leaped ahead, and +time after time, as Rodebush hurled her mass upon tractor beam or +pressor, the engineers sought in vain for any sign of weakness. The +strange planet half girdled and the severest tests passed flawlessly, +Rodebush reached for his neutralizer switches. Reached and paused, +dumfounded, for a brilliant purple light had sprung into being upon his +panel and a bell rang out insistently. + +"What the blue blazes!" Rodebush shot out an exploring beam along the +detector line and gasped. He stared, mouth open, then yelled: + +"_Roger_ is here, rebuilding his planetoid! _STATIONS ALL_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + Roger Carries On + + +For gray Roger had not perished in the floods of Nevian energy which had +destroyed his planetoid. While those terrific streamers of force +emanating from the crimson obscurity surrounding the amphibians' +space-ship were driving into his defensive screens, Roger sat impassive +and immobile at his desk. His hard gray eyes moved methodically over his +instruments and recorders; and after a few minutes he smiled coldly, +while an expression of relief struggled fleetingly to move his +expressionless face. Even though his screens were better than anyone had +supposed, why admit it? + +"Baxter, Hartkopf, Chatelier, Anandrusung, Penrose, Nishimura, +Mirsky...." He called off a list of names. "Report to me here at once!" + +"The planetoid is lost," he informed his select group of scientists when +they had assembled, "and we must abandon it in exactly fifteen minutes, +which will be the time required for the robots to fill this first +section with our most necessary machinery and instruments. Pack each of +you one box of the things he most wishes to take with him, and report +back here in not more than thirteen minutes. Say nothing to anyone +else." + +They filed out calmly, and as they passed out into the hall Baxter, +perhaps a trifle less case-hardened than his fellows, at least voiced a +thought for those they were so brutally deserting. + +"I say, it seems a bit thick to dash off this way and leave the rest of +them; but still, I suppose...." + +"You suppose correctly." Bland and heartless Nishimura filled in the +pause. "A small part of the planetoid may be able to escape; which, to +me at least, is pleasantly surprising news. It cannot carry all of our +men and mechanisms, therefore only the most important of both are saved. +What would you? For the rest it is simply what you call 'the fortune of +war,' no?" + +"But the beautiful...." began the amorous Chatelier. + +"Hush, fool!" snorted Hartkopf. "One word of that to the ear of Roger +and you too are left behind. Of such non-essentials the Universe is +full, to be collected in times of ease, but in times hard to be +disregarded. Und this is a time of schrecklichkeit indeed!" + + [Illustration: + + And through that terrific conduit came speeding package + after package of destruction.] + +The group broke up, each man going to his own quarters; to meet again in +the First Section a few minutes before the zero time. Roger's "office" +was now packed so tightly with machinery and supplies that but little +room was left for the scientists. The gray monstrosity still sat unmoved +behind his dials. + +"But of what use is it, Roger?" the Russian physicist demanded. "Those +waves are of some ultra-band, of a frequency immensely higher than +anything heretofore known. Our screens should not have stopped them for +an instant. It is a mystery that they have held so long, and certainly +this single section will not be permitted to leave the planetoid without +being destroyed." + +"There are many things you do not know, Mirsky," came the cold and level +answer. "Our screens, which you think are of your own devising, have +several improvements of my own in the formulae, and would hold forever +had I the power to drive them. The screens of this section, being +smaller, can be held as long as will be found necessary." + +"Power!" the dumfounded Russian exclaimed. "Why, we have almost infinite +power--unlimited--sufficient for a lifetime of high expenditure!" + +But Roger made no reply, for the time of departure was at hand. He +pressed down a tiny lever, and a robot in the power room threw in the +gigantic plunger switches which launched against the Nevians the +stupendous beam which so upset the complacence of Nerado the +amphibian--the beam into which was poured recklessly every resource of +power afforded by the planetoid, careless alike of burn-out and of +exhaustion. Then, all the attention of the Nevians and the greater part +of their power output devoted to the neutralization of that last +desperate thrust, the metal wall of the planetoid opened and the First +Section shot out into space. Full-driven as they were, Roger's screens +flared white as he drove through the temporarily lessened attack of the +Nevians; but in their preoccupation the amphibians did not notice the +additional disturbance and the section tore on, unobserved and +undetected. Far out in space, Roger raised his eyes from the instrument +panel and continued the conversation as though it had not been +interrupted. + +"Everything is relative, Mirsky, and you have misused gravely the term +'unlimited.' Our power was, and is, very definitely limited. True, it +then seemed ample for our needs, and is far superior to that possessed +by the inhabitants of any solar system with which I am familiar; but the +beings behind that red screen, whoever they are, have sources of power +as far above ours as ours are above those of the Solarians." + +"How do you know?" + +"That power, what is it?" "We have, then, the analyses of those fields +recorded!" Came simultaneous questions and explanations. + +"Their power-source is very probably the intra-atomic energy of iron; +and if so, much remains to be done before I can proceed with my plan. I +must have the most powerful structure in the known Universe before I can +act. In the light of what I have just learned, the loss of the planetoid +is but a trifle." Roger, as unmoved as one of his own automatons, was +coldly analyzing the situation, thinking the thing through to its +logical conclusion, paying no attention whatever to the losses of life, +time and treasure now behind him. + +"But what can you do about it?" growled the Russian. + +"Many things. From the charts of the recorders we can compute their +fields of force, and from that point it is only a step to their method +of liberating the energy. We shall build robots. They shall build other +robots, who shall in turn construct another planetoid; one this time +that, wielding the theoretical maximum of power, will be suited to my +needs." + +"And where will you build it? We are marked. Invisibility now is +useless. Triplanetary will find us, even if we take up an orbit beyond +that of Pluto!" + +"We have already left your Solarian system far behind. We are going to +another system; one far enough removed so that the spy-rays of +Triplanetary will never find us, and yet one that we can reach in a +reasonable length of time with the energies at our command. Some fifteen +days will be required for the journey, however, and our quarters are +cramped. Therefore make places for yourselves wherever you can, and +lessen the tedium of those fifteen days by working upon whatever +problems are most pressing in your respective researches." + +The gray monster fell silent, immersed in what thoughts no one knew, and +the scientists set out to obey his orders. Baxter, the British chemist, +followed Penrose, the lantern-jawed, saturnine American engineer and +inventor, as he made his way to the furthermost cubicle of the section. + +"I say, Penrose, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions, if you don't +mind?" + +"Go ahead. Ordinarily it's dangerous to be a cackling hen anywhere +around _him_, but he can't hear anything here now. His system is pretty +well shot to pieces. You want to know all I know about Roger?" + +"Exactly so. You have been with him so much longer than I have, you +know. In some ways he impresses one as being scarcely human, if you know +what I mean. Ridiculous, of course, but of late I have been wondering +whether he really _is_ human. He knows too much, about too many things. +He seems to be acquainted with many solar systems, to visit which would +require life-times. Then, too, he has dropped remarks which would imply +that he actually saw things that happened long before any living man +could possibly have been born. Finally, he looks--well, peculiar--and +certainly does not act human. I have been wondering, and have been able +to learn nothing about him; as you have said, such talk as this aboard +the planetoid was impossible." + +"You needn't worry about being paid your price; that's one thing. If we +live--and that was part of the agreement, you know--we will all get what +we sold out for. You will become a belted earl. I have already made +millions, and shall make many more. Similarly, Chatelier has had and +will have his women, Anandrusung and Nishimura their cherished revenges. +Hartkopf his power, and so on." He eyed the other speculatively, then +went on: + +"I might as well spill it all, since I'll never have a better chance and +since you should know what the rest of us do. You're in the same boat +with us and tarred with the same brush. There's a lot of gossip, that +may or may not be true, but I know one very startling fact. Here it is. +My great-great-grandfather left some notes which, taken in connection +with certain things I myself saw on the planetoid, prove beyond question +that our Roger went to Harvard University at the same time he did. Roger +was a grown man then, and the elder Penrose noted that he was marked, +like this," and the American sketched a cabalistic design. + +"What!" Baxter exclaimed. "An adept of North Polar Jupiter--_them?_" + +"Yes. That was before the First Jovian War, you know, and it was those +medicine-men--really high-caliber scientists--that prolonged that war +so...." + +"But I say, Penrose, that's really a bit thick. When they were wiped out +it was proved a lot of hocus-pocus...." + +"Some of it was, but most of it wasn't," Penrose interrupted in turn. +"I'm not asking you to believe anything except that one fact; I'm just +telling you the rest of it. But it is also a fact that those adepts knew +things and did things that take a lot of explaining. Now for the gossip, +none of which is guaranteed. Roger is undoubtedly of Tellurian +parentage, and the story is that his father was a moon-pirate, his +mother a Greek adventuress. When the pirates were chased off the moon +they went to Ganymede, you know, and some of them were captured by the +Jovians. It seems that Roger was born at an instant of time sacred to +the adepts, so they took him on. He worked his way up through the +Forbidden Society as all adepts did, by various kinds of murder and job +lots of assorted deviltries, until he got clear to the top--the +seventy-seventh mystery...." + +"The secret of eternal youth!" gasped Baxter, awed in spite of himself. + +"Right, and he stayed Chief Devil, in spite of all the efforts of all +his ambitious sub-devils to kill him, until the turning-point of the +First Jovian War. He cut away then in a space-ship, and ever since then +he has been working--and working hard--on some stupendous plan of his +own that nobody else has ever got even an inkling of. That's the story. +True or not, it explains a lot of things that no other theory can touch. +And now I think you'd better shuffle along; enough of this is a great +plenty!" + +Baxter went to his own cubby, and each man of the adept's cold-blooded +crew methodically took up his task. True to prediction, in fifteen days +a planet loomed beneath them and their vessel settled through a reeking +atmosphere toward a rocky and forbidding plain. Then for another day +they plunged along, a few thousand feet above the surface of that +strange world, while Roger with his analytical detectors sought the most +favorable location from which to wrest the materials necessary for his +program of construction. + +It was a world of cold; its sun was distant, pale, and wan. It had +monstrous forms of vegetation, of which each branch and member writhed +and fought with a grotesque and horrible individual activity. Ever and +anon a struggling part broke from its parent plant and darted away in +independent existence; leaping upon and consuming or being consumed by a +fellow creature equally monstrous. This flora was of a uniform color--a +lurid, sickly yellow. In form some of it was fern-like, some +cactus-like, some vaguely tree-like; but it was all outrageous, +inherently repulsive to all Solarian senses. And no less hideous were +the animal-like forms of life, which slithered and slunk rapaciously +through that fantastic pseudo-vegetation. Snake-like, reptile-like, +bat-like, the creatures squirmed, crawled, and flew; each covered with a +dankly oozing yellow hide and each motivated by twin common impulses--to +kill and insatiably and indiscriminately to devour. Over this reeking +wilderness Roger drove his vessel, untouched by its disgusting, its +appalling ferocity and horror. + +"There should be intelligence, of a kind," he mused, and swept the +surface of the planet with an exploring beam. "Ah, yes, there is a city, +of sorts," and in a few minutes the outlaws were looking down upon a +metal-walled city of roundly conical buildings. + +Inside these structures and between and around them there scuttled +formless blobs of matter, one of which Roger brought up into his vessel +by means of a tractor ray. Held immovable by the beam it lay upon the +floor, a strangely extensile, amoeba-like metal-studded mass of leathery +substance. Of eyes, ears, limbs, or organs it apparently had none, yet +it radiated an intensely hostile aura; a mental effluvium concentrated +of rage and of hatred. + +"Apparently the ruling intelligence of the planet," Roger commented. +"Such creatures are useless to us; we can build robots in half the time +required for their subjugation and training. Still, it should not be +permitted to carry back what it may have learned of us." As he spoke the +adept threw the peculiar being out into the air and dispassionately +rayed it out of existence. + +"That thing reminds me of a man I used to know, back in Penobscot." +Penrose was as coldly callous as his unfeeling master. "The +evenest-tempered man in town--mad all the time!" + +Eventually Roger found a location which satisfied his requirements of +raw materials, and made a landing upon that unfriendly soil. Sweeping +beams denuded a great circle of life, and into that circle leaped +robots. Robots requiring neither rest nor food, but only lubricants and +power; robots insensible alike to that bitter cold and to that noxious +atmosphere. + +But the outlaws were not to win a foothold upon that inimical planet +easily, nor were they to hold it without effort. Through the weird +vegetation of the circle's bare edge there scuttled and poured along a +horde of the metal-studded men--if "men" they might be called--who, +ferocity incarnate, rushed the robot line. Mowed down by hundreds, still +they came on; willing, it seemed to expend any number of lives in order +that one living creature might once touch a robot with one out-thrust +metallic stud. Whenever that happened there was a flash as of lightning, +the heavy smoke of burning insulation, grease and metal, and the robot +went down out of control. Recalling his remaining automatons, Roger sent +out a shielding screen, against which the defenders of their planet +raged in impotent fury. For days they hurled themselves and their every +force against that impenetrable barrier, then withdrew: temporarily +stopped, but by no means acknowledging defeat. + +Then, while Roger and his cohorts directed affairs from within their +comfortable and now sufficiently roomy vessel, there came into being +around it an industrial city of metal, peopled by metallic and insensate +mechanisms. Mines were sunk, furnaces were blown in, smelters belched +forth into the already unbearable air their sulphurous fumes, rolling +mills and machine shops were built and equipped: and as fast as new +enterprises were completed additional robots were ready to man them. In +record time the heavy work of girders, members, and plates was well +under way; and shortly thereafter light, deft, and multi-fingered +mechanical men began the interminable task of building and installing +the prodigious amount of precise machinery required for the vast +structure. Roger was well content: but one day he was rudely awakened +from his dream of complete isolation. + +Even though he had no reason to believe that there was anything +dangerous within hundreds of millions of miles, it was Roger's cautious +custom to release the screens from time to time, in order to allow his +detectors to range out. This day, as he sent out his beams, his hard +gray eyes grew even harder. + +"Mirsky! Nishimura! Come here!" he snapped, and showed them upon his +plate an enormous sphere of steel, its rays flaming viciously. "Is there +any doubt whatever in your minds as to the System to which that ship +belongs?" + +"None at all--Triplanetarian," replied the Russian. "While larger than +any I have seen before, its construction is unmistakable. They managed +to trace us, and are testing out their weapons before attacking. Do we +attack or do we run away?" + +"If Triplanetarian, and it surely is, we attack," coldly. "This one +section is armed and powered to defeat Triplanetary's entire navy. We +shall take that ship, and shall add its slight resources to our own. And +it may even be that they have picked up the three who escaped me.... I +have never yet been balked for long. Yes, we shall take that vessel. And +those three sooner or later. Bradley I care nothing about ... but +Costigan handled me ... and the woman...." Diamond-hard eyes glared +balefully at the urge of thoughts to a clean and normal mind +unthinkable. + +"To your posts," he ordered. "The robots will continue to function under +their automatic controls during the short time it will require to abate +this nuisance." + +"_One moment!_" A strange voice roared from the speakers. "Consider +yourselves under arrest, by order of the Triplanetary Council! Surrender +and you shall receive impartial hearing; fight us and you shall never +come to trial. From what we have learned of Roger, we do not expect him +to surrender, but if any of you other men wish to avoid immediate death, +leave your vessel at once. We will come back for you later." + +"Any of you wishing to leave this vessel have my full permission to do +so," Roger announced, disdaining any reply to the challenge of the +_Boise_. "Any such, however, will not be allowed inside the planetoid +area after the rest of us return from wiping out that patrol. We attack +in one minute." + +"Would not one do better by stopping on?" Baxter, in the quarters of the +American, was in doubt as to the most profitable course to pursue. "I +should leave immediately if I thought that that ship could win; but I do +not fancy that it can, do you?" + +"That ship? _One_ Triplanetary ship against _us_?" Penrose laughed +raucously. "Do as you please. I'd go in a minute if I thought that there +was any chance of us losing; but there isn't, so I'm staying. I know +which side _my_ bread's buttered on. Those cops are bluffing, that's +all. Not bluffing exactly, either, because they'll go through with it as +long as they last. Foolish, but it's a way they have--they'll die trying +every time, instead of running away, even when they know they're licked +before they start. They don't use good judgment." + +"None of you are leaving? Very well, you each know what to do," came +Roger's emotionless voice. The stipulated minute having elapsed, he +advanced a lever and the outlaw cruiser slid quietly into the air. + +Toward the poised _Boise_ Roger steered. Within range, he flung out a +weapon new-learned and supposedly irresistible to any ferrous thing or +creature, the red converter-field of the Nevians. For Roger's analytical +detectors had stood him in good stead during those frightful minutes in +the course of which the planetoid had borne the brunt of Nerado's +superhuman attack; in such good stead that from the records of those +ingenious instruments he and his scientists had been able to reconstruct +not only the generators of the attacking forces, but also the screens +employed by the amphibians in the neutralization of similar beams. With +a vastly inferior armament the smallest of Roger's vessels had defeated +the most powerful battleships of Triplanetary; what had he to fear in +such a heavy craft as the one he now was driving, one so superlatively +armed and powered? Well it was for his peace of mind that he had no +inkling that the harmless-looking sphere he was so blithely attacking +was in reality the much-discussed, half-mythical "super-ship" of +Triplanetary's Secret Service; nor that its already unprecedented +armament had been re-enforced, thanks to that hated Costigan, with +Roger's own every worth-while idea, as well as with every weapon and +defense known to that arch-Nevian, Nerado! + +Unknowing and contemptuous, Roger launched his converter field, and +instantly found himself fighting for his very life. For from Rodebush at +the controls down, the men of the Secret Service countered with wave +after wave and with salvo after salvo of vibratory and material +destruction. No thought of mercy for the men of the pirate ship could +enter their minds. The outlaws had each been given a chance to +surrender, and each had refused it. Refusing, they knew, as the +Triplanetarians knew and as all modern readers know, meant that they +were staking their lives upon victory. For with modern armaments it is +seldom indeed that a single man lives through the defeat in battle of a +war-vessel of space. + +Roger launched his field of red opacity, but it did not reach even +_Boise_'s screens. All space seemed to explode into violet splendor as +Rodebush neutralized it, drove it back with his obliterating zone of +force; but even that all-devouring zone could not touch Roger's +peculiarly efficient screen. The outlaw vessel stood out, unharmed. +Ultra-violet, infra-red, pure heat, infra-sound, solid beams of +high-tension high-frequency current in whose paths the most stubborn +metals would be volatilized instantly; all iron-driven, every deadly and +torturing vibration known was hurled against that screen; but it, too, +was iron-driven, and it held. Even the awful force of the macro-beam was +dissipated by it--reflected, hurled away on all sides in coruscating +torrents of blinding, dazzling energy. Cooper, Adlington, Spencer, and +Dutton hurled against it their bombs and torpedoes--and still it held. +But Roger's fiercest blasts and heaviest projectiles were equally +impotent against the force-shields of the super-ship. The adept, having +no liking for a battle upon anything like equal terms, sought safety in +flight, only to be brought to a crashing, stunning halt by a massive +tractor beam. + +"That must be that sixth-phase polycyclic screen that Conway reported +on," Cleveland frowned in thought. "I've been doing a lot of work on +that, and I think I've calculated an opener for it, Fred, but I'll have +to have number ten projector and the whole output of number ten power +room. Can you let me play with that much juice for a while? All right, +Blake, tune her up to fifty-five thousand--there, hold it! Now, you +other fellows, listen! I'm going to try to drill a hole through that +screen with a hollow, quasi-solid beam: like a diamond drill cutting out +a core. You won't be able to shove anything into the hole from outside +the beam, so you'll have to steer your cans out through the central +orifice of number ten projector--that'll be cold, since I'm going to use +only the edge. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold the hole open, +though so shoot them along as fast as you can. Ready? Here goes!" + +He pressed a series of contacts. Far below, in number ten converter +room, massive switches drove home and the enormous mass of the vessel +quivered under the terrific reaction of the newly-calculated, +semi-material beam of energy that was hurled out, backed by the +mightiest of all the mighty converters and generators of Triplanetary's +super-dreadnaught. That beam, a pipe-like hollow cylinder of intolerable +energy, flashed out, and there was a rending, tearing crash as it struck +Roger's hitherto impenetrable wall. Struck and clung, grinding, boring +in, while from the raging inferno that marked the circle of contact of +cylinder and shield the pirates' screen radiated scintillating torrents +of cracking, streaming sparks, lightning-like in length and in +intensity. + +Deeper and deeper the gigantic drill was driven. It was through! Pierced +Roger's polycyclic screen; exposed the bare metal of Roger's walls! And +now, concentrated upon one point, flamed out in seemingly redoubled fury +Triplanetary's raging rays--in vain. For even as they could not +penetrate the screen, neither could they penetrate the wall of +Cleveland's drill, but rebounded from it in the cascaded brilliance of +thwarted lightning. + +"Oh, what a dumb-bell I am!" groaned Cleveland. "Why, oh why didn't I +have somebody rig up a secondary SX7 beam on Ten's inner rings? Hop to +it, will you, Blake, so that we'll have it in case they are able to stop +the cans?" + +But the pirates could not stop all of Triplanetary's projectiles, now +hurrying along inside the pipe as fast as they could be driven. In fact, +for a few minutes desperate Roger, knowing that he faced his long life's +gravest crisis, paid no attention to them at all, nor to any of his own +useless offensive weapons: he struggled only and madly to break away +from the savage grip of the _Boise_'s tractor rod. Futile. He could +neither cut nor stretch that inexorably anchoring beam. Then he devoted +his every resource to the closing of that unbelievable breach in his +shield; the barrier which through all previous emergencies had kept +death at bay. Equally futile. His most desperate efforts resulted only +in more frenzied displays of incandescence along the curved surface of +contact of that penetrant cylinder. And through that terrific conduit +came speeding package after package of destruction. Bombs, and +armor-piercing shells, gas shells, and shells of poisonous and corrosive +fluids followed each other in close succession. The surviving scientists +of the planetoid, expert gunners and ray-men all, destroyed many of the +projectiles, but it was not humanly possible to frustrate them all. And +the breach could not be forced shut against the all but irresistible +force of Cleveland's "opener". And with all his power Roger could not +shift his vessel's position in the grip of Triplanetary's tractors +sufficiently to bring a projector to bear upon the super-ship along the +now unprotected axis of that narrow, but deadly tube. + +Thus it was that the end came soon. A war-head touched steel plating and +there ensued a world-wracking explosion of atomic iron. Gaping wide, +helpless, with all defenses down, other torpedoes entered the stricken +hulk and completed its destruction even before they could be recalled. +Explosive bombs literally tore the pirate vessel to fragments, while +vials of pure corrosion dissolved her substance into dripping corruption +and reeking gases filled every cranny of the wreckage as its torn and +dismembered fragments began their long plunge to the ground. The +space-ship followed the pieces down, and Rodebush sent out an exploring +ray. + +" ... resistance was such that it was necessary to use corrosive, and +ship and contents were completely disintegrated," he dictated into his +vessel's log, some time later. "While there were of course no remains +recognizable as human, it is practically certain that Roger and his last +eleven men died. + +"Look here, Fred," Cleveland called his attention to the plate, upon +which was pictured a horde of the peculiar inhabitants of the ghastly +planet, wreaking their frenzied electrical wrath upon everything within +the circle bared by Roger. "I was just going to suggest that we clean up +that planetoid Roger started, but I see that the local boys are +attending to it." + +"Just as well, perhaps. I would like to stay and study these people a +little while, but we must get back on the trail of the Nevians," and the +_Boise_ leaped away into space, toward the line of flight of the +amphibians. + +They reached that line and along it they traveled at full normal blast. +As they traveled their detecting receivers and amplifiers were reaching +out with their utmost power; ultra-instruments capable of rendering +audible any signal originating within many light-years of them, upon any +known frequency. And constantly at least two men were listening to those +instruments with every sense concentrated in their ears. +Listening--straining to distinguish in the deafening roar of background +noise from the over-driven tubes any sign of voice or signal. +Listening--while, millions upon untold millions of miles beyond even the +prodigious reach of those ultra-instruments, three human beings, pitted +against overwhelming odds, were even then sending out into empty space +an almost hopeless appeal for the aid so desperately needed! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + The Specimens Escape + + +Knowing well that conversation with its fellows is one of the greatest +needs of any intelligent being, the Nevians had permitted the +Terrestrial specimens to retain possession of their ultra-beam +communicators. Thus it was that Costigan had been able to keep in touch +with his sweetheart and with Bradley. He learned that each had been +placed upon exhibition in a different Nevian city: that the three had +been separated in response to an insistent popular demand for such a +distribution of the peculiar, but highly interesting creatures from a +distant solar system. They had not been harmed. In fact, each was +visited daily by a specialist, who made sure that his charge was being +kept in the pink of condition. + +As soon as he became aware of this condition of things Costigan became +morose. He sat still, drooped, and pined away visibly. He refused to +eat, and of the worried specialist he demanded liberty. Then, failing in +that as he knew he would fail, he demanded something to _do_. They +pointed out to him, reasonably enough, that in such a civilization as +theirs there was nothing he _could_ do. They assured him that they would +do anything they could to alleviate his mental suffering, but that since +he was a museum piece he must see, himself, that he must be kept on +display for a short time. Wouldn't he please behave himself and eat, as +a reasoning being should? Costigan sulked a little longer, then wavered. +Finally he agreed to compromise. He would eat and exercise if they would +fit up a laboratory in his apartment, so that he could continue the +studies he had begun upon his own native planet. To this they agreed, +and thus it came about that one day the following conversation was held: + +"Clio? Bradley? I've got something to tell you this time. Haven't said +anything before, for fear things might not work out, but they did. I +went on a hunger strike and made them give me a complete laboratory. As +a chemist I'm a darn good electrician; but luckily, with the sea-water +they've got here, it's a very simple thing to make...." + +"Hold on!" snapped Bradley. "Somebody may be listening in on us!" + +"They aren't. They can't, without my knowing it, and I'll cut off the +second anybody tries to synchronize with my beam. To resume--making +Vee-Two is a very simple process, and I've got everything around here +that's hollow clear full of it...." + +"How come they let you?" asked Clio. + +"Oh, they don't know what I'm doing. They watched me for a few days, and +all I did was make up and bottle the weirdest messes imaginable. Then I +finally managed to separate oxygen and nitrogen, after trying hard all +of one day; and when they thought they saw that I didn't know anything +about either one of them or what to do with them after I had them, they +gave me up in disgust as a plain dumb ape and haven't paid any attention +to me since. So I've got me plenty of kilograms of liquid Vee-Two, all +ready to touch off. I'm getting out of here in about three minutes and a +half, and I'm coming over after you folks, in a new, iron-powered +space-speedster that they don't know I know anything about. They've just +given it its final tests, and it's the slickest thing you ever saw." + +"But Conway, dearest, you can't possibly rescue me," Clio's voice broke. +"Why, there are thousands of them, all around here. If you can get away, +go, dear, but don't...." + +"I said I was coming after you, and if I can get away I'll be there. A +good whiff of this stuff will lay out a thousand of them just as easily +as it will one. Here's the idea. I've made a gas mask for myself, since +I'll be in it where it's thick, but you two won't need any. The gas is +soluble enough in water so that three or four thicknesses of wet cloth +over your noses will be enough. I'll tell you when to wet down. We're +going to break away or go out trying--there aren't enough amphibians +between here and Andromeda to keep us humans cooped up like menagerie +animals forever! But here comes my specialist with the keys to the city; +time for the overture to start. See you later!" + +The Nevian physician directed his key-tube upon the transparent wall of +the chamber and an opening appeared, an opening which vanished as soon +as he had stepped through it; Costigan kicked a valve open; and from +various innocent tubes there belched forth into the water of the central +lagoon and into the air over it a flood of deadly vapor. As the Nevian +turned toward the prisoner there was an almost inaudible hiss and a tiny +jet of the frightful, outlawed stuff struck his open gills, just below +his huge, conical head. He tensed momentarily, twitched convulsively +just once, and fell motionless to the floor. And outside, the streams of +avidly soluble liquefied gas rushed out into air and into water. It +spread, dissolved, and diffused with the extreme mobility which is one +of its characteristics; and as it diffused and was borne outward the +Nevians, in their massed hundreds, died. Died not knowing what killed +them; not knowing even that they died. Costigan, bitterly resentful of +the inhuman treatment accorded the three and fiercely anxious for the +success of his plan of escape, held his breath and, grimly alert, +watched the amphibians die. When he could see no more motion anywhere he +donned his gas-mask, strapped upon his back a large canister of the +poison--his capacious pockets were already full of smaller +containers--and two savagely exultant sentences escaped him. + +"I am a poor, ignorant specimen of ape, that can be let play with +apparatus, am I?" he rasped, as he picked up the key-tube of the +specialist and opened the door of his prison. "Maybe they'll learn +sometime that it ain't always safe to judge by the looks of a flea how +far he can jump!" + +He stepped out through the opening into the water, and, burdened as he +was, made shift to swim to the nearest ramp. Up it he ran, toward a main +corridor. But ahead of him there was wafted a breath of dread Vee-Two, +and where that breath went, went also unconsciousness--an +unconsciousness which would deepen gradually into permanent oblivion +save for the prompt intervention of one who possessed, not only the +necessary antidote, but the equally important knowledge of exactly how +to use it. Upon the floor of that corridor were strewn Nevians, who had +dropped in their tracks. Past or over their bodies Costigan strode, +pausing only to direct a jet of lethal vapor into whatever branching +corridor or open doorway caught his eye. He was going to the intake of +the city's ventilation plant, and no unmasked creature dependent for +life upon oxygen could bar his path. He reached the intake, tore the +canister from his back, and released its full, vast volume of horrid +contents into the primary air stream of the entire city. + +And all throughout that doomed city Nevians dropped; quietly and without +a struggle, unknowing. Busy executives dropped upon their cushioned, +flat-topped desks; hurrying travelers and messengers dropped upon the +floors of the corridors or relaxed in the noxious waters of the ways; +lookouts and observers dropped before their flashing screens; central +operators of communications dropped under the winking lights of their +panels. Observers and centrals in the outlying sections of the city +wondered briefly at the unwonted universal motionlessness and +stagnation; then the racing taint in water and in air reached them, too, +and they ceased wondering--forever. + +Then through those quiet halls Costigan stalked to a certain storage +room, where with all due precaution he donned his own suit of +Triplanetary armor. Making an ungainly bundle of the other Solarian +equipment stored there, he dragged it along behind him as he clanked +back toward his prison, until he neared the dock at which was moored the +Nevian space-speedster which he was determined to take. Here, he knew, +was the first of many critical points. The crew of the vessel was +aboard, and, with its independent air-supply, unharmed. They had +weapons, were undoubtedly alarmed, and were very probably highly +suspicious. They, too, had ultra-beams and might see him, but his very +closeness to them would tend to protect him from ultra-beam observation. +Therefore he crouched tensely behind a buttress, staring through his +spy-ray goggles, waiting for a moment when none of the Nevians would be +near the entrance, but grimly resolved to act instantly should he feel +any touch of a spying ultra-beam. + +"Here's where the pinch comes," he growled to himself. "I know the +combination, but if they're suspicious enough and act quick enough they +can seal that door on me before I can get it open, and then rub me out +like a blot; but ... ah!" + +The moment had arrived, before the touch of any revealing ray. He +trained the key-tube, the entrance opened, and through that opening in +the instant of its appearance there shot a brittle bulb of glass, whose +breaking meant death. It crashed into fragments against a metallic wall +and Costigan, entering the vessel, consigned its erstwhile crew one by +one to the already crowded waters of the lagoon. He then leaped to the +controls and drove the captured speedster through the air, to plunge it +down upon the surface of the lagoon beside the door of the isolated +structure which had for so long been his prison. Carefully he +transferred to the vessel the motley assortment of containers of +Vee-Two, and after a quick check-up to make sure that he had overlooked +nothing, he shot his craft straight up into the air. Then only did he +close his ultra-wave circuits and speak. + +"Clio, Bradley--I got away clean, without a bit of trouble. Now I'm +coming after you, Clio." + +"Oh, it's wonderful that you got away, Conway!" the girl exclaimed. "But +hadn't you better get Captain Bradley first? Then, if anything should +happen, he would be of some use, while I...." + +"I'll knock him into an outside loop if he does!" the captain snorted, +and Costigan went on: + +"You won't need to. You come first, Clio, of course. But you're too far +away for me to see you with my spy, and I don't want to use the +high-powered beam of this boat for fear of detection; so you'd better +keep on talking, so that I can trace you." + +"That's one thing I _am_ good at!" Clio laughed in sheer relief. "If +talking were music, I'd be a full brass band!" and she kept up a flow of +inconsequential chatter, until Costigan told her that it was no longer +necessary; that he had established the line. + +"Any excitement around there yet?" he asked her then. + +"Nothing unusual that I can see," she replied. "Why? Should there be +some?" + +"I hope not, but when I made my get-away I couldn't kill them all, of +course, and I thought maybe they might connect things up with my +jail-break and tell the other cities to take steps about you two. But I +guess they're pretty well disorganized back there yet, since they can't +know who hit them, or what with, or why. I must have got about everybody +that wasn't sealed up somewhere, and it doesn't stand to reason that +those who are left can check up very closely for a while yet. But +they're nobody's fools--they'll certainly get conscious when I snatch +you, maybe before ... there, I see your city, I think." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Same as I did back there, if I can. Poison their primary air and all +the water I can reach...." + +"Oh, Conway!" Her voice rose to a scream. "They must know--they're all +getting out of the water and are rushing inside the buildings as fast as +they possibly can!" + +"I see they are," grimly. "I'm right over you now, 'way up. Been +locating their primary intake. They've got a dozen ships around it, and +have guards posted all along the corridors leading to it; and _those +guards are wearing masks!_ They're clever birds, all right, those +amphibians--they know what they got back there and how they got it. That +changes things, girl! If we use gas here we won't stand a chance in the +world of getting old Bradley. Stand by to jump when I open that door!" + +"Hurry, dear! They are coming out here after me!" + +"Sure they are." Costigan had already seen the two Nevians swimming out +toward Clio's cage, and had hurled his vessel downward in a screaming +power dive. "You're too valuable a specimen for them to let you be +gassed, but if they can get there before I do they're traveling fast!" + +He miscalculated slightly, so that instead of coming to a halt at the +surface of the liquid medium the speedster struck with a crash that +hurled solid masses of water for hundreds of yards. But no ordinary +crash could harm that vessel's structure, her gravity controls were not +overloaded, and she shot back to the surface; gallant ship and reckless +pilot alike unharmed. Costigan trained his key-tube upon the doorway of +Clio's cell, then tossed it aside. + +"Different combinations over here!" he barked. "Got to cut you out--lie +down in that far corner!" + +His hands flashed over the panel, and as Clio fell prone without +hesitation or question a heavy beam literally blasted away a large +portion of the roof of the structure. The speedster shot into the air +and dropped down until she rested upon the tops of opposite walls; walls +still glowing, semi-molten. The girl piled a stool upon the table and +stood upon it, reached upward, and seized the mailed hands extended +downward toward her. Costigan heaved her up into the vessel with a +powerful jerk, slammed the door shut, leaped to the controls, and the +speedster darted away. + +"Your armor's in that bundle there. Better put it on, and check your +Lewistons and pistols--no telling what kind of jams we'll get into," he +snapped, without turning. "Bradley, start talking ... all right, I've +got your line. Better get your wet rags ready and get organized +generally--every second will count by the time we get there. We're +coming so fast that our outer plating's white hot, but it may not be +fast enough, at that." + +"It isn't fast enough, quite," Bradley announced, calmly. "They're +coming out after me now." + +"Don't fight them and probably they won't paralyze you. Keep on talking, +so that I can find out where they take you." + +"No good, Costigan." The voice of the old space-flea did not reveal a +sign of emotion as he made his dread announcement. "They have it all +figured out. They're not taking any chances at all--they're going to +paral...." His voice broke off in the middle of the word. + +With a bitter imprecation Costigan flashed on the powerful ultra-beam +projector of the speedster and focused the plate upon Bradley's prison; +careless now of detection, since the Nevians were already warned. Upon +that plate he watched the Nevians carry the helpless body of the captain +into a small boat, and continued to watch as they bore it into one of +the largest buildings of the city. Up a series of ramps they took the +still form, placing it finally upon a soft couch in an enormous and +heavily guarded central hall. Costigan turned to his companion, Clio, +and even through the helmets she could see plainly the white agony of +his expression. He moistened his lips and tried twice to speak--tried +and failed: but he made no move either to cut off their power or to +change their direction. + +"Of course," she approved, steadily. "We are going through. I know that +you _want_ to run with me, but if you actually did it, I would never +want to see you or hear of you again, and you would hate me forever." + +"Hardly that." The anguish did not leave his eyes and his voice was +hoarse and strained, but his hands did not vary the course of the +speedster by so much as a hair's breadth. "You're the finest little +fellow that ever waved a plume, and I would love you no matter what +happened. I'd trade my immortal soul to the devil if it would get you +out of this mess, but we're both in it up to our necks and we can't dog +it now. If they kill him we beat it--he and I both knew that it was on +the chance of that happening that I took you first--but as long as all +three of us are alive it's all three or none." + +"Of course," she said again, as steadily, thrilled this time to the +depths of her being by the sheer manhood of him who had thus simply +voiced his Code; a man of such fiber that neither love of life, nor the +infinitely more powerful love of her which she knew he bore, could make +him lower its high standard. + +"We are going through. Forget that I am a woman. We are three human +beings, fighting a world full of monsters. I am simply one of us three. +I will steer your ship, fire your projectors, or throw your bombs. What +can I do best?" + +"Throw bombs," he directed, briefly. He knew what must be done were they +to have even the slightest chance of winning clear. "I'm going to blast +a hole down into the auditorium, and when I do you stand by that port +and start dropping bottles of perfume. Throw a couple of big ones right +down the shaft I make, and the rest of them most anywhere, after I cut +the wall open. They'll do good wherever they hit, land or water." + +"But Captain Bradley--he'll be gassed, too." Her fine eyes were +troubled. + +"Can't be helped. I've got the antidote, and it'll work any time under +an hour. That'll be lots of time--if we aren't gone in less than ten +minutes we'll be staying here. They're bringing in platoons of militia +in full armor, and if we don't beat those boys to it we're in for plenty +of grief. All right--start throwing!" + +The speedster had come to a halt directly over the imposing edifice +within which Bradley was incarcerated, and a mighty beam had flared +downward, digging a fiery well through floor after floor of stubborn +metal. The ceiling of the amphitheater pierced, the beam expired; and +down into that assembly hall there dropped two canisters of Vee-Two; to +crash and to fill its atmosphere with imperceptible death. Then the beam +flashed on again, this time at maximum power, and with it Costigan +burned away half of the gigantic building. Burned it away until room +above room gaped open, shelf-like, to outer atmosphere; the great hall +now resembling an over-size pigeon-hole surrounded by smaller ones. Into +that largest pigeon-hole the speedster darted, and cushioned desks and +benches crashed down, crushed flat under its enormous weight as it came +to rest upon the floor. + +Every available guard had been thrown into that room, regardless of +customary occupation or of equipment. Most of them had been ordinary +watchmen, not even wearing masks, and all such were already down. Many, +however, were protected by masks, and a few were dressed in full armor. +But no portable armor could mount defenses of sufficient power to +withstand the awful force of the speedster's weapons, and one flashing +swing of a projector swept the hall almost clear of life. + +"Can't shoot very close to Bradley with this big beam, but I'll mop up +on the rest of them by hand. Stay here and cover me, Clio!" Costigan +ordered, and went to open the door. + +"I can't--I won't!" Clio replied instantly. "I don't know the controls +well enough. I'd kill you or Captain Bradley, sure; but I _can_ shoot, +and I'm going to!" and she leaped out, close upon his heels. + +Thus, flaming Lewiston in one hand and barking automatic in the other, +the two mailed figures advanced toward Bradley; now doubly helpless: +paralyzed by his enemies and gassed by his friends. For a time the +Nevians melted away before them, but as they approached more nearly the +couch, upon which the captain was, they encountered six figures encased +in armor fully as capable as their own. The beams of the Lewistons +rebounded from that armor in futile pyrotechnics, the bullets of the +automatics spattered and exploded impotently against it. And behind that +single line of armored guards were massed perhaps twenty unarmored, but +masked, soldiers; and scuttling up the ramps leading into the hall were +coming the platoons of heavily-armored figures which Costigan had +previously seen. + +Decision instantly made, Costigan ran back toward the speedster, but he +was not deserting his companions. + +"Keep the good work up!" he instructed the girl as he ran. "I'll pick +those jaspers off with a pencil ray and then stand off the bunch that's +coming while you rub out the rest of that crew there and drag Bradley +back here." + +Back at the control panel, he trained a narrow, but intensely dense +pencil of livid flame, and one by one the six armored figures fell. +Then, knowing that Clio could handle the remaining opposition, he +devoted his attention to the reenforcements so rapidly approaching from +the sides. Again and again the heavy beam lashed out, now upon this +side, now upon that, and in its flaming path Nevians disappeared. And +not only Nevians--in the incredible energy of that beam's blast, floor, +walls, ramps, and every material thing vanished in clouds of thick and +brilliant vapor. The room temporarily clear of foes, he sprang again to +Clio's assistance, but her task was nearly done. She had "rubbed out" +all opposition and, tugging lustily at Bradley's feet, had already +dragged him almost to the side of the speedster. + +"'At-a-girl, Clio!" cheered Costigan, as he picked up the burly captain +and tossed him through the doorway. "Highly useful, girl of my dreams, +as well as ornamental. In with you, and we'll start out to go places!" + +But getting the speedster out of the now completely ruined hall proved +to be much more of a task than driving it in had been, for scarcely had +the Terrestrials closed their locks than a section of the building +collapsed behind them, cutting off their retreat. Nevian submarines and +airships were beginning to arrive upon the scene, and were raying the +building viciously in an attempt to entrap or to crush the Terrestrials +in its ruins. Costigan managed finally to blast his way out, but the +Nevians had had time to assemble in force and he was met by a +concentrated storm of beams and of metal from every inimical weapon +within range. + +But not for nothing had Conway Costigan selected for his dash for +liberty the craft which, save only for the two immense interstellar +cruisers, was the most powerful vessel ever built upon red Nevia. And +not for nothing had he studied minutely and to the last, least detail +every item of its controls and of its armament during wearily long days +and nights of solitary imprisonment. He had studied it under test, in +action, and at rest; studied it until he knew thoroughly its every +possibility--and what a ship it was! The iron-driven generators of his +shielding screens handled with ease the terrific load of the Nevians' +assault, his polycyclic screens were proof against any material +projectile, and the machines supplying his offensive beams with power +were more than equal to their tasks. Driven now at full rating those +frightful weapons lashed out against the Nevian blocking the way, and +under their impacts her screens flared brilliantly through the spectrum +and went down. And in the instant of their failure the enemy vessel was +literally blown into nothingness--no unprotected metal, however +resistant, could exist for a moment in the pathway of those iron-driven +tornadoes of pure energy. + +Ship after ship of the Nevians plunged toward the speedster in +desperately suicidal attempts to ram her down, but each met the same +flaming fate before its mass could collide with the ship of the +Terrestrials. Then, from the grouped submarines far below, there reached +up red rods of force, which seized the space-ship and began relentlessly +to draw her down. + +"What are they doing that for, Conway? _They_ can't fight us!" + +"They don't want to fight us. They want to hold us, but I know what to +do about that, too," and the powerful tractor rods snapped as a plane of +lurid light drove through them. Upward now at the highest permissible +velocity the speedster leaped, and past the few ships remaining above +her she dodged; there was nothing now between her and the freedom of +boundless space. + +"You did it, Conway; you did it!" Clio exulted. "Oh, Conway, you're just +simply wonderful!" + +"I haven't done it yet," Costigan cautioned her. "The worst is yet to +come. Nerado. He's why they wanted to hold us back, and why I was in +such a hurry to get away. That boat of his is bad medicine, girl, and we +want to put plenty of kilometers behind us before he gets started." + +"But do you think he will chase us?" + +"_Think_ so? I _know_ so! The mere facts, that we are rare specimens and +that he told us that we were going to stay there all the rest of our +lives, would make him chase us clear to Dustheimer's Nebula. Besides +that, we stepped on their toes pretty heavily before we left. We know +altogether too much now to be let get back to Tellus; and finally, +they'd all die of acute enlargement of the spleen if we get away with +this prize ship of theirs. I hope to tell you they'll chase us!" + +He fell silent, devoting his whole attention to his piloting, driving +his craft onward at such velocity that its outer plating held steadily +at the highest point of temperature compatible with safety. Soon they +were out in open space, hurtling toward the sun under the drive of every +possible iota of power, and Costigan took off his armor and turned +toward the helpless body of the captain. + +"He looks so ... so ... so _dead_, Conway! Are you really sure that you +can bring him to?" + +"Absolutely. Lots of time yet. Just three simple squirts in the right +places will do the trick." He took from a locked compartment of his +armor a small steel box, which housed a surgeon's hypodermic and three +vials. One, two, three, he injected small, but precisely measured +amounts of the fluids into the three vital localities, then placed the +inert form upon a deeply cushioned couch. + +"There! That'll take care of the gas in five or six hours. The paralysis +will wear off before that, so he'll be all right when he wakes up; and +we're going away from here with every watt of power we can put out. We +have done everything I know how to do, for the present." + +Then only did Costigan turn and look down, directly into Clio's eyes. +Wide, eloquent blue eyes that gazed back up into his, tender and +unafraid; eyes freighted with the oldest message of woman to chosen man. +His hard young face softened wonderfully as he stared at her; there were +two quick steps and they were in each other's arms. Clio's lithely +rounded form nestled against Costigan's powerful body as his mighty arms +tightened around her; his neck and shoulder were no less +enthusiastically clasped, and less strongly only because of her woman's +slighter musculature. Lips upon eager lips, blue eyes to gray, +motionless they stood clasped in ecstasy; thinking nothing of the +dreadful past, nothing of the fearful future, conscious only of the +glorious, the wonderful present. + +"Clio mine ... darling ... girl, girl, how I love you!" Costigan's deep +voice was husky with emotion. "I haven't kissed you for seven thousand +years! I don't rate you, by hundreds of steps; but if I can just get you +out of this mess, I swear by all the space...." + +"You needn't, lover. Rate _me_? Good Heavens, Conway? It's just the +other way...." + +"Chop it!" he commanded in her ear. "I'm still dizzy at the idea of your +loving me at all, to say nothing of loving me _this_ way! But you do, +and that's all I ask, here or hereafter!" + +"Love you? _Love_ you!" Their mutual embrace tightened and her low voice +thrilled brokenly as she went on: "Conway, dearest.... I can't say a +thing, but you know.... Oh, Conway!" + +After a time Clio drew a long and tremulous, but supremely happy breath +as the realities of their predicament once more obtruded themselves upon +her consciousness. She released herself gently from Costigan's arms. + +"Do you really think that there is a chance of us getting back to the +earth, so that we can be together ... always?" + +"A chance, yes. A probability, no," he replied, unequivocally. "It +depends upon two things. First, how much of a start we got on Nerado. +His ship is the biggest and fastest thing I ever saw, and if he strips +her down and drives her--which he will--he'll catch us long before we +can make Tellus. On the other hand, I gave Rodebush a lot of data, and +if he and Lyman Cleveland can add it to their own stuff and get that +super-ship of ours rebuilt in time, they'll be out here on the prowl; +and they'll have what can give even Nerado plenty of argument. No use +worrying about it, anyway. We won't know anything until we can detect +one or the other of them, and then will be the time to do something +about it." + +"If Nerado catches us, will you...." She paused. + +"Rub you out? I will not. Even if he does catch us, and takes us back to +Nevia, I won't. There's lots more time coming onto the clock. Nerado +won't hurt either of us badly enough to leave scars, either physical, +mental, or moral. I'd kill you in a second if it were Roger; he's dirty +and he's thoroughly bad. But Nerado's a good enough old scout, in his +way. He's big and he's clean. You know, I could really like that fish, +if I could meet him on terms of equality sometime?" + +"_I_ couldn't!" she declared, vigorously. "He's crawly and scaly and +snaky; and he smells so ... so...." + +"So rank and fishy?" Costigan laughed deeply. "Details, girl; mere +details. I've seen people who looked like money in the bank and who +smelled like a bouquet of violets that you couldn't trust half the +length of Nerado's neck." + +"But look what he did to us!" she protested. "And they weren't trying to +recapture us back there; they were trying to kill us." + +"That was perfectly all right, what he did and what they did--what else +could they have done?" he wanted to know. "And while you're looking, +look at what we did to them--plenty, I'd say. But we all had it to do, +and neither side will blame the other for doing it. He's a square +shooter, I tell you." + +"Well, maybe, but I don't like him a bit, and let's not talk about him +any more. Let's talk about us. Remember what you said once, when you +advised me to 'let you lay,' or whatever it was?" Woman-like, she wished +to dip again lightly into the waters of pure emotion, even though she +had such a short time before led the man out of their profoundest +depths. But Costigan, into whose hard life love of woman had never +before entered, had not yet recovered sufficiently from his soul-shaking +plunge to follow her lead. Inarticulate, distrusting his newly found +supreme happiness, he must needs stay out of those enchanted waters or +plunge again. And he was afraid to plunge--diffident, still deeming +himself unworthy of the miracle of this wonder-girl's love--even though +every fiber of his being shrieked its demand to feel again that slender +body in his clasping arms. He did not consciously think those thoughts. +He acted them without thinking; they were inherent in his personality. + +"I do remember, and I still think it's a sound idea, even though I am +too far gone now to let you put it into effect," he assured her, half +seriously. He kissed her, tenderly and reverently, then studied her +carefully. "But you look as though you'd been on a Martian picnic. When +did you eat last?" + +"I don't remember, exactly. This morning, I think." + +"Or maybe last night, or yesterday morning? I thought so! Bradley and I +can eat anything that's chewable, and drink anything that will pour, but +you can't. I'll scout around and see if I can't fix up something that +you'll be able to eat." + +He rummaged through the store-rooms, emerging with sundry viands from +which he prepared a highly satisfactory meal. + +"Think you can sleep now, sweetheart?" After supper, once more within +the circle of Costigan's arms, Clio nodded her head against his +shoulder. + +"Of course I can, dear. Now that you are with me, out here alone, I'm +not a bit afraid any more. You will get us back to the earth some way, +sometime; I just know that you will. Good-night, Conway." + +"Good-night, Clio ... little sweetheart," he whispered, and went back to +Bradley's side. + +In due time the captain recovered consciousness, and slept. Then for +days the speedster flashed on toward our distant solar system; days +during which her wide-flung detector screens remained cold. + +"I don't know whether I'm afraid they'll hit something or afraid that +they won't," Costigan remarked more than once, but finally those tenuous +sentinels did in fact encounter an interfering vibration. Along the +detector line a visibeam sped, and Costigan's face hardened as he saw +the unmistakable outline of Nerado's interstellar cruiser, far behind +them. + +"Well, a stern chase always was a long one," Costigan said finally. "He +can't catch us for plenty of days yet ... now what?" for the alarms of +the detectors had broken out anew. There was still another point of +interference to be investigated. Costigan traced it; and there, almost +dead ahead of them, between them and their sun, nearing them at the +incomprehensible rate of the sum of the two vessels' velocities, came +another cruiser of the Nevians! + +"Must be the sister-ship, coming back from our System with a load of +iron," Costigan deduced. "Heavily loaded as she is, we may be able to +dodge her; and she's coming so fast that if we can stay out of her range +we'll be all right--she won't be able to stop for probably three or four +days. But if our super-ship is anywhere in these parts, now's the time +for her to rally 'round!" + +He gave the speedster all the side-thrust she would take; then, putting +every available communicator tube behind a tight beam, he drove it +sunward and began sending out a long-continued call to his fellows of +Triplanetary's Secret Service. + +Nearer and nearer the Nevian flashed, trying with all her power to +intercept the speedster; and it soon became evident that, heavily laden +though she was, she could make enough sideway to bring her within range +at the time of meeting. + +"Of course, they've got partial neutralization of inertia, the same as +we have," Costigan cogitated, "and by the way he's coming I'd say that +he had orders to blow us out of the ether--he knows as well as we do +that he can't capture us alive at anything like the relative velocities +we've got now. I can't give her any more side thrust without overloading +the gravity controls, so overloaded they've got to be. Strap down, you +two, because they may go out entirely." + +"Do you think that you can pull away from them, Conway?" Clio was +staring in horrified fascination into the plate, watching the pictured +vessel increase in size, moment by moment. + +"I don't know, girl, but I'm going to try. Just in case we don't, +though, I'm going to keep on yelling for help. In solid? All right, +boat, DO YOUR STUFF!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + The Meeting of the Giants + + +"Check your blast, Fred, I think I hear something trying to come +through!" Cleveland called out, sharply. For days the _Boise_ had torn +through the illimitable reaches of empty space, and now the long vigil +of the keen-eared listeners was to be ended. Rodebush cut off his power, +and through the deafening roar of tube-noise an almost inaudible voice +made itself heard. + +" ... all the help you can give us. Samms--Cleveland--Rodebush--anybody +of Triplanetary who can hear me, listen! This is Costigan, with Miss +Marsden and Captain Bradley, heading for where we think the sun is, from +right ascension about six hours, declination about plus fourteen +degrees. Distance unknown, but probably hundreds of light-years. Trace +my call. One Nevian ship is overhauling us slowly, another is coming +toward us from the sun. We may or may not be able to dodge it, but we +need all the help you can give us. Samms--Rodebush--Cleveland--anybody +of Triplanetary...." + +Endlessly the faint, faint voice went on, but Rodebush and Cleveland +were no longer listening. Sensitive ultra-loops had been swung, and +along the indicated line shot Triplanetary's super-ship at a velocity +which she had never before even approached; the utterly +incomprehensible, almost incalculable velocity attained by inertialess +matter, driven through an almost perfect vacuum by the _Boise_'s maximum +projector blast--a blast which would lift her stupendous normal tonnage +against a gravity five times that of earth's! At the full frightful +measure of that velocity the super-ship literally annihilated distance, +while ahead of her the furiously driven, but scarcely faster spy-ray +beam tore on in quest of the three Terrestrials who were calling for +help. + +"Got any idea how fast we're going?" Rodebush demanded, glancing up for +an instant from the observation plate. "We should be able to see him, +since we could hear him, and our range is certainly as great as anything +he can have." + +"No, can't figure velocity without any reliable data on how many atoms +of matter exist per cubic meter out here." Cleveland was staring at the +calculator. "It's constant, of course, at the value at which the +friction of the medium is equal to our thrust. Incidentally, we can't +hold it long. We're running a temperature, which shows that we're +stepping along faster than anybody ever computed before. Taking +Throckmorton's estimates it figures somewhere near the order of +magnitude of ten to the twenty-seventh. Fast enough, anyway, so you'd +better bend an eye on that plate. Even after you see him you won't know +anything about where he really is, because we don't know any of the +velocities involved--our own, his, or that of the beam--and we may be +right on top of him." + +"Or, if we are outrunning the beam, we won't see him at all. That makes +it nice piloting." + +"How are you going to handle things when we get there?" + +"Lock to them and take them aboard if we're in time. If not, if they are +fighting already--_there they are_!" + +The picture of the speedster's control room flashed upon the plate and +Costigan's voice greeted them from the speaker. + +"Hello, fellows, welcome to our city! Where are you?" + +"We don't know," Cleveland snapped back, "and we don't know where you +are, either. Can't figure anything without data. I see you're still +breathing air. Where are the Nevians? How much time we got yet?" + +"Not enough, I'm afraid. By the looks of things they will be within +range of us in a couple of hours, and you're so far away yet that it +took our voices four minutes and about fifty seconds to make the round +trip, _on the ultra_! Play that on your calculator, Lyman! You haven't +even touched our detector screen yet. I'm mighty glad to have seen you +fellows again, though, anyway." + +"A couple of hours!" In his relief Cleveland almost shouted the words. +"That's time to burn. We can be clear out of the Galaxy in less +than...." He broke off at a yell from Rodebush. + +"Broadcast, Conway, broadcast!" that worthy had cried, as Costigan's +image had disappeared utterly from his plate. + +Now he cut off the _Boise_'s power, stopping her instantaneously in +mid-space, but the connection had been broken. Costigan could not +possibly have heard the orders to change his beam signal to a broadcast, +so that they could pick it up; nor would it have done any good if he had +heard and had obeyed. So immeasurably great had been their velocity that +they had flashed past the speedster without seeing it, even upon the +ultra-plates, and now they were unknown billions of miles beyond the +fugitives they had come so far to help--far beyond the range of any +possible broadcast. But Cleveland had understood instantly what had +happened. He now had a little data upon which to work, and his fingers +were flying over the keys of the calculator. + +"Back blast, maximum, seventeen seconds!" he directed, crisply. "Not +exact, of course, but that'll put us close enough to find 'em with our +detectors!" + +Then for the calculated seventeen seconds the super-ship retraced her +path, at the same awful speed with which she had come so far. The blast +expired and there, plainly limned upon the observation plates, was the +Nevian speedster. + +"As a computer you're good," Rodebush applauded. "So close that we can't +use the neutralizers to catch him. If we use a dyne of driving force +we'll overshoot him a million kilometers before I can snap the switches +out." + +"And yet he's so far away and going so fast that if we keep our inertia +on it'll take all day at full drive to overtake him." Cleveland was +frankly puzzled. "What to do? Shunt in a potentiometer?" + +"No, we don't need it." Rodebush turned to the transmitter. "Costigan! +We are going to take hold of you with a very light tractor. Don't cut +it!" + +"A tractor--inertialess?" Cleveland wondered. + +"Why not?" Rodebush launched the tractor, set at its absolute minimum of +power, and threw in his master switches. + +While hundreds of thousands of miles separating the two vessels and the +tractor beam was exerting the least effort of which it was capable, yet +the super-ship leaped toward the smaller craft at a pace which covered +that distance in the twinkling of an eye. So rapidly were the objectives +enlarging upon the plates that the automatic focusing devices could +scarcely function rapidly enough to keep them in place. Cleveland +flinched involuntarily and seized his arm-rests in a spasmodic clutch as +he watched this, the first inertialess space-approach; and even +Rodebush, who knew better than anyone else what to expect, held his +breath and swallowed hard at the unbelievable rate at which the two +vessels were rushing together. + +And if these two, who had rebuilt the space-flyer, could hardly control +themselves, what of the three in the speedster, who knew nothing +whatever of the super-ship's potentialities? Clio, staring into the +plate with Costigan, uttered a piercing shriek, as she sank her fingers +into his shoulders. Bradley swore a mighty deep-space oath and braced +himself against certain annihilation. Costigan stared for an instant, +unable to believe his eyes, then his hand darted to the contacts which +would cut the beam. Too late. Before his flying fingers could reach the +studs the _Boise_ was upon them; had struck them in direct central +impact. Moving at the full measure of her unthinkable velocity though +the super-ship was at the moment of impact, yet the most delicate +recording instruments of the speedster could not detect the slightest +shock as the enormous globe struck the comparatively tiny torpedo and +clung to it; accommodating instantly and effortlessly her own terrific +pace to that of the smaller and infinitely slower craft. Clio sobbed in +relief and Costigan, one arm around her, sighed hugely. + +"Hey, you space-fleas!" he cried. "Glad to see you and all that, but you +might as well kill a man outright as scare him to death! So that's the +super-ship, huh? SOME ship!" + +"Hello, Conway!" "Clear ether, Conway!" The two scientists answered the +hail of their fellow. + +"I didn't realize that an inertialess approach would be quite such a +terrifying spectacle, or I would have warned you," Rodebush went on. +"Yes, thanks to you, the super-ship works as she should, at last. But +you had better put on your suits and transfer. You might get your things +ready...." + +"'Things' is good!" Costigan laughed, and Clio giggled sunnily. + +"We've made so many transfers already that what you see us in is all we +have," Bradley explained. "We'll bring ourselves, and we'll hurry; that +Nevian is coming up fast." + +"Is there anything on this ship you fellows want?" Costigan asked. + +"There may be, but we haven't any locks big enough to let her inside and +we haven't time to study her now. You might leave her controls in +neutral, so that Lyman can calculate her position if we should want her +later on." + +"All right." The three armor-clad figures stepped into the _Boise_'s +open lock, the tractor beam was cut off, and the speedster flashed away +from the now stationary super-ship. + +"Better let formalities go for a while," Captain Bradley interrupted the +general introduction taking place. "I was scared out of nine years' +growth when I saw you coming at us, and maybe I've still got the humps; +but that Nevian is coming up fast, and if you don't already know it I +can tell you that he's no light cruiser." + +"That's so, too," Costigan concurred. "Have you fellows got enough stuff +so that you think you can take him? You've got the legs on him, +anyway--you can certainly run if you want to!" + +"Run?" Cleveland laughed. "We have a bone of our own to pick with that +ship. We licked her to a standstill once, until we burned out a set of +generators, and since we got them fixed we've been chasing her all over +space. We were chasing her when we picked up your call. See there? She's +doing the running." + +The Nevian was running, in truth. Her commander had seen and had +recognized the great vessel which had flashed out of nowhere to the +rescue of the three Terrestrials; and, having once been at grips with +that vengeful super-dreadnaught, he had little stomach for another +encounter. Therefore his side-thrust was now being exerted in the +opposite direction; he was frankly trying to put as much distance as +possible between himself and Triplanetary's formidable cruiser. In vain. +A light tractor was clamped on and the _Boise_ flashed up to close range +before Rodebush threw on her inertia and Cleveland brought the two +vessels relatively to rest by increasing gradually his tractor's pull. +And this time the Nevian could not cut the tractor. Again that shearing +plane of force bit into it and tore at it, but it neither yielded nor +broke. The rebuilt generators of Number Four were designed to carry the +load, and they carried it. And again Triplanetary's every mighty weapon +was brought into play. + +The "cans" were thrown, ultra-and infra-beams were driven, the furious +macro-beam gnawed hungrily at the Nevian's defenses; and one by one +those defenses went down. In desperation the enemy commander threw his +every generator behind a polycyclic screen; only to see Cleveland's even +more powerful drill bore relentlessly through it. Punctured that last +defense, the end came soon. A secondary SX7 beam was now in place on +mighty Ten's inner rings, and one fierce blast blew a hole completely +through the Nevian cruiser. Into that hole entered Adlington's terrific +bombs and their gruesome fellows, and where they entered, life departed. +All defenses vanished, and under the blasts of the _Boise_'s projectors, +now unopposed, the metal of the Nevian vessel exploded instantly into a +widely spreading cloud of vapor. Sparkling vapor, with perhaps here and +there a droplet or two of material which had only been liquefied. + +So passed the sister-ship, and Rodebush turned his plates upon the +vessel of Nerado. But that highly intelligent amphibian had seen all +that had occurred. He had long since given over the pursuit of the +speedster, and he did not rush in to do hopeless battle beside his +fellow Nevians against the Terrestrials. His analytical detectors had +written down each detail of every weapon and of every screen employed; +and even while prodigious streamers of red force were raving out from +his vessel, braking her terrific progress and swinging her around in an +immense circle back toward far Nevia, his scientists and mechanics were +doubling and redoubling the power of his already Titanic installations, +to match and if possible to overmatch those of Triplanetary's +super-dreadnaught. + +"Do we kill him now or do we let him suffer a while longer?" Costigan +demanded. + +"I don't think so, yet," replied Rodebush. "Would you, Lyman?" + +"Not yet," replied Cleveland, grimly, reading the thought of the other +and agreeing with it. "Let him pilot us to Nevia; we might not be able +to find it without a guide. While we're at it we want to so pulverize +that crowd that if they never come near the Solarian system again +they'll think it's twenty minutes too soon!" + +Thus it was that the _Boise_, under only a few dynes of propulsion, +pursued the Nevian ship. Apparently exerting every effort, she never +came quite within range of the fleeing raider; yet never was she so far +behind that the Nevian space-ship was not in clear register upon her +observation plates. Nor was Nerado alone in strengthening his vessel. +Costigan knew well and respected highly the Nevian scientist-captain, +and at his suggestion the entire time of the long and uneventful flight +was spent in re-enforcing the super-ship's armament to the iron-driven +limit of theoretical and mechanical possibility. + +Thus, when Nevia and her hot, blue sun appeared upon his plates Rodebush +was ready for any emergency, and hurled his battleship upon the Nevian +with every weapon aflame. But so was Nerado ready; and, unlike her +sister-ship, his vessel was manned by scientists well versed in the +fundamental theory of the weapons with which they fought. Beams, rods, +and lances of energy flamed and flared; planes and pencils cut, slashed, +and stabbed; defensive screens glowed redly or flashed suddenly into +intensely brilliant, coruscating incandescence. Crimson opacity +struggled sullenly against violet curtain of annihilation. Material +projectiles and torpedoes were launched under full beam control; only to +be exploded harmlessly in mid-space, to be rayed into nothingness, or to +disappear innocuously against impenetrable polycyclic screens. Both +vessels were equipped completely with iron-driven mechanisms; both were +manned by scientists capable of wringing the last possible watt of power +from their sources. They were approximately equal in size, and each ship +now wielded the theoretical ultimate of power for her mass; therefore +neither could harm the other, furiously though each was trying. And more +and more nearly they were approaching the red atmosphere of the world of +the amphibians. Down into that crimson blanket the two warring +space-ships dropped, down toward a city which Costigan recognized as +that in which Nerado made his headquarters. + +"Better hold off a bit," Costigan cautioned. "If I know that bird at +all, he's cooking up something," and even as he spoke there shot upward +from the city a multitude of flashing balls. The Nevians had mastered +the secret of the explosive of the fishes of the greater deeps and were +launching it in a veritable storm against the Terrestrial visitor. + +"Those?" asked Rodebush, calmly. The detonating balls of destruction +were literally annihilating even the atmosphere beyond the polycyclic +screen, but that barrier was scarcely affected. + +"No, that," pointing out a hemispherical dome which, redly translucent, +surrounded a group of buildings towering high above their neighbors. +"Neither those high towers nor those screens were there the last time I +was in this town. They're stalling for time down there, that's all those +fireballs are for. Good sign, too--maybe they aren't ready for us yet. +If not, you'd better take 'em while the taking's good; and if they _are_ +ready for us, we'd better get out of here while we're all in one piece." + +And in fact Nerado had been in touch with the scientists of his city; +had been instructing them in the construction of converters and +generators of such weight and power that they could crush even the +defenses of the super-ship. They were not, however, quite done; the +entirely unsuspected possibilities of speed inherent in absolute +inertialessness had not entered into Nerado's calculations. + +"Better drop a few cans down on that dome, fellows, before they make +trouble for us," suggested Rodebush to his gunners. + +"We can't," came Adlington's instant reply. "We've been trying it, but +that's a polycyclic screen. Can you drill it? If you can, I've got a +real bomb here--that special we built--that will do the trick if you can +protect it from their beams until it gets down into the water." + +"I'll try it," Cleveland answered, at a nod from the physicist. "I +couldn't drill Nerado's polycyclics, but I couldn't use any momentum on +him. Couldn't ram him--he fell back with my thrust. But that screen down +there can't back off, so maybe I can work on it. Get your special ready, +and hang on, everybody!" + +The _Boise_ looped upward, and from an altitude of miles dove downward +through a storm of force-balls, rays, and shells; a dive checked +abruptly as the hollow tube of energy, which was Cleveland's drill, +snarled savagely down ahead of her and struck the shielding hemisphere +with a grinding, lightning-splitting shock. As it struck, backed by all +the enormous momentum of the plunging space-ship and driven by the full +power of her mightiest generators, it bored in, clawing and gouging +viciously through the tissue of that rigid and unyielding barrier of +pure energy. Then, mighty drill and plunging mass against iron-driven +wall, eye-tearing and furiously spectacular warfare was waged. Well it +was for Triplanetary, that day, that its super ship carried ample supply +of allotropic iron; well it was that her originally Gargantuan +converters and generators had been doubled and quadrupled in power on +the long Nevian way! For that oven-girdled fortress was powered to +withstand any conceivable assault; but the _Boise_'s power and momentum +were now inconceivable, and every watt and every dyne was solidly behind +that hellishly flaming, that voraciously tearing, that irresistibly +ravening cylinder of energy incredible! + +Through the Nevian shield that cylinder gnawed its frightful way, and +down its protecting length there drove Adlington's "Special" bomb. +"Special" it was indeed; so great of girth that it could barely pass +through the central orifice of Ten's mighty projector, so heavily +charged with sensitized atomic iron that its detonation upon any planet +would not have been considered for an instant if that planet's integrity +meant anything to its attackers. Down the shielding pipe of force the +"Special" screamed under full propulsion, and beneath the surface of +Nevia's ocean it plunged. + +"Cut!" yelled Adlington, and as the scintillating drill expired, the +bomber snapped his detonating switch. + +For a moment the effect of the explosion seemed unimportant. A dull, low +rumble was all that was to be heard of a concussion that jarred red +Nevia to her very center; and all that could be seen was a slow heaving +of the water. But that heaving did not cease. Slowly, _so_ slowly it +seemed to the observers now high in the heavens, the waters rose up and +parted; revealing a vast chasm blown deep into the ocean's rocky bed. +Higher and higher the lazy, mountains of water reared; effortlessly to +pick up, to smash, to grind into fragments, and finally to toss aside +every building, every structure, every scrap of material substance +pertaining to the whole Nevian city. + +Flattened out, driven backward for miles the tortured waters were urged, +leaving exposed bare ground and broken rock where once had been the +ocean's busy floor; while tremendous blasts of incandescent gas raved +upward, buffeting even the enormous masses of the two space-ships, +poised by their breathless crews so high above the site of the +explosion. Then the displaced millions of tons of water rushed back into +that newly rived pit, seeming to seek in that mad rush to make even more +complete the already total destruction of the city. The raging torrents +poured into that yawning cavern, filled it, and piled mountainously +above it; receding and piling up, again and again, causing tidal waves +which swept a full half of Nevia's mighty, watery globe. + +The city forever silenced, Rodebush again directed his weapons upon +Nerado's vessel, but the Nevian was no longer fighting. For the first +time in that long and bitter engagement, not a Nevian beam was in +operation. His screens, however, were as capable as ever, and after a +few fruitless attempts to make an impression upon them, Rodebush cut off +his own offensive and turned to Costigan. + +"What do you make of it, Conway? You know these people better than we +do; what are they up to?" + +"I wish to talk to you," Nerado's voice came from the speaker, "and I +could not do so while the beams were operating. You are, I now perceive, +a much higher form of life than any of us had thought possible; a form +perhaps as high in evolution as our own. It is a pity that we did not +meet you when we first neared your planet, so that much life, both +Tellurian and Nevian, might have been spared. But what is past cannot be +recalled. As reasoning beings, however, you will see the futility of +continuing a contest in which neither of us is capable of injuring the +other. You may, of course, destroy more of our Nevian cities, in which +case I should be compelled to go and destroy similarly upon your earth; +but, to reasoning minds, such a course of procedure is sheerest folly." + +Rodebush cut the communicator beam. + +"Does he mean it?" he demanded of Costigan. "It sounds reasonable, +but...." + +"But fishy," broke in Cleveland. "Altogether too reasonable for a...." + +"Yes, he means it; every word of it," interrupted Costigan in turn. +"That's the way they are. Reasonable, passionless. Funny--they lack a +lot of things we have, but they've got a lot of things that I wish more +of us Tellurians had too. Give me the plate--I'll talk for +Triplanetary," and the beam was restored. + +"Captain Nerado." he greeted the Nevian commander. "Having been with you +and among your people, I know that you mean what you say and that you +speak for your race. Similarly, I believe that I can speak for the +Triplanetary Council--the government of three of the planets of our +solar system--in saying that there need be no more conflict between our +peoples. I also was compelled by circumstances to do certain things +which I now wish could be undone; but as you have said, the past is +past. Our two races have much to gain from each other by friendly +exchanges of materials and of ideas, while we can expect nothing except +mutual extermination, if we elect to continue this warfare. I offer you +the friendship of Triplanetary. Will you release your screens and come +aboard to sign a treaty?" + +"I will come; my screens are down." Rodebush likewise cut off his power, +although somewhat apprehensively, and a Nevian lifeboat entered the main +airlock of the _Boise_. + + * * * * * + +Then, at a table in the control room of Triplanetary's first super-ship, +there was written the first Inter-Systemic Treaty. Upon one side the +three Nevians; amphibious, cone-headed, loop-necked, scale-bodies, +four-legged things to us monstrosities: upon the other the three humans, +air-breathing, rounded-headed, shortnecked, smooth-bodied, two-legged +creatures equally monstrous to the fastidious Nevians. Yet each of these +representatives, of two races so different, felt respect for the other +race increase within him minute by minute as the conversation went on. + +The Nevians had destroyed Pittsburgh, but Adlington's bomb had blown an +equally populous Nevian city out of existence. One Nevian vessel had +wiped out an entire unit of Triplanetary's fleet; but Costigan, +practically unaided, had depopulated one Nevian city and had seriously +damaged another. He had also beamed down many Nevian ships. Therefore +loss of life and material could be balanced. The Solarian system was +rich in iron, to which the Nevians were welcome; red Nevia possessed +abundant stores of substances which upon earth were extremely rare and +of vital importance. Therefore commerce was to be encouraged. The +Nevians had knowledges and skills unknown to earthly science, but were +entirely ignorant of many things, to us commonplace. Therefore +interchange of students and of books was highly desirable. And so on. + +Thus was signed the Triplanetario-Nevian Treaty of Eternal Peace. Nerado +and his two companions were escorted ceremoniously to their vessel, and +the _Boise_ took off in an inertialess dash toward earth, bearing the +good news that the Nevian menace was no more. + +Clio, now a hardened space-flea, immune even to the horrible nausea of +inertialessness, wriggled lithely in the curve of Costigan's arm and +laughed up at him. + +"You can talk all you want to, Conway, but I don't like them a bit. They +give me the purple jitters! I suppose that they are really estimable +folks; talented, cultured, and everything; but just the same I'll bet +that it will be a long, long time before anybody on earth will really, +truly _like_ them!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Triplanetary, by Edward Elmer Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRIPLANETARY *** + +***** This file should be named 20782.txt or 20782.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/8/20782/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, V. L. Simpson, Flash Sheridan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net. 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