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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spacehounds of IPC, 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: Spacehounds of IPC
+
+Author: Edward Elmer Smith
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2007 [EBook #20857]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPACEHOUNDS OF IPC ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Greg Weeks, David Garcia
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+_Beginning a thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel by
+Edward E. Smith, Ph.D._
+
+_Author of "Skylark of Space" and "Skylark Three"_
+
+
+
+
+Spacehounds of IPC
+
+
+    _A good many of us, who are now certain beyond a doubt that space
+    travel will forever remain in the realm of the impossible, probably
+    would, if a rocket that were shot to the moon, for instance, did
+    arrive, and perhaps return to give proof of its safe arrival on our
+    satellite, accept the phenomenon in a perfectly blasé, twentieth
+    century manner. Dr. Smith, that phenomenal writer of classic
+    scientific fiction, seems to have become so thoroughly convinced of
+    the advent of interplanetary travel that it is difficult for the
+    reader to feel, after finishing "Spacehounds of IPC," that travel
+    in the great spaces is not already an established fact. Dr. Smith,
+    as a professional chemist, is kept fairly busy. As a writer, he is
+    satisfied with nothing less than perfection. For that reason, a
+    masterpiece from his pen has become almost an annual event. We know
+    you will like "Spacehounds" even better than the "Skylark" series._
+
+
+Illustrated by WESSO
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The IPV _Arcturus_ Sets Out for Mars
+
+
+A narrow football of steel, the Interplanetary Vessel _Arcturus_ stood
+upright in her berth in the dock like an egg in its cup. A hundred feet
+across and a hundred and seventy feet deep was that gigantic bowl, its
+walls supported by the structural steel and concrete of the dock and
+lined with hard-packed bumper-layers of hemp and fibre. High into the
+air extended the upper half of the ship of space--a sullen gray expanse
+of fifty-inch hardened steel armor, curving smoothly upward to a needle
+prow. Countless hundred of fine vertical scratches marred every inch
+of her surface, and here and there the stubborn metal was grooved and
+scored to a depth of inches--each scratch and score the record of an
+attempt of some wandering cosmic body to argue the right-of-way with
+the stupendous mass of that man-made cruiser of the void.
+
+A burly young man made his way through the throng about the entrance,
+nodded unconcernedly to the gatekeeper, and joined the stream of
+passengers flowing through the triple doors of the double air-lock
+and down a corridor to the center of the vessel. However, instead of
+entering one of the elevators which were whisking the passengers up to
+their staterooms in the upper half of the enormous football, he in some
+way caused an opening to appear in an apparently blank steel wall and
+stepped through it into the control room.
+
+"Hi, Breck!" the burly one called, as he strode up to the instrument-desk
+of the chief pilot and tossed his bag carelessly into a corner. "Behold
+your computer in the flesh! What's all this howl and fuss about poor
+computation?"
+
+"Hello, Steve!" The chief pilot smiled as he shook hands cordially.
+"Glad to see you again--but don't try to kid the old man. I'm simple
+enough to believe almost anything, but some things just aren't being
+done. We have been yelling, and yelling hard, for trained computers
+ever since they started riding us about every one centimeter change in
+acceleration, but I know that you're no more an I-P computer than I am
+a Digger Indian. They don't shoot sparrows with coast-defense guns!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Thanks for the compliment, Breck, but I'm your computer for this trip,
+anyway. Newton, the good old egg, knows what you fellows are up against
+and is going to do something about it, if he has to lick all the rest of
+the directors to do it. He knew that I was loose for a couple of weeks
+and asked me to come along this trip to see what I could see. I'm to
+check the observatory data--they don't know I'm aboard--take the peaks
+and valleys off your acceleration curve, if possible, and report to
+Newton just what I find out and what I think should be done about it.
+How early am I?" While the newcomer was talking, he had stripped the
+covers from a precise scale model of the solar system and from a large
+and complicated calculating machine and had set to work without a wasted
+motion or instant--scaling off upon the model the positions of the
+various check-stations and setting up long and involved integrals and
+equations upon the calculator.
+
+The older man studied the broad back of the younger, bent over his
+computations, and a tender, almost fatherly smile came over his careworn
+face as he replied:
+
+"Early? You? Just like you always were--plus fifteen seconds on the
+deadline. The final dope is due right now." He plugged the automatic
+recorder and speaker into a circuit marked "Observatory," waited until
+a tiny light above the plug flashed green, and spoke.
+
+"IPV _Arcturus_; Breckenridge, Chief Pilot; trip number forty-three
+twenty-nine. Ready for final supplementary route and flight data, Tellus
+to Mars."
+
+"Meteoric swarms still too numerous for safe travel along the scheduled
+route," came promptly from the speaker. "You must stay further away from
+the plane of the ecliptic. The ether will be clear for you along route
+E2-P6-W41-K3-R19-S7-M14. You will hold a constant acceleration of 981.27
+centimeters between initial and final check stations. Your take-off
+will be practically unobstructed, but you will have to use the utmost
+caution in landing upon Mars, because in order to avoid a weightless
+detour and a loss of thirty-one minutes, you must pass very close
+to both the Martian satellites. To do so safely you must pass the
+last meteorological station, M14, on schedule time plus or minus five
+seconds, at scheduled velocity plus or minus ten meters, with exactly
+the given negative acceleration of 981.27 centimeters, and exactly upon
+the pilot ray M14 will have set for you."
+
+"All x." Breckenridge studied his triplex chronometer intently, then
+unplugged and glanced around the control room, in various parts of which
+half a dozen assistants were loafing at their stations.
+
+"Control and power check-out--Hipe!" he barked. "Driving converters and
+projectors!"
+
+The first assistant scanned his meters narrowly as he swung a
+multi-point switch in a flashing arc. "Converter efficiency 100,
+projector reactivity 100; on each of numbers one to forty-five
+inclusive. All x."
+
+"Dirigible projectors!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two more gleaming switches leaped from point to point. "Converter
+efficiency 100, projector reactivity 100, dirigibility 100, on each of
+numbers one to thirty-two, inclusive, of upper band; and numbers one to
+thirty-two, inclusive, of lower band. All x."
+
+"Gyroscopes!"
+
+"35,000. Drivers in equilibrium at ten degrees plus. All x."
+
+"Upper lights and lookout plates!"
+
+The second assistant was galvanized into activity, and upon a screen
+before him there appeared a view as though he were looking directly
+upward from the prow of the great vessel. The air above them was full of
+aircraft of all shapes and sizes, and occasionally the image of one of
+that flying horde flared into violet splendor upon the screen as it was
+caught in the mighty, roving beam of one of the twelve ultra-light
+projectors under test.
+
+"Upper lights and lookout plates--all x," the second assistant reported,
+and other assistants came to attention as the check-out went on.
+
+"Lower lights and lookout plates!"
+
+"All x," was the report, after each of the twelve ultra-lights of the
+stern had swung around in its supporting brackets, illuminating every
+recess of the dark depths of the bottom well of the berth and throwing
+the picture upon another screen in lurid violet relief.
+
+"Lateral and vertical detectors!"
+
+"Laterals XP2710--all x. Verticals AJ4290--all x."
+
+"Receptors!"
+
+"15,270 kilofranks--all x."
+
+"Accumulators!"
+
+"700,000 kilofrank-hours--all x."
+
+Having thus checked and tested every function of his department,
+Breckenridge plugged into "Captain," and when the green light went on:
+
+"Chief pilot check-out--all x," he reported briefly.
+
+"All x," acknowledged the speaker, and the chief pilot unplugged.
+Fifteen minutes remained, during which time one department head after
+another would report to the captain of the liner that everything in his
+charge was ready for the stupendous flight.
+
+"All x, Steve?" Breckenridge turned to the computer. "How do you check
+acceleration and power with the observatory?"
+
+"Not so good, old bean," the younger man frowned in thought. "They
+figure like astronomers, not navigators. They've made no allowances for
+anything, not even the reversal--and I figure four thousands for that
+and for minor detours. Then there's check station errors...."
+
+"Check-station errors! Why, they're always right--that's what they're
+for!"
+
+"Don't fool yourself--they've got troubles of their own, the same as
+anybody else. In fact, from a study of the charts of the last few weeks,
+I'm pretty sure that E2 is at least four thousand kilometers this side
+of where he thinks he is, that W41 is ten or twelve thousand beyond his
+station, and that they've both got a lateral displacement that's simply
+fierce. I'm going to check up, and argue with them about it as we pass.
+Then there's another thing--they figure to only two places, and we've
+got to have the third place almost solid if we expect to get a smooth
+curve. A hundredth of a centimeter of acceleration means a lot on a long
+trip when they're holding us as close as they are doing now. We'll ride
+this trip on 981.286 centimeters--with our scheduled mass, that means
+thirty six points of four seven kilofranks _plus_ equilibrium power. All
+set to go," the computer stated, as he changed, by fractions of arc, the
+course-plotters of the automatic integrating goniometer.
+
+"You're the doctor--but I'm glad it's you that'll have to explain to the
+observatory," and Breckenridge set his exceedingly delicate excess power
+potentiometer exactly upon the indicated figure. "Well, we've got a few
+minutes left for a chin-chin before we lift her off."
+
+"What's all this commotion about? Dish out the low-down."
+
+"Well, it's like this, Steve. We pilots are having one sweet
+time--we're being growled at on every trip. The management squawks if
+we're thirty seconds plus or minus at the terminals, and the passenger
+department squalls if we change acceleration five centimeters total en
+route--claims it upsets the dainty customers and loses business for
+the road. They're tightening up on us all the time. A couple of years
+ago, you remember, it didn't make any difference what we did with the
+acceleration as long as we checked in somewhere near zero time--we used
+to spin 'em dizzy when we reversed at the half-way station--but that
+kind of stuff doesn't go any more. We've got to hold the acceleration
+constant and close to normal, got to hold our schedule on zero, _plus_
+or _minus_ ten seconds, and yet we've got to make any detours they
+tell us to, such as this seven-million kilometer thing they handed
+us just now. To make things worse, we've got to take orders at every
+check-station, and yet _we_ get the blame for everything that happens
+as a consequence of obeying those orders! Of course, I know as well
+as you do that it's rotten technique to change acceleration at every
+check-station; but we've told 'em over and over that we can't do any
+better until they put a real computer on every ship and tell the
+check-stations to report meteorites and other obstructions to us and
+then to let us alone. So you'd better recommend us some computers!"
+
+"You're getting rotten computation, that's a sure thing, and I don't
+blame you pilots for yelling, but I don't believe that you've got the
+right answer. I can't help but think that the astronomers are lying down
+on the job. They are so sure that you pilots are to blame that it hasn't
+occurred to them to check up on themselves very carefully. However,
+we'll know pretty quick, and then we'll take steps."
+
+"I hope so--but say, Steve, I'm worried about using that much plus
+equilibrium power. Remember, we've got to hit M14 in absolutely good
+shape, or plenty heads will drop."
+
+"I'll say they will. I know just how the passengers will howl if we
+hold them weightless for half an hour, waiting for those two moons to get
+out of the way, and I know just what the manager will do if we check in
+minus thirty-one minutes. Wow! He'll swell up and bust, sure. But don't
+worry, Breck--if we don't check in all right, anybody can have my head
+that wants it, and I'm taking full responsibility, you know."
+
+"You're welcome to it." Breckenridge shrugged and turned the
+conversation into a lighter vein. "Speaking of weightlessness,
+it's funny how many weight-fiends there are in the world, isn't
+it? You'd think the passengers would enjoy a little weightlessness
+occasionally--especially the fat ones--but they don't. But say, while
+I think of it, how come you were here and loose to make this check-up?
+I thought you were out with the other two of the Big Three, solving
+all the mysteries of the Universe?"
+
+"Had to stay in this last trip--been doing some work on the ether,
+force-field theory, and other advanced stuff that I had to go to Mars
+and Venus to get. Just got back last week. As for solving mysteries,
+laugh while you can, old hyena. You and a lot of other dim bulbs think
+that Roeser's Rays are the last word--that there's nothing left to
+discover--are going to get jarred loose from your hinges one of these
+days. When I came in nine months ago they were hot on the trail of
+something big, and I'll bet they bring it in...."
+
+Out upon the dock an insistent siren blared a crescendo and diminuendo
+blast of sound, and two minutes remained. In every stateroom and in
+every lounge and saloon speakers sounded a warning:
+
+"For a short time, while we are pulling clear of the gravitational field
+of the Earth, walking will be somewhat difficult, as everything on board
+will apparently increase in weight by about one-fifth of its present
+amount. Please remain seated, or move about with caution. In about an
+hour weight will gradually return to normal. We start in one minute."
+
+"Hipe!" barked the chief pilot as a flaring purple light sprang into
+being upon his board, and the assistants came to attention at their
+stations. "Seconds! Four! Three! Two! One! LIFT!" He touched a
+button and a set of plunger switches drove home, releasing into the
+forty-five enormous driving projectors the equilibrium power--the
+fifteen-thousand-and-odd kilofranks of energy that exactly
+counterbalanced the pull of gravity upon the mass of the cruiser.
+Simultaneously there was added from the potentiometer, already set
+to the exact figure given by the computer, the _plus_-equilibrium
+power--which would not be changed throughout the journey if the ideal
+acceleration curve were to be registered upon the recorders--and the
+immense mass of the cruiser of the void wafted vertically upward at a
+low and constant velocity. The bellowing, shrieking siren had cleared
+the air magically of the swarm of aircraft in her path, and quietly,
+calmly, majestically, the _Arcturus_ floated upward.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Breckenridge, sixty seconds after the initial lift, actuated the system
+of magnetic relays which would gradually cut in the precisely measured
+"starting power," which it would be necessary to employ for sixty-nine
+minutes--for, without the acceleration given by this additional power,
+they would lose many precious hours of time in covering merely the
+few thousands of miles during which Earth's attraction would operate
+powerfully against their progress.
+
+Faster and faster the great cruiser shot upward as more and more of the
+starting power was released, and heavier and heavier the passengers
+felt themselves become. Soon the full calculated power was on and the
+acceleration became constant. Weight no longer increased, but remained
+constant at a value of plus twenty three and six-tenths percent. For a
+few moments there had been uneasy stomachs among the passengers--perhaps
+a few of the first-trippers had been made ill--but it was not much worse
+than riding in a high-speed elevator, particularly since there was no
+change from positive to negative acceleration such as is experienced in
+express elevators.
+
+The computer, his calculations complete, watched the pilot with
+interest, for, accustomed as he was to traversing the depths of space,
+there was a never-failing thrill to his scientific mind in the delicacy
+and precision of the work which Breckenridge was doing--work which could
+be done only by a man who had had long training in the profession and
+who was possessed of instantaneous nervous reaction and of the highest
+degree of manual dexterity and control. Under his right and left hands
+were the double-series potentiometers actuating the variable-speed
+drives of the flight-angle directors in the hour and declination ranges;
+before his eyes was the finely marked micrometer screen upon which the
+guiding goniometer threw its needle-point of light; powerful optical
+systems of prisms and lenses revealed to his sight the director-angles,
+down to fractional seconds of arc. It was the task of the chief pilot
+to hold the screened image of the cross-hairs of the two directors in
+such position relative to the ever-moving point of light as to hold the
+mighty vessel precisely upon its course, in spite of the complex system
+of forces acting upon it.
+
+For almost an hour Breckenridge sat motionless, his eyes flashing from
+micrometer screen to signal panel, his sensitive fingers moving the
+potentiometers through minute arcs because of what he saw upon the
+screen and in instantaneous response to the flashing, multi-colored
+lights and tinkling signals of his board. Finally, far from earth, the
+moon's attraction and other perturbing forces comparatively slight, the
+signals no longer sounded and the point of light ceased its irregular
+motion, becoming almost stationary. The chief pilot brought both
+cross-hairs directly upon the brilliant point, which for some time they
+had been approaching more and more nearly, adjusted the photo-cells
+and amplifiers which would hold them immovably upon it, and at the
+calculated second of time, cut out the starting power by means of
+another set of automatically timed relays. When only the regular driving
+power was left, and the acceleration had been checked and found to be
+exactly the designated value of 981.286 centimeters, he stood up and
+heaved a profound sigh of relief.
+
+"Well, Steve, that's over with--we're on our way. I'm always glad when
+this part of it is done."
+
+"It's a ticklish job, no fooling--even for an expert," the mathematician
+agreed. "No wonder the astronomers think you birds are the ones who are
+gumming up their dope. Well, it's about time to plug in on E2. Here's
+where the fireworks start!" He closed the connections which transferred
+the central portion of the upper lookout screen to a small micrometer
+screen at Breckenridge's desk and plugged it into the first
+check-station. Instantly a point of red light, surrounded by a vivid
+orange circle, appeared upon the screen, low down and to the left of
+center, and the timing galvanometer showed a wide positive deflection.
+
+"Hashed again!" growled Breckenridge. "I must be losing my grip,
+I guess. I put everything I had on that sight, and missed it ten
+divisions. I think I'll turn in my badge--I've cocked our perfect curve
+already, before we got to the first check-station!" His hands moved
+toward the controls, to correct their course and acceleration.
+
+"As you were--hold everything! Lay off those controls!" snapped the
+computer. "There's something screwy, just as I thought--and it isn't
+you, either. I'm no pilot, of course, but I do know good compensation
+when I see it, and if you weren't compensating that point I never saw it
+done. Besides, with your skill and my figures I know darn well that we
+aren't off more than a tenth of one division. He's cuckoo! Don't call
+him--let him start it, and refer him to me."
+
+"All x--I'll be only too glad to pass the buck. But I still think,
+Steve, that you're playing with dynamite. Who ever heard of an
+astronomer being wrong?"
+
+"You'd be surprised," grinned the physicist, "Since this fuss has
+just started, nobody has tried to find out whether they were wrong
+or not...."
+
+"IPV _Arcturus_, attention!" came from the speaker curtly.
+
+"IPV _Arcturus_, Breckenridge," from the chief pilot.
+
+"You have been on my ray almost a minute. Why are you not correcting
+course and acceleration?"
+
+"Doctor Stevens is computing us and has full control of course and
+acceleration," replied Breckenridge. "He will answer you."
+
+"I am changing neither course nor acceleration because you are not
+in position," declared Stevens, crisply, "Please give me your present
+supposed location, and your latest precision goniometer bearings on the
+sun, the moon, Mars, Venus, and your Tellurian reference limb, with
+exact time of observations, gyroscope zero-planes, and goniometer
+factors!"
+
+"Correct at once or I shall report you to the Observatory," E2 answered
+loftily, paying no attention to the demand for proof of position.
+
+"Be sure you do that, guy--and while you're at it report that your
+station hasn't taken a precision bearing in a month. Report that you've
+been muddling along on radio loop bearings, and that you don't know
+where you are, within seven thousand kilometers. And speaking of
+reporting--I know already that a lot of you astronomical guessers
+have only the faintest possible idea of where you really are, _plus_,
+_minus_, or lateral; and if you don't get yourselves straightened out
+before we get to W41, I'm going to make a report on my own account that
+will jar some of you birds loose from your upper teeth!" He unplugged
+with a vicious jerk, and turned to the pilot with a grin.
+
+"Guess that'll hold him for a while, won't it?"
+
+"He'll report us, sure," remonstrated Breckenridge. The older man was
+plainly ill at ease at this open defiance of the supposedly infallible
+check-stations.
+
+"Not that baby," returned the computer confidently. "I'll bet you a
+small farm against a plugged nickel that right now he's working his
+goniometer so hard that it's pivots are getting hot. He'll sneak back
+into position as soon as he can calculate his results, and pretend he's
+always been there."
+
+"The others will be all right, then, probably, by the time we get to
+them?"
+
+"Gosh, no--you're unusually dumb today, Breck. He won't tell anybody
+anything--he doesn't want to be the only goat, does he?"
+
+"Oh, I see. How could you dope this out, with only the recorder charts?"
+
+"Because I know the kind of stuff you pilots are--and those humps are
+altogether too big to be accounted for by anything I know about you.
+Another thing--the next station, P6, I think is keeping himself all x.
+If so, when you corrected for E2, which was wrong, it'd throw you all
+off on P6, which was right, and so on--a bad hump at almost every
+check-station. See?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+True to prediction, the pilot ray of P6 came in almost upon the exact
+center of the micrometer screen, and Breckenridge smiled in relief as he
+began really to enjoy the trip.
+
+"How do we check on chronometers?" asked P6 when Stevens had been
+introduced. "By my time you seem to be about two and a half seconds
+_plus_?"
+
+"All x--two points four seconds plus--we're riding on 981.286
+centimeters, to allow for the reversal and for minor detours. Bye."
+
+"All this may have been coincidence, Breck, but we'll find out pretty
+quick now," the computer remarked when the flying vessel was nearing
+the third check-station. "Unless I'm all out of control we'll check in
+almost fourteen seconds minus on W41, and we may not even find him on
+the center block of the screen."
+
+When he plugged in W41 was on the block, but was in the extreme upper
+right corner. They checked in thirteen and eight-tenths seconds minus on
+the station, and a fiery dialogue ensued when the computer questioned
+the accuracy of the location of the station and refused point-blank to
+correct his course.
+
+"Well, Breck, old onion, that tears it," Stevens declared as he
+unplugged. "No use going any further on these bum reference points.
+I'm going to report to Newton--he'll rock the Observatory on its
+foundations!" He plugged into the telegraph room. "Have you got a free
+high-power wave?... Please put me on Newton, in the main office."
+
+Moving lights flashed and flickered for an instant upon the communicator
+screen, settling down into a white glow which soon resolved itself into
+the likeness of a keen-eyed, gray-haired man, seated at his desk in the
+remote office of the Interplanetary Corporation. Newton smiled as he
+recognized the likeness of Stevens upon his own screen, and greeted him
+cordially.
+
+"Have you started your investigation, Doctor Stevens?"
+
+"Started it? I've finished it!" and Stevens tersely reported what he
+had learned, concluding: "So you see, you don't need special computers
+on these ships any more than a hen needs teeth. You've got all the
+computers you need, in the observatories--all you've got to do is make
+them work at their trade."
+
+"The piloting was all x, then?"
+
+"Absolutely--our curve so far is exactly flat ever since we cut
+off the starting power. Of course, all the pilots can't be as good as
+Breckenridge, but give them good computation and good check points and
+you shouldn't get any humps higher than about half a centimeter."
+
+"They'll get both, from now on," the director assured him. "Thanks. If
+your work for the trip is done, you might show my little girl, Nadia,
+around the _Arcturus_. She's never been out before, and will be
+interested. Would you mind?"
+
+"Glad to, Mr. Newton--I'll be a regular uncle to her."
+
+"Thanks again, Operator, I'll speak to Captain King, please."
+
+"Pipe down that guff, you unlicked cub, or I'll crown you with a
+proof-bar!" the chief pilot growled, as soon as Stevens had unplugged.
+
+"You and who else?" retorted the computer, cheerfully. "Pipe down
+yourself, guy--if you weren't so darn dumb and didn't have such a
+complex, you'd know that you're the crack pilot of the outfit and
+wouldn't care who else knew it." Stevens carefully covered and put away
+the calculating machine and other apparatus he had been using and turned
+again to the pilot.
+
+"I didn't know Newton had any kids, especially little ones, or I'd have
+got acquainted with them long ago. Of course I don't know him very well,
+since I never was around the office much, but the old tiger goes over
+big with me."
+
+"Hm--m. Think you'll enjoy playing nursemaid all the rest of the trip?"
+Breckenridge asked caustically, but with an enigmatic smile.
+
+"Think so? I _know_ so!" replied Stevens, positively. "I always did
+like kids, and they always did like me--we fall for each other like ten
+thousand bricks falling down a well. Why, a kid--_any_ kid--and I team
+up just like grace and poise.... What's gnawing on you anyway, to make
+you turn Cheshire cat all of a sudden? By the looks of that grin I'd
+say you had swallowed a canary of mine some way or other; but darned if
+I know that I've lost any," and he stared at his friend suspiciously.
+
+"To borrow your own phrase, Steve, 'You'd be surprised,'" and
+Breckenridge, though making no effort to conceal his amusement, would
+say no more.
+
+In a few minutes the door opened, and through it there stepped a
+grizzled four-striper. Almost hidden behind his massive form there was
+a girl, who ran up to Breckenridge and seized both his hands, her eyes
+sparkling.
+
+"Hi, Breckie, you old darling! I knew that if we both kept after
+him long enough Dad would let me ride with you sometime. Isn't this
+_gorgeous_?"
+
+Stevens was glad indeed that the girl's enthusiastic greeting of the
+pilot was giving him time to recover from his shock, for Director
+Newton's "little girl, Nadia" was not precisely what he had led himself
+to expect. Little she might be, particularly when compared with the
+giant frame of Captain King, or with Steve's own five-feet-eleven of
+stature and the hundred and ninety pounds of rawhide and whalebone that
+was his body, but child she certainly was not. Her thick, fair hair,
+cut in the square bob that was the mode of the moment, indicated that
+Nature had intended her to be a creamy blonde, but as she turned to be
+introduced to him, Stevens received another surprise--for she was one
+of those rare, but exceedingly attractive beings, a natural blonde with
+brown eyes and black eyebrows. Sun and wind had tanned her satin skin
+to a smooth and even shade of brown, and every movement of her lithe and
+supple body bespoke to the discerning mind a rigidly-trained physique.
+
+"Doctor Stevens, you haven't met Miss Newton, I hear," the captain
+introduced them informally. "All the officers who are not actually tied
+down at their posts are anxious to do the honors of the vessel, but as
+I have received direct orders from the owners, I am turning her over to
+you--you are to show her around."
+
+"Thanks, Captain, I won't mutiny a bit against such an order. I'm mighty
+glad to know you, Miss Newton."
+
+"I've heard a lot about you, Doctor. Dad and Breckie here are always
+talking about the Big Three--what you have done and what you are going
+to do. I want to meet Doctor Brandon and Doctor Westfall, too," and her
+hand met his in a firm and friendly clasp. She turned to the captain,
+and Stevens, noticing that the pilot, with a quizzical expression, was
+about to say something, silenced him with a fierce aside.
+
+"Clam it, ape, or I'll climb up you like a squirrel!" he hissed, and the
+grinning Breckenridge nodded assent to this demand for silence
+concerning children and nursemaids.
+
+"Since you've never been out, Miss Newton, you'll want to see the whole
+works," Stevens addressed the girl. "Where do you want to begin? Shall
+we start at the top and work down?"
+
+"All right with me," she agreed, and fell into step beside him. She was
+dressed in dove-gray from head to foot--toque, blouse, breeches, heavy
+stockings, and shoes were of the one shade of smooth, lustrous silk; and
+as they strolled together down the passage-way, the effortless ease and
+perfect poise of her carriage called aloud to every hard-schooled fibre
+of his own highly-trained being.
+
+"We're a lot alike you and I--do you know it?" he asked, abruptly and
+unconventionally.
+
+"Yes, I've felt it, too," she replied frankly, and studied him without
+affectation. "It has just come to me what it is. We're both in fine
+condition and in hard training. You're an athlete of some kind, and I'm
+sure you're a star--I ought to recognize you, but I'm ashamed to say I
+don't. What do you do?"
+
+"Swim."
+
+"Oh, of course--Stevens, the great Olympic high and fancy diver! I would
+_never_ have connected our own Doctor Stevens, the eminent mathematical
+physicist, with the King of the Springboard. Say, ever since I quit
+being afraid of the water I've had a yen to do that two-and-a-half twist
+of yours, but I never met anybody who knew it well enough to teach it
+to me, and I've almost broken my back forty times trying to learn it
+alone!"
+
+"I've got you, now, too--American and British Womens' golf champion.
+Shake!" and the two shook hands vigorously, in mutual congratulation.
+"Tell you what--I'll give you some pointers on diving, and you can show
+me how to make a golf ball behave. Next to Norman Brandon, I've got
+the most vicious hook in captivity--and Norm can't help himself. He's
+left-handed, you know, and, being a southpaw, he's naturally wild. He
+slices all his woods and hooks all his irons. I'm consistent, anyway--I
+hook everything, even my putts."
+
+"It's a bargain! What do you shoot?"
+
+"Pretty dubby. Usually in the middle eighties--none of us play much,
+being out in space most of the time, you know--sometimes, when my hook
+is going particularly well, I go up into the nineties."
+
+"We'll lick that hook," she promised, as they entered an elevator and
+were borne upward, toward the prow of the great interplanetary cruiser.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+----But Does Not Arrive
+
+
+"All out--we climb the rest of the way on foot," Stevens told his
+companion, as the elevator stopped at the uppermost passenger floor.
+They walked across the small circular hall and the guard on duty came
+to attention and saluted as they approached him.
+
+"I have orders to pass you and Miss Newton, sir. Do you know all the
+combinations?"
+
+"I know this good old tub better than the men that built her--I helped
+calculate her," Stevens replied, as he stepped up to an apparently blank
+wall of steel and deftly manipulated an almost invisible dial set flush
+with its surface. "This is to keep the passengers where they belong," he
+explained, as a section of the wall swung backward in a short arc and
+slid smoothly aside. "We will now proceed to see what makes it tick."
+
+Ladder after ladder of steel they climbed, and bulkhead after bulkhead
+opened at Stevens's knowing touch. At each floor the mathematician
+explained to the girl the operation of the machinery there automatically
+at work--devices for heating and cooling, devices for circulating,
+maintaining, and purifying the air and the water--in short, all the
+complex mechanism necessary for the comfort and convenience of the human
+cargo of the liner.
+
+Soon they entered the conical top compartment, a room scarcely fifteen
+feet in diameter, tapering sharply upward to a hollow point some
+twenty feet above them. The true shape of the room, however, was not
+immediately apparent, because of the enormous latticed beams and
+girders which braced the walls in every direction. The air glowed
+with the violet light of the twelve great ultra-light projectors, like
+searchlights with three-foot lenses, which lined the wall. The floor
+beneath their feet was not a level steel platform, but seemed to be
+composed of many lenticular sections of dull blue alloy.
+
+"We are standing upon the upper lookout lenses, aren't we?" asked the
+girl. "Is that perfectly all right?"
+
+"Sure. They're so hard that nothing can scratch them, and of course
+Roeser's Rays go right through our bodies, or any ordinary substance,
+like a bullet through a hole in a Swiss cheese. Even those lenses
+wouldn't deflect them if they weren't solid fields of force."
+
+As he spoke, one of the ultra-lights flashed around in a short, quick
+arc, and the girl saw that instead of the fierce glare she had expected,
+it emitted only a soft violet light. Nevertheless she dodged
+involuntarily and Stevens touched her arm reassuringly.
+
+"All x, Miss Newton--they're as harmless as mice. They hardly ever have
+to swing past the vertical, and even if one shines right through you
+can look it right in the eye as long as you want to--it can't hurt you
+a bit."
+
+"No ultra-violet at all?"
+
+"None whatever. Just a color--one of the many remaining crudities of our
+ultra-light vision. A lot of good men are studying this thing of direct
+vision, though, and it won't be long before we have a system that will
+really work."
+
+"I think it's all perfectly wonderful!" she breathed. "Just think of
+traveling in comfort through empty space, and of actually seeing through
+seamless steel walls, without even a sign of a window! How can such
+things be possible?"
+
+"I'll have to go pretty well back," he warned, "and any adequate
+explanation is bound to be fairly deep wading in spots. How technical
+can you stand it?"
+
+"I can go down with you middling deep--I took a lot of general science,
+and physics through advanced mechanics. Of course, I didn't get into any
+such highly specialized stuff as sub-electronics or Roeser's Rays, but
+if you start drowning me, I'll yell."
+
+"That's fine--you can get the idea all x, with that to go on. Let's sit
+down here on this girder. Roeser didn't do it all, by any means, even
+though he got credit for it--he merely helped the Martians do it. The
+whole thing started, of course, when Goddard shot his first rocket to
+the moon, and was intensified when Roeser so perfected his short waves
+that signals were exchanged with Mars--signals that neither side could
+make any sense out of. Goddard's pupils and followers made bigger and
+better rockets, and finally got one that could land safely upon Mars.
+Roeser, who was a mighty keen bird, was one of the first voyagers, and
+he didn't come back--he stayed there, living in a space-suit for three
+or four years, and got a brand-new education. Martian science always
+was hot, you know, but they were impractical. They were desperately
+hard up for water and air, and while they had a lot of wonderful
+ideas and theories, they couldn't overcome the practical technical
+difficulties in the way of making their ideas work. Now putting other
+peoples' ideas to work was Roeser's long suit--don't think that I'm
+belittling Roeser at all, either, for he was a brave and far-sighted
+man, was no mean scientist, and was certainly one of the best organizers
+and synchronizers the world has ever known--and since Martian and
+Tellurian science complemented each other, so that one filled in the
+gaps of the other, it wasn't long until fleets of space-freighters were
+bringing in air and water from Venus, which had more of both than she
+needed or wanted.
+
+"Having done all he could for the Martians and having learned most of
+the stuff he wanted to know, Roeser came back to Tellus and organized
+Interplanetary, with scientists and engineers on all three planets,
+and set to work to improve the whole system, for the vessels they used
+then were dangerous--regular mankillers, in fact. At about this same
+time Roeser and the Interplanetary Corporation had a big part in the
+unification of the world into one nation, so that wars could no longer
+interfere with progress."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"With this introduction I can get down to fundamentals. Molecules are
+particles of the first order, and vibrations of the first order include
+sound, light, heat, electricity, radio, and so on. Second order,
+atoms--extremely short vibrations, such as hard X-rays. Third order,
+electrons and protons, with their accompanying Millikan, or cosmic,
+rays. Fourth order, sub-electrons and sub-protons. These, in the
+material aspect, are supposed to be the particles of the fourth order,
+and in the energy aspect they are known as Roeser's Rays. That is, these
+fourth-order rays and particles seem to partake of the nature of both
+energy and matter. Following me?"
+
+"Right behind you," she assured him. She had been listening intently,
+her wide-spaced brown eyes fastened upon his face.
+
+"Since these Roeser's Rays, or particles or rays of the fourth order,
+seem to be both matter and energy, and since the rays can be converted
+into what is supposed to be the particles, they have been thought to be
+the things from which both electrons and protons were built. Therefore,
+everybody except Norman Brandon has supposed them the ultimate units of
+creation, so that it would be useless to try to go any further...."
+
+"Why, we were taught that they _are_ the ultimate units!" she protested.
+
+"I know you were--but we really don't know anything, except what we
+have learned empirically, even about our driving forces. What is called
+the fourth-order particle is absolutely unknown, since nobody has been
+able to detect it, to say nothing of determining its velocity or other
+properties. It has been assumed to have the velocity of light only
+because that hypothesis does not conflict with observational data. I'm
+going to give you the generally accepted idea, since we have nothing
+definite to offer in its place, but I warn you that that idea is very
+probably wrong. There's a lot of deep stuff down there hasn't been dug
+up yet. In fact, Brandon thinks that the product of conversion isn't
+what we think it is, at all--that the actual fundamental unit and the
+primary mechanism of the transformation lie somewhere below the fourth
+order, and possibly even below the level of the ether--but we haven't
+been able to find a point of attack yet that will let us get in
+anywhere. However, I'm getting 'way ahead of our subject. To get back to
+it, energy can be converted into something that acts like matter through
+Roeser's Rays, and that is the empirical fact underlying the drive of
+our space-ships, as well as that of almost all other vehicles on all
+three planets. Power is generated by the great waterfalls of Tellus and
+Venus--water's mighty scarce on Mars, of course, so most of our plants
+there use fuel--and is transmitted on light beams, by means of powerful
+fields of force to the receptors, wherever they may be. The individual
+transmitting fields and receptors are really simply matched-frequency
+units, each matching the electrical characteristics of some particular
+and unique beam of force. This beam is composed of Roeser's Rays, in
+their energy aspect. It took a long time to work out this tight-beam
+transmission of power, but it was fairly simple after they got it."
+
+He took out a voluminous notebook, at the sight of which Nadia smiled.
+
+"A computer might forget to dress, but you'd never catch one without a
+full magazine pencil and a lot of blank paper," he grinned in reply and
+went on, writing as he talked.
+
+"For any given frequency, _f_, and phase angle, _theta_, you integrate,
+between limits zero and _pi_ divided by two, sine theta d...."
+
+"Hold it--I'm sinking!" Nadia exclaimed. "I don't integrate at all
+unless it is absolutely necessary. As long as you stick to general
+science, I'm right on your heels, but please lay off of integrations
+and all that--most especially stay away from those terrible electrical
+integrations. I always did think that they were the most poisonous kind
+known. I want only a general idea--that's all that I can understand,
+anyway."
+
+"Sure, I forgot--guess I was getting in deeper than is necessary,
+especially since this whole thing of beam transmission is pretty crude
+yet and is bound to change a lot before long. There is so much loss
+that when we get more than a few hundred million kilometers away from
+a power-plant we lose reception entirely. But to get going again,
+the receptors receive the beam and from them the power is sent to the
+accumulators, where it is stored. These accumulators are an outgrowth
+of the storage battery. The theory of the accumulator is...."
+
+"Lay off the theory, please!" the listener interrupted. "I understand
+perfectly without it. Energy is stored in the accumulators--you put it
+in and take it out. That's all that is necessary."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I'd like to give you some of the theory--but, after all, it wouldn't
+add much to your understanding of the working of things, and it might
+mix you up, as some of it is pretty deep stuff. Then, too, it would
+take a lot of time, and the rest of your friends would squawk if I
+kept you here indefinitely. From the accumulators, then, the power
+is fed to the converters, each of which is backed by a projector.
+The converters simply change the aspect of the rays, from the
+energy aspect to the material aspect. As soon as this is done, the
+highly-charged particles--or whatever they are--thus formed are
+repelled by the terrific stationary force maintained in the projector
+backing the converter. Each particle departs with a velocity supposed
+to be that of light, and the recoil upon the projector drives the
+vessel, or car, or whatever it is attached to. Still with me?"
+
+"Struggling a little, but my nose is still above the surface. These
+particles, being so infinitesimally small that they cannot even be
+detected, go right through any substance without any effect--they are
+not even harmful."
+
+"Exactly. Now we are in position to go ahead with the lights, detectors,
+and so on. The energy aspect of the rays you can best understand as
+simply a vibration in the ether--an extremely high frequency one.
+While not rigidly scientific, that is close enough for you and me.
+Nobody knows what the stuff really is, and it cannot be explained or
+demonstrated by any model or concept in three-dimensional space. Its
+physical-mathematical interpretation, the only way in which it can be
+grasped at all, requires sixteen coordinates in four dimensions, and
+I don't suppose you'd care to go into that."
+
+"I'll say I wouldn't!" she exclaimed, feelingly.
+
+"Well, anyway, by the use of suitable fields of force it can be used
+as a carrier wave. Most of this stuff of the fields of force--how to
+carry the modulation up and down through all the frequency changes
+necessary--was figured out by the Martians ages ago. Used as a pure
+carrier wave, with a sender and a receiver at each end, it isn't so
+bad--that's why our communicator and radio systems work as well as they
+do. They are pretty good, really, but the ultra-light vision system
+is something else again. Sending the heterodyned wave through steel
+is easy, but breaking it up, so as to view an object and return the
+impulses, was an awful job and one that isn't half done yet. We see
+things, after a fashion and at a distance of a few kilometers, by
+sending an almost parallel wave from a twin-projector to disintegrate
+and double back the viewing wave. That's the way the lookout plates and
+lenses work, all over the ship--from the master-screens in the control
+room to the plates of the staterooms and lifeboats and the viewing-areas
+of the promenades. But the whole system is a rotten makeshift, and...."
+
+"Just a minute!" exclaimed the girl. "I and everybody else have been
+thinking that everything is absolutely perfect; and yet every single
+thing you have talked about, you have ended up by describing as
+'unknown,' 'rudimentary,' 'temporary,' or a 'makeshift.' You speak as
+though the entire system were a poor thing that will have to do until
+something better has been found, and that nobody knows anything about
+anything! How do you get that way?"
+
+"By working with Brandon and Westfall. Those birds have got real brains
+and they're on the track of something that will, in all probability, be
+as far ahead of Roeser's Rays as our present system is ahead of the
+science of the seventeenth century."
+
+"Really?" she looked at him in astonishment. "Tell me about it."
+
+"Can't be done," he refused. "I don't know much about it--even they
+didn't know any too much about some of it when I had to come in. And
+what little I do know I can't tell, because it isn't mine."
+
+"But you're working with them, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes, in the sense that a small boy helps his father build a house.
+They're the brains--I simply do some figuring that they don't want to
+waste time doing."
+
+Nadia, having no belief whatever in his modest disclaimer, but in secret
+greatly pleased by his attitude, replied:
+
+"Of course you couldn't say anything about an unfinished project--I
+shouldn't have asked. Where do we go from here?"
+
+"Down the lining of the hull, outside the passengers' quarters to the
+upper dirigible projectors," and he led the way down a series of steep
+steel stairways, through bulkheads and partitions of steel. "One thing
+I forgot to tell you about--the detectors. They're worked on the same
+principle as the lights, and are just about as efficient. Instead, of
+light, though, they send out cones of electromagnetic waves, which set
+up induced currents in any conductor encountered beyond our own shell.
+Since all dangerous meteorites have been shown to contain conducting
+material, that is enough to locate them, for radio finders automatically
+determine the direction, distance, and magnitude of the disturbance, and
+swing a light on it. That was what happened when that light swung toward
+us, back there in the prow."
+
+"Are there any of those life-boats, that I've heard discussed so much
+lately, near here?" asked the girl.
+
+"Lots of 'em--here's one right here," and at the next landing he opened
+a vacuum-insulated steel door, snapped on a light, and waved his hand.
+"You can't see much of it from here, but it's a complete space-ship
+in itself, capable of maintaining a dozen or fifteen persons during
+a two-weeks' cruise in space."
+
+"Why isn't it a good idea to retain them? Accidents are still possible,
+are they not?"
+
+"Of course, and there is no question of doing away with them entirely.
+Modern ships, however, have only enough of them to take care of the
+largest number of persons ever to be carried by the vessel."
+
+"Has the _Arcturus_ more than she needs?"
+
+"I'll say she has, and more of everything else, except room for
+pay-load."
+
+"I've heard them talking about junking her. I think it's a shame."
+
+"So do I, in a way--you see, I helped design her and her sister-ship,
+the _Sirius_, which Brandon and Westfall are using as a floating
+laboratory. But times change, and the inefficient must go. She's a good
+old tub, but she was built when everybody was afraid of space, and we
+had to put every safety factor into her that we could think of. As a
+result, she is four times as heavy as she should be, and that takes a
+lot of extra power. Her skin is too thick. She has too many batteries of
+accumulators, too many life-boats, too many bulkheads and air-breaks,
+too many and too much of everything. She is so built that if she should
+break up out in space, nobody would die if they lived through the
+shock--there are so many bulkheads, air-breaks, and life-boats that
+no matter how many pieces she broke up into, the survivors would find
+themselves in something able to navigate. That excessive construction
+is no longer necessary. Modern ships carry ten times the pay-load on
+one-quarter of the power that this old battle-wagon uses. Even though
+she's only four years old, she's a relic of the days when we used to
+slam through on the ecliptic route, right through all the meteoric
+stuff that is always there--trusting to heavy armor to ward off
+anything too small for the observers and detectors to locate. Now, with
+the observatories and check-stations out in space, fairly light armor
+is sufficient, as we route ourselves well away from the ecliptic and so
+miss all the heavy stuff. So, badly as I hate to see her go there, the
+old tub is bound for the junk-yard."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few more flights of stairs brought them to the upper band of dirigible
+projectors, which encircled the hull outside the passengers' quarters,
+some sixty feet below the prow. They were heavy, search-light-like
+affairs mounted upon massive universal bearings, free to turn in any
+direction, and each having its converter nestling inside its prodigious
+field of force. Stevens explained that these projectors were used in
+turning the vessel and in dodging meteorites when necessary, and they
+went on through another almost invisible door into a hall and took an
+elevator down to the main corridor.
+
+"Well, you've seen it, Miss Newton," Stevens said regretfully, as he
+led her toward the captain's office. "The lower half is full of heavy
+stuff--accumulators, machinery, driving projectors, and such junk, so
+that the center of gravity is below the center of action of the driving
+projectors. That makes stable flight possible. It's all more or less
+like what we've just seen, and I don't suppose you want to miss the
+dance--anyway, a lot of people want to dance with you."
+
+"Wouldn't you just as soon show me through the lower half as dance?"
+
+"Rather, lots!"
+
+"So would I. I can dance any time, and I want to see everything.
+Let's go!"
+
+Down they went, past battery after battery of accumulators; climbing
+over and around the ever-increasing number of huge steel girders and
+bracers; through mazes of heavily insulated wiring and conduits; past
+mass after mass of automatic machinery which Stevens explained to his
+eager listener. They inspected one of the great driving projectors,
+which, built rigidly parallel to the axis of the ship and held immovably
+in place by enormous trusses of steel, revealed neither to the eye nor
+to the ear any sign of the terrific force it was exerting. Still lower
+they went, until the girl had been shown everything, even down to the
+bottom ultra-lights and stern braces.
+
+"Tired?" Stevens asked, as the inspection was completed.
+
+"Not very. It's been quite a climb, but I've had a wonderful time."
+
+"So have I," he declared, positively. "I know what--we'll crawl up into
+one of these stern lifeboats and make us a cup of coffee before we climb
+back. With me?"
+
+"'Way ahead of you!" Nadia accepted the invitation enthusiastically,
+and they made their way to the nearest of the miniature space-cruisers.
+Here, although no emergency had been encountered in all the four years
+of the vessel's life, they found everything in readiness, and the two
+soon had prepared and eaten a hearty luncheon.
+
+"Well, I can't think of any more excuses for monopolizing you, Miss
+Newton, so I suppose I'll have to take you back. Believe me, I've
+enjoyed this more than you can realize--I've...."
+
+He broke off and listened, every nerve taut. "What was that?" he
+exclaimed.
+
+"What was what? I didn't hear anything?"
+
+"Something screwy somewhere! I felt a vibration, and anything that'd
+make this mountain of steel even quiver must have given us one
+gosh-awful nudge. There's another!"
+
+The girl, painfully tense, felt only a barely perceptible tremor, but
+the computer, knowing far better than she the inconceivable strength and
+mass of that enormous structure of solidly braced hardened steel, sprang
+into action. Leaping to the small dirigible look-out plate, he turned on
+the power and swung it upward.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Great suffering snakes!" he ejaculated, then stood mute, for the
+plate revealed a terrible sight. The entire nose of the gigantic craft
+had been sheared off in two immense slices as though clipped off by a
+gigantic sword, and even as they stared, fascinated, at the sight, the
+severed slices were drifting slowly away. Swinging the view along the
+plane of cleavage, Stevens made out a relatively tiny ball of metal,
+only fifty feet or so in diameter, at a distance of perhaps a mile.
+From this ball there shot a blinding plane of light, and the _Arcturus_
+fell apart at the midsection, the lower half separating clean from
+the upper portion, which held the passengers. Leaving the upper half
+intact, the attacker began slicing the lower, driving half into thin,
+disk-shaped sections. As that incandescent plane of destruction made
+its first flashing cut through the body of the _Arcturus_, accompanied
+by an additional pyrotechnic display of severed and short-circuited
+high-tension leads, Stevens and Nadia suddenly found themselves floating
+weightless in the air of the room. Still gripping the controls of the
+look-out plate, Stevens caught the white-faced girl with one hand, drew
+her down beside him, and held her motionless while his keen mind flashed
+over all the possibilities of the situation and planned his course
+of action.
+
+"They're apparently slicing us pretty evenly, and by the looks of
+things, one cut is coming right about here," he explained rapidly, as
+he found a flashlight and drew his companion through the door and along
+a narrow passage. Soon he opened another door and led her into a tiny
+compartment so low that they could not stand upright--a mere cubicle of
+steel. Carefully closing the door, he fingered dials upon each of the
+walls of the cell, then folded himself up into a comfortable position,
+instructed Nadia to do the same, and snapped off the light.
+
+"Please leave it on," the shaken girl asked. "It's so ghastly!"
+
+"We'd better save it, Nadia," he advised, pressing her arm reassuringly,
+"it's the only light we've got, and we may need it worse later on--its
+life is limited, you know."
+
+"Later on? Do you think we'll need anything--later on?"
+
+"Sure! Of course they may get us, Nadia, but this little tertiary
+air-break is a mighty small target for them to hit. And if they miss us,
+as I think they will, there's a larger room opening off each wall of
+this one--at least one of which will certainly be left intact. From any
+one of those rooms we can reach a life-boat. Of course, it's a little
+too much to expect that any one of the life-boats will be left whole,
+but they're bulkheaded, too, you know, so that we can be sure of finding
+something able to navigate--providing we can make our get-away. Believe
+me, ace, I'm sure glad we're aboard the old _Arcturus_ right now, with
+all her safety-devices, instead of on one of the modern liners. We'd be
+sunk right."
+
+"I felt sunk enough for a minute--I'm feeling better now, though, since
+you are taking it so calmly."
+
+"Sure--why not? A man's not dead until his heart stops beating, you
+know--our turn'll come next, when they let up a little."
+
+"But suppose they change the width of their slices, and hit this cubby,
+small as it is?"
+
+"It'd be just too bad," he shrugged. "In that case, we'd never know
+what hit us, so it's no good worrying about it. But say, we might do
+something at that, if they didn't hit us square. I can move fairly fast,
+and might be able to get a door open before the loss of pressure seals
+it. We'll light the flash ... here, you hold it, so that I can have both
+hands free. Put both arms around me, just under the arms, and stick to
+me like a porous plaster, because if I have to move at all, I'll have
+to jump like chain lightning. Shine the beam right over there, so it'll
+reflect and light up all the dials at once. There ... hold on tight!
+Here they come!"
+
+As he spoke, a jarring shudder shook one side of their hiding-place,
+then, a moment later, the phenomenon was repeated, but with much less
+force, upon the other side. Stevens sighed with relief, took the light,
+and extinguished it.
+
+"Missed us clean!" he exulted. "Now, if they don't find us, we're all
+set."
+
+"How can they possibly find us? I seem to be always worried about the
+wrong things, but I should think that their finding us would be the
+least of our troubles."
+
+"Don't judge their vision system by ours--they've got everything,
+apparently. However, their apparatus may not be delicate enough to spot
+us in a space this small when their projectors flash through it, as they
+probably will. Then, too, there's a couple of other big items in our
+favor--nobody else is in the entire lower half, since all this machinery
+down here is either automatic or else controlled from up above, so they
+won't be expecting to see anybody when they get down this far; and we
+aren't at all conspicuous. We're both dressed in gray--your clothes in
+particular are almost exactly the color of this armor-plate--so
+altogether we stand a good chance of being missed."
+
+"What shall we do now?"
+
+"Nothing whatever--wish we could sleep for a couple of hours, but of
+course there's no hope of that. Stretch out here, like that--you can't
+rest folded up like an accordion--and I'll lie down diagonally across
+the room. There's just room for me that way. That's one advantage of
+weightlessness--you can lie down standing on your head, and go to sleep
+and like it. But I forgot--you've never been weightless before, have
+you? Does it make you sick?"
+
+"Not so much, now, except that I feel awfully weird inside. I was
+horribly dizzy and nauseated at first, but it's going away."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"That's good--it makes lots of people pretty sick. In fact, some folks
+get awfully sick and can't seem to get used to it at all. It's the
+canals in the inner ear that do most of it, you know. However, if you're
+as well as that already, you'll be a regular spacehound in half an hour.
+I've been weightless for weeks at a stretch, out in the _Sirius_, and
+now I've got so I really like it. Here, we'd better keep in touch."
+He found her hand and tucked it under his arm. "Stabilize our positions
+more, besides keeping us from getting too lonesome, here in the dark,"
+he concluded, in a matter-of-fact voice.
+
+"Thanks for saying 'us'--but you would, wouldn't you?" and a wave of
+admiration went through her for the real and chivalrous manhood of the
+man with whom she had been forced by circumstances to cast her lot.
+"How long must we stay here?"
+
+"As long as the air lasts, and I'd like to stay here longer than that.
+We don't want to move around any more than we absolutely have to until
+their rays are off of us, and we have no way of knowing how long that
+will be. Also, we'd better keep still. I don't know what kind of an
+audio system they've got, but there's no use taking unnecessary
+chances."
+
+"All x--I'm an oyster's little sister," and for many minutes the
+two remained motionless and silent. Now and then Nadia twitched and
+started at some vague real or imaginary sound--now and then her fingers
+tightened upon his biceps--and he pressed her hand with his great arm in
+reassurance and understanding. Once a wall of their cell resounded under
+the impact of a fierce blow and Stevens instantly threw his arm around
+the girl, twisting himself between her and the threatened wall, ready
+for any emergency. But nothing more happened; the door remained closed,
+the cell stayed bottle-tight, and time wore slowly on. All too soon the
+unmistakable symptoms of breathing an unfit atmosphere made themselves
+apparent and Stevens, after testing each of the doors, drew the girl
+into a larger room, where they breathed deeply of the fresh, cool air.
+
+"How did you know that this room was whole?" asked Nadia. "We might have
+stepped out into space, mightn't we?"
+
+"No; if this room had lost its tightness, the door wouldn't have opened.
+They won't open if there's a difference of one kilogram pressure on the
+two sides. That's how I knew that the room we were in at first was cut
+in two--the door into that air-break wouldn't move."
+
+"What comes next?"
+
+"I don't know exactly what to do--we'd better hold a little council of
+war. They may have gone..." Stevens broke off as the structure began
+to move, and they settled down upon what had been one of the side-walls.
+Greater and greater became the acceleration, until their apparent weight
+was almost as much as it would have been upon the Earth, at which point
+it became constant. "... but they haven't," he continued the interrupted
+sentence. "This seems to be a capture and seizure, as well as an attack,
+so we'll have to take the risk of looking at them. Besides, it's getting
+cold in here. One or two of the adjoining cells have apparently been
+ruptured and we're radiating our heat out into space, so we'll have to
+get into a life-boat or freeze. I'll go pick out the best one. Wonder
+if I'd better take you with me, or hide you and come back after you?"
+
+"Don't worry about that--I'm coming with you," Nadia declared, positively.
+
+"Just as well, probably," he assented, and they set out. A thorough
+exploration of all the tight connecting cells revealed that not a
+lifeboat within their reach remained intact, but that habitable and
+navigable portions of three such craft were available. Selecting the
+most completely equipped of these, they took up their residence therein
+by entering it and closing the massive insulating door. Stevens
+disconnected all the lights save one, and so shielded that one before
+turning it on that it merely lightened the utter darkness into a
+semi-permeable gloom. He then stepped up to the lookout plate, and with
+his hand upon the control, pondered long the possible consequences of
+what he wished to do.
+
+"What harm would it do to take just a little peek?"
+
+"I don't know--that's the dickens of it. Maybe none, and then again,
+maybe a lot. You see, we don't know who or what we are up against. The
+only thing we know is that they've got us beat a hundred ways, and we've
+got to act accordingly. We've got to chance it sometime, though, if we
+can ever get away, so we might as well do it now. I'll put it on very
+short range first, and see what we can see. By the small number of cells
+we've got here I'm afraid they've split us up lengthwise, too--so that
+instead of having a whole slice of the old watermelon to live in, we've
+got only about a sixth of one--shaped about like a piece of restaurant
+pie. One thing I can do, though. I'll turn on the communicator receiver
+and put it on full coverage--maybe we can hear something useful."
+
+Putting a little power upon the visiray plate, he moved the point of
+projection a short distance from their hiding-place, so that the plate
+showed a view of the wreckage. The upper half of the vessel was still
+intact, the lower half a jumble of sharply-cut fragments. From each of
+the larger pieces a brilliant ray of tangible force stretched outward.
+Suddenly their receiver sounded behind them, as the high-powered
+transmitter in the telegraph room tried to notify headquarters of
+their plight.
+
+"_Arcturus_ attacked and cut up being taken tow...."
+
+Rapidly as the message was uttered the transmitter died with a rattle
+in the middle of a word, and Nadia looked at Stevens with foreboding in
+her eyes.
+
+"They've got something, that's one thing sure, to be able to neutralize
+our communicator beams that way," he admitted. "Not so good--we'll have
+to play this close to our vests, girl!"
+
+"Are you just trying to cheer me up, or do you really think we have a
+chance?" she demanded. "I want to know just where we stand."
+
+"I'm coming clean with you, no kidding. If we can get away, we'll be all
+x, because I'll bet a farm that by this time Brandon's got everything
+those birds have, and maybe more. They beat us to it, that's all. I'm
+kind of afraid, though, that getting away isn't going to be quite as
+simple as shooting fish down a well."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Far ahead of them a port opened, a lifeboat shot out at its full power,
+and again their receiver tried to burst into sound, but it was a vain
+attempt. The sound died before one complete word could be uttered, and
+the lifeboat, its power completely neutralized by the rays of the tiny
+craft of the enemy, floated gently back toward the mass of its parent
+and accompanied it in its headlong flight. Several more lifeboats made
+the attempt, as the courageous officers of the _Arcturus_, some of
+whom had apparently succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the captors,
+launched the little shells from various ports; but as each boat issued,
+its power was neutralized and it found itself dragged helplessly along
+in the grip of one of those mysterious, brilliant rays of force. At
+least one hidden officer must have been watching the fruitless efforts,
+for the next lifeboat to issue made no attempt, either to talk or to
+flee, but from it there flamed out into space a concentrated beam of
+destruction--the terrible ray of annihilation, against which no known
+substance could endure for a moment; the ray which had definitely
+outlawed war. But even that frightful weapon was useless--it spent
+its force harmlessly upon an impalpable, invisible barrier, a hundred
+yards from its source, and the bold lifeboat disappeared in one blinding
+explosion of incandescence as the captor showed its real power in
+retaliation. Stevens, jaw hard-set, leaped from the screen, then brought
+himself up so quickly that he skated across the smooth steel floor.
+Shutting off the lookout plate, he led the half-fainting girl across
+the room to a comfortable seat and sat down beside her--raging, but
+thoughtful. Nadia soon recovered.
+
+"Why are you acting so contrary to your nature--is it because of _me_?"
+she demanded. "A dozen times I've seen you start to do something and
+then change your mind. I _will not_ be a load on you nor hinder you in
+anything you want to do."
+
+"I told your father I'd look after you, and I'm going to do it," he
+replied, indirectly. "I would do it anyway, of course--even if you are
+ten or twelve years older than I thought you were."
+
+"Yes, Dad never has realized that I'm more than eight years old. I
+see--you were going out there and be slaughtered?" He flushed, but made
+no reply. "In that case I'm glad I'm here--that would have been silly.
+I think we'd better hold that council of war you mentioned a while ago,
+don't you?"
+
+"I need a smoke--do you indulge?"
+
+"No thanks. I tried it a few times at school, but never liked it."
+
+He searched his pockets, bringing to light an unopened package and a
+tattered remnant which proved to contain one dilapidated cigarette.
+He studied it thoughtfully. "I'll smoke this wreck," he decided, "while
+it's still smokable. We'll save the rest of them--I'm afraid it'll be
+a long time between smokes. Well, let's confer!"
+
+"This will have to be a one-sided conference. I don't imagine that any
+of my ideas will prove particularly helpful. You talk and I'll listen.
+
+"You can't tell what ideas may be useful--chip in any time you feel the
+urge. Here's the dope, as I see it. They're highly intelligent creatures
+and are in all probability neither Martians nor Venerians. If any of
+them had any such stuff as that, some of us would have known about it
+and, besides, I don't believe they would have used it in just that way.
+Mercury is not habitable, at least for organic beings; and we have never
+seen any sign of any other kind of inhabitants who could work with
+metals and rays. They're probably from Jupiter, although possibly from
+further away. I say Jupiter, because I would think, judging from the
+small size of the ship, that it may still be in the experimental stage,
+so that they probably didn't come from any further away than Jupiter.
+Then, too, if they were very numerous, somebody would have sighted one
+before. I'd give my left leg and four fingers for one good look at the
+inside of that ship."
+
+"Why didn't you take it, then? You never even looked toward it, after
+that one first glimpse."
+
+"I'll say I didn't--the reason being that they may have automatic
+detectors, and as I have suggested before, our system of vision is so
+crude that its use could be detected with a clothesline or a basket
+full of scrap iron. But to resume: Their aim is to capture, not destroy,
+since they haven't killed anybody except the one crew that attacked
+them. Apparently they want to study us or something. However, they don't
+intend that any of us shall get away, nor even send out a word of what
+has happened to us. Therefore it looks as though our best bet is to hide
+now, and try to sneak away on them after a while--direct methods won't
+work. Right?"
+
+"You sound lucid. Is there any possibility of getting back, though, if
+we got anywhere near Jupiter? It's so far away!"
+
+"It's a long stretch from Jupiter to any of the planets where we have
+power-plants, all right--particularly now, when Mars and Tellus are
+subtending an angle of something more than ninety degrees at the sun,
+and Venus is between the two, while Jupiter is clear across the sun from
+all three of them. Even when Jupiter is in mean opposition to Mars, it
+is still some five hundred and fifty million kilometers away, so you
+can form some idea as to how far it is from our nearest planet now.
+No, if we expect to get back under our own power, we've got to break away
+pretty quick--these lifeboats have very little accumulator capacity, and
+the receptors are useless above about three hundred million
+kilometers...."
+
+"But it'll take us a long time to go that far, won't it?"
+
+"Not very. Our own ships, using only the acceleration of gravity, and
+both plus and minus at that, make the better than four hundred million
+kilometers of the long route to Mars in five days. These birds are using
+almost that much acceleration, and I don't see how they do it. They must
+have a tractor ray. Brandon claimed that such a thing was theoretically
+possible, but Westfall and I couldn't see it. We ragged him about it a
+lot--and he was right. I thought, of course, they'd drift with us, but
+they are using power steadily. They've got _some_ system!"
+
+"Suppose they could be using intra-atomic energy? We were taught that it
+was impossible, but you've shattered a lot of my knowledge today."
+
+"I wouldn't want to say definitely that it is absolutely impossible,
+but the deeper we go into that line, the more unlikely intra-atomic
+energy power-plants become. No, they've got a real power-transmission
+system--one that can hold a tight beam together a lot farther than
+anything we have been able to develop, that's all. Well, we've given
+them quite a lot of time to get over any suspicion of us, let's see
+if we can sneak away from them."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By short and infrequent applications of power to the dirigible
+projectors of the life-boat, Stevens slowly shifted the position of
+the fragment which bore their craft until it was well clear of the
+other components of the mass of wreckage. He then exerted a very small
+retarding force, so that their bit would lag behind the procession, as
+though it had accidently been separated. But the crew of the captor was
+alert, and no sooner did a clear space show itself between them and the
+mass than a ray picked them up and herded them back into place. Stevens
+then nudged other pieces so that they fell out, only to see them also
+rounded up. Hour after hour he kept trying--doing nothing sufficiently
+energetic to create any suspicion, but attempting everything he could
+think of that offered any chance of escape from the clutches of their
+captors. Immovable at the plate, his hands upon the controls, he
+performed every insidious maneuver his agile brain could devise, but
+he could not succeed in separating their vehicle from its fellows.
+Finally, after a last attempt, which was foiled as easily as were its
+predecessors, he shut off his controls and turned to his companion
+with a grin.
+
+"I didn't think I could get away with it--they're keen, that gang--but
+I had to keep at it as long as it would have done us any good."
+
+"Wouldn't it do us any good now?"
+
+"Not a bit--we're going so fast that we couldn't stop--we're out of even
+radio range of our closest power-plant. We'll have to put off any more
+attempts until they slow us down. They're fairly close to at least one
+of the moons of Jupiter, we'll have our best chance--so good, in fact,
+that I really think we can make it."
+
+"But what good would that do us, if we couldn't get back?" Dire
+foreboding showed in her glorious eyes.
+
+"Lots of things not tried yet, girl, and we'll try them all. First, we
+get away. Second, we try to get in touch with Norman Brandon...."
+
+"How? No known radio will carry half that far."
+
+"No, but I think that a radio as yet unknown may be able to--and there
+is a bare possibility that I'll be able to communicate."
+
+"Oh wonderful--that lifts a frightful load off my mind," she breathed.
+
+"But just a minute--I said I'd come clean with you, and I will. The odds
+are all against us, no matter what we do. If that unknown radio won't
+work--and it probably won't--there are several other things we can try,
+but they're all pretty slim chances. Even if we get away, it'll probably
+be about the same thing as though you were to be marooned on a desert
+island without any tools, and with your rescue depending upon your
+ability to build a high-powered radio station with which to call to
+a mainland for help. However, if we don't try to get away, our only
+alternative is letting them know we're here, and joining our friends
+in captivity."
+
+"And then what?"
+
+"You know as much as I do. Imprisonment and restraint, certain; death,
+possible; return to Earth, almost certainly impossible--life as guests,
+highly improbable."
+
+"I'm with you, Steve, all the way."
+
+"Well, it's time to spring off--we've both been awake better than fifty
+hours. Personally, I'm all in, and you're so near dead that you're a
+physical wreck. We'll get us a bite of supper and turn in."
+
+An appetizing supper was prepared from the abundant stores and each
+ate a heartier meal than either would have believed possible. Stevens
+considered his unopened package of cigarettes, then regretfully put it
+back into his pocket still unopened and turned to Nadia.
+
+"Well, little fellow, it's time to shove off, and then some. You might
+as well sleep here, and I'll go in there. If anything scares you, yell.
+Good-night, old trapper!"
+
+"Wait a minute, Steve." Nadia flushed, and her brown eyes and black
+eyebrows, in comparison with her golden-blond hair, lent her face a
+quizzical, elfin expression that far belied her feelings as she stared
+straight into his eyes. "I've never even been away from the Earth
+before, and with all this happening I'm simply scared to death. I've
+been trying to hide it, but I couldn't stand it alone, and we're going
+to be together too long and too close for senseless conventions to
+affect us. There's two bunks over there--why don't you sleep in one
+of them?"
+
+He returned her steadfast gaze for a moment in silence.
+
+"All x with me, Nadia," he answered, keeping out of his voice all
+signs of the tenderness he felt for her, and of his very real admiration
+for her straightforward conduct in a terrifying situation. "You trust
+me, then?"
+
+"_Trust_ you! Don't be silly--I know you! I know you, and I know Brandon
+and Westfall--I know what you've done, and exactly the kind of men you
+are. _Trust_ you!"
+
+"Thanks, old golf-shootist," and promises were made and received
+in a clasp from which Nadia's right hand, strong as it was, emerged
+slightly damaged.
+
+"By the way, what is your first name, fellow-traveller?" she asked in
+lighter vein. "Nobody, not even Dad or Breckie, ever seems to call you
+anything but 'Steve' when they talk about you." She was amazed at the
+effect of her innocent question, for Stevens flushed to his hair and
+spluttered.
+
+"It's _Percy_!" He finally, snorted. "Percival Van Schravendyck Stevens.
+Wouldn't that tear it?"
+
+"Why, I think Percival's a real nice name!"
+
+"Silence!" he hissed in burlesque style. "Young woman, I have revealed
+to you a secret known to but few living creatures. On your life, keep
+it inviolate!"
+
+"Oh, very well, if you insist. Good-night--Steve!" and she gave him a
+radiant and honest smile: the first smile he had seen since the moment
+of the attack.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Castaways Upon Ganymede
+
+
+Upon awakening, the man's first care was to instruct the girl in the
+operation of the projectors, so that she could keep the heavily-armored
+edge of their small section, which she had promptly christened "The
+Forlorn Hope," between them and the grinding, clashing mass of wreckage,
+and thus, if it should become necessary, protect the relatively frail
+inner portions of their craft from damage.
+
+"Keep an eye on things for a while, Nadia," he instructed, as soon as
+she could handle the controls, "and don't use any more power than is
+absolutely necessary. We'll need it all, and besides, they can probably
+detect anything we can use. There's probably enough leakage from the
+ruptured accumulator cells to mask quite a little emission, but don't
+use much. I'm going to see what I can do about making this whole wedge
+navigable."
+
+"Why not just launch what's left of this lifeboat? It's space-worthy,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, but it's too small. Two or three of the big dirigible projectors
+of the lower band are on the rim of this piece-of-pie-shaped section
+we're riding, I think. If so, and if enough batteries of accumulators
+are left intact to give them anywhere nearly full power, we can get an
+acceleration that will make a lifeboat look sick. Those main dirigibles,
+you know, are able to swing the whole mass of the _Arcturus_, and what
+they'll do to this one chunk of it--we've got only a few thousand tons
+of mass in this piece--will be something pretty. Also, having the metal
+may save us months of time in mining it."
+
+He found the projectors, repaired or cut out the damaged accumulator
+cells, and reconnected them through the controls of the lifeboat.
+He moved into the "engine-room" the airtanks, stores, and equipment
+from all the other fragments which, by means of a space-suit, he could
+reach without too much difficulty. From the battery rooms of those
+fragments--open shelves, after being sliced open by the shearing ray--he
+helped himself to banks of accumulator cells from the enormous driving
+batteries of the ill-fated _Arcturus_, bolting them down and connecting
+them solidly until almost every compartment of their craft was one mass
+of stored-up energy.
+
+Days fled like hours, so furiously busy were they in preparing their
+peculiar vessel for a cruise of indefinite duration. Stevens cut himself
+short on sleep and snatched his meals in passing; and Nadia, when not
+busy at her own tasks of observing, housekeeping, and doing what little
+piloting was required, was rapidly learning to wield most effectively
+the spanner and pliers of the mechanic and electrician.
+
+"I'm afraid our time is getting short, Steve," she announced, after
+making an observation. "It looks as though we're getting wherever it
+is we're going."
+
+"Well, I've got only two more jobs to do, but they're the hardest of the
+lot. It is Jupiter, or can you tell yet?"
+
+"Jupiter or one of its satellites, I think, from the point where they
+reversed their power. Here's the observation you told me to take."
+
+"Looks like Jupiter," he agreed, after he had rapidly checked her
+figures. "We'll pass very close to one of those two satellites--probably
+Ganymede--which is fine for our scheme. All four of the major satellites
+have water and atmosphere, but Ganymede, being largest, is best for our
+purposes. We've got a couple of days yet--just about time to finish up.
+Let's get going--you know what to do."
+
+"Steve, I'm afraid of it. It's too dangerous--isn't there some other
+way?"
+
+"None that I can see. The close watch they're keeping on every bit of
+this junk makes it our only chance for a get-away. I'm pretty sure I
+can do it--but if I should happen to get nipped, just use enough power
+to let them know you're here, and you won't be any worse off than if
+I hadn't tried to pull off this stunt."
+
+He donned a space-suit, filled a looped belt with tools, picked up a
+portable power-drill, and stepped into the tiny air-lock. Nadia deftly
+guided their segment against one of the larger fragments and held it
+there with a gentle, steady pressure, while Stevens, a light cable
+paying out behind him, clambered carefully over the wreckage, brought
+his drill into play, and disappeared inside the huge wedge. In less than
+an hour he returned without mishap and reported to the glowing girl.
+
+"Just like shooting fish down a well! Most of the accumulator cells were
+tight, and installing the relays wasn't a bad job at all. Believe me,
+girl, there'll be junk filling all the space between here and Saturn
+when we touch them off!"
+
+"Wonderful, Steve!" Nadia exclaimed. "It won't be so bad seeing you go
+into the others, now that you have this one all rigged up."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Around and around the mass of wreckage they crept, and in each of the
+larger sections Stevens connected up the enormous fixed or dirigible
+projectors to whatever accumulator cells were available through
+sensitive relays, all of which he could close by means of one radio
+impulse. The long and dangerous task done, he stood at the lookout
+plate, studying the huge disk which had been the upper portion of the
+lower half of the _Arcturus_ and frowning in thought. Nadia reached over
+his shoulder and switched off the plate.
+
+"Nix on that second job, big fellow!" she declared. "They aren't really
+necessary, and you're altogether too apt to be killed trying to get
+them. It's too ghastly--I won't stand for your trying it, so that
+ends it."
+
+"We ought to have them, really," he protested. "With those special
+tools, cutting torches, and all the stuff, we'd be sitting pretty.
+We'll lose weeks of time by not having them."
+
+"We'll just have to lose it, then. You can't get 'em, any more than
+a baby can get the moon, so stop crying about it," she went over the
+familiar argument for the twentieth time. "That stuff up there is all
+grinding together like cakes of ice in a floe; the particular section
+you want is in plain sight of whoever is on watch; and those tools and
+things are altogether too heavy to handle. You're a husky brute, I know,
+but even you couldn't begin to handle them, even if you had good going.
+I couldn't help you very much, even if you'd let me try; and the fact
+that you so positively refuse to let me come along shows how dangerous
+you know the attempt is bound to be. You'd probably never even get up
+there alive, to say nothing of getting back here. No, Steve, that's out
+like a light."
+
+"I sure wish they'd left us weightless for a while, sometime, if only
+for an hour or two," he mourned.
+
+"But they didn't!" she retorted, practically. "So we're just out of luck
+to that extent. Our time is about up, too. It's time you worked us back
+to the tail end of this procession--or rather, the head end, since we're
+traveling 'down' now."
+
+Stevens took the controls and slowly worked along the outer edge of the
+mass, down toward its extremity. Nadia put one hand upon his shoulder
+and he glanced around.
+
+"Thanks, Steve. We have a perfectly wonderful chance as it is, and we've
+gone so far with our scheme together that it would be a crying shame not
+to be able to go through with it. I'd hate like sin to have to surrender
+to them now, and that's all I could do if anything should become of you.
+Besides..." her voice died away into silence.
+
+"Sure, you're right," he hastily replied, dodging the implication of
+that unfinished sentence. "I couldn't figure out anything that looked
+particularly feasible anyway--that's why I didn't try it. We'll pass
+it up."
+
+Soon they arrived at their objective and maintained a position well in
+the van, but not sufficiently far ahead of the rest to call forth a
+restraining ray from their captors. Already strongly affected by the
+gravitational pull of the mass of the satellite, many of the smaller
+portions of the wreck, not directly held by the tractors, began to
+separate from the main mass. As each bit left its place another beam
+leaped out, until it became apparent that no more were available, and
+Stevens strapped the girl and himself down before two lookout plates.
+
+"Now for it, Nadia!" he exclaimed, and simultaneously threw on the power
+of his own projectors and sent out the radio impulse which closed the
+relays he had so carefully set. They were thrown against the restraining
+straps savagely and held there by an enormous weight as the gigantic
+dirigible projectors shot their fragment of the wreck away from the
+comparatively slight force which had been acting upon it, but they
+braced themselves and strained their muscles in order to watch what
+was happening. As the relays in the various fragments closed, the
+massed power of the accumulators was shorted dead across the converters
+and projectors instead of being fed into them gradually through the
+controls of the pilot, with a result comparable to that of the explosion
+of an ammunition dump. Most of the masses, whose projectors were fed
+by comparatively few accumulator cells, darted away entirely with a
+stupendous acceleration. A few of them, however, received the unimpeded
+flow of complete batteries. Those projectors tore loose from even
+their massive supports and crashed through anything opposing them like
+a huge, armor-piercing projectile. It was a spectacle to stagger the
+imagination, and Stevens grinned as he turned to the girl, who was
+staring in wide-eyed amazement.
+
+"Well, ace, I think they're busy enough now so that it'll be safe
+to take that long-wanted look at their controls," and he flashed
+the twin beams of his lookout light out beyond the upper half of the
+_Arcturus_--only to see them stop abruptly in mid-space. Even the
+extremely short carrier-wave of Roeser's Rays could not go through the
+invisible barrier thrown out by the tiny, but powerful globe of space.
+
+"No penetration?" Nadia asked.
+
+"Flattened them out cold. 'However,' as the fox once remarked about the
+grapes, 'I'll bet they're sour, anyway.' We'll have some stuff of our
+own, one of these days. I sure hope the fireworks we started back there
+keep those birds amused until we get out of sight, because if I use much
+more power on these projectors we may not have juice enough left to stop
+with."
+
+"You're using enough now to suit me--I'm so heavy I can hardly lift
+a finger!"
+
+"You'd better lift 'em! You must watch what's going on back there while
+I navigate around this moon."
+
+"All x, chief.... They've got their hands full, apparently. Those rays
+are shooting around all over the sky. It looks as though they were
+trying to capture four or five things at once with each one."
+
+"Good! Tell me when the moon cuts them off."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the awful acceleration they were using, which constantly increased
+the terrific velocity with which they had been traveling when they made
+good their escape, it was not long until they had placed the satellite
+between them and the enemy; then Stevens cut down and reversed his
+power. Such was their speed, however, that a long detour was necessary
+in order to reduce it to a safe landing rate. As soon as this could be
+done, Stevens headed for the morning zone and dropped the "Hope" rapidly
+toward the surface of that new, strange world. Details could not be
+distinguished at first because of an all-enshrouding layer of cloud, but
+the rising sun dispelled the mist, and when they had descended to within
+a few thousand feet of the surface, their vision was unobstructed.
+Immediately below them the terrain was mountainous and heavily wooded;
+while far to the east the rays of a small, pale sun glinted upon a vast
+body of water. No signs of habitation were visible as far as the eye
+could reach.
+
+"Now to pick out a location for our power-plant. We must have a
+waterfall for power, a good place to hide our ship from observation, and
+I'd like to have a little seam of coal. We can use wood if we have to,
+but I think we can find some coal. This is all sedimentary rock--it
+looks a lot like the country along the North Fork of the Flathead, in
+Montana. There are a lot of coal outcrops, usually, in such topography
+as this is."
+
+"We want to hide in a hurry, though, don't we?"
+
+"Not particularly, I think. If they had missed us at all, they would
+have had us long ago, and with all the damage we did with those
+projectors they won't be surprised at one piece being missing--I imagine
+they lost a good many."
+
+"But they'll know that somebody caused all that disturbance. Won't they
+hunt for us?"
+
+"Maybe, and maybe not--no telling what they'll do. However, by the time
+they can land and get checked up and ready to hunt for us, we'll be a
+mighty small needle, well hidden in a good big haystack."
+
+For several hours they roamed over the mountainous region at high
+velocity, seeking the best possible location, and finally they found
+one that was almost ideal--a narrow canyon overhung with heavy trees,
+opening into a wide, deep gorge upon a level with its floor. A mighty
+waterfall cascaded into the gorge just above the canyon, and here
+and there could be seen black outcrops which Stevens, after a close
+scrutiny, declared to be coal. He deftly guided their cumbersome wedge
+of steel into the retreat, allowed it to settle gently to the ground,
+and shut off the power.
+
+"Well, little fellow-conspirator against the peace and dignity of the
+Jovians, I don't know just where we are, but wherever it is, we're here.
+We got away clean, and as long as we don't use any high-tension stuff or
+anything else that they can trace, I think we're as safe as money in a
+bank."
+
+"I suppose that I ought to be scared to death, Steve, but I'm not--I'm
+just too thrilled for words," Nadia answered, and the eager sparkle in
+her eyes bore out her words. "Can we go out now? How about air? Shall we
+wear suits or go out as we are? Have you got a weapon of any kind? Hurry
+up--let's do something!"
+
+"Pipe down, ace! Remember that we don't know any more about anything
+around here than a pig does about Sunday, and conduct yourself
+accordingly. Take it easy. I'm surprised at the gravity here. This is
+certainly Ganymede, and it has a diameter of only about fifty seven
+hundred kilometers. If I remember correctly, Damoiseau estimated its
+mass at about three one-hundredths that of the Earth, which would make
+its surface gravity about one-sixth. However, it is actually almost a
+half, as you see by this spring-balance here. Therefore it is quite a
+little more massive than has been...."
+
+"What of it? Let's go places and do things!"
+
+"Calm yourself, Ginger, you've got lots of time--we'll be here for quite
+a while, I'm afraid. We can't go out until we analyze the air--we're
+sure lucky there's as much as there is. I'm not exactly the world's
+foremost chemist, but fortunately an air-analysis isn't much of a job
+with the apparatus we carry."
+
+While Nadia controlled her impatience as best she could, Stevens
+manipulated the bulbs and pipettes of the gas apparatus.
+
+"Pressure, fifty-two centimeters--more than I dared hope for--and
+analysis all x, I believe. Oxygen concentration a little high, but
+not much."
+
+"We won't have to wear the space-suits, then?"
+
+"Not unless I missed something in the analysis. The pressure corresponds
+to our own at a height of about three thousand meters, which we can get
+used to without too much trouble. Good thing, too. I brought along all
+the air I could get hold of, but as I told you back there, if we had to
+depend on it altogether, we might be out of luck. I'm going to pump some
+of our air back into a cylinder to equalize our pressure--don't want
+to waste any of it until we're sure the outside air suits us without
+treatment."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the pressure inside had been gradually reduced to that outside and
+they had become accustomed to breathing the rarefied medium, Stevens
+opened the airlock and the outside doors, and for some time cautiously
+sniffed the atmosphere of the satellite. He could detect nothing harmful
+or unusual in it--it was apparently the same as earthly air--and he
+became jubilant.
+
+"All x, Nadia--luck is perched right on our banner. Freedom, air, water,
+power, and coal! Now as you suggested, we'll go places and do things!"
+
+"Suppose it's safe?" Her first eagerness to explore their surroundings
+had abated noticeably. "You aren't armed, are you?"
+
+"No, and I don't believe that there was a gun of any kind aboard the
+_Arcturus_. That kind of thing went out quite a while ago, you know.
+We'll take a look, anyway--we've got to find out about that coal before
+we decide to settle down here. Remember this half-gravity stuff, and
+control your leg-muscles accordingly."
+
+Leaping lightly to the ground, they saw that the severed section of
+fifty-inch armor, which was the rim of their conveyance, almost blocked
+the entrance to the narrow canyon which they had selected for their
+retreat. Upon one side that wall of steel actually touched the almost
+perpendicular wall or rock; upon the other side there was left only a
+narrow passage. They stepped through it, so that they could see the
+waterfall and the gorge, and stopped silent. The sun, now fairly high,
+was in no sense the familiar orb of day, but was a pale, insipid thing,
+only one-fifth the diameter of the sun to which they were accustomed,
+and which could almost be studied with the unshielded eye. From their
+feet a grassy meadow a few hundred feet wide sloped gently down to the
+river, from whose farther bank a precipice sprang upward for perhaps
+a thousand feet--merging into towering hills whose rugged grandeur was
+reminiscent of the topography of the moon. At their backs the wall of
+the gorge was steep, but not precipitous, and was covered with shrubs
+and trees--some of which leaned out over the little canyon, completely
+screening it, and among whose branches birds could now and then be seen
+flitting about. In that direction no mountains were visible, indicating
+that upon their side of the river there was an upland plateau or bench.
+To their right the river, the gorge, and the strip of meadow extended
+for a mile or more, then curved away and were lost to sight. To their
+left, almost too close for comfort, was the stupendous cataract,
+towering above them to a terror-inspiring height. Nadia studied it
+with awe, which changed to puzzled wonder.
+
+"What's the matter with it, Steve? It looks like a picture in slow
+motion, like the kind they take of your dives--or am I seeing things?"
+
+"No, it's really slow, compared to what we're used to. Remember that
+one-half gravity stuff!"
+
+"Oh, that's right, but it certainly does look funny. It gives me the
+creeps."
+
+"You'll get used to it pretty quick--just as you'll get used to all the
+rest of the things having only half their earthly weight and falling
+only half as fast as they ought to when you drop them. Well, I don't see
+anything that looks dangerous yet--let's go up toward the falls a few
+meters and prospect that outcrop."
+
+With a few brisk strokes of an improvised shovel he cleared the outcrop
+of detritus and broke off several samples of the black substance, with
+which they went back to the "Forlorn Hope."
+
+"It's real coal," Stevens announced after a series of tests. "I've seen
+better, but on the other hand, there's lots worse. It'll make good gas,
+and a kind of a coke. Not so hot, but it'll do. Now we'd better get
+organized old partner, for a long campaign."
+
+"Go ahead and organize--I'm only the cheap help in this enterprise."
+
+"Cheap help! You're apt to be the life of the party. Can you make and
+shoot a bow and arrow?"
+
+"I'll say I can--I've belonged to an archery club for five years."
+
+"What did I tell you? You're a life saver! Here's the dope--we've got
+to save our own supplies as much as possible until we know exactly what
+we're up against, and to do that, we've got to live off the country.
+I'll fake up something to knock over some of those birds and small game,
+then we can make real bow-strings and feathered arrows and I'll forge
+some steel arrow-heads while you're making yourself a real bow. We'd
+better make me about a hundred-pound war bow, too...."
+
+"A _hundred_!" interrupted Nadia. "That's a lot of bow, big boy--think
+you can bend it?"
+
+"You'd be surprised," he grinned. "I'm not quite like Robin Hood--I've
+been known to miss a finger-thick wand at a hundred paces--but I'm not
+exactly a beginner."
+
+"Oh, of course--I should have known by your language that you're an
+archer, otherwise you'd never have used such an old-fashioned word as
+'pounds.' I shoot a thirty-five-pound bow ordinarily, but for game I
+should have the heaviest one I can hold accurately--about a forty-five,
+probably."
+
+"All x. And as soon as I can I'll make us a couple of suits of fairly
+heavy steel armor, so that we'll have real protection if we should need
+it. You see, we don't know what we are apt to run up against out here.
+Then, with that much done, it'll be up to you to provide, since I'll
+have to work tooth and nail at the forges. You'll have to bring home the
+bacon, do the cooking and so on, and see what you can find along the
+line of edible roots, grains, fruits, and what-not. Sort of reverse the
+Indian idea--you be the hunter and I'll keep the home fires burning.
+Can do?"
+
+"What it takes to do that, I've got," Nadia assured him, her eyes
+sparkling. "Have you your job planned out as well and as fittingly as
+you have mine?"
+
+"And then some. We've got just two methods of getting away from
+here--one is to get in touch with Brandon, so that he'll come after us;
+the other is to recharge our accumulators and try to make it under our
+own power. Either course will need power and lots of it...."
+
+"I never thought of going back in the 'Hope.' Suppose we could?"
+
+"About as doubtful as the radio--I think that I could build a pair of
+matched-frequency auto-dirigible transmitter and receptor units, such as
+are necessary for space-ships fed by stationary power-plants, but after
+I got them built, they'd take us less than half way there. Then we'd
+have only what power we can carry, and I hate even to think of what
+probably would happen to us. We'd certainly have to drift for months
+before we could get close enough to any of our plants to radio for help,
+and we'd be taking awful chances. You see, we'd have to take a very
+peculiar orbit, and if we should miss connections passing the inner
+planets, what the sun would do to us at the closest point and where
+what's left of us would go on the back-swing, would be just too bad!
+Besides, if we can get hold of the _Sirius_, they'll come loaded for
+bear, and we may be able to do something about the rest of the folks
+out here."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Oh!" breathed the girl. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could!
+I thought, of course, they'd all be...." her voice died away.
+
+"Not necessarily--there's always a chance. That's why I'm trying the
+ultra-radio first. However, either course will take lots of power,
+so the first thing I've got to do is to build a power plant. I'm
+going to run a penstock up those falls, and put in a turbine, driving
+a high-tension alternator. Then, while I'm trying to build the
+ultra-radio, I'll be charging our accumulators, so that no time will
+be lost in case the radio fails. If it does fail--and remember I'm not
+counting on its working--of course I'll tackle the transmission and
+receptor units before we start out to drift it."
+
+"You say it easy, Steve, but how can you build all those things, with
+nothing to work with?"
+
+"It's going to be a real job--I'm not try to kid you into thinking it'll
+be either easy or quick. Here's the way everything will go. Before I can
+even lay the first length of the penstock, I've got to have the pipe--to
+make which I've got to have flat steel--to get which I'll have to cut
+some of the partitions out of this ship of ours--to do which I'll have
+to have a cutting torch--to make which I'll have to forge nozzles out of
+block metal and to run which I'll have to have gas--to get which I'll
+have to mine coal and build a gas-plant--to do which...."
+
+"Good heavens, Steve, are you going back to the Stone Age? I never
+thought of half those things. Why, it's impossible!"
+
+"Not quite, guy. Things could be a lot worse--that's why I brought along
+the whole 'Forlorn Hope,' instead of just the lifeboat. As it is, we've
+got several thousand tons of spare steel and lots of copper. We've got
+ordinary tools and a few light motors, blowers, and such stuff. That
+gives me a great big start--I won't have to mine the ores and smelt the
+metals, as would have been necessary otherwise. However, it'll be plenty
+bad. I'll have to start out in a pretty crude fashion, and for some of
+the stuff I'll need I'll have to make, not only the machine that makes
+the part I want, but also the machine that makes the machine that
+makes the machine that makes it--and so on, just how far down the line,
+I haven't dared to think."
+
+"You must be a regular jack-of-all-trades, to think you can get away
+with such a program as that?"
+
+"I am--nothing else but. You see, while most of my school training
+was in advanced physics and mathematics, I worked my way through by
+computing and designing, and I've done a lot of truck-horse labor of
+various kinds besides. I can calculate and design almost anything, and
+I can make a pretty good stab at translating a design into fabricated
+material. I wouldn't wonder if Brandon's ultra-radio would stop me,
+since nobody had even started to build one when I saw him last--but I
+helped compute it, know the forces involved as well as he did at that
+time, and it so happens that I know more about the design of coils and
+fields of force than I do about anything else. So I may be able to work
+it out eventually. It isn't going to be not knowing how that will hold
+me up--it'll be the lack of something that I can't build."
+
+"And that's where you will go back and back and back, as you said about
+building the penstock?"
+
+"Back and back is right, if I can find all the necessary raw
+materials--that's what's probably going to put a lot of monkey-wrenches
+into the machinery." And Stevens went to work upon a weapon of offense,
+fashioning a crude, but powerful bow from a strip of spring steel strung
+with heavy wire.
+
+"How about arrows? Shall I go see if I can hit a bird with a rock, for
+feathers, and see if I can find something to make arrows out of?"
+
+"Not yet--anyway, I'd bet on the birds! I'm going to use pieces of this
+light brace-rod off the accumulator cells for arrows. They won't fly
+true, of course, but with their mass I can give them enough projectile
+force to kill any small animal they hit, no matter how they hit it."
+
+After many misses, he finally bagged a small animal, something like
+a rabbit and something like a kangaroo, and a couple of round-bodied,
+plump birds, almost as large as domestic hens. These they dressed,
+with considerable distaste and a noticeable lack of skill.
+
+"We'll get used to it pretty quick, Diana--also more expert," he said
+when the task was done. "We now have raw material for bow-strings and
+clothes, as well as food."
+
+"The word 'raw' being heavily accented," Nadia declared, with a grimace.
+"But how do we know that they're good to eat?"
+
+"We'll have to eat 'em and see," he grinned. "I don't imagine that any
+flesh is really poisonous, and we'll have to arrive at the ones we like
+best by a process of trial and error. Well, here's your job--I'll get
+busy on mine. Don't go more than a few hundred meters away and yell if
+you get into a jam."
+
+"There's a couple of questions I want to ask you. What makes it so
+warm here, when the sun's so far away and Jupiter isn't supposed to be
+radiating any heat? And how about time? It's twelve hours by my watch
+since sunrise this morning, and it's still shining."
+
+"As for heat, I've been wondering about that. It must be due to internal
+heat, because even though Jupiter may be warm, or even hot, it certainly
+isn't radiating much, since it has a temperature of minus two hundred at
+the visible surface, which, of course, is the top of the atmosphere. Our
+heat here is probably caused by radioactivity--that's the most modern
+dope, I believe. As for time, it looks as though our days were something
+better than thirty hours long, instead of twenty-four. Of course I'll
+keep the chronometer going on I-P time, since we'll probably need it in
+working out observations; but we might as well let our watches run down
+and work, eat, and sleep by the sun--not much sense in trying to keep
+Tellurian time here, as I see it. Check?"
+
+"All x. I'll have supper ready for you at sunset. 'Bye!"
+
+A few evenings later, when Stevens came in after his long day's work,
+he was surprised to see Nadia dressed in a suit of brown coveralls and
+high-laced moccasins.
+
+"How do I look?" she asked, pirouetting gayly.
+
+"Neat, but not gaudy," he approved. "That's good mole-skin--smooth,
+soft, and tough. Where'd you make the raise? I didn't know we had
+anything like that on board. What did you do for thread? You look like
+a million dollars--you sure did a good job of fitting."
+
+"I had to have something--what with all the thorns and brush, there was
+almost more of me exposed than covered, and I was getting scratched up
+something fierce. So I ripped up one of the space-suits, and found out
+that there's enough cloth, fur, and leather in one of them to make six
+ordinary suits, and thread by the kilometer. I was awfully glad to see
+all that thread--I had an idea that I'd have to unravel my stockings or
+something, but I didn't. Your clothes are getting pretty tacky, too, and
+you're getting all burned with those hot coals and things. I'm going to
+build you a suit out of leather for your blacksmithing activities."
+
+"Fine business, ace! Then we can save what's left of our civilized
+clothes for the return trip. What do we eat?"
+
+"The eternal question of the hungry laboring man! I've got a roasted
+bongo, a fried filamaloo bird, and a boiled warple for the meat dishes.
+For vegetables, mashed hikoderms and pimola greens. Neocorn bread."
+
+"Translate that, please, into terms of food."
+
+"Translate it yourself, after you eat it. I changed the system on you
+today. I've named all the things, so it'll be easier to keep track of
+those we like and the ones we don't."
+
+With appetites sharp-set by long hours of hard labor they ate heartily;
+then, in the deepening twilight, they sat and talked in comradely
+fashion while Stevens smoked one precious cigarette.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was not long until Nadia had her work well in hand. Game was
+plentiful, and the fertile valley and the neighboring upland yielded
+peculiar, but savory vegetable foods in variety and abundance; so that
+soon she was able to spend some time with Stevens, helping him as much
+as she could. Thus she came to realize the true magnitude of the task he
+faced and the real seriousness of their position.
+
+As Stevens had admitted before the work was started, he had known that
+he had set himself a gigantic task, but he had not permitted himself to
+follow, step by step, the difficulties that he knew awaited him. Now,
+as the days stretched into weeks and on into months, he was forced to
+take every laborious step, and it was borne in upon him just how nearly
+impossible that Herculean labor was to prove--just how dependent any
+given earthly activity is upon a vast number of others. Here he was
+alone--everything he needed must be manufactured by his own hands, from
+its original sources. He had known that progress would be slow and he
+had been prepared for that; but he had not pictured, even to himself,
+half of the maddening setbacks which occurred time after time because
+of the crudity of the tools and equipment he was forced to use. All too
+often a machine or part, the product of many hours of grueling labor,
+would fail because of the lack of some insignificant thing--some item
+so common as to be taken for granted in all terrestrial shops, but
+impossible of fabrication with the means at his disposal. At such times
+he would set his grim jaw a trifle harder, go back one step farther
+toward the Stone Age, and begin all over again--to find the necessary
+raw material or a possible substitute, and then to build the apparatus
+and machinery necessary to produce the part he required. Thus the
+heart-breaking task progressed, and Nadia watched her co-laborer become
+leaner and harder and more desperate day by day, unable in any way to
+lighten his fearful load.
+
+In the brief period of rest following a noonday meal, Stevens lay prone
+upon the warm, fragrant grass beside the "Forlorn Hope," but it was
+evident to Nadia that he was not resting. His burned and blistered hands
+were locked savagely behind his head, his eyes were closed too tightly,
+and every tense line of his body was eloquent of a strain even more
+mental than physical. She studied him for minutes, her fine eyes
+clouded, then sat down beside him and put her hand upon his shoulder.
+
+"I want to talk to you a minute, Steve," she said gently.
+
+"All x, little fellow--but it might be just as well if you didn't touch
+me. You see, I'm getting so rabid that I can't trust myself."
+
+"That's exactly what I want to talk to you about." A fiery blush burned
+through her deep tan, but her low, clear voice did not falter and her
+eyes held his unflinchingly. "I know you better than you know yourself,
+as I've said before. You are killing yourself, but it isn't the work,
+frightfully hard and disheartening as it is, that is doing it--it's
+your anxiety for me and the uncertainty of everything. You haven't been
+able to rest because you have been raging and fuming so at unavoidable
+conditions--you have been fighting _facts_. And it's all _so_ useless,
+Steve, between you and me--everything would check out on zero if we'd
+just come out into the open."
+
+The man's gaunt frame seemed to stiffen even more rigidly.
+
+"You've said altogether too much or else only half enough, Nadia. You
+know, of course, that I've loved you ever since I got really to know
+you--and that didn't take long. You know that I love you and you know
+how I love you--with the real love that a man can feel for only one
+woman and only once in his life; and you know exactly what we're up
+against. Now that _does_ tear it--wide open!" he finished bitterly.
+
+"No, it doesn't, at all," she replied, steadily. "Of course I know that
+you love me, and I glory in it; and since you don't seem to realize
+that I love you in exactly the same way, I'll tell you so. Love you!
+Good heavens, Steve, I never dreamed that such a man as you are really
+existed! But you're fighting too many things at once, and they're
+killing you. And they're mostly imaginary, at that. Can't you see that
+there's no need of uncertainty between you and me? That there is no need
+of you driving yourself to desperation on my account? Whatever must be
+is all x with me, Steve. If you can build everything you need, all well
+and good. We'll be engaged until then, and our love will be open and
+sweet. If worst comes to worst, so that we can neither communicate with
+Brandon and Westfall nor leave here under our own power--even that is
+nothing to kill ourselves about. And yes, I do know exactly what we
+are facing. I have been prepared for it ever since I first saw what a
+perfectly impossible thing you are attempting. You are trying to go from
+almost the Age of Bronze clear up to year-after-next in a month or two.
+Not one man in a million could have done as much in his lifetime as you
+have done in the last few weeks, and I do not see how even you, with
+what little you have to work with, can possibly build such things as
+power-plants, transmitters, and ultra-radio stations. But what of
+it? For the day that it becomes clear that we are to remain here
+indefinitely; that day we will marry each other here, before God.
+Look around at this beautiful country. Could there be a finer world
+upon which to found a new race? When we decided to cut loose from the
+_Arcturus_ I told you that I was with you all the way, and now I'll
+repeat it, with a lot more meaning. No matter what it's like, Steve, no
+matter where it leads to, I'm with you--_to--the--end--of--the--road_.
+Here or upon Earth or anywhere in the Universe. I am yours for life and
+for eternity."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While she was speaking, the grim, strained lines upon Stevens' face
+had disappeared, and as she fell silent he straightened up and gently,
+tenderly, reverently he took her lithe body into his arms.
+
+"You're right, sweetheart--everything _will_ check out on zero, to
+nineteen decimals." He was a man transfigured. "I've been fighting
+windmills and I've been scared sick--but how was I to think that a
+wonder-girl like you could ever love a mutt like me? You certainly are
+the gamest little partner a man ever had. You're the world's straightest
+shooter, ace--you're a square brick if there ever was one. Your sheer
+nerve in being willing to go the whole route makes me love you more than
+ever, if such a thing can be possible, and it certainly puts a new face
+on the whole cock-eyed Universe for me. However, I don't believe it
+will come to that. After what you've just said, I sure will lick that
+job, regardless of how many different factories it takes to make one
+armature--I'll show that mess of scrap-iron what kind of trees make
+shingles!"
+
+The girl still in his arms, he rose to his feet and released her slowly,
+reluctantly, unwilling ever to let her go. Then he shook himself, as
+though an overwhelming burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and
+laughed happily.
+
+"See this cigarette?" he went on lightly. "The Last of the Mohicans.
+I'm going to smoke it in honor of our engagement." He drew the fragrant
+smoke deep into his lungs and frowned at her in mock seriousness.
+
+"This would be a nice world to live on, of course, but the jobs here
+are too darn steady. It also seems to be somewhat lacking in modern
+conveniences, such as steel-mills and machine tools. Then, too, it is
+just a trifle too far from the Royal and Ancient for you really to enjoy
+living here permanently, and besides, I can't get my favorite brand
+of cigarettes around here. Therefore, after due deliberation, I don't
+believe we'll take the place--we'll go back to Tellus. Kiss me just once
+more ace, and I'll make that job think a cyclone has struck it right on
+the center of impact. Like Samuel Weller, or whoever it was, I'm clear
+full of 'wigor, wim, and witality'!"
+
+The specified kiss and several others duly delivered he strode blithely
+away, and the little canyon resounded with the blows of his heavy sledge
+as he attacked with renewed spirit the great forging, white-hot from his
+soak-pit, which was to become the shaft of his turbo-alternator. Nadia
+watched him for a moment, her very heart in her eyes, then picked up her
+spanner and went after more steel, breathing a long and tremulous, but
+supremely happy sigh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Ganymedean Life
+
+
+Slow, hard, and disheartening as the work had been at first, Stevens
+had never slackened his pace, and after a time, as his facilities
+increased, the exasperating setbacks decreased in number and severity
+and his progress became faster and faster. Large as the "Forlorn Hope"
+was, space was soon at a premium, for their peculiarly-shaped craft
+became a veritable factory, housing a variety of machinery and
+equipment unknown in any single earthly industrial plant. Nothing
+was ornamental--everything was stripped to its barest fundamental
+necessities--but every working part functioned with a smooth precision
+to delight the senses of any good mechanic.
+
+In a cavern under the falls was the great turbine, to be full-fed by the
+crude but tight penstock which clung to the wall of the gorge, angling
+up to the brink of that stupendous cataract. Bedded down upon solid
+rock there was a high-tension alternator capable of absorbing the entire
+output of the mighty turbine. This turbo-alternator was connected to
+a set of converters from which the energy would flow along three great
+copper cables--the receptors of the lifeboats being altogether too small
+to carry the load--to the now completely exhausted accumulators of the
+"Forlorn Hope." All high-tension apparatus was shielded and grounded,
+so that no stray impulses could reveal to the possible detectors of
+the Jovians the presence of this foreign power plant. Housings, frames,
+spiders, all stationary parts were rough, crude and massive; but
+bearings, shafts, armatures, all moving parts, were of a polished
+and finished accuracy and balance that promised months and years of
+trouble-free operation. Everything ready for the test, Stevens took off
+his frayed and torn leather coveralls and moccasins and climbed nimbly
+up the penstock. He never walked down. Opening the head-gate, he poised
+sharply upon its extremity and took off in a perfect swan-dive; floating
+unconcernedly down toward that boiling maelstrom two hundred feel below.
+He struck the water with a sharp, smooth "slup!" and raced ashore,
+seizing his suit as he ran toward the turbo-alternator. It was running
+smoothly, and, knowing that everything was tight at the receiving end,
+he lingered about the power plant until he was assured that nothing
+would go wrong and that his home manufactured lubricating oil and grease
+would keep those massive bearings cool.
+
+Hunger assailed him, and glancing at the sun, he noted that it was well
+past dinner-time.
+
+"Wow!" he exclaimed aloud. "The boss just loves to wait meals--she'll
+burn me up for this!"
+
+He ran lightly toward "home," eager to tell his sweetheart that the
+long awaited moment had arrived--that power was now flowing into their
+accumulators.
+
+"Hi, Diana of the silver bow!" he called. "How come you no blow the
+dinner bell? Power's on--come give it a look!"
+
+There was no answer to his hail, and Stevens paused in shocked
+amazement. He knew that never of her own volition would she be out so
+late--Nadia was gone! A rapid tour of inspection quickly confirmed that
+which he already knew only too well. Forgotten was his hunger, forgotten
+the power plant, forgotten everything except the fact that his Nadia,
+the buoyant spirit in whom centered his Universe, was lost or ... he
+could not complete the thought, even to himself.
+
+Swiftly he came to a decision and threw off his suit, revealing the
+body of a Hercules--a body ready for any demand he could put upon it.
+Always in hard training, months of grinding physical labor and of heavy
+eating had built him up to a point at which he would scarcely have
+recognized himself, could he have glanced into a mirror. Mighty but
+pliable muscles writhed and swelled under his clear skin as he darted
+here and there, selecting equipment for what lay ahead of him. He donned
+the heavily armored space-suit which they had prepared months before,
+while they were still suspicious of possible attack. It was covered with
+heavy steel at every point, and the lenses of the helmet, already of
+unbreakable glass, had been re-enforced with thick steel bars. Tank and
+valves supplied air at normal pressure, so that his powerful body could
+function at full efficiency, not handicapped by the lighter atmosphere
+of Ganymede. The sleeves terminated in steel-protected rubber wristlets
+which left his hands free, yet sheltered from attack--wristlets tight
+enough to maintain the difference in pressure, yet not tight enough
+to cut off the circulation. He took up his mighty war-bow and the full
+quiver of heavy arrows--full-feathered and pointed with savagely barbed,
+tearing heads of forged steel--and slipped into their sheaths the long
+and heavy razor-sharp sword and the double-edged dirk, which he had
+made and ground long since for he knew not what emergency, and whose
+bell-shaped hilts of steel further protected his hands and wrists.
+Thus equipped, he had approximately his normal earthly weight; a fact
+which would operate to his advantage, rather than otherwise, in case
+of possible combat. With one last look around the "Forlorn Hope," whose
+every fitting spoke to him of the beloved mistress who was gone, he
+filled a container with water and cooked food and opened the door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"It won't be long now; now it won't be long." Nadia caroled happily,
+buckling on her pack straps and taking up bow and arrows for her daily
+hunt. "I never thought that he could do it, but what it takes to do
+things, he's got lots of," she continued to improvise the song as she
+left the "Hope" with its multitudinous devices whose very variety was
+a never-failing delight to her; showing as it did the sheer ability of
+the man, whose brain and hands had almost finished a next-to-impossible
+task.
+
+Through the canyon and up a well-worn trail she climbed, and soon came
+out upon the sparsely timbered bench that was her hunting grounds. Upon
+this day, however, she was full of happy anticipation and her mind was
+everywhere except upon her work. She was thinking of Stevens, of their
+love, of the power which he might turn on that very day, and of the
+possible rescue for which she had hitherto scarcely dared to hope.
+Thus it was that she walked miles beyond her usual limits without
+having loosed an arrow, and she was surprised when she glanced up at
+the sun to see that half the morning was gone and that she was almost
+to the foothills, beyond which rose a towering range of mountains.
+
+"Snap out of it, girl!" she reprimanded herself. "Go on wool-gathering
+like this and your man will go hungry--and he'll break you right off
+at the ankles!" She became again the huntress, and soon saw an animal
+browsing steadily along the base of a hill. It was a six-legged,
+deer-like creature, much larger than anything she had as yet seen. But
+it was meat and her time was short, therefore she crept within range
+and loosed an arrow with the full power of her hunting bow. Unfamiliar
+as she was with the anatomy of the peculiar creature, the arrow did
+not kill. The "hexaped," as she instantly named it, sped away and she
+leaped after it. She, like her companion, had developed amazingly in
+musculature, and few indeed were the denizens of Ganymede, who could
+equal her speed upon that small globe, with its feeble gravitational
+force.
+
+Up the foothills it darted. Beyond the hills and deep into a valley
+between two towering peaks the chase continued before Nadia's third
+arrow brought the animal down. Bending over the game, she became
+conscious of a strange but wonderful sweet perfume and glanced up,
+to see something which she certainly had not noticed when the hexaped
+had fallen. It was an enormous flower, at least a foot in diameter and
+indescribably beautiful in its crimson and golden splendor. Almost level
+with her head the gorgeous blossom waved upon its heavy stem; based
+by a massive cluster of enormous, smooth, dark green leaves. Entranced
+by this unexpected and marvelous floral display, Nadia breathed deeply
+of the inviting fragrance--and collapsed senseless upon the ground.
+Thereupon the weird plant moved over toward her, and the thick leaves
+began to enfold her knees. This carnivorous thing, however, did not like
+the heavy cloth of her suit and turned to the hexaped. It thrust several
+of its leaves into the wounds upon the carcass and fed, while two other
+leaves rasped together, sending out a piercing call.
+
+In answer to the sound the underbrush crackled, and through it and upon
+the scene there crashed a vegetable-animal nightmare--the parent of the
+relatively tiny thing whose perfume had disabled the girl.
+
+Its huge and gorgeous blossom was supported by a long, flexible,
+writhing stem, and its base was composed of many and highly specialized
+leaves. There were saws and spears and mighty, but sinuous tendrils;
+there were slender shoots which seemed to possess some sense of
+perception; there was the massive tractor base composed of extensible
+leaves which by their contraction and expansion propelled the mass along
+the ground. Parent and child fell upon the hexaped and soon bones and
+hair were all that remained The slender shoots then wandered about the
+unconscious girl in her strange covering, and as a couple of powerful
+tendrils coiled about her and raised her into the air over the monstrous
+base of the thing, its rudimentary brain could almost be perceived
+working as it sluggishly realized that, now full fed, it should carry
+this other victim along, to feed its other offspring when they should
+return to its side.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Barely outside the door of the "Forlorn Hope" Stevens whirled about
+with a bitter imprecation. He had already lost time needlessly--with a
+lookout plate he could cover more ground in ten minutes than he could
+cover afoot in a week. He flipped on the power and shot the violet beam
+out over the plateau to the district where he knew Nadia was wont to
+hunt. Not finding her there, he swung the beam in an ever widening
+circle around that district. Finally he saw a few freshly broken twigs,
+and scanned the scene with care. He soon found the trail of fresh
+blood which marked the path of the flight of the hexaped, and with the
+peculiar maneuverability of the device he was using, it was not long
+until he was studying the scene where the encounter had taken place.
+He gasped when he saw the bones and perceived three of Nadia's arrows,
+but soon saw that the skeleton was not human and was reassured. Casting
+about in every direction, he found Nadia's bow, and saw a peculiar,
+freshly trampled path leading from the kill, past the bow, down the
+valley. He could not understand the spoor, but it was easily followed,
+and he shot the beam along it at headlong speed until he came up with
+the monstrous creature that was making it--until he saw what burden that
+organism was carrying.
+
+He leaped to the controls of the lifeboat, then dropped his hand. While
+the stream of power now flowing was ample to operate the lookout plates,
+yet it would be many hours before the accumulator cells would be in
+condition to drive the craft even that short distance.
+
+"It'll take over an hour to get there--here's hoping I can check in all
+x," he muttered savagely, as he took careful note of the location and
+direction of the creature's trail and set off at a fast jog-trot.
+
+The carnivorous flower's first warning that all was not well was
+received when Stevens' steel-shod feet landed squarely upon its base
+and one sweeping cut of his sword lopped off the malignant blossom and
+severed the two tendrils that still held the unconscious Nadia. With a
+quick heave of his shoulder, he tossed her lightly backward into the
+smooth-beaten track the creature had made and tried to leap away--but
+the instant he had consumed in rescuing the girl had been enough for the
+thing to seize him, and he found himself battling for his very life. No
+soft-leaved infant this, but a full-grown monster, well equipped with
+mighty weapons of offense and defense. Well it was for the struggling
+man that he was encased in armor steel as those saw-edged, hard-spiked
+leaves drove against him with crushing force; well it was for him that
+he had his own independent air supply, so that that deadly perfume
+eddied ineffective about his helmeted head! Hard and fiercely driven as
+those terrible thorns were, they could do no more than dent his heavy
+armor. His powerful left arm, driving the double-razor-edged dirk in
+short, resistless arcs, managed to keep the snaky tendrils from coiling
+about his right arm, which was wielding the heavy, trenchant sword.
+Every time that mighty blade descended it cleaved its length through
+snapping spikes and impotently grinding leaves; but more than once
+a flailing tendril coiled about his neck armor and held his helmet
+immovable as though in a vise, while those frightful, grinding saws
+sought to rip their way through the glass to the living creature inside
+the peculiar metal housing. Dirk and saber and magnificent physique
+finally triumphed, but it was not until each leaf was literally severed
+from every other leaf that the outlandish organism gave up the ghost.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nadia had been tossed out into pure air, beyond the zone of the
+stupefying perfume, and she recovered her senses in time to see the
+finish of the battle. Stevens, assured that his foe was _hors du
+combat_, turned toward the spot where he had thrown Nadia's body. He saw
+that she was unharmed, and sprang toward her in relief. He was surprised
+beyond measure, however, to see her run away at a pace he could not hope
+to equal, encumbered as he was; motioning frantically at him the while
+to keep away from her. He stopped, astounded, and started to unscrew his
+helmet, whereupon she dashed back toward him, signaling him emphatically
+to leave his armor exactly as it was. He stood still and stared at her,
+an exasperated question large upon his face, until she made clear to
+him that he was to follow her at a safe distance, then she set off at a
+rapid walk. She led him back to where the hexaped had fallen, where she
+retrieved her bow and arrows; then, keeping a sharp lookout upon all
+sides, she went on to a small stream of water. She made the dumbfounded
+man go out into the middle of the creek and lie down and roll over
+in the water, approaching him sniffing cautiously between immersions.
+She made him continue the bathing until she could detect not even the
+slightest trace of the sweet, but noxious fragrance of that peculiarly
+terrible form of Ganymedean life. Only then did she allow him to remove
+his helmet, so that she could give him the greeting for which they both
+had longed and tell him what it was all about.
+
+"So that's it, ace!" he exclaimed, still holding her tightly in his iron
+embrace. "Great balls of fire! I thought maybe you were still a little
+cuckoo. Anaesthetic perfume, huh? Hot stuff, I'd say--no wonder you
+bit--I would, too. It's lucky for us I was air-tight--we'd both be
+fee...."
+
+"Stop it!" she interrupted him sharply, "Forget it--don't ever even
+think of it!"
+
+"All x, ace. It's out like the well known light. What to do? It's
+getting darker than a hat, and we're a long way from home. Don't know
+whether I could find my way back in the dark or not; and just between
+you and me, I'm not particularly keen on night travel in these parts
+after what's just happened. Are you?"
+
+"Anything else but," she assured him, fervently. "I'd lots rather stay
+hungry until tomorrow."
+
+"No need of that--I've brought along enough supper for both of us. I'm
+hungry as a wolf, too, now that I have time to think of it. We'll eat
+and den up somewhere--or climb a tree. Those wampuses probably can't
+climb trees!"
+
+"There's a nice little cave back there about a hundred meters. We'll
+pretend it's the Ritz," and they soon had a merry fire blazing in front
+of the retreat. There they ate of the provisions Stevens had brought.
+Then, while the man rolled up boulders before the narrow entrance of
+the cave, Nadia gathered leaves and made a soft bed upon its warm,
+dry floor.
+
+"Good night, lover," and the girl, untroubled and secure now that
+Stevens was at her side, was almost instantly asleep; but the man was
+not sleepy. He thought of the power plant, even now sending its terrific
+stream of energy into his accumulators. He thought of the ultra
+radio--where could he get all the materials needed? He thought of his
+friends, wondering whether or not they would receive his message. He
+thought of Breckenridge and the other human beings who had been aboard
+the _Arcturus_, wondering poignantly as to their fate. He thought of
+Newton and of his own people, who had certainly given them up for dead
+long since.
+
+But above all he thought of the beautiful, steel-true companion lying
+there asleep at his mailed feet, and he gazed down at her, his heart in
+his eyes. The firelight shone through the chinks between the boulders,
+casting a flickering ruddy light throughout the little cavern. Nadia lay
+there her head pillowed upon one strong, brown little hand. Her lips
+were red and sweetly curved, her cheek was smooth and firm as so much
+brown velvet. She was literally aglow with sheer beauty and with perfect
+health; and the man reflected, as he studied her hungrily, that this
+wild life certainly had agreed with her--she was becoming more
+surpassingly beautiful with every passing day.
+
+"You little trump--you wonderful, lovely, square little brick!" he
+breathed silently, and bent over to touch her cheek lightly with his
+lips. Slight as the caress was, it disturbed her, and even in her sleep
+her subconscious mind sent out an exploring hand, to touch her Steve and
+thus be reassured. He pressed her hand and she settled back comfortably,
+with a long, deep breath; and he stretched his iron-clad length beside
+her and closed his eyes, firmly resolved not to waste a minute of this
+wonderful night in sleep.
+
+When he opened them an instant later, it was broad daylight, the
+boulders had been rolled away, the fragrance of roasting meat permeated
+the atmosphere, and Nadia was making a deafening clamor, beating his
+steel breastplate lustily with the flat of his huge saber.
+
+"Daylight in the swamp, you sleeper!" she exclaimed. "Roll out or roll
+up! Come and get it, before I throw it away!"
+
+"I must have been kind of tired," he said sheepishly, when he saw that
+she had shot a bird and had cooked breakfast for them both while he had
+been buried in oblivion.
+
+"Peculiar, too, isn't it?" Nadia asked, pointedly. "You only did
+about ten days' work yesterday in ten minutes, swinging this frightful
+snickersnee of yours. Why, you played with it as though it were a
+knitting-needle, and when I wanted to wake you up with it, I could
+hardly lift it."
+
+"Thought you didn't want that subject even mentioned?" he tried to steer
+the talk away from his prowess with the broadsword.
+
+"That was yesterday," airily. "Besides, I don't mind talking about
+you--it's thinking about us being ... you know ... that I can't stand."
+
+"All x, ace. I get you right. Let's eat."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Breakfast over, they started down the valley, Stevens carrying his
+helmet under his arm. Hardly had they started however, than Nadia's keen
+eyes saw a movement through the trees, and, she stopped and pointed.
+Stevens looked once, then hand in hand they dashed back to their cave.
+
+"We'll pile up some of the boulders and you lie low," he instructed her
+as he screwed on his helmet. She snapped open his face-plate.
+
+"But what about you? Aren't you coming in, too?" she demanded.
+
+"Can't--they'd surround us and starve us out. I'm safe in this
+armor--thank Heaven we made it as solid as we did--and I'll fight 'em in
+the open. I'll show 'em what the bear did to the buckwheat!"
+
+"All right, I guess, but I wish I had my armor, too," she mourned as he
+snapped shut his plate and walled her into the cave with the same great
+rocks he had used the night before. Then, Nadia safe from attack, he
+drew his quiver of war-arrows into position over his shoulder, placed
+one at the ready on his bow-string and turned to face the horde of
+things rushing up the valley toward him. Wild animals he had supposed
+them, but as he stood firm and raised his weapon shrill whistles
+sounded in the throng, and he gasped as he realized that those frightful
+creatures must be intelligent beings, for not only did they signal
+to each other, but he saw that they were armed with bows and arrows,
+spears, and slings!
+
+Six-limbed creatures they were, of a purplish-red color, with huge,
+tricornigerous heads and with staring, green, phosphorescent eyes. Two
+of the six limbs were always legs, two always arms; the intermediate
+two, due to a mid-section jointing of the six-foot-long, almost
+cylindrical body, could be used at will as either legs or arms. Now, out
+of range, as they supposed, they halted and gathered about one who was
+apparently their leader; some standing erect and waving four hands while
+shaking their horns savagely in Stevens' direction, others trotting
+around on four legs, busily gathering stones of suitable size for their
+vicious slings.
+
+Too far away to use their own weapons and facing only one small
+four-limbed creature, they considered their game already in the bag, but
+they had no comprehension of earthly muscles, nor any understanding of
+the power and range of a hundred-pound bow driving a steel-headed war
+arrow. Thus, while they were arguing, Stevens took the offensive, and
+a cruelly barbed steel war-head tore completely through the body of
+their leader and mortally wounded the creature next beyond him. Though
+surprised, they were not to be frightened off, but with wild, shrill
+screams rushed to the attack. Stevens had no ammunition to waste, and
+every time that mighty bow twanged a yard-long arrow transfixed at least
+one of the red horde--and a body through which had torn one of those
+ghastly, hand-forged arrow-heads was of very little use thereafter.
+Accurately-sped arrows splintered harmlessly against the re-enforced
+windows of his helmet and against the steel guards protecting his hands.
+He was almost deafened by the din as the stone missiles of the slingers
+rebounded from his reverberating shell of steel, but he fired carefully,
+steadily, and powerfully until his last arrow had been loosed. Then,
+the wicked dirk in his left hand and the long and heavy saber weaving
+a circular path of brilliance in the sun, he stepped forward a couple
+of paces to meet the attackers. For a few moments nothing could stand
+before that fiercely driven blade--severed heads, limbs, and fragments
+of torsos literally filled the air, but sheer weight of numbers
+bore him down. As he fell, he saw the white shaft of one of Nadia's
+hunting-arrows flash past his helmet and bury itself to the flock in
+the body of one of the horde above him. Nadia knew that her arrows could
+not harm her lover, and through a chink between two boulders she was
+shooting into the thickest of the mob speeding her light arrows with
+the full power of her bow.
+
+Though down, the savages soon discovered that Stevens was not out. In
+such close quarters he could not use his sword, but the fourteen-inch
+blade of the dirk, needle-pointed as it was and with two razor-sharp,
+serrated cutting edges, was itself no mean weapon, and time after time
+he drove it deep, taking life at every thrust. Four more red monsters
+threw themselves upon the prostrate man, but not sufficiently versed in
+armor to seek out its joints, their fierce short spear thrusts did no
+damage. Presently four more corpses lay still and Stevens, with his,
+to them incredible, earthly strength, was once more upon his feet in
+spite of their utmost efforts to pinion his mighty limbs, and was again
+swinging his devastating weapon. Half their force lying upon the field,
+wiped out by a small, but invincible and apparently invulnerable being,
+the remainder broke and ran, pursued by Stevens to the point where the
+red monsters had first halted. He recovered his arrows and returned to
+the cave, opening his face-plate as he came.
+
+"All x, sweetheart?" he asked, rolling away the boulders. "Didn't get
+anything through to you, did they?"
+
+"No, they didn't even realize that I was taking part in the battle, I
+guess. Did they hurt you while they had you down? I was scared to death
+for a minute."
+
+"No, the old armor held. One of them must have gnawed on my ankle
+some, between the greave and the heel-plate, but he couldn't quite get
+through. 'Sa darn small opening there, too--must have bent my foot
+'way around to get in at all. Have to tighten that joint up a little,
+I guess. I'll bet I've got a black spot and blue spot there the size of
+my hand--maybe it's only the size of yours, though."
+
+"You won't die of that, probably. Heavens, Steve, that cleaver of yours
+is a frightful thing in action! Suppose it's safe for us to go home?"
+
+"Absolutely--right now is the best chance we'll ever have, and something
+tells me that we'd better make it snappy. They'll be back, and next time
+they won't be so easy to take."
+
+"All x, then--hold me, Steve, I can't stand the sight of that---let
+alone wade through it. I'm going to faint or something, sure."
+
+"As you were!" he snapped. "You aren't going to pass out now that it's
+all over! It's a pretty ghastly mess, I know, but shut your eyes and
+I'll carry you out of sight."
+
+"Aren't we out of sight of that place yet?" she demanded after a time.
+
+"I have been for quite a while," he confessed, "but you're sitting
+pretty, aren't you? And you aren't very heavy--not here on Ganymede,
+anyway!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Put me down!" she commanded. "After that crack I won't play with you
+any more at all--I'll pick up my marbles and go home!"
+
+He released her and they hurried hack toward their waterfall, keeping
+wary eyes sharp-set for danger in any form, animal or vegetable. On the
+way back across the foothills Stevens shot another hexaped, and upon the
+plateau above the river Nadia bagged several birds and small animals,
+but it was not until they were actually in their own little canyon that
+their rapid pace slackened and their vigilance relaxed.
+
+"After this, ace, we hunt together and we go back to wearing armor while
+we're hunting. It scared me out of a year's growth when you checked
+up missing."
+
+"We sure do, Steve," she concurred emphatically. "I'm not going to get
+more than a meter away from you from now on. What do you suppose those
+horrible things are?"
+
+"Which?"
+
+"Both."
+
+"Those flowers aren't like anything Tellus ever saw, so we have no basis
+of comparison. They may be a development of a flycatching plant, or they
+may be a link between the animal and the vegetable kingdom. However,
+we don't intend to study 'em, so let's forget 'em. Those animals were
+undoubtedly intelligent beings; they probably are a race of savages of
+this satellite."
+
+"Then the really civilized races are probably...."
+
+"Not necessarily--there may well be different types, each struggling
+toward civilization. They certainly are on Venus, and they once were on
+Mars."
+
+"Why haven't we seen anything like that before, in all these months?
+Things have been so calm and peaceful that we thought we had the whole
+world to ourselves, as far as danger or men were concerned."
+
+"We never saw them before because we never went where they lived--you
+were a long ways from your usual stamping-grounds, you know. That
+animal-vegetable flower is probably a high-altitude organism, living
+in the mountains and never coming as low as we are down here. As for
+the savages--whatever they are--they probably never come within five
+kilometers of the falls. Many primitive peoples think that waterfalls
+are inhabited by demons, and maybe these folks are afflicted the same
+way."
+
+"We don't know much about our new world yet, do we?"
+
+"We sure don't--and I'm not particularly keen on finding out much more
+about it until we get organized for trouble, either. Well, here we
+are--just like getting back home to see the 'Hope,' isn't it?"
+
+"It _is_ home, and will be until we get one of our own on earth," and
+after Stevens had read his meters, learning with satisfaction that the
+full current was still flowing into the accumulators, he began to cut
+up the meat.
+
+"Now that you've got the power-plant running at last, what next?" asked
+Nadia, piling the cuts in the freezer.
+
+"Brandon's ultra-radio comes next, but it's got more angles to it than
+a cubist's picture of a set of prisms; so many that I don't know where
+to begin. There, that job's done--let's sit down and I'll talk at you
+awhile. Maybe between us we can figure out where to start. I've got
+everything to build it lined up except for the tube, but that's got me
+stopped cold. You see, fields of force are all right in most places, but
+I've got to have one tube, and it's got to have the hardest possible
+vacuum. That means a mercury-vapor super pump. Mercury is absolutely
+the only thing that will do the trick and the mercury is one thing
+that is conspicuous by its absence in these parts. So are tungsten for
+filaments, tantalum for plates, and platinum for leads; and I haven't
+found anything that I can use as a getter, either--a metal, you know, to
+flash inside the tube to clean up the last traces of atmosphere in it."
+
+"I didn't suppose that such a simple thing as a radio tube could hold
+you up, after the perfectly unbelievable things that you have done
+already--but I see now how it could. Of course, the tubes in our
+receiver over there are too small?"
+
+"Yes, they are only receiver and communicator tubes, and I need a
+high-power transmitting tube--a fifty-kilowatter, at least. I'd give
+my left leg to the knee joint for one of those big water-cooled,
+sixty-kilowatt ten-nineteens right now--it would save us a lot of
+grief."
+
+"Maybe you could break up those tubes and use the plates and so on?"
+
+"I thought of that, but it won't work--there isn't half enough metal
+in the lot, and the filaments in particular are so tiny that I couldn't
+possibly work them over into a big one. Then, too, we haven't got
+many spare tubes, and if I smash the ones we're using, I put our
+communicators out of business for good, so that we can't yell for help
+if we have to drift home--and I still don't get any mercury."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me there's no mercury on this whole planet?"
+
+"Not exactly; but I do mean that I haven't been able to find any, and
+that it's probably darned scarce. And since all the other metals I want
+worst are also very dense and of high atomic weight, they're probably
+mighty scarce here, too. Why? Because we're on a satellite, and no
+matter what hypothesis you accept for the origin of satellites, you come
+to the same conclusion--that heavy metals are either absent or most
+awfully scarce and buried deep down toward the center. There are lots of
+heavy metals in Jupiter somewhere, but we probably couldn't find them.
+Jupiter's atmosphere is one mass of fog, and we couldn't see, since we
+haven't got an infra-red transformer. I could build one, in time, but
+it would take quite a while--and we couldn't work on Jupiter, anyway,
+because of its gravity and probably because of its atmosphere. And even
+if we could work there, we don't want to spend the rest of our lives
+prospecting for mercury." Stevens fell silent, brow wrinkled in thought.
+
+"You mean, dear, that we're..." Nadia broke off, the sentence
+unfinished.
+
+"Gosh, no! There's lots of things not tried yet, and we can always set
+out to drift it. I was thinking only of building the tube. And I'm
+trying to think ... say, Nadia, what do you know about Cantrell's
+Comet?"
+
+"Not a thing, except that I remember reading in the newspapers that it
+was peculiar for something or other. But what has Cantrell's Comet got
+to do with the high cost of living--or with radio tubes? Have you gone
+cuckoo all of a sudden?"
+
+"You'll be surprised!" Stevens grinned at her puzzled expression.
+"Cantrell's Comet is one of Jupiter's comet family and is peculiar in
+being the most massive one known to science. It was hardly known until
+after they built those thousand-foot reflectors on the Moon, where the
+seeing is always perfect, but it has been studied a lot since then.
+Its nucleus is small, but extremely heavy--it seems to have an average
+density of somewhere around sixteen. There's platinum and everything
+else that's heavy there, girl! They ought to be there in such quantity
+that even such a volunteer chemist as I am could find them!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Heavens, Steve!" A look of alarm flashed over Nadia's face, then
+disappeared as rapidly as it had come into being. "But of course, comets
+aren't really dangerous."
+
+"Sure not. A comet's tail, which so many people are afraid of as being
+poison gas, is almost a perfect vacuum, even at its thickest, and we'd
+have to wear space-suits anyway. And speaking of vacuum ... whoopee!
+We don't need mercury any more than a goldfish needs a gas-mask. When
+we get Mr. Tube done, we'll take him out into space, leaving his mouth
+open, and very shortly he'll be as empty as a flapper's skull. Then
+we'll seal him up, flash him out, come back here, and start spilling
+our troubles into Brandon's shell-like ear!"
+
+"Wonderful, Steve! You do get an idea occasionally, don't you? But how
+do we get out there? Where is this Cantrell's Comet?"
+
+"I don't know, exactly--there's one rub. Another is that I haven't
+even started the transmitter and receptor units. But we've got some
+field-generators here on board that I can use, so it won't be so bad.
+And our comet is in this part of the solar system somewhere fairly
+close. Wish we had an Ephemeris, a couple of I-P solar charts, and
+a real telescope."
+
+"You can't do much without an Ephemeris, I should think. It's a good
+thing you kept the chronometers going. You know the I-P time, day, and
+dates, anyway."
+
+"I'll have to do without some things, that's all," and the man stared
+absently at the steel wall. "I remember something about its orbit, since
+it is one thing that all I-P vessels have to steer clear of. Think I can
+figure it close enough so that we'll be able to find it in our little
+telescope, or even on our plate, since we'll be out of this atmosphere.
+And it might not be a bad idea for us to get away, anyway. I'm afraid of
+those folks on that space-ship, whoever they were, and they must live
+around here somewhere. Cantrell's Comet swings about fifty million
+kilometers outside Jupiter's orbit at aphelion--close enough for us to
+reach, and yet probably too far for them to find us easily. By the time
+we get back here, they probably will have quit looking for us, if they
+look at all. Then too, I expect these savages to follow us up. What say,
+little ace--do we try it or do we stay here?"
+
+"You know best, Steve. As I said before, I'm with you from now on, in
+whatever you think best to do. I know that you think it best to go out
+there. Therefore, so do I."
+
+"Well," he said, finally, "I'd better get busy, then--there's a lot to
+do before we can start. The radio doesn't come next, after all--the
+transmitter and receptor units come ahead of it. They won't mean
+wasted labor, in any event, since we'll have to have them in case the
+radio fails. You'd better lay in a lot of supplies while I'm working
+on that stuff, but don't go out of sight, and yell like fury if
+you see anything. We'd both better wear full armor every time we go
+out-of-doors--unless I'm all out of control we aren't done with those
+savages yet. Even though they may be afraid of the demons of the falls,
+I think they'll have at least one more try at us."
+
+While Nadia brought in meat and vegetables and stored them away,
+Stevens attacked the problem of constructing the pair of tight-beam,
+auto-dirigible transmitter and receptor units which would connect his
+great turbo-alternator to the accumulators of their craft, wherever it
+might be in space. From the force-field generators of the "Forlorn Hope"
+he selected the two most suitable for his purpose, tuned them to the
+exact frequency he required, and around them built a complex system of
+condensers and coils.
+
+Day after day passed. Their larder was full, the receptor was finished,
+and the beam transmitter was almost ready to attach to the
+turbo-alternator before the calm was broken.
+
+"Steve!" Nadia shrieked. Glancing idly into the communicator plate, she
+had been perfunctorily surveying the surrounding territory. "They're
+coming! Thousands of them! They're all over the bench up there, and just
+simply pouring down the hills and up the valley!"
+
+"Wish they'd waited a few hours longer--we'd have been gone. However,
+we're just about ready for them," he commented grimly, as he stared over
+her shoulder into the communicator plate. "We'll make a lot of those
+Indians wish that they had stayed at home with their papooses."
+
+"Have you got all those rays and things fixed up?"
+
+"Not as many as I'd like to have. You see, I don't know the composition
+of the I-P ray, since it is outlawed to everybody except the police.
+Of course I could have found out from Brandon, but never paid any
+attention to it. I've got some nice ultra-violet, though, and a short-wave
+oscillatory that'll cook an elephant to a cinder in about eight seconds.
+We'll keep them amused, no fooling! Glad we had time to cover our open
+sides, and it looks as though that meteorite armor we put over the
+projectors may be mighty useful, too."
+
+On and on the savages came, massed in formations showing some signs of
+rude discipline. This time there was neither shrieking nor yelling; the
+weird creatures advanced silently and methodically. Here and there were
+massed groups of hundreds, dragging behind them engines which Stevens
+studied with interest.
+
+"Hm ... m ... m. Catapults," he mused. "You were right, girl of my
+dreams--armor and bows and arrows wouldn't help us much right now.
+They're going to throw rocks at us that'll have both mass and momentum.
+With those things they can cave in our side-armor, and might even dent
+our roof. When one of those projectiles hits, we want to know where it
+ain't, that's all."
+
+Stevens cast off the heavily-insulated plug connecting the power plant
+leads to his now almost fully charged accumulators, strapped himself and
+Nadia into place at the controls, and waited, staring into the plate.
+Catapult after catapult was dragged to the lip of the little canyon,
+until six of them bore upon the target. The huge stranded springs of
+hair, fiber, and sinew were wound up to the limit, and enormous masses
+of rock were toilsomely rolled upon the platforms. Each "gunner" seized
+his trip, and as the leader shrieked his signal the six ponderous masses
+of metalliferous rock heaved into the air as one. But they did not
+strike their objective, for as the signal was given, Stevens shot
+power into his projectors. The "Forlorn Hope" leaped out of the canyon
+and high into the air over the open meadow, just as the six great
+projectiles crashed into the ground upon the spot which, an instant
+before, she had occupied.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Rudimentary discipline forgotten, the horde rushed down into the canyon
+and the valley, in full clamor of their barbaric urgings. Horns and
+arms tossed fiercely, savage noises rent the air, and arrows splintered
+harmlessly upon steel plate as the mystified and maddened warriors upon
+the plain below gave vent to their outraged feelings.
+
+"Look, Nadia! A whole gang of them are smelling around that power plug.
+Pretty soon somebody's going to touch a hot spot, and when he does,
+we'll cut loose on the rest of them."
+
+The huge insulating plug, housing the ends of the three great cables
+leading to the converters of the turbo-alternator, lay innocently upon
+the ground, its three yawning holes invitingly open to savage arms. The
+chief, who had been inspecting the power-plant, walked along the triplex
+lead and joined his followers at its terminus. Pointing with his horns,
+he jabbered orders and three red monsters, one at each cable, bent to
+lift the plug, while the leader himself thrust an arm into each of the
+three contact holes. There was a flash of searing flame and the reeking
+smoke of burning flesh--those three arms had taken the terrific no-load
+voltage of the three-phase converter system, and the full power of the
+alternator had been shorted directly to ground through the comparatively
+small resistance of his body.
+
+Stevens had poised the "Forlorn Hope" edgewise in mid-air, so that
+the gleaming, heavily armored parabolic reflectors of his projectors,
+mounted upon the leading edge of the fortress, covered the scene below.
+As the charred corpse of the savage chieftain dropped to the ground,
+it seemed to the six-limbed creatures that the demons of the falls had
+indeed been annoyed beyond endurance by their intrusion; for, as if in
+response to the flash of fire from the power plug, that structure so
+peculiarly and so stolidly hanging in the air came plunging down toward
+them. From it there reached down twin fans of death and destruction: one
+flaming and almost invisibly incandescent violet which tore at the eyes
+and excruciatingly disintegrated brain and nervous tissues; the other
+dully glowing an equally invisible red, at the touch of which body
+temperature soared to lethal heights and foliage burst cracklingly into
+spontaneous flame.
+
+In their massed hundreds, the savages dropped where they stood, life
+rived away by the torturing ultra-violet, burned away by the blast
+of pure heat, or consumed by the conflagrations that raged instantly
+wherever that wide-sweeping fan encountered combustible material.
+In the face of power supernatural they lost all thought of attack or of
+conquest, and sought only and madly to escape. Weapons were thrown away,
+the catapults were abandoned, and, every man for himself, the mob fled
+in wildest disorder, each striving to put as much distance as possible
+between himself and that place of dread mystery, the waterfall.
+
+"Well, I guess that'll hold 'em for a while," Stevens dropped their
+craft back into its original quarters in the canyon. "Whether they ever
+believed before that this falls was inhabited by devils or not, they
+think so now. I'll bet that it will be six hundred Jovian years before
+any of them ever come within a hundred kilometers of it again. I'm glad
+of it, too, because they'll let our power plant alone now. Well, let's
+get going--we've got to make things hum for a while!"
+
+"Why all the rush? You just said that we have scared them away for
+good."
+
+"The savages, yes, but not those others. We've just turned loose enough
+radiation to affect detectors all over the system, and it's up to us to
+get this beam projector set up, get away from here, and get our power
+shut off before they can trace us. Snap it up, ace!"
+
+The transmitter unit was installed at the converters, the cable was torn
+out, and, having broken the last material link between it and Ganymede,
+Stevens hurled the "Forlorn Hope" out into space, using the highest
+acceleration Nadia could endure. Hour after hour the massive wedge of
+steel bored outward, away from Jupiter; hour after hour Stevens' anxious
+eyes scanned his instruments; hour after hour hope mounted and relief
+took the place of anxiety as the screens remained blank throughout every
+inquiring thrust into the empty ether. But they knew they would have to
+keep sharp vigilance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+_Continuing a Thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel
+by Edward E. Smith, Ph.D._
+
+_Author of "Skylark of Space," and "Skylark Three"_
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+
+
+
+Spacehounds of IPC
+
+
+    _One of the most fascinating mysteries of the heavens is the comet.
+    It goes through space, gets near enough to the earth to be seen,
+    and then goes off and disappears in celestial distance. Often it
+    has a hyperbolic orbit, which would make it impossible to come back.
+    Yet it may return--apparently contradicting the geometry of conic
+    sections. This only goes to prove once more that it is risky to say
+    anything is impossible--even that our hero of this story manages
+    beautifully, with the aid of Cantrell's Comet, to avoid complete
+    annihilation while stranded in interstellar space._
+
+    _Read "what went before" and then continue the second instalment._
+
+
+What Went Before:
+
+    The Interplanetary Vessel Arcturus sets out for Mars, with
+    Breckenridge as chief pilot, carrying on board, besides its
+    regular crew and some passengers, the famous Dr. Stevens,
+    designer of space ships and computer. He checks computations
+    made by astronomers stationed in floating observatories, and
+    after he has located any trouble and suggests a plan for
+    minimizing the hazards of the trip from the earth to Mars,
+    he reports his findings and suggestions to Mr. Newton, chief
+    of the Interplanetary Corporation.
+
+    Stevens then takes Nadia, Mr. Newton's beautiful young daughter,
+    on a specially conducted sight-seeing tour of the Arcturus and
+    thoroughly explains to her all of the works of the vessel. Nadia
+    has herself had a good science education. While they are down at
+    the bottom of the ship--nearing the end of their tour--Stevens
+    feels a barely perceptible movement of the vessel from its course.
+    When he turns on the visiplate, he is horrified to find that a
+    mysterious ray of unparalleled power has neatly sliced the Arcturus
+    in several places.
+
+    Nadia and Stevens are completely separated from the rest of the
+    crew and passengers of the ship, so they get into a lifeboat,
+    which is equipped for a limited amount of space travel. Despite
+    the strict and apparently effective vigilance of the enemy
+    destroyer, Stevens and Nadia make their getaway in the lifeboat,
+    which they aptly call "Forlorn Hope," and finally make a safe
+    landing on Ganymede, where Stevens plans to build a power-plant
+    and a radio transmitter, to enable him to communicate with the
+    earth or with the IPV Sirius, which is used by Westfall and Brandon
+    (two of the world's best scientists) as a floating laboratory.
+
+    With the very scant apparatus and material available, Stevens
+    sets to work on his power plant. Just as they have it completed
+    and ready to start for Cantrell's Comet, where Stevens believes
+    he can obtain the necessary metal for his giant transmitting
+    tube, they experience a close call with carnivorous plants on the
+    satellite and later with savage inhabitants, which precipitates
+    their trip to the comet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Cantrell's Comet
+
+
+Far out in space, Jupiter, a tiny moon and its satellites mere
+pin-points of light, Stevens turned to his companion with a grin.
+
+"Well, Nadia, old golf-shootist, here's where we turn spacehounds again.
+Hope you like it better this time, because I'm afraid that we'll have to
+stay weightless for quite a while." He slowly throttled down the mighty
+flow of power, and watched the conflicting emotions play over Nadia's
+face in her purely personal battle against the sickening sensations
+caused by the decrease in their acceleration.
+
+"I'm sorry as the dickens, sweetheart," he went on, tenderly, and the
+grin disappeared. "Wish I could take it for you, but...."
+
+"But there are times when we've got to fight our own battles and bury
+our own dead," she interrupted, gamely. "Cut off the rest of that power!
+I'm _not_ going to be sick--I _won't_ be a--what do you spacehounds call
+us poor earth-bound dubs who can't stand weightlessness--weight-fiends,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes; but you aren't...."
+
+"I know I'm not, and I'm not going to be one, either! I'm all x,
+Steve--it's not so bad now, really. I held myself together that time,
+anyway, and I feel lots better now. Have you found Cantrell's Comet yet?
+And why so sure all of a sudden that they can't find us? That power beam
+still connects us to Ganymede, doesn't it? Maybe they can trace it."
+
+"At-a-girl, ace!" he cheered. "I'll tell the world you're no
+weight-fiend--you're a spacehound right. Most first-trippers, at this
+stage of the game, wouldn't be caring a whoop whether school kept or
+not, and here you're taking an interest in all kinds of things already.
+You'll do, girl of my heart--no fooling!"
+
+"Maybe, and maybe you're trying to kid somebody," she returned, eyeing
+him intently. "Or maybe you just don't want to answer those questions
+I asked you a minute ago."
+
+[Illustration: _At the bottom of a shaft a section of the rocky wall
+swung aside, revealing the yawning black mouth of a horizontal tunnel.
+At intervals upon its roof there winked into being almost invisible
+points of light. Along that line of lights the life-boats felt their
+way, coming finally into a huge cavern...._]
+
+"No, that's straight data, right on zero across the panel," he assured
+her. "And as for your questions, they're easy. No, I haven't looked for
+the comet yet, because we'll have to drift for a couple of days before
+we'll be anywhere near where I think it is. No, they can't trace us,
+because there is now nothing to trace, unless they can detect the
+slight power we are using in our lights and so on--which possibility is
+vanishingly small. Potentially, our beam still exists, but since we are
+drawing no power, it has no actual present existence. See?"
+
+"Uh-uh," she dissented. "I can't say that I can quite understand how
+a beam can exist potentially and yet not be there actually enough to
+trace. Why, a thing has to be actual or not exist at all--you can't
+possibly have something that is nothing. It doesn't make sense. But
+lay off those integrations of yours, please," as now armed with a
+slate-pencil, Stevens began to draw a diagram upon a four-foot sheet of
+smooth slate. "You know that your brand of math is over my head like a
+circus tent, so we'll let it lie. I'll take your word for it. Steve--if
+you're satisfied, it's all x with me."
+
+"I think I can straighten you out a little, by analogy. Here's a rough
+sketch of a cylinder, with shade and shadow. You've had descriptive
+geometry, of course, and so know that a shadow, being simply a
+projection of a material object upon a plane, is a two-dimensional
+thing--or rather, a two-dimensional concept. Now take the shade, which
+is, of course, this entire figure here, between the cylinder casting
+the shadow and the plane of projection. You simply imagine that there
+is a point source of light at your point of projection: it isn't really
+there. The shade, then, of which I am drawing a picture, has only a
+potential existence. You know exactly where it is, you can draw it, you
+can define it, compute it, and work with it--but still it doesn't exist;
+there is absolutely nothing to differentiate it from any other volume of
+air, and it cannot be detected by any physical or mechanical means. If,
+however, you place a light at the point of projection, the shade becomes
+actual and can be detected optically. By a sufficient stretch of the
+imagination, you might compare our beam to that shade. When we turn our
+power on, the beam is actual; it is a stream of tangible force, and as
+such can be detected electrically. When our switches here are open,
+however, it exists only potentially. There is no motion in the ether,
+nothing whatever to indicate that a beam had ever actually existed
+there. With me?"
+
+"Floundering pretty badly, but I see it after a fashion. You physicists
+are peculiar freaks--where we ordinary mortals see actual, solid,
+heavy objects, you see only empty space with a few electrons and things
+floating around in it; and yet where we see only empty space, you can
+see things 'potentially' that may never exist at all. You'll be the
+death of me yet, Steve! But I'm wasting a lot of time. What do we do
+now?"
+
+"We get busy on the big tube. You might warm up the annealing oven and
+melt me that pot of glass, while I get busy on the filament supports,
+plate brackets, and so on." Both fell to work with a will, and hours
+passed rapidly and almost silently, so intent was each upon his own
+tasks.
+
+"All x, Steve." Nadia broke the long silence. "The pyrometer's on the
+red, and the oven's hot," and the man left his bench. Taking up a long
+paddle and an even longer blowpipe, he skimmed the melt to a dazzlingly
+bright surface and deftly formed a bubble.
+
+"I just love to talk at you when you've got your mouth full of a
+blowpipe." Nadia eyed him impishly and tucked her feet beneath her,
+poised weightless as she was. "I've got you foul now--I can say anything
+I want to, and you can't talk back, because your bubble will lose its
+shape if you do. Oh, isn't that a beauty! I never saw you blow anything
+that big before," and she fell silent, watching intently.
+
+Slowly there was being drawn from the pot a huge, tapering bulb of hot,
+glistening glass, its cross-section at the molten surface varying as
+Stevens changed the rate of draw or the volume of air blown through the
+pipe. Soon that section narrowed sharply. The glass-blower waved his
+hand and Nadia severed the form neatly with a glowing wire, just above
+the fluid surface of the glass remaining in the pot. Pendant from the
+blowpipe, the bulb was placed over the hot-bench, where Stevens, now
+begoggled, begloved, and armed with a welding torch, proceeded to fuse
+into the still, almost plastic, glass sundry necks, side-tubes, supports
+and other attachments of peculiar pattern. Finally the partially
+assembled tube was placed in the annealing oven, where it would remain
+at a high and constant temperature until its filaments, grids, and
+plates had been installed. Eventually, in that same oven, it would be
+allowed to cool slowly and uniformly over a period of days.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus were performed many other tasks which are ordinarily done either
+by automatic machinery or by highly skilled specialists in labor--for
+these two, thrown upon their own resources, had long since learned how
+much specialization may be represented by the most commonplace article.
+Whenever they needed a thing they did not have--which happened every
+day--they had either to make it or else, failing in that, to go back and
+build something that would enable them to manufacture the required item.
+Such setbacks had become so numerous as to be expected as part of the
+day's work; they no longer caused exasperation or annoyance. For two
+days the two jacks-of-all-trades worked at many lines and with many
+materials before Stevens called a halt.
+
+"All x, Nadia. It's time for us to stop tinkering and turn into
+astronomers. We've been out for fifty I-P hours, and we'd better begin
+looking around for our heap of scrap metal," and, the girl at the
+communicator plate and Stevens at their one small telescope, they began
+to search the black, star-jeweled heavens for Cantrell's Comet.
+
+"According to my figures, it ought to be about four hours right
+ascension, and something like plus twenty degrees declination. My
+figures aren't accurate, though, since I'm working purely from memory,
+so we'd better cover everything from Aldebaran to the Pleiades."
+
+"But the directions will change as we go along, won't they?"
+
+"Not unless we pass it, because we're heading pretty nearly straight at
+it, I think."
+
+"I don't see anything interesting thereabouts except stars. Will it have
+much tail?"
+
+"Very little--it's close to aphelion, you know, and a comet doesn't have
+much of a tail so far away from the sun. Hope it's got some of its tail
+left, though, or we may miss it entirely."
+
+Hours passed, during which the two observers peered intently into their
+instruments, then Stevens left the telescope and went over to his slate.
+
+"Looks bad, ace--we should have spotted it before this. Time to eat,
+too. You'd better...."
+
+"Oh, look here, quick!" Nadia interrupted. "Here's something! Yes, it
+_is_ a comet, and quite close--it's got a little bit of a dim tail."
+
+Stevens leaped to the communicator plate, and, blond head pressed close
+to brown, the two wayfarers studied the faint image of the wanderer of
+the void.
+
+"That's it, I just _know_ it is!" Nadia declared. "Steve, as a computer,
+you're a blinding flash and a deafening report!"
+
+"Yeah--missed it only about half a million kilometers or so," he
+replied, grinning, "and I'd fire a whole flock of I-P check stations
+for being four thousand off. However, I could have done worse--I could
+easily have forgotten all the data on it, instead of only half of it."
+He applied a normal negative acceleration, and Nadia heaved a profound
+sigh of relief as her weight returned to her and her body again became
+manageable by the ordinary automatic and involuntary muscles.
+
+"Guess I am a kind of a weight-fiend at that, Steve--this is much
+better!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Nobody denies that weight is more convenient at times; but you're a
+spacehound just the same--you'll like it after a while," he prophesied.
+
+Stevens took careful observations upon the celestial body, altered his
+course sharply, then, after a measured time interval, again made careful
+readings.
+
+"That's it, all x," he announced, after completing his calculations, and
+he reduced their negative acceleration by a third. "There--we'll be just
+about traveling with it when we get there," he said. "Now, little K. P.
+of my bosom, our supper's been on minus time for hours. What say we
+shake it up?"
+
+"I check you to nineteen decimals," and the two were soon attacking the
+savory Ganymedean goulash which Nadia had put in the cooker many hours
+before.
+
+"Should we both go to sleep, Steve, or should one of us watch it?"
+
+"Sleep, by all means. There's no meteoric stuff out here, and we won't
+arrive before ten o'clock tomorrow, I-P time," and, tired out by the
+events of the long day, man and maid sought their beds and plunged into
+dreamless slumber.
+
+While they slept, the "Forlorn Hope" drove on through the void at a
+terrific but constantly decreasing velocity; and far off to one side,
+plunging along a line making a sharp angle with their own course, there
+loomed larger and larger the masses which made up the nucleus of
+Cantrell's Comet.
+
+Upon awakening, Stevens' first thought was for the comet, and he
+observed it carefully before he aroused Nadia, who hurried into the
+control room. Looming large in the shortened range of the plate, their
+objective hurtled onward in its eternal course, its enormous velocity
+betrayed only by the rapidity with which it sped past the incredibly
+brilliant background of infinitely distant stars. Apparently it was
+a wild jumble of separate fragments; a conglomerate, heterogeneous
+aggregation of rough and jagged masses varying in size from grains of
+sand up to enormous chunks, which upon Earth would have weighed millions
+of tons. Pervading the whole nucleus, a slow, indefinite movement was
+perceptible--a vague writhing and creeping of individual components
+working and slipping past and around each other as they all rushed
+forward in obedience to the immutable cosmic law of gravitation.
+
+"Oh, isn't that wonderful!" Nadia breathed. "Think of actually going to
+visit a comet! It sort of scares me, Steve--it's so creepy and crawly
+looking. We're awfully close, aren't we?"
+
+"Not so very. We'd probably have lots of time to eat breakfast. But just
+to be on the safe side, maybe I'd better camp here at the board, and you
+bring me over something to eat."
+
+"All x, Chief!" and Stevens ate, one eye upon the screen, watching
+closely the ever-increasing bulk of the comet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For many minutes he swung the _Forlorn Hope_ in a wide curve approaching
+the mountain of metal ever and ever more nearly, then turned to the girl.
+
+"Hold everything, Nadia--power's going off in a minute!" He shut off the
+beam; then, noting that they were traveling a trifle faster than the
+comet, he applied a small voltage to one dirigible projector. Darting
+the beam here and there, he so corrected their flight that they were
+precisely stationary in relation to the comet. He then opened his
+switches, and the _Forlorn Hope_ hurtled on. Apparently motionless, it
+was now a part of Cantrell's Comet, traveling in a stupendous, elongated
+ellipse about the Master of our Solar System, the Sun.
+
+"There, ace, who said anything about weight-fiends? I was watching you,
+and you never turned a hair that time."
+
+"Why, that's right--I never even thought about it--I was so busy
+studying that thing out there! I suppose I've got used to it already?"
+
+"Sure--you're one of us now. I knew you would be. Well, let's go places
+and do things! You'd better put on a suit, too, so you can stand in the
+air-lock and handle the line."
+
+They donned the heavily insulated, heated suits, and Stevens snapped the
+locking plugs of the drag line into their sockets upon the helmets.
+
+"Hear me?" he asked. "Sound-disks all x?"
+
+"All x."
+
+"On the radio--all x?"
+
+"All x."
+
+"I tested your tanks and heaters--they're all x. But you'll have to
+test...."
+
+"I know the ritual by heart, Steve. It's been in every show in the
+country for the last year, but I didn't know you had to go through it
+every time you went out-of-doors! Halves, number one all x, two all x,
+three all x...."
+
+"Quit it!" he snapped. "You aren't testing those valves! That check-up
+is no joke, guy. These suits are complicated affairs, and some parts
+are apt to get out of order. You see, a thing to give you fresh air at
+normal pressure and to keep you warm in absolute space can't be either
+simple or fool-proof. They've worked on them for years, but they're
+pretty crude yet. They're tricky, and if one goes sour on you, out in
+space, it's just too bad--you're lucky to get back alive. A lot of men
+are still out there somewhere because of the sloppy check-ups."
+
+"'Scuse it, please--I'll be good," and the careful checking and testing
+of every vital part of the space-suits went on.
+
+Satisfied at last that the armor was spaceworthy, Stevens picked up the
+coils of drag-line, built of a non-metallic fiber which could retain its
+flexibility and strength in the bitter cold of outer space, and led the
+girl into the air-lock.
+
+"Heavens, Steve! It's perfectly stupendous, and grinding around worse
+than the wreckage of the _Arcturus_ was when I wouldn't let you climb
+up it--why, I thought comets were _little_, and hardly massive at all!"
+exclaimed the girl.
+
+"This is little, compared to any regular planet or satellite or even to
+the asteroids. There's only a few cubic kilometers of matter there, and,
+as I said before, it's a decidedly unusual comet. You know the game?"
+
+"I've got it--and believe me, I'll yank you back here a lot faster than
+you can jump over there if any one of those lumps starts to fall on you!
+Is this drag line long enough?"
+
+"Yes, I've got a hundred meters here, and it's only fifty meters over
+there to where I'm going. So long," and with a light thrust of his feet,
+he dove head foremost across the intervening space, a heavy pike held
+out ahead of him. Straight as a bullet he floated toward his objective,
+a jagged chunk many yards in diameter, taking the shock of his landing
+by sliding along the pike-handle as its head struck the mass.
+
+Then, bracing his feet against one lump, he pushed against its neighbor,
+and under that steady pressure the enormous masses moved apart and kept
+on moving, grinding among their fellows. Over and around them Stevens
+sprang, always watching his line of retreat as well as that of his
+advance, until his exploring pike struck a lump of apparently solid
+metal. Hooking the fragment toward him, he thrust savagely with his
+weapon and was reassured--that object was not only metal, but it was
+metal so hard that his pike-head of space-tempered alloy steel did not
+make an impression upon its surface. Turning on his helmet light he
+swung his heavy hammer repeatedly but could not break off even a small
+fragment.
+
+"Found something, Steve?" Nadia's voice came clearly in his ears.
+
+"I'll say I have! A hunk of solid, non-magnetic metal about the size of
+an office desk. I can't break off any of it, so I guess we'll have to
+grab the whole chunk."
+
+He hitched the end of his cable around the nugget, made sure that the
+loops would not slip, and then, as Nadia tightened the line, he shoved
+mightily.
+
+"All x, Nadia, she's coming! Pull in my drag line as I said over there,
+and I'll help you land her."
+
+Inside the _Forlorn Hope_ the mass of metal was urged into the shop,
+where Stevens clamped it immovably to the steel floor, before he took
+off his space-suit.
+
+"Why, it's getting covered with snow, and the whole room is getting
+positively _cold_!" Nadia exclaimed.
+
+"Sure. Anything that comes in from space is cold, even if it's been out
+only a few minutes, and that hunk of stuff has been out for nobody knows
+how many million years. It didn't get much heat from the sun except
+at perihelion, you know, so it's probably somewhere around minus two
+hundred and sixty degrees now. I'll have to throw a heater on it for
+half an hour before we can touch it. And since this is more or less new
+stuff to you, I'll caution you--don't try to touch anything that has
+just come in. That hammer or pike would freeze your hand instantly, even
+though they've been out only a little while. Before you touch anything,
+blow on it, like this, see? If your breath freezes solid on it, like
+that, don't touch it--it's cold."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Under the infra-beams of the heater, the mass of the metal was brought
+to room temperature and Stevens attacked it with his machine tools.
+Bit by bit the stubborn material was torn from the lump. Through heavy
+goggles he watched the incandescent mass in a refractory crucible, in
+the heart of the induction furnace.
+
+"What do you think you've got--what you want?"
+
+"I don't know. It wasn't iron--it wouldn't hold a magnet. It's royal
+metal of some kind, I think. Base metals mostly melt at around fifteen
+hundred, and that crucible is still dry as a bone at better than
+seventeen."
+
+"How are you going to separate out the tantalum and the others you want
+from the ones that you don't want?"
+
+"I'm afraid that I'm not going to, very well," replied Stevens, with a
+wry grimace. "What I don't know about metallurgy would fill a library,
+and I'm probably the world's worst chemist. However, by a series of
+successive liquations, I hope to separate out fractions that I can
+use. Platinum melts somewhere around seventeen-fifty, tantalum about
+twenty-nine hundred, and tungsten not until 'way up around thirty-three,
+or four hundred--and that, by the way, means lots of grief. Of course,
+each fraction will probably be an alloy of one kind or another, but
+I think maybe I'll be able to make them do."
+
+"But mayn't that whole chunk be a pure metal?"
+
+"It's conceivable, but not probable. There, she's beginning to separate
+at just below eighteen hundred! Platinum group coming out now, I
+think--platinum, rhodium, iridium, and that gang, you know. While I'm
+doing this, you might be getting those five coils into exact resonance,
+if you want to."
+
+"Sure I want to," and Nadia made her way across to the short-wave
+oscillator and set to work.
+
+After an hour or so, bent over her delicate task, she began to twitch
+uneasily, then shrugged her shoulders impatiently.
+
+"What's the idea of staring at me so?" she broke out suddenly. "How do
+you expect me to tune these things up if you...." She stopped abruptly,
+mouth open in amazement, as she turned toward Stevens. He had not been
+looking at her, but he turned a surprised face from his own task at the
+sound of her voice. "Excuse me, please, Steve. I don't know what's the
+matter with me--must be getting jumpy, I guess."
+
+"I wish that was all, but it isn't!" Face suddenly grim and hard,
+Stevens leaped to the communicator plate and shot the beam out into
+space. "There's an answer, but that isn't it. You're a fine-tuned
+instrument yourself, ace, and you've detected something.... I thought
+so! There's the answer--the guy that was looking at you!"
+
+Plainly there was revealed upon the plate a small, spherical space-ship,
+very like the one that had attacked and destroyed the _Arcturus_. After
+Nadia had taken one glance at it, Stevens shut off the power and leaped
+out into the shop. He closed all the bulkhead doors and air-break
+openings, then closed and secured the massive insulating door of the
+lifeboat in which they had made their headquarters. Then, after they
+had again put on the space-suits they had taken off such a short time
+before, he extinguished all the lights and hooded the communicator
+screen before he ventured again to glance out into the void.
+
+"If I had a brain in my head, instead of the pint of bean soup I've got
+up there, we'd have worn these when they cut up the _Arcturus_, and
+saved us a lot of mental wear and tear," he remarked. "They were right
+there in the lockers all the time, and I knew it!"
+
+"Well, we got away, anyway. You couldn't be expected to think of
+everything at once. We didn't have much time, you know."
+
+"No, but I should have thought of anything as obvious as that, anyway.
+Wonder how they found us? Did they detect us, or did they come out
+to this comet after metal, same as we did, and find us accidentally?
+However, it all works out the same--they're apparently out to get us.
+I'm afraid this is going to be a whole lot like a rabbit fighting back
+at a man with a gun; but we'll sure try to nibble us off a lunch while
+they're getting a square meal ... here they come!"
+
+The enemy sphere launched its flaming plane of force, and the _Forlorn
+Hope_ shuddered in every plate and member as its apex was severed
+cleanly under the impact. Instantly Stevens hurled his only weapons.
+Flaming ultra-violet and dully glowing infra-red, the twin beams lashed
+out; but their utmost force was of slight moment to the enormous power
+driving the enemy screens. Two circular spots of cherry red in space
+were the only results of Stevens' attack, and the next fierce cut
+sheared away the two projectors and, incidentally, a full half of the
+fifty-inch armor of the leading edge.
+
+"Then we're checking out now?" Nadia asked quietly, as the man's hands
+dropped from his useless controls. "I'm sorrier than I can say, lover.
+But at least, I'm glad that I can go out with you," and her glorious
+eyes were shining with unshed tears.
+
+"Maybe, but snap out of it, girl--our hearts are still beating! We're
+not dead yet, and maybe we won't be. Perhaps they want to capture us
+alive, as they did before; if so, we may be able to hide out on them
+somewhere and pull off another escape. Things don't look very bright, I
+know, but we're not checking out until our numbers are actually run up!"
+
+He hooked a hand under her belt as the shocks came closer, and stood
+tense and ready. The lancing plane cut through one end of their control
+room, and Stevens leaped with his companion toward the new-made opening;
+while the air shrieked outward into space and their suits bulged
+suddenly with the abrupt increase in pressure differential. While they
+were in midflight, the frightful blade of destruction cleaved its way
+through the control board and through the spot upon which they had been
+standing a moment before. As they passed the severed edge, en route into
+open spare, Stevens seized a metal brace and clung there, every nerve
+taut.
+
+"Something funny here, Nadia," he said after a little, in a low tone.
+"They should have made one more cut, to make us absolutely blind and
+helpless. As it is, they've clipped off all our projectors, so we can't
+move, but I think we've got the whole control compartment of number two
+lifeboat untouched. If so, we can look around, anyway. Let's go!"
+
+Floating without effort from fragment to fragment, they made their way
+toward the section of their cruiser as yet undamaged. They found an
+airlock in working order, and were soon in the second lifeboat, where
+Stevens hastily turned on a communicator and peered out into space.
+
+"There they are! There's another stranger out there, too. They're
+fighting with her, now--that's probably why they didn't polish us off."
+Steel-braced, clumsy helmets touching, the two Terrestrials stared
+spell-bound into the plate; watching while the insensately vicious
+intelligences within the sphere brought its every force to bear upon
+another and larger sphere which was now so close as to be plainly
+visible. Like a gigantic drop of quicksilver this second globe
+appeared--its smooth and highly-polished surface one enormous, perfect,
+spherical mirror. Watching tensely, they saw flash out that frightful
+plane of seething energy, with the effects of which they were all too
+familiar, and saw it strike full upon the dazzling ball.
+
+"This is awful, ace!" Stevens groaned. "They haven't got ray-screens,
+either, and without them they don't stand a chance. No possible
+substance can stand up under that beam. When they get done and turn back
+to us, we'll have to dive back to where we were."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But that brilliant mirror was not as vulnerable as Stevens had supposed.
+The plane of force struck and clung, but could not penetrate it. Broken
+up into myriads of scintillating crystals of light, intersecting,
+multi-colored rays, and cascading flares of sparkling energy, the beam
+was reflected, thrown back, hurled away on all sides into space in
+coruscating, blinding torrents. And neither was the monster globe
+inoffensive. The straining watchers saw a port open suddenly, emit a
+flame-erupting something, and close as rapidly as it had opened. That
+something was a projectile, its propelling rockets fiercely aflame; as
+smoothly brilliant as its mother-ship and seemingly as impervious to the
+lethal beams of the common foe. Detected almost instantly as it was, it
+received the full power of the savage attack. The hitherto irresistible
+plane of force beat upon it; ultra-violet, infra-red, and heat rays
+enveloped it; there were hurled against it all the forces known to the
+scientific minds within that fiendishly destructive sphere.
+
+Finally, only a scant few hundreds of yards from its goal, the
+protective mirror was punctured and the freight of high explosive let
+go, with a silent, but nevertheless terrific, detonation. But now
+another torpedo was on its way, and another, and another; boring on
+ruthlessly toward the smaller sphere. Fighting simultaneously three
+torpedos and the giant globe, the enemy began dodging, darting hither
+and thither with a stupendous acceleration; but the tiny pursuers could
+not be shaken off. At every dodge and turn, steering rockets burst into
+furious activity and the projectiles rushed ever nearer. Knowing that
+she had at last encountered a superior force, the sphere turned in
+mad flight; but, prodigious as was her acceleration, the torpedoes
+were faster and all three of them struck her at once. There ensued
+an explosion veritably space-racking in its intensity; a flash of
+incandescent brilliance that seemed to fill all space, subsiding into
+a vast volume of tenuous gas which, feebly glowing, flowed about and
+attached itself to Cantrell's Comet. And in the space where had been
+the enemy sphere, there was nothing.
+
+A slow-creeping pale blue rod of tangible force reached out from the
+great sphere, touched the wreckage of the _Forlorn Hope_, and pulled;
+gently, but with enormous power.
+
+"Tractor beams again!" exclaimed Stevens, still at the plate.
+"Everybody's got 'em but us, it seems."
+
+"And we can't fight a bit any more, can we?"
+
+"Not a chance--bows and arrows wouldn't do us much good. However, we may
+not need 'em. Since they fought that other crew, and haven't blown us
+up, they aren't active enemies of ours, and may be friendly. I haven't
+any idea who or what they are, since even our communicator ray can't get
+through that mirror, but it looks as though our best bet is to act
+peaceable and see if we can't talk to them in some way. Right?"
+
+"Right." They stepped out into the airlock, from which they saw that
+the great sphere had halted only a few yards from them, and that an
+indistinct figure stood in an open door, waving to them an unmistakable
+invitation to enter the strange vessel.
+
+"Shall we, Steve?"
+
+"Might as well. They've got us foul, and can take us if they want us.
+Anyway, we'll need at least a week to fix us up any kind of driving
+power, so we can't run--and we probably couldn't get away from those
+folks if we had all our power. They haven't blown us up, and they could
+have done it easily enough. Besides, they act friendly, so we'd better
+meet them half way. Dive!"
+
+Floating toward the open doorway, they were met by another rod of force,
+brought gently into the airlock, and supported upright beside the being
+who had invited them to visit him. Apparently an empty space-suit stood
+there; a peculiarly-fitted suit of some partially transparent, flexible,
+glass-like material; towering fully a foot over the head of the tall
+Terrestrial. Closer inspection, however, revealed that there was
+something inside that suit--a shadowy, weirdly-transparent being,
+staring at them with large, black eyes. The door clanged shut behind
+them; they heard the faint hiss of inrushing air, and the inner door
+opened; but their enveloping suits remained stretched almost as tightly
+as ever. They felt the floor lurch beneath their feet, and a little
+weight was granted them as the space-ship got under way. Stevens waved
+his arms vigorously at the stranger, pointing backward toward where he
+supposed their own craft to be. The latter waved an arm reassuringly,
+pressed a contact, and a section of the wall suddenly became
+transparent. Through it Stevens saw with satisfaction that the _Forlorn
+Hope_ was not being abandoned; in the grip of powerful tractor beams,
+every fragment of the wreckage was following close behind them in their
+flight through space.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Stevens and Nadia followed their guide along a corridor, through several
+doors, and into a large room, which at first glance seemed empty, but
+in which several of the peculiarly transparent people of the craft were
+lying about upon cushions. They were undoubtedly human--but what humans!
+Tall and reedy they were, with enormous barrel chests, topped by heads
+which, though really large, appeared insignificant because of the
+prodigious chests and because of the huge, sail-like, flapping ears.
+Their skins were a strikingly, livid, pale blue, absolutely devoid of
+hair; and their lidless eyes, without a sign of iris, were chillingly
+horrible in their stark contrast of enormous, glaring black pupil and
+ghastly, transparent blue eyeball.
+
+As the two Terrestrials entered the room, the beings struggled to their
+feet and hurried laboriously away. Soon one of them returned, dressed in
+an insulating suit, and carrying three sets of head harnesses, connected
+by multiplex cables to a large box which he placed upon the floor.
+He handed the headsets to the first officer, who in turn placed two of
+them at the feet of the Terrestrials, indicating to them that they were
+to follow his example in placing them upon their heads, outside the
+helmets. They did so, and even through the almost perfect insulation,
+and in spite of the powerful heaters of their suits, they felt a touch
+of frightful cold. The stranger turned a dial, and the two wanderers
+from Earth were instantly in full mental communication with Barkovis,
+the commander of a space-ship of Titan, the sixth satellite of Saturn!
+
+"Well, I'll be ... say, what is this, anyway?" Steve exclaimed
+involuntarily, and Nadia smiled as Barkovis answered with a thought,
+clearer than any spoken words.
+
+"It is a thought-exchanger. I do not know its fundamental mechanism,
+since we did not invent it and since I have had little time to study
+it. The apparatus, practically as you see it here, was discovered but a
+short time ago, in a small, rocket-propelled space-ship which we found
+some distance outside of the orbit of Jupiter. Its source of power had
+been destroyed by the cold of outer space, but re-powering it was, of
+course, a small matter. The crew of the vessel were all dead. They
+were, however, of human stock, and of a type adapted for life upon
+a satellite. I deduce, from your compact structure, your enormous
+atmospheric pressure, and your, to us, unbelievably high body
+temperature, that you must be planet-dwellers. I suppose that you
+are natives of Jupiter?"
+
+"Not quite." Stevens had in a measure recovered from his stunned
+surprise. "We are from Tellus, the third planet," and he revealed
+rapidly the events leading up to their present situation, concluding:
+"The people in the other sphere were, we believe, natives of Jupiter or
+of one of the satellites. We know nothing of them, since we could not
+look through their screens. You rescued us from them; do you not know
+them?"
+
+"No. Our visirays also were stopped by their screens of force--screens
+entirely foreign to our science. This is the first time that any
+vessel from our Saturnian system has ever succeeded in reaching the
+neighborhood of Jupiter. We came in peace, but they attacked us at sight
+and we were obliged to destroy them. Now we must hurry back to Titan,
+for two reasons. First, because we are already at the extreme limit
+of our power range and Jupiter is getting further and further away
+from Saturn. Second because our mirrors, which we had thought perfect
+reflectors of all frequencies possible of generation, are not perfect.
+Enough of those forces came through the mirrors to volatilize half our
+crew, and in a few minutes more none of us would have been left alive.
+Why, in some places our very atmosphere became almost hot enough to melt
+water! If another of those vessels should attack us, in all probability
+we should all be lost. Therefore we are leaving as rapidly as is
+possible."
+
+"You are taking the pieces of our ship along--we do not want to encumber
+you."
+
+"It is no encumbrance, since we have ample supplies of power. In fact,
+we are now employing the highest acceleration we Titanians can endure
+for any length of time."
+
+Stevens pondered long, forgetting that his thoughts were plain as print
+to the Titanian commander. Thank Heaven these strangers had sense enough
+to be friendly--all intelligent races should be friends, for mutual
+advancement. But it was a mighty long stretch to Saturn and this
+acceleration wasn't so much. How long would it take to get there? Could
+they get back? Wouldn't they save time by casting themselves adrift,
+making the repairs most urgently needed, and going back to Ganymede
+under their own power? But would they have enough power left in the
+wreck to get even that far? And how about the big tube? He was
+interrupted by an insistent thought from Barkovis.
+
+"You will save time, Stevens, by coming with us to Titan. There we shall
+aid you in repairing your vessel and in completing your transmitting
+tube, in which we shall be deeply interested. Our power plants shall
+supply you with energy for your return journey until you are close
+enough to Jupiter to recover your own beam. You are tired. I would
+suggest that you rest--that you sleep long and peacefully."
+
+"You seem to be handling the _Forlorn Hope_ without any trouble--the
+pieces aren't grinding at all. We'd better live there, hadn't we?"
+
+"Yes that would be best, for all of us. You could not live a minute here
+without your suits; and, efficiently insulated as those suits are, yet
+your incandescent body temperature makes our rooms unbearably hot--so
+hot that any of us must wear a space-suit while in the same room with
+you, to avoid being burned to death."
+
+"The incandescently hot" Terrestrials were wafted into the open airlock
+of their lifeboat upon a wand of force, and soon had prepared a long
+overdue supper, over which Stevens cast his infectious, boyish grin at
+Nadia.
+
+"Sweetheart, you are undoubtedly a 'warm number,' and you have often
+remarked that I 'burn you up.' Nevertheless I think that we were both
+considerably surprised to discover that we are both hot enough actually
+to consume persons unfortunate enough to be confined in the same room
+with us!"
+
+"You're funny, Steve--like a crutch," she rebuked him, but smiled back,
+an elusive dimple playing in one lovely brown cheek. "Looking right
+through anybody is too ghastly for words, but I think they're perfectly
+all x, anyway, in spite of their being so hideous and so cold-blooded!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A Frigid Civilization
+
+
+"Hi, Percival Van Schravendyck Stevens!" Nadia strode purposely into
+Stevens' room and seized him by the shoulder. "Are you going to sleep
+all the way to Saturn? You answered me when I pounded on the partition
+with a hammer, but I don't believe that you woke up at all. Get up,
+you--breakfast will be all spoiled directly!"
+
+"Huh?" Stevens opened one sluggish eye; then, as the full force of the
+insult penetrated his consciousness, he came wide awake. "Lay off those
+names, ace, or you'll find yourself walking back home!" he threatened.
+
+"All x by me!" she retorted. "I might as well go home if you're going
+to sleep _all_ the time!" and she widened her expressive eyes at him
+impishly as she danced blithely back into the control room. As she went
+out she slammed his door with a resounding clang, and Stevens pried
+himself out of his bunk one joint at a time, dressed, and made himself
+presentable.
+
+"Gosh!" he yawned mightily as he joined the girl at breakfast. "I don't
+know when I've had such a gorgeous sleep. How do you get by on so
+little?"
+
+"I don't. I sleep a lot, but I do it every night, instead of working for
+four days and nights on end and then trying to make up all those four
+nights' sleep at once. I'm going to break you of that, too, Steve, if
+it's the last thing I ever do."
+
+"There might be certain advantages in it, at that," he conceded, "but
+sometimes you've got to do work when it's got to be done, instead of
+just between sleeps. However, I'll try to do better. Certainly it is
+a wonderful relief to get out of that mess, isn't it?"
+
+"I'll say it is! But I wish that those folks were more like people.
+They're nice, I think, really, but they're so ... so ... well, so
+ghastly that it simply gives me the blue shivers just to look at one
+of them!"
+
+"They're pretty gruesome, no fooling," he agreed, "but you get used to
+things like that. I just about threw a fit the first time I ever saw
+a Martian, and the Venerians are even worse in some ways--they're so
+clammy and dead-looking--but now I've got real friends on both planets.
+One thing, though, gives me the pip. I read a story a while ago--the
+latest best-seller thing of Thornton's named 'Interstellar Slush' or
+some such tr...."
+
+"Cleophora--An Interstellar Romance," she corrected him. "I thought it
+was wonderful!"
+
+"I didn't. It's fundamentally unsound. Look at our nearest neighbors,
+who probably came from the same original stock we did. A Tellurian
+can admire, respect, or like a Venerian, yes. But for _loving_ one of
+them--wow! Beauty is purely relative, you know. For instance, I think
+that you are the most perfectly beautiful thing I ever saw; but no
+Venerian would think so. Far from it. Any Martian that hadn't seen many
+of us would have to go rest his eyes after taking one good look at
+you. Considering what love means, it doesn't stand to reason that any
+Tellurian woman could possibly fall in love with any man not of her own
+breed. Any writer is wrong who indulges in interplanetary love affairs
+and mad passions. They simply don't exist. They _can't_ exist--they're
+against all human instincts."
+
+"Interplanetary--in this solar system--yes. But the Dacrovos were just
+like us, only nicer."
+
+"That's what gives me the pip. If our own cousins of the same solar
+system are so repulsive to us, how would we be affected by entirely
+alien forms of intelligence?"
+
+"May be you're right, of course--but you may be wrong, too," she
+insisted. "The Universe is big enough, so that people like the Dacrovos
+may possibly exist in it somewhere. May be the Big Three will discover a
+means of interstellar travel--then I'll get to see them myself, perhaps."
+
+"Yes, and _if_ we do, and _if_ you ever see any such people, I'll bet
+that the sight of them will make your hair curl right up into a ball,
+too! But about Barkovis--remember how diplomatic the thoughts were that
+he sent us? He described our structure as being 'compact,' but I got the
+undertone of his real thoughts, as well. Didn't you?"
+
+"Yes, now that you mention it, I did. He really thought that we were
+white-hot, under-sized, overpowered, warty, hairy, hideously opaque and
+generally repulsive little monstrosities--thoroughly unpleasant and
+distasteful. But he was friendly, just the same. Heavens, Steve! Do you
+suppose that he read our real thoughts, too?"
+
+"Sure he did; but he is intelligent enough to make allowances, the same
+as we are doing. He isn't any more insulted than we are. He knows that
+such feelings are ingrained and cannot be changed."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Breakfast over, they experienced a new sensation. For the first time in
+months they had nothing to do! Used as they were to being surrounded by
+pressing tasks, they enjoyed their holiday immensely for a few hours.
+Sitting idly at the communicator plate, they scanned the sparkling
+heavens with keen interest. Beneath them Jupiter was a brilliant
+crescent not far from the sun in appearance, which latter had already
+grown perceptibly smaller and less bright. Above them, and to their
+right, Saturn shone refulgently, his spectacular rings plainly visible.
+All about them were the glories of the firmament, which never fail to
+awe the most seasoned observer. But idleness soon became irksome to
+those two active spirits, and Stevens prowled restlessly about their
+narrow quarters.
+
+"I'm going to go to work before I go dippy," he soon declared. "They've
+got lots of power, and we can rig up a transmitter unit to send it over
+here to our receptor. Then I can start welding the old _Hope_ together
+without waiting until we get to Titan to start it. Think I'll signal
+Barkovis to come over, and see what he thinks about it."
+
+The Titanian commander approved the idea, and the transmitting field was
+quickly installed. Nadia insisted that she, too, needed to work, and
+that she was altogether too good a mechanic to waste; therefore the two
+again labored mightily together, day after day. But the girl limited
+rigidly their hours of work to those of the working day; and evening
+after evening Barkovis visited with them for hours. Dressed in his heavy
+space-suit and supported by a tractor beam well out of range of what
+seemed to him terrific heat radiated by the bodies of the Terrestrials,
+he floated along unconcernedly; while over the multiplex cable of the
+thought-exchanger he conversed with the man and woman seated just inside
+the open outer door of their air-lock. The Titanian's appetite for
+information was insatiable--particularly did he relish everything
+pertaining to the earth and to the other inner planets, forever barred
+to him and to his kind. In return Stevens and Nadia came gradually to
+know the story of the humanity of Titan.
+
+"I am glad beyond measure to have known you," Barkovis mused, one night.
+"Your existence proves that there is truth in mythology, as some of
+us have always believed. Your visit to Titan will create a furor in
+scientific circles, for you are impossibility incarnate--personifications
+of the preposterous. In you, wildest fancy had become commonplace.
+According to many of our scientists, it is utterly impossible for you
+to exist. Yet you say, and it must be, that there are millions upon
+millions of similar beings. Think of it! Venerians, Tellurians,
+Martians, the satellite dwellers of the lost space-ship, and us--so
+similar mentally, yet physically how different!"
+
+"But where does the mythology come in?" thought Nadia.
+
+"We have unthinkably ancient legends which say that once Titan was
+extremely hot, and that our remote ancestors were beings of fire, in
+whose veins ran molten water instead of blood. Since our recorded
+history goes back some tens of thousands of Saturnian years, and since
+in that long period there has been no measurable change in us, few
+of us have believed in the legends at all. They have been thought the
+surviving figments of a barbarous, prehistoric worship of the sun.
+However, such a condition is not in conflict with the known facts of
+cosmogony, and since there actually exists such a humanity as yours--a
+humanity whose bodily tissues actually _are_ composed largely of molten
+water--those ancient legends must indeed have been based upon truth.
+
+"What an evolution! Century after century of slowly decreasing
+temperature--one continuous struggle to adapt the physique to a
+constantly changing environment. First they must have tried to maintain
+their high temperature by covering and heating their cities.--Then,
+as vegetation died, they must have bred into their plants the ability
+to use as sap purely chemical liquids, such as our present natural
+fluids--which also may have been partly synthetic then--instead of the
+molten water to which they had been accustomed. They must have modified
+similarly the outer atmosphere; must have made it more reactive, to
+compensate for the lowered temperature at which metabolism must take
+place. As Titan grew colder and colder they probably dug their cities
+deeper and ever deeper; until humanity came finally to realize that it
+must itself change completely or perish utterly.
+
+"Then we may picture them as aiding evolution in changing their body
+chemistry. For thousands, and thousands of years there must have gone
+on the gradual adaptation of blood stream and tissue to more and more
+volatile liquids, and to lower and still lower temperatures. This must
+have continued until Titan arrived at the condition which has now
+obtained for ages--a condition of thermal equilibrium with space upon
+one hand and upon the other the sun, which changes appreciably only in
+millions upon millions of years. In equilibrium at last--with our bodily
+and atmospheric temperatures finally constant at their present values,
+which seem as low to you as yours appear high to us. Truly, an evolution
+astounding to contemplate!"
+
+"But how about power?" asked Stevens. "You seem to have all you want,
+and yet it doesn't stand to reason that there could be very much
+generated upon a satellite so old and so cold."
+
+"You are right. For ages there has been but little power produced
+upon Titan. Many cycles ago, however, our scientists had developed
+rocket-driven space-ships, with which they explored our neighboring
+satellites, and even Saturn itself. It is from power plants upon Saturn
+that we draw energy. Their construction was difficult in the extreme,
+since the pioneers had to work in braces because of the enormous force
+of gravity. Then, too, they had to be protected from the overwhelming
+pressure and poisonous qualities of the air, and insulated from a
+temperature far above the melting point of water. In such awful heat,
+of course, our customary building material, water, could not be
+employed...."
+
+"But all our instruments have indicated that Saturn is _cold_!" Stevens
+interrupted.
+
+"Its surface temperature, as read from afar, would be low," conceded
+Barkovis, "but the actual surface of the planet is extremely hot, and
+is highly volcanic. Practically none of its heat is radiated because of
+the great density and depth of its atmosphere, which extends for many
+hundreds of your kilometers. It required many thousands of lives and
+many years of time to build and install those automatic power plants,
+but once they were in operation, we were assured of power for many tens
+of thousands of years to come."
+
+"Our system of power transmission is more or less like yours, but we
+haven't anything like your range. Suppose you'd be willing to teach me
+the computation of your fields?"
+
+"Yes, we shall be glad to give you the formulae. Being an older race, it
+is perhaps natural that we should have developed certain refinements as
+yet unknown to you. But I am, I perceived, detaining you from your time
+of rest--goodbye," and Barkovis was wafted back toward his mirrored
+globe.
+
+"What do you make of this chemical solution blood of theirs, Steve?"
+asked Nadia, watching the placidly floating form of the Titanian
+captain.
+
+"Not much. I may have mentioned before that there are one or two, or
+perhaps even three men who are better chemists than I am. I gathered
+that it is something like a polyhydric alcohol and something like a
+substituted hydrocarbon, and yet different from either in that it
+contains flourin in loose combination. I think it is something that our
+Tellurian chemists haven't got yet; but they've got so many organic
+compounds now that they may have synthesized it, at that. You see,
+Titan's atmosphere isn't nearly as dense as ours, but what there is
+of it is pure dynamite. Ours is a little oxygen, mixed with a lot of
+inert ingredients. Theirs is oxygen, heavily laced with flourin. It's
+_reactive_, no fooling! However, something pretty violent must be
+necessary to carry on body reactions at such a temperature as theirs."
+
+"Probably; but I know even less about that kind of thing than you do.
+Funny, isn't it, the way he thinks 'water' when he means ice, and always
+thinks of our real water as being molten?"
+
+"Reasonable enough when you think about it. Temperature differences are
+logarithmic, you know, not arithmetic--the effective difference between
+his body temperature and ours is perhaps even greater than that between
+ours and that of melted iron. We never think of iron as being a liquid,
+you know."
+
+"That's right, too. Well, good night, Steve dear."
+
+"'Bye, little queen of space--see you at breakfast," and the _Forlorn
+Hope_ became dark and silent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Day after day the brilliant sphere flew toward distant Saturn, with the
+wreckage of the _Forlorn Hope_ in tow. Piece by piece that wreckage was
+brought together and held in place by the Titanian tractors; and slowly
+but steadily, under Stevens' terrific welding projector, the stubborn
+steel flowed together, once more to become a seamless, spaceworthy
+structure. And Nadia, the electrician, followed close behind the welder.
+Wielding torch, pliers and spanner with practised hand, she repaired or
+cut out of circuit the damaged accumulator cells and reunited the ends
+of each severed power lead. Understanding Nadia's work thoroughly, the
+Titanians were not particularly interested in it; but whenever Stevens
+made his way along an outside seam, he had a large and thrillingly
+horrified gallery. Everyone who could possibly secure permission to
+leave the sphere did so, each upon his own pencil of force, and went
+over to watch the welder. They did not come close to him--to venture
+within fifty feet of that slow moving spot of scintillating brilliance,
+even in a space-suit, meant death--but, poised around him in space, they
+watched with shuddering, incredulous amazement, the monstrous human
+being in whose veins ran molten water instead of blood; whose body was
+already so fiercely hot that it could exist unharmed while working
+practically without protection, upon _liquefied_ metal!
+
+Finally the welding was done. The insulating space was evacuated and
+held its vacuum--outer and inner shells were bottle-tight. The two
+mechanics heaved deep sighs of relief as they discarded their cumbersome
+armor and began to repair what few of their machine tools had been
+damaged by the slashing plane of force which had so neatly sliced the
+_Forlorn Hope_ into sections.
+
+"Say, big fellow, you're the guy that slings the ink, ain't you?" Nadia
+extinguished her torch and swaggered up to Stevens, hands on hips, her
+walk an exaggerated roll. "Write me out a long walk. This job's all
+played out, so I think I'll get me a good job on Titan. I said give me
+my time, you big stiff!"
+
+"You didn't say nothing!" growled Stevens in his deepest bass, playing
+up to her lead as he always did. "Bounce back, cub, you've struck a
+rubber fence! You signed on for duration and you'll stick--see?"
+
+Arm in arm they went over to the nearest communicator plate. Flipping
+the switch, Stevens turned the dial and Titan shone upon the screen; so
+close, that it no longer resembled a moon, but was a world toward which
+they were falling with an immense velocity.
+
+"Not close enough to make out much detail yet--let's take another
+look at Saturn," and Stevens projected the visiray beam out toward the
+mighty planet. It was now an enormous full moon, almost five degrees in
+apparent diameter,[1] its visible surface an expanse of what they knew
+to be billowing cloud, shining brilliantly white in the pale sunlight,
+broken only by a dark equatorial band.
+
+[Footnote 1: The moon subtends an angle of about one-half of a degree.]
+
+"Those rings were _such_ a gorgeous spectacle a little while ago!" Nadia
+mourned. "It's a shame that Titan has to be right in their plane, isn't
+it? Think of living this close to one of the most wonderful sights in
+the Solar System, and never being able to see it. Think they know what
+they're missing, Steve?"
+
+"We'll have to ask Barkovis," Stevens replied. He swung the communicator
+beam back toward Titan, and Nadia shuddered.
+
+"Oh, it's hideous!" she exclaimed. "I thought that it would improve as
+we got closer, but the plainer we can see it, the worse it gets. Just to
+think of human beings, even such cold-blooded ones as those over there,
+living upon such a horrible moon and _liking_ it, gives me the blue
+shivers!"
+
+"It's pretty bleak, no fooling," he admitted, and peered through the
+eyepiece of the visiray telescope, studying minutely the forbidding
+surface of the satellite they were so rapidly approaching.
+
+Larger and larger it loomed, a cratered, jagged globe of desolation
+indescribable; of sheer, bitter cold incarnate and palpable; of stark,
+sharp contrasts. Gigantic craters, in whose yawning depths no spark of
+warmth had been generated for countless cycles of time, were surrounded
+by vast plains eroded to the dead level of a windless sea. Every lofty
+object cast a sharply outlined shade of impenetrable blackness, beside
+which the weak light of the sun became a dazzling glare. The ground was
+either a brilliant white or an intense black, unrelieved by half-tones.
+
+"I can't hand it much, either, Nadia, but it's all in the way you've
+been brought up, you know. This is home to them, and just to look at
+Tellus would give them the pip. Ha! Here's something you'll like, even
+if it does look so cold that it makes me feel like hugging a couple of
+heater coils. It's Barkovis' city the one we're heading for, I think.
+It's close enough now so that we can get it on the plate," and he set
+the communicator beam upon the metropolis of Titan.
+
+"Why, I don't see a thing, Steve--where and what is it?" They were
+dropping vertically downward toward the center of a vast plain of white,
+featureless and desolate; and Nadia stared in disappointment.
+
+"You'll see directly--it's too good to spoil by telling you what to look
+for or wh...."
+
+"Oh, there it is!" she cried. "It _is_ beautiful, Steve, but how
+frightfully, utterly cold!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A flash of prismatic color had caught the girl's eye, and, one
+transparent structure thus revealed to her sight, there had burst into
+view a city of crystal. Low buildings of hexagonal shape, arranged
+in irregularly variant hexagonal patterns, extended mile upon mile.
+From the roofs of the structures lacy spires soared heavenward;
+inter-connected by long, slim cantilever bridges whose prodigious
+spans seemed out of all proportion to the gossamer delicacy of their
+construction. Buildings, spires, and bridges formed fantastic
+geometrical designs, at which Nadia exclaimed in delight.
+
+"I've just thought of what that reminds me of--it's snowflakes!"
+
+"Sure--I knew it was something familiar. Snowflakes--no two are ever
+exactly alike, and yet every one is symmetrical and hexagonal. We're
+going to land on the public square--see the crowds? Let's put on our
+suits and go out."
+
+The _Forlorn Hope_ lay in a hexagonal park, and near it the Titanian
+globe had also come to rest. All about the little plot towered the
+glittering buildings of crystal, and in its center played a fountain;
+a series of clear and sparkling cascades of liquid jewels. Under foot
+there spread a thick, soft carpet of whitely brilliant vegetation.
+Throngs of the grotesque citizens of Titania were massed to greet the
+space-ships; throngs clustering close about the globular vessel, but
+maintaining a respectful distance from the fiercely radiant Terrestrial
+wedge. All were shouting greetings and congratulations--shouts which
+Stevens found as intelligible as his own native tongue.
+
+"Why, I can understand every word they say, Steve!" Nadia exclaimed, in
+surprise. "How come, do you suppose?"
+
+"I can, too. Don't know--must be from using that thought telephone of
+theirs so much, I guess. Here comes Barkovis--I'll ask him."
+
+The Titanian commander had been in earnest conversation with a group of
+fellow-creatures and was now walking toward the Terrestrials, carrying
+the multiple headsets. Placing them upon the white sward, he backed
+away, motioning the two visitors to pick them up.
+
+"It may not be necessary, Barkovis," Stevens said, slowly and clearly.
+"We do not know why, but we can understand what your people are saying,
+and it may be that you can now understand us."
+
+"Oh, yes, I can understand your English perfectly. A surprising
+development, but perhaps, after all, one that should have been expected,
+from the very nature of the device we have been using. I wanted to tell
+you that I have just received grave news, which makes it impossible for
+us to help you immediately, as I promised. While we were gone, one of
+our two power-plants upon Saturn failed. In consequence, Titan's power
+has been cut to a minimum, since maintaining our beam at that great
+distance required a large fraction of the output of the other plant.
+Because of this lack, the Sedlor walls were weakened to such a point
+that in spite of the Guardian's assurances, I think trouble is
+inevitable. At all events, it is of the utmost importance that we begin
+repairing the damaged unit, for that is to be a task indeed."
+
+"Yes, it will take time," agreed Stevens, remembering what the
+Titanian captain had told him concerning the construction of those
+plants--generators which had been in continuous and automatic operation
+for thousands of Saturnian years.
+
+"It will take more than time--it will take lives," replied Barkovis,
+gravely. "Scores, perhaps hundreds, of us will never again breathe the
+clear, pure air of Titan. In spite of all precaution and all possible
+bracing and insulation, man after man after man will be crushed by
+his own weight, volatilized by the awful heat, poisoned by the foul
+atmosphere, or will burst into unthinkable flames at the touch of some
+flying spark from the inconceivably hot metals with which we shall have
+to work. A horrible fate, but we shall not lack for volunteers."
+
+"Sure not; and of course you yourself would go. And I never thought of
+the effect a spark would have on you--your tissues would probably be
+wildly inflammable. But say, I just had a thought. Just how hot is the
+air at those plants and just what is the actual pressure?"
+
+"According to the records, the temperature is some forty of your
+centigrade degrees above the melting-point of water, and the pressure
+is not far short of two of your meters of mercury. I find it almost
+impossible to think of mercury as a liquid, however."
+
+"You find it impossible, since you use it as a metal, for wires in coils
+and so on. But plus forty, while pretty warm, isn't impossible, by any
+means; and we could stand double our air pressure for quite a while.
+Both my partner and I are pretty fair mechanics and we've got quite a
+line of machine tools, such as you could not possibly have here. We'll
+give it a whirl, since we owe you something already. Lead us to it,
+ace--but wait a minute! We can't see through the fog, so couldn't find
+the plants, and probably your wiring diagrams would explode if I touched
+them."
+
+"I never thought of your helping us," mused Barkovis. "The idea of any
+living being existing in that inferno has always been unthinkable, but
+the difficulties you mention are slight. We have already built in our
+vessel communicators similar to yours, and radio sets. With these we can
+guide you and explain the plants to you as you work, and our tractor
+beams will be of assistance to you in moving heavy objects, even at such
+distances from the surface as we Titanians shall have to maintain. If
+you will set out a flask of your atmosphere, we will analyze it, for the
+thought has come to me that perhaps, being planet-dwellers yourselves,
+the air of Saturn might not be as poisonous to you as it is to us."
+
+"That's a thought, too," and, the news broadcast, it was not long until
+the two ships leaped into the air, to the accompaniment of the cheers
+and plaudits of a watching multitude.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a wide curve they sped toward Saturn. Passing so close to the
+enormous rings that the individual meteoric fragments could almost be
+seen with the unaided eye, they flashed on and on, slowing down long
+before they approached the upper surface of the envelope of cloud.
+The spherical space-ship stopped and Stevens, staring into his useless
+screen, drove the _Forlorn Hope_ downward mile after mile, solely under
+Barkovis' direction, changing course and power from time to time as the
+Titanian's voice came from the speaker at his elbow. Slower and slower
+became the descent, until finally, almost upon the broad, flat roof
+of the power-plant, Stevens saw it in his plate. Breathing deeply in
+relief, he dropped quickly down upon a flat pavement, neutralized his
+controls, and turned to Nadia.
+
+"Well, old golf-shootist, we're here at last--now we'll go out and see
+what's gone screwy with the works. Remember that gravity is about double
+normal here, and conduct yourself accordingly."
+
+"But it's supposed to be only about nine-tenths," she objected.
+
+"That's at the outer surface of the atmosphere," he replied. "And it's
+_some_ atmosphere--not like the thin layer we've got on Tellus."
+
+They went into the airlock, and Stevens admitted air until their
+suits began to collapse. Then, face-plate valves cracked, he sniffed
+cautiously, finally opening his helmet wide. Nadia followed suit and
+the man laughed as she wrinkled her nose in disgust as two faint, but
+unmistakable odors smote her olfactory nerves.
+
+"I never cared particularly for hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide,
+either," he assured her, "but they aren't strong enough to hurt us in
+the short time we'll be here. Those Titanian chemists know their stuff,
+though."
+
+He opened the outer valves slowly, then opened the door and they stepped
+down upon the smooth, solid floor, which Stevens examined carefully.
+
+"I thought so, from his story. Solid platinum! This whole plant is
+built of platinum, iridium, and noble alloys--the only substances known
+that will literally last forever. Believe me, ace of my bosom, I don't
+wonder that it cost them lives to build it--with their conditions, I
+don't see how they ever got it built at all."
+
+Before them rose an immense, flat-topped cone of metal, upon the top of
+which was situated the power plant. Twelve massive pillars supported a
+flat roof, but permitted the air to circulate freely throughout the one
+great room which housed the machinery. They climbed a flight of stairs,
+passed between two pillars, and stared about them. There was no noise,
+no motion--there was nothing that _could_ move. Twelve enormous masses
+of metallic checkerwork, covered with wide cooling fins, almost filled
+the vast hall. From the center of each mass great leads extended out
+into a clear space in the middle of the room, there uniting in mid-air
+to form one enormous bus-bar. This bar, thicker than a man's body, had
+originally curved upward to the base of an immense parabolic structure
+of latticed bars. Now, however, it was broken in midspan and the two
+ends bent toward the floor. Above their heads, a jagged hole gaped in
+the heavy metal of the roof, and a similar hole had been torn in the
+floor. The bar had been broken and these holes had been made by some
+heavy body, probably a meteorite, falling with terrific velocity.
+
+"This is it, all right," Stevens spoke to distant Barkovis. "Sure
+there's nothing on this beam? If it should be hot and I should short
+circuit or bridge it with my body, it would be just too bad."
+
+"We have made sure that nothing is connected to it," the Titanian
+assured him. "Do you think you can do anything?"
+
+"Absolutely. We've got jacks that'll bend heavier stuff than that, and
+after we get it straightened the welding will be easy, but I'll have
+to have some metal. Shall I cut a piece off the pavement outside?"
+
+"That will not be necessary. You will find ample stores of spare metal
+piled at the base of each pillar."
+
+"All x. Now we'll get the jack, Nadia," and they went back to their
+vessel, finding that upon Saturn, their combined strength was barely
+sufficient to drag the heavy tool along the floor.
+
+"Stand aside, please. We will place it for you," a calm voice sounded in
+their ears, and a pale blue tractor beam picked the massive jack lightly
+from the floor, and as lightly lifted it to its place beneath the broken
+bus-bar and held it there while Stevens piled blocks and plates of
+platinum beneath its base.
+
+"Well, here's where I peel down as far as the law allows. This is going
+to be real work, girl--no fooling. It'd help a lot if this outfit were
+sending out a few thousand kilo-franks instead of standing idle."
+
+"How would that help?"
+
+"It's a heat-engine, you know--works by absorbing heat. The cold air
+sinks--I imagine it pretty nearly blows a gale down the side of this
+cone when it's working--and hot air rushes in to take its place. I could
+use a little cool breeze right now," and Stevens, stripped to the waist,
+bent to the lever of the powerful hydraulic jack.
+
+Beads of sweat gathered upon his broad back, uniting to form tiny
+rivulets, and the girl became highly concerned about him.
+
+"Let me help you, Steve--I'm pretty husky, too, you know."
+
+"Sure you are, ace, but this is a job for a truck-horse, not a
+tenderly-nurtured maiden of the upper classes. You can help, though, by
+breaking out that welding outfit and getting it ready while I'm doing
+this bending to prepare for the welding."
+
+Under the urge of that mighty jack the ends of the broken bus-bar rose
+into place, while far off in space the Titanians clustered about their
+visiray screens, watching, in almost unbelieving amazement, the
+supernatural being who labored in that reeking inferno of heat and
+poisonous vapor--who labored almost naked and entirely unprotected,
+refreshing himself from time to time with drafts of molten water!
+
+"All x, Barkovis--that's high, I guess." Stevens flipped perspiration
+from his hot forehead with a wet finger and straightened his weary back.
+"Now you can put this jack away where we had it. Then you might trundle
+me over enough of that spare metal to fill up this hole, and I'll put on
+my suit and goggles and practice welding on this floor and the roof, to
+get the feel of the metal before I tackle the bar."
+
+The hole in the floor was filled with scrap and soon sparks were flying
+wildly as the searing beam of Stevens' welding projector bit viciously
+into the stubborn alloy of noble metals; fashioning a smooth, solid
+floor where the yawning aperture had been. Then, lifted with his tools
+and plates to the roof, the man repaired that hole also.
+
+"Now I know enough about it to do a good job on the bar," he decided,
+and brick after brick of alloy was fused into the crack, until only a
+smoothly rounded bulge betrayed that a break had ever existed in that
+mighty rod of metal.
+
+"Give 'em the signal to draw power, and see if that's all that was the
+matter," Stevens instructed, as he relaxed in the grateful coolness of
+their control room. "Whew, that was a warm job, Nadia--and this air of
+ours does smell good!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"It was a horrible job, and I'm glad it's done," she declared. "But say,
+Steve, that thing looks as little like a power-plant as anything I can
+imagine. How does it work? You said that it worked on heat, but I don't
+quite see how. But don't draw diagrams and _please_ don't integrate!"
+
+"No ordinary plant such as we use could run for centuries
+without attention," he replied. "This is a highly advanced
+heat-engine--something like a thermo-couple, you know. This whole thing
+is simply the hot end, connected to the cold end on Titan by a beam
+instead of wires. When it's working, this metal must cool off something
+fierce. That's what the checkerwork and fins are for--so that it can
+absorb the maximum amount of heat from the current of hot, moist air
+I spoke about. It's a sweet system--we'll have to rig up one between
+Tellus and the moon. Or even between the Equator and the Arctic Circle
+there'd be enough thermal differential to give us a million kilofranks.
+We haven't got the all x signal yet, but it's working--look at it sweat
+as it cools down!"
+
+"I'll say it's sweating--the water is simply streaming off it!" In their
+plate they saw that moisture was already beginning to condense upon the
+heat-absorber: moisture running down the fins in streams and creeping
+over the dull metal floor in sluggish sheets; moisture which, turning
+into ice in the colder interior of the checkerwork, again became fluid
+at the inrush of hot, wet Saturnian air.
+
+"There's the signal--all x, Barkovis? By the way it's condensing water,
+it seems to be functioning again."
+
+"Perfect!" came the Titanian's enthusiastic reply, "You two
+planet-dwellers have done more in three short hours than the entire
+force of Titan could have accomplished in months. You have earned, and
+shall receive, the highest...."
+
+"As you were, ace!" Stevens interrupted, embarrassed. "This job was just
+like shooting fish down a well, for us. Since you saved our lives, we
+owe you a lot yet. We're coming out--straight up!"
+
+The _Forlorn Hope_ shot upward, through mile after mile of steaming fog,
+until at last she broke through into the light, clear outer atmosphere.
+Stevens located the Titanian space-ship, and the two vessels once more
+hurtling together through the ether toward Titan, he turned to his
+companion.
+
+"Take the controls, will you, Nadia? Think I'll finish up the tube. I
+brought along a piece of platinum from the power plant, and something
+that I think is tantalum from Barkovis' description of it. With those
+and the fractions we melted out, I think I can make everything we'll
+need."
+
+Now that he had comparatively pure metal with which to work, drawing
+the leads and filaments was relatively a simple task. Working over
+the hot-bench with torch and welding projector, he made short work of
+running the leads through the almost plastic glass of the great tube and
+of sealing them in place. The plates and grids presented more serious
+problems; but they were solved and, long before Titan was reached, the
+tube was out in space, supported by a Titanian tractor beam between the
+two vessels. Stevens came into the shop, holding a modified McLeod gauge
+which he had just taken from the interior of the tube. When it had come
+to equilibrium, he read it carefully and yelled.
+
+"Eureka, little fellow! She's down to where I can't read it, even on
+this big gauge--so hard that it won't need flashing--harder than any
+vacuum I ever got on Tellus, even with a Rodebush-Michalek super-pump!"
+
+"But how about occluded and absorbed gas in the filaments and so on when
+they heat up?" demanded Nadia, practically.
+
+"All gone, ace. I out-gassed 'em plenty out there--seven times, almost
+to fusion. There isn't enough gas left in the whole thing to make a deep
+breath for a microbe."
+
+He took up his welding projector and a beam carried him back to the
+tube. There, in the practically absolute vacuum of space, the last
+openings in the glass were sealed, and man and great transmitting tube
+were wafted lightly back into the Terrestrial cruiser.
+
+Hour after hour mirrored Titanian sphere and crude-fashioned terrestrial
+wedge bored serenely on through space, and it was not until Titan loomed
+large beneath them that the calm was broken by an insistent call from
+Titan to the sphere.
+
+"Barkodar, attention! Barkodar, attention!" screamed from the speakers,
+and they heard Barkovis acknowledge the call.
+
+"The Sedlor have broken through and are marching upon Titania. The order
+has gone out for immediate mobilization of every unit."
+
+"There's that word 'Sedlor' again--what are they, anyway, Steve?"
+demanded Nadia.
+
+"I don't know. I was going to ask him when he sprung it on us first, but
+he was pretty busy then and I haven't thought of it since. Something
+pretty serious, though--they've jumped their acceleration almost to
+Tellurian gravity, and none of them can live through much of that."
+
+"Tellurians?" came the voice of Barkovis from the speaker. "We have
+just...."
+
+"All x--we were on your wave and heard it," interrupted Stevens. "We're
+with you. What are those Sedlor, anyway? Maybe we can help you dope out
+something."
+
+"Perhaps--but whatever you do, do not use your heat-projector. That
+would start a conflagration raging over the whole country, and we shall
+have enough to do without fighting fire. But it may be that you have
+other weapons, of which we are ignorant, and I can use a little time in
+explanation before we arrive. The Sedlor are a form of life, something
+like your..." he paused, searching through his scanty store of Earthly
+knowledge, then went on, doubtfully, "perhaps some thing like your
+insects. They developed a sort of intelligence, and because of their
+fecundity, adapted themselves to their environment as readily as did
+man; and for ages they threatened man's supremacy upon Titan. They
+devoured vegetation, crops, animals, and mankind. After a world-wide
+campaign, however, they were finally exterminated, save in the
+neighborhood of one great volcanic crater, which they so honeycombed
+that it is almost impregnable. All around that district we have erected
+barriers of force, maintained by a corps of men known as 'Guardians of
+the Sedlor.' These barriers extend so far into the ground and so high
+into the air that the Sedlor can neither burrow beneath them nor fly
+over them. They were being advanced as rapidly as possible, and in a
+few more years the insects would have been destroyed completely--but
+now they are again at large. They have probably developed an armor or
+a natural resistance greater than the Guardians thought possible, so
+that when the walls were weakened, they came through in their millions,
+underground and undetected. They are now attacking our nearest city--the
+one you know, and which you have called Titania."
+
+"What do you use--those high-explosive bombs?"
+
+"The bombs were developed principally for use against them, but proved
+worse than useless, for we found that when a Sedlor was blown to pieces,
+each piece forthwith developed into a new, complete creature. Our most
+efficient weapons are our heat rays--not yours remember--and poison gas.
+I must prepare our arms."
+
+"Would our heat-ray actually set them afire, Steve?" Nadia asked, as the
+plate went blank.
+
+"I'll say it would. I'll show you what heat means to them--showing
+you will be plainer than any amount of explanation," and he shot the
+visiray beam down toward the city of Titania. Into a low-lying building
+it went, and Nadia saw a Titanian foundry in full operation. Men clad
+in asbestos armor were charging, tending, and tapping great electric
+furnaces and crucibles; shrinking back and turning their armored heads
+away as the hissing, smoking melt crackled into the molds from their
+long-handled ladles. Nadia studied the foundry for a moment, interested,
+but unimpressed.
+
+"Of course it's hot there--foundries always _are_ hot," she argued.
+
+"Yes, but you haven't got the idea yet." Stevens turned again to the
+controls, following the sphere toward what was evidently a line of
+battle. "That stuff that they are melting and casting and that is so
+hot, is not metal, but _ice!_ Remember that the vital fluid of all life
+here, animal and vegetable, corresponding to our water, is probably
+more inflammable than gasoline. If they can't work on ice-water without
+wearing suits of five-ply asbestos, what would a real heat-ray do to
+them? It'd be about like our taking a dive into the sun!"
+
+"_Ice_!" she exclaimed. "Oh of course--but you couldn't really believe
+a thing like that without seeing it, could you? Oh, Steve--how utterly
+horrible!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The "Barkodar" had dropped down into a line of sister ships, and had
+gone into action in midair against a veritable swarm of foes. Winged
+centipedes they were--centipedes fully six feet long, hurling themselves
+along the ground and through the air in furious hordes. From the flying
+globes emanated pale beams of force, at the touch of which the Sedlor
+disappeared in puffs of vapor. Upon the ground huge tractors and trucks,
+manned by masked soldiery, mounted mighty reflectors projecting the same
+lethal beam. From globes and tanks there sounded a drumming roar and
+small capsules broke in thousands among the foe; emitting a red cloud of
+gas in which the centipedes shriveled and died. But for each one that
+was destroyed two came up from holes in the ground and the battle-line
+fell back toward Titania, back toward a long line of derrick-like
+structures which were sinking force-rods into the ground in furious
+haste.
+
+Stevens flashed on his ultra-violet projector and swung it into the
+thickest ranks of the enemy. In the beam many of the monsters died,
+but the Terrestrial ray was impotent compared with the weapons of the
+Titanians, and Stevens, snapping off the beam with a bitter imprecation,
+shot the visiray out toward the bare, black cone of the extinct volcano
+and studied it with care.
+
+"Barkovis, I've got a thought!" he snapped into the microphone. "Their
+stronghold is in that mountain, and there's millions of them in there
+yet, coming out along their tunnels. They've got all the vegetation
+eaten away for miles, so there's nothing much left there to spread a
+fire if I go to work on that hill, and, I'll probably melt enough water
+to put out most of the fires I start. Detail me a couple of ships to
+drop your fire-foam bombs on any little blazes that may spread, and I'll
+give them so much to worry about at home, that they'll forget all about
+Titania."
+
+The _Forlorn Hope_ darted toward the crater, followed closely by two of
+the dazzling globes. They circled the mountain until Stevens found a
+favorable point of attack--a stupendous vertical cliff of mingled rock
+and crystal, upon the base of which he trained his terrific infra-red
+projector.
+
+"I'm going to draw a lot of power," he warned the Titanians then. "I'm
+giving this gun everything she'll take."
+
+He drove the massive switches in, and as that dull red beam struck the
+cliff's base there was made evident the awful effect of a concentrated
+beam of real and pure heat upon such an utterly frigid world. Vast
+columns of fire roared aloft, helping Stevens, melting and destroying
+the very ground as the bodies of the Sedlor in that gigantic ant-heap
+burst into flames. Clouds of superheated steam roared upward, condensing
+into a hot rain which descended in destructive torrents upon the
+fastnesses of the centipedes. As the raging beam ate deeper and deeper
+into the base of the cliff, the mountain itself began to disintegrate;
+block after gigantic block breaking off and crashing down into the
+flaming, boiling, seething cauldron which was the apex of that ravening
+beam.
+
+Hour after hour Stevens drove his intolerable weapon into the great
+mountain, teeming with Sedlorean life; and hour after hour a group of
+Titanian spheres stood by, deluging the surrounding plain with a flood
+of heavy fumes, through which the holocaust could not spread for lack of
+oxygen. Not until the mountain was gone--not until in its stead there
+lay a furiously boiling lake, its flaming surface hundreds of feet below
+the level of the plain--did Stevens open his power circuits and point
+the deformed prow of the _Forlorn Hope_ toward Titania.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+The Return to Ganymede
+
+
+"Must you go back to Ganymede?" Barkovis asked, slowly and
+thoughtfully. He was sitting upon a crystal bench beside the fountain,
+talking with Stevens, who, dressed in his bulging space-suit, stood near
+an airlock of the _Forlorn Hope_. "It seems a shame that you should face
+again those unknown, monstrous creatures who so inexcusably attacked us
+both without provocation."
+
+"I'm not so keen on it myself, but I can't see any other way out of it,"
+the Terrestrial replied. "We left a lot of our equipment there, you
+know; and even if I should build duplicates here, it wouldn't do us any
+good. These ten-nineteens are the most powerful transmitting tubes known
+when we left Tellus, but even their fields, dense as they are, can't
+hold an ultra-beam together much farther than about six astronomical
+units. So you see we can't possibly reach our friends from here with
+this tube; and your system of beam transmission won't hold anything
+together even that far, and won't work on any wave shorter than Roeser's
+Rays. We may run into some more of those little spheres, though, and I
+don't like the prospect. I wonder if we couldn't plate a layer of that
+mirror of yours upon the _Hope_ and carry along a few of those bombs? By
+the way, what is that explosive--or is it something beyond Tellurian
+chemistry?"
+
+"Its structure should be clear to you, although you probably could not
+prepare it upon Tellus because of your high temperature. It is nothing
+but nitrogen--twenty-six atoms of nitrogen combined to form one molecule
+of what you would call--N-twenty-six?"
+
+"Wow!" Stevens whistled. "Crystalline, pentavalent nitrogen--no wonder
+it's violent!"
+
+"We could, of course, cover your vessel with the mirror, but I am afraid
+that it would prove of little value. The plates are so hot that it would
+soon volatilize."
+
+"Not necessarily," argued Stevens. "We could live in number one
+life-boat, and shut off the heat everywhere else. The life-boats are
+insulated from the structure proper, and the inner and outer walls of
+the structure are insulated from each other. With only the headquarters
+lifeboat warm, the outer wall could be held pretty close to zero
+absolute."
+
+"That is true. The bombs, of course, are controlled by radio, and
+therefore may be attached to the outer wall of your vessel. We shall be
+glad to do these small things for you."
+
+The heaters of the _Forlorn Hope_ were shut off, and as soon as the
+outer shell had cooled to Titanian temperature, a corps of mechanics set
+to work. A machine very like a concrete mixer was rolled up beside the
+steel vessel, and into its capacious maw were dumped boxes and barrels
+of dry ingredients and many cans of sparkling liquid. The resultant
+paste was pumped upon the steel plating in a sluggish, viscid stream,
+which spread out into a thick and uniform coating beneath the flying
+rollers of the skilled Titanian workmen. As it hardened, the paste
+smoothed magically into the perfect mirror which covered the
+space-vessels of the satellite; and a full dozen of the mirror explosive
+bombs of this strange people were hung in the racks already provided.
+
+"Once again I must caution you concerning those torpedoes," Barkovis
+warned Stevens. "If you use them all, very well, but do not try to take
+even one of them into any region where it is very hot, for it will
+explode and demolish your vessel. If you do not use them, destroy them
+before you descend into the hot atmosphere of Ganymede. The mirror will
+volatilize harmlessly at the temperature of melting mercury, but the
+torpedoes must be destroyed. Once more, Tellurians, we thank you for
+what you have done, and wish you well."
+
+"Thanks a lot for _your_ help--we still owe you something," replied
+Stevens. "If either of your power-plants go sour on you again, or if
+you need any more built, be sure to let us know--you can come close
+enough to the inner planets now on your own beam to talk to us on the
+ultra-communicator. We'll be glad to help you any way we can--and we may
+call on you for help again. Goodbye, Barkovis--goodbye, all Titania!"
+
+He made his way through the bitterly cold shop into the control-room of
+their lifeboat, and while he was divesting himself of his heavy suit,
+Nadia lifted the _Forlorn Hope_ into the blue-green sky of Titan,
+accompanied by an escort of the mirrored globes. Well clear of the
+atmosphere of the satellite, the terrestrial cruiser shot forward at
+normal acceleration, while the Titanian vessels halted and wove a
+pattern of blue and golden rays in salute to the departing guests.
+
+"Well, Nadia, we're off--on a long trek, too."
+
+"Said Wun Long Hop, the Chinese pee-lo," Nadia agreed. "Sure
+everything's all x, big boy?"
+
+"To nineteen decimals," he declared. "You couldn't squeeze another frank
+into our accumulators with a proof-bar, and since they're sending us all
+the power we want to draw, we won't need to touch our batteries or tap
+our own beam until we're almost to Jupiter. To cap the climax, what it
+takes to make big medicine on those spherical friends of ours, we've
+got. We're not sitting on top of the world, ace--we've perched exactly
+at the apex of the entire universe!"
+
+"How long is it going to take?"
+
+"Don't know. Haven't figured it yet, but it'll be _beaucoup_ days," and
+the two wanderers from far-distant Earth settled down to the routine of
+a long and uneventful journey.
+
+They gave Saturn and his spectacular rings a wide berth and sped on,
+with ever-increasing velocity. Past the outer satellites, on and on,
+the good ship _Forlorn Hope_ flew into the black-and-brilliant depths of
+interplanetary space. Saturn was an ever-diminishing disk beneath them:
+above them was Jupiter's thin crescent, growing ever larger and more
+bright, and the Monarch of the Solar System, remaining almost stationary
+day after day, increasing steadily in apparent diameter and in
+brilliance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Although the voyage from Titan to Ganymede was long, it was not
+monotonous, for there was much work to be done in the designing and
+fabrication of the various units which were to comprise the ultra-radio
+transmitting station. In the various compartments of the _Forlorn Hope_
+there were sundry small motors, blowers, coils, condensers, force-field
+generators, and other items which Stevens could use with little or no
+alteration; but for the most part he had to build everything himself.
+Thus it was that time passed quickly; so quickly that Jupiter loomed
+large and the Saturnian beam of power began to attenuate almost before
+the Terrestrials realized that their journey was drawing to an end.
+
+"Our beam's falling apart fast," Stevens read his meters carefully, then
+swung his communicator beam toward Jupiter. "We aren't getting quite
+enough power to hold our acceleration at normal--think I'll cut now,
+while we're still drawing enough to let the Titanians know we're off
+their beam. We've got lots of power of our own now; and we're getting
+pretty close to enemy territory, so they may locate that heavy beam.
+Have you found Ganymede yet?"
+
+"Yes, it will be on the other side of Jupiter by the time we get there.
+Shall I detour, or put on a little more negative and wait for it to come
+around to this side?"
+
+"Better wait, I think. The farther away we stay from Jupiter and the
+major satellites, the better."
+
+"All x--it's on. Suppose we'd better start standing watches, in case
+some of them show up?"
+
+"No use," he dissented. "I've been afraid to put out our
+electromagnetic detectors, as they could surely trace them in use.
+Without them, we couldn't spot an enemy ship even if we were looking
+right at it, except by accident; since they won't be lighted up and
+it's awfully hard to see anything out here, anyway. We probably won't
+know they're within a million kilometers until they put a beam on us.
+Barkovis says that this mirror will reflect any beam they can use, and
+I've already got a set of photo-cells in circuit to ring an alarm at
+the first flash off of our mirror plating. I'd like to get in the first
+licks myself, but I haven't been able to dope out any way of doing it.
+So you might as well sleep in your own room, as usual, and I'll camp
+here right under the panel until we get to Ganymede. There's a couple
+of little things I just thought of, though, that may help some; and
+I'm going to do 'em right now."
+
+Putting on his space-suit, he picked up a power drill and went out into
+the bitter cold of the outer structure. There he attacked the inner
+wall of their vessel, and the carefully established inter-wall vacuum
+disappeared in a screaming hiss of air as the tempered point bit through
+plate after plate.
+
+"What's the idea, Steve?" Nadia asked, when he had re-entered the
+control room. "Now you'll have all that pumping to do over again."
+
+"Protection for the mirrors," he explained. "You see, they aren't
+perfect reflectors. There's a little absorption, so that some stuff
+comes through. Not much, of course; but enough to kill some of those
+Titanians and almost enough to ruin their ship got through in about ten
+minutes, and only one enemy was dealing it out. We can stand more than
+they could, of course, but the mirror itself won't stand much more heat
+than it was absorbing then. But with air in those spaces instead of
+vacuum, and with the whole mass of the _Hope_, except this one lifeboat,
+as cold as it is, I figure that there'll be enough conduction and
+convection through them to keep the outer wall and the mirror cold--cool
+enough, at least, to hold the mirror on for an hour. If only one ship
+tackles us, it won't be bad--but I figure that if there's only one,
+we're lucky."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Stevens' fears were only too well grounded, for during the "evening" of
+the following day, while he was carefully scanning the heavens for some
+sign of enemy craft, the alarm bell over his head burst into its brazen
+clamor. Instantly he shot out the detectors and ultra-lights and saw not
+one, but six of the deadly globes--almost upon them, at point-blank
+range! One was already playing a beam of force upon the _Forlorn Hope_,
+and the other five went into action immediately upon feeling the
+detector impulses and perceiving that the weapon of their sister ship
+had encountered an unusual resistance in the material of that peculiarly
+mirrored wedge. As those terrific forces struck her, the terrestrial
+cruiser became a vast pyrotechnic set piece, a dazzling fountain of
+coruscant brilliance: for the mirror held. The enemy beams shot back
+upon themselves and rebounded in all directions, in the same spectacular
+exhibition of frenzied incandescence which had marked the resistance of
+the Titanian sphere to a similar attack.
+
+But Stevens was not idle. In the instant of launching his detectors,
+as fast as he could work the trips, four of the frightful nitrogen
+bombs of Titan--all that he could handle at once--shot out into space,
+their rocket-tubes flaring viciously. The enemy detectors of course
+located the flying torpedoes immediately, but, contemptuous of material
+projectiles, the spheres made no attempt to dodge, but merely lashed out
+upon them with their ravening rays. So close was the range that they
+had no time to avoid the radio-directed bombs after discovering that
+their beams were useless against the unknown protective covering of
+those mirrored shells. There were four practically simultaneous
+detonations--silent, but terrific explosions as the pent-up internal
+energy of solid pentavalent nitrogen was instantaneously released--and
+the four insensately murderous spheres disappeared into jagged fragments
+of wreckage, flying wildly away from the centers of explosion. One great
+mass of riven and twisted metal was blown directly upon the fifth globe,
+and Nadia stared in horrified fascination at the silent crash as the
+entire side of the ship crumpled inward like a shell of cardboard under
+the awful impact. That vessel was probably out of action, but Stevens
+was taking no chances. As soon as he had clamped a pale blue tractor rod
+upon the sixth and last of the enemy fleet, he drove a torpedo through
+the gaping wall and into the interior of the helpless war-vessel. There
+he exploded it, and the awful charge, detonated in that confined space,
+literally tore the globular space-ship to bits.
+
+"We'll show these jaspers what kind of trees make shingles!" he gritted
+between clenched teeth; and his eyes, hard now as gray iron, fairly
+emitted sparks as he launched four torpedoes upon the sole remaining
+globe of the squadron of the void. "I've had a lot of curiosity to know
+just what kind of unnatural monstrosities can possibly have such
+fiendish dispositions as they've got--but beasts, men or devils, they'll
+find they've grabbed something this time they can't let go of," and
+fierce blasts of energy ripped from the exhausts as he drove his
+missiles, at their highest possible acceleration, toward the captive
+sphere so savagely struggling at the extremity of his tractor beam.
+
+But that one remaining vessel was to prove no such easy victim as had
+its sister ships. Being six to one, and supposedly invincible, the
+squadron had been overconfident and had attacked carelessly, with only
+its crippling slicing beams instead of its more deadly weapons of total
+destruction; and so fierce and hard had been Stevens' counter-attack
+that five of its numbers had been destroyed before they realized what
+powerful armament was mounted by that apparently crude, helpless,
+and innocuous wedge. The sixth, however, was fully warned, and every
+resource at the command of its hellish crew was now being directed
+against the _Forlorn Hope_.
+
+Sheets, cones, and gigantic rods of force flashed and crackled. Space
+was filled with silent, devastating tongues of flame. The _Forlorn
+Hope_ was dragged about erratically as the sphere tried to dodge those
+hurtling torpedoes; tried to break away from the hawser of energy
+anchoring her so solidly to her opponent. But the linkage held, and
+closer and closer Stevens drove the fourfold menace of his frightful
+dirigible bombs. Pressor beams beat upon them in vain. Hard driven as
+those pushers were, they could find no footing, but were reflected at
+many angles by that untouchable mirror and their utmost force scarcely
+impeded the progress of the rocket-propelled missiles. Comparatively
+small as the projectiles were, however, they soon felt the effects of
+the prodigious beams of heat enveloping them, and torpedo after torpedo
+exploded harmlessly in space as their mirrors warmed up and volatilized.
+But for each bomb that was lost, Stevens launched another, and each one
+came closer to its objective than had its predecessor.
+
+Made desperate by the failure of his every beam, the enemy commander
+thought to use material projectiles himself--weapons abandoned long
+since by his race as antiquated and inefficient, but a few of which were
+still carried by the older types of vessels. One such shell was found
+and launched--but in the instant of its launching Stevens' foremost bomb
+struck its mark and exploded. So close were the other three bombs, that
+they also let go at the shock; and the warlike sphere, hemmed in by four
+centers of explosions, flew apart--literally pulverized. Its projectile,
+so barely discharged, did not explode--it was loaded with material which
+could be detonated only by the warhead upon impact or by a radio signal.
+It was, however, deflected markedly from its course by the force of the
+blast, so that instead of striking the _Forlorn Hope_ in direct central
+impact, its head merely touched the apex of the mirror-plated wedge.
+That touch was enough. There was another appalling concussion, another
+blinding glare, and the entire front quarter of the terrestrial vessel
+had gone to join the shattered globes.
+
+Between the point of explosion and the lifeboats there had been many
+channels of insulation, many bulkheads, many air-breaks, and compartment
+after compartment of accumulator cells. These had borne the brunt of the
+explosion, so that the control room was unharmed, and Stevens swung his
+communicator rapidly through the damaged portions of the vessels.
+
+"How badly are we hurt, Steve--can we make it to Ganymede?"
+
+Nadia was quietly staring over his shoulder into the plate, studying
+with him the pictures of destruction there portrayed as he flashed the
+projector from compartment to compartment.
+
+"We're hurt--no fooling--but it might have been a lot worse," he
+replied, as he completed the survey. "We've lost about all of our
+accumulators, but we can land on our own beam, and landing power is all
+we want, I think. You see, we're drifting straight for where Ganymede
+will be, and we'd better cut out every bit of power we're using, even
+the heaters, until we get there. This lifeboat will hold heat for quite
+a while, and I'd rather get pretty cold than meet any more of that gang.
+I figured eight hours just before they met us, and we were just about
+drifting then. I think it is safe to say seven hours blind."
+
+"But can't they detect us anyway? They may have sent out a call, you
+know."
+
+"If we aren't using any power for anything, their electromagnetics are
+the only things we'll register on, and they're mighty short-range
+finders. Even if they should get that close to us, they'll probably
+think we're meteoric, since we'll be dead to their other instruments.
+Luckily we've got lots of air, so the chemical purifiers can handle it
+without power. I'll shut off everything and we'll drift it. Couldn't do
+much of anything, anyway--even our shop out there won't hold air. But we
+can have light. We've got acetylene emergency lamps, you know, and we
+don't need to economize on oxygen."
+
+"Perhaps we'd better run in the dark. Remember what you told me about
+their possible visirays, and that you've got only two bombs left."
+
+"All x; that would be better. If I forget it, remind me to blow up those
+before we hit the atmosphere of Ganymede, will you?" He opened all the
+power switches, and, every source of ethereal vibrations cut off, the
+_Forlorn Hope_ drifted slowly on, now appearing forlorn indeed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Seven hours dragged past: seven age-long hours during which the two sat
+tense, expecting they knew not what, talking only at intervals and in
+subdued tones. Stevens then snapped on the communicator beam just long
+enough to take an observation upon Ganymede. Several such brief glimpses
+were taken; then, after a warning word to his companion, he sent out and
+exploded the nitrogen bombs. He then threw on the power, and the vessel
+leaped toward the satellite under full acceleration. Close to the
+atmosphere it slanted downward in a screaming, fifteen-hundred-mile
+drive; and soon the mangled wedge dropped down into the little canyon,
+which for so long had been "home."
+
+"Well, colonel, home again!" Stevens exulted as he neutralized the
+controls. "There's that falls, our power plant, the catapults, 'n'
+everything. Now, unless something interrupts us again; we'll run up
+our radio tower and give Brandon the long yell."
+
+"How much more have you got to do before you can start sending?"
+
+"Not an awful lot. Everything built--all I've got to do is assemble
+it. I should be able to do it easily in a week. Hope nothing else
+happens--if I drag you into any more such messes as those we've just
+been getting out of by the skin of our teeth, I'll begin to wish that
+we had started out at first to drift it back to Tellus in the _Hope_.
+Let's see how much time we've got. We should start shooting one day
+after an eclipse, so that we'll have five days to send. You see, we
+don't want to point our beam too close to Jupiter or to any of the large
+satellites, because the enemy might live there and might intercept it.
+We had an eclipse yesterday--so one week from today, at sunrise, I
+start shooting."
+
+"But Earth's an evening star now; you can't see it in the morning."
+
+"I'm not going to aim at Tellus. I'm shooting at Brandon, and he's never
+there for more than a week or two at a stretch. They're prowling around
+out in space somewhere almost all the time."
+
+"Then how can you possibly hope to hit them?"
+
+"It may be quite a job of hunting, but not as bad as you might think.
+They probably aren't much, if any, outside the orbit of Mars, and
+they usually stay within a couple of million kilometers or so of the
+Ecliptic, so we'll start at the sun and shoot our beam in a spiral
+to cover that field. We ought to be able to hit them inside of twelve
+hours, but if we don't, we'll widen our spiral and keep on trying until
+we do hit them."
+
+"Heavens, Steve! Are you planning on telegraphing steadily for days at
+a time?"
+
+"Sure, but not by hand, of course--I'll have an automatic sender and
+automatic pointers."
+
+Stevens had at his command a very complete machine-shop, he had an ample
+supply of power, and all that remained for him to do was to assemble the
+parts which he had built during the long journey from Titan to Ganymede.
+Therefore, at sunrise of the designated day, he was ready, and, with
+Nadia hanging breathless over his shoulder, he closed the switch, a
+toothed wheel engaged a delicate interrupter, and a light sounder began
+its strident chatter.
+
+"Ganymede point oh four seven ganymede point oh four seven ganymede
+point oh four seven..." endlessly the message was poured out into the
+ether, carried by a tight beam of ultra-vibrations and driven by forces
+sufficient to propel it well beyond the opposite limits of the orbit
+of Mars.
+
+"What does it say? I can't read code."
+
+Stevens translated the brief message, but Nadia remained unimpressed.
+
+"But it doesn't say anything!" she protested. "It isn't addressed to
+anybody, it isn't signed--it doesn't tell anybody anything about
+anything."
+
+"It's all there, ace. You see, since the beam is moving sidewise very
+rapidly at that range and we're shooting at a small target, the message
+has to be very short or they won't get it all while the beam's on
+'em--it isn't as though we were broadcasting. It doesn't need any
+address, because nobody but the _Sirius_ can receive it--except possibly
+the Jovians. They'll know who's sending it without any signature. It
+tells them that Ganymede wants to receive a message on the ultra-band
+centering on forty-seven thousandths. Isn't that enough?"
+
+"Maybe. But suppose some of them live right here on Ganymede--you'll
+be shooting right through the ground all night--or suppose that even if
+they don't live here, that they can find our beam some way? Or suppose
+that Brandon hasn't got his machine built yet, or suppose that it isn't
+turned on when our beam passes them, or suppose they're asleep then?
+A lot of things might happen."
+
+"Not so many, ace--your first objection is the only one that hasn't got
+more holes in it than a sieve, so I'll take it first. Since our beam is
+only a meter in diameter here and doesn't spread much in the first few
+million kilometers, the chance of direct reception by the enemy, even
+if they do live here on Ganymede, is infinitesimally small. But I don't
+believe that they live here--at least, they certainly didn't land on
+this satellite. As you suggest, however, it is conceivable that they may
+have detector screens delicate enough to locate our beam at a distance;
+but since in all probability that means a distance of hundreds of
+thousands of kilometers, I think it highly improbable. We've got to take
+the same risk anyway, no matter what we do, whenever we start to use any
+kind of driving power, so there's no use worrying about it. As for your
+last two objections, I know Brandon and I know Westfall. Brandon will
+have receivers built that will take in any wave possible of propagation,
+and Westfall, the cautious old egg, will have them running twenty-four
+hours a day, with automatic recorders, finders, and everything else that
+Brandon can invent--and believe me, sweetheart, that's a lot of stuff!"
+
+"It's wonderful, the way you three men are," replied Nadia thoughtfully,
+reading between the lines of Stevens' utterance. "They knew that you
+were on the _Arcturus_, of course--and they knew that if you were alive
+you'd manage in some way to get in touch with them. And you, away out
+here after all this time, are superbly confident that they are expecting
+a call from you. That, I think, is one of the finest things I ever heard
+of."
+
+"They're two of the world's best--absolutely." Nadia looked at him,
+surprised, for he had not seen anything complimentary to himself in her
+remark. "Wait until you meet them. They're men, Nadia--real men. And
+speaking of meeting them--please try to keep on loving me after you meet
+Norm Brandon, will you?"
+
+"Don't be a simp!" her brown eyes met his steadily. "You didn't mean
+that--you didn't even say it, did you?"
+
+"Back it comes, sweetheart! But knowing myself and knowing those
+two...."
+
+"Stop it! If Norman Brandon or Quincy Westfall had been here instead
+of you, or both of them together, we'd have been here from now on--we
+wouldn't even have gotten away from the Jovians!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Now it's your turn to back water, guy!"
+
+"Well, maybe, a little--if both of them were here, they ought to equal
+you in some things. Brandon says himself that he and Westfall together
+make one scientist--Dad says he says so."
+
+"You don't want to believe everything you hear. Neither of them will
+admit that he knows anything or can do anything--that's the way they
+are."
+
+"Dad has told me a lot about them--how they've always been together
+ever since their undergraduate days. How they studied together all over
+the world, even after they'd been given all the degrees loose. How
+they even went to the other planets to study--to Mars, where they had
+to live in space-suits all the time, and to Venus, where they had to
+take ultra-violet treatments every day to keep alive. How they learned
+everything that everybody else knew and then went out into space to find
+out things that nobody else ever dreamed of. How you came to join them,
+and what you three have done since. They're fine, of course--but they
+aren't _you_," she concluded passionately.
+
+"No, thank Heaven! I know you love me, Nadia, just as I love you--you
+know I never doubted it. But you'll like them, really. They're a
+wonderful team. Brandon's a big brute, you know--fully five centimeters
+taller than I am, and he weighs close to a hundred kilograms--and no
+lard, either. He's wild, impetuous, always jumping at conclusions and
+working out theories that seem absolutely ridiculous, but they're
+usually sound, even though impractical. Westfall's the practical
+member--he makes Norm pipe down, pins him down to facts, and makes it
+possible to put his hunches and wild flashes of genius into workable
+form. Quince is a...."
+
+"Now _you_ pipe down! I've heard you rave _so_ much about those two--I'd
+lots rather rave about you, and with more reason. I wish that sounder
+would start sounding."
+
+"Our first message hasn't gone half way yet. It takes about forty
+minutes for the impulse to get to where I think they are, so that even
+if they got the first one and answered it instantly, it would be eighty
+minutes before we'd get it. I sort of expect an answer late tonight, but
+I won't be disappointed if it takes a week to locate them."
+
+"I will!" declared the girl, and indeed, very little work was done that
+day by either of the castaways.
+
+Slowly the day wore on, and the receiving sounder remained silent.
+Supper was eaten as the sun dropped low and disappeared, but they felt
+no desire to sleep. Instead, they went out in front of the steel wall,
+where Stevens built a small campfire. Leaning back against the wall of
+their vessel, they fell into companionable silence, which was suddenly
+broken by Stevens.
+
+"Nadia, I just had a thought. I'll bet four dollars I've wasted a lot of
+time. They'll certainly have automatic relays on Tellus, to save me the
+trouble of hunting for them, but like an idiot I never thought of it
+until just this minute, in spite of the speech I made you about them.
+I'm going to change those directors right now."
+
+"That's quite a job, isn't it?"
+
+"No, only a few minutes."
+
+"Do it in the morning; you've done enough for one day--maybe you've hit
+them already, any way."
+
+They again became silent, watching Jupiter, an enormous moon some seven
+degrees in apparent diameter.
+
+"Steve, I simply can't get used to such a prodigious moon! Look at the
+stripes, and look at that perfectly incredible...."
+
+A gong sounded and they both jumped to their feet and raced madly into
+the _Hope_. The ultra-receiver had come to life and the sounder was
+chattering insanely--someone was sending with terrific speed, but with
+perfect definition and spacing.
+
+"That's Brandon's fist--I'd know his style anywhere," Stevens shouted,
+as he seized notebook and pencil.
+
+"Tell me what it says, quick, Steve!" Nadia implored.
+
+"Can't talk--read it!" Stevens snapped. His hand was flying over the
+paper, racing to keep up with the screaming sounder.
+
+"...ymede all x stevens ganymede all x stevens ganymede all x placing
+and will keep sirius on plane between you and tellus circle fifteen
+forty north going tellus first send full data spreading beam to
+cover circle fifteen forty quince suggests possibility this message
+intercepted and translated personally I think such translation
+impossible and that he is wilder than a hawk but just in case they
+should be supernaturally intelligent...."
+
+Stevens stopped abruptly and stared at the vociferous sounder.
+
+"Don't stop to listen--keep on writing!" commanded Nadia.
+
+"Can't," replied the puzzled mathematician. "It doesn't make sense. It
+sounds intelligent--it's made up of real symbols of some kind or other,
+but they don't mean a thing to me."
+
+"Oh, I see--he's sending mush on purpose. Read the last phrase!"
+
+"Oh, sure--'mush' is right," and with no perceptible break the signals
+again became intelligible.
+
+"... if they can translate that they are better scholars than we are
+signing off until hear from you brandon."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The sounder died abruptly into silence and Nadia sobbed convulsively
+as she threw herself into Stevens' arms. The long strain over, the
+terrible uncertainty at last dispelled, they were both incoherent for
+a minute--Nadia glorifying the exploits of her lover, Stevens crediting
+the girl herself and his two fellow-scientists with whatever success had
+been achieved. A measure of self-control regained, Stevens cut off his
+automatic sender, changed the adjustments of his directors and cut in
+his manually operated sending key.
+
+"What waves are you using, anyway?" asked Nadia, curiously. "They must
+be even more penetrating than Roeser's Rays, to have such a range, and
+Roeser's Rays go right through a planet without even slowing up."
+
+"They're of the same order as Roeser's--that is, they're sub-electronic
+waves of the fourth order--but they're very much shorter, and hence more
+penetrating. In fact, they're the shortest waves yet known, so short
+that Roeser never even suspected their existence."
+
+"Suppose there's a Jovian space-ship out there somewhere that intercepts
+our beams. Couldn't they locate us from it?"
+
+"Maybe, and maybe not--we'll just have to take a chance on that. That
+goes right back to what we were talking about this morning. They might
+be anywhere, so the chance of hitting one is very small. It isn't like
+hitting the _Sirius_, because we knew within pretty narrow limits where
+to look for her, and even at that we had to hunt for her for half a day
+before we hit her. We're probably safe, but even if they should have
+located us, we'll probably be able to hide somewhere until the _Sirius_
+gets here. Well, the quicker I get busy sending the dope, the sooner
+they can get started."
+
+"Tell them to be sure and bring me all my clothes they can find,
+a gallon of perfume, a barrel of powder, and a carload of Delray's
+Fantasie chocolates--I've been a savage so long that I want to wallow
+in luxury for a while."
+
+"I'll do that--and I want some real cigarettes!"
+
+Stevens first sent a terse, but complete account of everything that had
+happened to the _Arcturus_, and a brief summary of what he and Nadia
+had done since the cutting up of the IPV. The narrative finished, he
+launched into a prolonged and detailed scientific discussion of the
+enemy and their offensive and defensive weapons. He dwelt precisely and
+at length upon the functioning of everything he had seen. Though during
+the long months of their isolation he had been too busy to do any actual
+work upon the weapons of the supposed Jovians, yet his keen mind had
+evolved many mathematical and physical deductions, hypotheses, and
+theories, and these he sent out to the _Sirius_, concluding:
+
+"There's all the dope I can give you. Figure it out, and don't come at
+all until you can come loaded for bear; they're bad medicine. Call us
+occasionally, to keep us informed as to when to expect you, but don't
+call too often. We don't want them locating you, and if they should
+locate us through your ray or ours, it would be just too bad. So-long.
+Stevens and Newton."
+
+Nadia had insisted upon staying up and had been brewing pot after pot
+of her substitutes for coffee while he sat at the key; and it was
+almost daylight when he finally shut off the power and arose, his
+right arm practically paralyzed from the unaccustomed strain of hours
+of telegraphing.
+
+"Well, sweetheart, that's that!" he exclaimed in relief. "Brandon and
+Westfall are on the job. Nothing to do now but wait, and study up on our
+own account on those Jovians' rays. This has been one long day for us,
+though, little ace, and I suggest that we sleep for about a week!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Callisto to the Rescue
+
+
+All humanity of Callisto, the fourth major satellite of Jupiter,
+had for many years been waging a desperate and apparently hopeless
+defense against invading hordes of six-limbed beings. Every city and
+town had long since been reduced to level fields of lava by the rays
+of the invaders. Every building and every trace of human civilization
+had long since disappeared from the surface of the satellite. Far
+below the surface lay the city of Zbardk, the largest of the few
+remaining strongholds of the human race. At one portal of the city a
+torpedo-shaped, stubby-winged rocket plane rested in the carriage of a
+catapult. Near it the captain addressed briefly the six men normally
+composing his crew.
+
+"Men, you already know that our cruise today is not an ordinary patrol.
+We are to go to One, there to destroy a base of the hexans. We have
+perhaps one chance in ten thousand of returning. Therefore I am taking
+only one man--barely enough to operate the plane. Volunteers step one
+pace forward."
+
+The six stepped forward as one man, and a smile came over the worn
+face of their leader as he watched them draw lots for the privilege of
+accompanying him to probable death. The two men entered the body of the
+torpedo, sealed the openings and waited.
+
+"Free exits?" snapped the Captain of the Portal, and twelve keen-eyed
+observers studied minutely screens and instrument panels connected to
+the powerful automatic lookout stations beneath the rims of the widely
+separated volcanic craters from which their craft could issue into
+Callisto's somber night.
+
+"No hexan radiation can be detected from Exit Eight," came the report.
+The Captain of the Portal raised an arm in warning, threw in the guides,
+and the two passengers were hurled violently backward, deep into their
+cushioned seats, as the catapult shot their plane down the runway. As
+the catapult's force was spent automatic trips upon the undercarriage
+actuated the propelling rockets and mile after mile, with rapidly
+mounting velocity, the plane sped through the tube. As the exit was
+approached, the tunnel described a long vertical curve, so that when the
+opening into the shaft of the crater was reached and the undercarriage
+was automatically detached, the vessel was projected almost vertically
+upward. Such was its velocity and so powerful was the liquid propellant
+of its rocket motors, that the eye could not follow the flight of the
+warship as it tore through the thin layer of the atmosphere and hurled
+itself out into the depths of space.
+
+"Did we get away?" asked the captain, hands upon his controls and eyes
+upon his moving chart of space.
+
+"I believe so, sir," answered the other officer, at the screens of the
+six periscopic devices which covered the full sphere of vision. "No
+reports from the rim, and all screens blank." Once more a vessel had
+issued from the jealously secret city of Zbardk without betraying its
+existence to the hated and feared hexans.
+
+For a time the terrific rocket motors continued the deafening roar of
+their continuous explosions, then, the desired velocity having been
+attained, they were cut out and for hours the good ship "Bzark" hurtled
+on through the void at an enormous but constant speed toward the distant
+world of One, which it was destined never to reach.
+
+"Captain Czuv! Hexan radiation, coordinates twenty two, fourteen, area
+six!" cried the observer, and the commander swung his own telescopic
+finder into the indicated region. His hands played over course and
+distance plotters for a brief minute, and he stared at his results in
+astonishment.
+
+"I never heard of a hexan traveling that way before," he frowned.
+"Constant negative acceleration and in a straight line. He must think
+that we have been cleared out of the ether. Almost parallel to us and
+not much faster--even at this long range, it is an easy kill unless
+he starts dodging, as usual."
+
+As he spoke, he snapped a switch and from a port under the starboard
+wing there shot out into space a small package of concentrated
+destruction--a rocket-propelled, radio-controlled torpedo. The rockets
+of the tiny missile were flaming, but that flame was visible only from
+the rear and no radio beam was upon it. Czuv had given it precisely the
+direction and acceleration necessary to make it meet the hexan sphere
+in central impact, provided that sphere maintained its course and
+acceleration unchanged.
+
+"Shall I direct the torpedo in the case the hexan shifts?" asked the
+officer.
+
+"I think not. They can, of course, detect any wave at almost any
+distance, and at the first sign of radioactivity they would locate and
+destroy the bomb. They also, in all probability, would destroy us. I
+would not hesitate to attack them on that account alone, but we must
+remember that we are upon a more important mission than attacking one
+hexan ship. We are far out of range of their electromagnetic detectors,
+and our torpedo will have such a velocity that they will have no time to
+protect themselves against it after detection. Unless they shift in the
+next few seconds, they are lost. This is the most perfect shot I ever
+had at one of them, but one shot is all I dare risk--we must not betray
+ourselves."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Course, lookout, and rank forgotten, the little crew of two stared
+into the narrow field of vision, set at its maximum magnification. The
+instruments showed that the enemy vessel was staying upon its original
+course. Very soon the torpedo came within range of the detectors of the
+hexans. But as Captain Czuv had foretold, the detection was a fraction
+of a second too late, rapidly as their screens responded, and the two
+men of Zbardk uttered together a short, fierce cry of joy as a brilliant
+flash of light announced the annihilation of the hexan vessel.
+
+"But hold!" The observer stared into his screen. "Upon that same line,
+but now at constant velocity, there is still a very faint radiation,
+of a pattern I have never seen before."
+
+"I think ... I believe ..." the captain was studying the pattern,
+puzzled. "It must be low frequency, low-tension electricity, which is
+never used, so far as I know. It may be some new engine of destruction,
+which the hexan was towing at such a distance that the explosion of our
+torpedo did not destroy it. Since there are no signs of hexan activity
+and since it will not take much fuel, we shall investigate that
+radiation."
+
+Tail and port-side rockets burst into roaring activity and soon the
+plane was cautiously approaching the mass of wreckage, which had been
+the IPV _Arcturus_.
+
+"Human beings, although of some foreign species!" exclaimed the captain,
+as his vision-ray swept through the undamaged upper portion of the great
+liner and came to rest upon Captain King at his desk.
+
+Although the upper ultra-lights of the Terrestrial vessel had been
+cut away by the hexan plane of force, jury lights had been rigged,
+and the two commanders were soon trying to communicate with each
+other. Intelligible conversation was, of course, impossible, but King
+soon realized that the visitors were not enemies. At their pantomimed
+suggestion he put on a space-suit and wafted himself over to the airlock
+of the Callistonian warplane. Inside the central compartment, the
+strangers placed over his helmet a heavily wired harness, and he found
+himself instantly in full mental communication with the Callistonian
+commander. For several minutes they stood silent, exchanging thoughts
+with a rapidity impossible in any language; then, dressed in
+space-suits, both leaped lightly across the narrow gap into the still
+open outer lock of the terrestrial liner. King watched Czuv narrowly
+after the pressure began to collapse his suit, but the stranger made
+no sign of distress. He had been right in his assurance that the extra
+pressure would scarcely inconvenience him. King tore off his helmet,
+issued a brief order, and soon every speaker in the _Arcturus_
+announced:
+
+"All passengers and all members of the crew except lookouts on duty will
+assemble immediately in Saloon Three to discuss a possible immediate
+rescue."
+
+The subject being one of paramount interest, it was a matter of minutes
+until the full complement of two hundred men and women were in the main
+saloon, clinging to hastily rigged hand lines, closely packed before the
+raised platform upon which were King and Czuv, wired together with the
+peculiar Callistonian harness. To most of the passengers, familiar with
+the humanity of three planets, the appearance of the stranger brought
+no surprise; but many of them stared in undisguised amazement at his
+childish body, his pale, almost colorless skin, his small, weak legs and
+arms, and his massive head.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen!" Captain King opened the meeting. "I introduce to
+you Captain Czuv, of the scout cruiser _Bzarvk_, of the only human race
+now living upon the fourth large satellite of Jupiter, which satellite
+we know as Callisto. I am avoiding their own names as much as possible,
+because they are almost unpronounceable in English or Interplanetarian.
+This device that you see connecting us is a Callistonian thought
+transformer, by means of which any two intelligent beings can converse
+without language. Our situation is peculiar, and in order that you may
+understand fully what lies ahead of us, the captain will now speak to
+you, through me--that is, what follows will be spoken by Captain Czuv,
+of the _Bzarvk_, but he will be using my vocal organs."
+
+"Friends from distant Tellus," King's voice went on, almost without a
+break, "I greet you. I am glad, for your sake as well as our own, that
+your vessel was able to destroy the hexan ship holding you captive, and
+whose crew would have killed you all as soon as they had landed your
+vessel and had read your minds. I regret bitterly that we can do so
+little for you, for only the representatives of a human civilization
+being exterminated by a race of highly intelligent monsters can fully
+realize how desirable it is for all the various races of humanity to
+assist and support each other. In order that you may understand the
+situation, it is necessary that I delve at some length into ancient
+history, but we have ample time. In about ..." he broke off, realizing
+that the two races had no thought in common in the measure of time.
+
+"One-half time of rotation of Great Planet upon axis?" flashed from
+Czuv's brain, and "About five hours," King's mind flashed back.
+
+"It will be about five hours before any steps can be taken, so that I
+feel justified in using a brief period for explanation. In the evolution
+of the various forms of life upon Callisto, two genera developed
+intelligence far ahead of all others. One genus was the human, as you
+and I; the other the hexan. This creature, happily unknown to you of the
+planets nearer our common sun, is the product of an entirely different
+evolution. It is a six-limbed animal, with a brain equal to our own--one
+perhaps in some ways superior to our own. They have nothing in common
+with humanity, however; they have few of our traits and fewer of our
+mental processes. Even we who have fought them so long can scarcely
+comprehend the chambers of horror that are their minds. Even were I able
+to paint a sufficiently vivid picture with words, you of Earth could not
+begin to understand their utter ruthlessness and inhumanity, even among
+themselves. You would believe that I was lying, or that my viewpoint was
+warped. I can say only that I hope most sincerely that none of you will
+ever get better acquainted with them."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Ages ago, then, the human and the hexan developed upon all four of the
+major satellites of the Great Planet, which you know as Jupiter, and
+upon the north polar region of Jupiter itself. By what means the two
+races came into being upon worlds so widely separated in space we know
+not--we only know it to be the fact. Human life, however, could not long
+endure upon Jupiter. The various human races, after many attempts to
+meet conditions of life there by variations in type fell before the
+hexans; who, although very small in size upon the planet, thrived there
+amazingly. Upon the three outer satellites humanity triumphed, and many
+hundreds of cycles ago the hexans of those satellites were wiped out,
+save for an occasional tribe of savages of low intelligence who lived in
+various undesirable portions of the three worlds. For ages then there
+was peace upon Callisto. Here is the picture at that time--upon Jupiter
+the hexans; upon Io hexans and humans, waging a ceaseless and relentless
+war of mutual extermination; upon the three outer satellites humanity in
+undisturbed and unthreatened peace. Five worlds, each ignorant of life
+upon any other.
+
+"As I have said, the hexans of Jupiter were, and are, diabolically
+intelligent. Driven probably by their desire to see what lay beyond
+their atmosphere of eternal cloud, to the penetration of which their
+eyesight was attuned, they developed the space-ship; and effected a
+safe landing, first upon the barren, airless moonlet nearest them, and
+then upon fruitful Io. There they made common cause with the hexans
+against the humans, and in space of time Ionian humanity ceased to exist.
+Much traffic and interbreeding followed between the hexans of Jupiter
+and those of Io, resulting in time in a race intermediate in size
+between the parent stocks and equally at home in the widely variant air
+pressures and gravities of planet and satellite. Soon their astronomical
+instruments revealed the cities of Europa to their gaze, and as soon
+as they discovered that the civilization of Europa was human, they
+destroyed it utterly, with the insatiable blood lust that is their
+heritage.
+
+"In the meantime the human civilizations of Ganymede and Callisto had
+also developed instruments of power. Observing the cities upon the other
+satellites, many scientists studied intensively the problem of space
+navigation, and finally there was some commerce between the two outer
+satellites at favorable times. Finally, vessels were also sent to Io
+and to Europa, but none of them returned. Knowing then what to expect,
+Ganymede and Callisto joined forces and prepared for war. But our
+science, so long attuned to the arts of peace, had fallen behind
+lamentably in the devising of more and ever more deadly instruments
+of destruction. Ganymede fell, and in her fall we read our own doom.
+Abandoning our cities, we built anew underground. Profiting from lessons
+learned full bloodily upon Ganymede, we resolved to prolong the
+existence of the human race as long as possible.
+
+"The hexans were, and are masters of the physical science. They
+command the spectrum in a way undreamed of. Their detectors reveal
+etheric disturbances at unbelievable distances, and they have at their
+beck and call forces of staggering magnitude. Therefore in our cities
+is no electricity save that which is wired, shielded, and grounded;
+no broadcast radio; no source whatever of etheric disturbances save
+light--and our walls are fields of force which we believe to be
+impenetrable to any searching frequency capable of being generated.
+Now I am able to picture to you the present.
+
+"We are the last representatives of the human race in the Jovian
+planetary system. Our every trace upon the surface has been obliterated.
+We are hiding in our holes in the ground, coming out at night by stealth
+so that our burrows shall not be revealed to the hexans. We are fighting
+for time in which our scientists may learn the secrets of power--and
+fearing, each new day, that the enemy may have so perfected their
+systems of rays that they will be able to detect us and destroy us, even
+in our underground and heavily shielded retreats, by means of forces
+even more incomprehensible than those they are now employing.
+
+"Therefore, friends, you see how little we are able to do for you, we
+a race fighting for our very existence and doomed to extinction save
+for a miracle. We cannot take you to Callisto, for it is besieged by the
+hexans and the driving forces of your lifeboats, practically broadcast
+as they are, would be detected and we should all be destroyed long
+before we could reach safety. Captain King and I have pondered long and
+have been able to see only one course of action. We are drifting at
+constant velocity, using no power, and with all save the most vitally
+necessary machinery at rest. Thus only may we hope to avoid detection
+during the next two hours.
+
+"Our present course will take us very close to Europa, which the hexans
+believe to be like Ganymede, entirely devoid of civilized life. Its
+original humanity was totally destroyed, and all its civilized hexans
+are finding shelter from our torpedoes upon Jupiter until we of Callisto
+shall likewise have been annihilated. The temperature of Europa will
+suit you. Its atmosphere, while less dense than that to which you are
+accustomed, will adequately support your life. If we are not detected
+in the course of the next few hours we can probably land upon Europa in
+safety, since its neighborhood is guarded but loosely. In fact, we have
+a city there, as yet unsuspected by the hexans, in which our scientists
+will continue to labor after Callisto's civilization shall have
+disappeared. We think that it will be safe to use your power for the
+short time necessary to effect a landing. We shall land in a cavern,
+in a crater already in communication with our city. In that cavern,
+instructed and aided by some of us, you will build a rocket vessel--no
+rays can be used because of the hexans--in which you will be able to
+travel to a region close enough to your earth so that you can call for
+help. You will not be able to carry enough fuel to land there--in fact,
+nearly all the journey will have to be made without power, traveling
+freely in a highly elongated orbit around the sun--but if you escape the
+hexans, you should be able to reach home safely, in time. It is for the
+consideration of this plan that this meeting has been called."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Just one question," Breckenridge spoke. "The hexans are intelligent.
+Why are they leaving Europa and Ganymede so unguarded that human beings
+can move back there and that we can land there, all undetected?"
+
+"I will answer that question myself," replied King. "Captain Czuv did
+not quite do justice to his own people. It is true that they are being
+conquered, but for every human life that is taken, a thousand hexans
+die, and for every human ship that is lost, twenty hexan vessels are
+annihilated in return. While the hexans are masters of rays, the
+humans are equally masters of explosives and of mechanisms. They can
+hit a perfect score upon any target in free space whose course and
+acceleration can be determined, at any range up to five thousand
+kilometers, and they have explosives thousands of times as powerful as
+any known to us. Ray screens are effective only against rays, and the
+hexans cannot destroy anything they cannot see before it strikes them.
+So it is that all the hexan vessels except those necessary to protect
+their own strongholds, are being concentrated against Callisto. They
+cannot spare vessels to guard uselessly the abandoned satellites.
+Because of the enormously high gravity of Jupiter the hexans there are
+safe from human attack save for ineffectual long-range bombardment, but
+Io is being attacked constantly and it is probable that in a few more
+years Io also will be an abandoned world. Some of you may have received
+the impressions that the hexans are to triumph immediately, but such an
+idea is wrong. The humans can, and will, hold out for a hundred years or
+more unless the enemy perfects a destructive ray of the type referred
+to. Even then, I think that our human cousins will hold out a long time.
+They are able men, fighters all, and their underground cities are
+beautifully protected."
+
+There was little argument. Most of the auditors could understand that
+the suggested course was the best one possible. The remainder were
+so stunned by the unbelievable events of the attack that they had no
+initiative, but were willing to follow wherever the more valiant spirits
+led. It was decided that no attempt should be made to salvage any
+portion of the _Arcturus_, since any such attempt would be fraught with
+danger and since the wreckage would be of little value. The new vessel
+was to be rocket driven and was to be built of Callistonian alloys.
+Personal belongings were moved into lifeboats, doors were closed, and
+there ensued a painful period of waiting and suspense.
+
+The stated hour was reached without event--no hexan scout had come
+close enough to them to detect the low-tension radiation of the vital
+machinery of the _Arcturus_, cut as it was to the irreducible minimum
+and quite effectively grounded as it was by the enormous mass of her
+shielding armor. At a signal from Captain Czuv the pilot of each
+lifeboat shot his tiny craft out into space and took his allotted place
+in the formation following closely behind the _Bzarvk_, flying toward
+Europa, now so large in the field of vision that she resembled more a
+world than a moon. Captain King, in the Callistonian vessel, transmitted
+to Breckenridge the route and flight data given him by the navigator of
+the winged craft. The chief pilot, flying "point," in turn relayed more
+detailed instructions to the less experienced pilots of the other
+lifeboats.
+
+Soon the surface of Europa lay beneath them; a rugged, cratered, and
+torn topography of mighty ranges of volcanic mountains. Most of the
+craters were cold and lifeless; but here and there a plume of smoke
+and steam betrayed the presence of vast, quiescent forces. Straight
+down one of those gigantic lifeless shafts the fleet of space craft
+dropped--straight down a full two miles before the landing signal was
+given. At the bottom of the shaft a section of the rocky wall swung
+aside, revealing the yawning black mouth of a horizontal tunnel. At
+intervals upon its roof there winked into being almost invisible points
+of light. Along that line of lights the lifeboats felt their way, coming
+finally into a huge cavern, against one sheer metal wall of which they
+parked in an orderly row. Roll was called, and the terrestrials walked,
+as well as they could in the feeble gravity of the satellite, across the
+vast chamber and into a conveyance somewhat resembling a railway coach,
+which darted away as soon as the doors were shut. For hundreds of miles
+that strange tunnel extended, and as the car shot along door after door
+of natural rock opened before it, and closed as soon as it had sped
+through. In spite of the high velocity of the vehicle, it required
+almost two hours to complete the journey. Finally, however, it slowed
+to a halt and the Terrestrial visitors disembarked at a portal of the
+Europan city of the Callistonians.
+
+"Attention!" barked Captain King. "The name of this city, as nearly as
+I can come to it in English, is _WRUZK_. 'Roosk' comes fairly close to
+it and is easier to pronounce. We must finish our trip in small cars,
+holding ten persons each. We shall assemble again in the building in
+which we have been assigned quarters. The driver of each car will lead
+his passengers to the council room in which we shall meet."
+
+"Oh, what's the use--this is horrible, horrible--we might as well die!"
+a nervous woman shrieked, and fainted.
+
+"Such a feeling is, perhaps, natural," King went on, after the woman had
+been revived and quiet had been restored, "but please control it as much
+as possible. We are alive and well, and will be able to return to Tellus
+eventually. Please remember that these people are putting themselves
+to much trouble and inconvenience to help us, desperate as their own
+situation is, and conduct yourselves accordingly."
+
+The rebuke had its effect, and with no further protest the company
+boarded the small cars, which shot through an opening in the wall and
+into a street of that strange subterranean city. Breckenridge, in the
+last car to leave the portal, studied his surroundings with interest as
+his conveyance darted through the gateway. More or less a fatalist by
+nature and an adventurer, of course, since no other type existed among
+the older spacehounds of the IPC, he was intensely interested in every
+new phase of their experience, and was no whit dismayed or frightened.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He found himself seated in a narrow canoe of metal, immediately behind
+the pilot, who sat at a small control panel in the bow. Propelled by
+electromagnetic fields above a single rail, upon lightly touching and
+noiseless wheels, the terrestrial pilot saw with keen appreciation the
+manner in which switch after switch ahead of them obeyed the impulses
+sent ahead from the speeding car. The streets were narrow and filled
+with monorails; pedestrians pursued their courses upon walks attached
+to the walls of the buildings, far above the level of the streets. The
+walls were themselves peculiar, rising as they did stark, unbroken,
+windowless expanses of metal, merging into and supporting a massive
+roof of the same silvery metal. Walls and roof alike reflected a soft,
+yet intense, white light. Soon a sliding switch ahead of them shot in
+and simultaneously an opening appeared in the blank metal wall of a
+building. Through the opening the street-car flew, and as the pilot
+slowed the canoe to a halt, the door slid smoothly shut behind them.
+Parking the car beside a row of its fellows, the Callistonian driver
+indicated that the Terrestrials were to follow him and led the way into
+a large hall. There the others from the _Arcturus_ were assembled,
+facing Captain King, who was standing upon a table.
+
+"Fellow travelers," King addressed them, "our course of action has
+been decided. There are two hundred three of us. There will be twenty
+sections of ten persons, each section being in charge of one of the
+officers of the _Arcturus_. Doctor Penfield, our surgeon, a man whose
+intelligence, fairness, and integrity are unquestioned, will be in
+supreme command. His power and authority will be absolute, limited only
+by the Callistonian Council. He will work in harmony with the engineer,
+who is to direct the entire project of building the new vessel. Each of
+you will be expected to do whatever he can--the work you will be asked
+to do will be well within your powers, and you will each have ample
+leisure for recreation, study, and amusement, of all of which you will
+find unsuspected stores in this underground community. You will each
+be registered and studied by physicians, surgeons, and psychologists;
+and each of you will have prescribed for him the exact diet that is
+necessary for his best development. You will find this diet somewhat
+monotonous, compared to our normal fare of natural products, since it
+is wholly synthetic; but that is one of the minor drawbacks that must
+be endured. Chief Pilot Breckenridge and I will not be with you. In
+some small and partial recompense for what they are doing for us all,
+he and I are going with Captain Czuv to Callisto, there to see whether
+or not we can aid them in any way in the fight against the hexans. One
+last word--Doctor Penfield's rulings will be the products of his own
+well-ordered mind after consultation and agreement with the Council of
+this city, and will be for the best good of all. I do not anticipate any
+refusal to cooperate with him. If, however, such refusal should occur,
+please remember that he is a despot with absolute power, and that anyone
+obstructing the program by refusing to follow his suggestions will spend
+the rest of his time here in confinement and will go back to Tellus in
+irons, if at all. In case Chief Pilot Breckenridge and I should not see
+you again, we bid you goodbye and wish you a safe voyage--but we expect
+to go back with you."
+
+Brief farewells were said and captain and pilot accompanied Czuv to one
+of the little street-cars. Out of the building it dashed and down the
+crowded but noiseless thoroughfare to the portal. Signal lights flashed
+briefly there and they did not stop, but tore on through the portal and
+the tunnel, with increasing speed.
+
+"Don't have to transfer to a big car, then?" asked Breckenridge.
+
+"No," King made answer. "Small cars can travel these tubes as well as
+the large ones, and on much less power. In the city the wheels touch
+the rails lightly, not for support, but to make contacts through which
+traffic signals are sent and received. In the tunnels the wheels do
+not touch at all, as signaling is unnecessary--the tunnels being used
+infrequently and by but one vehicle at a time. No trolleys, tracks, or
+wires are visible, you notice. Everything is hidden from any possible
+visiray of the hexans."
+
+"How about their power?"
+
+"I don't understand it very well--hardly at all, in fact."
+
+"It is quite simple." To the surprise of both Terrestrials, Czuv was
+speaking English, but with a strong and very peculiar accent; slighting
+all the vowels and accenting heavily the consonant sounds. "The car no
+longer requires my attention, so I am now free to converse. You are
+surprised at my knowing your language? You will speak mine after a few
+more applications of the thought exchanger. I am speaking with a vile
+accent, of course, but that is merely because my vocal organs are
+not accustomed to making vowel sounds. Our power is obtained by the
+combustion of gases in highly efficient turbines. It is transmitted and
+used as direct current, our generator and motors being so constructed
+that they can produce no etheric disturbances capable of penetrating
+the shielding walls of our city. The city was built close to deposits
+of coal, oil, and gas of sufficient amount to support our life for
+thousands of years; for from these deposits come power, food, clothing,
+and all the other necessities and luxuries of our lives. Strong fans
+draw air from various extinct craters, force it through ventilating
+ducts into every room and recess of the city, and exhaust it into the
+shaft of a quiescent volcano, in whose gaseous outflow any trace of our
+activities is, of course, imperceptible. For obvious reasons no rockets
+or combustion motors are used in the city proper."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus Captain Czuv explained to the Terrestrials his own mode of life,
+and received from them in turn full information concerning Earthly life,
+activity, and science. Long they talked, and it was almost time to slow
+down for the journey's end when the Callistonian brought the conversation
+back to their immediate concerns.
+
+"My lieutenant and I were upon a mission of some importance, but it is
+more important to take you to Callisto, for there may be many things
+in which you can help us. Not in rays--we know all the vibrations you
+have mentioned and several others. The enemy, however, is supreme
+in that field, and until our scientists have succeeded in developing
+ray-screens, such as are used by the hexans, it would be suicidal to
+use rays at all. Such screens necessitate the projection of pure, yet
+dirigible, forces--you do not have them upon your planet?"
+
+"No, and so far as I know such screens are also unknown upon Mars and
+Venus, with whose inhabitants we are friendly."
+
+"The inhabitants of all the planets should be friendly; the solar
+system should be linked together in intercourse for common advancement.
+But that is not to be. The hexans will eventually triumph here, and a
+Jovian system peopled by hexans will have no intercourse with any human
+civilization save that of internecine war. We, of Callisto, have only
+one hope--or is it really a hope? In the South Polar country of Jupiter,
+there dwells a race of beings implacably hostile to the hexans. They
+seem to invade the country of the hexans frequently, even though they
+are apparently repulsed each time. Our emissaries to the South Polar
+country, however, have never returned--those beings, whatever they
+are, if not actively inimical, certainly are not friendly toward us."
+
+"You know nothing of their nature?"
+
+"Nothing, since our electrical instruments are not sufficiently
+sensitive to give us more than a general idea of what is transpiring
+there, and vision is practically useless in that eternal fog. We know,
+however, that they are far advanced in science, and we are thankful
+indeed that none of their frightful flying fortresses have been launched
+against us. They apparently are not interested in the satellites, and it
+is no doubt due to their unintentional assistance that we have survived
+as long as we have."
+
+In the cavern at last, the three men boarded the Callistonian
+space-plane and were shot up the crater's shaft. The voyage to
+Callisto was uneventful, even uninteresting save at its termination.
+The _Bzarvk_, coated every inch as it was with a dull, dead black,
+completely absorptive outer coating, entered the thin layer of
+Callisto's atmosphere in darkest night, with all rockets dead, with not
+a light showing, and with no apparatus of any kind functioning. Utterly
+invisible and undetectable, she dove downward, and not until she was
+well below the crater's rim did the forward rockets burst into furious
+life. Then the Terrestrials understood another reason for the immense
+depth of those shafts other than that of protection from the detectors
+of the enemy--all that distance was necessary to overcome the velocity
+of their free fall without employing a negative acceleration greater
+than the frail Callistonian bodies could endure. From the cavern at the
+foot of the shaft, a regulation tunnel extended to the Callistonian city
+of Zbardk. Portal and city were very like Wruszk, upon distant Europa,
+and soon the terrestrial captain and pilot were in conference with the
+Council of Callisto.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Months of Earthly time dragged slowly past, months during which King and
+Breckenridge studied intensively the offensive and defensive systems
+of Callisto without finding any particular in which they could improve
+them to any considerable degree. Captain Czuv and his warplane still
+survived, and it was while the Callistonian commander was visiting his
+terrestrial guests, that King voiced the discontent that had long
+affected both men.
+
+"We're both tired of doing nothing, Czuv. We have been of little real
+benefit, and we have decided that your ideas of us are all wrong. We are
+convinced that our personal horsepower can be of vastly more use to you
+than our brain-power, which doesn't amount to much. Your whole present
+policy is one of hiding and sniping. I think that I know why, but I want
+to be sure. Your vessels carry lots of fuel--why can the hexans outrun
+you?" Thus did King put his problem.
+
+"They can stand enormously higher accelerations than we can. The very
+strongest of us loses consciousness at an acceleration of twenty-five
+meters per second per second, no matter how he is braced, and that
+is only a little greater than the normal gravity of our enemies upon
+Jupiter. Their vessels at highest power develop an acceleration of
+thirty-five meters, and the hexans themselves can stand much more than
+even that high figure," replied Czuv.
+
+"I thought so. Assume that you traveled at forty-five. Would it disable
+you permanently, or would you recover as soon as it was lowered?"
+
+"We would recover promptly, unless the exposure had been unduly
+prolonged. Why?"
+
+"Because," said King, "I can stand an acceleration of fifty-four meters
+for two hours, and Breckenridge here tests fifty two meters. I can
+navigate anything, and Breckenridge can observe as well as any of your
+own men. Build a plane to accelerate at forty-five meters and we will
+blow those hexans out of the ether. You will have to revive and do the
+shooting, however--your gunnery is entirely beyond us."
+
+"That is an idea of promise, and one that had not occurred to any of
+us," Czuv replied and work was begun at once upon the new flyer.
+
+When the super-plane was ready for its maiden voyage, its crew of three
+studied it as it lay in the catapult at the portal. Dead black as were
+all the warplanes, its body was twice as large as that of the ordinary
+vessel, its wings were even more stubby, and its accommodations had been
+cut to a minimum to make room for the enormous stores of fuel necessary
+to drive the greatly increased battery of rocket motors and for the
+extra supply of torpedoes carried. Waving to the group of soldiers and
+citizens gathered to witness the take-off of the new dreadnought of
+space, the three men entered the cramped operating compartment, strapped
+themselves into their seats, and were shot away. As usual the driving
+rockets were cut off well below the rim of the shaft, and the vessel
+rose in a long and graceful curve, invisible in the night. Such was its
+initial velocity and so slight was the force of gravity of the satellite
+that they were many hundreds of miles from the exit before they began to
+descend, and Breckenridge studied his screens narrowly for signs of
+hexan activity.
+
+"Do you want to try one of your long-range shots when we find one of
+them?" the pilot asked Czuv.
+
+"No, it would be useless. Between deflection by air-currents and the
+dodging of the enemy vessels, our effective range is shortened to a few
+kilometers, and their beams are deadly at that distance. No, our best
+course is to follow the original plan--to lure them out into space at
+uniform acceleration, where we can destroy them easily."
+
+"Right," and Breckenridge turned to King, who was frowning at his
+controls. "How does she work on a dead stick, Chief?"
+
+"Maneuverability about minus ten at this speed and in this air.
+She'd have to have at least fifteen hundred kilometers an hour to be
+responsive out here. See anything yet?"
+
+"Not yet ... wait a minute! Yes, there's one now--P-12 on area five.
+Give us all the X10 and W27 you can, without using power--we want to
+edge over close enough so that she can't help but see us when we start
+the rockets."
+
+"Be sure and stay well out of range. I'm giving her all she'll take, but
+she won't take much. With these wings she has the gliding angle of a
+kitchen sink."
+
+"All x--I'm watching the range, close. Wish we had instruments like
+these on the IPV's. We'll have to install some when we get back. All x!
+Give her the gun--level and dead ahead!"
+
+Half the battery of rockets burst into their stuttering, explosive roar
+of power and the vessel darted away in headlong flight.
+
+"He sees us and is after us--turn her straight up!"
+
+A searing, coruscating finger of flame leaped toward them, but their
+calculations had been sound--the hexan was harmless at that extreme
+range. King, under the pilot's direction, kept the plane at a safe
+distance from the sphere while the satellite grew smaller and smaller
+behind them and Czuv lapsed quietly into unconsciousness.
+
+"He's been out for quite a while. Far enough?" asked King.
+
+"All x now, I guess--don't believe they can see the flash from here.
+Cut!"
+
+The rockets died abruptly and a blast from the side ports threw
+the plane out of the beam--and once out of it, beyond range of the
+electromagnetic detectors as they were their coating of absolute black
+rendered the craft safe from observation. One dirigible rocket remained
+in action, its exhaust hidden from the enemy by the body of the vessel,
+and Captain Czuv soon recovered his senses.
+
+"Wonderful, gentlemen!" he exclaimed, as he manipulated the delicate
+controls of his gunnery panel. "This is the first time in history that
+a Callistonian vessel has escaped from a hexan by speed alone."
+
+An instantaneously extinguished flare of incandescence marked the
+passing of the hexan sphere into nothingness, and the cruiser shot back
+toward Callisto in search of more prey. It was all too plentiful, and
+twenty times the drama was reenacted before approaching day made it
+necessary for Czuv to take the controls and dive the vessel into the
+westermost landing-shaft of Zbardk. A rousing and enthusiastic welcome
+awaited them, and joy spread rapidly when their success became known.
+
+"Now we know what to do, and we had better do it immediately, before
+they get our system figured out and increase their own power." King
+reported to the Council. "You might send a couple of ships to Europa and
+bring back as many of the Tellurian officers as want to come and can be
+spared from the work there. They all test above forty-five meters, and
+they can learn this stuff in short order. While they're coming, your
+engineers can be building more ships like this one."
+
+The new vessel did not make another voyage until nine sister ships
+were ready and manned, each with two Terrestrial officers and one
+Callistonian gunner. All ten took to the ether at once, and the hexan
+fleet melted away like frost-crystals before a summer sun. A few weeks
+of carnage and destruction and not a hexan was within range of the
+detectors of Callisto--they were gone!
+
+"This is the first time in years that Callisto's air has been free of
+the hexans," Czuv said, thoughtfully. "With your help we have reduced
+their strength to a fraction of what it was, but they have not given up.
+They will return, with a higher acceleration than even you Terrestrials,
+powerful as you are, can stand."
+
+"Certainly they will, but you will be no worse off than you were
+before--you can return to your own highly effective tactics."
+
+"We are infinitely better off for your help. You have given us a new
+lease on life...."
+
+He broke off as a flaring light sprang into being upon the portal board
+and the observer of Exit One made his report--there was a hexan vessel
+in the air, location 425 over VJ-42.
+
+"There's one left! Let us get him! No, he's ours!" Confused shouts arose
+from the bull-pen; but the original superplane was at the top of the
+call-board and accordingly King, Breckenridge, and Czuv embarked upon
+an expedition more hazardous far than they had supposed--an expedition
+whose every feature was relayed to those in the portal by the automatic
+lookouts upon the rims and which was ended before a single supporting
+Callistonian plane could be launched.
+
+For the enemy vessel was not the last of the low-powered hexan vessels,
+as everyone had supposed--it was the first of the high-powered craft,
+arriving long before its appearance was expected. Before its terrific
+acceleration and savage onslaught, the superplane might as well have
+been stationary and unarmed. After his long dive downward, King could
+not even leave the atmosphere--the hexan was upon them within a few
+seconds, even though the stupendous battery of rockets, full driven,
+had roared almost instantly into desperate action. Bomb after bomb
+Breckenridge hurled, with full radio control, fighting with every
+resource at his command, but in vain. The frightful torpedoes were
+annihilated in mid-flight; and nose, tail-assembly, and wings were
+sheared neatly from the warplane by a sizzling plane of force. Side
+rockets and torpedo tubes were likewise sliced away and the helpless
+body of the Callistonian cruiser, falling like a plummet, was caught and
+held by a tractor ray. Captor and captive settled toward the ground.
+
+"This is a signal honor," observed Captain Czuv when he had revived. "It
+has been many, many cycles since they have taken Callistonians captive.
+They kill us at every opportunity. Is it your custom to destroy
+yourselves in a situation such as this?"
+
+"It is not. While we live there is hope."
+
+"Not ours. Unless they have made enormous strides in psychological
+mechanisms, they cannot tear from our minds any secrets we really wish
+to keep. That is useless," he went on, as King lifted a hand-weapon.
+"You will have no opportunity whatever to use it," and he was right.
+
+A searing beam of energy drove them out of the vessel, then
+electromagnetic waves burned every metallic object out of their
+possession. Burning rays herded them into the hexan sphere and into
+a small room, whose door clanged shut behind them.
+
+"Ah, two are humans of a strange breed!" a snarling voice barked
+from the wall, in the Callistonian language. "Our deductions were
+accurate, as usual--it is to the humans of Planet Three, whose bodies
+are a trifle less puny than those of the humanity of the satellites,
+that we owe our recent reverses. However, those reverses were merely
+temporary--humanity, no matter what its breed, shall very shortly
+disappear from the satellites. Now, you scum of the Solar System, you
+shall be permitted to witness an entrancing spectacle on the way to our
+headquarters, where all your knowledge is to be taken from you before
+you die, lingeringly and horribly. There is a strange space-vessel
+nearing us probably searching for the one we took and which you dogs of
+Callisto must have been fortunate enough to take from us before we could
+study and kill its human cargo. Watch its destruction and cringe--and
+know, in your suffering, that the more you suffer, the greater shall be
+our enjoyment."
+
+"I believe that," King acknowledged. As all three prisoners stared at
+the wall-screen, upon which was pictured a huge football of scarred grey
+steel, Czuv was amazed to see the faces of Breckenridge and King light
+up with fierce smiles of pleasure and anticipation.
+
+"You dissemble well," remarked the Callistonian. "That will rob them of
+much pleasure."
+
+"They'll get robbed of more than that," King returned. "This is too
+good to keep, and since they cannot understand English, I'll tell you
+something. I told you about Stevens. He apparently wasn't killed, as
+we thought. He must have escaped, and there is the result. That ship
+there is far from innocent--her being so far out of range of any of our
+power-plants proves that. That vessel is the _Sirius_--the research
+laboratory of the IPC--the Inter-Planetary Corporation! It carries the
+greatest scientific minds of three of the inner planets, and it is
+loaded with pure poison or it wouldn't be here. Oh, you hexans, what you
+have got coming to you!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+_Concluding a Thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel by
+Edward E. Smith, Ph.D._
+
+_Author of "Skylark of Space," and "Skylark Three"_
+
+
+PART III
+
+Spacehounds of IPC
+
+    _The question of rays--their expanding power for good and evil--is
+    receiving increasing attention from scientists. The x-ray has been
+    found to be very beneficial, given in certain quantities, but
+    extremely inimical to health, and even fatal, if too much exposure
+    is given. The powers of the cosmic rays have not been fully
+    discovered as yet. And there is no reason to doubt the theory that
+    there may be found still more destructive and powerful rays. Even
+    wars are becoming a more dangerous plaything for nations of our
+    world--to say nothing of other possible enemies from other parts
+    of our universe. Stevens and Nadia Newton meet with thrilling
+    experiences galore in this concluding instalment._
+
+
+What Went Before:
+
+    The Interplanetary Vessel _Arcturus_ sets out for Mars, with
+    Breckenridge as chief pilot, carrying on board, besides its
+    regular crew and some passengers, the famous Dr. Stevens,
+    designer of space ships and computer. He checks computations
+    made by astronomers stationed in floating observatories, and
+    after he has located any trouble and suggests a plan for
+    minimizing the hazards of the trip from the earth to Mars he
+    reports his findings and suggestions to Mr. Newton, chief of
+    the Interplanetary Corporation.
+
+    Stevens then takes Nadia, Mr. Newton's beautiful young daughter,
+    on a specially conducted sight-seeing tour of the _Arcturus_
+    and thoroughly explains to her all of the works of the vessel.
+    Nadia has herself had a good science education. While they
+    are down at the bottom of the ship--nearing the end of their
+    tour--Stevens feels a barely perceptible movement of the vessel
+    from its course. When he turns on the visiplate, he is horrified
+    to find that a mysterious ray of unparalleled power has neatly
+    sliced the _Arcturus_ in several places.
+
+    Nadia and Stevens are completely separated from the rest of the
+    crew and passengers of the ship, so they get into a lifeboat,
+    which is equipped for a limited amount of space travel. Despite
+    the strict and apparently effective vigilance of the enemy
+    destroyer, Stevens and Nadia make their getaway in the lifeboat,
+    which they aptly call "Forlorn Hope," and finally make a safe
+    landing on Ganymede, where Stevens almost completes a power-plant
+    and a radio transmitter, to enable him to communicate with the
+    earth or with the IPV _Sirius_, which is used by Westfall and
+    Brandon (two of the world's best scientists) as a floating
+    laboratory.
+
+    They start for Cantrell's Comet, where Stevens acquires the
+    necessary material for his giant transmitting tube, heads back
+    to Ganymede, when their ship is cut, top and bottom, by a strong
+    ray-beam. Stevens and Nadia soon find that the other ship is
+    manned by friendly beings from Saturn. Together they plan against
+    their common foes--the Hexans--who are enemies of the universe.
+    After helping the Saturnians to repair their power plant, they
+    start back to Ganymede, aided by their new friends from the
+    frigid civilization. Finally, however, Stevens succeeds in
+    connecting, by radio, with the _Sirius_ and his scientist friends
+    on board it, who rush to the aid of the two castaways. It is
+    while the castaways are captives of the Hexans that help looms
+    near.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The _Sirius_ Takes a Hand
+
+
+The _Sirius_ loafed along through the ether at normal acceleration
+just outside the orbit of Mars and a million miles north of the
+ecliptic plane. In the control room, which had been transformed into a
+bewilderingly complete laboratory, Norman Brandon strode up and down,
+waving his arms, his unruly black hair on end, addressing savagely his
+friend and fellow-scientist, who sat unmoved and at ease.
+
+"For cat's sake, Quince, let's get busy! They're outside somewhere,
+since the police have scoured every cubic kilometer within range of
+the power plants without finding a trace of them. We've got the power
+question licked right now--with these fields we can draw sixty thousand
+kilofranks from cosmic radiation, which is lots more than we'll ever
+need. We haven't drawn a frank from a plant in a month, and we've had to
+cut our field strength down to a whisper to keep from burning out our
+accumulators. We can hunt as far as Neptune easy--we can go to Alpha
+Centauri if we want to. This thing of piffling and monkeying around
+here's pulling my cork, and for the ten thousand four hundred and sixty
+seventh time I say _let's prowl_ and _prowl now_! In fact, I'm getting
+so sick of sticking around doing nothing that I'm going out anyway, if
+I have to go alone in a lifeboat!"
+
+[Illustration: _The flying fortresses were finally wrenched from the
+ground and hurled upward._]
+
+Impetuous and violent as Brandon had always been, never before had he
+gone to such lengths as to suggest a disruption of the partnership;
+and Westfall, knowing that Brandon, in his most violent moments, never
+threatened idly, thought long before he replied.
+
+"You will not go alone, of course. If you insist upon going without
+further preparation I will go too, no matter how foolish I think such
+a course to be. We have power, it is true, but in all other respects we
+are in no condition to meet an opponent having command of such resources
+as must certainly be possessed by those who attacked the _Arcturus_.
+Our detectors are inefficient, our system of vision is crude, to say
+the least, and many other things are still in the experimental stage.
+We have not the slightest idea whom or what we may encounter. It is all
+too probable that we would simply be throwing away uselessly the lives of
+more good men. It is also foolish from a general viewpoint, for as you
+already know, we and our assistants happen to be in better position to
+study these things than is any one else at the present time. However,
+I will compromise with you. We can learn much in a month if you will
+really try, instead of wasting time in fuming around the ship and
+indulging in these idiotic tantrums. If you will buckle down and really
+study the problems confronting us for thirty days, we will set out at
+the end of that time, ready or not."
+
+"All x. I hate to do it, but we've been together too long to bust it
+up now," and Brandon turned toward his bench. Scarcely had he reached
+it when a series of dots and dashes roared from an amplifier. Both men
+leaped for the receiver which had so unexpectedly burst into sound,
+reaching it just as it relapsed into silence, and from the tape of the
+recorder they read the brief message.
+
+"...h four seven ganymede point oh four seve...."
+
+"That's Steve!" yelled Brandon. "Nobody else could build an
+ultra-sender! Direction?"
+
+"No need of calculating distance or direction. Ganymede is the third
+major satellite of Jupiter."
+
+"Sure. Of course, Quince--never thought of that. Dope enough--point oh
+four seven."
+
+As Stevens had told Nadia, the message was completely informing to those
+for whom it was intended, and soon Brandon's answer was flying toward
+the distant satellite. He then started to call the officers of the
+Interplanetary Corporation, but was restrained by his conservative
+friend.
+
+"It would be better to wait a while, Norman. In a few hours we will know
+what to tell them."
+
+At high acceleration the _Sirius_ drove toward the Jupiter-Earth-North
+plane, and Brandon calculated from his own bearings and from the current
+issue of the "Ephemeris" the time at which Stevens' reply should be
+received. Two minutes before that time he was pacing up and down in
+front of the ultra-receiver, and fifteen seconds after it he snapped:
+
+"Come on, Perce, get busy! Shake a leg!"
+
+"Oh, come, Norman; give him a few minutes' leeway, at least," said
+Westfall, with amused tolerance. "Even if your calculations are that
+accurate--which of course they are," he added hastily at a stormy glance
+from hot black eyes, "since we received that message direct, instead of
+through one of our relay stations, Stevens probably has been throwing
+it around for hours or perhaps days, looking for us, and the shock of
+hearing from us at last might well have put him out of control for a
+minute or two."
+
+The carrier wave hissed into the receiver, forestalling Brandon's fiery
+reply, followed closely by the code signals they had been expecting. As
+soon as the story had been told, and while Brandon was absorbed in the
+scientific addenda of Stevens, Westfall thoughtfully called up Newton,
+Nadia's father.
+
+"Nadia is alive, free, safe, well, and happy," he shot out without
+preliminary or greeting, as soon as the now lined features of the
+director showed upon the communicator screen, and the careworn
+countenance smoothed magically into the keen face of the fighting Newton
+of old, as Westfall recounted rapidly the tale of the castaways.
+
+"They apparently have not suffered in any way," he concluded. "All that
+Stevens wants is some cigarettes, and your daughter's needs, while
+somewhat more numerous than his, seem to be only clothes, powder,
+perfume, and candy. Therefore we need not worry about them. The fate of
+the others is still unknown, but there seems to be a slight possibility
+that some of them may yet be rescued. You may release as much or as
+little of this story as may seem desirable. Stevens is still sending
+data of a highly technical nature. We shall arrive there at 21:32 next
+Tuesday."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In due time the message from Ganymede ended and Brandon, with many pages
+of his notebook crammed with figures and equations, snapped off the
+power of the receiver and turned to his bench. Gone was the storming,
+impetuous rebel; his body was ruled solely by the precise and insatiable
+brain of the research scientist.
+
+"He's great, that kid Perce! When I see him, I'm going to kiss him
+on both cheeks. He's got enough dope on them to hang them higher than
+Franklin's kite, and we'll nail those jaspers to the cross or I'm a
+polyp! He's crazier than a loon in most of his hunches, but he's filled
+four of our biggest gaps. There is such a thing, as a ray-screen, you
+kill-joy, and there are also lifting or tractor rays--two things I've
+been trying to dope out and that you've been giving me the Bronx cheer
+on. The Titanians have had a tractor ray for ages--he sent me complete
+dope on it--and the Jovians have got them both. We'll have them in three
+days, and it ought to be fairly simple to dope out the opposite of a
+tractor, too--a pusher or presser beam. Say, round up the gang, will
+you, while I'm licking some of this stuff into shape for you to tear
+apart? Where are Venus and Mars? Um ... m ... m. Tell Alcantro and
+Fedanzo to come over here pronto--give 'em a special if necessary. We'll
+pick up Dol Kenor and Pyraz Amonar on the way--no, get them to Tellus,
+too. Then we'll get action quicker. Those four are all I want--get
+anybody else you want to come along."
+
+His hands playing over the keys of an enormous calculating machine,
+Brandon was instantly immersed in a profound mathematico-physical
+problem; deaf and blind to everything about him. Westfall, knowing well
+that far-reaching results would follow Brandon's characteristic attack,
+sat down at the controls of the communicator. He first called Mars, the
+home planet of Alcantro and Fedanzo, the foremost force-field experts of
+three planets; and was assured in no uncertain terms that those rulers
+of rays were ready and anxious to follow wherever Brandon and Westfall
+might lead. Thence to Venus, where Dol Kenor, the electrical wizard,
+and Pyraz Amonar, the master of mechanism, also readily agreed to
+accompany the expedition. He then called the General-in-Chief of the
+Interplanetary Police, requesting a detail of two hundred picked men
+for the hazardous venture. These most important calls out of the way,
+he was busy for over an hour giving long-distance instructions so that
+everything would be in readiness for the servicing of the immense
+space-cruiser the following Tuesday night.
+
+Having guarded against everything his cautious and far-seeing mind
+could envisage, he went over to Brandon's desk and sat down, smoking
+contemplatively until the idea had been roughed out in mathematical
+terms.
+
+"Here's the rough draft of the ray screen, Quince. We generate a blanket
+frequency, impressed upon the ultra carrier wave. That's old stuff, of
+course. Here's the novelty, in equation 59. With two fields of force,
+set up from data 27 to 43, it will be possible actually to project a
+pure force of such a nature that it will react to de-heterodyne the
+blanketing frequency at any predetermined distance. That, of course,
+sets up a barrier against any frequency of the blanketed band.
+Incidentally, an extension of the same idea will enable us to see
+anywhere we want to look--calculate a retransmitting field."
+
+"One thing at a time, please. That screen may be possible, but
+those fields will never generate it. Look at datum 31, in which your
+assumptions are unsound. In order to make any solution at all possible
+you have assumed cosine squared theta negligible. Mathematically, it is
+of course vanishingly small compared to the first power of the cosine,
+but fields of that type must be _exact_, and your neglect of the square
+is indefensible. Since you cannot integrate with the squared term in
+place, your whole solution fails."
+
+"Not necessarily. We'll go back to 29, and put in sine squared theta
+minus one equal to z sub four. That gives us a coversed sine in 30,
+and then we integrate...."
+
+Thus the argument raged, and all the assistants whose work was not
+too pressing gathered around unobtrusively, for it was from just such
+fierce discussions as this that the ultra-radio and other epoch-making
+discoveries had come into being. Yard after yard of calculator paper
+was filled with equations and computations. Weirdly shaped curves
+were drawn, with arguments at every point--arguments hot and violent
+from Brandon, from Westfall cold and precise, backed by lightning
+calculations and with facts and diagrams culled from the many abstruse
+works of reference, which by this time literally covered the bench and
+overflowed upon the floor.
+
+It was in this work that the strikingly different temperaments and
+abilities of the two scientists were revealed. Brandon never stood
+still, but walked around jerkily, chewing savagely the stem of an
+ancient and reeking pipe, gesticulating vigorously, the while his keen
+and agile mind was finding a way over, around, or through the apparently
+insuperable obstacles which beset their path; by means of mathematical
+and physical improvisations, which no one not inspired by sheer genius
+could have evolved. Westfall, seated quietly at the calculator,
+mercilessly shredded Brandon's theories to ribbons, pointing out their
+many flaws with his cold, incisive reasoning and with rapid calculations
+of the many factors involved. Then Brandon would find a remedy for each
+weakness in turn and, when Westfall could no longer find a single flaw
+in the structure, they would toss the completed problem upon a table
+and attack the next one with unabated zeal. Brandon, in his light
+remark that the two made one real scientist, had far understated
+the case--those two brains, each so powerful and each so perfectly
+complementing the other, comprised the master-scientist who was to
+revolutionize science completely in a few short years.
+
+To such good purpose did they labor that the calculations were
+practically finished by the time they reached the earth. There the ship
+was serviced with a celerity that spoke volumes for the importance of
+her mission--even the _Aldebaran_, the dazzlingly gold-plated queen of
+the fleet, waited unattended and disregarded on minus time while the
+entire force of the Interplanetary Corporation concentrated upon the
+battle-scarred old hulk of the _Sirius_. Brandon was surprised when he
+saw the two companies of police, but characteristically accepted without
+question the wisdom of any decision of his friend, and cordially greeted
+Inspector-General Crowninshield, only a year or so older than himself,
+but already in charge of a Division.
+
+"Keen-looking bunch, Crown. Lot of different outfits--volunteers for
+special duty from the whole Tellurian force?"
+
+"Yes. Everybody wanted to go, and there threatened to be trouble over
+the selection, so we picked the highest ratings from the whole Service.
+If there ever was such a thing as a picked force, we shall have it
+with us."
+
+"What d'you mean, 'us'? You aren't going, are you?"
+
+"Try to keep me from it! The names of all five of us I-G's were put in
+a hat, and I was lucky."
+
+"Well, you may come in handy, at that," Brandon conceded. "And here's
+the big boss himself. Hi, Chief!"
+
+"Ho, Brandon! Ho, Westfall!" Newton, Chairman of the Board of Directors
+of the IPC, shook hands with the two scientists. "Your Martians and
+Venerians are in Lounge Fifteen. I suppose that you have a lot of things
+to thrash out, so you may as well start now. Everything is being
+attended to--I'll take charge now."
+
+"You going along, too?" asked Brandon.
+
+"Going along, _too_? I'm _running_ this cruise!" Newton declared. "I may
+take advice from you on some things and from Crowninshield on others,
+but I am in charge!"
+
+"All x--it's a relief, at that," and Brandon and Westfall went to join
+their fellow-scientists in the designated room of the space-cruiser.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What a contrast was there as the representatives of three worlds
+met! All six men were of the same original stock or of a similar
+evolution--science has not, even yet, decided the question definitely.
+Their minds were very much alike, but their respective environments had
+so variantly developed their bodily structures that to outward seeming
+they had but little in common.
+
+Through countless thousands of generations the Martians had become
+acclimated to a planet having little air, less water, and characterized
+by abrupt transitions from searing heat to bitter cold: from
+blinding light to almost impenetrable darkness. Eight feet tall
+and correspondingly massive, they could barely stand against the
+gravitational force of the Earth, almost three times as great as that
+of Mars, but the two Martian scientists struggled to their feet as the
+Terrestrials entered.
+
+"As you were, fellows--lie down again and take it easy." Brandon
+suggested in the common Interplanetarian tongue. "We'll be away from
+here very soon, then we can ease off."
+
+"We greet our friends standing as long as we can stand," and, towering
+a full two feet above Brandon's own six-feet-two, Alcantro and Fedanzo
+in turn engulfed his comparatively tiny hand in a thick-shelled paw
+and lifted briefly the inner lids of quadruply-shielded eyes. For the
+Martian skin is not like ours. It is of incredible thickness; dry,
+pliable, rubbery, and utterly without sensation: heavily lined with
+fat and filled throughout its volume with tiny air-cells which make
+it an almost perfect non-conductor of heat and which prevent absolutely
+the evaporation of the precious moisture of the body. For the same
+reasons their huge and cat-like eyes are never exposed, but look
+through sealed, clear windows of membrane, over which may be drawn at
+will one or all of four pairs of lids--lids transparent, insensible,
+non-freezable, air-spaced insulators. Even the air they exhale carries
+from their bodies a minimum of the all-important heat and moisture,
+for the passages of their nostrils do not lead directly to the lungs,
+as do ours. They are merely the intakes for a tortuous system of
+tubes comprising a veritable heat-exchanger, so that the air finally
+expelled is in almost perfect equilibrium with the incoming supply
+in temperature and in moisture content. A grayish tan in color, naked
+and hairless--though now, out of deference to Terrestrial conventions,
+wearing light robes of silk--indifferent alike to any extreme of heat or
+cold, light or darkness: such were the two forbidding beings who arose
+to greet their Terrestrial friends, then again reclined.
+
+"I suppose that you have been given to drink?" Westfall made sure that
+they had been tendered the highest hospitality of Mars.
+
+"We have drunk full deeply, thanks; and it was not really necessary,
+for we drank scarcely three weeks ago."
+
+Brandon and Westfall turned then and greeted the two Venerians,
+as different from the Martians as they were from the Terrestrials.
+Of earthly stature, form, and strength, yet each was encased in a
+space-suit stretched like a drum-head, and would live therein or in
+the special Venerian rooms of the vessel as long as the journey should
+endure. For the atmosphere of Venus is more than twice as dense as ours,
+is practically saturated with water-vapor, carries an extremely high
+concentration of carbon dioxide, and in their suits and rooms is held
+at a temperature of one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit. The lenses
+of their helmets were of heavy, yellowish-red composition, protecting
+their dead-white skins and red eyes from all actinic rays--for the
+Venerian lives upon the bottom of an everlasting sea of fog and his
+thin epidermis, utterly without pigmentation, burns and blisters as
+frightfully at the least exposure to actinic light as does ours at
+the touch of a red-hot iron.
+
+Out in space at last, cruising idly with the acceleration set at a point
+bearable for the Martians, Westfall called the meeting to order and
+outlined the situation facing them. Brandon then handed around folios of
+papers, upon which the Venerians turned the invisible infra-red beams of
+the illuminators upon their helmets, thus flooding them with the "light"
+to which their retinas were most responsive.
+
+"Here's the data," Brandon began. "As you see from Sheet 1, we can
+already draw any amount of power we shall need from cosmic radiation
+alone...."
+
+"Perpetual motion--ridiculous!" snapped from the sending disk upon the
+helmet of the master of mechanism.
+
+"Not at all, Amonar," put in his fellow Venerian, "any more than
+a turbo-generator at the foot of a waterfall is perpetual motion.
+Those radiations originate we know not where, probably as a result
+of intra-atomic reactions. The fields of force of our hosts merely
+intercept these radiations, as a water-driven turbine intercepts the
+water. We merely use a portion of their energy before permitting
+them to go on, to we know not what end. Truly you have made a notable
+achievement in science, Tellurian friends, and we congratulate you upon
+its accomplishment. Please proceed."
+
+"Upon the following sheets are described the forces employed by the
+Jovians, as we shall call them until we find out who or what they really
+are. We will discuss these forces later. For each force we have already
+calculated a screen, and we have also calculated various other forces of
+our own, with which we hope to arm ourselves before we reach Ganymede.
+The problems facing us are complex, since there are some nine thousand
+forcebands of the order in which we are working, each differing from all
+the others as much as torque differs from tension, or as much as red
+differs from green. Therefore we have appealed to you for help, knowing
+that we could do but little alone. Alcantro and Fedanzo will supervise
+the construction of the generators of the various fields from these
+calculations. Dol Kenor will correlate power and electricity to and
+with the fields. Westfall and I will help work out the theoretical
+difficulties as they arise. Pyraz Amonar, who can devise and build a
+machine to perform any conceivable mechanical task, will help us all
+in the many mechanical difficulties we shall certainly encounter.
+Discussion of any point is now in order."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Step by step and equation after equation the calculations and plans
+were gone over, until every detail was clear in each mind. Then the men
+bent to their tasks; behind them not only the extraordinarily complete
+facilities of that gigantic workshop which was the _Sirius_; but also
+the full power of the detachment of police--the very cream of the young
+manhood of the planet. Week after toilsome week the unremitting labor
+went on, and little by little the massive cruiser of the void became
+endowed with an offensive and defensive armament incredible. An armament
+conceived in the fertile and daring brain of a sheer genius, guided only
+by the knowledge that such things were already in existence somewhere;
+reduced to working theory by a precise, mathematical logician;
+translated into fields of force by the greatest known experts; powered
+by the indefatigable efforts of an electrical wizard; made possible by
+the artful mechanical devices of the greatest inventor that three worlds
+had ever known! Thus it was that they approached Ganymede, ready, with
+blanketing screens full out, save for one narrow working band, and
+with a keen-eyed observer at every plate. When even the hyper-critical
+Westfall was convinced that their preparations were as complete as they
+could be made with the limited information at hand, Brandon directed a
+beam upon the satellite and tapped off a brief message:
+
+"stevens ganymede will arrive in about ten hours direct carrier beam
+toward sun we can detect it and will follow it to wherever you are
+sirius."
+
+"ipv sirius," came the reply, "everything here, all x glad to see you
+thanks newton and stevens."
+
+Brandon, at the controls, scanning his screens narrowly, dropped the
+vessel down to within a mile or two of the point of origin of Stevens'
+carrier beam without incident; then spoke to Westfall, at his side, with
+a grin.
+
+"Nice layout the kid's got down there, Quince. It's too bad--don't look
+like we're going to get any action for our money a-tall. 'Sa shame,
+too--what's the use of wasting it, now that we've got it all made?"
+
+"We are not done yet," cautioned Westfall, and even as he spoke an alarm
+bell burst into strident clamor--one of their far-flung detector screens
+was telling the world that it had encountered a dangerous frequency.
+The new ultra-lights flared instantly along the line automatically laid
+down by the detector, and upon the closely ruled micrometer screen of
+Brandon's desk there glowed in natural color the image of a globular
+space-ship, approaching them with terrific speed.
+
+"Men all stationed, of course, Crown?"
+
+"Stationed and ready." Crowninshield, phones at his ears and microphone
+at his lips, was staring intently into his own plate.
+
+"Kinda think I'll do most of it from here, but you can't always tell. If
+they get inside my guard you all know what to do."
+
+"All x."
+
+Expecting another such hollow victory as the other Hexan vessel had won
+over the defenseless _Arcturus_, the small stranger flashed nearer and
+nearer that huge and featureless football of armor steel. Within range,
+she launched her flaming plane of energy, but this time that Jovian
+sheet of force did not encounter unprotected and non-resisting steel.
+Upon the outer ray-screen, flaming white into incandescent defense,
+the furious bolt spent itself, and in the instant of the launching of
+the searing blade of flame, Brandon had gone into action. Switch after
+switch drove home, and one after another those frightful fields of
+force, those products of the mightiest minds of three planets, were
+hurled out against the tiny Jovian sphere. Driven as they were by the
+millions upon millions of horsepower stored in the accumulators of the
+_Sirius_ they formed a coruscating spherical shell of intolerable energy
+all around the enemy vessel, but even their prodigious force was held
+at bay by the powerful defensive screens of the smaller space-ship.
+But attack the Jovian could not, every resource at her command being
+necessary to fend off the terrific counter-attack of her intended prey,
+and she turned in flight. Small and agile as she was, the enormous
+mass of the _Sirius_ precluded any possibility of maneuvering with
+the Jovian, but Brandon had no intention of maneuvering. Rapid as
+the motions of the stranger were and frantic as was her dodging, the
+terrific forces of the tractor beams of the Interplanetary Vessel
+held her in an unbreakable grip, and although she dragged the massive
+_Sirius_ hither and thither, she could not escape.
+
+"Hm ... m ... m," mused Brandon. "We seem to be getting nowhere fast.
+How much power we using, Mac, and how much have we got coming in?"
+
+"Output eighty-five thousand kilofranks," replied MacDonald, the first
+assistant. "Intake forty-nine thousand."
+
+"Not so good--can't hold out forever at that rate. Shove out the
+receptor screens to the limit and drive 'em. They figure a top of sixty
+thousand, but we ought to pick up a little extra from that blaze out
+there. Drive 'em full out or up to sixty-five, whichever comes first.
+Can't seem to crush his screens, so I guess we'll have to try something
+else," and a thoughtful expression came over his face as he slowly
+extended his hand toward another switch, with a questioning glance at
+Westfall.
+
+"Better not do that yet, Norman. Use that only as a last resort, after
+everything else has failed."
+
+"Yeah--I'm scared to death of trying it, and it isn't necessary yet. He
+must have an open slit somewhere to work through, just as we have. I'll
+feel around for it a while."
+
+"Is there any way of hetrodyning the new visiray upon the exploring
+frequency?"
+
+"Hm ... m.... Never thought of that--it would be nice, too....
+I think we can do it, too. Watch 'em, Quince, and holler if they start
+anything."
+
+He abandoned his desk and established the necessary connections between
+the visiray apparatus and the controls of his board. There was a fierce
+violet-white glare from the plate as he closed the switch, and he leaped
+back with his hands over his eyes, temporarily blinded.
+
+"Wow, that's hot stuff!" he exclaimed. "It works, all x, to the queen's
+taste," as he donned his heavy ray-goggles and resumed his place.
+
+After making certain that the visiray was precisely synchronized and
+phased with the searching frequency, he built up the power of that
+beam until it was using twenty thousand kilofranks. Then, by delicately
+manipulating the variable condensers and inductances of his sensitive
+shunting relay circuits, he slowly shifted that frightful rod of energy
+from frequency to frequency, staring into the brilliant blankness of his
+micrometer screen as he did so. After a few minutes of search the screen
+darkened somewhat, revealing the image of the Jovian globe. Brandon
+instantly shifted into that one channel the entire power of his attack;
+steadying the controls to bring the sphere of the Jovians into the
+sharpest possible focus, knowing that he had found the open slit and
+that through it there was pouring upon the enemy the full power of his
+terrible weapon.
+
+In the fraction of a second before the Jovians could detect the attack
+and close the slit, he saw a portion of the wall of their vessel flare
+into white heat and literally explode outward in puffs and gouts of
+flaming, molten metal and of incandescent gases. But the thrust, savage
+as it was, had not been fatal and the enemy countered instantly. Now
+that the crushing force of the full-coverage attack was lessened for a
+moment, through another slit there poured a beam of energy equal to the
+Terrestrials' own--a beam of such intense power that the outer screen
+of the _Sirius_ flared from red through the spectrum, to and beyond the
+violet, and went black in less than a second, and the inner screen had
+almost gone down before Brandon's lightning hands could restore the
+complete coverage that so effectively blanketed the forces of the enemy.
+
+"Well, we're back to the _status quo_," announced Brandon, calmly. "It's
+a good gag they didn't have time to locate our working slit--if they had
+pushed that stuff through our open channel, we'd have gotten frizzled up
+some around the edges. As it was, we got the edge on that exchange--take
+it from your Uncle Dudley, Quince, that bird knows that he's been
+nudged!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Again he searched the entire band for an opening, but could find none.
+The enemy had apparently retired into a tightly closed shell of energy.
+The small vessel no longer struggled, nor even moved, but was merely
+resisting passively.
+
+"Not an open channel, not even one for him to work through--he can't
+wiggle. Well, that won't get him anything. We're so much bigger than
+he is, that we can outlast him and will get him some time, since he's
+bound to run out of power before we do. I don't believe he can receive
+anything, sealed up as he is, and he can't have accumulators enough more
+efficient than ours to make up the difference, can he, Quince?"
+
+"It is quite possible. For instance, although we have never heard of any
+progress being made along such lines, it has been pointed out repeatedly
+that synthesis of a radio-active element of very high atomic weight
+would theoretically yield an almost perfect accumulator--one many
+thousands of times as efficient as ours in mass-to-energy ratio. Then,
+too, you realize, of course, that there is a bare possibility that
+intra-atomic energy may not be absolutely impossible."
+
+"Nix on that, Quince. I'll stand for a lot, but not for that last idea!
+It's hard to say that anything's impossible, of course, except things
+made so by definition or by being contrary to observational facts, but
+the best work shows that intra-atomic energy is just about as impossible
+as anything can well be. It has been shown pretty conclusively that all
+ordinary matter is already in its most stable state, so that work must
+be done upon any ordinary atom to decompose it. Besides, if he had
+either radioactive accumulators or intra-atomic energy, he would have
+cut us up long ago. Nope, the answer is that he's probably yelled for
+help and is trying to hold out until it gets here," was Brandon's
+rejoinder.
+
+"What can we do about it?" asked Quince.
+
+"Don't know yet. I do know, though, that we aren't half as ready for
+trouble as I thought we were. There's a dozen things I want to do that
+I can't because we haven't got the stuff. Don't say 'I told you so,'
+either--I know you did! You're the champion ground-and-lofty thinker of
+the century. Alcantro!"
+
+"Here!"
+
+"Round up the gang, will you, and figure me out a screen and a set of
+meters that will indicate an open band? We lose too much time feeling
+around anyhow, and we're too apt to take one on the chin while we're
+doing it. Also, you ought to make it so it'll shoot a jolt into the
+opening, while you're at it," said Brandon.
+
+"We shall begin at once," and the massive Martian as he replied, stepped
+over to the calculating machine.
+
+"Well, Quince, we can't do much to him this way--he's crawled into a
+hole and pulled the hole in after him. Gosh, I wish we had more stuff!"
+
+"After all, we have everything whose necessity and practicability could
+have been foreseen in the light of our information. We can, of course,
+go further."
+
+"You chirped it! But we can't let things ride this way or we'll get our
+hair singed. We'll have to decorate him with the grand slam, I guess."
+
+"Yes, it seems as though the time for emergency measures has arrived."
+
+"Put everything on the center of the band?"
+
+"That is probably the best frequency to use in a case of this kind."
+
+"He can't control, so we'll push him down close to the ground before
+we go to work on him--so we don't have so far to fall if anything goes
+screwy with the works. Here's hoping nothing gives away!"
+
+The _Sirius_, almost against the flaming screens of the Jovian, and both
+vessels very close to the surface of the satellite, Brandon tested the
+power leads briefly, adjusted dials and coils, then touched the button
+which actuated the relays--relays which in turn drove home the gigantic
+switches that launched a fearsome and as yet untried weapon. Instantly
+released, the full seven hundred thousand kilofranks of their stupendous
+batteries of accumulators drove into the middle frequency of the
+attacking band, and Brandon's heart was in his mouth as he stared into
+the plate to see what would happen. He saw! Everything in the _Sirius_
+held fast, and under the impact of the inconceivable plane of force, the
+screens of the enemy vessel flared instantly into an even more intense
+incandescence and in that same fleeting instant went down, and all
+defenses vanished as the metal sphere fell apart into two halves, as
+would an apple under the full blow of a broad-axe.
+
+Brandon quickly shut off his power and stared in relief into the central
+compartment of the globular ship of space, now laid open, and saw there
+figures, one or two of which were moving weakly. As he looked, one of
+these feebly attempted to raise a peculiar, tubular something toward a
+helplessly fettered body. Even as Brandon snatched away the threatening
+weapon with a beam of force, he recognized the captive.
+
+"Great Cat, there's Breckenridge!" he gasped, and directed a lifting
+beam upon the bound and unconscious prisoner. Rapidly, but carefully, he
+was brought through the double airlock and into the control room, where
+his shackles were cut away and where he soon revived under vigorous and
+skilful treatment.
+
+"Any more of you in there? Did I hit any of you with that beam?"
+demanded Brandon, intensely, as soon as Breckenridge showed signs of
+understanding.
+
+"King's in there somewhere, and there's a Callistonian human being that
+you mustn't kill," the chief pilot replied, weakly and with great effort
+in every word. "Don't believe that you hit anybody direct, but the shock
+was pretty bad." Having delivered his message, he lay back, exhausted.
+
+"All x. Crown, give me a squad...."
+
+"Not on your life!" barked the general. "This is my job and I'll do it
+myself. Your job is fighting the _Sirius_--stay with it!"
+
+"Not in seven thousand years--I'm in on this, too," Brandon protested,
+but was decisively overruled by Newton.
+
+"You belong right here at this board, since no one else can handle it
+the way you can. Stay here!" he commanded.
+
+"All right," grudgingly assented the physicist, and held the _Sirius_
+upright, with her needle-sharp stern buried a few feet deep in the
+ground.
+
+He watched the wreckage jealously while Crowninshield and forty helmeted
+men issued from the service door in the lower ultra-light compartment
+and advanced upon the two halves of the enemy vessel. As no hostile
+demonstrations ensued, scaling ladders were quickly placed and with
+weapons at the alert the police boarded the hemispheres, manacled the
+still helpless beings visible, and, after laying down a fog of
+stupefying gas, vanished into compartments beyond the metal partitions.
+After a short time they reappeared and climbed down the scaling ladders,
+carrying several inert forms, and Brandon spoke into his transmitter.
+
+"King all x, Crowninshield?"
+
+"I think so. Not being in the control room he was not as badly shocked
+by the passage of the beam as were Breckenridge and those you saw. The
+things in the other rooms were about ready to fight, so we gave them a
+little whiff of tritylamin, but Captain King will be as good as ever in
+a few minutes."
+
+"Fine business!" The police entered the _Sirius_, the service doors
+clanged shut, and Brandon turned to Westfall.
+
+"While they're coming up, I guess I'll pick up Perce and Miss Newton.
+We'd better get them aboard and beat it, while we're all in one piece!"
+
+But even before he could send out the exploring beam of his
+communicator, the voice of Stevens came from the receiver.
+
+"Hi, Brandon and Westfall! We've watched the whole show.
+Congratulations, fellows! Welcome to Ganymede! You are in our
+valley--we're upstream from you about three hundred meters; just below
+the falls, on the meadow side."
+
+"All x," Brandon acknowledged. "We saw you. Come on out where we can
+pick you up. We've got to get away from here, and get away fast!"
+
+"We'll carry off the pieces of that ship, too, Quince--we may be able to
+get a lot of pointers from it," and Brandon swung mighty tractor beams
+upon the severed halves of the Jovian vessel, then extended a couple of
+smaller rays to meet the two little figures racing across the smooth
+green meadow toward the _Sirius_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Among Friends at Last
+
+
+The time for the landing of the _Sirius_ was drawing near, and the
+castaways upon Ganymede had donned their only suits of earthly clothing,
+instead of the makeshifts of mole-skin, canvas, and leather they had
+been wearing so long. Thorns and underbrush had pierced and torn their
+once natty outing costumes, and sparks and flying drops of molten metal
+from Stevens' first crude forges had burned in them many gaping holes.
+
+"I did the best I could with them, Steve, but they look pretty crumby,"
+Nadia wrinkled her nose as she studied the anything but invisible seams,
+darns, and staring patches everywhere so evident, both in her own
+apparel of gray silk and in the heavy whipcord clothing of her
+companion.
+
+"You did a great job, considering what you had to work with," he
+reassured her. "Besides, who cares about a few patches? I feel a lot
+more civilized in my own clothes, don't you?"
+
+"Well ... yes," she admitted. "They're silk, anyway, even if they don't
+look like much, and I'm just reveling in the feel of them next to me
+after the horrible, rough, scratchy things I've been wearing. See
+anything yet?"
+
+"Not yet." Stevens had been scanning the heavens with a pair of
+binoculars. "That doesn't mean much, though, as they'll be just about in
+the sun and they'll be coming like a scared dog. Might as well put away
+these glasses--we probably won't be able to see them until they're right
+on top of us."
+
+"What shall we take with us?"
+
+"Don't know--nothing, probably, since they must have a campaign already
+mapped out. I'd like to salvage a lot of this junk, but I'm afraid we
+won't be able to. I'm going to take my bow and arrows, though, aren't
+you?"
+
+"Absolutely! That's one thing that's better than anything I ever had on
+Earth. This bow of mine is perfect."
+
+"There they are! Three rousing cheers! Say, but that old hulk looks good
+to me!"
+
+"Doesn't she, though!" cried Nadia, vibrant with excitement. "You know,
+Steve. I've hardly dared really to believe it until this very minute. Oh
+look! What's that?"
+
+The _Sirius_ had stopped in midair and they could see, far in the
+distance, the tiny sphere of the Jovians, rushing to the attack.
+
+"Oh, how horrible!" cried the girl, her voice breaking. "I'm afraid,
+Steve...."
+
+"You needn't be, ace. I've told you they won't go off half-cocked as
+long as Westfall is on the job. They're ready for anything, or they
+wouldn't be here--but just the same I wish that they had that Titanian
+mirror and a couple of those bombs!"
+
+In a moment more the Jovian plane of force was launched, the powerful
+ray-screens flared into white-hot, sparkling defense, and the battle was
+on. Held spell-bound as the castaways were by that spectacular duel, yet
+Stevens' trained mind warned him of the perils of their position.
+
+"Grab your bow and we'll beat it!" and he rapidly led her away from the
+steel structures to an open hillside, well away from any projection,
+tree, or sharp point of rock. "If that keeps up very long, we're going
+to see some real fireworks, and I don't know whether there will be
+enough left of our plant here to salvage or not. Everything is grounded,
+of course, but I don't believe that ordinary grounds will amount to much
+against what's coming."
+
+"What _are_ you talking about?" demanded Nadia.
+
+"Look!" he replied, pointing, and as he spoke, a terrific bolt of
+lightning launched itself from the incandescent screen of the Jovian
+vessel upon their slender ultra-radio tower, which subsided instantly
+into a confused mass of molten and twisted metal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the power of the beams was increased and as the combatants drew
+nearer and nearer the ground, the lightning display grew ever more
+violent. Well below the canyon as the warring vessels were, the
+power-plant and penstock did not suffer at all and only a few discharges
+struck the _Forlorn Hope_--discharges which were carried easily to
+ground by the enormous thickness of her armor--but every prominent
+object for hundreds of yards below the _Hope_ was literally blasted out
+of existence. Radio tower, directors and fittings; trees, shrubs, sharp
+points of rock--all were struck again and again; fused, destroyed,
+utterly obliterated by the inconceivable energy being dissipated by
+those impregnable screens of force. Even almost flat upon the ground as
+the spectators were, each individual hair upon their heads strove
+fiercely to stand erect, so heavily charged was the very air. Stevens'
+arm was blue for days, such was Nadia's grip upon it, and she herself
+could scarcely breathe in that mighty arm's constriction--but each was
+conscious only of that incredibly violent struggle, of that duel to the
+death being waged there before their eyes with those frightful weapons,
+hitherto unknown to man. They saw the _Sirius_ triumphant, and Stevens
+led the dancing girl back into their dwelling of steel.
+
+"Danger's all over now. Radio's gone, but we should fret a lot about
+that. It has done its stuff--we can use the communicators. And now,
+sweetheart, I'm going to kiss you--for the first time in seven
+lifetimes."
+
+Locked in each other's arms, they watched the scene until Stevens
+thought it time to send his message. Then, running hand in hand toward
+the huge space-cruiser, they were snatched apart and drawn up toward the
+double airlocks of the main entrance. Pressure gradually brought up to
+normal, they were ushered into the control room, where Nadia glanced
+around quickly and almost took her father off his feet by her
+tempestuous rush into his arms.
+
+"Oh, Daddy darling. I just knew you'd come along! I haven't seen
+you for a million years!" she exclaimed, rapturously. "And Bill,
+too--wonderful!" as she fervently embraced a young man wearing the
+uniform of a lieutenant of Interplanetary Police. "Ouch, Bill--you're
+breaking all my ribs!"
+
+"Well, you cracked three of mine. Maybe you don't know how husky you
+are, but you've got a squeeze like a full grown boa constrictor!" He
+held her off at arms' length and studied her with admiration. "Gee,
+it's fine to see you again, Sis. You're looking great, too--I think
+I'll bring my girl out here to live. You always were a knockout, but
+now you're the loveliest thing I ever saw!"
+
+He made his way through the group surrounding Stevens, while Nadia and
+her father talked earnestly.
+
+"I'm Bill Newton. Thanks," he said, simply, holding out his hand, which
+was taken in a bone-crushing grip.
+
+"Bring him over here, Bill!" Nadia called before Stevens could find
+a reply.
+
+"I don't know how to say anything, Stevens," the officer continued, in
+embarrassment, as the two men turned to obey the summons. "She's a good
+kid, and we think a lot of her. We'd about given her up. We.... She....
+Oh, rats, what's the use? You know what I mean. You're there, Stevens,
+like a...."
+
+"Clam it, ace!" Stevens interrupted. "I get you, to nineteen decimals.
+And you don't half know just what a good kid she really is. She's the
+reason we're here--we were down pretty close to bed-rock for a while,
+she stood up when I wilted. She's got everything. She...."
+
+"Clam it yourself, Steve! Don't believe a word of it, Dad and Bill.
+_Wilt_!" Nadia's voice dripped scorn. "Why, he di...."
+
+"Please!" Newton's voice was somewhat husky as he silenced the clamor of
+the three young people, all talking at once. "I will not embarrass you
+further by trying to say something that no words can express. You told
+me that you would take care of her, and I learn that you have done so."
+
+"I did what I could, but most of the credit belongs to her, no matter
+what she says," Stevens insisted. "Anyway, sir, here she is; alive, well
+and ... unharmed," and his eyes bore unflinchingly the piercing gaze of
+the older man, who was reassured and pleased by what he read therein.
+"One thing I want to say right now, though, that may make you feel like
+canceling the welcome. I loved Nadia even before the _Arcturus_ was
+attacked, and since then, coming to know her as I have, the feeling
+hasn't lessened any."
+
+"Nadia has already told me all about you two," said her father, "and the
+welcome stands. If you could take care of her as well as you have done
+since you left the _Arcturus_, I have no doubt of your ability to take
+care of her for life. We have been examining the work you have done
+here, son, and the more I saw of it the more amazed I became that you
+could have succeeded as you did. We are deeply indebted.... Just a
+minute! There's my call--I'm wanted in Fifteen. I'll see you again
+directly."
+
+"Hi, Norm!" Stevens further relieved the surcharged atmosphere.
+"As soon as you and Quince can leave those controls come over and see us,
+will you?"
+
+"All x--coming up!" sounded Brandon's deep and pleasant bass, and the
+two rescuers, who had tactfully avoided the family reunion, came over
+and greeted the third of their triumvirate.
+
+"Ho, Perce--you look fit." Brandon ran an expert hand over Stevens'
+arm and shoulder. "Looks as if he might last a round or two, doesn't
+he, Quince?"
+
+"You are looking fine, Steve. Neither of you appear any the worse for
+your experiences. So this is Nadia? We have heard of you, Miss Newton."
+
+"I believe that, knowing Dad," she replied. "Thanks, both of you, for
+digging us out. I've heard about you two, and I'm going to kiss you
+both."
+
+Westfall, the silent and reserved, was taken aback, but Brandon met her
+more than half-way.
+
+"All x, Nadia--payment in full received and hereby acknowledged," he
+laughed, as he allowed her feet to return to the floor. "Even if it was
+some stout lads from Mars and Venus that did all the work we'll take the
+reward--especially since Alcantro and Fedanzo couldn't feel even such a
+high-voltage salute as that one was, and I can't picture you kissing a
+Venerian even if you could get to him. Whenever you get lost again, be
+sure to let us know, now that you've got our address. If I know Perce at
+all, you've heard of us 'til you're sick of it and us--it's a weakness
+of his--talking too much."
+
+"Why, it's no such th...." began Nadia, but broke off as an aide came up
+and saluted smartly.
+
+"Pardon me, but General Crowninshield requests that Doctor Brandon,
+Doctor Westfall, and Doctor Stevens join the council in Lounge Fifteen
+as soon as convenient." He saluted again and turned away.
+
+"Yes, that's right, folks--we've got to take a lot of steps, fast--see
+you later," and Brandon, taking each of the other two by an arm, marched
+them away toward the designated assembly room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There, already seated at a long table, were Czuv, King, and
+Breckenridge, all fully recovered, engaged in earnest conversation with
+Newton and Crowninshield. Alcantro and Fedanzo, the Martian scientists,
+were listening intently, as were the two Venerians Dol Kenor and Pyraz
+Amonar. The eyes of the three newcomers, however, did not linger upon
+the group at the table, but were irresistibly drawn to one corner of the
+room, where six creatures lay in the heaviest manacles afforded by the
+stores of the Interplanetary Police. Not only were they manacled, but
+each was facing a ray-projector, held by a soldier whose expression
+showed plainly that he would rather press the lethal contact than not.
+
+"Oh--those the things we're fighting?" Brandon stopped at the threshold
+and stared intently at the captive hexans. Goggling green eyes glaring
+venomously, they were lying quiet, but tense; mighty muscles ready to
+burst into berserk activity should the attention of a guard waver for
+a single instant.
+
+But little more than half as large as the savage creatures with whom
+Stevens had fought in the mountain glade upon Ganymede, the hexans
+resembled those aborigines only as civilized men might resemble gigantic
+primordial savages of our own Earth. Brandon's gaze went from short,
+powerful legs up a round, red body to the enormous, freakish double pair
+of shoulders, with its peculiar universal jointing. From the double
+shoulders sprang four limbs, the front pair of which were undoubtedly
+arms, terminating in large, but fairly normal, hands. The intermediate
+limbs were longer than the legs and were much more powerful than the
+arms, and ended in members that were very evidently feet and hands
+combined. What in a human being would be the back of the hand was the
+sole of the foot--when walking upon that foot the long and dexterous
+thumb and fingers were curled up, out of the way and protected from
+injury, in the palm of the hand. From the monstrous shoulders there
+rose a rather long and very flexible, yet massive and columnar neck,
+supporting a head neither human nor bestial--a head utterly unknown to
+Terrestrial history or experience. The massive cranium bespoke a highly
+developed and intelligent brain, as did the three large and expressive,
+peculiar, triangular eyes. The three sensitive ears were very long,
+erect, and sharply pointed. Each was set immediately above an eye, one
+upon each side of the head and one in front. Each ear was independently
+and instantly movable in any direction, to catch the faintest sound.
+The head, like the body and limbs, was entirely devoid of hair. The
+horns, so prominent in the savages Stevens had seen, were in this highly
+intelligent race but vestigial--three small, sharp, black protuberances
+only an inch in length, one surmounting each ear, outlining the lofty
+forehead. The nose occupied almost the whole middle of the face and was
+not really a nose--it developed into a small and active proboscis. The
+chin was receding almost to the point of disappearance, so that the
+mouth, with its multiple rows of small, sharp, gleaming-white teeth, was
+almost hidden under the face instead of being a part of it. Such were
+the hexans, at whom the Big Three stared in undisguised amazement.
+
+"Attention, please!" Newton called the meeting to order. "We have
+learned that all the passengers of the _Arcturus_, and all the crew save
+three, are alive and safe for the time being. Most of them are upon the
+satellite Europa. However, I understand that we are not yet sufficiently
+well armed to withstand such an attack in force as will certainly
+develop when we move to rescue them. This seems to be a war of applied
+physics--Doctor Brandon, as spokesman for the Scientific forces of the
+expedition, what are your suggestions?"
+
+"Anticipating an attack in response to signals probably sent out by the
+enemy," replied Brandon. "I headed directly south immediately. We are
+now well south the ecliptic, and are traveling at considerably more than
+full Martian acceleration. Before making any suggestions, I should like
+to hear from Captain Czuv, who is more familiar than we are with the
+common enemy. Are they apt to follow us: can they detect us if we should
+drift at constant velocity; and can we search the brains of the
+prisoners with his Callistonian thought-exchanger, if he should build
+one with our help?"
+
+"If they are close enough to us to overtake us without too much lost
+time, they will certainly attack us," Czuv answered at a nod from
+Newton. "Ordinarily they would pursue us to the limits of the Solar
+System if necessary, but since they have suffered reverses of late and
+cannot spare any vessels, they will probably not pursue us far. Yes,
+they can detect us, even without the driving rays, since this vessel
+uses much low-tension, low-frequency electricity in its automatic
+machinery, lights, and so on. No; our thought-transformer cannot take
+thoughts by force, and the hexans will exchange no ideas with us. They
+are implacable and deadly foes of all humanity, irrespective of planet
+or race. Mercy is to them unknown--they neither give nor take quarter."
+
+"I can bear him out in that," Crowninshield interposed grimly. "The
+first one to recover snapped our ordinary handcuffs like so much thread
+and literally tore four men to pieces before the rest of us could ray
+him. Will you need me longer, Director Newton?"
+
+"I think not. General. Captain Czuv, you have made no headway with
+them?" asked the Director.
+
+"None whatever, as I foretold. They understand me thoroughly, since two
+of them speak my own tongue, but nothing that they have said can ever
+be repeated here. I knew from the first that all such attempts would be
+fruitless, but I have tried--and failed. I suggest what I suggested at
+first--put them to death, here and now, as they lie there, for most
+assuredly they will in some way contrive to take toll of lives of your
+own humanity if you allow them to live."
+
+"You may be right," said Newton, "but neither the General nor myself
+can give the order for their death, since Interplanetary law does not
+countenance such summary action. However, the guards are fully warned of
+the peril, and will ray every prisoner at the first sign of unruliness.
+General Crowninshield, you may remove the prisoners and deal with them
+in accordance with...."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pandemonium reigned. At Crowninshield's signal for the guards to leave
+the room with their captives, all six had strained furiously at their
+bonds and three of them had broken free in a flash, throwing themselves
+upon the guards with unthinkable ferocity. Stevens, seeing a
+ray-projector in a hand of one of the prisoners, hurled his heavy chair
+instantly and with terrific force. The projector flew into the air,
+shattered and useless, while the hexan was knocked into a corner by the
+momentum of the massive projectile and lay there, stunned and broken.
+Brandon, likewise reacting instantaneously, had bent over and seized
+a leg of the table, bracing his knee against the corner. With a mighty
+lunge of his powerful body he wrenched out the support and with a
+continuation of the same motion, he brought the jagged oak head of his
+terrible club down full upon the crown of the second hexan, who had
+already torn one guard apart and was leaping toward Czuv, his hereditary
+foe. In midflight he was dashed to the floor, his head a shapeless,
+pulpy mass, and Brandon, bludgeon again aloft, strode deeper into the
+fray. For a brief moment searing lethal beams probed here and there,
+chains clanked and snapped, once more that ponderous and irresistible
+oaken mace fell like the hammer of Thor, again spattering brains and
+blood abroad as it descended--then again came silence. The six erstwhile
+prisoners lay dead, but they had taken five of the guards with
+them--literally dismembered, hideously torn limb from limb by the
+superhuman, incredible physical strength and utter ferocity of the
+hexans.
+
+By common consent the meeting was adjourned to another room, for the
+business in hand could not be postponed.
+
+"Captain Czuv was right--we Tellurians could not believe in the
+existence of such a race without the evidence of our own senses." Newton
+reopened the meeting. "From this time on we take no prisoners. Doctor
+Brandon, you may resume."
+
+"The detectors and lookouts will give ample warning of any attack, and
+Doctor Westfall has suggested that we should have all possible facts
+at hand before we try to decide upon a course of action. We should like
+to hear the full reports of Captain King, Captain Czuv, Chief Pilot
+Breckenridge, and Doctor Stevens."
+
+The four men told their stories tersely and rapidly, while the others
+listened in deep attention. As the last speaker sat down, Newton again
+turned to Brandon, who silently jerked his head at Westfall, knowing his
+own inadequacy in such a situation--realizing that here was needed
+Westfall's cold and methodical thinking.
+
+"Director Newton and gentlemen," Westfall spoke calmly and precisely.
+"We have much to do before we can meet the hexans upon equal terms.
+We have many new fields of force and rays to develop, of whose nature
+and necessity Doctor Brandon is already aware. Then, too, we must
+recalculate our visirays so that we can operate at greater range and
+efficiency. We must also examine the hexan space-ship which is towing,
+to do which it will be desirable to drift at constant velocity for a
+time. In it we may find instruments or devices as yet unknown to us.
+It also occurs to me that since this is an Interplanetary Police problem
+of the first magnitude, we should at once get in touch with Police
+Headquarters, so that the Peace Fleet can be armed as we ourselves are,
+or shall be, armed; for a large and highly efficient fleet will be
+necessary to do that which must be done. It is, of course, a foregone
+conclusion that Interplanetary humanity will support the humanity of
+Callisto against the hexans.
+
+"It is also self-evident that we must stay here and rescue the
+Tellurians now upon Europa and Callisto, but we are not yet in position
+to decide just how that rescue is to be accomplished. Four courses are
+apparently open to us. First, to attempt it as soon as we shall have
+strengthened our armament as much as is now possible. That would invite
+a massed attack, and in my opinion would be foolish--probably suicidal.
+Second, to stand by at a distance until the rocket-ship is launched,
+then to escort it back to the Earth. Third, to aid the Callistonians as
+much as possible while awaiting the completion of the rocket-vessel.
+Fourth, and perhaps the most feasible and quickest, it may be possible
+for the Callistonian rocket-ships to bring out fellow-Tellurians, a few
+at a time, to us here out in space, since they are apparently able to
+come and go at will. However, I would recommend that we make no plans
+for the rescue as yet--there is little use in attempting to deal with an
+ever-changing situation until we are ready to act forthwith. I suggest
+that we strengthen our offensive and defensive armament first, then
+secure information as to the exact status of affairs, both upon Callisto
+and upon Europa. Then, ready to act, we will do at once whatever seems
+called for by the situation then obtaining."
+
+"The program as outlined seems eminently sensible. Are there any
+comments or suggestions?" None having been offered, Director Newton
+adjourned the meeting and each man attacked his particular problem.
+
+True to Czuv's prediction the hexans did not deem it worthwhile to
+pursue the Terrestrial vessel, so obviously and so earnestly fleeing
+from them, and shortly, the acceleration was cut off, to render possible
+a thorough study of the two halves of the spherical warship of the
+enemy. Scientists donned space-suits and studied every feature of
+the strange vessel, while mechanics dismantled and transferred to the
+_Sirius_ every device and instrument of interest. One or two novel and
+useful applications of rays and forces were found, their visirays and
+communicators in particular being of a high degree of efficiency; but
+upon the whole the science of the hexans was found to be inferior to
+that now known to the scientists of Interplanetary's flying laboratory.
+Brandon studied the hexan power-system most carefully, and, everything
+in readiness and after a long talk with Westfall, he called a general
+conference in the control-room.
+
+"Gentlemen, we have done about everything we can do for the time being.
+By combining the best features of the visirays and communicators of
+the hexans with our own newly-perfected devices, we now have a really
+excellent system of communication. Our friends from Mars and Venus
+have so altered and enlarged our force-controls that our offensive
+and defensive fields, rays, and screens leave little to be desired.
+In power we are far ahead of the enemy. They apparently know nothing
+of the possibilities of cosmic radiation, but depend upon tight-beam
+transmission from their own power-plants--which transmission they have
+perfected to a point far beyond anything reached by us of the three
+planets. They do not use accumulators, and therefore their dissipation
+is limited to their maximum reception, which is about seventy thousand
+kilofranks. Since we can dissipate ten times that amount of energy, we
+could withstand, for a short time, the simultaneous attacks of ten of
+their vessels. Eleven or more of them, however, would be able to crush
+our defensive screens--and Captain Czuv has seen as many as a hundred of
+their space-ships in one formation. Furthermore, since they have several
+times our maximum acceleration, they could concentrate quickly upon any
+desired point. We could not escape them by flight if they really set out
+to overtake us, which they certainly will do if we again venture into
+their territory. Therefore it is clear that we cannot subject ourselves
+to any attack in force and it follows that we cannot do much of anything
+until the police fleet of some five hundred vessels can be re-armed and
+can join us near Callisto. This will require several months at best.
+As you already know, it has been decided that we should not return to
+any of the minor planets, as to do so might invite a hexan attack upon
+our police fleet which is as yet unprepared. We are now heading for
+Uranus, in the hope that such a course will distract the attention of
+the hexans from Tellus, even though they probably already know that we
+are Tellurians. Our new communicator ray will reach any member of the
+Jovian system from this point. It has been decided that it is safe to
+use it, since it employs an almost absolutely tight beam of very small
+diameter, and since we know that that one hexan vessel, at least, had
+no apparatus sufficiently sensitive to detect a beam of that nature.
+We will therefore now get in touch with the Callistonians and with our
+own people."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Brandon seated himself before the communicator screen, and while the
+others packed themselves closely around his stool, he snapped on the
+visiray and turned the dials which directed that invisible, immensely
+complex beam through space. The screen was apparently in itself a coign
+of vantage, flying through space with the velocity of light, and the
+watchers gasped involuntarily and drew themselves together, as with that
+unthinkable speed they flashed down toward the surface of Callisto.
+So realistic was the impression that they themselves were hurtling
+through the void, that they could scarcely reason themselves into
+believing their positive knowledge that the impending collision was
+not an actual happening! Reducing the velocity of the projection
+abruptly as it approached the satellite, Brandon flashed it down into
+a crater indicated by Czuv, and along a tunnel to the city of Zbardk,
+where the Callistonian captain held a long conversation with the Council
+of the nation. Frowning in thought, he turned to Newton and spoke
+seriously and slowly.
+
+"Immediately after the loss of our super-plane, with the supposed death
+of King, Breckenridge, and myself, the other Tellurian officers were
+returned to Europa, since even they could be of no assistance to us
+Callistonians in our struggle against the new, high-acceleration vessels
+of the hexans. The present situation is much more serious than I would
+have believed possible. The last vessel going to visit Wruszk, our city
+upon Europa, was caught and destroyed by the hexans, and for many weeks
+no ship or message has come from there to Callisto. In spite of the fact
+that the hexan fleet is smaller than ever before, they are guarding
+Europa very closely. It is feared that they may have found and destroyed
+our city there--an expedition is even now about to set out in a
+desperate attempt to learn the fate of our fellows."
+
+"Suppose the rays of the lifeboats were detected in landing?" asked
+Brandon. "That might have given them a clue."
+
+"Possibly; but it is equally possible that our own men became careless
+in the operation of one of our own vessels. Having been unmolested so
+long, they might have relaxed their vigilance. We may never know."
+
+"Tell 'em to cancel the expedition--we'll shoot the visiray over
+there right now and find out all about it. We'll let them know pretty
+quickly. Also, you might tell them that you've got complete plans and
+specifications for all the weapons that the hexans have, and a couple
+besides, and that the quicker they shoot a ship out here after you, the
+sooner they can get to building some stuff to blow those hexans clear
+out of space!"
+
+It was the work of only a few moments to drive the visiray projection
+to Europa, where Czuv, to the great relief of all, found that the hexans
+had not yet discovered either Wruszk or the Terrestrial workings.
+All Europan humanity, fully aware of the hexan investment, was
+exerting every possible precaution against discovery by the enemy.
+This information was duly flashed to the Council of Callisto, and the
+projection was then hurled across the intervening reaches of space and
+into the cavern in which was being built the enormous rocket-ship in
+which the Terrestrial refugees were to attempt the long voyage back
+to their own distant planet.
+
+It took some little time to convince Doctor Penfield that there had
+been projected into the empty air of his little sanctum an absolutely
+invisible and impalpable structure of pure force capable of receiving
+and transmitting voice and vision. Once convinced of the reality of the
+phenomenon, however, the speaker beside Brandon's communicator screen
+fairly rattled under the fervor of his greeting, so great was his
+pleasure at the arrival of the expedition of relief and in knowing that
+King and Breckenridge, whom they had, of course, given up for dead, were
+aboard the Interplanetary vessel.
+
+Penfield reported that the work upon the great rocket-ship was
+progressing satisfactorily, although slowly, since it was so much larger
+than any vessel theretofore constructed by the Callistonians. Newton,
+in turn, informed the autocrat of the stranded Terrestrials as to the
+_status quo_ of the rescuing party.
+
+"Of course, because of the hexan blockade, you cannot take us off until
+they have been wiped out, which will be several months at best," the
+surgeon said, slowly, and a shadow came over his face as he spoke.
+"Well, what can't be cured...."
+
+"Trouble with the personnel?" King broke in sharply.
+
+"Personnel, yes; but not trouble in the sense you mean--we have had
+none of that. It is only that there are four more of us now than there
+were...."
+
+"Huh? How come?" demanded Brandon, in astonishment.
+
+"Four babies have been born to us here so far, and several more are
+coming. They are the ones I'm worried about. Most normal adults can
+stand it here without any serious effects, but this thin atmosphere and
+weak gravity are certain to result in abnormal development of children.
+However, there may be another way out of it. Are you using normal
+acceleration, or have you Martians aboard?"
+
+"Both," replied Brandon. "We are carrying two inhabitants of Mars,
+but Alcantro and Fedanzo are not ordinary Martians. They have been in
+constant training ever since we left Tellus, and now they can stand as
+high an acceleration as a weak Tellurian. We're riding at normal."
+
+"Good! As you already know, there has been no communication of late
+between here and Callisto. It had already been decided, however, that
+one more voyage must be risked, in order to bring back material which
+is most urgently needed. Since the vessel will leave here light and is
+large enough to carry about thirty passengers on a short trip with some
+crowding, the Council will probably approve of having it carry some of
+our passengers out to the _Sirius_--especially now, since a vessel must
+visit you, anyway, to get Captain Czuv and the specifications of the new
+armament. All these things can be done with one vessel in one trip."
+
+"That sounds fine!" boomed King. "It will give me a chance to get back
+there where I belong, too. Whom are you sending out?"
+
+"The seven couples who either have babies already or who will have them
+in the next few months; and some of our young who aren't standing the
+gaff any too well. You won't be in the red very deeply on the deal,
+either--while two or three of the passengers I am sending you will
+certainly be a nuisance; anybody could use, anywhere, such men as
+Commander Sanderson and Lieut..."
+
+"Sanderson!" interrupted King. "Why, he wasn't--when did _he_ get
+married?"
+
+"The day after we arrived here," replied the surgeon. "His fiancee was
+aboard the _Arcturus_, and when they found out how long we would have
+to be here, they very sensibly decided not to wait."
+
+"Were there any others?" demanded Nadia, who, standing between Stevens
+and her father, had been an interested listener.
+
+"Plenty of them! Fourteen of our young women passengers have married
+here upon Europa. A few married fellow-passengers, but most of them
+picked out officers of the _Arcturus_. You'll find your staff made up
+pretty largely of benedicts now, King! We've been here a year, you know,
+and time will tell! Young Commander Sanderson's a fine baby--he'll be a
+credit to the IPC some day, if we can get him aboard the _Sirius_, where
+he can get a good start. We could give our babies normal air pressure
+here by building special rooms, but we cannot give them the normal
+acceleration necessary to develop their muscles properly."
+
+"Well, we'd better snap over to Callisto and take this up with the
+Council," Brandon put in. "I don't imagine that there will be any
+objections, so you might as well get your ship gassed up and
+loaded--we'll be back here with the okay in about a minute and a half."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With Brandon at the controls and with Czuv at the communicator plate,
+the projection flashed toward distant Callisto and the group melted
+away, each man going about his interrupted task.
+
+"Daddy, take us somewhere--I want to talk to you," Nadia spoke to her
+father, and the director led her and Stevens to his own room.
+
+"All x, daughter; out with it!" and he bent upon her a quizzical glance,
+under which a fiery blush burned from her throat to her forehead.
+
+"Dad, I've been thinking a lot since you rescued us, and what we've just
+heard has given me the nerve to say it. Steve, of course, wouldn't dare
+suggest such a thing until we're safely back on Earth, so I will." Her
+deep brown eyes held his steadily. "All those girls got married--why,
+some of them have babies already--and Steve and I have waited for each
+other _so_ long, daddy! And _none_ of them love each other the way we
+do. Do they, Steve?"
+
+"I don't see how they could, sir; and that goes straight across the
+panel," and he bore unflinchingly the piercing gaze of the older man
+as his right arm encircled the girl and held her close.
+
+"Well, why not?" A sudden smile transformed Newton's stern visage.
+"There are three chaplains with the police--a Methodist minister,
+a Catholic priest, and a Jewish rabbi. Also, we have on board two
+full-fledged I-P captains, either of whom is authorized to tie
+matrimonial knots. The means are not lacking--if you're both sure of
+yourselves?" and all levity disappeared as he studied the two young
+faces.
+
+"Yes, you are sure," he continued after a moment "just as her mother and
+I were--and are. It is too bad that she cannot be here with you, but it
+may be a long time before we can return to Tellus, and you have indeed
+waited long."
+
+"Oh thanks, Daddy, you're just a perfectly wonderful old darling!" Nadia
+exclaimed, as she threw her arms rapturously around his neck. "And this
+isn't a warship at all--you know perfectly well that it's a research
+laboratory, and that as soon as the Navy gets here, you won't let it
+fight a bit more, because such scientists can't be allowed to risk
+themselves! And also, you're forgetting that whole flock of women and
+babies that are coming out here just as fast as they can get themselves
+ready. So get going, daddy old dear, and let's do things! Steve's a
+Quaker and we're Presbyterians, so none of the chaplains will do at all.
+Besides, I promised Captain King ages ago that he could marry me, so go
+get him and we'll do it now. Bill can be my bridesmaid, you'll give me
+away, and Steve can have the other two of his Big Three for best men.
+I'm off to hunt up the flimsiest, fussiest white dress I can find in my
+trunks. Let's go!"
+
+"Mr. Newton." Stevens spoke thoughtfully as Nadia darted away. "You said
+something about her mother, I didn't want to say anything to raise false
+hopes while she was here, but I've got an idea. Let's meet in Brandon's
+room instead of here. We can send code to Tellus easily enough on our
+ultrawave, and we may be able to fake up something on vision."
+
+A few minutes later the Big Three were in Brandon's private study;
+staring intently into a screen of ground glass upon which played
+flickering, flashing lights, while the black-haired physicist
+manipulated micrometer dials in infinitesimal arcs.
+
+"Once more, Mac," Brandon directed. "Pretty nearly had them that time.
+We're stretching this projector about six hundred percent, but we've got
+to make this connection. Can't you give me just a little more voltage on
+those secondaries?"
+
+"I can _not_!" the voice of the first assistant snapped from the
+speaker. "I'm overloading now so badly that some of my plates are
+getting hot--if I hold this voltage much longer, the whole secondary
+bank of tubes is going out. All x--you're on zero!"
+
+"All x!" Flashing and waning, the lights upon the screen formed
+fleeting, shifting, nebulous images of a relay station upon distant
+Earth; but the utmost power of the transmitting fields could neither
+steady the image nor hold it.
+
+"Back off, Mac," Brandon instructed. "I'm afraid we can't hold 'em
+direct--no use blowing a bank of tubes. We'll try relaying through
+Mars--we can hold them there, I think. It will muss up reception some,
+but it will probably be better than direct, at that. Point oh five three
+six ... all x--shoot!"
+
+Brandon's relay station upon Mars was finally raised and held, and
+a corps of keenly interested engineers there made short work of the
+Earth-Mars linkage. Soon the screen glowed with the picture of the
+transmitter-room of the Terrestrial station, and while the three men
+were waiting for Mrs. Newton to be called to her own television set,
+the door behind them opened. Nadia and her escorts entered the room--but
+Stevens' eyes saw only the entrancing vision of loveliness that was his
+bride. Dressed in a clinging white gown of shimmering silk, her hair a
+golden blond corona, sweetly curved lips slightly parted and wide eyes
+eloquent, she paused momentarily as Stevens came to his feet and stared
+at her, his very heart in his eyes.
+
+"You never saw me in a dress before--do you like me, Steve?"
+
+"_Like_ you! You're beautiful!" and gray eyes and brown, deep with
+wonder and with love, met and held as, unheeding the presence of their
+friends, they went into each other's arms in a coalescence as inevitable
+and as final as Fate itself.
+
+"Hi, Nadia old dear!" and "Daughter, from what I can see of my
+son-in-law, I believe that he may do," came together from the speaker.
+Nadia tore herself from Stevens' embrace, to see upon the lambent screen
+the happily smiling faces of her mother and sister.
+
+"Mother! Claire! Oh, you three wonder-workers!" She addressed
+simultaneously the distant Terrestrials and the scientists at her side,
+while broken exclamations, punctuated by ominous, crackling snaps, came
+from the laboring amplifier.
+
+"Sorry to interrupt," MacDonald's voice broke in, "but you'll have to
+hurry it up. Alcantro and Fedanzo are doing their best, but every plate
+in my secondary bank's red hot, and you could fry an egg on any one of
+my transformers. Even my primary tubes are running hot. She won't hold
+together five minutes longer!"
+
+Captain King opened his book, and in that small steel room, unadorned
+save for stack upon stack of bookcases, the brief but solemn ceremony
+joining two young lives was read--its solemnity only intensified by its
+unique accompaniment. For from Brandon at the primary controls, through
+the power-room of the _Sirius_ and the relay-station upon Mars, to the
+immense Interplanetary transmitter upon Earth, the greatest radio and
+television engineers of two planets were fighting overdriven equipment,
+trying to hold an almost impossible connection, in order that Nadia
+Newton's mother and sister might be present at her wedding, hundreds of
+millions of miles distant in space!
+
+"I pronounce you man and wife. Whom God hath joined, let no man put
+asunder." The sacred old ritual ended and Captain King picked up
+the bride in his great arms as though she were a baby, kissed her
+vigorously, and set her down in front of the transmitter. In the midst
+of the joyous confusion that ensued a tearing, rattling crash came from
+the speaker and the screen went blank.
+
+"There!" lamented MacDonald from the power room. "I knew they'd blow!
+There goes my whole secondary bank--eight perfectly good ten-nineteens
+all shot to...."
+
+"That's too bad, but it couldn't be helped; they went for a good cause,"
+interrupted Brandon. "I'll come down and help clean up the mess."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Leaving the bridal party, he made his way rapidly to the power room,
+where he found MacDonald and the two Martians inspecting the smoking
+remains of what had been the secondary bank of their powerful
+ultra-transmitter. Spare parts in abundance were on hand, and it was
+not long until the damaged section was apparently as good as new.
+
+"Now to try her out," Brandon announced. "We want to give her a good
+workout, but there's no use trying the I-P stations any more--they're
+altogether too hard to handle at this range. Czuv said something about
+an unknown race of monstrosities at the south pole of Jupiter--let's try
+it on them for a while."
+
+He flung the field of force out into space, as responsive to his will
+as a well-trained horse, and guided it toward the southern limb of that
+gigantic world. Down and down the projection plunged, through mile after
+mile of reeking, steaming fog, impenetrable to earthly eyes. Finally it
+came to rest upon the surface, hundreds of feet deep in a lush, dank,
+tropical jungle, and Brandon plugged into the Venerian room.
+
+"Kenor? We've got a lot of use for you, if you can come down here for a
+while. Thanks a lot." He turned to the Martians. "Luckily, we've got a
+couple of infra-red transformers aboard, so we won't have to build one.
+You fellows might break one out and shunt it onto this circuit while Dol
+Kenor is hunting up something for us to look at.
+
+"Hi, old Infra-Eyes!" he went on, as the Venerian scientist waddled into
+the room in his bulging space-suit. "We've got something here that's
+right down your alley. Want to see what you can see?"
+
+"Ah, a beautiful scene!" exclaimed Dol Kenor, after one glance into the
+plate. "It is indeed a relief, after all this coldness and glare, to
+see such a soft, warm landscape--even though I have never expected to
+behold quite such a violent bit of jungle," and under his guidance the
+projection flashed over hundreds of miles of territory. To the eyes of
+the Terrestrials the screen revealed only a blank, amorphous grayness,
+through which at times there shot lines and masses of vague and
+meaningless form; but the Venerian was very evidently seeing and
+enjoying many and diverse scenes.
+
+"There, I think, is what you wish to see first," he announced, as he
+finally steadied the controls, and Brandon cut in upon the shunting
+screen the infra-red transformer. This device, developed long before to
+render possible the use of Terrestrial eyes in the opaque atmosphere of
+Venus, stepped up the fog-piercing long waves into the frequencies of
+light capable of affecting the earthly retina. Instantly the dull gray
+blank of the shunting screen became transformed into a clear and
+colorful picture of the great city of the Jovians of the South.
+
+"Great Cat!" Brandon exclaimed. "Flying fortresses is right! They're in
+war formation, too, or I'm a polyp! We've got to watch this, Mac, all
+of it, and watch it close--it's apt to have a big bearing on what we'll
+have to do, before they get done. Better we rig up another set, and put
+a relay of observers on this job!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The Vorkul-Hexan War
+
+
+Vorkulia, the city of the Vorkuls, was an immense seven-pointed
+star. At its center, directly upon the south pole of Jupiter, rose a
+tremendous shaft--its cross-section likewise a tapering seven-pointed
+star--which housed the directing intelligence of the nation. Radiating
+from the seven cardinal points of the building were short lanes leading
+to star-shaped open plots, from which in turn branched out ways to other
+stellate areas; ways reaching, after many such steps, to the towering
+inner walls of the metropolis. The outer walls, still loftier and even
+more massive ramparts of sullen gray-green metal, formed a seamless,
+jointless barrier against an utterly indescribable foe; a barrier whose
+outer faces radiated constantly a searing, coruscating green emanation.
+Metal alone could not long have barred that voracious and implacably
+relentless enemy, but against that lethal green emanation even that
+ravening Jovian jungle could not prevail, but fell back, impotent.
+Writhing and crawling, loathesomely palpitant with an unspeakable
+exuberance of foul and repellent vigor, possible only to such
+meteorological conditions as obtained there, it threw its most
+hideously prolific growths against that radiant wall in vain.
+
+The short, zig-zag lanes, the ways, and the seven-pointed areas
+were paved with a greenish glass. This pavement was intended solely
+to prevent vegetable growth and carried no traffic whatever, since few
+indeed of the Vorkuls have ever been earth-bound and all traffic was in
+the air. The principal purpose of the openings was to separate, and
+thus to render accessible by air, the mighty buildings which, level
+upon level, towered upward, with airships hovering at or anchored to
+doorways and entrances at every level. Buildings, entrances, everything
+visible--all replicated, reiterated, repeated infinite variations in
+the one theme, that of the septenate stelliform.
+
+Color ran riot; masses varied from immense blocks of awe-inspiring
+grandeur to delicate tracery of sheerest gossamer; lights flamed and
+flared in wide bands and in narrow, flashing pencils--but in all,
+through all, over all, and dominating all was the Seven-Pointed Star.
+
+In and almost filling the space, at least a mile in width,
+between the inner and the outer walls were huge, seven-sided
+structures--featureless, squat, forbidding heptagons of dull green
+metal. No thing living was to be seen in that space. Its pavement was
+of solid metal and immensely thick, and that metal, as well as that of
+the walls, was burned and blackened and seared as though by numberless
+exposures to intolerable flame. In a lower compartment of one of these
+enormous heptagons Vortel Kromodeor, First Projector Officer, rested
+before a gigantic and complex instrument board. He was at ease--his huge
+wings folded, his sinuous length coiled comfortably in slack loops about
+two horizontal bars. But at least one enormous, extensible eye was
+always pointed toward the board, always was at least one nimble and
+bat-like ear cocked attentively in the direction of the signal panel.
+
+A whistling, shrieking ululation rent the air and the officer's coils
+tightened as he reared a few feet of his length upright, shooting out
+half a dozen tentacular arms to various switches and controls upon his
+board, while throughout the great heptagon, hundreds of other Vorkuls
+sprang to attention at their assigned posts of duty. As the howling wail
+came to a climax in a blast of sound Kromodeor threw over a lever, as
+did every other projector officer in every other heptagon, and there was
+made plain to any observer the reason for the burns and scars in the
+tortured space between the lofty inner and outer walls of Vorkulia.
+For these heptagons were the monstrous flying fortresses which Czuv
+had occasionally seen from afar, as they went upon some unusual errand
+above the Jovian banks of mist, and which Brandon was soon to see in
+his visiray screen. The seared and disfigured metal of the pavement
+and walls was made so by the release of the furious blasts of energy
+necessary to raise those untold thousands of tons of mass against the
+attraction of Jupiter, more than two and a half times the gravity of our
+own world! Vast volumes of flaming energy shrieked from the ports. Wave
+upon wave, flooding the heptagons, it dashed back and forth upon the
+heavy metal between the walls. As more and more of the inconceivable
+power of those Titanic generators was unleashed, it boiled forth in
+a devastating flood which, striking the walls, rebounded and leaped
+vertically far above even those mighty ramparts. Even the enormous
+thickness of the highly conducting metal could not absorb all the
+energy of that intolerable blast, and immediately beneath the ports new
+seven-pointed areas of disfigurement appeared as those terrific flying
+fortresses were finally wrenched from the ground and hurled upward.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+High in the air, another signal wailed up and down a peculiar scale of
+sound and the mighty host of vessels formed smoothly into symmetrical
+groups of seven. Each group then moved with mathematical precision into
+its allotted position in a complex geometrical formation--a gigantic,
+seven-ribbed, duplex cone in space. The flagship flew at the apex of
+this stupendous formation; behind, and protected by, the full power
+of the other floating citadels of the forty-nine groups of seven.
+Due north, the amazing armada sped in rigorous alignment, flying along
+a predetermined meridian--due north!
+
+At the end of his watch Kromodeor relinquished his board to the officer
+relieving him and shot into the air, propelled by the straightening of
+the powerful coils of his snake-like body and tail. Wings half spread,
+lateral and vertical ruddering fins outthrust, he soared across the room
+toward a low opening. Just before they struck the wall upon either side
+of the doorway the great wings snapped shut, the fins retracted, and the
+long and heavy body struck the floor of the passage without a jar. With
+a wriggling, serpentine motion he sped like a vibrant arrow along the
+hall and into a wardroom. There, after a brief glance around the room,
+he coiled up beside a fellow officer who, with one eye, was negligently
+reading a scroll held in three or four hands; while with another eye,
+poised upon its slender pedicle, he watched a moving picture upon a
+television screen.
+
+"Hello, Kromodeor," Wixill, Chief Power Officer[2] greeted the newcomer
+in the wailing, hissing language of the Vorkuls. He tossed the scroll
+into the air, where it instantly rolled into a tight cylinder and shot
+into an opening in the wall of the room. "Glad to see you. Books and
+shows are all right on practice cruises, but I can't seem to work up
+much enthusiasm about such things now."
+
+[Footnote 2: In order to avoid all unnecessary strain upon the memory of
+the reader, all titles, etc., have been given in the closest possible
+English equivalent, instead of in an attempted transliteration of the
+foreign word. This particular officer has no counterpart upon Tellurian
+vessels. He is the second in command of a Vorkulian fortress, his
+function being to supervise all expenditure of power.--E. E. S.]
+
+Kromodeor elevated an eye and studied the screen, upon which, to the
+accompaniment of whistling, shrieking sound, whirled and gyrated an
+interlacing group of serpentine forms.
+
+"A good show, Wixill," the projector officer replied, "but nothing to
+hold the attention of men engaged in what we are doing. Think of it!
+After twenty years of preparation--two long lifetimes--and for the first
+time in our history, we are actually going to war!"
+
+"I have thought of it at length. It is disgusting. Compelled to traffic
+with an alien form of life! Were it not to end in the extinction of
+those unspeakable hexans, it would be futile to the point of silliness.
+I cannot understand them at all. There is ample room upon this planet
+for all of us. Our races combined are not using one seven-thousandth
+of its surface. You would think that they would shun all strangers.
+Yet for ages have they attacked us, refusing to let us alone, until
+finally they forced us to prepare means for their destruction. They
+seem as senselessly savage as the jungle growths, and, but for their
+very evident intelligence, one would class them as such. You would
+think that, being intelligent and being alien to us, they would not
+have anything to do with us in any way, peacefully or otherwise.
+However, their intrusions and depredations are about to end."
+
+"They certainly are. Vorkulia has endured much--too much--but I am glad
+that our forefathers did not decide to exterminate them sooner. If they
+had, we could not have been doing this now."
+
+"There speaks the rashness of youth, Kromodeor. It is a violation of all
+our instincts to have any commerce with outsiders, as you will learn as
+soon as you see one of them. Then, too, we will lose heavily. Since we
+have studied their armaments so long, and have subjected every phase of
+the situation to statistical analysis, it is certain that we are to
+succeed--but you also know at what cost."
+
+"Two-sevenths of our force, with a probable error of one in seven,"
+replied the younger Vorkul. "And because that figure cannot be improved
+within the next seven years and because of the exceptional weakness of
+the hexans due to their unexpectedly great losses upon Callisto, we are
+attacking at this time. Their spherical vessels are nothing, of course.
+It is in the reduction of the city that we will lose men and vessels.
+But at that, each of us has five chances in seven of returning, which is
+good enough odds--much better than we had in that last expedition into
+the jungle. But by the Mighty Seven, I shall make myself wrap around one
+hexan, for my brother's sake," and his coils tightened unconsciously.
+"Hideous, repulsive monstrosities! Creatures so horrible should not
+be allowed to live--they should have been tossed over the wall to
+the jungle ages ago!" Kromodeor curled out an eye as he spoke, and
+complacently surveyed the writhing cylinder of sinuous, supple power
+that was his own body.
+
+"Better avoid contact work with them if possible," cautioned Wixill.
+"You might not be able to unwrap, and to touch one of them is almost
+unthinkable. Speaking of wrapping, you know that they are putting on the
+finals of the contact work in the star this evening. Let's watch them."
+
+They slid to the floor and wriggled away in perfect "step"--undulating
+along in such nice synchronism that their adjacent sides, only a few
+inches apart, formed two waving rigidly parallel lines. Deep in the
+lower part of the fortress they entered a large assembly room, provided
+with a raised platform in the center and having hundreds of short,
+upright posts in lieu of chairs; most of which were already taken by
+spectators. The two officers curled their tails comfortably around two
+of the vacant pillars, elevated their heads to a convenient level of
+sight and directed each an eye or two upon the stage. This was, of
+course, heptagonal. Its sides, like those of the mighty flying forts
+themselves, were not straight, but angled inward sufficiently to make
+the platform a seven-pointed star. The edge was outlined by a low rail,
+and bulwark and floor were padded with thick layers of a hard but smooth
+and yielding fabric.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In this star-shaped ring two young Vorkuls were contending for the
+championship of the fleet in a contest that seemed to combine most of
+the features of wrestling, boxing, and bar-room brawling, with no holds
+barred. Four hands of each of the creatures held heavy leather billies,
+and could be used only in striking with those weapons, the remaining
+hands being left free to employ as the owner saw fit. Since the sport
+was not intended to be lethal, however, the eyes and other highly
+vulnerable parts were protected by metal masks, and the wing ribs
+were similarly guarded by leathern shields. The guiding fins, being
+comparatively small and extremely tough, required no protection.
+
+"We're just in time," Kromodeor whistled. "The main bout is nicely on.
+See anyone from the flagship? I might stake a couple of korpels that
+Sintris will paint the symbol upon his wing."
+
+"Most of their men seem to be across the star," Wixill replied, and both
+beings fell silent, absorbed in the struggle going on in the ring.
+
+It was a contest well worth watching. Wing crashed against mighty wing
+and the lithe, hard bodies snapped and curled this way and that, almost
+faster than the eye could follow, in quest of advantageous holds. Above
+the shrieking wails of the crowd could be heard the smacks and thuds of
+the eight flying clubs as they struck against the leather shields or
+against tough and scaly hides. For minutes the conflict raged, with no
+advantage apparent. Now the fighters were flat upon the floor of the
+star, now dozens of feet in the air above it, as one or the other sought
+to gain a height from which to plunge downward upon his opponent; but
+both stayed upon or over the star--to leave its boundaries was to lose
+disgracefully.
+
+Then, high in air, the visiting warrior thought that he saw an opening
+and grappled. Wings crashed in fierce blows, hands gripped and furiously
+wrenched. Two powerful bodies, tapering smoothly down to equally
+powerful tails, corkscrewed around each other viciously, winding up into
+something resembling tightly twisted lamp cord; and the two Vorkuls,
+each helpless, fell to the mat with a crash. Fast as was Zerexi, the
+gladiator from the flagship, Sintris was the merest trifle faster.
+Like the straightening of a twisted spring of tempered steel that long
+body uncoiled as they struck the floor, and up under those shielding
+wings--an infinitesimal fraction of a second slow in interposing--that
+lithe tail sped. Two lightning loops flashed around the neck of the
+visitor and tightened inexorably. Desperately the victim fought to break
+that terrible strangle hold, but every maneuver was countered as soon
+as it was begun. Beating wings, under whose frightful blows the very air
+quivered, were met and parried by wings equally capable. Hands and clubs
+were of no avail against that corded cable of sinew, and Sintris, his
+head retracted between his wings and his own hands reenforcing that
+impregnable covering over his head and neck, threw all his power into
+his tail--tightening, with terrific, rippling surges, that already
+throttling band about the throat of his opponent. Only one result was
+possible. Soon Zerexi lay quiet, and a violet beam of light flared from
+a torch at the ringside, bathing both contenders. At the flash the
+winner disengaged himself from the loser, and stood by until the latter
+had recovered the use of his paralyzed muscles. The two combatants then
+touched wing tips in salute and flew away together, over the heads of
+the crowd; plunging into a doorway and disappearing as the two officers
+uncoiled from their "seats" and wriggled out into the corridor.
+
+"Fine piece of contact work," said Wixill, thoughtfully. "I'm glad that
+Sintris won, but I did not expect him to win so easily. Zerexi shouldn't
+have gone into a knot so early against such a fast man."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," argued Kromodeor. "His big mistake was in that
+second body check. If he had blocked the sixth arm with his fifth, taken
+out the fourth and second with his third, and then gone in with...." and
+so, quite like two early experts after a good boxing match, the friends
+argued the fine points of the contest long after they had reached their
+quarters.
+
+Day after day the vast duplex cone of Vorkulian fortresses sped
+toward the north pole of the great planet, with a high and constant
+velocity. Day after day the complex geometrical figure in space remained
+unchanged, no unit deviating measurably from its precise place in the
+formation. Over rapacious jungles, over geysers spouting hot water,
+over sullenly steaming rivers and seas, over boiling lakes of mud, and
+high over gigantic volcanoes, in uninterrupted eruptions of cataclysmic
+violence, the Vorkulian phalanx flew--straight north. The equatorial
+regions, considerably hotter than the poles, were traversed with
+practically no change in scenery--it was a world of steaming fog,
+of jungle, of hot water, of boiling, spurting mud, and of volcanoes.
+Not of such mild and sporadic volcanic outbreaks as we of green Terra
+know, but of gigantic primordial volcanoes, in terrifyingly continuous
+performances of frightful intensity. Due north the Vorkulian spearhead
+was hurled, before the rigorous geometrical alignment was altered.
+
+"All captains, attention!" Finally, in a high latitude, the flagship
+sent out final instructions. "The hexans have detected us and our long
+range observers report that they are coming to meet us in force. We will
+now go into the whirl, and proceed with the maneuvers exactly as they
+have been planned. Whirl!"
+
+At the command, each vessel began to pursue a tortuous spiral path.
+Each group of seven circled slowly about its own axis, as though each
+structure were attached rigidly to a radius rod, and at the same time
+spiraled around the line of advance in such fashion that the whole
+gigantic cone, wide open maw to the fore, seemed to be boring its way
+through the air.
+
+"Lucky again!" Kromodeor, in the wardroom, turned to Wixill as the two
+prepared to take their respective watches. "It looks as though the first
+action would come while we're on duty. I've got just one favor to ask,
+if you have to economize on power, let Number One alone, will you?"
+
+"No fear of that," Wixill hissed, with the Vorkulian equivalent of a
+chuckle. "We have abundance of power for all of your projector officers.
+But don't waste any of it, or I'll cut you down five ratings!"
+
+"You're welcome. When I shine old Number One on any hexan work, one
+flash is all we'll take. See you at supper," and, leaving his superior
+at the door of the power room, Kromodeor wriggled away to his station
+upon the parallel horizontal bars before his panel.
+
+Making sure that his tail coils were so firmly clamped that no possible
+lurch or shock could throw him out of position, he set an eye toward
+each of his sighting screens, even though he knew that it would be long
+before those comparatively short range instruments would show anything
+except friendly vessels. Then, ready for any emergency, he scanned his
+one "live" screen--the one upon which were being flashed the pictures
+and reports secured by the high-powered instruments of the observers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With the terrific acceleration employed by the hexan spheres, it
+was not long until the leading squadron of fighting globes neared
+the Vorkulian war-cone. This advance guard was composed of the new,
+high-acceleration vessels. Their crews, with the innate blood-lust
+and savagery of their breed, had not even entertained the thought of
+accommodating their swifter pace to that of the main body of the fleet.
+These vast, slow-moving structures were no more to be feared than those
+similar ones whose visits they had been repulsing for twenty long
+Jovian years--by the time the slower spheres could arrive upon the scene
+there would be nothing left for them to do. Therefore, few in number
+as were the vessels of the vanguard, they rushed to the attack. In one
+blinding salvo they launched their supposedly irresistible planes of
+force--dazzling, scintillating planes under whose fierce power the
+studying, questing, scouting fortresses previously encountered had fled
+back southward; cut, beaten, and crippled. These spiraling monsters,
+however, did not pause or waver in their stolidly ordered motion.
+As the hexan planes of force flashed out, the dull green metal walls
+broke into a sparkling green radiance, against which the Titanic
+bolts spent themselves in vain. Then there leaped out from the weird
+brilliance of the walls of the fortresses great shafts of pale green
+luminescence--tractor ray after gigantic tractor ray, which seized
+upon the hexan spheres and drew them ruthlessly into the yawning
+open end of that gigantic cone.
+
+Then, in each group of seven, similar great streamers of energy reached
+out from fortress to fortress, until each group was welded into one
+mighty unit by twenty-one such bands of force. The unit formed, a ray
+from each of its seven component structures seized upon a designated
+sphere, and under the combined power of those seven tractors, the
+luckless globe was literally snapped into the center of mass of the
+Vorkulian unit. There seven dully gleaming red pressor rays leaped upon
+it, backed by all the power of seven gigantic fortresses, held rigidly
+in formation by the unimaginable mass of the structures and by their
+twenty-one prodigious tractor beams. Under that awful impact, the
+screens and walls of the hexan spheres were exactly as effective as so
+many structures of the most tenuous vapor. The red glare of the vortex
+of those beams was lightened momentarily by a flash of brighter color,
+and through the foggy atmosphere there may have flamed briefly a drop or
+two of metal that was only liquefied. The red and green beams snapped
+out, the peculiar radiance died from the metal walls, and the gigantic
+duplex cone of the Vorkuls bored serenely northward--as little marked or
+affected by the episode as is a darting swift who, having snapped up a
+chance insect in full flight, darts on.
+
+"Great Cat!" Far off in space, Brandon turned from his visiray screen
+and wiped his brow. "Czuv certainly chirped it, Perce, when he called
+those things flying fortresses. But who, what, why, and how? We didn't
+see any apparatus that looked capable of generating or handling those
+beams--and of course, when they got started, their screens cut us
+off at the pockets. Wish we could have made some sense out of their
+language--like to know a few of their ideas--find out whether we can't
+get on terms with them some way or other. Funny-looking wampuses, but
+they've got real brains--their think-tanks are very evidently full of
+bubbles. If they have it in mind to take us on next, old son, it'll be
+just ... too ... bad!"
+
+"And then some," agreed Stevens. "They've got something--no fooling. It
+looks like the hexans are going to get theirs, good and plenty, pretty
+soon--and then what? I'd give my left lung and four front teeth for one
+long look at their controls in action."
+
+"You and me both--it's funny, the way those green ray-screens stick to
+the walls, instead of being spherical, as you'd expect ... should think
+they'd _have_ to radiate from a center, and so be spherical," Brandon
+cogitated. "However, we've got nothing corkscrewy enough to go through
+them, so we'll have to stand by. We'll stay inside whenever possible,
+look on from outside when we must, but all the time picking up whatever
+information we can. In the meantime, now that we've got our passengers,
+old Doctor Westfall prescribes something that he says is good for what
+ails us. Distance--lots of distance, straight out from the sun--and
+I wouldn't wonder if we'd better take his prescription."
+
+The two Terrestrial observers relapsed into silence, staring into
+their visiray plates, searching throughout the enormous volume of one
+of those great fortresses in another attempt to solve the mystery of the
+generation and propagation of the incredible manifestations of energy
+which they had just witnessed. Scarcely had the search begun, however,
+when the visirays were again cut off sharply--the rapidly advancing main
+fleet of the hexans had arrived and the scintillant Vorkulian screens
+were again in place.
+
+True to hexan nature, training and tradition, the fleet, hundreds
+strong, rushed savagely to the attack. Above, below, and around the
+far-flung cone the furious globes dashed, attacking every Vorkulian
+craft viciously with every resource at their command; with every weapon
+known to their diabolically destructive race. Planes of force stabbed
+and slashed, concentrated beams of annihilation flared fiercely through
+the reeking atmosphere, gigantic aerial bombs and torpedoes were hurled
+with full radio control against the unwelcome visitor--with no effect.
+Bound together in groups of seven by the mighty, pale-green bands of
+force, the Vorkulian units sailed calmly northward, spiraling along with
+not the slightest change in formation or velocity. The frightful planes
+and beams of immeasurable power simply spent themselves harmlessly
+against those sparklingly radiant green walls--seemingly as absorbent
+to energy as a sponge is to water, since the eye could not detect any
+change in the appearance of the screens, under even the fiercest blasts
+of the hexan projectors. Bombs, torpedoes, and all material projectiles
+were equally futile--they exploded harmlessly in the air far from their
+objectives, or disappeared at the touch of one of those dark, dull-red
+pressor rays. And swiftly, but calmly and methodically as at a Vorkulian
+practice drill, the heptagons were destroying the hexan fleet. Seven
+mighty green tractors would lash out, seize an attacking sphere, and
+snap it into the center of mass of the unit of seven. There would be a
+brief flash of dull red, a still briefer flare of incandescence, and the
+impalpable magnets would leap out to seize another of the doomed globes.
+It was only a matter of moments until not a hexan vessel remained; and
+the Vorkulian juggernaut spiraled onward, now at full acceleration,
+toward the hexan stronghold dimly visible far ahead of them--a vast
+city built around Jupiter's northern pole.
+
+At the controls of his projector, Kromodeor spun a dial with a
+many-fingered, flexible hand and spoke.
+
+"Wixill, I am being watched again--I can feel very plainly that strange
+intelligence watching everything I do. Have the tracers located him?"
+
+"No, they haven't been able to synchronize with his wave yet. Either
+he is using a most minute pencil or, what is more probable, he is on a
+frequency which we do not ordinarily use. However, I agree with you that
+it is not a malignant intelligence. All of us have felt it, and none of
+us senses enmity. Therefore, it is not a hexan--it may be one of those
+strange creatures of the satellites, who are, of course, perfectly
+harmless."
+
+"Harmless, but unpleasant," returned Kromodeor. "When we get back I'm
+going to find his beam myself and send a discharge along it that will
+end his spying upon me. I do not...."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A wailing signal interrupted the conversation and every Vorkul in
+the vast fleet coiled even more tightly about his bars, for the real
+battle was about to begin. The city of the hexans lay before them,
+all her gigantic forces mustered to repel the first real invasion of
+her long and warlike history. Mile after mile it extended, an orderly
+labyrinth of spherical buildings arranged in vast interlocking series
+of concentric circles--a city of such size that only a small part of it
+was visible, even to the infra-red vision of the Vorkulians. Apparently
+the city was unprotected, having not even a wall. Outward from the low,
+rounded houses of the city's edge there reached a wide and verdant
+plain, which was separated from the jungle by a narrow moat of
+shimmering liquid--a liquid of such dire potency that across it,
+even those frightful growths could neither leap nor creep.
+
+But as the Vorkulian phalanx approached--now shooting forward and
+upward with maximum acceleration, screaming bolts of energy flaming out
+for miles behind each heptagon as the full power of its generators was
+unleashed--it was made clear that the homeland of the hexans was far
+from unprotected. The verdant plain disappeared in a blast of radiance,
+revealing a transparent surface, through which could be seen masses of
+machinery filling level below level, deep into the ground as far as the
+eye could reach; and from the bright liquid of the girdling moat there
+shot vertically upward a coruscantly refulgent band of intense yellow
+luminescence. These were the hexan defences, heretofore invulnerable and
+invincible. Against them any ordinary warcraft, equipped with ordinary
+weapons of offense, would have been as pitifully impotent as a naked
+baby attacking a battleship. But now those defenses were being
+challenged by no ordinary craft; it had taken the mightiest intellects
+of Vorkulia two long lifetimes to evolve the awful engine of destruction
+which was hurling itself forward and upward with an already terrific and
+constantly increasing speed.
+
+Onward and upward flashed the gigantic duplex cone, its entire whirling
+mass laced and latticed together--into one mammoth unit by green tractor
+beams and red pressors. These tension and compression members, of
+unheard-of power, made of the whole fleet of three hundred forty-three
+fortresses a single stupendous structure--a structure with all the
+strength and symmetry of a cantilever truss! Straight through that wall
+of yellow vibrations the vast truss drove, green walls flaming blue
+defiance as the absorbers overloaded; its doubly braced tip rearing
+upward, into and beyond the vertical as it shot through that searing
+yellow wall. Simultaneously from each heptagon there flamed downward a
+green shaft of radiance, so that the whole immense circle of the cone's
+mouth was one solid tractor beam, fastening upon and holding in an
+unbreakable grip mile upon mile of the hexan earthworks.
+
+Practically irresistible force and supposedly immovable object!
+Every loose article in every heptagon had long since been stored in
+its individual shockproof compartment, and now every Vorkul coiled his
+entire body in fierce clasp about mighty horizontal bars: for the entire
+kinetic energy of the untold millions of tons of mass comprising the
+cone, at the terrific measure of its highest possible velocity, was
+to be hurled upon those unbreakable linkages of force which bound
+the trussed aggregation of Vorkulian fortresses to the deeply buried
+intrenchments of the hexans. The gigantic composite tractor beam snapped
+on and held. Inconceivably powerful as that beam was, it stretched a
+trifle under the incomprehensible momentum of those prodigious masses
+of metal, almost halted in their terrific flight. But the war-cone was
+not quite halted; the calculations of the Vorkulian scientists had been
+accurate. No possible artificial structure, and but few natural ones--in
+practice maneuvers entire mountains had been lifted and hurled for miles
+through the air--could have withstood the incredible violence of that
+lunging, twisting, upheaving impact. Lifted bodily by that impalpable
+hawser of force and cruelly wrenched and twisted by its enormous couple
+of angular momentum, the hexan works came up out of the ground as a
+waterpipe comes up in the teeth of a power shovel. The ground trembled
+and rocked and boulders, fragments of concrete masonry, and masses of
+metal flew in all directions as that city-encircling conduit of
+diabolical machinery was torn from its bed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A portion of that conduit fully thirty miles in length was in the air,
+a twisted, flaming inferno of wrecked generators, exploding ammunition,
+and broken and short-circuited high-tension leads before the hexans
+could themselves cut it and thus save the remainder of their
+fortifications. With resounding crashes, the structure parted at the
+weakened points, the furious upheaval stopped and, the tractor beams
+shut off, the shattered, smoking, erupting mass of wreckage fell in
+clashing, grinding ruin upon the city.
+
+The enormous duplex cone of the Vorkuls did not attempt to repeat the
+maneuver, but divided into two single cones, one of which darted toward
+each point of rupture. There, upon the broken and unprotected ends of
+the hexan cordon, their points of attack lay: theirs the task to eat
+along that annular fortress, no matter what the opposition might bring
+to bear--to channel in its place a furrow of devastation until the two
+cones, their work complete, should meet at the opposite edge of the
+city. Then what was left of the cones would separate into individual
+heptagons, which would so systematically blast every hexan thing into
+nothingness as to make certain that never again would they resume their
+insensate attacks upon the Vorkuls. Having counted the cost and being
+grimly ready to pay it, the implacable attackers hurled themselves upon
+their objectives.
+
+Here were no feeble spheres of space, commanding only the limited
+energies transmitted to their small receptors through the ether. Instead
+there were all the offensive and defensive weapons developed by hundreds
+of generations of warrior-scientists; wielding all the incalculable
+power capable of being produced by the massed generators of a mighty
+nation. But for the breach opened in the circle by the irresistible
+surprise attack, they would have been invulnerable, and, hampered as
+they were by the defenseless ends of what should have been an endless
+ring, the hexans took heavy toll.
+
+The heptagons, massive and solidly braced as they were, and anchored by
+tractor rays as well, shuddered and trembled throughout their mighty
+frames under the impact of fiercely driven pressor beams. Sullenly
+radiant green wall-screens flared brighter and brighter as the Vorkulian
+absorbers and dissipators, mighty as they were, continued more and more
+to overload; for there were being directed against them beams from the
+entire remaining circumference of the stronghold. Every deadly frequency
+and emanation known to the fiendish hexan intellect, backed by the full
+power of the city, was poured out against the invaders in sizzling
+shrieking bars, bands, and planes of frenzied incandescence. Nor was
+vibratory destruction alone. Armor-piercing projectiles of enormous
+size and weight were hurled--diamond-hard, drill-headed projectiles
+which clung and bored upon impact. High-explosive shells, canisters of
+gas, and the frightful aerial bombs and radio-dirigible torpedoes of
+highly scientific war--all were thrown with lavish hand, as fast as
+the projectors could be served. But thrust for thrust, ray for ray,
+projectile for massive projectile, the Brobdingnagian creations of
+the Vorkuls gave back to the hexans.
+
+The material lining of the ghastly moat was the only substance capable
+of resisting the action of its contents, and now, that lining destroyed
+by the uprooting of the fortress, that corrosive, brilliantly mobile
+liquid cascaded down in to the trough and added its hellish contribution
+to the furious scene. For whatever that devouring fluid touched flared
+into yellow flame, gave off clouds of lurid, strangling vapor, and
+disappeared. But through yellow haze, through blasting frequencies,
+through clouds of poisonous gas, through rain of metal and through
+storm of explosive the two cones ground implacably onward, their every
+offensive weapon centered upon the fast-receding exposed ends of the
+hexan fortress. Their bombs and torpedoes ripped and tore into the
+structure beneath the invulnerable shield and exploded, demolishing
+and hurling aside like straws, the walls, projectors, hexads and vast
+mountains of earth. Their terrible rays bored in, softening, fusing,
+volatilizing metal, short-circuiting connections, destroying life
+far ahead of the point of attack; and, drawn along by the relentlessly
+creeping composite tractor beam, there progressed around the circumference
+of the hexan city two veritable Saturnalia of destruction--uninterrupted,
+cataclysmic detonations of sound and sizzling, shrieking, multi-colored
+displays of pyrotechnic incandescence combining to form a spectacle
+of violence incredible.
+
+But the heptagons could not absorb nor radiate indefinitely those
+torrents of energy, and soon one greenishly incandescent screen went
+down. Giant shells pierced the green metal walls, giant beams of force
+fused and consumed them. Faster and faster the huge heptagon became a
+shapeless, flowing mass, its metal dripping away in flaming gouts of
+brilliance; then it disappeared utterly in one terrific blast as some
+probing enemy ray reached a vital part. The cone did not pause nor
+waver. Many of its component units would go down, but it would go
+on--and on and on until every hexan trace had disappeared or until
+the last Vorkulian heptagon had been annihilated.
+
+In one of the lowermost heptagons, one bearing the full brunt of the
+hexan armament, Kromodeor reared upright as his projector controls
+went dead beneath his hands. Finding his communicator screens likewise
+lifeless, he slipped to the floor and wriggled to the room of the Chief
+Power Officer, where he found Wixill idly fingering his controls.
+
+"Are we out?" asked Kromodeor, tersely.
+
+"All done," the Chief Power Officer calmly replied. "We have power left,
+but we cannot use it, as they have crushed our screens and are fusing
+our outer walls. Two out of seven chances, and we drew one of them. We
+are still working on the infra band, over across on the Second's board,
+but we won't last long...."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As he spoke, the mighty fabric lurched under them, and only their quick
+and powerful tails, darting in lightning loops about the bars, saved
+them from being battered to death against the walls as the heptagon was
+hurled end over end by a stupendous force. With a splintering crash it
+came to rest upon the ground.
+
+"I wonder how that happened? They should have rayed us out or exploded
+us," Kromodeor pondered. The Vorkuls, with their inhumanly powerful,
+sinuous bodies, were scarcely affected by the shock of that frightful
+fall.
+
+"They must have had a whole battery of pressors on us when our greens
+went out--they threw us half-way across the city, almost into the gate
+we made first," Wixill replied, studying the situation of the vessel in
+the one small screen still in action. "We aren't hurt very badly--only a
+few holes that they are starting to weld already. When the absorber and
+dissipator crews get them cooled down enough so that we can use power
+again, we'll go back."
+
+But they were not to resume their place in the attack. Through the
+holes in the still-glowing walls, hexan soldiery were leaping in
+steady streams, fighting with the utmost savagery of their bloodthirsty
+natures, urged on by the desperation born of the knowledge of imminent
+defeat and total destruction. Hand-weapons roared, flashed, and
+sparkled; heavy bars crashed and thudded against crunching bones;
+mighty bodies and tails whipped crushingly about six-limbed forms which
+wrenched and tore with monstrously powerful hands and claws. Fiercely
+and valiantly the Vorkuls fought, but they were outnumbered by hundreds
+and only one outcome was possible.
+
+Kromodeor was one of the last to go down. Weapons long since exhausted,
+he unwrapped his deadly coils from about a dead hexan and darted toward
+a storeroom, only to be cut off by a horde of enemies. Throwing himself
+down a vertical shaft, he flew toward a tiny projector-locker, in the
+lowermost part of one of the great star's points, the hexans in hot
+pursuit. He wrenched the door open, and even while searing planes of
+force were riddling his body, he trained the frightful weapon he had
+sought. He pressed the contact, and bursts of intolerable flame swept
+the entire passage clear of life. Weakly he struggled to go out into the
+aisle, but his muscles refused to do the bidding of his will and he lay
+there, twitching feebly.
+
+In the power room of the heptagon a hexan officer turned fiercely to
+another, who was offering advice.
+
+"Vorkuls? Bah!" he snarled, viciously. "Our race is finished. Die we
+must, but we shall take with us the one enemy, who above all others
+needs destruction!" and he hurled the captured Vorkulian fortress into
+the air.
+
+As the heptagon lurched upward, the massive door of a lower projector
+locker clanged shut and Kromodeor collapsed in a corner, his
+consciousness blotted out.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well, that certainly tears it! That's a ... I...." Stevens' ready
+vocabulary failed him and he turned to Brandon, who was still staring
+narrow-eyed into the plate, watching the destruction of the hexan city.
+
+"They've got something, all right--you've got to hand it to them,"
+Brandon replied. "And we thought we knew something about forces and
+physical phenomena in general. Those birds have forgotten more than we
+ever will know. Just one of those things could take the whole I-P fleet,
+armed as we are now, any morning before breakfast, just for setting-up
+exercises. We've got to do something about it--but what?"
+
+"It's okay--whatever you say. There may be an out somewhere, but I don't
+see it," and Stevens' gloomy tone matched his words.
+
+Highly trained scientists both, they had been watching that which
+transcended all the science of the inner planets and knew themselves
+outclassed immeasurably.
+
+"Only one thing to do, as I see it," Brandon cogitated. "That's to keep
+on going straight out, the way we're headed now. We'd better call a
+council of war, to dope out a line of action."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Citadel in Space
+
+
+For the first time in many days Brandon and Westfall sat at dinner in
+the main dining room of the _Sirius_. They were enjoying greatly the
+unaccustomed pleasure of a leisurely, formal meal; but still their
+talk concerned the projection of pure forces instead of subjects more
+appropriate to the table; still their eyes paid more attention to
+diagrams drawn upon scraps of paper than to the diners about them.
+
+"But I tell you, Quince, you're full of little red ants, clear to the
+neck!" Brandon snorted, as Westfall waved one of his arguments aside.
+"You must have had help to get that far off--no one man could possibly
+be as wrong as you are. Why, those fields absolutely will...."
+
+"Hi, Quincy! Hi, Norman!" a merry voice interrupted. "Still fighting as
+usual, I see! What kind of knights are you, anyway, to rescue us poor
+damsels in distress, and then never even know that we're alive?" A tall,
+willowy brunette had seen the two physicists as she entered the saloon,
+and came over to their table, a hand outstretched to each in cordial
+greeting.
+
+"Ho, Verna!" both men exclaimed, and came to their feet as they welcomed
+the smiling, graceful newcomer.
+
+"Sit down here, Verna--we have hardly started," Westfall invited, and
+Brandon looked at the girl in assumed surprise as she seated herself in
+the proffered chair.
+
+"Well, Verna, it's like this...." he began.
+
+"That's enough!" she broke in. "That phrase always was your introduction
+to one of the world's greatest brainstorms. But I know that this is the
+first time you have had time even to eat like civilized beings, so I'll
+forgive you this once. Why all the registering of amazement, Norman?"
+
+"I'm astonished that you aren't being monopolized by some husband or
+other. Surely the officers of the _Arcturus_ weren't so dumb that they'd
+stand for your still being Verna _Pickering_, were they?"
+
+"Not dumb, Norman, no. Far from it. But I'm still working for my
+M. R. S. degree, and I haven't succeeded in snaring it yet. You'd be
+surprised at how cagy those officers got after a few of them had been
+captured. But they are just like any other hunted game, I suppose--the
+antelopes that survive get pretty wild, you know," she concluded,
+plaintively.
+
+"Well, that certainly is one tough break for a poor little girl,"
+Brandon sympathized. "Quince, our little Nell, here, hasn't been done
+right by. I'm bashful and you're a woman-hater, but between us, some
+way, we've simply got to take steps."
+
+"You might take longer steps than you think," Verna laughed, her
+regular, white teeth and vivid coloring emphasized by her olive skin
+and her startling hair, black as Brandon's own. "Perhaps I would like
+a scientist better than an I-P officer, anyway. The more I think of it,
+the surer I am that Nadia Newton had the right idea. I believe that
+I'll catch me a physicist, too--either of you would do quite nicely,
+I think," and she studied the two men carefully.
+
+Westfall, the methodical and precise, had never been able to defend
+himself against Verna Pickering's badinage, but Brandon's ready tongue
+took up the challenge.
+
+"Verna, if you really decided to get any living man he wouldn't stand a
+chance in the world," he declared. "If you've already made up your mind
+that I'm your meat, I'll come down like Davy Crockett's coon. But if
+either of us will do, that'll give us each a fifty-fifty chance to
+escape your toils. What say we play a game of freeze-out to decide it?"
+
+"Fine, Norman! When shall we play?"
+
+"Oh, between Wednesday and Thursday, any week you say," and the two
+fenced on, banteringly but skilfully, with Westfall an appreciative and
+unembarrassed listener.
+
+Dinner over, Brandon and Westfall went back to the control room, where
+they found Stevens already seated at one of the master screens.
+
+"All x, Perce?"
+
+"All x. The observers report no registrations during the last two
+watches," and the three fell into discussion. Long they talked, studying
+every angle of the situation confronting them; until suddenly a speaker
+rattled furiously and an enormous, staring eye filled both master
+plates. Brandon's hand flashed to a switch, but the image disappeared
+even before he could establish the full-coverage ray screen.
+
+"I'm on the upper band--take the lower!" he snapped, but Stevens'
+projector was already in action. Trained minds all, they knew that some
+intelligence had traced them, and all realized that it was of the utmost
+importance to know what and where that intelligence was. Stevens found
+the probing frequency in his range and they flashed their own beam along
+it, encountering finally one of the monstrous Vorkulian fortresses, far
+from Jupiter and almost directly between them and the planet! Its wall
+screens were in operation, and no frequency at their command could
+penetrate that neutralizing blanket of vibrations.
+
+"What kind of an eye was that--ever see anything like it, Perce?"
+Brandon demanded.
+
+"I don't think so, though of course we got only an awfully short flash
+of it. It didn't look like the periscopic eyes that those flying snakes
+had--looked more like a hexan eye, don't you think? Couldn't very well
+be hexan, though, in that kind of a ship."
+
+"Don't think so, either. Maybe it's a purely mechanical affair that they
+use for observing. Anyway, old sons, I don't like the looks of things at
+all. Quince, you're the brains of this outfit--shift the massive old
+intellect into high and tell us what to do."
+
+Westfall, staring into the eyepiece of the filar micrometer, finished
+measuring the apparent size of the heptagon before he turned toward
+Stevens and Brandon.
+
+"It is hard to decide upon a course of action, since anything that we
+do may prove to be wrong," he said, slowly. "However, I do not see that
+this latest development can operate to change the plan we have already
+adopted; that of running away, straight out from the sun. We may have
+to increase our acceleration to the highest value the women and babies
+can stand. A series of observations of our pursuer will, of course, be
+necessary to decide that point. It would be useless to go to Titan,
+for they would be powerless to help us. We could not hold their mirror
+upon either the _Sirius_ or their torpedoes against such forces as that
+fortress has at her command. Then, too, we might well be bringing down
+upon them an enemy who would destroy much of their world before he could
+be stopped. Both Uranus and Neptune are approximately upon our present
+course. Do the Titanians know anything of either of them, Steve?"
+
+"Not a thing," the computer replied. "They can't get nearly as far as
+Uranus on their power beam--it's all they can do to make Jupiter. They
+seem to think, though, that one or more of the satellites of Uranus or
+Neptune may be inhabited by beings similar to themselves, only perhaps
+even more so. But considering the difference between what we found on
+the Jovian satellites and on Titan, I'd say that anything might be out
+there--on Uranus, Neptune, their satellites, or anywhere else."
+
+"Cancel Uranus, and double that for Neptune," Brandon commanded.
+"Realize how far away they are?"
+
+"That's right, too," agreed Stevens. "Before we got there, with any
+acceleration we can use now, this whole mess will be cleaned up, one way
+or the other."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Westfall completed the series of observations and calculated his
+results. Then, with a grave face, he went to consult the medical
+officers. The women, children, and the two Martian scientists were sent
+to the sick-bay and the acceleration was raised slowly to twenty meters
+per second per second, above which point the physicians declared they
+should not go unless it became absolutely necessary. Then the scientists
+met again--met without Alcantro and Fedanzo, who lay helpless upon
+narrow hospital bunks, unable even to lift their massive arms.
+
+While Westfall made another series of precise measurements of the
+super-dreadnought of space so earnestly pursuing them, Brandon stumbled
+heavily about the room, hands jammed deep into pockets, eyes unseeing
+emitting clouds of smoke from his villainously reeking pipe. The
+Venetians, lacking Brandon's physical strength and by nature quieter of
+disposition, sat motionless; keen minds hard at work. Stevens sat at the
+calculating machine, absently setting up and knocking down weird and
+meaningless integrals, while he also concentrated upon the problem
+before them.
+
+"They are still gaining, but comparatively slowly," Westfall finally
+reported. "They seem to be...."
+
+"In that case we may be all x," Brandon interrupted, brandishing his
+pipe vigorously. "We know that they're on a beam--apparently we're the
+only ones hereabouts having cosmic power. If we can keep away from them
+until their beam attenuates, we can whittle 'em down to our size and
+then take them, no matter how much accumulator capacity they've got."
+
+"But can we keep away from them that long?" asked Dol Kenor, pointedly;
+and his fellow Venerian also had a question to propound:
+
+"Would it not be preferable to lead them in a wide circle, back to a
+rendezvous with the Space Fleet, which will probably be ready by the
+time of meeting?"
+
+"I am afraid that that would be useless," Westfall frowned in thought.
+"Given power, that fortress could destroy the entire Fleet almost as
+easily as she could wipe out the _Sirius_ alone."
+
+"Kenor's right." Stevens spoke up from the calculator. "You're getting
+too far ahead of the situation. We aren't apt to keep ahead of them long
+enough to do much leading anywhere. The Titanians can hold a beam
+together from Saturn to Jupiter--why can't these snake-folks?"
+
+"Several reasons," Brandon argued stubbornly. "First place, look at the
+mass of that thing, and remember that the heavier the beam the harder
+it is to hold it together. Second, there's no evidence that they wander
+around much in space. If their beams are designed principally for travel
+upon Jupiter, why should they have any extraordinary range? I say they
+can't hold that beam forever. We've got a good long lead, and in spite
+of their higher acceleration, I think we'll be able to keep out of range
+of their heavy stuff. If so, we'll trace a circle--only one a good deal
+bigger than the one Amonar suggested--and meet the fleet at a point
+where that enemy ship will be about out of power."
+
+Thus for hours the scientists argued, agreeing upon nothing, while
+the Vorkulian fortress crept ever closer. At the end of three days of
+the mad flight, the pursuing space ship was in plain sight, covering
+hundreds of divisions of the micrometer screens. But now the size of
+the images was increasing with extreme slowness, and the scientists
+of the _Sirius_ watched with strained attention the edges of those
+glowing green pictures. Finally, when the pictured edges were about
+to cease moving across the finely-ruled lines, Brandon cut down his
+own acceleration a trifle, and kept on decreasing it at such a rate
+that the heptagon still crept up, foot by foot.
+
+"Hey what's the big idea?" Stevens demanded.
+
+"Coax 'em along. If we run away from them they'll probably reverse power
+and go back home, won't they? Their beam is falling apart fast, but
+they're still getting so much stuff along it that we couldn't do a thing
+to stop them. If they think that we're losing power even faster than
+they are, though, they'll keep after us until their beam's so thin that
+they'll just be able to stop on it. Then they'll reverse or else go onto
+their accumulators--reverse, probably, since they'll be a long ways from
+home by that time. We'll reverse, too, and keep just out of range. Then,
+when we both have stopped and are about to start back, their beam will
+be at its minimum and we'll go to work on 'em--foot, horse, and marines.
+Nobody can run us as ragged as they've been doing and get away with it
+as long as I'm conscious and stand a chance in the world of hanging one
+onto their chins in retaliation. I've got a hunch. If it works, we can
+take those birds alone, and take 'em so they'll _stay_ took. We might as
+well break up--this is going to be an ordinary job of piloting for a few
+days, I think. I'm going up and work with the Martians on that hunch.
+You fellows work out any ideas you want to. Watch 'em close, Mac. Keep
+kidding 'em along, but don't let them get close enough to puncture us."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Everything worked out practically as Brandon had foretold, and a few
+days later, their acceleration somewhat less than terrestrial gravity,
+he called another meeting in the control room. He came in grinning from
+ear to ear, accompanied by the two Martians, and seated himself at his
+complex power panel.
+
+"Now watch the professor closely, gentlemen," he invited. "He is going
+to cut that beam."
+
+"But you can't," protested Pyraz Amonar.
+
+"I know you can't, ordinarily, when a beam is tight and solid. But
+that beam's as loose as ashes right now. I told you I had a hunch, and
+Alcantro and Fedanzo worked out the right answer for me. If I can cut
+it, Quince, and if their screens go down for a minute, shoot your
+visiray into them and see what you can see."
+
+"All x. How much power are you going to draw?"
+
+"Plenty--it figures a little better than four hundred thousand
+kilofranks. I'll draw it all from the accumulators, so as not to
+disturb you fellows on the cosmic intake. We don't care if we do run the
+batteries down some, but I don't want to hold that load on the bus-bars
+very long. However, if my hunch is right, I won't be on that beam five
+minutes before it's cut from Jupiter--and I'll bet you four dollars that
+you won't see the original crew in that fort when you get into it."
+
+He set upper and lower bands of dirigible projectors to apply a
+powerful sidewise thrust, and the _Sirius_ darted off her course.
+Flashing a minute pencil behind the huge heptagon, Brandon manipulated
+his tuning circuits until a brilliant spot in space showed him that he
+was approaching resonance with the heptagon's power beam. Micrometer
+dials were then engaged and the delicate tuning continued until the
+meters gave evidence that the two beams were precisely synchronized and
+exactly opposite in phase. Four plunger switches closed, that tiny pilot
+ray became an enormous rod of force, and as those two gigantic beams met
+in exact opposition and neutralized each other, a solid wall of blinding
+brilliance appeared in the empty ether behind the Vorkulian fortress. As
+that dazzling wall sprang into being, the sparkling green protection
+died from the walls of the heptagon.
+
+"Go to it, Quince!" Brandon yelled, but the suggestion was entirely
+superfluous. Even before the wall-screen had died, Westfall's beam was
+trying to get through it, and when the visiray revealed the interior of
+the heptagon, the quiet and methodical physicist was shaken from his
+habitual calm.
+
+"Why, they aren't the winged monsters at all--they're _hexans_!"
+he exclaimed.
+
+"Sure they are." Brandon did not even turn his heavily-goggled eyes
+from the blazing blankness of his own screen. "That was my hunch. Those
+snakes went about things in a business-like fashion. They didn't strike
+me as being folks who would pull off such a wild stunt as trying to
+chase us clear out of the solar system, but a gang of hexans would do
+just that. Some of them must have captured that ship and, already having
+it in their cock-eyed brains that we were back of what happened on
+Callisto, they decided to bump us off if it was the last thing they ever
+did. That's what I'd do myself, if I were a hexan. Now I'll tell you
+what's happening back at the home power plant of that ship and what's
+going to happen next. I'm kicking up a horrible row out there with my
+interference, and a lot of instruments at the other end of that beam
+must be cutting up all kinds of didoes, right now. They'll check up on
+that ship with the expedition, by radio and what-not, and when they find
+out that it's clear out here--chop! Didn't get to see much, did you?"
+
+"No, they must have switched over to their accumulators almost
+instantly."
+
+"Yeah, but if they've got accumulator capacity enough to hold off our
+entire cosmic intake and get back to Jupiter besides, I'm a polyp! We're
+going to take that ship, fellows, and learn a lot of stuff we never
+dreamed of before. Ha! There goes his beam--pay me the four, Quince."
+
+The dazzling wall of incandescence had blinked out without warning, and
+Brandon's beam bored on through space, unimpeded. He shut it off and
+turned to his fellows with a grin--a grin which disappeared instantly
+as a thought struck him and he leaped back to his board.
+
+"Sound the high-acceleration warning quick, Perce!" he snapped, and
+drove in switch after switch.
+
+"Cosmic intake's gone down to zero!" exclaimed MacDonald, as the
+_Sirius_ leaped away.
+
+"Had to cut it--they might shoot a jolt through that band. Just thought
+of something. Maybe unnecessary, but no harm done if ... it's necessary,
+all x--we're taking a sweet kissing right now. You see, even though
+we're at pretty long range, they've got some horrible projectors, and
+they were evidently mad enough to waste some power taking a good, solid
+flash at us--and if we hadn't been expecting it, that flash would have
+been a bountiful sufficiency, believe me--Great Cat! Look at that
+meter--and I've had to throw in number ten shunt! The outer screen is
+drawing five hundred and forty thousand!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They stared at the meter in amazement. It was incredible, even after
+they had seen those heptagons in action, that at such extreme range
+any offensive beam could be driven with such unthinkable power--power
+requiring for its neutralization almost the full output of the
+prodigious batteries of accumulators carried by the _Sirius_! Yet for
+five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes that beam drove furiously against
+their straining screens, and even Brandon's face grew tense and hard
+as that frightful attack continued. At the end of twenty-two minutes,
+however, the pointer of the meter snapped back to the pin and every
+man there breathed an explosive sigh of relief--the almost unbearable
+bombardment was over; the screen was drawing only its maintenance load.
+
+"Wow!" Brandon shouted. "I thought for a minute they were going to hang
+to us until we cracked, even if it meant that they'd have to freeze to
+death out here themselves!"
+
+"It would have meant that, too, don't you think?" asked Stevens.
+
+"I imagine so--don't see how they could possibly have enough power left
+to get back to Jupiter if they shine that thing on us much longer. Of
+course, the more power they waste on us, the quicker we can take them;
+but I don't want much more of that beam, I'll tell the world--I just
+about had heart failure before they cut off!"
+
+The massive heptagon was now drifting back toward Jupiter at constant
+velocity. The hexans were apparently hoarding jealously their remaining
+power, for their wall screens did not flash on at the touch of the
+visiray. Through unresisting metal the probing Terrestrial beams sped,
+and the scientists studied minutely every detail of the Vorkulian
+armament; while the regular observers began to make a detailed
+photographic survey of every room and compartment of the great fortress.
+Much of the instrumentation and machinery was familiar, but some of it
+was so strange that study was useless--days of personal inspection and
+experiment, perhaps complete dismantling, would be necessary to reveal
+the secrets hidden within those peculiar mechanisms.
+
+"They're trying to save all the power they can--think I'll make them
+spend some more," Brandon remarked, and directed against the heptagon a
+heavy destructive beam. "We don't want them to get back to Jupiter until
+after we've boarded them and found out everything we want to know. Come
+here, Quince--what do you make of this?"
+
+Both men stared at the heptagon, frankly puzzled; for the screens of the
+strange vessel did not radiate, nor did the material of the walls yield
+under the terrible force of the beam. The destructive ray simply struck
+that dull green surface and vanished--disappeared without a trace, as a
+tiny stream of water disappears into a partially-soaked sponge.
+
+"Do you know what you are doing?" asked Westfall, after a few minutes'
+thought. "I believe that you are charging their accumulators at the rate
+of," he glanced at a meter, "exactly thirty-one thousand five hundred
+kilofranks."
+
+"Great Cat!" Brandon's hand flashed to a switch and the beam expired.
+"But they can't just simply grab it and store it, Quince--it's
+impossible!"
+
+"The word 'impossible' in that connection, coming from you, has a queer
+sound," Westfall said pointedly and Brandon actually blushed.
+
+"That's right, too--we have got pretty much the same idea in our cosmic
+intake fields, but we didn't carry things half as far as they have done.
+Huh! They're flashing us again ... but those thin little beams don't
+mean anything. They're just trying to make us feed them some more, I
+guess. But we've got to hold them back some way--wonder if they can
+absorb a tractor field?"
+
+The hexans had lashed out a few times with their lighter weapons,
+but, finding the _Sirius_ unresponsive, had soon shut them off and were
+stolidly plunging along toward Jupiter. Brandon flung out a tractor rod
+and threw the mass of his cruiser upon it as it locked into those sullen
+green walls. But as soon as the enemy felt its drag, their screens
+flared white, and the massive Terrestrial space-ship quivered in every
+member as that terrific cable of force was snapped.
+
+"They apparently cannot store up the energy of a tractor," commented
+Westfall, "but you will observe that they have no difficulty in
+radiating when they care to."
+
+"Those two ideas didn't pan out so heavy. There's lots of things not
+tried yet, though. Our next best bet is to get around in front of him
+and push back. If they wiggle away from more than fifty percent of a
+pressor, they're really good."
+
+The pilot maneuvered the _Sirius_ into line, directly between Jupiter
+and the pentagon; and as the driving projectors went into action,
+Brandon drove a mighty pressor field along their axis, squarely into the
+center of mass of the Vorkulian fortress. For a moment it held solidly,
+then, as the screens of the enemy went into action, it rebounded and
+glanced off in sparkling, cascading torrents. But the hexans, with all
+their twisting and turning, could not present to that prodigious beam of
+force any angle sufficiently obtuse to rob it of half its power, and the
+driving projectors of the pentagon again burst into activity as the
+backward-pushing mass of the _Sirius_ made itself felt. In a short time,
+however, the wall-screens were again cut off--apparently more power was
+required to drive them than they were able to deflect.
+
+Although even the enormous tonnage of the Terrestrial cruiser was
+insignificant in comparison with the veritable mountain of metal to
+which she was opposed, so that the fiercest thrust of her driving
+projectors did not greatly affect the monster's progress; yet Brandon
+and his cohorts were well content.
+
+"It's a long trip back to where they came from, and since they wanted
+to drift all the way, I think they'll be out of power before they get
+there," Brandon summed up the situation. "We aren't losing any power,
+either, since we are using only a part of our cosmic intake."
+
+In a few hours the struggle had settled down to a routine matter--the
+_Sirius_ being pushed backward steadily against the full drive of her
+every projector, contesting stubbornly every mile of space traversed.
+Assured that the regular pilots and lookouts were fully capable
+of handling the vessel, the scientists were about to resume their
+interrupted tasks when one of the photographers called them over to look
+at something he had discovered in one of the lowermost and smallest
+compartments of the heptagon. All crowded around the screens, and saw
+pictured there the winged, snake-like form of one of the original crew
+of the Vorkulian vessel!
+
+"Dead?" Brandon asked.
+
+"Not yet," replied the photographer. "He is twitching a little once in
+a while, but you see, he's pretty badly cut up."
+
+"I see he is ... he must have a lot of vitality to have lasted this
+long--may be he'll live through it yet. Hold him on the plate, and get
+his exact measurements." He turned to the communicator. "Doctor von
+Steiffel? Can you come down to the control room a minute? We may want
+you to operate upon one of these South Jovians after a while."
+
+"_Himmel! Es ... ist ... der...._" The great surgeon, bearded and
+massive, stared into the plate, and in his surprise started to speak
+in his native German. He paused, his long, powerful fingers tracing the
+likeness of the Vorkul upon the plate, then went on: "I would like very
+much to operate, but, not understanding our intentions, he would, of
+course, struggle. And when that body struggles--_schrecklichkeit_!" and
+he waved his arms in a pantomime of wholesale destruction.
+
+"I thought of that--that's why I am talking to you now instead of when
+we get to him, two or three days from now. We'll give you his exact
+measurements, and a crew of mechanics will, under your direction, sink
+holes in the steel floor and install steel bands heavy enough to hold
+him rigid, from tailfins to wing-tips. We'll hold him there until we can
+make him understand that we're friends. It is of the utmost importance
+to save that creature's life if possible; because we do not want one of
+their fortresses launched against us--and in any event, it will not do
+us any harm to have a friend in the City of the South."
+
+"Right. I will also have prepared some kind of a space-suit in which
+he can be brought from his vessel to ours," and the surgeon took the
+measurements and went to see that the "operating table" and suit were
+made ready for Kromodeor, the sorely wounded Vorkul.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was not long until the projectors of the heptagon went out and
+she lay inert in space, power completely exhausted. Knowing that the
+screens of the enemy would absorb any ordinary ray, the scientists had
+calculated the most condensed beam they could possibly project, a beam
+which, their figures showed, should be able to puncture those screens by
+sheer mass action--puncture them practically instantaneously, before the
+absorbers could react. To that end they had arranged their circuits to
+hurl seven hundred sixty-five thousand kilofranks--the entire power of
+their massed accumulators and their highest possible cosmic intake--in
+one tiny bar of superlative density, less than one meter in diameter!
+Everything ready, Brandon shot in prodigious switches that launched that
+bolt--a bolt so vehement, so inconceivably intense, that it seemed
+fairly to blast the very ether out of existence as it tore its way along
+its carefully predetermined line. The intention was to destroy all the
+control panels of the absorber screens; parts so vital that without them
+the great vessel would be helpless, and yet items which the Terrestrials
+could reconstruct quite readily from their photographs and drawings.
+
+As that irresistible bolt touched the Vorkulian wall-screen, the spot
+of contact flared instantaneously through the spectrum and into the
+black beyond the violet as that screen overloaded locally. Fast as it
+responded and highly conductive though it was, it could not handle that
+frightfully concentrated load. In the same fleeting instant of time
+every molecule of substance in that beam's path flashed into tenuous
+vapor--no conceivable material could resist or impede that stabbing
+stiletto of energy--and the main control panel of the Vorkulian
+wall-screen system vanished. Time after time, as rapidly as he could
+sight his beam and operate his switches, Brandon drove his needle of
+annihilation through the fortress, destroying the secondary controls.
+Then, the walls unresisting, he cut in the vastly larger, but infinitely
+less powerful, I-P ray, and with it systematically riddled the immense
+heptagon. Out through the gaping holes in the outer walls rushed the
+dense atmosphere of Jupiter, and the hexans in their massed hundreds
+died.
+
+The _Sirius_ was brought up beside the heptagon, so that her main
+air-lock was against one of the yawning holes in the green metal wall
+of the enemy. There she was anchored by tractor beams, and the two
+hundred picked men of the I-P police, in full space equipment, prepared
+to board the gigantic fortress of the void. Brandon sat tense at his
+controls, ready to send his beam ahead of the troopers against any
+hexans that might survive in some as yet unpunctured compartment.
+General Crowninshield sat beside the physicist at an auxiliary board,
+phones at ears and four infra-red visiray plates ranged in front of him;
+ready through light or darkness to direct and oversee the attack, no
+matter where it might lead or how widely separated the platoons might
+become before the citadel was taken.
+
+The space-line men--the engineers of weightless combat--led the van,
+protected by the projectors of their fellows. Theirs the task to set up
+ways of rope, along which the others could advance. Power drills bit
+savagely into metal, making holes to receive the expanding eyebolts;
+grappling hooks seized fast every protuberance and corner; points of
+little stress were supported by powerful suction cups; and at intervals
+were strung beam-fed lanterns, illuminating brilliantly the line of
+march. Through compartments and down corridors they went, bridging the
+many gaps in the metal through which Brandon's beams had blasted their
+way; guided by Crowninshield along the shortest feasible path toward the
+little projector room in which Kromodeor, the wounded Vorkul, lay. There
+were so many chambers and compartments in the heptagon that it had, of
+course, been impossible to puncture them all, and in some of the tight
+rooms were groups of hexans, anxious to do battle. But the general's eye
+led his men, and if such a room lay before them, Brandon's frightful
+beam entered it first--and where that beam entered, life departed.
+
+But the hexans were really intelligent, as has been said. They had had
+time to prepare for what they knew awaited them, and they were rendered
+utterly desperate by the knowledge that, no matter what might happen,
+their course was run. Their power was gone, and even if the present
+enemy should be driven off, they would float idly in space until they
+died of cold; or, more probably, hurtling toward Jupiter as they were,
+they would plunge to certain death upon its surface as soon as they came
+within its powerful gravitational field. Therefore some fifty of the
+creatures, who had had space experience in their spherical vessels,
+had spent the preceding days in manufacturing space equipment. Let the
+weight-fiends plan upon detonating magazines of explosives, upon laying
+mines calculated to destroy the invaders, even the vessel itself and
+all within it. Let them plan upon any other such idle schemes, which
+were certain to be foreseen and guarded against by the space-hardened
+veterans who undoubtedly moaned that all-powerful and vengeful football
+of scarred gray metal. Space-fighters were they, and as space-fighters
+would they die; taking with them to their own inevitable death a full
+quota of the enemy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus it came about that the head of the column of police had scarcely
+passed a certain door, when in the room behind it there began to
+assemble the half-hundred spacehounds of the hexans. When the vanguard
+had approached that room, Crowninshield had inspected it thoroughly with
+his infra-red beams. He had found it punctured and airless, devoid of
+life or of lethal devices, and had passed on. But now the space-suited
+warriors of the horde, guided in their hiding by their own visirays,
+were massing there. When the center of the I-P column reached that door,
+it burst open. There boiled out into the corridor, into the very midst
+of the police, fifty demoniacal hexans, fighting with Berserk fury,
+ruled by but one impulse--to kill.
+
+Hand-weapons flashed viciously, tearing at steel armor and at bulging
+space-suits. Space-hooks bit and tore. Pikes and lances were driven with
+the full power of brawny arms. Here and there could be seen trooper and
+hexan, locked together in fierce embrace far from any hand-line--six
+limbs against four, all ten plied with abandon in mortal, hand-to-hand,
+foot-to-foot combat.
+
+"Give way!" yelled Crowninshield into the ears of his men. "Epstein,
+back! LeFevre, advance! Get out of block ten--give us a chance to use
+a beam!"
+
+As the police fell back out of the designated section of the corridor,
+Brandon's beam tore through it, filling it from floor to ceiling with
+a volume of intolerable energy. In that energy walls, doorway, and
+space-lines, as well as most of the hexans, vanished utterly. But the
+beam could not be used again. Every surviving enemy had hurled himself
+frantically into the thickest ranks of the police and the battle raged
+fiercer than ever. It did not last long. The ends of the column had
+already closed in. The police filled the corridor and overflowed into
+the yawning chasm cut by the annihilating ray. Outnumbered, surrounded
+upon all sides, above, and below by the Terrestrials, the hexans fought
+with mad desperation to the last man--and to the last man died. And even
+though in lieu of their own highly efficient space-armor they had fought
+in weak, crude, and hastily improvised space-suits, which were pitifully
+inferior to the ray resistant, heavy steel armor of the I-P forces,
+nevertheless the enormous strength and utter savagery of the hexans had
+taken toll; and when the advance was resumed, it was with extra lookouts
+scanning the entire neighborhood of the line of march.
+
+Since the troops had entered the fortress as close to their goal as
+possible, it was not long until the leading platoon reached the door
+behind which Kromodeor lay. Tools and cylinders of air were brought up,
+and the engineers quickly fitted pressure bulkheads across the corridor.
+There was a screaming hiss from the valves, the atmosphere in that
+walled-off space became dense, and mechanics attacked with their power
+drills the door of the projector room. It opened, and four husky
+orderlies rapidly but gently encased the long body of the Vorkul in the
+space-suit built especially to receive it. As that monstrous form in
+its weirdly bulging envelope was guided through the air-locks into the
+_Sirius_, Crowninshield barked orders into his transmitter and the
+police reformed. They would now systematically scour the fortress, to
+wipe out any hexans that might still be in hiding; to discover and
+destroy any possible traps or infernal machines which the enemy might
+have planted for their undoing.
+
+Assured that the real danger to the _Sirius_ was over and that his
+presence was no longer necessary, Brandon turned his controls over to an
+assistant and went up to the Venerian rooms, where von Steiffel and his
+staff were to operate upon the Vorkul. There, in the dense, hot air, but
+little different now from the atmosphere of Jupiter, Kromodeor lay;
+bolted down to the solid steel of the floor by means of padded steel
+straps. So heavy were the bands that he could not possibly break even
+one of them; so closely were they spaced that he could scarcely have
+moved a muscle had he tried. But he did not try--so near death was he
+that his mighty muscles did not even quiver at the trenchant bite of the
+surgeon's tools. Von Steiffel and his aides, meticulously covered with
+sterile gowns, hoods, and gloves, worked in most rigidly aseptic style;
+deftly and rapidly closing the ghastly wounds inflicted by the weapons
+of the hexans.
+
+"Hi, Brandon," the surgeon grunted as he straightened up, the work
+completed. "I did not use much antiseptic on him. Because of possible
+differences in blood chemistry and in ignorance of his native bacteria,
+I depended almost wholly upon asepsis and his natural resistance. It is
+a good thing that we did not have to use an anaesthetic. He is in bad
+shape, but if we can feed him successfully, he may pull through."
+
+"Feed him? I never thought of that. What d'you suppose he eats?"
+
+"I have an idea that it is something highly concentrated, from his
+anatomy. I shall try giving him sugar, milk chocolate, something of
+the kind. First I shall try maple syrup. Being a liquid, it is easily
+administered, and its penetrating odor also may be a help."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A can of the liquid was brought in and to the amazement of the
+Terrestrials, the long, delicate antennae of the Vorkul began to twitch
+as soon as the can was opened. Motioning hastily for silence, von
+Steiffel filled a bowl and placed it upon the floor beneath Kromodeor's
+grotesque nose. The twitching increased, until finally one dull, glazed
+eye brightened somewhat and curled slowly out upon its slender pedicle,
+toward the dish. His mouth opened sluggishly and a long, red tongue
+reached out, but as his perceptions quickened, he became conscious of
+the strangers near him. The mouth snapped shut, the eye retracted, and
+heaving, rippling surges traversed that powerful body as he struggled
+madly against the unbreakable shackles of steel binding him to the floor.
+
+"_Ach, kindlein_!" The surgeon bent anxiously over that grotesque but
+frightened head; soothing, polysyllabic German crooning from his bearded
+lips.
+
+"Here, let's try this--I'm good on it," Stevens suggested, bringing up
+the Callistonian thought exchanger. All three men donned headsets, and
+sent wave after wave of friendly and soothing thoughts toward that
+frantic and terrified brain.
+
+"He's got his brain shut up like a clam!" Brandon snorted. "Open up,
+guy--we aren't going to hurt you! We're the best friends you've got,
+if you only knew it!"
+
+"Himmel, und he iss himself killing!" moaned von Steiffel.
+
+"One more chance that might work," and Brandon stepped over to the
+communicator, demanding that Verna Pickering be brought at once. She
+came in as soon as the air-locks would permit, and the physicist
+welcomed her eagerly.
+
+"This fellow's fighting so he's tearing himself to pieces. We can't make
+him receive a thought, and von Steiffel's afraid to use an anaesthetic.
+Now it's barely possible that he may understand hexan. I thought you
+wasted time learning any of it, but maybe you didn't--see if you can
+make him understand that we're friends."
+
+The girl flinched and shrank back involuntarily, but forced herself to
+approach that awful head. Bending over, she repeated over and over one
+harsh, barking syllable. The effect of that word was magical. Instantly
+Kromodeor ceased struggling, an eye curled out, and that long, supple
+tongue flashed down and into the syrup. Not until the last sticky trace
+had been licked from the bowl did his attention wander from the food.
+Then the eye, sparkling brightly now, was raised toward the girl.
+Simultaneously four other eyes arose, one directed at each of the men
+and the other surveying his bonds and the room in which he was. Then the
+Vorkul spoke, but his whistling, hissing manner of speech so garbled
+the barking sounds of the hexan words he was attempting to utter, that
+Verna's slight knowledge of the language was of no use. She therefore
+put on one of the headsets, motioning the men to do the same, and
+approached Kromodeor with the other, repeating the hexan word of
+friendly import. This time the Vorkul's brain was not sealed against
+the visitors and thoughts began to flow.
+
+"You've used those things a lot," Brandon turned to Stevens in a quick
+aside. "Can you hide your thoughts?"
+
+"Sure--why?"
+
+"All I can think of is that power system of theirs, and he'd know what
+we were going to do, sure. And I'd better be getting at it anyway. So
+you can wipe that off your mind with a clear conscience--the rest of us
+will get everything they've got there. Your job's to get everything you
+can out of this bird's brain. All x?"
+
+"All x."
+
+"Why, you didn't put yours on!" Verna exclaimed.
+
+"No, I don't think I'll have time. If I get started talking to him now,
+I'd be here from now on, and I've got a lot of work to do. Steve can
+talk to him for me--see you later," and Brandon was gone.
+
+He went directly to the Vorkulian fortress, bare now of hexan life and
+devoid of hexan snares and traps. There he and his fellows labored day
+after day learning every secret of every item of armament and equipment
+aboard the heptagon.
+
+"Did you finish up today, Norm?" asked Stevens one evening. "Kromodeor's
+coming to life fast. He's able to wiggle around a little now, and is
+insisting that we take off the one chain we keep on him and let him use
+a plate, to call his people."
+
+"All washed up. Guess I'll go in and talk to him--you all say he's such
+an egg. With this stuff off my mind I can hide it well enough. By the
+way, what does he eat?" And the two friends set out for the Venerian
+rooms.
+
+"Anything that's sweet, apparently, with just enough milk to furnish a
+little protein. Won't eat meat or vegetables at all--von Steiffel says
+they haven't got much of a digestive tract, and I know that they haven't
+got any teeth. He's already eaten most all the syrup we had on board,
+all of the milk chocolate, and a lot of the sugar. But none of us can
+get any kind of a raise out of him at all--not even Nadia, when she fed
+him a whole box of chocolates."
+
+"No, I mean what does he eat when he's home?"
+
+"It seems to be a sort of syrup, made from the juices of jungle plants,
+which they drag in on automatic conveyors and process on automatic
+machinery. But he's a funny mutt--hard to get. Some of his thoughts are
+lucid enough, but others we can't make out at all--they are so foreign
+to all human nature that they simply do not register as thoughts at all.
+One funny thing, he isn't the least bit curious about anything. He
+doesn't want to examine anything, doesn't ask us any questions, and
+won't tell us anything about anything, so that all we know about him we
+found out purely by accident. For instance, they like games and sports,
+and seem to have families. They also have love, liking, and respect for
+others of their own race--but they seem to have no emotions whatever for
+outsiders. They're utterly inhuman--I can't describe it--you'll have to
+get it for yourself."
+
+"Did you find out about the Callistonians who went to see them?"
+
+"Negatively, yes. They never arrived. They probably couldn't see in the
+fog and must have missed the city. If they tried to land in that jungle,
+it was just too bad!"
+
+"That would account for everything. So they're strictly neutral, eh?
+Well, I'll tell him 'hi,' anyway." Now in the sickroom, Brandon picked
+up the headset and sent out a wave of cheery greeting.
+
+To his amazement, the mind of the Vorkul was utterly unresponsive
+to his thoughts. Not disdainful, not inimical; not appreciative, nor
+friendly--simply indifferent to a degree unknown and incomprehensible to
+any human mind. He sent Brandon only one message, which came clear and
+coldly emotionless.
+
+"I do not want to talk to you. Tell the hairy doctor that I am now
+strong enough to be allowed to go to the communicator screen. That is
+all." The Vorkul's mind again became an oblivious maze of unintelligible
+thoughts. Not deliberately were Kromodeor's thoughts hidden; he was
+constitutionally unable to interest himself in the thoughts or things of
+any alien intelligence.
+
+"Well, that for that." A puzzled, thoughtful look came over Brandon's
+face as he called von Steiffel. "A queer duck, if there ever was one.
+However, their ship will never bother us, that's one good thing; and
+I think we've got about everything of theirs that we want, anyway."
+
+The surgeon, after a careful examination of his patient, unlocked the
+heavy collar with which he had been restraining the over-anxious Vorkul,
+and supported him lightly at the communicator panel. As surely as though
+he had used those controls for years Kromodeor shot the visiray beam out
+into space. One hand upon each of the several dials and one eye upon
+each meter, it was a matter only of seconds for him to get in touch with
+Vorkulia. To the Terrestrials the screen was a gray and foggy blank; but
+the manifest excitement shrieking and whistling from the speaker in
+response to Kromodeor's signals made it plain that his message was being
+received with enthusiasm.
+
+"They are coming," the Vorkul thought, and lay back, exhausted.
+
+"Just as well that they're comin' out here, at that," Brandon commented.
+"We couldn't begin to handle that structure anywhere near Jupiter--in
+fact, we wouldn't want to get very close ourselves, with passengers
+aboard."
+
+Such was the power of the Vorkulian vessels that in less than twenty
+hours another heptagon slowed to a halt beside the _Sirius_ and two of
+its crew were wafted aboard.
+
+They were ushered into the Venerian room, where they talked briefly with
+their wounded fellow before they dressed him in a space-suit, which
+they filled with air to their own pressure. Then all three were lifted
+lightly into the air, and without a word or a sign were borne through
+the air-locks of the vessel, and into an opening in the wall of the
+rescuing heptagon. A green tractor beam reached out, seizing the
+derelict, and both structures darted away at such a pace that in a few
+minutes they had disappeared in the black depths of space.
+
+"Well--that, as I may have remarked before, is indisputably and
+conclusively that." Brandon broke the surprised, almost stunned, silence
+that followed the unceremonious departure of the visitors. "I don't know
+whether to feel relieved at the knowledge that they won't bother us, or
+whether to get mad because they won't have anything to do with us."
+
+He sent the "All x" signal to the pilot and the _Sirius_, once more at
+the acceleration of Terrestrial gravity, again bored on through space.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Spacehounds Triumphant
+
+
+Now that the hexan threat that had so long oppressed the humanity of the
+_Sirius_ was lifted, that dull gray football of armor steel was filled
+with relief and rejoicing as the pilot laid his course for Europa.
+Lounges and saloons resounded with noise as police, passengers, and such
+of the crew as were at liberty made merry. The control room, in which
+were grouped the leaders of the expedition and the scientists, was
+orderly enough, but a noticeable undertone of gladness had replaced the
+tense air it had known so long.
+
+"Hi, men!" Nadia Stevens and Verna Pickering, arms around each other's
+waists, entered the room and saluted the group gaily before they became
+a part of it.
+
+"'Smatter, girls--tired of dancing already?" asked Brandon.
+
+"Oh, no--we could dance from now on," Verna assured him. "But you see,
+Nadia hadn't seen that husband of hers for fifteen minutes, and was
+getting lonesome. Being afraid of all you men, she wanted me to come
+along for moral support. The real reason I came, though," and she
+narrowed her expressive eyes and lowered her voice mysteriously, "is
+that you two physicists are here. I want to study my chosen victims a
+little longer before I decide over which of you to cast the spell of
+my fatal charm."
+
+"But you can't do that," he objected, vigorously. "Quince and I are
+going to settle that ourselves some day--by shooting dice, or maybe each
+other, or...." he broke off, listening to an animated conversation going
+on behind them.
+
+"... just simply outrageous!" Nadia was exclaiming. "Here we saved his
+life, and I fed him a lot of my candy, and we went to all the trouble of
+bringing their ship back here almost to Jupiter for them, and then they
+simply dashed off without a word of thanks or anything! And he always
+acted as though he never wanted to see or hear of any of us again, ever!
+Why, they don't _think_ straight--as Norman would say it, they're _full_
+of little red _ants_! Why, they aren't even _human_!"
+
+"Sure not." Brandon turned to the flushed speaker. "They couldn't be,
+hardly, with their make-up. But is it absolutely necessary that all
+intelligent beings should possess such an emotion as gratitude? Such a
+being without it does seem funny to us, but I can't see that its lack
+necessarily implies anything particularly important. Keep still a
+minute," he went on, as Nadia tried to interrupt him, "and listen to
+some real wisdom. Quince, _you_ tell 'em."
+
+"They are, of course, very highly developed and extremely intelligent;
+but it should not be surprising that intelligence should manifest
+itself in ways quite baffling to us human beings, whose minds work so
+differently. They are, however ... well, peculiar."
+
+"I _won't_ keep still!" Nadia burst out, at the first opportunity.
+"I don't want to talk about those hideous things any more, anyway.
+Come on, Steve, let's go up and dance!"
+
+Crowninshield turned to Verna, with the obvious intention of leading
+her away, but Brandon interposed.
+
+"Sorry, Crown, but this lady is conducting a highly important
+psychological research, so your purely social claims will have to wait
+until after the scientific work is done."
+
+"Why narrow the field of investigation?" laughed the girl. "I'd rather
+widen it, myself--I might prefer a general, even to a physicist!"
+
+They went up to the main saloon and joined the mêlée there, and after
+one dance with Verna--all he could claim in that crowd of
+men--Crowninshield turned to Brandon.
+
+"You two seem to know Miss Pickering extraordinarily well. Would I be
+stepping on your toes if I give her a play?"
+
+"Clear ether as far as we're concerned." Brandon shrugged his shoulders.
+"She's been kicking around under foot ever since she was knee high to a
+duck--we gave her her first lessons on a slide rule."
+
+"Don't be dumb, Norman. That woman's a knock-out--a riot--a regular
+tri-planet call-out!"
+
+"Oh, she's all x, as far as that goes. She's a good little scout,
+too--not half as dumb as she acts--and she's one of the squarest little
+aces that ever waved a plume; but as for _playing_ her--too much like
+our kid sister."
+
+"Good--me for her!" and they made their way back down to the control
+room.
+
+Stevens, after his one dance with Nadia, had already returned. Brandon
+and Crowninshield found him seated at the calculating machine,
+continuing a problem which already filled several pages of his notebook.
+
+"'Smatter, Steve? So glad to see a calculator and some paper that you
+can't let them alone?"
+
+"Not exactly--just had a thought a day or so ago. Been computing the
+orbit of the wreckage of the _Arcturus_ around Jupiter. Think we should
+salvage it--the upper half, at least. It was left intact, you know."
+
+"H ... m ... m. That would be nice, all right. Dope enough?"
+
+"Got the direction solid, from my own observations; the velocity's a
+pretty rough approximation though. But after allowing for my probable
+error, it figures an ellipse of low eccentricity, between the orbits of
+Io and Europa. Its period is short--about two days."
+
+"Isn't it wonderful to have a brain?" Brandon addressed the room at
+large. "The kid's clever. Nobody else would have thought of it, except
+maybe Westfall. Let's see your figures. Um ... m ... m. According to
+that, we're within an hour of it, right now." He turned to the pilot and
+sketched rapidly.
+
+"Get on this line here, please, and decelerate, so that the stuff'll
+catch up with us, and pass the word to the lookouts. Stevens and I will
+take the bow plates.
+
+"That's a good idea," he went on to Stevens, as they took their places
+at main and auxiliary ultra-banks. "Lot of plunder in that ship.
+Instruments, boats, and equipment worth millions, besides most of the
+junk of the passengers--clothes, trunks, trinkets, and what-not. You're
+there, bucko!"
+
+"Thanks, Chief," ... and they fell silent, watching the instruments
+carefully, and from time to time making computations from the readings
+of the acceleration and flight meters.
+
+"There she is!" An alarm bell had finally sounded, the ultra-lights had
+flared out into space, and upon both screens there shone out images of
+the closely clustered wreckage of the _Arcturus_. But both men were more
+interested just then in the mathematics of the recovery than in the
+vessel itself.
+
+"Missed it eight minutes of time and eleven divisions on the scale,"
+reported Stevens. "Not so good."
+
+"Not so bad either--I've seen worse computation." Thus lightly was
+dismissed a mathematical feat which, a few years earlier, before the
+days of I-P computers, would have been deemed worthy of publication in
+"The Philosophical Magazine."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Director Newton was called in, and it was decided that the many small
+fragments of the vessel were not worth saving; that its upper half
+was all that they should attempt to tow the enormous distance back to
+Tellus. The pace of the _Sirius_ was adjusted to that of the floating
+masses, and tractor beams were clamped upon the undamaged portion of the
+derelict, and upon the two slices from the nose of the craft. A couple
+of the larger fragments of wreckage were also taken, to furnish metal
+for the repairs which would be necessary. Acceleration was brought
+slowly up to normal, and the battle-scarred cruiser of the void, with
+her heavy burden of inert metal, resumed her interrupted voyage toward
+Europa; the satellite upon which the passengers and crew of the
+ill-fated _Arcturus_ had been so long immured. On she bored through the
+ether, detector screens full out and greenly scintillant Vorkulian
+wall-screens outlining her football shape in weird and ghastly light;
+unafraid now of any possible surviving space-craft of the hexans.
+
+But if the hexans detected her, they made no sign. Perhaps their fleet
+had been destroyed utterly; perhaps it had been impressed upon even
+their fierce minds that those sparkling green screens were not to be
+molested with impunity! The satellite was reached without event and down
+into the crater landing shaft the two enormous masses of metal dropped.
+
+Callisto's foremost citizens were on hand to welcome the Terrestrial
+rescuers, and revelry reigned supreme in that deeply buried Europan
+community. All humanity celebrated. The Callistonians rejoiced because
+they were now freed from the age-old oppression of the hexan hordes;
+because they could once more extend their civilization over the Jovian
+satellites and live again their normal lives upon the surface of those
+small worlds.
+
+The Terrestrials were almost equally enthusiastic in the reunion that
+marked the end of the long imprisonment of the refugees.
+
+As soon as the hull of the _Arcturus_ had been warmed sufficiently to
+permit inspection, its original passengers were allowed to visit it
+briefly, to examine and to reclaim their belongings. Of course, some
+damage had been done by the cold of interplanetary space, but in general
+everything was as they had left it. Stevens and Nadia were among the
+first permitted aboard. They went first to the control room, where
+Stevens found his bag still lying behind Breckenridge's desk, where he
+had thrown it when he first boarded the vessel. Then they made their
+way up to Nadia's stateroom, which they found in meticulous order and
+spotless in its cleanliness--there is neither dust nor dirt in space.
+Nadia glanced about the formal little room and laughed up at her
+husband.
+
+"Funny, isn't it, sweetheart, how little we know what to expect? Just
+think how surprised I would have been, when I left this room, if I had
+been told that I would have a husband before I got back to it!"
+
+Breckenridge's first thought was for his precious triplex automatic
+chronometer, which he found, of course, "way off"--six and three-tenths
+seconds fast. Having corrected the timepiece from that of the _Sirius_,
+he immersed himself in the other delicate instruments of his
+department--and he was easy to find from that time on.
+
+Overcrowded as the _Sirius_ already was, it was decided that the
+original complement of the _Arcturus_ should occupy their former
+quarters aboard her during the return trip. To this end, corps of
+mechanics set to work upon the salvaged hulk. Heavy metal work was no
+novelty to the Callistonian engineers and mechanics, and the _Sirius_
+also was well equipped with metal-working machines and men. Thus the
+prow was welded; armored, insulating air-breaks were built along the
+stern, which was the plane of hexan cleavage, electrical connections
+were restored; and lastly, a set of the great Vorkulian wall-screen
+generators, absorbers, and dissipators was installed, with sufficient
+accumulator capacity for their operation. Director Newton studied this
+installation in silence for some time, then went in search of Brandon.
+
+"I hadn't considered the possibility of being attacked again
+between here and Tellus, but there's always the chance," he admitted.
+"If you think that there is any danger, we will crowd them all into the
+_Sirius_. It will not be at all comfortable, but it will be better than
+having any more of us killed."
+
+"With that outfit they'll be as safe as we will," the scientist assured
+him. "They can stand as much grief as we can. We'll do the fighting for
+the whole outfit from here, and anything we meet will have to take us
+before they can touch them. So they had better ride it there, where
+they'll have passengers' accommodations and be comfortable. As to
+danger, I don't know what to expect. They may all be gone and they may
+not. We're going to expect trouble every meter of the way in, though,
+and be ready for it."
+
+Everything ready and thoroughly tested, and stream of power flowing
+into the _Arcturus_ from the cosmic receptors of her sister ship, the
+passengers and their new possessions were moved into their former
+quarters. There was a brief ceremony of farewell, the doors of the
+airlocks were closed, the careful check-out was gone through, and the
+driving projectors of the _Sirius_ lifted both great vessels up the
+shaft, slowly and easily. And after them, as long as they could be seen,
+stared the thousands of Callistonians who thronged the great shaft's
+floor. Many of the spectators were not, strictly speaking, Callistonians
+at all. They were really Europans, born and reared in that hidden city
+which was to have been the last stronghold of Callisto's civilization.
+In that throng were hundreds who had never before seen the light of the
+sun nor any of the glories of the firmament, hundreds to whom that brief
+glimpse was a foretaste of the free and glorious life which was soon to
+be theirs.
+
+Up and up mounted that powerful tug-boat of space, with her heavy barge,
+falling smoothly upward at normal acceleration. Below her first Europa,
+then mighty Jupiter, became moons growing smaller and smaller. In their
+stateroom Nadia's supple waist writhed in the curve of Stevens' arm as
+she turned and looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
+
+"Well, big fellow, how does it feel to be out of a job? Or are you going
+over there every day on a tractor beam to work, as Norman suggested?"
+
+"Not on your sweet young life!" he exclaimed. "Norm thought he was
+kidding somebody, but it registered zero. It gives me the pip to loaf
+around when there's a lot of work to do, but this is entirely different.
+Nothing's driving us now, and a fellow's entitled to at least one
+honeymoon during his life. And what a honeymoon this is going to be,
+little spacehound of my heart! Nothing to do but love you all the way
+from here to Tellus! Whoopee!"
+
+"Oh, there's a couple of other things to do," she reminded him gaily.
+"You've got to smoke a lot of good cigarettes, I must eat a lot of
+Delray's chocolates, and we both really should catch up on eating fancy
+cooking. Speaking of eating, isn't that the second call for dinner? It
+_is_!" and they went along the narrow hall toward the elevator. To these
+two the long journey was to seem all too short.
+
+Long though the voyage was, it was uneventful. The occupants of the
+two vessels were in constant touch with each other by means of the
+communicators, and there was also much visiting back and forth in
+person. Stevens and Nadia came often to the _Sirius_, and were
+accompanied frequently by Verna Pickering, who claimed anew her ancient
+right of "kicking around under foot," wherever Brandon and Westfall
+might chance to be--and at such times General Crowninshield was
+practically certain to appear. And upon days when the beautiful brunette
+did not appear, the commandant generally found it necessary to inspect
+in person something in the _Arcturus_.
+
+Day after day passed, and even the new and ultra-powerful detector
+screens of the _Sirius_ remained unresponsive and cold. Day after day
+the plates before the doubled lookouts and observers remained blank.
+Power flowed smoothly and unfailingly into the cosmic receptors, and
+the products of conversion were discharged with equal smoothness and
+regularity from the forty-five gigantic driving projectors. The tractor
+beam held its heavy burden easily and the generators functioned
+perfectly. And finally a planet began to loom up in the stern lookout
+plates.
+
+Verna, the irrepressible, was in the control room of the _Sirius_,
+quarreling adroitly with Brandon and deftly flirting with Crowninshield.
+Glancing into the control screen she saw the planet in its end block,
+then studied the instruments briefly.
+
+"We're heading for _Mars_!" she declared with conviction. "I thought
+it looked that way yesterday, but supposed it must be only apparent--a
+trick of piloting or something about the orbit. I thought of course you
+were taking us back home--but you can't _possibly_ get to Tellus on any
+such course as this!"
+
+"Sure not," Brandon replied easily. "Certainly it's Mars. Isn't that
+where the _Arcturus_ started out for? Whoever said we were going to
+Tellus? Of course, if any of the passengers want to go right back the
+IPC will undoubtedly furnish transportation _gratis_. But paste this in
+your hat, Verna, for future reference--when spacehounds start out to go
+anywhere they _go_ there, even if they have to spend a year or so on
+minus time to do it!"
+
+Closer and closer they approached the red planet, swinging around in a
+wide arc in order to make their course coincide exactly with the pilot
+ray of check station M14, which was now precisely in its scheduled
+location in space. At the chief pilot's desk in the control room of the
+_Arcturus_, Breckenridge checked in with the station, then calculated
+rapidly the instant of their touching the specially-built bumper
+platforms of spring steel, hemp, and fiber which awaited them upon the
+Martian dock of the Interplanetary Corporation. Within range of the
+terminal, he plugged into it, waited until the tiny light flashed its
+green message of attention, and reported.
+
+"IPV _Arcturus_; Breckenridge, Chief Pilot; trip number forty-three
+twenty-nine. Checking in--four hundred forty-six days, fifteen hours,
+eleven minutes, thirty-eight and seven-tenths seconds minus!"
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories July,
+August and September 1931. Extensive research did not uncover any
+evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Spacehounds of IPC, by Edward Elmer Smith
+
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+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+    content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
+<meta content="pg2html (binary v0.18)" name="generator" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of
+    Spacehounds of IPC,
+    by Edward E. Smith, Ph.D.
+</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[*/
+    <!--
+ body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; }
+    p { text-indent:   1em;
+        margin-top:    .75em;
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+        text-align:    justify;
+        margin-bottom: .75em; }
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; }
+    hr.full { width: 100%; }
+    .quote { margin-left: 6%; margin-right: 6%; text-indent: 0em; font-size: 90%; }
+    .figure { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-indent: 0em; text-align: center; font-size: 90%; }
+    div.intro { margin-right: 50%; }
+    div.intro p { text-indent: 0; }
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spacehounds of IPC, 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: Spacehounds of IPC
+
+Author: Edward Elmer Smith
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2007 [EBook #20857]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPACEHOUNDS OF IPC ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Greg Weeks, David Garcia
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class="intro">
+<p>
+<i>Beginning a thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel by
+Edward E. Smith, Ph.D.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="smallc">
+<i>Author of "Skylark of Space" and "Skylark Three"</i>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3>
+PART I
+</h3>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h1>
+    Spacehounds of IPC
+</h1>
+<p class="quote">
+    <i><span class="drop">A</span> <span class="up">good</span> many of us, who are now certain beyond a doubt that space
+    travel will forever remain in the realm of the impossible, probably
+    would, if a rocket that were shot to the moon, for instance, did
+    arrive, and perhaps return to give proof of its safe arrival on our
+    satellite, accept the phenomenon in a perfectly blasé, twentieth
+    century manner. Dr. Smith, that phenomenal writer of classic
+    scientific fiction, seems to have become so thoroughly convinced of
+    the advent of interplanetary travel that it is difficult for the
+    reader to feel, after finishing "Spacehounds of IPC," that travel
+    in the great spaces is not already an established fact. Dr. Smith,
+    as a professional chemist, is kept fairly busy. As a writer, he is
+    satisfied with nothing less than perfection. For that reason, a
+    masterpiece from his pen has become almost an annual event. We know
+    you will like "Spacehounds" even better than the "Skylark" series.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="center">
+Illustrated by WESSO
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0001" id="h2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER I
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    The IPV <i>Arcturus</i> Sets Out for Mars
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span> <span class="up">narrow</span> football of steel, the Interplanetary Vessel <i>Arcturus</i> stood
+upright in her berth in the dock like an egg in its cup. A hundred feet
+across and a hundred and seventy feet deep was that gigantic bowl, its
+walls supported by the structural steel and concrete of the dock and
+lined with hard-packed bumper-layers of hemp and fibre. High into the
+air extended the upper half of the ship of space&mdash;a sullen gray expanse
+of fifty-inch hardened steel armor, curving smoothly upward to a needle
+prow. Countless hundred of fine vertical scratches marred every inch
+of her surface, and here and there the stubborn metal was grooved and
+scored to a depth of inches&mdash;each scratch and score the record of an
+attempt of some wandering cosmic body to argue the right-of-way with
+the stupendous mass of that man-made cruiser of the void.
+</p>
+<p>
+A burly young man made his way through the throng about the entrance,
+nodded unconcernedly to the gatekeeper, and joined the stream of
+passengers flowing through the triple doors of the double air-lock
+and down a corridor to the center of the vessel. However, instead of
+entering one of the elevators which were whisking the passengers up to
+their staterooms in the upper half of the enormous football, he in some
+way caused an opening to appear in an apparently blank steel wall and
+stepped through it into the control room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, Breck!" the burly one called, as he strode up to the instrument-desk
+of the chief pilot and tossed his bag carelessly into a corner. "Behold
+your computer in the flesh! What's all this howl and fuss about poor
+computation?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hello, Steve!" The chief pilot smiled as he shook hands cordially.
+"Glad to see you again&mdash;but don't try to kid the old man. I'm simple
+enough to believe almost anything, but some things just aren't being
+done. We have been yelling, and yelling hard, for trained computers
+ever since they started riding us about every one centimeter change in
+acceleration, but I know that you're no more an I-P computer than I am
+a Digger Indian. They don't shoot sparrows with coast-defense guns!"
+</p>
+
+<a name="image-0001"><!--IMG--></a>
+<div class="figure">
+<a href="images/ill-01.jpg"><img src="images/ill-01-t.jpg" alt="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+"Thanks for the compliment, Breck, but I'm your computer for this trip,
+anyway. Newton, the good old egg, knows what you fellows are up against
+and is going to do something about it, if he has to lick all the rest of
+the directors to do it. He knew that I was loose for a couple of weeks
+and asked me to come along this trip to see what I could see. I'm to
+check the observatory data&mdash;they don't know I'm aboard&mdash;take the peaks
+and valleys off your acceleration curve, if possible, and report to
+Newton just what I find out and what I think should be done about it.
+How early am I?" While the newcomer was talking, he had stripped the
+covers from a precise scale model of the solar system and from a large
+and complicated calculating machine and had set to work without a wasted
+motion or instant&mdash;scaling off upon the model the positions of the
+various check-stations and setting up long and involved integrals and
+equations upon the calculator.
+</p>
+<p>
+The older man studied the broad back of the younger, bent over his
+computations, and a tender, almost fatherly smile came over his careworn
+face as he replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Early? You? Just like you always were&mdash;plus fifteen seconds on the
+deadline. The final dope is due right now." He plugged the automatic
+recorder and speaker into a circuit marked "Observatory," waited until
+a tiny light above the plug flashed green, and spoke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"IPV <i>Arcturus</i>; Breckenridge, Chief Pilot; trip number forty-three
+twenty-nine. Ready for final supplementary route and flight data, Tellus
+to Mars."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Meteoric swarms still too numerous for safe travel along the scheduled
+route," came promptly from the speaker. "You must stay further away from
+the plane of the ecliptic. The ether will be clear for you along route
+E2-P6-W41-K3-R19-S7-M14. You will hold a constant acceleration of 981.27
+centimeters between initial and final check stations. Your take-off
+will be practically unobstructed, but you will have to use the utmost
+caution in landing upon Mars, because in order to avoid a weightless
+detour and a loss of thirty-one minutes, you must pass very close
+to both the Martian satellites. To do so safely you must pass the
+last meteorological station, M14, on schedule time plus or minus five
+seconds, at scheduled velocity plus or minus ten meters, with exactly
+the given negative acceleration of 981.27 centimeters, and exactly upon
+the pilot ray M14 will have set for you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x." Breckenridge studied his triplex chronometer intently, then
+unplugged and glanced around the control room, in various parts of which
+half a dozen assistants were loafing at their stations.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Control and power check-out&mdash;Hipe!" he barked. "Driving converters and
+projectors!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The first assistant scanned his meters narrowly as he swung a
+multi-point switch in a flashing arc. "Converter efficiency 100,
+projector reactivity 100; on each of numbers one to forty-five
+inclusive. All x."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dirigible projectors!"
+</p>
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">wo</span> more gleaming switches leaped from point to point. "Converter
+efficiency 100, projector reactivity 100, dirigibility 100, on each of
+numbers one to thirty-two, inclusive, of upper band; and numbers one to
+thirty-two, inclusive, of lower band. All x."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gyroscopes!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"35,000. Drivers in equilibrium at ten degrees plus. All x."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Upper lights and lookout plates!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The second assistant was galvanized into activity, and upon a screen
+before him there appeared a view as though he were looking directly
+upward from the prow of the great vessel. The air above them was full of
+aircraft of all shapes and sizes, and occasionally the image of one of
+that flying horde flared into violet splendor upon the screen as it was
+caught in the mighty, roving beam of one of the twelve ultra-light
+projectors under test.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Upper lights and lookout plates&mdash;all x," the second assistant reported,
+and other assistants came to attention as the check-out went on.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lower lights and lookout plates!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x," was the report, after each of the twelve ultra-lights of the
+stern had swung around in its supporting brackets, illuminating every
+recess of the dark depths of the bottom well of the berth and throwing
+the picture upon another screen in lurid violet relief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lateral and vertical detectors!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Laterals XP2710&mdash;all x. Verticals AJ4290&mdash;all x."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Receptors!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"15,270 kilofranks&mdash;all x."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Accumulators!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"700,000 kilofrank-hours&mdash;all x."
+</p>
+<p>
+Having thus checked and tested every function of his department,
+Breckenridge plugged into "Captain," and when the green light went on:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Chief pilot check-out&mdash;all x," he reported briefly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x," acknowledged the speaker, and the chief pilot unplugged.
+Fifteen minutes remained, during which time one department head after
+another would report to the captain of the liner that everything in his
+charge was ready for the stupendous flight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Steve?" Breckenridge turned to the computer. "How do you check
+acceleration and power with the observatory?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so good, old bean," the younger man frowned in thought. "They
+figure like astronomers, not navigators. They've made no allowances for
+anything, not even the reversal&mdash;and I figure four thousands for that
+and for minor detours. Then there's check station errors...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Check-station errors! Why, they're always right&mdash;that's what they're
+for!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't fool yourself&mdash;they've got troubles of their own, the same as
+anybody else. In fact, from a study of the charts of the last few weeks,
+I'm pretty sure that E2 is at least four thousand kilometers this side
+of where he thinks he is, that W41 is ten or twelve thousand beyond his
+station, and that they've both got a lateral displacement that's simply
+fierce. I'm going to check up, and argue with them about it as we pass.
+Then there's another thing&mdash;they figure to only two places, and we've
+got to have the third place almost solid if we expect to get a smooth
+curve. A hundredth of a centimeter of acceleration means a lot on a long
+trip when they're holding us as close as they are doing now. We'll ride
+this trip on 981.286 centimeters&mdash;with our scheduled mass, that means
+thirty six points of four seven kilofranks <i>plus</i> equilibrium power. All
+set to go," the computer stated, as he changed, by fractions of arc, the
+course-plotters of the automatic integrating goniometer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're the doctor&mdash;but I'm glad it's you that'll have to explain to the
+observatory," and Breckenridge set his exceedingly delicate excess power
+potentiometer exactly upon the indicated figure. "Well, we've got a few
+minutes left for a chin-chin before we lift her off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What's all this commotion about? Dish out the low-down."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it's like this, Steve. We pilots are having one sweet
+time&mdash;we're being growled at on every trip. The management squawks if
+we're thirty seconds plus or minus at the terminals, and the passenger
+department squalls if we change acceleration five centimeters total en
+route&mdash;claims it upsets the dainty customers and loses business for
+the road. They're tightening up on us all the time. A couple of years
+ago, you remember, it didn't make any difference what we did with the
+acceleration as long as we checked in somewhere near zero time&mdash;we used
+to spin 'em dizzy when we reversed at the half-way station&mdash;but that
+kind of stuff doesn't go any more. We've got to hold the acceleration
+constant and close to normal, got to hold our schedule on zero, <i>plus</i>
+or <i>minus</i> ten seconds, and yet we've got to make any detours they
+tell us to, such as this seven-million kilometer thing they handed
+us just now. To make things worse, we've got to take orders at every
+check-station, and yet <i>we</i> get the blame for everything that happens
+as a consequence of obeying those orders! Of course, I know as well
+as you do that it's rotten technique to change acceleration at every
+check-station; but we've told 'em over and over that we can't do any
+better until they put a real computer on every ship and tell the
+check-stations to report meteorites and other obstructions to us and
+then to let us alone. So you'd better recommend us some computers!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're getting rotten computation, that's a sure thing, and I don't
+blame you pilots for yelling, but I don't believe that you've got the
+right answer. I can't help but think that the astronomers are lying down
+on the job. They are so sure that you pilots are to blame that it hasn't
+occurred to them to check up on themselves very carefully. However,
+we'll know pretty quick, and then we'll take steps."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope so&mdash;but say, Steve, I'm worried about using that much plus
+equilibrium power. Remember, we've got to hit M14 in absolutely good
+shape, or plenty heads will drop."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say they will. I know just how the passengers will howl if we
+hold them weightless for half an hour, waiting for those two moons to get
+out of the way, and I know just what the manager will do if we check in
+minus thirty-one minutes. Wow! He'll swell up and bust, sure. But don't
+worry, Breck&mdash;if we don't check in all right, anybody can have my head
+that wants it, and I'm taking full responsibility, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're welcome to it." Breckenridge shrugged and turned the
+conversation into a lighter vein. "Speaking of weightlessness,
+it's funny how many weight-fiends there are in the world, isn't
+it? You'd think the passengers would enjoy a little weightlessness
+occasionally&mdash;especially the fat ones&mdash;but they don't. But say, while
+I think of it, how come you were here and loose to make this check-up?
+I thought you were out with the other two of the Big Three, solving
+all the mysteries of the Universe?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Had to stay in this last trip&mdash;been doing some work on the ether,
+force-field theory, and other advanced stuff that I had to go to Mars
+and Venus to get. Just got back last week. As for solving mysteries,
+laugh while you can, old hyena. You and a lot of other dim bulbs think
+that Roeser's Rays are the last word&mdash;that there's nothing left to
+discover&mdash;are going to get jarred loose from your hinges one of these
+days. When I came in nine months ago they were hot on the trail of
+something big, and I'll bet they bring it in...."
+</p>
+<p>
+Out upon the dock an insistent siren blared a crescendo and diminuendo
+blast of sound, and two minutes remained. In every stateroom and in
+every lounge and saloon speakers sounded a warning:
+</p>
+<p>
+"For a short time, while we are pulling clear of the gravitational field
+of the Earth, walking will be somewhat difficult, as everything on board
+will apparently increase in weight by about one-fifth of its present
+amount. Please remain seated, or move about with caution. In about an
+hour weight will gradually return to normal. We start in one minute."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hipe!" barked the chief pilot as a flaring purple light sprang into
+being upon his board, and the assistants came to attention at their
+stations. "Seconds! Four! Three! Two! One! LIFT!" He touched a
+button and a set of plunger switches drove home, releasing into the
+forty-five enormous driving projectors the equilibrium power&mdash;the
+fifteen-thousand-and-odd kilofranks of energy that exactly
+counterbalanced the pull of gravity upon the mass of the cruiser.
+Simultaneously there was added from the potentiometer, already set
+to the exact figure given by the computer, the <i>plus</i>-equilibrium
+power&mdash;which would not be changed throughout the journey if the ideal
+acceleration curve were to be registered upon the recorders&mdash;and the
+immense mass of the cruiser of the void wafted vertically upward at a
+low and constant velocity. The bellowing, shrieking siren had cleared
+the air magically of the swarm of aircraft in her path, and quietly,
+calmly, majestically, the <i>Arcturus</i> floated upward.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">B</span><span class="up">reckenridge</span>, sixty seconds after the initial lift, actuated the system
+of magnetic relays which would gradually cut in the precisely measured
+"starting power," which it would be necessary to employ for sixty-nine
+minutes&mdash;for, without the acceleration given by this additional power,
+they would lose many precious hours of time in covering merely the
+few thousands of miles during which Earth's attraction would operate
+powerfully against their progress.
+</p>
+<p>
+Faster and faster the great cruiser shot upward as more and more of the
+starting power was released, and heavier and heavier the passengers
+felt themselves become. Soon the full calculated power was on and the
+acceleration became constant. Weight no longer increased, but remained
+constant at a value of plus twenty three and six-tenths percent. For a
+few moments there had been uneasy stomachs among the passengers&mdash;perhaps
+a few of the first-trippers had been made ill&mdash;but it was not much worse
+than riding in a high-speed elevator, particularly since there was no
+change from positive to negative acceleration such as is experienced in
+express elevators.
+</p>
+<p>
+The computer, his calculations complete, watched the pilot with
+interest, for, accustomed as he was to traversing the depths of space,
+there was a never-failing thrill to his scientific mind in the delicacy
+and precision of the work which Breckenridge was doing&mdash;work which could
+be done only by a man who had had long training in the profession and
+who was possessed of instantaneous nervous reaction and of the highest
+degree of manual dexterity and control. Under his right and left hands
+were the double-series potentiometers actuating the variable-speed
+drives of the flight-angle directors in the hour and declination ranges;
+before his eyes was the finely marked micrometer screen upon which the
+guiding goniometer threw its needle-point of light; powerful optical
+systems of prisms and lenses revealed to his sight the director-angles,
+down to fractional seconds of arc. It was the task of the chief pilot
+to hold the screened image of the cross-hairs of the two directors in
+such position relative to the ever-moving point of light as to hold the
+mighty vessel precisely upon its course, in spite of the complex system
+of forces acting upon it.
+</p>
+<p>
+For almost an hour Breckenridge sat motionless, his eyes flashing from
+micrometer screen to signal panel, his sensitive fingers moving the
+potentiometers through minute arcs because of what he saw upon the
+screen and in instantaneous response to the flashing, multi-colored
+lights and tinkling signals of his board. Finally, far from earth, the
+moon's attraction and other perturbing forces comparatively slight, the
+signals no longer sounded and the point of light ceased its irregular
+motion, becoming almost stationary. The chief pilot brought both
+cross-hairs directly upon the brilliant point, which for some time they
+had been approaching more and more nearly, adjusted the photo-cells
+and amplifiers which would hold them immovably upon it, and at the
+calculated second of time, cut out the starting power by means of
+another set of automatically timed relays. When only the regular driving
+power was left, and the acceleration had been checked and found to be
+exactly the designated value of 981.286 centimeters, he stood up and
+heaved a profound sigh of relief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Steve, that's over with&mdash;we're on our way. I'm always glad when
+this part of it is done."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a ticklish job, no fooling&mdash;even for an expert," the mathematician
+agreed. "No wonder the astronomers think you birds are the ones who are
+gumming up their dope. Well, it's about time to plug in on E2. Here's
+where the fireworks start!" He closed the connections which transferred
+the central portion of the upper lookout screen to a small micrometer
+screen at Breckenridge's desk and plugged it into the first
+check-station. Instantly a point of red light, surrounded by a vivid
+orange circle, appeared upon the screen, low down and to the left of
+center, and the timing galvanometer showed a wide positive deflection.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hashed again!" growled Breckenridge. "I must be losing my grip,
+I guess. I put everything I had on that sight, and missed it ten
+divisions. I think I'll turn in my badge&mdash;I've cocked our perfect curve
+already, before we got to the first check-station!" His hands moved
+toward the controls, to correct their course and acceleration.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As you were&mdash;hold everything! Lay off those controls!" snapped the
+computer. "There's something screwy, just as I thought&mdash;and it isn't
+you, either. I'm no pilot, of course, but I do know good compensation
+when I see it, and if you weren't compensating that point I never saw it
+done. Besides, with your skill and my figures I know darn well that we
+aren't off more than a tenth of one division. He's cuckoo! Don't call
+him&mdash;let him start it, and refer him to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x&mdash;I'll be only too glad to pass the buck. But I still think,
+Steve, that you're playing with dynamite. Who ever heard of an
+astronomer being wrong?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'd be surprised," grinned the physicist, "Since this fuss has
+just started, nobody has tried to find out whether they were wrong
+or not...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"IPV <i>Arcturus</i>, attention!" came from the speaker curtly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"IPV <i>Arcturus</i>, Breckenridge," from the chief pilot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have been on my ray almost a minute. Why are you not correcting
+course and acceleration?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Doctor Stevens is computing us and has full control of course and
+acceleration," replied Breckenridge. "He will answer you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am changing neither course nor acceleration because you are not
+in position," declared Stevens, crisply, "Please give me your present
+supposed location, and your latest precision goniometer bearings on the
+sun, the moon, Mars, Venus, and your Tellurian reference limb, with
+exact time of observations, gyroscope zero-planes, and goniometer
+factors!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Correct at once or I shall report you to the Observatory," E2 answered
+loftily, paying no attention to the demand for proof of position.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Be sure you do that, guy&mdash;and while you're at it report that your
+station hasn't taken a precision bearing in a month. Report that you've
+been muddling along on radio loop bearings, and that you don't know
+where you are, within seven thousand kilometers. And speaking of
+reporting&mdash;I know already that a lot of you astronomical guessers
+have only the faintest possible idea of where you really are, <i>plus</i>,
+<i>minus</i>, or lateral; and if you don't get yourselves straightened out
+before we get to W41, I'm going to make a report on my own account that
+will jar some of you birds loose from your upper teeth!" He unplugged
+with a vicious jerk, and turned to the pilot with a grin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Guess that'll hold him for a while, won't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He'll report us, sure," remonstrated Breckenridge. The older man was
+plainly ill at ease at this open defiance of the supposedly infallible
+check-stations.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not that baby," returned the computer confidently. "I'll bet you a
+small farm against a plugged nickel that right now he's working his
+goniometer so hard that it's pivots are getting hot. He'll sneak back
+into position as soon as he can calculate his results, and pretend he's
+always been there."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The others will be all right, then, probably, by the time we get to
+them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gosh, no&mdash;you're unusually dumb today, Breck. He won't tell anybody
+anything&mdash;he doesn't want to be the only goat, does he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I see. How could you dope this out, with only the recorder charts?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because I know the kind of stuff you pilots are&mdash;and those humps are
+altogether too big to be accounted for by anything I know about you.
+Another thing&mdash;the next station, P6, I think is keeping himself all x.
+If so, when you corrected for E2, which was wrong, it'd throw you all
+off on P6, which was right, and so on&mdash;a bad hump at almost every
+check-station. See?"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">rue</span> to prediction, the pilot ray of P6 came in almost upon the exact
+center of the micrometer screen, and Breckenridge smiled in relief as he
+began really to enjoy the trip.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do we check on chronometers?" asked P6 when Stevens had been
+introduced. "By my time you seem to be about two and a half seconds
+<i>plus</i>?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x&mdash;two points four seconds plus&mdash;we're riding on 981.286
+centimeters, to allow for the reversal and for minor detours. Bye."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All this may have been coincidence, Breck, but we'll find out pretty
+quick now," the computer remarked when the flying vessel was nearing
+the third check-station. "Unless I'm all out of control we'll check in
+almost fourteen seconds minus on W41, and we may not even find him on
+the center block of the screen."
+</p>
+<p>
+When he plugged in W41 was on the block, but was in the extreme upper
+right corner. They checked in thirteen and eight-tenths seconds minus on
+the station, and a fiery dialogue ensued when the computer questioned
+the accuracy of the location of the station and refused point-blank to
+correct his course.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Breck, old onion, that tears it," Stevens declared as he
+unplugged. "No use going any further on these bum reference points.
+I'm going to report to Newton&mdash;he'll rock the Observatory on its
+foundations!" He plugged into the telegraph room. "Have you got a free
+high-power wave?... Please put me on Newton, in the main office."
+</p>
+<p>
+Moving lights flashed and flickered for an instant upon the communicator
+screen, settling down into a white glow which soon resolved itself into
+the likeness of a keen-eyed, gray-haired man, seated at his desk in the
+remote office of the Interplanetary Corporation. Newton smiled as he
+recognized the likeness of Stevens upon his own screen, and greeted him
+cordially.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you started your investigation, Doctor Stevens?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Started it? I've finished it!" and Stevens tersely reported what he
+had learned, concluding: "So you see, you don't need special computers
+on these ships any more than a hen needs teeth. You've got all the
+computers you need, in the observatories&mdash;all you've got to do is make
+them work at their trade."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The piloting was all x, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Absolutely&mdash;our curve so far is exactly flat ever since we cut
+off the starting power. Of course, all the pilots can't be as good as
+Breckenridge, but give them good computation and good check points and
+you shouldn't get any humps higher than about half a centimeter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They'll get both, from now on," the director assured him. "Thanks. If
+your work for the trip is done, you might show my little girl, Nadia,
+around the <i>Arcturus</i>. She's never been out before, and will be
+interested. Would you mind?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Glad to, Mr. Newton&mdash;I'll be a regular uncle to her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks again, Operator, I'll speak to Captain King, please."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pipe down that guff, you unlicked cub, or I'll crown you with a
+proof-bar!" the chief pilot growled, as soon as Stevens had unplugged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You and who else?" retorted the computer, cheerfully. "Pipe down
+yourself, guy&mdash;if you weren't so darn dumb and didn't have such a
+complex, you'd know that you're the crack pilot of the outfit and
+wouldn't care who else knew it." Stevens carefully covered and put away
+the calculating machine and other apparatus he had been using and turned
+again to the pilot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't know Newton had any kids, especially little ones, or I'd have
+got acquainted with them long ago. Of course I don't know him very well,
+since I never was around the office much, but the old tiger goes over
+big with me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hm&mdash;m. Think you'll enjoy playing nursemaid all the rest of the trip?"
+Breckenridge asked caustically, but with an enigmatic smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Think so? I <i>know</i> so!" replied Stevens, positively. "I always did
+like kids, and they always did like me&mdash;we fall for each other like ten
+thousand bricks falling down a well. Why, a kid&mdash;<i>any</i> kid&mdash;and I team
+up just like grace and poise.... What's gnawing on you anyway, to make
+you turn Cheshire cat all of a sudden? By the looks of that grin I'd
+say you had swallowed a canary of mine some way or other; but darned if
+I know that I've lost any," and he stared at his friend suspiciously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To borrow your own phrase, Steve, 'You'd be surprised,'" and
+Breckenridge, though making no effort to conceal his amusement, would
+say no more.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a few minutes the door opened, and through it there stepped a
+grizzled four-striper. Almost hidden behind his massive form there was
+a girl, who ran up to Breckenridge and seized both his hands, her eyes
+sparkling.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, Breckie, you old darling! I knew that if we both kept after
+him long enough Dad would let me ride with you sometime. Isn't this
+<i>gorgeous</i>?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens was glad indeed that the girl's enthusiastic greeting of the
+pilot was giving him time to recover from his shock, for Director
+Newton's "little girl, Nadia" was not precisely what he had led himself
+to expect. Little she might be, particularly when compared with the
+giant frame of Captain King, or with Steve's own five-feet-eleven of
+stature and the hundred and ninety pounds of rawhide and whalebone that
+was his body, but child she certainly was not. Her thick, fair hair,
+cut in the square bob that was the mode of the moment, indicated that
+Nature had intended her to be a creamy blonde, but as she turned to be
+introduced to him, Stevens received another surprise&mdash;for she was one
+of those rare, but exceedingly attractive beings, a natural blonde with
+brown eyes and black eyebrows. Sun and wind had tanned her satin skin
+to a smooth and even shade of brown, and every movement of her lithe and
+supple body bespoke to the discerning mind a rigidly-trained physique.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Doctor Stevens, you haven't met Miss Newton, I hear," the captain
+introduced them informally. "All the officers who are not actually tied
+down at their posts are anxious to do the honors of the vessel, but as
+I have received direct orders from the owners, I am turning her over to
+you&mdash;you are to show her around."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks, Captain, I won't mutiny a bit against such an order. I'm mighty
+glad to know you, Miss Newton."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've heard a lot about you, Doctor. Dad and Breckie here are always
+talking about the Big Three&mdash;what you have done and what you are going
+to do. I want to meet Doctor Brandon and Doctor Westfall, too," and her
+hand met his in a firm and friendly clasp. She turned to the captain,
+and Stevens, noticing that the pilot, with a quizzical expression, was
+about to say something, silenced him with a fierce aside.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Clam it, ape, or I'll climb up you like a squirrel!" he hissed, and the
+grinning Breckenridge nodded assent to this demand for silence
+concerning children and nursemaids.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Since you've never been out, Miss Newton, you'll want to see the whole
+works," Stevens addressed the girl. "Where do you want to begin? Shall
+we start at the top and work down?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All right with me," she agreed, and fell into step beside him. She was
+dressed in dove-gray from head to foot&mdash;toque, blouse, breeches, heavy
+stockings, and shoes were of the one shade of smooth, lustrous silk; and
+as they strolled together down the passage-way, the effortless ease and
+perfect poise of her carriage called aloud to every hard-schooled fibre
+of his own highly-trained being.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We're a lot alike you and I&mdash;do you know it?" he asked, abruptly and
+unconventionally.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I've felt it, too," she replied frankly, and studied him without
+affectation. "It has just come to me what it is. We're both in fine
+condition and in hard training. You're an athlete of some kind, and I'm
+sure you're a star&mdash;I ought to recognize you, but I'm ashamed to say I
+don't. What do you do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Swim."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, of course&mdash;Stevens, the great Olympic high and fancy diver! I would
+<i>never</i> have connected our own Doctor Stevens, the eminent mathematical
+physicist, with the King of the Springboard. Say, ever since I quit
+being afraid of the water I've had a yen to do that two-and-a-half twist
+of yours, but I never met anybody who knew it well enough to teach it
+to me, and I've almost broken my back forty times trying to learn it
+alone!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've got you, now, too&mdash;American and British Womens' golf champion.
+Shake!" and the two shook hands vigorously, in mutual congratulation.
+"Tell you what&mdash;I'll give you some pointers on diving, and you can show
+me how to make a golf ball behave. Next to Norman Brandon, I've got
+the most vicious hook in captivity&mdash;and Norm can't help himself. He's
+left-handed, you know, and, being a southpaw, he's naturally wild. He
+slices all his woods and hooks all his irons. I'm consistent, anyway&mdash;I
+hook everything, even my putts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a bargain! What do you shoot?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pretty dubby. Usually in the middle eighties&mdash;none of us play much,
+being out in space most of the time, you know&mdash;sometimes, when my hook
+is going particularly well, I go up into the nineties."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll lick that hook," she promised, as they entered an elevator and
+were borne upward, toward the prow of the great interplanetary cruiser.
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0002" id="h2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER II
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    &mdash;&mdash;But Does Not Arrive
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"A</span><span class="up">ll</span> out&mdash;we climb the rest of the way on foot," Stevens told his
+companion, as the elevator stopped at the uppermost passenger floor.
+They walked across the small circular hall and the guard on duty came
+to attention and saluted as they approached him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have orders to pass you and Miss Newton, sir. Do you know all the
+combinations?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know this good old tub better than the men that built her&mdash;I helped
+calculate her," Stevens replied, as he stepped up to an apparently blank
+wall of steel and deftly manipulated an almost invisible dial set flush
+with its surface. "This is to keep the passengers where they belong," he
+explained, as a section of the wall swung backward in a short arc and
+slid smoothly aside. "We will now proceed to see what makes it tick."
+</p>
+<p>
+Ladder after ladder of steel they climbed, and bulkhead after bulkhead
+opened at Stevens's knowing touch. At each floor the mathematician
+explained to the girl the operation of the machinery there automatically
+at work&mdash;devices for heating and cooling, devices for circulating,
+maintaining, and purifying the air and the water&mdash;in short, all the
+complex mechanism necessary for the comfort and convenience of the human
+cargo of the liner.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon they entered the conical top compartment, a room scarcely fifteen
+feet in diameter, tapering sharply upward to a hollow point some
+twenty feet above them. The true shape of the room, however, was not
+immediately apparent, because of the enormous latticed beams and
+girders which braced the walls in every direction. The air glowed
+with the violet light of the twelve great ultra-light projectors, like
+searchlights with three-foot lenses, which lined the wall. The floor
+beneath their feet was not a level steel platform, but seemed to be
+composed of many lenticular sections of dull blue alloy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are standing upon the upper lookout lenses, aren't we?" asked the
+girl. "Is that perfectly all right?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure. They're so hard that nothing can scratch them, and of course
+Roeser's Rays go right through our bodies, or any ordinary substance,
+like a bullet through a hole in a Swiss cheese. Even those lenses
+wouldn't deflect them if they weren't solid fields of force."
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke, one of the ultra-lights flashed around in a short, quick
+arc, and the girl saw that instead of the fierce glare she had expected,
+it emitted only a soft violet light. Nevertheless she dodged
+involuntarily and Stevens touched her arm reassuringly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Miss Newton&mdash;they're as harmless as mice. They hardly ever have
+to swing past the vertical, and even if one shines right through you you
+can look it right in the eye as long as you want to&mdash;it can't hurt you
+a bit."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No ultra-violet at all?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"None whatever. Just a color&mdash;one of the many remaining crudities of our
+ultra-light vision. A lot of good men are studying this thing of direct
+vision, though, and it won't be long before we have a system that will
+really work."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think it's all perfectly wonderful!" she breathed. "Just think of
+traveling in comfort through empty space, and of actually seeing through
+seamless steel walls, without even a sign of a window! How can such
+things be possible?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll have to go pretty well back," he warned, "and any adequate
+explanation is bound to be fairly deep wading in spots. How technical
+can you stand it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can go down with you middling deep&mdash;I took a lot of general science,
+and physics through advanced mechanics. Of course, I didn't get into any
+such highly specialized stuff as sub-electronics or Roeser's Rays, but
+if you start drowning me, I'll yell."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's fine&mdash;you can get the idea all x, with that to go on. Let's sit
+down here on this girder. Roeser didn't do it all, by any means, even
+though he got credit for it&mdash;he merely helped the Martians do it. The
+whole thing started, of course, when Goddard shot his first rocket to
+the moon, and was intensified when Roeser so perfected his short waves
+that signals were exchanged with Mars&mdash;signals that neither side could
+make any sense out of. Goddard's pupils and followers made bigger and
+better rockets, and finally got one that could land safely upon Mars.
+Roeser, who was a mighty keen bird, was one of the first voyagers, and
+he didn't come back&mdash;he stayed there, living in a space-suit for three
+or four years, and got a brand-new education. Martian science always
+was hot, you know, but they were impractical. They were desperately
+hard up for water and air, and while they had a lot of wonderful
+ideas and theories, they couldn't overcome the practical technical
+difficulties in the way of making their ideas work. Now putting other
+peoples' ideas to work was Roeser's long suit&mdash;don't think that I'm
+belittling Roeser at all, either, for he was a brave and far-sighted
+man, was no mean scientist, and was certainly one of the best organizers
+and synchronizers the world has ever known&mdash;and since Martian and
+Tellurian science complemented each other, so that one filled in the
+gaps of the other, it wasn't long until fleets of space-freighters were
+bringing in air and water from Venus, which had more of both than she
+needed or wanted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Having done all he could for the Martians and having learned most of
+the stuff he wanted to know, Roeser came back to Tellus and organized
+Interplanetary, with scientists and engineers on all three planets,
+and set to work to improve the whole system, for the vessels they used
+then were dangerous&mdash;regular mankillers, in fact. At about this same
+time Roeser and the Interplanetary Corporation had a big part in the
+unification of the world into one nation, so that wars could no longer
+interfere with progress."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"W</span><span class="up">ith</span> this introduction I can get down to fundamentals. Molecules are
+particles of the first order, and vibrations of the first order include
+sound, light, heat, electricity, radio, and so on. Second order,
+atoms&mdash;extremely short vibrations, such as hard X-rays. Third order,
+electrons and protons, with their accompanying Millikan, or cosmic,
+rays. Fourth order, sub-electrons and sub-protons. These, in the
+material aspect, are supposed to be the particles of the fourth order,
+and in the energy aspect they are known as Roeser's Rays. That is, these
+fourth-order rays and particles seem to partake of the nature of both
+energy and matter. Following me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Right behind you," she assured him. She had been listening intently,
+her wide-spaced brown eyes fastened upon his face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Since these Roeser's Rays, or particles or rays of the fourth order,
+seem to be both matter and energy, and since the rays can be converted
+into what is supposed to be the particles, they have been thought to be
+the things from which both electrons and protons were built. Therefore,
+everybody except Norman Brandon has supposed them the ultimate units of
+creation, so that it would be useless to try to go any further...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, we were taught that they <i>are</i> the ultimate units!" she protested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know you were&mdash;but we really don't know anything, except what we
+have learned empirically, even about our driving forces. What is called
+the fourth-order particle is absolutely unknown, since nobody has been
+able to detect it, to say nothing of determining its velocity or other
+properties. It has been assumed to have the velocity of light only
+because that hypothesis does not conflict with observational data. I'm
+going to give you the generally accepted idea, since we have nothing
+definite to offer in its place, but I warn you that that idea is very
+probably wrong. There's a lot of deep stuff down there hasn't been dug
+up yet. In fact, Brandon thinks that the product of conversion isn't
+what we think it is, at all&mdash;that the actual fundamental unit and the
+primary mechanism of the transformation lie somewhere below the fourth
+order, and possibly even below the level of the ether&mdash;but we haven't
+been able to find a point of attack yet that will let us get in
+anywhere. However, I'm getting 'way ahead of our subject. To get back to
+it, energy can be converted into something that acts like matter through
+Roeser's Rays, and that is the empirical fact underlying the drive of
+our space-ships, as well as that of almost all other vehicles on all
+three planets. Power is generated by the great waterfalls of Tellus and
+Venus&mdash;water's mighty scarce on Mars, of course, so most of our plants
+there use fuel&mdash;and is transmitted on light beams, by means of powerful
+fields of force to the receptors, wherever they may be. The individual
+transmitting fields and receptors are really simply matched-frequency
+units, each matching the electrical characteristics of some particular
+and unique beam of force. This beam is composed of Roeser's Rays, in
+their energy aspect. It took a long time to work out this tight-beam
+transmission of power, but it was fairly simple after they got it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took out a voluminous notebook, at the sight of which Nadia smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A computer might forget to dress, but you'd never catch one without a
+full magazine pencil and a lot of blank paper," he grinned in reply and
+went on, writing as he talked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For any given frequency, <i>f</i>, and phase angle, <i>theta</i>, you integrate,
+between limits zero and <i>pi</i> divided by two, sine theta d...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hold it&mdash;I'm sinking!" Nadia exclaimed. "I don't integrate at all
+unless it is absolutely necessary. As long as you stick to general
+science, I'm right on your heels, but please lay off of integrations
+and all that&mdash;most especially stay away from those terrible electrical
+integrations. I always did think that they were the most poisonous kind
+known. I want only a general idea&mdash;that's all that I can understand,
+anyway."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure, I forgot&mdash;guess I was getting in deeper than is necessary,
+especially since this whole thing of beam transmission is pretty crude
+yet and is bound to change a lot before long. There is so much loss
+that when we get more than a few hundred million kilometers away from
+a power-plant we lose reception entirely. But to get going again,
+the receptors receive the beam and from them the power is sent to the
+accumulators, where it is stored. These accumulators are an outgrowth
+of the storage battery. The theory of the accumulator is...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lay off the theory, please!" the listener interrupted. "I understand
+perfectly without it. Energy is stored in the accumulators&mdash;you put it
+in and take it out. That's all that is necessary."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"I</span><span class="up">'d</span> like to give you some of the theory&mdash;but, after all, it wouldn't
+add much to your understanding of the working of things, and it might
+mix you up, as some of it is pretty deep stuff. Then, too, it would
+take a lot of time, and the rest of your friends would squawk if I
+kept you here indefinitely. From the accumulators, then, the power
+is fed to the converters, each of which is backed by a projector.
+The converters simply change the aspect of the rays, from the
+energy aspect to the material aspect. As soon as this is done, the
+highly-charged particles&mdash;or whatever they are&mdash;thus formed are
+repelled by the terrific stationary force maintained in the projector
+backing the converter. Each particle departs with a velocity supposed
+to be that of light, and the recoil upon the projector drives the
+vessel, or car, or whatever it is attached to. Still with me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Struggling a little, but my nose is still above the surface. These
+particles, being so infinitesimally small that they cannot even be
+detected, go right through any substance without any effect&mdash;they are
+not even harmful."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly. Now we are in position to go ahead with the lights, detectors,
+and so on. The energy aspect of the rays you can best understand as
+simply a vibration in the ether&mdash;an extremely high frequency one.
+While not rigidly scientific, that is close enough for you and me.
+Nobody knows what the stuff really is, and it cannot be explained or
+demonstrated by any model or concept in three-dimensional space. Its
+physical-mathematical interpretation, the only way in which it can be
+grasped at all, requires sixteen coordinates in four dimensions, and
+I don't suppose you'd care to go into that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say I wouldn't!" she exclaimed, feelingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, anyway, by the use of suitable fields of force it can be used
+as a carrier wave. Most of this stuff of the fields of force&mdash;how to
+carry the modulation up and down through all the frequency changes
+necessary&mdash;was figured out by the Martians ages ago. Used as a pure
+carrier wave, with a sender and a receiver at each end, it isn't so
+bad&mdash;that's why our communicator and radio systems work as well as they
+do. They are pretty good, really, but the ultra-light vision system
+is something else again. Sending the heterodyned wave through steel
+is easy, but breaking it up, so as to view an object and return the
+impulses, was an awful job and one that isn't half done yet. We see
+things, after a fashion and at a distance of a few kilometers, by
+sending an almost parallel wave from a twin-projector to disintegrate
+and double back the viewing wave. That's the way the lookout plates and
+lenses work, all over the ship&mdash;from the master-screens in the control
+room to the plates of the staterooms and lifeboats and the viewing-areas
+of the promenades. But the whole system is a rotten makeshift, and...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just a minute!" exclaimed the girl. "I and everybody else have been
+thinking that everything is absolutely perfect; and yet every single
+thing you have talked about, you have ended up by describing as
+'unknown,' 'rudimentary,' 'temporary,' or a 'makeshift.' You speak as
+though the entire system were a poor thing that will have to do until
+something better has been found, and that nobody knows anything about
+anything! How do you get that way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"By working with Brandon and Westfall. Those birds have got real brains
+and they're on the track of something that will, in all probability, be
+as far ahead of Roeser's Rays as our present system is ahead of the
+science of the seventeenth century."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really?" she looked at him in astonishment. "Tell me about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't be done," he refused. "I don't know much about it&mdash;even they
+didn't know any too much about some of it when I had to come in. And
+what little I do know I can't tell, because it isn't mine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you're working with them, aren't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, in the sense that a small boy helps his father build a house.
+They're the brains&mdash;I simply do some figuring that they don't want to
+waste time doing."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nadia, having no belief whatever in his modest disclaimer, but in secret
+greatly pleased by his attitude, replied:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course you couldn't say anything about an unfinished project&mdash;I
+shouldn't have asked. Where do we go from here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Down the lining of the hull, outside the passengers' quarters to the
+upper dirigible projectors," and he led the way down a series of steep
+steel stairways, through bulkheads and partitions of steel. "One thing
+I forgot to tell you about&mdash;the detectors. They're worked on the same
+principle as the lights, and are just about as efficient. Instead, of
+light, though, they send out cones of electromagnetic waves, which set
+up induced currents in any conductor encountered beyond our own shell.
+Since all dangerous meteorites have been shown to contain conducting
+material, that is enough to locate them, for radio finders automatically
+determine the direction, distance, and magnitude of the disturbance, and
+swing a light on it. That was what happened when that light swung toward
+us, back there in the prow."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are there any of those life-boats, that I've heard discussed so much
+lately, near here?" asked the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lots of 'em&mdash;here's one right here," and at the next landing he opened
+a vacuum-insulated steel door, snapped on a light, and waved his hand.
+"You can't see much of it from here, but it's a complete space-ship
+in itself, capable of maintaining a dozen or fifteen persons during
+a two-weeks' cruise in space."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why isn't it a good idea to retain them? Accidents are still possible,
+are they not?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course, and there is no question of doing away with them entirely.
+Modern ships, however, have only enough of them to take care of the
+largest number of persons ever to be carried by the vessel."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Has the <i>Arcturus</i> more than she needs?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say she has, and more of everything else, except room for
+pay-load."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've heard them talking about junking her. I think it's a shame."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So do I, in a way&mdash;you see, I helped design her and her sister-ship,
+the <i>Sirius</i>, which Brandon and Westfall are using as a floating
+laboratory. But times change, and the inefficient must go. She's a good
+old tub, but she was built when everybody was afraid of space, and we
+had to put every safety factor into her that we could think of. As a
+result, she is four times as heavy as she should be, and that takes a
+lot of extra power. Her skin is too thick. She has too many batteries of
+accumulators, too many life-boats, too many bulkheads and air-breaks,
+too many and too much of everything. She is so built that if she should
+break up out in space, nobody would die if they lived through the
+shock&mdash;there are so many bulkheads, air-breaks, and life-boats that
+no matter how many pieces she broke up into, the survivors would find
+themselves in something able to navigate. That excessive construction
+is no longer necessary. Modern ships carry ten times the pay-load on
+one-quarter of the power that this old battle-wagon uses. Even though
+she's only four years old, she's a relic of the days when we used to
+slam through on the ecliptic route, right through all the meteoric
+stuff that is always there&mdash;trusting to heavy armor to ward off
+anything too small for the observers and detectors to locate. Now, with
+the observatories and check-stations out in space, fairly light armor
+is sufficient, as we route ourselves well away from the ecliptic and so
+miss all the heavy stuff. So, badly as I hate to see her go there, the
+old tub is bound for the junk-yard."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span> <span class="up">few</span> more flights of stairs brought them to the upper band of dirigible
+projectors, which encircled the hull outside the passengers' quarters,
+some sixty feet below the prow. They were heavy, search-light-like
+affairs mounted upon massive universal bearings, free to turn in any
+direction, and each having its converter nestling inside its prodigious
+field of force. Stevens explained that these projectors were used in
+turning the vessel and in dodging meteorites when necessary, and they
+went on through another almost invisible door into a hall and took an
+elevator down to the main corridor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, you've seen it, Miss Newton," Stevens said regretfully, as he
+led her toward the captain's office. "The lower half is full of heavy
+stuff&mdash;accumulators, machinery, driving projectors, and such junk, so
+that the center of gravity is below the center of action of the driving
+projectors. That makes stable flight possible. It's all more or less
+like what we've just seen, and I don't suppose you want to miss the
+dance&mdash;anyway, a lot of people want to dance with you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wouldn't you just as soon show me through the lower half as dance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rather, lots!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"So would I. I can dance any time, and I want to see everything.
+Let's go!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Down they went, past battery after battery of accumulators; climbing
+over and around the ever-increasing number of huge steel girders and
+bracers; through mazes of heavily insulated wiring and conduits; past
+mass after mass of automatic machinery which Stevens explained to his
+eager listener. They inspected one of the great driving projectors,
+which, built rigidly parallel to the axis of the ship and held immovably
+in place by enormous trusses of steel, revealed neither to the eye nor
+to the ear any sign of the terrific force it was exerting. Still lower
+they went, until the girl had been shown everything, even down to the
+bottom ultra-lights and stern braces.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tired?" Stevens asked, as the inspection was completed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not very. It's been quite a climb, but I've had a wonderful time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So have I," he declared, positively. "I know what&mdash;we'll crawl up into
+one of these stern lifeboats and make us a cup of coffee before we climb
+back. With me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Way ahead of you!" Nadia accepted the invitation enthusiastically,
+and they made their way to the nearest of the miniature space-cruisers.
+Here, although no emergency had been encountered in all the four years
+of the vessel's life, they found everything in readiness, and the two
+soon had prepared and eaten a hearty luncheon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I can't think of any more excuses for monopolizing you, Miss
+Newton, so I suppose I'll have to take you back. Believe me, I've
+enjoyed this more than you can realize&mdash;I've...."
+</p>
+<p>
+He broke off and listened, every nerve taut. "What was that?" he
+exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was what? I didn't hear anything?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Something screwy somewhere! I felt a vibration, and anything that'd
+make this mountain of steel even quiver must have given us one
+gosh-awful nudge. There's another!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl, painfully tense, felt only a barely perceptible tremor, but
+the computer, knowing far better than she the inconceivable strength and
+mass of that enormous structure of solidly braced hardened steel, sprang
+into action. Leaping to the small dirigible look-out plate, he turned on
+the power and swung it upward.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"G</span><span class="up">reat</span> suffering snakes!" he ejaculated, then stood mute, for the
+plate revealed a terrible sight. The entire nose of the gigantic craft
+had been sheared off in two immense slices as though clipped off by a
+gigantic sword, and even as they stared, fascinated, at the sight, the
+severed slices were drifting slowly away. Swinging the view along the
+plane of cleavage, Stevens made out a relatively tiny ball of metal,
+only fifty feet or so in diameter, at a distance of perhaps a mile.
+From this ball there shot a blinding plane of light, and the <i>Arcturus</i>
+fell apart at the midsection, the lower half separating clean from
+the upper portion, which held the passengers. Leaving the upper half
+intact, the attacker began slicing the lower, driving half into thin,
+disk-shaped sections. As that incandescent plane of destruction made
+its first flashing cut through the body of the <i>Arcturus</i>, accompanied
+by an additional pyrotechnic display of severed and short-circuited
+high-tension leads, Stevens and Nadia suddenly found themselves floating
+weightless in the air of the room. Still gripping the controls of the
+look-out plate, Stevens caught the white-faced girl with one hand, drew
+her down beside him, and held her motionless while his keen mind flashed
+over all the possibilities of the situation and planned his course
+of action.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're apparently slicing us pretty evenly, and by the looks of
+things, one cut is coming right about here," he explained rapidly, as
+he found a flashlight and drew his companion through the door and along
+a narrow passage. Soon he opened another door and led her into a tiny
+compartment so low that they could not stand upright&mdash;a mere cubicle of
+steel. Carefully closing the door, he fingered dials upon each of the
+walls of the cell, then folded himself up into a comfortable position,
+instructed Nadia to do the same, and snapped off the light.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please leave it on," the shaken girl asked. "It's so ghastly!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'd better save it, Nadia," he advised, pressing her arm reassuringly,
+"it's the only light we've got, and we may need it worse later on&mdash;its
+life is limited, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Later on? Do you think we'll need anything&mdash;later on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure! Of course they may get us, Nadia, but this little tertiary
+air-break is a mighty small target for them to hit. And if they miss us,
+as I think they will, there's a larger room opening off each wall of
+this one&mdash;at least one of which will certainly be left intact. From any
+one of those rooms we can reach a life-boat. Of course, it's a little
+too much to expect that any one of the life-boats will be left whole,
+but they're bulkheaded, too, you know, so that we can be sure of finding
+something able to navigate&mdash;providing we can make our get-away. Believe
+me, ace, I'm sure glad we're aboard the old <i>Arcturus</i> right now, with
+all her safety-devices, instead of on one of the modern liners. We'd be
+sunk right."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I felt sunk enough for a minute&mdash;I'm feeling better now, though, since
+you are taking it so calmly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure&mdash;why not? A man's not dead until his heart stops beating, you
+know&mdash;our turn'll come next, when they let up a little."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But suppose they change the width of their slices, and hit this cubby,
+small as it is?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It'd be just too bad," he shrugged. "In that case, we'd never know
+what hit us, so it's no good worrying about it. But say, we might do
+something at that, if they didn't hit us square. I can move fairly fast,
+and might be able to get a door open before the loss of pressure seals
+it. We'll light the flash ... here, you hold it, so that I can have both
+hands free. Put both arms around me, just under the arms, and stick to
+me like a porous plaster, because if I have to move at all, I'll have
+to jump like chain lightning. Shine the beam right over there, so it'll
+reflect and light up all the dials at once. There ... hold on tight!
+Here they come!"
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke, a jarring shudder shook one side of their hiding-place,
+then, a moment later, the phenomenon was repeated, but with much less
+force, upon the other side. Stevens sighed with relief, took the light,
+and extinguished it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Missed us clean!" he exulted. "Now, if they don't find us, we're all
+set."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How can they possibly find us? I seem to be always worried about the
+wrong things, but I should think that their finding us would be the
+least of our troubles."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't judge their vision system by ours&mdash;they've got everything,
+apparently. However, their apparatus may not be delicate enough to spot
+us in a space this small when their projectors flash through it, as they
+probably will. Then, too, there's a couple of other big items in our
+favor&mdash;nobody else is in the entire lower half, since all this machinery
+down here is either automatic or else controlled from up above, so they
+won't be expecting to see anybody when they get down this far; and we
+aren't at all conspicuous. We're both dressed in gray&mdash;your clothes in
+particular are almost exactly the color of this armor-plate&mdash;so
+altogether we stand a good chance of being missed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall we do now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing whatever&mdash;wish we could sleep for a couple of hours, but of
+course there's no hope of that. Stretch out here, like that&mdash;you can't
+rest folded up like an accordion&mdash;and I'll lie down diagonally across
+the room. There's just room for me that way. That's one advantage of
+weightlessness&mdash;you can lie down standing on your head, and go to sleep
+and like it. But I forgot&mdash;you've never been weightless before, have
+you? Does it make you sick?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so much, now, except that I feel awfully weird inside. I was
+horribly dizzy and nauseated at first, but it's going away."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"T</span><span class="up">hat's</span> good&mdash;it makes lots of people pretty sick. In fact, some folks
+get awfully sick and can't seem to get used to it at all. It's the
+canals in the inner ear that do most of it, you know. However, if you're
+as well as that already, you'll be a regular spacehound in half an hour.
+I've been weightless for weeks at a stretch, out in the <i>Sirius</i>, and
+now I've got so I really like it. Here, we'd better keep in touch."
+He found her hand and tucked it under his arm. "Stabilize our positions
+more, besides keeping us from getting too lonesome, here in the dark,"
+he concluded, in a matter-of-fact voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks for saying 'us'&mdash;but you would, wouldn't you?" and a wave of
+admiration went through her for the real and chivalrous manhood of the
+man with whom she had been forced by circumstances to cast her lot.
+"How long must we stay here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"As long as the air lasts, and I'd like to stay here longer than that.
+We don't want to move around any more than we absolutely have to until
+their rays are off of us, and we have no way of knowing how long that
+will be. Also, we'd better keep still. I don't know what kind of an
+audio system they've got, but there's no use taking unnecessary
+chances."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x&mdash;I'm an oyster's little sister," and for many minutes the
+two remained motionless and silent. Now and then Nadia twitched and
+started at some vague real or imaginary sound&mdash;now and then her fingers
+tightened upon his biceps&mdash;and he pressed her hand with his great arm in
+reassurance and understanding. Once a wall of their cell resounded under
+the impact of a fierce blow and Stevens instantly threw his arm around
+the girl, twisting himself between her and the threatened wall, ready
+for any emergency. But nothing more happened; the door remained closed,
+the cell stayed bottle-tight, and time wore slowly on. All too soon the
+unmistakable symptoms of breathing an unfit atmosphere made themselves
+apparent and Stevens, after testing each of the doors, drew the girl
+into a larger room, where they breathed deeply of the fresh, cool air.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How did you know that this room was whole?" asked Nadia. "We might have
+stepped out into space, mightn't we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No; if this room had lost its tightness, the door wouldn't have opened.
+They won't open if there's a difference of one kilogram pressure on the
+two sides. That's how I knew that the room we were in at first was cut
+in two&mdash;the door into that air-break wouldn't move."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What comes next?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know exactly what to do&mdash;we'd better hold a little council of
+war. They may have gone..." Stevens broke off as the structure began
+to move, and they settled down upon what had been one of the side-walls.
+Greater and greater became the acceleration, until their apparent weight
+was almost as much as it would have been upon the Earth, at which point
+it became constant. "... but they haven't," he continued the interrupted
+sentence. "This seems to be a capture and seizure, as well as an attack,
+so we'll have to take the risk of looking at them. Besides, it's getting
+cold in here. One or two of the adjoining cells have apparently been
+ruptured and we're radiating our heat out into space, so we'll have to
+get into a life-boat or freeze. I'll go pick out the best one. Wonder
+if I'd better take you with me, or hide you and come back after you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't worry about that&mdash;I'm coming with you," Nadia declared, positively.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just as well, probably," he assented, and they set out. A thorough
+exploration of all the tight connecting cells revealed that not a
+lifeboat within their reach remained intact, but that habitable and
+navigable portions of three such craft were available. Selecting the
+most completely equipped of these, they took up their residence therein
+by entering it and closing the massive insulating door. Stevens
+disconnected all the lights save one, and so shielded that one before
+turning it on that it merely lightened the utter darkness into a
+semi-permeable gloom. He then stepped up to the lookout plate, and with
+his hand upon the control, pondered long the possible consequences of
+what he wished to do.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What harm would it do to take just a little peek?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know&mdash;that's the dickens of it. Maybe none, and then again,
+maybe a lot. You see, we don't know who or what we are up against. The
+only thing we know is that they've got us beat a hundred ways, and we've
+got to act accordingly. We've got to chance it sometime, though, if we
+can ever get away, so we might as well do it now. I'll put it on very
+short range first, and see what we can see. By the small number of cells
+we've got here I'm afraid they've split us up lengthwise, too&mdash;so that
+instead of having a whole slice of the old watermelon to live in, we've
+got only about a sixth of one&mdash;shaped about like a piece of restaurant
+pie. One thing I can do, though. I'll turn on the communicator receiver
+and put it on full coverage&mdash;maybe we can hear something useful."
+</p>
+<p>
+Putting a little power upon the visiray plate, he moved the point of
+projection a short distance from their hiding-place, so that the plate
+showed a view of the wreckage. The upper half of the vessel was still
+intact, the lower half a jumble of sharply-cut fragments. From each of
+the larger pieces a brilliant ray of tangible force stretched outward.
+Suddenly their receiver sounded behind them, as the high-powered
+transmitter in the telegraph room tried to notify headquarters of
+their plight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Arcturus</i> attacked and cut up being taken tow...."
+</p>
+<p>
+Rapidly as the message was uttered the transmitter died with a rattle
+in the middle of a word, and Nadia looked at Stevens with foreboding in
+her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They've got something, that's one thing sure, to be able to neutralize
+our communicator beams that way," he admitted. "Not so good&mdash;we'll have
+to play this close to our vests, girl!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you just trying to cheer me up, or do you really think we have a
+chance?" she demanded. "I want to know just where we stand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm coming clean with you, no kidding. If we can get away, we'll be all
+x, because I'll bet a farm that by this time Brandon's got everything
+those birds have, and maybe more. They beat us to it, that's all. I'm
+kind of afraid, though, that getting away isn't going to be quite as
+simple as shooting fish down a well."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">F</span><span class="up">ar</span> ahead of them a port opened, a lifeboat shot out at its full power,
+and again their receiver tried to burst into sound, but it was a vain
+attempt. The sound died before one complete word could be uttered, and
+the lifeboat, its power completely neutralized by the rays of the tiny
+craft of the enemy, floated gently back toward the mass of its parent
+and accompanied it in its headlong flight. Several more lifeboats made
+the attempt, as the courageous officers of the <i>Arcturus</i>, some of
+whom had apparently succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the captors,
+launched the little shells from various ports; but as each boat issued,
+its power was neutralized and it found itself dragged helplessly along
+in the grip of one of those mysterious, brilliant rays of force. At
+least one hidden officer must have been watching the fruitless efforts,
+for the next lifeboat to issue made no attempt, either to talk or to
+flee, but from it there flamed out into space a concentrated beam of
+destruction&mdash;the terrible ray of annihilation, against which no known
+substance could endure for a moment; the ray which had definitely
+outlawed war. But even that frightful weapon was useless&mdash;it spent
+its force harmlessly upon an impalpable, invisible barrier, a hundred
+yards from its source, and the bold lifeboat disappeared in one blinding
+explosion of incandescence as the captor showed its real power in
+retaliation. Stevens, jaw hard-set, leaped from the screen, then brought
+himself up so quickly that he skated across the smooth steel floor.
+Shutting off the lookout plate, he led the half-fainting girl across
+the room to a comfortable seat and sat down beside her&mdash;raging, but
+thoughtful. Nadia soon recovered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why are you acting so contrary to your nature&mdash;is it because of <i>me</i>?"
+she demanded. "A dozen times I've seen you start to do something and
+then change your mind. I <i>will not</i> be a load on you nor hinder you in
+anything you want to do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I told your father I'd look after you, and I'm going to do it," he
+replied, indirectly. "I would do it anyway, of course&mdash;even if you are
+ten or twelve years older than I thought you were."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, Dad never has realized that I'm more than eight years old. I
+see&mdash;you were going out there and be slaughtered?" He flushed, but made
+no reply. "In that case I'm glad I'm here&mdash;that would have been silly.
+I think we'd better hold that council of war you mentioned a while ago,
+don't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I need a smoke&mdash;do you indulge?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No thanks. I tried it a few times at school, but never liked it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He searched his pockets, bringing to light an unopened package and a
+tattered remnant which proved to contain one dilapidated cigarette.
+He studied it thoughtfully. "I'll smoke this wreck," he decided, "while
+it's still smokable. We'll save the rest of them&mdash;I'm afraid it'll be
+a long time between smokes. Well, let's confer!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"This will have to be a one-sided conference. I don't imagine that any
+of my ideas will prove particularly helpful. You talk and I'll listen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can't tell what ideas may be useful&mdash;chip in any time you feel the
+urge. Here's the dope, as I see it. They're highly intelligent creatures
+and are in all probability neither Martians nor Venerians. If any of
+them had any such stuff as that, some of us would have known about it
+and, besides, I don't believe they would have used it in just that way.
+Mercury is not habitable, at least for organic beings; and we have never
+seen any sign of any other kind of inhabitants who could work with
+metals and rays. They're probably from Jupiter, although possibly from
+further away. I say Jupiter, because I would think, judging from the
+small size of the ship, that it may still be in the experimental stage,
+so that they probably didn't come from any further away than Jupiter.
+Then, too, if they were very numerous, somebody would have sighted one
+before. I'd give my left leg and four fingers for one good look at the
+inside of that ship."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why didn't you take it, then? You never even looked toward it, after
+that one first glimpse."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say I didn't&mdash;the reason being that they may have automatic
+detectors, and as I have suggested before, our system of vision is so
+crude that its use could be detected with a clothesline or a basket
+full of scrap iron. But to resume: Their aim is to capture, not destroy,
+since they haven't killed anybody except the one crew that attacked
+them. Apparently they want to study us or something. However, they don't
+intend that any of us shall get away, nor even send out a word of what
+has happened to us. Therefore it looks as though our best bet is to hide
+now, and try to sneak away on them after a while&mdash;direct methods won't
+work. Right?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You sound lucid. Is there any possibility of getting back, though, if
+we got anywhere near Jupiter? It's so far away!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a long stretch from Jupiter to any of the planets where we have
+power-plants, all right&mdash;particularly now, when Mars and Tellus are
+subtending an angle of something more than ninety degrees at the sun,
+and Venus is between the two, while Jupiter is clear across the sun from
+all three of them. Even when Jupiter is in mean opposition to Mars, it
+is still some five hundred and fifty million kilometers away, so you
+can form some idea as to how far it is from our nearest planet now.
+No, if we expect to get back under our own power, we've got to break away
+pretty quick&mdash;these lifeboats have very little accumulator capacity, and
+the receptors are useless above about three hundred million
+kilometers...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it'll take us a long time to go that far, won't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not very. Our own ships, using only the acceleration of gravity, and
+both plus and minus at that, make the better than four hundred million
+kilometers of the long route to Mars in five days. These birds are using
+almost that much acceleration, and I don't see how they do it. They must
+have a tractor ray. Brandon claimed that such a thing was theoretically
+possible, but Westfall and I couldn't see it. We ragged him about it a
+lot&mdash;and he was right. I thought, of course, they'd drift with us, but
+they are using power steadily. They've got <i>some</i> system!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose they could be using intra-atomic energy? We were taught that it
+was impossible, but you've shattered a lot of my knowledge today."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wouldn't want to say definitely that it is absolutely impossible,
+but the deeper we go into that line, the more unlikely intra-atomic
+energy power-plants become. No, they've got a real power-transmission
+system&mdash;one that can hold a tight beam together a lot farther than
+anything we have been able to develop, that's all. Well, we've given
+them quite a lot of time to get over any suspicion of us, let's see
+if we can sneak away from them."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">B</span><span class="up">y</span> short and infrequent applications of power to the dirigible
+projectors of the life-boat, Stevens slowly shifted the position of
+the fragment which bore their craft until it was well clear of the
+other components of the mass of wreckage. He then exerted a very small
+retarding force, so that their bit would lag behind the procession, as
+though it had accidently been separated. But the crew of the captor was
+alert, and no sooner did a clear space show itself between them and the
+mass than a ray picked them up and herded them back into place. Stevens
+then nudged other pieces so that they fell out, only to see them also
+rounded up. Hour after hour he kept trying&mdash;doing nothing sufficiently
+energetic to create any suspicion, but attempting everything he could
+think of that offered any chance of escape from the clutches of their
+captors. Immovable at the plate, his hands upon the controls, he
+performed every insidious maneuver his agile brain could devise, but
+he could not succeed in separating their vehicle from its fellows.
+Finally, after a last attempt, which was foiled as easily as were its
+predecessors, he shut off his controls and turned to his companion
+with a grin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't think I could get away with it&mdash;they're keen, that gang&mdash;but
+I had to keep at it as long as it would have done us any good."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wouldn't it do us any good now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a bit&mdash;we're going so fast that we couldn't stop&mdash;we're out of even
+radio range of our closest power-plant. We'll have to put off any more
+attempts until they slow us down. They're fairly close to at least one
+of the moons of Jupiter, we'll have our best chance&mdash;so good, in fact,
+that I really think we can make it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what good would that do us, if we couldn't get back?" Dire
+foreboding showed in her glorious eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lots of things not tried yet, girl, and we'll try them all. First, we
+get away. Second, we try to get in touch with Norman Brandon...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How? No known radio will carry half that far."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, but I think that a radio as yet unknown may be able to&mdash;and there
+is a bare possibility that I'll be able to communicate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh wonderful&mdash;that lifts a frightful load off my mind," she breathed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But just a minute&mdash;I said I'd come clean with you, and I will. The odds
+are all against us, no matter what we do. If that unknown radio won't
+work&mdash;and it probably won't&mdash;there are several other things we can try,
+but they're all pretty slim chances. Even if we get away, it'll probably
+be about the same thing as though you were to be marooned on a desert
+island without any tools, and with your rescue depending upon your
+ability to build a high-powered radio station with which to call to
+a mainland for help. However, if we don't try to get away, our only
+alternative is letting them know we're here, and joining our friends
+in captivity."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And then what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know as much as I do. Imprisonment and restraint, certain; death,
+possible; return to Earth, almost certainly impossible&mdash;life as guests,
+highly improbable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm with you, Steve, all the way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it's time to spring off&mdash;we've both been awake better than fifty
+hours. Personally, I'm all in, and you're so near dead that you're a
+physical wreck. We'll get us a bite of supper and turn in."
+</p>
+<p>
+An appetizing supper was prepared from the abundant stores and each
+ate a heartier meal than either would have believed possible. Stevens
+considered his unopened package of cigarettes, then regretfully put it
+back into his pocket still unopened and turned to Nadia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, little fellow, it's time to shove off, and then some. You might
+as well sleep here, and I'll go in there. If anything scares you, yell.
+Good-night, old trapper!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wait a minute, Steve." Nadia flushed, and her brown eyes and black
+eyebrows, in comparison with her golden-blond hair, lent her face a
+quizzical, elfin expression that far belied her feelings as she stared
+straight into his eyes. "I've never even been away from the Earth
+before, and with all this happening I'm simply scared to death. I've
+been trying to hide it, but I couldn't stand it alone, and we're going
+to be together too long and too close for senseless conventions to
+affect us. There's two bunks over there&mdash;why don't you sleep in one
+of them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He returned her steadfast gaze for a moment in silence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x with me, Nadia," he answered, keeping out of his voice all
+signs of the tenderness he felt for her, and of his very real admiration
+for her straightforward conduct in a terrifying situation. "You trust
+me, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Trust</i> you! Don't be silly&mdash;I know you! I know you, and I know Brandon
+and Westfall&mdash;I know what you've done, and exactly the kind of men you
+are. <i>Trust</i> you!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks, old golf-shootist," and promises were made and received
+in a clasp from which Nadia's right hand, strong as it was, emerged
+slightly damaged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By the way, what is your first name, fellow-traveller?" she asked in
+lighter vein. "Nobody, not even Dad or Breckie, ever seems to call you
+anything but 'Steve' when they talk about you." She was amazed at the
+effect of her innocent question, for Stevens flushed to his hair and
+spluttered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's <i>Percy</i>!" He finally, snorted. "Percival Van Schravendyck Stevens.
+Wouldn't that tear it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, I think Percival's a real nice name!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Silence!" he hissed in burlesque style. "Young woman, I have revealed
+to you a secret known to but few living creatures. On your life, keep
+it inviolate!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, very well, if you insist. Good-night&mdash;Steve!" and she gave him a
+radiant and honest smile: the first smile he had seen since the moment
+of the attack.
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0003" id="h2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER III
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    Castaways Upon Ganymede
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">U</span><span class="up">pon</span> awakening, the man's first care was to instruct the girl in the
+operation of the projectors, so that she could keep the heavily-armored
+edge of their small section, which she had promptly christened "The
+Forlorn Hope," between them and the grinding, clashing mass of wreckage,
+and thus, if it should become necessary, protect the relatively frail
+inner portions of their craft from damage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Keep an eye on things for a while, Nadia," he instructed, as soon as
+she could handle the controls, "and don't use any more power than is
+absolutely necessary. We'll need it all, and besides, they can probably
+detect anything we can use. There's probably enough leakage from the
+ruptured accumulator cells to mask quite a little emission, but don't
+use much. I'm going to see what I can do about making this whole wedge
+navigable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not just launch what's left of this lifeboat? It's space-worthy,
+isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, but it's too small. Two or three of the big dirigible projectors
+of the lower band are on the rim of this piece-of-pie-shaped section
+we're riding, I think. If so, and if enough batteries of accumulators
+are left intact to give them anywhere nearly full power, we can get an
+acceleration that will make a lifeboat look sick. Those main dirigibles,
+you know, are able to swing the whole mass of the <i>Arcturus</i>, and what
+they'll do to this one chunk of it&mdash;we've got only a few thousand tons
+of mass in this piece&mdash;will be something pretty. Also, having the metal
+may save us months of time in mining it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He found the projectors, repaired or cut out the damaged accumulator
+cells, and reconnected them through the controls of the lifeboat.
+He moved into the "engine-room" the airtanks, stores, and equipment
+from all the other fragments which, by means of a space-suit, he could
+reach without too much difficulty. From the battery rooms of those
+fragments&mdash;open shelves, after being sliced open by the shearing ray&mdash;he
+helped himself to banks of accumulator cells from the enormous driving
+batteries of the ill-fated <i>Arcturus</i>, bolting them down and connecting
+them solidly until almost every compartment of their craft was one mass
+of stored-up energy.
+</p>
+<p>
+Days fled like hours, so furiously busy were they in preparing their
+peculiar vessel for a cruise of indefinite duration. Stevens cut himself
+short on sleep and snatched his meals in passing; and Nadia, when not
+busy at her own tasks of observing, housekeeping, and doing what little
+piloting was required, was rapidly learning to wield most effectively
+the spanner and pliers of the mechanic and electrician.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid our time is getting short, Steve," she announced, after
+making an observation. "It looks as though we're getting wherever it
+is we're going."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I've got only two more jobs to do, but they're the hardest of the
+lot. It is Jupiter, or can you tell yet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jupiter or one of its satellites, I think, from the point where they
+reversed their power. Here's the observation you told me to take."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Looks like Jupiter," he agreed, after he had rapidly checked her
+figures. "We'll pass very close to one of those two satellites&mdash;probably
+Ganymede&mdash;which is fine for our scheme. All four of the major satellites
+have water and atmosphere, but Ganymede, being largest, is best for our
+purposes. We've got a couple of days yet&mdash;just about time to finish up.
+Let's get going&mdash;you know what to do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Steve, I'm afraid of it. It's too dangerous&mdash;isn't there some other
+way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"None that I can see. The close watch they're keeping on every bit of
+this junk makes it our only chance for a get-away. I'm pretty sure I
+can do it&mdash;but if I should happen to get nipped, just use enough power
+to let them know you're here, and you won't be any worse off than if
+I hadn't tried to pull off this stunt."
+</p>
+<p>
+He donned a space-suit, filled a looped belt with tools, picked up a
+portable power-drill, and stepped into the tiny air-lock. Nadia deftly
+guided their segment against one of the larger fragments and held it
+there with a gentle, steady pressure, while Stevens, a light cable
+paying out behind him, clambered carefully over the wreckage, brought
+his drill into play, and disappeared inside the huge wedge. In less than
+an hour he returned without mishap and reported to the glowing girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just like shooting fish down a well! Most of the accumulator cells were
+tight, and installing the relays wasn't a bad job at all. Believe me,
+girl, there'll be junk filling all the space between here and Saturn
+when we touch them off!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wonderful, Steve!" Nadia exclaimed. "It won't be so bad seeing you go
+into the others, now that you have this one all rigged up."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span><span class="up">round</span> and around the mass of wreckage they crept, and in each of the
+larger sections Stevens connected up the enormous fixed or dirigible
+projectors to whatever accumulator cells were available through
+sensitive relays, all of which he could close by means of one radio
+impulse. The long and dangerous task done, he stood at the lookout
+plate, studying the huge disk which had been the upper portion of the
+lower half of the <i>Arcturus</i> and frowning in thought. Nadia reached over
+his shoulder and switched off the plate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nix on that second job, big fellow!" she declared. "They aren't really
+necessary, and you're altogether too apt to be killed trying to get
+them. It's too ghastly&mdash;I won't stand for your trying it, so that
+ends it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We ought to have them, really," he protested. "With those special
+tools, cutting torches, and all the stuff, we'd be sitting pretty.
+We'll lose weeks of time by not having them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll just have to lose it, then. You can't get 'em, any more than
+a baby can get the moon, so stop crying about it," she went over the
+familiar argument for the twentieth time. "That stuff up there is all
+grinding together like cakes of ice in a floe; the particular section
+you want is in plain sight of whoever is on watch; and those tools and
+things are altogether too heavy to handle. You're a husky brute, I know,
+but even you couldn't begin to handle them, even if you had good going.
+I couldn't help you very much, even if you'd let me try; and the fact
+that you so positively refuse to let me come along shows how dangerous
+you know the attempt is bound to be. You'd probably never even get up
+there alive, to say nothing of getting back here. No, Steve, that's out
+like a light."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I sure wish they'd left us weightless for a while, sometime, if only
+for an hour or two," he mourned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But they didn't!" she retorted, practically. "So we're just out of luck
+to that extent. Our time is about up, too. It's time you worked us back
+to the tail end of this procession&mdash;or rather, the head end, since we're
+traveling 'down' now."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens took the controls and slowly worked along the outer edge of the
+mass, down toward its extremity. Nadia put one hand upon his shoulder
+and he glanced around.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks, Steve. We have a perfectly wonderful chance as it is, and we've
+gone so far with our scheme together that it would be a crying shame not
+to be able to go through with it. I'd hate like sin to have to surrender
+to them now, and that's all I could do if anything should become of you.
+Besides..." her voice died away into silence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure, you're right," he hastily replied, dodging the implication of
+that unfinished sentence. "I couldn't figure out anything that looked
+particularly feasible anyway&mdash;that's why I didn't try it. We'll pass
+it up."
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon they arrived at their objective and maintained a position well in
+the van, but not sufficiently far ahead of the rest to call forth a
+restraining ray from their captors. Already strongly affected by the
+gravitational pull of the mass of the satellite, many of the smaller
+portions of the wreck, not directly held by the tractors, began to
+separate from the main mass. As each bit left its place another beam
+leaped out, until it became apparent that no more were available, and
+Stevens strapped the girl and himself down before two lookout plates.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now for it, Nadia!" he exclaimed, and simultaneously threw on the power
+of his own projectors and sent out the radio impulse which closed the
+relays he had so carefully set. They were thrown against the restraining
+straps savagely and held there by an enormous weight as the gigantic
+dirigible projectors shot their fragment of the wreck away from the
+comparatively slight force which had been acting upon it, but they
+braced themselves and strained their muscles in order to watch what
+was happening. As the relays in the various fragments closed, the
+massed power of the accumulators was shorted dead across the converters
+and projectors instead of being fed into them gradually through the
+controls of the pilot, with a result comparable to that of the explosion
+of an ammunition dump. Most of the masses, whose projectors were fed
+by comparatively few accumulator cells, darted away entirely with a
+stupendous acceleration. A few of them, however, received the unimpeded
+flow of complete batteries. Those projectors tore loose from even
+their massive supports and crashed through anything opposing them like
+a huge, armor-piercing projectile. It was a spectacle to stagger the
+imagination, and Stevens grinned as he turned to the girl, who was
+staring in wide-eyed amazement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, ace, I think they're busy enough now so that it'll be safe
+to take that long-wanted look at their controls," and he flashed
+the twin beams of his lookout light out beyond the upper half of the
+<i>Arcturus</i>&mdash;only to see them stop abruptly in mid-space. Even the
+extremely short carrier-wave of Roeser's Rays could not go through the
+invisible barrier thrown out by the tiny, but powerful globe of space.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No penetration?" Nadia asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Flattened them out cold. 'However,' as the fox once remarked about the
+grapes, 'I'll bet they're sour, anyway.' We'll have some stuff of our
+own, one of these days. I sure hope the fireworks we started back there
+keep those birds amused until we get out of sight, because if I use much
+more power on these projectors we may not have juice enough left to stop
+with."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're using enough now to suit me&mdash;I'm so heavy I can hardly lift
+a finger!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'd better lift 'em! You must watch what's going on back there while
+I navigate around this moon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, chief.... They've got their hands full, apparently. Those rays
+are shooting around all over the sky. It looks as though they were
+trying to capture four or five things at once with each one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good! Tell me when the moon cuts them off."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span><span class="up">t</span> the awful acceleration they were using, which constantly increased
+the terrific velocity with which they had been traveling when they made
+good their escape, it was not long until they had placed the satellite
+between them and the enemy; then Stevens cut down and reversed his
+power. Such was their speed, however, that a long detour was necessary
+in order to reduce it to a safe landing rate. As soon as this could be
+done, Stevens headed for the morning zone and dropped the "Hope" rapidly
+toward the surface of that new, strange world. Details could not be
+distinguished at first because of an all-enshrouding layer of cloud, but
+the rising sun dispelled the mist, and when they had descended to within
+a few thousand feet of the surface, their vision was unobstructed.
+Immediately below them the terrain was mountainous and heavily wooded;
+while far to the east the rays of a small, pale sun glinted upon a vast
+body of water. No signs of habitation were visible as far as the eye
+could reach.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now to pick out a location for our power-plant. We must have a
+waterfall for power, a good place to hide our ship from observation, and
+I'd like to have a little seam of coal. We can use wood if we have to,
+but I think we can find some coal. This is all sedimentary rock&mdash;it
+looks a lot like the country along the North Fork of the Flathead, in
+Montana. There are a lot of coal outcrops, usually, in such topography
+as this is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We want to hide in a hurry, though, don't we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not particularly, I think. If they had missed us at all, they would
+have had us long ago, and with all the damage we did with those
+projectors they won't be surprised at one piece being missing&mdash;I imagine
+they lost a good many."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But they'll know that somebody caused all that disturbance. Won't they
+hunt for us?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe, and maybe not&mdash;no telling what they'll do. However, by the time
+they can land and get checked up and ready to hunt for us, we'll be a
+mighty small needle, well hidden in a good big haystack."
+</p>
+<p>
+For several hours they roamed over the mountainous region at high
+velocity, seeking the best possible location, and finally they found
+one that was almost ideal&mdash;a narrow canyon overhung with heavy trees,
+opening into a wide, deep gorge upon a level with its floor. A mighty
+waterfall cascaded into the gorge just above the canyon, and here
+and there could be seen black outcrops which Stevens, after a close
+scrutiny, declared to be coal. He deftly guided their cumbersome wedge
+of steel into the retreat, allowed it to settle gently to the ground,
+and shut off the power.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, little fellow-conspirator against the peace and dignity of the
+Jovians, I don't know just where we are, but wherever it is, we're here.
+We got away clean, and as long as we don't use any high-tension stuff or
+anything else that they can trace, I think we're as safe as money in a
+bank."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose that I ought to be scared to death, Steve, but I'm not&mdash;I'm
+just too thrilled for words," Nadia answered, and the eager sparkle in
+her eyes bore out her words. "Can we go out now? How about air? Shall we
+wear suits or go out as we are? Have you got a weapon of any kind? Hurry
+up&mdash;let's do something!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pipe down, ace! Remember that we don't know any more about anything
+around here than a pig does about Sunday, and conduct yourself
+accordingly. Take it easy. I'm surprised at the gravity here. This is
+certainly Ganymede, and it has a diameter of only about fifty seven
+hundred kilometers. If I remember correctly, Damoiseau estimated its
+mass at about three one-hundredths that of the Earth, which would make
+its surface gravity about one-sixth. However, it is actually almost a
+half, as you see by this spring-balance here. Therefore it is quite a
+little more massive than has been...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What of it? Let's go places and do things!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Calm yourself, Ginger, you've got lots of time&mdash;we'll be here for quite
+a while, I'm afraid. We can't go out until we analyze the air&mdash;we're
+sure lucky there's as much as there is. I'm not exactly the world's
+foremost chemist, but fortunately an air-analysis isn't much of a job
+with the apparatus we carry."
+</p>
+<p>
+While Nadia controlled her impatience as best she could, Stevens
+manipulated the bulbs and pipettes of the gas apparatus.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pressure, fifty-two centimeters&mdash;more than I dared hope for&mdash;and
+analysis all x, I believe. Oxygen concentration a little high, but
+not much."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We won't have to wear the space-suits, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not unless I missed something in the analysis. The pressure corresponds
+to our own at a height of about three thousand meters, which we can get
+used to without too much trouble. Good thing, too. I brought along all
+the air I could get hold of, but as I told you back there, if we had to
+depend on it altogether, we might be out of luck. I'm going to pump some
+of our air back into a cylinder to equalize our pressure&mdash;don't want
+to waste any of it until we're sure the outside air suits us without
+treatment."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">W</span><span class="up">hen</span> the pressure inside had been gradually reduced to that outside and
+they had become accustomed to breathing the rarefied medium, Stevens
+opened the airlock and the outside doors, and for some time cautiously
+sniffed the atmosphere of the satellite. He could detect nothing harmful
+or unusual in it&mdash;it was apparently the same as earthly air&mdash;and he
+became jubilant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Nadia&mdash;luck is perched right on our banner. Freedom, air, water,
+power, and coal! Now as you suggested, we'll go places and do things!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose it's safe?" Her first eagerness to explore their surroundings
+had abated noticeably. "You aren't armed, are you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, and I don't believe that there was a gun of any kind aboard the
+<i>Arcturus</i>. That kind of thing went out quite a while ago, you know.
+We'll take a look, anyway&mdash;we've got to find out about that coal before
+we decide to settle down here. Remember this half-gravity stuff, and
+control your leg-muscles accordingly."
+</p>
+<p>
+Leaping lightly to the ground, they saw that the severed section of
+fifty-inch armor, which was the rim of their conveyance, almost blocked
+the entrance to the narrow canyon which they had selected for their
+retreat. Upon one side that wall of steel actually touched the almost
+perpendicular wall or rock; upon the other side there was left only a
+narrow passage. They stepped through it, so that they could see the
+waterfall and the gorge, and stopped silent. The sun, now fairly high,
+was in no sense the familiar orb of day, but was a pale, insipid thing,
+only one-fifth the diameter of the sun to which they were accustomed,
+and which could almost be studied with the unshielded eye. From their
+feet a grassy meadow a few hundred feet wide sloped gently down to the
+river, from whose farther bank a precipice sprang upward for perhaps
+a thousand feet&mdash;merging into towering hills whose rugged grandeur was
+reminiscent of the topography of the moon. At their backs the wall of
+the gorge was steep, but not precipitous, and was covered with shrubs
+and trees&mdash;some of which leaned out over the little canyon, completely
+screening it, and among whose branches birds could now and then be seen
+flitting about. In that direction no mountains were visible, indicating
+that upon their side of the river there was an upland plateau or bench.
+To their right the river, the gorge, and the strip of meadow extended
+for a mile or more, then curved away and were lost to sight. To their
+left, almost too close for comfort, was the stupendous cataract,
+towering above them to a terror-inspiring height. Nadia studied it
+with awe, which changed to puzzled wonder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What's the matter with it, Steve? It looks like a picture in slow
+motion, like the kind they take of your dives&mdash;or am I seeing things?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, it's really slow, compared to what we're used to. Remember that
+one-half gravity stuff!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, that's right, but it certainly does look funny. It gives me the
+creeps."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll get used to it pretty quick&mdash;just as you'll get used to all the
+rest of the things having only half their earthly weight and falling
+only half as fast as they ought to when you drop them. Well, I don't see
+anything that looks dangerous yet&mdash;let's go up toward the falls a few
+meters and prospect that outcrop."
+</p>
+<p>
+With a few brisk strokes of an improvised shovel he cleared the outcrop
+of detritus and broke off several samples of the black substance, with
+which they went back to the "Forlorn Hope."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's real coal," Stevens announced after a series of tests. "I've seen
+better, but on the other hand, there's lots worse. It'll make good gas,
+and a kind of a coke. Not so hot, but it'll do. Now we'd better get
+organized old partner, for a long campaign."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go ahead and organize&mdash;I'm only the cheap help in this enterprise."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Cheap help! You're apt to be the life of the party. Can you make and
+shoot a bow and arrow?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say I can&mdash;I've belonged to an archery club for five years."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What did I tell you? You're a life saver! Here's the dope&mdash;we've got
+to save our own supplies as much as possible until we know exactly what
+we're up against, and to do that, we've got to live off the country.
+I'll fake up something to knock over some of those birds and small game,
+then we can make real bow-strings and feathered arrows and I'll forge
+some steel arrow-heads while you're making yourself a real bow. We'd
+better make me about a hundred-pound war bow, too...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A <i>hundred</i>!" interrupted Nadia. "That's a lot of bow, big boy&mdash;think
+you can bend it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'd be surprised," he grinned. "I'm not quite like Robin Hood&mdash;I've
+been known to miss a finger-thick wand at a hundred paces&mdash;but I'm not
+exactly a beginner."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, of course&mdash;I should have known by your language that you're an
+archer, otherwise you'd never have used such an old-fashioned word as
+'pounds.' I shoot a thirty-five-pound bow ordinarily, but for game I
+should have the heaviest one I can hold accurately&mdash;about a forty-five,
+probably."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x. And as soon as I can I'll make us a couple of suits of fairly
+heavy steel armor, so that we'll have real protection if we should need
+it. You see, we don't know what we are apt to run up against out here.
+Then, with that much done, it'll be up to you to provide, since I'll
+have to work tooth and nail at the forges. You'll have to bring home the
+bacon, do the cooking and so on, and see what you can find along the
+line of edible roots, grains, fruits, and what-not. Sort of reverse the
+Indian idea&mdash;you be the hunter and I'll keep the home fires burning.
+Can do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What it takes to do that, I've got," Nadia assured him, her eyes
+sparkling. "Have you your job planned out as well and as fittingly as
+you have mine?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"And then some. We've got just two methods of getting away from
+here&mdash;one is to get in touch with Brandon, so that he'll come after us;
+the other is to recharge our accumulators and try to make it under our
+own power. Either course will need power and lots of it...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I never thought of going back in the 'Hope.' Suppose we could?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"About as doubtful as the radio&mdash;I think that I could build a pair of
+matched-frequency auto-dirigible transmitter and receptor units, such as
+are necessary for space-ships fed by stationary power-plants, but after
+I got them built, they'd take us less than half way there. Then we'd
+have only what power we can carry, and I hate even to think of what
+probably would happen to us. We'd certainly have to drift for months
+before we could get close enough to any of our plants to radio for help,
+and we'd be taking awful chances. You see, we'd have to take a very
+peculiar orbit, and if we should miss connections passing the inner
+planets, what the sun would do to us at the closest point and where
+what's left of us would go on the back-swing, would be just too bad!
+Besides, if we can get hold of the <i>Sirius</i>, they'll come loaded for
+bear, and we may be able to do something about the rest of the folks
+out here."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"O</span><span class="up">h</span>!" breathed the girl. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could!
+I thought, of course, they'd all be...." her voice died away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not necessarily&mdash;there's always a chance. That's why I'm trying the
+ultra-radio first. However, either course will take lots of power,
+so the first thing I've got to do is to build a power plant. I'm
+going to run a penstock up those falls, and put in a turbine, driving
+a high-tension alternator. Then, while I'm trying to build the
+ultra-radio, I'll be charging our accumulators, so that no time will
+be lost in case the radio fails. If it does fail&mdash;and remember I'm not
+counting on its working&mdash;of course I'll tackle the transmission and
+receptor units before we start out to drift it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You say it easy, Steve, but how can you build all those things, with
+nothing to work with?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's going to be a real job&mdash;I'm not try to kid you into thinking it'll
+be either easy or quick. Here's the way everything will go. Before I can
+even lay the first length of the penstock, I've got to have the pipe&mdash;to
+make which I've got to have flat steel&mdash;to get which I'll have to cut
+some of the partitions out of this ship of ours&mdash;to do which I'll have
+to have a cutting torch&mdash;to make which I'll have to forge nozzles out of
+block metal and to run which I'll have to have gas&mdash;to get which I'll
+have to mine coal and build a gas-plant&mdash;to do which...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good heavens, Steve, are you going back to the Stone Age? I never
+thought of half those things. Why, it's impossible!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not quite, guy. Things could be a lot worse&mdash;that's why I brought along
+the whole 'Forlorn Hope,' instead of just the lifeboat. As it is, we've
+got several thousand tons of spare steel and lots of copper. We've got
+ordinary tools and a few light motors, blowers, and such stuff. That
+gives me a great big start&mdash;I won't have to mine the ores and smelt the
+metals, as would have been necessary otherwise. However, it'll be plenty
+bad. I'll have to start out in a pretty crude fashion, and for some of
+the stuff I'll need I'll have to make, not only the machine that makes
+the part I want, but also the machine that makes the machine that
+makes the machine that makes it&mdash;and so on, just how far down the line,
+I haven't dared to think."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must be a regular jack-of-all-trades, to think you can get away
+with such a program as that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am&mdash;nothing else but. You see, while most of my school training
+was in advanced physics and mathematics, I worked my way through by
+computing and designing, and I've done a lot of truck-horse labor of
+various kinds besides. I can calculate and design almost anything, and
+I can make a pretty good stab at translating a design into fabricated
+material. I wouldn't wonder if Brandon's ultra-radio would stop me,
+since nobody had even started to build one when I saw him last&mdash;but I
+helped compute it, know the forces involved as well as he did at that
+time, and it so happens that I know more about the design of coils and
+fields of force than I do about anything else. So I may be able to work
+it out eventually. It isn't going to be not knowing how that will hold
+me up&mdash;it'll be the lack of something that I can't build."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And that's where you will go back and back and back, as you said about
+building the penstock?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Back and back is right, if I can find all the necessary raw
+materials&mdash;that's what's probably going to put a lot of monkey-wrenches
+into the machinery." And Stevens went to work upon a weapon of offense,
+fashioning a crude, but powerful bow from a strip of spring steel strung
+with heavy wire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How about arrows? Shall I go see if I can hit a bird with a rock, for
+feathers, and see if I can find something to make arrows out of?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not yet&mdash;anyway, I'd bet on the birds! I'm going to use pieces of this
+light brace-rod off the accumulator cells for arrows. They won't fly
+true, of course, but with their mass I can give them enough projectile
+force to kill any small animal they hit, no matter how they hit it."
+</p>
+<p>
+After many misses, he finally bagged a small animal, something like
+a rabbit and something like a kangaroo, and a couple of round-bodied,
+plump birds, almost as large as domestic hens. These they dressed,
+with considerable distaste and a noticeable lack of skill.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll get used to it pretty quick, Diana&mdash;also more expert," he said
+when the task was done. "We now have raw material for bow-strings and
+clothes, as well as food."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The word 'raw' being heavily accented," Nadia declared, with a grimace.
+"But how do we know that they're good to eat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll have to eat 'em and see," he grinned. "I don't imagine that any
+flesh is really poisonous, and we'll have to arrive at the ones we like
+best by a process of trial and error. Well, here's your job&mdash;I'll get
+busy on mine. Don't go more than a few hundred meters away and yell if
+you get into a jam."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's a couple of questions I want to ask you. What makes it so
+warm here, when the sun's so far away and Jupiter isn't supposed to be
+radiating any heat? And how about time? It's twelve hours by my watch
+since sunrise this morning, and it's still shining."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As for heat, I've been wondering about that. It must be due to internal
+heat, because even though Jupiter may be warm, or even hot, it certainly
+isn't radiating much, since it has a temperature of minus two hundred at
+the visible surface, which, of course, is the top of the atmosphere. Our
+heat here is probably caused by radioactivity&mdash;that's the most modern
+dope, I believe. As for time, it looks as though our days were something
+better than thirty hours long, instead of twenty-four. Of course I'll
+keep the chronometer going on I-P time, since we'll probably need it in
+working out observations; but we might as well let our watches run down
+and work, eat, and sleep by the sun&mdash;not much sense in trying to keep
+Tellurian time here, as I see it. Check?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x. I'll have supper ready for you at sunset. 'Bye!"
+</p>
+<p>
+A few evenings later, when Stevens came in after his long day's work,
+he was surprised to see Nadia dressed in a suit of brown coveralls and
+high-laced moccasins.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do I look?" she asked, pirouetting gayly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Neat, but not gaudy," he approved. "That's good mole-skin&mdash;smooth,
+soft, and tough. Where'd you make the raise? I didn't know we had
+anything like that on board. What did you do for thread? You look like
+a million dollars&mdash;you sure did a good job of fitting."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had to have something&mdash;what with all the thorns and brush, there was
+almost more of me exposed than covered, and I was getting scratched up
+something fierce. So I ripped up one of the space-suits, and found out
+that there's enough cloth, fur, and leather in one of them to make six
+ordinary suits, and thread by the kilometer. I was awfully glad to see
+all that thread&mdash;I had an idea that I'd have to unravel my stockings or
+something, but I didn't. Your clothes are getting pretty tacky, too, and
+you're getting all burned with those hot coals and things. I'm going to
+build you a suit out of leather for your blacksmithing activities."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fine business, ace! Then we can save what's left of our civilized
+clothes for the return trip. What do we eat?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The eternal question of the hungry laboring man! I've got a roasted
+bongo, a fried filamaloo bird, and a boiled warple for the meat dishes.
+For vegetables, mashed hikoderms and pimola greens. Neocorn bread."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Translate that, please, into terms of food."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Translate it yourself, after you eat it. I changed the system on you
+today. I've named all the things, so it'll be easier to keep track of
+those we like and the ones we don't."
+</p>
+<p>
+With appetites sharp-set by long hours of hard labor they ate heartily;
+then, in the deepening twilight, they sat and talked in comradely
+fashion while Stevens smoked one precious cigarette.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">I</span><span class="up">t</span> was not long until Nadia had her work well in hand. Game was
+plentiful, and the fertile valley and the neighboring upland yielded
+peculiar, but savory vegetable foods in variety and abundance; so that
+soon she was able to spend some time with Stevens, helping him as much
+as she could. Thus she came to realize the true magnitude of the task he
+faced and the real seriousness of their position.
+</p>
+<p>
+As Stevens had admitted before the work was started, he had known that
+he had set himself a gigantic task, but he had not permitted himself to
+follow, step by step, the difficulties that he knew awaited him. Now,
+as the days stretched into weeks and on into months, he was forced to
+take every laborious step, and it was borne in upon him just how nearly
+impossible that Herculean labor was to prove&mdash;just how dependent any
+given earthly activity is upon a vast number of others. Here he was
+alone&mdash;everything he needed must be manufactured by his own hands, from
+its original sources. He had known that progress would be slow and he
+had been prepared for that; but he had not pictured, even to himself,
+half of the maddening setbacks which occurred time after time because
+of the crudity of the tools and equipment he was forced to use. All too
+often a machine or part, the product of many hours of grueling labor,
+would fail because of the lack of some insignificant thing&mdash;some item
+so common as to be taken for granted in all terrestrial shops, but
+impossible of fabrication with the means at his disposal. At such times
+he would set his grim jaw a trifle harder, go back one step farther
+toward the Stone Age, and begin all over again&mdash;to find the necessary
+raw material or a possible substitute, and then to build the apparatus
+and machinery necessary to produce the part he required. Thus the
+heart-breaking task progressed, and Nadia watched her co-laborer become
+leaner and harder and more desperate day by day, unable in any way to
+lighten his fearful load.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the brief period of rest following a noonday meal, Stevens lay prone
+upon the warm, fragrant grass beside the "Forlorn Hope," but it was
+evident to Nadia that he was not resting. His burned and blistered hands
+were locked savagely behind his head, his eyes were closed too tightly,
+and every tense line of his body was eloquent of a strain even more
+mental than physical. She studied him for minutes, her fine eyes
+clouded, then sat down beside him and put her hand upon his shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I want to talk to you a minute, Steve," she said gently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, little fellow&mdash;but it might be just as well if you didn't touch
+me. You see, I'm getting so rabid that I can't trust myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's exactly what I want to talk to you about." A fiery blush burned
+through her deep tan, but her low, clear voice did not falter and her
+eyes held his unflinchingly. "I know you better than you know yourself,
+as I've said before. You are killing yourself, but it isn't the work,
+frightfully hard and disheartening as it is, that is doing it&mdash;it's
+your anxiety for me and the uncertainty of everything. You haven't been
+able to rest because you have been raging and fuming so at unavoidable
+conditions&mdash;you have been fighting <i>facts</i>. And it's all <i>so</i> useless,
+Steve, between you and me&mdash;everything would check out on zero if we'd
+just come out into the open."
+</p>
+<p>
+The man's gaunt frame seemed to stiffen even more rigidly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You've said altogether too much or else only half enough, Nadia. You
+know, of course, that I've loved you ever since I got really to know
+you&mdash;and that didn't take long. You know that I love you and you know
+how I love you&mdash;with the real love that a man can feel for only one
+woman and only once in his life; and you know exactly what we're up
+against. Now that <i>does</i> tear it&mdash;wide open!" he finished bitterly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, it doesn't, at all," she replied, steadily. "Of course I know that
+you love me, and I glory in it; and since you don't seem to realize
+that I love you in exactly the same way, I'll tell you so. Love you!
+Good heavens, Steve, I never dreamed that such a man as you are really
+existed! But you're fighting too many things at once, and they're
+killing you. And they're mostly imaginary, at that. Can't you see that
+there's no need of uncertainty between you and me? That there is no need
+of you driving yourself to desperation on my account? Whatever must be
+is all x with me, Steve. If you can build everything you need, all well
+and good. We'll be engaged until then, and our love will be open and
+sweet. If worst comes to worst, so that we can neither communicate with
+Brandon and Westfall nor leave here under our own power&mdash;even that is
+nothing to kill ourselves about. And yes, I do know exactly what we
+are facing. I have been prepared for it ever since I first saw what a
+perfectly impossible thing you are attempting. You are trying to go from
+almost the Age of Bronze clear up to year-after-next in a month or two.
+Not one man in a million could have done as much in his lifetime as you
+have done in the last few weeks, and I do not see how even you, with
+what little you have to work with, can possibly build such things as
+power-plants, transmitters, and ultra-radio stations. But what of
+it? For the day that it becomes clear that we are to remain here
+indefinitely; that day we will marry each other here, before God.
+Look around at this beautiful country. Could there be a finer world
+upon which to found a new race? When we decided to cut loose from the
+<i>Arcturus</i> I told you that I was with you all the way, and now I'll
+repeat it, with a lot more meaning. No matter what it's like, Steve, no
+matter where it leads to, I'm with you&mdash;<i>to&mdash;the&mdash;end&mdash;of&mdash;the&mdash;road</i>.
+Here or upon Earth or anywhere in the Universe. I am yours for life and
+for eternity."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">W</span><span class="up">hile</span> she was speaking, the grim, strained lines upon Stevens' face
+had disappeared, and as she fell silent he straightened up and gently,
+tenderly, reverently he took her lithe body into his arms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're right, sweetheart&mdash;everything <i>will</i> check out on zero, to
+nineteen decimals." He was a man transfigured. "I've been fighting
+windmills and I've been scared sick&mdash;but how was I to think that a
+wonder-girl like you could ever love a mutt like me? You certainly are
+the gamest little partner a man ever had. You're the world's straightest
+shooter, ace&mdash;you're a square brick if there ever was one. Your sheer
+nerve in being willing to go the whole route makes me love you more than
+ever, if such a thing can be possible, and it certainly puts a new face
+on the whole cock-eyed Universe for me. However, I don't believe it
+will come to that. After what you've just said, I sure will lick that
+job, regardless of how many different factories it takes to make one
+armature&mdash;I'll show that mess of scrap-iron what kind of trees make
+shingles!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl still in his arms, he rose to his feet and released her slowly,
+reluctantly, unwilling ever to let her go. Then he shook himself, as
+though an overwhelming burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and
+laughed happily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"See this cigarette?" he went on lightly. "The Last of the Mohicans.
+I'm going to smoke it in honor of our engagement." He drew the fragrant
+smoke deep into his lungs and frowned at her in mock seriousness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This would be a nice world to live on, of course, but the jobs here
+are too darn steady. It also seems to be somewhat lacking in modern
+conveniences, such as steel-mills and machine tools. Then, too, it is
+just a trifle too far from the Royal and Ancient for you really to enjoy
+living here permanently, and besides, I can't get my favorite brand
+of cigarettes around here. Therefore, after due deliberation, I don't
+believe we'll take the place&mdash;we'll go back to Tellus. Kiss me just once
+more ace, and I'll make that job think a cyclone has struck it right on
+the center of impact. Like Samuel Weller, or whoever it was, I'm clear
+full of 'wigor, wim, and witality'!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The specified kiss and several others duly delivered he strode blithely
+away, and the little canyon resounded with the blows of his heavy sledge
+as he attacked with renewed spirit the great forging, white-hot from his
+soak-pit, which was to become the shaft of his turbo-alternator. Nadia
+watched him for a moment, her very heart in her eyes, then picked up her
+spanner and went after more steel, breathing a long and tremulous, but
+supremely happy sigh.
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0004" id="h2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IV
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    Ganymedean Life
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">S</span><span class="up">low</span>, hard, and disheartening as the work had been at first, Stevens
+had never slackened his pace, and after a time, as his facilities
+increased, the exasperating setbacks decreased in number and severity
+and his progress became faster and faster. Large as the "Forlorn Hope"
+was, space was soon at a premium, for their peculiarly-shaped craft
+became a veritable factory, housing a variety of machinery and
+equipment unknown in any single earthly industrial plant. Nothing
+was ornamental&mdash;everything was stripped to its barest fundamental
+necessities&mdash;but every working part functioned with a smooth precision
+to delight the senses of any good mechanic.
+</p>
+<p>
+In a cavern under the falls was the great turbine, to be full-fed by the
+crude but tight penstock which clung to the wall of the gorge, angling
+up to the brink of that stupendous cataract. Bedded down upon solid
+rock there was a high-tension alternator capable of absorbing the entire
+output of the mighty turbine. This turbo-alternator was connected to
+a set of converters from which the energy would flow along three great
+copper cables&mdash;the receptors of the lifeboats being altogether too small
+to carry the load&mdash;to the now completely exhausted accumulators of the
+"Forlorn Hope." All high-tension apparatus was shielded and grounded,
+so that no stray impulses could reveal to the possible detectors of
+the Jovians the presence of this foreign power plant. Housings, frames,
+spiders, all stationary parts were rough, crude and massive; but
+bearings, shafts, armatures, all moving parts, were of a polished
+and finished accuracy and balance that promised months and years of
+trouble-free operation. Everything ready for the test, Stevens took off
+his frayed and torn leather coveralls and moccasins and climbed nimbly
+up the penstock. He never walked down. Opening the head-gate, he poised
+sharply upon its extremity and took off in a perfect swan-dive; floating
+unconcernedly down toward that boiling maelstrom two hundred feel below.
+He struck the water with a sharp, smooth "slup!" and raced ashore,
+seizing his suit as he ran toward the turbo-alternator. It was running
+smoothly, and, knowing that everything was tight at the receiving end,
+he lingered about the power plant until he was assured that nothing
+would go wrong and that his home manufactured lubricating oil and grease
+would keep those massive bearings cool.
+</p>
+<p>
+Hunger assailed him, and glancing at the sun, he noted that it was well
+past dinner-time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wow!" he exclaimed aloud. "The boss just loves to wait meals&mdash;she'll
+burn me up for this!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He ran lightly toward "home," eager to tell his sweetheart that the
+long awaited moment had arrived&mdash;that power was now flowing into their
+accumulators.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, Diana of the silver bow!" he called. "How come you no blow the
+dinner bell? Power's on&mdash;come give it a look!"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no answer to his hail, and Stevens paused in shocked
+amazement. He knew that never of her own volition would she be out so
+late&mdash;Nadia was gone! A rapid tour of inspection quickly confirmed that
+which he already knew only too well. Forgotten was his hunger, forgotten
+the power plant, forgotten everything except the fact that his Nadia,
+the buoyant spirit in whom centered his Universe, was lost or ... he
+could not complete the thought, even to himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+Swiftly he came to a decision and threw off his suit, revealing the
+body of a Hercules&mdash;a body ready for any demand he could put upon it.
+Always in hard training, months of grinding physical labor and of heavy
+eating had built him up to a point at which he would scarcely have
+recognized himself, could he have glanced into a mirror. Mighty but
+pliable muscles writhed and swelled under his clear skin as he darted
+here and there, selecting equipment for what lay ahead of him. He donned
+the heavily armored space-suit which they had prepared months before,
+while they were still suspicious of possible attack. It was covered with
+heavy steel at every point, and the lenses of the helmet, already of
+unbreakable glass, had been re-enforced with thick steel bars. Tank and
+valves supplied air at normal pressure, so that his powerful body could
+function at full efficiency, not handicapped by the lighter atmosphere
+of Ganymede. The sleeves terminated in steel-protected rubber wristlets
+which left his hands free, yet sheltered from attack&mdash;wristlets tight
+enough to maintain the difference in pressure, yet not tight enough
+to cut off the circulation. He took up his mighty war-bow and the full
+quiver of heavy arrows&mdash;full-feathered and pointed with savagely barbed,
+tearing heads of forged steel&mdash;and slipped into their sheaths the long
+and heavy razor-sharp sword and the double-edged dirk, which he had
+made and ground long since for he knew not what emergency, and whose
+bell-shaped hilts of steel further protected his hands and wrists.
+Thus equipped, he had approximately his normal earthly weight; a fact
+which would operate to his advantage, rather than otherwise, in case
+of possible combat. With one last look around the "Forlorn Hope," whose
+every fitting spoke to him of the beloved mistress who was gone, he
+filled a container with water and cooked food and opened the door.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"I</span><span class="up">t</span> won't be long now; now it won't be long." Nadia caroled happily,
+buckling on her pack straps and taking up bow and arrows for her daily
+hunt. "I never thought that he could do it, but what it takes to do
+things, he's got lots of," she continued to improvise the song as she
+left the "Hope" with its multitudinous devices whose very variety was
+a never-failing delight to her; showing as it did the sheer ability of
+the man, whose brain and hands had almost finished a next-to-impossible
+task.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the canyon and up a well-worn trail she climbed, and soon came
+out upon the sparsely timbered bench that was her hunting grounds. Upon
+this day, however, she was full of happy anticipation and her mind was
+everywhere except upon her work. She was thinking of Stevens, of their
+love, of the power which he might turn on that very day, and of the
+possible rescue for which she had hitherto scarcely dared to hope.
+Thus it was that she walked miles beyond her usual limits without
+having loosed an arrow, and she was surprised when she glanced up at
+the sun to see that half the morning was gone and that she was almost
+to the foothills, beyond which rose a towering range of mountains.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Snap out of it, girl!" she reprimanded herself. "Go on wool-gathering
+like this and your man will go hungry&mdash;and he'll break you right off
+at the ankles!" She became again the huntress, and soon saw an animal
+browsing steadily along the base of a hill. It was a six-legged,
+deer-like creature, much larger than anything she had as yet seen. But
+it was meat and her time was short, therefore she crept within range
+and loosed an arrow with the full power of her hunting bow. Unfamiliar
+as she was with the anatomy of the peculiar creature, the arrow did
+not kill. The "hexaped," as she instantly named it, sped away and she
+leaped after it. She, like her companion, had developed amazingly in
+musculature, and few indeed were the denizens of Ganymede, who could
+equal her speed upon that small globe, with its feeble gravitational
+force.
+</p>
+<p>
+Up the foothills it darted. Beyond the hills and deep into a valley
+between two towering peaks the chase continued before Nadia's third
+arrow brought the animal down. Bending over the game, she became
+conscious of a strange but wonderful sweet perfume and glanced up,
+to see something which she certainly had not noticed when the hexaped
+had fallen. It was an enormous flower, at least a foot in diameter and
+indescribably beautiful in its crimson and golden splendor. Almost level
+with her head the gorgeous blossom waved upon its heavy stem; based
+by a massive cluster of enormous, smooth, dark green leaves. Entranced
+by this unexpected and marvelous floral display, Nadia breathed deeply
+of the inviting fragrance&mdash;and collapsed senseless upon the ground.
+Thereupon the weird plant moved over toward her, and the thick leaves
+began to enfold her knees. This carnivorous thing, however, did not like
+the heavy cloth of her suit and turned to the hexaped. It thrust several
+of its leaves into the wounds upon the carcass and fed, while two other
+leaves rasped together, sending out a piercing call.
+</p>
+<p>
+In answer to the sound the underbrush crackled, and through it and upon
+the scene there crashed a vegetable-animal nightmare&mdash;the parent of the
+relatively tiny thing whose perfume had disabled the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+Its huge and gorgeous blossom was supported by a long, flexible,
+writhing stem, and its base was composed of many and highly specialized
+leaves. There were saws and spears and mighty, but sinuous tendrils;
+there were slender shoots which seemed to possess some sense of
+perception; there was the massive tractor base composed of extensible
+leaves which by their contraction and expansion propelled the mass along
+the ground. Parent and child fell upon the hexaped and soon bones and
+hair were all that remained The slender shoots then wandered about the
+unconscious girl in her strange covering, and as a couple of powerful
+tendrils coiled about her and raised her into the air over the monstrous
+base of the thing, its rudimentary brain could almost be perceived
+working as it sluggishly realized that, now full fed, it should carry
+this other victim along, to feed its other offspring when they should
+return to its side.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">B</span><span class="up">arely</span> outside the door of the "Forlorn Hope" Stevens whirled about
+with a bitter imprecation. He had already lost time needlessly&mdash;with a
+lookout plate he could cover more ground in ten minutes than he could
+cover afoot in a week. He flipped on the power and shot the violet beam
+out over the plateau to the district where he knew Nadia was wont to
+hunt. Not finding her there, he swung the beam in an ever widening
+circle around that district. Finally he saw a few freshly broken twigs,
+and scanned the scene with care. He soon found the trail of fresh
+blood which marked the path of the flight of the hexaped, and with the
+peculiar maneuverability of the device he was using, it was not long
+until he was studying the scene where the encounter had taken place.
+He gasped when he saw the bones and perceived three of Nadia's arrows,
+but soon saw that the skeleton was not human and was reassured. Casting
+about in every direction, he found Nadia's bow, and saw a peculiar,
+freshly trampled path leading from the kill, past the bow, down the
+valley. He could not understand the spoor, but it was easily followed,
+and he shot the beam along it at headlong speed until he came up with
+the monstrous creature that was making it&mdash;until he saw what burden that
+organism was carrying.
+</p>
+<p>
+He leaped to the controls of the lifeboat, then dropped his hand. While
+the stream of power now flowing was ample to operate the lookout plates,
+yet it would be many hours before the accumulator cells would be in
+condition to drive the craft even that short distance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It'll take over an hour to get there&mdash;here's hoping I can check in all
+x," he muttered savagely, as he took careful note of the location and
+direction of the creature's trail and set off at a fast jog-trot.
+</p>
+<p>
+The carnivorous flower's first warning that all was not well was
+received when Stevens' steel-shod feet landed squarely upon its base
+and one sweeping cut of his sword lopped off the malignant blossom and
+severed the two tendrils that still held the unconscious Nadia. With a
+quick heave of his shoulder, he tossed her lightly backward into the
+smooth-beaten track the creature had made and tried to leap away&mdash;but
+the instant he had consumed in rescuing the girl had been enough for the
+thing to seize him, and he found himself battling for his very life. No
+soft-leaved infant this, but a full-grown monster, well equipped with
+mighty weapons of offense and defense. Well it was for the struggling
+man that he was encased in armor steel as those saw-edged, hard-spiked
+leaves drove against him with crushing force; well it was for him that
+he had his own independent air supply, so that that deadly perfume
+eddied ineffective about his helmeted head! Hard and fiercely driven as
+those terrible thorns were, they could do no more than dent his heavy
+armor. His powerful left arm, driving the double-razor-edged dirk in
+short, resistless arcs, managed to keep the snaky tendrils from coiling
+about his right arm, which was wielding the heavy, trenchant sword.
+Every time that mighty blade descended it cleaved its length through
+snapping spikes and impotently grinding leaves; but more than once
+a flailing tendril coiled about his neck armor and held his helmet
+immovable as though in a vise, while those frightful, grinding saws
+sought to rip their way through the glass to the living creature inside
+the peculiar metal housing. Dirk and saber and magnificent physique
+finally triumphed, but it was not until each leaf was literally severed
+from every other leaf that the outlandish organism gave up the ghost.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">N</span><span class="up">adia</span> had been tossed out into pure air, beyond the zone of the
+stupefying perfume, and she recovered her senses in time to see the
+finish of the battle. Stevens, assured that his foe was <i>hors du
+combat</i>, turned toward the spot where he had thrown Nadia's body. He saw
+that she was unharmed, and sprang toward her in relief. He was surprised
+beyond measure, however, to see her run away at a pace he could not hope
+to equal, encumbered as he was; motioning frantically at him the while
+to keep away from her. He stopped, astounded, and started to unscrew his
+helmet, whereupon she dashed back toward him, signaling him emphatically
+to leave his armor exactly as it was. He stood still and stared at her,
+an exasperated question large upon his face, until she made clear to
+him that he was to follow her at a safe distance, then she set off at a
+rapid walk. She led him back to where the hexaped had fallen, where she
+retrieved her bow and arrows; then, keeping a sharp lookout upon all
+sides, she went on to a small stream of water. She made the dumbfounded
+man go out into the middle of the creek and lie down and roll over
+in the water, approaching him sniffing cautiously between immersions.
+She made him continue the bathing until she could detect not even the
+slightest trace of the sweet, but noxious fragrance of that peculiarly
+terrible form of Ganymedean life. Only then did she allow him to remove
+his helmet, so that she could give him the greeting for which they both
+had longed and tell him what it was all about.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So that's it, ace!" he exclaimed, still holding her tightly in his iron
+embrace. "Great balls of fire! I thought maybe you were still a little
+cuckoo. Anaesthetic perfume, huh? Hot stuff, I'd say&mdash;no wonder you
+bit&mdash;I would, too. It's lucky for us I was air-tight&mdash;we'd both be
+fee...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Stop it!" she interrupted him sharply, "Forget it&mdash;don't ever even
+think of it!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, ace. It's out like the well known light. What to do? It's
+getting darker than a hat, and we're a long way from home. Don't know
+whether I could find my way back in the dark or not; and just between
+you and me, I'm not particularly keen on night travel in these parts
+after what's just happened. Are you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anything else but," she assured him, fervently. "I'd lots rather stay
+hungry until tomorrow."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No need of that&mdash;I've brought along enough supper for both of us. I'm
+hungry as a wolf, too, now that I have time to think of it. We'll eat
+and den up somewhere&mdash;or climb a tree. Those wampuses probably can't
+climb trees!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's a nice little cave back there about a hundred meters. We'll
+pretend it's the Ritz," and they soon had a merry fire blazing in front
+of the retreat. There they ate of the provisions Stevens had brought.
+Then, while the man rolled up boulders before the narrow entrance of
+the cave, Nadia gathered leaves and made a soft bed upon its warm,
+dry floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good night, lover," and the girl, untroubled and secure now that
+Stevens was at her side, was almost instantly asleep; but the man was
+not sleepy. He thought of the power plant, even now sending its terrific
+stream of energy into his accumulators. He thought of the ultra
+radio&mdash;where could he get all the materials needed? He thought of his
+friends, wondering whether or not they would receive his message. He
+thought of Breckenridge and the other human beings who had been aboard
+the <i>Arcturus</i>, wondering poignantly as to their fate. He thought of
+Newton and of his own people, who had certainly given them up for dead
+long since.
+</p>
+<p>
+But above all he thought of the beautiful, steel-true companion lying
+there asleep at his mailed feet, and he gazed down at her, his heart in
+his eyes. The firelight shone through the chinks between the boulders,
+casting a flickering ruddy light throughout the little cavern. Nadia lay
+there her head pillowed upon one strong, brown little hand. Her lips
+were red and sweetly curved, her cheek was smooth and firm as so much
+brown velvet. She was literally aglow with sheer beauty and with perfect
+health; and the man reflected, as he studied her hungrily, that this
+wild life certainly had agreed with her&mdash;she was becoming more
+surpassingly beautiful with every passing day.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You little trump&mdash;you wonderful, lovely, square little brick!" he
+breathed silently, and bent over to touch her cheek lightly with his
+lips. Slight as the caress was, it disturbed her, and even in her sleep
+her subconscious mind sent out an exploring hand, to touch her Steve and
+thus be reassured. He pressed her hand and she settled back comfortably,
+with a long, deep breath; and he stretched his iron-clad length beside
+her and closed his eyes, firmly resolved not to waste a minute of this
+wonderful night in sleep.
+</p>
+<p>
+When he opened them an instant later, it was broad daylight, the
+boulders had been rolled away, the fragrance of roasting meat permeated
+the atmosphere, and Nadia was making a deafening clamor, beating his
+steel breastplate lustily with the flat of his huge saber.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daylight in the swamp, you sleeper!" she exclaimed. "Roll out or roll
+up! Come and get it, before I throw it away!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must have been kind of tired," he said sheepishly, when he saw that
+she had shot a bird and had cooked breakfast for them both while he had
+been buried in oblivion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Peculiar, too, isn't it?" Nadia asked, pointedly. "You only did
+about ten days' work yesterday in ten minutes, swinging this frightful
+snickersnee of yours. Why, you played with it as though it were a
+knitting-needle, and when I wanted to wake you up with it, I could
+hardly lift it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thought you didn't want that subject even mentioned?" he tried to steer
+the talk away from his prowess with the broadsword.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was yesterday," airily. "Besides, I don't mind talking about
+you&mdash;it's thinking about us being ... you know ... that I can't stand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, ace. I get you right. Let's eat."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">B</span><span class="up">reakfast</span> over, they started down the valley, Stevens carrying his
+helmet under his arm. Hardly had they started however, than Nadia's keen
+eyes saw a movement through the trees, and, she stopped and pointed.
+Stevens looked once, then hand in hand they dashed back to their cave.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll pile up some of the boulders and you lie low," he instructed her
+as he screwed on his helmet. She snapped open his face-plate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what about you? Aren't you coming in, too?" she demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't&mdash;they'd surround us and starve us out. I'm safe in this
+armor&mdash;thank Heaven we made it as solid as we did&mdash;and I'll fight 'em in
+the open. I'll show 'em what the bear did to the buckwheat!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All right, I guess, but I wish I had my armor, too," she mourned as he
+snapped shut his plate and walled her into the cave with the same great
+rocks he had used the night before. Then, Nadia safe from attack, he
+drew his quiver of war-arrows into position over his shoulder, placed
+one at the ready on his bow-string and turned to face the horde of
+things rushing up the valley toward him. Wild animals he had supposed
+them, but as he stood firm and raised his weapon shrill whistles
+sounded in the throng, and he gasped as he realized that those frightful
+creatures must be intelligent beings, for not only did they signal
+to each other, but he saw that they were armed with bows and arrows,
+spears, and slings!
+</p>
+<p>
+Six-limbed creatures they were, of a purplish-red color, with huge,
+tricornigerous heads and with staring, green, phosphorescent eyes. Two
+of the six limbs were always legs, two always arms; the intermediate
+two, due to a mid-section jointing of the six-foot-long, almost
+cylindrical body, could be used at will as either legs or arms. Now, out
+of range, as they supposed, they halted and gathered about one who was
+apparently their leader; some standing erect and waving four hands while
+shaking their horns savagely in Stevens' direction, others trotting
+around on four legs, busily gathering stones of suitable size for their
+vicious slings.
+</p>
+<p>
+Too far away to use their own weapons and facing only one small
+four-limbed creature, they considered their game already in the bag, but
+they had no comprehension of earthly muscles, nor any understanding of
+the power and range of a hundred-pound bow driving a steel-headed war
+arrow. Thus, while they were arguing, Stevens took the offensive, and
+a cruelly barbed steel war-head tore completely through the body of
+their leader and mortally wounded the creature next beyond him. Though
+surprised, they were not to be frightened off, but with wild, shrill
+screams rushed to the attack. Stevens had no ammunition to waste, and
+every time that mighty bow twanged a yard-long arrow transfixed at least
+one of the red horde&mdash;and a body through which had torn one of those
+ghastly, hand-forged arrow-heads was of very little use thereafter.
+Accurately-sped arrows splintered harmlessly against the re-enforced
+windows of his helmet and against the steel guards protecting his hands.
+He was almost deafened by the din as the stone missiles of the slingers
+rebounded from his reverberating shell of steel, but he fired carefully,
+steadily, and powerfully until his last arrow had been loosed. Then,
+the wicked dirk in his left hand and the long and heavy saber weaving
+a circular path of brilliance in the sun, he stepped forward a couple
+of paces to meet the attackers. For a few moments nothing could stand
+before that fiercely driven blade&mdash;severed heads, limbs, and fragments
+of torsos literally filled the air, but sheer weight of numbers
+bore him down. As he fell, he saw the white shaft of one of Nadia's
+hunting-arrows flash past his helmet and bury itself to the flock in
+the body of one of the horde above him. Nadia knew that her arrows could
+not harm her lover, and through a chink between two boulders she was
+shooting into the thickest of the mob speeding her light arrows with
+the full power of her bow.
+</p>
+<p>
+Though down, the savages soon discovered that Stevens was not out. In
+such close quarters he could not use his sword, but the fourteen-inch
+blade of the dirk, needle-pointed as it was and with two razor-sharp,
+serrated cutting edges, was itself no mean weapon, and time after time
+he drove it deep, taking life at every thrust. Four more red monsters
+threw themselves upon the prostrate man, but not sufficiently versed in
+armor to seek out its joints, their fierce short spear thrusts did no
+damage. Presently four more corpses lay still and Stevens, with his,
+to them incredible, earthly strength, was once more upon his feet in
+spite of their utmost efforts to pinion his mighty limbs, and was again
+swinging his devastating weapon. Half their force lying upon the field,
+wiped out by a small, but invincible and apparently invulnerable being,
+the remainder broke and ran, pursued by Stevens to the point where the
+red monsters had first halted. He recovered his arrows and returned to
+the cave, opening his face-plate as he came.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, sweetheart?" he asked, rolling away the boulders. "Didn't get
+anything through to you, did they?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, they didn't even realize that I was taking part in the battle, I
+guess. Did they hurt you while they had you down? I was scared to death
+for a minute."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, the old armor held. One of them must have gnawed on my ankle
+some, between the greave and the heel-plate, but he couldn't quite get
+through. 'Sa darn small opening there, too&mdash;must have bent my foot
+'way around to get in at all. Have to tighten that joint up a little,
+I guess. I'll bet I've got a black spot and blue spot there the size of
+my hand&mdash;maybe it's only the size of yours, though."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't die of that, probably. Heavens, Steve, that cleaver of yours
+is a frightful thing in action! Suppose it's safe for us to go home?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Absolutely&mdash;right now is the best chance we'll ever have, and something
+tells me that we'd better make it snappy. They'll be back, and next time
+they won't be so easy to take."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, then&mdash;hold me, Steve, I can't stand the sight of that&mdash;-let
+alone wade through it. I'm going to faint or something, sure."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As you were!" he snapped. "You aren't going to pass out now that it's
+all over! It's a pretty ghastly mess, I know, but shut your eyes and
+I'll carry you out of sight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aren't we out of sight of that place yet?" she demanded after a time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have been for quite a while," he confessed, "but you're sitting
+pretty, aren't you? And you aren't very heavy&mdash;not here on Ganymede,
+anyway!"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"P</span><span class="up">ut</span> me down!" she commanded. "After that crack I won't play with you
+any more at all&mdash;I'll pick up my marbles and go home!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He released her and they hurried hack toward their waterfall, keeping
+wary eyes sharp-set for danger in any form, animal or vegetable. On the
+way back across the foothills Stevens shot another hexaped, and upon the
+plateau above the river Nadia bagged several birds and small animals,
+but it was not until they were actually in their own little canyon that
+their rapid pace slackened and their vigilance relaxed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"After this, ace, we hunt together and we go back to wearing armor while
+we're hunting. It scared me out of a year's growth when you checked
+up missing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We sure do, Steve," she concurred emphatically. "I'm not going to get
+more than a meter away from you from now on. What do you suppose those
+horrible things are?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Which?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Both."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Those flowers aren't like anything Tellus ever saw, so we have no basis
+of comparison. They may be a development of a flycatching plant, or they
+may be a link between the animal and the vegetable kingdom. However,
+we don't intend to study 'em, so let's forget 'em. Those animals were
+undoubtedly intelligent beings; they probably are a race of savages of
+this satellite."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then the really civilized races are probably...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not necessarily&mdash;there may well be different types, each struggling
+toward civilization. They certainly are on Venus, and they once were on
+Mars."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why haven't we seen anything like that before, in all these months?
+Things have been so calm and peaceful that we thought we had the whole
+world to ourselves, as far as danger or men were concerned."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We never saw them before because we never went where they lived&mdash;you
+were a long ways from your usual stamping-grounds, you know. That
+animal-vegetable flower is probably a high-altitude organism, living
+in the mountains and never coming as low as we are down here. As for
+the savages&mdash;whatever they are&mdash;they probably never come within five
+kilometers of the falls. Many primitive peoples think that waterfalls
+are inhabited by demons, and maybe these folks are afflicted the same
+way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We don't know much about our new world yet, do we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We sure don't&mdash;and I'm not particularly keen on finding out much more
+about it until we get organized for trouble, either. Well, here we
+are&mdash;just like getting back home to see the 'Hope,' isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It <i>is</i> home, and will be until we get one of our own on earth," and
+after Stevens had read his meters, learning with satisfaction that the
+full current was still flowing into the accumulators, he began to cut
+up the meat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now that you've got the power-plant running at last, what next?" asked
+Nadia, piling the cuts in the freezer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Brandon's ultra-radio comes next, but it's got more angles to it than
+a cubist's picture of a set of prisms; so many that I don't know where
+to begin. There, that job's done&mdash;let's sit down and I'll talk at you
+awhile. Maybe between us we can figure out where to start. I've got
+everything to build it lined up except for the tube, but that's got me
+stopped cold. You see, fields of force are all right in most places, but
+I've got to have one tube, and it's got to have the hardest possible
+vacuum. That means a mercury-vapor super pump. Mercury is absolutely
+the only thing that will do the trick and the mercury is one thing
+that is conspicuous by its absence in these parts. So are tungsten for
+filaments, tantalum for plates, and platinum for leads; and I haven't
+found anything that I can use as a getter, either&mdash;a metal, you know, to
+flash inside the tube to clean up the last traces of atmosphere in it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't suppose that such a simple thing as a radio tube could hold
+you up, after the perfectly unbelievable things that you have done
+already&mdash;but I see now how it could. Of course, the tubes in our
+receiver over there are too small?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, they are only receiver and communicator tubes, and I need a
+high-power transmitting tube&mdash;a fifty-kilowatter, at least. I'd give
+my left leg to the knee joint for one of those big water-cooled,
+sixty-kilowatt ten-nineteens right now&mdash;it would save us a lot of
+grief."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe you could break up those tubes and use the plates and so on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought of that, but it won't work&mdash;there isn't half enough metal
+in the lot, and the filaments in particular are so tiny that I couldn't
+possibly work them over into a big one. Then, too, we haven't got
+many spare tubes, and if I smash the ones we're using, I put our
+communicators out of business for good, so that we can't yell for help
+if we have to drift home&mdash;and I still don't get any mercury."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean to tell me there's no mercury on this whole planet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not exactly; but I do mean that I haven't been able to find any, and
+that it's probably darned scarce. And since all the other metals I want
+worst are also very dense and of high atomic weight, they're probably
+mighty scarce here, too. Why? Because we're on a satellite, and no
+matter what hypothesis you accept for the origin of satellites, you come
+to the same conclusion&mdash;that heavy metals are either absent or most
+awfully scarce and buried deep down toward the center. There are lots of
+heavy metals in Jupiter somewhere, but we probably couldn't find them.
+Jupiter's atmosphere is one mass of fog, and we couldn't see, since we
+haven't got an infra-red transformer. I could build one, in time, but
+it would take quite a while&mdash;and we couldn't work on Jupiter, anyway,
+because of its gravity and probably because of its atmosphere. And even
+if we could work there, we don't want to spend the rest of our lives
+prospecting for mercury." Stevens fell silent, brow wrinkled in thought.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean, dear, that we're..." Nadia broke off, the sentence
+unfinished.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gosh, no! There's lots of things not tried yet, and we can always set
+out to drift it. I was thinking only of building the tube. And I'm
+trying to think ... say, Nadia, what do you know about Cantrell's
+Comet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a thing, except that I remember reading in the newspapers that it
+was peculiar for something or other. But what has Cantrell's Comet got
+to do with the high cost of living&mdash;or with radio tubes? Have you gone
+cuckoo all of a sudden?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll be surprised!" Stevens grinned at her puzzled expression.
+"Cantrell's Comet is one of Jupiter's comet family and is peculiar in
+being the most massive one known to science. It was hardly known until
+after they built those thousand-foot reflectors on the Moon, where the
+seeing is always perfect, but it has been studied a lot since then.
+Its nucleus is small, but extremely heavy&mdash;it seems to have an average
+density of somewhere around sixteen. There's platinum and everything
+else that's heavy there, girl! They ought to be there in such quantity
+that even such a volunteer chemist as I am could find them!"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"H</span><span class="up">eavens</span>, Steve!" A look of alarm flashed over Nadia's face, then
+disappeared as rapidly as it had come into being. "But of course, comets
+aren't really dangerous."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure not. A comet's tail, which so many people are afraid of as being
+poison gas, is almost a perfect vacuum, even at its thickest, and we'd
+have to wear space-suits anyway. And speaking of vacuum ... whoopee!
+We don't need mercury any more than a goldfish needs a gas-mask. When
+we get Mr. Tube done, we'll take him out into space, leaving his mouth
+open, and very shortly he'll be as empty as a flapper's skull. Then
+we'll seal him up, flash him out, come back here, and start spilling
+our troubles into Brandon's shell-like ear!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wonderful, Steve! You do get an idea occasionally, don't you? But how
+do we get out there? Where is this Cantrell's Comet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know, exactly&mdash;there's one rub. Another is that I haven't
+even started the transmitter and receptor units. But we've got some
+field-generators here on board that I can use, so it won't be so bad.
+And our comet is in this part of the solar system somewhere fairly
+close. Wish we had an Ephemeris, a couple of I-P solar charts, and
+a real telescope."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can't do much without an Ephemeris, I should think. It's a good
+thing you kept the chronometers going. You know the I-P time, day, and
+dates, anyway."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll have to do without some things, that's all," and the man stared
+absently at the steel wall. "I remember something about its orbit, since
+it is one thing that all I-P vessels have to steer clear of. Think I can
+figure it close enough so that we'll be able to find it in our little
+telescope, or even on our plate, since we'll be out of this atmosphere.
+And it might not be a bad idea for us to get away, anyway. I'm afraid of
+those folks on that space-ship, whoever they were, and they must live
+around here somewhere. Cantrell's Comet swings about fifty million
+kilometers outside Jupiter's orbit at aphelion&mdash;close enough for us to
+reach, and yet probably too far for them to find us easily. By the time
+we get back here, they probably will have quit looking for us, if they
+look at all. Then too, I expect these savages to follow us up. What say,
+little ace&mdash;do we try it or do we stay here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know best, Steve. As I said before, I'm with you from now on, in
+whatever you think best to do. I know that you think it best to go out
+there. Therefore, so do I."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he said, finally, "I'd better get busy, then&mdash;there's a lot to
+do before we can start. The radio doesn't come next, after all&mdash;the
+transmitter and receptor units come ahead of it. They won't mean
+wasted labor, in any event, since we'll have to have them in case the
+radio fails. You'd better lay in a lot of supplies while I'm working
+on that stuff, but don't go out of sight, and yell like fury if
+you see anything. We'd both better wear full armor every time we go
+out-of-doors&mdash;unless I'm all out of control we aren't done with those
+savages yet. Even though they may be afraid of the demons of the falls,
+I think they'll have at least one more try at us."
+</p>
+<p>
+While Nadia brought in meat and vegetables and stored them away,
+Stevens attacked the problem of constructing the pair of tight-beam,
+auto-dirigible transmitter and receptor units which would connect his
+great turbo-alternator to the accumulators of their craft, wherever it
+might be in space. From the force-field generators of the "Forlorn Hope"
+he selected the two most suitable for his purpose, tuned them to the
+exact frequency he required, and around them built a complex system of
+condensers and coils.
+</p>
+<p>
+Day after day passed. Their larder was full, the receptor was finished,
+and the beam transmitter was almost ready to attach to the
+turbo-alternator before the calm was broken.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Steve!" Nadia shrieked. Glancing idly into the communicator plate, she
+had been perfunctorily surveying the surrounding territory. "They're
+coming! Thousands of them! They're all over the bench up there, and just
+simply pouring down the hills and up the valley!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wish they'd waited a few hours longer&mdash;we'd have been gone. However,
+we're just about ready for them," he commented grimly, as he stared over
+her shoulder into the communicator plate. "We'll make a lot of those
+Indians wish that they had stayed at home with their papooses."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you got all those rays and things fixed up?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not as many as I'd like to have. You see, I don't know the composition
+of the I-P ray, since it is outlawed to everybody except the police.
+Of course I could have found out from Brandon, but never paid any
+attention to it. I've got some nice ultra-violet, though, and a short-wave
+oscillatory that'll cook an elephant to a cinder in about eight seconds.
+We'll keep them amused, no fooling! Glad we had time to cover our open
+sides, and it looks as though that meteorite armor we put over the
+projectors may be mighty useful, too."
+</p>
+<p>
+On and on the savages came, massed in formations showing some signs of
+rude discipline. This time there was neither shrieking nor yelling; the
+weird creatures advanced silently and methodically. Here and there were
+massed groups of hundreds, dragging behind them engines which Stevens
+studied with interest.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hm ... m ... m. Catapults," he mused. "You were right, girl of my
+dreams&mdash;armor and bows and arrows wouldn't help us much right now.
+They're going to throw rocks at us that'll have both mass and momentum.
+With those things they can cave in our side-armor, and might even dent
+our roof. When one of those projectiles hits, we want to know where it
+ain't, that's all."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens cast off the heavily-insulated plug connecting the power plant
+leads to his now almost fully charged accumulators, strapped himself and
+Nadia into place at the controls, and waited, staring into the plate.
+Catapult after catapult was dragged to the lip of the little canyon,
+until six of them bore upon the target. The huge stranded springs of
+hair, fiber, and sinew were wound up to the limit, and enormous masses
+of rock were toilsomely rolled upon the platforms. Each "gunner" seized
+his trip, and as the leader shrieked his signal the six ponderous masses
+of metalliferous rock heaved into the air as one. But they did not
+strike their objective, for as the signal was given, Stevens shot
+power into his projectors. The "Forlorn Hope" leaped out of the canyon
+and high into the air over the open meadow, just as the six great
+projectiles crashed into the ground upon the spot which, an instant
+before, she had occupied.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">R</span><span class="up">udimentary</span> discipline forgotten, the horde rushed down into the canyon
+and the valley, in full clamor of their barbaric urgings. Horns and
+arms tossed fiercely, savage noises rent the air, and arrows splintered
+harmlessly upon steel plate as the mystified and maddened warriors upon
+the plain below gave vent to their outraged feelings.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look, Nadia! A whole gang of them are smelling around that power plug.
+Pretty soon somebody's going to touch a hot spot, and when he does,
+we'll cut loose on the rest of them."
+</p>
+<p>
+The huge insulating plug, housing the ends of the three great cables
+leading to the converters of the turbo-alternator, lay innocently upon
+the ground, its three yawning holes invitingly open to savage arms. The
+chief, who had been inspecting the power-plant, walked along the triplex
+lead and joined his followers at its terminus. Pointing with his horns,
+he jabbered orders and three red monsters, one at each cable, bent to
+lift the plug, while the leader himself thrust an arm into each of the
+three contact holes. There was a flash of searing flame and the reeking
+smoke of burning flesh&mdash;those three arms had taken the terrific no-load
+voltage of the three-phase converter system, and the full power of the
+alternator had been shorted directly to ground through the comparatively
+small resistance of his body.
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens had poised the "Forlorn Hope" edgewise in mid-air, so that
+the gleaming, heavily armored parabolic reflectors of his projectors,
+mounted upon the leading edge of the fortress, covered the scene below.
+As the charred corpse of the savage chieftain dropped to the ground,
+it seemed to the six-limbed creatures that the demons of the falls had
+indeed been annoyed beyond endurance by their intrusion; for, as if in
+response to the flash of fire from the power plug, that structure so
+peculiarly and so stolidly hanging in the air came plunging down toward
+them. From it there reached down twin fans of death and destruction: one
+flaming and almost invisibly incandescent violet which tore at the eyes
+and excruciatingly disintegrated brain and nervous tissues; the other
+dully glowing an equally invisible red, at the touch of which body
+temperature soared to lethal heights and foliage burst cracklingly into
+spontaneous flame.
+</p>
+<p>
+In their massed hundreds, the savages dropped where they stood, life
+rived away by the torturing ultra-violet, burned away by the blast
+of pure heat, or consumed by the conflagrations that raged instantly
+wherever that wide-sweeping fan encountered combustible material.
+In the face of power supernatural they lost all thought of attack or of
+conquest, and sought only and madly to escape. Weapons were thrown away,
+the catapults were abandoned, and, every man for himself, the mob fled
+in wildest disorder, each striving to put as much distance as possible
+between himself and that place of dread mystery, the waterfall.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I guess that'll hold 'em for a while," Stevens dropped their
+craft back into its original quarters in the canyon. "Whether they ever
+believed before that this falls was inhabited by devils or not, they
+think so now. I'll bet that it will be six hundred Jovian years before
+any of them ever come within a hundred kilometers of it again. I'm glad
+of it, too, because they'll let our power plant alone now. Well, let's
+get going&mdash;we've got to make things hum for a while!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why all the rush? You just said that we have scared them away for
+good."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The savages, yes, but not those others. We've just turned loose enough
+radiation to affect detectors all over the system, and it's up to us to
+get this beam projector set up, get away from here, and get our power
+shut off before they can trace us. Snap it up, ace!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The transmitter unit was installed at the converters, the cable was torn
+out, and, having broken the last material link between it and Ganymede,
+Stevens hurled the "Forlorn Hope" out into space, using the highest
+acceleration Nadia could endure. Hour after hour the massive wedge of
+steel bored outward, away from Jupiter; hour after hour Stevens' anxious
+eyes scanned his instruments; hour after hour hope mounted and relief
+took the place of anxiety as the screens remained blank throughout every
+inquiring thrust into the empty ether. But they knew they would have to
+keep sharp vigilance.
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class="intro">
+<p>
+<i>Continuing a Thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel
+by Edward E. Smith, Ph.D.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="smallc">
+<i>Author of "Skylark of Space," and "Skylark Three"</i>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3>
+PART II
+</h3>
+
+<a name="h2H_4_0006" id="h2H_4_0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h1>
+    Spacehounds of IPC
+</h1>
+<p class="quote">
+    <i><span class="drop">O</span><span class="up">ne</span> of the most fascinating mysteries of the heavens is the comet.
+    It goes through space, gets near enough to the earth to be seen,
+    and then goes off and disappears in celestial distance. Often it
+    has a hyperbolic orbit, which would make it impossible to come back.
+    Yet it may return&mdash;apparently contradicting the geometry of conic
+    sections. This only goes to prove once more that it is risky to say
+    anything is impossible&mdash;even that our hero of this story manages
+    beautifully, with the aid of Cantrell's Comet, to avoid complete
+    annihilation while stranded in interstellar space.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="quote">
+    <i>Read "what went before" and then continue the second instalment.</i>
+</p>
+<h3>
+What Went Before:
+</h3>
+<p class="quote">
+    <span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">he</span> Interplanetary Vessel Arcturus sets out for Mars, with
+    Breckenridge as chief pilot, carrying on board, besides its
+    regular crew and some passengers, the famous Dr. Stevens,
+    designer of space ships and computer. He checks computations
+    made by astronomers stationed in floating observatories, and
+    after he has located any trouble and suggests a plan for
+    minimizing the hazards of the trip from the earth to Mars,
+    he reports his findings and suggestions to Mr. Newton, chief
+    of the Interplanetary Corporation.
+</p>
+<p class="quote">
+    Stevens then takes Nadia, Mr. Newton's beautiful young daughter,
+    on a specially conducted sight-seeing tour of the Arcturus and
+    thoroughly explains to her all of the works of the vessel. Nadia
+    has herself had a good science education. While they are down at
+    the bottom of the ship&mdash;nearing the end of their tour&mdash;Stevens
+    feels a barely perceptible movement of the vessel from its course.
+    When he turns on the visiplate, he is horrified to find that a
+    mysterious ray of unparalleled power has neatly sliced the Arcturus
+    in several places.
+</p>
+<p class="quote">
+    Nadia and Stevens are completely separated from the rest of the
+    crew and passengers of the ship, so they get into a lifeboat,
+    which is equipped for a limited amount of space travel. Despite
+    the strict and apparently effective vigilance of the enemy
+    destroyer, Stevens and Nadia make their getaway in the lifeboat,
+    which they aptly call "Forlorn Hope," and finally make a safe
+    landing on Ganymede, where Stevens plans to build a power-plant
+    and a radio transmitter, to enable him to communicate with the
+    earth or with the IPV Sirius, which is used by Westfall and Brandon
+    (two of the world's best scientists) as a floating laboratory.
+</p>
+<p class="quote">
+    With the very scant apparatus and material available, Stevens
+    sets to work on his power plant. Just as they have it completed
+    and ready to start for Cantrell's Comet, where Stevens believes
+    he can obtain the necessary metal for his giant transmitting
+    tube, they experience a close call with carnivorous plants on the
+    satellite and later with savage inhabitants, which precipitates
+    their trip to the comet.
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0005" id="h2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER V
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    Cantrell's Comet
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">F</span><span class="up">ar</span> out in space, Jupiter, a tiny moon and its satellites mere
+pin-points of light, Stevens turned to his companion with a grin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Nadia, old golf-shootist, here's where we turn spacehounds again.
+Hope you like it better this time, because I'm afraid that we'll have to
+stay weightless for quite a while." He slowly throttled down the mighty
+flow of power, and watched the conflicting emotions play over Nadia's
+face in her purely personal battle against the sickening sensations
+caused by the decrease in their acceleration.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sorry as the dickens, sweetheart," he went on, tenderly, and the
+grin disappeared. "Wish I could take it for you, but...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But there are times when we've got to fight our own battles and bury
+our own dead," she interrupted, gamely. "Cut off the rest of that power!
+I'm <i>not</i> going to be sick&mdash;I <i>won't</i> be a&mdash;what do you spacehounds call
+us poor earth-bound dubs who can't stand weightlessness&mdash;weight-fiends,
+isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes; but you aren't...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know I'm not, and I'm not going to be one, either! I'm all x,
+Steve&mdash;it's not so bad now, really. I held myself together that time,
+anyway, and I feel lots better now. Have you found Cantrell's Comet yet?
+And why so sure all of a sudden that they can't find us? That power beam
+still connects us to Ganymede, doesn't it? Maybe they can trace it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"At-a-girl, ace!" he cheered. "I'll tell the world you're no
+weight-fiend&mdash;you're a spacehound right. Most first-trippers, at this
+stage of the game, wouldn't be caring a whoop whether school kept or
+not, and here you're taking an interest in all kinds of things already.
+You'll do, girl of my heart&mdash;no fooling!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe, and maybe you're trying to kid somebody," she returned, eyeing
+him intently. "Or maybe you just don't want to answer those questions
+I asked you a minute ago."
+</p>
+
+<a name="image-0002"><!--IMG--></a>
+<div class="figure">
+<a href="images/ill-02.jpg"><img src="images/ill-02-t.jpg"
+alt="At the bottom of a shaft a section of the rocky wall
+swung aside, revealing the yawning black mouth of a horizontal tunnel.
+At intervals upon its roof there winked into being almost invisible
+points of light. Along that line of lights the life-boats felt their
+way, coming finally into a huge cavern...." /></a>
+<br />
+<i>At the bottom of a shaft a section of the rocky wall
+swung aside, revealing the yawning black mouth of a horizontal tunnel.
+At intervals upon its roof there winked into being almost invisible
+points of light. Along that line of lights the life-boats felt their
+way, coming finally into a huge cavern....</i>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+"No, that's straight data, right on zero across the panel," he assured
+her. "And as for your questions, they're easy. No, I haven't looked for
+the comet yet, because we'll have to drift for a couple of days before
+we'll be anywhere near where I think it is. No, they can't trace us,
+because there is now nothing to trace, unless they can detect the
+slight power we are using in our lights and so on&mdash;which possibility is
+vanishingly small. Potentially, our beam still exists, but since we are
+drawing no power, it has no actual present existence. See?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Uh-uh," she dissented. "I can't say that I can quite understand how
+a beam can exist potentially and yet not be there actually enough to
+trace. Why, a thing has to be actual or not exist at all&mdash;you can't
+possibly have something that is nothing. It doesn't make sense. But
+lay off those integrations of yours, please," as now armed with a
+slate-pencil, Stevens began to draw a diagram upon a four-foot sheet of
+smooth slate. "You know that your brand of math is over my head like a
+circus tent, so we'll let it lie. I'll take your word for it. Steve&mdash;if
+you're satisfied, it's all x with me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I can straighten you out a little, by analogy. Here's a rough
+sketch of a cylinder, with shade and shadow. You've had descriptive
+geometry, of course, and so know that a shadow, being simply a
+projection of a material object upon a plane, is a two-dimensional
+thing&mdash;or rather, a two-dimensional concept. Now take the shade, which
+is, of course, this entire figure here, between the cylinder casting
+the shadow and the plane of projection. You simply imagine that there
+is a point source of light at your point of projection: it isn't really
+there. The shade, then, of which I am drawing a picture, has only a
+potential existence. You know exactly where it is, you can draw it, you
+can define it, compute it, and work with it&mdash;but still it doesn't exist;
+there is absolutely nothing to differentiate it from any other volume of
+air, and it cannot be detected by any physical or mechanical means. If,
+however, you place a light at the point of projection, the shade becomes
+actual and can be detected optically. By a sufficient stretch of the
+imagination, you might compare our beam to that shade. When we turn our
+power on, the beam is actual; it is a stream of tangible force, and as
+such can be detected electrically. When our switches here are open,
+however, it exists only potentially. There is no motion in the ether,
+nothing whatever to indicate that a beam had ever actually existed
+there. With me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Floundering pretty badly, but I see it after a fashion. You physicists
+are peculiar freaks&mdash;where we ordinary mortals see actual, solid,
+heavy objects, you see only empty space with a few electrons and things
+floating around in it; and yet where we see only empty space, you can
+see things 'potentially' that may never exist at all. You'll be the
+death of me yet, Steve! But I'm wasting a lot of time. What do we do
+now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We get busy on the big tube. You might warm up the annealing oven and
+melt me that pot of glass, while I get busy on the filament supports,
+plate brackets, and so on." Both fell to work with a will, and hours
+passed rapidly and almost silently, so intent was each upon his own
+tasks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Steve." Nadia broke the long silence. "The pyrometer's on the
+red, and the oven's hot," and the man left his bench. Taking up a long
+paddle and an even longer blowpipe, he skimmed the melt to a dazzlingly
+bright surface and deftly formed a bubble.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I just love to talk at you when you've got your mouth full of a
+blowpipe." Nadia eyed him impishly and tucked her feet beneath her,
+poised weightless as she was. "I've got you foul now&mdash;I can say anything
+I want to, and you can't talk back, because your bubble will lose its
+shape if you do. Oh, isn't that a beauty! I never saw you blow anything
+that big before," and she fell silent, watching intently.
+</p>
+<p>
+Slowly there was being drawn from the pot a huge, tapering bulb of hot,
+glistening glass, its cross-section at the molten surface varying as
+Stevens changed the rate of draw or the volume of air blown through the
+pipe. Soon that section narrowed sharply. The glass-blower waved his
+hand and Nadia severed the form neatly with a glowing wire, just above
+the fluid surface of the glass remaining in the pot. Pendant from the
+blowpipe, the bulb was placed over the hot-bench, where Stevens, now
+begoggled, begloved, and armed with a welding torch, proceeded to fuse
+into the still, almost plastic, glass sundry necks, side-tubes, supports
+and other attachments of peculiar pattern. Finally the partially
+assembled tube was placed in the annealing oven, where it would remain
+at a high and constant temperature until its filaments, grids, and
+plates had been installed. Eventually, in that same oven, it would be
+allowed to cool slowly and uniformly over a period of days.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">hus</span> were performed many other tasks which are ordinarily done either
+by automatic machinery or by highly skilled specialists in labor&mdash;for
+these two, thrown upon their own resources, had long since learned how
+much specialization may be represented by the most commonplace article.
+Whenever they needed a thing they did not have&mdash;which happened every
+day&mdash;they had either to make it or else, failing in that, to go back and
+build something that would enable them to manufacture the required item.
+Such setbacks had become so numerous as to be expected as part of the
+day's work; they no longer caused exasperation or annoyance. For two
+days the two jacks-of-all-trades worked at many lines and with many
+materials before Stevens called a halt.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Nadia. It's time for us to stop tinkering and turn into
+astronomers. We've been out for fifty I-P hours, and we'd better begin
+looking around for our heap of scrap metal," and, the girl at the
+communicator plate and Stevens at their one small telescope, they began
+to search the black, star-jeweled heavens for Cantrell's Comet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"According to my figures, it ought to be about four hours right
+ascension, and something like plus twenty degrees declination. My
+figures aren't accurate, though, since I'm working purely from memory,
+so we'd better cover everything from Aldebaran to the Pleiades."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But the directions will change as we go along, won't they?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not unless we pass it, because we're heading pretty nearly straight at
+it, I think."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see anything interesting thereabouts except stars. Will it have
+much tail?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very little&mdash;it's close to aphelion, you know, and a comet doesn't have
+much of a tail so far away from the sun. Hope it's got some of its tail
+left, though, or we may miss it entirely."
+</p>
+<p>
+Hours passed, during which the two observers peered intently into their
+instruments, then Stevens left the telescope and went over to his slate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Looks bad, ace&mdash;we should have spotted it before this. Time to eat,
+too. You'd better...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, look here, quick!" Nadia interrupted. "Here's something! Yes, it
+<i>is</i> a comet, and quite close&mdash;it's got a little bit of a dim tail."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens leaped to the communicator plate, and, blond head pressed close
+to brown, the two wayfarers studied the faint image of the wanderer of
+the void.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's it, I just <i>know</i> it is!" Nadia declared. "Steve, as a computer,
+you're a blinding flash and a deafening report!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yeah&mdash;missed it only about half a million kilometers or so," he
+replied, grinning, "and I'd fire a whole flock of I-P check stations
+for being four thousand off. However, I could have done worse&mdash;I could
+easily have forgotten all the data on it, instead of only half of it."
+He applied a normal negative acceleration, and Nadia heaved a profound
+sigh of relief as her weight returned to her and her body again became
+manageable by the ordinary automatic and involuntary muscles.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Guess I am a kind of a weight-fiend at that, Steve&mdash;this is much
+better!" she exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nobody denies that weight is more convenient at times; but you're a
+spacehound just the same&mdash;you'll like it after a while," he prophesied.
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens took careful observations upon the celestial body, altered his
+course sharply, then, after a measured time interval, again made careful
+readings.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's it, all x," he announced, after completing his calculations, and
+he reduced their negative acceleration by a third. "There&mdash;we'll be just
+about traveling with it when we get there," he said. "Now, little K. P.
+of my bosom, our supper's been on minus time for hours. What say we
+shake it up?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I check you to nineteen decimals," and the two were soon attacking the
+savory Ganymedean goulash which Nadia had put in the cooker many hours
+before.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Should we both go to sleep, Steve, or should one of us watch it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sleep, by all means. There's no meteoric stuff out here, and we won't
+arrive before ten o'clock tomorrow, I-P time," and, tired out by the
+events of the long day, man and maid sought their beds and plunged into
+dreamless slumber.
+</p>
+<p>
+While they slept, the "Forlorn Hope" drove on through the void at a
+terrific but constantly decreasing velocity; and far off to one side,
+plunging along a line making a sharp angle with their own course, there
+loomed larger and larger the masses which made up the nucleus of
+Cantrell's Comet.
+</p>
+<p>
+Upon awakening, Stevens' first thought was for the comet, and he
+observed it carefully before he aroused Nadia, who hurried into the
+control room. Looming large in the shortened range of the plate, their
+objective hurtled onward in its eternal course, its enormous velocity
+betrayed only by the rapidity with which it sped past the incredibly
+brilliant background of infinitely distant stars. Apparently it was
+a wild jumble of separate fragments; a conglomerate, heterogeneous
+aggregation of rough and jagged masses varying in size from grains of
+sand up to enormous chunks, which upon Earth would have weighed millions
+of tons. Pervading the whole nucleus, a slow, indefinite movement was
+perceptible&mdash;a vague writhing and creeping of individual components
+working and slipping past and around each other as they all rushed
+forward in obedience to the immutable cosmic law of gravitation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, isn't that wonderful!" Nadia breathed. "Think of actually going to
+visit a comet! It sort of scares me, Steve&mdash;it's so creepy and crawly
+looking. We're awfully close, aren't we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so very. We'd probably have lots of time to eat breakfast. But just
+to be on the safe side, maybe I'd better camp here at the board, and you
+bring me over something to eat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Chief!" and Stevens ate, one eye upon the screen, watching
+closely the ever-increasing bulk of the comet.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">F</span><span class="up">or</span> many minutes he swung the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> in a wide curve approaching
+the mountain of metal ever and ever more nearly, then turned to the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hold everything, Nadia&mdash;power's going off in a minute!" He shut off the
+beam; then, noting that they were traveling a trifle faster than the
+comet, he applied a small voltage to one dirigible projector. Darting
+the beam here and there, he so corrected their flight that they were
+precisely stationary in relation to the comet. He then opened his
+switches, and the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> hurtled on. Apparently motionless, it
+was now a part of Cantrell's Comet, traveling in a stupendous, elongated
+ellipse about the Master of our Solar System, the Sun.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There, ace, who said anything about weight-fiends? I was watching you,
+and you never turned a hair that time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, that's right&mdash;I never even thought about it&mdash;I was so busy
+studying that thing out there! I suppose I've got used to it already?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure&mdash;you're one of us now. I knew you would be. Well, let's go places
+and do things! You'd better put on a suit, too, so you can stand in the
+air-lock and handle the line."
+</p>
+<p>
+They donned the heavily insulated, heated suits, and Stevens snapped the
+locking plugs of the drag line into their sockets upon the helmets.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hear me?" he asked. "Sound-disks all x?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x."
+</p>
+<p>
+"On the radio&mdash;all x?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I tested your tanks and heaters&mdash;they're all x. But you'll have to
+test...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know the ritual by heart, Steve. It's been in every show in the
+country for the last year, but I didn't know you had to go through it
+every time you went out-of-doors! Halves, number one all x, two all x,
+three all x...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quit it!" he snapped. "You aren't testing those valves! That check-up
+is no joke, guy. These suits are complicated affairs, and some parts
+are apt to get out of order. You see, a thing to give you fresh air at
+normal pressure and to keep you warm in absolute space can't be either
+simple or fool-proof. They've worked on them for years, but they're
+pretty crude yet. They're tricky, and if one goes sour on you, out in
+space, it's just too bad&mdash;you're lucky to get back alive. A lot of men
+are still out there somewhere because of the sloppy check-ups."
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Scuse it, please&mdash;I'll be good," and the careful checking and testing
+of every vital part of the space-suits went on.
+</p>
+<p>
+Satisfied at last that the armor was spaceworthy, Stevens picked up the
+coils of drag-line, built of a non-metallic fiber which could retain its
+flexibility and strength in the bitter cold of outer space, and led the
+girl into the air-lock.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Heavens, Steve! It's perfectly stupendous, and grinding around worse
+than the wreckage of the <i>Arcturus</i> was when I wouldn't let you climb
+up it&mdash;why, I thought comets were <i>little</i>, and hardly massive at all!"
+exclaimed the girl.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is little, compared to any regular planet or satellite or even to
+the asteroids. There's only a few cubic kilometers of matter there, and,
+as I said before, it's a decidedly unusual comet. You know the game?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've got it&mdash;and believe me, I'll yank you back here a lot faster than
+you can jump over there if any one of those lumps starts to fall on you!
+Is this drag line long enough?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I've got a hundred meters here, and it's only fifty meters over
+there to where I'm going. So long," and with a light thrust of his feet,
+he dove head foremost across the intervening space, a heavy pike held
+out ahead of him. Straight as a bullet he floated toward his objective,
+a jagged chunk many yards in diameter, taking the shock of his landing
+by sliding along the pike-handle as its head struck the mass.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, bracing his feet against one lump, he pushed against its neighbor,
+and under that steady pressure the enormous masses moved apart and kept
+on moving, grinding among their fellows. Over and around them Stevens
+sprang, always watching his line of retreat as well as that of his
+advance, until his exploring pike struck a lump of apparently solid
+metal. Hooking the fragment toward him, he thrust savagely with his
+weapon and was reassured&mdash;that object was not only metal, but it was
+metal so hard that his pike-head of space-tempered alloy steel did not
+make an impression upon its surface. Turning on his helmet light he
+swung his heavy hammer repeatedly but could not break off even a small
+fragment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Found something, Steve?" Nadia's voice came clearly in his ears.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say I have! A hunk of solid, non-magnetic metal about the size of
+an office desk. I can't break off any of it, so I guess we'll have to
+grab the whole chunk."
+</p>
+<p>
+He hitched the end of his cable around the nugget, made sure that the
+loops would not slip, and then, as Nadia tightened the line, he shoved
+mightily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Nadia, she's coming! Pull in my drag line as I said over there,
+and I'll help you land her."
+</p>
+<p>
+Inside the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> the mass of metal was urged into the shop,
+where Stevens clamped it immovably to the steel floor, before he took
+off his space-suit.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, it's getting covered with snow, and the whole room is getting
+positively <i>cold</i>!" Nadia exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure. Anything that comes in from space is cold, even if it's been out
+only a few minutes, and that hunk of stuff has been out for nobody knows
+how many million years. It didn't get much heat from the sun except
+at perihelion, you know, so it's probably somewhere around minus two
+hundred and sixty degrees now. I'll have to throw a heater on it for
+half an hour before we can touch it. And since this is more or less new
+stuff to you, I'll caution you&mdash;don't try to touch anything that has
+just come in. That hammer or pike would freeze your hand instantly, even
+though they've been out only a little while. Before you touch anything,
+blow on it, like this, see? If your breath freezes solid on it, like
+that, don't touch it&mdash;it's cold."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">U</span><span class="up">nder</span> the infra-beams of the heater, the mass of the metal was brought
+to room temperature and Stevens attacked it with his machine tools.
+Bit by bit the stubborn material was torn from the lump. Through heavy
+goggles he watched the incandescent mass in a refractory crucible, in
+the heart of the induction furnace.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you think you've got&mdash;what you want?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know. It wasn't iron&mdash;it wouldn't hold a magnet. It's royal
+metal of some kind, I think. Base metals mostly melt at around fifteen
+hundred, and that crucible is still dry as a bone at better than
+seventeen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How are you going to separate out the tantalum and the others you want
+from the ones that you don't want?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid that I'm not going to, very well," replied Stevens, with a
+wry grimace. "What I don't know about metallurgy would fill a library,
+and I'm probably the world's worst chemist. However, by a series of
+successive liquations, I hope to separate out fractions that I can
+use. Platinum melts somewhere around seventeen-fifty, tantalum about
+twenty-nine hundred, and tungsten not until 'way up around thirty-three,
+or four hundred&mdash;and that, by the way, means lots of grief. Of course,
+each fraction will probably be an alloy of one kind or another, but
+I think maybe I'll be able to make them do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But mayn't that whole chunk be a pure metal?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's conceivable, but not probable. There, she's beginning to separate
+at just below eighteen hundred! Platinum group coming out now, I
+think&mdash;platinum, rhodium, iridium, and that gang, you know. While I'm
+doing this, you might be getting those five coils into exact resonance,
+if you want to."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure I want to," and Nadia made her way across to the short-wave
+oscillator and set to work.
+</p>
+<p>
+After an hour or so, bent over her delicate task, she began to twitch
+uneasily, then shrugged her shoulders impatiently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What's the idea of staring at me so?" she broke out suddenly. "How do
+you expect me to tune these things up if you...." She stopped abruptly,
+mouth open in amazement, as she turned toward Stevens. He had not been
+looking at her, but he turned a surprised face from his own task at the
+sound of her voice. "Excuse me, please, Steve. I don't know what's the
+matter with me&mdash;must be getting jumpy, I guess."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wish that was all, but it isn't!" Face suddenly grim and hard,
+Stevens leaped to the communicator plate and shot the beam out into
+space. "There's an answer, but that isn't it. You're a fine-tuned
+instrument yourself, ace, and you've detected something.... I thought
+so! There's the answer&mdash;the guy that was looking at you!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Plainly there was revealed upon the plate a small, spherical space-ship,
+very like the one that had attacked and destroyed the <i>Arcturus</i>. After
+Nadia had taken one glance at it, Stevens shut off the power and leaped
+out into the shop. He closed all the bulkhead doors and air-break
+openings, then closed and secured the massive insulating door of the
+lifeboat in which they had made their headquarters. Then, after they
+had again put on the space-suits they had taken off such a short time
+before, he extinguished all the lights and hooded the communicator
+screen before he ventured again to glance out into the void.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I had a brain in my head, instead of the pint of bean soup I've got
+up there, we'd have worn these when they cut up the <i>Arcturus</i>, and
+saved us a lot of mental wear and tear," he remarked. "They were right
+there in the lockers all the time, and I knew it!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, we got away, anyway. You couldn't be expected to think of
+everything at once. We didn't have much time, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, but I should have thought of anything as obvious as that, anyway.
+Wonder how they found us? Did they detect us, or did they come out
+to this comet after metal, same as we did, and find us accidentally?
+However, it all works out the same&mdash;they're apparently out to get us.
+I'm afraid this is going to be a whole lot like a rabbit fighting back
+at a man with a gun; but we'll sure try to nibble us off a lunch while
+they're getting a square meal ... here they come!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The enemy sphere launched its flaming plane of force, and the <i>Forlorn
+Hope</i> shuddered in every plate and member as its apex was severed
+cleanly under the impact. Instantly Stevens hurled his only weapons.
+Flaming ultra-violet and dully glowing infra-red, the twin beams lashed
+out; but their utmost force was of slight moment to the enormous power
+driving the enemy screens. Two circular spots of cherry red in space
+were the only results of Stevens' attack, and the next fierce cut
+sheared away the two projectors and, incidentally, a full half of the
+fifty-inch armor of the leading edge.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then we're checking out now?" Nadia asked quietly, as the man's hands
+dropped from his useless controls. "I'm sorrier than I can say, lover.
+But at least, I'm glad that I can go out with you," and her glorious
+eyes were shining with unshed tears.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe, but snap out of it, girl&mdash;our hearts are still beating! We're
+not dead yet, and maybe we won't be. Perhaps they want to capture us
+alive, as they did before; if so, we may be able to hide out on them
+somewhere and pull off another escape. Things don't look very bright, I
+know, but we're not checking out until our numbers are actually run up!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He hooked a hand under her belt as the shocks came closer, and stood
+tense and ready. The lancing plane cut through one end of their control
+room, and Stevens leaped with his companion toward the new-made opening;
+while the air shrieked outward into space and their suits bulged
+suddenly with the abrupt increase in pressure differential. While they
+were in midflight, the frightful blade of destruction cleaved its way
+through the control board and through the spot upon which they had been
+standing a moment before. As they passed the severed edge, en route into
+open spare, Stevens seized a metal brace and clung there, every nerve
+taut.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Something funny here, Nadia," he said after a little, in a low tone.
+"They should have made one more cut, to make us absolutely blind and
+helpless. As it is, they've clipped off all our projectors, so we can't
+move, but I think we've got the whole control compartment of number two
+lifeboat untouched. If so, we can look around, anyway. Let's go!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Floating without effort from fragment to fragment, they made their way
+toward the section of their cruiser as yet undamaged. They found an
+airlock in working order, and were soon in the second lifeboat, where
+Stevens hastily turned on a communicator and peered out into space.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There they are! There's another stranger out there, too. They're
+fighting with her, now&mdash;that's probably why they didn't polish us off."
+Steel-braced, clumsy helmets touching, the two Terrestrials stared
+spell-bound into the plate; watching while the insensately vicious
+intelligences within the sphere brought its every force to bear upon
+another and larger sphere which was now so close as to be plainly
+visible. Like a gigantic drop of quicksilver this second globe
+appeared&mdash;its smooth and highly-polished surface one enormous, perfect,
+spherical mirror. Watching tensely, they saw flash out that frightful
+plane of seething energy, with the effects of which they were all too
+familiar, and saw it strike full upon the dazzling ball.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is awful, ace!" Stevens groaned. "They haven't got ray-screens,
+either, and without them they don't stand a chance. No possible
+substance can stand up under that beam. When they get done and turn back
+to us, we'll have to dive back to where we were."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">B</span><span class="up">ut</span> that brilliant mirror was not as vulnerable as Stevens had supposed.
+The plane of force struck and clung, but could not penetrate it. Broken
+up into myriads of scintillating crystals of light, intersecting,
+multi-colored rays, and cascading flares of sparkling energy, the beam
+was reflected, thrown back, hurled away on all sides into space in
+coruscating, blinding torrents. And neither was the monster globe
+inoffensive. The straining watchers saw a port open suddenly, emit a
+flame-erupting something, and close as rapidly as it had opened. That
+something was a projectile, its propelling rockets fiercely aflame; as
+smoothly brilliant as its mother-ship and seemingly as impervious to the
+lethal beams of the common foe. Detected almost instantly as it was, it
+received the full power of the savage attack. The hitherto irresistible
+plane of force beat upon it; ultra-violet, infra-red, and heat rays
+enveloped it; there were hurled against it all the forces known to the
+scientific minds within that fiendishly destructive sphere.
+</p>
+<p>
+Finally, only a scant few hundreds of yards from its goal, the
+protective mirror was punctured and the freight of high explosive let
+go, with a silent, but nevertheless terrific, detonation. But now
+another torpedo was on its way, and another, and another; boring on
+ruthlessly toward the smaller sphere. Fighting simultaneously three
+torpedos and the giant globe, the enemy began dodging, darting hither
+and thither with a stupendous acceleration; but the tiny pursuers could
+not be shaken off. At every dodge and turn, steering rockets burst into
+furious activity and the projectiles rushed ever nearer. Knowing that
+she had at last encountered a superior force, the sphere turned in
+mad flight; but, prodigious as was her acceleration, the torpedoes
+were faster and all three of them struck her at once. There ensued
+an explosion veritably space-racking in its intensity; a flash of
+incandescent brilliance that seemed to fill all space, subsiding into
+a vast volume of tenuous gas which, feebly glowing, flowed about and
+attached itself to Cantrell's Comet. And in the space where had been
+the enemy sphere, there was nothing.
+</p>
+<p>
+A slow-creeping pale blue rod of tangible force reached out from the
+great sphere, touched the wreckage of the <i>Forlorn Hope</i>, and pulled;
+gently, but with enormous power.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tractor beams again!" exclaimed Stevens, still at the plate.
+"Everybody's got 'em but us, it seems."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And we can't fight a bit any more, can we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a chance&mdash;bows and arrows wouldn't do us much good. However, we may
+not need 'em. Since they fought that other crew, and haven't blown us
+up, they aren't active enemies of ours, and may be friendly. I haven't
+any idea who or what they are, since even our communicator ray can't get
+through that mirror, but it looks as though our best bet is to act
+peaceable and see if we can't talk to them in some way. Right?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Right." They stepped out into the airlock, from which they saw that
+the great sphere had halted only a few yards from them, and that an
+indistinct figure stood in an open door, waving to them an unmistakable
+invitation to enter the strange vessel.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shall we, Steve?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Might as well. They've got us foul, and can take us if they want us.
+Anyway, we'll need at least a week to fix us up any kind of driving
+power, so we can't run&mdash;and we probably couldn't get away from those
+folks if we had all our power. They haven't blown us up, and they could
+have done it easily enough. Besides, they act friendly, so we'd better
+meet them half way. Dive!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Floating toward the open doorway, they were met by another rod of force,
+brought gently into the airlock, and supported upright beside the being
+who had invited them to visit him. Apparently an empty space-suit stood
+there; a peculiarly-fitted suit of some partially transparent, flexible,
+glass-like material; towering fully a foot over the head of the tall
+Terrestrial. Closer inspection, however, revealed that there was
+something inside that suit&mdash;a shadowy, weirdly-transparent being,
+staring at them with large, black eyes. The door clanged shut behind
+them; they heard the faint hiss of inrushing air, and the inner door
+opened; but their enveloping suits remained stretched almost as tightly
+as ever. They felt the floor lurch beneath their feet, and a little
+weight was granted them as the space-ship got under way. Stevens waved
+his arms vigorously at the stranger, pointing backward toward where he
+supposed their own craft to be. The latter waved an arm reassuringly,
+pressed a contact, and a section of the wall suddenly became
+transparent. Through it Stevens saw with satisfaction that the <i>Forlorn
+Hope</i> was not being abandoned; in the grip of powerful tractor beams,
+every fragment of the wreckage was following close behind them in their
+flight through space.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">S</span><span class="up">tevens</span> and Nadia followed their guide along a corridor, through several
+doors, and into a large room, which at first glance seemed empty, but
+in which several of the peculiarly transparent people of the craft were
+lying about upon cushions. They were undoubtedly human&mdash;but what humans!
+Tall and reedy they were, with enormous barrel chests, topped by heads
+which, though really large, appeared insignificant because of the
+prodigious chests and because of the huge, sail-like, flapping ears.
+Their skins were a strikingly, livid, pale blue, absolutely devoid of
+hair; and their lidless eyes, without a sign of iris, were chillingly
+horrible in their stark contrast of enormous, glaring black pupil and
+ghastly, transparent blue eyeball.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the two Terrestrials entered the room, the beings struggled to their
+feet and hurried laboriously away. Soon one of them returned, dressed in
+an insulating suit, and carrying three sets of head harnesses, connected
+by multiplex cables to a large box which he placed upon the floor.
+He handed the headsets to the first officer, who in turn placed two of
+them at the feet of the Terrestrials, indicating to them that they were
+to follow his example in placing them upon their heads, outside the
+helmets. They did so, and even through the almost perfect insulation,
+and in spite of the powerful heaters of their suits, they felt a touch
+of frightful cold. The stranger turned a dial, and the two wanderers
+from Earth were instantly in full mental communication with Barkovis,
+the commander of a space-ship of Titan, the sixth satellite of Saturn!
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I'll be ... say, what is this, anyway?" Steve exclaimed
+involuntarily, and Nadia smiled as Barkovis answered with a thought,
+clearer than any spoken words.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a thought-exchanger. I do not know its fundamental mechanism,
+since we did not invent it and since I have had little time to study
+it. The apparatus, practically as you see it here, was discovered but a
+short time ago, in a small, rocket-propelled space-ship which we found
+some distance outside of the orbit of Jupiter. Its source of power had
+been destroyed by the cold of outer space, but re-powering it was, of
+course, a small matter. The crew of the vessel were all dead. They
+were, however, of human stock, and of a type adapted for life upon
+a satellite. I deduce, from your compact structure, your enormous
+atmospheric pressure, and your, to us, unbelievably high body
+temperature, that you must be planet-dwellers. I suppose that you
+are natives of Jupiter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not quite." Stevens had in a measure recovered from his stunned
+surprise. "We are from Tellus, the third planet," and he revealed
+rapidly the events leading up to their present situation, concluding:
+"The people in the other sphere were, we believe, natives of Jupiter or
+of one of the satellites. We know nothing of them, since we could not
+look through their screens. You rescued us from them; do you not know
+them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No. Our visirays also were stopped by their screens of force&mdash;screens
+entirely foreign to our science. This is the first time that any
+vessel from our Saturnian system has ever succeeded in reaching the
+neighborhood of Jupiter. We came in peace, but they attacked us at sight
+and we were obliged to destroy them. Now we must hurry back to Titan,
+for two reasons. First, because we are already at the extreme limit
+of our power range and Jupiter is getting further and further away
+from Saturn. Second because our mirrors, which we had thought perfect
+reflectors of all frequencies possible of generation, are not perfect.
+Enough of those forces came through the mirrors to volatilize half our
+crew, and in a few minutes more none of us would have been left alive.
+Why, in some places our very atmosphere became almost hot enough to melt
+water! If another of those vessels should attack us, in all probability
+we should all be lost. Therefore we are leaving as rapidly as is
+possible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are taking the pieces of our ship along&mdash;we do not want to encumber
+you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is no encumbrance, since we have ample supplies of power. In fact,
+we are now employing the highest acceleration we Titanians can endure
+for any length of time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens pondered long, forgetting that his thoughts were plain as print
+to the Titanian commander. Thank Heaven these strangers had sense enough
+to be friendly&mdash;all intelligent races should be friends, for mutual
+advancement. But it was a mighty long stretch to Saturn and this
+acceleration wasn't so much. How long would it take to get there? Could
+they get back? Wouldn't they save time by casting themselves adrift,
+making the repairs most urgently needed, and going back to Ganymede
+under their own power? But would they have enough power left in the
+wreck to get even that far? And how about the big tube? He was
+interrupted by an insistent thought from Barkovis.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will save time, Stevens, by coming with us to Titan. There we shall
+aid you in repairing your vessel and in completing your transmitting
+tube, in which we shall be deeply interested. Our power plants shall
+supply you with energy for your return journey until you are close
+enough to Jupiter to recover your own beam. You are tired. I would
+suggest that you rest&mdash;that you sleep long and peacefully."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You seem to be handling the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> without any trouble&mdash;the
+pieces aren't grinding at all. We'd better live there, hadn't we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes that would be best, for all of us. You could not live a minute here
+without your suits; and, efficiently insulated as those suits are, yet
+your incandescent body temperature makes our rooms unbearably hot&mdash;so
+hot that any of us must wear a space-suit while in the same room with
+you, to avoid being burned to death."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The incandescently hot" Terrestrials were wafted into the open airlock
+of their lifeboat upon a wand of force, and soon had prepared a long
+overdue supper, over which Stevens cast his infectious, boyish grin at
+Nadia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sweetheart, you are undoubtedly a 'warm number,' and you have often
+remarked that I 'burn you up.' Nevertheless I think that we were both
+considerably surprised to discover that we are both hot enough actually
+to consume persons unfortunate enough to be confined in the same room
+with us!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're funny, Steve&mdash;like a crutch," she rebuked him, but smiled back,
+an elusive dimple playing in one lovely brown cheek. "Looking right
+through anybody is too ghastly for words, but I think they're perfectly
+all x, anyway, in spite of their being so hideous and so cold-blooded!"
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0006" id="h2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VI
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    A Frigid Civilization
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"H</span><span class="up">i</span>, Percival Van Schravendyck Stevens!" Nadia strode purposely into
+Stevens' room and seized him by the shoulder. "Are you going to sleep
+all the way to Saturn? You answered me when I pounded on the partition
+with a hammer, but I don't believe that you woke up at all. Get up,
+you&mdash;breakfast will be all spoiled directly!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Huh?" Stevens opened one sluggish eye; then, as the full force of the
+insult penetrated his consciousness, he came wide awake. "Lay off those
+names, ace, or you'll find yourself walking back home!" he threatened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x by me!" she retorted. "I might as well go home if you're going
+to sleep <i>all</i> the time!" and she widened her expressive eyes at him
+impishly as she danced blithely back into the control room. As she went
+out she slammed his door with a resounding clang, and Stevens pried
+himself out of his bunk one joint at a time, dressed, and made himself
+presentable.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gosh!" he yawned mightily as he joined the girl at breakfast. "I don't
+know when I've had such a gorgeous sleep. How do you get by on so
+little?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't. I sleep a lot, but I do it every night, instead of working for
+four days and nights on end and then trying to make up all those four
+nights' sleep at once. I'm going to break you of that, too, Steve, if
+it's the last thing I ever do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There might be certain advantages in it, at that," he conceded, "but
+sometimes you've got to do work when it's got to be done, instead of
+just between sleeps. However, I'll try to do better. Certainly it is
+a wonderful relief to get out of that mess, isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say it is! But I wish that those folks were more like people.
+They're nice, I think, really, but they're so ... so ... well, so
+ghastly that it simply gives me the blue shivers just to look at one
+of them!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're pretty gruesome, no fooling," he agreed, "but you get used to
+things like that. I just about threw a fit the first time I ever saw
+a Martian, and the Venerians are even worse in some ways&mdash;they're so
+clammy and dead-looking&mdash;but now I've got real friends on both planets.
+One thing, though, gives me the pip. I read a story a while ago&mdash;the
+latest best-seller thing of Thornton's named 'Interstellar Slush' or
+some such tr...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Cleophora&mdash;An Interstellar Romance," she corrected him. "I thought it
+was wonderful!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't. It's fundamentally unsound. Look at our nearest neighbors,
+who probably came from the same original stock we did. A Tellurian
+can admire, respect, or like a Venerian, yes. But for <i>loving</i> one of
+them&mdash;wow! Beauty is purely relative, you know. For instance, I think
+that you are the most perfectly beautiful thing I ever saw; but no
+Venerian would think so. Far from it. Any Martian that hadn't seen many
+of us would have to go rest his eyes after taking one good look at
+you. Considering what love means, it doesn't stand to reason that any
+Tellurian woman could possibly fall in love with any man not of her own
+breed. Any writer is wrong who indulges in interplanetary love affairs
+and mad passions. They simply don't exist. They <i>can't</i> exist&mdash;they're
+against all human instincts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Interplanetary&mdash;in this solar system&mdash;yes. But the Dacrovos were just
+like us, only nicer."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's what gives me the pip. If our own cousins of the same solar
+system are so repulsive to us, how would we be affected by entirely
+alien forms of intelligence?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"May be you're right, of course&mdash;but you may be wrong, too," she
+insisted. "The Universe is big enough, so that people like the Dacrovos
+may possibly exist in it somewhere. May be the Big Three will discover a
+means of interstellar travel&mdash;then I'll get to see them myself, perhaps."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, and <i>if</i> we do, and <i>if</i> you ever see any such people, I'll bet
+that the sight of them will make your hair curl right up into a ball,
+too! But about Barkovis&mdash;remember how diplomatic the thoughts were that
+he sent us? He described our structure as being 'compact,' but I got the
+undertone of his real thoughts, as well. Didn't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, now that you mention it, I did. He really thought that we were
+white-hot, under-sized, overpowered, warty, hairy, hideously opaque and
+generally repulsive little monstrosities&mdash;thoroughly unpleasant and
+distasteful. But he was friendly, just the same. Heavens, Steve! Do you
+suppose that he read our real thoughts, too?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure he did; but he is intelligent enough to make allowances, the same
+as we are doing. He isn't any more insulted than we are. He knows that
+such feelings are ingrained and cannot be changed."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">B</span><span class="up">reakfast</span> over, they experienced a new sensation. For the first time in
+months they had nothing to do! Used as they were to being surrounded by
+pressing tasks, they enjoyed their holiday immensely for a few hours.
+Sitting idly at the communicator plate, they scanned the sparkling
+heavens with keen interest. Beneath them Jupiter was a brilliant
+crescent not far from the sun in appearance, which latter had already
+grown perceptibly smaller and less bright. Above them, and to their
+right, Saturn shone refulgently, his spectacular rings plainly visible.
+All about them were the glories of the firmament, which never fail to
+awe the most seasoned observer. But idleness soon became irksome to
+those two active spirits, and Stevens prowled restlessly about their
+narrow quarters.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm going to go to work before I go dippy," he soon declared. "They've
+got lots of power, and we can rig up a transmitter unit to send it over
+here to our receptor. Then I can start welding the old <i>Hope</i> together
+without waiting until we get to Titan to start it. Think I'll signal
+Barkovis to come over, and see what he thinks about it."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Titanian commander approved the idea, and the transmitting field was
+quickly installed. Nadia insisted that she, too, needed to work, and
+that she was altogether too good a mechanic to waste; therefore the two
+again labored mightily together, day after day. But the girl limited
+rigidly their hours of work to those of the working day; and evening
+after evening Barkovis visited with them for hours. Dressed in his heavy
+space-suit and supported by a tractor beam well out of range of what
+seemed to him terrific heat radiated by the bodies of the Terrestrials,
+he floated along unconcernedly; while over the multiplex cable of the
+thought-exchanger he conversed with the man and woman seated just inside
+the open outer door of their air-lock. The Titanian's appetite for
+information was insatiable&mdash;particularly did he relish everything
+pertaining to the earth and to the other inner planets, forever barred
+to him and to his kind. In return Stevens and Nadia came gradually to
+know the story of the humanity of Titan.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad beyond measure to have known you," Barkovis mused, one night.
+"Your existence proves that there is truth in mythology, as some of
+us have always believed. Your visit to Titan will create a furor in
+scientific circles, for you are impossibility incarnate&mdash;personifications
+of the preposterous. In you, wildest fancy had become commonplace.
+According to many of our scientists, it is utterly impossible for you
+to exist. Yet you say, and it must be, that there are millions upon
+millions of similar beings. Think of it! Venerians, Tellurians,
+Martians, the satellite dwellers of the lost space-ship, and us&mdash;so
+similar mentally, yet physically how different!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But where does the mythology come in?" thought Nadia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have unthinkably ancient legends which say that once Titan was
+extremely hot, and that our remote ancestors were beings of fire, in
+whose veins ran molten water instead of blood. Since our recorded
+history goes back some tens of thousands of Saturnian years, and since
+in that long period there has been no measurable change in us, few
+of us have believed in the legends at all. They have been thought the
+surviving figments of a barbarous, prehistoric worship of the sun.
+However, such a condition is not in conflict with the known facts of
+cosmogony, and since there actually exists such a humanity as yours&mdash;a
+humanity whose bodily tissues actually <i>are</i> composed largely of molten
+water&mdash;those ancient legends must indeed have been based upon truth.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What an evolution! Century after century of slowly decreasing
+temperature&mdash;one continuous struggle to adapt the physique to a
+constantly changing environment. First they must have tried to maintain
+their high temperature by covering and heating their cities.&mdash;Then,
+as vegetation died, they must have bred into their plants the ability
+to use as sap purely chemical liquids, such as our present natural
+fluids&mdash;which also may have been partly synthetic then&mdash;instead of the
+molten water to which they had been accustomed. They must have modified
+similarly the outer atmosphere; must have made it more reactive, to
+compensate for the lowered temperature at which metabolism must take
+place. As Titan grew colder and colder they probably dug their cities
+deeper and ever deeper; until humanity came finally to realize that it
+must itself change completely or perish utterly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then we may picture them as aiding evolution in changing their body
+chemistry. For thousands, and thousands of years there must have gone
+on the gradual adaptation of blood stream and tissue to more and more
+volatile liquids, and to lower and still lower temperatures. This must
+have continued until Titan arrived at the condition which has now
+obtained for ages&mdash;a condition of thermal equilibrium with space upon
+one hand and upon the other the sun, which changes appreciably only in
+millions upon millions of years. In equilibrium at last&mdash;with our bodily
+and atmospheric temperatures finally constant at their present values,
+which seem as low to you as yours appear high to us. Truly, an evolution
+astounding to contemplate!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how about power?" asked Stevens. "You seem to have all you want,
+and yet it doesn't stand to reason that there could be very much
+generated upon a satellite so old and so cold."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are right. For ages there has been but little power produced
+upon Titan. Many cycles ago, however, our scientists had developed
+rocket-driven space-ships, with which they explored our neighboring
+satellites, and even Saturn itself. It is from power plants upon Saturn
+that we draw energy. Their construction was difficult in the extreme,
+since the pioneers had to work in braces because of the enormous force
+of gravity. Then, too, they had to be protected from the overwhelming
+pressure and poisonous qualities of the air, and insulated from a
+temperature far above the melting point of water. In such awful heat,
+of course, our customary building material, water, could not be
+employed...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But all our instruments have indicated that Saturn is <i>cold</i>!" Stevens
+interrupted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Its surface temperature, as read from afar, would be low," conceded
+Barkovis, "but the actual surface of the planet is extremely hot, and
+is highly volcanic. Practically none of its heat is radiated because of
+the great density and depth of its atmosphere, which extends for many
+hundreds of your kilometers. It required many thousands of lives and
+many years of time to build and install those automatic power plants,
+but once they were in operation, we were assured of power for many tens
+of thousands of years to come."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our system of power transmission is more or less like yours, but we
+haven't anything like your range. Suppose you'd be willing to teach me
+the computation of your fields?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, we shall be glad to give you the formulae. Being an older race, it
+is perhaps natural that we should have developed certain refinements as
+yet unknown to you. But I am, I perceived, detaining you from your time
+of rest&mdash;goodbye," and Barkovis was wafted back toward his mirrored
+globe.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you make of this chemical solution blood of theirs, Steve?"
+asked Nadia, watching the placidly floating form of the Titanian
+captain.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not much. I may have mentioned before that there are one or two, or
+perhaps even three men who are better chemists than I am. I gathered
+that it is something like a polyhydric alcohol and something like a
+substituted hydrocarbon, and yet different from either in that it
+contains flourin in loose combination. I think it is something that our
+Tellurian chemists haven't got yet; but they've got so many organic
+compounds now that they may have synthesized it, at that. You see,
+Titan's atmosphere isn't nearly as dense as ours, but what there is
+of it is pure dynamite. Ours is a little oxygen, mixed with a lot of
+inert ingredients. Theirs is oxygen, heavily laced with flourin. It's
+<i>reactive</i>, no fooling! However, something pretty violent must be
+necessary to carry on body reactions at such a temperature as theirs."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Probably; but I know even less about that kind of thing than you do.
+Funny, isn't it, the way he thinks 'water' when he means ice, and always
+thinks of our real water as being molten?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Reasonable enough when you think about it. Temperature differences are
+logarithmic, you know, not arithmetic&mdash;the effective difference between
+his body temperature and ours is perhaps even greater than that between
+ours and that of melted iron. We never think of iron as being a liquid,
+you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's right, too. Well, good night, Steve dear."
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Bye, little queen of space&mdash;see you at breakfast," and the <i>Forlorn
+Hope</i> became dark and silent.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">D</span><span class="up">ay</span> after day the brilliant sphere flew toward distant Saturn, with the
+wreckage of the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> in tow. Piece by piece that wreckage was
+brought together and held in place by the Titanian tractors; and slowly
+but steadily, under Stevens' terrific welding projector, the stubborn
+steel flowed together, once more to become a seamless, spaceworthy
+structure. And Nadia, the electrician, followed close behind the welder.
+Wielding torch, pliers and spanner with practised hand, she repaired or
+cut out of circuit the damaged accumulator cells and reunited the ends
+of each severed power lead. Understanding Nadia's work thoroughly, the
+Titanians were not particularly interested in it; but whenever Stevens
+made his way along an outside seam, he had a large and thrillingly
+horrified gallery. Everyone who could possibly secure permission to
+leave the sphere did so, each upon his own pencil of force, and went
+over to watch the welder. They did not come close to him&mdash;to venture
+within fifty feet of that slow moving spot of scintillating brilliance,
+even in a space-suit, meant death&mdash;but, poised around him in space, they
+watched with shuddering, incredulous amazement, the monstrous human
+being in whose veins ran molten water instead of blood; whose body was
+already so fiercely hot that it could exist unharmed while working
+practically without protection, upon <i>liquefied</i> metal!
+</p>
+<p>
+Finally the welding was done. The insulating space was evacuated and
+held its vacuum&mdash;outer and inner shells were bottle-tight. The two
+mechanics heaved deep sighs of relief as they discarded their cumbersome
+armor and began to repair what few of their machine tools had been
+damaged by the slashing plane of force which had so neatly sliced the
+<i>Forlorn Hope</i> into sections.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Say, big fellow, you're the guy that slings the ink, ain't you?" Nadia
+extinguished her torch and swaggered up to Stevens, hands on hips, her
+walk an exaggerated roll. "Write me out a long walk. This job's all
+played out, so I think I'll get me a good job on Titan. I said give me
+my time, you big stiff!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You didn't say nothing!" growled Stevens in his deepest bass, playing
+up to her lead as he always did. "Bounce back, cub, you've struck a
+rubber fence! You signed on for duration and you'll stick&mdash;see?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Arm in arm they went over to the nearest communicator plate. Flipping
+the switch, Stevens turned the dial and Titan shone upon the screen; so
+close, that it no longer resembled a moon, but was a world toward which
+they were falling with an immense velocity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not close enough to make out much detail yet&mdash;let's take another
+look at Saturn," and Stevens projected the visiray beam out toward the
+mighty planet. It was now an enormous full moon, almost five degrees in
+apparent diameter,<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> its visible surface an expanse of what they knew
+to be billowing cloud, shining brilliantly white in the pale sunlight,
+broken only by a dark equatorial band.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"Those rings were <i>such</i> a gorgeous spectacle a little while ago!" Nadia
+mourned. "It's a shame that Titan has to be right in their plane, isn't
+it? Think of living this close to one of the most wonderful sights in
+the Solar System, and never being able to see it. Think they know what
+they're missing, Steve?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll have to ask Barkovis," Stevens replied. He swung the communicator
+beam back toward Titan, and Nadia shuddered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, it's hideous!" she exclaimed. "I thought that it would improve as
+we got closer, but the plainer we can see it, the worse it gets. Just to
+think of human beings, even such cold-blooded ones as those over there,
+living upon such a horrible moon and <i>liking</i> it, gives me the blue
+shivers!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's pretty bleak, no fooling," he admitted, and peered through the
+eyepiece of the visiray telescope, studying minutely the forbidding
+surface of the satellite they were so rapidly approaching.
+</p>
+<p>
+Larger and larger it loomed, a cratered, jagged globe of desolation
+indescribable; of sheer, bitter cold incarnate and palpable; of stark,
+sharp contrasts. Gigantic craters, in whose yawning depths no spark of
+warmth had been generated for countless cycles of time, were surrounded
+by vast plains eroded to the dead level of a windless sea. Every lofty
+object cast a sharply outlined shade of impenetrable blackness, beside
+which the weak light of the sun became a dazzling glare. The ground was
+either a brilliant white or an intense black, unrelieved by half-tones.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't hand it much, either, Nadia, but it's all in the way you've
+been brought up, you know. This is home to them, and just to look at
+Tellus would give them the pip. Ha! Here's something you'll like, even
+if it does look so cold that it makes me feel like hugging a couple of
+heater coils. It's Barkovis' city the one we're heading for, I think.
+It's close enough now so that we can get it on the plate," and he set
+the communicator beam upon the metropolis of Titan.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, I don't see a thing, Steve&mdash;where and what is it?" They were
+dropping vertically downward toward the center of a vast plain of white,
+featureless and desolate; and Nadia stared in disappointment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll see directly&mdash;it's too good to spoil by telling you what to look
+for or wh...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, there it is!" she cried. "It <i>is</i> beautiful, Steve, but how
+frightfully, utterly cold!"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span> <span class="up">flash</span> of prismatic color had caught the girl's eye, and, one
+transparent structure thus revealed to her sight, there had burst into
+view a city of crystal. Low buildings of hexagonal shape, arranged
+in irregularly variant hexagonal patterns, extended mile upon mile.
+From the roofs of the structures lacy spires soared heavenward;
+inter-connected by long, slim cantilever bridges whose prodigious
+spans seemed out of all proportion to the gossamer delicacy of their
+construction. Buildings, spires, and bridges formed fantastic
+geometrical designs, at which Nadia exclaimed in delight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've just thought of what that reminds me of&mdash;it's snowflakes!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure&mdash;I knew it was something familiar. Snowflakes&mdash;no two are ever
+exactly alike, and yet every one is symmetrical and hexagonal. We're
+going to land on the public square&mdash;see the crowds? Let's put on our
+suits and go out."
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Forlorn Hope</i> lay in a hexagonal park, and near it the Titanian
+globe had also come to rest. All about the little plot towered the
+glittering buildings of crystal, and in its center played a fountain;
+a series of clear and sparkling cascades of liquid jewels. Under foot
+there spread a thick, soft carpet of whitely brilliant vegetation.
+Throngs of the grotesque citizens of Titania were massed to greet the
+space-ships; throngs clustering close about the globular vessel, but
+maintaining a respectful distance from the fiercely radiant Terrestrial
+wedge. All were shouting greetings and congratulations&mdash;shouts which
+Stevens found as intelligible as his own native tongue.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, I can understand every word they say, Steve!" Nadia exclaimed, in
+surprise. "How come, do you suppose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can, too. Don't know&mdash;must be from using that thought telephone of
+theirs so much, I guess. Here comes Barkovis&mdash;I'll ask him."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Titanian commander had been in earnest conversation with a group of
+fellow-creatures and was now walking toward the Terrestrials, carrying
+the multiple headsets. Placing them upon the white sward, he backed
+away, motioning the two visitors to pick them up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It may not be necessary, Barkovis," Stevens said, slowly and clearly.
+"We do not know why, but we can understand what your people are saying,
+and it may be that you can now understand us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, yes, I can understand your English perfectly. A surprising
+development, but perhaps, after all, one that should have been expected,
+from the very nature of the device we have been using. I wanted to tell
+you that I have just received grave news, which makes it impossible for
+us to help you immediately, as I promised. While we were gone, one of
+our two power-plants upon Saturn failed. In consequence, Titan's power
+has been cut to a minimum, since maintaining our beam at that great
+distance required a large fraction of the output of the other plant.
+Because of this lack, the Sedlor walls were weakened to such a point
+that in spite of the Guardian's assurances, I think trouble is
+inevitable. At all events, it is of the utmost importance that we begin
+repairing the damaged unit, for that is to be a task indeed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it will take time," agreed Stevens, remembering what the
+Titanian captain had told him concerning the construction of those
+plants&mdash;generators which had been in continuous and automatic operation
+for thousands of Saturnian years.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It will take more than time&mdash;it will take lives," replied Barkovis,
+gravely. "Scores, perhaps hundreds, of us will never again breathe the
+clear, pure air of Titan. In spite of all precaution and all possible
+bracing and insulation, man after man after man will be crushed by
+his own weight, volatilized by the awful heat, poisoned by the foul
+atmosphere, or will burst into unthinkable flames at the touch of some
+flying spark from the inconceivably hot metals with which we shall have
+to work. A horrible fate, but we shall not lack for volunteers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure not; and of course you yourself would go. And I never thought of
+the effect a spark would have on you&mdash;your tissues would probably be
+wildly inflammable. But say, I just had a thought. Just how hot is the
+air at those plants and just what is the actual pressure?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"According to the records, the temperature is some forty of your
+centigrade degrees above the melting-point of water, and the pressure
+is not far short of two of your meters of mercury. I find it almost
+impossible to think of mercury as a liquid, however."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You find it impossible, since you use it as a metal, for wires in coils
+and so on. But plus forty, while pretty warm, isn't impossible, by any
+means; and we could stand double our air pressure for quite a while.
+Both my partner and I are pretty fair mechanics and we've got quite a
+line of machine tools, such as you could not possibly have here. We'll
+give it a whirl, since we owe you something already. Lead us to it,
+ace&mdash;but wait a minute! We can't see through the fog, so couldn't find
+the plants, and probably your wiring diagrams would explode if I touched
+them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I never thought of your helping us," mused Barkovis. "The idea of any
+living being existing in that inferno has always been unthinkable, but
+the difficulties you mention are slight. We have already built in our
+vessel communicators similar to yours, and radio sets. With these we can
+guide you and explain the plants to you as you work, and our tractor
+beams will be of assistance to you in moving heavy objects, even at such
+distances from the surface as we Titanians shall have to maintain. If
+you will set out a flask of your atmosphere, we will analyze it, for the
+thought has come to me that perhaps, being planet-dwellers yourselves,
+the air of Saturn might not be as poisonous to you as it is to us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's a thought, too," and, the news broadcast, it was not long until
+the two ships leaped into the air, to the accompaniment of the cheers
+and plaudits of a watching multitude.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">I</span><span class="up">n</span> a wide curve they sped toward Saturn. Passing so close to the
+enormous rings that the individual meteoric fragments could almost be
+seen with the unaided eye, they flashed on and on, slowing down long
+before they approached the upper surface of the envelope of cloud.
+The spherical space-ship stopped and Stevens, staring into his useless
+screen, drove the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> downward mile after mile, solely under
+Barkovis' direction, changing course and power from time to time as the
+Titanian's voice came from the speaker at his elbow. Slower and slower
+became the descent, until finally, almost upon the broad, flat roof
+of the power-plant, Stevens saw it in his plate. Breathing deeply in
+relief, he dropped quickly down upon a flat pavement, neutralized his
+controls, and turned to Nadia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, old golf-shootist, we're here at last&mdash;now we'll go out and see
+what's gone screwy with the works. Remember that gravity is about double
+normal here, and conduct yourself accordingly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it's supposed to be only about nine-tenths," she objected.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's at the outer surface of the atmosphere," he replied. "And it's
+<i>some</i> atmosphere&mdash;not like the thin layer we've got on Tellus."
+</p>
+<p>
+They went into the airlock, and Stevens admitted air until their
+suits began to collapse. Then, face-plate valves cracked, he sniffed
+cautiously, finally opening his helmet wide. Nadia followed suit and
+the man laughed as she wrinkled her nose in disgust as two faint, but
+unmistakable odors smote her olfactory nerves.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I never cared particularly for hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide,
+either," he assured her, "but they aren't strong enough to hurt us in
+the short time we'll be here. Those Titanian chemists know their stuff,
+though."
+</p>
+<p>
+He opened the outer valves slowly, then opened the door and they stepped
+down upon the smooth, solid floor, which Stevens examined carefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought so, from his story. Solid platinum! This whole plant is
+built of platinum, iridium, and noble alloys&mdash;the only substances known
+that will literally last forever. Believe me, ace of my bosom, I don't
+wonder that it cost them lives to build it&mdash;with their conditions, I
+don't see how they ever got it built at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+Before them rose an immense, flat-topped cone of metal, upon the top of
+which was situated the power plant. Twelve massive pillars supported a
+flat roof, but permitted the air to circulate freely throughout the one
+great room which housed the machinery. They climbed a flight of stairs,
+passed between two pillars, and stared about them. There was no noise,
+no motion&mdash;there was nothing that <i>could</i> move. Twelve enormous masses
+of metallic checkerwork, covered with wide cooling fins, almost filled
+the vast hall. From the center of each mass great leads extended out
+into a clear space in the middle of the room, there uniting in mid-air
+to form one enormous bus-bar. This bar, thicker than a man's body, had
+originally curved upward to the base of an immense parabolic structure
+of latticed bars. Now, however, it was broken in midspan and the two
+ends bent toward the floor. Above their heads, a jagged hole gaped in
+the heavy metal of the roof, and a similar hole had been torn in the
+floor. The bar had been broken and these holes had been made by some
+heavy body, probably a meteorite, falling with terrific velocity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is it, all right," Stevens spoke to distant Barkovis. "Sure
+there's nothing on this beam? If it should be hot and I should short
+circuit or bridge it with my body, it would be just too bad."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have made sure that nothing is connected to it," the Titanian
+assured him. "Do you think you can do anything?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Absolutely. We've got jacks that'll bend heavier stuff than that, and
+after we get it straightened the welding will be easy, but I'll have
+to have some metal. Shall I cut a piece off the pavement outside?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That will not be necessary. You will find ample stores of spare metal
+piled at the base of each pillar."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x. Now we'll get the jack, Nadia," and they went back to their
+vessel, finding that upon Saturn, their combined strength was barely
+sufficient to drag the heavy tool along the floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Stand aside, please. We will place it for you," a calm voice sounded in
+their ears, and a pale blue tractor beam picked the massive jack lightly
+from the floor, and as lightly lifted it to its place beneath the broken
+bus-bar and held it there while Stevens piled blocks and plates of
+platinum beneath its base.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, here's where I peel down as far as the law allows. This is going
+to be real work, girl&mdash;no fooling. It'd help a lot if this outfit were
+sending out a few thousand kilo-franks instead of standing idle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How would that help?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a heat-engine, you know&mdash;works by absorbing heat. The cold air
+sinks&mdash;I imagine it pretty nearly blows a gale down the side of this
+cone when it's working&mdash;and hot air rushes in to take its place. I could
+use a little cool breeze right now," and Stevens, stripped to the waist,
+bent to the lever of the powerful hydraulic jack.
+</p>
+<p>
+Beads of sweat gathered upon his broad back, uniting to form tiny
+rivulets, and the girl became highly concerned about him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me help you, Steve&mdash;I'm pretty husky, too, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure you are, ace, but this is a job for a truck-horse, not a
+tenderly-nurtured maiden of the upper classes. You can help, though, by
+breaking out that welding outfit and getting it ready while I'm doing
+this bending to prepare for the welding."
+</p>
+<p>
+Under the urge of that mighty jack the ends of the broken bus-bar rose
+into place, while far off in space the Titanians clustered about their
+visiray screens, watching, in almost unbelieving amazement, the
+supernatural being who labored in that reeking inferno of heat and
+poisonous vapor&mdash;who labored almost naked and entirely unprotected,
+refreshing himself from time to time with drafts of molten water!
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Barkovis&mdash;that's high, I guess." Stevens flipped perspiration
+from his hot forehead with a wet finger and straightened his weary back.
+"Now you can put this jack away where we had it. Then you might trundle
+me over enough of that spare metal to fill up this hole, and I'll put on
+my suit and goggles and practice welding on this floor and the roof, to
+get the feel of the metal before I tackle the bar."
+</p>
+<p>
+The hole in the floor was filled with scrap and soon sparks were flying
+wildly as the searing beam of Stevens' welding projector bit viciously
+into the stubborn alloy of noble metals; fashioning a smooth, solid
+floor where the yawning aperture had been. Then, lifted with his tools
+and plates to the roof, the man repaired that hole also.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now I know enough about it to do a good job on the bar," he decided,
+and brick after brick of alloy was fused into the crack, until only a
+smoothly rounded bulge betrayed that a break had ever existed in that
+mighty rod of metal.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Give 'em the signal to draw power, and see if that's all that was the
+matter," Stevens instructed, as he relaxed in the grateful coolness of
+their control room. "Whew, that was a warm job, Nadia&mdash;and this air of
+ours does smell good!"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"I</span><span class="up">t</span> was a horrible job, and I'm glad it's done," she declared. "But say,
+Steve, that thing looks as little like a power-plant as anything I can
+imagine. How does it work? You said that it worked on heat, but I don't
+quite see how. But don't draw diagrams and <i>please</i> don't integrate!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No ordinary plant such as we use could run for centuries
+without attention," he replied. "This is a highly advanced
+heat-engine&mdash;something like a thermo-couple, you know. This whole thing
+is simply the hot end, connected to the cold end on Titan by a beam
+instead of wires. When it's working, this metal must cool off something
+fierce. That's what the checkerwork and fins are for&mdash;so that it can
+absorb the maximum amount of heat from the current of hot, moist air
+I spoke about. It's a sweet system&mdash;we'll have to rig up one between
+Tellus and the moon. Or even between the Equator and the Arctic Circle
+there'd be enough thermal differential to give us a million kilofranks.
+We haven't got the all x signal yet, but it's working&mdash;look at it sweat
+as it cools down!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say it's sweating&mdash;the water is simply streaming off it!" In their
+plate they saw that moisture was already beginning to condense upon the
+heat-absorber: moisture running down the fins in streams and creeping
+over the dull metal floor in sluggish sheets; moisture which, turning
+into ice in the colder interior of the checkerwork, again became fluid
+at the inrush of hot, wet Saturnian air.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's the signal&mdash;all x, Barkovis? By the way it's condensing water,
+it seems to be functioning again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfect!" came the Titanian's enthusiastic reply, "You two
+planet-dwellers have done more in three short hours than the entire
+force of Titan could have accomplished in months. You have earned, and
+shall receive, the highest...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As you were, ace!" Stevens interrupted, embarrassed. "This job was just
+like shooting fish down a well, for us. Since you saved our lives, we
+owe you a lot yet. We're coming out&mdash;straight up!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Forlorn Hope</i> shot upward, through mile after mile of steaming fog,
+until at last she broke through into the light, clear outer atmosphere.
+Stevens located the Titanian space-ship, and the two vessels once more
+hurtling together through the ether toward Titan, he turned to his
+companion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Take the controls, will you, Nadia? Think I'll finish up the tube. I
+brought along a piece of platinum from the power plant, and something
+that I think is tantalum from Barkovis' description of it. With those
+and the fractions we melted out, I think I can make everything we'll
+need."
+</p>
+<p>
+Now that he had comparatively pure metal with which to work, drawing
+the leads and filaments was relatively a simple task. Working over
+the hot-bench with torch and welding projector, he made short work of
+running the leads through the almost plastic glass of the great tube and
+of sealing them in place. The plates and grids presented more serious
+problems; but they were solved and, long before Titan was reached, the
+tube was out in space, supported by a Titanian tractor beam between the
+two vessels. Stevens came into the shop, holding a modified McLeod gauge
+which he had just taken from the interior of the tube. When it had come
+to equilibrium, he read it carefully and yelled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Eureka, little fellow! She's down to where I can't read it, even on
+this big gauge&mdash;so hard that it won't need flashing&mdash;harder than any
+vacuum I ever got on Tellus, even with a Rodebush-Michalek super-pump!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how about occluded and absorbed gas in the filaments and so on when
+they heat up?" demanded Nadia, practically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All gone, ace. I out-gassed 'em plenty out there&mdash;seven times, almost
+to fusion. There isn't enough gas left in the whole thing to make a deep
+breath for a microbe."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took up his welding projector and a beam carried him back to the
+tube. There, in the practically absolute vacuum of space, the last
+openings in the glass were sealed, and man and great transmitting tube
+were wafted lightly back into the Terrestrial cruiser.
+</p>
+<p>
+Hour after hour mirrored Titanian sphere and crude-fashioned terrestrial
+wedge bored serenely on through space, and it was not until Titan loomed
+large beneath them that the calm was broken by an insistent call from
+Titan to the sphere.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Barkodar, attention! Barkodar, attention!" screamed from the speakers,
+and they heard Barkovis acknowledge the call.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Sedlor have broken through and are marching upon Titania. The order
+has gone out for immediate mobilization of every unit."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's that word 'Sedlor' again&mdash;what are they, anyway, Steve?"
+demanded Nadia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know. I was going to ask him when he sprung it on us first, but
+he was pretty busy then and I haven't thought of it since. Something
+pretty serious, though&mdash;they've jumped their acceleration almost to
+Tellurian gravity, and none of them can live through much of that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tellurians?" came the voice of Barkovis from the speaker. "We have
+just...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x&mdash;we were on your wave and heard it," interrupted Stevens. "We're
+with you. What are those Sedlor, anyway? Maybe we can help you dope out
+something."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps&mdash;but whatever you do, do not use your heat-projector. That
+would start a conflagration raging over the whole country, and we shall
+have enough to do without fighting fire. But it may be that you have
+other weapons, of which we are ignorant, and I can use a little time in
+explanation before we arrive. The Sedlor are a form of life, something
+like your..." he paused, searching through his scanty store of Earthly
+knowledge, then went on, doubtfully, "perhaps some thing like your
+insects. They developed a sort of intelligence, and because of their
+fecundity, adapted themselves to their environment as readily as did
+man; and for ages they threatened man's supremacy upon Titan. They
+devoured vegetation, crops, animals, and mankind. After a world-wide
+campaign, however, they were finally exterminated, save in the
+neighborhood of one great volcanic crater, which they so honeycombed
+that it is almost impregnable. All around that district we have erected
+barriers of force, maintained by a corps of men known as 'Guardians of
+the Sedlor.' These barriers extend so far into the ground and so high
+into the air that the Sedlor can neither burrow beneath them nor fly
+over them. They were being advanced as rapidly as possible, and in a
+few more years the insects would have been destroyed completely&mdash;but
+now they are again at large. They have probably developed an armor or
+a natural resistance greater than the Guardians thought possible, so
+that when the walls were weakened, they came through in their millions,
+underground and undetected. They are now attacking our nearest city&mdash;the
+one you know, and which you have called Titania."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you use&mdash;those high-explosive bombs?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The bombs were developed principally for use against them, but proved
+worse than useless, for we found that when a Sedlor was blown to pieces,
+each piece forthwith developed into a new, complete creature. Our most
+efficient weapons are our heat rays&mdash;not yours remember&mdash;and poison gas.
+I must prepare our arms."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Would our heat-ray actually set them afire, Steve?" Nadia asked, as the
+plate went blank.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll say it would. I'll show you what heat means to them&mdash;showing
+you will be plainer than any amount of explanation," and he shot the
+visiray beam down toward the city of Titania. Into a low-lying building
+it went, and Nadia saw a Titanian foundry in full operation. Men clad
+in asbestos armor were charging, tending, and tapping great electric
+furnaces and crucibles; shrinking back and turning their armored heads
+away as the hissing, smoking melt crackled into the molds from their
+long-handled ladles. Nadia studied the foundry for a moment, interested,
+but unimpressed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course it's hot there&mdash;foundries always <i>are</i> hot," she argued.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, but you haven't got the idea yet." Stevens turned again to the
+controls, following the sphere toward what was evidently a line of
+battle. "That stuff that they are melting and casting and that is so
+hot, is not metal, but <i>ice!</i> Remember that the vital fluid of all life
+here, animal and vegetable, corresponding to our water, is probably
+more inflammable than gasoline. If they can't work on ice-water without
+wearing suits of five-ply asbestos, what would a real heat-ray do to
+them? It'd be about like our taking a dive into the sun!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Ice</i>!" she exclaimed. "Oh of course&mdash;but you couldn't really believe
+a thing like that without seeing it, could you? Oh, Steve&mdash;how utterly
+horrible!"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">he</span> "Barkodar" had dropped down into a line of sister ships, and had
+gone into action in midair against a veritable swarm of foes. Winged
+centipedes they were&mdash;centipedes fully six feet long, hurling themselves
+along the ground and through the air in furious hordes. From the flying
+globes emanated pale beams of force, at the touch of which the Sedlor
+disappeared in puffs of vapor. Upon the ground huge tractors and trucks,
+manned by masked soldiery, mounted mighty reflectors projecting the same
+lethal beam. From globes and tanks there sounded a drumming roar and
+small capsules broke in thousands among the foe; emitting a red cloud of
+gas in which the centipedes shriveled and died. But for each one that
+was destroyed two came up from holes in the ground and the battle-line
+fell back toward Titania, back toward a long line of derrick-like
+structures which were sinking force-rods into the ground in furious
+haste.
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens flashed on his ultra-violet projector and swung it into the
+thickest ranks of the enemy. In the beam many of the monsters died,
+but the Terrestrial ray was impotent compared with the weapons of the
+Titanians, and Stevens, snapping off the beam with a bitter imprecation,
+shot the visiray out toward the bare, black cone of the extinct volcano
+and studied it with care.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Barkovis, I've got a thought!" he snapped into the microphone. "Their
+stronghold is in that mountain, and there's millions of them in there
+yet, coming out along their tunnels. They've got all the vegetation
+eaten away for miles, so there's nothing much left there to spread a
+fire if I go to work on that hill, and, I'll probably melt enough water
+to put out most of the fires I start. Detail me a couple of ships to
+drop your fire-foam bombs on any little blazes that may spread, and I'll
+give them so much to worry about at home, that they'll forget all about
+Titania."
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Forlorn Hope</i> darted toward the crater, followed closely by two of
+the dazzling globes. They circled the mountain until Stevens found a
+favorable point of attack&mdash;a stupendous vertical cliff of mingled rock
+and crystal, upon the base of which he trained his terrific infra-red
+projector.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm going to draw a lot of power," he warned the Titanians then. "I'm
+giving this gun everything she'll take."
+</p>
+<p>
+He drove the massive switches in, and as that dull red beam struck the
+cliff's base there was made evident the awful effect of a concentrated
+beam of real and pure heat upon such an utterly frigid world. Vast
+columns of fire roared aloft, helping Stevens, melting and destroying
+the very ground as the bodies of the Sedlor in that gigantic ant-heap
+burst into flames. Clouds of superheated steam roared upward, condensing
+into a hot rain which descended in destructive torrents upon the
+fastnesses of the centipedes. As the raging beam ate deeper and deeper
+into the base of the cliff, the mountain itself began to disintegrate;
+block after gigantic block breaking off and crashing down into the
+flaming, boiling, seething cauldron which was the apex of that ravening
+beam.
+</p>
+<p>
+Hour after hour Stevens drove his intolerable weapon into the great
+mountain, teeming with Sedlorean life; and hour after hour a group of
+Titanian spheres stood by, deluging the surrounding plain with a flood
+of heavy fumes, through which the holocaust could not spread for lack of
+oxygen. Not until the mountain was gone&mdash;not until in its stead there
+lay a furiously boiling lake, its flaming surface hundreds of feet below
+the level of the plain&mdash;did Stevens open his power circuits and point
+the deformed prow of the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> toward Titania.
+</p>
+
+<a name="note-1"><!--Note--></a>
+<p class="foot">
+<u>1</u> (<a href="#noteref-1">return</a>)<br />
+The moon subtends an angle of about one-half of a degree.
+</p>
+
+<a name="h2HCH0007" id="h2HCH0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    The Return to Ganymede
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"M</span><span class="up">ust</span> you you go back to Ganymede?" Barkovis asked, slowly and
+thoughtfully. He was sitting upon a crystal bench beside the fountain,
+talking with Stevens, who, dressed in his bulging space-suit, stood near
+an airlock of the <i>Forlorn Hope</i>. "It seems a shame that you should face
+again those unknown, monstrous creatures who so inexcusably attacked us
+both without provocation."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not so keen on it myself, but I can't see any other way out of it,"
+the Terrestrial replied. "We left a lot of our equipment there, you
+know; and even if I should build duplicates here, it wouldn't do us any
+good. These ten-nineteens are the most powerful transmitting tubes known
+when we left Tellus, but even their fields, dense as they are, can't
+hold an ultra-beam together much farther than about six astronomical
+units. So you see we can't possibly reach our friends from here with
+this tube; and your system of beam transmission won't hold anything
+together even that far, and won't work on any wave shorter than Roeser's
+Rays. We may run into some more of those little spheres, though, and I
+don't like the prospect. I wonder if we couldn't plate a layer of that
+mirror of yours upon the <i>Hope</i> and carry along a few of those bombs? By
+the way, what is that explosive&mdash;or is it something beyond Tellurian
+chemistry?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Its structure should be clear to you, although you probably could not
+prepare it upon Tellus because of your high temperature. It is nothing
+but nitrogen&mdash;twenty-six atoms of nitrogen combined to form one molecule
+of what you would call&mdash;N-twenty-six?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wow!" Stevens whistled. "Crystalline, pentavalent nitrogen&mdash;no wonder
+it's violent!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We could, of course, cover your vessel with the mirror, but I am afraid
+that it would prove of little value. The plates are so hot that it would
+soon volatilize."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not necessarily," argued Stevens. "We could live in number one
+life-boat, and shut off the heat everywhere else. The life-boats are
+insulated from the structure proper, and the inner and outer walls of
+the structure are insulated from each other. With only the headquarters
+lifeboat warm, the outer wall could be held pretty close to zero
+absolute."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is true. The bombs, of course, are controlled by radio, and
+therefore may be attached to the outer wall of your vessel. We shall be
+glad to do these small things for you."
+</p>
+<p>
+The heaters of the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> were shut off, and as soon as the
+outer shell had cooled to Titanian temperature, a corps of mechanics set
+to work. A machine very like a concrete mixer was rolled up beside the
+steel vessel, and into its capacious maw were dumped boxes and barrels
+of dry ingredients and many cans of sparkling liquid. The resultant
+paste was pumped upon the steel plating in a sluggish, viscid stream,
+which spread out into a thick and uniform coating beneath the flying
+rollers of the skilled Titanian workmen. As it hardened, the paste
+smoothed magically into the perfect mirror which covered the
+space-vessels of the satellite; and a full dozen of the mirror explosive
+bombs of this strange people were hung in the racks already provided.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Once again I must caution you concerning those torpedoes," Barkovis
+warned Stevens. "If you use them all, very well, but do not try to take
+even one of them into any region where it is very hot, for it will
+explode and demolish your vessel. If you do not use them, destroy them
+before you descend into the hot atmosphere of Ganymede. The mirror will
+volatilize harmlessly at the temperature of melting mercury, but the
+torpedoes must be destroyed. Once more, Tellurians, we thank you for
+what you have done, and wish you well."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks a lot for <i>your</i> help&mdash;we still owe you something," replied
+Stevens. "If either of your power-plants go sour on you again, or if
+you need any more built, be sure to let us know&mdash;you can come close
+enough to the inner planets now on your own beam to talk to us on the
+ultra-communicator. We'll be glad to help you any way we can&mdash;and we may
+call on you for help again. Goodbye, Barkovis&mdash;goodbye, all Titania!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He made his way through the bitterly cold shop into the control-room of
+their lifeboat, and while he was divesting himself of his heavy suit,
+Nadia lifted the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> into the blue-green sky of Titan,
+accompanied by an escort of the mirrored globes. Well clear of the
+atmosphere of the satellite, the terrestrial cruiser shot forward at
+normal acceleration, while the Titanian vessels halted and wove a
+pattern of blue and golden rays in salute to the departing guests.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Nadia, we're off&mdash;on a long trek, too."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Said Wun Long Hop, the Chinese pee-lo," Nadia agreed. "Sure
+everything's all x, big boy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"To nineteen decimals," he declared. "You couldn't squeeze another frank
+into our accumulators with a proof-bar, and since they're sending us all
+the power we want to draw, we won't need to touch our batteries or tap
+our own beam until we're almost to Jupiter. To cap the climax, what it
+takes to make big medicine on those spherical friends of ours, we've
+got. We're not sitting on top of the world, ace&mdash;we've perched exactly
+at the apex of the entire universe!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"How long is it going to take?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't know. Haven't figured it yet, but it'll be <i>beaucoup</i> days," and
+the two wanderers from far-distant Earth settled down to the routine of
+a long and uneventful journey.
+</p>
+<p>
+They gave Saturn and his spectacular rings a wide berth and sped on,
+with ever-increasing velocity. Past the outer satellites, on and on,
+the good ship <i>Forlorn Hope</i> flew into the black-and-brilliant depths of
+interplanetary space. Saturn was an ever-diminishing disk beneath them:
+above them was Jupiter's thin crescent, growing ever larger and more
+bright, and the Monarch of the Solar System, remaining almost stationary
+day after day, increasing steadily in apparent diameter and in
+brilliance.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span><span class="up">lthough</span> the voyage from Titan to Ganymede was long, it was not
+monotonous, for there was much work to be done in the designing and
+fabrication of the various units which were to comprise the ultra-radio
+transmitting station. In the various compartments of the <i>Forlorn Hope</i>
+there were sundry small motors, blowers, coils, condensers, force-field
+generators, and other items which Stevens could use with little or no
+alteration; but for the most part he had to build everything himself.
+Thus it was that time passed quickly; so quickly that Jupiter loomed
+large and the Saturnian beam of power began to attenuate almost before
+the Terrestrials realized that their journey was drawing to an end.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our beam's falling apart fast," Stevens read his meters carefully, then
+swung his communicator beam toward Jupiter. "We aren't getting quite
+enough power to hold our acceleration at normal&mdash;think I'll cut now,
+while we're still drawing enough to let the Titanians know we're off
+their beam. We've got lots of power of our own now; and we're getting
+pretty close to enemy territory, so they may locate that heavy beam.
+Have you found Ganymede yet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it will be on the other side of Jupiter by the time we get there.
+Shall I detour, or put on a little more negative and wait for it to come
+around to this side?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Better wait, I think. The farther away we stay from Jupiter and the
+major satellites, the better."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x&mdash;it's on. Suppose we'd better start standing watches, in case
+some of them show up?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No use," he dissented. "I've been afraid to put out our
+electromagnetic detectors, as they could surely trace them in use.
+Without them, we couldn't spot an enemy ship even if we were looking
+right at it, except by accident; since they won't be lighted up and
+it's awfully hard to see anything out here, anyway. We probably won't
+know they're within a million kilometers until they put a beam on us.
+Barkovis says that this mirror will reflect any beam they can use, and
+I've already got a set of photo-cells in circuit to ring an alarm at
+the first flash off of our mirror plating. I'd like to get in the first
+licks myself, but I haven't been able to dope out any way of doing it.
+So you might as well sleep in your own room, as usual, and I'll camp
+here right under the panel until we get to Ganymede. There's a couple
+of little things I just thought of, though, that may help some; and
+I'm going to do 'em right now."
+</p>
+<p>
+Putting on his space-suit, he picked up a power drill and went out into
+the bitter cold of the outer structure. There he attacked the inner
+wall of their vessel, and the carefully established inter-wall vacuum
+disappeared in a screaming hiss of air as the tempered point bit through
+plate after plate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What's the idea, Steve?" Nadia asked, when he had re-entered the
+control room. "Now you'll have all that pumping to do over again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Protection for the mirrors," he explained. "You see, they aren't
+perfect reflectors. There's a little absorption, so that some stuff
+comes through. Not much, of course; but enough to kill some of those
+Titanians and almost enough to ruin their ship got through in about ten
+minutes, and only one enemy was dealing it out. We can stand more than
+they could, of course, but the mirror itself won't stand much more heat
+than it was absorbing then. But with air in those spaces instead of
+vacuum, and with the whole mass of the <i>Hope</i>, except this one lifeboat,
+as cold as it is, I figure that there'll be enough conduction and
+convection through them to keep the outer wall and the mirror cold&mdash;cool
+enough, at least, to hold the mirror on for an hour. If only one ship
+tackles us, it won't be bad&mdash;but I figure that if there's only one,
+we're lucky."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">S</span><span class="up">tevens'</span> fears were only too well grounded, for during the "evening" of
+the following day, while he was carefully scanning the heavens for some
+sign of enemy craft, the alarm bell over his head burst into its brazen
+clamor. Instantly he shot out the detectors and ultra-lights and saw not
+one, but six of the deadly globes&mdash;almost upon them, at point-blank
+range! One was already playing a beam of force upon the <i>Forlorn Hope</i>,
+and the other five went into action immediately upon feeling the
+detector impulses and perceiving that the weapon of their sister ship
+had encountered an unusual resistance in the material of that peculiarly
+mirrored wedge. As those terrific forces struck her, the terrestrial
+cruiser became a vast pyrotechnic set piece, a dazzling fountain of
+coruscant brilliance: for the mirror held. The enemy beams shot back
+upon themselves and rebounded in all directions, in the same spectacular
+exhibition of frenzied incandescence which had marked the resistance of
+the Titanian sphere to a similar attack.
+</p>
+<p>
+But Stevens was not idle. In the instant of launching his detectors,
+as fast as he could work the trips, four of the frightful nitrogen
+bombs of Titan&mdash;all that he could handle at once&mdash;shot out into space,
+their rocket-tubes flaring viciously. The enemy detectors of course
+located the flying torpedoes immediately, but, contemptuous of material
+projectiles, the spheres made no attempt to dodge, but merely lashed out
+upon them with their ravening rays. So close was the range that they
+had no time to avoid the radio-directed bombs after discovering that
+their beams were useless against the unknown protective covering of
+those mirrored shells. There were four practically simultaneous
+detonations&mdash;silent, but terrific explosions as the pent-up internal
+energy of solid pentavalent nitrogen was instantaneously released&mdash;and
+the four insensately murderous spheres disappeared into jagged fragments
+of wreckage, flying wildly away from the centers of explosion. One great
+mass of riven and twisted metal was blown directly upon the fifth globe,
+and Nadia stared in horrified fascination at the silent crash as the
+entire side of the ship crumpled inward like a shell of cardboard under
+the awful impact. That vessel was probably out of action, but Stevens
+was taking no chances. As soon as he had clamped a pale blue tractor rod
+upon the sixth and last of the enemy fleet, he drove a torpedo through
+the gaping wall and into the interior of the helpless war-vessel. There
+he exploded it, and the awful charge, detonated in that confined space,
+literally tore the globular space-ship to bits.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll show these jaspers what kind of trees make shingles!" he gritted
+between clenched teeth; and his eyes, hard now as gray iron, fairly
+emitted sparks as he launched four torpedoes upon the sole remaining
+globe of the squadron of the void. "I've had a lot of curiosity to know
+just what kind of unnatural monstrosities can possibly have such
+fiendish dispositions as they've got&mdash;but beasts, men or devils, they'll
+find they've grabbed something this time they can't let go of," and
+fierce blasts of energy ripped from the exhausts as he drove his
+missiles, at their highest possible acceleration, toward the captive
+sphere so savagely struggling at the extremity of his tractor beam.
+</p>
+<p>
+But that one remaining vessel was to prove no such easy victim as had
+its sister ships. Being six to one, and supposedly invincible, the
+squadron had been overconfident and had attacked carelessly, with only
+its crippling slicing beams instead of its more deadly weapons of total
+destruction; and so fierce and hard had been Stevens' counter-attack
+that five of its numbers had been destroyed before they realized what
+powerful armament was mounted by that apparently crude, helpless,
+and innocuous wedge. The sixth, however, was fully warned, and every
+resource at the command of its hellish crew was now being directed
+against the <i>Forlorn Hope</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sheets, cones, and gigantic rods of force flashed and crackled. Space
+was filled with silent, devastating tongues of flame. The <i>Forlorn
+Hope</i> was dragged about erratically as the sphere tried to dodge those
+hurtling torpedoes; tried to break away from the hawser of energy
+anchoring her so solidly to her opponent. But the linkage held, and
+closer and closer Stevens drove the fourfold menace of his frightful
+dirigible bombs. Pressor beams beat upon them in vain. Hard driven as
+those pushers were, they could find no footing, but were reflected at
+many angles by that untouchable mirror and their utmost force scarcely
+impeded the progress of the rocket-propelled missiles. Comparatively
+small as the projectiles were, however, they soon felt the effects of
+the prodigious beams of heat enveloping them, and torpedo after torpedo
+exploded harmlessly in space as their mirrors warmed up and volatilized.
+But for each bomb that was lost, Stevens launched another, and each one
+came closer to its objective than had its predecessor.
+</p>
+<p>
+Made desperate by the failure of his every beam, the enemy commander
+thought to use material projectiles himself&mdash;weapons abandoned long
+since by his race as antiquated and inefficient, but a few of which were
+still carried by the older types of vessels. One such shell was found
+and launched&mdash;but in the instant of its launching Stevens' foremost bomb
+struck its mark and exploded. So close were the other three bombs, that
+they also let go at the shock; and the warlike sphere, hemmed in by four
+centers of explosions, flew apart&mdash;literally pulverized. Its projectile,
+so barely discharged, did not explode&mdash;it was loaded with material which
+could be detonated only by the warhead upon impact or by a radio signal.
+It was, however, deflected markedly from its course by the force of the
+blast, so that instead of striking the <i>Forlorn Hope</i> in direct central
+impact, its head merely touched the apex of the mirror-plated wedge.
+That touch was enough. There was another appalling concussion, another
+blinding glare, and the entire front quarter of the terrestrial vessel
+had gone to join the shattered globes.
+</p>
+<p>
+Between the point of explosion and the lifeboats there had been many
+channels of insulation, many bulkheads, many air-breaks, and compartment
+after compartment of accumulator cells. These had borne the brunt of the
+explosion, so that the control room was unharmed, and Stevens swung his
+communicator rapidly through the damaged portions of the vessels.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How badly are we hurt, Steve&mdash;can we make it to Ganymede?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Nadia was quietly staring over his shoulder into the plate, studying
+with him the pictures of destruction there portrayed as he flashed the
+projector from compartment to compartment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We're hurt&mdash;no fooling&mdash;but it might have been a lot worse," he
+replied, as he completed the survey. "We've lost about all of our
+accumulators, but we can land on our own beam, and landing power is all
+we want, I think. You see, we're drifting straight for where Ganymede
+will be, and we'd better cut out every bit of power we're using, even
+the heaters, until we get there. This lifeboat will hold heat for quite
+a while, and I'd rather get pretty cold than meet any more of that gang.
+I figured eight hours just before they met us, and we were just about
+drifting then. I think it is safe to say seven hours blind."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But can't they detect us anyway? They may have sent out a call, you
+know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we aren't using any power for anything, their electromagnetics are
+the only things we'll register on, and they're mighty short-range
+finders. Even if they should get that close to us, they'll probably
+think we're meteoric, since we'll be dead to their other instruments.
+Luckily we've got lots of air, so the chemical purifiers can handle it
+without power. I'll shut off everything and we'll drift it. Couldn't do
+much of anything, anyway&mdash;even our shop out there won't hold air. But we
+can have light. We've got acetylene emergency lamps, you know, and we
+don't need to economize on oxygen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps we'd better run in the dark. Remember what you told me about
+their possible visirays, and that you've got only two bombs left."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x; that would be better. If I forget it, remind me to blow up those
+before we hit the atmosphere of Ganymede, will you?" He opened all the
+power switches, and, every source of ethereal vibrations cut off, the
+<i>Forlorn Hope</i> drifted slowly on, now appearing forlorn indeed.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">S</span><span class="up">even</span> hours dragged past: seven age-long hours during which the two sat
+tense, expecting they knew not what, talking only at intervals and in
+subdued tones. Stevens then snapped on the communicator beam just long
+enough to take an observation upon Ganymede. Several such brief glimpses
+were taken; then, after a warning word to his companion, he sent out and
+exploded the nitrogen bombs. He then threw on the power, and the vessel
+leaped toward the satellite under full acceleration. Close to the
+atmosphere it slanted downward in a screaming, fifteen-hundred-mile
+drive; and soon the mangled wedge dropped down into the little canyon,
+which for so long had been "home."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, colonel, home again!" Stevens exulted as he neutralized the
+controls. "There's that falls, our power plant, the catapults, 'n'
+everything. Now, unless something interrupts us again; we'll run up
+our radio tower and give Brandon the long yell."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How much more have you got to do before you can start sending?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not an awful lot. Everything built&mdash;all I've got to do is assemble
+it. I should be able to do it easily in a week. Hope nothing else
+happens&mdash;if I drag you into any more such messes as those we've just
+been getting out of by the skin of our teeth, I'll begin to wish that
+we had started out at first to drift it back to Tellus in the <i>Hope</i>.
+Let's see how much time we've got. We should start shooting one day
+after an eclipse, so that we'll have five days to send. You see, we
+don't want to point our beam too close to Jupiter or to any of the large
+satellites, because the enemy might live there and might intercept it.
+We had an eclipse yesterday&mdash;so one week from today, at sunrise, I
+start shooting."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But Earth's an evening star now; you can't see it in the morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not going to aim at Tellus. I'm shooting at Brandon, and he's never
+there for more than a week or two at a stretch. They're prowling around
+out in space somewhere almost all the time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then how can you possibly hope to hit them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It may be quite a job of hunting, but not as bad as you might think.
+They probably aren't much, if any, outside the orbit of Mars, and
+they usually stay within a couple of million kilometers or so of the
+Ecliptic, so we'll start at the sun and shoot our beam in a spiral
+to cover that field. We ought to be able to hit them inside of twelve
+hours, but if we don't, we'll widen our spiral and keep on trying until
+we do hit them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Heavens, Steve! Are you planning on telegraphing steadily for days at
+a time?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure, but not by hand, of course&mdash;I'll have an automatic sender and
+automatic pointers."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens had at his command a very complete machine-shop, he had an ample
+supply of power, and all that remained for him to do was to assemble the
+parts which he had built during the long journey from Titan to Ganymede.
+Therefore, at sunrise of the designated day, he was ready, and, with
+Nadia hanging breathless over his shoulder, he closed the switch, a
+toothed wheel engaged a delicate interrupter, and a light sounder began
+its strident chatter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ganymede point oh four seven ganymede point oh four seven ganymede
+point oh four seven..." endlessly the message was poured out into the
+ether, carried by a tight beam of ultra-vibrations and driven by forces
+sufficient to propel it well beyond the opposite limits of the orbit
+of Mars.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What does it say? I can't read code."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens translated the brief message, but Nadia remained unimpressed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it doesn't say anything!" she protested. "It isn't addressed to
+anybody, it isn't signed&mdash;it doesn't tell anybody anything about
+anything."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's all there, ace. You see, since the beam is moving sidewise very
+rapidly at that range and we're shooting at a small target, the message
+has to be very short or they won't get it all while the beam's on
+'em&mdash;it isn't as though we were broadcasting. It doesn't need any
+address, because nobody but the <i>Sirius</i> can receive it&mdash;except possibly
+the Jovians. They'll know who's sending it without any signature. It
+tells them that Ganymede wants to receive a message on the ultra-band
+centering on forty-seven thousandths. Isn't that enough?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe. But suppose some of them live right here on Ganymede&mdash;you'll
+be shooting right through the ground all night&mdash;or suppose that even if
+they don't live here, that they can find our beam some way? Or suppose
+that Brandon hasn't got his machine built yet, or suppose that it isn't
+turned on when our beam passes them, or suppose they're asleep then?
+A lot of things might happen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so many, ace&mdash;your first objection is the only one that hasn't got
+more holes in it than a sieve, so I'll take it first. Since our beam is
+only a meter in diameter here and doesn't spread much in the first few
+million kilometers, the chance of direct reception by the enemy, even
+if they do live here on Ganymede, is infinitesimally small. But I don't
+believe that they live here&mdash;at least, they certainly didn't land on
+this satellite. As you suggest, however, it is conceivable that they may
+have detector screens delicate enough to locate our beam at a distance;
+but since in all probability that means a distance of hundreds of
+thousands of kilometers, I think it highly improbable. We've got to take
+the same risk anyway, no matter what we do, whenever we start to use any
+kind of driving power, so there's no use worrying about it. As for your
+last two objections, I know Brandon and I know Westfall. Brandon will
+have receivers built that will take in any wave possible of propagation,
+and Westfall, the cautious old egg, will have them running twenty-four
+hours a day, with automatic recorders, finders, and everything else that
+Brandon can invent&mdash;and believe me, sweetheart, that's a lot of stuff!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's wonderful, the way you three men are," replied Nadia thoughtfully,
+reading between the lines of Stevens' utterance. "They knew that you
+were on the <i>Arcturus</i>, of course&mdash;and they knew that if you were alive
+you'd manage in some way to get in touch with them. And you, away out
+here after all this time, are superbly confident that they are expecting
+a call from you. That, I think, is one of the finest things I ever heard
+of."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're two of the world's best&mdash;absolutely." Nadia looked at him,
+surprised, for he had not seen anything complimentary to himself in her
+remark. "Wait until you meet them. They're men, Nadia&mdash;real men. And
+speaking of meeting them&mdash;please try to keep on loving me after you meet
+Norm Brandon, will you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be a simp!" her brown eyes met his steadily. "You didn't mean
+that&mdash;you didn't even say it, did you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Back it comes, sweetheart! But knowing myself and knowing those
+two...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Stop it! If Norman Brandon or Quincy Westfall had been here instead
+of you, or both of them together, we'd have been here from now on&mdash;we
+wouldn't even have gotten away from the Jovians!"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"N</span><span class="up">ow</span> it's your turn to back water, guy!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, maybe, a little&mdash;if both of them were here, they ought to equal
+you in some things. Brandon says himself that he and Westfall together
+make one scientist&mdash;Dad says he says so."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't want to believe everything you hear. Neither of them will
+admit that he knows anything or can do anything&mdash;that's the way they
+are."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dad has told me a lot about them&mdash;how they've always been together
+ever since their undergraduate days. How they studied together all over
+the world, even after they'd been given all the degrees loose. How
+they even went to the other planets to study&mdash;to Mars, where they had
+to live in space-suits all the time, and to Venus, where they had to
+take ultra-violet treatments every day to keep alive. How they learned
+everything that everybody else knew and then went out into space to find
+out things that nobody else ever dreamed of. How you came to join them,
+and what you three have done since. They're fine, of course&mdash;but they
+aren't <i>you</i>," she concluded passionately.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, thank Heaven! I know you love me, Nadia, just as I love you&mdash;you
+know I never doubted it. But you'll like them, really. They're a
+wonderful team. Brandon's a big brute, you know&mdash;fully five centimeters
+taller than I am, and he weighs close to a hundred kilograms&mdash;and no
+lard, either. He's wild, impetuous, always jumping at conclusions and
+working out theories that seem absolutely ridiculous, but they're
+usually sound, even though impractical. Westfall's the practical
+member&mdash;he makes Norm pipe down, pins him down to facts, and makes it
+possible to put his hunches and wild flashes of genius into workable
+form. Quince is a...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now <i>you</i> pipe down! I've heard you rave <i>so</i> much about those two&mdash;I'd
+lots rather rave about you, and with more reason. I wish that sounder
+would start sounding."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our first message hasn't gone half way yet. It takes about forty
+minutes for the impulse to get to where I think they are, so that even
+if they got the first one and answered it instantly, it would be eighty
+minutes before we'd get it. I sort of expect an answer late tonight, but
+I won't be disappointed if it takes a week to locate them."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will!" declared the girl, and indeed, very little work was done that
+day by either of the castaways.
+</p>
+<p>
+Slowly the day wore on, and the receiving sounder remained silent.
+Supper was eaten as the sun dropped low and disappeared, but they felt
+no desire to sleep. Instead, they went out in front of the steel wall,
+where Stevens built a small campfire. Leaning back against the wall of
+their vessel, they fell into companionable silence, which was suddenly
+broken by Stevens.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nadia, I just had a thought. I'll bet four dollars I've wasted a lot of
+time. They'll certainly have automatic relays on Tellus, to save me the
+trouble of hunting for them, but like an idiot I never thought of it
+until just this minute, in spite of the speech I made you about them.
+I'm going to change those directors right now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's quite a job, isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, only a few minutes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do it in the morning; you've done enough for one day&mdash;maybe you've hit
+them already, any way."
+</p>
+<p>
+They again became silent, watching Jupiter, an enormous moon some seven
+degrees in apparent diameter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Steve, I simply can't get used to such a prodigious moon! Look at the
+stripes, and look at that perfectly incredible...."
+</p>
+<p>
+A gong sounded and they both jumped to their feet and raced madly into
+the <i>Hope</i>. The ultra-receiver had come to life and the sounder was
+chattering insanely&mdash;someone was sending with terrific speed, but with
+perfect definition and spacing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's Brandon's fist&mdash;I'd know his style anywhere," Stevens shouted,
+as he seized notebook and pencil.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tell me what it says, quick, Steve!" Nadia implored.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't talk&mdash;read it!" Stevens snapped. His hand was flying over the
+paper, racing to keep up with the screaming sounder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"...ymede all x stevens ganymede all x stevens ganymede all x placing
+and will keep sirius on plane between you and tellus circle fifteen
+forty north going tellus first send full data spreading beam to
+cover circle fifteen forty quince suggests possibility this message
+intercepted and translated personally I think such translation
+impossible and that he is wilder than a hawk but just in case they
+should be supernaturally intelligent...."
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens stopped abruptly and stared at the vociferous sounder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't stop to listen&mdash;keep on writing!" commanded Nadia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't," replied the puzzled mathematician. "It doesn't make sense. It
+sounds intelligent&mdash;it's made up of real symbols of some kind or other,
+but they don't mean a thing to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I see&mdash;he's sending mush on purpose. Read the last phrase!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, sure&mdash;'mush' is right," and with no perceptible break the signals
+again became intelligible.
+</p>
+<p>
+"... if they can translate that they are better scholars than we are
+signing off until hear from you brandon."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">he</span> sounder died abruptly into silence and Nadia sobbed convulsively
+as she threw herself into Stevens' arms. The long strain over, the
+terrible uncertainty at last dispelled, they were both incoherent for
+a minute&mdash;Nadia glorifying the exploits of her lover, Stevens crediting
+the girl herself and his two fellow-scientists with whatever success had
+been achieved. A measure of self-control regained, Stevens cut off his
+automatic sender, changed the adjustments of his directors and cut in
+his manually operated sending key.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What waves are you using, anyway?" asked Nadia, curiously. "They must
+be even more penetrating than Roeser's Rays, to have such a range, and
+Roeser's Rays go right through a planet without even slowing up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're of the same order as Roeser's&mdash;that is, they're sub-electronic
+waves of the fourth order&mdash;but they're very much shorter, and hence more
+penetrating. In fact, they're the shortest waves yet known, so short
+that Roeser never even suspected their existence."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose there's a Jovian space-ship out there somewhere that intercepts
+our beams. Couldn't they locate us from it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe, and maybe not&mdash;we'll just have to take a chance on that. That
+goes right back to what we were talking about this morning. They might
+be anywhere, so the chance of hitting one is very small. It isn't like
+hitting the <i>Sirius</i>, because we knew within pretty narrow limits where
+to look for her, and even at that we had to hunt for her for half a day
+before we hit her. We're probably safe, but even if they should have
+located us, we'll probably be able to hide somewhere until the <i>Sirius</i>
+gets here. Well, the quicker I get busy sending the dope, the sooner
+they can get started."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tell them to be sure and bring me all my clothes they can find,
+a gallon of perfume, a barrel of powder, and a carload of Delray's
+Fantasie chocolates&mdash;I've been a savage so long that I want to wallow
+in luxury for a while."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll do that&mdash;and I want some real cigarettes!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens first sent a terse, but complete account of everything that had
+happened to the <i>Arcturus</i>, and a brief summary of what he and Nadia
+had done since the cutting up of the IPV. The narrative finished, he
+launched into a prolonged and detailed scientific discussion of the
+enemy and their offensive and defensive weapons. He dwelt precisely and
+at length upon the functioning of everything he had seen. Though during
+the long months of their isolation he had been too busy to do any actual
+work upon the weapons of the supposed Jovians, yet his keen mind had
+evolved many mathematical and physical deductions, hypotheses, and
+theories, and these he sent out to the <i>Sirius</i>, concluding:
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's all the dope I can give you. Figure it out, and don't come at
+all until you can come loaded for bear; they're bad medicine. Call us
+occasionally, to keep us informed as to when to expect you, but don't
+call too often. We don't want them locating you, and if they should
+locate us through your ray or ours, it would be just too bad. So-long.
+Stevens and Newton."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nadia had insisted upon staying up and had been brewing pot after pot
+of her substitutes for coffee while he sat at the key; and it was
+almost daylight when he finally shut off the power and arose, his
+right arm practically paralyzed from the unaccustomed strain of hours
+of telegraphing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, sweetheart, that's that!" he exclaimed in relief. "Brandon and
+Westfall are on the job. Nothing to do now but wait, and study up on our
+own account on those Jovians' rays. This has been one long day for us,
+though, little ace, and I suggest that we sleep for about a week!"
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0008" id="h2HCH0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VIII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    Callisto to the Rescue
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span><span class="up">ll</span> humanity of Callisto, the fourth major satellite of Jupiter,
+had for many years been waging a desperate and apparently hopeless
+defense against invading hordes of six-limbed beings. Every city and
+town had long since been reduced to level fields of lava by the rays
+of the invaders. Every building and every trace of human civilization
+had long since disappeared from the surface of the satellite. Far
+below the surface lay the city of Zbardk, the largest of the few
+remaining strongholds of the human race. At one portal of the city a
+torpedo-shaped, stubby-winged rocket plane rested in the carriage of a
+catapult. Near it the captain addressed briefly the six men normally
+composing his crew.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Men, you already know that our cruise today is not an ordinary patrol.
+We are to go to One, there to destroy a base of the hexans. We have
+perhaps one chance in ten thousand of returning. Therefore I am taking
+only one man&mdash;barely enough to operate the plane. Volunteers step one
+pace forward."
+</p>
+<p>
+The six stepped forward as one man, and a smile came over the worn
+face of their leader as he watched them draw lots for the privilege of
+accompanying him to probable death. The two men entered the body of the
+torpedo, sealed the openings and waited.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Free exits?" snapped the Captain of the Portal, and twelve keen-eyed
+observers studied minutely screens and instrument panels connected to
+the powerful automatic lookout stations beneath the rims of the widely
+separated volcanic craters from which their craft could issue into
+Callisto's somber night.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No hexan radiation can be detected from Exit Eight," came the report.
+The Captain of the Portal raised an arm in warning, threw in the guides,
+and the two passengers were hurled violently backward, deep into their
+cushioned seats, as the catapult shot their plane down the runway. As
+the catapult's force was spent automatic trips upon the undercarriage
+actuated the propelling rockets and mile after mile, with rapidly
+mounting velocity, the plane sped through the tube. As the exit was
+approached, the tunnel described a long vertical curve, so that when the
+opening into the shaft of the crater was reached and the undercarriage
+was automatically detached, the vessel was projected almost vertically
+upward. Such was its velocity and so powerful was the liquid propellant
+of its rocket motors, that the eye could not follow the flight of the
+warship as it tore through the thin layer of the atmosphere and hurled
+itself out into the depths of space.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did we get away?" asked the captain, hands upon his controls and eyes
+upon his moving chart of space.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe so, sir," answered the other officer, at the screens of the
+six periscopic devices which covered the full sphere of vision. "No
+reports from the rim, and all screens blank." Once more a vessel had
+issued from the jealously secret city of Zbardk without betraying its
+existence to the hated and feared hexans.
+</p>
+<p>
+For a time the terrific rocket motors continued the deafening roar of
+their continuous explosions, then, the desired velocity having been
+attained, they were cut out and for hours the good ship "Bzark" hurtled
+on through the void at an enormous but constant speed toward the distant
+world of One, which it was destined never to reach.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Czuv! Hexan radiation, coordinates twenty two, fourteen, area
+six!" cried the observer, and the commander swung his own telescopic
+finder into the indicated region. His hands played over course and
+distance plotters for a brief minute, and he stared at his results in
+astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I never heard of a hexan traveling that way before," he frowned.
+"Constant negative acceleration and in a straight line. He must think
+that we have been cleared out of the ether. Almost parallel to us and
+not much faster&mdash;even at this long range, it is an easy kill unless
+he starts dodging, as usual."
+</p>
+<p>
+As he spoke, he snapped a switch and from a port under the starboard
+wing there shot out into space a small package of concentrated
+destruction&mdash;a rocket-propelled, radio-controlled torpedo. The rockets
+of the tiny missile were flaming, but that flame was visible only from
+the rear and no radio beam was upon it. Czuv had given it precisely the
+direction and acceleration necessary to make it meet the hexan sphere
+in central impact, provided that sphere maintained its course and
+acceleration unchanged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shall I direct the torpedo in the case the hexan shifts?" asked the
+officer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think not. They can, of course, detect any wave at almost any
+distance, and at the first sign of radioactivity they would locate and
+destroy the bomb. They also, in all probability, would destroy us. I
+would not hesitate to attack them on that account alone, but we must
+remember that we are upon a more important mission than attacking one
+hexan ship. We are far out of range of their electromagnetic detectors,
+and our torpedo will have such a velocity that they will have no time to
+protect themselves against it after detection. Unless they shift in the
+next few seconds, they are lost. This is the most perfect shot I ever
+had at one of them, but one shot is all I dare risk&mdash;we must not betray
+ourselves."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">C</span><span class="up">ourse</span>, lookout, and rank forgotten, the little crew of two stared
+into the narrow field of vision, set at its maximum magnification. The
+instruments showed that the enemy vessel was staying upon its original
+course. Very soon the torpedo came within range of the detectors of the
+hexans. But as Captain Czuv had foretold, the detection was a fraction
+of a second too late, rapidly as their screens responded, and the two
+men of Zbardk uttered together a short, fierce cry of joy as a brilliant
+flash of light announced the annihilation of the hexan vessel.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But hold!" The observer stared into his screen. "Upon that same line,
+but now at constant velocity, there is still a very faint radiation,
+of a pattern I have never seen before."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think ... I believe ..." the captain was studying the pattern,
+puzzled. "It must be low frequency, low-tension electricity, which is
+never used, so far as I know. It may be some new engine of destruction,
+which the hexan was towing at such a distance that the explosion of our
+torpedo did not destroy it. Since there are no signs of hexan activity
+and since it will not take much fuel, we shall investigate that
+radiation."
+</p>
+<p>
+Tail and port-side rockets burst into roaring activity and soon the
+plane was cautiously approaching the mass of wreckage, which had been
+the IPV <i>Arcturus</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Human beings, although of some foreign species!" exclaimed the captain,
+as his vision-ray swept through the undamaged upper portion of the great
+liner and came to rest upon Captain King at his desk.
+</p>
+<p>
+Although the upper ultra-lights of the Terrestrial vessel had been
+cut away by the hexan plane of force, jury lights had been rigged,
+and the two commanders were soon trying to communicate with each
+other. Intelligible conversation was, of course, impossible, but King
+soon realized that the visitors were not enemies. At their pantomimed
+suggestion he put on a space-suit and wafted himself over to the airlock
+of the Callistonian warplane. Inside the central compartment, the
+strangers placed over his helmet a heavily wired harness, and he found
+himself instantly in full mental communication with the Callistonian
+commander. For several minutes they stood silent, exchanging thoughts
+with a rapidity impossible in any language; then, dressed in
+space-suits, both leaped lightly across the narrow gap into the still
+open outer lock of the terrestrial liner. King watched Czuv narrowly
+after the pressure began to collapse his suit, but the stranger made
+no sign of distress. He had been right in his assurance that the extra
+pressure would scarcely inconvenience him. King tore off his helmet,
+issued a brief order, and soon every speaker in the <i>Arcturus</i>
+announced:
+</p>
+<p>
+"All passengers and all members of the crew except lookouts on duty will
+assemble immediately in Saloon Three to discuss a possible immediate
+rescue."
+</p>
+<p>
+The subject being one of paramount interest, it was a matter of minutes
+until the full complement of two hundred men and women were in the main
+saloon, clinging to hastily rigged hand lines, closely packed before the
+raised platform upon which were King and Czuv, wired together with the
+peculiar Callistonian harness. To most of the passengers, familiar with
+the humanity of three planets, the appearance of the stranger brought
+no surprise; but many of them stared in undisguised amazement at his
+childish body, his pale, almost colorless skin, his small, weak legs and
+arms, and his massive head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ladies and gentlemen!" Captain King opened the meeting. "I introduce to
+you Captain Czuv, of the scout cruiser <i>Bzarvk</i>, of the only human race
+now living upon the fourth large satellite of Jupiter, which satellite
+we know as Callisto. I am avoiding their own names as much as possible,
+because they are almost unpronounceable in English or Interplanetarian.
+This device that you see connecting us is a Callistonian thought
+transformer, by means of which any two intelligent beings can converse
+without language. Our situation is peculiar, and in order that you may
+understand fully what lies ahead of us, the captain will now speak to
+you, through me&mdash;that is, what follows will be spoken by Captain Czuv,
+of the <i>Bzarvk</i>, but he will be using my vocal organs."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Friends from distant Tellus," King's voice went on, almost without a
+break, "I greet you. I am glad, for your sake as well as our own, that
+your vessel was able to destroy the hexan ship holding you captive, and
+whose crew would have killed you all as soon as they had landed your
+vessel and had read your minds. I regret bitterly that we can do so
+little for you, for only the representatives of a human civilization
+being exterminated by a race of highly intelligent monsters can fully
+realize how desirable it is for all the various races of humanity to
+assist and support each other. In order that you may understand the
+situation, it is necessary that I delve at some length into ancient
+history, but we have ample time. In about ..." he broke off, realizing
+that the two races had no thought in common in the measure of time.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One-half time of rotation of Great Planet upon axis?" flashed from
+Czuv's brain, and "About five hours," King's mind flashed back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It will be about five hours before any steps can be taken, so that I
+feel justified in using a brief period for explanation. In the evolution
+of the various forms of life upon Callisto, two genera developed
+intelligence far ahead of all others. One genus was the human, as you
+and I; the other the hexan. This creature, happily unknown to you of the
+planets nearer our common sun, is the product of an entirely different
+evolution. It is a six-limbed animal, with a brain equal to our own&mdash;one
+perhaps in some ways superior to our own. They have nothing in common
+with humanity, however; they have few of our traits and fewer of our
+mental processes. Even we who have fought them so long can scarcely
+comprehend the chambers of horror that are their minds. Even were I able
+to paint a sufficiently vivid picture with words, you of Earth could not
+begin to understand their utter ruthlessness and inhumanity, even among
+themselves. You would believe that I was lying, or that my viewpoint was
+warped. I can say only that I hope most sincerely that none of you will
+ever get better acquainted with them."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"A</span><span class="up">ges</span> ago, then, the human and the hexan developed upon all four of the
+major satellites of the Great Planet, which you know as Jupiter, and
+upon the north polar region of Jupiter itself. By what means the two
+races came into being upon worlds so widely separated in space we know
+not&mdash;we only know it to be the fact. Human life, however, could not long
+endure upon Jupiter. The various human races, after many attempts to
+meet conditions of life there by variations in type fell before the
+hexans; who, although very small in size upon the planet, thrived there
+amazingly. Upon the three outer satellites humanity triumphed, and many
+hundreds of cycles ago the hexans of those satellites were wiped out,
+save for an occasional tribe of savages of low intelligence who lived in
+various undesirable portions of the three worlds. For ages then there
+was peace upon Callisto. Here is the picture at that time&mdash;upon Jupiter
+the hexans; upon Io hexans and humans, waging a ceaseless and relentless
+war of mutual extermination; upon the three outer satellites humanity in
+undisturbed and unthreatened peace. Five worlds, each ignorant of life
+upon any other.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As I have said, the hexans of Jupiter were, and are, diabolically
+intelligent. Driven probably by their desire to see what lay beyond
+their atmosphere of eternal cloud, to the penetration of which their
+eyesight was attuned, they developed the space-ship; and effected a
+safe landing, first upon the barren, airless moonlet nearest them, and
+then upon fruitful Io. There they made common cause with the hexans
+against the humans, and in space of time Ionian humanity ceased to exist.
+Much traffic and interbreeding followed between the hexans of Jupiter
+and those of Io, resulting in time in a race intermediate in size
+between the parent stocks and equally at home in the widely variant air
+pressures and gravities of planet and satellite. Soon their astronomical
+instruments revealed the cities of Europa to their gaze, and as soon
+as they discovered that the civilization of Europa was human, they
+destroyed it utterly, with the insatiable blood lust that is their
+heritage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the meantime the human civilizations of Ganymede and Callisto had
+also developed instruments of power. Observing the cities upon the other
+satellites, many scientists studied intensively the problem of space
+navigation, and finally there was some commerce between the two outer
+satellites at favorable times. Finally, vessels were also sent to Io
+and to Europa, but none of them returned. Knowing then what to expect,
+Ganymede and Callisto joined forces and prepared for war. But our
+science, so long attuned to the arts of peace, had fallen behind
+lamentably in the devising of more and ever more deadly instruments
+of destruction. Ganymede fell, and in her fall we read our own doom.
+Abandoning our cities, we built anew underground. Profiting from lessons
+learned full bloodily upon Ganymede, we resolved to prolong the
+existence of the human race as long as possible.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The hexans were, and are masters of the physical science. They
+command the spectrum in a way undreamed of. Their detectors reveal
+etheric disturbances at unbelievable distances, and they have at their
+beck and call forces of staggering magnitude. Therefore in our cities
+is no electricity save that which is wired, shielded, and grounded;
+no broadcast radio; no source whatever of etheric disturbances save
+light&mdash;and our walls are fields of force which we believe to be
+impenetrable to any searching frequency capable of being generated.
+Now I am able to picture to you the present.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are the last representatives of the human race in the Jovian
+planetary system. Our every trace upon the surface has been obliterated.
+We are hiding in our holes in the ground, coming out at night by stealth
+so that our burrows shall not be revealed to the hexans. We are fighting
+for time in which our scientists may learn the secrets of power&mdash;and
+fearing, each new day, that the enemy may have so perfected their
+systems of rays that they will be able to detect us and destroy us, even
+in our underground and heavily shielded retreats, by means of forces
+even more incomprehensible than those they are now employing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Therefore, friends, you see how little we are able to do for you, we
+a race fighting for our very existence and doomed to extinction save
+for a miracle. We cannot take you to Callisto, for it is besieged by the
+hexans and the driving forces of your lifeboats, practically broadcast
+as they are, would be detected and we should all be destroyed long
+before we could reach safety. Captain King and I have pondered long and
+have been able to see only one course of action. We are drifting at
+constant velocity, using no power, and with all save the most vitally
+necessary machinery at rest. Thus only may we hope to avoid detection
+during the next two hours.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Our present course will take us very close to Europa, which the hexans
+believe to be like Ganymede, entirely devoid of civilized life. Its
+original humanity was totally destroyed, and all its civilized hexans
+are finding shelter from our torpedoes upon Jupiter until we of Callisto
+shall likewise have been annihilated. The temperature of Europa will
+suit you. Its atmosphere, while less dense than that to which you are
+accustomed, will adequately support your life. If we are not detected
+in the course of the next few hours we can probably land upon Europa in
+safety, since its neighborhood is guarded but loosely. In fact, we have
+a city there, as yet unsuspected by the hexans, in which our scientists
+will continue to labor after Callisto's civilization shall have
+disappeared. We think that it will be safe to use your power for the
+short time necessary to effect a landing. We shall land in a cavern,
+in a crater already in communication with our city. In that cavern,
+instructed and aided by some of us, you will build a rocket vessel&mdash;no
+rays can be used because of the hexans&mdash;in which you will be able to
+travel to a region close enough to your earth so that you can call for
+help. You will not be able to carry enough fuel to land there&mdash;in fact,
+nearly all the journey will have to be made without power, traveling
+freely in a highly elongated orbit around the sun&mdash;but if you escape the
+hexans, you should be able to reach home safely, in time. It is for the
+consideration of this plan that this meeting has been called."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"J</span><span class="up">ust</span> one question," Breckenridge spoke. "The hexans are intelligent.
+Why are they leaving Europa and Ganymede so unguarded that human beings
+can move back there and that we can land there, all undetected?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will answer that question myself," replied King. "Captain Czuv did
+not quite do justice to his own people. It is true that they are being
+conquered, but for every human life that is taken, a thousand hexans
+die, and for every human ship that is lost, twenty hexan vessels are
+annihilated in return. While the hexans are masters of rays, the
+humans are equally masters of explosives and of mechanisms. They can
+hit a perfect score upon any target in free space whose course and
+acceleration can be determined, at any range up to five thousand
+kilometers, and they have explosives thousands of times as powerful as
+any known to us. Ray screens are effective only against rays, and the
+hexans cannot destroy anything they cannot see before it strikes them.
+So it is that all the hexan vessels except those necessary to protect
+their own strongholds, are being concentrated against Callisto. They
+cannot spare vessels to guard uselessly the abandoned satellites.
+Because of the enormously high gravity of Jupiter the hexans there are
+safe from human attack save for ineffectual long-range bombardment, but
+Io is being attacked constantly and it is probable that in a few more
+years Io also will be an abandoned world. Some of you may have received
+the impressions that the hexans are to triumph immediately, but such an
+idea is wrong. The humans can, and will, hold out for a hundred years or
+more unless the enemy perfects a destructive ray of the type referred
+to. Even then, I think that our human cousins will hold out a long time.
+They are able men, fighters all, and their underground cities are
+beautifully protected."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was little argument. Most of the auditors could understand that
+the suggested course was the best one possible. The remainder were
+so stunned by the unbelievable events of the attack that they had no
+initiative, but were willing to follow wherever the more valiant spirits
+led. It was decided that no attempt should be made to salvage any
+portion of the <i>Arcturus</i>, since any such attempt would be fraught with
+danger and since the wreckage would be of little value. The new vessel
+was to be rocket driven and was to be built of Callistonian alloys.
+Personal belongings were moved into lifeboats, doors were closed, and
+there ensued a painful period of waiting and suspense.
+</p>
+<p>
+The stated hour was reached without event&mdash;no hexan scout had come
+close enough to them to detect the low-tension radiation of the vital
+machinery of the <i>Arcturus</i>, cut as it was to the irreducible minimum
+and quite effectively grounded as it was by the enormous mass of her
+shielding armor. At a signal from Captain Czuv the pilot of each
+lifeboat shot his tiny craft out into space and took his allotted place
+in the formation following closely behind the <i>Bzarvk</i>, flying toward
+Europa, now so large in the field of vision that she resembled more a
+world than a moon. Captain King, in the Callistonian vessel, transmitted
+to Breckenridge the route and flight data given him by the navigator of
+the winged craft. The chief pilot, flying "point," in turn relayed more
+detailed instructions to the less experienced pilots of the other
+lifeboats.
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon the surface of Europa lay beneath them; a rugged, cratered, and
+torn topography of mighty ranges of volcanic mountains. Most of the
+craters were cold and lifeless; but here and there a plume of smoke
+and steam betrayed the presence of vast, quiescent forces. Straight
+down one of those gigantic lifeless shafts the fleet of space craft
+dropped&mdash;straight down a full two miles before the landing signal was
+given. At the bottom of the shaft a section of the rocky wall swung
+aside, revealing the yawning black mouth of a horizontal tunnel. At
+intervals upon its roof there winked into being almost invisible points
+of light. Along that line of lights the lifeboats felt their way, coming
+finally into a huge cavern, against one sheer metal wall of which they
+parked in an orderly row. Roll was called, and the terrestrials walked,
+as well as they could in the feeble gravity of the satellite, across the
+vast chamber and into a conveyance somewhat resembling a railway coach,
+which darted away as soon as the doors were shut. For hundreds of miles
+that strange tunnel extended, and as the car shot along door after door
+of natural rock opened before it, and closed as soon as it had sped
+through. In spite of the high velocity of the vehicle, it required
+almost two hours to complete the journey. Finally, however, it slowed
+to a halt and the Terrestrial visitors disembarked at a portal of the
+Europan city of the Callistonians.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Attention!" barked Captain King. "The name of this city, as nearly as
+I can come to it in English, is <i>WRUZK</i>. 'Roosk' comes fairly close to
+it and is easier to pronounce. We must finish our trip in small cars,
+holding ten persons each. We shall assemble again in the building in
+which we have been assigned quarters. The driver of each car will lead
+his passengers to the council room in which we shall meet."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, what's the use&mdash;this is horrible, horrible&mdash;we might as well die!"
+a nervous woman shrieked, and fainted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Such a feeling is, perhaps, natural," King went on, after the woman had
+been revived and quiet had been restored, "but please control it as much
+as possible. We are alive and well, and will be able to return to Tellus
+eventually. Please remember that these people are putting themselves
+to much trouble and inconvenience to help us, desperate as their own
+situation is, and conduct yourselves accordingly."
+</p>
+<p>
+The rebuke had its effect, and with no further protest the company
+boarded the small cars, which shot through an opening in the wall and
+into a street of that strange subterranean city. Breckenridge, in the
+last car to leave the portal, studied his surroundings with interest as
+his conveyance darted through the gateway. More or less a fatalist by
+nature and an adventurer, of course, since no other type existed among
+the older spacehounds of the IPC, he was intensely interested in every
+new phase of their experience, and was no whit dismayed or frightened.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">H</span><span class="up">e</span> found himself seated in a narrow canoe of metal, immediately behind
+the pilot, who sat at a small control panel in the bow. Propelled by
+electromagnetic fields above a single rail, upon lightly touching and
+noiseless wheels, the terrestrial pilot saw with keen appreciation the
+manner in which switch after switch ahead of them obeyed the impulses
+sent ahead from the speeding car. The streets were narrow and filled
+with monorails; pedestrians pursued their courses upon walks attached
+to the walls of the buildings, far above the level of the streets. The
+walls were themselves peculiar, rising as they did stark, unbroken,
+windowless expanses of metal, merging into and supporting a massive
+roof of the same silvery metal. Walls and roof alike reflected a soft,
+yet intense, white light. Soon a sliding switch ahead of them shot in
+and simultaneously an opening appeared in the blank metal wall of a
+building. Through the opening the street-car flew, and as the pilot
+slowed the canoe to a halt, the door slid smoothly shut behind them.
+Parking the car beside a row of its fellows, the Callistonian driver
+indicated that the Terrestrials were to follow him and led the way into
+a large hall. There the others from the <i>Arcturus</i> were assembled,
+facing Captain King, who was standing upon a table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fellow travelers," King addressed them, "our course of action has
+been decided. There are two hundred three of us. There will be twenty
+sections of ten persons, each section being in charge of one of the
+officers of the <i>Arcturus</i>. Doctor Penfield, our surgeon, a man whose
+intelligence, fairness, and integrity are unquestioned, will be in
+supreme command. His power and authority will be absolute, limited only
+by the Callistonian Council. He will work in harmony with the engineer,
+who is to direct the entire project of building the new vessel. Each of
+you will be expected to do whatever he can&mdash;the work you will be asked
+to do will be well within your powers, and you will each have ample
+leisure for recreation, study, and amusement, of all of which you will
+find unsuspected stores in this underground community. You will each
+be registered and studied by physicians, surgeons, and psychologists;
+and each of you will have prescribed for him the exact diet that is
+necessary for his best development. You will find this diet somewhat
+monotonous, compared to our normal fare of natural products, since it
+is wholly synthetic; but that is one of the minor drawbacks that must
+be endured. Chief Pilot Breckenridge and I will not be with you. In
+some small and partial recompense for what they are doing for us all,
+he and I are going with Captain Czuv to Callisto, there to see whether
+or not we can aid them in any way in the fight against the hexans. One
+last word&mdash;Doctor Penfield's rulings will be the products of his own
+well-ordered mind after consultation and agreement with the Council of
+this city, and will be for the best good of all. I do not anticipate any
+refusal to cooperate with him. If, however, such refusal should occur,
+please remember that he is a despot with absolute power, and that anyone
+obstructing the program by refusing to follow his suggestions will spend
+the rest of his time here in confinement and will go back to Tellus in
+irons, if at all. In case Chief Pilot Breckenridge and I should not see
+you again, we bid you goodbye and wish you a safe voyage&mdash;but we expect
+to go back with you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Brief farewells were said and captain and pilot accompanied Czuv to one
+of the little street-cars. Out of the building it dashed and down the
+crowded but noiseless thoroughfare to the portal. Signal lights flashed
+briefly there and they did not stop, but tore on through the portal and
+the tunnel, with increasing speed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't have to transfer to a big car, then?" asked Breckenridge.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No," King made answer. "Small cars can travel these tubes as well as
+the large ones, and on much less power. In the city the wheels touch
+the rails lightly, not for support, but to make contacts through which
+traffic signals are sent and received. In the tunnels the wheels do
+not touch at all, as signaling is unnecessary&mdash;the tunnels being used
+infrequently and by but one vehicle at a time. No trolleys, tracks, or
+wires are visible, you notice. Everything is hidden from any possible
+visiray of the hexans."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How about their power?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't understand it very well&mdash;hardly at all, in fact."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is quite simple." To the surprise of both Terrestrials, Czuv was
+speaking English, but with a strong and very peculiar accent; slighting
+all the vowels and accenting heavily the consonant sounds. "The car no
+longer requires my attention, so I am now free to converse. You are
+surprised at my knowing your language? You will speak mine after a few
+more applications of the thought exchanger. I am speaking with a vile
+accent, of course, but that is merely because my vocal organs are
+not accustomed to making vowel sounds. Our power is obtained by the
+combustion of gases in highly efficient turbines. It is transmitted and
+used as direct current, our generator and motors being so constructed
+that they can produce no etheric disturbances capable of penetrating
+the shielding walls of our city. The city was built close to deposits
+of coal, oil, and gas of sufficient amount to support our life for
+thousands of years; for from these deposits come power, food, clothing,
+and all the other necessities and luxuries of our lives. Strong fans
+draw air from various extinct craters, force it through ventilating
+ducts into every room and recess of the city, and exhaust it into the
+shaft of a quiescent volcano, in whose gaseous outflow any trace of our
+activities is, of course, imperceptible. For obvious reasons no rockets
+or combustion motors are used in the city proper."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">hus</span> Captain Czuv explained to the Terrestrials his own mode of life,
+and received from them in turn full information concerning Earthly life,
+activity, and science. Long they talked, and it was almost time to slow
+down for the journey's end when the Callistonian brought the conversation
+back to their immediate concerns.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My lieutenant and I were upon a mission of some importance, but it is
+more important to take you to Callisto, for there may be many things
+in which you can help us. Not in rays&mdash;we know all the vibrations you
+have mentioned and several others. The enemy, however, is supreme
+in that field, and until our scientists have succeeded in developing
+ray-screens, such as are used by the hexans, it would be suicidal to
+use rays at all. Such screens necessitate the projection of pure, yet
+dirigible, forces&mdash;you do not have them upon your planet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, and so far as I know such screens are also unknown upon Mars and
+Venus, with whose inhabitants we are friendly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The inhabitants of all the planets should be friendly; the solar
+system should be linked together in intercourse for common advancement.
+But that is not to be. The hexans will eventually triumph here, and a
+Jovian system peopled by hexans will have no intercourse with any human
+civilization save that of internecine war. We, of Callisto, have only
+one hope&mdash;or is it really a hope? In the South Polar country of Jupiter,
+there dwells a race of beings implacably hostile to the hexans. They
+seem to invade the country of the hexans frequently, even though they
+are apparently repulsed each time. Our emissaries to the South Polar
+country, however, have never returned&mdash;those beings, whatever they
+are, if not actively inimical, certainly are not friendly toward us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know nothing of their nature?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing, since our electrical instruments are not sufficiently
+sensitive to give us more than a general idea of what is transpiring
+there, and vision is practically useless in that eternal fog. We know,
+however, that they are far advanced in science, and we are thankful
+indeed that none of their frightful flying fortresses have been launched
+against us. They apparently are not interested in the satellites, and it
+is no doubt due to their unintentional assistance that we have survived
+as long as we have."
+</p>
+<p>
+In the cavern at last, the three men boarded the Callistonian
+space-plane and were shot up the crater's shaft. The voyage to
+Callisto was uneventful, even uninteresting save at its termination.
+The <i>Bzarvk</i>, coated every inch as it was with a dull, dead black,
+completely absorptive outer coating, entered the thin layer of
+Callisto's atmosphere in darkest night, with all rockets dead, with not
+a light showing, and with no apparatus of any kind functioning. Utterly
+invisible and undetectable, she dove downward, and not until she was
+well below the crater's rim did the forward rockets burst into furious
+life. Then the Terrestrials understood another reason for the immense
+depth of those shafts other than that of protection from the detectors
+of the enemy&mdash;all that distance was necessary to overcome the velocity
+of their free fall without employing a negative acceleration greater
+than the frail Callistonian bodies could endure. From the cavern at the
+foot of the shaft, a regulation tunnel extended to the Callistonian city
+of Zbardk. Portal and city were very like Wruszk, upon distant Europa,
+and soon the terrestrial captain and pilot were in conference with the
+Council of Callisto.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">M</span><span class="up">onths</span> of Earthly time dragged slowly past, months during which King and
+Breckenridge studied intensively the offensive and defensive systems
+of Callisto without finding any particular in which they could improve
+them to any considerable degree. Captain Czuv and his warplane still
+survived, and it was while the Callistonian commander was visiting his
+terrestrial guests, that King voiced the discontent that had long
+affected both men.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We're both tired of doing nothing, Czuv. We have been of little real
+benefit, and we have decided that your ideas of us are all wrong. We are
+convinced that our personal horsepower can be of vastly more use to you
+than our brain-power, which doesn't amount to much. Your whole present
+policy is one of hiding and sniping. I think that I know why, but I want
+to be sure. Your vessels carry lots of fuel&mdash;why can the hexans outrun
+you?" Thus did King put his problem.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They can stand enormously higher accelerations than we can. The very
+strongest of us loses consciousness at an acceleration of twenty-five
+meters per second per second, no matter how he is braced, and that
+is only a little greater than the normal gravity of our enemies upon
+Jupiter. Their vessels at highest power develop an acceleration of
+thirty-five meters, and the hexans themselves can stand much more than
+even that high figure," replied Czuv.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought so. Assume that you traveled at forty-five. Would it disable
+you permanently, or would you recover as soon as it was lowered?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We would recover promptly, unless the exposure had been unduly
+prolonged. Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because," said King, "I can stand an acceleration of fifty-four meters
+for two hours, and Breckenridge here tests fifty two meters. I can
+navigate anything, and Breckenridge can observe as well as any of your
+own men. Build a plane to accelerate at forty-five meters and we will
+blow those hexans out of the ether. You will have to revive and do the
+shooting, however&mdash;your gunnery is entirely beyond us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is an idea of promise, and one that had not occurred to any of
+us," Czuv replied and work was begun at once upon the new flyer.
+</p>
+<p>
+When the super-plane was ready for its maiden voyage, its crew of three
+studied it as it lay in the catapult at the portal. Dead black as were
+all the warplanes, its body was twice as large as that of the ordinary
+vessel, its wings were even more stubby, and its accommodations had been
+cut to a minimum to make room for the enormous stores of fuel necessary
+to drive the greatly increased battery of rocket motors and for the
+extra supply of torpedoes carried. Waving to the group of soldiers and
+citizens gathered to witness the take-off of the new dreadnought of
+space, the three men entered the cramped operating compartment, strapped
+themselves into their seats, and were shot away. As usual the driving
+rockets were cut off well below the rim of the shaft, and the vessel
+rose in a long and graceful curve, invisible in the night. Such was its
+initial velocity and so slight was the force of gravity of the satellite
+that they were many hundreds of miles from the exit before they began to
+descend, and Breckenridge studied his screens narrowly for signs of
+hexan activity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you want to try one of your long-range shots when we find one of
+them?" the pilot asked Czuv.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, it would be useless. Between deflection by air-currents and the
+dodging of the enemy vessels, our effective range is shortened to a few
+kilometers, and their beams are deadly at that distance. No, our best
+course is to follow the original plan&mdash;to lure them out into space at
+uniform acceleration, where we can destroy them easily."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Right," and Breckenridge turned to King, who was frowning at his
+controls. "How does she work on a dead stick, Chief?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maneuverability about minus ten at this speed and in this air.
+She'd have to have at least fifteen hundred kilometers an hour to be
+responsive out here. See anything yet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not yet ... wait a minute! Yes, there's one now&mdash;P-12 on area five.
+Give us all the X10 and W27 you can, without using power&mdash;we want to
+edge over close enough so that she can't help but see us when we start
+the rockets."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Be sure and stay well out of range. I'm giving her all she'll take, but
+she won't take much. With these wings she has the gliding angle of a
+kitchen sink."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x&mdash;I'm watching the range, close. Wish we had instruments like
+these on the IPV's. We'll have to install some when we get back. All x!
+Give her the gun&mdash;level and dead ahead!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Half the battery of rockets burst into their stuttering, explosive roar
+of power and the vessel darted away in headlong flight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He sees us and is after us&mdash;turn her straight up!"
+</p>
+<p>
+A searing, coruscating finger of flame leaped toward them, but their
+calculations had been sound&mdash;the hexan was harmless at that extreme
+range. King, under the pilot's direction, kept the plane at a safe
+distance from the sphere while the satellite grew smaller and smaller
+behind them and Czuv lapsed quietly into unconsciousness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's been out for quite a while. Far enough?" asked King.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x now, I guess&mdash;don't believe they can see the flash from here.
+Cut!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The rockets died abruptly and a blast from the side ports threw
+the plane out of the beam&mdash;and once out of it, beyond range of the
+electromagnetic detectors as they were their coating of absolute black
+rendered the craft safe from observation. One dirigible rocket remained
+in action, its exhaust hidden from the enemy by the body of the vessel,
+and Captain Czuv soon recovered his senses.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wonderful, gentlemen!" he exclaimed, as he manipulated the delicate
+controls of his gunnery panel. "This is the first time in history that
+a Callistonian vessel has escaped from a hexan by speed alone."
+</p>
+<p>
+An instantaneously extinguished flare of incandescence marked the
+passing of the hexan sphere into nothingness, and the cruiser shot back
+toward Callisto in search of more prey. It was all too plentiful, and
+twenty times the drama was reenacted before approaching day made it
+necessary for Czuv to take the controls and dive the vessel into the
+westermost landing-shaft of Zbardk. A rousing and enthusiastic welcome
+awaited them, and joy spread rapidly when their success became known.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now we know what to do, and we had better do it immediately, before
+they get our system figured out and increase their own power." King
+reported to the Council. "You might send a couple of ships to Europa and
+bring back as many of the Tellurian officers as want to come and can be
+spared from the work there. They all test above forty-five meters, and
+they can learn this stuff in short order. While they're coming, your
+engineers can be building more ships like this one."
+</p>
+<p>
+The new vessel did not make another voyage until nine sister ships
+were ready and manned, each with two Terrestrial officers and one
+Callistonian gunner. All ten took to the ether at once, and the hexan
+fleet melted away like frost-crystals before a summer sun. A few weeks
+of carnage and destruction and not a hexan was within range of the
+detectors of Callisto&mdash;they were gone!
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is the first time in years that Callisto's air has been free of
+the hexans," Czuv said, thoughtfully. "With your help we have reduced
+their strength to a fraction of what it was, but they have not given up.
+They will return, with a higher acceleration than even you Terrestrials,
+powerful as you are, can stand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly they will, but you will be no worse off than you were
+before&mdash;you can return to your own highly effective tactics."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are infinitely better off for your help. You have given us a new
+lease on life...."
+</p>
+<p>
+He broke off as a flaring light sprang into being upon the portal board
+and the observer of Exit One made his report&mdash;there was a hexan vessel
+in the air, location 425 over VJ-42.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's one left! Let us get him! No, he's ours!" Confused shouts arose
+from the bull-pen; but the original superplane was at the top of the
+call-board and accordingly King, Breckenridge, and Czuv embarked upon
+an expedition more hazardous far than they had supposed&mdash;an expedition
+whose every feature was relayed to those in the portal by the automatic
+lookouts upon the rims and which was ended before a single supporting
+Callistonian plane could be launched.
+</p>
+<p>
+For the enemy vessel was not the last of the low-powered hexan vessels,
+as everyone had supposed&mdash;it was the first of the high-powered craft,
+arriving long before its appearance was expected. Before its terrific
+acceleration and savage onslaught, the superplane might as well have
+been stationary and unarmed. After his long dive downward, King could
+not even leave the atmosphere&mdash;the hexan was upon them within a few
+seconds, even though the stupendous battery of rockets, full driven,
+had roared almost instantly into desperate action. Bomb after bomb
+Breckenridge hurled, with full radio control, fighting with every
+resource at his command, but in vain. The frightful torpedoes were
+annihilated in mid-flight; and nose, tail-assembly, and wings were
+sheared neatly from the warplane by a sizzling plane of force. Side
+rockets and torpedo tubes were likewise sliced away and the helpless
+body of the Callistonian cruiser, falling like a plummet, was caught and
+held by a tractor ray. Captor and captive settled toward the ground.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is a signal honor," observed Captain Czuv when he had revived. "It
+has been many, many cycles since they have taken Callistonians captive.
+They kill us at every opportunity. Is it your custom to destroy
+yourselves in a situation such as this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is not. While we live there is hope."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not ours. Unless they have made enormous strides in psychological
+mechanisms, they cannot tear from our minds any secrets we really wish
+to keep. That is useless," he went on, as King lifted a hand-weapon.
+"You will have no opportunity whatever to use it," and he was right.
+</p>
+<p>
+A searing beam of energy drove them out of the vessel, then
+electromagnetic waves burned every metallic object out of their
+possession. Burning rays herded them into the hexan sphere and into
+a small room, whose door clanged shut behind them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah, two are humans of a strange breed!" a snarling voice barked
+from the wall, in the Callistonian language. "Our deductions were
+accurate, as usual&mdash;it is to the humans of Planet Three, whose bodies
+are a trifle less puny than those of the humanity of the satellites,
+that we owe our recent reverses. However, those reverses were merely
+temporary&mdash;humanity, no matter what its breed, shall very shortly
+disappear from the satellites. Now, you scum of the Solar System, you
+shall be permitted to witness an entrancing spectacle on the way to our
+headquarters, where all your knowledge is to be taken from you before
+you die, lingeringly and horribly. There is a strange space-vessel
+nearing us probably searching for the one we took and which you dogs of
+Callisto must have been fortunate enough to take from us before we could
+study and kill its human cargo. Watch its destruction and cringe&mdash;and
+know, in your suffering, that the more you suffer, the greater shall be
+our enjoyment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe that," King acknowledged. As all three prisoners stared at
+the wall-screen, upon which was pictured a huge football of scarred grey
+steel, Czuv was amazed to see the faces of Breckenridge and King light
+up with fierce smiles of pleasure and anticipation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You dissemble well," remarked the Callistonian. "That will rob them of
+much pleasure."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They'll get robbed of more than that," King returned. "This is too
+good to keep, and since they cannot understand English, I'll tell you
+something. I told you about Stevens. He apparently wasn't killed, as
+we thought. He must have escaped, and there is the result. That ship
+there is far from innocent&mdash;her being so far out of range of any of our
+power-plants proves that. That vessel is the <i>Sirius</i>&mdash;the research
+laboratory of the IPC&mdash;the Inter-Planetary Corporation! It carries the
+greatest scientific minds of three of the inner planets, and it is
+loaded with pure poison or it wouldn't be here. Oh, you hexans, what you
+have got coming to you!"
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class="intro">
+<p>
+<i>Concluding a Thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel by
+Edward E. Smith, Ph.D.</i>
+</p>
+<p class="smallc">
+<i>Author of "Skylark of Space," and "Skylark Three"</i>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<h3>
+PART III
+</h3>
+
+<h1>
+Spacehounds of IPC
+</h1>
+
+<p class="quote">
+    <i><span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">he</span> question of rays&mdash;their expanding power for good and evil&mdash;is
+    receiving increasing attention from scientists. The x-ray has been
+    found to be very beneficial, given in certain quantities, but
+    extremely inimical to health, and even fatal, if too much exposure
+    is given. The powers of the cosmic rays have not been fully
+    discovered as yet. And there is no reason to doubt the theory that
+    there may be found still more destructive and powerful rays. Even
+    wars are becoming a more dangerous plaything for nations of our
+    world&mdash;to say nothing of other possible enemies from other parts
+    of our universe. Stevens and Nadia Newton meet with thrilling
+    experiences galore in this concluding instalment.</i>
+</p>
+
+<h3>
+What Went Before:
+</h3>
+
+<p class="quote">
+    <span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">he</span> Interplanetary Vessel <i>Arcturus</i> sets out for Mars, with
+    Breckenridge as chief pilot, carrying on board, besides its
+    regular crew and some passengers, the famous Dr. Stevens,
+    designer of space ships and computer. He checks computations
+    made by astronomers stationed in floating observatories, and
+    after he has located any trouble and suggests a plan for
+    minimizing the hazards of the trip from the earth to Mars he
+    reports his findings and suggestions to Mr. Newton, chief of
+    the Interplanetary Corporation.
+</p>
+<p class="quote">
+    Stevens then takes Nadia, Mr. Newton's beautiful young daughter,
+    on a specially conducted sight-seeing tour of the <i>Arcturus</i>
+    and thoroughly explains to her all of the works of the vessel.
+    Nadia has herself had a good science education. While they
+    are down at the bottom of the ship&mdash;nearing the end of their
+    tour&mdash;Stevens feels a barely perceptible movement of the vessel
+    from its course. When he turns on the visiplate, he is horrified
+    to find that a mysterious ray of unparalleled power has neatly
+    sliced the <i>Arcturus</i> in several places.
+</p>
+<p class="quote">
+    Nadia and Stevens are completely separated from the rest of the
+    crew and passengers of the ship, so they get into a lifeboat,
+    which is equipped for a limited amount of space travel. Despite
+    the strict and apparently effective vigilance of the enemy
+    destroyer, Stevens and Nadia make their getaway in the lifeboat,
+    which they aptly call "Forlorn Hope," and finally make a safe
+    landing on Ganymede, where Stevens almost completes a power-plant
+    and a radio transmitter, to enable him to communicate with the
+    earth or with the IPV <i>Sirius</i>, which is used by Westfall and
+    Brandon (two of the world's best scientists) as a floating
+    laboratory.
+</p>
+<p class="quote">
+    They start for Cantrell's Comet, where Stevens acquires the
+    necessary material for his giant transmitting tube, heads back
+    to Ganymede, when their ship is cut, top and bottom, by a strong
+    ray-beam. Stevens and Nadia soon find that the other ship is
+    manned by friendly beings from Saturn. Together they plan against
+    their common foes&mdash;the Hexans&mdash;who are enemies of the universe.
+    After helping the Saturnians to repair their power plant, they
+    start back to Ganymede, aided by their new friends from the
+    frigid civilization. Finally, however, Stevens succeeds in
+    connecting, by radio, with the <i>Sirius</i> and his scientist friends
+    on board it, who rush to the aid of the two castaways. It is
+    while the castaways are captives of the Hexans that help looms
+    near.
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0009" id="h2HCH0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IX
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    The <i>Sirius</i> Takes a Hand
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">he</span> <i>Sirius</i> loafed along through the ether at normal acceleration
+just outside the orbit of Mars and a million miles north of the
+ecliptic plane. In the control room, which had been transformed into a
+bewilderingly complete laboratory, Norman Brandon strode up and down,
+waving his arms, his unruly black hair on end, addressing savagely his
+friend and fellow-scientist, who sat unmoved and at ease.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For cat's sake, Quince, let's get busy! They're outside somewhere,
+since the police have scoured every cubic kilometer within range of
+the power plants without finding a trace of them. We've got the power
+question licked right now&mdash;with these fields we can draw sixty thousand
+kilofranks from cosmic radiation, which is lots more than we'll ever
+need. We haven't drawn a frank from a plant in a month, and we've had to
+cut our field strength down to a whisper to keep from burning out our
+accumulators. We can hunt as far as Neptune easy&mdash;we can go to Alpha
+Centauri if we want to. This thing of piffling and monkeying around
+here's pulling my cork, and for the ten thousand four hundred and sixty
+seventh time I say <i>let's prowl</i> and <i>prowl now</i>! In fact, I'm getting
+so sick of sticking around doing nothing that I'm going out anyway, if
+I have to go alone in a lifeboat!"
+</p>
+
+<a name="image-0003"><!--IMG--></a>
+<div class="figure">
+<a href="images/ill-03.jpg"><img src="images/ill-03-t.jpg" alt="The flying fortresses were finally wrenched from the ground and hurled upward." /></a>
+<br />
+<i>The flying fortresses were finally wrenched from the
+ground and hurled upward.</i>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Impetuous and violent as Brandon had always been, never before had he
+gone to such lengths as to suggest a disruption of the partnership;
+and Westfall, knowing that Brandon, in his most violent moments, never
+threatened idly, thought long before he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will not go alone, of course. If you insist upon going without
+further preparation I will go too, no matter how foolish I think such
+a course to be. We have power, it is true, but in all other respects we
+are in no condition to meet an opponent having command of such resources
+as must certainly be possessed by those who attacked the <i>Arcturus</i>.
+Our detectors are inefficient, our system of vision is crude, to say
+the least, and many other things are still in the experimental stage.
+We have not the slightest idea whom or what we may encounter. It is all
+too probable that we would simply be throwing away uselessly the lives of
+more good men. It is also foolish from a general viewpoint, for as you
+already know, we and our assistants happen to be in better position to
+study these things than is any one else at the present time. However,
+I will compromise with you. We can learn much in a month if you will
+really try, instead of wasting time in fuming around the ship and
+indulging in these idiotic tantrums. If you will buckle down and really
+study the problems confronting us for thirty days, we will set out at
+the end of that time, ready or not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x. I hate to do it, but we've been together too long to bust it
+up now," and Brandon turned toward his bench. Scarcely had he reached
+it when a series of dots and dashes roared from an amplifier. Both men
+leaped for the receiver which had so unexpectedly burst into sound,
+reaching it just as it relapsed into silence, and from the tape of the
+recorder they read the brief message.
+</p>
+<p>
+"...h four seven ganymede point oh four seve...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's Steve!" yelled Brandon. "Nobody else could build an
+ultra-sender! Direction?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No need of calculating distance or direction. Ganymede is the third
+major satellite of Jupiter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure. Of course, Quince&mdash;never thought of that. Dope enough&mdash;point oh
+four seven."
+</p>
+<p>
+As Stevens had told Nadia, the message was completely informing to those
+for whom it was intended, and soon Brandon's answer was flying toward
+the distant satellite. He then started to call the officers of the
+Interplanetary Corporation, but was restrained by his conservative
+friend.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would be better to wait a while, Norman. In a few hours we will know
+what to tell them."
+</p>
+<p>
+At high acceleration the <i>Sirius</i> drove toward the Jupiter-Earth-North
+plane, and Brandon calculated from his own bearings and from the current
+issue of the "Ephemeris" the time at which Stevens' reply should be
+received. Two minutes before that time he was pacing up and down in
+front of the ultra-receiver, and fifteen seconds after it he snapped:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come on, Perce, get busy! Shake a leg!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, come, Norman; give him a few minutes' leeway, at least," said
+Westfall, with amused tolerance. "Even if your calculations are that
+accurate&mdash;which of course they are," he added hastily at a stormy glance
+from hot black eyes, "since we received that message direct, instead of
+through one of our relay stations, Stevens probably has been throwing
+it around for hours or perhaps days, looking for us, and the shock of
+hearing from us at last might well have put him out of control for a
+minute or two."
+</p>
+<p>
+The carrier wave hissed into the receiver, forestalling Brandon's fiery
+reply, followed closely by the code signals they had been expecting. As
+soon as the story had been told, and while Brandon was absorbed in the
+scientific addenda of Stevens, Westfall thoughtfully called up Newton,
+Nadia's father.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nadia is alive, free, safe, well, and happy," he shot out without
+preliminary or greeting, as soon as the now lined features of the
+director showed upon the communicator screen, and the careworn
+countenance smoothed magically into the keen face of the fighting Newton
+of old, as Westfall recounted rapidly the tale of the castaways.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They apparently have not suffered in any way," he concluded. "All that
+Stevens wants is some cigarettes, and your daughter's needs, while
+somewhat more numerous than his, seem to be only clothes, powder,
+perfume, and candy. Therefore we need not worry about them. The fate of
+the others is still unknown, but there seems to be a slight possibility
+that some of them may yet be rescued. You may release as much or as
+little of this story as may seem desirable. Stevens is still sending
+data of a highly technical nature. We shall arrive there at 21:32 next
+Tuesday."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">I</span><span class="up">n</span> due time the message from Ganymede ended and Brandon, with many pages
+of his notebook crammed with figures and equations, snapped off the
+power of the receiver and turned to his bench. Gone was the storming,
+impetuous rebel; his body was ruled solely by the precise and insatiable
+brain of the research scientist.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's great, that kid Perce! When I see him, I'm going to kiss him
+on both cheeks. He's got enough dope on them to hang them higher than
+Franklin's kite, and we'll nail those jaspers to the cross or I'm a
+polyp! He's crazier than a loon in most of his hunches, but he's filled
+four of our biggest gaps. There is such a thing, as a ray-screen, you
+kill-joy, and there are also lifting or tractor rays&mdash;two things I've
+been trying to dope out and that you've been giving me the Bronx cheer
+on. The Titanians have had a tractor ray for ages&mdash;he sent me complete
+dope on it&mdash;and the Jovians have got them both. We'll have them in three
+days, and it ought to be fairly simple to dope out the opposite of a
+tractor, too&mdash;a pusher or presser beam. Say, round up the gang, will
+you, while I'm licking some of this stuff into shape for you to tear
+apart? Where are Venus and Mars? Um ... m ... m. Tell Alcantro and
+Fedanzo to come over here pronto&mdash;give 'em a special if necessary. We'll
+pick up Dol Kenor and Pyraz Amonar on the way&mdash;no, get them to Tellus,
+too. Then we'll get action quicker. Those four are all I want&mdash;get
+anybody else you want to come along."
+</p>
+<p>
+His hands playing over the keys of an enormous calculating machine,
+Brandon was instantly immersed in a profound mathematico-physical
+problem; deaf and blind to everything about him. Westfall, knowing well
+that far-reaching results would follow Brandon's characteristic attack,
+sat down at the controls of the communicator. He first called Mars, the
+home planet of Alcantro and Fedanzo, the foremost force-field experts of
+three planets; and was assured in no uncertain terms that those rulers
+of rays were ready and anxious to follow wherever Brandon and Westfall
+might lead. Thence to Venus, where Dol Kenor, the electrical wizard,
+and Pyraz Amonar, the master of mechanism, also readily agreed to
+accompany the expedition. He then called the General-in-Chief of the
+Interplanetary Police, requesting a detail of two hundred picked men
+for the hazardous venture. These most important calls out of the way,
+he was busy for over an hour giving long-distance instructions so that
+everything would be in readiness for the servicing of the immense
+space-cruiser the following Tuesday night.
+</p>
+<p>
+Having guarded against everything his cautious and far-seeing mind
+could envisage, he went over to Brandon's desk and sat down, smoking
+contemplatively until the idea had been roughed out in mathematical
+terms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here's the rough draft of the ray screen, Quince. We generate a blanket
+frequency, impressed upon the ultra carrier wave. That's old stuff, of
+course. Here's the novelty, in equation 59. With two fields of force,
+set up from data 27 to 43, it will be possible actually to project a
+pure force of such a nature that it will react to de-heterodyne the
+blanketing frequency at any predetermined distance. That, of course,
+sets up a barrier against any frequency of the blanketed band.
+Incidentally, an extension of the same idea will enable us to see
+anywhere we want to look&mdash;calculate a retransmitting field."
+</p>
+<p>
+"One thing at a time, please. That screen may be possible, but
+those fields will never generate it. Look at datum 31, in which your
+assumptions are unsound. In order to make any solution at all possible
+you have assumed cosine squared theta negligible. Mathematically, it is
+of course vanishingly small compared to the first power of the cosine,
+but fields of that type must be <i>exact</i>, and your neglect of the square
+is indefensible. Since you cannot integrate with the squared term in
+place, your whole solution fails."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not necessarily. We'll go back to 29, and put in sine squared theta
+minus one equal to z sub four. That gives us a coversed sine in 30,
+and then we integrate...."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus the argument raged, and all the assistants whose work was not
+too pressing gathered around unobtrusively, for it was from just such
+fierce discussions as this that the ultra-radio and other epoch-making
+discoveries had come into being. Yard after yard of calculator paper
+was filled with equations and computations. Weirdly shaped curves
+were drawn, with arguments at every point&mdash;arguments hot and violent
+from Brandon, from Westfall cold and precise, backed by lightning
+calculations and with facts and diagrams culled from the many abstruse
+works of reference, which by this time literally covered the bench and
+overflowed upon the floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was in this work that the strikingly different temperaments and
+abilities of the two scientists were revealed. Brandon never stood
+still, but walked around jerkily, chewing savagely the stem of an
+ancient and reeking pipe, gesticulating vigorously, the while his keen
+and agile mind was finding a way over, around, or through the apparently
+insuperable obstacles which beset their path; by means of mathematical
+and physical improvisations, which no one not inspired by sheer genius
+could have evolved. Westfall, seated quietly at the calculator,
+mercilessly shredded Brandon's theories to ribbons, pointing out their
+many flaws with his cold, incisive reasoning and with rapid calculations
+of the many factors involved. Then Brandon would find a remedy for each
+weakness in turn and, when Westfall could no longer find a single flaw
+in the structure, they would toss the completed problem upon a table
+and attack the next one with unabated zeal. Brandon, in his light
+remark that the two made one real scientist, had far understated
+the case&mdash;those two brains, each so powerful and each so perfectly
+complementing the other, comprised the master-scientist who was to
+revolutionize science completely in a few short years.
+</p>
+<p>
+To such good purpose did they labor that the calculations were
+practically finished by the time they reached the earth. There the ship
+was serviced with a celerity that spoke volumes for the importance of
+her mission&mdash;even the <i>Aldebaran</i>, the dazzlingly gold-plated queen of
+the fleet, waited unattended and disregarded on minus time while the
+entire force of the Interplanetary Corporation concentrated upon the
+battle-scarred old hulk of the <i>Sirius</i>. Brandon was surprised when he
+saw the two companies of police, but characteristically accepted without
+question the wisdom of any decision of his friend, and cordially greeted
+Inspector-General Crowninshield, only a year or so older than himself,
+but already in charge of a Division.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Keen-looking bunch, Crown. Lot of different outfits&mdash;volunteers for
+special duty from the whole Tellurian force?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes. Everybody wanted to go, and there threatened to be trouble over
+the selection, so we picked the highest ratings from the whole Service.
+If there ever was such a thing as a picked force, we shall have it
+with us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What d'you mean, 'us'? You aren't going, are you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Try to keep me from it! The names of all five of us I-G's were put in
+a hat, and I was lucky."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, you may come in handy, at that," Brandon conceded. "And here's
+the big boss himself. Hi, Chief!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ho, Brandon! Ho, Westfall!" Newton, Chairman of the Board of Directors
+of the IPC, shook hands with the two scientists. "Your Martians and
+Venerians are in Lounge Fifteen. I suppose that you have a lot of things
+to thrash out, so you may as well start now. Everything is being
+attended to&mdash;I'll take charge now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You going along, too?" asked Brandon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Going along, <i>too</i>? I'm <i>running</i> this cruise!" Newton declared. "I may
+take advice from you on some things and from Crowninshield on others,
+but I am in charge!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x&mdash;it's a relief, at that," and Brandon and Westfall went to join
+their fellow-scientists in the designated room of the space-cruiser.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">W</span><span class="up">hat</span> a contrast was there as the representatives of three worlds
+met! All six men were of the same original stock or of a similar
+evolution&mdash;science has not, even yet, decided the question definitely.
+Their minds were very much alike, but their respective environments had
+so variantly developed their bodily structures that to outward seeming
+they had but little in common.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through countless thousands of generations the Martians had become
+acclimated to a planet having little air, less water, and characterized
+by abrupt transitions from searing heat to bitter cold: from
+blinding light to almost impenetrable darkness. Eight feet tall
+and correspondingly massive, they could barely stand against the
+gravitational force of the Earth, almost three times as great as that
+of Mars, but the two Martian scientists struggled to their feet as the
+Terrestrials entered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As you were, fellows&mdash;lie down again and take it easy." Brandon
+suggested in the common Interplanetarian tongue. "We'll be away from
+here very soon, then we can ease off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We greet our friends standing as long as we can stand," and, towering
+a full two feet above Brandon's own six-feet-two, Alcantro and Fedanzo
+in turn engulfed his comparatively tiny hand in a thick-shelled paw
+and lifted briefly the inner lids of quadruply-shielded eyes. For the
+Martian skin is not like ours. It is of incredible thickness; dry,
+pliable, rubbery, and utterly without sensation: heavily lined with
+fat and filled throughout its volume with tiny air-cells which make
+it an almost perfect non-conductor of heat and which prevent absolutely
+the evaporation of the precious moisture of the body. For the same
+reasons their huge and cat-like eyes are never exposed, but look
+through sealed, clear windows of membrane, over which may be drawn at
+will one or all of four pairs of lids&mdash;lids transparent, insensible,
+non-freezable, air-spaced insulators. Even the air they exhale carries
+from their bodies a minimum of the all-important heat and moisture,
+for the passages of their nostrils do not lead directly to the lungs,
+as do ours. They are merely the intakes for a tortuous system of
+tubes comprising a veritable heat-exchanger, so that the air finally
+expelled is in almost perfect equilibrium with the incoming supply
+in temperature and in moisture content. A grayish tan in color, naked
+and hairless&mdash;though now, out of deference to Terrestrial conventions,
+wearing light robes of silk&mdash;indifferent alike to any extreme of heat or
+cold, light or darkness: such were the two forbidding beings who arose
+to greet their Terrestrial friends, then again reclined.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose that you have been given to drink?" Westfall made sure that
+they had been tendered the highest hospitality of Mars.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have drunk full deeply, thanks; and it was not really necessary,
+for we drank scarcely three weeks ago."
+</p>
+<p>
+Brandon and Westfall turned then and greeted the two Venerians,
+as different from the Martians as they were from the Terrestrials.
+Of earthly stature, form, and strength, yet each was encased in a
+space-suit stretched like a drum-head, and would live therein or in
+the special Venerian rooms of the vessel as long as the journey should
+endure. For the atmosphere of Venus is more than twice as dense as ours,
+is practically saturated with water-vapor, carries an extremely high
+concentration of carbon dioxide, and in their suits and rooms is held
+at a temperature of one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit. The lenses
+of their helmets were of heavy, yellowish-red composition, protecting
+their dead-white skins and red eyes from all actinic rays&mdash;for the
+Venerian lives upon the bottom of an everlasting sea of fog and his
+thin epidermis, utterly without pigmentation, burns and blisters as
+frightfully at the least exposure to actinic light as does ours at
+the touch of a red-hot iron.
+</p>
+<p>
+Out in space at last, cruising idly with the acceleration set at a point
+bearable for the Martians, Westfall called the meeting to order and
+outlined the situation facing them. Brandon then handed around folios of
+papers, upon which the Venerians turned the invisible infra-red beams of
+the illuminators upon their helmets, thus flooding them with the "light"
+to which their retinas were most responsive.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here's the data," Brandon began. "As you see from Sheet 1, we can
+already draw any amount of power we shall need from cosmic radiation
+alone...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perpetual motion&mdash;ridiculous!" snapped from the sending disk upon the
+helmet of the master of mechanism.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at all, Amonar," put in his fellow Venerian, "any more than
+a turbo-generator at the foot of a waterfall is perpetual motion.
+Those radiations originate we know not where, probably as a result
+of intra-atomic reactions. The fields of force of our hosts merely
+intercept these radiations, as a water-driven turbine intercepts the
+water. We merely use a portion of their energy before permitting
+them to go on, to we know not what end. Truly you have made a notable
+achievement in science, Tellurian friends, and we congratulate you upon
+its accomplishment. Please proceed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Upon the following sheets are described the forces employed by the
+Jovians, as we shall call them until we find out who or what they really
+are. We will discuss these forces later. For each force we have already
+calculated a screen, and we have also calculated various other forces of
+our own, with which we hope to arm ourselves before we reach Ganymede.
+The problems facing us are complex, since there are some nine thousand
+forcebands of the order in which we are working, each differing from all
+the others as much as torque differs from tension, or as much as red
+differs from green. Therefore we have appealed to you for help, knowing
+that we could do but little alone. Alcantro and Fedanzo will supervise
+the construction of the generators of the various fields from these
+calculations. Dol Kenor will correlate power and electricity to and
+with the fields. Westfall and I will help work out the theoretical
+difficulties as they arise. Pyraz Amonar, who can devise and build a
+machine to perform any conceivable mechanical task, will help us all
+in the many mechanical difficulties we shall certainly encounter.
+Discussion of any point is now in order."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">S</span><span class="up">tep</span> by step and equation after equation the calculations and plans
+were gone over, until every detail was clear in each mind. Then the men
+bent to their tasks; behind them not only the extraordinarily complete
+facilities of that gigantic workshop which was the <i>Sirius</i>; but also
+the full power of the detachment of police&mdash;the very cream of the young
+manhood of the planet. Week after toilsome week the unremitting labor
+went on, and little by little the massive cruiser of the void became
+endowed with an offensive and defensive armament incredible. An armament
+conceived in the fertile and daring brain of a sheer genius, guided only
+by the knowledge that such things were already in existence somewhere;
+reduced to working theory by a precise, mathematical logician;
+translated into fields of force by the greatest known experts; powered
+by the indefatigable efforts of an electrical wizard; made possible by
+the artful mechanical devices of the greatest inventor that three worlds
+had ever known! Thus it was that they approached Ganymede, ready, with
+blanketing screens full out, save for one narrow working band, and
+with a keen-eyed observer at every plate. When even the hyper-critical
+Westfall was convinced that their preparations were as complete as they
+could be made with the limited information at hand, Brandon directed a
+beam upon the satellite and tapped off a brief message:
+</p>
+<p>
+"stevens ganymede will arrive in about ten hours direct carrier beam
+toward sun we can detect it and will follow it to wherever you are
+sirius."
+</p>
+<p>
+"ipv sirius," came the reply, "everything here, all x glad to see you
+thanks newton and stevens."
+</p>
+<p>
+Brandon, at the controls, scanning his screens narrowly, dropped the
+vessel down to within a mile or two of the point of origin of Stevens'
+carrier beam without incident; then spoke to Westfall, at his side, with
+a grin.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nice layout the kid's got down there, Quince. It's too bad&mdash;don't look
+like we're going to get any action for our money a-tall. 'Sa shame,
+too&mdash;what's the use of wasting it, now that we've got it all made?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are not done yet," cautioned Westfall, and even as he spoke an alarm
+bell burst into strident clamor&mdash;one of their far-flung detector screens
+was telling the world that it had encountered a dangerous frequency.
+The new ultra-lights flared instantly along the line automatically laid
+down by the detector, and upon the closely ruled micrometer screen of
+Brandon's desk there glowed in natural color the image of a globular
+space-ship, approaching them with terrific speed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Men all stationed, of course, Crown?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Stationed and ready." Crowninshield, phones at his ears and microphone
+at his lips, was staring intently into his own plate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Kinda think I'll do most of it from here, but you can't always tell. If
+they get inside my guard you all know what to do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x."
+</p>
+<p>
+Expecting another such hollow victory as the other Hexan vessel had won
+over the defenseless <i>Arcturus</i>, the small stranger flashed nearer and
+nearer that huge and featureless football of armor steel. Within range,
+she launched her flaming plane of energy, but this time that Jovian
+sheet of force did not encounter unprotected and non-resisting steel.
+Upon the outer ray-screen, flaming white into incandescent defense,
+the furious bolt spent itself, and in the instant of the launching of
+the searing blade of flame, Brandon had gone into action. Switch after
+switch drove home, and one after another those frightful fields of
+force, those products of the mightiest minds of three planets, were
+hurled out against the tiny Jovian sphere. Driven as they were by the
+millions upon millions of horsepower stored in the accumulators of the
+<i>Sirius</i> they formed a coruscating spherical shell of intolerable energy
+all around the enemy vessel, but even their prodigious force was held
+at bay by the powerful defensive screens of the smaller space-ship.
+But attack the Jovian could not, every resource at her command being
+necessary to fend off the terrific counter-attack of her intended prey,
+and she turned in flight. Small and agile as she was, the enormous
+mass of the <i>Sirius</i> precluded any possibility of maneuvering with
+the Jovian, but Brandon had no intention of maneuvering. Rapid as
+the motions of the stranger were and frantic as was her dodging, the
+terrific forces of the tractor beams of the Interplanetary Vessel
+held her in an unbreakable grip, and although she dragged the massive
+<i>Sirius</i> hither and thither, she could not escape.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hm ... m ... m," mused Brandon. "We seem to be getting nowhere fast.
+How much power we using, Mac, and how much have we got coming in?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Output eighty-five thousand kilofranks," replied MacDonald, the first
+assistant. "Intake forty-nine thousand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so good&mdash;can't hold out forever at that rate. Shove out the
+receptor screens to the limit and drive 'em. They figure a top of sixty
+thousand, but we ought to pick up a little extra from that blaze out
+there. Drive 'em full out or up to sixty-five, whichever comes first.
+Can't seem to crush his screens, so I guess we'll have to try something
+else," and a thoughtful expression came over his face as he slowly
+extended his hand toward another switch, with a questioning glance at
+Westfall.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Better not do that yet, Norman. Use that only as a last resort, after
+everything else has failed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yeah&mdash;I'm scared to death of trying it, and it isn't necessary yet. He
+must have an open slit somewhere to work through, just as we have. I'll
+feel around for it a while."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is there any way of hetrodyning the new visiray upon the exploring
+frequency?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hm ... m.... Never thought of that&mdash;it would be nice, too....
+I think we can do it, too. Watch 'em, Quince, and holler if they start
+anything."
+</p>
+<p>
+He abandoned his desk and established the necessary connections between
+the visiray apparatus and the controls of his board. There was a fierce
+violet-white glare from the plate as he closed the switch, and he leaped
+back with his hands over his eyes, temporarily blinded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wow, that's hot stuff!" he exclaimed. "It works, all x, to the queen's
+taste," as he donned his heavy ray-goggles and resumed his place.
+</p>
+<p>
+After making certain that the visiray was precisely synchronized and
+phased with the searching frequency, he built up the power of that
+beam until it was using twenty thousand kilofranks. Then, by delicately
+manipulating the variable condensers and inductances of his sensitive
+shunting relay circuits, he slowly shifted that frightful rod of energy
+from frequency to frequency, staring into the brilliant blankness of his
+micrometer screen as he did so. After a few minutes of search the screen
+darkened somewhat, revealing the image of the Jovian globe. Brandon
+instantly shifted into that one channel the entire power of his attack;
+steadying the controls to bring the sphere of the Jovians into the
+sharpest possible focus, knowing that he had found the open slit and
+that through it there was pouring upon the enemy the full power of his
+terrible weapon.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the fraction of a second before the Jovians could detect the attack
+and close the slit, he saw a portion of the wall of their vessel flare
+into white heat and literally explode outward in puffs and gouts of
+flaming, molten metal and of incandescent gases. But the thrust, savage
+as it was, had not been fatal and the enemy countered instantly. Now
+that the crushing force of the full-coverage attack was lessened for a
+moment, through another slit there poured a beam of energy equal to the
+Terrestrials' own&mdash;a beam of such intense power that the outer screen
+of the <i>Sirius</i> flared from red through the spectrum, to and beyond the
+violet, and went black in less than a second, and the inner screen had
+almost gone down before Brandon's lightning hands could restore the
+complete coverage that so effectively blanketed the forces of the enemy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, we're back to the <i>status quo</i>," announced Brandon, calmly. "It's
+a good gag they didn't have time to locate our working slit&mdash;if they had
+pushed that stuff through our open channel, we'd have gotten frizzled up
+some around the edges. As it was, we got the edge on that exchange&mdash;take
+it from your Uncle Dudley, Quince, that bird knows that he's been
+nudged!"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span><span class="up">gain</span> he searched the entire band for an opening, but could find none.
+The enemy had apparently retired into a tightly closed shell of energy.
+The small vessel no longer struggled, nor even moved, but was merely
+resisting passively.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not an open channel, not even one for him to work through&mdash;he can't
+wiggle. Well, that won't get him anything. We're so much bigger than
+he is, that we can outlast him and will get him some time, since he's
+bound to run out of power before we do. I don't believe he can receive
+anything, sealed up as he is, and he can't have accumulators enough more
+efficient than ours to make up the difference, can he, Quince?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is quite possible. For instance, although we have never heard of any
+progress being made along such lines, it has been pointed out repeatedly
+that synthesis of a radio-active element of very high atomic weight
+would theoretically yield an almost perfect accumulator&mdash;one many
+thousands of times as efficient as ours in mass-to-energy ratio. Then,
+too, you realize, of course, that there is a bare possibility that
+intra-atomic energy may not be absolutely impossible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nix on that, Quince. I'll stand for a lot, but not for that last idea!
+It's hard to say that anything's impossible, of course, except things
+made so by definition or by being contrary to observational facts, but
+the best work shows that intra-atomic energy is just about as impossible
+as anything can well be. It has been shown pretty conclusively that all
+ordinary matter is already in its most stable state, so that work must
+be done upon any ordinary atom to decompose it. Besides, if he had
+either radioactive accumulators or intra-atomic energy, he would have
+cut us up long ago. Nope, the answer is that he's probably yelled for
+help and is trying to hold out until it gets here," was Brandon's
+rejoinder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What can we do about it?" asked Quince.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't know yet. I do know, though, that we aren't half as ready for
+trouble as I thought we were. There's a dozen things I want to do that
+I can't because we haven't got the stuff. Don't say 'I told you so,'
+either&mdash;I know you did! You're the champion ground-and-lofty thinker of
+the century. Alcantro!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Round up the gang, will you, and figure me out a screen and a set of
+meters that will indicate an open band? We lose too much time feeling
+around anyhow, and we're too apt to take one on the chin while we're
+doing it. Also, you ought to make it so it'll shoot a jolt into the
+opening, while you're at it," said Brandon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We shall begin at once," and the massive Martian as he replied, stepped
+over to the calculating machine.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Quince, we can't do much to him this way&mdash;he's crawled into a
+hole and pulled the hole in after him. Gosh, I wish we had more stuff!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"After all, we have everything whose necessity and practicability could
+have been foreseen in the light of our information. We can, of course,
+go further."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You chirped it! But we can't let things ride this way or we'll get our
+hair singed. We'll have to decorate him with the grand slam, I guess."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, it seems as though the time for emergency measures has arrived."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Put everything on the center of the band?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is probably the best frequency to use in a case of this kind."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He can't control, so we'll push him down close to the ground before
+we go to work on him&mdash;so we don't have so far to fall if anything goes
+screwy with the works. Here's hoping nothing gives away!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Sirius</i>, almost against the flaming screens of the Jovian, and both
+vessels very close to the surface of the satellite, Brandon tested the
+power leads briefly, adjusted dials and coils, then touched the button
+which actuated the relays&mdash;relays which in turn drove home the gigantic
+switches that launched a fearsome and as yet untried weapon. Instantly
+released, the full seven hundred thousand kilofranks of their stupendous
+batteries of accumulators drove into the middle frequency of the
+attacking band, and Brandon's heart was in his mouth as he stared into
+the plate to see what would happen. He saw! Everything in the <i>Sirius</i>
+held fast, and under the impact of the inconceivable plane of force, the
+screens of the enemy vessel flared instantly into an even more intense
+incandescence and in that same fleeting instant went down, and all
+defenses vanished as the metal sphere fell apart into two halves, as
+would an apple under the full blow of a broad-axe.
+</p>
+<p>
+Brandon quickly shut off his power and stared in relief into the central
+compartment of the globular ship of space, now laid open, and saw there
+figures, one or two of which were moving weakly. As he looked, one of
+these feebly attempted to raise a peculiar, tubular something toward a
+helplessly fettered body. Even as Brandon snatched away the threatening
+weapon with a beam of force, he recognized the captive.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Great Cat, there's Breckenridge!" he gasped, and directed a lifting
+beam upon the bound and unconscious prisoner. Rapidly, but carefully, he
+was brought through the double airlock and into the control room, where
+his shackles were cut away and where he soon revived under vigorous and
+skilful treatment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Any more of you in there? Did I hit any of you with that beam?"
+demanded Brandon, intensely, as soon as Breckenridge showed signs of
+understanding.
+</p>
+<p>
+"King's in there somewhere, and there's a Callistonian human being that
+you mustn't kill," the chief pilot replied, weakly and with great effort
+in every word. "Don't believe that you hit anybody direct, but the shock
+was pretty bad." Having delivered his message, he lay back, exhausted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x. Crown, give me a squad...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not on your life!" barked the general. "This is my job and I'll do it
+myself. Your job is fighting the <i>Sirius</i>&mdash;stay with it!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not in seven thousand years&mdash;I'm in on this, too," Brandon protested,
+but was decisively overruled by Newton.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You belong right here at this board, since no one else can handle it
+the way you can. Stay here!" he commanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All right," grudgingly assented the physicist, and held the <i>Sirius</i>
+upright, with her needle-sharp stern buried a few feet deep in the
+ground.
+</p>
+<p>
+He watched the wreckage jealously while Crowninshield and forty helmeted
+men issued from the service door in the lower ultra-light compartment
+and advanced upon the two halves of the enemy vessel. As no hostile
+demonstrations ensued, scaling ladders were quickly placed and with
+weapons at the alert the police boarded the hemispheres, manacled the
+still helpless beings visible, and, after laying down a fog of
+stupefying gas, vanished into compartments beyond the metal partitions.
+After a short time they reappeared and climbed down the scaling ladders,
+carrying several inert forms, and Brandon spoke into his transmitter.
+</p>
+<p>
+"King all x, Crowninshield?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think so. Not being in the control room he was not as badly shocked
+by the passage of the beam as were Breckenridge and those you saw. The
+things in the other rooms were about ready to fight, so we gave them a
+little whiff of tritylamin, but Captain King will be as good as ever in
+a few minutes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fine business!" The police entered the <i>Sirius</i>, the service doors
+clanged shut, and Brandon turned to Westfall.
+</p>
+<p>
+"While they're coming up, I guess I'll pick up Perce and Miss Newton.
+We'd better get them aboard and beat it, while we're all in one piece!"
+</p>
+<p>
+But even before he could send out the exploring beam of his
+communicator, the voice of Stevens came from the receiver.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, Brandon and Westfall! We've watched the whole show.
+Congratulations, fellows! Welcome to Ganymede! You are in our
+valley&mdash;we're upstream from you about three hundred meters; just below
+the falls, on the meadow side."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x," Brandon acknowledged. "We saw you. Come on out where we can
+pick you up. We've got to get away from here, and get away fast!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll carry off the pieces of that ship, too, Quince&mdash;we may be able to
+get a lot of pointers from it," and Brandon swung mighty tractor beams
+upon the severed halves of the Jovian vessel, then extended a couple of
+smaller rays to meet the two little figures racing across the smooth
+green meadow toward the <i>Sirius</i>.
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0010" id="h2HCH0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER X
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    Among Friends at Last
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">he</span> time for the landing of the <i>Sirius</i> was drawing near, and the
+castaways upon Ganymede had donned their only suits of earthly clothing,
+instead of the makeshifts of mole-skin, canvas, and leather they had
+been wearing so long. Thorns and underbrush had pierced and torn their
+once natty outing costumes, and sparks and flying drops of molten metal
+from Stevens' first crude forges had burned in them many gaping holes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did the best I could with them, Steve, but they look pretty crumby,"
+Nadia wrinkled her nose as she studied the anything but invisible seams,
+darns, and staring patches everywhere so evident, both in her own
+apparel of gray silk and in the heavy whipcord clothing of her
+companion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You did a great job, considering what you had to work with," he
+reassured her. "Besides, who cares about a few patches? I feel a lot
+more civilized in my own clothes, don't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well ... yes," she admitted. "They're silk, anyway, even if they don't
+look like much, and I'm just reveling in the feel of them next to me
+after the horrible, rough, scratchy things I've been wearing. See
+anything yet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not yet." Stevens had been scanning the heavens with a pair of
+binoculars. "That doesn't mean much, though, as they'll be just about in
+the sun and they'll be coming like a scared dog. Might as well put away
+these glasses&mdash;we probably won't be able to see them until they're right
+on top of us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall we take with us?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't know&mdash;nothing, probably, since they must have a campaign already
+mapped out. I'd like to salvage a lot of this junk, but I'm afraid we
+won't be able to. I'm going to take my bow and arrows, though, aren't
+you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Absolutely! That's one thing that's better than anything I ever had on
+Earth. This bow of mine is perfect."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There they are! Three rousing cheers! Say, but that old hulk looks good
+to me!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Doesn't she, though!" cried Nadia, vibrant with excitement. "You know,
+Steve. I've hardly dared really to believe it until this very minute. Oh
+look! What's that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Sirius</i> had stopped in midair and they could see, far in the
+distance, the tiny sphere of the Jovians, rushing to the attack.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, how horrible!" cried the girl, her voice breaking. "I'm afraid,
+Steve...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You needn't be, ace. I've told you they won't go off half-cocked as
+long as Westfall is on the job. They're ready for anything, or they
+wouldn't be here&mdash;but just the same I wish that they had that Titanian
+mirror and a couple of those bombs!"
+</p>
+<p>
+In a moment more the Jovian plane of force was launched, the powerful
+ray-screens flared into white-hot, sparkling defense, and the battle was
+on. Held spell-bound as the castaways were by that spectacular duel, yet
+Stevens' trained mind warned him of the perils of their position.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Grab your bow and we'll beat it!" and he rapidly led her away from the
+steel structures to an open hillside, well away from any projection,
+tree, or sharp point of rock. "If that keeps up very long, we're going
+to see some real fireworks, and I don't know whether there will be
+enough left of our plant here to salvage or not. Everything is grounded,
+of course, but I don't believe that ordinary grounds will amount to much
+against what's coming."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What <i>are</i> you talking about?" demanded Nadia.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look!" he replied, pointing, and as he spoke, a terrific bolt of
+lightning launched itself from the incandescent screen of the Jovian
+vessel upon their slender ultra-radio tower, which subsided instantly
+into a confused mass of molten and twisted metal.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span><span class="up">s</span> the power of the beams was increased and as the combatants drew
+nearer and nearer the ground, the lightning display grew ever more
+violent. Well below the canyon as the warring vessels were, the
+power-plant and penstock did not suffer at all and only a few discharges
+struck the <i>Forlorn Hope</i>&mdash;discharges which were carried easily to
+ground by the enormous thickness of her armor&mdash;but every prominent
+object for hundreds of yards below the <i>Hope</i> was literally blasted out
+of existence. Radio tower, directors and fittings; trees, shrubs, sharp
+points of rock&mdash;all were struck again and again; fused, destroyed,
+utterly obliterated by the inconceivable energy being dissipated by
+those impregnable screens of force. Even almost flat upon the ground as
+the spectators were, each individual hair upon their heads strove
+fiercely to stand erect, so heavily charged was the very air. Stevens'
+arm was blue for days, such was Nadia's grip upon it, and she herself
+could scarcely breathe in that mighty arm's constriction&mdash;but each was
+conscious only of that incredibly violent struggle, of that duel to the
+death being waged there before their eyes with those frightful weapons,
+hitherto unknown to man. They saw the <i>Sirius</i> triumphant, and Stevens
+led the dancing girl back into their dwelling of steel.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Danger's all over now. Radio's gone, but we should fret a lot about
+that. It has done its stuff&mdash;we can use the communicators. And now,
+sweetheart, I'm going to kiss you&mdash;for the first time in seven
+lifetimes."
+</p>
+<p>
+Locked in each other's arms, they watched the scene until Stevens
+thought it time to send his message. Then, running hand in hand toward
+the huge space-cruiser, they were snatched apart and drawn up toward the
+double airlocks of the main entrance. Pressure gradually brought up to
+normal, they were ushered into the control room, where Nadia glanced
+around quickly and almost took her father off his feet by her
+tempestuous rush into his arms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, Daddy darling. I just knew you'd come along! I haven't seen
+you for a million years!" she exclaimed, rapturously. "And Bill,
+too&mdash;wonderful!" as she fervently embraced a young man wearing the
+uniform of a lieutenant of Interplanetary Police. "Ouch, Bill&mdash;you're
+breaking all my ribs!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, you cracked three of mine. Maybe you don't know how husky you
+are, but you've got a squeeze like a full grown boa constrictor!" He
+held her off at arms' length and studied her with admiration. "Gee,
+it's fine to see you again, Sis. You're looking great, too&mdash;I think
+I'll bring my girl out here to live. You always were a knockout, but
+now you're the loveliest thing I ever saw!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He made his way through the group surrounding Stevens, while Nadia and
+her father talked earnestly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm Bill Newton. Thanks," he said, simply, holding out his hand, which
+was taken in a bone-crushing grip.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bring him over here, Bill!" Nadia called before Stevens could find
+a reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know how to say anything, Stevens," the officer continued, in
+embarrassment, as the two men turned to obey the summons. "She's a good
+kid, and we think a lot of her. We'd about given her up. We.... She....
+Oh, rats, what's the use? You know what I mean. You're there, Stevens,
+like a...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Clam it, ace!" Stevens interrupted. "I get you, to nineteen decimals.
+And you don't half know just what a good kid she really is. She's the
+reason we're here&mdash;we were down pretty close to bed-rock for a while,
+she stood up when I wilted. She's got everything. She...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Clam it yourself, Steve! Don't believe a word of it, Dad and Bill.
+<i>Wilt</i>!" Nadia's voice dripped scorn. "Why, he di...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please!" Newton's voice was somewhat husky as he silenced the clamor of
+the three young people, all talking at once. "I will not embarrass you
+further by trying to say something that no words can express. You told
+me that you would take care of her, and I learn that you have done so."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did what I could, but most of the credit belongs to her, no matter
+what she says," Stevens insisted. "Anyway, sir, here she is; alive, well
+and ... unharmed," and his eyes bore unflinchingly the piercing gaze of
+the older man, who was reassured and pleased by what he read therein.
+"One thing I want to say right now, though, that may make you feel like
+canceling the welcome. I loved Nadia even before the <i>Arcturus</i> was
+attacked, and since then, coming to know her as I have, the feeling
+hasn't lessened any."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nadia has already told me all about you two," said her father, "and the
+welcome stands. If you could take care of her as well as you have done
+since you left the <i>Arcturus</i>, I have no doubt of your ability to take
+care of her for life. We have been examining the work you have done
+here, son, and the more I saw of it the more amazed I became that you
+could have succeeded as you did. We are deeply indebted.... Just a
+minute! There's my call&mdash;I'm wanted in Fifteen. I'll see you again
+directly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, Norm!" Stevens further relieved the surcharged atmosphere.
+"As soon as you and Quince can leave those controls come over and see us,
+will you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x&mdash;coming up!" sounded Brandon's deep and pleasant bass, and the
+two rescuers, who had tactfully avoided the family reunion, came over
+and greeted the third of their triumvirate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ho, Perce&mdash;you look fit." Brandon ran an expert hand over Stevens'
+arm and shoulder. "Looks as if he might last a round or two, doesn't
+he, Quince?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are looking fine, Steve. Neither of you appear any the worse for
+your experiences. So this is Nadia? We have heard of you, Miss Newton."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe that, knowing Dad," she replied. "Thanks, both of you, for
+digging us out. I've heard about you two, and I'm going to kiss you
+both."
+</p>
+<p>
+Westfall, the silent and reserved, was taken aback, but Brandon met her
+more than half-way.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Nadia&mdash;payment in full received and hereby acknowledged," he
+laughed, as he allowed her feet to return to the floor. "Even if it was
+some stout lads from Mars and Venus that did all the work we'll take the
+reward&mdash;especially since Alcantro and Fedanzo couldn't feel even such a
+high-voltage salute as that one was, and I can't picture you kissing a
+Venerian even if you could get to him. Whenever you get lost again, be
+sure to let us know, now that you've got our address. If I know Perce at
+all, you've heard of us 'til you're sick of it and us&mdash;it's a weakness
+of his&mdash;talking too much."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, it's no such th...." began Nadia, but broke off as an aide came up
+and saluted smartly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Pardon me, but General Crowninshield requests that Doctor Brandon,
+Doctor Westfall, and Doctor Stevens join the council in Lounge Fifteen
+as soon as convenient." He saluted again and turned away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, that's right, folks&mdash;we've got to take a lot of steps, fast&mdash;see
+you later," and Brandon, taking each of the other two by an arm, marched
+them away toward the designated assembly room.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">here</span>, already seated at a long table, were Czuv, King, and
+Breckenridge, all fully recovered, engaged in earnest conversation with
+Newton and Crowninshield. Alcantro and Fedanzo, the Martian scientists,
+were listening intently, as were the two Venerians Dol Kenor and Pyraz
+Amonar. The eyes of the three newcomers, however, did not linger upon
+the group at the table, but were irresistibly drawn to one corner of the
+room, where six creatures lay in the heaviest manacles afforded by the
+stores of the Interplanetary Police. Not only were they manacled, but
+each was facing a ray-projector, held by a soldier whose expression
+showed plainly that he would rather press the lethal contact than not.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh&mdash;those the things we're fighting?" Brandon stopped at the threshold
+and stared intently at the captive hexans. Goggling green eyes glaring
+venomously, they were lying quiet, but tense; mighty muscles ready to
+burst into berserk activity should the attention of a guard waver for
+a single instant.
+</p>
+<p>
+But little more than half as large as the savage creatures with whom
+Stevens had fought in the mountain glade upon Ganymede, the hexans
+resembled those aborigines only as civilized men might resemble gigantic
+primordial savages of our own Earth. Brandon's gaze went from short,
+powerful legs up a round, red body to the enormous, freakish double pair
+of shoulders, with its peculiar universal jointing. From the double
+shoulders sprang four limbs, the front pair of which were undoubtedly
+arms, terminating in large, but fairly normal, hands. The intermediate
+limbs were longer than the legs and were much more powerful than the
+arms, and ended in members that were very evidently feet and hands
+combined. What in a human being would be the back of the hand was the
+sole of the foot&mdash;when walking upon that foot the long and dexterous
+thumb and fingers were curled up, out of the way and protected from
+injury, in the palm of the hand. From the monstrous shoulders there
+rose a rather long and very flexible, yet massive and columnar neck,
+supporting a head neither human nor bestial&mdash;a head utterly unknown to
+Terrestrial history or experience. The massive cranium bespoke a highly
+developed and intelligent brain, as did the three large and expressive,
+peculiar, triangular eyes. The three sensitive ears were very long,
+erect, and sharply pointed. Each was set immediately above an eye, one
+upon each side of the head and one in front. Each ear was independently
+and instantly movable in any direction, to catch the faintest sound.
+The head, like the body and limbs, was entirely devoid of hair. The
+horns, so prominent in the savages Stevens had seen, were in this highly
+intelligent race but vestigial&mdash;three small, sharp, black protuberances
+only an inch in length, one surmounting each ear, outlining the lofty
+forehead. The nose occupied almost the whole middle of the face and was
+not really a nose&mdash;it developed into a small and active proboscis. The
+chin was receding almost to the point of disappearance, so that the
+mouth, with its multiple rows of small, sharp, gleaming-white teeth, was
+almost hidden under the face instead of being a part of it. Such were
+the hexans, at whom the Big Three stared in undisguised amazement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Attention, please!" Newton called the meeting to order. "We have
+learned that all the passengers of the <i>Arcturus</i>, and all the crew save
+three, are alive and safe for the time being. Most of them are upon the
+satellite Europa. However, I understand that we are not yet sufficiently
+well armed to withstand such an attack in force as will certainly
+develop when we move to rescue them. This seems to be a war of applied
+physics&mdash;Doctor Brandon, as spokesman for the Scientific forces of the
+expedition, what are your suggestions?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anticipating an attack in response to signals probably sent out by the
+enemy," replied Brandon. "I headed directly south immediately. We are
+now well south the ecliptic, and are traveling at considerably more than
+full Martian acceleration. Before making any suggestions, I should like
+to hear from Captain Czuv, who is more familiar than we are with the
+common enemy. Are they apt to follow us: can they detect us if we should
+drift at constant velocity; and can we search the brains of the
+prisoners with his Callistonian thought-exchanger, if he should build
+one with our help?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"If they are close enough to us to overtake us without too much lost
+time, they will certainly attack us," Czuv answered at a nod from
+Newton. "Ordinarily they would pursue us to the limits of the Solar
+System if necessary, but since they have suffered reverses of late and
+cannot spare any vessels, they will probably not pursue us far. Yes,
+they can detect us, even without the driving rays, since this vessel
+uses much low-tension, low-frequency electricity in its automatic
+machinery, lights, and so on. No; our thought-transformer cannot take
+thoughts by force, and the hexans will exchange no ideas with us. They
+are implacable and deadly foes of all humanity, irrespective of planet
+or race. Mercy is to them unknown&mdash;they neither give nor take quarter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can bear him out in that," Crowninshield interposed grimly. "The
+first one to recover snapped our ordinary handcuffs like so much thread
+and literally tore four men to pieces before the rest of us could ray
+him. Will you need me longer, Director Newton?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think not. General. Captain Czuv, you have made no headway with
+them?" asked the Director.
+</p>
+<p>
+"None whatever, as I foretold. They understand me thoroughly, since two
+of them speak my own tongue, but nothing that they have said can ever
+be repeated here. I knew from the first that all such attempts would be
+fruitless, but I have tried&mdash;and failed. I suggest what I suggested at
+first&mdash;put them to death, here and now, as they lie there, for most
+assuredly they will in some way contrive to take toll of lives of your
+own humanity if you allow them to live."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You may be right," said Newton, "but neither the General nor myself
+can give the order for their death, since Interplanetary law does not
+countenance such summary action. However, the guards are fully warned of
+the peril, and will ray every prisoner at the first sign of unruliness.
+General Crowninshield, you may remove the prisoners and deal with them
+in accordance with...."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">P</span><span class="up">andemonium</span> reigned. At Crowninshield's signal for the guards to leave
+the room with their captives, all six had strained furiously at their
+bonds and three of them had broken free in a flash, throwing themselves
+upon the guards with unthinkable ferocity. Stevens, seeing a
+ray-projector in a hand of one of the prisoners, hurled his heavy chair
+instantly and with terrific force. The projector flew into the air,
+shattered and useless, while the hexan was knocked into a corner by the
+momentum of the massive projectile and lay there, stunned and broken.
+Brandon, likewise reacting instantaneously, had bent over and seized
+a leg of the table, bracing his knee against the corner. With a mighty
+lunge of his powerful body he wrenched out the support and with a
+continuation of the same motion, he brought the jagged oak head of his
+terrible club down full upon the crown of the second hexan, who had
+already torn one guard apart and was leaping toward Czuv, his hereditary
+foe. In midflight he was dashed to the floor, his head a shapeless,
+pulpy mass, and Brandon, bludgeon again aloft, strode deeper into the
+fray. For a brief moment searing lethal beams probed here and there,
+chains clanked and snapped, once more that ponderous and irresistible
+oaken mace fell like the hammer of Thor, again spattering brains and
+blood abroad as it descended&mdash;then again came silence. The six erstwhile
+prisoners lay dead, but they had taken five of the guards with
+them&mdash;literally dismembered, hideously torn limb from limb by the
+superhuman, incredible physical strength and utter ferocity of the
+hexans.
+</p>
+<p>
+By common consent the meeting was adjourned to another room, for the
+business in hand could not be postponed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Czuv was right&mdash;we Tellurians could not believe in the
+existence of such a race without the evidence of our own senses." Newton
+reopened the meeting. "From this time on we take no prisoners. Doctor
+Brandon, you may resume."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The detectors and lookouts will give ample warning of any attack, and
+Doctor Westfall has suggested that we should have all possible facts
+at hand before we try to decide upon a course of action. We should like
+to hear the full reports of Captain King, Captain Czuv, Chief Pilot
+Breckenridge, and Doctor Stevens."
+</p>
+<p>
+The four men told their stories tersely and rapidly, while the others
+listened in deep attention. As the last speaker sat down, Newton again
+turned to Brandon, who silently jerked his head at Westfall, knowing his
+own inadequacy in such a situation&mdash;realizing that here was needed
+Westfall's cold and methodical thinking.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Director Newton and gentlemen," Westfall spoke calmly and precisely.
+"We have much to do before we can meet the hexans upon equal terms.
+We have many new fields of force and rays to develop, of whose nature
+and necessity Doctor Brandon is already aware. Then, too, we must
+recalculate our visirays so that we can operate at greater range and
+efficiency. We must also examine the hexan space-ship which is towing,
+to do which it will be desirable to drift at constant velocity for a
+time. In it we may find instruments or devices as yet unknown to us.
+It also occurs to me that since this is an Interplanetary Police problem
+of the first magnitude, we should at once get in touch with Police
+Headquarters, so that the Peace Fleet can be armed as we ourselves are,
+or shall be, armed; for a large and highly efficient fleet will be
+necessary to do that which must be done. It is, of course, a foregone
+conclusion that Interplanetary humanity will support the humanity of
+Callisto against the hexans.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is also self-evident that we must stay here and rescue the
+Tellurians now upon Europa and Callisto, but we are not yet in position
+to decide just how that rescue is to be accomplished. Four courses are
+apparently open to us. First, to attempt it as soon as we shall have
+strengthened our armament as much as is now possible. That would invite
+a massed attack, and in my opinion would be foolish&mdash;probably suicidal.
+Second, to stand by at a distance until the rocket-ship is launched,
+then to escort it back to the Earth. Third, to aid the Callistonians as
+much as possible while awaiting the completion of the rocket-vessel.
+Fourth, and perhaps the most feasible and quickest, it may be possible
+for the Callistonian rocket-ships to bring out fellow-Tellurians, a few
+at a time, to us here out in space, since they are apparently able to
+come and go at will. However, I would recommend that we make no plans
+for the rescue as yet&mdash;there is little use in attempting to deal with an
+ever-changing situation until we are ready to act forthwith. I suggest
+that we strengthen our offensive and defensive armament first, then
+secure information as to the exact status of affairs, both upon Callisto
+and upon Europa. Then, ready to act, we will do at once whatever seems
+called for by the situation then obtaining."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The program as outlined seems eminently sensible. Are there any
+comments or suggestions?" None having been offered, Director Newton
+adjourned the meeting and each man attacked his particular problem.
+</p>
+<p>
+True to Czuv's prediction the hexans did not deem it worthwhile to
+pursue the Terrestrial vessel, so obviously and so earnestly fleeing
+from them, and shortly, the acceleration was cut off, to render possible
+a thorough study of the two halves of the spherical warship of the
+enemy. Scientists donned space-suits and studied every feature of
+the strange vessel, while mechanics dismantled and transferred to the
+<i>Sirius</i> every device and instrument of interest. One or two novel and
+useful applications of rays and forces were found, their visirays and
+communicators in particular being of a high degree of efficiency; but
+upon the whole the science of the hexans was found to be inferior to
+that now known to the scientists of Interplanetary's flying laboratory.
+Brandon studied the hexan power-system most carefully, and, everything
+in readiness and after a long talk with Westfall, he called a general
+conference in the control-room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gentlemen, we have done about everything we can do for the time being.
+By combining the best features of the visirays and communicators of
+the hexans with our own newly-perfected devices, we now have a really
+excellent system of communication. Our friends from Mars and Venus
+have so altered and enlarged our force-controls that our offensive
+and defensive fields, rays, and screens leave little to be desired.
+In power we are far ahead of the enemy. They apparently know nothing
+of the possibilities of cosmic radiation, but depend upon tight-beam
+transmission from their own power-plants&mdash;which transmission they have
+perfected to a point far beyond anything reached by us of the three
+planets. They do not use accumulators, and therefore their dissipation
+is limited to their maximum reception, which is about seventy thousand
+kilofranks. Since we can dissipate ten times that amount of energy, we
+could withstand, for a short time, the simultaneous attacks of ten of
+their vessels. Eleven or more of them, however, would be able to crush
+our defensive screens&mdash;and Captain Czuv has seen as many as a hundred of
+their space-ships in one formation. Furthermore, since they have several
+times our maximum acceleration, they could concentrate quickly upon any
+desired point. We could not escape them by flight if they really set out
+to overtake us, which they certainly will do if we again venture into
+their territory. Therefore it is clear that we cannot subject ourselves
+to any attack in force and it follows that we cannot do much of anything
+until the police fleet of some five hundred vessels can be re-armed and
+can join us near Callisto. This will require several months at best.
+As you already know, it has been decided that we should not return to
+any of the minor planets, as to do so might invite a hexan attack upon
+our police fleet which is as yet unprepared. We are now heading for
+Uranus, in the hope that such a course will distract the attention of
+the hexans from Tellus, even though they probably already know that we
+are Tellurians. Our new communicator ray will reach any member of the
+Jovian system from this point. It has been decided that it is safe to
+use it, since it employs an almost absolutely tight beam of very small
+diameter, and since we know that that one hexan vessel, at least, had
+no apparatus sufficiently sensitive to detect a beam of that nature.
+We will therefore now get in touch with the Callistonians and with our
+own people."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">B</span><span class="up">randon</span> seated himself before the communicator screen, and while the
+others packed themselves closely around his stool, he snapped on the
+visiray and turned the dials which directed that invisible, immensely
+complex beam through space. The screen was apparently in itself a coign
+of vantage, flying through space with the velocity of light, and the
+watchers gasped involuntarily and drew themselves together, as with that
+unthinkable speed they flashed down toward the surface of Callisto.
+So realistic was the impression that they themselves were hurtling
+through the void, that they could scarcely reason themselves into
+believing their positive knowledge that the impending collision was
+not an actual happening! Reducing the velocity of the projection
+abruptly as it approached the satellite, Brandon flashed it down into
+a crater indicated by Czuv, and along a tunnel to the city of Zbardk,
+where the Callistonian captain held a long conversation with the Council
+of the nation. Frowning in thought, he turned to Newton and spoke
+seriously and slowly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Immediately after the loss of our super-plane, with the supposed death
+of King, Breckenridge, and myself, the other Tellurian officers were
+returned to Europa, since even they could be of no assistance to us
+Callistonians in our struggle against the new, high-acceleration vessels
+of the hexans. The present situation is much more serious than I would
+have believed possible. The last vessel going to visit Wruszk, our city
+upon Europa, was caught and destroyed by the hexans, and for many weeks
+no ship or message has come from there to Callisto. In spite of the fact
+that the hexan fleet is smaller than ever before, they are guarding
+Europa very closely. It is feared that they may have found and destroyed
+our city there&mdash;an expedition is even now about to set out in a
+desperate attempt to learn the fate of our fellows."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suppose the rays of the lifeboats were detected in landing?" asked
+Brandon. "That might have given them a clue."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Possibly; but it is equally possible that our own men became careless
+in the operation of one of our own vessels. Having been unmolested so
+long, they might have relaxed their vigilance. We may never know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tell 'em to cancel the expedition&mdash;we'll shoot the visiray over
+there right now and find out all about it. We'll let them know pretty
+quickly. Also, you might tell them that you've got complete plans and
+specifications for all the weapons that the hexans have, and a couple
+besides, and that the quicker they shoot a ship out here after you, the
+sooner they can get to building some stuff to blow those hexans clear
+out of space!"
+</p>
+<p>
+It was the work of only a few moments to drive the visiray projection
+to Europa, where Czuv, to the great relief of all, found that the hexans
+had not yet discovered either Wruszk or the Terrestrial workings.
+All Europan humanity, fully aware of the hexan investment, was
+exerting every possible precaution against discovery by the enemy.
+This information was duly flashed to the Council of Callisto, and the
+projection was then hurled across the intervening reaches of space and
+into the cavern in which was being built the enormous rocket-ship in
+which the Terrestrial refugees were to attempt the long voyage back
+to their own distant planet.
+</p>
+<p>
+It took some little time to convince Doctor Penfield that there had
+been projected into the empty air of his little sanctum an absolutely
+invisible and impalpable structure of pure force capable of receiving
+and transmitting voice and vision. Once convinced of the reality of the
+phenomenon, however, the speaker beside Brandon's communicator screen
+fairly rattled under the fervor of his greeting, so great was his
+pleasure at the arrival of the expedition of relief and in knowing that
+King and Breckenridge, whom they had, of course, given up for dead, were
+aboard the Interplanetary vessel.
+</p>
+<p>
+Penfield reported that the work upon the great rocket-ship was
+progressing satisfactorily, although slowly, since it was so much larger
+than any vessel theretofore constructed by the Callistonians. Newton,
+in turn, informed the autocrat of the stranded Terrestrials as to the
+<i>status quo</i> of the rescuing party.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course, because of the hexan blockade, you cannot take us off until
+they have been wiped out, which will be several months at best," the
+surgeon said, slowly, and a shadow came over his face as he spoke.
+"Well, what can't be cured...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Trouble with the personnel?" King broke in sharply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Personnel, yes; but not trouble in the sense you mean&mdash;we have had
+none of that. It is only that there are four more of us now than there
+were...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Huh? How come?" demanded Brandon, in astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Four babies have been born to us here so far, and several more are
+coming. They are the ones I'm worried about. Most normal adults can
+stand it here without any serious effects, but this thin atmosphere and
+weak gravity are certain to result in abnormal development of children.
+However, there may be another way out of it. Are you using normal
+acceleration, or have you Martians aboard?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Both," replied Brandon. "We are carrying two inhabitants of Mars,
+but Alcantro and Fedanzo are not ordinary Martians. They have been in
+constant training ever since we left Tellus, and now they can stand as
+high an acceleration as a weak Tellurian. We're riding at normal."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good! As you already know, there has been no communication of late
+between here and Callisto. It had already been decided, however, that
+one more voyage must be risked, in order to bring back material which
+is most urgently needed. Since the vessel will leave here light and is
+large enough to carry about thirty passengers on a short trip with some
+crowding, the Council will probably approve of having it carry some of
+our passengers out to the <i>Sirius</i>&mdash;especially now, since a vessel must
+visit you, anyway, to get Captain Czuv and the specifications of the new
+armament. All these things can be done with one vessel in one trip."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That sounds fine!" boomed King. "It will give me a chance to get back
+there where I belong, too. Whom are you sending out?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The seven couples who either have babies already or who will have them
+in the next few months; and some of our young who aren't standing the
+gaff any too well. You won't be in the red very deeply on the deal,
+either&mdash;while two or three of the passengers I am sending you will
+certainly be a nuisance; anybody could use, anywhere, such men as
+Commander Sanderson and Lieut..."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sanderson!" interrupted King. "Why, he wasn't&mdash;when did <i>he</i> get
+married?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The day after we arrived here," replied the surgeon. "His fiancee was
+aboard the <i>Arcturus</i>, and when they found out how long we would have
+to be here, they very sensibly decided not to wait."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Were there any others?" demanded Nadia, who, standing between Stevens
+and her father, had been an interested listener.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Plenty of them! Fourteen of our young women passengers have married
+here upon Europa. A few married fellow-passengers, but most of them
+picked out officers of the <i>Arcturus</i>. You'll find your staff made up
+pretty largely of benedicts now, King! We've been here a year, you know,
+and time will tell! Young Commander Sanderson's a fine baby&mdash;he'll be a
+credit to the IPC some day, if we can get him aboard the <i>Sirius</i>, where
+he can get a good start. We could give our babies normal air pressure
+here by building special rooms, but we cannot give them the normal
+acceleration necessary to develop their muscles properly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, we'd better snap over to Callisto and take this up with the
+Council," Brandon put in. "I don't imagine that there will be any
+objections, so you might as well get your ship gassed up and
+loaded&mdash;we'll be back here with the okay in about a minute and a half."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">W</span><span class="up">ith</span> Brandon at the controls and with Czuv at the communicator plate,
+the projection flashed toward distant Callisto and the group melted
+away, each man going about his interrupted task.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Daddy, take us somewhere&mdash;I want to talk to you," Nadia spoke to her
+father, and the director led her and Stevens to his own room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, daughter; out with it!" and he bent upon her a quizzical glance,
+under which a fiery blush burned from her throat to her forehead.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dad, I've been thinking a lot since you rescued us, and what we've just
+heard has given me the nerve to say it. Steve, of course, wouldn't dare
+suggest such a thing until we're safely back on Earth, so I will." Her
+deep brown eyes held his steadily. "All those girls got married&mdash;why,
+some of them have babies already&mdash;and Steve and I have waited for each
+other <i>so</i> long, daddy! And <i>none</i> of them love each other the way we
+do. Do they, Steve?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't see how they could, sir; and that goes straight across the
+panel," and he bore unflinchingly the piercing gaze of the older man
+as his right arm encircled the girl and held her close.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, why not?" A sudden smile transformed Newton's stern visage.
+"There are three chaplains with the police&mdash;a Methodist minister,
+a Catholic priest, and a Jewish rabbi. Also, we have on board two
+full-fledged I-P captains, either of whom is authorized to tie
+matrimonial knots. The means are not lacking&mdash;if you're both sure of
+yourselves?" and all levity disappeared as he studied the two young
+faces.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, you are sure," he continued after a moment "just as her mother and
+I were&mdash;and are. It is too bad that she cannot be here with you, but it
+may be a long time before we can return to Tellus, and you have indeed
+waited long."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh thanks, Daddy, you're just a perfectly wonderful old darling!" Nadia
+exclaimed, as she threw her arms rapturously around his neck. "And this
+isn't a warship at all&mdash;you know perfectly well that it's a research
+laboratory, and that as soon as the Navy gets here, you won't let it
+fight a bit more, because such scientists can't be allowed to risk
+themselves! And also, you're forgetting that whole flock of women and
+babies that are coming out here just as fast as they can get themselves
+ready. So get going, daddy old dear, and let's do things! Steve's a
+Quaker and we're Presbyterians, so none of the chaplains will do at all.
+Besides, I promised Captain King ages ago that he could marry me, so go
+get him and we'll do it now. Bill can be my bridesmaid, you'll give me
+away, and Steve can have the other two of his Big Three for best men.
+I'm off to hunt up the flimsiest, fussiest white dress I can find in my
+trunks. Let's go!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Newton." Stevens spoke thoughtfully as Nadia darted away. "You said
+something about her mother, I didn't want to say anything to raise false
+hopes while she was here, but I've got an idea. Let's meet in Brandon's
+room instead of here. We can send code to Tellus easily enough on our
+ultrawave, and we may be able to fake up something on vision."
+</p>
+<p>
+A few minutes later the Big Three were in Brandon's private study;
+staring intently into a screen of ground glass upon which played
+flickering, flashing lights, while the black-haired physicist
+manipulated micrometer dials in infinitesimal arcs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Once more, Mac," Brandon directed. "Pretty nearly had them that time.
+We're stretching this projector about six hundred percent, but we've got
+to make this connection. Can't you give me just a little more voltage on
+those secondaries?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can <i>not</i>!" the voice of the first assistant snapped from the
+speaker. "I'm overloading now so badly that some of my plates are
+getting hot&mdash;if I hold this voltage much longer, the whole secondary
+bank of tubes is going out. All x&mdash;you're on zero!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x!" Flashing and waning, the lights upon the screen formed
+fleeting, shifting, nebulous images of a relay station upon distant
+Earth; but the utmost power of the transmitting fields could neither
+steady the image nor hold it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Back off, Mac," Brandon instructed. "I'm afraid we can't hold 'em
+direct&mdash;no use blowing a bank of tubes. We'll try relaying through
+Mars&mdash;we can hold them there, I think. It will muss up reception some,
+but it will probably be better than direct, at that. Point oh five three
+six ... all x&mdash;shoot!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Brandon's relay station upon Mars was finally raised and held, and
+a corps of keenly interested engineers there made short work of the
+Earth-Mars linkage. Soon the screen glowed with the picture of the
+transmitter-room of the Terrestrial station, and while the three men
+were waiting for Mrs. Newton to be called to her own television set,
+the door behind them opened. Nadia and her escorts entered the room&mdash;but
+Stevens' eyes saw only the entrancing vision of loveliness that was his
+bride. Dressed in a clinging white gown of shimmering silk, her hair a
+golden blond corona, sweetly curved lips slightly parted and wide eyes
+eloquent, she paused momentarily as Stevens came to his feet and stared
+at her, his very heart in his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You never saw me in a dress before&mdash;do you like me, Steve?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Like</i> you! You're beautiful!" and gray eyes and brown, deep with
+wonder and with love, met and held as, unheeding the presence of their
+friends, they went into each other's arms in a coalescence as inevitable
+and as final as Fate itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, Nadia old dear!" and "Daughter, from what I can see of my
+son-in-law, I believe that he may do," came together from the speaker.
+Nadia tore herself from Stevens' embrace, to see upon the lambent screen
+the happily smiling faces of her mother and sister.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mother! Claire! Oh, you three wonder-workers!" She addressed
+simultaneously the distant Terrestrials and the scientists at her side,
+while broken exclamations, punctuated by ominous, crackling snaps, came
+from the laboring amplifier.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sorry to interrupt," MacDonald's voice broke in, "but you'll have to
+hurry it up. Alcantro and Fedanzo are doing their best, but every plate
+in my secondary bank's red hot, and you could fry an egg on any one of
+my transformers. Even my primary tubes are running hot. She won't hold
+together five minutes longer!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain King opened his book, and in that small steel room, unadorned
+save for stack upon stack of bookcases, the brief but solemn ceremony
+joining two young lives was read&mdash;its solemnity only intensified by its
+unique accompaniment. For from Brandon at the primary controls, through
+the power-room of the <i>Sirius</i> and the relay-station upon Mars, to the
+immense Interplanetary transmitter upon Earth, the greatest radio and
+television engineers of two planets were fighting overdriven equipment,
+trying to hold an almost impossible connection, in order that Nadia
+Newton's mother and sister might be present at her wedding, hundreds of
+millions of miles distant in space!
+</p>
+<p>
+"I pronounce you man and wife. Whom God hath joined, let no man put
+asunder." The sacred old ritual ended and Captain King picked up
+the bride in his great arms as though she were a baby, kissed her
+vigorously, and set her down in front of the transmitter. In the midst
+of the joyous confusion that ensued a tearing, rattling crash came from
+the speaker and the screen went blank.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There!" lamented MacDonald from the power room. "I knew they'd blow!
+There goes my whole secondary bank&mdash;eight perfectly good ten-nineteens
+all shot to...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's too bad, but it couldn't be helped; they went for a good cause,"
+interrupted Brandon. "I'll come down and help clean up the mess."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">L</span><span class="up">eaving</span> the bridal party, he made his way rapidly to the power room,
+where he found MacDonald and the two Martians inspecting the smoking
+remains of what had been the secondary bank of their powerful
+ultra-transmitter. Spare parts in abundance were on hand, and it was
+not long until the damaged section was apparently as good as new.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now to try her out," Brandon announced. "We want to give her a good
+workout, but there's no use trying the I-P stations any more&mdash;they're
+altogether too hard to handle at this range. Czuv said something about
+an unknown race of monstrosities at the south pole of Jupiter&mdash;let's try
+it on them for a while."
+</p>
+<p>
+He flung the field of force out into space, as responsive to his will
+as a well-trained horse, and guided it toward the southern limb of that
+gigantic world. Down and down the projection plunged, through mile after
+mile of reeking, steaming fog, impenetrable to earthly eyes. Finally it
+came to rest upon the surface, hundreds of feet deep in a lush, dank,
+tropical jungle, and Brandon plugged into the Venerian room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Kenor? We've got a lot of use for you, if you can come down here for a
+while. Thanks a lot." He turned to the Martians. "Luckily, we've got a
+couple of infra-red transformers aboard, so we won't have to build one.
+You fellows might break one out and shunt it onto this circuit while Dol
+Kenor is hunting up something for us to look at.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, old Infra-Eyes!" he went on, as the Venerian scientist waddled into
+the room in his bulging space-suit. "We've got something here that's
+right down your alley. Want to see what you can see?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah, a beautiful scene!" exclaimed Dol Kenor, after one glance into the
+plate. "It is indeed a relief, after all this coldness and glare, to
+see such a soft, warm landscape&mdash;even though I have never expected to
+behold quite such a violent bit of jungle," and under his guidance the
+projection flashed over hundreds of miles of territory. To the eyes of
+the Terrestrials the screen revealed only a blank, amorphous grayness,
+through which at times there shot lines and masses of vague and
+meaningless form; but the Venerian was very evidently seeing and
+enjoying many and diverse scenes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There, I think, is what you wish to see first," he announced, as he
+finally steadied the controls, and Brandon cut in upon the shunting
+screen the infra-red transformer. This device, developed long before to
+render possible the use of Terrestrial eyes in the opaque atmosphere of
+Venus, stepped up the fog-piercing long waves into the frequencies of
+light capable of affecting the earthly retina. Instantly the dull gray
+blank of the shunting screen became transformed into a clear and
+colorful picture of the great city of the Jovians of the South.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Great Cat!" Brandon exclaimed. "Flying fortresses is right! They're in
+war formation, too, or I'm a polyp! We've got to watch this, Mac, all
+of it, and watch it close&mdash;it's apt to have a big bearing on what we'll
+have to do, before they get done. Better we rig up another set, and put
+a relay of observers on this job!"
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0011" id="h2HCH0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XI
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    The Vorkul-Hexan War
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">V</span><span class="up">orkulia</span>, the city of the Vorkuls, was an immense seven-pointed
+star. At its center, directly upon the south pole of Jupiter, rose a
+tremendous shaft&mdash;its cross-section likewise a tapering seven-pointed
+star&mdash;which housed the directing intelligence of the nation. Radiating
+from the seven cardinal points of the building were short lanes leading
+to star-shaped open plots, from which in turn branched out ways to other
+stellate areas; ways reaching, after many such steps, to the towering
+inner walls of the metropolis. The outer walls, still loftier and even
+more massive ramparts of sullen gray-green metal, formed a seamless,
+jointless barrier against an utterly indescribable foe; a barrier whose
+outer faces radiated constantly a searing, coruscating green emanation.
+Metal alone could not long have barred that voracious and implacably
+relentless enemy, but against that lethal green emanation even that
+ravening Jovian jungle could not prevail, but fell back, impotent.
+Writhing and crawling, loathesomely palpitant with an unspeakable
+exuberance of foul and repellent vigor, possible only to such
+meteorological conditions as obtained there, it threw its most
+hideously prolific growths against that radiant wall in vain.
+</p>
+<p>
+The short, zig-zag lanes, the ways, and the seven-pointed areas
+were paved with a greenish glass. This pavement was intended solely
+to prevent vegetable growth and carried no traffic whatever, since few
+indeed of the Vorkuls have ever been earth-bound and all traffic was in
+the air. The principal purpose of the openings was to separate, and
+thus to render accessible by air, the mighty buildings which, level
+upon level, towered upward, with airships hovering at or anchored to
+doorways and entrances at every level. Buildings, entrances, everything
+visible&mdash;all replicated, reiterated, repeated infinite variations in
+the one theme, that of the septenate stelliform.
+</p>
+<p>
+Color ran riot; masses varied from immense blocks of awe-inspiring
+grandeur to delicate tracery of sheerest gossamer; lights flamed and
+flared in wide bands and in narrow, flashing pencils&mdash;but in all,
+through all, over all, and dominating all was the Seven-Pointed Star.
+</p>
+<p>
+In and almost filling the space, at least a mile in width,
+between the inner and the outer walls were huge, seven-sided
+structures&mdash;featureless, squat, forbidding heptagons of dull green
+metal. No thing living was to be seen in that space. Its pavement was
+of solid metal and immensely thick, and that metal, as well as that of
+the walls, was burned and blackened and seared as though by numberless
+exposures to intolerable flame. In a lower compartment of one of these
+enormous heptagons Vortel Kromodeor, First Projector Officer, rested
+before a gigantic and complex instrument board. He was at ease&mdash;his huge
+wings folded, his sinuous length coiled comfortably in slack loops about
+two horizontal bars. But at least one enormous, extensible eye was
+always pointed toward the board, always was at least one nimble and
+bat-like ear cocked attentively in the direction of the signal panel.
+</p>
+<p>
+A whistling, shrieking ululation rent the air and the officer's coils
+tightened as he reared a few feet of his length upright, shooting out
+half a dozen tentacular arms to various switches and controls upon his
+board, while throughout the great heptagon, hundreds of other Vorkuls
+sprang to attention at their assigned posts of duty. As the howling wail
+came to a climax in a blast of sound Kromodeor threw over a lever, as
+did every other projector officer in every other heptagon, and there was
+made plain to any observer the reason for the burns and scars in the
+tortured space between the lofty inner and outer walls of Vorkulia.
+For these heptagons were the monstrous flying fortresses which Czuv
+had occasionally seen from afar, as they went upon some unusual errand
+above the Jovian banks of mist, and which Brandon was soon to see in
+his visiray screen. The seared and disfigured metal of the pavement
+and walls was made so by the release of the furious blasts of energy
+necessary to raise those untold thousands of tons of mass against the
+attraction of Jupiter, more than two and a half times the gravity of our
+own world! Vast volumes of flaming energy shrieked from the ports. Wave
+upon wave, flooding the heptagons, it dashed back and forth upon the
+heavy metal between the walls. As more and more of the inconceivable
+power of those Titanic generators was unleashed, it boiled forth in
+a devastating flood which, striking the walls, rebounded and leaped
+vertically far above even those mighty ramparts. Even the enormous
+thickness of the highly conducting metal could not absorb all the
+energy of that intolerable blast, and immediately beneath the ports new
+seven-pointed areas of disfigurement appeared as those terrific flying
+fortresses were finally wrenched from the ground and hurled upward.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">H</span><span class="up">igh</span> in the air, another signal wailed up and down a peculiar scale of
+sound and the mighty host of vessels formed smoothly into symmetrical
+groups of seven. Each group then moved with mathematical precision into
+its allotted position in a complex geometrical formation&mdash;a gigantic,
+seven-ribbed, duplex cone in space. The flagship flew at the apex of
+this stupendous formation; behind, and protected by, the full power
+of the other floating citadels of the forty-nine groups of seven.
+Due north, the amazing armada sped in rigorous alignment, flying along
+a predetermined meridian&mdash;due north!
+</p>
+<p>
+At the end of his watch Kromodeor relinquished his board to the officer
+relieving him and shot into the air, propelled by the straightening of
+the powerful coils of his snake-like body and tail. Wings half spread,
+lateral and vertical ruddering fins outthrust, he soared across the room
+toward a low opening. Just before they struck the wall upon either side
+of the doorway the great wings snapped shut, the fins retracted, and the
+long and heavy body struck the floor of the passage without a jar. With
+a wriggling, serpentine motion he sped like a vibrant arrow along the
+hall and into a wardroom. There, after a brief glance around the room,
+he coiled up beside a fellow officer who, with one eye, was negligently
+reading a scroll held in three or four hands; while with another eye,
+poised upon its slender pedicle, he watched a moving picture upon a
+television screen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hello, Kromodeor," Wixill, Chief Power Officer<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> greeted the newcomer
+in the wailing, hissing language of the Vorkuls. He tossed the scroll
+into the air, where it instantly rolled into a tight cylinder and shot
+into an opening in the wall of the room. "Glad to see you. Books and
+shows are all right on practice cruises, but I can't seem to work up
+much enthusiasm about such things now."
+</p>
+<p>
+Kromodeor elevated an eye and studied the screen, upon which, to the
+accompaniment of whistling, shrieking sound, whirled and gyrated an
+interlacing group of serpentine forms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A good show, Wixill," the projector officer replied, "but nothing to
+hold the attention of men engaged in what we are doing. Think of it!
+After twenty years of preparation&mdash;two long lifetimes&mdash;and for the first
+time in our history, we are actually going to war!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have thought of it at length. It is disgusting. Compelled to traffic
+with an alien form of life! Were it not to end in the extinction of
+those unspeakable hexans, it would be futile to the point of silliness.
+I cannot understand them at all. There is ample room upon this planet
+for all of us. Our races combined are not using one seven-thousandth
+of its surface. You would think that they would shun all strangers.
+Yet for ages have they attacked us, refusing to let us alone, until
+finally they forced us to prepare means for their destruction. They
+seem as senselessly savage as the jungle growths, and, but for their
+very evident intelligence, one would class them as such. You would
+think that, being intelligent and being alien to us, they would not
+have anything to do with us in any way, peacefully or otherwise.
+However, their intrusions and depredations are about to end."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They certainly are. Vorkulia has endured much&mdash;too much&mdash;but I am glad
+that our forefathers did not decide to exterminate them sooner. If they
+had, we could not have been doing this now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There speaks the rashness of youth, Kromodeor. It is a violation of all
+our instincts to have any commerce with outsiders, as you will learn as
+soon as you see one of them. Then, too, we will lose heavily. Since we
+have studied their armaments so long, and have subjected every phase of
+the situation to statistical analysis, it is certain that we are to
+succeed&mdash;but you also know at what cost."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Two-sevenths of our force, with a probable error of one in seven,"
+replied the younger Vorkul. "And because that figure cannot be improved
+within the next seven years and because of the exceptional weakness of
+the hexans due to their unexpectedly great losses upon Callisto, we are
+attacking at this time. Their spherical vessels are nothing, of course.
+It is in the reduction of the city that we will lose men and vessels.
+But at that, each of us has five chances in seven of returning, which is
+good enough odds&mdash;much better than we had in that last expedition into
+the jungle. But by the Mighty Seven, I shall make myself wrap around one
+hexan, for my brother's sake," and his coils tightened unconsciously.
+"Hideous, repulsive monstrosities! Creatures so horrible should not
+be allowed to live&mdash;they should have been tossed over the wall to
+the jungle ages ago!" Kromodeor curled out an eye as he spoke, and
+complacently surveyed the writhing cylinder of sinuous, supple power
+that was his own body.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Better avoid contact work with them if possible," cautioned Wixill.
+"You might not be able to unwrap, and to touch one of them is almost
+unthinkable. Speaking of wrapping, you know that they are putting on the
+finals of the contact work in the star this evening. Let's watch them."
+</p>
+<p>
+They slid to the floor and wriggled away in perfect "step"&mdash;undulating
+along in such nice synchronism that their adjacent sides, only a few
+inches apart, formed two waving rigidly parallel lines. Deep in the
+lower part of the fortress they entered a large assembly room, provided
+with a raised platform in the center and having hundreds of short,
+upright posts in lieu of chairs; most of which were already taken by
+spectators. The two officers curled their tails comfortably around two
+of the vacant pillars, elevated their heads to a convenient level of
+sight and directed each an eye or two upon the stage. This was, of
+course, heptagonal. Its sides, like those of the mighty flying forts
+themselves, were not straight, but angled inward sufficiently to make
+the platform a seven-pointed star. The edge was outlined by a low rail,
+and bulwark and floor were padded with thick layers of a hard but smooth
+and yielding fabric.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">I</span><span class="up">n</span> this star-shaped ring two young Vorkuls were contending for the
+championship of the fleet in a contest that seemed to combine most of
+the features of wrestling, boxing, and bar-room brawling, with no holds
+barred. Four hands of each of the creatures held heavy leather billies,
+and could be used only in striking with those weapons, the remaining
+hands being left free to employ as the owner saw fit. Since the sport
+was not intended to be lethal, however, the eyes and other highly
+vulnerable parts were protected by metal masks, and the wing ribs
+were similarly guarded by leathern shields. The guiding fins, being
+comparatively small and extremely tough, required no protection.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We're just in time," Kromodeor whistled. "The main bout is nicely on.
+See anyone from the flagship? I might stake a couple of korpels that
+Sintris will paint the symbol upon his wing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Most of their men seem to be across the star," Wixill replied, and both
+beings fell silent, absorbed in the struggle going on in the ring.
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a contest well worth watching. Wing crashed against mighty wing
+and the lithe, hard bodies snapped and curled this way and that, almost
+faster than the eye could follow, in quest of advantageous holds. Above
+the shrieking wails of the crowd could be heard the smacks and thuds of
+the eight flying clubs as they struck against the leather shields or
+against tough and scaly hides. For minutes the conflict raged, with no
+advantage apparent. Now the fighters were flat upon the floor of the
+star, now dozens of feet in the air above it, as one or the other sought
+to gain a height from which to plunge downward upon his opponent; but
+both stayed upon or over the star&mdash;to leave its boundaries was to lose
+disgracefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, high in air, the visiting warrior thought that he saw an opening
+and grappled. Wings crashed in fierce blows, hands gripped and furiously
+wrenched. Two powerful bodies, tapering smoothly down to equally
+powerful tails, corkscrewed around each other viciously, winding up into
+something resembling tightly twisted lamp cord; and the two Vorkuls,
+each helpless, fell to the mat with a crash. Fast as was Zerexi, the
+gladiator from the flagship, Sintris was the merest trifle faster.
+Like the straightening of a twisted spring of tempered steel that long
+body uncoiled as they struck the floor, and up under those shielding
+wings&mdash;an infinitesimal fraction of a second slow in interposing&mdash;that
+lithe tail sped. Two lightning loops flashed around the neck of the
+visitor and tightened inexorably. Desperately the victim fought to break
+that terrible strangle hold, but every maneuver was countered as soon
+as it was begun. Beating wings, under whose frightful blows the very air
+quivered, were met and parried by wings equally capable. Hands and clubs
+were of no avail against that corded cable of sinew, and Sintris, his
+head retracted between his wings and his own hands reenforcing that
+impregnable covering over his head and neck, threw all his power into
+his tail&mdash;tightening, with terrific, rippling surges, that already
+throttling band about the throat of his opponent. Only one result was
+possible. Soon Zerexi lay quiet, and a violet beam of light flared from
+a torch at the ringside, bathing both contenders. At the flash the
+winner disengaged himself from the loser, and stood by until the latter
+had recovered the use of his paralyzed muscles. The two combatants then
+touched wing tips in salute and flew away together, over the heads of
+the crowd; plunging into a doorway and disappearing as the two officers
+uncoiled from their "seats" and wriggled out into the corridor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fine piece of contact work," said Wixill, thoughtfully. "I'm glad that
+Sintris won, but I did not expect him to win so easily. Zerexi shouldn't
+have gone into a knot so early against such a fast man."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I don't know," argued Kromodeor. "His big mistake was in that
+second body check. If he had blocked the sixth arm with his fifth, taken
+out the fourth and second with his third, and then gone in with...." and
+so, quite like two early experts after a good boxing match, the friends
+argued the fine points of the contest long after they had reached their
+quarters.
+</p>
+<p>
+Day after day the vast duplex cone of Vorkulian fortresses sped
+toward the north pole of the great planet, with a high and constant
+velocity. Day after day the complex geometrical figure in space remained
+unchanged, no unit deviating measurably from its precise place in the
+formation. Over rapacious jungles, over geysers spouting hot water,
+over sullenly steaming rivers and seas, over boiling lakes of mud, and
+high over gigantic volcanoes, in uninterrupted eruptions of cataclysmic
+violence, the Vorkulian phalanx flew&mdash;straight north. The equatorial
+regions, considerably hotter than the poles, were traversed with
+practically no change in scenery&mdash;it was a world of steaming fog,
+of jungle, of hot water, of boiling, spurting mud, and of volcanoes.
+Not of such mild and sporadic volcanic outbreaks as we of green Terra
+know, but of gigantic primordial volcanoes, in terrifyingly continuous
+performances of frightful intensity. Due north the Vorkulian spearhead
+was hurled, before the rigorous geometrical alignment was altered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All captains, attention!" Finally, in a high latitude, the flagship
+sent out final instructions. "The hexans have detected us and our long
+range observers report that they are coming to meet us in force. We will
+now go into the whirl, and proceed with the maneuvers exactly as they
+have been planned. Whirl!"
+</p>
+<p>
+At the command, each vessel began to pursue a tortuous spiral path.
+Each group of seven circled slowly about its own axis, as though each
+structure were attached rigidly to a radius rod, and at the same time
+spiraled around the line of advance in such fashion that the whole
+gigantic cone, wide open maw to the fore, seemed to be boring its way
+through the air.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lucky again!" Kromodeor, in the wardroom, turned to Wixill as the two
+prepared to take their respective watches. "It looks as though the first
+action would come while we're on duty. I've got just one favor to ask,
+if you have to economize on power, let Number One alone, will you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No fear of that," Wixill hissed, with the Vorkulian equivalent of a
+chuckle. "We have abundance of power for all of your projector officers.
+But don't waste any of it, or I'll cut you down five ratings!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're welcome. When I shine old Number One on any hexan work, one
+flash is all we'll take. See you at supper," and, leaving his superior
+at the door of the power room, Kromodeor wriggled away to his station
+upon the parallel horizontal bars before his panel.
+</p>
+<p>
+Making sure that his tail coils were so firmly clamped that no possible
+lurch or shock could throw him out of position, he set an eye toward
+each of his sighting screens, even though he knew that it would be long
+before those comparatively short range instruments would show anything
+except friendly vessels. Then, ready for any emergency, he scanned his
+one "live" screen&mdash;the one upon which were being flashed the pictures
+and reports secured by the high-powered instruments of the observers.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">W</span><span class="up">ith</span> the terrific acceleration employed by the hexan spheres, it
+was not long until the leading squadron of fighting globes neared
+the Vorkulian war-cone. This advance guard was composed of the new,
+high-acceleration vessels. Their crews, with the innate blood-lust
+and savagery of their breed, had not even entertained the thought of
+accommodating their swifter pace to that of the main body of the fleet.
+These vast, slow-moving structures were no more to be feared than those
+similar ones whose visits they had been repulsing for twenty long
+Jovian years&mdash;by the time the slower spheres could arrive upon the scene
+there would be nothing left for them to do. Therefore, few in number
+as were the vessels of the vanguard, they rushed to the attack. In one
+blinding salvo they launched their supposedly irresistible planes of
+force&mdash;dazzling, scintillating planes under whose fierce power the
+studying, questing, scouting fortresses previously encountered had fled
+back southward; cut, beaten, and crippled. These spiraling monsters,
+however, did not pause or waver in their stolidly ordered motion.
+As the hexan planes of force flashed out, the dull green metal walls
+broke into a sparkling green radiance, against which the Titanic
+bolts spent themselves in vain. Then there leaped out from the weird
+brilliance of the walls of the fortresses great shafts of pale green
+luminescence&mdash;tractor ray after gigantic tractor ray, which seized
+upon the hexan spheres and drew them ruthlessly into the yawning
+open end of that gigantic cone.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then, in each group of seven, similar great streamers of energy reached
+out from fortress to fortress, until each group was welded into one
+mighty unit by twenty-one such bands of force. The unit formed, a ray
+from each of its seven component structures seized upon a designated
+sphere, and under the combined power of those seven tractors, the
+luckless globe was literally snapped into the center of mass of the
+Vorkulian unit. There seven dully gleaming red pressor rays leaped upon
+it, backed by all the power of seven gigantic fortresses, held rigidly
+in formation by the unimaginable mass of the structures and by their
+twenty-one prodigious tractor beams. Under that awful impact, the
+screens and walls of the hexan spheres were exactly as effective as so
+many structures of the most tenuous vapor. The red glare of the vortex
+of those beams was lightened momentarily by a flash of brighter color,
+and through the foggy atmosphere there may have flamed briefly a drop or
+two of metal that was only liquefied. The red and green beams snapped
+out, the peculiar radiance died from the metal walls, and the gigantic
+duplex cone of the Vorkuls bored serenely northward&mdash;as little marked or
+affected by the episode as is a darting swift who, having snapped up a
+chance insect in full flight, darts on.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Great Cat!" Far off in space, Brandon turned from his visiray screen
+and wiped his brow. "Czuv certainly chirped it, Perce, when he called
+those things flying fortresses. But who, what, why, and how? We didn't
+see any apparatus that looked capable of generating or handling those
+beams&mdash;and of course, when they got started, their screens cut us
+off at the pockets. Wish we could have made some sense out of their
+language&mdash;like to know a few of their ideas&mdash;find out whether we can't
+get on terms with them some way or other. Funny-looking wampuses, but
+they've got real brains&mdash;their think-tanks are very evidently full of
+bubbles. If they have it in mind to take us on next, old son, it'll be
+just ... too ... bad!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"And then some," agreed Stevens. "They've got something&mdash;no fooling. It
+looks like the hexans are going to get theirs, good and plenty, pretty
+soon&mdash;and then what? I'd give my left lung and four front teeth for one
+long look at their controls in action."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You and me both&mdash;it's funny, the way those green ray-screens stick to
+the walls, instead of being spherical, as you'd expect ... should think
+they'd <i>have</i> to radiate from a center, and so be spherical," Brandon
+cogitated. "However, we've got nothing corkscrewy enough to go through
+them, so we'll have to stand by. We'll stay inside whenever possible,
+look on from outside when we must, but all the time picking up whatever
+information we can. In the meantime, now that we've got our passengers,
+old Doctor Westfall prescribes something that he says is good for what
+ails us. Distance&mdash;lots of distance, straight out from the sun&mdash;and
+I wouldn't wonder if we'd better take his prescription."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two Terrestrial observers relapsed into silence, staring into
+their visiray plates, searching throughout the enormous volume of one
+of those great fortresses in another attempt to solve the mystery of the
+generation and propagation of the incredible manifestations of energy
+which they had just witnessed. Scarcely had the search begun, however,
+when the visirays were again cut off sharply&mdash;the rapidly advancing main
+fleet of the hexans had arrived and the scintillant Vorkulian screens
+were again in place.
+</p>
+<p>
+True to hexan nature, training and tradition, the fleet, hundreds
+strong, rushed savagely to the attack. Above, below, and around the
+far-flung cone the furious globes dashed, attacking every Vorkulian
+craft viciously with every resource at their command; with every weapon
+known to their diabolically destructive race. Planes of force stabbed
+and slashed, concentrated beams of annihilation flared fiercely through
+the reeking atmosphere, gigantic aerial bombs and torpedoes were hurled
+with full radio control against the unwelcome visitor&mdash;with no effect.
+Bound together in groups of seven by the mighty, pale-green bands of
+force, the Vorkulian units sailed calmly northward, spiraling along with
+not the slightest change in formation or velocity. The frightful planes
+and beams of immeasurable power simply spent themselves harmlessly
+against those sparklingly radiant green walls&mdash;seemingly as absorbent
+to energy as a sponge is to water, since the eye could not detect any
+change in the appearance of the screens, under even the fiercest blasts
+of the hexan projectors. Bombs, torpedoes, and all material projectiles
+were equally futile&mdash;they exploded harmlessly in the air far from their
+objectives, or disappeared at the touch of one of those dark, dull-red
+pressor rays. And swiftly, but calmly and methodically as at a Vorkulian
+practice drill, the heptagons were destroying the hexan fleet. Seven
+mighty green tractors would lash out, seize an attacking sphere, and
+snap it into the center of mass of the unit of seven. There would be a
+brief flash of dull red, a still briefer flare of incandescence, and the
+impalpable magnets would leap out to seize another of the doomed globes.
+It was only a matter of moments until not a hexan vessel remained; and
+the Vorkulian juggernaut spiraled onward, now at full acceleration,
+toward the hexan stronghold dimly visible far ahead of them&mdash;a vast
+city built around Jupiter's northern pole.
+</p>
+<p>
+At the controls of his projector, Kromodeor spun a dial with a
+many-fingered, flexible hand and spoke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wixill, I am being watched again&mdash;I can feel very plainly that strange
+intelligence watching everything I do. Have the tracers located him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, they haven't been able to synchronize with his wave yet. Either
+he is using a most minute pencil or, what is more probable, he is on a
+frequency which we do not ordinarily use. However, I agree with you that
+it is not a malignant intelligence. All of us have felt it, and none of
+us senses enmity. Therefore, it is not a hexan&mdash;it may be one of those
+strange creatures of the satellites, who are, of course, perfectly
+harmless."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Harmless, but unpleasant," returned Kromodeor. "When we get back I'm
+going to find his beam myself and send a discharge along it that will
+end his spying upon me. I do not...."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span> <span class="up">wailing</span> signal interrupted the conversation and every Vorkul in
+the vast fleet coiled even more tightly about his bars, for the real
+battle was about to begin. The city of the hexans lay before them,
+all her gigantic forces mustered to repel the first real invasion of
+her long and warlike history. Mile after mile it extended, an orderly
+labyrinth of spherical buildings arranged in vast interlocking series
+of concentric circles&mdash;a city of such size that only a small part of it
+was visible, even to the infra-red vision of the Vorkulians. Apparently
+the city was unprotected, having not even a wall. Outward from the low,
+rounded houses of the city's edge there reached a wide and verdant
+plain, which was separated from the jungle by a narrow moat of
+shimmering liquid&mdash;a liquid of such dire potency that across it,
+even those frightful growths could neither leap nor creep.
+</p>
+<p>
+But as the Vorkulian phalanx approached&mdash;now shooting forward and
+upward with maximum acceleration, screaming bolts of energy flaming out
+for miles behind each heptagon as the full power of its generators was
+unleashed&mdash;it was made clear that the homeland of the hexans was far
+from unprotected. The verdant plain disappeared in a blast of radiance,
+revealing a transparent surface, through which could be seen masses of
+machinery filling level below level, deep into the ground as far as the
+eye could reach; and from the bright liquid of the girdling moat there
+shot vertically upward a coruscantly refulgent band of intense yellow
+luminescence. These were the hexan defences, heretofore invulnerable and
+invincible. Against them any ordinary warcraft, equipped with ordinary
+weapons of offense, would have been as pitifully impotent as a naked
+baby attacking a battleship. But now those defenses were being
+challenged by no ordinary craft; it had taken the mightiest intellects
+of Vorkulia two long lifetimes to evolve the awful engine of destruction
+which was hurling itself forward and upward with an already terrific and
+constantly increasing speed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Onward and upward flashed the gigantic duplex cone, its entire whirling
+mass laced and latticed together&mdash;into one mammoth unit by green tractor
+beams and red pressors. These tension and compression members, of
+unheard-of power, made of the whole fleet of three hundred forty-three
+fortresses a single stupendous structure&mdash;a structure with all the
+strength and symmetry of a cantilever truss! Straight through that wall
+of yellow vibrations the vast truss drove, green walls flaming blue
+defiance as the absorbers overloaded; its doubly braced tip rearing
+upward, into and beyond the vertical as it shot through that searing
+yellow wall. Simultaneously from each heptagon there flamed downward a
+green shaft of radiance, so that the whole immense circle of the cone's
+mouth was one solid tractor beam, fastening upon and holding in an
+unbreakable grip mile upon mile of the hexan earthworks.
+</p>
+<p>
+Practically irresistible force and supposedly immovable object!
+Every loose article in every heptagon had long since been stored in
+its individual shockproof compartment, and now every Vorkul coiled his
+entire body in fierce clasp about mighty horizontal bars: for the entire
+kinetic energy of the untold millions of tons of mass comprising the
+cone, at the terrific measure of its highest possible velocity, was
+to be hurled upon those unbreakable linkages of force which bound
+the trussed aggregation of Vorkulian fortresses to the deeply buried
+intrenchments of the hexans. The gigantic composite tractor beam snapped
+on and held. Inconceivably powerful as that beam was, it stretched a
+trifle under the incomprehensible momentum of those prodigious masses
+of metal, almost halted in their terrific flight. But the war-cone was
+not quite halted; the calculations of the Vorkulian scientists had been
+accurate. No possible artificial structure, and but few natural ones&mdash;in
+practice maneuvers entire mountains had been lifted and hurled for miles
+through the air&mdash;could have withstood the incredible violence of that
+lunging, twisting, upheaving impact. Lifted bodily by that impalpable
+hawser of force and cruelly wrenched and twisted by its enormous couple
+of angular momentum, the hexan works came up out of the ground as a
+waterpipe comes up in the teeth of a power shovel. The ground trembled
+and rocked and boulders, fragments of concrete masonry, and masses of
+metal flew in all directions as that city-encircling conduit of
+diabolical machinery was torn from its bed.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span> <span class="up">portion</span> of that conduit fully thirty miles in length was in the air,
+a twisted, flaming inferno of wrecked generators, exploding ammunition,
+and broken and short-circuited high-tension leads before the hexans
+could themselves cut it and thus save the remainder of their
+fortifications. With resounding crashes, the structure parted at the
+weakened points, the furious upheaval stopped and, the tractor beams
+shut off, the shattered, smoking, erupting mass of wreckage fell in
+clashing, grinding ruin upon the city.
+</p>
+<p>
+The enormous duplex cone of the Vorkuls did not attempt to repeat the
+maneuver, but divided into two single cones, one of which darted toward
+each point of rupture. There, upon the broken and unprotected ends of
+the hexan cordon, their points of attack lay: theirs the task to eat
+along that annular fortress, no matter what the opposition might bring
+to bear&mdash;to channel in its place a furrow of devastation until the two
+cones, their work complete, should meet at the opposite edge of the
+city. Then what was left of the cones would separate into individual
+heptagons, which would so systematically blast every hexan thing into
+nothingness as to make certain that never again would they resume their
+insensate attacks upon the Vorkuls. Having counted the cost and being
+grimly ready to pay it, the implacable attackers hurled themselves upon
+their objectives.
+</p>
+<p>
+Here were no feeble spheres of space, commanding only the limited
+energies transmitted to their small receptors through the ether. Instead
+there were all the offensive and defensive weapons developed by hundreds
+of generations of warrior-scientists; wielding all the incalculable
+power capable of being produced by the massed generators of a mighty
+nation. But for the breach opened in the circle by the irresistible
+surprise attack, they would have been invulnerable, and, hampered as
+they were by the defenseless ends of what should have been an endless
+ring, the hexans took heavy toll.
+</p>
+<p>
+The heptagons, massive and solidly braced as they were, and anchored by
+tractor rays as well, shuddered and trembled throughout their mighty
+frames under the impact of fiercely driven pressor beams. Sullenly
+radiant green wall-screens flared brighter and brighter as the Vorkulian
+absorbers and dissipators, mighty as they were, continued more and more
+to overload; for there were being directed against them beams from the
+entire remaining circumference of the stronghold. Every deadly frequency
+and emanation known to the fiendish hexan intellect, backed by the full
+power of the city, was poured out against the invaders in sizzling
+shrieking bars, bands, and planes of frenzied incandescence. Nor was
+vibratory destruction alone. Armor-piercing projectiles of enormous
+size and weight were hurled&mdash;diamond-hard, drill-headed projectiles
+which clung and bored upon impact. High-explosive shells, canisters of
+gas, and the frightful aerial bombs and radio-dirigible torpedoes of
+highly scientific war&mdash;all were thrown with lavish hand, as fast as
+the projectors could be served. But thrust for thrust, ray for ray,
+projectile for massive projectile, the Brobdingnagian creations of
+the Vorkuls gave back to the hexans.
+</p>
+<p>
+The material lining of the ghastly moat was the only substance capable
+of resisting the action of its contents, and now, that lining destroyed
+by the uprooting of the fortress, that corrosive, brilliantly mobile
+liquid cascaded down in to the trough and added its hellish contribution
+to the furious scene. For whatever that devouring fluid touched flared
+into yellow flame, gave off clouds of lurid, strangling vapor, and
+disappeared. But through yellow haze, through blasting frequencies,
+through clouds of poisonous gas, through rain of metal and through
+storm of explosive the two cones ground implacably onward, their every
+offensive weapon centered upon the fast-receding exposed ends of the
+hexan fortress. Their bombs and torpedoes ripped and tore into the
+structure beneath the invulnerable shield and exploded, demolishing
+and hurling aside like straws, the walls, projectors, hexads and vast
+mountains of earth. Their terrible rays bored in, softening, fusing,
+volatilizing metal, short-circuiting connections, destroying life
+far ahead of the point of attack; and, drawn along by the relentlessly
+creeping composite tractor beam, there progressed around the circumference
+of the hexan city two veritable Saturnalia of destruction&mdash;uninterrupted,
+cataclysmic detonations of sound and sizzling, shrieking, multi-colored
+displays of pyrotechnic incandescence combining to form a spectacle
+of violence incredible.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the heptagons could not absorb nor radiate indefinitely those
+torrents of energy, and soon one greenishly incandescent screen went
+down. Giant shells pierced the green metal walls, giant beams of force
+fused and consumed them. Faster and faster the huge heptagon became a
+shapeless, flowing mass, its metal dripping away in flaming gouts of
+brilliance; then it disappeared utterly in one terrific blast as some
+probing enemy ray reached a vital part. The cone did not pause nor
+waver. Many of its component units would go down, but it would go
+on&mdash;and on and on until every hexan trace had disappeared or until
+the last Vorkulian heptagon had been annihilated.
+</p>
+<p>
+In one of the lowermost heptagons, one bearing the full brunt of the
+hexan armament, Kromodeor reared upright as his projector controls
+went dead beneath his hands. Finding his communicator screens likewise
+lifeless, he slipped to the floor and wriggled to the room of the Chief
+Power Officer, where he found Wixill idly fingering his controls.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are we out?" asked Kromodeor, tersely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All done," the Chief Power Officer calmly replied. "We have power left,
+but we cannot use it, as they have crushed our screens and are fusing
+our outer walls. Two out of seven chances, and we drew one of them. We
+are still working on the infra band, over across on the Second's board,
+but we won't last long...."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span><span class="up">s</span> he spoke, the mighty fabric lurched under them, and only their quick
+and powerful tails, darting in lightning loops about the bars, saved
+them from being battered to death against the walls as the heptagon was
+hurled end over end by a stupendous force. With a splintering crash it
+came to rest upon the ground.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder how that happened? They should have rayed us out or exploded
+us," Kromodeor pondered. The Vorkuls, with their inhumanly powerful,
+sinuous bodies, were scarcely affected by the shock of that frightful
+fall.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They must have had a whole battery of pressors on us when our greens
+went out&mdash;they threw us half-way across the city, almost into the gate
+we made first," Wixill replied, studying the situation of the vessel in
+the one small screen still in action. "We aren't hurt very badly&mdash;only a
+few holes that they are starting to weld already. When the absorber and
+dissipator crews get them cooled down enough so that we can use power
+again, we'll go back."
+</p>
+<p>
+But they were not to resume their place in the attack. Through the
+holes in the still-glowing walls, hexan soldiery were leaping in
+steady streams, fighting with the utmost savagery of their bloodthirsty
+natures, urged on by the desperation born of the knowledge of imminent
+defeat and total destruction. Hand-weapons roared, flashed, and
+sparkled; heavy bars crashed and thudded against crunching bones;
+mighty bodies and tails whipped crushingly about six-limbed forms which
+wrenched and tore with monstrously powerful hands and claws. Fiercely
+and valiantly the Vorkuls fought, but they were outnumbered by hundreds
+and only one outcome was possible.
+</p>
+<p>
+Kromodeor was one of the last to go down. Weapons long since exhausted,
+he unwrapped his deadly coils from about a dead hexan and darted toward
+a storeroom, only to be cut off by a horde of enemies. Throwing himself
+down a vertical shaft, he flew toward a tiny projector-locker, in the
+lowermost part of one of the great star's points, the hexans in hot
+pursuit. He wrenched the door open, and even while searing planes of
+force were riddling his body, he trained the frightful weapon he had
+sought. He pressed the contact, and bursts of intolerable flame swept
+the entire passage clear of life. Weakly he struggled to go out into the
+aisle, but his muscles refused to do the bidding of his will and he lay
+there, twitching feebly.
+</p>
+<p>
+In the power room of the heptagon a hexan officer turned fiercely to
+another, who was offering advice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Vorkuls? Bah!" he snarled, viciously. "Our race is finished. Die we
+must, but we shall take with us the one enemy, who above all others
+needs destruction!" and he hurled the captured Vorkulian fortress into
+the air.
+</p>
+<p>
+As the heptagon lurched upward, the massive door of a lower projector
+locker clanged shut and Kromodeor collapsed in a corner, his
+consciousness blotted out.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">"W</span><span class="up">ell</span>, that certainly tears it! That's a ... I...." Stevens' ready
+vocabulary failed him and he turned to Brandon, who was still staring
+narrow-eyed into the plate, watching the destruction of the hexan city.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They've got something, all right&mdash;you've got to hand it to them,"
+Brandon replied. "And we thought we knew something about forces and
+physical phenomena in general. Those birds have forgotten more than we
+ever will know. Just one of those things could take the whole I-P fleet,
+armed as we are now, any morning before breakfast, just for setting-up
+exercises. We've got to do something about it&mdash;but what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's okay&mdash;whatever you say. There may be an out somewhere, but I don't
+see it," and Stevens' gloomy tone matched his words.
+</p>
+<p>
+Highly trained scientists both, they had been watching that which
+transcended all the science of the inner planets and knew themselves
+outclassed immeasurably.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Only one thing to do, as I see it," Brandon cogitated. "That's to keep
+on going straight out, the way we're headed now. We'd better call a
+council of war, to dope out a line of action."
+</p>
+
+<a name="note-2"><!--Note--></a>
+<p class="foot">
+<u>2</u> (<a href="#noteref-2">return</a>)<br />
+In order to avoid all unnecessary strain upon the memory of
+the reader, all titles, etc., have been given in the closest possible
+English equivalent, instead of in an attempted transliteration of the
+foreign word. This particular officer has no counterpart upon Tellurian
+vessels. He is the second in command of a Vorkulian fortress, his
+function being to supervise all expenditure of power.&mdash;E. E. S.
+</p>
+
+<a name="h2HCH0012" id="h2HCH0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    The Citadel in Space
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">F</span><span class="up">or</span> the first time in many days Brandon and Westfall sat at dinner in
+the main dining room of the <i>Sirius</i>. They were enjoying greatly the
+unaccustomed pleasure of a leisurely, formal meal; but still their
+talk concerned the projection of pure forces instead of subjects more
+appropriate to the table; still their eyes paid more attention to
+diagrams drawn upon scraps of paper than to the diners about them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I tell you, Quince, you're full of little red ants, clear to the
+neck!" Brandon snorted, as Westfall waved one of his arguments aside.
+"You must have had help to get that far off&mdash;no one man could possibly
+be as wrong as you are. Why, those fields absolutely will...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, Quincy! Hi, Norman!" a merry voice interrupted. "Still fighting as
+usual, I see! What kind of knights are you, anyway, to rescue us poor
+damsels in distress, and then never even know that we're alive?" A tall,
+willowy brunette had seen the two physicists as she entered the saloon,
+and came over to their table, a hand outstretched to each in cordial
+greeting.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ho, Verna!" both men exclaimed, and came to their feet as they welcomed
+the smiling, graceful newcomer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sit down here, Verna&mdash;we have hardly started," Westfall invited, and
+Brandon looked at the girl in assumed surprise as she seated herself in
+the proffered chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Verna, it's like this...." he began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's enough!" she broke in. "That phrase always was your introduction
+to one of the world's greatest brainstorms. But I know that this is the
+first time you have had time even to eat like civilized beings, so I'll
+forgive you this once. Why all the registering of amazement, Norman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm astonished that you aren't being monopolized by some husband or
+other. Surely the officers of the <i>Arcturus</i> weren't so dumb that they'd
+stand for your still being Verna <i>Pickering</i>, were they?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not dumb, Norman, no. Far from it. But I'm still working for my
+M. R. S. degree, and I haven't succeeded in snaring it yet. You'd be
+surprised at how cagy those officers got after a few of them had been
+captured. But they are just like any other hunted game, I suppose&mdash;the
+antelopes that survive get pretty wild, you know," she concluded,
+plaintively.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, that certainly is one tough break for a poor little girl,"
+Brandon sympathized. "Quince, our little Nell, here, hasn't been done
+right by. I'm bashful and you're a woman-hater, but between us, some
+way, we've simply got to take steps."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You might take longer steps than you think," Verna laughed, her
+regular, white teeth and vivid coloring emphasized by her olive skin
+and her startling hair, black as Brandon's own. "Perhaps I would like
+a scientist better than an I-P officer, anyway. The more I think of it,
+the surer I am that Nadia Newton had the right idea. I believe that
+I'll catch me a physicist, too&mdash;either of you would do quite nicely,
+I think," and she studied the two men carefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+Westfall, the methodical and precise, had never been able to defend
+himself against Verna Pickering's badinage, but Brandon's ready tongue
+took up the challenge.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Verna, if you really decided to get any living man he wouldn't stand a
+chance in the world," he declared. "If you've already made up your mind
+that I'm your meat, I'll come down like Davy Crockett's coon. But if
+either of us will do, that'll give us each a fifty-fifty chance to
+escape your toils. What say we play a game of freeze-out to decide it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fine, Norman! When shall we play?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, between Wednesday and Thursday, any week you say," and the two
+fenced on, banteringly but skilfully, with Westfall an appreciative and
+unembarrassed listener.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dinner over, Brandon and Westfall went back to the control room, where
+they found Stevens already seated at one of the master screens.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x, Perce?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x. The observers report no registrations during the last two
+watches," and the three fell into discussion. Long they talked, studying
+every angle of the situation confronting them; until suddenly a speaker
+rattled furiously and an enormous, staring eye filled both master
+plates. Brandon's hand flashed to a switch, but the image disappeared
+even before he could establish the full-coverage ray screen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm on the upper band&mdash;take the lower!" he snapped, but Stevens'
+projector was already in action. Trained minds all, they knew that some
+intelligence had traced them, and all realized that it was of the utmost
+importance to know what and where that intelligence was. Stevens found
+the probing frequency in his range and they flashed their own beam along
+it, encountering finally one of the monstrous Vorkulian fortresses, far
+from Jupiter and almost directly between them and the planet! Its wall
+screens were in operation, and no frequency at their command could
+penetrate that neutralizing blanket of vibrations.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What kind of an eye was that&mdash;ever see anything like it, Perce?"
+Brandon demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think so, though of course we got only an awfully short flash
+of it. It didn't look like the periscopic eyes that those flying snakes
+had&mdash;looked more like a hexan eye, don't you think? Couldn't very well
+be hexan, though, in that kind of a ship."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't think so, either. Maybe it's a purely mechanical affair that they
+use for observing. Anyway, old sons, I don't like the looks of things at
+all. Quince, you're the brains of this outfit&mdash;shift the massive old
+intellect into high and tell us what to do."
+</p>
+<p>
+Westfall, staring into the eyepiece of the filar micrometer, finished
+measuring the apparent size of the heptagon before he turned toward
+Stevens and Brandon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is hard to decide upon a course of action, since anything that we
+do may prove to be wrong," he said, slowly. "However, I do not see that
+this latest development can operate to change the plan we have already
+adopted; that of running away, straight out from the sun. We may have
+to increase our acceleration to the highest value the women and babies
+can stand. A series of observations of our pursuer will, of course, be
+necessary to decide that point. It would be useless to go to Titan,
+for they would be powerless to help us. We could not hold their mirror
+upon either the <i>Sirius</i> or their torpedoes against such forces as that
+fortress has at her command. Then, too, we might well be bringing down
+upon them an enemy who would destroy much of their world before he could
+be stopped. Both Uranus and Neptune are approximately upon our present
+course. Do the Titanians know anything of either of them, Steve?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a thing," the computer replied. "They can't get nearly as far as
+Uranus on their power beam&mdash;it's all they can do to make Jupiter. They
+seem to think, though, that one or more of the satellites of Uranus or
+Neptune may be inhabited by beings similar to themselves, only perhaps
+even more so. But considering the difference between what we found on
+the Jovian satellites and on Titan, I'd say that anything might be out
+there&mdash;on Uranus, Neptune, their satellites, or anywhere else."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Cancel Uranus, and double that for Neptune," Brandon commanded.
+"Realize how far away they are?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's right, too," agreed Stevens. "Before we got there, with any
+acceleration we can use now, this whole mess will be cleaned up, one way
+or the other."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">W</span><span class="up">estfall</span> completed the series of observations and calculated his
+results. Then, with a grave face, he went to consult the medical
+officers. The women, children, and the two Martian scientists were sent
+to the sick-bay and the acceleration was raised slowly to twenty meters
+per second per second, above which point the physicians declared they
+should not go unless it became absolutely necessary. Then the scientists
+met again&mdash;met without Alcantro and Fedanzo, who lay helpless upon
+narrow hospital bunks, unable even to lift their massive arms.
+</p>
+<p>
+While Westfall made another series of precise measurements of the
+super-dreadnought of space so earnestly pursuing them, Brandon stumbled
+heavily about the room, hands jammed deep into pockets, eyes unseeing
+emitting clouds of smoke from his villainously reeking pipe. The
+Venetians, lacking Brandon's physical strength and by nature quieter of
+disposition, sat motionless; keen minds hard at work. Stevens sat at the
+calculating machine, absently setting up and knocking down weird and
+meaningless integrals, while he also concentrated upon the problem
+before them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are still gaining, but comparatively slowly," Westfall finally
+reported. "They seem to be...."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In that case we may be all x," Brandon interrupted, brandishing his
+pipe vigorously. "We know that they're on a beam&mdash;apparently we're the
+only ones hereabouts having cosmic power. If we can keep away from them
+until their beam attenuates, we can whittle 'em down to our size and
+then take them, no matter how much accumulator capacity they've got."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But can we keep away from them that long?" asked Dol Kenor, pointedly;
+and his fellow Venerian also had a question to propound:
+</p>
+<p>
+"Would it not be preferable to lead them in a wide circle, back to a
+rendezvous with the Space Fleet, which will probably be ready by the
+time of meeting?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid that that would be useless," Westfall frowned in thought.
+"Given power, that fortress could destroy the entire Fleet almost as
+easily as she could wipe out the <i>Sirius</i> alone."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Kenor's right." Stevens spoke up from the calculator. "You're getting
+too far ahead of the situation. We aren't apt to keep ahead of them long
+enough to do much leading anywhere. The Titanians can hold a beam
+together from Saturn to Jupiter&mdash;why can't these snake-folks?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Several reasons," Brandon argued stubbornly. "First place, look at the
+mass of that thing, and remember that the heavier the beam the harder
+it is to hold it together. Second, there's no evidence that they wander
+around much in space. If their beams are designed principally for travel
+upon Jupiter, why should they have any extraordinary range? I say they
+can't hold that beam forever. We've got a good long lead, and in spite
+of their higher acceleration, I think we'll be able to keep out of range
+of their heavy stuff. If so, we'll trace a circle&mdash;only one a good deal
+bigger than the one Amonar suggested&mdash;and meet the fleet at a point
+where that enemy ship will be about out of power."
+</p>
+<p>
+Thus for hours the scientists argued, agreeing upon nothing, while
+the Vorkulian fortress crept ever closer. At the end of three days of
+the mad flight, the pursuing space ship was in plain sight, covering
+hundreds of divisions of the micrometer screens. But now the size of
+the images was increasing with extreme slowness, and the scientists
+of the <i>Sirius</i> watched with strained attention the edges of those
+glowing green pictures. Finally, when the pictured edges were about
+to cease moving across the finely-ruled lines, Brandon cut down his
+own acceleration a trifle, and kept on decreasing it at such a rate
+that the heptagon still crept up, foot by foot.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hey what's the big idea?" Stevens demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Coax 'em along. If we run away from them they'll probably reverse power
+and go back home, won't they? Their beam is falling apart fast, but
+they're still getting so much stuff along it that we couldn't do a thing
+to stop them. If they think that we're losing power even faster than
+they are, though, they'll keep after us until their beam's so thin that
+they'll just be able to stop on it. Then they'll reverse or else go onto
+their accumulators&mdash;reverse, probably, since they'll be a long ways from
+home by that time. We'll reverse, too, and keep just out of range. Then,
+when we both have stopped and are about to start back, their beam will
+be at its minimum and we'll go to work on 'em&mdash;foot, horse, and marines.
+Nobody can run us as ragged as they've been doing and get away with it
+as long as I'm conscious and stand a chance in the world of hanging one
+onto their chins in retaliation. I've got a hunch. If it works, we can
+take those birds alone, and take 'em so they'll <i>stay</i> took. We might as
+well break up&mdash;this is going to be an ordinary job of piloting for a few
+days, I think. I'm going up and work with the Martians on that hunch.
+You fellows work out any ideas you want to. Watch 'em close, Mac. Keep
+kidding 'em along, but don't let them get close enough to puncture us."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">E</span><span class="up">verything</span> worked out practically as Brandon had foretold, and a few
+days later, their acceleration somewhat less than terrestrial gravity,
+he called another meeting in the control room. He came in grinning from
+ear to ear, accompanied by the two Martians, and seated himself at his
+complex power panel.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now watch the professor closely, gentlemen," he invited. "He is going
+to cut that beam."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you can't," protested Pyraz Amonar.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know you can't, ordinarily, when a beam is tight and solid. But
+that beam's as loose as ashes right now. I told you I had a hunch, and
+Alcantro and Fedanzo worked out the right answer for me. If I can cut
+it, Quince, and if their screens go down for a minute, shoot your
+visiray into them and see what you can see."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x. How much power are you going to draw?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Plenty&mdash;it figures a little better than four hundred thousand
+kilofranks. I'll draw it all from the accumulators, so as not to
+disturb you fellows on the cosmic intake. We don't care if we do run the
+batteries down some, but I don't want to hold that load on the bus-bars
+very long. However, if my hunch is right, I won't be on that beam five
+minutes before it's cut from Jupiter&mdash;and I'll bet you four dollars that
+you won't see the original crew in that fort when you get into it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He set upper and lower bands of dirigible projectors to apply a
+powerful sidewise thrust, and the <i>Sirius</i> darted off her course.
+Flashing a minute pencil behind the huge heptagon, Brandon manipulated
+his tuning circuits until a brilliant spot in space showed him that he
+was approaching resonance with the heptagon's power beam. Micrometer
+dials were then engaged and the delicate tuning continued until the
+meters gave evidence that the two beams were precisely synchronized and
+exactly opposite in phase. Four plunger switches closed, that tiny pilot
+ray became an enormous rod of force, and as those two gigantic beams met
+in exact opposition and neutralized each other, a solid wall of blinding
+brilliance appeared in the empty ether behind the Vorkulian fortress. As
+that dazzling wall sprang into being, the sparkling green protection
+died from the walls of the heptagon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go to it, Quince!" Brandon yelled, but the suggestion was entirely
+superfluous. Even before the wall-screen had died, Westfall's beam was
+trying to get through it, and when the visiray revealed the interior of
+the heptagon, the quiet and methodical physicist was shaken from his
+habitual calm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, they aren't the winged monsters at all&mdash;they're <i>hexans</i>!"
+he exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure they are." Brandon did not even turn his heavily-goggled eyes
+from the blazing blankness of his own screen. "That was my hunch. Those
+snakes went about things in a business-like fashion. They didn't strike
+me as being folks who would pull off such a wild stunt as trying to
+chase us clear out of the solar system, but a gang of hexans would do
+just that. Some of them must have captured that ship and, already having
+it in their cock-eyed brains that we were back of what happened on
+Callisto, they decided to bump us off if it was the last thing they ever
+did. That's what I'd do myself, if I were a hexan. Now I'll tell you
+what's happening back at the home power plant of that ship and what's
+going to happen next. I'm kicking up a horrible row out there with my
+interference, and a lot of instruments at the other end of that beam
+must be cutting up all kinds of didoes, right now. They'll check up on
+that ship with the expedition, by radio and what-not, and when they find
+out that it's clear out here&mdash;chop! Didn't get to see much, did you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, they must have switched over to their accumulators almost
+instantly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yeah, but if they've got accumulator capacity enough to hold off our
+entire cosmic intake and get back to Jupiter besides, I'm a polyp! We're
+going to take that ship, fellows, and learn a lot of stuff we never
+dreamed of before. Ha! There goes his beam&mdash;pay me the four, Quince."
+</p>
+<p>
+The dazzling wall of incandescence had blinked out without warning, and
+Brandon's beam bored on through space, unimpeded. He shut it off and
+turned to his fellows with a grin&mdash;a grin which disappeared instantly
+as a thought struck him and he leaped back to his board.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sound the high-acceleration warning quick, Perce!" he snapped, and
+drove in switch after switch.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Cosmic intake's gone down to zero!" exclaimed MacDonald, as the
+<i>Sirius</i> leaped away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Had to cut it&mdash;they might shoot a jolt through that band. Just thought
+of something. Maybe unnecessary, but no harm done if ... it's necessary,
+all x&mdash;we're taking a sweet kissing right now. You see, even though
+we're at pretty long range, they've got some horrible projectors, and
+they were evidently mad enough to waste some power taking a good, solid
+flash at us&mdash;and if we hadn't been expecting it, that flash would have
+been a bountiful sufficiency, believe me&mdash;Great Cat! Look at that
+meter&mdash;and I've had to throw in number ten shunt! The outer screen is
+drawing five hundred and forty thousand!"
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">hey</span> stared at the meter in amazement. It was incredible, even after
+they had seen those heptagons in action, that at such extreme range
+any offensive beam could be driven with such unthinkable power&mdash;power
+requiring for its neutralization almost the full output of the
+prodigious batteries of accumulators carried by the <i>Sirius</i>! Yet for
+five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes that beam drove furiously against
+their straining screens, and even Brandon's face grew tense and hard
+as that frightful attack continued. At the end of twenty-two minutes,
+however, the pointer of the meter snapped back to the pin and every
+man there breathed an explosive sigh of relief&mdash;the almost unbearable
+bombardment was over; the screen was drawing only its maintenance load.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wow!" Brandon shouted. "I thought for a minute they were going to hang
+to us until we cracked, even if it meant that they'd have to freeze to
+death out here themselves!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would have meant that, too, don't you think?" asked Stevens.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I imagine so&mdash;don't see how they could possibly have enough power left
+to get back to Jupiter if they shine that thing on us much longer. Of
+course, the more power they waste on us, the quicker we can take them;
+but I don't want much more of that beam, I'll tell the world&mdash;I just
+about had heart failure before they cut off!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The massive heptagon was now drifting back toward Jupiter at constant
+velocity. The hexans were apparently hoarding jealously their remaining
+power, for their wall screens did not flash on at the touch of the
+visiray. Through unresisting metal the probing Terrestrial beams sped,
+and the scientists studied minutely every detail of the Vorkulian
+armament; while the regular observers began to make a detailed
+photographic survey of every room and compartment of the great fortress.
+Much of the instrumentation and machinery was familiar, but some of it
+was so strange that study was useless&mdash;days of personal inspection and
+experiment, perhaps complete dismantling, would be necessary to reveal
+the secrets hidden within those peculiar mechanisms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're trying to save all the power they can&mdash;think I'll make them
+spend some more," Brandon remarked, and directed against the heptagon a
+heavy destructive beam. "We don't want them to get back to Jupiter until
+after we've boarded them and found out everything we want to know. Come
+here, Quince&mdash;what do you make of this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Both men stared at the heptagon, frankly puzzled; for the screens of the
+strange vessel did not radiate, nor did the material of the walls yield
+under the terrible force of the beam. The destructive ray simply struck
+that dull green surface and vanished&mdash;disappeared without a trace, as a
+tiny stream of water disappears into a partially-soaked sponge.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know what you are doing?" asked Westfall, after a few minutes'
+thought. "I believe that you are charging their accumulators at the rate
+of," he glanced at a meter, "exactly thirty-one thousand five hundred
+kilofranks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Great Cat!" Brandon's hand flashed to a switch and the beam expired.
+"But they can't just simply grab it and store it, Quince&mdash;it's
+impossible!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The word 'impossible' in that connection, coming from you, has a queer
+sound," Westfall said pointedly and Brandon actually blushed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's right, too&mdash;we have got pretty much the same idea in our cosmic
+intake fields, but we didn't carry things half as far as they have done.
+Huh! They're flashing us again ... but those thin little beams don't
+mean anything. They're just trying to make us feed them some more, I
+guess. But we've got to hold them back some way&mdash;wonder if they can
+absorb a tractor field?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The hexans had lashed out a few times with their lighter weapons,
+but, finding the <i>Sirius</i> unresponsive, had soon shut them off and were
+stolidly plunging along toward Jupiter. Brandon flung out a tractor rod
+and threw the mass of his cruiser upon it as it locked into those sullen
+green walls. But as soon as the enemy felt its drag, their screens
+flared white, and the massive Terrestrial space-ship quivered in every
+member as that terrific cable of force was snapped.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They apparently cannot store up the energy of a tractor," commented
+Westfall, "but you will observe that they have no difficulty in
+radiating when they care to."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Those two ideas didn't pan out so heavy. There's lots of things not
+tried yet, though. Our next best bet is to get around in front of him
+and push back. If they wiggle away from more than fifty percent of a
+pressor, they're really good."
+</p>
+<p>
+The pilot maneuvered the <i>Sirius</i> into line, directly between Jupiter
+and the pentagon; and as the driving projectors went into action,
+Brandon drove a mighty pressor field along their axis, squarely into the
+center of mass of the Vorkulian fortress. For a moment it held solidly,
+then, as the screens of the enemy went into action, it rebounded and
+glanced off in sparkling, cascading torrents. But the hexans, with all
+their twisting and turning, could not present to that prodigious beam of
+force any angle sufficiently obtuse to rob it of half its power, and the
+driving projectors of the pentagon again burst into activity as the
+backward-pushing mass of the <i>Sirius</i> made itself felt. In a short time,
+however, the wall-screens were again cut off&mdash;apparently more power was
+required to drive them than they were able to deflect.
+</p>
+<p>
+Although even the enormous tonnage of the Terrestrial cruiser was
+insignificant in comparison with the veritable mountain of metal to
+which she was opposed, so that the fiercest thrust of her driving
+projectors did not greatly affect the monster's progress; yet Brandon
+and his cohorts were well content.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a long trip back to where they came from, and since they wanted
+to drift all the way, I think they'll be out of power before they get
+there," Brandon summed up the situation. "We aren't losing any power,
+either, since we are using only a part of our cosmic intake."
+</p>
+<p>
+In a few hours the struggle had settled down to a routine matter&mdash;the
+<i>Sirius</i> being pushed backward steadily against the full drive of her
+every projector, contesting stubbornly every mile of space traversed.
+Assured that the regular pilots and lookouts were fully capable
+of handling the vessel, the scientists were about to resume their
+interrupted tasks when one of the photographers called them over to look
+at something he had discovered in one of the lowermost and smallest
+compartments of the heptagon. All crowded around the screens, and saw
+pictured there the winged, snake-like form of one of the original crew
+of the Vorkulian vessel!
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dead?" Brandon asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not yet," replied the photographer. "He is twitching a little once in
+a while, but you see, he's pretty badly cut up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see he is ... he must have a lot of vitality to have lasted this
+long&mdash;may be he'll live through it yet. Hold him on the plate, and get
+his exact measurements." He turned to the communicator. "Doctor von
+Steiffel? Can you come down to the control room a minute? We may want
+you to operate upon one of these South Jovians after a while."
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Himmel! Es ... ist ... der....</i>" The great surgeon, bearded and
+massive, stared into the plate, and in his surprise started to speak
+in his native German. He paused, his long, powerful fingers tracing the
+likeness of the Vorkul upon the plate, then went on: "I would like very
+much to operate, but, not understanding our intentions, he would, of
+course, struggle. And when that body struggles&mdash;<i>schrecklichkeit</i>!" and
+he waved his arms in a pantomime of wholesale destruction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought of that&mdash;that's why I am talking to you now instead of when
+we get to him, two or three days from now. We'll give you his exact
+measurements, and a crew of mechanics will, under your direction, sink
+holes in the steel floor and install steel bands heavy enough to hold
+him rigid, from tailfins to wing-tips. We'll hold him there until we can
+make him understand that we're friends. It is of the utmost importance
+to save that creature's life if possible; because we do not want one of
+their fortresses launched against us&mdash;and in any event, it will not do
+us any harm to have a friend in the City of the South."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Right. I will also have prepared some kind of a space-suit in which
+he can be brought from his vessel to ours," and the surgeon took the
+measurements and went to see that the "operating table" and suit were
+made ready for Kromodeor, the sorely wounded Vorkul.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">I</span><span class="up">t</span> was not long until the projectors of the heptagon went out and
+she lay inert in space, power completely exhausted. Knowing that the
+screens of the enemy would absorb any ordinary ray, the scientists had
+calculated the most condensed beam they could possibly project, a beam
+which, their figures showed, should be able to puncture those screens by
+sheer mass action&mdash;puncture them practically instantaneously, before the
+absorbers could react. To that end they had arranged their circuits to
+hurl seven hundred sixty-five thousand kilofranks&mdash;the entire power of
+their massed accumulators and their highest possible cosmic intake&mdash;in
+one tiny bar of superlative density, less than one meter in diameter!
+Everything ready, Brandon shot in prodigious switches that launched that
+bolt&mdash;a bolt so vehement, so inconceivably intense, that it seemed
+fairly to blast the very ether out of existence as it tore its way along
+its carefully predetermined line. The intention was to destroy all the
+control panels of the absorber screens; parts so vital that without them
+the great vessel would be helpless, and yet items which the Terrestrials
+could reconstruct quite readily from their photographs and drawings.
+</p>
+<p>
+As that irresistible bolt touched the Vorkulian wall-screen, the spot
+of contact flared instantaneously through the spectrum and into the
+black beyond the violet as that screen overloaded locally. Fast as it
+responded and highly conductive though it was, it could not handle that
+frightfully concentrated load. In the same fleeting instant of time
+every molecule of substance in that beam's path flashed into tenuous
+vapor&mdash;no conceivable material could resist or impede that stabbing
+stiletto of energy&mdash;and the main control panel of the Vorkulian
+wall-screen system vanished. Time after time, as rapidly as he could
+sight his beam and operate his switches, Brandon drove his needle of
+annihilation through the fortress, destroying the secondary controls.
+Then, the walls unresisting, he cut in the vastly larger, but infinitely
+less powerful, I-P ray, and with it systematically riddled the immense
+heptagon. Out through the gaping holes in the outer walls rushed the
+dense atmosphere of Jupiter, and the hexans in their massed hundreds
+died.
+</p>
+<p>
+The <i>Sirius</i> was brought up beside the heptagon, so that her main
+air-lock was against one of the yawning holes in the green metal wall
+of the enemy. There she was anchored by tractor beams, and the two
+hundred picked men of the I-P police, in full space equipment, prepared
+to board the gigantic fortress of the void. Brandon sat tense at his
+controls, ready to send his beam ahead of the troopers against any
+hexans that might survive in some as yet unpunctured compartment.
+General Crowninshield sat beside the physicist at an auxiliary board,
+phones at ears and four infra-red visiray plates ranged in front of him;
+ready through light or darkness to direct and oversee the attack, no
+matter where it might lead or how widely separated the platoons might
+become before the citadel was taken.
+</p>
+<p>
+The space-line men&mdash;the engineers of weightless combat&mdash;led the van,
+protected by the projectors of their fellows. Theirs the task to set up
+ways of rope, along which the others could advance. Power drills bit
+savagely into metal, making holes to receive the expanding eyebolts;
+grappling hooks seized fast every protuberance and corner; points of
+little stress were supported by powerful suction cups; and at intervals
+were strung beam-fed lanterns, illuminating brilliantly the line of
+march. Through compartments and down corridors they went, bridging the
+many gaps in the metal through which Brandon's beams had blasted their
+way; guided by Crowninshield along the shortest feasible path toward the
+little projector room in which Kromodeor, the wounded Vorkul, lay. There
+were so many chambers and compartments in the heptagon that it had, of
+course, been impossible to puncture them all, and in some of the tight
+rooms were groups of hexans, anxious to do battle. But the general's eye
+led his men, and if such a room lay before them, Brandon's frightful
+beam entered it first&mdash;and where that beam entered, life departed.
+</p>
+<p>
+But the hexans were really intelligent, as has been said. They had had
+time to prepare for what they knew awaited them, and they were rendered
+utterly desperate by the knowledge that, no matter what might happen,
+their course was run. Their power was gone, and even if the present
+enemy should be driven off, they would float idly in space until they
+died of cold; or, more probably, hurtling toward Jupiter as they were,
+they would plunge to certain death upon its surface as soon as they came
+within its powerful gravitational field. Therefore some fifty of the
+creatures, who had had space experience in their spherical vessels,
+had spent the preceding days in manufacturing space equipment. Let the
+weight-fiends plan upon detonating magazines of explosives, upon laying
+mines calculated to destroy the invaders, even the vessel itself and
+all within it. Let them plan upon any other such idle schemes, which
+were certain to be foreseen and guarded against by the space-hardened
+veterans who undoubtedly moaned that all-powerful and vengeful football
+of scarred gray metal. Space-fighters were they, and as space-fighters
+would they die; taking with them to their own inevitable death a full
+quota of the enemy.
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">T</span><span class="up">hus</span> it came about that the head of the column of police had scarcely
+passed a certain door, when in the room behind it there began to
+assemble the half-hundred spacehounds of the hexans. When the vanguard
+had approached that room, Crowninshield had inspected it thoroughly with
+his infra-red beams. He had found it punctured and airless, devoid of
+life or of lethal devices, and had passed on. But now the space-suited
+warriors of the horde, guided in their hiding by their own visirays,
+were massing there. When the center of the I-P column reached that door,
+it burst open. There boiled out into the corridor, into the very midst
+of the police, fifty demoniacal hexans, fighting with Berserk fury,
+ruled by but one impulse&mdash;to kill.
+</p>
+<p>
+Hand-weapons flashed viciously, tearing at steel armor and at bulging
+space-suits. Space-hooks bit and tore. Pikes and lances were driven with
+the full power of brawny arms. Here and there could be seen trooper and
+hexan, locked together in fierce embrace far from any hand-line&mdash;six
+limbs against four, all ten plied with abandon in mortal, hand-to-hand,
+foot-to-foot combat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Give way!" yelled Crowninshield into the ears of his men. "Epstein,
+back! LeFevre, advance! Get out of block ten&mdash;give us a chance to use
+a beam!"
+</p>
+<p>
+As the police fell back out of the designated section of the corridor,
+Brandon's beam tore through it, filling it from floor to ceiling with
+a volume of intolerable energy. In that energy walls, doorway, and
+space-lines, as well as most of the hexans, vanished utterly. But the
+beam could not be used again. Every surviving enemy had hurled himself
+frantically into the thickest ranks of the police and the battle raged
+fiercer than ever. It did not last long. The ends of the column had
+already closed in. The police filled the corridor and overflowed into
+the yawning chasm cut by the annihilating ray. Outnumbered, surrounded
+upon all sides, above, and below by the Terrestrials, the hexans fought
+with mad desperation to the last man&mdash;and to the last man died. And even
+though in lieu of their own highly efficient space-armor they had fought
+in weak, crude, and hastily improvised space-suits, which were pitifully
+inferior to the ray resistant, heavy steel armor of the I-P forces,
+nevertheless the enormous strength and utter savagery of the hexans had
+taken toll; and when the advance was resumed, it was with extra lookouts
+scanning the entire neighborhood of the line of march.
+</p>
+<p>
+Since the troops had entered the fortress as close to their goal as
+possible, it was not long until the leading platoon reached the door
+behind which Kromodeor lay. Tools and cylinders of air were brought up,
+and the engineers quickly fitted pressure bulkheads across the corridor.
+There was a screaming hiss from the valves, the atmosphere in that
+walled-off space became dense, and mechanics attacked with their power
+drills the door of the projector room. It opened, and four husky
+orderlies rapidly but gently encased the long body of the Vorkul in the
+space-suit built especially to receive it. As that monstrous form in
+its weirdly bulging envelope was guided through the air-locks into the
+<i>Sirius</i>, Crowninshield barked orders into his transmitter and the
+police reformed. They would now systematically scour the fortress, to
+wipe out any hexans that might still be in hiding; to discover and
+destroy any possible traps or infernal machines which the enemy might
+have planted for their undoing.
+</p>
+<p>
+Assured that the real danger to the <i>Sirius</i> was over and that his
+presence was no longer necessary, Brandon turned his controls over to an
+assistant and went up to the Venerian rooms, where von Steiffel and his
+staff were to operate upon the Vorkul. There, in the dense, hot air, but
+little different now from the atmosphere of Jupiter, Kromodeor lay;
+bolted down to the solid steel of the floor by means of padded steel
+straps. So heavy were the bands that he could not possibly break even
+one of them; so closely were they spaced that he could scarcely have
+moved a muscle had he tried. But he did not try&mdash;so near death was he
+that his mighty muscles did not even quiver at the trenchant bite of the
+surgeon's tools. Von Steiffel and his aides, meticulously covered with
+sterile gowns, hoods, and gloves, worked in most rigidly aseptic style;
+deftly and rapidly closing the ghastly wounds inflicted by the weapons
+of the hexans.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, Brandon," the surgeon grunted as he straightened up, the work
+completed. "I did not use much antiseptic on him. Because of possible
+differences in blood chemistry and in ignorance of his native bacteria,
+I depended almost wholly upon asepsis and his natural resistance. It is
+a good thing that we did not have to use an anaesthetic. He is in bad
+shape, but if we can feed him successfully, he may pull through."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Feed him? I never thought of that. What d'you suppose he eats?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have an idea that it is something highly concentrated, from his
+anatomy. I shall try giving him sugar, milk chocolate, something of
+the kind. First I shall try maple syrup. Being a liquid, it is easily
+administered, and its penetrating odor also may be a help."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">A</span> <span class="up">can</span> of the liquid was brought in and to the amazement of the
+Terrestrials, the long, delicate antennae of the Vorkul began to twitch
+as soon as the can was opened. Motioning hastily for silence, von
+Steiffel filled a bowl and placed it upon the floor beneath Kromodeor's
+grotesque nose. The twitching increased, until finally one dull, glazed
+eye brightened somewhat and curled slowly out upon its slender pedicle,
+toward the dish. His mouth opened sluggishly and a long, red tongue
+reached out, but as his perceptions quickened, he became conscious of
+the strangers near him. The mouth snapped shut, the eye retracted, and
+heaving, rippling surges traversed that powerful body as he struggled
+madly against the unbreakable shackles of steel binding him to the floor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"<i>Ach, kindlein</i>!" The surgeon bent anxiously over that grotesque but
+frightened head; soothing, polysyllabic German crooning from his bearded
+lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here, let's try this&mdash;I'm good on it," Stevens suggested, bringing up
+the Callistonian thought exchanger. All three men donned headsets, and
+sent wave after wave of friendly and soothing thoughts toward that
+frantic and terrified brain.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's got his brain shut up like a clam!" Brandon snorted. "Open up,
+guy&mdash;we aren't going to hurt you! We're the best friends you've got,
+if you only knew it!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Himmel, und he iss himself killing!" moaned von Steiffel.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One more chance that might work," and Brandon stepped over to the
+communicator, demanding that Verna Pickering be brought at once. She
+came in as soon as the air-locks would permit, and the physicist
+welcomed her eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This fellow's fighting so he's tearing himself to pieces. We can't make
+him receive a thought, and von Steiffel's afraid to use an anaesthetic.
+Now it's barely possible that he may understand hexan. I thought you
+wasted time learning any of it, but maybe you didn't&mdash;see if you can
+make him understand that we're friends."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl flinched and shrank back involuntarily, but forced herself to
+approach that awful head. Bending over, she repeated over and over one
+harsh, barking syllable. The effect of that word was magical. Instantly
+Kromodeor ceased struggling, an eye curled out, and that long, supple
+tongue flashed down and into the syrup. Not until the last sticky trace
+had been licked from the bowl did his attention wander from the food.
+Then the eye, sparkling brightly now, was raised toward the girl.
+Simultaneously four other eyes arose, one directed at each of the men
+and the other surveying his bonds and the room in which he was. Then the
+Vorkul spoke, but his whistling, hissing manner of speech so garbled
+the barking sounds of the hexan words he was attempting to utter, that
+Verna's slight knowledge of the language was of no use. She therefore
+put on one of the headsets, motioning the men to do the same, and
+approached Kromodeor with the other, repeating the hexan word of
+friendly import. This time the Vorkul's brain was not sealed against
+the visitors and thoughts began to flow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You've used those things a lot," Brandon turned to Stevens in a quick
+aside. "Can you hide your thoughts?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure&mdash;why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All I can think of is that power system of theirs, and he'd know what
+we were going to do, sure. And I'd better be getting at it anyway. So
+you can wipe that off your mind with a clear conscience&mdash;the rest of us
+will get everything they've got there. Your job's to get everything you
+can out of this bird's brain. All x?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"All x."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, you didn't put yours on!" Verna exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I don't think I'll have time. If I get started talking to him now,
+I'd be here from now on, and I've got a lot of work to do. Steve can
+talk to him for me&mdash;see you later," and Brandon was gone.
+</p>
+<p>
+He went directly to the Vorkulian fortress, bare now of hexan life and
+devoid of hexan snares and traps. There he and his fellows labored day
+after day learning every secret of every item of armament and equipment
+aboard the heptagon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you finish up today, Norm?" asked Stevens one evening. "Kromodeor's
+coming to life fast. He's able to wiggle around a little now, and is
+insisting that we take off the one chain we keep on him and let him use
+a plate, to call his people."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All washed up. Guess I'll go in and talk to him&mdash;you all say he's such
+an egg. With this stuff off my mind I can hide it well enough. By the
+way, what does he eat?" And the two friends set out for the Venerian
+rooms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anything that's sweet, apparently, with just enough milk to furnish a
+little protein. Won't eat meat or vegetables at all&mdash;von Steiffel says
+they haven't got much of a digestive tract, and I know that they haven't
+got any teeth. He's already eaten most all the syrup we had on board,
+all of the milk chocolate, and a lot of the sugar. But none of us can
+get any kind of a raise out of him at all&mdash;not even Nadia, when she fed
+him a whole box of chocolates."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I mean what does he eat when he's home?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems to be a sort of syrup, made from the juices of jungle plants,
+which they drag in on automatic conveyors and process on automatic
+machinery. But he's a funny mutt&mdash;hard to get. Some of his thoughts are
+lucid enough, but others we can't make out at all&mdash;they are so foreign
+to all human nature that they simply do not register as thoughts at all.
+One funny thing, he isn't the least bit curious about anything. He
+doesn't want to examine anything, doesn't ask us any questions, and
+won't tell us anything about anything, so that all we know about him we
+found out purely by accident. For instance, they like games and sports,
+and seem to have families. They also have love, liking, and respect for
+others of their own race&mdash;but they seem to have no emotions whatever for
+outsiders. They're utterly inhuman&mdash;I can't describe it&mdash;you'll have to
+get it for yourself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you find out about the Callistonians who went to see them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Negatively, yes. They never arrived. They probably couldn't see in the
+fog and must have missed the city. If they tried to land in that jungle,
+it was just too bad!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That would account for everything. So they're strictly neutral, eh?
+Well, I'll tell him 'hi,' anyway." Now in the sickroom, Brandon picked
+up the headset and sent out a wave of cheery greeting.
+</p>
+<p>
+To his amazement, the mind of the Vorkul was utterly unresponsive
+to his thoughts. Not disdainful, not inimical; not appreciative, nor
+friendly&mdash;simply indifferent to a degree unknown and incomprehensible to
+any human mind. He sent Brandon only one message, which came clear and
+coldly emotionless.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do not want to talk to you. Tell the hairy doctor that I am now
+strong enough to be allowed to go to the communicator screen. That is
+all." The Vorkul's mind again became an oblivious maze of unintelligible
+thoughts. Not deliberately were Kromodeor's thoughts hidden; he was
+constitutionally unable to interest himself in the thoughts or things of
+any alien intelligence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, that for that." A puzzled, thoughtful look came over Brandon's
+face as he called von Steiffel. "A queer duck, if there ever was one.
+However, their ship will never bother us, that's one good thing; and
+I think we've got about everything of theirs that we want, anyway."
+</p>
+<p>
+The surgeon, after a careful examination of his patient, unlocked the
+heavy collar with which he had been restraining the over-anxious Vorkul,
+and supported him lightly at the communicator panel. As surely as though
+he had used those controls for years Kromodeor shot the visiray beam out
+into space. One hand upon each of the several dials and one eye upon
+each meter, it was a matter only of seconds for him to get in touch with
+Vorkulia. To the Terrestrials the screen was a gray and foggy blank; but
+the manifest excitement shrieking and whistling from the speaker in
+response to Kromodeor's signals made it plain that his message was being
+received with enthusiasm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are coming," the Vorkul thought, and lay back, exhausted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just as well that they're comin' out here, at that," Brandon commented.
+"We couldn't begin to handle that structure anywhere near Jupiter&mdash;in
+fact, we wouldn't want to get very close ourselves, with passengers
+aboard."
+</p>
+<p>
+Such was the power of the Vorkulian vessels that in less than twenty
+hours another heptagon slowed to a halt beside the <i>Sirius</i> and two of
+its crew were wafted aboard.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were ushered into the Venerian room, where they talked briefly with
+their wounded fellow before they dressed him in a space-suit, which
+they filled with air to their own pressure. Then all three were lifted
+lightly into the air, and without a word or a sign were borne through
+the air-locks of the vessel, and into an opening in the wall of the
+rescuing heptagon. A green tractor beam reached out, seizing the
+derelict, and both structures darted away at such a pace that in a few
+minutes they had disappeared in the black depths of space.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well&mdash;that, as I may have remarked before, is indisputably and
+conclusively that." Brandon broke the surprised, almost stunned, silence
+that followed the unceremonious departure of the visitors. "I don't know
+whether to feel relieved at the knowledge that they won't bother us, or
+whether to get mad because they won't have anything to do with us."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sent the "All x" signal to the pilot and the <i>Sirius</i>, once more at
+the acceleration of Terrestrial gravity, again bored on through space.
+</p>
+<a name="h2HCH0013" id="h2HCH0013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XIII
+</h2>
+<h3>
+    Spacehounds Triumphant
+</h3>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">N</span><span class="up">ow</span> that the hexan threat that had so long oppressed the humanity of the
+<i>Sirius</i> was lifted, that dull gray football of armor steel was filled
+with relief and rejoicing as the pilot laid his course for Europa.
+Lounges and saloons resounded with noise as police, passengers, and such
+of the crew as were at liberty made merry. The control room, in which
+were grouped the leaders of the expedition and the scientists, was
+orderly enough, but a noticeable undertone of gladness had replaced the
+tense air it had known so long.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hi, men!" Nadia Stevens and Verna Pickering, arms around each other's
+waists, entered the room and saluted the group gaily before they became
+a part of it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Smatter, girls&mdash;tired of dancing already?" asked Brandon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, no&mdash;we could dance from now on," Verna assured him. "But you see,
+Nadia hadn't seen that husband of hers for fifteen minutes, and was
+getting lonesome. Being afraid of all you men, she wanted me to come
+along for moral support. The real reason I came, though," and she
+narrowed her expressive eyes and lowered her voice mysteriously, "is
+that you two physicists are here. I want to study my chosen victims a
+little longer before I decide over which of you to cast the spell of
+my fatal charm."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you can't do that," he objected, vigorously. "Quince and I are
+going to settle that ourselves some day&mdash;by shooting dice, or maybe each
+other, or...." he broke off, listening to an animated conversation going
+on behind them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"... just simply outrageous!" Nadia was exclaiming. "Here we saved his
+life, and I fed him a lot of my candy, and we went to all the trouble of
+bringing their ship back here almost to Jupiter for them, and then they
+simply dashed off without a word of thanks or anything! And he always
+acted as though he never wanted to see or hear of any of us again, ever!
+Why, they don't <i>think</i> straight&mdash;as Norman would say it, they're <i>full</i>
+of little red <i>ants</i>! Why, they aren't even <i>human</i>!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure not." Brandon turned to the flushed speaker. "They couldn't be,
+hardly, with their make-up. But is it absolutely necessary that all
+intelligent beings should possess such an emotion as gratitude? Such a
+being without it does seem funny to us, but I can't see that its lack
+necessarily implies anything particularly important. Keep still a
+minute," he went on, as Nadia tried to interrupt him, "and listen to
+some real wisdom. Quince, <i>you</i> tell 'em."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are, of course, very highly developed and extremely intelligent;
+but it should not be surprising that intelligence should manifest
+itself in ways quite baffling to us human beings, whose minds work so
+differently. They are, however ... well, peculiar."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I <i>won't</i> keep still!" Nadia burst out, at the first opportunity.
+"I don't want to talk about those hideous things any more, anyway.
+Come on, Steve, let's go up and dance!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Crowninshield turned to Verna, with the obvious intention of leading
+her away, but Brandon interposed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sorry, Crown, but this lady is conducting a highly important
+psychological research, so your purely social claims will have to wait
+until after the scientific work is done."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why narrow the field of investigation?" laughed the girl. "I'd rather
+widen it, myself&mdash;I might prefer a general, even to a physicist!"
+</p>
+<p>
+They went up to the main saloon and joined the mêlée there, and after
+one dance with Verna&mdash;all he could claim in that crowd of
+men&mdash;Crowninshield turned to Brandon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You two seem to know Miss Pickering extraordinarily well. Would I be
+stepping on your toes if I give her a play?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Clear ether as far as we're concerned." Brandon shrugged his shoulders.
+"She's been kicking around under foot ever since she was knee high to a
+duck&mdash;we gave her her first lessons on a slide rule."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be dumb, Norman. That woman's a knock-out&mdash;a riot&mdash;a regular
+tri-planet call-out!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, she's all x, as far as that goes. She's a good little scout,
+too&mdash;not half as dumb as she acts&mdash;and she's one of the squarest little
+aces that ever waved a plume; but as for <i>playing</i> her&mdash;too much like
+our kid sister."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Good&mdash;me for her!" and they made their way back down to the control
+room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Stevens, after his one dance with Nadia, had already returned. Brandon
+and Crowninshield found him seated at the calculating machine,
+continuing a problem which already filled several pages of his notebook.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Smatter, Steve? So glad to see a calculator and some paper that you
+can't let them alone?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not exactly&mdash;just had a thought a day or so ago. Been computing the
+orbit of the wreckage of the <i>Arcturus</i> around Jupiter. Think we should
+salvage it&mdash;the upper half, at least. It was left intact, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"H ... m ... m. That would be nice, all right. Dope enough?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Got the direction solid, from my own observations; the velocity's a
+pretty rough approximation though. But after allowing for my probable
+error, it figures an ellipse of low eccentricity, between the orbits of
+Io and Europa. Its period is short&mdash;about two days."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't it wonderful to have a brain?" Brandon addressed the room at
+large. "The kid's clever. Nobody else would have thought of it, except
+maybe Westfall. Let's see your figures. Um ... m ... m. According to
+that, we're within an hour of it, right now." He turned to the pilot and
+sketched rapidly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Get on this line here, please, and decelerate, so that the stuff'll
+catch up with us, and pass the word to the lookouts. Stevens and I will
+take the bow plates.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's a good idea," he went on to Stevens, as they took their places
+at main and auxiliary ultra-banks. "Lot of plunder in that ship.
+Instruments, boats, and equipment worth millions, besides most of the
+junk of the passengers&mdash;clothes, trunks, trinkets, and what-not. You're
+there, bucko!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks, Chief," ... and they fell silent, watching the instruments
+carefully, and from time to time making computations from the readings
+of the acceleration and flight meters.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There she is!" An alarm bell had finally sounded, the ultra-lights had
+flared out into space, and upon both screens there shone out images of
+the closely clustered wreckage of the <i>Arcturus</i>. But both men were more
+interested just then in the mathematics of the recovery than in the
+vessel itself.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Missed it eight minutes of time and eleven divisions on the scale,"
+reported Stevens. "Not so good."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so bad either&mdash;I've seen worse computation." Thus lightly was
+dismissed a mathematical feat which, a few years earlier, before the
+days of I-P computers, would have been deemed worthy of publication in
+"The Philosophical Magazine."
+</p>
+
+<p class="first">
+<span class="drop">D</span><span class="up">irector Newton</span> was called in, and it was decided that the many small
+fragments of the vessel were not worth saving; that its upper half
+was all that they should attempt to tow the enormous distance back to
+Tellus. The pace of the <i>Sirius</i> was adjusted to that of the floating
+masses, and tractor beams were clamped upon the undamaged portion of the
+derelict, and upon the two slices from the nose of the craft. A couple
+of the larger fragments of wreckage were also taken, to furnish metal
+for the repairs which would be necessary. Acceleration was brought
+slowly up to normal, and the battle-scarred cruiser of the void, with
+her heavy burden of inert metal, resumed her interrupted voyage toward
+Europa; the satellite upon which the passengers and crew of the
+ill-fated <i>Arcturus</i> had been so long immured. On she bored through the
+ether, detector screens full out and greenly scintillant Vorkulian
+wall-screens outlining her football shape in weird and ghastly light;
+unafraid now of any possible surviving space-craft of the hexans.
+</p>
+<p>
+But if the hexans detected her, they made no sign. Perhaps their fleet
+had been destroyed utterly; perhaps it had been impressed upon even
+their fierce minds that those sparkling green screens were not to be
+molested with impunity! The satellite was reached without event and down
+into the crater landing shaft the two enormous masses of metal dropped.
+</p>
+<p>
+Callisto's foremost citizens were on hand to welcome the Terrestrial
+rescuers, and revelry reigned supreme in that deeply buried Europan
+community. All humanity celebrated. The Callistonians rejoiced because
+they were now freed from the age-old oppression of the hexan hordes;
+because they could once more extend their civilization over the Jovian
+satellites and live again their normal lives upon the surface of those
+small worlds.
+</p>
+<p>
+The Terrestrials were almost equally enthusiastic in the reunion that
+marked the end of the long imprisonment of the refugees.
+</p>
+<p>
+As soon as the hull of the <i>Arcturus</i> had been warmed sufficiently to
+permit inspection, its original passengers were allowed to visit it
+briefly, to examine and to reclaim their belongings. Of course, some
+damage had been done by the cold of interplanetary space, but in general
+everything was as they had left it. Stevens and Nadia were among the
+first permitted aboard. They went first to the control room, where
+Stevens found his bag still lying behind Breckenridge's desk, where he
+had thrown it when he first boarded the vessel. Then they made their
+way up to Nadia's stateroom, which they found in meticulous order and
+spotless in its cleanliness&mdash;there is neither dust nor dirt in space.
+Nadia glanced about the formal little room and laughed up at her
+husband.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Funny, isn't it, sweetheart, how little we know what to expect? Just
+think how surprised I would have been, when I left this room, if I had
+been told that I would have a husband before I got back to it!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Breckenridge's first thought was for his precious triplex automatic
+chronometer, which he found, of course, "way off"&mdash;six and three-tenths
+seconds fast. Having corrected the timepiece from that of the <i>Sirius</i>,
+he immersed himself in the other delicate instruments of his
+department&mdash;and he was easy to find from that time on.
+</p>
+<p>
+Overcrowded as the <i>Sirius</i> already was, it was decided that the
+original complement of the <i>Arcturus</i> should occupy their former
+quarters aboard her during the return trip. To this end, corps of
+mechanics set to work upon the salvaged hulk. Heavy metal work was no
+novelty to the Callistonian engineers and mechanics, and the <i>Sirius</i>
+also was well equipped with metal-working machines and men. Thus the
+prow was welded; armored, insulating air-breaks were built along the
+stern, which was the plane of hexan cleavage, electrical connections
+were restored; and lastly, a set of the great Vorkulian wall-screen
+generators, absorbers, and dissipators was installed, with sufficient
+accumulator capacity for their operation. Director Newton studied this
+installation in silence for some time, then went in search of Brandon.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hadn't considered the possibility of being attacked again
+between here and Tellus, but there's always the chance," he admitted.
+"If you think that there is any danger, we will crowd them all into the
+<i>Sirius</i>. It will not be at all comfortable, but it will be better than
+having any more of us killed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"With that outfit they'll be as safe as we will," the scientist assured
+him. "They can stand as much grief as we can. We'll do the fighting for
+the whole outfit from here, and anything we meet will have to take us
+before they can touch them. So they had better ride it there, where
+they'll have passengers' accommodations and be comfortable. As to
+danger, I don't know what to expect. They may all be gone and they may
+not. We're going to expect trouble every meter of the way in, though,
+and be ready for it."
+</p>
+<p>
+Everything ready and thoroughly tested, and stream of power flowing
+into the <i>Arcturus</i> from the cosmic receptors of her sister ship, the
+passengers and their new possessions were moved into their former
+quarters. There was a brief ceremony of farewell, the doors of the
+airlocks were closed, the careful check-out was gone through, and the
+driving projectors of the <i>Sirius</i> lifted both great vessels up the
+shaft, slowly and easily. And after them, as long as they could be seen,
+stared the thousands of Callistonians who thronged the great shaft's
+floor. Many of the spectators were not, strictly speaking, Callistonians
+at all. They were really Europans, born and reared in that hidden city
+which was to have been the last stronghold of Callisto's civilization.
+In that throng were hundreds who had never before seen the light of the
+sun nor any of the glories of the firmament, hundreds to whom that brief
+glimpse was a foretaste of the free and glorious life which was soon to
+be theirs.
+</p>
+<p>
+Up and up mounted that powerful tug-boat of space, with her heavy barge,
+falling smoothly upward at normal acceleration. Below her first Europa,
+then mighty Jupiter, became moons growing smaller and smaller. In their
+stateroom Nadia's supple waist writhed in the curve of Stevens' arm as
+she turned and looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, big fellow, how does it feel to be out of a job? Or are you going
+over there every day on a tractor beam to work, as Norman suggested?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not on your sweet young life!" he exclaimed. "Norm thought he was
+kidding somebody, but it registered zero. It gives me the pip to loaf
+around when there's a lot of work to do, but this is entirely different.
+Nothing's driving us now, and a fellow's entitled to at least one
+honeymoon during his life. And what a honeymoon this is going to be,
+little spacehound of my heart! Nothing to do but love you all the way
+from here to Tellus! Whoopee!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, there's a couple of other things to do," she reminded him gaily.
+"You've got to smoke a lot of good cigarettes, I must eat a lot of
+Delray's chocolates, and we both really should catch up on eating fancy
+cooking. Speaking of eating, isn't that the second call for dinner? It
+<i>is</i>!" and they went along the narrow hall toward the elevator. To these
+two the long journey was to seem all too short.
+</p>
+<p>
+Long though the voyage was, it was uneventful. The occupants of the
+two vessels were in constant touch with each other by means of the
+communicators, and there was also much visiting back and forth in
+person. Stevens and Nadia came often to the <i>Sirius</i>, and were
+accompanied frequently by Verna Pickering, who claimed anew her ancient
+right of "kicking around under foot," wherever Brandon and Westfall
+might chance to be&mdash;and at such times General Crowninshield was
+practically certain to appear. And upon days when the beautiful brunette
+did not appear, the commandant generally found it necessary to inspect
+in person something in the <i>Arcturus</i>.
+</p>
+<p>
+Day after day passed, and even the new and ultra-powerful detector
+screens of the <i>Sirius</i> remained unresponsive and cold. Day after day
+the plates before the doubled lookouts and observers remained blank.
+Power flowed smoothly and unfailingly into the cosmic receptors, and
+the products of conversion were discharged with equal smoothness and
+regularity from the forty-five gigantic driving projectors. The tractor
+beam held its heavy burden easily and the generators functioned
+perfectly. And finally a planet began to loom up in the stern lookout
+plates.
+</p>
+<p>
+Verna, the irrepressible, was in the control room of the <i>Sirius</i>,
+quarreling adroitly with Brandon and deftly flirting with Crowninshield.
+Glancing into the control screen she saw the planet in its end block,
+then studied the instruments briefly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We're heading for <i>Mars</i>!" she declared with conviction. "I thought
+it looked that way yesterday, but supposed it must be only apparent&mdash;a
+trick of piloting or something about the orbit. I thought of course you
+were taking us back home&mdash;but you can't <i>possibly</i> get to Tellus on any
+such course as this!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sure not," Brandon replied easily. "Certainly it's Mars. Isn't that
+where the <i>Arcturus</i> started out for? Whoever said we were going to
+Tellus? Of course, if any of the passengers want to go right back the
+IPC will undoubtedly furnish transportation <i>gratis</i>. But paste this in
+your hat, Verna, for future reference&mdash;when spacehounds start out to go
+anywhere they <i>go</i> there, even if they have to spend a year or so on
+minus time to do it!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Closer and closer they approached the red planet, swinging around in a
+wide arc in order to make their course coincide exactly with the pilot
+ray of check station M14, which was now precisely in its scheduled
+location in space. At the chief pilot's desk in the control room of the
+<i>Arcturus</i>, Breckenridge checked in with the station, then calculated
+rapidly the instant of their touching the specially-built bumper
+platforms of spring steel, hemp, and fiber which awaited them upon the
+Martian dock of the Interplanetary Corporation. Within range of the
+terminal, he plugged into it, waited until the tiny light flashed its
+green message of attention, and reported.
+</p>
+<p>
+"IPV <i>Arcturus</i>; Breckenridge, Chief Pilot; trip number forty-three
+twenty-nine. Checking in&mdash;four hundred forty-six days, fifteen hours,
+eleven minutes, thirty-eight and seven-tenths seconds minus!"
+</p>
+
+<h3>
+<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">The End.</span>
+</h3>
+
+<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>
+
+<p class="center">
+<b>Transcriber's Note:</b> This etext was produced
+from Amazing Stories July, August and September 1931.<br />
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright
+on this publication was renewed.
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Spacehounds of IPC, by Edward Elmer Smith
+
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@@ -0,0 +1,9960 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Spacehounds of IPC, 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: Spacehounds of IPC
+
+Author: Edward Elmer Smith
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2007 [EBook #20857]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPACEHOUNDS OF IPC ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Greg Weeks, David Garcia
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+_Beginning a thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel by
+Edward E. Smith, Ph.D._
+
+_Author of "Skylark of Space" and "Skylark Three"_
+
+
+
+
+Spacehounds of IPC
+
+
+    _A good many of us, who are now certain beyond a doubt that space
+    travel will forever remain in the realm of the impossible, probably
+    would, if a rocket that were shot to the moon, for instance, did
+    arrive, and perhaps return to give proof of its safe arrival on our
+    satellite, accept the phenomenon in a perfectly blase, twentieth
+    century manner. Dr. Smith, that phenomenal writer of classic
+    scientific fiction, seems to have become so thoroughly convinced of
+    the advent of interplanetary travel that it is difficult for the
+    reader to feel, after finishing "Spacehounds of IPC," that travel
+    in the great spaces is not already an established fact. Dr. Smith,
+    as a professional chemist, is kept fairly busy. As a writer, he is
+    satisfied with nothing less than perfection. For that reason, a
+    masterpiece from his pen has become almost an annual event. We know
+    you will like "Spacehounds" even better than the "Skylark" series._
+
+
+Illustrated by WESSO
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The IPV _Arcturus_ Sets Out for Mars
+
+
+A narrow football of steel, the Interplanetary Vessel _Arcturus_ stood
+upright in her berth in the dock like an egg in its cup. A hundred feet
+across and a hundred and seventy feet deep was that gigantic bowl, its
+walls supported by the structural steel and concrete of the dock and
+lined with hard-packed bumper-layers of hemp and fibre. High into the
+air extended the upper half of the ship of space--a sullen gray expanse
+of fifty-inch hardened steel armor, curving smoothly upward to a needle
+prow. Countless hundred of fine vertical scratches marred every inch
+of her surface, and here and there the stubborn metal was grooved and
+scored to a depth of inches--each scratch and score the record of an
+attempt of some wandering cosmic body to argue the right-of-way with
+the stupendous mass of that man-made cruiser of the void.
+
+A burly young man made his way through the throng about the entrance,
+nodded unconcernedly to the gatekeeper, and joined the stream of
+passengers flowing through the triple doors of the double air-lock
+and down a corridor to the center of the vessel. However, instead of
+entering one of the elevators which were whisking the passengers up to
+their staterooms in the upper half of the enormous football, he in some
+way caused an opening to appear in an apparently blank steel wall and
+stepped through it into the control room.
+
+"Hi, Breck!" the burly one called, as he strode up to the instrument-desk
+of the chief pilot and tossed his bag carelessly into a corner. "Behold
+your computer in the flesh! What's all this howl and fuss about poor
+computation?"
+
+"Hello, Steve!" The chief pilot smiled as he shook hands cordially.
+"Glad to see you again--but don't try to kid the old man. I'm simple
+enough to believe almost anything, but some things just aren't being
+done. We have been yelling, and yelling hard, for trained computers
+ever since they started riding us about every one centimeter change in
+acceleration, but I know that you're no more an I-P computer than I am
+a Digger Indian. They don't shoot sparrows with coast-defense guns!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Thanks for the compliment, Breck, but I'm your computer for this trip,
+anyway. Newton, the good old egg, knows what you fellows are up against
+and is going to do something about it, if he has to lick all the rest of
+the directors to do it. He knew that I was loose for a couple of weeks
+and asked me to come along this trip to see what I could see. I'm to
+check the observatory data--they don't know I'm aboard--take the peaks
+and valleys off your acceleration curve, if possible, and report to
+Newton just what I find out and what I think should be done about it.
+How early am I?" While the newcomer was talking, he had stripped the
+covers from a precise scale model of the solar system and from a large
+and complicated calculating machine and had set to work without a wasted
+motion or instant--scaling off upon the model the positions of the
+various check-stations and setting up long and involved integrals and
+equations upon the calculator.
+
+The older man studied the broad back of the younger, bent over his
+computations, and a tender, almost fatherly smile came over his careworn
+face as he replied:
+
+"Early? You? Just like you always were--plus fifteen seconds on the
+deadline. The final dope is due right now." He plugged the automatic
+recorder and speaker into a circuit marked "Observatory," waited until
+a tiny light above the plug flashed green, and spoke.
+
+"IPV _Arcturus_; Breckenridge, Chief Pilot; trip number forty-three
+twenty-nine. Ready for final supplementary route and flight data, Tellus
+to Mars."
+
+"Meteoric swarms still too numerous for safe travel along the scheduled
+route," came promptly from the speaker. "You must stay further away from
+the plane of the ecliptic. The ether will be clear for you along route
+E2-P6-W41-K3-R19-S7-M14. You will hold a constant acceleration of 981.27
+centimeters between initial and final check stations. Your take-off
+will be practically unobstructed, but you will have to use the utmost
+caution in landing upon Mars, because in order to avoid a weightless
+detour and a loss of thirty-one minutes, you must pass very close
+to both the Martian satellites. To do so safely you must pass the
+last meteorological station, M14, on schedule time plus or minus five
+seconds, at scheduled velocity plus or minus ten meters, with exactly
+the given negative acceleration of 981.27 centimeters, and exactly upon
+the pilot ray M14 will have set for you."
+
+"All x." Breckenridge studied his triplex chronometer intently, then
+unplugged and glanced around the control room, in various parts of which
+half a dozen assistants were loafing at their stations.
+
+"Control and power check-out--Hipe!" he barked. "Driving converters and
+projectors!"
+
+The first assistant scanned his meters narrowly as he swung a
+multi-point switch in a flashing arc. "Converter efficiency 100,
+projector reactivity 100; on each of numbers one to forty-five
+inclusive. All x."
+
+"Dirigible projectors!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two more gleaming switches leaped from point to point. "Converter
+efficiency 100, projector reactivity 100, dirigibility 100, on each of
+numbers one to thirty-two, inclusive, of upper band; and numbers one to
+thirty-two, inclusive, of lower band. All x."
+
+"Gyroscopes!"
+
+"35,000. Drivers in equilibrium at ten degrees plus. All x."
+
+"Upper lights and lookout plates!"
+
+The second assistant was galvanized into activity, and upon a screen
+before him there appeared a view as though he were looking directly
+upward from the prow of the great vessel. The air above them was full of
+aircraft of all shapes and sizes, and occasionally the image of one of
+that flying horde flared into violet splendor upon the screen as it was
+caught in the mighty, roving beam of one of the twelve ultra-light
+projectors under test.
+
+"Upper lights and lookout plates--all x," the second assistant reported,
+and other assistants came to attention as the check-out went on.
+
+"Lower lights and lookout plates!"
+
+"All x," was the report, after each of the twelve ultra-lights of the
+stern had swung around in its supporting brackets, illuminating every
+recess of the dark depths of the bottom well of the berth and throwing
+the picture upon another screen in lurid violet relief.
+
+"Lateral and vertical detectors!"
+
+"Laterals XP2710--all x. Verticals AJ4290--all x."
+
+"Receptors!"
+
+"15,270 kilofranks--all x."
+
+"Accumulators!"
+
+"700,000 kilofrank-hours--all x."
+
+Having thus checked and tested every function of his department,
+Breckenridge plugged into "Captain," and when the green light went on:
+
+"Chief pilot check-out--all x," he reported briefly.
+
+"All x," acknowledged the speaker, and the chief pilot unplugged.
+Fifteen minutes remained, during which time one department head after
+another would report to the captain of the liner that everything in his
+charge was ready for the stupendous flight.
+
+"All x, Steve?" Breckenridge turned to the computer. "How do you check
+acceleration and power with the observatory?"
+
+"Not so good, old bean," the younger man frowned in thought. "They
+figure like astronomers, not navigators. They've made no allowances for
+anything, not even the reversal--and I figure four thousands for that
+and for minor detours. Then there's check station errors...."
+
+"Check-station errors! Why, they're always right--that's what they're
+for!"
+
+"Don't fool yourself--they've got troubles of their own, the same as
+anybody else. In fact, from a study of the charts of the last few weeks,
+I'm pretty sure that E2 is at least four thousand kilometers this side
+of where he thinks he is, that W41 is ten or twelve thousand beyond his
+station, and that they've both got a lateral displacement that's simply
+fierce. I'm going to check up, and argue with them about it as we pass.
+Then there's another thing--they figure to only two places, and we've
+got to have the third place almost solid if we expect to get a smooth
+curve. A hundredth of a centimeter of acceleration means a lot on a long
+trip when they're holding us as close as they are doing now. We'll ride
+this trip on 981.286 centimeters--with our scheduled mass, that means
+thirty six points of four seven kilofranks _plus_ equilibrium power. All
+set to go," the computer stated, as he changed, by fractions of arc, the
+course-plotters of the automatic integrating goniometer.
+
+"You're the doctor--but I'm glad it's you that'll have to explain to the
+observatory," and Breckenridge set his exceedingly delicate excess power
+potentiometer exactly upon the indicated figure. "Well, we've got a few
+minutes left for a chin-chin before we lift her off."
+
+"What's all this commotion about? Dish out the low-down."
+
+"Well, it's like this, Steve. We pilots are having one sweet
+time--we're being growled at on every trip. The management squawks if
+we're thirty seconds plus or minus at the terminals, and the passenger
+department squalls if we change acceleration five centimeters total en
+route--claims it upsets the dainty customers and loses business for
+the road. They're tightening up on us all the time. A couple of years
+ago, you remember, it didn't make any difference what we did with the
+acceleration as long as we checked in somewhere near zero time--we used
+to spin 'em dizzy when we reversed at the half-way station--but that
+kind of stuff doesn't go any more. We've got to hold the acceleration
+constant and close to normal, got to hold our schedule on zero, _plus_
+or _minus_ ten seconds, and yet we've got to make any detours they
+tell us to, such as this seven-million kilometer thing they handed
+us just now. To make things worse, we've got to take orders at every
+check-station, and yet _we_ get the blame for everything that happens
+as a consequence of obeying those orders! Of course, I know as well
+as you do that it's rotten technique to change acceleration at every
+check-station; but we've told 'em over and over that we can't do any
+better until they put a real computer on every ship and tell the
+check-stations to report meteorites and other obstructions to us and
+then to let us alone. So you'd better recommend us some computers!"
+
+"You're getting rotten computation, that's a sure thing, and I don't
+blame you pilots for yelling, but I don't believe that you've got the
+right answer. I can't help but think that the astronomers are lying down
+on the job. They are so sure that you pilots are to blame that it hasn't
+occurred to them to check up on themselves very carefully. However,
+we'll know pretty quick, and then we'll take steps."
+
+"I hope so--but say, Steve, I'm worried about using that much plus
+equilibrium power. Remember, we've got to hit M14 in absolutely good
+shape, or plenty heads will drop."
+
+"I'll say they will. I know just how the passengers will howl if we
+hold them weightless for half an hour, waiting for those two moons to get
+out of the way, and I know just what the manager will do if we check in
+minus thirty-one minutes. Wow! He'll swell up and bust, sure. But don't
+worry, Breck--if we don't check in all right, anybody can have my head
+that wants it, and I'm taking full responsibility, you know."
+
+"You're welcome to it." Breckenridge shrugged and turned the
+conversation into a lighter vein. "Speaking of weightlessness,
+it's funny how many weight-fiends there are in the world, isn't
+it? You'd think the passengers would enjoy a little weightlessness
+occasionally--especially the fat ones--but they don't. But say, while
+I think of it, how come you were here and loose to make this check-up?
+I thought you were out with the other two of the Big Three, solving
+all the mysteries of the Universe?"
+
+"Had to stay in this last trip--been doing some work on the ether,
+force-field theory, and other advanced stuff that I had to go to Mars
+and Venus to get. Just got back last week. As for solving mysteries,
+laugh while you can, old hyena. You and a lot of other dim bulbs think
+that Roeser's Rays are the last word--that there's nothing left to
+discover--are going to get jarred loose from your hinges one of these
+days. When I came in nine months ago they were hot on the trail of
+something big, and I'll bet they bring it in...."
+
+Out upon the dock an insistent siren blared a crescendo and diminuendo
+blast of sound, and two minutes remained. In every stateroom and in
+every lounge and saloon speakers sounded a warning:
+
+"For a short time, while we are pulling clear of the gravitational field
+of the Earth, walking will be somewhat difficult, as everything on board
+will apparently increase in weight by about one-fifth of its present
+amount. Please remain seated, or move about with caution. In about an
+hour weight will gradually return to normal. We start in one minute."
+
+"Hipe!" barked the chief pilot as a flaring purple light sprang into
+being upon his board, and the assistants came to attention at their
+stations. "Seconds! Four! Three! Two! One! LIFT!" He touched a
+button and a set of plunger switches drove home, releasing into the
+forty-five enormous driving projectors the equilibrium power--the
+fifteen-thousand-and-odd kilofranks of energy that exactly
+counterbalanced the pull of gravity upon the mass of the cruiser.
+Simultaneously there was added from the potentiometer, already set
+to the exact figure given by the computer, the _plus_-equilibrium
+power--which would not be changed throughout the journey if the ideal
+acceleration curve were to be registered upon the recorders--and the
+immense mass of the cruiser of the void wafted vertically upward at a
+low and constant velocity. The bellowing, shrieking siren had cleared
+the air magically of the swarm of aircraft in her path, and quietly,
+calmly, majestically, the _Arcturus_ floated upward.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Breckenridge, sixty seconds after the initial lift, actuated the system
+of magnetic relays which would gradually cut in the precisely measured
+"starting power," which it would be necessary to employ for sixty-nine
+minutes--for, without the acceleration given by this additional power,
+they would lose many precious hours of time in covering merely the
+few thousands of miles during which Earth's attraction would operate
+powerfully against their progress.
+
+Faster and faster the great cruiser shot upward as more and more of the
+starting power was released, and heavier and heavier the passengers
+felt themselves become. Soon the full calculated power was on and the
+acceleration became constant. Weight no longer increased, but remained
+constant at a value of plus twenty three and six-tenths percent. For a
+few moments there had been uneasy stomachs among the passengers--perhaps
+a few of the first-trippers had been made ill--but it was not much worse
+than riding in a high-speed elevator, particularly since there was no
+change from positive to negative acceleration such as is experienced in
+express elevators.
+
+The computer, his calculations complete, watched the pilot with
+interest, for, accustomed as he was to traversing the depths of space,
+there was a never-failing thrill to his scientific mind in the delicacy
+and precision of the work which Breckenridge was doing--work which could
+be done only by a man who had had long training in the profession and
+who was possessed of instantaneous nervous reaction and of the highest
+degree of manual dexterity and control. Under his right and left hands
+were the double-series potentiometers actuating the variable-speed
+drives of the flight-angle directors in the hour and declination ranges;
+before his eyes was the finely marked micrometer screen upon which the
+guiding goniometer threw its needle-point of light; powerful optical
+systems of prisms and lenses revealed to his sight the director-angles,
+down to fractional seconds of arc. It was the task of the chief pilot
+to hold the screened image of the cross-hairs of the two directors in
+such position relative to the ever-moving point of light as to hold the
+mighty vessel precisely upon its course, in spite of the complex system
+of forces acting upon it.
+
+For almost an hour Breckenridge sat motionless, his eyes flashing from
+micrometer screen to signal panel, his sensitive fingers moving the
+potentiometers through minute arcs because of what he saw upon the
+screen and in instantaneous response to the flashing, multi-colored
+lights and tinkling signals of his board. Finally, far from earth, the
+moon's attraction and other perturbing forces comparatively slight, the
+signals no longer sounded and the point of light ceased its irregular
+motion, becoming almost stationary. The chief pilot brought both
+cross-hairs directly upon the brilliant point, which for some time they
+had been approaching more and more nearly, adjusted the photo-cells
+and amplifiers which would hold them immovably upon it, and at the
+calculated second of time, cut out the starting power by means of
+another set of automatically timed relays. When only the regular driving
+power was left, and the acceleration had been checked and found to be
+exactly the designated value of 981.286 centimeters, he stood up and
+heaved a profound sigh of relief.
+
+"Well, Steve, that's over with--we're on our way. I'm always glad when
+this part of it is done."
+
+"It's a ticklish job, no fooling--even for an expert," the mathematician
+agreed. "No wonder the astronomers think you birds are the ones who are
+gumming up their dope. Well, it's about time to plug in on E2. Here's
+where the fireworks start!" He closed the connections which transferred
+the central portion of the upper lookout screen to a small micrometer
+screen at Breckenridge's desk and plugged it into the first
+check-station. Instantly a point of red light, surrounded by a vivid
+orange circle, appeared upon the screen, low down and to the left of
+center, and the timing galvanometer showed a wide positive deflection.
+
+"Hashed again!" growled Breckenridge. "I must be losing my grip,
+I guess. I put everything I had on that sight, and missed it ten
+divisions. I think I'll turn in my badge--I've cocked our perfect curve
+already, before we got to the first check-station!" His hands moved
+toward the controls, to correct their course and acceleration.
+
+"As you were--hold everything! Lay off those controls!" snapped the
+computer. "There's something screwy, just as I thought--and it isn't
+you, either. I'm no pilot, of course, but I do know good compensation
+when I see it, and if you weren't compensating that point I never saw it
+done. Besides, with your skill and my figures I know darn well that we
+aren't off more than a tenth of one division. He's cuckoo! Don't call
+him--let him start it, and refer him to me."
+
+"All x--I'll be only too glad to pass the buck. But I still think,
+Steve, that you're playing with dynamite. Who ever heard of an
+astronomer being wrong?"
+
+"You'd be surprised," grinned the physicist, "Since this fuss has
+just started, nobody has tried to find out whether they were wrong
+or not...."
+
+"IPV _Arcturus_, attention!" came from the speaker curtly.
+
+"IPV _Arcturus_, Breckenridge," from the chief pilot.
+
+"You have been on my ray almost a minute. Why are you not correcting
+course and acceleration?"
+
+"Doctor Stevens is computing us and has full control of course and
+acceleration," replied Breckenridge. "He will answer you."
+
+"I am changing neither course nor acceleration because you are not
+in position," declared Stevens, crisply, "Please give me your present
+supposed location, and your latest precision goniometer bearings on the
+sun, the moon, Mars, Venus, and your Tellurian reference limb, with
+exact time of observations, gyroscope zero-planes, and goniometer
+factors!"
+
+"Correct at once or I shall report you to the Observatory," E2 answered
+loftily, paying no attention to the demand for proof of position.
+
+"Be sure you do that, guy--and while you're at it report that your
+station hasn't taken a precision bearing in a month. Report that you've
+been muddling along on radio loop bearings, and that you don't know
+where you are, within seven thousand kilometers. And speaking of
+reporting--I know already that a lot of you astronomical guessers
+have only the faintest possible idea of where you really are, _plus_,
+_minus_, or lateral; and if you don't get yourselves straightened out
+before we get to W41, I'm going to make a report on my own account that
+will jar some of you birds loose from your upper teeth!" He unplugged
+with a vicious jerk, and turned to the pilot with a grin.
+
+"Guess that'll hold him for a while, won't it?"
+
+"He'll report us, sure," remonstrated Breckenridge. The older man was
+plainly ill at ease at this open defiance of the supposedly infallible
+check-stations.
+
+"Not that baby," returned the computer confidently. "I'll bet you a
+small farm against a plugged nickel that right now he's working his
+goniometer so hard that it's pivots are getting hot. He'll sneak back
+into position as soon as he can calculate his results, and pretend he's
+always been there."
+
+"The others will be all right, then, probably, by the time we get to
+them?"
+
+"Gosh, no--you're unusually dumb today, Breck. He won't tell anybody
+anything--he doesn't want to be the only goat, does he?"
+
+"Oh, I see. How could you dope this out, with only the recorder charts?"
+
+"Because I know the kind of stuff you pilots are--and those humps are
+altogether too big to be accounted for by anything I know about you.
+Another thing--the next station, P6, I think is keeping himself all x.
+If so, when you corrected for E2, which was wrong, it'd throw you all
+off on P6, which was right, and so on--a bad hump at almost every
+check-station. See?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+True to prediction, the pilot ray of P6 came in almost upon the exact
+center of the micrometer screen, and Breckenridge smiled in relief as he
+began really to enjoy the trip.
+
+"How do we check on chronometers?" asked P6 when Stevens had been
+introduced. "By my time you seem to be about two and a half seconds
+_plus_?"
+
+"All x--two points four seconds plus--we're riding on 981.286
+centimeters, to allow for the reversal and for minor detours. Bye."
+
+"All this may have been coincidence, Breck, but we'll find out pretty
+quick now," the computer remarked when the flying vessel was nearing
+the third check-station. "Unless I'm all out of control we'll check in
+almost fourteen seconds minus on W41, and we may not even find him on
+the center block of the screen."
+
+When he plugged in W41 was on the block, but was in the extreme upper
+right corner. They checked in thirteen and eight-tenths seconds minus on
+the station, and a fiery dialogue ensued when the computer questioned
+the accuracy of the location of the station and refused point-blank to
+correct his course.
+
+"Well, Breck, old onion, that tears it," Stevens declared as he
+unplugged. "No use going any further on these bum reference points.
+I'm going to report to Newton--he'll rock the Observatory on its
+foundations!" He plugged into the telegraph room. "Have you got a free
+high-power wave?... Please put me on Newton, in the main office."
+
+Moving lights flashed and flickered for an instant upon the communicator
+screen, settling down into a white glow which soon resolved itself into
+the likeness of a keen-eyed, gray-haired man, seated at his desk in the
+remote office of the Interplanetary Corporation. Newton smiled as he
+recognized the likeness of Stevens upon his own screen, and greeted him
+cordially.
+
+"Have you started your investigation, Doctor Stevens?"
+
+"Started it? I've finished it!" and Stevens tersely reported what he
+had learned, concluding: "So you see, you don't need special computers
+on these ships any more than a hen needs teeth. You've got all the
+computers you need, in the observatories--all you've got to do is make
+them work at their trade."
+
+"The piloting was all x, then?"
+
+"Absolutely--our curve so far is exactly flat ever since we cut
+off the starting power. Of course, all the pilots can't be as good as
+Breckenridge, but give them good computation and good check points and
+you shouldn't get any humps higher than about half a centimeter."
+
+"They'll get both, from now on," the director assured him. "Thanks. If
+your work for the trip is done, you might show my little girl, Nadia,
+around the _Arcturus_. She's never been out before, and will be
+interested. Would you mind?"
+
+"Glad to, Mr. Newton--I'll be a regular uncle to her."
+
+"Thanks again, Operator, I'll speak to Captain King, please."
+
+"Pipe down that guff, you unlicked cub, or I'll crown you with a
+proof-bar!" the chief pilot growled, as soon as Stevens had unplugged.
+
+"You and who else?" retorted the computer, cheerfully. "Pipe down
+yourself, guy--if you weren't so darn dumb and didn't have such a
+complex, you'd know that you're the crack pilot of the outfit and
+wouldn't care who else knew it." Stevens carefully covered and put away
+the calculating machine and other apparatus he had been using and turned
+again to the pilot.
+
+"I didn't know Newton had any kids, especially little ones, or I'd have
+got acquainted with them long ago. Of course I don't know him very well,
+since I never was around the office much, but the old tiger goes over
+big with me."
+
+"Hm--m. Think you'll enjoy playing nursemaid all the rest of the trip?"
+Breckenridge asked caustically, but with an enigmatic smile.
+
+"Think so? I _know_ so!" replied Stevens, positively. "I always did
+like kids, and they always did like me--we fall for each other like ten
+thousand bricks falling down a well. Why, a kid--_any_ kid--and I team
+up just like grace and poise.... What's gnawing on you anyway, to make
+you turn Cheshire cat all of a sudden? By the looks of that grin I'd
+say you had swallowed a canary of mine some way or other; but darned if
+I know that I've lost any," and he stared at his friend suspiciously.
+
+"To borrow your own phrase, Steve, 'You'd be surprised,'" and
+Breckenridge, though making no effort to conceal his amusement, would
+say no more.
+
+In a few minutes the door opened, and through it there stepped a
+grizzled four-striper. Almost hidden behind his massive form there was
+a girl, who ran up to Breckenridge and seized both his hands, her eyes
+sparkling.
+
+"Hi, Breckie, you old darling! I knew that if we both kept after
+him long enough Dad would let me ride with you sometime. Isn't this
+_gorgeous_?"
+
+Stevens was glad indeed that the girl's enthusiastic greeting of the
+pilot was giving him time to recover from his shock, for Director
+Newton's "little girl, Nadia" was not precisely what he had led himself
+to expect. Little she might be, particularly when compared with the
+giant frame of Captain King, or with Steve's own five-feet-eleven of
+stature and the hundred and ninety pounds of rawhide and whalebone that
+was his body, but child she certainly was not. Her thick, fair hair,
+cut in the square bob that was the mode of the moment, indicated that
+Nature had intended her to be a creamy blonde, but as she turned to be
+introduced to him, Stevens received another surprise--for she was one
+of those rare, but exceedingly attractive beings, a natural blonde with
+brown eyes and black eyebrows. Sun and wind had tanned her satin skin
+to a smooth and even shade of brown, and every movement of her lithe and
+supple body bespoke to the discerning mind a rigidly-trained physique.
+
+"Doctor Stevens, you haven't met Miss Newton, I hear," the captain
+introduced them informally. "All the officers who are not actually tied
+down at their posts are anxious to do the honors of the vessel, but as
+I have received direct orders from the owners, I am turning her over to
+you--you are to show her around."
+
+"Thanks, Captain, I won't mutiny a bit against such an order. I'm mighty
+glad to know you, Miss Newton."
+
+"I've heard a lot about you, Doctor. Dad and Breckie here are always
+talking about the Big Three--what you have done and what you are going
+to do. I want to meet Doctor Brandon and Doctor Westfall, too," and her
+hand met his in a firm and friendly clasp. She turned to the captain,
+and Stevens, noticing that the pilot, with a quizzical expression, was
+about to say something, silenced him with a fierce aside.
+
+"Clam it, ape, or I'll climb up you like a squirrel!" he hissed, and the
+grinning Breckenridge nodded assent to this demand for silence
+concerning children and nursemaids.
+
+"Since you've never been out, Miss Newton, you'll want to see the whole
+works," Stevens addressed the girl. "Where do you want to begin? Shall
+we start at the top and work down?"
+
+"All right with me," she agreed, and fell into step beside him. She was
+dressed in dove-gray from head to foot--toque, blouse, breeches, heavy
+stockings, and shoes were of the one shade of smooth, lustrous silk; and
+as they strolled together down the passage-way, the effortless ease and
+perfect poise of her carriage called aloud to every hard-schooled fibre
+of his own highly-trained being.
+
+"We're a lot alike you and I--do you know it?" he asked, abruptly and
+unconventionally.
+
+"Yes, I've felt it, too," she replied frankly, and studied him without
+affectation. "It has just come to me what it is. We're both in fine
+condition and in hard training. You're an athlete of some kind, and I'm
+sure you're a star--I ought to recognize you, but I'm ashamed to say I
+don't. What do you do?"
+
+"Swim."
+
+"Oh, of course--Stevens, the great Olympic high and fancy diver! I would
+_never_ have connected our own Doctor Stevens, the eminent mathematical
+physicist, with the King of the Springboard. Say, ever since I quit
+being afraid of the water I've had a yen to do that two-and-a-half twist
+of yours, but I never met anybody who knew it well enough to teach it
+to me, and I've almost broken my back forty times trying to learn it
+alone!"
+
+"I've got you, now, too--American and British Womens' golf champion.
+Shake!" and the two shook hands vigorously, in mutual congratulation.
+"Tell you what--I'll give you some pointers on diving, and you can show
+me how to make a golf ball behave. Next to Norman Brandon, I've got
+the most vicious hook in captivity--and Norm can't help himself. He's
+left-handed, you know, and, being a southpaw, he's naturally wild. He
+slices all his woods and hooks all his irons. I'm consistent, anyway--I
+hook everything, even my putts."
+
+"It's a bargain! What do you shoot?"
+
+"Pretty dubby. Usually in the middle eighties--none of us play much,
+being out in space most of the time, you know--sometimes, when my hook
+is going particularly well, I go up into the nineties."
+
+"We'll lick that hook," she promised, as they entered an elevator and
+were borne upward, toward the prow of the great interplanetary cruiser.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+----But Does Not Arrive
+
+
+"All out--we climb the rest of the way on foot," Stevens told his
+companion, as the elevator stopped at the uppermost passenger floor.
+They walked across the small circular hall and the guard on duty came
+to attention and saluted as they approached him.
+
+"I have orders to pass you and Miss Newton, sir. Do you know all the
+combinations?"
+
+"I know this good old tub better than the men that built her--I helped
+calculate her," Stevens replied, as he stepped up to an apparently blank
+wall of steel and deftly manipulated an almost invisible dial set flush
+with its surface. "This is to keep the passengers where they belong," he
+explained, as a section of the wall swung backward in a short arc and
+slid smoothly aside. "We will now proceed to see what makes it tick."
+
+Ladder after ladder of steel they climbed, and bulkhead after bulkhead
+opened at Stevens's knowing touch. At each floor the mathematician
+explained to the girl the operation of the machinery there automatically
+at work--devices for heating and cooling, devices for circulating,
+maintaining, and purifying the air and the water--in short, all the
+complex mechanism necessary for the comfort and convenience of the human
+cargo of the liner.
+
+Soon they entered the conical top compartment, a room scarcely fifteen
+feet in diameter, tapering sharply upward to a hollow point some
+twenty feet above them. The true shape of the room, however, was not
+immediately apparent, because of the enormous latticed beams and
+girders which braced the walls in every direction. The air glowed
+with the violet light of the twelve great ultra-light projectors, like
+searchlights with three-foot lenses, which lined the wall. The floor
+beneath their feet was not a level steel platform, but seemed to be
+composed of many lenticular sections of dull blue alloy.
+
+"We are standing upon the upper lookout lenses, aren't we?" asked the
+girl. "Is that perfectly all right?"
+
+"Sure. They're so hard that nothing can scratch them, and of course
+Roeser's Rays go right through our bodies, or any ordinary substance,
+like a bullet through a hole in a Swiss cheese. Even those lenses
+wouldn't deflect them if they weren't solid fields of force."
+
+As he spoke, one of the ultra-lights flashed around in a short, quick
+arc, and the girl saw that instead of the fierce glare she had expected,
+it emitted only a soft violet light. Nevertheless she dodged
+involuntarily and Stevens touched her arm reassuringly.
+
+"All x, Miss Newton--they're as harmless as mice. They hardly ever have
+to swing past the vertical, and even if one shines right through you you
+can look it right in the eye as long as you want to--it can't hurt you
+a bit."
+
+"No ultra-violet at all?"
+
+"None whatever. Just a color--one of the many remaining crudities of our
+ultra-light vision. A lot of good men are studying this thing of direct
+vision, though, and it won't be long before we have a system that will
+really work."
+
+"I think it's all perfectly wonderful!" she breathed. "Just think of
+traveling in comfort through empty space, and of actually seeing through
+seamless steel walls, without even a sign of a window! How can such
+things be possible?"
+
+"I'll have to go pretty well back," he warned, "and any adequate
+explanation is bound to be fairly deep wading in spots. How technical
+can you stand it?"
+
+"I can go down with you middling deep--I took a lot of general science,
+and physics through advanced mechanics. Of course, I didn't get into any
+such highly specialized stuff as sub-electronics or Roeser's Rays, but
+if you start drowning me, I'll yell."
+
+"That's fine--you can get the idea all x, with that to go on. Let's sit
+down here on this girder. Roeser didn't do it all, by any means, even
+though he got credit for it--he merely helped the Martians do it. The
+whole thing started, of course, when Goddard shot his first rocket to
+the moon, and was intensified when Roeser so perfected his short waves
+that signals were exchanged with Mars--signals that neither side could
+make any sense out of. Goddard's pupils and followers made bigger and
+better rockets, and finally got one that could land safely upon Mars.
+Roeser, who was a mighty keen bird, was one of the first voyagers, and
+he didn't come back--he stayed there, living in a space-suit for three
+or four years, and got a brand-new education. Martian science always
+was hot, you know, but they were impractical. They were desperately
+hard up for water and air, and while they had a lot of wonderful
+ideas and theories, they couldn't overcome the practical technical
+difficulties in the way of making their ideas work. Now putting other
+peoples' ideas to work was Roeser's long suit--don't think that I'm
+belittling Roeser at all, either, for he was a brave and far-sighted
+man, was no mean scientist, and was certainly one of the best organizers
+and synchronizers the world has ever known--and since Martian and
+Tellurian science complemented each other, so that one filled in the
+gaps of the other, it wasn't long until fleets of space-freighters were
+bringing in air and water from Venus, which had more of both than she
+needed or wanted.
+
+"Having done all he could for the Martians and having learned most of
+the stuff he wanted to know, Roeser came back to Tellus and organized
+Interplanetary, with scientists and engineers on all three planets,
+and set to work to improve the whole system, for the vessels they used
+then were dangerous--regular mankillers, in fact. At about this same
+time Roeser and the Interplanetary Corporation had a big part in the
+unification of the world into one nation, so that wars could no longer
+interfere with progress."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"With this introduction I can get down to fundamentals. Molecules are
+particles of the first order, and vibrations of the first order include
+sound, light, heat, electricity, radio, and so on. Second order,
+atoms--extremely short vibrations, such as hard X-rays. Third order,
+electrons and protons, with their accompanying Millikan, or cosmic,
+rays. Fourth order, sub-electrons and sub-protons. These, in the
+material aspect, are supposed to be the particles of the fourth order,
+and in the energy aspect they are known as Roeser's Rays. That is, these
+fourth-order rays and particles seem to partake of the nature of both
+energy and matter. Following me?"
+
+"Right behind you," she assured him. She had been listening intently,
+her wide-spaced brown eyes fastened upon his face.
+
+"Since these Roeser's Rays, or particles or rays of the fourth order,
+seem to be both matter and energy, and since the rays can be converted
+into what is supposed to be the particles, they have been thought to be
+the things from which both electrons and protons were built. Therefore,
+everybody except Norman Brandon has supposed them the ultimate units of
+creation, so that it would be useless to try to go any further...."
+
+"Why, we were taught that they _are_ the ultimate units!" she protested.
+
+"I know you were--but we really don't know anything, except what we
+have learned empirically, even about our driving forces. What is called
+the fourth-order particle is absolutely unknown, since nobody has been
+able to detect it, to say nothing of determining its velocity or other
+properties. It has been assumed to have the velocity of light only
+because that hypothesis does not conflict with observational data. I'm
+going to give you the generally accepted idea, since we have nothing
+definite to offer in its place, but I warn you that that idea is very
+probably wrong. There's a lot of deep stuff down there hasn't been dug
+up yet. In fact, Brandon thinks that the product of conversion isn't
+what we think it is, at all--that the actual fundamental unit and the
+primary mechanism of the transformation lie somewhere below the fourth
+order, and possibly even below the level of the ether--but we haven't
+been able to find a point of attack yet that will let us get in
+anywhere. However, I'm getting 'way ahead of our subject. To get back to
+it, energy can be converted into something that acts like matter through
+Roeser's Rays, and that is the empirical fact underlying the drive of
+our space-ships, as well as that of almost all other vehicles on all
+three planets. Power is generated by the great waterfalls of Tellus and
+Venus--water's mighty scarce on Mars, of course, so most of our plants
+there use fuel--and is transmitted on light beams, by means of powerful
+fields of force to the receptors, wherever they may be. The individual
+transmitting fields and receptors are really simply matched-frequency
+units, each matching the electrical characteristics of some particular
+and unique beam of force. This beam is composed of Roeser's Rays, in
+their energy aspect. It took a long time to work out this tight-beam
+transmission of power, but it was fairly simple after they got it."
+
+He took out a voluminous notebook, at the sight of which Nadia smiled.
+
+"A computer might forget to dress, but you'd never catch one without a
+full magazine pencil and a lot of blank paper," he grinned in reply and
+went on, writing as he talked.
+
+"For any given frequency, _f_, and phase angle, _theta_, you integrate,
+between limits zero and _pi_ divided by two, sine theta d...."
+
+"Hold it--I'm sinking!" Nadia exclaimed. "I don't integrate at all
+unless it is absolutely necessary. As long as you stick to general
+science, I'm right on your heels, but please lay off of integrations
+and all that--most especially stay away from those terrible electrical
+integrations. I always did think that they were the most poisonous kind
+known. I want only a general idea--that's all that I can understand,
+anyway."
+
+"Sure, I forgot--guess I was getting in deeper than is necessary,
+especially since this whole thing of beam transmission is pretty crude
+yet and is bound to change a lot before long. There is so much loss
+that when we get more than a few hundred million kilometers away from
+a power-plant we lose reception entirely. But to get going again,
+the receptors receive the beam and from them the power is sent to the
+accumulators, where it is stored. These accumulators are an outgrowth
+of the storage battery. The theory of the accumulator is...."
+
+"Lay off the theory, please!" the listener interrupted. "I understand
+perfectly without it. Energy is stored in the accumulators--you put it
+in and take it out. That's all that is necessary."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I'd like to give you some of the theory--but, after all, it wouldn't
+add much to your understanding of the working of things, and it might
+mix you up, as some of it is pretty deep stuff. Then, too, it would
+take a lot of time, and the rest of your friends would squawk if I
+kept you here indefinitely. From the accumulators, then, the power
+is fed to the converters, each of which is backed by a projector.
+The converters simply change the aspect of the rays, from the
+energy aspect to the material aspect. As soon as this is done, the
+highly-charged particles--or whatever they are--thus formed are
+repelled by the terrific stationary force maintained in the projector
+backing the converter. Each particle departs with a velocity supposed
+to be that of light, and the recoil upon the projector drives the
+vessel, or car, or whatever it is attached to. Still with me?"
+
+"Struggling a little, but my nose is still above the surface. These
+particles, being so infinitesimally small that they cannot even be
+detected, go right through any substance without any effect--they are
+not even harmful."
+
+"Exactly. Now we are in position to go ahead with the lights, detectors,
+and so on. The energy aspect of the rays you can best understand as
+simply a vibration in the ether--an extremely high frequency one.
+While not rigidly scientific, that is close enough for you and me.
+Nobody knows what the stuff really is, and it cannot be explained or
+demonstrated by any model or concept in three-dimensional space. Its
+physical-mathematical interpretation, the only way in which it can be
+grasped at all, requires sixteen coordinates in four dimensions, and
+I don't suppose you'd care to go into that."
+
+"I'll say I wouldn't!" she exclaimed, feelingly.
+
+"Well, anyway, by the use of suitable fields of force it can be used
+as a carrier wave. Most of this stuff of the fields of force--how to
+carry the modulation up and down through all the frequency changes
+necessary--was figured out by the Martians ages ago. Used as a pure
+carrier wave, with a sender and a receiver at each end, it isn't so
+bad--that's why our communicator and radio systems work as well as they
+do. They are pretty good, really, but the ultra-light vision system
+is something else again. Sending the heterodyned wave through steel
+is easy, but breaking it up, so as to view an object and return the
+impulses, was an awful job and one that isn't half done yet. We see
+things, after a fashion and at a distance of a few kilometers, by
+sending an almost parallel wave from a twin-projector to disintegrate
+and double back the viewing wave. That's the way the lookout plates and
+lenses work, all over the ship--from the master-screens in the control
+room to the plates of the staterooms and lifeboats and the viewing-areas
+of the promenades. But the whole system is a rotten makeshift, and...."
+
+"Just a minute!" exclaimed the girl. "I and everybody else have been
+thinking that everything is absolutely perfect; and yet every single
+thing you have talked about, you have ended up by describing as
+'unknown,' 'rudimentary,' 'temporary,' or a 'makeshift.' You speak as
+though the entire system were a poor thing that will have to do until
+something better has been found, and that nobody knows anything about
+anything! How do you get that way?"
+
+"By working with Brandon and Westfall. Those birds have got real brains
+and they're on the track of something that will, in all probability, be
+as far ahead of Roeser's Rays as our present system is ahead of the
+science of the seventeenth century."
+
+"Really?" she looked at him in astonishment. "Tell me about it."
+
+"Can't be done," he refused. "I don't know much about it--even they
+didn't know any too much about some of it when I had to come in. And
+what little I do know I can't tell, because it isn't mine."
+
+"But you're working with them, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes, in the sense that a small boy helps his father build a house.
+They're the brains--I simply do some figuring that they don't want to
+waste time doing."
+
+Nadia, having no belief whatever in his modest disclaimer, but in secret
+greatly pleased by his attitude, replied:
+
+"Of course you couldn't say anything about an unfinished project--I
+shouldn't have asked. Where do we go from here?"
+
+"Down the lining of the hull, outside the passengers' quarters to the
+upper dirigible projectors," and he led the way down a series of steep
+steel stairways, through bulkheads and partitions of steel. "One thing
+I forgot to tell you about--the detectors. They're worked on the same
+principle as the lights, and are just about as efficient. Instead, of
+light, though, they send out cones of electromagnetic waves, which set
+up induced currents in any conductor encountered beyond our own shell.
+Since all dangerous meteorites have been shown to contain conducting
+material, that is enough to locate them, for radio finders automatically
+determine the direction, distance, and magnitude of the disturbance, and
+swing a light on it. That was what happened when that light swung toward
+us, back there in the prow."
+
+"Are there any of those life-boats, that I've heard discussed so much
+lately, near here?" asked the girl.
+
+"Lots of 'em--here's one right here," and at the next landing he opened
+a vacuum-insulated steel door, snapped on a light, and waved his hand.
+"You can't see much of it from here, but it's a complete space-ship
+in itself, capable of maintaining a dozen or fifteen persons during
+a two-weeks' cruise in space."
+
+"Why isn't it a good idea to retain them? Accidents are still possible,
+are they not?"
+
+"Of course, and there is no question of doing away with them entirely.
+Modern ships, however, have only enough of them to take care of the
+largest number of persons ever to be carried by the vessel."
+
+"Has the _Arcturus_ more than she needs?"
+
+"I'll say she has, and more of everything else, except room for
+pay-load."
+
+"I've heard them talking about junking her. I think it's a shame."
+
+"So do I, in a way--you see, I helped design her and her sister-ship,
+the _Sirius_, which Brandon and Westfall are using as a floating
+laboratory. But times change, and the inefficient must go. She's a good
+old tub, but she was built when everybody was afraid of space, and we
+had to put every safety factor into her that we could think of. As a
+result, she is four times as heavy as she should be, and that takes a
+lot of extra power. Her skin is too thick. She has too many batteries of
+accumulators, too many life-boats, too many bulkheads and air-breaks,
+too many and too much of everything. She is so built that if she should
+break up out in space, nobody would die if they lived through the
+shock--there are so many bulkheads, air-breaks, and life-boats that
+no matter how many pieces she broke up into, the survivors would find
+themselves in something able to navigate. That excessive construction
+is no longer necessary. Modern ships carry ten times the pay-load on
+one-quarter of the power that this old battle-wagon uses. Even though
+she's only four years old, she's a relic of the days when we used to
+slam through on the ecliptic route, right through all the meteoric
+stuff that is always there--trusting to heavy armor to ward off
+anything too small for the observers and detectors to locate. Now, with
+the observatories and check-stations out in space, fairly light armor
+is sufficient, as we route ourselves well away from the ecliptic and so
+miss all the heavy stuff. So, badly as I hate to see her go there, the
+old tub is bound for the junk-yard."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few more flights of stairs brought them to the upper band of dirigible
+projectors, which encircled the hull outside the passengers' quarters,
+some sixty feet below the prow. They were heavy, search-light-like
+affairs mounted upon massive universal bearings, free to turn in any
+direction, and each having its converter nestling inside its prodigious
+field of force. Stevens explained that these projectors were used in
+turning the vessel and in dodging meteorites when necessary, and they
+went on through another almost invisible door into a hall and took an
+elevator down to the main corridor.
+
+"Well, you've seen it, Miss Newton," Stevens said regretfully, as he
+led her toward the captain's office. "The lower half is full of heavy
+stuff--accumulators, machinery, driving projectors, and such junk, so
+that the center of gravity is below the center of action of the driving
+projectors. That makes stable flight possible. It's all more or less
+like what we've just seen, and I don't suppose you want to miss the
+dance--anyway, a lot of people want to dance with you."
+
+"Wouldn't you just as soon show me through the lower half as dance?"
+
+"Rather, lots!"
+
+"So would I. I can dance any time, and I want to see everything.
+Let's go!"
+
+Down they went, past battery after battery of accumulators; climbing
+over and around the ever-increasing number of huge steel girders and
+bracers; through mazes of heavily insulated wiring and conduits; past
+mass after mass of automatic machinery which Stevens explained to his
+eager listener. They inspected one of the great driving projectors,
+which, built rigidly parallel to the axis of the ship and held immovably
+in place by enormous trusses of steel, revealed neither to the eye nor
+to the ear any sign of the terrific force it was exerting. Still lower
+they went, until the girl had been shown everything, even down to the
+bottom ultra-lights and stern braces.
+
+"Tired?" Stevens asked, as the inspection was completed.
+
+"Not very. It's been quite a climb, but I've had a wonderful time."
+
+"So have I," he declared, positively. "I know what--we'll crawl up into
+one of these stern lifeboats and make us a cup of coffee before we climb
+back. With me?"
+
+"'Way ahead of you!" Nadia accepted the invitation enthusiastically,
+and they made their way to the nearest of the miniature space-cruisers.
+Here, although no emergency had been encountered in all the four years
+of the vessel's life, they found everything in readiness, and the two
+soon had prepared and eaten a hearty luncheon.
+
+"Well, I can't think of any more excuses for monopolizing you, Miss
+Newton, so I suppose I'll have to take you back. Believe me, I've
+enjoyed this more than you can realize--I've...."
+
+He broke off and listened, every nerve taut. "What was that?" he
+exclaimed.
+
+"What was what? I didn't hear anything?"
+
+"Something screwy somewhere! I felt a vibration, and anything that'd
+make this mountain of steel even quiver must have given us one
+gosh-awful nudge. There's another!"
+
+The girl, painfully tense, felt only a barely perceptible tremor, but
+the computer, knowing far better than she the inconceivable strength and
+mass of that enormous structure of solidly braced hardened steel, sprang
+into action. Leaping to the small dirigible look-out plate, he turned on
+the power and swung it upward.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Great suffering snakes!" he ejaculated, then stood mute, for the
+plate revealed a terrible sight. The entire nose of the gigantic craft
+had been sheared off in two immense slices as though clipped off by a
+gigantic sword, and even as they stared, fascinated, at the sight, the
+severed slices were drifting slowly away. Swinging the view along the
+plane of cleavage, Stevens made out a relatively tiny ball of metal,
+only fifty feet or so in diameter, at a distance of perhaps a mile.
+From this ball there shot a blinding plane of light, and the _Arcturus_
+fell apart at the midsection, the lower half separating clean from
+the upper portion, which held the passengers. Leaving the upper half
+intact, the attacker began slicing the lower, driving half into thin,
+disk-shaped sections. As that incandescent plane of destruction made
+its first flashing cut through the body of the _Arcturus_, accompanied
+by an additional pyrotechnic display of severed and short-circuited
+high-tension leads, Stevens and Nadia suddenly found themselves floating
+weightless in the air of the room. Still gripping the controls of the
+look-out plate, Stevens caught the white-faced girl with one hand, drew
+her down beside him, and held her motionless while his keen mind flashed
+over all the possibilities of the situation and planned his course
+of action.
+
+"They're apparently slicing us pretty evenly, and by the looks of
+things, one cut is coming right about here," he explained rapidly, as
+he found a flashlight and drew his companion through the door and along
+a narrow passage. Soon he opened another door and led her into a tiny
+compartment so low that they could not stand upright--a mere cubicle of
+steel. Carefully closing the door, he fingered dials upon each of the
+walls of the cell, then folded himself up into a comfortable position,
+instructed Nadia to do the same, and snapped off the light.
+
+"Please leave it on," the shaken girl asked. "It's so ghastly!"
+
+"We'd better save it, Nadia," he advised, pressing her arm reassuringly,
+"it's the only light we've got, and we may need it worse later on--its
+life is limited, you know."
+
+"Later on? Do you think we'll need anything--later on?"
+
+"Sure! Of course they may get us, Nadia, but this little tertiary
+air-break is a mighty small target for them to hit. And if they miss us,
+as I think they will, there's a larger room opening off each wall of
+this one--at least one of which will certainly be left intact. From any
+one of those rooms we can reach a life-boat. Of course, it's a little
+too much to expect that any one of the life-boats will be left whole,
+but they're bulkheaded, too, you know, so that we can be sure of finding
+something able to navigate--providing we can make our get-away. Believe
+me, ace, I'm sure glad we're aboard the old _Arcturus_ right now, with
+all her safety-devices, instead of on one of the modern liners. We'd be
+sunk right."
+
+"I felt sunk enough for a minute--I'm feeling better now, though, since
+you are taking it so calmly."
+
+"Sure--why not? A man's not dead until his heart stops beating, you
+know--our turn'll come next, when they let up a little."
+
+"But suppose they change the width of their slices, and hit this cubby,
+small as it is?"
+
+"It'd be just too bad," he shrugged. "In that case, we'd never know
+what hit us, so it's no good worrying about it. But say, we might do
+something at that, if they didn't hit us square. I can move fairly fast,
+and might be able to get a door open before the loss of pressure seals
+it. We'll light the flash ... here, you hold it, so that I can have both
+hands free. Put both arms around me, just under the arms, and stick to
+me like a porous plaster, because if I have to move at all, I'll have
+to jump like chain lightning. Shine the beam right over there, so it'll
+reflect and light up all the dials at once. There ... hold on tight!
+Here they come!"
+
+As he spoke, a jarring shudder shook one side of their hiding-place,
+then, a moment later, the phenomenon was repeated, but with much less
+force, upon the other side. Stevens sighed with relief, took the light,
+and extinguished it.
+
+"Missed us clean!" he exulted. "Now, if they don't find us, we're all
+set."
+
+"How can they possibly find us? I seem to be always worried about the
+wrong things, but I should think that their finding us would be the
+least of our troubles."
+
+"Don't judge their vision system by ours--they've got everything,
+apparently. However, their apparatus may not be delicate enough to spot
+us in a space this small when their projectors flash through it, as they
+probably will. Then, too, there's a couple of other big items in our
+favor--nobody else is in the entire lower half, since all this machinery
+down here is either automatic or else controlled from up above, so they
+won't be expecting to see anybody when they get down this far; and we
+aren't at all conspicuous. We're both dressed in gray--your clothes in
+particular are almost exactly the color of this armor-plate--so
+altogether we stand a good chance of being missed."
+
+"What shall we do now?"
+
+"Nothing whatever--wish we could sleep for a couple of hours, but of
+course there's no hope of that. Stretch out here, like that--you can't
+rest folded up like an accordion--and I'll lie down diagonally across
+the room. There's just room for me that way. That's one advantage of
+weightlessness--you can lie down standing on your head, and go to sleep
+and like it. But I forgot--you've never been weightless before, have
+you? Does it make you sick?"
+
+"Not so much, now, except that I feel awfully weird inside. I was
+horribly dizzy and nauseated at first, but it's going away."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"That's good--it makes lots of people pretty sick. In fact, some folks
+get awfully sick and can't seem to get used to it at all. It's the
+canals in the inner ear that do most of it, you know. However, if you're
+as well as that already, you'll be a regular spacehound in half an hour.
+I've been weightless for weeks at a stretch, out in the _Sirius_, and
+now I've got so I really like it. Here, we'd better keep in touch."
+He found her hand and tucked it under his arm. "Stabilize our positions
+more, besides keeping us from getting too lonesome, here in the dark,"
+he concluded, in a matter-of-fact voice.
+
+"Thanks for saying 'us'--but you would, wouldn't you?" and a wave of
+admiration went through her for the real and chivalrous manhood of the
+man with whom she had been forced by circumstances to cast her lot.
+"How long must we stay here?"
+
+"As long as the air lasts, and I'd like to stay here longer than that.
+We don't want to move around any more than we absolutely have to until
+their rays are off of us, and we have no way of knowing how long that
+will be. Also, we'd better keep still. I don't know what kind of an
+audio system they've got, but there's no use taking unnecessary
+chances."
+
+"All x--I'm an oyster's little sister," and for many minutes the
+two remained motionless and silent. Now and then Nadia twitched and
+started at some vague real or imaginary sound--now and then her fingers
+tightened upon his biceps--and he pressed her hand with his great arm in
+reassurance and understanding. Once a wall of their cell resounded under
+the impact of a fierce blow and Stevens instantly threw his arm around
+the girl, twisting himself between her and the threatened wall, ready
+for any emergency. But nothing more happened; the door remained closed,
+the cell stayed bottle-tight, and time wore slowly on. All too soon the
+unmistakable symptoms of breathing an unfit atmosphere made themselves
+apparent and Stevens, after testing each of the doors, drew the girl
+into a larger room, where they breathed deeply of the fresh, cool air.
+
+"How did you know that this room was whole?" asked Nadia. "We might have
+stepped out into space, mightn't we?"
+
+"No; if this room had lost its tightness, the door wouldn't have opened.
+They won't open if there's a difference of one kilogram pressure on the
+two sides. That's how I knew that the room we were in at first was cut
+in two--the door into that air-break wouldn't move."
+
+"What comes next?"
+
+"I don't know exactly what to do--we'd better hold a little council of
+war. They may have gone..." Stevens broke off as the structure began
+to move, and they settled down upon what had been one of the side-walls.
+Greater and greater became the acceleration, until their apparent weight
+was almost as much as it would have been upon the Earth, at which point
+it became constant. "... but they haven't," he continued the interrupted
+sentence. "This seems to be a capture and seizure, as well as an attack,
+so we'll have to take the risk of looking at them. Besides, it's getting
+cold in here. One or two of the adjoining cells have apparently been
+ruptured and we're radiating our heat out into space, so we'll have to
+get into a life-boat or freeze. I'll go pick out the best one. Wonder
+if I'd better take you with me, or hide you and come back after you?"
+
+"Don't worry about that--I'm coming with you," Nadia declared, positively.
+
+"Just as well, probably," he assented, and they set out. A thorough
+exploration of all the tight connecting cells revealed that not a
+lifeboat within their reach remained intact, but that habitable and
+navigable portions of three such craft were available. Selecting the
+most completely equipped of these, they took up their residence therein
+by entering it and closing the massive insulating door. Stevens
+disconnected all the lights save one, and so shielded that one before
+turning it on that it merely lightened the utter darkness into a
+semi-permeable gloom. He then stepped up to the lookout plate, and with
+his hand upon the control, pondered long the possible consequences of
+what he wished to do.
+
+"What harm would it do to take just a little peek?"
+
+"I don't know--that's the dickens of it. Maybe none, and then again,
+maybe a lot. You see, we don't know who or what we are up against. The
+only thing we know is that they've got us beat a hundred ways, and we've
+got to act accordingly. We've got to chance it sometime, though, if we
+can ever get away, so we might as well do it now. I'll put it on very
+short range first, and see what we can see. By the small number of cells
+we've got here I'm afraid they've split us up lengthwise, too--so that
+instead of having a whole slice of the old watermelon to live in, we've
+got only about a sixth of one--shaped about like a piece of restaurant
+pie. One thing I can do, though. I'll turn on the communicator receiver
+and put it on full coverage--maybe we can hear something useful."
+
+Putting a little power upon the visiray plate, he moved the point of
+projection a short distance from their hiding-place, so that the plate
+showed a view of the wreckage. The upper half of the vessel was still
+intact, the lower half a jumble of sharply-cut fragments. From each of
+the larger pieces a brilliant ray of tangible force stretched outward.
+Suddenly their receiver sounded behind them, as the high-powered
+transmitter in the telegraph room tried to notify headquarters of
+their plight.
+
+"_Arcturus_ attacked and cut up being taken tow...."
+
+Rapidly as the message was uttered the transmitter died with a rattle
+in the middle of a word, and Nadia looked at Stevens with foreboding in
+her eyes.
+
+"They've got something, that's one thing sure, to be able to neutralize
+our communicator beams that way," he admitted. "Not so good--we'll have
+to play this close to our vests, girl!"
+
+"Are you just trying to cheer me up, or do you really think we have a
+chance?" she demanded. "I want to know just where we stand."
+
+"I'm coming clean with you, no kidding. If we can get away, we'll be all
+x, because I'll bet a farm that by this time Brandon's got everything
+those birds have, and maybe more. They beat us to it, that's all. I'm
+kind of afraid, though, that getting away isn't going to be quite as
+simple as shooting fish down a well."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Far ahead of them a port opened, a lifeboat shot out at its full power,
+and again their receiver tried to burst into sound, but it was a vain
+attempt. The sound died before one complete word could be uttered, and
+the lifeboat, its power completely neutralized by the rays of the tiny
+craft of the enemy, floated gently back toward the mass of its parent
+and accompanied it in its headlong flight. Several more lifeboats made
+the attempt, as the courageous officers of the _Arcturus_, some of
+whom had apparently succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the captors,
+launched the little shells from various ports; but as each boat issued,
+its power was neutralized and it found itself dragged helplessly along
+in the grip of one of those mysterious, brilliant rays of force. At
+least one hidden officer must have been watching the fruitless efforts,
+for the next lifeboat to issue made no attempt, either to talk or to
+flee, but from it there flamed out into space a concentrated beam of
+destruction--the terrible ray of annihilation, against which no known
+substance could endure for a moment; the ray which had definitely
+outlawed war. But even that frightful weapon was useless--it spent
+its force harmlessly upon an impalpable, invisible barrier, a hundred
+yards from its source, and the bold lifeboat disappeared in one blinding
+explosion of incandescence as the captor showed its real power in
+retaliation. Stevens, jaw hard-set, leaped from the screen, then brought
+himself up so quickly that he skated across the smooth steel floor.
+Shutting off the lookout plate, he led the half-fainting girl across
+the room to a comfortable seat and sat down beside her--raging, but
+thoughtful. Nadia soon recovered.
+
+"Why are you acting so contrary to your nature--is it because of _me_?"
+she demanded. "A dozen times I've seen you start to do something and
+then change your mind. I _will not_ be a load on you nor hinder you in
+anything you want to do."
+
+"I told your father I'd look after you, and I'm going to do it," he
+replied, indirectly. "I would do it anyway, of course--even if you are
+ten or twelve years older than I thought you were."
+
+"Yes, Dad never has realized that I'm more than eight years old. I
+see--you were going out there and be slaughtered?" He flushed, but made
+no reply. "In that case I'm glad I'm here--that would have been silly.
+I think we'd better hold that council of war you mentioned a while ago,
+don't you?"
+
+"I need a smoke--do you indulge?"
+
+"No thanks. I tried it a few times at school, but never liked it."
+
+He searched his pockets, bringing to light an unopened package and a
+tattered remnant which proved to contain one dilapidated cigarette.
+He studied it thoughtfully. "I'll smoke this wreck," he decided, "while
+it's still smokable. We'll save the rest of them--I'm afraid it'll be
+a long time between smokes. Well, let's confer!"
+
+"This will have to be a one-sided conference. I don't imagine that any
+of my ideas will prove particularly helpful. You talk and I'll listen.
+
+"You can't tell what ideas may be useful--chip in any time you feel the
+urge. Here's the dope, as I see it. They're highly intelligent creatures
+and are in all probability neither Martians nor Venerians. If any of
+them had any such stuff as that, some of us would have known about it
+and, besides, I don't believe they would have used it in just that way.
+Mercury is not habitable, at least for organic beings; and we have never
+seen any sign of any other kind of inhabitants who could work with
+metals and rays. They're probably from Jupiter, although possibly from
+further away. I say Jupiter, because I would think, judging from the
+small size of the ship, that it may still be in the experimental stage,
+so that they probably didn't come from any further away than Jupiter.
+Then, too, if they were very numerous, somebody would have sighted one
+before. I'd give my left leg and four fingers for one good look at the
+inside of that ship."
+
+"Why didn't you take it, then? You never even looked toward it, after
+that one first glimpse."
+
+"I'll say I didn't--the reason being that they may have automatic
+detectors, and as I have suggested before, our system of vision is so
+crude that its use could be detected with a clothesline or a basket
+full of scrap iron. But to resume: Their aim is to capture, not destroy,
+since they haven't killed anybody except the one crew that attacked
+them. Apparently they want to study us or something. However, they don't
+intend that any of us shall get away, nor even send out a word of what
+has happened to us. Therefore it looks as though our best bet is to hide
+now, and try to sneak away on them after a while--direct methods won't
+work. Right?"
+
+"You sound lucid. Is there any possibility of getting back, though, if
+we got anywhere near Jupiter? It's so far away!"
+
+"It's a long stretch from Jupiter to any of the planets where we have
+power-plants, all right--particularly now, when Mars and Tellus are
+subtending an angle of something more than ninety degrees at the sun,
+and Venus is between the two, while Jupiter is clear across the sun from
+all three of them. Even when Jupiter is in mean opposition to Mars, it
+is still some five hundred and fifty million kilometers away, so you
+can form some idea as to how far it is from our nearest planet now.
+No, if we expect to get back under our own power, we've got to break away
+pretty quick--these lifeboats have very little accumulator capacity, and
+the receptors are useless above about three hundred million
+kilometers...."
+
+"But it'll take us a long time to go that far, won't it?"
+
+"Not very. Our own ships, using only the acceleration of gravity, and
+both plus and minus at that, make the better than four hundred million
+kilometers of the long route to Mars in five days. These birds are using
+almost that much acceleration, and I don't see how they do it. They must
+have a tractor ray. Brandon claimed that such a thing was theoretically
+possible, but Westfall and I couldn't see it. We ragged him about it a
+lot--and he was right. I thought, of course, they'd drift with us, but
+they are using power steadily. They've got _some_ system!"
+
+"Suppose they could be using intra-atomic energy? We were taught that it
+was impossible, but you've shattered a lot of my knowledge today."
+
+"I wouldn't want to say definitely that it is absolutely impossible,
+but the deeper we go into that line, the more unlikely intra-atomic
+energy power-plants become. No, they've got a real power-transmission
+system--one that can hold a tight beam together a lot farther than
+anything we have been able to develop, that's all. Well, we've given
+them quite a lot of time to get over any suspicion of us, let's see
+if we can sneak away from them."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By short and infrequent applications of power to the dirigible
+projectors of the life-boat, Stevens slowly shifted the position of
+the fragment which bore their craft until it was well clear of the
+other components of the mass of wreckage. He then exerted a very small
+retarding force, so that their bit would lag behind the procession, as
+though it had accidently been separated. But the crew of the captor was
+alert, and no sooner did a clear space show itself between them and the
+mass than a ray picked them up and herded them back into place. Stevens
+then nudged other pieces so that they fell out, only to see them also
+rounded up. Hour after hour he kept trying--doing nothing sufficiently
+energetic to create any suspicion, but attempting everything he could
+think of that offered any chance of escape from the clutches of their
+captors. Immovable at the plate, his hands upon the controls, he
+performed every insidious maneuver his agile brain could devise, but
+he could not succeed in separating their vehicle from its fellows.
+Finally, after a last attempt, which was foiled as easily as were its
+predecessors, he shut off his controls and turned to his companion
+with a grin.
+
+"I didn't think I could get away with it--they're keen, that gang--but
+I had to keep at it as long as it would have done us any good."
+
+"Wouldn't it do us any good now?"
+
+"Not a bit--we're going so fast that we couldn't stop--we're out of even
+radio range of our closest power-plant. We'll have to put off any more
+attempts until they slow us down. They're fairly close to at least one
+of the moons of Jupiter, we'll have our best chance--so good, in fact,
+that I really think we can make it."
+
+"But what good would that do us, if we couldn't get back?" Dire
+foreboding showed in her glorious eyes.
+
+"Lots of things not tried yet, girl, and we'll try them all. First, we
+get away. Second, we try to get in touch with Norman Brandon...."
+
+"How? No known radio will carry half that far."
+
+"No, but I think that a radio as yet unknown may be able to--and there
+is a bare possibility that I'll be able to communicate."
+
+"Oh wonderful--that lifts a frightful load off my mind," she breathed.
+
+"But just a minute--I said I'd come clean with you, and I will. The odds
+are all against us, no matter what we do. If that unknown radio won't
+work--and it probably won't--there are several other things we can try,
+but they're all pretty slim chances. Even if we get away, it'll probably
+be about the same thing as though you were to be marooned on a desert
+island without any tools, and with your rescue depending upon your
+ability to build a high-powered radio station with which to call to
+a mainland for help. However, if we don't try to get away, our only
+alternative is letting them know we're here, and joining our friends
+in captivity."
+
+"And then what?"
+
+"You know as much as I do. Imprisonment and restraint, certain; death,
+possible; return to Earth, almost certainly impossible--life as guests,
+highly improbable."
+
+"I'm with you, Steve, all the way."
+
+"Well, it's time to spring off--we've both been awake better than fifty
+hours. Personally, I'm all in, and you're so near dead that you're a
+physical wreck. We'll get us a bite of supper and turn in."
+
+An appetizing supper was prepared from the abundant stores and each
+ate a heartier meal than either would have believed possible. Stevens
+considered his unopened package of cigarettes, then regretfully put it
+back into his pocket still unopened and turned to Nadia.
+
+"Well, little fellow, it's time to shove off, and then some. You might
+as well sleep here, and I'll go in there. If anything scares you, yell.
+Good-night, old trapper!"
+
+"Wait a minute, Steve." Nadia flushed, and her brown eyes and black
+eyebrows, in comparison with her golden-blond hair, lent her face a
+quizzical, elfin expression that far belied her feelings as she stared
+straight into his eyes. "I've never even been away from the Earth
+before, and with all this happening I'm simply scared to death. I've
+been trying to hide it, but I couldn't stand it alone, and we're going
+to be together too long and too close for senseless conventions to
+affect us. There's two bunks over there--why don't you sleep in one
+of them?"
+
+He returned her steadfast gaze for a moment in silence.
+
+"All x with me, Nadia," he answered, keeping out of his voice all
+signs of the tenderness he felt for her, and of his very real admiration
+for her straightforward conduct in a terrifying situation. "You trust
+me, then?"
+
+"_Trust_ you! Don't be silly--I know you! I know you, and I know Brandon
+and Westfall--I know what you've done, and exactly the kind of men you
+are. _Trust_ you!"
+
+"Thanks, old golf-shootist," and promises were made and received
+in a clasp from which Nadia's right hand, strong as it was, emerged
+slightly damaged.
+
+"By the way, what is your first name, fellow-traveller?" she asked in
+lighter vein. "Nobody, not even Dad or Breckie, ever seems to call you
+anything but 'Steve' when they talk about you." She was amazed at the
+effect of her innocent question, for Stevens flushed to his hair and
+spluttered.
+
+"It's _Percy_!" He finally, snorted. "Percival Van Schravendyck Stevens.
+Wouldn't that tear it?"
+
+"Why, I think Percival's a real nice name!"
+
+"Silence!" he hissed in burlesque style. "Young woman, I have revealed
+to you a secret known to but few living creatures. On your life, keep
+it inviolate!"
+
+"Oh, very well, if you insist. Good-night--Steve!" and she gave him a
+radiant and honest smile: the first smile he had seen since the moment
+of the attack.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Castaways Upon Ganymede
+
+
+Upon awakening, the man's first care was to instruct the girl in the
+operation of the projectors, so that she could keep the heavily-armored
+edge of their small section, which she had promptly christened "The
+Forlorn Hope," between them and the grinding, clashing mass of wreckage,
+and thus, if it should become necessary, protect the relatively frail
+inner portions of their craft from damage.
+
+"Keep an eye on things for a while, Nadia," he instructed, as soon as
+she could handle the controls, "and don't use any more power than is
+absolutely necessary. We'll need it all, and besides, they can probably
+detect anything we can use. There's probably enough leakage from the
+ruptured accumulator cells to mask quite a little emission, but don't
+use much. I'm going to see what I can do about making this whole wedge
+navigable."
+
+"Why not just launch what's left of this lifeboat? It's space-worthy,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, but it's too small. Two or three of the big dirigible projectors
+of the lower band are on the rim of this piece-of-pie-shaped section
+we're riding, I think. If so, and if enough batteries of accumulators
+are left intact to give them anywhere nearly full power, we can get an
+acceleration that will make a lifeboat look sick. Those main dirigibles,
+you know, are able to swing the whole mass of the _Arcturus_, and what
+they'll do to this one chunk of it--we've got only a few thousand tons
+of mass in this piece--will be something pretty. Also, having the metal
+may save us months of time in mining it."
+
+He found the projectors, repaired or cut out the damaged accumulator
+cells, and reconnected them through the controls of the lifeboat.
+He moved into the "engine-room" the airtanks, stores, and equipment
+from all the other fragments which, by means of a space-suit, he could
+reach without too much difficulty. From the battery rooms of those
+fragments--open shelves, after being sliced open by the shearing ray--he
+helped himself to banks of accumulator cells from the enormous driving
+batteries of the ill-fated _Arcturus_, bolting them down and connecting
+them solidly until almost every compartment of their craft was one mass
+of stored-up energy.
+
+Days fled like hours, so furiously busy were they in preparing their
+peculiar vessel for a cruise of indefinite duration. Stevens cut himself
+short on sleep and snatched his meals in passing; and Nadia, when not
+busy at her own tasks of observing, housekeeping, and doing what little
+piloting was required, was rapidly learning to wield most effectively
+the spanner and pliers of the mechanic and electrician.
+
+"I'm afraid our time is getting short, Steve," she announced, after
+making an observation. "It looks as though we're getting wherever it
+is we're going."
+
+"Well, I've got only two more jobs to do, but they're the hardest of the
+lot. It is Jupiter, or can you tell yet?"
+
+"Jupiter or one of its satellites, I think, from the point where they
+reversed their power. Here's the observation you told me to take."
+
+"Looks like Jupiter," he agreed, after he had rapidly checked her
+figures. "We'll pass very close to one of those two satellites--probably
+Ganymede--which is fine for our scheme. All four of the major satellites
+have water and atmosphere, but Ganymede, being largest, is best for our
+purposes. We've got a couple of days yet--just about time to finish up.
+Let's get going--you know what to do."
+
+"Steve, I'm afraid of it. It's too dangerous--isn't there some other
+way?"
+
+"None that I can see. The close watch they're keeping on every bit of
+this junk makes it our only chance for a get-away. I'm pretty sure I
+can do it--but if I should happen to get nipped, just use enough power
+to let them know you're here, and you won't be any worse off than if
+I hadn't tried to pull off this stunt."
+
+He donned a space-suit, filled a looped belt with tools, picked up a
+portable power-drill, and stepped into the tiny air-lock. Nadia deftly
+guided their segment against one of the larger fragments and held it
+there with a gentle, steady pressure, while Stevens, a light cable
+paying out behind him, clambered carefully over the wreckage, brought
+his drill into play, and disappeared inside the huge wedge. In less than
+an hour he returned without mishap and reported to the glowing girl.
+
+"Just like shooting fish down a well! Most of the accumulator cells were
+tight, and installing the relays wasn't a bad job at all. Believe me,
+girl, there'll be junk filling all the space between here and Saturn
+when we touch them off!"
+
+"Wonderful, Steve!" Nadia exclaimed. "It won't be so bad seeing you go
+into the others, now that you have this one all rigged up."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Around and around the mass of wreckage they crept, and in each of the
+larger sections Stevens connected up the enormous fixed or dirigible
+projectors to whatever accumulator cells were available through
+sensitive relays, all of which he could close by means of one radio
+impulse. The long and dangerous task done, he stood at the lookout
+plate, studying the huge disk which had been the upper portion of the
+lower half of the _Arcturus_ and frowning in thought. Nadia reached over
+his shoulder and switched off the plate.
+
+"Nix on that second job, big fellow!" she declared. "They aren't really
+necessary, and you're altogether too apt to be killed trying to get
+them. It's too ghastly--I won't stand for your trying it, so that
+ends it."
+
+"We ought to have them, really," he protested. "With those special
+tools, cutting torches, and all the stuff, we'd be sitting pretty.
+We'll lose weeks of time by not having them."
+
+"We'll just have to lose it, then. You can't get 'em, any more than
+a baby can get the moon, so stop crying about it," she went over the
+familiar argument for the twentieth time. "That stuff up there is all
+grinding together like cakes of ice in a floe; the particular section
+you want is in plain sight of whoever is on watch; and those tools and
+things are altogether too heavy to handle. You're a husky brute, I know,
+but even you couldn't begin to handle them, even if you had good going.
+I couldn't help you very much, even if you'd let me try; and the fact
+that you so positively refuse to let me come along shows how dangerous
+you know the attempt is bound to be. You'd probably never even get up
+there alive, to say nothing of getting back here. No, Steve, that's out
+like a light."
+
+"I sure wish they'd left us weightless for a while, sometime, if only
+for an hour or two," he mourned.
+
+"But they didn't!" she retorted, practically. "So we're just out of luck
+to that extent. Our time is about up, too. It's time you worked us back
+to the tail end of this procession--or rather, the head end, since we're
+traveling 'down' now."
+
+Stevens took the controls and slowly worked along the outer edge of the
+mass, down toward its extremity. Nadia put one hand upon his shoulder
+and he glanced around.
+
+"Thanks, Steve. We have a perfectly wonderful chance as it is, and we've
+gone so far with our scheme together that it would be a crying shame not
+to be able to go through with it. I'd hate like sin to have to surrender
+to them now, and that's all I could do if anything should become of you.
+Besides..." her voice died away into silence.
+
+"Sure, you're right," he hastily replied, dodging the implication of
+that unfinished sentence. "I couldn't figure out anything that looked
+particularly feasible anyway--that's why I didn't try it. We'll pass
+it up."
+
+Soon they arrived at their objective and maintained a position well in
+the van, but not sufficiently far ahead of the rest to call forth a
+restraining ray from their captors. Already strongly affected by the
+gravitational pull of the mass of the satellite, many of the smaller
+portions of the wreck, not directly held by the tractors, began to
+separate from the main mass. As each bit left its place another beam
+leaped out, until it became apparent that no more were available, and
+Stevens strapped the girl and himself down before two lookout plates.
+
+"Now for it, Nadia!" he exclaimed, and simultaneously threw on the power
+of his own projectors and sent out the radio impulse which closed the
+relays he had so carefully set. They were thrown against the restraining
+straps savagely and held there by an enormous weight as the gigantic
+dirigible projectors shot their fragment of the wreck away from the
+comparatively slight force which had been acting upon it, but they
+braced themselves and strained their muscles in order to watch what
+was happening. As the relays in the various fragments closed, the
+massed power of the accumulators was shorted dead across the converters
+and projectors instead of being fed into them gradually through the
+controls of the pilot, with a result comparable to that of the explosion
+of an ammunition dump. Most of the masses, whose projectors were fed
+by comparatively few accumulator cells, darted away entirely with a
+stupendous acceleration. A few of them, however, received the unimpeded
+flow of complete batteries. Those projectors tore loose from even
+their massive supports and crashed through anything opposing them like
+a huge, armor-piercing projectile. It was a spectacle to stagger the
+imagination, and Stevens grinned as he turned to the girl, who was
+staring in wide-eyed amazement.
+
+"Well, ace, I think they're busy enough now so that it'll be safe
+to take that long-wanted look at their controls," and he flashed
+the twin beams of his lookout light out beyond the upper half of the
+_Arcturus_--only to see them stop abruptly in mid-space. Even the
+extremely short carrier-wave of Roeser's Rays could not go through the
+invisible barrier thrown out by the tiny, but powerful globe of space.
+
+"No penetration?" Nadia asked.
+
+"Flattened them out cold. 'However,' as the fox once remarked about the
+grapes, 'I'll bet they're sour, anyway.' We'll have some stuff of our
+own, one of these days. I sure hope the fireworks we started back there
+keep those birds amused until we get out of sight, because if I use much
+more power on these projectors we may not have juice enough left to stop
+with."
+
+"You're using enough now to suit me--I'm so heavy I can hardly lift
+a finger!"
+
+"You'd better lift 'em! You must watch what's going on back there while
+I navigate around this moon."
+
+"All x, chief.... They've got their hands full, apparently. Those rays
+are shooting around all over the sky. It looks as though they were
+trying to capture four or five things at once with each one."
+
+"Good! Tell me when the moon cuts them off."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the awful acceleration they were using, which constantly increased
+the terrific velocity with which they had been traveling when they made
+good their escape, it was not long until they had placed the satellite
+between them and the enemy; then Stevens cut down and reversed his
+power. Such was their speed, however, that a long detour was necessary
+in order to reduce it to a safe landing rate. As soon as this could be
+done, Stevens headed for the morning zone and dropped the "Hope" rapidly
+toward the surface of that new, strange world. Details could not be
+distinguished at first because of an all-enshrouding layer of cloud, but
+the rising sun dispelled the mist, and when they had descended to within
+a few thousand feet of the surface, their vision was unobstructed.
+Immediately below them the terrain was mountainous and heavily wooded;
+while far to the east the rays of a small, pale sun glinted upon a vast
+body of water. No signs of habitation were visible as far as the eye
+could reach.
+
+"Now to pick out a location for our power-plant. We must have a
+waterfall for power, a good place to hide our ship from observation, and
+I'd like to have a little seam of coal. We can use wood if we have to,
+but I think we can find some coal. This is all sedimentary rock--it
+looks a lot like the country along the North Fork of the Flathead, in
+Montana. There are a lot of coal outcrops, usually, in such topography
+as this is."
+
+"We want to hide in a hurry, though, don't we?"
+
+"Not particularly, I think. If they had missed us at all, they would
+have had us long ago, and with all the damage we did with those
+projectors they won't be surprised at one piece being missing--I imagine
+they lost a good many."
+
+"But they'll know that somebody caused all that disturbance. Won't they
+hunt for us?"
+
+"Maybe, and maybe not--no telling what they'll do. However, by the time
+they can land and get checked up and ready to hunt for us, we'll be a
+mighty small needle, well hidden in a good big haystack."
+
+For several hours they roamed over the mountainous region at high
+velocity, seeking the best possible location, and finally they found
+one that was almost ideal--a narrow canyon overhung with heavy trees,
+opening into a wide, deep gorge upon a level with its floor. A mighty
+waterfall cascaded into the gorge just above the canyon, and here
+and there could be seen black outcrops which Stevens, after a close
+scrutiny, declared to be coal. He deftly guided their cumbersome wedge
+of steel into the retreat, allowed it to settle gently to the ground,
+and shut off the power.
+
+"Well, little fellow-conspirator against the peace and dignity of the
+Jovians, I don't know just where we are, but wherever it is, we're here.
+We got away clean, and as long as we don't use any high-tension stuff or
+anything else that they can trace, I think we're as safe as money in a
+bank."
+
+"I suppose that I ought to be scared to death, Steve, but I'm not--I'm
+just too thrilled for words," Nadia answered, and the eager sparkle in
+her eyes bore out her words. "Can we go out now? How about air? Shall we
+wear suits or go out as we are? Have you got a weapon of any kind? Hurry
+up--let's do something!"
+
+"Pipe down, ace! Remember that we don't know any more about anything
+around here than a pig does about Sunday, and conduct yourself
+accordingly. Take it easy. I'm surprised at the gravity here. This is
+certainly Ganymede, and it has a diameter of only about fifty seven
+hundred kilometers. If I remember correctly, Damoiseau estimated its
+mass at about three one-hundredths that of the Earth, which would make
+its surface gravity about one-sixth. However, it is actually almost a
+half, as you see by this spring-balance here. Therefore it is quite a
+little more massive than has been...."
+
+"What of it? Let's go places and do things!"
+
+"Calm yourself, Ginger, you've got lots of time--we'll be here for quite
+a while, I'm afraid. We can't go out until we analyze the air--we're
+sure lucky there's as much as there is. I'm not exactly the world's
+foremost chemist, but fortunately an air-analysis isn't much of a job
+with the apparatus we carry."
+
+While Nadia controlled her impatience as best she could, Stevens
+manipulated the bulbs and pipettes of the gas apparatus.
+
+"Pressure, fifty-two centimeters--more than I dared hope for--and
+analysis all x, I believe. Oxygen concentration a little high, but
+not much."
+
+"We won't have to wear the space-suits, then?"
+
+"Not unless I missed something in the analysis. The pressure corresponds
+to our own at a height of about three thousand meters, which we can get
+used to without too much trouble. Good thing, too. I brought along all
+the air I could get hold of, but as I told you back there, if we had to
+depend on it altogether, we might be out of luck. I'm going to pump some
+of our air back into a cylinder to equalize our pressure--don't want
+to waste any of it until we're sure the outside air suits us without
+treatment."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the pressure inside had been gradually reduced to that outside and
+they had become accustomed to breathing the rarefied medium, Stevens
+opened the airlock and the outside doors, and for some time cautiously
+sniffed the atmosphere of the satellite. He could detect nothing harmful
+or unusual in it--it was apparently the same as earthly air--and he
+became jubilant.
+
+"All x, Nadia--luck is perched right on our banner. Freedom, air, water,
+power, and coal! Now as you suggested, we'll go places and do things!"
+
+"Suppose it's safe?" Her first eagerness to explore their surroundings
+had abated noticeably. "You aren't armed, are you?"
+
+"No, and I don't believe that there was a gun of any kind aboard the
+_Arcturus_. That kind of thing went out quite a while ago, you know.
+We'll take a look, anyway--we've got to find out about that coal before
+we decide to settle down here. Remember this half-gravity stuff, and
+control your leg-muscles accordingly."
+
+Leaping lightly to the ground, they saw that the severed section of
+fifty-inch armor, which was the rim of their conveyance, almost blocked
+the entrance to the narrow canyon which they had selected for their
+retreat. Upon one side that wall of steel actually touched the almost
+perpendicular wall or rock; upon the other side there was left only a
+narrow passage. They stepped through it, so that they could see the
+waterfall and the gorge, and stopped silent. The sun, now fairly high,
+was in no sense the familiar orb of day, but was a pale, insipid thing,
+only one-fifth the diameter of the sun to which they were accustomed,
+and which could almost be studied with the unshielded eye. From their
+feet a grassy meadow a few hundred feet wide sloped gently down to the
+river, from whose farther bank a precipice sprang upward for perhaps
+a thousand feet--merging into towering hills whose rugged grandeur was
+reminiscent of the topography of the moon. At their backs the wall of
+the gorge was steep, but not precipitous, and was covered with shrubs
+and trees--some of which leaned out over the little canyon, completely
+screening it, and among whose branches birds could now and then be seen
+flitting about. In that direction no mountains were visible, indicating
+that upon their side of the river there was an upland plateau or bench.
+To their right the river, the gorge, and the strip of meadow extended
+for a mile or more, then curved away and were lost to sight. To their
+left, almost too close for comfort, was the stupendous cataract,
+towering above them to a terror-inspiring height. Nadia studied it
+with awe, which changed to puzzled wonder.
+
+"What's the matter with it, Steve? It looks like a picture in slow
+motion, like the kind they take of your dives--or am I seeing things?"
+
+"No, it's really slow, compared to what we're used to. Remember that
+one-half gravity stuff!"
+
+"Oh, that's right, but it certainly does look funny. It gives me the
+creeps."
+
+"You'll get used to it pretty quick--just as you'll get used to all the
+rest of the things having only half their earthly weight and falling
+only half as fast as they ought to when you drop them. Well, I don't see
+anything that looks dangerous yet--let's go up toward the falls a few
+meters and prospect that outcrop."
+
+With a few brisk strokes of an improvised shovel he cleared the outcrop
+of detritus and broke off several samples of the black substance, with
+which they went back to the "Forlorn Hope."
+
+"It's real coal," Stevens announced after a series of tests. "I've seen
+better, but on the other hand, there's lots worse. It'll make good gas,
+and a kind of a coke. Not so hot, but it'll do. Now we'd better get
+organized old partner, for a long campaign."
+
+"Go ahead and organize--I'm only the cheap help in this enterprise."
+
+"Cheap help! You're apt to be the life of the party. Can you make and
+shoot a bow and arrow?"
+
+"I'll say I can--I've belonged to an archery club for five years."
+
+"What did I tell you? You're a life saver! Here's the dope--we've got
+to save our own supplies as much as possible until we know exactly what
+we're up against, and to do that, we've got to live off the country.
+I'll fake up something to knock over some of those birds and small game,
+then we can make real bow-strings and feathered arrows and I'll forge
+some steel arrow-heads while you're making yourself a real bow. We'd
+better make me about a hundred-pound war bow, too...."
+
+"A _hundred_!" interrupted Nadia. "That's a lot of bow, big boy--think
+you can bend it?"
+
+"You'd be surprised," he grinned. "I'm not quite like Robin Hood--I've
+been known to miss a finger-thick wand at a hundred paces--but I'm not
+exactly a beginner."
+
+"Oh, of course--I should have known by your language that you're an
+archer, otherwise you'd never have used such an old-fashioned word as
+'pounds.' I shoot a thirty-five-pound bow ordinarily, but for game I
+should have the heaviest one I can hold accurately--about a forty-five,
+probably."
+
+"All x. And as soon as I can I'll make us a couple of suits of fairly
+heavy steel armor, so that we'll have real protection if we should need
+it. You see, we don't know what we are apt to run up against out here.
+Then, with that much done, it'll be up to you to provide, since I'll
+have to work tooth and nail at the forges. You'll have to bring home the
+bacon, do the cooking and so on, and see what you can find along the
+line of edible roots, grains, fruits, and what-not. Sort of reverse the
+Indian idea--you be the hunter and I'll keep the home fires burning.
+Can do?"
+
+"What it takes to do that, I've got," Nadia assured him, her eyes
+sparkling. "Have you your job planned out as well and as fittingly as
+you have mine?"
+
+"And then some. We've got just two methods of getting away from
+here--one is to get in touch with Brandon, so that he'll come after us;
+the other is to recharge our accumulators and try to make it under our
+own power. Either course will need power and lots of it...."
+
+"I never thought of going back in the 'Hope.' Suppose we could?"
+
+"About as doubtful as the radio--I think that I could build a pair of
+matched-frequency auto-dirigible transmitter and receptor units, such as
+are necessary for space-ships fed by stationary power-plants, but after
+I got them built, they'd take us less than half way there. Then we'd
+have only what power we can carry, and I hate even to think of what
+probably would happen to us. We'd certainly have to drift for months
+before we could get close enough to any of our plants to radio for help,
+and we'd be taking awful chances. You see, we'd have to take a very
+peculiar orbit, and if we should miss connections passing the inner
+planets, what the sun would do to us at the closest point and where
+what's left of us would go on the back-swing, would be just too bad!
+Besides, if we can get hold of the _Sirius_, they'll come loaded for
+bear, and we may be able to do something about the rest of the folks
+out here."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Oh!" breathed the girl. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could!
+I thought, of course, they'd all be...." her voice died away.
+
+"Not necessarily--there's always a chance. That's why I'm trying the
+ultra-radio first. However, either course will take lots of power,
+so the first thing I've got to do is to build a power plant. I'm
+going to run a penstock up those falls, and put in a turbine, driving
+a high-tension alternator. Then, while I'm trying to build the
+ultra-radio, I'll be charging our accumulators, so that no time will
+be lost in case the radio fails. If it does fail--and remember I'm not
+counting on its working--of course I'll tackle the transmission and
+receptor units before we start out to drift it."
+
+"You say it easy, Steve, but how can you build all those things, with
+nothing to work with?"
+
+"It's going to be a real job--I'm not try to kid you into thinking it'll
+be either easy or quick. Here's the way everything will go. Before I can
+even lay the first length of the penstock, I've got to have the pipe--to
+make which I've got to have flat steel--to get which I'll have to cut
+some of the partitions out of this ship of ours--to do which I'll have
+to have a cutting torch--to make which I'll have to forge nozzles out of
+block metal and to run which I'll have to have gas--to get which I'll
+have to mine coal and build a gas-plant--to do which...."
+
+"Good heavens, Steve, are you going back to the Stone Age? I never
+thought of half those things. Why, it's impossible!"
+
+"Not quite, guy. Things could be a lot worse--that's why I brought along
+the whole 'Forlorn Hope,' instead of just the lifeboat. As it is, we've
+got several thousand tons of spare steel and lots of copper. We've got
+ordinary tools and a few light motors, blowers, and such stuff. That
+gives me a great big start--I won't have to mine the ores and smelt the
+metals, as would have been necessary otherwise. However, it'll be plenty
+bad. I'll have to start out in a pretty crude fashion, and for some of
+the stuff I'll need I'll have to make, not only the machine that makes
+the part I want, but also the machine that makes the machine that
+makes the machine that makes it--and so on, just how far down the line,
+I haven't dared to think."
+
+"You must be a regular jack-of-all-trades, to think you can get away
+with such a program as that?"
+
+"I am--nothing else but. You see, while most of my school training
+was in advanced physics and mathematics, I worked my way through by
+computing and designing, and I've done a lot of truck-horse labor of
+various kinds besides. I can calculate and design almost anything, and
+I can make a pretty good stab at translating a design into fabricated
+material. I wouldn't wonder if Brandon's ultra-radio would stop me,
+since nobody had even started to build one when I saw him last--but I
+helped compute it, know the forces involved as well as he did at that
+time, and it so happens that I know more about the design of coils and
+fields of force than I do about anything else. So I may be able to work
+it out eventually. It isn't going to be not knowing how that will hold
+me up--it'll be the lack of something that I can't build."
+
+"And that's where you will go back and back and back, as you said about
+building the penstock?"
+
+"Back and back is right, if I can find all the necessary raw
+materials--that's what's probably going to put a lot of monkey-wrenches
+into the machinery." And Stevens went to work upon a weapon of offense,
+fashioning a crude, but powerful bow from a strip of spring steel strung
+with heavy wire.
+
+"How about arrows? Shall I go see if I can hit a bird with a rock, for
+feathers, and see if I can find something to make arrows out of?"
+
+"Not yet--anyway, I'd bet on the birds! I'm going to use pieces of this
+light brace-rod off the accumulator cells for arrows. They won't fly
+true, of course, but with their mass I can give them enough projectile
+force to kill any small animal they hit, no matter how they hit it."
+
+After many misses, he finally bagged a small animal, something like
+a rabbit and something like a kangaroo, and a couple of round-bodied,
+plump birds, almost as large as domestic hens. These they dressed,
+with considerable distaste and a noticeable lack of skill.
+
+"We'll get used to it pretty quick, Diana--also more expert," he said
+when the task was done. "We now have raw material for bow-strings and
+clothes, as well as food."
+
+"The word 'raw' being heavily accented," Nadia declared, with a grimace.
+"But how do we know that they're good to eat?"
+
+"We'll have to eat 'em and see," he grinned. "I don't imagine that any
+flesh is really poisonous, and we'll have to arrive at the ones we like
+best by a process of trial and error. Well, here's your job--I'll get
+busy on mine. Don't go more than a few hundred meters away and yell if
+you get into a jam."
+
+"There's a couple of questions I want to ask you. What makes it so
+warm here, when the sun's so far away and Jupiter isn't supposed to be
+radiating any heat? And how about time? It's twelve hours by my watch
+since sunrise this morning, and it's still shining."
+
+"As for heat, I've been wondering about that. It must be due to internal
+heat, because even though Jupiter may be warm, or even hot, it certainly
+isn't radiating much, since it has a temperature of minus two hundred at
+the visible surface, which, of course, is the top of the atmosphere. Our
+heat here is probably caused by radioactivity--that's the most modern
+dope, I believe. As for time, it looks as though our days were something
+better than thirty hours long, instead of twenty-four. Of course I'll
+keep the chronometer going on I-P time, since we'll probably need it in
+working out observations; but we might as well let our watches run down
+and work, eat, and sleep by the sun--not much sense in trying to keep
+Tellurian time here, as I see it. Check?"
+
+"All x. I'll have supper ready for you at sunset. 'Bye!"
+
+A few evenings later, when Stevens came in after his long day's work,
+he was surprised to see Nadia dressed in a suit of brown coveralls and
+high-laced moccasins.
+
+"How do I look?" she asked, pirouetting gayly.
+
+"Neat, but not gaudy," he approved. "That's good mole-skin--smooth,
+soft, and tough. Where'd you make the raise? I didn't know we had
+anything like that on board. What did you do for thread? You look like
+a million dollars--you sure did a good job of fitting."
+
+"I had to have something--what with all the thorns and brush, there was
+almost more of me exposed than covered, and I was getting scratched up
+something fierce. So I ripped up one of the space-suits, and found out
+that there's enough cloth, fur, and leather in one of them to make six
+ordinary suits, and thread by the kilometer. I was awfully glad to see
+all that thread--I had an idea that I'd have to unravel my stockings or
+something, but I didn't. Your clothes are getting pretty tacky, too, and
+you're getting all burned with those hot coals and things. I'm going to
+build you a suit out of leather for your blacksmithing activities."
+
+"Fine business, ace! Then we can save what's left of our civilized
+clothes for the return trip. What do we eat?"
+
+"The eternal question of the hungry laboring man! I've got a roasted
+bongo, a fried filamaloo bird, and a boiled warple for the meat dishes.
+For vegetables, mashed hikoderms and pimola greens. Neocorn bread."
+
+"Translate that, please, into terms of food."
+
+"Translate it yourself, after you eat it. I changed the system on you
+today. I've named all the things, so it'll be easier to keep track of
+those we like and the ones we don't."
+
+With appetites sharp-set by long hours of hard labor they ate heartily;
+then, in the deepening twilight, they sat and talked in comradely
+fashion while Stevens smoked one precious cigarette.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was not long until Nadia had her work well in hand. Game was
+plentiful, and the fertile valley and the neighboring upland yielded
+peculiar, but savory vegetable foods in variety and abundance; so that
+soon she was able to spend some time with Stevens, helping him as much
+as she could. Thus she came to realize the true magnitude of the task he
+faced and the real seriousness of their position.
+
+As Stevens had admitted before the work was started, he had known that
+he had set himself a gigantic task, but he had not permitted himself to
+follow, step by step, the difficulties that he knew awaited him. Now,
+as the days stretched into weeks and on into months, he was forced to
+take every laborious step, and it was borne in upon him just how nearly
+impossible that Herculean labor was to prove--just how dependent any
+given earthly activity is upon a vast number of others. Here he was
+alone--everything he needed must be manufactured by his own hands, from
+its original sources. He had known that progress would be slow and he
+had been prepared for that; but he had not pictured, even to himself,
+half of the maddening setbacks which occurred time after time because
+of the crudity of the tools and equipment he was forced to use. All too
+often a machine or part, the product of many hours of grueling labor,
+would fail because of the lack of some insignificant thing--some item
+so common as to be taken for granted in all terrestrial shops, but
+impossible of fabrication with the means at his disposal. At such times
+he would set his grim jaw a trifle harder, go back one step farther
+toward the Stone Age, and begin all over again--to find the necessary
+raw material or a possible substitute, and then to build the apparatus
+and machinery necessary to produce the part he required. Thus the
+heart-breaking task progressed, and Nadia watched her co-laborer become
+leaner and harder and more desperate day by day, unable in any way to
+lighten his fearful load.
+
+In the brief period of rest following a noonday meal, Stevens lay prone
+upon the warm, fragrant grass beside the "Forlorn Hope," but it was
+evident to Nadia that he was not resting. His burned and blistered hands
+were locked savagely behind his head, his eyes were closed too tightly,
+and every tense line of his body was eloquent of a strain even more
+mental than physical. She studied him for minutes, her fine eyes
+clouded, then sat down beside him and put her hand upon his shoulder.
+
+"I want to talk to you a minute, Steve," she said gently.
+
+"All x, little fellow--but it might be just as well if you didn't touch
+me. You see, I'm getting so rabid that I can't trust myself."
+
+"That's exactly what I want to talk to you about." A fiery blush burned
+through her deep tan, but her low, clear voice did not falter and her
+eyes held his unflinchingly. "I know you better than you know yourself,
+as I've said before. You are killing yourself, but it isn't the work,
+frightfully hard and disheartening as it is, that is doing it--it's
+your anxiety for me and the uncertainty of everything. You haven't been
+able to rest because you have been raging and fuming so at unavoidable
+conditions--you have been fighting _facts_. And it's all _so_ useless,
+Steve, between you and me--everything would check out on zero if we'd
+just come out into the open."
+
+The man's gaunt frame seemed to stiffen even more rigidly.
+
+"You've said altogether too much or else only half enough, Nadia. You
+know, of course, that I've loved you ever since I got really to know
+you--and that didn't take long. You know that I love you and you know
+how I love you--with the real love that a man can feel for only one
+woman and only once in his life; and you know exactly what we're up
+against. Now that _does_ tear it--wide open!" he finished bitterly.
+
+"No, it doesn't, at all," she replied, steadily. "Of course I know that
+you love me, and I glory in it; and since you don't seem to realize
+that I love you in exactly the same way, I'll tell you so. Love you!
+Good heavens, Steve, I never dreamed that such a man as you are really
+existed! But you're fighting too many things at once, and they're
+killing you. And they're mostly imaginary, at that. Can't you see that
+there's no need of uncertainty between you and me? That there is no need
+of you driving yourself to desperation on my account? Whatever must be
+is all x with me, Steve. If you can build everything you need, all well
+and good. We'll be engaged until then, and our love will be open and
+sweet. If worst comes to worst, so that we can neither communicate with
+Brandon and Westfall nor leave here under our own power--even that is
+nothing to kill ourselves about. And yes, I do know exactly what we
+are facing. I have been prepared for it ever since I first saw what a
+perfectly impossible thing you are attempting. You are trying to go from
+almost the Age of Bronze clear up to year-after-next in a month or two.
+Not one man in a million could have done as much in his lifetime as you
+have done in the last few weeks, and I do not see how even you, with
+what little you have to work with, can possibly build such things as
+power-plants, transmitters, and ultra-radio stations. But what of
+it? For the day that it becomes clear that we are to remain here
+indefinitely; that day we will marry each other here, before God.
+Look around at this beautiful country. Could there be a finer world
+upon which to found a new race? When we decided to cut loose from the
+_Arcturus_ I told you that I was with you all the way, and now I'll
+repeat it, with a lot more meaning. No matter what it's like, Steve, no
+matter where it leads to, I'm with you--_to--the--end--of--the--road_.
+Here or upon Earth or anywhere in the Universe. I am yours for life and
+for eternity."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While she was speaking, the grim, strained lines upon Stevens' face
+had disappeared, and as she fell silent he straightened up and gently,
+tenderly, reverently he took her lithe body into his arms.
+
+"You're right, sweetheart--everything _will_ check out on zero, to
+nineteen decimals." He was a man transfigured. "I've been fighting
+windmills and I've been scared sick--but how was I to think that a
+wonder-girl like you could ever love a mutt like me? You certainly are
+the gamest little partner a man ever had. You're the world's straightest
+shooter, ace--you're a square brick if there ever was one. Your sheer
+nerve in being willing to go the whole route makes me love you more than
+ever, if such a thing can be possible, and it certainly puts a new face
+on the whole cock-eyed Universe for me. However, I don't believe it
+will come to that. After what you've just said, I sure will lick that
+job, regardless of how many different factories it takes to make one
+armature--I'll show that mess of scrap-iron what kind of trees make
+shingles!"
+
+The girl still in his arms, he rose to his feet and released her slowly,
+reluctantly, unwilling ever to let her go. Then he shook himself, as
+though an overwhelming burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and
+laughed happily.
+
+"See this cigarette?" he went on lightly. "The Last of the Mohicans.
+I'm going to smoke it in honor of our engagement." He drew the fragrant
+smoke deep into his lungs and frowned at her in mock seriousness.
+
+"This would be a nice world to live on, of course, but the jobs here
+are too darn steady. It also seems to be somewhat lacking in modern
+conveniences, such as steel-mills and machine tools. Then, too, it is
+just a trifle too far from the Royal and Ancient for you really to enjoy
+living here permanently, and besides, I can't get my favorite brand
+of cigarettes around here. Therefore, after due deliberation, I don't
+believe we'll take the place--we'll go back to Tellus. Kiss me just once
+more ace, and I'll make that job think a cyclone has struck it right on
+the center of impact. Like Samuel Weller, or whoever it was, I'm clear
+full of 'wigor, wim, and witality'!"
+
+The specified kiss and several others duly delivered he strode blithely
+away, and the little canyon resounded with the blows of his heavy sledge
+as he attacked with renewed spirit the great forging, white-hot from his
+soak-pit, which was to become the shaft of his turbo-alternator. Nadia
+watched him for a moment, her very heart in her eyes, then picked up her
+spanner and went after more steel, breathing a long and tremulous, but
+supremely happy sigh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+Ganymedean Life
+
+
+Slow, hard, and disheartening as the work had been at first, Stevens
+had never slackened his pace, and after a time, as his facilities
+increased, the exasperating setbacks decreased in number and severity
+and his progress became faster and faster. Large as the "Forlorn Hope"
+was, space was soon at a premium, for their peculiarly-shaped craft
+became a veritable factory, housing a variety of machinery and
+equipment unknown in any single earthly industrial plant. Nothing
+was ornamental--everything was stripped to its barest fundamental
+necessities--but every working part functioned with a smooth precision
+to delight the senses of any good mechanic.
+
+In a cavern under the falls was the great turbine, to be full-fed by the
+crude but tight penstock which clung to the wall of the gorge, angling
+up to the brink of that stupendous cataract. Bedded down upon solid
+rock there was a high-tension alternator capable of absorbing the entire
+output of the mighty turbine. This turbo-alternator was connected to
+a set of converters from which the energy would flow along three great
+copper cables--the receptors of the lifeboats being altogether too small
+to carry the load--to the now completely exhausted accumulators of the
+"Forlorn Hope." All high-tension apparatus was shielded and grounded,
+so that no stray impulses could reveal to the possible detectors of
+the Jovians the presence of this foreign power plant. Housings, frames,
+spiders, all stationary parts were rough, crude and massive; but
+bearings, shafts, armatures, all moving parts, were of a polished
+and finished accuracy and balance that promised months and years of
+trouble-free operation. Everything ready for the test, Stevens took off
+his frayed and torn leather coveralls and moccasins and climbed nimbly
+up the penstock. He never walked down. Opening the head-gate, he poised
+sharply upon its extremity and took off in a perfect swan-dive; floating
+unconcernedly down toward that boiling maelstrom two hundred feel below.
+He struck the water with a sharp, smooth "slup!" and raced ashore,
+seizing his suit as he ran toward the turbo-alternator. It was running
+smoothly, and, knowing that everything was tight at the receiving end,
+he lingered about the power plant until he was assured that nothing
+would go wrong and that his home manufactured lubricating oil and grease
+would keep those massive bearings cool.
+
+Hunger assailed him, and glancing at the sun, he noted that it was well
+past dinner-time.
+
+"Wow!" he exclaimed aloud. "The boss just loves to wait meals--she'll
+burn me up for this!"
+
+He ran lightly toward "home," eager to tell his sweetheart that the
+long awaited moment had arrived--that power was now flowing into their
+accumulators.
+
+"Hi, Diana of the silver bow!" he called. "How come you no blow the
+dinner bell? Power's on--come give it a look!"
+
+There was no answer to his hail, and Stevens paused in shocked
+amazement. He knew that never of her own volition would she be out so
+late--Nadia was gone! A rapid tour of inspection quickly confirmed that
+which he already knew only too well. Forgotten was his hunger, forgotten
+the power plant, forgotten everything except the fact that his Nadia,
+the buoyant spirit in whom centered his Universe, was lost or ... he
+could not complete the thought, even to himself.
+
+Swiftly he came to a decision and threw off his suit, revealing the
+body of a Hercules--a body ready for any demand he could put upon it.
+Always in hard training, months of grinding physical labor and of heavy
+eating had built him up to a point at which he would scarcely have
+recognized himself, could he have glanced into a mirror. Mighty but
+pliable muscles writhed and swelled under his clear skin as he darted
+here and there, selecting equipment for what lay ahead of him. He donned
+the heavily armored space-suit which they had prepared months before,
+while they were still suspicious of possible attack. It was covered with
+heavy steel at every point, and the lenses of the helmet, already of
+unbreakable glass, had been re-enforced with thick steel bars. Tank and
+valves supplied air at normal pressure, so that his powerful body could
+function at full efficiency, not handicapped by the lighter atmosphere
+of Ganymede. The sleeves terminated in steel-protected rubber wristlets
+which left his hands free, yet sheltered from attack--wristlets tight
+enough to maintain the difference in pressure, yet not tight enough
+to cut off the circulation. He took up his mighty war-bow and the full
+quiver of heavy arrows--full-feathered and pointed with savagely barbed,
+tearing heads of forged steel--and slipped into their sheaths the long
+and heavy razor-sharp sword and the double-edged dirk, which he had
+made and ground long since for he knew not what emergency, and whose
+bell-shaped hilts of steel further protected his hands and wrists.
+Thus equipped, he had approximately his normal earthly weight; a fact
+which would operate to his advantage, rather than otherwise, in case
+of possible combat. With one last look around the "Forlorn Hope," whose
+every fitting spoke to him of the beloved mistress who was gone, he
+filled a container with water and cooked food and opened the door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"It won't be long now; now it won't be long." Nadia caroled happily,
+buckling on her pack straps and taking up bow and arrows for her daily
+hunt. "I never thought that he could do it, but what it takes to do
+things, he's got lots of," she continued to improvise the song as she
+left the "Hope" with its multitudinous devices whose very variety was
+a never-failing delight to her; showing as it did the sheer ability of
+the man, whose brain and hands had almost finished a next-to-impossible
+task.
+
+Through the canyon and up a well-worn trail she climbed, and soon came
+out upon the sparsely timbered bench that was her hunting grounds. Upon
+this day, however, she was full of happy anticipation and her mind was
+everywhere except upon her work. She was thinking of Stevens, of their
+love, of the power which he might turn on that very day, and of the
+possible rescue for which she had hitherto scarcely dared to hope.
+Thus it was that she walked miles beyond her usual limits without
+having loosed an arrow, and she was surprised when she glanced up at
+the sun to see that half the morning was gone and that she was almost
+to the foothills, beyond which rose a towering range of mountains.
+
+"Snap out of it, girl!" she reprimanded herself. "Go on wool-gathering
+like this and your man will go hungry--and he'll break you right off
+at the ankles!" She became again the huntress, and soon saw an animal
+browsing steadily along the base of a hill. It was a six-legged,
+deer-like creature, much larger than anything she had as yet seen. But
+it was meat and her time was short, therefore she crept within range
+and loosed an arrow with the full power of her hunting bow. Unfamiliar
+as she was with the anatomy of the peculiar creature, the arrow did
+not kill. The "hexaped," as she instantly named it, sped away and she
+leaped after it. She, like her companion, had developed amazingly in
+musculature, and few indeed were the denizens of Ganymede, who could
+equal her speed upon that small globe, with its feeble gravitational
+force.
+
+Up the foothills it darted. Beyond the hills and deep into a valley
+between two towering peaks the chase continued before Nadia's third
+arrow brought the animal down. Bending over the game, she became
+conscious of a strange but wonderful sweet perfume and glanced up,
+to see something which she certainly had not noticed when the hexaped
+had fallen. It was an enormous flower, at least a foot in diameter and
+indescribably beautiful in its crimson and golden splendor. Almost level
+with her head the gorgeous blossom waved upon its heavy stem; based
+by a massive cluster of enormous, smooth, dark green leaves. Entranced
+by this unexpected and marvelous floral display, Nadia breathed deeply
+of the inviting fragrance--and collapsed senseless upon the ground.
+Thereupon the weird plant moved over toward her, and the thick leaves
+began to enfold her knees. This carnivorous thing, however, did not like
+the heavy cloth of her suit and turned to the hexaped. It thrust several
+of its leaves into the wounds upon the carcass and fed, while two other
+leaves rasped together, sending out a piercing call.
+
+In answer to the sound the underbrush crackled, and through it and upon
+the scene there crashed a vegetable-animal nightmare--the parent of the
+relatively tiny thing whose perfume had disabled the girl.
+
+Its huge and gorgeous blossom was supported by a long, flexible,
+writhing stem, and its base was composed of many and highly specialized
+leaves. There were saws and spears and mighty, but sinuous tendrils;
+there were slender shoots which seemed to possess some sense of
+perception; there was the massive tractor base composed of extensible
+leaves which by their contraction and expansion propelled the mass along
+the ground. Parent and child fell upon the hexaped and soon bones and
+hair were all that remained The slender shoots then wandered about the
+unconscious girl in her strange covering, and as a couple of powerful
+tendrils coiled about her and raised her into the air over the monstrous
+base of the thing, its rudimentary brain could almost be perceived
+working as it sluggishly realized that, now full fed, it should carry
+this other victim along, to feed its other offspring when they should
+return to its side.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Barely outside the door of the "Forlorn Hope" Stevens whirled about
+with a bitter imprecation. He had already lost time needlessly--with a
+lookout plate he could cover more ground in ten minutes than he could
+cover afoot in a week. He flipped on the power and shot the violet beam
+out over the plateau to the district where he knew Nadia was wont to
+hunt. Not finding her there, he swung the beam in an ever widening
+circle around that district. Finally he saw a few freshly broken twigs,
+and scanned the scene with care. He soon found the trail of fresh
+blood which marked the path of the flight of the hexaped, and with the
+peculiar maneuverability of the device he was using, it was not long
+until he was studying the scene where the encounter had taken place.
+He gasped when he saw the bones and perceived three of Nadia's arrows,
+but soon saw that the skeleton was not human and was reassured. Casting
+about in every direction, he found Nadia's bow, and saw a peculiar,
+freshly trampled path leading from the kill, past the bow, down the
+valley. He could not understand the spoor, but it was easily followed,
+and he shot the beam along it at headlong speed until he came up with
+the monstrous creature that was making it--until he saw what burden that
+organism was carrying.
+
+He leaped to the controls of the lifeboat, then dropped his hand. While
+the stream of power now flowing was ample to operate the lookout plates,
+yet it would be many hours before the accumulator cells would be in
+condition to drive the craft even that short distance.
+
+"It'll take over an hour to get there--here's hoping I can check in all
+x," he muttered savagely, as he took careful note of the location and
+direction of the creature's trail and set off at a fast jog-trot.
+
+The carnivorous flower's first warning that all was not well was
+received when Stevens' steel-shod feet landed squarely upon its base
+and one sweeping cut of his sword lopped off the malignant blossom and
+severed the two tendrils that still held the unconscious Nadia. With a
+quick heave of his shoulder, he tossed her lightly backward into the
+smooth-beaten track the creature had made and tried to leap away--but
+the instant he had consumed in rescuing the girl had been enough for the
+thing to seize him, and he found himself battling for his very life. No
+soft-leaved infant this, but a full-grown monster, well equipped with
+mighty weapons of offense and defense. Well it was for the struggling
+man that he was encased in armor steel as those saw-edged, hard-spiked
+leaves drove against him with crushing force; well it was for him that
+he had his own independent air supply, so that that deadly perfume
+eddied ineffective about his helmeted head! Hard and fiercely driven as
+those terrible thorns were, they could do no more than dent his heavy
+armor. His powerful left arm, driving the double-razor-edged dirk in
+short, resistless arcs, managed to keep the snaky tendrils from coiling
+about his right arm, which was wielding the heavy, trenchant sword.
+Every time that mighty blade descended it cleaved its length through
+snapping spikes and impotently grinding leaves; but more than once
+a flailing tendril coiled about his neck armor and held his helmet
+immovable as though in a vise, while those frightful, grinding saws
+sought to rip their way through the glass to the living creature inside
+the peculiar metal housing. Dirk and saber and magnificent physique
+finally triumphed, but it was not until each leaf was literally severed
+from every other leaf that the outlandish organism gave up the ghost.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nadia had been tossed out into pure air, beyond the zone of the
+stupefying perfume, and she recovered her senses in time to see the
+finish of the battle. Stevens, assured that his foe was _hors du
+combat_, turned toward the spot where he had thrown Nadia's body. He saw
+that she was unharmed, and sprang toward her in relief. He was surprised
+beyond measure, however, to see her run away at a pace he could not hope
+to equal, encumbered as he was; motioning frantically at him the while
+to keep away from her. He stopped, astounded, and started to unscrew his
+helmet, whereupon she dashed back toward him, signaling him emphatically
+to leave his armor exactly as it was. He stood still and stared at her,
+an exasperated question large upon his face, until she made clear to
+him that he was to follow her at a safe distance, then she set off at a
+rapid walk. She led him back to where the hexaped had fallen, where she
+retrieved her bow and arrows; then, keeping a sharp lookout upon all
+sides, she went on to a small stream of water. She made the dumbfounded
+man go out into the middle of the creek and lie down and roll over
+in the water, approaching him sniffing cautiously between immersions.
+She made him continue the bathing until she could detect not even the
+slightest trace of the sweet, but noxious fragrance of that peculiarly
+terrible form of Ganymedean life. Only then did she allow him to remove
+his helmet, so that she could give him the greeting for which they both
+had longed and tell him what it was all about.
+
+"So that's it, ace!" he exclaimed, still holding her tightly in his iron
+embrace. "Great balls of fire! I thought maybe you were still a little
+cuckoo. Anaesthetic perfume, huh? Hot stuff, I'd say--no wonder you
+bit--I would, too. It's lucky for us I was air-tight--we'd both be
+fee...."
+
+"Stop it!" she interrupted him sharply, "Forget it--don't ever even
+think of it!"
+
+"All x, ace. It's out like the well known light. What to do? It's
+getting darker than a hat, and we're a long way from home. Don't know
+whether I could find my way back in the dark or not; and just between
+you and me, I'm not particularly keen on night travel in these parts
+after what's just happened. Are you?"
+
+"Anything else but," she assured him, fervently. "I'd lots rather stay
+hungry until tomorrow."
+
+"No need of that--I've brought along enough supper for both of us. I'm
+hungry as a wolf, too, now that I have time to think of it. We'll eat
+and den up somewhere--or climb a tree. Those wampuses probably can't
+climb trees!"
+
+"There's a nice little cave back there about a hundred meters. We'll
+pretend it's the Ritz," and they soon had a merry fire blazing in front
+of the retreat. There they ate of the provisions Stevens had brought.
+Then, while the man rolled up boulders before the narrow entrance of
+the cave, Nadia gathered leaves and made a soft bed upon its warm,
+dry floor.
+
+"Good night, lover," and the girl, untroubled and secure now that
+Stevens was at her side, was almost instantly asleep; but the man was
+not sleepy. He thought of the power plant, even now sending its terrific
+stream of energy into his accumulators. He thought of the ultra
+radio--where could he get all the materials needed? He thought of his
+friends, wondering whether or not they would receive his message. He
+thought of Breckenridge and the other human beings who had been aboard
+the _Arcturus_, wondering poignantly as to their fate. He thought of
+Newton and of his own people, who had certainly given them up for dead
+long since.
+
+But above all he thought of the beautiful, steel-true companion lying
+there asleep at his mailed feet, and he gazed down at her, his heart in
+his eyes. The firelight shone through the chinks between the boulders,
+casting a flickering ruddy light throughout the little cavern. Nadia lay
+there her head pillowed upon one strong, brown little hand. Her lips
+were red and sweetly curved, her cheek was smooth and firm as so much
+brown velvet. She was literally aglow with sheer beauty and with perfect
+health; and the man reflected, as he studied her hungrily, that this
+wild life certainly had agreed with her--she was becoming more
+surpassingly beautiful with every passing day.
+
+"You little trump--you wonderful, lovely, square little brick!" he
+breathed silently, and bent over to touch her cheek lightly with his
+lips. Slight as the caress was, it disturbed her, and even in her sleep
+her subconscious mind sent out an exploring hand, to touch her Steve and
+thus be reassured. He pressed her hand and she settled back comfortably,
+with a long, deep breath; and he stretched his iron-clad length beside
+her and closed his eyes, firmly resolved not to waste a minute of this
+wonderful night in sleep.
+
+When he opened them an instant later, it was broad daylight, the
+boulders had been rolled away, the fragrance of roasting meat permeated
+the atmosphere, and Nadia was making a deafening clamor, beating his
+steel breastplate lustily with the flat of his huge saber.
+
+"Daylight in the swamp, you sleeper!" she exclaimed. "Roll out or roll
+up! Come and get it, before I throw it away!"
+
+"I must have been kind of tired," he said sheepishly, when he saw that
+she had shot a bird and had cooked breakfast for them both while he had
+been buried in oblivion.
+
+"Peculiar, too, isn't it?" Nadia asked, pointedly. "You only did
+about ten days' work yesterday in ten minutes, swinging this frightful
+snickersnee of yours. Why, you played with it as though it were a
+knitting-needle, and when I wanted to wake you up with it, I could
+hardly lift it."
+
+"Thought you didn't want that subject even mentioned?" he tried to steer
+the talk away from his prowess with the broadsword.
+
+"That was yesterday," airily. "Besides, I don't mind talking about
+you--it's thinking about us being ... you know ... that I can't stand."
+
+"All x, ace. I get you right. Let's eat."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Breakfast over, they started down the valley, Stevens carrying his
+helmet under his arm. Hardly had they started however, than Nadia's keen
+eyes saw a movement through the trees, and, she stopped and pointed.
+Stevens looked once, then hand in hand they dashed back to their cave.
+
+"We'll pile up some of the boulders and you lie low," he instructed her
+as he screwed on his helmet. She snapped open his face-plate.
+
+"But what about you? Aren't you coming in, too?" she demanded.
+
+"Can't--they'd surround us and starve us out. I'm safe in this
+armor--thank Heaven we made it as solid as we did--and I'll fight 'em in
+the open. I'll show 'em what the bear did to the buckwheat!"
+
+"All right, I guess, but I wish I had my armor, too," she mourned as he
+snapped shut his plate and walled her into the cave with the same great
+rocks he had used the night before. Then, Nadia safe from attack, he
+drew his quiver of war-arrows into position over his shoulder, placed
+one at the ready on his bow-string and turned to face the horde of
+things rushing up the valley toward him. Wild animals he had supposed
+them, but as he stood firm and raised his weapon shrill whistles
+sounded in the throng, and he gasped as he realized that those frightful
+creatures must be intelligent beings, for not only did they signal
+to each other, but he saw that they were armed with bows and arrows,
+spears, and slings!
+
+Six-limbed creatures they were, of a purplish-red color, with huge,
+tricornigerous heads and with staring, green, phosphorescent eyes. Two
+of the six limbs were always legs, two always arms; the intermediate
+two, due to a mid-section jointing of the six-foot-long, almost
+cylindrical body, could be used at will as either legs or arms. Now, out
+of range, as they supposed, they halted and gathered about one who was
+apparently their leader; some standing erect and waving four hands while
+shaking their horns savagely in Stevens' direction, others trotting
+around on four legs, busily gathering stones of suitable size for their
+vicious slings.
+
+Too far away to use their own weapons and facing only one small
+four-limbed creature, they considered their game already in the bag, but
+they had no comprehension of earthly muscles, nor any understanding of
+the power and range of a hundred-pound bow driving a steel-headed war
+arrow. Thus, while they were arguing, Stevens took the offensive, and
+a cruelly barbed steel war-head tore completely through the body of
+their leader and mortally wounded the creature next beyond him. Though
+surprised, they were not to be frightened off, but with wild, shrill
+screams rushed to the attack. Stevens had no ammunition to waste, and
+every time that mighty bow twanged a yard-long arrow transfixed at least
+one of the red horde--and a body through which had torn one of those
+ghastly, hand-forged arrow-heads was of very little use thereafter.
+Accurately-sped arrows splintered harmlessly against the re-enforced
+windows of his helmet and against the steel guards protecting his hands.
+He was almost deafened by the din as the stone missiles of the slingers
+rebounded from his reverberating shell of steel, but he fired carefully,
+steadily, and powerfully until his last arrow had been loosed. Then,
+the wicked dirk in his left hand and the long and heavy saber weaving
+a circular path of brilliance in the sun, he stepped forward a couple
+of paces to meet the attackers. For a few moments nothing could stand
+before that fiercely driven blade--severed heads, limbs, and fragments
+of torsos literally filled the air, but sheer weight of numbers
+bore him down. As he fell, he saw the white shaft of one of Nadia's
+hunting-arrows flash past his helmet and bury itself to the flock in
+the body of one of the horde above him. Nadia knew that her arrows could
+not harm her lover, and through a chink between two boulders she was
+shooting into the thickest of the mob speeding her light arrows with
+the full power of her bow.
+
+Though down, the savages soon discovered that Stevens was not out. In
+such close quarters he could not use his sword, but the fourteen-inch
+blade of the dirk, needle-pointed as it was and with two razor-sharp,
+serrated cutting edges, was itself no mean weapon, and time after time
+he drove it deep, taking life at every thrust. Four more red monsters
+threw themselves upon the prostrate man, but not sufficiently versed in
+armor to seek out its joints, their fierce short spear thrusts did no
+damage. Presently four more corpses lay still and Stevens, with his,
+to them incredible, earthly strength, was once more upon his feet in
+spite of their utmost efforts to pinion his mighty limbs, and was again
+swinging his devastating weapon. Half their force lying upon the field,
+wiped out by a small, but invincible and apparently invulnerable being,
+the remainder broke and ran, pursued by Stevens to the point where the
+red monsters had first halted. He recovered his arrows and returned to
+the cave, opening his face-plate as he came.
+
+"All x, sweetheart?" he asked, rolling away the boulders. "Didn't get
+anything through to you, did they?"
+
+"No, they didn't even realize that I was taking part in the battle, I
+guess. Did they hurt you while they had you down? I was scared to death
+for a minute."
+
+"No, the old armor held. One of them must have gnawed on my ankle
+some, between the greave and the heel-plate, but he couldn't quite get
+through. 'Sa darn small opening there, too--must have bent my foot
+'way around to get in at all. Have to tighten that joint up a little,
+I guess. I'll bet I've got a black spot and blue spot there the size of
+my hand--maybe it's only the size of yours, though."
+
+"You won't die of that, probably. Heavens, Steve, that cleaver of yours
+is a frightful thing in action! Suppose it's safe for us to go home?"
+
+"Absolutely--right now is the best chance we'll ever have, and something
+tells me that we'd better make it snappy. They'll be back, and next time
+they won't be so easy to take."
+
+"All x, then--hold me, Steve, I can't stand the sight of that---let
+alone wade through it. I'm going to faint or something, sure."
+
+"As you were!" he snapped. "You aren't going to pass out now that it's
+all over! It's a pretty ghastly mess, I know, but shut your eyes and
+I'll carry you out of sight."
+
+"Aren't we out of sight of that place yet?" she demanded after a time.
+
+"I have been for quite a while," he confessed, "but you're sitting
+pretty, aren't you? And you aren't very heavy--not here on Ganymede,
+anyway!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Put me down!" she commanded. "After that crack I won't play with you
+any more at all--I'll pick up my marbles and go home!"
+
+He released her and they hurried hack toward their waterfall, keeping
+wary eyes sharp-set for danger in any form, animal or vegetable. On the
+way back across the foothills Stevens shot another hexaped, and upon the
+plateau above the river Nadia bagged several birds and small animals,
+but it was not until they were actually in their own little canyon that
+their rapid pace slackened and their vigilance relaxed.
+
+"After this, ace, we hunt together and we go back to wearing armor while
+we're hunting. It scared me out of a year's growth when you checked
+up missing."
+
+"We sure do, Steve," she concurred emphatically. "I'm not going to get
+more than a meter away from you from now on. What do you suppose those
+horrible things are?"
+
+"Which?"
+
+"Both."
+
+"Those flowers aren't like anything Tellus ever saw, so we have no basis
+of comparison. They may be a development of a flycatching plant, or they
+may be a link between the animal and the vegetable kingdom. However,
+we don't intend to study 'em, so let's forget 'em. Those animals were
+undoubtedly intelligent beings; they probably are a race of savages of
+this satellite."
+
+"Then the really civilized races are probably...."
+
+"Not necessarily--there may well be different types, each struggling
+toward civilization. They certainly are on Venus, and they once were on
+Mars."
+
+"Why haven't we seen anything like that before, in all these months?
+Things have been so calm and peaceful that we thought we had the whole
+world to ourselves, as far as danger or men were concerned."
+
+"We never saw them before because we never went where they lived--you
+were a long ways from your usual stamping-grounds, you know. That
+animal-vegetable flower is probably a high-altitude organism, living
+in the mountains and never coming as low as we are down here. As for
+the savages--whatever they are--they probably never come within five
+kilometers of the falls. Many primitive peoples think that waterfalls
+are inhabited by demons, and maybe these folks are afflicted the same
+way."
+
+"We don't know much about our new world yet, do we?"
+
+"We sure don't--and I'm not particularly keen on finding out much more
+about it until we get organized for trouble, either. Well, here we
+are--just like getting back home to see the 'Hope,' isn't it?"
+
+"It _is_ home, and will be until we get one of our own on earth," and
+after Stevens had read his meters, learning with satisfaction that the
+full current was still flowing into the accumulators, he began to cut
+up the meat.
+
+"Now that you've got the power-plant running at last, what next?" asked
+Nadia, piling the cuts in the freezer.
+
+"Brandon's ultra-radio comes next, but it's got more angles to it than
+a cubist's picture of a set of prisms; so many that I don't know where
+to begin. There, that job's done--let's sit down and I'll talk at you
+awhile. Maybe between us we can figure out where to start. I've got
+everything to build it lined up except for the tube, but that's got me
+stopped cold. You see, fields of force are all right in most places, but
+I've got to have one tube, and it's got to have the hardest possible
+vacuum. That means a mercury-vapor super pump. Mercury is absolutely
+the only thing that will do the trick and the mercury is one thing
+that is conspicuous by its absence in these parts. So are tungsten for
+filaments, tantalum for plates, and platinum for leads; and I haven't
+found anything that I can use as a getter, either--a metal, you know, to
+flash inside the tube to clean up the last traces of atmosphere in it."
+
+"I didn't suppose that such a simple thing as a radio tube could hold
+you up, after the perfectly unbelievable things that you have done
+already--but I see now how it could. Of course, the tubes in our
+receiver over there are too small?"
+
+"Yes, they are only receiver and communicator tubes, and I need a
+high-power transmitting tube--a fifty-kilowatter, at least. I'd give
+my left leg to the knee joint for one of those big water-cooled,
+sixty-kilowatt ten-nineteens right now--it would save us a lot of
+grief."
+
+"Maybe you could break up those tubes and use the plates and so on?"
+
+"I thought of that, but it won't work--there isn't half enough metal
+in the lot, and the filaments in particular are so tiny that I couldn't
+possibly work them over into a big one. Then, too, we haven't got
+many spare tubes, and if I smash the ones we're using, I put our
+communicators out of business for good, so that we can't yell for help
+if we have to drift home--and I still don't get any mercury."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me there's no mercury on this whole planet?"
+
+"Not exactly; but I do mean that I haven't been able to find any, and
+that it's probably darned scarce. And since all the other metals I want
+worst are also very dense and of high atomic weight, they're probably
+mighty scarce here, too. Why? Because we're on a satellite, and no
+matter what hypothesis you accept for the origin of satellites, you come
+to the same conclusion--that heavy metals are either absent or most
+awfully scarce and buried deep down toward the center. There are lots of
+heavy metals in Jupiter somewhere, but we probably couldn't find them.
+Jupiter's atmosphere is one mass of fog, and we couldn't see, since we
+haven't got an infra-red transformer. I could build one, in time, but
+it would take quite a while--and we couldn't work on Jupiter, anyway,
+because of its gravity and probably because of its atmosphere. And even
+if we could work there, we don't want to spend the rest of our lives
+prospecting for mercury." Stevens fell silent, brow wrinkled in thought.
+
+"You mean, dear, that we're..." Nadia broke off, the sentence
+unfinished.
+
+"Gosh, no! There's lots of things not tried yet, and we can always set
+out to drift it. I was thinking only of building the tube. And I'm
+trying to think ... say, Nadia, what do you know about Cantrell's
+Comet?"
+
+"Not a thing, except that I remember reading in the newspapers that it
+was peculiar for something or other. But what has Cantrell's Comet got
+to do with the high cost of living--or with radio tubes? Have you gone
+cuckoo all of a sudden?"
+
+"You'll be surprised!" Stevens grinned at her puzzled expression.
+"Cantrell's Comet is one of Jupiter's comet family and is peculiar in
+being the most massive one known to science. It was hardly known until
+after they built those thousand-foot reflectors on the Moon, where the
+seeing is always perfect, but it has been studied a lot since then.
+Its nucleus is small, but extremely heavy--it seems to have an average
+density of somewhere around sixteen. There's platinum and everything
+else that's heavy there, girl! They ought to be there in such quantity
+that even such a volunteer chemist as I am could find them!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Heavens, Steve!" A look of alarm flashed over Nadia's face, then
+disappeared as rapidly as it had come into being. "But of course, comets
+aren't really dangerous."
+
+"Sure not. A comet's tail, which so many people are afraid of as being
+poison gas, is almost a perfect vacuum, even at its thickest, and we'd
+have to wear space-suits anyway. And speaking of vacuum ... whoopee!
+We don't need mercury any more than a goldfish needs a gas-mask. When
+we get Mr. Tube done, we'll take him out into space, leaving his mouth
+open, and very shortly he'll be as empty as a flapper's skull. Then
+we'll seal him up, flash him out, come back here, and start spilling
+our troubles into Brandon's shell-like ear!"
+
+"Wonderful, Steve! You do get an idea occasionally, don't you? But how
+do we get out there? Where is this Cantrell's Comet?"
+
+"I don't know, exactly--there's one rub. Another is that I haven't
+even started the transmitter and receptor units. But we've got some
+field-generators here on board that I can use, so it won't be so bad.
+And our comet is in this part of the solar system somewhere fairly
+close. Wish we had an Ephemeris, a couple of I-P solar charts, and
+a real telescope."
+
+"You can't do much without an Ephemeris, I should think. It's a good
+thing you kept the chronometers going. You know the I-P time, day, and
+dates, anyway."
+
+"I'll have to do without some things, that's all," and the man stared
+absently at the steel wall. "I remember something about its orbit, since
+it is one thing that all I-P vessels have to steer clear of. Think I can
+figure it close enough so that we'll be able to find it in our little
+telescope, or even on our plate, since we'll be out of this atmosphere.
+And it might not be a bad idea for us to get away, anyway. I'm afraid of
+those folks on that space-ship, whoever they were, and they must live
+around here somewhere. Cantrell's Comet swings about fifty million
+kilometers outside Jupiter's orbit at aphelion--close enough for us to
+reach, and yet probably too far for them to find us easily. By the time
+we get back here, they probably will have quit looking for us, if they
+look at all. Then too, I expect these savages to follow us up. What say,
+little ace--do we try it or do we stay here?"
+
+"You know best, Steve. As I said before, I'm with you from now on, in
+whatever you think best to do. I know that you think it best to go out
+there. Therefore, so do I."
+
+"Well," he said, finally, "I'd better get busy, then--there's a lot to
+do before we can start. The radio doesn't come next, after all--the
+transmitter and receptor units come ahead of it. They won't mean
+wasted labor, in any event, since we'll have to have them in case the
+radio fails. You'd better lay in a lot of supplies while I'm working
+on that stuff, but don't go out of sight, and yell like fury if
+you see anything. We'd both better wear full armor every time we go
+out-of-doors--unless I'm all out of control we aren't done with those
+savages yet. Even though they may be afraid of the demons of the falls,
+I think they'll have at least one more try at us."
+
+While Nadia brought in meat and vegetables and stored them away,
+Stevens attacked the problem of constructing the pair of tight-beam,
+auto-dirigible transmitter and receptor units which would connect his
+great turbo-alternator to the accumulators of their craft, wherever it
+might be in space. From the force-field generators of the "Forlorn Hope"
+he selected the two most suitable for his purpose, tuned them to the
+exact frequency he required, and around them built a complex system of
+condensers and coils.
+
+Day after day passed. Their larder was full, the receptor was finished,
+and the beam transmitter was almost ready to attach to the
+turbo-alternator before the calm was broken.
+
+"Steve!" Nadia shrieked. Glancing idly into the communicator plate, she
+had been perfunctorily surveying the surrounding territory. "They're
+coming! Thousands of them! They're all over the bench up there, and just
+simply pouring down the hills and up the valley!"
+
+"Wish they'd waited a few hours longer--we'd have been gone. However,
+we're just about ready for them," he commented grimly, as he stared over
+her shoulder into the communicator plate. "We'll make a lot of those
+Indians wish that they had stayed at home with their papooses."
+
+"Have you got all those rays and things fixed up?"
+
+"Not as many as I'd like to have. You see, I don't know the composition
+of the I-P ray, since it is outlawed to everybody except the police.
+Of course I could have found out from Brandon, but never paid any
+attention to it. I've got some nice ultra-violet, though, and a short-wave
+oscillatory that'll cook an elephant to a cinder in about eight seconds.
+We'll keep them amused, no fooling! Glad we had time to cover our open
+sides, and it looks as though that meteorite armor we put over the
+projectors may be mighty useful, too."
+
+On and on the savages came, massed in formations showing some signs of
+rude discipline. This time there was neither shrieking nor yelling; the
+weird creatures advanced silently and methodically. Here and there were
+massed groups of hundreds, dragging behind them engines which Stevens
+studied with interest.
+
+"Hm ... m ... m. Catapults," he mused. "You were right, girl of my
+dreams--armor and bows and arrows wouldn't help us much right now.
+They're going to throw rocks at us that'll have both mass and momentum.
+With those things they can cave in our side-armor, and might even dent
+our roof. When one of those projectiles hits, we want to know where it
+ain't, that's all."
+
+Stevens cast off the heavily-insulated plug connecting the power plant
+leads to his now almost fully charged accumulators, strapped himself and
+Nadia into place at the controls, and waited, staring into the plate.
+Catapult after catapult was dragged to the lip of the little canyon,
+until six of them bore upon the target. The huge stranded springs of
+hair, fiber, and sinew were wound up to the limit, and enormous masses
+of rock were toilsomely rolled upon the platforms. Each "gunner" seized
+his trip, and as the leader shrieked his signal the six ponderous masses
+of metalliferous rock heaved into the air as one. But they did not
+strike their objective, for as the signal was given, Stevens shot
+power into his projectors. The "Forlorn Hope" leaped out of the canyon
+and high into the air over the open meadow, just as the six great
+projectiles crashed into the ground upon the spot which, an instant
+before, she had occupied.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Rudimentary discipline forgotten, the horde rushed down into the canyon
+and the valley, in full clamor of their barbaric urgings. Horns and
+arms tossed fiercely, savage noises rent the air, and arrows splintered
+harmlessly upon steel plate as the mystified and maddened warriors upon
+the plain below gave vent to their outraged feelings.
+
+"Look, Nadia! A whole gang of them are smelling around that power plug.
+Pretty soon somebody's going to touch a hot spot, and when he does,
+we'll cut loose on the rest of them."
+
+The huge insulating plug, housing the ends of the three great cables
+leading to the converters of the turbo-alternator, lay innocently upon
+the ground, its three yawning holes invitingly open to savage arms. The
+chief, who had been inspecting the power-plant, walked along the triplex
+lead and joined his followers at its terminus. Pointing with his horns,
+he jabbered orders and three red monsters, one at each cable, bent to
+lift the plug, while the leader himself thrust an arm into each of the
+three contact holes. There was a flash of searing flame and the reeking
+smoke of burning flesh--those three arms had taken the terrific no-load
+voltage of the three-phase converter system, and the full power of the
+alternator had been shorted directly to ground through the comparatively
+small resistance of his body.
+
+Stevens had poised the "Forlorn Hope" edgewise in mid-air, so that
+the gleaming, heavily armored parabolic reflectors of his projectors,
+mounted upon the leading edge of the fortress, covered the scene below.
+As the charred corpse of the savage chieftain dropped to the ground,
+it seemed to the six-limbed creatures that the demons of the falls had
+indeed been annoyed beyond endurance by their intrusion; for, as if in
+response to the flash of fire from the power plug, that structure so
+peculiarly and so stolidly hanging in the air came plunging down toward
+them. From it there reached down twin fans of death and destruction: one
+flaming and almost invisibly incandescent violet which tore at the eyes
+and excruciatingly disintegrated brain and nervous tissues; the other
+dully glowing an equally invisible red, at the touch of which body
+temperature soared to lethal heights and foliage burst cracklingly into
+spontaneous flame.
+
+In their massed hundreds, the savages dropped where they stood, life
+rived away by the torturing ultra-violet, burned away by the blast
+of pure heat, or consumed by the conflagrations that raged instantly
+wherever that wide-sweeping fan encountered combustible material.
+In the face of power supernatural they lost all thought of attack or of
+conquest, and sought only and madly to escape. Weapons were thrown away,
+the catapults were abandoned, and, every man for himself, the mob fled
+in wildest disorder, each striving to put as much distance as possible
+between himself and that place of dread mystery, the waterfall.
+
+"Well, I guess that'll hold 'em for a while," Stevens dropped their
+craft back into its original quarters in the canyon. "Whether they ever
+believed before that this falls was inhabited by devils or not, they
+think so now. I'll bet that it will be six hundred Jovian years before
+any of them ever come within a hundred kilometers of it again. I'm glad
+of it, too, because they'll let our power plant alone now. Well, let's
+get going--we've got to make things hum for a while!"
+
+"Why all the rush? You just said that we have scared them away for
+good."
+
+"The savages, yes, but not those others. We've just turned loose enough
+radiation to affect detectors all over the system, and it's up to us to
+get this beam projector set up, get away from here, and get our power
+shut off before they can trace us. Snap it up, ace!"
+
+The transmitter unit was installed at the converters, the cable was torn
+out, and, having broken the last material link between it and Ganymede,
+Stevens hurled the "Forlorn Hope" out into space, using the highest
+acceleration Nadia could endure. Hour after hour the massive wedge of
+steel bored outward, away from Jupiter; hour after hour Stevens' anxious
+eyes scanned his instruments; hour after hour hope mounted and relief
+took the place of anxiety as the screens remained blank throughout every
+inquiring thrust into the empty ether. But they knew they would have to
+keep sharp vigilance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+_Continuing a Thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel
+by Edward E. Smith, Ph.D._
+
+_Author of "Skylark of Space," and "Skylark Three"_
+
+
+
+PART II
+
+
+
+
+Spacehounds of IPC
+
+
+    _One of the most fascinating mysteries of the heavens is the comet.
+    It goes through space, gets near enough to the earth to be seen,
+    and then goes off and disappears in celestial distance. Often it
+    has a hyperbolic orbit, which would make it impossible to come back.
+    Yet it may return--apparently contradicting the geometry of conic
+    sections. This only goes to prove once more that it is risky to say
+    anything is impossible--even that our hero of this story manages
+    beautifully, with the aid of Cantrell's Comet, to avoid complete
+    annihilation while stranded in interstellar space._
+
+    _Read "what went before" and then continue the second instalment._
+
+
+What Went Before:
+
+    The Interplanetary Vessel Arcturus sets out for Mars, with
+    Breckenridge as chief pilot, carrying on board, besides its
+    regular crew and some passengers, the famous Dr. Stevens,
+    designer of space ships and computer. He checks computations
+    made by astronomers stationed in floating observatories, and
+    after he has located any trouble and suggests a plan for
+    minimizing the hazards of the trip from the earth to Mars,
+    he reports his findings and suggestions to Mr. Newton, chief
+    of the Interplanetary Corporation.
+
+    Stevens then takes Nadia, Mr. Newton's beautiful young daughter,
+    on a specially conducted sight-seeing tour of the Arcturus and
+    thoroughly explains to her all of the works of the vessel. Nadia
+    has herself had a good science education. While they are down at
+    the bottom of the ship--nearing the end of their tour--Stevens
+    feels a barely perceptible movement of the vessel from its course.
+    When he turns on the visiplate, he is horrified to find that a
+    mysterious ray of unparalleled power has neatly sliced the Arcturus
+    in several places.
+
+    Nadia and Stevens are completely separated from the rest of the
+    crew and passengers of the ship, so they get into a lifeboat,
+    which is equipped for a limited amount of space travel. Despite
+    the strict and apparently effective vigilance of the enemy
+    destroyer, Stevens and Nadia make their getaway in the lifeboat,
+    which they aptly call "Forlorn Hope," and finally make a safe
+    landing on Ganymede, where Stevens plans to build a power-plant
+    and a radio transmitter, to enable him to communicate with the
+    earth or with the IPV Sirius, which is used by Westfall and Brandon
+    (two of the world's best scientists) as a floating laboratory.
+
+    With the very scant apparatus and material available, Stevens
+    sets to work on his power plant. Just as they have it completed
+    and ready to start for Cantrell's Comet, where Stevens believes
+    he can obtain the necessary metal for his giant transmitting
+    tube, they experience a close call with carnivorous plants on the
+    satellite and later with savage inhabitants, which precipitates
+    their trip to the comet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Cantrell's Comet
+
+
+Far out in space, Jupiter, a tiny moon and its satellites mere
+pin-points of light, Stevens turned to his companion with a grin.
+
+"Well, Nadia, old golf-shootist, here's where we turn spacehounds again.
+Hope you like it better this time, because I'm afraid that we'll have to
+stay weightless for quite a while." He slowly throttled down the mighty
+flow of power, and watched the conflicting emotions play over Nadia's
+face in her purely personal battle against the sickening sensations
+caused by the decrease in their acceleration.
+
+"I'm sorry as the dickens, sweetheart," he went on, tenderly, and the
+grin disappeared. "Wish I could take it for you, but...."
+
+"But there are times when we've got to fight our own battles and bury
+our own dead," she interrupted, gamely. "Cut off the rest of that power!
+I'm _not_ going to be sick--I _won't_ be a--what do you spacehounds call
+us poor earth-bound dubs who can't stand weightlessness--weight-fiends,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes; but you aren't...."
+
+"I know I'm not, and I'm not going to be one, either! I'm all x,
+Steve--it's not so bad now, really. I held myself together that time,
+anyway, and I feel lots better now. Have you found Cantrell's Comet yet?
+And why so sure all of a sudden that they can't find us? That power beam
+still connects us to Ganymede, doesn't it? Maybe they can trace it."
+
+"At-a-girl, ace!" he cheered. "I'll tell the world you're no
+weight-fiend--you're a spacehound right. Most first-trippers, at this
+stage of the game, wouldn't be caring a whoop whether school kept or
+not, and here you're taking an interest in all kinds of things already.
+You'll do, girl of my heart--no fooling!"
+
+"Maybe, and maybe you're trying to kid somebody," she returned, eyeing
+him intently. "Or maybe you just don't want to answer those questions
+I asked you a minute ago."
+
+[Illustration: _At the bottom of a shaft a section of the rocky wall
+swung aside, revealing the yawning black mouth of a horizontal tunnel.
+At intervals upon its roof there winked into being almost invisible
+points of light. Along that line of lights the life-boats felt their
+way, coming finally into a huge cavern...._]
+
+"No, that's straight data, right on zero across the panel," he assured
+her. "And as for your questions, they're easy. No, I haven't looked for
+the comet yet, because we'll have to drift for a couple of days before
+we'll be anywhere near where I think it is. No, they can't trace us,
+because there is now nothing to trace, unless they can detect the
+slight power we are using in our lights and so on--which possibility is
+vanishingly small. Potentially, our beam still exists, but since we are
+drawing no power, it has no actual present existence. See?"
+
+"Uh-uh," she dissented. "I can't say that I can quite understand how
+a beam can exist potentially and yet not be there actually enough to
+trace. Why, a thing has to be actual or not exist at all--you can't
+possibly have something that is nothing. It doesn't make sense. But
+lay off those integrations of yours, please," as now armed with a
+slate-pencil, Stevens began to draw a diagram upon a four-foot sheet of
+smooth slate. "You know that your brand of math is over my head like a
+circus tent, so we'll let it lie. I'll take your word for it. Steve--if
+you're satisfied, it's all x with me."
+
+"I think I can straighten you out a little, by analogy. Here's a rough
+sketch of a cylinder, with shade and shadow. You've had descriptive
+geometry, of course, and so know that a shadow, being simply a
+projection of a material object upon a plane, is a two-dimensional
+thing--or rather, a two-dimensional concept. Now take the shade, which
+is, of course, this entire figure here, between the cylinder casting
+the shadow and the plane of projection. You simply imagine that there
+is a point source of light at your point of projection: it isn't really
+there. The shade, then, of which I am drawing a picture, has only a
+potential existence. You know exactly where it is, you can draw it, you
+can define it, compute it, and work with it--but still it doesn't exist;
+there is absolutely nothing to differentiate it from any other volume of
+air, and it cannot be detected by any physical or mechanical means. If,
+however, you place a light at the point of projection, the shade becomes
+actual and can be detected optically. By a sufficient stretch of the
+imagination, you might compare our beam to that shade. When we turn our
+power on, the beam is actual; it is a stream of tangible force, and as
+such can be detected electrically. When our switches here are open,
+however, it exists only potentially. There is no motion in the ether,
+nothing whatever to indicate that a beam had ever actually existed
+there. With me?"
+
+"Floundering pretty badly, but I see it after a fashion. You physicists
+are peculiar freaks--where we ordinary mortals see actual, solid,
+heavy objects, you see only empty space with a few electrons and things
+floating around in it; and yet where we see only empty space, you can
+see things 'potentially' that may never exist at all. You'll be the
+death of me yet, Steve! But I'm wasting a lot of time. What do we do
+now?"
+
+"We get busy on the big tube. You might warm up the annealing oven and
+melt me that pot of glass, while I get busy on the filament supports,
+plate brackets, and so on." Both fell to work with a will, and hours
+passed rapidly and almost silently, so intent was each upon his own
+tasks.
+
+"All x, Steve." Nadia broke the long silence. "The pyrometer's on the
+red, and the oven's hot," and the man left his bench. Taking up a long
+paddle and an even longer blowpipe, he skimmed the melt to a dazzlingly
+bright surface and deftly formed a bubble.
+
+"I just love to talk at you when you've got your mouth full of a
+blowpipe." Nadia eyed him impishly and tucked her feet beneath her,
+poised weightless as she was. "I've got you foul now--I can say anything
+I want to, and you can't talk back, because your bubble will lose its
+shape if you do. Oh, isn't that a beauty! I never saw you blow anything
+that big before," and she fell silent, watching intently.
+
+Slowly there was being drawn from the pot a huge, tapering bulb of hot,
+glistening glass, its cross-section at the molten surface varying as
+Stevens changed the rate of draw or the volume of air blown through the
+pipe. Soon that section narrowed sharply. The glass-blower waved his
+hand and Nadia severed the form neatly with a glowing wire, just above
+the fluid surface of the glass remaining in the pot. Pendant from the
+blowpipe, the bulb was placed over the hot-bench, where Stevens, now
+begoggled, begloved, and armed with a welding torch, proceeded to fuse
+into the still, almost plastic, glass sundry necks, side-tubes, supports
+and other attachments of peculiar pattern. Finally the partially
+assembled tube was placed in the annealing oven, where it would remain
+at a high and constant temperature until its filaments, grids, and
+plates had been installed. Eventually, in that same oven, it would be
+allowed to cool slowly and uniformly over a period of days.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus were performed many other tasks which are ordinarily done either
+by automatic machinery or by highly skilled specialists in labor--for
+these two, thrown upon their own resources, had long since learned how
+much specialization may be represented by the most commonplace article.
+Whenever they needed a thing they did not have--which happened every
+day--they had either to make it or else, failing in that, to go back and
+build something that would enable them to manufacture the required item.
+Such setbacks had become so numerous as to be expected as part of the
+day's work; they no longer caused exasperation or annoyance. For two
+days the two jacks-of-all-trades worked at many lines and with many
+materials before Stevens called a halt.
+
+"All x, Nadia. It's time for us to stop tinkering and turn into
+astronomers. We've been out for fifty I-P hours, and we'd better begin
+looking around for our heap of scrap metal," and, the girl at the
+communicator plate and Stevens at their one small telescope, they began
+to search the black, star-jeweled heavens for Cantrell's Comet.
+
+"According to my figures, it ought to be about four hours right
+ascension, and something like plus twenty degrees declination. My
+figures aren't accurate, though, since I'm working purely from memory,
+so we'd better cover everything from Aldebaran to the Pleiades."
+
+"But the directions will change as we go along, won't they?"
+
+"Not unless we pass it, because we're heading pretty nearly straight at
+it, I think."
+
+"I don't see anything interesting thereabouts except stars. Will it have
+much tail?"
+
+"Very little--it's close to aphelion, you know, and a comet doesn't have
+much of a tail so far away from the sun. Hope it's got some of its tail
+left, though, or we may miss it entirely."
+
+Hours passed, during which the two observers peered intently into their
+instruments, then Stevens left the telescope and went over to his slate.
+
+"Looks bad, ace--we should have spotted it before this. Time to eat,
+too. You'd better...."
+
+"Oh, look here, quick!" Nadia interrupted. "Here's something! Yes, it
+_is_ a comet, and quite close--it's got a little bit of a dim tail."
+
+Stevens leaped to the communicator plate, and, blond head pressed close
+to brown, the two wayfarers studied the faint image of the wanderer of
+the void.
+
+"That's it, I just _know_ it is!" Nadia declared. "Steve, as a computer,
+you're a blinding flash and a deafening report!"
+
+"Yeah--missed it only about half a million kilometers or so," he
+replied, grinning, "and I'd fire a whole flock of I-P check stations
+for being four thousand off. However, I could have done worse--I could
+easily have forgotten all the data on it, instead of only half of it."
+He applied a normal negative acceleration, and Nadia heaved a profound
+sigh of relief as her weight returned to her and her body again became
+manageable by the ordinary automatic and involuntary muscles.
+
+"Guess I am a kind of a weight-fiend at that, Steve--this is much
+better!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Nobody denies that weight is more convenient at times; but you're a
+spacehound just the same--you'll like it after a while," he prophesied.
+
+Stevens took careful observations upon the celestial body, altered his
+course sharply, then, after a measured time interval, again made careful
+readings.
+
+"That's it, all x," he announced, after completing his calculations, and
+he reduced their negative acceleration by a third. "There--we'll be just
+about traveling with it when we get there," he said. "Now, little K. P.
+of my bosom, our supper's been on minus time for hours. What say we
+shake it up?"
+
+"I check you to nineteen decimals," and the two were soon attacking the
+savory Ganymedean goulash which Nadia had put in the cooker many hours
+before.
+
+"Should we both go to sleep, Steve, or should one of us watch it?"
+
+"Sleep, by all means. There's no meteoric stuff out here, and we won't
+arrive before ten o'clock tomorrow, I-P time," and, tired out by the
+events of the long day, man and maid sought their beds and plunged into
+dreamless slumber.
+
+While they slept, the "Forlorn Hope" drove on through the void at a
+terrific but constantly decreasing velocity; and far off to one side,
+plunging along a line making a sharp angle with their own course, there
+loomed larger and larger the masses which made up the nucleus of
+Cantrell's Comet.
+
+Upon awakening, Stevens' first thought was for the comet, and he
+observed it carefully before he aroused Nadia, who hurried into the
+control room. Looming large in the shortened range of the plate, their
+objective hurtled onward in its eternal course, its enormous velocity
+betrayed only by the rapidity with which it sped past the incredibly
+brilliant background of infinitely distant stars. Apparently it was
+a wild jumble of separate fragments; a conglomerate, heterogeneous
+aggregation of rough and jagged masses varying in size from grains of
+sand up to enormous chunks, which upon Earth would have weighed millions
+of tons. Pervading the whole nucleus, a slow, indefinite movement was
+perceptible--a vague writhing and creeping of individual components
+working and slipping past and around each other as they all rushed
+forward in obedience to the immutable cosmic law of gravitation.
+
+"Oh, isn't that wonderful!" Nadia breathed. "Think of actually going to
+visit a comet! It sort of scares me, Steve--it's so creepy and crawly
+looking. We're awfully close, aren't we?"
+
+"Not so very. We'd probably have lots of time to eat breakfast. But just
+to be on the safe side, maybe I'd better camp here at the board, and you
+bring me over something to eat."
+
+"All x, Chief!" and Stevens ate, one eye upon the screen, watching
+closely the ever-increasing bulk of the comet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For many minutes he swung the _Forlorn Hope_ in a wide curve approaching
+the mountain of metal ever and ever more nearly, then turned to the girl.
+
+"Hold everything, Nadia--power's going off in a minute!" He shut off the
+beam; then, noting that they were traveling a trifle faster than the
+comet, he applied a small voltage to one dirigible projector. Darting
+the beam here and there, he so corrected their flight that they were
+precisely stationary in relation to the comet. He then opened his
+switches, and the _Forlorn Hope_ hurtled on. Apparently motionless, it
+was now a part of Cantrell's Comet, traveling in a stupendous, elongated
+ellipse about the Master of our Solar System, the Sun.
+
+"There, ace, who said anything about weight-fiends? I was watching you,
+and you never turned a hair that time."
+
+"Why, that's right--I never even thought about it--I was so busy
+studying that thing out there! I suppose I've got used to it already?"
+
+"Sure--you're one of us now. I knew you would be. Well, let's go places
+and do things! You'd better put on a suit, too, so you can stand in the
+air-lock and handle the line."
+
+They donned the heavily insulated, heated suits, and Stevens snapped the
+locking plugs of the drag line into their sockets upon the helmets.
+
+"Hear me?" he asked. "Sound-disks all x?"
+
+"All x."
+
+"On the radio--all x?"
+
+"All x."
+
+"I tested your tanks and heaters--they're all x. But you'll have to
+test...."
+
+"I know the ritual by heart, Steve. It's been in every show in the
+country for the last year, but I didn't know you had to go through it
+every time you went out-of-doors! Halves, number one all x, two all x,
+three all x...."
+
+"Quit it!" he snapped. "You aren't testing those valves! That check-up
+is no joke, guy. These suits are complicated affairs, and some parts
+are apt to get out of order. You see, a thing to give you fresh air at
+normal pressure and to keep you warm in absolute space can't be either
+simple or fool-proof. They've worked on them for years, but they're
+pretty crude yet. They're tricky, and if one goes sour on you, out in
+space, it's just too bad--you're lucky to get back alive. A lot of men
+are still out there somewhere because of the sloppy check-ups."
+
+"'Scuse it, please--I'll be good," and the careful checking and testing
+of every vital part of the space-suits went on.
+
+Satisfied at last that the armor was spaceworthy, Stevens picked up the
+coils of drag-line, built of a non-metallic fiber which could retain its
+flexibility and strength in the bitter cold of outer space, and led the
+girl into the air-lock.
+
+"Heavens, Steve! It's perfectly stupendous, and grinding around worse
+than the wreckage of the _Arcturus_ was when I wouldn't let you climb
+up it--why, I thought comets were _little_, and hardly massive at all!"
+exclaimed the girl.
+
+"This is little, compared to any regular planet or satellite or even to
+the asteroids. There's only a few cubic kilometers of matter there, and,
+as I said before, it's a decidedly unusual comet. You know the game?"
+
+"I've got it--and believe me, I'll yank you back here a lot faster than
+you can jump over there if any one of those lumps starts to fall on you!
+Is this drag line long enough?"
+
+"Yes, I've got a hundred meters here, and it's only fifty meters over
+there to where I'm going. So long," and with a light thrust of his feet,
+he dove head foremost across the intervening space, a heavy pike held
+out ahead of him. Straight as a bullet he floated toward his objective,
+a jagged chunk many yards in diameter, taking the shock of his landing
+by sliding along the pike-handle as its head struck the mass.
+
+Then, bracing his feet against one lump, he pushed against its neighbor,
+and under that steady pressure the enormous masses moved apart and kept
+on moving, grinding among their fellows. Over and around them Stevens
+sprang, always watching his line of retreat as well as that of his
+advance, until his exploring pike struck a lump of apparently solid
+metal. Hooking the fragment toward him, he thrust savagely with his
+weapon and was reassured--that object was not only metal, but it was
+metal so hard that his pike-head of space-tempered alloy steel did not
+make an impression upon its surface. Turning on his helmet light he
+swung his heavy hammer repeatedly but could not break off even a small
+fragment.
+
+"Found something, Steve?" Nadia's voice came clearly in his ears.
+
+"I'll say I have! A hunk of solid, non-magnetic metal about the size of
+an office desk. I can't break off any of it, so I guess we'll have to
+grab the whole chunk."
+
+He hitched the end of his cable around the nugget, made sure that the
+loops would not slip, and then, as Nadia tightened the line, he shoved
+mightily.
+
+"All x, Nadia, she's coming! Pull in my drag line as I said over there,
+and I'll help you land her."
+
+Inside the _Forlorn Hope_ the mass of metal was urged into the shop,
+where Stevens clamped it immovably to the steel floor, before he took
+off his space-suit.
+
+"Why, it's getting covered with snow, and the whole room is getting
+positively _cold_!" Nadia exclaimed.
+
+"Sure. Anything that comes in from space is cold, even if it's been out
+only a few minutes, and that hunk of stuff has been out for nobody knows
+how many million years. It didn't get much heat from the sun except
+at perihelion, you know, so it's probably somewhere around minus two
+hundred and sixty degrees now. I'll have to throw a heater on it for
+half an hour before we can touch it. And since this is more or less new
+stuff to you, I'll caution you--don't try to touch anything that has
+just come in. That hammer or pike would freeze your hand instantly, even
+though they've been out only a little while. Before you touch anything,
+blow on it, like this, see? If your breath freezes solid on it, like
+that, don't touch it--it's cold."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Under the infra-beams of the heater, the mass of the metal was brought
+to room temperature and Stevens attacked it with his machine tools.
+Bit by bit the stubborn material was torn from the lump. Through heavy
+goggles he watched the incandescent mass in a refractory crucible, in
+the heart of the induction furnace.
+
+"What do you think you've got--what you want?"
+
+"I don't know. It wasn't iron--it wouldn't hold a magnet. It's royal
+metal of some kind, I think. Base metals mostly melt at around fifteen
+hundred, and that crucible is still dry as a bone at better than
+seventeen."
+
+"How are you going to separate out the tantalum and the others you want
+from the ones that you don't want?"
+
+"I'm afraid that I'm not going to, very well," replied Stevens, with a
+wry grimace. "What I don't know about metallurgy would fill a library,
+and I'm probably the world's worst chemist. However, by a series of
+successive liquations, I hope to separate out fractions that I can
+use. Platinum melts somewhere around seventeen-fifty, tantalum about
+twenty-nine hundred, and tungsten not until 'way up around thirty-three,
+or four hundred--and that, by the way, means lots of grief. Of course,
+each fraction will probably be an alloy of one kind or another, but
+I think maybe I'll be able to make them do."
+
+"But mayn't that whole chunk be a pure metal?"
+
+"It's conceivable, but not probable. There, she's beginning to separate
+at just below eighteen hundred! Platinum group coming out now, I
+think--platinum, rhodium, iridium, and that gang, you know. While I'm
+doing this, you might be getting those five coils into exact resonance,
+if you want to."
+
+"Sure I want to," and Nadia made her way across to the short-wave
+oscillator and set to work.
+
+After an hour or so, bent over her delicate task, she began to twitch
+uneasily, then shrugged her shoulders impatiently.
+
+"What's the idea of staring at me so?" she broke out suddenly. "How do
+you expect me to tune these things up if you...." She stopped abruptly,
+mouth open in amazement, as she turned toward Stevens. He had not been
+looking at her, but he turned a surprised face from his own task at the
+sound of her voice. "Excuse me, please, Steve. I don't know what's the
+matter with me--must be getting jumpy, I guess."
+
+"I wish that was all, but it isn't!" Face suddenly grim and hard,
+Stevens leaped to the communicator plate and shot the beam out into
+space. "There's an answer, but that isn't it. You're a fine-tuned
+instrument yourself, ace, and you've detected something.... I thought
+so! There's the answer--the guy that was looking at you!"
+
+Plainly there was revealed upon the plate a small, spherical space-ship,
+very like the one that had attacked and destroyed the _Arcturus_. After
+Nadia had taken one glance at it, Stevens shut off the power and leaped
+out into the shop. He closed all the bulkhead doors and air-break
+openings, then closed and secured the massive insulating door of the
+lifeboat in which they had made their headquarters. Then, after they
+had again put on the space-suits they had taken off such a short time
+before, he extinguished all the lights and hooded the communicator
+screen before he ventured again to glance out into the void.
+
+"If I had a brain in my head, instead of the pint of bean soup I've got
+up there, we'd have worn these when they cut up the _Arcturus_, and
+saved us a lot of mental wear and tear," he remarked. "They were right
+there in the lockers all the time, and I knew it!"
+
+"Well, we got away, anyway. You couldn't be expected to think of
+everything at once. We didn't have much time, you know."
+
+"No, but I should have thought of anything as obvious as that, anyway.
+Wonder how they found us? Did they detect us, or did they come out
+to this comet after metal, same as we did, and find us accidentally?
+However, it all works out the same--they're apparently out to get us.
+I'm afraid this is going to be a whole lot like a rabbit fighting back
+at a man with a gun; but we'll sure try to nibble us off a lunch while
+they're getting a square meal ... here they come!"
+
+The enemy sphere launched its flaming plane of force, and the _Forlorn
+Hope_ shuddered in every plate and member as its apex was severed
+cleanly under the impact. Instantly Stevens hurled his only weapons.
+Flaming ultra-violet and dully glowing infra-red, the twin beams lashed
+out; but their utmost force was of slight moment to the enormous power
+driving the enemy screens. Two circular spots of cherry red in space
+were the only results of Stevens' attack, and the next fierce cut
+sheared away the two projectors and, incidentally, a full half of the
+fifty-inch armor of the leading edge.
+
+"Then we're checking out now?" Nadia asked quietly, as the man's hands
+dropped from his useless controls. "I'm sorrier than I can say, lover.
+But at least, I'm glad that I can go out with you," and her glorious
+eyes were shining with unshed tears.
+
+"Maybe, but snap out of it, girl--our hearts are still beating! We're
+not dead yet, and maybe we won't be. Perhaps they want to capture us
+alive, as they did before; if so, we may be able to hide out on them
+somewhere and pull off another escape. Things don't look very bright, I
+know, but we're not checking out until our numbers are actually run up!"
+
+He hooked a hand under her belt as the shocks came closer, and stood
+tense and ready. The lancing plane cut through one end of their control
+room, and Stevens leaped with his companion toward the new-made opening;
+while the air shrieked outward into space and their suits bulged
+suddenly with the abrupt increase in pressure differential. While they
+were in midflight, the frightful blade of destruction cleaved its way
+through the control board and through the spot upon which they had been
+standing a moment before. As they passed the severed edge, en route into
+open spare, Stevens seized a metal brace and clung there, every nerve
+taut.
+
+"Something funny here, Nadia," he said after a little, in a low tone.
+"They should have made one more cut, to make us absolutely blind and
+helpless. As it is, they've clipped off all our projectors, so we can't
+move, but I think we've got the whole control compartment of number two
+lifeboat untouched. If so, we can look around, anyway. Let's go!"
+
+Floating without effort from fragment to fragment, they made their way
+toward the section of their cruiser as yet undamaged. They found an
+airlock in working order, and were soon in the second lifeboat, where
+Stevens hastily turned on a communicator and peered out into space.
+
+"There they are! There's another stranger out there, too. They're
+fighting with her, now--that's probably why they didn't polish us off."
+Steel-braced, clumsy helmets touching, the two Terrestrials stared
+spell-bound into the plate; watching while the insensately vicious
+intelligences within the sphere brought its every force to bear upon
+another and larger sphere which was now so close as to be plainly
+visible. Like a gigantic drop of quicksilver this second globe
+appeared--its smooth and highly-polished surface one enormous, perfect,
+spherical mirror. Watching tensely, they saw flash out that frightful
+plane of seething energy, with the effects of which they were all too
+familiar, and saw it strike full upon the dazzling ball.
+
+"This is awful, ace!" Stevens groaned. "They haven't got ray-screens,
+either, and without them they don't stand a chance. No possible
+substance can stand up under that beam. When they get done and turn back
+to us, we'll have to dive back to where we were."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But that brilliant mirror was not as vulnerable as Stevens had supposed.
+The plane of force struck and clung, but could not penetrate it. Broken
+up into myriads of scintillating crystals of light, intersecting,
+multi-colored rays, and cascading flares of sparkling energy, the beam
+was reflected, thrown back, hurled away on all sides into space in
+coruscating, blinding torrents. And neither was the monster globe
+inoffensive. The straining watchers saw a port open suddenly, emit a
+flame-erupting something, and close as rapidly as it had opened. That
+something was a projectile, its propelling rockets fiercely aflame; as
+smoothly brilliant as its mother-ship and seemingly as impervious to the
+lethal beams of the common foe. Detected almost instantly as it was, it
+received the full power of the savage attack. The hitherto irresistible
+plane of force beat upon it; ultra-violet, infra-red, and heat rays
+enveloped it; there were hurled against it all the forces known to the
+scientific minds within that fiendishly destructive sphere.
+
+Finally, only a scant few hundreds of yards from its goal, the
+protective mirror was punctured and the freight of high explosive let
+go, with a silent, but nevertheless terrific, detonation. But now
+another torpedo was on its way, and another, and another; boring on
+ruthlessly toward the smaller sphere. Fighting simultaneously three
+torpedos and the giant globe, the enemy began dodging, darting hither
+and thither with a stupendous acceleration; but the tiny pursuers could
+not be shaken off. At every dodge and turn, steering rockets burst into
+furious activity and the projectiles rushed ever nearer. Knowing that
+she had at last encountered a superior force, the sphere turned in
+mad flight; but, prodigious as was her acceleration, the torpedoes
+were faster and all three of them struck her at once. There ensued
+an explosion veritably space-racking in its intensity; a flash of
+incandescent brilliance that seemed to fill all space, subsiding into
+a vast volume of tenuous gas which, feebly glowing, flowed about and
+attached itself to Cantrell's Comet. And in the space where had been
+the enemy sphere, there was nothing.
+
+A slow-creeping pale blue rod of tangible force reached out from the
+great sphere, touched the wreckage of the _Forlorn Hope_, and pulled;
+gently, but with enormous power.
+
+"Tractor beams again!" exclaimed Stevens, still at the plate.
+"Everybody's got 'em but us, it seems."
+
+"And we can't fight a bit any more, can we?"
+
+"Not a chance--bows and arrows wouldn't do us much good. However, we may
+not need 'em. Since they fought that other crew, and haven't blown us
+up, they aren't active enemies of ours, and may be friendly. I haven't
+any idea who or what they are, since even our communicator ray can't get
+through that mirror, but it looks as though our best bet is to act
+peaceable and see if we can't talk to them in some way. Right?"
+
+"Right." They stepped out into the airlock, from which they saw that
+the great sphere had halted only a few yards from them, and that an
+indistinct figure stood in an open door, waving to them an unmistakable
+invitation to enter the strange vessel.
+
+"Shall we, Steve?"
+
+"Might as well. They've got us foul, and can take us if they want us.
+Anyway, we'll need at least a week to fix us up any kind of driving
+power, so we can't run--and we probably couldn't get away from those
+folks if we had all our power. They haven't blown us up, and they could
+have done it easily enough. Besides, they act friendly, so we'd better
+meet them half way. Dive!"
+
+Floating toward the open doorway, they were met by another rod of force,
+brought gently into the airlock, and supported upright beside the being
+who had invited them to visit him. Apparently an empty space-suit stood
+there; a peculiarly-fitted suit of some partially transparent, flexible,
+glass-like material; towering fully a foot over the head of the tall
+Terrestrial. Closer inspection, however, revealed that there was
+something inside that suit--a shadowy, weirdly-transparent being,
+staring at them with large, black eyes. The door clanged shut behind
+them; they heard the faint hiss of inrushing air, and the inner door
+opened; but their enveloping suits remained stretched almost as tightly
+as ever. They felt the floor lurch beneath their feet, and a little
+weight was granted them as the space-ship got under way. Stevens waved
+his arms vigorously at the stranger, pointing backward toward where he
+supposed their own craft to be. The latter waved an arm reassuringly,
+pressed a contact, and a section of the wall suddenly became
+transparent. Through it Stevens saw with satisfaction that the _Forlorn
+Hope_ was not being abandoned; in the grip of powerful tractor beams,
+every fragment of the wreckage was following close behind them in their
+flight through space.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Stevens and Nadia followed their guide along a corridor, through several
+doors, and into a large room, which at first glance seemed empty, but
+in which several of the peculiarly transparent people of the craft were
+lying about upon cushions. They were undoubtedly human--but what humans!
+Tall and reedy they were, with enormous barrel chests, topped by heads
+which, though really large, appeared insignificant because of the
+prodigious chests and because of the huge, sail-like, flapping ears.
+Their skins were a strikingly, livid, pale blue, absolutely devoid of
+hair; and their lidless eyes, without a sign of iris, were chillingly
+horrible in their stark contrast of enormous, glaring black pupil and
+ghastly, transparent blue eyeball.
+
+As the two Terrestrials entered the room, the beings struggled to their
+feet and hurried laboriously away. Soon one of them returned, dressed in
+an insulating suit, and carrying three sets of head harnesses, connected
+by multiplex cables to a large box which he placed upon the floor.
+He handed the headsets to the first officer, who in turn placed two of
+them at the feet of the Terrestrials, indicating to them that they were
+to follow his example in placing them upon their heads, outside the
+helmets. They did so, and even through the almost perfect insulation,
+and in spite of the powerful heaters of their suits, they felt a touch
+of frightful cold. The stranger turned a dial, and the two wanderers
+from Earth were instantly in full mental communication with Barkovis,
+the commander of a space-ship of Titan, the sixth satellite of Saturn!
+
+"Well, I'll be ... say, what is this, anyway?" Steve exclaimed
+involuntarily, and Nadia smiled as Barkovis answered with a thought,
+clearer than any spoken words.
+
+"It is a thought-exchanger. I do not know its fundamental mechanism,
+since we did not invent it and since I have had little time to study
+it. The apparatus, practically as you see it here, was discovered but a
+short time ago, in a small, rocket-propelled space-ship which we found
+some distance outside of the orbit of Jupiter. Its source of power had
+been destroyed by the cold of outer space, but re-powering it was, of
+course, a small matter. The crew of the vessel were all dead. They
+were, however, of human stock, and of a type adapted for life upon
+a satellite. I deduce, from your compact structure, your enormous
+atmospheric pressure, and your, to us, unbelievably high body
+temperature, that you must be planet-dwellers. I suppose that you
+are natives of Jupiter?"
+
+"Not quite." Stevens had in a measure recovered from his stunned
+surprise. "We are from Tellus, the third planet," and he revealed
+rapidly the events leading up to their present situation, concluding:
+"The people in the other sphere were, we believe, natives of Jupiter or
+of one of the satellites. We know nothing of them, since we could not
+look through their screens. You rescued us from them; do you not know
+them?"
+
+"No. Our visirays also were stopped by their screens of force--screens
+entirely foreign to our science. This is the first time that any
+vessel from our Saturnian system has ever succeeded in reaching the
+neighborhood of Jupiter. We came in peace, but they attacked us at sight
+and we were obliged to destroy them. Now we must hurry back to Titan,
+for two reasons. First, because we are already at the extreme limit
+of our power range and Jupiter is getting further and further away
+from Saturn. Second because our mirrors, which we had thought perfect
+reflectors of all frequencies possible of generation, are not perfect.
+Enough of those forces came through the mirrors to volatilize half our
+crew, and in a few minutes more none of us would have been left alive.
+Why, in some places our very atmosphere became almost hot enough to melt
+water! If another of those vessels should attack us, in all probability
+we should all be lost. Therefore we are leaving as rapidly as is
+possible."
+
+"You are taking the pieces of our ship along--we do not want to encumber
+you."
+
+"It is no encumbrance, since we have ample supplies of power. In fact,
+we are now employing the highest acceleration we Titanians can endure
+for any length of time."
+
+Stevens pondered long, forgetting that his thoughts were plain as print
+to the Titanian commander. Thank Heaven these strangers had sense enough
+to be friendly--all intelligent races should be friends, for mutual
+advancement. But it was a mighty long stretch to Saturn and this
+acceleration wasn't so much. How long would it take to get there? Could
+they get back? Wouldn't they save time by casting themselves adrift,
+making the repairs most urgently needed, and going back to Ganymede
+under their own power? But would they have enough power left in the
+wreck to get even that far? And how about the big tube? He was
+interrupted by an insistent thought from Barkovis.
+
+"You will save time, Stevens, by coming with us to Titan. There we shall
+aid you in repairing your vessel and in completing your transmitting
+tube, in which we shall be deeply interested. Our power plants shall
+supply you with energy for your return journey until you are close
+enough to Jupiter to recover your own beam. You are tired. I would
+suggest that you rest--that you sleep long and peacefully."
+
+"You seem to be handling the _Forlorn Hope_ without any trouble--the
+pieces aren't grinding at all. We'd better live there, hadn't we?"
+
+"Yes that would be best, for all of us. You could not live a minute here
+without your suits; and, efficiently insulated as those suits are, yet
+your incandescent body temperature makes our rooms unbearably hot--so
+hot that any of us must wear a space-suit while in the same room with
+you, to avoid being burned to death."
+
+"The incandescently hot" Terrestrials were wafted into the open airlock
+of their lifeboat upon a wand of force, and soon had prepared a long
+overdue supper, over which Stevens cast his infectious, boyish grin at
+Nadia.
+
+"Sweetheart, you are undoubtedly a 'warm number,' and you have often
+remarked that I 'burn you up.' Nevertheless I think that we were both
+considerably surprised to discover that we are both hot enough actually
+to consume persons unfortunate enough to be confined in the same room
+with us!"
+
+"You're funny, Steve--like a crutch," she rebuked him, but smiled back,
+an elusive dimple playing in one lovely brown cheek. "Looking right
+through anybody is too ghastly for words, but I think they're perfectly
+all x, anyway, in spite of their being so hideous and so cold-blooded!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A Frigid Civilization
+
+
+"Hi, Percival Van Schravendyck Stevens!" Nadia strode purposely into
+Stevens' room and seized him by the shoulder. "Are you going to sleep
+all the way to Saturn? You answered me when I pounded on the partition
+with a hammer, but I don't believe that you woke up at all. Get up,
+you--breakfast will be all spoiled directly!"
+
+"Huh?" Stevens opened one sluggish eye; then, as the full force of the
+insult penetrated his consciousness, he came wide awake. "Lay off those
+names, ace, or you'll find yourself walking back home!" he threatened.
+
+"All x by me!" she retorted. "I might as well go home if you're going
+to sleep _all_ the time!" and she widened her expressive eyes at him
+impishly as she danced blithely back into the control room. As she went
+out she slammed his door with a resounding clang, and Stevens pried
+himself out of his bunk one joint at a time, dressed, and made himself
+presentable.
+
+"Gosh!" he yawned mightily as he joined the girl at breakfast. "I don't
+know when I've had such a gorgeous sleep. How do you get by on so
+little?"
+
+"I don't. I sleep a lot, but I do it every night, instead of working for
+four days and nights on end and then trying to make up all those four
+nights' sleep at once. I'm going to break you of that, too, Steve, if
+it's the last thing I ever do."
+
+"There might be certain advantages in it, at that," he conceded, "but
+sometimes you've got to do work when it's got to be done, instead of
+just between sleeps. However, I'll try to do better. Certainly it is
+a wonderful relief to get out of that mess, isn't it?"
+
+"I'll say it is! But I wish that those folks were more like people.
+They're nice, I think, really, but they're so ... so ... well, so
+ghastly that it simply gives me the blue shivers just to look at one
+of them!"
+
+"They're pretty gruesome, no fooling," he agreed, "but you get used to
+things like that. I just about threw a fit the first time I ever saw
+a Martian, and the Venerians are even worse in some ways--they're so
+clammy and dead-looking--but now I've got real friends on both planets.
+One thing, though, gives me the pip. I read a story a while ago--the
+latest best-seller thing of Thornton's named 'Interstellar Slush' or
+some such tr...."
+
+"Cleophora--An Interstellar Romance," she corrected him. "I thought it
+was wonderful!"
+
+"I didn't. It's fundamentally unsound. Look at our nearest neighbors,
+who probably came from the same original stock we did. A Tellurian
+can admire, respect, or like a Venerian, yes. But for _loving_ one of
+them--wow! Beauty is purely relative, you know. For instance, I think
+that you are the most perfectly beautiful thing I ever saw; but no
+Venerian would think so. Far from it. Any Martian that hadn't seen many
+of us would have to go rest his eyes after taking one good look at
+you. Considering what love means, it doesn't stand to reason that any
+Tellurian woman could possibly fall in love with any man not of her own
+breed. Any writer is wrong who indulges in interplanetary love affairs
+and mad passions. They simply don't exist. They _can't_ exist--they're
+against all human instincts."
+
+"Interplanetary--in this solar system--yes. But the Dacrovos were just
+like us, only nicer."
+
+"That's what gives me the pip. If our own cousins of the same solar
+system are so repulsive to us, how would we be affected by entirely
+alien forms of intelligence?"
+
+"May be you're right, of course--but you may be wrong, too," she
+insisted. "The Universe is big enough, so that people like the Dacrovos
+may possibly exist in it somewhere. May be the Big Three will discover a
+means of interstellar travel--then I'll get to see them myself, perhaps."
+
+"Yes, and _if_ we do, and _if_ you ever see any such people, I'll bet
+that the sight of them will make your hair curl right up into a ball,
+too! But about Barkovis--remember how diplomatic the thoughts were that
+he sent us? He described our structure as being 'compact,' but I got the
+undertone of his real thoughts, as well. Didn't you?"
+
+"Yes, now that you mention it, I did. He really thought that we were
+white-hot, under-sized, overpowered, warty, hairy, hideously opaque and
+generally repulsive little monstrosities--thoroughly unpleasant and
+distasteful. But he was friendly, just the same. Heavens, Steve! Do you
+suppose that he read our real thoughts, too?"
+
+"Sure he did; but he is intelligent enough to make allowances, the same
+as we are doing. He isn't any more insulted than we are. He knows that
+such feelings are ingrained and cannot be changed."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Breakfast over, they experienced a new sensation. For the first time in
+months they had nothing to do! Used as they were to being surrounded by
+pressing tasks, they enjoyed their holiday immensely for a few hours.
+Sitting idly at the communicator plate, they scanned the sparkling
+heavens with keen interest. Beneath them Jupiter was a brilliant
+crescent not far from the sun in appearance, which latter had already
+grown perceptibly smaller and less bright. Above them, and to their
+right, Saturn shone refulgently, his spectacular rings plainly visible.
+All about them were the glories of the firmament, which never fail to
+awe the most seasoned observer. But idleness soon became irksome to
+those two active spirits, and Stevens prowled restlessly about their
+narrow quarters.
+
+"I'm going to go to work before I go dippy," he soon declared. "They've
+got lots of power, and we can rig up a transmitter unit to send it over
+here to our receptor. Then I can start welding the old _Hope_ together
+without waiting until we get to Titan to start it. Think I'll signal
+Barkovis to come over, and see what he thinks about it."
+
+The Titanian commander approved the idea, and the transmitting field was
+quickly installed. Nadia insisted that she, too, needed to work, and
+that she was altogether too good a mechanic to waste; therefore the two
+again labored mightily together, day after day. But the girl limited
+rigidly their hours of work to those of the working day; and evening
+after evening Barkovis visited with them for hours. Dressed in his heavy
+space-suit and supported by a tractor beam well out of range of what
+seemed to him terrific heat radiated by the bodies of the Terrestrials,
+he floated along unconcernedly; while over the multiplex cable of the
+thought-exchanger he conversed with the man and woman seated just inside
+the open outer door of their air-lock. The Titanian's appetite for
+information was insatiable--particularly did he relish everything
+pertaining to the earth and to the other inner planets, forever barred
+to him and to his kind. In return Stevens and Nadia came gradually to
+know the story of the humanity of Titan.
+
+"I am glad beyond measure to have known you," Barkovis mused, one night.
+"Your existence proves that there is truth in mythology, as some of
+us have always believed. Your visit to Titan will create a furor in
+scientific circles, for you are impossibility incarnate--personifications
+of the preposterous. In you, wildest fancy had become commonplace.
+According to many of our scientists, it is utterly impossible for you
+to exist. Yet you say, and it must be, that there are millions upon
+millions of similar beings. Think of it! Venerians, Tellurians,
+Martians, the satellite dwellers of the lost space-ship, and us--so
+similar mentally, yet physically how different!"
+
+"But where does the mythology come in?" thought Nadia.
+
+"We have unthinkably ancient legends which say that once Titan was
+extremely hot, and that our remote ancestors were beings of fire, in
+whose veins ran molten water instead of blood. Since our recorded
+history goes back some tens of thousands of Saturnian years, and since
+in that long period there has been no measurable change in us, few
+of us have believed in the legends at all. They have been thought the
+surviving figments of a barbarous, prehistoric worship of the sun.
+However, such a condition is not in conflict with the known facts of
+cosmogony, and since there actually exists such a humanity as yours--a
+humanity whose bodily tissues actually _are_ composed largely of molten
+water--those ancient legends must indeed have been based upon truth.
+
+"What an evolution! Century after century of slowly decreasing
+temperature--one continuous struggle to adapt the physique to a
+constantly changing environment. First they must have tried to maintain
+their high temperature by covering and heating their cities.--Then,
+as vegetation died, they must have bred into their plants the ability
+to use as sap purely chemical liquids, such as our present natural
+fluids--which also may have been partly synthetic then--instead of the
+molten water to which they had been accustomed. They must have modified
+similarly the outer atmosphere; must have made it more reactive, to
+compensate for the lowered temperature at which metabolism must take
+place. As Titan grew colder and colder they probably dug their cities
+deeper and ever deeper; until humanity came finally to realize that it
+must itself change completely or perish utterly.
+
+"Then we may picture them as aiding evolution in changing their body
+chemistry. For thousands, and thousands of years there must have gone
+on the gradual adaptation of blood stream and tissue to more and more
+volatile liquids, and to lower and still lower temperatures. This must
+have continued until Titan arrived at the condition which has now
+obtained for ages--a condition of thermal equilibrium with space upon
+one hand and upon the other the sun, which changes appreciably only in
+millions upon millions of years. In equilibrium at last--with our bodily
+and atmospheric temperatures finally constant at their present values,
+which seem as low to you as yours appear high to us. Truly, an evolution
+astounding to contemplate!"
+
+"But how about power?" asked Stevens. "You seem to have all you want,
+and yet it doesn't stand to reason that there could be very much
+generated upon a satellite so old and so cold."
+
+"You are right. For ages there has been but little power produced
+upon Titan. Many cycles ago, however, our scientists had developed
+rocket-driven space-ships, with which they explored our neighboring
+satellites, and even Saturn itself. It is from power plants upon Saturn
+that we draw energy. Their construction was difficult in the extreme,
+since the pioneers had to work in braces because of the enormous force
+of gravity. Then, too, they had to be protected from the overwhelming
+pressure and poisonous qualities of the air, and insulated from a
+temperature far above the melting point of water. In such awful heat,
+of course, our customary building material, water, could not be
+employed...."
+
+"But all our instruments have indicated that Saturn is _cold_!" Stevens
+interrupted.
+
+"Its surface temperature, as read from afar, would be low," conceded
+Barkovis, "but the actual surface of the planet is extremely hot, and
+is highly volcanic. Practically none of its heat is radiated because of
+the great density and depth of its atmosphere, which extends for many
+hundreds of your kilometers. It required many thousands of lives and
+many years of time to build and install those automatic power plants,
+but once they were in operation, we were assured of power for many tens
+of thousands of years to come."
+
+"Our system of power transmission is more or less like yours, but we
+haven't anything like your range. Suppose you'd be willing to teach me
+the computation of your fields?"
+
+"Yes, we shall be glad to give you the formulae. Being an older race, it
+is perhaps natural that we should have developed certain refinements as
+yet unknown to you. But I am, I perceived, detaining you from your time
+of rest--goodbye," and Barkovis was wafted back toward his mirrored
+globe.
+
+"What do you make of this chemical solution blood of theirs, Steve?"
+asked Nadia, watching the placidly floating form of the Titanian
+captain.
+
+"Not much. I may have mentioned before that there are one or two, or
+perhaps even three men who are better chemists than I am. I gathered
+that it is something like a polyhydric alcohol and something like a
+substituted hydrocarbon, and yet different from either in that it
+contains flourin in loose combination. I think it is something that our
+Tellurian chemists haven't got yet; but they've got so many organic
+compounds now that they may have synthesized it, at that. You see,
+Titan's atmosphere isn't nearly as dense as ours, but what there is
+of it is pure dynamite. Ours is a little oxygen, mixed with a lot of
+inert ingredients. Theirs is oxygen, heavily laced with flourin. It's
+_reactive_, no fooling! However, something pretty violent must be
+necessary to carry on body reactions at such a temperature as theirs."
+
+"Probably; but I know even less about that kind of thing than you do.
+Funny, isn't it, the way he thinks 'water' when he means ice, and always
+thinks of our real water as being molten?"
+
+"Reasonable enough when you think about it. Temperature differences are
+logarithmic, you know, not arithmetic--the effective difference between
+his body temperature and ours is perhaps even greater than that between
+ours and that of melted iron. We never think of iron as being a liquid,
+you know."
+
+"That's right, too. Well, good night, Steve dear."
+
+"'Bye, little queen of space--see you at breakfast," and the _Forlorn
+Hope_ became dark and silent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Day after day the brilliant sphere flew toward distant Saturn, with the
+wreckage of the _Forlorn Hope_ in tow. Piece by piece that wreckage was
+brought together and held in place by the Titanian tractors; and slowly
+but steadily, under Stevens' terrific welding projector, the stubborn
+steel flowed together, once more to become a seamless, spaceworthy
+structure. And Nadia, the electrician, followed close behind the welder.
+Wielding torch, pliers and spanner with practised hand, she repaired or
+cut out of circuit the damaged accumulator cells and reunited the ends
+of each severed power lead. Understanding Nadia's work thoroughly, the
+Titanians were not particularly interested in it; but whenever Stevens
+made his way along an outside seam, he had a large and thrillingly
+horrified gallery. Everyone who could possibly secure permission to
+leave the sphere did so, each upon his own pencil of force, and went
+over to watch the welder. They did not come close to him--to venture
+within fifty feet of that slow moving spot of scintillating brilliance,
+even in a space-suit, meant death--but, poised around him in space, they
+watched with shuddering, incredulous amazement, the monstrous human
+being in whose veins ran molten water instead of blood; whose body was
+already so fiercely hot that it could exist unharmed while working
+practically without protection, upon _liquefied_ metal!
+
+Finally the welding was done. The insulating space was evacuated and
+held its vacuum--outer and inner shells were bottle-tight. The two
+mechanics heaved deep sighs of relief as they discarded their cumbersome
+armor and began to repair what few of their machine tools had been
+damaged by the slashing plane of force which had so neatly sliced the
+_Forlorn Hope_ into sections.
+
+"Say, big fellow, you're the guy that slings the ink, ain't you?" Nadia
+extinguished her torch and swaggered up to Stevens, hands on hips, her
+walk an exaggerated roll. "Write me out a long walk. This job's all
+played out, so I think I'll get me a good job on Titan. I said give me
+my time, you big stiff!"
+
+"You didn't say nothing!" growled Stevens in his deepest bass, playing
+up to her lead as he always did. "Bounce back, cub, you've struck a
+rubber fence! You signed on for duration and you'll stick--see?"
+
+Arm in arm they went over to the nearest communicator plate. Flipping
+the switch, Stevens turned the dial and Titan shone upon the screen; so
+close, that it no longer resembled a moon, but was a world toward which
+they were falling with an immense velocity.
+
+"Not close enough to make out much detail yet--let's take another
+look at Saturn," and Stevens projected the visiray beam out toward the
+mighty planet. It was now an enormous full moon, almost five degrees in
+apparent diameter,[1] its visible surface an expanse of what they knew
+to be billowing cloud, shining brilliantly white in the pale sunlight,
+broken only by a dark equatorial band.
+
+[Footnote 1: The moon subtends an angle of about one-half of a degree.]
+
+"Those rings were _such_ a gorgeous spectacle a little while ago!" Nadia
+mourned. "It's a shame that Titan has to be right in their plane, isn't
+it? Think of living this close to one of the most wonderful sights in
+the Solar System, and never being able to see it. Think they know what
+they're missing, Steve?"
+
+"We'll have to ask Barkovis," Stevens replied. He swung the communicator
+beam back toward Titan, and Nadia shuddered.
+
+"Oh, it's hideous!" she exclaimed. "I thought that it would improve as
+we got closer, but the plainer we can see it, the worse it gets. Just to
+think of human beings, even such cold-blooded ones as those over there,
+living upon such a horrible moon and _liking_ it, gives me the blue
+shivers!"
+
+"It's pretty bleak, no fooling," he admitted, and peered through the
+eyepiece of the visiray telescope, studying minutely the forbidding
+surface of the satellite they were so rapidly approaching.
+
+Larger and larger it loomed, a cratered, jagged globe of desolation
+indescribable; of sheer, bitter cold incarnate and palpable; of stark,
+sharp contrasts. Gigantic craters, in whose yawning depths no spark of
+warmth had been generated for countless cycles of time, were surrounded
+by vast plains eroded to the dead level of a windless sea. Every lofty
+object cast a sharply outlined shade of impenetrable blackness, beside
+which the weak light of the sun became a dazzling glare. The ground was
+either a brilliant white or an intense black, unrelieved by half-tones.
+
+"I can't hand it much, either, Nadia, but it's all in the way you've
+been brought up, you know. This is home to them, and just to look at
+Tellus would give them the pip. Ha! Here's something you'll like, even
+if it does look so cold that it makes me feel like hugging a couple of
+heater coils. It's Barkovis' city the one we're heading for, I think.
+It's close enough now so that we can get it on the plate," and he set
+the communicator beam upon the metropolis of Titan.
+
+"Why, I don't see a thing, Steve--where and what is it?" They were
+dropping vertically downward toward the center of a vast plain of white,
+featureless and desolate; and Nadia stared in disappointment.
+
+"You'll see directly--it's too good to spoil by telling you what to look
+for or wh...."
+
+"Oh, there it is!" she cried. "It _is_ beautiful, Steve, but how
+frightfully, utterly cold!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A flash of prismatic color had caught the girl's eye, and, one
+transparent structure thus revealed to her sight, there had burst into
+view a city of crystal. Low buildings of hexagonal shape, arranged
+in irregularly variant hexagonal patterns, extended mile upon mile.
+From the roofs of the structures lacy spires soared heavenward;
+inter-connected by long, slim cantilever bridges whose prodigious
+spans seemed out of all proportion to the gossamer delicacy of their
+construction. Buildings, spires, and bridges formed fantastic
+geometrical designs, at which Nadia exclaimed in delight.
+
+"I've just thought of what that reminds me of--it's snowflakes!"
+
+"Sure--I knew it was something familiar. Snowflakes--no two are ever
+exactly alike, and yet every one is symmetrical and hexagonal. We're
+going to land on the public square--see the crowds? Let's put on our
+suits and go out."
+
+The _Forlorn Hope_ lay in a hexagonal park, and near it the Titanian
+globe had also come to rest. All about the little plot towered the
+glittering buildings of crystal, and in its center played a fountain;
+a series of clear and sparkling cascades of liquid jewels. Under foot
+there spread a thick, soft carpet of whitely brilliant vegetation.
+Throngs of the grotesque citizens of Titania were massed to greet the
+space-ships; throngs clustering close about the globular vessel, but
+maintaining a respectful distance from the fiercely radiant Terrestrial
+wedge. All were shouting greetings and congratulations--shouts which
+Stevens found as intelligible as his own native tongue.
+
+"Why, I can understand every word they say, Steve!" Nadia exclaimed, in
+surprise. "How come, do you suppose?"
+
+"I can, too. Don't know--must be from using that thought telephone of
+theirs so much, I guess. Here comes Barkovis--I'll ask him."
+
+The Titanian commander had been in earnest conversation with a group of
+fellow-creatures and was now walking toward the Terrestrials, carrying
+the multiple headsets. Placing them upon the white sward, he backed
+away, motioning the two visitors to pick them up.
+
+"It may not be necessary, Barkovis," Stevens said, slowly and clearly.
+"We do not know why, but we can understand what your people are saying,
+and it may be that you can now understand us."
+
+"Oh, yes, I can understand your English perfectly. A surprising
+development, but perhaps, after all, one that should have been expected,
+from the very nature of the device we have been using. I wanted to tell
+you that I have just received grave news, which makes it impossible for
+us to help you immediately, as I promised. While we were gone, one of
+our two power-plants upon Saturn failed. In consequence, Titan's power
+has been cut to a minimum, since maintaining our beam at that great
+distance required a large fraction of the output of the other plant.
+Because of this lack, the Sedlor walls were weakened to such a point
+that in spite of the Guardian's assurances, I think trouble is
+inevitable. At all events, it is of the utmost importance that we begin
+repairing the damaged unit, for that is to be a task indeed."
+
+"Yes, it will take time," agreed Stevens, remembering what the
+Titanian captain had told him concerning the construction of those
+plants--generators which had been in continuous and automatic operation
+for thousands of Saturnian years.
+
+"It will take more than time--it will take lives," replied Barkovis,
+gravely. "Scores, perhaps hundreds, of us will never again breathe the
+clear, pure air of Titan. In spite of all precaution and all possible
+bracing and insulation, man after man after man will be crushed by
+his own weight, volatilized by the awful heat, poisoned by the foul
+atmosphere, or will burst into unthinkable flames at the touch of some
+flying spark from the inconceivably hot metals with which we shall have
+to work. A horrible fate, but we shall not lack for volunteers."
+
+"Sure not; and of course you yourself would go. And I never thought of
+the effect a spark would have on you--your tissues would probably be
+wildly inflammable. But say, I just had a thought. Just how hot is the
+air at those plants and just what is the actual pressure?"
+
+"According to the records, the temperature is some forty of your
+centigrade degrees above the melting-point of water, and the pressure
+is not far short of two of your meters of mercury. I find it almost
+impossible to think of mercury as a liquid, however."
+
+"You find it impossible, since you use it as a metal, for wires in coils
+and so on. But plus forty, while pretty warm, isn't impossible, by any
+means; and we could stand double our air pressure for quite a while.
+Both my partner and I are pretty fair mechanics and we've got quite a
+line of machine tools, such as you could not possibly have here. We'll
+give it a whirl, since we owe you something already. Lead us to it,
+ace--but wait a minute! We can't see through the fog, so couldn't find
+the plants, and probably your wiring diagrams would explode if I touched
+them."
+
+"I never thought of your helping us," mused Barkovis. "The idea of any
+living being existing in that inferno has always been unthinkable, but
+the difficulties you mention are slight. We have already built in our
+vessel communicators similar to yours, and radio sets. With these we can
+guide you and explain the plants to you as you work, and our tractor
+beams will be of assistance to you in moving heavy objects, even at such
+distances from the surface as we Titanians shall have to maintain. If
+you will set out a flask of your atmosphere, we will analyze it, for the
+thought has come to me that perhaps, being planet-dwellers yourselves,
+the air of Saturn might not be as poisonous to you as it is to us."
+
+"That's a thought, too," and, the news broadcast, it was not long until
+the two ships leaped into the air, to the accompaniment of the cheers
+and plaudits of a watching multitude.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a wide curve they sped toward Saturn. Passing so close to the
+enormous rings that the individual meteoric fragments could almost be
+seen with the unaided eye, they flashed on and on, slowing down long
+before they approached the upper surface of the envelope of cloud.
+The spherical space-ship stopped and Stevens, staring into his useless
+screen, drove the _Forlorn Hope_ downward mile after mile, solely under
+Barkovis' direction, changing course and power from time to time as the
+Titanian's voice came from the speaker at his elbow. Slower and slower
+became the descent, until finally, almost upon the broad, flat roof
+of the power-plant, Stevens saw it in his plate. Breathing deeply in
+relief, he dropped quickly down upon a flat pavement, neutralized his
+controls, and turned to Nadia.
+
+"Well, old golf-shootist, we're here at last--now we'll go out and see
+what's gone screwy with the works. Remember that gravity is about double
+normal here, and conduct yourself accordingly."
+
+"But it's supposed to be only about nine-tenths," she objected.
+
+"That's at the outer surface of the atmosphere," he replied. "And it's
+_some_ atmosphere--not like the thin layer we've got on Tellus."
+
+They went into the airlock, and Stevens admitted air until their
+suits began to collapse. Then, face-plate valves cracked, he sniffed
+cautiously, finally opening his helmet wide. Nadia followed suit and
+the man laughed as she wrinkled her nose in disgust as two faint, but
+unmistakable odors smote her olfactory nerves.
+
+"I never cared particularly for hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide,
+either," he assured her, "but they aren't strong enough to hurt us in
+the short time we'll be here. Those Titanian chemists know their stuff,
+though."
+
+He opened the outer valves slowly, then opened the door and they stepped
+down upon the smooth, solid floor, which Stevens examined carefully.
+
+"I thought so, from his story. Solid platinum! This whole plant is
+built of platinum, iridium, and noble alloys--the only substances known
+that will literally last forever. Believe me, ace of my bosom, I don't
+wonder that it cost them lives to build it--with their conditions, I
+don't see how they ever got it built at all."
+
+Before them rose an immense, flat-topped cone of metal, upon the top of
+which was situated the power plant. Twelve massive pillars supported a
+flat roof, but permitted the air to circulate freely throughout the one
+great room which housed the machinery. They climbed a flight of stairs,
+passed between two pillars, and stared about them. There was no noise,
+no motion--there was nothing that _could_ move. Twelve enormous masses
+of metallic checkerwork, covered with wide cooling fins, almost filled
+the vast hall. From the center of each mass great leads extended out
+into a clear space in the middle of the room, there uniting in mid-air
+to form one enormous bus-bar. This bar, thicker than a man's body, had
+originally curved upward to the base of an immense parabolic structure
+of latticed bars. Now, however, it was broken in midspan and the two
+ends bent toward the floor. Above their heads, a jagged hole gaped in
+the heavy metal of the roof, and a similar hole had been torn in the
+floor. The bar had been broken and these holes had been made by some
+heavy body, probably a meteorite, falling with terrific velocity.
+
+"This is it, all right," Stevens spoke to distant Barkovis. "Sure
+there's nothing on this beam? If it should be hot and I should short
+circuit or bridge it with my body, it would be just too bad."
+
+"We have made sure that nothing is connected to it," the Titanian
+assured him. "Do you think you can do anything?"
+
+"Absolutely. We've got jacks that'll bend heavier stuff than that, and
+after we get it straightened the welding will be easy, but I'll have
+to have some metal. Shall I cut a piece off the pavement outside?"
+
+"That will not be necessary. You will find ample stores of spare metal
+piled at the base of each pillar."
+
+"All x. Now we'll get the jack, Nadia," and they went back to their
+vessel, finding that upon Saturn, their combined strength was barely
+sufficient to drag the heavy tool along the floor.
+
+"Stand aside, please. We will place it for you," a calm voice sounded in
+their ears, and a pale blue tractor beam picked the massive jack lightly
+from the floor, and as lightly lifted it to its place beneath the broken
+bus-bar and held it there while Stevens piled blocks and plates of
+platinum beneath its base.
+
+"Well, here's where I peel down as far as the law allows. This is going
+to be real work, girl--no fooling. It'd help a lot if this outfit were
+sending out a few thousand kilo-franks instead of standing idle."
+
+"How would that help?"
+
+"It's a heat-engine, you know--works by absorbing heat. The cold air
+sinks--I imagine it pretty nearly blows a gale down the side of this
+cone when it's working--and hot air rushes in to take its place. I could
+use a little cool breeze right now," and Stevens, stripped to the waist,
+bent to the lever of the powerful hydraulic jack.
+
+Beads of sweat gathered upon his broad back, uniting to form tiny
+rivulets, and the girl became highly concerned about him.
+
+"Let me help you, Steve--I'm pretty husky, too, you know."
+
+"Sure you are, ace, but this is a job for a truck-horse, not a
+tenderly-nurtured maiden of the upper classes. You can help, though, by
+breaking out that welding outfit and getting it ready while I'm doing
+this bending to prepare for the welding."
+
+Under the urge of that mighty jack the ends of the broken bus-bar rose
+into place, while far off in space the Titanians clustered about their
+visiray screens, watching, in almost unbelieving amazement, the
+supernatural being who labored in that reeking inferno of heat and
+poisonous vapor--who labored almost naked and entirely unprotected,
+refreshing himself from time to time with drafts of molten water!
+
+"All x, Barkovis--that's high, I guess." Stevens flipped perspiration
+from his hot forehead with a wet finger and straightened his weary back.
+"Now you can put this jack away where we had it. Then you might trundle
+me over enough of that spare metal to fill up this hole, and I'll put on
+my suit and goggles and practice welding on this floor and the roof, to
+get the feel of the metal before I tackle the bar."
+
+The hole in the floor was filled with scrap and soon sparks were flying
+wildly as the searing beam of Stevens' welding projector bit viciously
+into the stubborn alloy of noble metals; fashioning a smooth, solid
+floor where the yawning aperture had been. Then, lifted with his tools
+and plates to the roof, the man repaired that hole also.
+
+"Now I know enough about it to do a good job on the bar," he decided,
+and brick after brick of alloy was fused into the crack, until only a
+smoothly rounded bulge betrayed that a break had ever existed in that
+mighty rod of metal.
+
+"Give 'em the signal to draw power, and see if that's all that was the
+matter," Stevens instructed, as he relaxed in the grateful coolness of
+their control room. "Whew, that was a warm job, Nadia--and this air of
+ours does smell good!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"It was a horrible job, and I'm glad it's done," she declared. "But say,
+Steve, that thing looks as little like a power-plant as anything I can
+imagine. How does it work? You said that it worked on heat, but I don't
+quite see how. But don't draw diagrams and _please_ don't integrate!"
+
+"No ordinary plant such as we use could run for centuries
+without attention," he replied. "This is a highly advanced
+heat-engine--something like a thermo-couple, you know. This whole thing
+is simply the hot end, connected to the cold end on Titan by a beam
+instead of wires. When it's working, this metal must cool off something
+fierce. That's what the checkerwork and fins are for--so that it can
+absorb the maximum amount of heat from the current of hot, moist air
+I spoke about. It's a sweet system--we'll have to rig up one between
+Tellus and the moon. Or even between the Equator and the Arctic Circle
+there'd be enough thermal differential to give us a million kilofranks.
+We haven't got the all x signal yet, but it's working--look at it sweat
+as it cools down!"
+
+"I'll say it's sweating--the water is simply streaming off it!" In their
+plate they saw that moisture was already beginning to condense upon the
+heat-absorber: moisture running down the fins in streams and creeping
+over the dull metal floor in sluggish sheets; moisture which, turning
+into ice in the colder interior of the checkerwork, again became fluid
+at the inrush of hot, wet Saturnian air.
+
+"There's the signal--all x, Barkovis? By the way it's condensing water,
+it seems to be functioning again."
+
+"Perfect!" came the Titanian's enthusiastic reply, "You two
+planet-dwellers have done more in three short hours than the entire
+force of Titan could have accomplished in months. You have earned, and
+shall receive, the highest...."
+
+"As you were, ace!" Stevens interrupted, embarrassed. "This job was just
+like shooting fish down a well, for us. Since you saved our lives, we
+owe you a lot yet. We're coming out--straight up!"
+
+The _Forlorn Hope_ shot upward, through mile after mile of steaming fog,
+until at last she broke through into the light, clear outer atmosphere.
+Stevens located the Titanian space-ship, and the two vessels once more
+hurtling together through the ether toward Titan, he turned to his
+companion.
+
+"Take the controls, will you, Nadia? Think I'll finish up the tube. I
+brought along a piece of platinum from the power plant, and something
+that I think is tantalum from Barkovis' description of it. With those
+and the fractions we melted out, I think I can make everything we'll
+need."
+
+Now that he had comparatively pure metal with which to work, drawing
+the leads and filaments was relatively a simple task. Working over
+the hot-bench with torch and welding projector, he made short work of
+running the leads through the almost plastic glass of the great tube and
+of sealing them in place. The plates and grids presented more serious
+problems; but they were solved and, long before Titan was reached, the
+tube was out in space, supported by a Titanian tractor beam between the
+two vessels. Stevens came into the shop, holding a modified McLeod gauge
+which he had just taken from the interior of the tube. When it had come
+to equilibrium, he read it carefully and yelled.
+
+"Eureka, little fellow! She's down to where I can't read it, even on
+this big gauge--so hard that it won't need flashing--harder than any
+vacuum I ever got on Tellus, even with a Rodebush-Michalek super-pump!"
+
+"But how about occluded and absorbed gas in the filaments and so on when
+they heat up?" demanded Nadia, practically.
+
+"All gone, ace. I out-gassed 'em plenty out there--seven times, almost
+to fusion. There isn't enough gas left in the whole thing to make a deep
+breath for a microbe."
+
+He took up his welding projector and a beam carried him back to the
+tube. There, in the practically absolute vacuum of space, the last
+openings in the glass were sealed, and man and great transmitting tube
+were wafted lightly back into the Terrestrial cruiser.
+
+Hour after hour mirrored Titanian sphere and crude-fashioned terrestrial
+wedge bored serenely on through space, and it was not until Titan loomed
+large beneath them that the calm was broken by an insistent call from
+Titan to the sphere.
+
+"Barkodar, attention! Barkodar, attention!" screamed from the speakers,
+and they heard Barkovis acknowledge the call.
+
+"The Sedlor have broken through and are marching upon Titania. The order
+has gone out for immediate mobilization of every unit."
+
+"There's that word 'Sedlor' again--what are they, anyway, Steve?"
+demanded Nadia.
+
+"I don't know. I was going to ask him when he sprung it on us first, but
+he was pretty busy then and I haven't thought of it since. Something
+pretty serious, though--they've jumped their acceleration almost to
+Tellurian gravity, and none of them can live through much of that."
+
+"Tellurians?" came the voice of Barkovis from the speaker. "We have
+just...."
+
+"All x--we were on your wave and heard it," interrupted Stevens. "We're
+with you. What are those Sedlor, anyway? Maybe we can help you dope out
+something."
+
+"Perhaps--but whatever you do, do not use your heat-projector. That
+would start a conflagration raging over the whole country, and we shall
+have enough to do without fighting fire. But it may be that you have
+other weapons, of which we are ignorant, and I can use a little time in
+explanation before we arrive. The Sedlor are a form of life, something
+like your..." he paused, searching through his scanty store of Earthly
+knowledge, then went on, doubtfully, "perhaps some thing like your
+insects. They developed a sort of intelligence, and because of their
+fecundity, adapted themselves to their environment as readily as did
+man; and for ages they threatened man's supremacy upon Titan. They
+devoured vegetation, crops, animals, and mankind. After a world-wide
+campaign, however, they were finally exterminated, save in the
+neighborhood of one great volcanic crater, which they so honeycombed
+that it is almost impregnable. All around that district we have erected
+barriers of force, maintained by a corps of men known as 'Guardians of
+the Sedlor.' These barriers extend so far into the ground and so high
+into the air that the Sedlor can neither burrow beneath them nor fly
+over them. They were being advanced as rapidly as possible, and in a
+few more years the insects would have been destroyed completely--but
+now they are again at large. They have probably developed an armor or
+a natural resistance greater than the Guardians thought possible, so
+that when the walls were weakened, they came through in their millions,
+underground and undetected. They are now attacking our nearest city--the
+one you know, and which you have called Titania."
+
+"What do you use--those high-explosive bombs?"
+
+"The bombs were developed principally for use against them, but proved
+worse than useless, for we found that when a Sedlor was blown to pieces,
+each piece forthwith developed into a new, complete creature. Our most
+efficient weapons are our heat rays--not yours remember--and poison gas.
+I must prepare our arms."
+
+"Would our heat-ray actually set them afire, Steve?" Nadia asked, as the
+plate went blank.
+
+"I'll say it would. I'll show you what heat means to them--showing
+you will be plainer than any amount of explanation," and he shot the
+visiray beam down toward the city of Titania. Into a low-lying building
+it went, and Nadia saw a Titanian foundry in full operation. Men clad
+in asbestos armor were charging, tending, and tapping great electric
+furnaces and crucibles; shrinking back and turning their armored heads
+away as the hissing, smoking melt crackled into the molds from their
+long-handled ladles. Nadia studied the foundry for a moment, interested,
+but unimpressed.
+
+"Of course it's hot there--foundries always _are_ hot," she argued.
+
+"Yes, but you haven't got the idea yet." Stevens turned again to the
+controls, following the sphere toward what was evidently a line of
+battle. "That stuff that they are melting and casting and that is so
+hot, is not metal, but _ice!_ Remember that the vital fluid of all life
+here, animal and vegetable, corresponding to our water, is probably
+more inflammable than gasoline. If they can't work on ice-water without
+wearing suits of five-ply asbestos, what would a real heat-ray do to
+them? It'd be about like our taking a dive into the sun!"
+
+"_Ice_!" she exclaimed. "Oh of course--but you couldn't really believe
+a thing like that without seeing it, could you? Oh, Steve--how utterly
+horrible!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The "Barkodar" had dropped down into a line of sister ships, and had
+gone into action in midair against a veritable swarm of foes. Winged
+centipedes they were--centipedes fully six feet long, hurling themselves
+along the ground and through the air in furious hordes. From the flying
+globes emanated pale beams of force, at the touch of which the Sedlor
+disappeared in puffs of vapor. Upon the ground huge tractors and trucks,
+manned by masked soldiery, mounted mighty reflectors projecting the same
+lethal beam. From globes and tanks there sounded a drumming roar and
+small capsules broke in thousands among the foe; emitting a red cloud of
+gas in which the centipedes shriveled and died. But for each one that
+was destroyed two came up from holes in the ground and the battle-line
+fell back toward Titania, back toward a long line of derrick-like
+structures which were sinking force-rods into the ground in furious
+haste.
+
+Stevens flashed on his ultra-violet projector and swung it into the
+thickest ranks of the enemy. In the beam many of the monsters died,
+but the Terrestrial ray was impotent compared with the weapons of the
+Titanians, and Stevens, snapping off the beam with a bitter imprecation,
+shot the visiray out toward the bare, black cone of the extinct volcano
+and studied it with care.
+
+"Barkovis, I've got a thought!" he snapped into the microphone. "Their
+stronghold is in that mountain, and there's millions of them in there
+yet, coming out along their tunnels. They've got all the vegetation
+eaten away for miles, so there's nothing much left there to spread a
+fire if I go to work on that hill, and, I'll probably melt enough water
+to put out most of the fires I start. Detail me a couple of ships to
+drop your fire-foam bombs on any little blazes that may spread, and I'll
+give them so much to worry about at home, that they'll forget all about
+Titania."
+
+The _Forlorn Hope_ darted toward the crater, followed closely by two of
+the dazzling globes. They circled the mountain until Stevens found a
+favorable point of attack--a stupendous vertical cliff of mingled rock
+and crystal, upon the base of which he trained his terrific infra-red
+projector.
+
+"I'm going to draw a lot of power," he warned the Titanians then. "I'm
+giving this gun everything she'll take."
+
+He drove the massive switches in, and as that dull red beam struck the
+cliff's base there was made evident the awful effect of a concentrated
+beam of real and pure heat upon such an utterly frigid world. Vast
+columns of fire roared aloft, helping Stevens, melting and destroying
+the very ground as the bodies of the Sedlor in that gigantic ant-heap
+burst into flames. Clouds of superheated steam roared upward, condensing
+into a hot rain which descended in destructive torrents upon the
+fastnesses of the centipedes. As the raging beam ate deeper and deeper
+into the base of the cliff, the mountain itself began to disintegrate;
+block after gigantic block breaking off and crashing down into the
+flaming, boiling, seething cauldron which was the apex of that ravening
+beam.
+
+Hour after hour Stevens drove his intolerable weapon into the great
+mountain, teeming with Sedlorean life; and hour after hour a group of
+Titanian spheres stood by, deluging the surrounding plain with a flood
+of heavy fumes, through which the holocaust could not spread for lack of
+oxygen. Not until the mountain was gone--not until in its stead there
+lay a furiously boiling lake, its flaming surface hundreds of feet below
+the level of the plain--did Stevens open his power circuits and point
+the deformed prow of the _Forlorn Hope_ toward Titania.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+The Return to Ganymede
+
+
+"Must you go back to Ganymede?" Barkovis asked, slowly and
+thoughtfully. He was sitting upon a crystal bench beside the fountain,
+talking with Stevens, who, dressed in his bulging space-suit, stood near
+an airlock of the _Forlorn Hope_. "It seems a shame that you should face
+again those unknown, monstrous creatures who so inexcusably attacked us
+both without provocation."
+
+"I'm not so keen on it myself, but I can't see any other way out of it,"
+the Terrestrial replied. "We left a lot of our equipment there, you
+know; and even if I should build duplicates here, it wouldn't do us any
+good. These ten-nineteens are the most powerful transmitting tubes known
+when we left Tellus, but even their fields, dense as they are, can't
+hold an ultra-beam together much farther than about six astronomical
+units. So you see we can't possibly reach our friends from here with
+this tube; and your system of beam transmission won't hold anything
+together even that far, and won't work on any wave shorter than Roeser's
+Rays. We may run into some more of those little spheres, though, and I
+don't like the prospect. I wonder if we couldn't plate a layer of that
+mirror of yours upon the _Hope_ and carry along a few of those bombs? By
+the way, what is that explosive--or is it something beyond Tellurian
+chemistry?"
+
+"Its structure should be clear to you, although you probably could not
+prepare it upon Tellus because of your high temperature. It is nothing
+but nitrogen--twenty-six atoms of nitrogen combined to form one molecule
+of what you would call--N-twenty-six?"
+
+"Wow!" Stevens whistled. "Crystalline, pentavalent nitrogen--no wonder
+it's violent!"
+
+"We could, of course, cover your vessel with the mirror, but I am afraid
+that it would prove of little value. The plates are so hot that it would
+soon volatilize."
+
+"Not necessarily," argued Stevens. "We could live in number one
+life-boat, and shut off the heat everywhere else. The life-boats are
+insulated from the structure proper, and the inner and outer walls of
+the structure are insulated from each other. With only the headquarters
+lifeboat warm, the outer wall could be held pretty close to zero
+absolute."
+
+"That is true. The bombs, of course, are controlled by radio, and
+therefore may be attached to the outer wall of your vessel. We shall be
+glad to do these small things for you."
+
+The heaters of the _Forlorn Hope_ were shut off, and as soon as the
+outer shell had cooled to Titanian temperature, a corps of mechanics set
+to work. A machine very like a concrete mixer was rolled up beside the
+steel vessel, and into its capacious maw were dumped boxes and barrels
+of dry ingredients and many cans of sparkling liquid. The resultant
+paste was pumped upon the steel plating in a sluggish, viscid stream,
+which spread out into a thick and uniform coating beneath the flying
+rollers of the skilled Titanian workmen. As it hardened, the paste
+smoothed magically into the perfect mirror which covered the
+space-vessels of the satellite; and a full dozen of the mirror explosive
+bombs of this strange people were hung in the racks already provided.
+
+"Once again I must caution you concerning those torpedoes," Barkovis
+warned Stevens. "If you use them all, very well, but do not try to take
+even one of them into any region where it is very hot, for it will
+explode and demolish your vessel. If you do not use them, destroy them
+before you descend into the hot atmosphere of Ganymede. The mirror will
+volatilize harmlessly at the temperature of melting mercury, but the
+torpedoes must be destroyed. Once more, Tellurians, we thank you for
+what you have done, and wish you well."
+
+"Thanks a lot for _your_ help--we still owe you something," replied
+Stevens. "If either of your power-plants go sour on you again, or if
+you need any more built, be sure to let us know--you can come close
+enough to the inner planets now on your own beam to talk to us on the
+ultra-communicator. We'll be glad to help you any way we can--and we may
+call on you for help again. Goodbye, Barkovis--goodbye, all Titania!"
+
+He made his way through the bitterly cold shop into the control-room of
+their lifeboat, and while he was divesting himself of his heavy suit,
+Nadia lifted the _Forlorn Hope_ into the blue-green sky of Titan,
+accompanied by an escort of the mirrored globes. Well clear of the
+atmosphere of the satellite, the terrestrial cruiser shot forward at
+normal acceleration, while the Titanian vessels halted and wove a
+pattern of blue and golden rays in salute to the departing guests.
+
+"Well, Nadia, we're off--on a long trek, too."
+
+"Said Wun Long Hop, the Chinese pee-lo," Nadia agreed. "Sure
+everything's all x, big boy?"
+
+"To nineteen decimals," he declared. "You couldn't squeeze another frank
+into our accumulators with a proof-bar, and since they're sending us all
+the power we want to draw, we won't need to touch our batteries or tap
+our own beam until we're almost to Jupiter. To cap the climax, what it
+takes to make big medicine on those spherical friends of ours, we've
+got. We're not sitting on top of the world, ace--we've perched exactly
+at the apex of the entire universe!"
+
+"How long is it going to take?"
+
+"Don't know. Haven't figured it yet, but it'll be _beaucoup_ days," and
+the two wanderers from far-distant Earth settled down to the routine of
+a long and uneventful journey.
+
+They gave Saturn and his spectacular rings a wide berth and sped on,
+with ever-increasing velocity. Past the outer satellites, on and on,
+the good ship _Forlorn Hope_ flew into the black-and-brilliant depths of
+interplanetary space. Saturn was an ever-diminishing disk beneath them:
+above them was Jupiter's thin crescent, growing ever larger and more
+bright, and the Monarch of the Solar System, remaining almost stationary
+day after day, increasing steadily in apparent diameter and in
+brilliance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Although the voyage from Titan to Ganymede was long, it was not
+monotonous, for there was much work to be done in the designing and
+fabrication of the various units which were to comprise the ultra-radio
+transmitting station. In the various compartments of the _Forlorn Hope_
+there were sundry small motors, blowers, coils, condensers, force-field
+generators, and other items which Stevens could use with little or no
+alteration; but for the most part he had to build everything himself.
+Thus it was that time passed quickly; so quickly that Jupiter loomed
+large and the Saturnian beam of power began to attenuate almost before
+the Terrestrials realized that their journey was drawing to an end.
+
+"Our beam's falling apart fast," Stevens read his meters carefully, then
+swung his communicator beam toward Jupiter. "We aren't getting quite
+enough power to hold our acceleration at normal--think I'll cut now,
+while we're still drawing enough to let the Titanians know we're off
+their beam. We've got lots of power of our own now; and we're getting
+pretty close to enemy territory, so they may locate that heavy beam.
+Have you found Ganymede yet?"
+
+"Yes, it will be on the other side of Jupiter by the time we get there.
+Shall I detour, or put on a little more negative and wait for it to come
+around to this side?"
+
+"Better wait, I think. The farther away we stay from Jupiter and the
+major satellites, the better."
+
+"All x--it's on. Suppose we'd better start standing watches, in case
+some of them show up?"
+
+"No use," he dissented. "I've been afraid to put out our
+electromagnetic detectors, as they could surely trace them in use.
+Without them, we couldn't spot an enemy ship even if we were looking
+right at it, except by accident; since they won't be lighted up and
+it's awfully hard to see anything out here, anyway. We probably won't
+know they're within a million kilometers until they put a beam on us.
+Barkovis says that this mirror will reflect any beam they can use, and
+I've already got a set of photo-cells in circuit to ring an alarm at
+the first flash off of our mirror plating. I'd like to get in the first
+licks myself, but I haven't been able to dope out any way of doing it.
+So you might as well sleep in your own room, as usual, and I'll camp
+here right under the panel until we get to Ganymede. There's a couple
+of little things I just thought of, though, that may help some; and
+I'm going to do 'em right now."
+
+Putting on his space-suit, he picked up a power drill and went out into
+the bitter cold of the outer structure. There he attacked the inner
+wall of their vessel, and the carefully established inter-wall vacuum
+disappeared in a screaming hiss of air as the tempered point bit through
+plate after plate.
+
+"What's the idea, Steve?" Nadia asked, when he had re-entered the
+control room. "Now you'll have all that pumping to do over again."
+
+"Protection for the mirrors," he explained. "You see, they aren't
+perfect reflectors. There's a little absorption, so that some stuff
+comes through. Not much, of course; but enough to kill some of those
+Titanians and almost enough to ruin their ship got through in about ten
+minutes, and only one enemy was dealing it out. We can stand more than
+they could, of course, but the mirror itself won't stand much more heat
+than it was absorbing then. But with air in those spaces instead of
+vacuum, and with the whole mass of the _Hope_, except this one lifeboat,
+as cold as it is, I figure that there'll be enough conduction and
+convection through them to keep the outer wall and the mirror cold--cool
+enough, at least, to hold the mirror on for an hour. If only one ship
+tackles us, it won't be bad--but I figure that if there's only one,
+we're lucky."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Stevens' fears were only too well grounded, for during the "evening" of
+the following day, while he was carefully scanning the heavens for some
+sign of enemy craft, the alarm bell over his head burst into its brazen
+clamor. Instantly he shot out the detectors and ultra-lights and saw not
+one, but six of the deadly globes--almost upon them, at point-blank
+range! One was already playing a beam of force upon the _Forlorn Hope_,
+and the other five went into action immediately upon feeling the
+detector impulses and perceiving that the weapon of their sister ship
+had encountered an unusual resistance in the material of that peculiarly
+mirrored wedge. As those terrific forces struck her, the terrestrial
+cruiser became a vast pyrotechnic set piece, a dazzling fountain of
+coruscant brilliance: for the mirror held. The enemy beams shot back
+upon themselves and rebounded in all directions, in the same spectacular
+exhibition of frenzied incandescence which had marked the resistance of
+the Titanian sphere to a similar attack.
+
+But Stevens was not idle. In the instant of launching his detectors,
+as fast as he could work the trips, four of the frightful nitrogen
+bombs of Titan--all that he could handle at once--shot out into space,
+their rocket-tubes flaring viciously. The enemy detectors of course
+located the flying torpedoes immediately, but, contemptuous of material
+projectiles, the spheres made no attempt to dodge, but merely lashed out
+upon them with their ravening rays. So close was the range that they
+had no time to avoid the radio-directed bombs after discovering that
+their beams were useless against the unknown protective covering of
+those mirrored shells. There were four practically simultaneous
+detonations--silent, but terrific explosions as the pent-up internal
+energy of solid pentavalent nitrogen was instantaneously released--and
+the four insensately murderous spheres disappeared into jagged fragments
+of wreckage, flying wildly away from the centers of explosion. One great
+mass of riven and twisted metal was blown directly upon the fifth globe,
+and Nadia stared in horrified fascination at the silent crash as the
+entire side of the ship crumpled inward like a shell of cardboard under
+the awful impact. That vessel was probably out of action, but Stevens
+was taking no chances. As soon as he had clamped a pale blue tractor rod
+upon the sixth and last of the enemy fleet, he drove a torpedo through
+the gaping wall and into the interior of the helpless war-vessel. There
+he exploded it, and the awful charge, detonated in that confined space,
+literally tore the globular space-ship to bits.
+
+"We'll show these jaspers what kind of trees make shingles!" he gritted
+between clenched teeth; and his eyes, hard now as gray iron, fairly
+emitted sparks as he launched four torpedoes upon the sole remaining
+globe of the squadron of the void. "I've had a lot of curiosity to know
+just what kind of unnatural monstrosities can possibly have such
+fiendish dispositions as they've got--but beasts, men or devils, they'll
+find they've grabbed something this time they can't let go of," and
+fierce blasts of energy ripped from the exhausts as he drove his
+missiles, at their highest possible acceleration, toward the captive
+sphere so savagely struggling at the extremity of his tractor beam.
+
+But that one remaining vessel was to prove no such easy victim as had
+its sister ships. Being six to one, and supposedly invincible, the
+squadron had been overconfident and had attacked carelessly, with only
+its crippling slicing beams instead of its more deadly weapons of total
+destruction; and so fierce and hard had been Stevens' counter-attack
+that five of its numbers had been destroyed before they realized what
+powerful armament was mounted by that apparently crude, helpless,
+and innocuous wedge. The sixth, however, was fully warned, and every
+resource at the command of its hellish crew was now being directed
+against the _Forlorn Hope_.
+
+Sheets, cones, and gigantic rods of force flashed and crackled. Space
+was filled with silent, devastating tongues of flame. The _Forlorn
+Hope_ was dragged about erratically as the sphere tried to dodge those
+hurtling torpedoes; tried to break away from the hawser of energy
+anchoring her so solidly to her opponent. But the linkage held, and
+closer and closer Stevens drove the fourfold menace of his frightful
+dirigible bombs. Pressor beams beat upon them in vain. Hard driven as
+those pushers were, they could find no footing, but were reflected at
+many angles by that untouchable mirror and their utmost force scarcely
+impeded the progress of the rocket-propelled missiles. Comparatively
+small as the projectiles were, however, they soon felt the effects of
+the prodigious beams of heat enveloping them, and torpedo after torpedo
+exploded harmlessly in space as their mirrors warmed up and volatilized.
+But for each bomb that was lost, Stevens launched another, and each one
+came closer to its objective than had its predecessor.
+
+Made desperate by the failure of his every beam, the enemy commander
+thought to use material projectiles himself--weapons abandoned long
+since by his race as antiquated and inefficient, but a few of which were
+still carried by the older types of vessels. One such shell was found
+and launched--but in the instant of its launching Stevens' foremost bomb
+struck its mark and exploded. So close were the other three bombs, that
+they also let go at the shock; and the warlike sphere, hemmed in by four
+centers of explosions, flew apart--literally pulverized. Its projectile,
+so barely discharged, did not explode--it was loaded with material which
+could be detonated only by the warhead upon impact or by a radio signal.
+It was, however, deflected markedly from its course by the force of the
+blast, so that instead of striking the _Forlorn Hope_ in direct central
+impact, its head merely touched the apex of the mirror-plated wedge.
+That touch was enough. There was another appalling concussion, another
+blinding glare, and the entire front quarter of the terrestrial vessel
+had gone to join the shattered globes.
+
+Between the point of explosion and the lifeboats there had been many
+channels of insulation, many bulkheads, many air-breaks, and compartment
+after compartment of accumulator cells. These had borne the brunt of the
+explosion, so that the control room was unharmed, and Stevens swung his
+communicator rapidly through the damaged portions of the vessels.
+
+"How badly are we hurt, Steve--can we make it to Ganymede?"
+
+Nadia was quietly staring over his shoulder into the plate, studying
+with him the pictures of destruction there portrayed as he flashed the
+projector from compartment to compartment.
+
+"We're hurt--no fooling--but it might have been a lot worse," he
+replied, as he completed the survey. "We've lost about all of our
+accumulators, but we can land on our own beam, and landing power is all
+we want, I think. You see, we're drifting straight for where Ganymede
+will be, and we'd better cut out every bit of power we're using, even
+the heaters, until we get there. This lifeboat will hold heat for quite
+a while, and I'd rather get pretty cold than meet any more of that gang.
+I figured eight hours just before they met us, and we were just about
+drifting then. I think it is safe to say seven hours blind."
+
+"But can't they detect us anyway? They may have sent out a call, you
+know."
+
+"If we aren't using any power for anything, their electromagnetics are
+the only things we'll register on, and they're mighty short-range
+finders. Even if they should get that close to us, they'll probably
+think we're meteoric, since we'll be dead to their other instruments.
+Luckily we've got lots of air, so the chemical purifiers can handle it
+without power. I'll shut off everything and we'll drift it. Couldn't do
+much of anything, anyway--even our shop out there won't hold air. But we
+can have light. We've got acetylene emergency lamps, you know, and we
+don't need to economize on oxygen."
+
+"Perhaps we'd better run in the dark. Remember what you told me about
+their possible visirays, and that you've got only two bombs left."
+
+"All x; that would be better. If I forget it, remind me to blow up those
+before we hit the atmosphere of Ganymede, will you?" He opened all the
+power switches, and, every source of ethereal vibrations cut off, the
+_Forlorn Hope_ drifted slowly on, now appearing forlorn indeed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Seven hours dragged past: seven age-long hours during which the two sat
+tense, expecting they knew not what, talking only at intervals and in
+subdued tones. Stevens then snapped on the communicator beam just long
+enough to take an observation upon Ganymede. Several such brief glimpses
+were taken; then, after a warning word to his companion, he sent out and
+exploded the nitrogen bombs. He then threw on the power, and the vessel
+leaped toward the satellite under full acceleration. Close to the
+atmosphere it slanted downward in a screaming, fifteen-hundred-mile
+drive; and soon the mangled wedge dropped down into the little canyon,
+which for so long had been "home."
+
+"Well, colonel, home again!" Stevens exulted as he neutralized the
+controls. "There's that falls, our power plant, the catapults, 'n'
+everything. Now, unless something interrupts us again; we'll run up
+our radio tower and give Brandon the long yell."
+
+"How much more have you got to do before you can start sending?"
+
+"Not an awful lot. Everything built--all I've got to do is assemble
+it. I should be able to do it easily in a week. Hope nothing else
+happens--if I drag you into any more such messes as those we've just
+been getting out of by the skin of our teeth, I'll begin to wish that
+we had started out at first to drift it back to Tellus in the _Hope_.
+Let's see how much time we've got. We should start shooting one day
+after an eclipse, so that we'll have five days to send. You see, we
+don't want to point our beam too close to Jupiter or to any of the large
+satellites, because the enemy might live there and might intercept it.
+We had an eclipse yesterday--so one week from today, at sunrise, I
+start shooting."
+
+"But Earth's an evening star now; you can't see it in the morning."
+
+"I'm not going to aim at Tellus. I'm shooting at Brandon, and he's never
+there for more than a week or two at a stretch. They're prowling around
+out in space somewhere almost all the time."
+
+"Then how can you possibly hope to hit them?"
+
+"It may be quite a job of hunting, but not as bad as you might think.
+They probably aren't much, if any, outside the orbit of Mars, and
+they usually stay within a couple of million kilometers or so of the
+Ecliptic, so we'll start at the sun and shoot our beam in a spiral
+to cover that field. We ought to be able to hit them inside of twelve
+hours, but if we don't, we'll widen our spiral and keep on trying until
+we do hit them."
+
+"Heavens, Steve! Are you planning on telegraphing steadily for days at
+a time?"
+
+"Sure, but not by hand, of course--I'll have an automatic sender and
+automatic pointers."
+
+Stevens had at his command a very complete machine-shop, he had an ample
+supply of power, and all that remained for him to do was to assemble the
+parts which he had built during the long journey from Titan to Ganymede.
+Therefore, at sunrise of the designated day, he was ready, and, with
+Nadia hanging breathless over his shoulder, he closed the switch, a
+toothed wheel engaged a delicate interrupter, and a light sounder began
+its strident chatter.
+
+"Ganymede point oh four seven ganymede point oh four seven ganymede
+point oh four seven..." endlessly the message was poured out into the
+ether, carried by a tight beam of ultra-vibrations and driven by forces
+sufficient to propel it well beyond the opposite limits of the orbit
+of Mars.
+
+"What does it say? I can't read code."
+
+Stevens translated the brief message, but Nadia remained unimpressed.
+
+"But it doesn't say anything!" she protested. "It isn't addressed to
+anybody, it isn't signed--it doesn't tell anybody anything about
+anything."
+
+"It's all there, ace. You see, since the beam is moving sidewise very
+rapidly at that range and we're shooting at a small target, the message
+has to be very short or they won't get it all while the beam's on
+'em--it isn't as though we were broadcasting. It doesn't need any
+address, because nobody but the _Sirius_ can receive it--except possibly
+the Jovians. They'll know who's sending it without any signature. It
+tells them that Ganymede wants to receive a message on the ultra-band
+centering on forty-seven thousandths. Isn't that enough?"
+
+"Maybe. But suppose some of them live right here on Ganymede--you'll
+be shooting right through the ground all night--or suppose that even if
+they don't live here, that they can find our beam some way? Or suppose
+that Brandon hasn't got his machine built yet, or suppose that it isn't
+turned on when our beam passes them, or suppose they're asleep then?
+A lot of things might happen."
+
+"Not so many, ace--your first objection is the only one that hasn't got
+more holes in it than a sieve, so I'll take it first. Since our beam is
+only a meter in diameter here and doesn't spread much in the first few
+million kilometers, the chance of direct reception by the enemy, even
+if they do live here on Ganymede, is infinitesimally small. But I don't
+believe that they live here--at least, they certainly didn't land on
+this satellite. As you suggest, however, it is conceivable that they may
+have detector screens delicate enough to locate our beam at a distance;
+but since in all probability that means a distance of hundreds of
+thousands of kilometers, I think it highly improbable. We've got to take
+the same risk anyway, no matter what we do, whenever we start to use any
+kind of driving power, so there's no use worrying about it. As for your
+last two objections, I know Brandon and I know Westfall. Brandon will
+have receivers built that will take in any wave possible of propagation,
+and Westfall, the cautious old egg, will have them running twenty-four
+hours a day, with automatic recorders, finders, and everything else that
+Brandon can invent--and believe me, sweetheart, that's a lot of stuff!"
+
+"It's wonderful, the way you three men are," replied Nadia thoughtfully,
+reading between the lines of Stevens' utterance. "They knew that you
+were on the _Arcturus_, of course--and they knew that if you were alive
+you'd manage in some way to get in touch with them. And you, away out
+here after all this time, are superbly confident that they are expecting
+a call from you. That, I think, is one of the finest things I ever heard
+of."
+
+"They're two of the world's best--absolutely." Nadia looked at him,
+surprised, for he had not seen anything complimentary to himself in her
+remark. "Wait until you meet them. They're men, Nadia--real men. And
+speaking of meeting them--please try to keep on loving me after you meet
+Norm Brandon, will you?"
+
+"Don't be a simp!" her brown eyes met his steadily. "You didn't mean
+that--you didn't even say it, did you?"
+
+"Back it comes, sweetheart! But knowing myself and knowing those
+two...."
+
+"Stop it! If Norman Brandon or Quincy Westfall had been here instead
+of you, or both of them together, we'd have been here from now on--we
+wouldn't even have gotten away from the Jovians!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Now it's your turn to back water, guy!"
+
+"Well, maybe, a little--if both of them were here, they ought to equal
+you in some things. Brandon says himself that he and Westfall together
+make one scientist--Dad says he says so."
+
+"You don't want to believe everything you hear. Neither of them will
+admit that he knows anything or can do anything--that's the way they
+are."
+
+"Dad has told me a lot about them--how they've always been together
+ever since their undergraduate days. How they studied together all over
+the world, even after they'd been given all the degrees loose. How
+they even went to the other planets to study--to Mars, where they had
+to live in space-suits all the time, and to Venus, where they had to
+take ultra-violet treatments every day to keep alive. How they learned
+everything that everybody else knew and then went out into space to find
+out things that nobody else ever dreamed of. How you came to join them,
+and what you three have done since. They're fine, of course--but they
+aren't _you_," she concluded passionately.
+
+"No, thank Heaven! I know you love me, Nadia, just as I love you--you
+know I never doubted it. But you'll like them, really. They're a
+wonderful team. Brandon's a big brute, you know--fully five centimeters
+taller than I am, and he weighs close to a hundred kilograms--and no
+lard, either. He's wild, impetuous, always jumping at conclusions and
+working out theories that seem absolutely ridiculous, but they're
+usually sound, even though impractical. Westfall's the practical
+member--he makes Norm pipe down, pins him down to facts, and makes it
+possible to put his hunches and wild flashes of genius into workable
+form. Quince is a...."
+
+"Now _you_ pipe down! I've heard you rave _so_ much about those two--I'd
+lots rather rave about you, and with more reason. I wish that sounder
+would start sounding."
+
+"Our first message hasn't gone half way yet. It takes about forty
+minutes for the impulse to get to where I think they are, so that even
+if they got the first one and answered it instantly, it would be eighty
+minutes before we'd get it. I sort of expect an answer late tonight, but
+I won't be disappointed if it takes a week to locate them."
+
+"I will!" declared the girl, and indeed, very little work was done that
+day by either of the castaways.
+
+Slowly the day wore on, and the receiving sounder remained silent.
+Supper was eaten as the sun dropped low and disappeared, but they felt
+no desire to sleep. Instead, they went out in front of the steel wall,
+where Stevens built a small campfire. Leaning back against the wall of
+their vessel, they fell into companionable silence, which was suddenly
+broken by Stevens.
+
+"Nadia, I just had a thought. I'll bet four dollars I've wasted a lot of
+time. They'll certainly have automatic relays on Tellus, to save me the
+trouble of hunting for them, but like an idiot I never thought of it
+until just this minute, in spite of the speech I made you about them.
+I'm going to change those directors right now."
+
+"That's quite a job, isn't it?"
+
+"No, only a few minutes."
+
+"Do it in the morning; you've done enough for one day--maybe you've hit
+them already, any way."
+
+They again became silent, watching Jupiter, an enormous moon some seven
+degrees in apparent diameter.
+
+"Steve, I simply can't get used to such a prodigious moon! Look at the
+stripes, and look at that perfectly incredible...."
+
+A gong sounded and they both jumped to their feet and raced madly into
+the _Hope_. The ultra-receiver had come to life and the sounder was
+chattering insanely--someone was sending with terrific speed, but with
+perfect definition and spacing.
+
+"That's Brandon's fist--I'd know his style anywhere," Stevens shouted,
+as he seized notebook and pencil.
+
+"Tell me what it says, quick, Steve!" Nadia implored.
+
+"Can't talk--read it!" Stevens snapped. His hand was flying over the
+paper, racing to keep up with the screaming sounder.
+
+"...ymede all x stevens ganymede all x stevens ganymede all x placing
+and will keep sirius on plane between you and tellus circle fifteen
+forty north going tellus first send full data spreading beam to
+cover circle fifteen forty quince suggests possibility this message
+intercepted and translated personally I think such translation
+impossible and that he is wilder than a hawk but just in case they
+should be supernaturally intelligent...."
+
+Stevens stopped abruptly and stared at the vociferous sounder.
+
+"Don't stop to listen--keep on writing!" commanded Nadia.
+
+"Can't," replied the puzzled mathematician. "It doesn't make sense. It
+sounds intelligent--it's made up of real symbols of some kind or other,
+but they don't mean a thing to me."
+
+"Oh, I see--he's sending mush on purpose. Read the last phrase!"
+
+"Oh, sure--'mush' is right," and with no perceptible break the signals
+again became intelligible.
+
+"... if they can translate that they are better scholars than we are
+signing off until hear from you brandon."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The sounder died abruptly into silence and Nadia sobbed convulsively
+as she threw herself into Stevens' arms. The long strain over, the
+terrible uncertainty at last dispelled, they were both incoherent for
+a minute--Nadia glorifying the exploits of her lover, Stevens crediting
+the girl herself and his two fellow-scientists with whatever success had
+been achieved. A measure of self-control regained, Stevens cut off his
+automatic sender, changed the adjustments of his directors and cut in
+his manually operated sending key.
+
+"What waves are you using, anyway?" asked Nadia, curiously. "They must
+be even more penetrating than Roeser's Rays, to have such a range, and
+Roeser's Rays go right through a planet without even slowing up."
+
+"They're of the same order as Roeser's--that is, they're sub-electronic
+waves of the fourth order--but they're very much shorter, and hence more
+penetrating. In fact, they're the shortest waves yet known, so short
+that Roeser never even suspected their existence."
+
+"Suppose there's a Jovian space-ship out there somewhere that intercepts
+our beams. Couldn't they locate us from it?"
+
+"Maybe, and maybe not--we'll just have to take a chance on that. That
+goes right back to what we were talking about this morning. They might
+be anywhere, so the chance of hitting one is very small. It isn't like
+hitting the _Sirius_, because we knew within pretty narrow limits where
+to look for her, and even at that we had to hunt for her for half a day
+before we hit her. We're probably safe, but even if they should have
+located us, we'll probably be able to hide somewhere until the _Sirius_
+gets here. Well, the quicker I get busy sending the dope, the sooner
+they can get started."
+
+"Tell them to be sure and bring me all my clothes they can find,
+a gallon of perfume, a barrel of powder, and a carload of Delray's
+Fantasie chocolates--I've been a savage so long that I want to wallow
+in luxury for a while."
+
+"I'll do that--and I want some real cigarettes!"
+
+Stevens first sent a terse, but complete account of everything that had
+happened to the _Arcturus_, and a brief summary of what he and Nadia
+had done since the cutting up of the IPV. The narrative finished, he
+launched into a prolonged and detailed scientific discussion of the
+enemy and their offensive and defensive weapons. He dwelt precisely and
+at length upon the functioning of everything he had seen. Though during
+the long months of their isolation he had been too busy to do any actual
+work upon the weapons of the supposed Jovians, yet his keen mind had
+evolved many mathematical and physical deductions, hypotheses, and
+theories, and these he sent out to the _Sirius_, concluding:
+
+"There's all the dope I can give you. Figure it out, and don't come at
+all until you can come loaded for bear; they're bad medicine. Call us
+occasionally, to keep us informed as to when to expect you, but don't
+call too often. We don't want them locating you, and if they should
+locate us through your ray or ours, it would be just too bad. So-long.
+Stevens and Newton."
+
+Nadia had insisted upon staying up and had been brewing pot after pot
+of her substitutes for coffee while he sat at the key; and it was
+almost daylight when he finally shut off the power and arose, his
+right arm practically paralyzed from the unaccustomed strain of hours
+of telegraphing.
+
+"Well, sweetheart, that's that!" he exclaimed in relief. "Brandon and
+Westfall are on the job. Nothing to do now but wait, and study up on our
+own account on those Jovians' rays. This has been one long day for us,
+though, little ace, and I suggest that we sleep for about a week!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Callisto to the Rescue
+
+
+All humanity of Callisto, the fourth major satellite of Jupiter,
+had for many years been waging a desperate and apparently hopeless
+defense against invading hordes of six-limbed beings. Every city and
+town had long since been reduced to level fields of lava by the rays
+of the invaders. Every building and every trace of human civilization
+had long since disappeared from the surface of the satellite. Far
+below the surface lay the city of Zbardk, the largest of the few
+remaining strongholds of the human race. At one portal of the city a
+torpedo-shaped, stubby-winged rocket plane rested in the carriage of a
+catapult. Near it the captain addressed briefly the six men normally
+composing his crew.
+
+"Men, you already know that our cruise today is not an ordinary patrol.
+We are to go to One, there to destroy a base of the hexans. We have
+perhaps one chance in ten thousand of returning. Therefore I am taking
+only one man--barely enough to operate the plane. Volunteers step one
+pace forward."
+
+The six stepped forward as one man, and a smile came over the worn
+face of their leader as he watched them draw lots for the privilege of
+accompanying him to probable death. The two men entered the body of the
+torpedo, sealed the openings and waited.
+
+"Free exits?" snapped the Captain of the Portal, and twelve keen-eyed
+observers studied minutely screens and instrument panels connected to
+the powerful automatic lookout stations beneath the rims of the widely
+separated volcanic craters from which their craft could issue into
+Callisto's somber night.
+
+"No hexan radiation can be detected from Exit Eight," came the report.
+The Captain of the Portal raised an arm in warning, threw in the guides,
+and the two passengers were hurled violently backward, deep into their
+cushioned seats, as the catapult shot their plane down the runway. As
+the catapult's force was spent automatic trips upon the undercarriage
+actuated the propelling rockets and mile after mile, with rapidly
+mounting velocity, the plane sped through the tube. As the exit was
+approached, the tunnel described a long vertical curve, so that when the
+opening into the shaft of the crater was reached and the undercarriage
+was automatically detached, the vessel was projected almost vertically
+upward. Such was its velocity and so powerful was the liquid propellant
+of its rocket motors, that the eye could not follow the flight of the
+warship as it tore through the thin layer of the atmosphere and hurled
+itself out into the depths of space.
+
+"Did we get away?" asked the captain, hands upon his controls and eyes
+upon his moving chart of space.
+
+"I believe so, sir," answered the other officer, at the screens of the
+six periscopic devices which covered the full sphere of vision. "No
+reports from the rim, and all screens blank." Once more a vessel had
+issued from the jealously secret city of Zbardk without betraying its
+existence to the hated and feared hexans.
+
+For a time the terrific rocket motors continued the deafening roar of
+their continuous explosions, then, the desired velocity having been
+attained, they were cut out and for hours the good ship "Bzark" hurtled
+on through the void at an enormous but constant speed toward the distant
+world of One, which it was destined never to reach.
+
+"Captain Czuv! Hexan radiation, coordinates twenty two, fourteen, area
+six!" cried the observer, and the commander swung his own telescopic
+finder into the indicated region. His hands played over course and
+distance plotters for a brief minute, and he stared at his results in
+astonishment.
+
+"I never heard of a hexan traveling that way before," he frowned.
+"Constant negative acceleration and in a straight line. He must think
+that we have been cleared out of the ether. Almost parallel to us and
+not much faster--even at this long range, it is an easy kill unless
+he starts dodging, as usual."
+
+As he spoke, he snapped a switch and from a port under the starboard
+wing there shot out into space a small package of concentrated
+destruction--a rocket-propelled, radio-controlled torpedo. The rockets
+of the tiny missile were flaming, but that flame was visible only from
+the rear and no radio beam was upon it. Czuv had given it precisely the
+direction and acceleration necessary to make it meet the hexan sphere
+in central impact, provided that sphere maintained its course and
+acceleration unchanged.
+
+"Shall I direct the torpedo in the case the hexan shifts?" asked the
+officer.
+
+"I think not. They can, of course, detect any wave at almost any
+distance, and at the first sign of radioactivity they would locate and
+destroy the bomb. They also, in all probability, would destroy us. I
+would not hesitate to attack them on that account alone, but we must
+remember that we are upon a more important mission than attacking one
+hexan ship. We are far out of range of their electromagnetic detectors,
+and our torpedo will have such a velocity that they will have no time to
+protect themselves against it after detection. Unless they shift in the
+next few seconds, they are lost. This is the most perfect shot I ever
+had at one of them, but one shot is all I dare risk--we must not betray
+ourselves."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Course, lookout, and rank forgotten, the little crew of two stared
+into the narrow field of vision, set at its maximum magnification. The
+instruments showed that the enemy vessel was staying upon its original
+course. Very soon the torpedo came within range of the detectors of the
+hexans. But as Captain Czuv had foretold, the detection was a fraction
+of a second too late, rapidly as their screens responded, and the two
+men of Zbardk uttered together a short, fierce cry of joy as a brilliant
+flash of light announced the annihilation of the hexan vessel.
+
+"But hold!" The observer stared into his screen. "Upon that same line,
+but now at constant velocity, there is still a very faint radiation,
+of a pattern I have never seen before."
+
+"I think ... I believe ..." the captain was studying the pattern,
+puzzled. "It must be low frequency, low-tension electricity, which is
+never used, so far as I know. It may be some new engine of destruction,
+which the hexan was towing at such a distance that the explosion of our
+torpedo did not destroy it. Since there are no signs of hexan activity
+and since it will not take much fuel, we shall investigate that
+radiation."
+
+Tail and port-side rockets burst into roaring activity and soon the
+plane was cautiously approaching the mass of wreckage, which had been
+the IPV _Arcturus_.
+
+"Human beings, although of some foreign species!" exclaimed the captain,
+as his vision-ray swept through the undamaged upper portion of the great
+liner and came to rest upon Captain King at his desk.
+
+Although the upper ultra-lights of the Terrestrial vessel had been
+cut away by the hexan plane of force, jury lights had been rigged,
+and the two commanders were soon trying to communicate with each
+other. Intelligible conversation was, of course, impossible, but King
+soon realized that the visitors were not enemies. At their pantomimed
+suggestion he put on a space-suit and wafted himself over to the airlock
+of the Callistonian warplane. Inside the central compartment, the
+strangers placed over his helmet a heavily wired harness, and he found
+himself instantly in full mental communication with the Callistonian
+commander. For several minutes they stood silent, exchanging thoughts
+with a rapidity impossible in any language; then, dressed in
+space-suits, both leaped lightly across the narrow gap into the still
+open outer lock of the terrestrial liner. King watched Czuv narrowly
+after the pressure began to collapse his suit, but the stranger made
+no sign of distress. He had been right in his assurance that the extra
+pressure would scarcely inconvenience him. King tore off his helmet,
+issued a brief order, and soon every speaker in the _Arcturus_
+announced:
+
+"All passengers and all members of the crew except lookouts on duty will
+assemble immediately in Saloon Three to discuss a possible immediate
+rescue."
+
+The subject being one of paramount interest, it was a matter of minutes
+until the full complement of two hundred men and women were in the main
+saloon, clinging to hastily rigged hand lines, closely packed before the
+raised platform upon which were King and Czuv, wired together with the
+peculiar Callistonian harness. To most of the passengers, familiar with
+the humanity of three planets, the appearance of the stranger brought
+no surprise; but many of them stared in undisguised amazement at his
+childish body, his pale, almost colorless skin, his small, weak legs and
+arms, and his massive head.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen!" Captain King opened the meeting. "I introduce to
+you Captain Czuv, of the scout cruiser _Bzarvk_, of the only human race
+now living upon the fourth large satellite of Jupiter, which satellite
+we know as Callisto. I am avoiding their own names as much as possible,
+because they are almost unpronounceable in English or Interplanetarian.
+This device that you see connecting us is a Callistonian thought
+transformer, by means of which any two intelligent beings can converse
+without language. Our situation is peculiar, and in order that you may
+understand fully what lies ahead of us, the captain will now speak to
+you, through me--that is, what follows will be spoken by Captain Czuv,
+of the _Bzarvk_, but he will be using my vocal organs."
+
+"Friends from distant Tellus," King's voice went on, almost without a
+break, "I greet you. I am glad, for your sake as well as our own, that
+your vessel was able to destroy the hexan ship holding you captive, and
+whose crew would have killed you all as soon as they had landed your
+vessel and had read your minds. I regret bitterly that we can do so
+little for you, for only the representatives of a human civilization
+being exterminated by a race of highly intelligent monsters can fully
+realize how desirable it is for all the various races of humanity to
+assist and support each other. In order that you may understand the
+situation, it is necessary that I delve at some length into ancient
+history, but we have ample time. In about ..." he broke off, realizing
+that the two races had no thought in common in the measure of time.
+
+"One-half time of rotation of Great Planet upon axis?" flashed from
+Czuv's brain, and "About five hours," King's mind flashed back.
+
+"It will be about five hours before any steps can be taken, so that I
+feel justified in using a brief period for explanation. In the evolution
+of the various forms of life upon Callisto, two genera developed
+intelligence far ahead of all others. One genus was the human, as you
+and I; the other the hexan. This creature, happily unknown to you of the
+planets nearer our common sun, is the product of an entirely different
+evolution. It is a six-limbed animal, with a brain equal to our own--one
+perhaps in some ways superior to our own. They have nothing in common
+with humanity, however; they have few of our traits and fewer of our
+mental processes. Even we who have fought them so long can scarcely
+comprehend the chambers of horror that are their minds. Even were I able
+to paint a sufficiently vivid picture with words, you of Earth could not
+begin to understand their utter ruthlessness and inhumanity, even among
+themselves. You would believe that I was lying, or that my viewpoint was
+warped. I can say only that I hope most sincerely that none of you will
+ever get better acquainted with them."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Ages ago, then, the human and the hexan developed upon all four of the
+major satellites of the Great Planet, which you know as Jupiter, and
+upon the north polar region of Jupiter itself. By what means the two
+races came into being upon worlds so widely separated in space we know
+not--we only know it to be the fact. Human life, however, could not long
+endure upon Jupiter. The various human races, after many attempts to
+meet conditions of life there by variations in type fell before the
+hexans; who, although very small in size upon the planet, thrived there
+amazingly. Upon the three outer satellites humanity triumphed, and many
+hundreds of cycles ago the hexans of those satellites were wiped out,
+save for an occasional tribe of savages of low intelligence who lived in
+various undesirable portions of the three worlds. For ages then there
+was peace upon Callisto. Here is the picture at that time--upon Jupiter
+the hexans; upon Io hexans and humans, waging a ceaseless and relentless
+war of mutual extermination; upon the three outer satellites humanity in
+undisturbed and unthreatened peace. Five worlds, each ignorant of life
+upon any other.
+
+"As I have said, the hexans of Jupiter were, and are, diabolically
+intelligent. Driven probably by their desire to see what lay beyond
+their atmosphere of eternal cloud, to the penetration of which their
+eyesight was attuned, they developed the space-ship; and effected a
+safe landing, first upon the barren, airless moonlet nearest them, and
+then upon fruitful Io. There they made common cause with the hexans
+against the humans, and in space of time Ionian humanity ceased to exist.
+Much traffic and interbreeding followed between the hexans of Jupiter
+and those of Io, resulting in time in a race intermediate in size
+between the parent stocks and equally at home in the widely variant air
+pressures and gravities of planet and satellite. Soon their astronomical
+instruments revealed the cities of Europa to their gaze, and as soon
+as they discovered that the civilization of Europa was human, they
+destroyed it utterly, with the insatiable blood lust that is their
+heritage.
+
+"In the meantime the human civilizations of Ganymede and Callisto had
+also developed instruments of power. Observing the cities upon the other
+satellites, many scientists studied intensively the problem of space
+navigation, and finally there was some commerce between the two outer
+satellites at favorable times. Finally, vessels were also sent to Io
+and to Europa, but none of them returned. Knowing then what to expect,
+Ganymede and Callisto joined forces and prepared for war. But our
+science, so long attuned to the arts of peace, had fallen behind
+lamentably in the devising of more and ever more deadly instruments
+of destruction. Ganymede fell, and in her fall we read our own doom.
+Abandoning our cities, we built anew underground. Profiting from lessons
+learned full bloodily upon Ganymede, we resolved to prolong the
+existence of the human race as long as possible.
+
+"The hexans were, and are masters of the physical science. They
+command the spectrum in a way undreamed of. Their detectors reveal
+etheric disturbances at unbelievable distances, and they have at their
+beck and call forces of staggering magnitude. Therefore in our cities
+is no electricity save that which is wired, shielded, and grounded;
+no broadcast radio; no source whatever of etheric disturbances save
+light--and our walls are fields of force which we believe to be
+impenetrable to any searching frequency capable of being generated.
+Now I am able to picture to you the present.
+
+"We are the last representatives of the human race in the Jovian
+planetary system. Our every trace upon the surface has been obliterated.
+We are hiding in our holes in the ground, coming out at night by stealth
+so that our burrows shall not be revealed to the hexans. We are fighting
+for time in which our scientists may learn the secrets of power--and
+fearing, each new day, that the enemy may have so perfected their
+systems of rays that they will be able to detect us and destroy us, even
+in our underground and heavily shielded retreats, by means of forces
+even more incomprehensible than those they are now employing.
+
+"Therefore, friends, you see how little we are able to do for you, we
+a race fighting for our very existence and doomed to extinction save
+for a miracle. We cannot take you to Callisto, for it is besieged by the
+hexans and the driving forces of your lifeboats, practically broadcast
+as they are, would be detected and we should all be destroyed long
+before we could reach safety. Captain King and I have pondered long and
+have been able to see only one course of action. We are drifting at
+constant velocity, using no power, and with all save the most vitally
+necessary machinery at rest. Thus only may we hope to avoid detection
+during the next two hours.
+
+"Our present course will take us very close to Europa, which the hexans
+believe to be like Ganymede, entirely devoid of civilized life. Its
+original humanity was totally destroyed, and all its civilized hexans
+are finding shelter from our torpedoes upon Jupiter until we of Callisto
+shall likewise have been annihilated. The temperature of Europa will
+suit you. Its atmosphere, while less dense than that to which you are
+accustomed, will adequately support your life. If we are not detected
+in the course of the next few hours we can probably land upon Europa in
+safety, since its neighborhood is guarded but loosely. In fact, we have
+a city there, as yet unsuspected by the hexans, in which our scientists
+will continue to labor after Callisto's civilization shall have
+disappeared. We think that it will be safe to use your power for the
+short time necessary to effect a landing. We shall land in a cavern,
+in a crater already in communication with our city. In that cavern,
+instructed and aided by some of us, you will build a rocket vessel--no
+rays can be used because of the hexans--in which you will be able to
+travel to a region close enough to your earth so that you can call for
+help. You will not be able to carry enough fuel to land there--in fact,
+nearly all the journey will have to be made without power, traveling
+freely in a highly elongated orbit around the sun--but if you escape the
+hexans, you should be able to reach home safely, in time. It is for the
+consideration of this plan that this meeting has been called."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Just one question," Breckenridge spoke. "The hexans are intelligent.
+Why are they leaving Europa and Ganymede so unguarded that human beings
+can move back there and that we can land there, all undetected?"
+
+"I will answer that question myself," replied King. "Captain Czuv did
+not quite do justice to his own people. It is true that they are being
+conquered, but for every human life that is taken, a thousand hexans
+die, and for every human ship that is lost, twenty hexan vessels are
+annihilated in return. While the hexans are masters of rays, the
+humans are equally masters of explosives and of mechanisms. They can
+hit a perfect score upon any target in free space whose course and
+acceleration can be determined, at any range up to five thousand
+kilometers, and they have explosives thousands of times as powerful as
+any known to us. Ray screens are effective only against rays, and the
+hexans cannot destroy anything they cannot see before it strikes them.
+So it is that all the hexan vessels except those necessary to protect
+their own strongholds, are being concentrated against Callisto. They
+cannot spare vessels to guard uselessly the abandoned satellites.
+Because of the enormously high gravity of Jupiter the hexans there are
+safe from human attack save for ineffectual long-range bombardment, but
+Io is being attacked constantly and it is probable that in a few more
+years Io also will be an abandoned world. Some of you may have received
+the impressions that the hexans are to triumph immediately, but such an
+idea is wrong. The humans can, and will, hold out for a hundred years or
+more unless the enemy perfects a destructive ray of the type referred
+to. Even then, I think that our human cousins will hold out a long time.
+They are able men, fighters all, and their underground cities are
+beautifully protected."
+
+There was little argument. Most of the auditors could understand that
+the suggested course was the best one possible. The remainder were
+so stunned by the unbelievable events of the attack that they had no
+initiative, but were willing to follow wherever the more valiant spirits
+led. It was decided that no attempt should be made to salvage any
+portion of the _Arcturus_, since any such attempt would be fraught with
+danger and since the wreckage would be of little value. The new vessel
+was to be rocket driven and was to be built of Callistonian alloys.
+Personal belongings were moved into lifeboats, doors were closed, and
+there ensued a painful period of waiting and suspense.
+
+The stated hour was reached without event--no hexan scout had come
+close enough to them to detect the low-tension radiation of the vital
+machinery of the _Arcturus_, cut as it was to the irreducible minimum
+and quite effectively grounded as it was by the enormous mass of her
+shielding armor. At a signal from Captain Czuv the pilot of each
+lifeboat shot his tiny craft out into space and took his allotted place
+in the formation following closely behind the _Bzarvk_, flying toward
+Europa, now so large in the field of vision that she resembled more a
+world than a moon. Captain King, in the Callistonian vessel, transmitted
+to Breckenridge the route and flight data given him by the navigator of
+the winged craft. The chief pilot, flying "point," in turn relayed more
+detailed instructions to the less experienced pilots of the other
+lifeboats.
+
+Soon the surface of Europa lay beneath them; a rugged, cratered, and
+torn topography of mighty ranges of volcanic mountains. Most of the
+craters were cold and lifeless; but here and there a plume of smoke
+and steam betrayed the presence of vast, quiescent forces. Straight
+down one of those gigantic lifeless shafts the fleet of space craft
+dropped--straight down a full two miles before the landing signal was
+given. At the bottom of the shaft a section of the rocky wall swung
+aside, revealing the yawning black mouth of a horizontal tunnel. At
+intervals upon its roof there winked into being almost invisible points
+of light. Along that line of lights the lifeboats felt their way, coming
+finally into a huge cavern, against one sheer metal wall of which they
+parked in an orderly row. Roll was called, and the terrestrials walked,
+as well as they could in the feeble gravity of the satellite, across the
+vast chamber and into a conveyance somewhat resembling a railway coach,
+which darted away as soon as the doors were shut. For hundreds of miles
+that strange tunnel extended, and as the car shot along door after door
+of natural rock opened before it, and closed as soon as it had sped
+through. In spite of the high velocity of the vehicle, it required
+almost two hours to complete the journey. Finally, however, it slowed
+to a halt and the Terrestrial visitors disembarked at a portal of the
+Europan city of the Callistonians.
+
+"Attention!" barked Captain King. "The name of this city, as nearly as
+I can come to it in English, is _WRUZK_. 'Roosk' comes fairly close to
+it and is easier to pronounce. We must finish our trip in small cars,
+holding ten persons each. We shall assemble again in the building in
+which we have been assigned quarters. The driver of each car will lead
+his passengers to the council room in which we shall meet."
+
+"Oh, what's the use--this is horrible, horrible--we might as well die!"
+a nervous woman shrieked, and fainted.
+
+"Such a feeling is, perhaps, natural," King went on, after the woman had
+been revived and quiet had been restored, "but please control it as much
+as possible. We are alive and well, and will be able to return to Tellus
+eventually. Please remember that these people are putting themselves
+to much trouble and inconvenience to help us, desperate as their own
+situation is, and conduct yourselves accordingly."
+
+The rebuke had its effect, and with no further protest the company
+boarded the small cars, which shot through an opening in the wall and
+into a street of that strange subterranean city. Breckenridge, in the
+last car to leave the portal, studied his surroundings with interest as
+his conveyance darted through the gateway. More or less a fatalist by
+nature and an adventurer, of course, since no other type existed among
+the older spacehounds of the IPC, he was intensely interested in every
+new phase of their experience, and was no whit dismayed or frightened.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He found himself seated in a narrow canoe of metal, immediately behind
+the pilot, who sat at a small control panel in the bow. Propelled by
+electromagnetic fields above a single rail, upon lightly touching and
+noiseless wheels, the terrestrial pilot saw with keen appreciation the
+manner in which switch after switch ahead of them obeyed the impulses
+sent ahead from the speeding car. The streets were narrow and filled
+with monorails; pedestrians pursued their courses upon walks attached
+to the walls of the buildings, far above the level of the streets. The
+walls were themselves peculiar, rising as they did stark, unbroken,
+windowless expanses of metal, merging into and supporting a massive
+roof of the same silvery metal. Walls and roof alike reflected a soft,
+yet intense, white light. Soon a sliding switch ahead of them shot in
+and simultaneously an opening appeared in the blank metal wall of a
+building. Through the opening the street-car flew, and as the pilot
+slowed the canoe to a halt, the door slid smoothly shut behind them.
+Parking the car beside a row of its fellows, the Callistonian driver
+indicated that the Terrestrials were to follow him and led the way into
+a large hall. There the others from the _Arcturus_ were assembled,
+facing Captain King, who was standing upon a table.
+
+"Fellow travelers," King addressed them, "our course of action has
+been decided. There are two hundred three of us. There will be twenty
+sections of ten persons, each section being in charge of one of the
+officers of the _Arcturus_. Doctor Penfield, our surgeon, a man whose
+intelligence, fairness, and integrity are unquestioned, will be in
+supreme command. His power and authority will be absolute, limited only
+by the Callistonian Council. He will work in harmony with the engineer,
+who is to direct the entire project of building the new vessel. Each of
+you will be expected to do whatever he can--the work you will be asked
+to do will be well within your powers, and you will each have ample
+leisure for recreation, study, and amusement, of all of which you will
+find unsuspected stores in this underground community. You will each
+be registered and studied by physicians, surgeons, and psychologists;
+and each of you will have prescribed for him the exact diet that is
+necessary for his best development. You will find this diet somewhat
+monotonous, compared to our normal fare of natural products, since it
+is wholly synthetic; but that is one of the minor drawbacks that must
+be endured. Chief Pilot Breckenridge and I will not be with you. In
+some small and partial recompense for what they are doing for us all,
+he and I are going with Captain Czuv to Callisto, there to see whether
+or not we can aid them in any way in the fight against the hexans. One
+last word--Doctor Penfield's rulings will be the products of his own
+well-ordered mind after consultation and agreement with the Council of
+this city, and will be for the best good of all. I do not anticipate any
+refusal to cooperate with him. If, however, such refusal should occur,
+please remember that he is a despot with absolute power, and that anyone
+obstructing the program by refusing to follow his suggestions will spend
+the rest of his time here in confinement and will go back to Tellus in
+irons, if at all. In case Chief Pilot Breckenridge and I should not see
+you again, we bid you goodbye and wish you a safe voyage--but we expect
+to go back with you."
+
+Brief farewells were said and captain and pilot accompanied Czuv to one
+of the little street-cars. Out of the building it dashed and down the
+crowded but noiseless thoroughfare to the portal. Signal lights flashed
+briefly there and they did not stop, but tore on through the portal and
+the tunnel, with increasing speed.
+
+"Don't have to transfer to a big car, then?" asked Breckenridge.
+
+"No," King made answer. "Small cars can travel these tubes as well as
+the large ones, and on much less power. In the city the wheels touch
+the rails lightly, not for support, but to make contacts through which
+traffic signals are sent and received. In the tunnels the wheels do
+not touch at all, as signaling is unnecessary--the tunnels being used
+infrequently and by but one vehicle at a time. No trolleys, tracks, or
+wires are visible, you notice. Everything is hidden from any possible
+visiray of the hexans."
+
+"How about their power?"
+
+"I don't understand it very well--hardly at all, in fact."
+
+"It is quite simple." To the surprise of both Terrestrials, Czuv was
+speaking English, but with a strong and very peculiar accent; slighting
+all the vowels and accenting heavily the consonant sounds. "The car no
+longer requires my attention, so I am now free to converse. You are
+surprised at my knowing your language? You will speak mine after a few
+more applications of the thought exchanger. I am speaking with a vile
+accent, of course, but that is merely because my vocal organs are
+not accustomed to making vowel sounds. Our power is obtained by the
+combustion of gases in highly efficient turbines. It is transmitted and
+used as direct current, our generator and motors being so constructed
+that they can produce no etheric disturbances capable of penetrating
+the shielding walls of our city. The city was built close to deposits
+of coal, oil, and gas of sufficient amount to support our life for
+thousands of years; for from these deposits come power, food, clothing,
+and all the other necessities and luxuries of our lives. Strong fans
+draw air from various extinct craters, force it through ventilating
+ducts into every room and recess of the city, and exhaust it into the
+shaft of a quiescent volcano, in whose gaseous outflow any trace of our
+activities is, of course, imperceptible. For obvious reasons no rockets
+or combustion motors are used in the city proper."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus Captain Czuv explained to the Terrestrials his own mode of life,
+and received from them in turn full information concerning Earthly life,
+activity, and science. Long they talked, and it was almost time to slow
+down for the journey's end when the Callistonian brought the conversation
+back to their immediate concerns.
+
+"My lieutenant and I were upon a mission of some importance, but it is
+more important to take you to Callisto, for there may be many things
+in which you can help us. Not in rays--we know all the vibrations you
+have mentioned and several others. The enemy, however, is supreme
+in that field, and until our scientists have succeeded in developing
+ray-screens, such as are used by the hexans, it would be suicidal to
+use rays at all. Such screens necessitate the projection of pure, yet
+dirigible, forces--you do not have them upon your planet?"
+
+"No, and so far as I know such screens are also unknown upon Mars and
+Venus, with whose inhabitants we are friendly."
+
+"The inhabitants of all the planets should be friendly; the solar
+system should be linked together in intercourse for common advancement.
+But that is not to be. The hexans will eventually triumph here, and a
+Jovian system peopled by hexans will have no intercourse with any human
+civilization save that of internecine war. We, of Callisto, have only
+one hope--or is it really a hope? In the South Polar country of Jupiter,
+there dwells a race of beings implacably hostile to the hexans. They
+seem to invade the country of the hexans frequently, even though they
+are apparently repulsed each time. Our emissaries to the South Polar
+country, however, have never returned--those beings, whatever they
+are, if not actively inimical, certainly are not friendly toward us."
+
+"You know nothing of their nature?"
+
+"Nothing, since our electrical instruments are not sufficiently
+sensitive to give us more than a general idea of what is transpiring
+there, and vision is practically useless in that eternal fog. We know,
+however, that they are far advanced in science, and we are thankful
+indeed that none of their frightful flying fortresses have been launched
+against us. They apparently are not interested in the satellites, and it
+is no doubt due to their unintentional assistance that we have survived
+as long as we have."
+
+In the cavern at last, the three men boarded the Callistonian
+space-plane and were shot up the crater's shaft. The voyage to
+Callisto was uneventful, even uninteresting save at its termination.
+The _Bzarvk_, coated every inch as it was with a dull, dead black,
+completely absorptive outer coating, entered the thin layer of
+Callisto's atmosphere in darkest night, with all rockets dead, with not
+a light showing, and with no apparatus of any kind functioning. Utterly
+invisible and undetectable, she dove downward, and not until she was
+well below the crater's rim did the forward rockets burst into furious
+life. Then the Terrestrials understood another reason for the immense
+depth of those shafts other than that of protection from the detectors
+of the enemy--all that distance was necessary to overcome the velocity
+of their free fall without employing a negative acceleration greater
+than the frail Callistonian bodies could endure. From the cavern at the
+foot of the shaft, a regulation tunnel extended to the Callistonian city
+of Zbardk. Portal and city were very like Wruszk, upon distant Europa,
+and soon the terrestrial captain and pilot were in conference with the
+Council of Callisto.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Months of Earthly time dragged slowly past, months during which King and
+Breckenridge studied intensively the offensive and defensive systems
+of Callisto without finding any particular in which they could improve
+them to any considerable degree. Captain Czuv and his warplane still
+survived, and it was while the Callistonian commander was visiting his
+terrestrial guests, that King voiced the discontent that had long
+affected both men.
+
+"We're both tired of doing nothing, Czuv. We have been of little real
+benefit, and we have decided that your ideas of us are all wrong. We are
+convinced that our personal horsepower can be of vastly more use to you
+than our brain-power, which doesn't amount to much. Your whole present
+policy is one of hiding and sniping. I think that I know why, but I want
+to be sure. Your vessels carry lots of fuel--why can the hexans outrun
+you?" Thus did King put his problem.
+
+"They can stand enormously higher accelerations than we can. The very
+strongest of us loses consciousness at an acceleration of twenty-five
+meters per second per second, no matter how he is braced, and that
+is only a little greater than the normal gravity of our enemies upon
+Jupiter. Their vessels at highest power develop an acceleration of
+thirty-five meters, and the hexans themselves can stand much more than
+even that high figure," replied Czuv.
+
+"I thought so. Assume that you traveled at forty-five. Would it disable
+you permanently, or would you recover as soon as it was lowered?"
+
+"We would recover promptly, unless the exposure had been unduly
+prolonged. Why?"
+
+"Because," said King, "I can stand an acceleration of fifty-four meters
+for two hours, and Breckenridge here tests fifty two meters. I can
+navigate anything, and Breckenridge can observe as well as any of your
+own men. Build a plane to accelerate at forty-five meters and we will
+blow those hexans out of the ether. You will have to revive and do the
+shooting, however--your gunnery is entirely beyond us."
+
+"That is an idea of promise, and one that had not occurred to any of
+us," Czuv replied and work was begun at once upon the new flyer.
+
+When the super-plane was ready for its maiden voyage, its crew of three
+studied it as it lay in the catapult at the portal. Dead black as were
+all the warplanes, its body was twice as large as that of the ordinary
+vessel, its wings were even more stubby, and its accommodations had been
+cut to a minimum to make room for the enormous stores of fuel necessary
+to drive the greatly increased battery of rocket motors and for the
+extra supply of torpedoes carried. Waving to the group of soldiers and
+citizens gathered to witness the take-off of the new dreadnought of
+space, the three men entered the cramped operating compartment, strapped
+themselves into their seats, and were shot away. As usual the driving
+rockets were cut off well below the rim of the shaft, and the vessel
+rose in a long and graceful curve, invisible in the night. Such was its
+initial velocity and so slight was the force of gravity of the satellite
+that they were many hundreds of miles from the exit before they began to
+descend, and Breckenridge studied his screens narrowly for signs of
+hexan activity.
+
+"Do you want to try one of your long-range shots when we find one of
+them?" the pilot asked Czuv.
+
+"No, it would be useless. Between deflection by air-currents and the
+dodging of the enemy vessels, our effective range is shortened to a few
+kilometers, and their beams are deadly at that distance. No, our best
+course is to follow the original plan--to lure them out into space at
+uniform acceleration, where we can destroy them easily."
+
+"Right," and Breckenridge turned to King, who was frowning at his
+controls. "How does she work on a dead stick, Chief?"
+
+"Maneuverability about minus ten at this speed and in this air.
+She'd have to have at least fifteen hundred kilometers an hour to be
+responsive out here. See anything yet?"
+
+"Not yet ... wait a minute! Yes, there's one now--P-12 on area five.
+Give us all the X10 and W27 you can, without using power--we want to
+edge over close enough so that she can't help but see us when we start
+the rockets."
+
+"Be sure and stay well out of range. I'm giving her all she'll take, but
+she won't take much. With these wings she has the gliding angle of a
+kitchen sink."
+
+"All x--I'm watching the range, close. Wish we had instruments like
+these on the IPV's. We'll have to install some when we get back. All x!
+Give her the gun--level and dead ahead!"
+
+Half the battery of rockets burst into their stuttering, explosive roar
+of power and the vessel darted away in headlong flight.
+
+"He sees us and is after us--turn her straight up!"
+
+A searing, coruscating finger of flame leaped toward them, but their
+calculations had been sound--the hexan was harmless at that extreme
+range. King, under the pilot's direction, kept the plane at a safe
+distance from the sphere while the satellite grew smaller and smaller
+behind them and Czuv lapsed quietly into unconsciousness.
+
+"He's been out for quite a while. Far enough?" asked King.
+
+"All x now, I guess--don't believe they can see the flash from here.
+Cut!"
+
+The rockets died abruptly and a blast from the side ports threw
+the plane out of the beam--and once out of it, beyond range of the
+electromagnetic detectors as they were their coating of absolute black
+rendered the craft safe from observation. One dirigible rocket remained
+in action, its exhaust hidden from the enemy by the body of the vessel,
+and Captain Czuv soon recovered his senses.
+
+"Wonderful, gentlemen!" he exclaimed, as he manipulated the delicate
+controls of his gunnery panel. "This is the first time in history that
+a Callistonian vessel has escaped from a hexan by speed alone."
+
+An instantaneously extinguished flare of incandescence marked the
+passing of the hexan sphere into nothingness, and the cruiser shot back
+toward Callisto in search of more prey. It was all too plentiful, and
+twenty times the drama was reenacted before approaching day made it
+necessary for Czuv to take the controls and dive the vessel into the
+westermost landing-shaft of Zbardk. A rousing and enthusiastic welcome
+awaited them, and joy spread rapidly when their success became known.
+
+"Now we know what to do, and we had better do it immediately, before
+they get our system figured out and increase their own power." King
+reported to the Council. "You might send a couple of ships to Europa and
+bring back as many of the Tellurian officers as want to come and can be
+spared from the work there. They all test above forty-five meters, and
+they can learn this stuff in short order. While they're coming, your
+engineers can be building more ships like this one."
+
+The new vessel did not make another voyage until nine sister ships
+were ready and manned, each with two Terrestrial officers and one
+Callistonian gunner. All ten took to the ether at once, and the hexan
+fleet melted away like frost-crystals before a summer sun. A few weeks
+of carnage and destruction and not a hexan was within range of the
+detectors of Callisto--they were gone!
+
+"This is the first time in years that Callisto's air has been free of
+the hexans," Czuv said, thoughtfully. "With your help we have reduced
+their strength to a fraction of what it was, but they have not given up.
+They will return, with a higher acceleration than even you Terrestrials,
+powerful as you are, can stand."
+
+"Certainly they will, but you will be no worse off than you were
+before--you can return to your own highly effective tactics."
+
+"We are infinitely better off for your help. You have given us a new
+lease on life...."
+
+He broke off as a flaring light sprang into being upon the portal board
+and the observer of Exit One made his report--there was a hexan vessel
+in the air, location 425 over VJ-42.
+
+"There's one left! Let us get him! No, he's ours!" Confused shouts arose
+from the bull-pen; but the original superplane was at the top of the
+call-board and accordingly King, Breckenridge, and Czuv embarked upon
+an expedition more hazardous far than they had supposed--an expedition
+whose every feature was relayed to those in the portal by the automatic
+lookouts upon the rims and which was ended before a single supporting
+Callistonian plane could be launched.
+
+For the enemy vessel was not the last of the low-powered hexan vessels,
+as everyone had supposed--it was the first of the high-powered craft,
+arriving long before its appearance was expected. Before its terrific
+acceleration and savage onslaught, the superplane might as well have
+been stationary and unarmed. After his long dive downward, King could
+not even leave the atmosphere--the hexan was upon them within a few
+seconds, even though the stupendous battery of rockets, full driven,
+had roared almost instantly into desperate action. Bomb after bomb
+Breckenridge hurled, with full radio control, fighting with every
+resource at his command, but in vain. The frightful torpedoes were
+annihilated in mid-flight; and nose, tail-assembly, and wings were
+sheared neatly from the warplane by a sizzling plane of force. Side
+rockets and torpedo tubes were likewise sliced away and the helpless
+body of the Callistonian cruiser, falling like a plummet, was caught and
+held by a tractor ray. Captor and captive settled toward the ground.
+
+"This is a signal honor," observed Captain Czuv when he had revived. "It
+has been many, many cycles since they have taken Callistonians captive.
+They kill us at every opportunity. Is it your custom to destroy
+yourselves in a situation such as this?"
+
+"It is not. While we live there is hope."
+
+"Not ours. Unless they have made enormous strides in psychological
+mechanisms, they cannot tear from our minds any secrets we really wish
+to keep. That is useless," he went on, as King lifted a hand-weapon.
+"You will have no opportunity whatever to use it," and he was right.
+
+A searing beam of energy drove them out of the vessel, then
+electromagnetic waves burned every metallic object out of their
+possession. Burning rays herded them into the hexan sphere and into
+a small room, whose door clanged shut behind them.
+
+"Ah, two are humans of a strange breed!" a snarling voice barked
+from the wall, in the Callistonian language. "Our deductions were
+accurate, as usual--it is to the humans of Planet Three, whose bodies
+are a trifle less puny than those of the humanity of the satellites,
+that we owe our recent reverses. However, those reverses were merely
+temporary--humanity, no matter what its breed, shall very shortly
+disappear from the satellites. Now, you scum of the Solar System, you
+shall be permitted to witness an entrancing spectacle on the way to our
+headquarters, where all your knowledge is to be taken from you before
+you die, lingeringly and horribly. There is a strange space-vessel
+nearing us probably searching for the one we took and which you dogs of
+Callisto must have been fortunate enough to take from us before we could
+study and kill its human cargo. Watch its destruction and cringe--and
+know, in your suffering, that the more you suffer, the greater shall be
+our enjoyment."
+
+"I believe that," King acknowledged. As all three prisoners stared at
+the wall-screen, upon which was pictured a huge football of scarred grey
+steel, Czuv was amazed to see the faces of Breckenridge and King light
+up with fierce smiles of pleasure and anticipation.
+
+"You dissemble well," remarked the Callistonian. "That will rob them of
+much pleasure."
+
+"They'll get robbed of more than that," King returned. "This is too
+good to keep, and since they cannot understand English, I'll tell you
+something. I told you about Stevens. He apparently wasn't killed, as
+we thought. He must have escaped, and there is the result. That ship
+there is far from innocent--her being so far out of range of any of our
+power-plants proves that. That vessel is the _Sirius_--the research
+laboratory of the IPC--the Inter-Planetary Corporation! It carries the
+greatest scientific minds of three of the inner planets, and it is
+loaded with pure poison or it wouldn't be here. Oh, you hexans, what you
+have got coming to you!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+_Concluding a Thrilling New Serial of Interplanetary Life and Travel by
+Edward E. Smith, Ph.D._
+
+_Author of "Skylark of Space," and "Skylark Three"_
+
+
+PART III
+
+Spacehounds of IPC
+
+    _The question of rays--their expanding power for good and evil--is
+    receiving increasing attention from scientists. The x-ray has been
+    found to be very beneficial, given in certain quantities, but
+    extremely inimical to health, and even fatal, if too much exposure
+    is given. The powers of the cosmic rays have not been fully
+    discovered as yet. And there is no reason to doubt the theory that
+    there may be found still more destructive and powerful rays. Even
+    wars are becoming a more dangerous plaything for nations of our
+    world--to say nothing of other possible enemies from other parts
+    of our universe. Stevens and Nadia Newton meet with thrilling
+    experiences galore in this concluding instalment._
+
+
+What Went Before:
+
+    The Interplanetary Vessel _Arcturus_ sets out for Mars, with
+    Breckenridge as chief pilot, carrying on board, besides its
+    regular crew and some passengers, the famous Dr. Stevens,
+    designer of space ships and computer. He checks computations
+    made by astronomers stationed in floating observatories, and
+    after he has located any trouble and suggests a plan for
+    minimizing the hazards of the trip from the earth to Mars he
+    reports his findings and suggestions to Mr. Newton, chief of
+    the Interplanetary Corporation.
+
+    Stevens then takes Nadia, Mr. Newton's beautiful young daughter,
+    on a specially conducted sight-seeing tour of the _Arcturus_
+    and thoroughly explains to her all of the works of the vessel.
+    Nadia has herself had a good science education. While they
+    are down at the bottom of the ship--nearing the end of their
+    tour--Stevens feels a barely perceptible movement of the vessel
+    from its course. When he turns on the visiplate, he is horrified
+    to find that a mysterious ray of unparalleled power has neatly
+    sliced the _Arcturus_ in several places.
+
+    Nadia and Stevens are completely separated from the rest of the
+    crew and passengers of the ship, so they get into a lifeboat,
+    which is equipped for a limited amount of space travel. Despite
+    the strict and apparently effective vigilance of the enemy
+    destroyer, Stevens and Nadia make their getaway in the lifeboat,
+    which they aptly call "Forlorn Hope," and finally make a safe
+    landing on Ganymede, where Stevens almost completes a power-plant
+    and a radio transmitter, to enable him to communicate with the
+    earth or with the IPV _Sirius_, which is used by Westfall and
+    Brandon (two of the world's best scientists) as a floating
+    laboratory.
+
+    They start for Cantrell's Comet, where Stevens acquires the
+    necessary material for his giant transmitting tube, heads back
+    to Ganymede, when their ship is cut, top and bottom, by a strong
+    ray-beam. Stevens and Nadia soon find that the other ship is
+    manned by friendly beings from Saturn. Together they plan against
+    their common foes--the Hexans--who are enemies of the universe.
+    After helping the Saturnians to repair their power plant, they
+    start back to Ganymede, aided by their new friends from the
+    frigid civilization. Finally, however, Stevens succeeds in
+    connecting, by radio, with the _Sirius_ and his scientist friends
+    on board it, who rush to the aid of the two castaways. It is
+    while the castaways are captives of the Hexans that help looms
+    near.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The _Sirius_ Takes a Hand
+
+
+The _Sirius_ loafed along through the ether at normal acceleration
+just outside the orbit of Mars and a million miles north of the
+ecliptic plane. In the control room, which had been transformed into a
+bewilderingly complete laboratory, Norman Brandon strode up and down,
+waving his arms, his unruly black hair on end, addressing savagely his
+friend and fellow-scientist, who sat unmoved and at ease.
+
+"For cat's sake, Quince, let's get busy! They're outside somewhere,
+since the police have scoured every cubic kilometer within range of
+the power plants without finding a trace of them. We've got the power
+question licked right now--with these fields we can draw sixty thousand
+kilofranks from cosmic radiation, which is lots more than we'll ever
+need. We haven't drawn a frank from a plant in a month, and we've had to
+cut our field strength down to a whisper to keep from burning out our
+accumulators. We can hunt as far as Neptune easy--we can go to Alpha
+Centauri if we want to. This thing of piffling and monkeying around
+here's pulling my cork, and for the ten thousand four hundred and sixty
+seventh time I say _let's prowl_ and _prowl now_! In fact, I'm getting
+so sick of sticking around doing nothing that I'm going out anyway, if
+I have to go alone in a lifeboat!"
+
+[Illustration: _The flying fortresses were finally wrenched from the
+ground and hurled upward._]
+
+Impetuous and violent as Brandon had always been, never before had he
+gone to such lengths as to suggest a disruption of the partnership;
+and Westfall, knowing that Brandon, in his most violent moments, never
+threatened idly, thought long before he replied.
+
+"You will not go alone, of course. If you insist upon going without
+further preparation I will go too, no matter how foolish I think such
+a course to be. We have power, it is true, but in all other respects we
+are in no condition to meet an opponent having command of such resources
+as must certainly be possessed by those who attacked the _Arcturus_.
+Our detectors are inefficient, our system of vision is crude, to say
+the least, and many other things are still in the experimental stage.
+We have not the slightest idea whom or what we may encounter. It is all
+too probable that we would simply be throwing away uselessly the lives of
+more good men. It is also foolish from a general viewpoint, for as you
+already know, we and our assistants happen to be in better position to
+study these things than is any one else at the present time. However,
+I will compromise with you. We can learn much in a month if you will
+really try, instead of wasting time in fuming around the ship and
+indulging in these idiotic tantrums. If you will buckle down and really
+study the problems confronting us for thirty days, we will set out at
+the end of that time, ready or not."
+
+"All x. I hate to do it, but we've been together too long to bust it
+up now," and Brandon turned toward his bench. Scarcely had he reached
+it when a series of dots and dashes roared from an amplifier. Both men
+leaped for the receiver which had so unexpectedly burst into sound,
+reaching it just as it relapsed into silence, and from the tape of the
+recorder they read the brief message.
+
+"...h four seven ganymede point oh four seve...."
+
+"That's Steve!" yelled Brandon. "Nobody else could build an
+ultra-sender! Direction?"
+
+"No need of calculating distance or direction. Ganymede is the third
+major satellite of Jupiter."
+
+"Sure. Of course, Quince--never thought of that. Dope enough--point oh
+four seven."
+
+As Stevens had told Nadia, the message was completely informing to those
+for whom it was intended, and soon Brandon's answer was flying toward
+the distant satellite. He then started to call the officers of the
+Interplanetary Corporation, but was restrained by his conservative
+friend.
+
+"It would be better to wait a while, Norman. In a few hours we will know
+what to tell them."
+
+At high acceleration the _Sirius_ drove toward the Jupiter-Earth-North
+plane, and Brandon calculated from his own bearings and from the current
+issue of the "Ephemeris" the time at which Stevens' reply should be
+received. Two minutes before that time he was pacing up and down in
+front of the ultra-receiver, and fifteen seconds after it he snapped:
+
+"Come on, Perce, get busy! Shake a leg!"
+
+"Oh, come, Norman; give him a few minutes' leeway, at least," said
+Westfall, with amused tolerance. "Even if your calculations are that
+accurate--which of course they are," he added hastily at a stormy glance
+from hot black eyes, "since we received that message direct, instead of
+through one of our relay stations, Stevens probably has been throwing
+it around for hours or perhaps days, looking for us, and the shock of
+hearing from us at last might well have put him out of control for a
+minute or two."
+
+The carrier wave hissed into the receiver, forestalling Brandon's fiery
+reply, followed closely by the code signals they had been expecting. As
+soon as the story had been told, and while Brandon was absorbed in the
+scientific addenda of Stevens, Westfall thoughtfully called up Newton,
+Nadia's father.
+
+"Nadia is alive, free, safe, well, and happy," he shot out without
+preliminary or greeting, as soon as the now lined features of the
+director showed upon the communicator screen, and the careworn
+countenance smoothed magically into the keen face of the fighting Newton
+of old, as Westfall recounted rapidly the tale of the castaways.
+
+"They apparently have not suffered in any way," he concluded. "All that
+Stevens wants is some cigarettes, and your daughter's needs, while
+somewhat more numerous than his, seem to be only clothes, powder,
+perfume, and candy. Therefore we need not worry about them. The fate of
+the others is still unknown, but there seems to be a slight possibility
+that some of them may yet be rescued. You may release as much or as
+little of this story as may seem desirable. Stevens is still sending
+data of a highly technical nature. We shall arrive there at 21:32 next
+Tuesday."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In due time the message from Ganymede ended and Brandon, with many pages
+of his notebook crammed with figures and equations, snapped off the
+power of the receiver and turned to his bench. Gone was the storming,
+impetuous rebel; his body was ruled solely by the precise and insatiable
+brain of the research scientist.
+
+"He's great, that kid Perce! When I see him, I'm going to kiss him
+on both cheeks. He's got enough dope on them to hang them higher than
+Franklin's kite, and we'll nail those jaspers to the cross or I'm a
+polyp! He's crazier than a loon in most of his hunches, but he's filled
+four of our biggest gaps. There is such a thing, as a ray-screen, you
+kill-joy, and there are also lifting or tractor rays--two things I've
+been trying to dope out and that you've been giving me the Bronx cheer
+on. The Titanians have had a tractor ray for ages--he sent me complete
+dope on it--and the Jovians have got them both. We'll have them in three
+days, and it ought to be fairly simple to dope out the opposite of a
+tractor, too--a pusher or presser beam. Say, round up the gang, will
+you, while I'm licking some of this stuff into shape for you to tear
+apart? Where are Venus and Mars? Um ... m ... m. Tell Alcantro and
+Fedanzo to come over here pronto--give 'em a special if necessary. We'll
+pick up Dol Kenor and Pyraz Amonar on the way--no, get them to Tellus,
+too. Then we'll get action quicker. Those four are all I want--get
+anybody else you want to come along."
+
+His hands playing over the keys of an enormous calculating machine,
+Brandon was instantly immersed in a profound mathematico-physical
+problem; deaf and blind to everything about him. Westfall, knowing well
+that far-reaching results would follow Brandon's characteristic attack,
+sat down at the controls of the communicator. He first called Mars, the
+home planet of Alcantro and Fedanzo, the foremost force-field experts of
+three planets; and was assured in no uncertain terms that those rulers
+of rays were ready and anxious to follow wherever Brandon and Westfall
+might lead. Thence to Venus, where Dol Kenor, the electrical wizard,
+and Pyraz Amonar, the master of mechanism, also readily agreed to
+accompany the expedition. He then called the General-in-Chief of the
+Interplanetary Police, requesting a detail of two hundred picked men
+for the hazardous venture. These most important calls out of the way,
+he was busy for over an hour giving long-distance instructions so that
+everything would be in readiness for the servicing of the immense
+space-cruiser the following Tuesday night.
+
+Having guarded against everything his cautious and far-seeing mind
+could envisage, he went over to Brandon's desk and sat down, smoking
+contemplatively until the idea had been roughed out in mathematical
+terms.
+
+"Here's the rough draft of the ray screen, Quince. We generate a blanket
+frequency, impressed upon the ultra carrier wave. That's old stuff, of
+course. Here's the novelty, in equation 59. With two fields of force,
+set up from data 27 to 43, it will be possible actually to project a
+pure force of such a nature that it will react to de-heterodyne the
+blanketing frequency at any predetermined distance. That, of course,
+sets up a barrier against any frequency of the blanketed band.
+Incidentally, an extension of the same idea will enable us to see
+anywhere we want to look--calculate a retransmitting field."
+
+"One thing at a time, please. That screen may be possible, but
+those fields will never generate it. Look at datum 31, in which your
+assumptions are unsound. In order to make any solution at all possible
+you have assumed cosine squared theta negligible. Mathematically, it is
+of course vanishingly small compared to the first power of the cosine,
+but fields of that type must be _exact_, and your neglect of the square
+is indefensible. Since you cannot integrate with the squared term in
+place, your whole solution fails."
+
+"Not necessarily. We'll go back to 29, and put in sine squared theta
+minus one equal to z sub four. That gives us a coversed sine in 30,
+and then we integrate...."
+
+Thus the argument raged, and all the assistants whose work was not
+too pressing gathered around unobtrusively, for it was from just such
+fierce discussions as this that the ultra-radio and other epoch-making
+discoveries had come into being. Yard after yard of calculator paper
+was filled with equations and computations. Weirdly shaped curves
+were drawn, with arguments at every point--arguments hot and violent
+from Brandon, from Westfall cold and precise, backed by lightning
+calculations and with facts and diagrams culled from the many abstruse
+works of reference, which by this time literally covered the bench and
+overflowed upon the floor.
+
+It was in this work that the strikingly different temperaments and
+abilities of the two scientists were revealed. Brandon never stood
+still, but walked around jerkily, chewing savagely the stem of an
+ancient and reeking pipe, gesticulating vigorously, the while his keen
+and agile mind was finding a way over, around, or through the apparently
+insuperable obstacles which beset their path; by means of mathematical
+and physical improvisations, which no one not inspired by sheer genius
+could have evolved. Westfall, seated quietly at the calculator,
+mercilessly shredded Brandon's theories to ribbons, pointing out their
+many flaws with his cold, incisive reasoning and with rapid calculations
+of the many factors involved. Then Brandon would find a remedy for each
+weakness in turn and, when Westfall could no longer find a single flaw
+in the structure, they would toss the completed problem upon a table
+and attack the next one with unabated zeal. Brandon, in his light
+remark that the two made one real scientist, had far understated
+the case--those two brains, each so powerful and each so perfectly
+complementing the other, comprised the master-scientist who was to
+revolutionize science completely in a few short years.
+
+To such good purpose did they labor that the calculations were
+practically finished by the time they reached the earth. There the ship
+was serviced with a celerity that spoke volumes for the importance of
+her mission--even the _Aldebaran_, the dazzlingly gold-plated queen of
+the fleet, waited unattended and disregarded on minus time while the
+entire force of the Interplanetary Corporation concentrated upon the
+battle-scarred old hulk of the _Sirius_. Brandon was surprised when he
+saw the two companies of police, but characteristically accepted without
+question the wisdom of any decision of his friend, and cordially greeted
+Inspector-General Crowninshield, only a year or so older than himself,
+but already in charge of a Division.
+
+"Keen-looking bunch, Crown. Lot of different outfits--volunteers for
+special duty from the whole Tellurian force?"
+
+"Yes. Everybody wanted to go, and there threatened to be trouble over
+the selection, so we picked the highest ratings from the whole Service.
+If there ever was such a thing as a picked force, we shall have it
+with us."
+
+"What d'you mean, 'us'? You aren't going, are you?"
+
+"Try to keep me from it! The names of all five of us I-G's were put in
+a hat, and I was lucky."
+
+"Well, you may come in handy, at that," Brandon conceded. "And here's
+the big boss himself. Hi, Chief!"
+
+"Ho, Brandon! Ho, Westfall!" Newton, Chairman of the Board of Directors
+of the IPC, shook hands with the two scientists. "Your Martians and
+Venerians are in Lounge Fifteen. I suppose that you have a lot of things
+to thrash out, so you may as well start now. Everything is being
+attended to--I'll take charge now."
+
+"You going along, too?" asked Brandon.
+
+"Going along, _too_? I'm _running_ this cruise!" Newton declared. "I may
+take advice from you on some things and from Crowninshield on others,
+but I am in charge!"
+
+"All x--it's a relief, at that," and Brandon and Westfall went to join
+their fellow-scientists in the designated room of the space-cruiser.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What a contrast was there as the representatives of three worlds
+met! All six men were of the same original stock or of a similar
+evolution--science has not, even yet, decided the question definitely.
+Their minds were very much alike, but their respective environments had
+so variantly developed their bodily structures that to outward seeming
+they had but little in common.
+
+Through countless thousands of generations the Martians had become
+acclimated to a planet having little air, less water, and characterized
+by abrupt transitions from searing heat to bitter cold: from
+blinding light to almost impenetrable darkness. Eight feet tall
+and correspondingly massive, they could barely stand against the
+gravitational force of the Earth, almost three times as great as that
+of Mars, but the two Martian scientists struggled to their feet as the
+Terrestrials entered.
+
+"As you were, fellows--lie down again and take it easy." Brandon
+suggested in the common Interplanetarian tongue. "We'll be away from
+here very soon, then we can ease off."
+
+"We greet our friends standing as long as we can stand," and, towering
+a full two feet above Brandon's own six-feet-two, Alcantro and Fedanzo
+in turn engulfed his comparatively tiny hand in a thick-shelled paw
+and lifted briefly the inner lids of quadruply-shielded eyes. For the
+Martian skin is not like ours. It is of incredible thickness; dry,
+pliable, rubbery, and utterly without sensation: heavily lined with
+fat and filled throughout its volume with tiny air-cells which make
+it an almost perfect non-conductor of heat and which prevent absolutely
+the evaporation of the precious moisture of the body. For the same
+reasons their huge and cat-like eyes are never exposed, but look
+through sealed, clear windows of membrane, over which may be drawn at
+will one or all of four pairs of lids--lids transparent, insensible,
+non-freezable, air-spaced insulators. Even the air they exhale carries
+from their bodies a minimum of the all-important heat and moisture,
+for the passages of their nostrils do not lead directly to the lungs,
+as do ours. They are merely the intakes for a tortuous system of
+tubes comprising a veritable heat-exchanger, so that the air finally
+expelled is in almost perfect equilibrium with the incoming supply
+in temperature and in moisture content. A grayish tan in color, naked
+and hairless--though now, out of deference to Terrestrial conventions,
+wearing light robes of silk--indifferent alike to any extreme of heat or
+cold, light or darkness: such were the two forbidding beings who arose
+to greet their Terrestrial friends, then again reclined.
+
+"I suppose that you have been given to drink?" Westfall made sure that
+they had been tendered the highest hospitality of Mars.
+
+"We have drunk full deeply, thanks; and it was not really necessary,
+for we drank scarcely three weeks ago."
+
+Brandon and Westfall turned then and greeted the two Venerians,
+as different from the Martians as they were from the Terrestrials.
+Of earthly stature, form, and strength, yet each was encased in a
+space-suit stretched like a drum-head, and would live therein or in
+the special Venerian rooms of the vessel as long as the journey should
+endure. For the atmosphere of Venus is more than twice as dense as ours,
+is practically saturated with water-vapor, carries an extremely high
+concentration of carbon dioxide, and in their suits and rooms is held
+at a temperature of one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit. The lenses
+of their helmets were of heavy, yellowish-red composition, protecting
+their dead-white skins and red eyes from all actinic rays--for the
+Venerian lives upon the bottom of an everlasting sea of fog and his
+thin epidermis, utterly without pigmentation, burns and blisters as
+frightfully at the least exposure to actinic light as does ours at
+the touch of a red-hot iron.
+
+Out in space at last, cruising idly with the acceleration set at a point
+bearable for the Martians, Westfall called the meeting to order and
+outlined the situation facing them. Brandon then handed around folios of
+papers, upon which the Venerians turned the invisible infra-red beams of
+the illuminators upon their helmets, thus flooding them with the "light"
+to which their retinas were most responsive.
+
+"Here's the data," Brandon began. "As you see from Sheet 1, we can
+already draw any amount of power we shall need from cosmic radiation
+alone...."
+
+"Perpetual motion--ridiculous!" snapped from the sending disk upon the
+helmet of the master of mechanism.
+
+"Not at all, Amonar," put in his fellow Venerian, "any more than
+a turbo-generator at the foot of a waterfall is perpetual motion.
+Those radiations originate we know not where, probably as a result
+of intra-atomic reactions. The fields of force of our hosts merely
+intercept these radiations, as a water-driven turbine intercepts the
+water. We merely use a portion of their energy before permitting
+them to go on, to we know not what end. Truly you have made a notable
+achievement in science, Tellurian friends, and we congratulate you upon
+its accomplishment. Please proceed."
+
+"Upon the following sheets are described the forces employed by the
+Jovians, as we shall call them until we find out who or what they really
+are. We will discuss these forces later. For each force we have already
+calculated a screen, and we have also calculated various other forces of
+our own, with which we hope to arm ourselves before we reach Ganymede.
+The problems facing us are complex, since there are some nine thousand
+forcebands of the order in which we are working, each differing from all
+the others as much as torque differs from tension, or as much as red
+differs from green. Therefore we have appealed to you for help, knowing
+that we could do but little alone. Alcantro and Fedanzo will supervise
+the construction of the generators of the various fields from these
+calculations. Dol Kenor will correlate power and electricity to and
+with the fields. Westfall and I will help work out the theoretical
+difficulties as they arise. Pyraz Amonar, who can devise and build a
+machine to perform any conceivable mechanical task, will help us all
+in the many mechanical difficulties we shall certainly encounter.
+Discussion of any point is now in order."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Step by step and equation after equation the calculations and plans
+were gone over, until every detail was clear in each mind. Then the men
+bent to their tasks; behind them not only the extraordinarily complete
+facilities of that gigantic workshop which was the _Sirius_; but also
+the full power of the detachment of police--the very cream of the young
+manhood of the planet. Week after toilsome week the unremitting labor
+went on, and little by little the massive cruiser of the void became
+endowed with an offensive and defensive armament incredible. An armament
+conceived in the fertile and daring brain of a sheer genius, guided only
+by the knowledge that such things were already in existence somewhere;
+reduced to working theory by a precise, mathematical logician;
+translated into fields of force by the greatest known experts; powered
+by the indefatigable efforts of an electrical wizard; made possible by
+the artful mechanical devices of the greatest inventor that three worlds
+had ever known! Thus it was that they approached Ganymede, ready, with
+blanketing screens full out, save for one narrow working band, and
+with a keen-eyed observer at every plate. When even the hyper-critical
+Westfall was convinced that their preparations were as complete as they
+could be made with the limited information at hand, Brandon directed a
+beam upon the satellite and tapped off a brief message:
+
+"stevens ganymede will arrive in about ten hours direct carrier beam
+toward sun we can detect it and will follow it to wherever you are
+sirius."
+
+"ipv sirius," came the reply, "everything here, all x glad to see you
+thanks newton and stevens."
+
+Brandon, at the controls, scanning his screens narrowly, dropped the
+vessel down to within a mile or two of the point of origin of Stevens'
+carrier beam without incident; then spoke to Westfall, at his side, with
+a grin.
+
+"Nice layout the kid's got down there, Quince. It's too bad--don't look
+like we're going to get any action for our money a-tall. 'Sa shame,
+too--what's the use of wasting it, now that we've got it all made?"
+
+"We are not done yet," cautioned Westfall, and even as he spoke an alarm
+bell burst into strident clamor--one of their far-flung detector screens
+was telling the world that it had encountered a dangerous frequency.
+The new ultra-lights flared instantly along the line automatically laid
+down by the detector, and upon the closely ruled micrometer screen of
+Brandon's desk there glowed in natural color the image of a globular
+space-ship, approaching them with terrific speed.
+
+"Men all stationed, of course, Crown?"
+
+"Stationed and ready." Crowninshield, phones at his ears and microphone
+at his lips, was staring intently into his own plate.
+
+"Kinda think I'll do most of it from here, but you can't always tell. If
+they get inside my guard you all know what to do."
+
+"All x."
+
+Expecting another such hollow victory as the other Hexan vessel had won
+over the defenseless _Arcturus_, the small stranger flashed nearer and
+nearer that huge and featureless football of armor steel. Within range,
+she launched her flaming plane of energy, but this time that Jovian
+sheet of force did not encounter unprotected and non-resisting steel.
+Upon the outer ray-screen, flaming white into incandescent defense,
+the furious bolt spent itself, and in the instant of the launching of
+the searing blade of flame, Brandon had gone into action. Switch after
+switch drove home, and one after another those frightful fields of
+force, those products of the mightiest minds of three planets, were
+hurled out against the tiny Jovian sphere. Driven as they were by the
+millions upon millions of horsepower stored in the accumulators of the
+_Sirius_ they formed a coruscating spherical shell of intolerable energy
+all around the enemy vessel, but even their prodigious force was held
+at bay by the powerful defensive screens of the smaller space-ship.
+But attack the Jovian could not, every resource at her command being
+necessary to fend off the terrific counter-attack of her intended prey,
+and she turned in flight. Small and agile as she was, the enormous
+mass of the _Sirius_ precluded any possibility of maneuvering with
+the Jovian, but Brandon had no intention of maneuvering. Rapid as
+the motions of the stranger were and frantic as was her dodging, the
+terrific forces of the tractor beams of the Interplanetary Vessel
+held her in an unbreakable grip, and although she dragged the massive
+_Sirius_ hither and thither, she could not escape.
+
+"Hm ... m ... m," mused Brandon. "We seem to be getting nowhere fast.
+How much power we using, Mac, and how much have we got coming in?"
+
+"Output eighty-five thousand kilofranks," replied MacDonald, the first
+assistant. "Intake forty-nine thousand."
+
+"Not so good--can't hold out forever at that rate. Shove out the
+receptor screens to the limit and drive 'em. They figure a top of sixty
+thousand, but we ought to pick up a little extra from that blaze out
+there. Drive 'em full out or up to sixty-five, whichever comes first.
+Can't seem to crush his screens, so I guess we'll have to try something
+else," and a thoughtful expression came over his face as he slowly
+extended his hand toward another switch, with a questioning glance at
+Westfall.
+
+"Better not do that yet, Norman. Use that only as a last resort, after
+everything else has failed."
+
+"Yeah--I'm scared to death of trying it, and it isn't necessary yet. He
+must have an open slit somewhere to work through, just as we have. I'll
+feel around for it a while."
+
+"Is there any way of hetrodyning the new visiray upon the exploring
+frequency?"
+
+"Hm ... m.... Never thought of that--it would be nice, too....
+I think we can do it, too. Watch 'em, Quince, and holler if they start
+anything."
+
+He abandoned his desk and established the necessary connections between
+the visiray apparatus and the controls of his board. There was a fierce
+violet-white glare from the plate as he closed the switch, and he leaped
+back with his hands over his eyes, temporarily blinded.
+
+"Wow, that's hot stuff!" he exclaimed. "It works, all x, to the queen's
+taste," as he donned his heavy ray-goggles and resumed his place.
+
+After making certain that the visiray was precisely synchronized and
+phased with the searching frequency, he built up the power of that
+beam until it was using twenty thousand kilofranks. Then, by delicately
+manipulating the variable condensers and inductances of his sensitive
+shunting relay circuits, he slowly shifted that frightful rod of energy
+from frequency to frequency, staring into the brilliant blankness of his
+micrometer screen as he did so. After a few minutes of search the screen
+darkened somewhat, revealing the image of the Jovian globe. Brandon
+instantly shifted into that one channel the entire power of his attack;
+steadying the controls to bring the sphere of the Jovians into the
+sharpest possible focus, knowing that he had found the open slit and
+that through it there was pouring upon the enemy the full power of his
+terrible weapon.
+
+In the fraction of a second before the Jovians could detect the attack
+and close the slit, he saw a portion of the wall of their vessel flare
+into white heat and literally explode outward in puffs and gouts of
+flaming, molten metal and of incandescent gases. But the thrust, savage
+as it was, had not been fatal and the enemy countered instantly. Now
+that the crushing force of the full-coverage attack was lessened for a
+moment, through another slit there poured a beam of energy equal to the
+Terrestrials' own--a beam of such intense power that the outer screen
+of the _Sirius_ flared from red through the spectrum, to and beyond the
+violet, and went black in less than a second, and the inner screen had
+almost gone down before Brandon's lightning hands could restore the
+complete coverage that so effectively blanketed the forces of the enemy.
+
+"Well, we're back to the _status quo_," announced Brandon, calmly. "It's
+a good gag they didn't have time to locate our working slit--if they had
+pushed that stuff through our open channel, we'd have gotten frizzled up
+some around the edges. As it was, we got the edge on that exchange--take
+it from your Uncle Dudley, Quince, that bird knows that he's been
+nudged!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Again he searched the entire band for an opening, but could find none.
+The enemy had apparently retired into a tightly closed shell of energy.
+The small vessel no longer struggled, nor even moved, but was merely
+resisting passively.
+
+"Not an open channel, not even one for him to work through--he can't
+wiggle. Well, that won't get him anything. We're so much bigger than
+he is, that we can outlast him and will get him some time, since he's
+bound to run out of power before we do. I don't believe he can receive
+anything, sealed up as he is, and he can't have accumulators enough more
+efficient than ours to make up the difference, can he, Quince?"
+
+"It is quite possible. For instance, although we have never heard of any
+progress being made along such lines, it has been pointed out repeatedly
+that synthesis of a radio-active element of very high atomic weight
+would theoretically yield an almost perfect accumulator--one many
+thousands of times as efficient as ours in mass-to-energy ratio. Then,
+too, you realize, of course, that there is a bare possibility that
+intra-atomic energy may not be absolutely impossible."
+
+"Nix on that, Quince. I'll stand for a lot, but not for that last idea!
+It's hard to say that anything's impossible, of course, except things
+made so by definition or by being contrary to observational facts, but
+the best work shows that intra-atomic energy is just about as impossible
+as anything can well be. It has been shown pretty conclusively that all
+ordinary matter is already in its most stable state, so that work must
+be done upon any ordinary atom to decompose it. Besides, if he had
+either radioactive accumulators or intra-atomic energy, he would have
+cut us up long ago. Nope, the answer is that he's probably yelled for
+help and is trying to hold out until it gets here," was Brandon's
+rejoinder.
+
+"What can we do about it?" asked Quince.
+
+"Don't know yet. I do know, though, that we aren't half as ready for
+trouble as I thought we were. There's a dozen things I want to do that
+I can't because we haven't got the stuff. Don't say 'I told you so,'
+either--I know you did! You're the champion ground-and-lofty thinker of
+the century. Alcantro!"
+
+"Here!"
+
+"Round up the gang, will you, and figure me out a screen and a set of
+meters that will indicate an open band? We lose too much time feeling
+around anyhow, and we're too apt to take one on the chin while we're
+doing it. Also, you ought to make it so it'll shoot a jolt into the
+opening, while you're at it," said Brandon.
+
+"We shall begin at once," and the massive Martian as he replied, stepped
+over to the calculating machine.
+
+"Well, Quince, we can't do much to him this way--he's crawled into a
+hole and pulled the hole in after him. Gosh, I wish we had more stuff!"
+
+"After all, we have everything whose necessity and practicability could
+have been foreseen in the light of our information. We can, of course,
+go further."
+
+"You chirped it! But we can't let things ride this way or we'll get our
+hair singed. We'll have to decorate him with the grand slam, I guess."
+
+"Yes, it seems as though the time for emergency measures has arrived."
+
+"Put everything on the center of the band?"
+
+"That is probably the best frequency to use in a case of this kind."
+
+"He can't control, so we'll push him down close to the ground before
+we go to work on him--so we don't have so far to fall if anything goes
+screwy with the works. Here's hoping nothing gives away!"
+
+The _Sirius_, almost against the flaming screens of the Jovian, and both
+vessels very close to the surface of the satellite, Brandon tested the
+power leads briefly, adjusted dials and coils, then touched the button
+which actuated the relays--relays which in turn drove home the gigantic
+switches that launched a fearsome and as yet untried weapon. Instantly
+released, the full seven hundred thousand kilofranks of their stupendous
+batteries of accumulators drove into the middle frequency of the
+attacking band, and Brandon's heart was in his mouth as he stared into
+the plate to see what would happen. He saw! Everything in the _Sirius_
+held fast, and under the impact of the inconceivable plane of force, the
+screens of the enemy vessel flared instantly into an even more intense
+incandescence and in that same fleeting instant went down, and all
+defenses vanished as the metal sphere fell apart into two halves, as
+would an apple under the full blow of a broad-axe.
+
+Brandon quickly shut off his power and stared in relief into the central
+compartment of the globular ship of space, now laid open, and saw there
+figures, one or two of which were moving weakly. As he looked, one of
+these feebly attempted to raise a peculiar, tubular something toward a
+helplessly fettered body. Even as Brandon snatched away the threatening
+weapon with a beam of force, he recognized the captive.
+
+"Great Cat, there's Breckenridge!" he gasped, and directed a lifting
+beam upon the bound and unconscious prisoner. Rapidly, but carefully, he
+was brought through the double airlock and into the control room, where
+his shackles were cut away and where he soon revived under vigorous and
+skilful treatment.
+
+"Any more of you in there? Did I hit any of you with that beam?"
+demanded Brandon, intensely, as soon as Breckenridge showed signs of
+understanding.
+
+"King's in there somewhere, and there's a Callistonian human being that
+you mustn't kill," the chief pilot replied, weakly and with great effort
+in every word. "Don't believe that you hit anybody direct, but the shock
+was pretty bad." Having delivered his message, he lay back, exhausted.
+
+"All x. Crown, give me a squad...."
+
+"Not on your life!" barked the general. "This is my job and I'll do it
+myself. Your job is fighting the _Sirius_--stay with it!"
+
+"Not in seven thousand years--I'm in on this, too," Brandon protested,
+but was decisively overruled by Newton.
+
+"You belong right here at this board, since no one else can handle it
+the way you can. Stay here!" he commanded.
+
+"All right," grudgingly assented the physicist, and held the _Sirius_
+upright, with her needle-sharp stern buried a few feet deep in the
+ground.
+
+He watched the wreckage jealously while Crowninshield and forty helmeted
+men issued from the service door in the lower ultra-light compartment
+and advanced upon the two halves of the enemy vessel. As no hostile
+demonstrations ensued, scaling ladders were quickly placed and with
+weapons at the alert the police boarded the hemispheres, manacled the
+still helpless beings visible, and, after laying down a fog of
+stupefying gas, vanished into compartments beyond the metal partitions.
+After a short time they reappeared and climbed down the scaling ladders,
+carrying several inert forms, and Brandon spoke into his transmitter.
+
+"King all x, Crowninshield?"
+
+"I think so. Not being in the control room he was not as badly shocked
+by the passage of the beam as were Breckenridge and those you saw. The
+things in the other rooms were about ready to fight, so we gave them a
+little whiff of tritylamin, but Captain King will be as good as ever in
+a few minutes."
+
+"Fine business!" The police entered the _Sirius_, the service doors
+clanged shut, and Brandon turned to Westfall.
+
+"While they're coming up, I guess I'll pick up Perce and Miss Newton.
+We'd better get them aboard and beat it, while we're all in one piece!"
+
+But even before he could send out the exploring beam of his
+communicator, the voice of Stevens came from the receiver.
+
+"Hi, Brandon and Westfall! We've watched the whole show.
+Congratulations, fellows! Welcome to Ganymede! You are in our
+valley--we're upstream from you about three hundred meters; just below
+the falls, on the meadow side."
+
+"All x," Brandon acknowledged. "We saw you. Come on out where we can
+pick you up. We've got to get away from here, and get away fast!"
+
+"We'll carry off the pieces of that ship, too, Quince--we may be able to
+get a lot of pointers from it," and Brandon swung mighty tractor beams
+upon the severed halves of the Jovian vessel, then extended a couple of
+smaller rays to meet the two little figures racing across the smooth
+green meadow toward the _Sirius_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Among Friends at Last
+
+
+The time for the landing of the _Sirius_ was drawing near, and the
+castaways upon Ganymede had donned their only suits of earthly clothing,
+instead of the makeshifts of mole-skin, canvas, and leather they had
+been wearing so long. Thorns and underbrush had pierced and torn their
+once natty outing costumes, and sparks and flying drops of molten metal
+from Stevens' first crude forges had burned in them many gaping holes.
+
+"I did the best I could with them, Steve, but they look pretty crumby,"
+Nadia wrinkled her nose as she studied the anything but invisible seams,
+darns, and staring patches everywhere so evident, both in her own
+apparel of gray silk and in the heavy whipcord clothing of her
+companion.
+
+"You did a great job, considering what you had to work with," he
+reassured her. "Besides, who cares about a few patches? I feel a lot
+more civilized in my own clothes, don't you?"
+
+"Well ... yes," she admitted. "They're silk, anyway, even if they don't
+look like much, and I'm just reveling in the feel of them next to me
+after the horrible, rough, scratchy things I've been wearing. See
+anything yet?"
+
+"Not yet." Stevens had been scanning the heavens with a pair of
+binoculars. "That doesn't mean much, though, as they'll be just about in
+the sun and they'll be coming like a scared dog. Might as well put away
+these glasses--we probably won't be able to see them until they're right
+on top of us."
+
+"What shall we take with us?"
+
+"Don't know--nothing, probably, since they must have a campaign already
+mapped out. I'd like to salvage a lot of this junk, but I'm afraid we
+won't be able to. I'm going to take my bow and arrows, though, aren't
+you?"
+
+"Absolutely! That's one thing that's better than anything I ever had on
+Earth. This bow of mine is perfect."
+
+"There they are! Three rousing cheers! Say, but that old hulk looks good
+to me!"
+
+"Doesn't she, though!" cried Nadia, vibrant with excitement. "You know,
+Steve. I've hardly dared really to believe it until this very minute. Oh
+look! What's that?"
+
+The _Sirius_ had stopped in midair and they could see, far in the
+distance, the tiny sphere of the Jovians, rushing to the attack.
+
+"Oh, how horrible!" cried the girl, her voice breaking. "I'm afraid,
+Steve...."
+
+"You needn't be, ace. I've told you they won't go off half-cocked as
+long as Westfall is on the job. They're ready for anything, or they
+wouldn't be here--but just the same I wish that they had that Titanian
+mirror and a couple of those bombs!"
+
+In a moment more the Jovian plane of force was launched, the powerful
+ray-screens flared into white-hot, sparkling defense, and the battle was
+on. Held spell-bound as the castaways were by that spectacular duel, yet
+Stevens' trained mind warned him of the perils of their position.
+
+"Grab your bow and we'll beat it!" and he rapidly led her away from the
+steel structures to an open hillside, well away from any projection,
+tree, or sharp point of rock. "If that keeps up very long, we're going
+to see some real fireworks, and I don't know whether there will be
+enough left of our plant here to salvage or not. Everything is grounded,
+of course, but I don't believe that ordinary grounds will amount to much
+against what's coming."
+
+"What _are_ you talking about?" demanded Nadia.
+
+"Look!" he replied, pointing, and as he spoke, a terrific bolt of
+lightning launched itself from the incandescent screen of the Jovian
+vessel upon their slender ultra-radio tower, which subsided instantly
+into a confused mass of molten and twisted metal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the power of the beams was increased and as the combatants drew
+nearer and nearer the ground, the lightning display grew ever more
+violent. Well below the canyon as the warring vessels were, the
+power-plant and penstock did not suffer at all and only a few discharges
+struck the _Forlorn Hope_--discharges which were carried easily to
+ground by the enormous thickness of her armor--but every prominent
+object for hundreds of yards below the _Hope_ was literally blasted out
+of existence. Radio tower, directors and fittings; trees, shrubs, sharp
+points of rock--all were struck again and again; fused, destroyed,
+utterly obliterated by the inconceivable energy being dissipated by
+those impregnable screens of force. Even almost flat upon the ground as
+the spectators were, each individual hair upon their heads strove
+fiercely to stand erect, so heavily charged was the very air. Stevens'
+arm was blue for days, such was Nadia's grip upon it, and she herself
+could scarcely breathe in that mighty arm's constriction--but each was
+conscious only of that incredibly violent struggle, of that duel to the
+death being waged there before their eyes with those frightful weapons,
+hitherto unknown to man. They saw the _Sirius_ triumphant, and Stevens
+led the dancing girl back into their dwelling of steel.
+
+"Danger's all over now. Radio's gone, but we should fret a lot about
+that. It has done its stuff--we can use the communicators. And now,
+sweetheart, I'm going to kiss you--for the first time in seven
+lifetimes."
+
+Locked in each other's arms, they watched the scene until Stevens
+thought it time to send his message. Then, running hand in hand toward
+the huge space-cruiser, they were snatched apart and drawn up toward the
+double airlocks of the main entrance. Pressure gradually brought up to
+normal, they were ushered into the control room, where Nadia glanced
+around quickly and almost took her father off his feet by her
+tempestuous rush into his arms.
+
+"Oh, Daddy darling. I just knew you'd come along! I haven't seen
+you for a million years!" she exclaimed, rapturously. "And Bill,
+too--wonderful!" as she fervently embraced a young man wearing the
+uniform of a lieutenant of Interplanetary Police. "Ouch, Bill--you're
+breaking all my ribs!"
+
+"Well, you cracked three of mine. Maybe you don't know how husky you
+are, but you've got a squeeze like a full grown boa constrictor!" He
+held her off at arms' length and studied her with admiration. "Gee,
+it's fine to see you again, Sis. You're looking great, too--I think
+I'll bring my girl out here to live. You always were a knockout, but
+now you're the loveliest thing I ever saw!"
+
+He made his way through the group surrounding Stevens, while Nadia and
+her father talked earnestly.
+
+"I'm Bill Newton. Thanks," he said, simply, holding out his hand, which
+was taken in a bone-crushing grip.
+
+"Bring him over here, Bill!" Nadia called before Stevens could find
+a reply.
+
+"I don't know how to say anything, Stevens," the officer continued, in
+embarrassment, as the two men turned to obey the summons. "She's a good
+kid, and we think a lot of her. We'd about given her up. We.... She....
+Oh, rats, what's the use? You know what I mean. You're there, Stevens,
+like a...."
+
+"Clam it, ace!" Stevens interrupted. "I get you, to nineteen decimals.
+And you don't half know just what a good kid she really is. She's the
+reason we're here--we were down pretty close to bed-rock for a while,
+she stood up when I wilted. She's got everything. She...."
+
+"Clam it yourself, Steve! Don't believe a word of it, Dad and Bill.
+_Wilt_!" Nadia's voice dripped scorn. "Why, he di...."
+
+"Please!" Newton's voice was somewhat husky as he silenced the clamor of
+the three young people, all talking at once. "I will not embarrass you
+further by trying to say something that no words can express. You told
+me that you would take care of her, and I learn that you have done so."
+
+"I did what I could, but most of the credit belongs to her, no matter
+what she says," Stevens insisted. "Anyway, sir, here she is; alive, well
+and ... unharmed," and his eyes bore unflinchingly the piercing gaze of
+the older man, who was reassured and pleased by what he read therein.
+"One thing I want to say right now, though, that may make you feel like
+canceling the welcome. I loved Nadia even before the _Arcturus_ was
+attacked, and since then, coming to know her as I have, the feeling
+hasn't lessened any."
+
+"Nadia has already told me all about you two," said her father, "and the
+welcome stands. If you could take care of her as well as you have done
+since you left the _Arcturus_, I have no doubt of your ability to take
+care of her for life. We have been examining the work you have done
+here, son, and the more I saw of it the more amazed I became that you
+could have succeeded as you did. We are deeply indebted.... Just a
+minute! There's my call--I'm wanted in Fifteen. I'll see you again
+directly."
+
+"Hi, Norm!" Stevens further relieved the surcharged atmosphere.
+"As soon as you and Quince can leave those controls come over and see us,
+will you?"
+
+"All x--coming up!" sounded Brandon's deep and pleasant bass, and the
+two rescuers, who had tactfully avoided the family reunion, came over
+and greeted the third of their triumvirate.
+
+"Ho, Perce--you look fit." Brandon ran an expert hand over Stevens'
+arm and shoulder. "Looks as if he might last a round or two, doesn't
+he, Quince?"
+
+"You are looking fine, Steve. Neither of you appear any the worse for
+your experiences. So this is Nadia? We have heard of you, Miss Newton."
+
+"I believe that, knowing Dad," she replied. "Thanks, both of you, for
+digging us out. I've heard about you two, and I'm going to kiss you
+both."
+
+Westfall, the silent and reserved, was taken aback, but Brandon met her
+more than half-way.
+
+"All x, Nadia--payment in full received and hereby acknowledged," he
+laughed, as he allowed her feet to return to the floor. "Even if it was
+some stout lads from Mars and Venus that did all the work we'll take the
+reward--especially since Alcantro and Fedanzo couldn't feel even such a
+high-voltage salute as that one was, and I can't picture you kissing a
+Venerian even if you could get to him. Whenever you get lost again, be
+sure to let us know, now that you've got our address. If I know Perce at
+all, you've heard of us 'til you're sick of it and us--it's a weakness
+of his--talking too much."
+
+"Why, it's no such th...." began Nadia, but broke off as an aide came up
+and saluted smartly.
+
+"Pardon me, but General Crowninshield requests that Doctor Brandon,
+Doctor Westfall, and Doctor Stevens join the council in Lounge Fifteen
+as soon as convenient." He saluted again and turned away.
+
+"Yes, that's right, folks--we've got to take a lot of steps, fast--see
+you later," and Brandon, taking each of the other two by an arm, marched
+them away toward the designated assembly room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There, already seated at a long table, were Czuv, King, and
+Breckenridge, all fully recovered, engaged in earnest conversation with
+Newton and Crowninshield. Alcantro and Fedanzo, the Martian scientists,
+were listening intently, as were the two Venerians Dol Kenor and Pyraz
+Amonar. The eyes of the three newcomers, however, did not linger upon
+the group at the table, but were irresistibly drawn to one corner of the
+room, where six creatures lay in the heaviest manacles afforded by the
+stores of the Interplanetary Police. Not only were they manacled, but
+each was facing a ray-projector, held by a soldier whose expression
+showed plainly that he would rather press the lethal contact than not.
+
+"Oh--those the things we're fighting?" Brandon stopped at the threshold
+and stared intently at the captive hexans. Goggling green eyes glaring
+venomously, they were lying quiet, but tense; mighty muscles ready to
+burst into berserk activity should the attention of a guard waver for
+a single instant.
+
+But little more than half as large as the savage creatures with whom
+Stevens had fought in the mountain glade upon Ganymede, the hexans
+resembled those aborigines only as civilized men might resemble gigantic
+primordial savages of our own Earth. Brandon's gaze went from short,
+powerful legs up a round, red body to the enormous, freakish double pair
+of shoulders, with its peculiar universal jointing. From the double
+shoulders sprang four limbs, the front pair of which were undoubtedly
+arms, terminating in large, but fairly normal, hands. The intermediate
+limbs were longer than the legs and were much more powerful than the
+arms, and ended in members that were very evidently feet and hands
+combined. What in a human being would be the back of the hand was the
+sole of the foot--when walking upon that foot the long and dexterous
+thumb and fingers were curled up, out of the way and protected from
+injury, in the palm of the hand. From the monstrous shoulders there
+rose a rather long and very flexible, yet massive and columnar neck,
+supporting a head neither human nor bestial--a head utterly unknown to
+Terrestrial history or experience. The massive cranium bespoke a highly
+developed and intelligent brain, as did the three large and expressive,
+peculiar, triangular eyes. The three sensitive ears were very long,
+erect, and sharply pointed. Each was set immediately above an eye, one
+upon each side of the head and one in front. Each ear was independently
+and instantly movable in any direction, to catch the faintest sound.
+The head, like the body and limbs, was entirely devoid of hair. The
+horns, so prominent in the savages Stevens had seen, were in this highly
+intelligent race but vestigial--three small, sharp, black protuberances
+only an inch in length, one surmounting each ear, outlining the lofty
+forehead. The nose occupied almost the whole middle of the face and was
+not really a nose--it developed into a small and active proboscis. The
+chin was receding almost to the point of disappearance, so that the
+mouth, with its multiple rows of small, sharp, gleaming-white teeth, was
+almost hidden under the face instead of being a part of it. Such were
+the hexans, at whom the Big Three stared in undisguised amazement.
+
+"Attention, please!" Newton called the meeting to order. "We have
+learned that all the passengers of the _Arcturus_, and all the crew save
+three, are alive and safe for the time being. Most of them are upon the
+satellite Europa. However, I understand that we are not yet sufficiently
+well armed to withstand such an attack in force as will certainly
+develop when we move to rescue them. This seems to be a war of applied
+physics--Doctor Brandon, as spokesman for the Scientific forces of the
+expedition, what are your suggestions?"
+
+"Anticipating an attack in response to signals probably sent out by the
+enemy," replied Brandon. "I headed directly south immediately. We are
+now well south the ecliptic, and are traveling at considerably more than
+full Martian acceleration. Before making any suggestions, I should like
+to hear from Captain Czuv, who is more familiar than we are with the
+common enemy. Are they apt to follow us: can they detect us if we should
+drift at constant velocity; and can we search the brains of the
+prisoners with his Callistonian thought-exchanger, if he should build
+one with our help?"
+
+"If they are close enough to us to overtake us without too much lost
+time, they will certainly attack us," Czuv answered at a nod from
+Newton. "Ordinarily they would pursue us to the limits of the Solar
+System if necessary, but since they have suffered reverses of late and
+cannot spare any vessels, they will probably not pursue us far. Yes,
+they can detect us, even without the driving rays, since this vessel
+uses much low-tension, low-frequency electricity in its automatic
+machinery, lights, and so on. No; our thought-transformer cannot take
+thoughts by force, and the hexans will exchange no ideas with us. They
+are implacable and deadly foes of all humanity, irrespective of planet
+or race. Mercy is to them unknown--they neither give nor take quarter."
+
+"I can bear him out in that," Crowninshield interposed grimly. "The
+first one to recover snapped our ordinary handcuffs like so much thread
+and literally tore four men to pieces before the rest of us could ray
+him. Will you need me longer, Director Newton?"
+
+"I think not. General. Captain Czuv, you have made no headway with
+them?" asked the Director.
+
+"None whatever, as I foretold. They understand me thoroughly, since two
+of them speak my own tongue, but nothing that they have said can ever
+be repeated here. I knew from the first that all such attempts would be
+fruitless, but I have tried--and failed. I suggest what I suggested at
+first--put them to death, here and now, as they lie there, for most
+assuredly they will in some way contrive to take toll of lives of your
+own humanity if you allow them to live."
+
+"You may be right," said Newton, "but neither the General nor myself
+can give the order for their death, since Interplanetary law does not
+countenance such summary action. However, the guards are fully warned of
+the peril, and will ray every prisoner at the first sign of unruliness.
+General Crowninshield, you may remove the prisoners and deal with them
+in accordance with...."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pandemonium reigned. At Crowninshield's signal for the guards to leave
+the room with their captives, all six had strained furiously at their
+bonds and three of them had broken free in a flash, throwing themselves
+upon the guards with unthinkable ferocity. Stevens, seeing a
+ray-projector in a hand of one of the prisoners, hurled his heavy chair
+instantly and with terrific force. The projector flew into the air,
+shattered and useless, while the hexan was knocked into a corner by the
+momentum of the massive projectile and lay there, stunned and broken.
+Brandon, likewise reacting instantaneously, had bent over and seized
+a leg of the table, bracing his knee against the corner. With a mighty
+lunge of his powerful body he wrenched out the support and with a
+continuation of the same motion, he brought the jagged oak head of his
+terrible club down full upon the crown of the second hexan, who had
+already torn one guard apart and was leaping toward Czuv, his hereditary
+foe. In midflight he was dashed to the floor, his head a shapeless,
+pulpy mass, and Brandon, bludgeon again aloft, strode deeper into the
+fray. For a brief moment searing lethal beams probed here and there,
+chains clanked and snapped, once more that ponderous and irresistible
+oaken mace fell like the hammer of Thor, again spattering brains and
+blood abroad as it descended--then again came silence. The six erstwhile
+prisoners lay dead, but they had taken five of the guards with
+them--literally dismembered, hideously torn limb from limb by the
+superhuman, incredible physical strength and utter ferocity of the
+hexans.
+
+By common consent the meeting was adjourned to another room, for the
+business in hand could not be postponed.
+
+"Captain Czuv was right--we Tellurians could not believe in the
+existence of such a race without the evidence of our own senses." Newton
+reopened the meeting. "From this time on we take no prisoners. Doctor
+Brandon, you may resume."
+
+"The detectors and lookouts will give ample warning of any attack, and
+Doctor Westfall has suggested that we should have all possible facts
+at hand before we try to decide upon a course of action. We should like
+to hear the full reports of Captain King, Captain Czuv, Chief Pilot
+Breckenridge, and Doctor Stevens."
+
+The four men told their stories tersely and rapidly, while the others
+listened in deep attention. As the last speaker sat down, Newton again
+turned to Brandon, who silently jerked his head at Westfall, knowing his
+own inadequacy in such a situation--realizing that here was needed
+Westfall's cold and methodical thinking.
+
+"Director Newton and gentlemen," Westfall spoke calmly and precisely.
+"We have much to do before we can meet the hexans upon equal terms.
+We have many new fields of force and rays to develop, of whose nature
+and necessity Doctor Brandon is already aware. Then, too, we must
+recalculate our visirays so that we can operate at greater range and
+efficiency. We must also examine the hexan space-ship which is towing,
+to do which it will be desirable to drift at constant velocity for a
+time. In it we may find instruments or devices as yet unknown to us.
+It also occurs to me that since this is an Interplanetary Police problem
+of the first magnitude, we should at once get in touch with Police
+Headquarters, so that the Peace Fleet can be armed as we ourselves are,
+or shall be, armed; for a large and highly efficient fleet will be
+necessary to do that which must be done. It is, of course, a foregone
+conclusion that Interplanetary humanity will support the humanity of
+Callisto against the hexans.
+
+"It is also self-evident that we must stay here and rescue the
+Tellurians now upon Europa and Callisto, but we are not yet in position
+to decide just how that rescue is to be accomplished. Four courses are
+apparently open to us. First, to attempt it as soon as we shall have
+strengthened our armament as much as is now possible. That would invite
+a massed attack, and in my opinion would be foolish--probably suicidal.
+Second, to stand by at a distance until the rocket-ship is launched,
+then to escort it back to the Earth. Third, to aid the Callistonians as
+much as possible while awaiting the completion of the rocket-vessel.
+Fourth, and perhaps the most feasible and quickest, it may be possible
+for the Callistonian rocket-ships to bring out fellow-Tellurians, a few
+at a time, to us here out in space, since they are apparently able to
+come and go at will. However, I would recommend that we make no plans
+for the rescue as yet--there is little use in attempting to deal with an
+ever-changing situation until we are ready to act forthwith. I suggest
+that we strengthen our offensive and defensive armament first, then
+secure information as to the exact status of affairs, both upon Callisto
+and upon Europa. Then, ready to act, we will do at once whatever seems
+called for by the situation then obtaining."
+
+"The program as outlined seems eminently sensible. Are there any
+comments or suggestions?" None having been offered, Director Newton
+adjourned the meeting and each man attacked his particular problem.
+
+True to Czuv's prediction the hexans did not deem it worthwhile to
+pursue the Terrestrial vessel, so obviously and so earnestly fleeing
+from them, and shortly, the acceleration was cut off, to render possible
+a thorough study of the two halves of the spherical warship of the
+enemy. Scientists donned space-suits and studied every feature of
+the strange vessel, while mechanics dismantled and transferred to the
+_Sirius_ every device and instrument of interest. One or two novel and
+useful applications of rays and forces were found, their visirays and
+communicators in particular being of a high degree of efficiency; but
+upon the whole the science of the hexans was found to be inferior to
+that now known to the scientists of Interplanetary's flying laboratory.
+Brandon studied the hexan power-system most carefully, and, everything
+in readiness and after a long talk with Westfall, he called a general
+conference in the control-room.
+
+"Gentlemen, we have done about everything we can do for the time being.
+By combining the best features of the visirays and communicators of
+the hexans with our own newly-perfected devices, we now have a really
+excellent system of communication. Our friends from Mars and Venus
+have so altered and enlarged our force-controls that our offensive
+and defensive fields, rays, and screens leave little to be desired.
+In power we are far ahead of the enemy. They apparently know nothing
+of the possibilities of cosmic radiation, but depend upon tight-beam
+transmission from their own power-plants--which transmission they have
+perfected to a point far beyond anything reached by us of the three
+planets. They do not use accumulators, and therefore their dissipation
+is limited to their maximum reception, which is about seventy thousand
+kilofranks. Since we can dissipate ten times that amount of energy, we
+could withstand, for a short time, the simultaneous attacks of ten of
+their vessels. Eleven or more of them, however, would be able to crush
+our defensive screens--and Captain Czuv has seen as many as a hundred of
+their space-ships in one formation. Furthermore, since they have several
+times our maximum acceleration, they could concentrate quickly upon any
+desired point. We could not escape them by flight if they really set out
+to overtake us, which they certainly will do if we again venture into
+their territory. Therefore it is clear that we cannot subject ourselves
+to any attack in force and it follows that we cannot do much of anything
+until the police fleet of some five hundred vessels can be re-armed and
+can join us near Callisto. This will require several months at best.
+As you already know, it has been decided that we should not return to
+any of the minor planets, as to do so might invite a hexan attack upon
+our police fleet which is as yet unprepared. We are now heading for
+Uranus, in the hope that such a course will distract the attention of
+the hexans from Tellus, even though they probably already know that we
+are Tellurians. Our new communicator ray will reach any member of the
+Jovian system from this point. It has been decided that it is safe to
+use it, since it employs an almost absolutely tight beam of very small
+diameter, and since we know that that one hexan vessel, at least, had
+no apparatus sufficiently sensitive to detect a beam of that nature.
+We will therefore now get in touch with the Callistonians and with our
+own people."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Brandon seated himself before the communicator screen, and while the
+others packed themselves closely around his stool, he snapped on the
+visiray and turned the dials which directed that invisible, immensely
+complex beam through space. The screen was apparently in itself a coign
+of vantage, flying through space with the velocity of light, and the
+watchers gasped involuntarily and drew themselves together, as with that
+unthinkable speed they flashed down toward the surface of Callisto.
+So realistic was the impression that they themselves were hurtling
+through the void, that they could scarcely reason themselves into
+believing their positive knowledge that the impending collision was
+not an actual happening! Reducing the velocity of the projection
+abruptly as it approached the satellite, Brandon flashed it down into
+a crater indicated by Czuv, and along a tunnel to the city of Zbardk,
+where the Callistonian captain held a long conversation with the Council
+of the nation. Frowning in thought, he turned to Newton and spoke
+seriously and slowly.
+
+"Immediately after the loss of our super-plane, with the supposed death
+of King, Breckenridge, and myself, the other Tellurian officers were
+returned to Europa, since even they could be of no assistance to us
+Callistonians in our struggle against the new, high-acceleration vessels
+of the hexans. The present situation is much more serious than I would
+have believed possible. The last vessel going to visit Wruszk, our city
+upon Europa, was caught and destroyed by the hexans, and for many weeks
+no ship or message has come from there to Callisto. In spite of the fact
+that the hexan fleet is smaller than ever before, they are guarding
+Europa very closely. It is feared that they may have found and destroyed
+our city there--an expedition is even now about to set out in a
+desperate attempt to learn the fate of our fellows."
+
+"Suppose the rays of the lifeboats were detected in landing?" asked
+Brandon. "That might have given them a clue."
+
+"Possibly; but it is equally possible that our own men became careless
+in the operation of one of our own vessels. Having been unmolested so
+long, they might have relaxed their vigilance. We may never know."
+
+"Tell 'em to cancel the expedition--we'll shoot the visiray over
+there right now and find out all about it. We'll let them know pretty
+quickly. Also, you might tell them that you've got complete plans and
+specifications for all the weapons that the hexans have, and a couple
+besides, and that the quicker they shoot a ship out here after you, the
+sooner they can get to building some stuff to blow those hexans clear
+out of space!"
+
+It was the work of only a few moments to drive the visiray projection
+to Europa, where Czuv, to the great relief of all, found that the hexans
+had not yet discovered either Wruszk or the Terrestrial workings.
+All Europan humanity, fully aware of the hexan investment, was
+exerting every possible precaution against discovery by the enemy.
+This information was duly flashed to the Council of Callisto, and the
+projection was then hurled across the intervening reaches of space and
+into the cavern in which was being built the enormous rocket-ship in
+which the Terrestrial refugees were to attempt the long voyage back
+to their own distant planet.
+
+It took some little time to convince Doctor Penfield that there had
+been projected into the empty air of his little sanctum an absolutely
+invisible and impalpable structure of pure force capable of receiving
+and transmitting voice and vision. Once convinced of the reality of the
+phenomenon, however, the speaker beside Brandon's communicator screen
+fairly rattled under the fervor of his greeting, so great was his
+pleasure at the arrival of the expedition of relief and in knowing that
+King and Breckenridge, whom they had, of course, given up for dead, were
+aboard the Interplanetary vessel.
+
+Penfield reported that the work upon the great rocket-ship was
+progressing satisfactorily, although slowly, since it was so much larger
+than any vessel theretofore constructed by the Callistonians. Newton,
+in turn, informed the autocrat of the stranded Terrestrials as to the
+_status quo_ of the rescuing party.
+
+"Of course, because of the hexan blockade, you cannot take us off until
+they have been wiped out, which will be several months at best," the
+surgeon said, slowly, and a shadow came over his face as he spoke.
+"Well, what can't be cured...."
+
+"Trouble with the personnel?" King broke in sharply.
+
+"Personnel, yes; but not trouble in the sense you mean--we have had
+none of that. It is only that there are four more of us now than there
+were...."
+
+"Huh? How come?" demanded Brandon, in astonishment.
+
+"Four babies have been born to us here so far, and several more are
+coming. They are the ones I'm worried about. Most normal adults can
+stand it here without any serious effects, but this thin atmosphere and
+weak gravity are certain to result in abnormal development of children.
+However, there may be another way out of it. Are you using normal
+acceleration, or have you Martians aboard?"
+
+"Both," replied Brandon. "We are carrying two inhabitants of Mars,
+but Alcantro and Fedanzo are not ordinary Martians. They have been in
+constant training ever since we left Tellus, and now they can stand as
+high an acceleration as a weak Tellurian. We're riding at normal."
+
+"Good! As you already know, there has been no communication of late
+between here and Callisto. It had already been decided, however, that
+one more voyage must be risked, in order to bring back material which
+is most urgently needed. Since the vessel will leave here light and is
+large enough to carry about thirty passengers on a short trip with some
+crowding, the Council will probably approve of having it carry some of
+our passengers out to the _Sirius_--especially now, since a vessel must
+visit you, anyway, to get Captain Czuv and the specifications of the new
+armament. All these things can be done with one vessel in one trip."
+
+"That sounds fine!" boomed King. "It will give me a chance to get back
+there where I belong, too. Whom are you sending out?"
+
+"The seven couples who either have babies already or who will have them
+in the next few months; and some of our young who aren't standing the
+gaff any too well. You won't be in the red very deeply on the deal,
+either--while two or three of the passengers I am sending you will
+certainly be a nuisance; anybody could use, anywhere, such men as
+Commander Sanderson and Lieut..."
+
+"Sanderson!" interrupted King. "Why, he wasn't--when did _he_ get
+married?"
+
+"The day after we arrived here," replied the surgeon. "His fiancee was
+aboard the _Arcturus_, and when they found out how long we would have
+to be here, they very sensibly decided not to wait."
+
+"Were there any others?" demanded Nadia, who, standing between Stevens
+and her father, had been an interested listener.
+
+"Plenty of them! Fourteen of our young women passengers have married
+here upon Europa. A few married fellow-passengers, but most of them
+picked out officers of the _Arcturus_. You'll find your staff made up
+pretty largely of benedicts now, King! We've been here a year, you know,
+and time will tell! Young Commander Sanderson's a fine baby--he'll be a
+credit to the IPC some day, if we can get him aboard the _Sirius_, where
+he can get a good start. We could give our babies normal air pressure
+here by building special rooms, but we cannot give them the normal
+acceleration necessary to develop their muscles properly."
+
+"Well, we'd better snap over to Callisto and take this up with the
+Council," Brandon put in. "I don't imagine that there will be any
+objections, so you might as well get your ship gassed up and
+loaded--we'll be back here with the okay in about a minute and a half."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With Brandon at the controls and with Czuv at the communicator plate,
+the projection flashed toward distant Callisto and the group melted
+away, each man going about his interrupted task.
+
+"Daddy, take us somewhere--I want to talk to you," Nadia spoke to her
+father, and the director led her and Stevens to his own room.
+
+"All x, daughter; out with it!" and he bent upon her a quizzical glance,
+under which a fiery blush burned from her throat to her forehead.
+
+"Dad, I've been thinking a lot since you rescued us, and what we've just
+heard has given me the nerve to say it. Steve, of course, wouldn't dare
+suggest such a thing until we're safely back on Earth, so I will." Her
+deep brown eyes held his steadily. "All those girls got married--why,
+some of them have babies already--and Steve and I have waited for each
+other _so_ long, daddy! And _none_ of them love each other the way we
+do. Do they, Steve?"
+
+"I don't see how they could, sir; and that goes straight across the
+panel," and he bore unflinchingly the piercing gaze of the older man
+as his right arm encircled the girl and held her close.
+
+"Well, why not?" A sudden smile transformed Newton's stern visage.
+"There are three chaplains with the police--a Methodist minister,
+a Catholic priest, and a Jewish rabbi. Also, we have on board two
+full-fledged I-P captains, either of whom is authorized to tie
+matrimonial knots. The means are not lacking--if you're both sure of
+yourselves?" and all levity disappeared as he studied the two young
+faces.
+
+"Yes, you are sure," he continued after a moment "just as her mother and
+I were--and are. It is too bad that she cannot be here with you, but it
+may be a long time before we can return to Tellus, and you have indeed
+waited long."
+
+"Oh thanks, Daddy, you're just a perfectly wonderful old darling!" Nadia
+exclaimed, as she threw her arms rapturously around his neck. "And this
+isn't a warship at all--you know perfectly well that it's a research
+laboratory, and that as soon as the Navy gets here, you won't let it
+fight a bit more, because such scientists can't be allowed to risk
+themselves! And also, you're forgetting that whole flock of women and
+babies that are coming out here just as fast as they can get themselves
+ready. So get going, daddy old dear, and let's do things! Steve's a
+Quaker and we're Presbyterians, so none of the chaplains will do at all.
+Besides, I promised Captain King ages ago that he could marry me, so go
+get him and we'll do it now. Bill can be my bridesmaid, you'll give me
+away, and Steve can have the other two of his Big Three for best men.
+I'm off to hunt up the flimsiest, fussiest white dress I can find in my
+trunks. Let's go!"
+
+"Mr. Newton." Stevens spoke thoughtfully as Nadia darted away. "You said
+something about her mother, I didn't want to say anything to raise false
+hopes while she was here, but I've got an idea. Let's meet in Brandon's
+room instead of here. We can send code to Tellus easily enough on our
+ultrawave, and we may be able to fake up something on vision."
+
+A few minutes later the Big Three were in Brandon's private study;
+staring intently into a screen of ground glass upon which played
+flickering, flashing lights, while the black-haired physicist
+manipulated micrometer dials in infinitesimal arcs.
+
+"Once more, Mac," Brandon directed. "Pretty nearly had them that time.
+We're stretching this projector about six hundred percent, but we've got
+to make this connection. Can't you give me just a little more voltage on
+those secondaries?"
+
+"I can _not_!" the voice of the first assistant snapped from the
+speaker. "I'm overloading now so badly that some of my plates are
+getting hot--if I hold this voltage much longer, the whole secondary
+bank of tubes is going out. All x--you're on zero!"
+
+"All x!" Flashing and waning, the lights upon the screen formed
+fleeting, shifting, nebulous images of a relay station upon distant
+Earth; but the utmost power of the transmitting fields could neither
+steady the image nor hold it.
+
+"Back off, Mac," Brandon instructed. "I'm afraid we can't hold 'em
+direct--no use blowing a bank of tubes. We'll try relaying through
+Mars--we can hold them there, I think. It will muss up reception some,
+but it will probably be better than direct, at that. Point oh five three
+six ... all x--shoot!"
+
+Brandon's relay station upon Mars was finally raised and held, and
+a corps of keenly interested engineers there made short work of the
+Earth-Mars linkage. Soon the screen glowed with the picture of the
+transmitter-room of the Terrestrial station, and while the three men
+were waiting for Mrs. Newton to be called to her own television set,
+the door behind them opened. Nadia and her escorts entered the room--but
+Stevens' eyes saw only the entrancing vision of loveliness that was his
+bride. Dressed in a clinging white gown of shimmering silk, her hair a
+golden blond corona, sweetly curved lips slightly parted and wide eyes
+eloquent, she paused momentarily as Stevens came to his feet and stared
+at her, his very heart in his eyes.
+
+"You never saw me in a dress before--do you like me, Steve?"
+
+"_Like_ you! You're beautiful!" and gray eyes and brown, deep with
+wonder and with love, met and held as, unheeding the presence of their
+friends, they went into each other's arms in a coalescence as inevitable
+and as final as Fate itself.
+
+"Hi, Nadia old dear!" and "Daughter, from what I can see of my
+son-in-law, I believe that he may do," came together from the speaker.
+Nadia tore herself from Stevens' embrace, to see upon the lambent screen
+the happily smiling faces of her mother and sister.
+
+"Mother! Claire! Oh, you three wonder-workers!" She addressed
+simultaneously the distant Terrestrials and the scientists at her side,
+while broken exclamations, punctuated by ominous, crackling snaps, came
+from the laboring amplifier.
+
+"Sorry to interrupt," MacDonald's voice broke in, "but you'll have to
+hurry it up. Alcantro and Fedanzo are doing their best, but every plate
+in my secondary bank's red hot, and you could fry an egg on any one of
+my transformers. Even my primary tubes are running hot. She won't hold
+together five minutes longer!"
+
+Captain King opened his book, and in that small steel room, unadorned
+save for stack upon stack of bookcases, the brief but solemn ceremony
+joining two young lives was read--its solemnity only intensified by its
+unique accompaniment. For from Brandon at the primary controls, through
+the power-room of the _Sirius_ and the relay-station upon Mars, to the
+immense Interplanetary transmitter upon Earth, the greatest radio and
+television engineers of two planets were fighting overdriven equipment,
+trying to hold an almost impossible connection, in order that Nadia
+Newton's mother and sister might be present at her wedding, hundreds of
+millions of miles distant in space!
+
+"I pronounce you man and wife. Whom God hath joined, let no man put
+asunder." The sacred old ritual ended and Captain King picked up
+the bride in his great arms as though she were a baby, kissed her
+vigorously, and set her down in front of the transmitter. In the midst
+of the joyous confusion that ensued a tearing, rattling crash came from
+the speaker and the screen went blank.
+
+"There!" lamented MacDonald from the power room. "I knew they'd blow!
+There goes my whole secondary bank--eight perfectly good ten-nineteens
+all shot to...."
+
+"That's too bad, but it couldn't be helped; they went for a good cause,"
+interrupted Brandon. "I'll come down and help clean up the mess."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Leaving the bridal party, he made his way rapidly to the power room,
+where he found MacDonald and the two Martians inspecting the smoking
+remains of what had been the secondary bank of their powerful
+ultra-transmitter. Spare parts in abundance were on hand, and it was
+not long until the damaged section was apparently as good as new.
+
+"Now to try her out," Brandon announced. "We want to give her a good
+workout, but there's no use trying the I-P stations any more--they're
+altogether too hard to handle at this range. Czuv said something about
+an unknown race of monstrosities at the south pole of Jupiter--let's try
+it on them for a while."
+
+He flung the field of force out into space, as responsive to his will
+as a well-trained horse, and guided it toward the southern limb of that
+gigantic world. Down and down the projection plunged, through mile after
+mile of reeking, steaming fog, impenetrable to earthly eyes. Finally it
+came to rest upon the surface, hundreds of feet deep in a lush, dank,
+tropical jungle, and Brandon plugged into the Venerian room.
+
+"Kenor? We've got a lot of use for you, if you can come down here for a
+while. Thanks a lot." He turned to the Martians. "Luckily, we've got a
+couple of infra-red transformers aboard, so we won't have to build one.
+You fellows might break one out and shunt it onto this circuit while Dol
+Kenor is hunting up something for us to look at.
+
+"Hi, old Infra-Eyes!" he went on, as the Venerian scientist waddled into
+the room in his bulging space-suit. "We've got something here that's
+right down your alley. Want to see what you can see?"
+
+"Ah, a beautiful scene!" exclaimed Dol Kenor, after one glance into the
+plate. "It is indeed a relief, after all this coldness and glare, to
+see such a soft, warm landscape--even though I have never expected to
+behold quite such a violent bit of jungle," and under his guidance the
+projection flashed over hundreds of miles of territory. To the eyes of
+the Terrestrials the screen revealed only a blank, amorphous grayness,
+through which at times there shot lines and masses of vague and
+meaningless form; but the Venerian was very evidently seeing and
+enjoying many and diverse scenes.
+
+"There, I think, is what you wish to see first," he announced, as he
+finally steadied the controls, and Brandon cut in upon the shunting
+screen the infra-red transformer. This device, developed long before to
+render possible the use of Terrestrial eyes in the opaque atmosphere of
+Venus, stepped up the fog-piercing long waves into the frequencies of
+light capable of affecting the earthly retina. Instantly the dull gray
+blank of the shunting screen became transformed into a clear and
+colorful picture of the great city of the Jovians of the South.
+
+"Great Cat!" Brandon exclaimed. "Flying fortresses is right! They're in
+war formation, too, or I'm a polyp! We've got to watch this, Mac, all
+of it, and watch it close--it's apt to have a big bearing on what we'll
+have to do, before they get done. Better we rig up another set, and put
+a relay of observers on this job!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The Vorkul-Hexan War
+
+
+Vorkulia, the city of the Vorkuls, was an immense seven-pointed
+star. At its center, directly upon the south pole of Jupiter, rose a
+tremendous shaft--its cross-section likewise a tapering seven-pointed
+star--which housed the directing intelligence of the nation. Radiating
+from the seven cardinal points of the building were short lanes leading
+to star-shaped open plots, from which in turn branched out ways to other
+stellate areas; ways reaching, after many such steps, to the towering
+inner walls of the metropolis. The outer walls, still loftier and even
+more massive ramparts of sullen gray-green metal, formed a seamless,
+jointless barrier against an utterly indescribable foe; a barrier whose
+outer faces radiated constantly a searing, coruscating green emanation.
+Metal alone could not long have barred that voracious and implacably
+relentless enemy, but against that lethal green emanation even that
+ravening Jovian jungle could not prevail, but fell back, impotent.
+Writhing and crawling, loathesomely palpitant with an unspeakable
+exuberance of foul and repellent vigor, possible only to such
+meteorological conditions as obtained there, it threw its most
+hideously prolific growths against that radiant wall in vain.
+
+The short, zig-zag lanes, the ways, and the seven-pointed areas
+were paved with a greenish glass. This pavement was intended solely
+to prevent vegetable growth and carried no traffic whatever, since few
+indeed of the Vorkuls have ever been earth-bound and all traffic was in
+the air. The principal purpose of the openings was to separate, and
+thus to render accessible by air, the mighty buildings which, level
+upon level, towered upward, with airships hovering at or anchored to
+doorways and entrances at every level. Buildings, entrances, everything
+visible--all replicated, reiterated, repeated infinite variations in
+the one theme, that of the septenate stelliform.
+
+Color ran riot; masses varied from immense blocks of awe-inspiring
+grandeur to delicate tracery of sheerest gossamer; lights flamed and
+flared in wide bands and in narrow, flashing pencils--but in all,
+through all, over all, and dominating all was the Seven-Pointed Star.
+
+In and almost filling the space, at least a mile in width,
+between the inner and the outer walls were huge, seven-sided
+structures--featureless, squat, forbidding heptagons of dull green
+metal. No thing living was to be seen in that space. Its pavement was
+of solid metal and immensely thick, and that metal, as well as that of
+the walls, was burned and blackened and seared as though by numberless
+exposures to intolerable flame. In a lower compartment of one of these
+enormous heptagons Vortel Kromodeor, First Projector Officer, rested
+before a gigantic and complex instrument board. He was at ease--his huge
+wings folded, his sinuous length coiled comfortably in slack loops about
+two horizontal bars. But at least one enormous, extensible eye was
+always pointed toward the board, always was at least one nimble and
+bat-like ear cocked attentively in the direction of the signal panel.
+
+A whistling, shrieking ululation rent the air and the officer's coils
+tightened as he reared a few feet of his length upright, shooting out
+half a dozen tentacular arms to various switches and controls upon his
+board, while throughout the great heptagon, hundreds of other Vorkuls
+sprang to attention at their assigned posts of duty. As the howling wail
+came to a climax in a blast of sound Kromodeor threw over a lever, as
+did every other projector officer in every other heptagon, and there was
+made plain to any observer the reason for the burns and scars in the
+tortured space between the lofty inner and outer walls of Vorkulia.
+For these heptagons were the monstrous flying fortresses which Czuv
+had occasionally seen from afar, as they went upon some unusual errand
+above the Jovian banks of mist, and which Brandon was soon to see in
+his visiray screen. The seared and disfigured metal of the pavement
+and walls was made so by the release of the furious blasts of energy
+necessary to raise those untold thousands of tons of mass against the
+attraction of Jupiter, more than two and a half times the gravity of our
+own world! Vast volumes of flaming energy shrieked from the ports. Wave
+upon wave, flooding the heptagons, it dashed back and forth upon the
+heavy metal between the walls. As more and more of the inconceivable
+power of those Titanic generators was unleashed, it boiled forth in
+a devastating flood which, striking the walls, rebounded and leaped
+vertically far above even those mighty ramparts. Even the enormous
+thickness of the highly conducting metal could not absorb all the
+energy of that intolerable blast, and immediately beneath the ports new
+seven-pointed areas of disfigurement appeared as those terrific flying
+fortresses were finally wrenched from the ground and hurled upward.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+High in the air, another signal wailed up and down a peculiar scale of
+sound and the mighty host of vessels formed smoothly into symmetrical
+groups of seven. Each group then moved with mathematical precision into
+its allotted position in a complex geometrical formation--a gigantic,
+seven-ribbed, duplex cone in space. The flagship flew at the apex of
+this stupendous formation; behind, and protected by, the full power
+of the other floating citadels of the forty-nine groups of seven.
+Due north, the amazing armada sped in rigorous alignment, flying along
+a predetermined meridian--due north!
+
+At the end of his watch Kromodeor relinquished his board to the officer
+relieving him and shot into the air, propelled by the straightening of
+the powerful coils of his snake-like body and tail. Wings half spread,
+lateral and vertical ruddering fins outthrust, he soared across the room
+toward a low opening. Just before they struck the wall upon either side
+of the doorway the great wings snapped shut, the fins retracted, and the
+long and heavy body struck the floor of the passage without a jar. With
+a wriggling, serpentine motion he sped like a vibrant arrow along the
+hall and into a wardroom. There, after a brief glance around the room,
+he coiled up beside a fellow officer who, with one eye, was negligently
+reading a scroll held in three or four hands; while with another eye,
+poised upon its slender pedicle, he watched a moving picture upon a
+television screen.
+
+"Hello, Kromodeor," Wixill, Chief Power Officer[2] greeted the newcomer
+in the wailing, hissing language of the Vorkuls. He tossed the scroll
+into the air, where it instantly rolled into a tight cylinder and shot
+into an opening in the wall of the room. "Glad to see you. Books and
+shows are all right on practice cruises, but I can't seem to work up
+much enthusiasm about such things now."
+
+[Footnote 2: In order to avoid all unnecessary strain upon the memory of
+the reader, all titles, etc., have been given in the closest possible
+English equivalent, instead of in an attempted transliteration of the
+foreign word. This particular officer has no counterpart upon Tellurian
+vessels. He is the second in command of a Vorkulian fortress, his
+function being to supervise all expenditure of power.--E. E. S.]
+
+Kromodeor elevated an eye and studied the screen, upon which, to the
+accompaniment of whistling, shrieking sound, whirled and gyrated an
+interlacing group of serpentine forms.
+
+"A good show, Wixill," the projector officer replied, "but nothing to
+hold the attention of men engaged in what we are doing. Think of it!
+After twenty years of preparation--two long lifetimes--and for the first
+time in our history, we are actually going to war!"
+
+"I have thought of it at length. It is disgusting. Compelled to traffic
+with an alien form of life! Were it not to end in the extinction of
+those unspeakable hexans, it would be futile to the point of silliness.
+I cannot understand them at all. There is ample room upon this planet
+for all of us. Our races combined are not using one seven-thousandth
+of its surface. You would think that they would shun all strangers.
+Yet for ages have they attacked us, refusing to let us alone, until
+finally they forced us to prepare means for their destruction. They
+seem as senselessly savage as the jungle growths, and, but for their
+very evident intelligence, one would class them as such. You would
+think that, being intelligent and being alien to us, they would not
+have anything to do with us in any way, peacefully or otherwise.
+However, their intrusions and depredations are about to end."
+
+"They certainly are. Vorkulia has endured much--too much--but I am glad
+that our forefathers did not decide to exterminate them sooner. If they
+had, we could not have been doing this now."
+
+"There speaks the rashness of youth, Kromodeor. It is a violation of all
+our instincts to have any commerce with outsiders, as you will learn as
+soon as you see one of them. Then, too, we will lose heavily. Since we
+have studied their armaments so long, and have subjected every phase of
+the situation to statistical analysis, it is certain that we are to
+succeed--but you also know at what cost."
+
+"Two-sevenths of our force, with a probable error of one in seven,"
+replied the younger Vorkul. "And because that figure cannot be improved
+within the next seven years and because of the exceptional weakness of
+the hexans due to their unexpectedly great losses upon Callisto, we are
+attacking at this time. Their spherical vessels are nothing, of course.
+It is in the reduction of the city that we will lose men and vessels.
+But at that, each of us has five chances in seven of returning, which is
+good enough odds--much better than we had in that last expedition into
+the jungle. But by the Mighty Seven, I shall make myself wrap around one
+hexan, for my brother's sake," and his coils tightened unconsciously.
+"Hideous, repulsive monstrosities! Creatures so horrible should not
+be allowed to live--they should have been tossed over the wall to
+the jungle ages ago!" Kromodeor curled out an eye as he spoke, and
+complacently surveyed the writhing cylinder of sinuous, supple power
+that was his own body.
+
+"Better avoid contact work with them if possible," cautioned Wixill.
+"You might not be able to unwrap, and to touch one of them is almost
+unthinkable. Speaking of wrapping, you know that they are putting on the
+finals of the contact work in the star this evening. Let's watch them."
+
+They slid to the floor and wriggled away in perfect "step"--undulating
+along in such nice synchronism that their adjacent sides, only a few
+inches apart, formed two waving rigidly parallel lines. Deep in the
+lower part of the fortress they entered a large assembly room, provided
+with a raised platform in the center and having hundreds of short,
+upright posts in lieu of chairs; most of which were already taken by
+spectators. The two officers curled their tails comfortably around two
+of the vacant pillars, elevated their heads to a convenient level of
+sight and directed each an eye or two upon the stage. This was, of
+course, heptagonal. Its sides, like those of the mighty flying forts
+themselves, were not straight, but angled inward sufficiently to make
+the platform a seven-pointed star. The edge was outlined by a low rail,
+and bulwark and floor were padded with thick layers of a hard but smooth
+and yielding fabric.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In this star-shaped ring two young Vorkuls were contending for the
+championship of the fleet in a contest that seemed to combine most of
+the features of wrestling, boxing, and bar-room brawling, with no holds
+barred. Four hands of each of the creatures held heavy leather billies,
+and could be used only in striking with those weapons, the remaining
+hands being left free to employ as the owner saw fit. Since the sport
+was not intended to be lethal, however, the eyes and other highly
+vulnerable parts were protected by metal masks, and the wing ribs
+were similarly guarded by leathern shields. The guiding fins, being
+comparatively small and extremely tough, required no protection.
+
+"We're just in time," Kromodeor whistled. "The main bout is nicely on.
+See anyone from the flagship? I might stake a couple of korpels that
+Sintris will paint the symbol upon his wing."
+
+"Most of their men seem to be across the star," Wixill replied, and both
+beings fell silent, absorbed in the struggle going on in the ring.
+
+It was a contest well worth watching. Wing crashed against mighty wing
+and the lithe, hard bodies snapped and curled this way and that, almost
+faster than the eye could follow, in quest of advantageous holds. Above
+the shrieking wails of the crowd could be heard the smacks and thuds of
+the eight flying clubs as they struck against the leather shields or
+against tough and scaly hides. For minutes the conflict raged, with no
+advantage apparent. Now the fighters were flat upon the floor of the
+star, now dozens of feet in the air above it, as one or the other sought
+to gain a height from which to plunge downward upon his opponent; but
+both stayed upon or over the star--to leave its boundaries was to lose
+disgracefully.
+
+Then, high in air, the visiting warrior thought that he saw an opening
+and grappled. Wings crashed in fierce blows, hands gripped and furiously
+wrenched. Two powerful bodies, tapering smoothly down to equally
+powerful tails, corkscrewed around each other viciously, winding up into
+something resembling tightly twisted lamp cord; and the two Vorkuls,
+each helpless, fell to the mat with a crash. Fast as was Zerexi, the
+gladiator from the flagship, Sintris was the merest trifle faster.
+Like the straightening of a twisted spring of tempered steel that long
+body uncoiled as they struck the floor, and up under those shielding
+wings--an infinitesimal fraction of a second slow in interposing--that
+lithe tail sped. Two lightning loops flashed around the neck of the
+visitor and tightened inexorably. Desperately the victim fought to break
+that terrible strangle hold, but every maneuver was countered as soon
+as it was begun. Beating wings, under whose frightful blows the very air
+quivered, were met and parried by wings equally capable. Hands and clubs
+were of no avail against that corded cable of sinew, and Sintris, his
+head retracted between his wings and his own hands reenforcing that
+impregnable covering over his head and neck, threw all his power into
+his tail--tightening, with terrific, rippling surges, that already
+throttling band about the throat of his opponent. Only one result was
+possible. Soon Zerexi lay quiet, and a violet beam of light flared from
+a torch at the ringside, bathing both contenders. At the flash the
+winner disengaged himself from the loser, and stood by until the latter
+had recovered the use of his paralyzed muscles. The two combatants then
+touched wing tips in salute and flew away together, over the heads of
+the crowd; plunging into a doorway and disappearing as the two officers
+uncoiled from their "seats" and wriggled out into the corridor.
+
+"Fine piece of contact work," said Wixill, thoughtfully. "I'm glad that
+Sintris won, but I did not expect him to win so easily. Zerexi shouldn't
+have gone into a knot so early against such a fast man."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," argued Kromodeor. "His big mistake was in that
+second body check. If he had blocked the sixth arm with his fifth, taken
+out the fourth and second with his third, and then gone in with...." and
+so, quite like two early experts after a good boxing match, the friends
+argued the fine points of the contest long after they had reached their
+quarters.
+
+Day after day the vast duplex cone of Vorkulian fortresses sped
+toward the north pole of the great planet, with a high and constant
+velocity. Day after day the complex geometrical figure in space remained
+unchanged, no unit deviating measurably from its precise place in the
+formation. Over rapacious jungles, over geysers spouting hot water,
+over sullenly steaming rivers and seas, over boiling lakes of mud, and
+high over gigantic volcanoes, in uninterrupted eruptions of cataclysmic
+violence, the Vorkulian phalanx flew--straight north. The equatorial
+regions, considerably hotter than the poles, were traversed with
+practically no change in scenery--it was a world of steaming fog,
+of jungle, of hot water, of boiling, spurting mud, and of volcanoes.
+Not of such mild and sporadic volcanic outbreaks as we of green Terra
+know, but of gigantic primordial volcanoes, in terrifyingly continuous
+performances of frightful intensity. Due north the Vorkulian spearhead
+was hurled, before the rigorous geometrical alignment was altered.
+
+"All captains, attention!" Finally, in a high latitude, the flagship
+sent out final instructions. "The hexans have detected us and our long
+range observers report that they are coming to meet us in force. We will
+now go into the whirl, and proceed with the maneuvers exactly as they
+have been planned. Whirl!"
+
+At the command, each vessel began to pursue a tortuous spiral path.
+Each group of seven circled slowly about its own axis, as though each
+structure were attached rigidly to a radius rod, and at the same time
+spiraled around the line of advance in such fashion that the whole
+gigantic cone, wide open maw to the fore, seemed to be boring its way
+through the air.
+
+"Lucky again!" Kromodeor, in the wardroom, turned to Wixill as the two
+prepared to take their respective watches. "It looks as though the first
+action would come while we're on duty. I've got just one favor to ask,
+if you have to economize on power, let Number One alone, will you?"
+
+"No fear of that," Wixill hissed, with the Vorkulian equivalent of a
+chuckle. "We have abundance of power for all of your projector officers.
+But don't waste any of it, or I'll cut you down five ratings!"
+
+"You're welcome. When I shine old Number One on any hexan work, one
+flash is all we'll take. See you at supper," and, leaving his superior
+at the door of the power room, Kromodeor wriggled away to his station
+upon the parallel horizontal bars before his panel.
+
+Making sure that his tail coils were so firmly clamped that no possible
+lurch or shock could throw him out of position, he set an eye toward
+each of his sighting screens, even though he knew that it would be long
+before those comparatively short range instruments would show anything
+except friendly vessels. Then, ready for any emergency, he scanned his
+one "live" screen--the one upon which were being flashed the pictures
+and reports secured by the high-powered instruments of the observers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With the terrific acceleration employed by the hexan spheres, it
+was not long until the leading squadron of fighting globes neared
+the Vorkulian war-cone. This advance guard was composed of the new,
+high-acceleration vessels. Their crews, with the innate blood-lust
+and savagery of their breed, had not even entertained the thought of
+accommodating their swifter pace to that of the main body of the fleet.
+These vast, slow-moving structures were no more to be feared than those
+similar ones whose visits they had been repulsing for twenty long
+Jovian years--by the time the slower spheres could arrive upon the scene
+there would be nothing left for them to do. Therefore, few in number
+as were the vessels of the vanguard, they rushed to the attack. In one
+blinding salvo they launched their supposedly irresistible planes of
+force--dazzling, scintillating planes under whose fierce power the
+studying, questing, scouting fortresses previously encountered had fled
+back southward; cut, beaten, and crippled. These spiraling monsters,
+however, did not pause or waver in their stolidly ordered motion.
+As the hexan planes of force flashed out, the dull green metal walls
+broke into a sparkling green radiance, against which the Titanic
+bolts spent themselves in vain. Then there leaped out from the weird
+brilliance of the walls of the fortresses great shafts of pale green
+luminescence--tractor ray after gigantic tractor ray, which seized
+upon the hexan spheres and drew them ruthlessly into the yawning
+open end of that gigantic cone.
+
+Then, in each group of seven, similar great streamers of energy reached
+out from fortress to fortress, until each group was welded into one
+mighty unit by twenty-one such bands of force. The unit formed, a ray
+from each of its seven component structures seized upon a designated
+sphere, and under the combined power of those seven tractors, the
+luckless globe was literally snapped into the center of mass of the
+Vorkulian unit. There seven dully gleaming red pressor rays leaped upon
+it, backed by all the power of seven gigantic fortresses, held rigidly
+in formation by the unimaginable mass of the structures and by their
+twenty-one prodigious tractor beams. Under that awful impact, the
+screens and walls of the hexan spheres were exactly as effective as so
+many structures of the most tenuous vapor. The red glare of the vortex
+of those beams was lightened momentarily by a flash of brighter color,
+and through the foggy atmosphere there may have flamed briefly a drop or
+two of metal that was only liquefied. The red and green beams snapped
+out, the peculiar radiance died from the metal walls, and the gigantic
+duplex cone of the Vorkuls bored serenely northward--as little marked or
+affected by the episode as is a darting swift who, having snapped up a
+chance insect in full flight, darts on.
+
+"Great Cat!" Far off in space, Brandon turned from his visiray screen
+and wiped his brow. "Czuv certainly chirped it, Perce, when he called
+those things flying fortresses. But who, what, why, and how? We didn't
+see any apparatus that looked capable of generating or handling those
+beams--and of course, when they got started, their screens cut us
+off at the pockets. Wish we could have made some sense out of their
+language--like to know a few of their ideas--find out whether we can't
+get on terms with them some way or other. Funny-looking wampuses, but
+they've got real brains--their think-tanks are very evidently full of
+bubbles. If they have it in mind to take us on next, old son, it'll be
+just ... too ... bad!"
+
+"And then some," agreed Stevens. "They've got something--no fooling. It
+looks like the hexans are going to get theirs, good and plenty, pretty
+soon--and then what? I'd give my left lung and four front teeth for one
+long look at their controls in action."
+
+"You and me both--it's funny, the way those green ray-screens stick to
+the walls, instead of being spherical, as you'd expect ... should think
+they'd _have_ to radiate from a center, and so be spherical," Brandon
+cogitated. "However, we've got nothing corkscrewy enough to go through
+them, so we'll have to stand by. We'll stay inside whenever possible,
+look on from outside when we must, but all the time picking up whatever
+information we can. In the meantime, now that we've got our passengers,
+old Doctor Westfall prescribes something that he says is good for what
+ails us. Distance--lots of distance, straight out from the sun--and
+I wouldn't wonder if we'd better take his prescription."
+
+The two Terrestrial observers relapsed into silence, staring into
+their visiray plates, searching throughout the enormous volume of one
+of those great fortresses in another attempt to solve the mystery of the
+generation and propagation of the incredible manifestations of energy
+which they had just witnessed. Scarcely had the search begun, however,
+when the visirays were again cut off sharply--the rapidly advancing main
+fleet of the hexans had arrived and the scintillant Vorkulian screens
+were again in place.
+
+True to hexan nature, training and tradition, the fleet, hundreds
+strong, rushed savagely to the attack. Above, below, and around the
+far-flung cone the furious globes dashed, attacking every Vorkulian
+craft viciously with every resource at their command; with every weapon
+known to their diabolically destructive race. Planes of force stabbed
+and slashed, concentrated beams of annihilation flared fiercely through
+the reeking atmosphere, gigantic aerial bombs and torpedoes were hurled
+with full radio control against the unwelcome visitor--with no effect.
+Bound together in groups of seven by the mighty, pale-green bands of
+force, the Vorkulian units sailed calmly northward, spiraling along with
+not the slightest change in formation or velocity. The frightful planes
+and beams of immeasurable power simply spent themselves harmlessly
+against those sparklingly radiant green walls--seemingly as absorbent
+to energy as a sponge is to water, since the eye could not detect any
+change in the appearance of the screens, under even the fiercest blasts
+of the hexan projectors. Bombs, torpedoes, and all material projectiles
+were equally futile--they exploded harmlessly in the air far from their
+objectives, or disappeared at the touch of one of those dark, dull-red
+pressor rays. And swiftly, but calmly and methodically as at a Vorkulian
+practice drill, the heptagons were destroying the hexan fleet. Seven
+mighty green tractors would lash out, seize an attacking sphere, and
+snap it into the center of mass of the unit of seven. There would be a
+brief flash of dull red, a still briefer flare of incandescence, and the
+impalpable magnets would leap out to seize another of the doomed globes.
+It was only a matter of moments until not a hexan vessel remained; and
+the Vorkulian juggernaut spiraled onward, now at full acceleration,
+toward the hexan stronghold dimly visible far ahead of them--a vast
+city built around Jupiter's northern pole.
+
+At the controls of his projector, Kromodeor spun a dial with a
+many-fingered, flexible hand and spoke.
+
+"Wixill, I am being watched again--I can feel very plainly that strange
+intelligence watching everything I do. Have the tracers located him?"
+
+"No, they haven't been able to synchronize with his wave yet. Either
+he is using a most minute pencil or, what is more probable, he is on a
+frequency which we do not ordinarily use. However, I agree with you that
+it is not a malignant intelligence. All of us have felt it, and none of
+us senses enmity. Therefore, it is not a hexan--it may be one of those
+strange creatures of the satellites, who are, of course, perfectly
+harmless."
+
+"Harmless, but unpleasant," returned Kromodeor. "When we get back I'm
+going to find his beam myself and send a discharge along it that will
+end his spying upon me. I do not...."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A wailing signal interrupted the conversation and every Vorkul in
+the vast fleet coiled even more tightly about his bars, for the real
+battle was about to begin. The city of the hexans lay before them,
+all her gigantic forces mustered to repel the first real invasion of
+her long and warlike history. Mile after mile it extended, an orderly
+labyrinth of spherical buildings arranged in vast interlocking series
+of concentric circles--a city of such size that only a small part of it
+was visible, even to the infra-red vision of the Vorkulians. Apparently
+the city was unprotected, having not even a wall. Outward from the low,
+rounded houses of the city's edge there reached a wide and verdant
+plain, which was separated from the jungle by a narrow moat of
+shimmering liquid--a liquid of such dire potency that across it,
+even those frightful growths could neither leap nor creep.
+
+But as the Vorkulian phalanx approached--now shooting forward and
+upward with maximum acceleration, screaming bolts of energy flaming out
+for miles behind each heptagon as the full power of its generators was
+unleashed--it was made clear that the homeland of the hexans was far
+from unprotected. The verdant plain disappeared in a blast of radiance,
+revealing a transparent surface, through which could be seen masses of
+machinery filling level below level, deep into the ground as far as the
+eye could reach; and from the bright liquid of the girdling moat there
+shot vertically upward a coruscantly refulgent band of intense yellow
+luminescence. These were the hexan defences, heretofore invulnerable and
+invincible. Against them any ordinary warcraft, equipped with ordinary
+weapons of offense, would have been as pitifully impotent as a naked
+baby attacking a battleship. But now those defenses were being
+challenged by no ordinary craft; it had taken the mightiest intellects
+of Vorkulia two long lifetimes to evolve the awful engine of destruction
+which was hurling itself forward and upward with an already terrific and
+constantly increasing speed.
+
+Onward and upward flashed the gigantic duplex cone, its entire whirling
+mass laced and latticed together--into one mammoth unit by green tractor
+beams and red pressors. These tension and compression members, of
+unheard-of power, made of the whole fleet of three hundred forty-three
+fortresses a single stupendous structure--a structure with all the
+strength and symmetry of a cantilever truss! Straight through that wall
+of yellow vibrations the vast truss drove, green walls flaming blue
+defiance as the absorbers overloaded; its doubly braced tip rearing
+upward, into and beyond the vertical as it shot through that searing
+yellow wall. Simultaneously from each heptagon there flamed downward a
+green shaft of radiance, so that the whole immense circle of the cone's
+mouth was one solid tractor beam, fastening upon and holding in an
+unbreakable grip mile upon mile of the hexan earthworks.
+
+Practically irresistible force and supposedly immovable object!
+Every loose article in every heptagon had long since been stored in
+its individual shockproof compartment, and now every Vorkul coiled his
+entire body in fierce clasp about mighty horizontal bars: for the entire
+kinetic energy of the untold millions of tons of mass comprising the
+cone, at the terrific measure of its highest possible velocity, was
+to be hurled upon those unbreakable linkages of force which bound
+the trussed aggregation of Vorkulian fortresses to the deeply buried
+intrenchments of the hexans. The gigantic composite tractor beam snapped
+on and held. Inconceivably powerful as that beam was, it stretched a
+trifle under the incomprehensible momentum of those prodigious masses
+of metal, almost halted in their terrific flight. But the war-cone was
+not quite halted; the calculations of the Vorkulian scientists had been
+accurate. No possible artificial structure, and but few natural ones--in
+practice maneuvers entire mountains had been lifted and hurled for miles
+through the air--could have withstood the incredible violence of that
+lunging, twisting, upheaving impact. Lifted bodily by that impalpable
+hawser of force and cruelly wrenched and twisted by its enormous couple
+of angular momentum, the hexan works came up out of the ground as a
+waterpipe comes up in the teeth of a power shovel. The ground trembled
+and rocked and boulders, fragments of concrete masonry, and masses of
+metal flew in all directions as that city-encircling conduit of
+diabolical machinery was torn from its bed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A portion of that conduit fully thirty miles in length was in the air,
+a twisted, flaming inferno of wrecked generators, exploding ammunition,
+and broken and short-circuited high-tension leads before the hexans
+could themselves cut it and thus save the remainder of their
+fortifications. With resounding crashes, the structure parted at the
+weakened points, the furious upheaval stopped and, the tractor beams
+shut off, the shattered, smoking, erupting mass of wreckage fell in
+clashing, grinding ruin upon the city.
+
+The enormous duplex cone of the Vorkuls did not attempt to repeat the
+maneuver, but divided into two single cones, one of which darted toward
+each point of rupture. There, upon the broken and unprotected ends of
+the hexan cordon, their points of attack lay: theirs the task to eat
+along that annular fortress, no matter what the opposition might bring
+to bear--to channel in its place a furrow of devastation until the two
+cones, their work complete, should meet at the opposite edge of the
+city. Then what was left of the cones would separate into individual
+heptagons, which would so systematically blast every hexan thing into
+nothingness as to make certain that never again would they resume their
+insensate attacks upon the Vorkuls. Having counted the cost and being
+grimly ready to pay it, the implacable attackers hurled themselves upon
+their objectives.
+
+Here were no feeble spheres of space, commanding only the limited
+energies transmitted to their small receptors through the ether. Instead
+there were all the offensive and defensive weapons developed by hundreds
+of generations of warrior-scientists; wielding all the incalculable
+power capable of being produced by the massed generators of a mighty
+nation. But for the breach opened in the circle by the irresistible
+surprise attack, they would have been invulnerable, and, hampered as
+they were by the defenseless ends of what should have been an endless
+ring, the hexans took heavy toll.
+
+The heptagons, massive and solidly braced as they were, and anchored by
+tractor rays as well, shuddered and trembled throughout their mighty
+frames under the impact of fiercely driven pressor beams. Sullenly
+radiant green wall-screens flared brighter and brighter as the Vorkulian
+absorbers and dissipators, mighty as they were, continued more and more
+to overload; for there were being directed against them beams from the
+entire remaining circumference of the stronghold. Every deadly frequency
+and emanation known to the fiendish hexan intellect, backed by the full
+power of the city, was poured out against the invaders in sizzling
+shrieking bars, bands, and planes of frenzied incandescence. Nor was
+vibratory destruction alone. Armor-piercing projectiles of enormous
+size and weight were hurled--diamond-hard, drill-headed projectiles
+which clung and bored upon impact. High-explosive shells, canisters of
+gas, and the frightful aerial bombs and radio-dirigible torpedoes of
+highly scientific war--all were thrown with lavish hand, as fast as
+the projectors could be served. But thrust for thrust, ray for ray,
+projectile for massive projectile, the Brobdingnagian creations of
+the Vorkuls gave back to the hexans.
+
+The material lining of the ghastly moat was the only substance capable
+of resisting the action of its contents, and now, that lining destroyed
+by the uprooting of the fortress, that corrosive, brilliantly mobile
+liquid cascaded down in to the trough and added its hellish contribution
+to the furious scene. For whatever that devouring fluid touched flared
+into yellow flame, gave off clouds of lurid, strangling vapor, and
+disappeared. But through yellow haze, through blasting frequencies,
+through clouds of poisonous gas, through rain of metal and through
+storm of explosive the two cones ground implacably onward, their every
+offensive weapon centered upon the fast-receding exposed ends of the
+hexan fortress. Their bombs and torpedoes ripped and tore into the
+structure beneath the invulnerable shield and exploded, demolishing
+and hurling aside like straws, the walls, projectors, hexads and vast
+mountains of earth. Their terrible rays bored in, softening, fusing,
+volatilizing metal, short-circuiting connections, destroying life
+far ahead of the point of attack; and, drawn along by the relentlessly
+creeping composite tractor beam, there progressed around the circumference
+of the hexan city two veritable Saturnalia of destruction--uninterrupted,
+cataclysmic detonations of sound and sizzling, shrieking, multi-colored
+displays of pyrotechnic incandescence combining to form a spectacle
+of violence incredible.
+
+But the heptagons could not absorb nor radiate indefinitely those
+torrents of energy, and soon one greenishly incandescent screen went
+down. Giant shells pierced the green metal walls, giant beams of force
+fused and consumed them. Faster and faster the huge heptagon became a
+shapeless, flowing mass, its metal dripping away in flaming gouts of
+brilliance; then it disappeared utterly in one terrific blast as some
+probing enemy ray reached a vital part. The cone did not pause nor
+waver. Many of its component units would go down, but it would go
+on--and on and on until every hexan trace had disappeared or until
+the last Vorkulian heptagon had been annihilated.
+
+In one of the lowermost heptagons, one bearing the full brunt of the
+hexan armament, Kromodeor reared upright as his projector controls
+went dead beneath his hands. Finding his communicator screens likewise
+lifeless, he slipped to the floor and wriggled to the room of the Chief
+Power Officer, where he found Wixill idly fingering his controls.
+
+"Are we out?" asked Kromodeor, tersely.
+
+"All done," the Chief Power Officer calmly replied. "We have power left,
+but we cannot use it, as they have crushed our screens and are fusing
+our outer walls. Two out of seven chances, and we drew one of them. We
+are still working on the infra band, over across on the Second's board,
+but we won't last long...."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As he spoke, the mighty fabric lurched under them, and only their quick
+and powerful tails, darting in lightning loops about the bars, saved
+them from being battered to death against the walls as the heptagon was
+hurled end over end by a stupendous force. With a splintering crash it
+came to rest upon the ground.
+
+"I wonder how that happened? They should have rayed us out or exploded
+us," Kromodeor pondered. The Vorkuls, with their inhumanly powerful,
+sinuous bodies, were scarcely affected by the shock of that frightful
+fall.
+
+"They must have had a whole battery of pressors on us when our greens
+went out--they threw us half-way across the city, almost into the gate
+we made first," Wixill replied, studying the situation of the vessel in
+the one small screen still in action. "We aren't hurt very badly--only a
+few holes that they are starting to weld already. When the absorber and
+dissipator crews get them cooled down enough so that we can use power
+again, we'll go back."
+
+But they were not to resume their place in the attack. Through the
+holes in the still-glowing walls, hexan soldiery were leaping in
+steady streams, fighting with the utmost savagery of their bloodthirsty
+natures, urged on by the desperation born of the knowledge of imminent
+defeat and total destruction. Hand-weapons roared, flashed, and
+sparkled; heavy bars crashed and thudded against crunching bones;
+mighty bodies and tails whipped crushingly about six-limbed forms which
+wrenched and tore with monstrously powerful hands and claws. Fiercely
+and valiantly the Vorkuls fought, but they were outnumbered by hundreds
+and only one outcome was possible.
+
+Kromodeor was one of the last to go down. Weapons long since exhausted,
+he unwrapped his deadly coils from about a dead hexan and darted toward
+a storeroom, only to be cut off by a horde of enemies. Throwing himself
+down a vertical shaft, he flew toward a tiny projector-locker, in the
+lowermost part of one of the great star's points, the hexans in hot
+pursuit. He wrenched the door open, and even while searing planes of
+force were riddling his body, he trained the frightful weapon he had
+sought. He pressed the contact, and bursts of intolerable flame swept
+the entire passage clear of life. Weakly he struggled to go out into the
+aisle, but his muscles refused to do the bidding of his will and he lay
+there, twitching feebly.
+
+In the power room of the heptagon a hexan officer turned fiercely to
+another, who was offering advice.
+
+"Vorkuls? Bah!" he snarled, viciously. "Our race is finished. Die we
+must, but we shall take with us the one enemy, who above all others
+needs destruction!" and he hurled the captured Vorkulian fortress into
+the air.
+
+As the heptagon lurched upward, the massive door of a lower projector
+locker clanged shut and Kromodeor collapsed in a corner, his
+consciousness blotted out.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well, that certainly tears it! That's a ... I...." Stevens' ready
+vocabulary failed him and he turned to Brandon, who was still staring
+narrow-eyed into the plate, watching the destruction of the hexan city.
+
+"They've got something, all right--you've got to hand it to them,"
+Brandon replied. "And we thought we knew something about forces and
+physical phenomena in general. Those birds have forgotten more than we
+ever will know. Just one of those things could take the whole I-P fleet,
+armed as we are now, any morning before breakfast, just for setting-up
+exercises. We've got to do something about it--but what?"
+
+"It's okay--whatever you say. There may be an out somewhere, but I don't
+see it," and Stevens' gloomy tone matched his words.
+
+Highly trained scientists both, they had been watching that which
+transcended all the science of the inner planets and knew themselves
+outclassed immeasurably.
+
+"Only one thing to do, as I see it," Brandon cogitated. "That's to keep
+on going straight out, the way we're headed now. We'd better call a
+council of war, to dope out a line of action."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+The Citadel in Space
+
+
+For the first time in many days Brandon and Westfall sat at dinner in
+the main dining room of the _Sirius_. They were enjoying greatly the
+unaccustomed pleasure of a leisurely, formal meal; but still their
+talk concerned the projection of pure forces instead of subjects more
+appropriate to the table; still their eyes paid more attention to
+diagrams drawn upon scraps of paper than to the diners about them.
+
+"But I tell you, Quince, you're full of little red ants, clear to the
+neck!" Brandon snorted, as Westfall waved one of his arguments aside.
+"You must have had help to get that far off--no one man could possibly
+be as wrong as you are. Why, those fields absolutely will...."
+
+"Hi, Quincy! Hi, Norman!" a merry voice interrupted. "Still fighting as
+usual, I see! What kind of knights are you, anyway, to rescue us poor
+damsels in distress, and then never even know that we're alive?" A tall,
+willowy brunette had seen the two physicists as she entered the saloon,
+and came over to their table, a hand outstretched to each in cordial
+greeting.
+
+"Ho, Verna!" both men exclaimed, and came to their feet as they welcomed
+the smiling, graceful newcomer.
+
+"Sit down here, Verna--we have hardly started," Westfall invited, and
+Brandon looked at the girl in assumed surprise as she seated herself in
+the proffered chair.
+
+"Well, Verna, it's like this...." he began.
+
+"That's enough!" she broke in. "That phrase always was your introduction
+to one of the world's greatest brainstorms. But I know that this is the
+first time you have had time even to eat like civilized beings, so I'll
+forgive you this once. Why all the registering of amazement, Norman?"
+
+"I'm astonished that you aren't being monopolized by some husband or
+other. Surely the officers of the _Arcturus_ weren't so dumb that they'd
+stand for your still being Verna _Pickering_, were they?"
+
+"Not dumb, Norman, no. Far from it. But I'm still working for my
+M. R. S. degree, and I haven't succeeded in snaring it yet. You'd be
+surprised at how cagy those officers got after a few of them had been
+captured. But they are just like any other hunted game, I suppose--the
+antelopes that survive get pretty wild, you know," she concluded,
+plaintively.
+
+"Well, that certainly is one tough break for a poor little girl,"
+Brandon sympathized. "Quince, our little Nell, here, hasn't been done
+right by. I'm bashful and you're a woman-hater, but between us, some
+way, we've simply got to take steps."
+
+"You might take longer steps than you think," Verna laughed, her
+regular, white teeth and vivid coloring emphasized by her olive skin
+and her startling hair, black as Brandon's own. "Perhaps I would like
+a scientist better than an I-P officer, anyway. The more I think of it,
+the surer I am that Nadia Newton had the right idea. I believe that
+I'll catch me a physicist, too--either of you would do quite nicely,
+I think," and she studied the two men carefully.
+
+Westfall, the methodical and precise, had never been able to defend
+himself against Verna Pickering's badinage, but Brandon's ready tongue
+took up the challenge.
+
+"Verna, if you really decided to get any living man he wouldn't stand a
+chance in the world," he declared. "If you've already made up your mind
+that I'm your meat, I'll come down like Davy Crockett's coon. But if
+either of us will do, that'll give us each a fifty-fifty chance to
+escape your toils. What say we play a game of freeze-out to decide it?"
+
+"Fine, Norman! When shall we play?"
+
+"Oh, between Wednesday and Thursday, any week you say," and the two
+fenced on, banteringly but skilfully, with Westfall an appreciative and
+unembarrassed listener.
+
+Dinner over, Brandon and Westfall went back to the control room, where
+they found Stevens already seated at one of the master screens.
+
+"All x, Perce?"
+
+"All x. The observers report no registrations during the last two
+watches," and the three fell into discussion. Long they talked, studying
+every angle of the situation confronting them; until suddenly a speaker
+rattled furiously and an enormous, staring eye filled both master
+plates. Brandon's hand flashed to a switch, but the image disappeared
+even before he could establish the full-coverage ray screen.
+
+"I'm on the upper band--take the lower!" he snapped, but Stevens'
+projector was already in action. Trained minds all, they knew that some
+intelligence had traced them, and all realized that it was of the utmost
+importance to know what and where that intelligence was. Stevens found
+the probing frequency in his range and they flashed their own beam along
+it, encountering finally one of the monstrous Vorkulian fortresses, far
+from Jupiter and almost directly between them and the planet! Its wall
+screens were in operation, and no frequency at their command could
+penetrate that neutralizing blanket of vibrations.
+
+"What kind of an eye was that--ever see anything like it, Perce?"
+Brandon demanded.
+
+"I don't think so, though of course we got only an awfully short flash
+of it. It didn't look like the periscopic eyes that those flying snakes
+had--looked more like a hexan eye, don't you think? Couldn't very well
+be hexan, though, in that kind of a ship."
+
+"Don't think so, either. Maybe it's a purely mechanical affair that they
+use for observing. Anyway, old sons, I don't like the looks of things at
+all. Quince, you're the brains of this outfit--shift the massive old
+intellect into high and tell us what to do."
+
+Westfall, staring into the eyepiece of the filar micrometer, finished
+measuring the apparent size of the heptagon before he turned toward
+Stevens and Brandon.
+
+"It is hard to decide upon a course of action, since anything that we
+do may prove to be wrong," he said, slowly. "However, I do not see that
+this latest development can operate to change the plan we have already
+adopted; that of running away, straight out from the sun. We may have
+to increase our acceleration to the highest value the women and babies
+can stand. A series of observations of our pursuer will, of course, be
+necessary to decide that point. It would be useless to go to Titan,
+for they would be powerless to help us. We could not hold their mirror
+upon either the _Sirius_ or their torpedoes against such forces as that
+fortress has at her command. Then, too, we might well be bringing down
+upon them an enemy who would destroy much of their world before he could
+be stopped. Both Uranus and Neptune are approximately upon our present
+course. Do the Titanians know anything of either of them, Steve?"
+
+"Not a thing," the computer replied. "They can't get nearly as far as
+Uranus on their power beam--it's all they can do to make Jupiter. They
+seem to think, though, that one or more of the satellites of Uranus or
+Neptune may be inhabited by beings similar to themselves, only perhaps
+even more so. But considering the difference between what we found on
+the Jovian satellites and on Titan, I'd say that anything might be out
+there--on Uranus, Neptune, their satellites, or anywhere else."
+
+"Cancel Uranus, and double that for Neptune," Brandon commanded.
+"Realize how far away they are?"
+
+"That's right, too," agreed Stevens. "Before we got there, with any
+acceleration we can use now, this whole mess will be cleaned up, one way
+or the other."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Westfall completed the series of observations and calculated his
+results. Then, with a grave face, he went to consult the medical
+officers. The women, children, and the two Martian scientists were sent
+to the sick-bay and the acceleration was raised slowly to twenty meters
+per second per second, above which point the physicians declared they
+should not go unless it became absolutely necessary. Then the scientists
+met again--met without Alcantro and Fedanzo, who lay helpless upon
+narrow hospital bunks, unable even to lift their massive arms.
+
+While Westfall made another series of precise measurements of the
+super-dreadnought of space so earnestly pursuing them, Brandon stumbled
+heavily about the room, hands jammed deep into pockets, eyes unseeing
+emitting clouds of smoke from his villainously reeking pipe. The
+Venetians, lacking Brandon's physical strength and by nature quieter of
+disposition, sat motionless; keen minds hard at work. Stevens sat at the
+calculating machine, absently setting up and knocking down weird and
+meaningless integrals, while he also concentrated upon the problem
+before them.
+
+"They are still gaining, but comparatively slowly," Westfall finally
+reported. "They seem to be...."
+
+"In that case we may be all x," Brandon interrupted, brandishing his
+pipe vigorously. "We know that they're on a beam--apparently we're the
+only ones hereabouts having cosmic power. If we can keep away from them
+until their beam attenuates, we can whittle 'em down to our size and
+then take them, no matter how much accumulator capacity they've got."
+
+"But can we keep away from them that long?" asked Dol Kenor, pointedly;
+and his fellow Venerian also had a question to propound:
+
+"Would it not be preferable to lead them in a wide circle, back to a
+rendezvous with the Space Fleet, which will probably be ready by the
+time of meeting?"
+
+"I am afraid that that would be useless," Westfall frowned in thought.
+"Given power, that fortress could destroy the entire Fleet almost as
+easily as she could wipe out the _Sirius_ alone."
+
+"Kenor's right." Stevens spoke up from the calculator. "You're getting
+too far ahead of the situation. We aren't apt to keep ahead of them long
+enough to do much leading anywhere. The Titanians can hold a beam
+together from Saturn to Jupiter--why can't these snake-folks?"
+
+"Several reasons," Brandon argued stubbornly. "First place, look at the
+mass of that thing, and remember that the heavier the beam the harder
+it is to hold it together. Second, there's no evidence that they wander
+around much in space. If their beams are designed principally for travel
+upon Jupiter, why should they have any extraordinary range? I say they
+can't hold that beam forever. We've got a good long lead, and in spite
+of their higher acceleration, I think we'll be able to keep out of range
+of their heavy stuff. If so, we'll trace a circle--only one a good deal
+bigger than the one Amonar suggested--and meet the fleet at a point
+where that enemy ship will be about out of power."
+
+Thus for hours the scientists argued, agreeing upon nothing, while
+the Vorkulian fortress crept ever closer. At the end of three days of
+the mad flight, the pursuing space ship was in plain sight, covering
+hundreds of divisions of the micrometer screens. But now the size of
+the images was increasing with extreme slowness, and the scientists
+of the _Sirius_ watched with strained attention the edges of those
+glowing green pictures. Finally, when the pictured edges were about
+to cease moving across the finely-ruled lines, Brandon cut down his
+own acceleration a trifle, and kept on decreasing it at such a rate
+that the heptagon still crept up, foot by foot.
+
+"Hey what's the big idea?" Stevens demanded.
+
+"Coax 'em along. If we run away from them they'll probably reverse power
+and go back home, won't they? Their beam is falling apart fast, but
+they're still getting so much stuff along it that we couldn't do a thing
+to stop them. If they think that we're losing power even faster than
+they are, though, they'll keep after us until their beam's so thin that
+they'll just be able to stop on it. Then they'll reverse or else go onto
+their accumulators--reverse, probably, since they'll be a long ways from
+home by that time. We'll reverse, too, and keep just out of range. Then,
+when we both have stopped and are about to start back, their beam will
+be at its minimum and we'll go to work on 'em--foot, horse, and marines.
+Nobody can run us as ragged as they've been doing and get away with it
+as long as I'm conscious and stand a chance in the world of hanging one
+onto their chins in retaliation. I've got a hunch. If it works, we can
+take those birds alone, and take 'em so they'll _stay_ took. We might as
+well break up--this is going to be an ordinary job of piloting for a few
+days, I think. I'm going up and work with the Martians on that hunch.
+You fellows work out any ideas you want to. Watch 'em close, Mac. Keep
+kidding 'em along, but don't let them get close enough to puncture us."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Everything worked out practically as Brandon had foretold, and a few
+days later, their acceleration somewhat less than terrestrial gravity,
+he called another meeting in the control room. He came in grinning from
+ear to ear, accompanied by the two Martians, and seated himself at his
+complex power panel.
+
+"Now watch the professor closely, gentlemen," he invited. "He is going
+to cut that beam."
+
+"But you can't," protested Pyraz Amonar.
+
+"I know you can't, ordinarily, when a beam is tight and solid. But
+that beam's as loose as ashes right now. I told you I had a hunch, and
+Alcantro and Fedanzo worked out the right answer for me. If I can cut
+it, Quince, and if their screens go down for a minute, shoot your
+visiray into them and see what you can see."
+
+"All x. How much power are you going to draw?"
+
+"Plenty--it figures a little better than four hundred thousand
+kilofranks. I'll draw it all from the accumulators, so as not to
+disturb you fellows on the cosmic intake. We don't care if we do run the
+batteries down some, but I don't want to hold that load on the bus-bars
+very long. However, if my hunch is right, I won't be on that beam five
+minutes before it's cut from Jupiter--and I'll bet you four dollars that
+you won't see the original crew in that fort when you get into it."
+
+He set upper and lower bands of dirigible projectors to apply a
+powerful sidewise thrust, and the _Sirius_ darted off her course.
+Flashing a minute pencil behind the huge heptagon, Brandon manipulated
+his tuning circuits until a brilliant spot in space showed him that he
+was approaching resonance with the heptagon's power beam. Micrometer
+dials were then engaged and the delicate tuning continued until the
+meters gave evidence that the two beams were precisely synchronized and
+exactly opposite in phase. Four plunger switches closed, that tiny pilot
+ray became an enormous rod of force, and as those two gigantic beams met
+in exact opposition and neutralized each other, a solid wall of blinding
+brilliance appeared in the empty ether behind the Vorkulian fortress. As
+that dazzling wall sprang into being, the sparkling green protection
+died from the walls of the heptagon.
+
+"Go to it, Quince!" Brandon yelled, but the suggestion was entirely
+superfluous. Even before the wall-screen had died, Westfall's beam was
+trying to get through it, and when the visiray revealed the interior of
+the heptagon, the quiet and methodical physicist was shaken from his
+habitual calm.
+
+"Why, they aren't the winged monsters at all--they're _hexans_!"
+he exclaimed.
+
+"Sure they are." Brandon did not even turn his heavily-goggled eyes
+from the blazing blankness of his own screen. "That was my hunch. Those
+snakes went about things in a business-like fashion. They didn't strike
+me as being folks who would pull off such a wild stunt as trying to
+chase us clear out of the solar system, but a gang of hexans would do
+just that. Some of them must have captured that ship and, already having
+it in their cock-eyed brains that we were back of what happened on
+Callisto, they decided to bump us off if it was the last thing they ever
+did. That's what I'd do myself, if I were a hexan. Now I'll tell you
+what's happening back at the home power plant of that ship and what's
+going to happen next. I'm kicking up a horrible row out there with my
+interference, and a lot of instruments at the other end of that beam
+must be cutting up all kinds of didoes, right now. They'll check up on
+that ship with the expedition, by radio and what-not, and when they find
+out that it's clear out here--chop! Didn't get to see much, did you?"
+
+"No, they must have switched over to their accumulators almost
+instantly."
+
+"Yeah, but if they've got accumulator capacity enough to hold off our
+entire cosmic intake and get back to Jupiter besides, I'm a polyp! We're
+going to take that ship, fellows, and learn a lot of stuff we never
+dreamed of before. Ha! There goes his beam--pay me the four, Quince."
+
+The dazzling wall of incandescence had blinked out without warning, and
+Brandon's beam bored on through space, unimpeded. He shut it off and
+turned to his fellows with a grin--a grin which disappeared instantly
+as a thought struck him and he leaped back to his board.
+
+"Sound the high-acceleration warning quick, Perce!" he snapped, and
+drove in switch after switch.
+
+"Cosmic intake's gone down to zero!" exclaimed MacDonald, as the
+_Sirius_ leaped away.
+
+"Had to cut it--they might shoot a jolt through that band. Just thought
+of something. Maybe unnecessary, but no harm done if ... it's necessary,
+all x--we're taking a sweet kissing right now. You see, even though
+we're at pretty long range, they've got some horrible projectors, and
+they were evidently mad enough to waste some power taking a good, solid
+flash at us--and if we hadn't been expecting it, that flash would have
+been a bountiful sufficiency, believe me--Great Cat! Look at that
+meter--and I've had to throw in number ten shunt! The outer screen is
+drawing five hundred and forty thousand!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They stared at the meter in amazement. It was incredible, even after
+they had seen those heptagons in action, that at such extreme range
+any offensive beam could be driven with such unthinkable power--power
+requiring for its neutralization almost the full output of the
+prodigious batteries of accumulators carried by the _Sirius_! Yet for
+five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes that beam drove furiously against
+their straining screens, and even Brandon's face grew tense and hard
+as that frightful attack continued. At the end of twenty-two minutes,
+however, the pointer of the meter snapped back to the pin and every
+man there breathed an explosive sigh of relief--the almost unbearable
+bombardment was over; the screen was drawing only its maintenance load.
+
+"Wow!" Brandon shouted. "I thought for a minute they were going to hang
+to us until we cracked, even if it meant that they'd have to freeze to
+death out here themselves!"
+
+"It would have meant that, too, don't you think?" asked Stevens.
+
+"I imagine so--don't see how they could possibly have enough power left
+to get back to Jupiter if they shine that thing on us much longer. Of
+course, the more power they waste on us, the quicker we can take them;
+but I don't want much more of that beam, I'll tell the world--I just
+about had heart failure before they cut off!"
+
+The massive heptagon was now drifting back toward Jupiter at constant
+velocity. The hexans were apparently hoarding jealously their remaining
+power, for their wall screens did not flash on at the touch of the
+visiray. Through unresisting metal the probing Terrestrial beams sped,
+and the scientists studied minutely every detail of the Vorkulian
+armament; while the regular observers began to make a detailed
+photographic survey of every room and compartment of the great fortress.
+Much of the instrumentation and machinery was familiar, but some of it
+was so strange that study was useless--days of personal inspection and
+experiment, perhaps complete dismantling, would be necessary to reveal
+the secrets hidden within those peculiar mechanisms.
+
+"They're trying to save all the power they can--think I'll make them
+spend some more," Brandon remarked, and directed against the heptagon a
+heavy destructive beam. "We don't want them to get back to Jupiter until
+after we've boarded them and found out everything we want to know. Come
+here, Quince--what do you make of this?"
+
+Both men stared at the heptagon, frankly puzzled; for the screens of the
+strange vessel did not radiate, nor did the material of the walls yield
+under the terrible force of the beam. The destructive ray simply struck
+that dull green surface and vanished--disappeared without a trace, as a
+tiny stream of water disappears into a partially-soaked sponge.
+
+"Do you know what you are doing?" asked Westfall, after a few minutes'
+thought. "I believe that you are charging their accumulators at the rate
+of," he glanced at a meter, "exactly thirty-one thousand five hundred
+kilofranks."
+
+"Great Cat!" Brandon's hand flashed to a switch and the beam expired.
+"But they can't just simply grab it and store it, Quince--it's
+impossible!"
+
+"The word 'impossible' in that connection, coming from you, has a queer
+sound," Westfall said pointedly and Brandon actually blushed.
+
+"That's right, too--we have got pretty much the same idea in our cosmic
+intake fields, but we didn't carry things half as far as they have done.
+Huh! They're flashing us again ... but those thin little beams don't
+mean anything. They're just trying to make us feed them some more, I
+guess. But we've got to hold them back some way--wonder if they can
+absorb a tractor field?"
+
+The hexans had lashed out a few times with their lighter weapons,
+but, finding the _Sirius_ unresponsive, had soon shut them off and were
+stolidly plunging along toward Jupiter. Brandon flung out a tractor rod
+and threw the mass of his cruiser upon it as it locked into those sullen
+green walls. But as soon as the enemy felt its drag, their screens
+flared white, and the massive Terrestrial space-ship quivered in every
+member as that terrific cable of force was snapped.
+
+"They apparently cannot store up the energy of a tractor," commented
+Westfall, "but you will observe that they have no difficulty in
+radiating when they care to."
+
+"Those two ideas didn't pan out so heavy. There's lots of things not
+tried yet, though. Our next best bet is to get around in front of him
+and push back. If they wiggle away from more than fifty percent of a
+pressor, they're really good."
+
+The pilot maneuvered the _Sirius_ into line, directly between Jupiter
+and the pentagon; and as the driving projectors went into action,
+Brandon drove a mighty pressor field along their axis, squarely into the
+center of mass of the Vorkulian fortress. For a moment it held solidly,
+then, as the screens of the enemy went into action, it rebounded and
+glanced off in sparkling, cascading torrents. But the hexans, with all
+their twisting and turning, could not present to that prodigious beam of
+force any angle sufficiently obtuse to rob it of half its power, and the
+driving projectors of the pentagon again burst into activity as the
+backward-pushing mass of the _Sirius_ made itself felt. In a short time,
+however, the wall-screens were again cut off--apparently more power was
+required to drive them than they were able to deflect.
+
+Although even the enormous tonnage of the Terrestrial cruiser was
+insignificant in comparison with the veritable mountain of metal to
+which she was opposed, so that the fiercest thrust of her driving
+projectors did not greatly affect the monster's progress; yet Brandon
+and his cohorts were well content.
+
+"It's a long trip back to where they came from, and since they wanted
+to drift all the way, I think they'll be out of power before they get
+there," Brandon summed up the situation. "We aren't losing any power,
+either, since we are using only a part of our cosmic intake."
+
+In a few hours the struggle had settled down to a routine matter--the
+_Sirius_ being pushed backward steadily against the full drive of her
+every projector, contesting stubbornly every mile of space traversed.
+Assured that the regular pilots and lookouts were fully capable
+of handling the vessel, the scientists were about to resume their
+interrupted tasks when one of the photographers called them over to look
+at something he had discovered in one of the lowermost and smallest
+compartments of the heptagon. All crowded around the screens, and saw
+pictured there the winged, snake-like form of one of the original crew
+of the Vorkulian vessel!
+
+"Dead?" Brandon asked.
+
+"Not yet," replied the photographer. "He is twitching a little once in
+a while, but you see, he's pretty badly cut up."
+
+"I see he is ... he must have a lot of vitality to have lasted this
+long--may be he'll live through it yet. Hold him on the plate, and get
+his exact measurements." He turned to the communicator. "Doctor von
+Steiffel? Can you come down to the control room a minute? We may want
+you to operate upon one of these South Jovians after a while."
+
+"_Himmel! Es ... ist ... der...._" The great surgeon, bearded and
+massive, stared into the plate, and in his surprise started to speak
+in his native German. He paused, his long, powerful fingers tracing the
+likeness of the Vorkul upon the plate, then went on: "I would like very
+much to operate, but, not understanding our intentions, he would, of
+course, struggle. And when that body struggles--_schrecklichkeit_!" and
+he waved his arms in a pantomime of wholesale destruction.
+
+"I thought of that--that's why I am talking to you now instead of when
+we get to him, two or three days from now. We'll give you his exact
+measurements, and a crew of mechanics will, under your direction, sink
+holes in the steel floor and install steel bands heavy enough to hold
+him rigid, from tailfins to wing-tips. We'll hold him there until we can
+make him understand that we're friends. It is of the utmost importance
+to save that creature's life if possible; because we do not want one of
+their fortresses launched against us--and in any event, it will not do
+us any harm to have a friend in the City of the South."
+
+"Right. I will also have prepared some kind of a space-suit in which
+he can be brought from his vessel to ours," and the surgeon took the
+measurements and went to see that the "operating table" and suit were
+made ready for Kromodeor, the sorely wounded Vorkul.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was not long until the projectors of the heptagon went out and
+she lay inert in space, power completely exhausted. Knowing that the
+screens of the enemy would absorb any ordinary ray, the scientists had
+calculated the most condensed beam they could possibly project, a beam
+which, their figures showed, should be able to puncture those screens by
+sheer mass action--puncture them practically instantaneously, before the
+absorbers could react. To that end they had arranged their circuits to
+hurl seven hundred sixty-five thousand kilofranks--the entire power of
+their massed accumulators and their highest possible cosmic intake--in
+one tiny bar of superlative density, less than one meter in diameter!
+Everything ready, Brandon shot in prodigious switches that launched that
+bolt--a bolt so vehement, so inconceivably intense, that it seemed
+fairly to blast the very ether out of existence as it tore its way along
+its carefully predetermined line. The intention was to destroy all the
+control panels of the absorber screens; parts so vital that without them
+the great vessel would be helpless, and yet items which the Terrestrials
+could reconstruct quite readily from their photographs and drawings.
+
+As that irresistible bolt touched the Vorkulian wall-screen, the spot
+of contact flared instantaneously through the spectrum and into the
+black beyond the violet as that screen overloaded locally. Fast as it
+responded and highly conductive though it was, it could not handle that
+frightfully concentrated load. In the same fleeting instant of time
+every molecule of substance in that beam's path flashed into tenuous
+vapor--no conceivable material could resist or impede that stabbing
+stiletto of energy--and the main control panel of the Vorkulian
+wall-screen system vanished. Time after time, as rapidly as he could
+sight his beam and operate his switches, Brandon drove his needle of
+annihilation through the fortress, destroying the secondary controls.
+Then, the walls unresisting, he cut in the vastly larger, but infinitely
+less powerful, I-P ray, and with it systematically riddled the immense
+heptagon. Out through the gaping holes in the outer walls rushed the
+dense atmosphere of Jupiter, and the hexans in their massed hundreds
+died.
+
+The _Sirius_ was brought up beside the heptagon, so that her main
+air-lock was against one of the yawning holes in the green metal wall
+of the enemy. There she was anchored by tractor beams, and the two
+hundred picked men of the I-P police, in full space equipment, prepared
+to board the gigantic fortress of the void. Brandon sat tense at his
+controls, ready to send his beam ahead of the troopers against any
+hexans that might survive in some as yet unpunctured compartment.
+General Crowninshield sat beside the physicist at an auxiliary board,
+phones at ears and four infra-red visiray plates ranged in front of him;
+ready through light or darkness to direct and oversee the attack, no
+matter where it might lead or how widely separated the platoons might
+become before the citadel was taken.
+
+The space-line men--the engineers of weightless combat--led the van,
+protected by the projectors of their fellows. Theirs the task to set up
+ways of rope, along which the others could advance. Power drills bit
+savagely into metal, making holes to receive the expanding eyebolts;
+grappling hooks seized fast every protuberance and corner; points of
+little stress were supported by powerful suction cups; and at intervals
+were strung beam-fed lanterns, illuminating brilliantly the line of
+march. Through compartments and down corridors they went, bridging the
+many gaps in the metal through which Brandon's beams had blasted their
+way; guided by Crowninshield along the shortest feasible path toward the
+little projector room in which Kromodeor, the wounded Vorkul, lay. There
+were so many chambers and compartments in the heptagon that it had, of
+course, been impossible to puncture them all, and in some of the tight
+rooms were groups of hexans, anxious to do battle. But the general's eye
+led his men, and if such a room lay before them, Brandon's frightful
+beam entered it first--and where that beam entered, life departed.
+
+But the hexans were really intelligent, as has been said. They had had
+time to prepare for what they knew awaited them, and they were rendered
+utterly desperate by the knowledge that, no matter what might happen,
+their course was run. Their power was gone, and even if the present
+enemy should be driven off, they would float idly in space until they
+died of cold; or, more probably, hurtling toward Jupiter as they were,
+they would plunge to certain death upon its surface as soon as they came
+within its powerful gravitational field. Therefore some fifty of the
+creatures, who had had space experience in their spherical vessels,
+had spent the preceding days in manufacturing space equipment. Let the
+weight-fiends plan upon detonating magazines of explosives, upon laying
+mines calculated to destroy the invaders, even the vessel itself and
+all within it. Let them plan upon any other such idle schemes, which
+were certain to be foreseen and guarded against by the space-hardened
+veterans who undoubtedly moaned that all-powerful and vengeful football
+of scarred gray metal. Space-fighters were they, and as space-fighters
+would they die; taking with them to their own inevitable death a full
+quota of the enemy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus it came about that the head of the column of police had scarcely
+passed a certain door, when in the room behind it there began to
+assemble the half-hundred spacehounds of the hexans. When the vanguard
+had approached that room, Crowninshield had inspected it thoroughly with
+his infra-red beams. He had found it punctured and airless, devoid of
+life or of lethal devices, and had passed on. But now the space-suited
+warriors of the horde, guided in their hiding by their own visirays,
+were massing there. When the center of the I-P column reached that door,
+it burst open. There boiled out into the corridor, into the very midst
+of the police, fifty demoniacal hexans, fighting with Berserk fury,
+ruled by but one impulse--to kill.
+
+Hand-weapons flashed viciously, tearing at steel armor and at bulging
+space-suits. Space-hooks bit and tore. Pikes and lances were driven with
+the full power of brawny arms. Here and there could be seen trooper and
+hexan, locked together in fierce embrace far from any hand-line--six
+limbs against four, all ten plied with abandon in mortal, hand-to-hand,
+foot-to-foot combat.
+
+"Give way!" yelled Crowninshield into the ears of his men. "Epstein,
+back! LeFevre, advance! Get out of block ten--give us a chance to use
+a beam!"
+
+As the police fell back out of the designated section of the corridor,
+Brandon's beam tore through it, filling it from floor to ceiling with
+a volume of intolerable energy. In that energy walls, doorway, and
+space-lines, as well as most of the hexans, vanished utterly. But the
+beam could not be used again. Every surviving enemy had hurled himself
+frantically into the thickest ranks of the police and the battle raged
+fiercer than ever. It did not last long. The ends of the column had
+already closed in. The police filled the corridor and overflowed into
+the yawning chasm cut by the annihilating ray. Outnumbered, surrounded
+upon all sides, above, and below by the Terrestrials, the hexans fought
+with mad desperation to the last man--and to the last man died. And even
+though in lieu of their own highly efficient space-armor they had fought
+in weak, crude, and hastily improvised space-suits, which were pitifully
+inferior to the ray resistant, heavy steel armor of the I-P forces,
+nevertheless the enormous strength and utter savagery of the hexans had
+taken toll; and when the advance was resumed, it was with extra lookouts
+scanning the entire neighborhood of the line of march.
+
+Since the troops had entered the fortress as close to their goal as
+possible, it was not long until the leading platoon reached the door
+behind which Kromodeor lay. Tools and cylinders of air were brought up,
+and the engineers quickly fitted pressure bulkheads across the corridor.
+There was a screaming hiss from the valves, the atmosphere in that
+walled-off space became dense, and mechanics attacked with their power
+drills the door of the projector room. It opened, and four husky
+orderlies rapidly but gently encased the long body of the Vorkul in the
+space-suit built especially to receive it. As that monstrous form in
+its weirdly bulging envelope was guided through the air-locks into the
+_Sirius_, Crowninshield barked orders into his transmitter and the
+police reformed. They would now systematically scour the fortress, to
+wipe out any hexans that might still be in hiding; to discover and
+destroy any possible traps or infernal machines which the enemy might
+have planted for their undoing.
+
+Assured that the real danger to the _Sirius_ was over and that his
+presence was no longer necessary, Brandon turned his controls over to an
+assistant and went up to the Venerian rooms, where von Steiffel and his
+staff were to operate upon the Vorkul. There, in the dense, hot air, but
+little different now from the atmosphere of Jupiter, Kromodeor lay;
+bolted down to the solid steel of the floor by means of padded steel
+straps. So heavy were the bands that he could not possibly break even
+one of them; so closely were they spaced that he could scarcely have
+moved a muscle had he tried. But he did not try--so near death was he
+that his mighty muscles did not even quiver at the trenchant bite of the
+surgeon's tools. Von Steiffel and his aides, meticulously covered with
+sterile gowns, hoods, and gloves, worked in most rigidly aseptic style;
+deftly and rapidly closing the ghastly wounds inflicted by the weapons
+of the hexans.
+
+"Hi, Brandon," the surgeon grunted as he straightened up, the work
+completed. "I did not use much antiseptic on him. Because of possible
+differences in blood chemistry and in ignorance of his native bacteria,
+I depended almost wholly upon asepsis and his natural resistance. It is
+a good thing that we did not have to use an anaesthetic. He is in bad
+shape, but if we can feed him successfully, he may pull through."
+
+"Feed him? I never thought of that. What d'you suppose he eats?"
+
+"I have an idea that it is something highly concentrated, from his
+anatomy. I shall try giving him sugar, milk chocolate, something of
+the kind. First I shall try maple syrup. Being a liquid, it is easily
+administered, and its penetrating odor also may be a help."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A can of the liquid was brought in and to the amazement of the
+Terrestrials, the long, delicate antennae of the Vorkul began to twitch
+as soon as the can was opened. Motioning hastily for silence, von
+Steiffel filled a bowl and placed it upon the floor beneath Kromodeor's
+grotesque nose. The twitching increased, until finally one dull, glazed
+eye brightened somewhat and curled slowly out upon its slender pedicle,
+toward the dish. His mouth opened sluggishly and a long, red tongue
+reached out, but as his perceptions quickened, he became conscious of
+the strangers near him. The mouth snapped shut, the eye retracted, and
+heaving, rippling surges traversed that powerful body as he struggled
+madly against the unbreakable shackles of steel binding him to the floor.
+
+"_Ach, kindlein_!" The surgeon bent anxiously over that grotesque but
+frightened head; soothing, polysyllabic German crooning from his bearded
+lips.
+
+"Here, let's try this--I'm good on it," Stevens suggested, bringing up
+the Callistonian thought exchanger. All three men donned headsets, and
+sent wave after wave of friendly and soothing thoughts toward that
+frantic and terrified brain.
+
+"He's got his brain shut up like a clam!" Brandon snorted. "Open up,
+guy--we aren't going to hurt you! We're the best friends you've got,
+if you only knew it!"
+
+"Himmel, und he iss himself killing!" moaned von Steiffel.
+
+"One more chance that might work," and Brandon stepped over to the
+communicator, demanding that Verna Pickering be brought at once. She
+came in as soon as the air-locks would permit, and the physicist
+welcomed her eagerly.
+
+"This fellow's fighting so he's tearing himself to pieces. We can't make
+him receive a thought, and von Steiffel's afraid to use an anaesthetic.
+Now it's barely possible that he may understand hexan. I thought you
+wasted time learning any of it, but maybe you didn't--see if you can
+make him understand that we're friends."
+
+The girl flinched and shrank back involuntarily, but forced herself to
+approach that awful head. Bending over, she repeated over and over one
+harsh, barking syllable. The effect of that word was magical. Instantly
+Kromodeor ceased struggling, an eye curled out, and that long, supple
+tongue flashed down and into the syrup. Not until the last sticky trace
+had been licked from the bowl did his attention wander from the food.
+Then the eye, sparkling brightly now, was raised toward the girl.
+Simultaneously four other eyes arose, one directed at each of the men
+and the other surveying his bonds and the room in which he was. Then the
+Vorkul spoke, but his whistling, hissing manner of speech so garbled
+the barking sounds of the hexan words he was attempting to utter, that
+Verna's slight knowledge of the language was of no use. She therefore
+put on one of the headsets, motioning the men to do the same, and
+approached Kromodeor with the other, repeating the hexan word of
+friendly import. This time the Vorkul's brain was not sealed against
+the visitors and thoughts began to flow.
+
+"You've used those things a lot," Brandon turned to Stevens in a quick
+aside. "Can you hide your thoughts?"
+
+"Sure--why?"
+
+"All I can think of is that power system of theirs, and he'd know what
+we were going to do, sure. And I'd better be getting at it anyway. So
+you can wipe that off your mind with a clear conscience--the rest of us
+will get everything they've got there. Your job's to get everything you
+can out of this bird's brain. All x?"
+
+"All x."
+
+"Why, you didn't put yours on!" Verna exclaimed.
+
+"No, I don't think I'll have time. If I get started talking to him now,
+I'd be here from now on, and I've got a lot of work to do. Steve can
+talk to him for me--see you later," and Brandon was gone.
+
+He went directly to the Vorkulian fortress, bare now of hexan life and
+devoid of hexan snares and traps. There he and his fellows labored day
+after day learning every secret of every item of armament and equipment
+aboard the heptagon.
+
+"Did you finish up today, Norm?" asked Stevens one evening. "Kromodeor's
+coming to life fast. He's able to wiggle around a little now, and is
+insisting that we take off the one chain we keep on him and let him use
+a plate, to call his people."
+
+"All washed up. Guess I'll go in and talk to him--you all say he's such
+an egg. With this stuff off my mind I can hide it well enough. By the
+way, what does he eat?" And the two friends set out for the Venerian
+rooms.
+
+"Anything that's sweet, apparently, with just enough milk to furnish a
+little protein. Won't eat meat or vegetables at all--von Steiffel says
+they haven't got much of a digestive tract, and I know that they haven't
+got any teeth. He's already eaten most all the syrup we had on board,
+all of the milk chocolate, and a lot of the sugar. But none of us can
+get any kind of a raise out of him at all--not even Nadia, when she fed
+him a whole box of chocolates."
+
+"No, I mean what does he eat when he's home?"
+
+"It seems to be a sort of syrup, made from the juices of jungle plants,
+which they drag in on automatic conveyors and process on automatic
+machinery. But he's a funny mutt--hard to get. Some of his thoughts are
+lucid enough, but others we can't make out at all--they are so foreign
+to all human nature that they simply do not register as thoughts at all.
+One funny thing, he isn't the least bit curious about anything. He
+doesn't want to examine anything, doesn't ask us any questions, and
+won't tell us anything about anything, so that all we know about him we
+found out purely by accident. For instance, they like games and sports,
+and seem to have families. They also have love, liking, and respect for
+others of their own race--but they seem to have no emotions whatever for
+outsiders. They're utterly inhuman--I can't describe it--you'll have to
+get it for yourself."
+
+"Did you find out about the Callistonians who went to see them?"
+
+"Negatively, yes. They never arrived. They probably couldn't see in the
+fog and must have missed the city. If they tried to land in that jungle,
+it was just too bad!"
+
+"That would account for everything. So they're strictly neutral, eh?
+Well, I'll tell him 'hi,' anyway." Now in the sickroom, Brandon picked
+up the headset and sent out a wave of cheery greeting.
+
+To his amazement, the mind of the Vorkul was utterly unresponsive
+to his thoughts. Not disdainful, not inimical; not appreciative, nor
+friendly--simply indifferent to a degree unknown and incomprehensible to
+any human mind. He sent Brandon only one message, which came clear and
+coldly emotionless.
+
+"I do not want to talk to you. Tell the hairy doctor that I am now
+strong enough to be allowed to go to the communicator screen. That is
+all." The Vorkul's mind again became an oblivious maze of unintelligible
+thoughts. Not deliberately were Kromodeor's thoughts hidden; he was
+constitutionally unable to interest himself in the thoughts or things of
+any alien intelligence.
+
+"Well, that for that." A puzzled, thoughtful look came over Brandon's
+face as he called von Steiffel. "A queer duck, if there ever was one.
+However, their ship will never bother us, that's one good thing; and
+I think we've got about everything of theirs that we want, anyway."
+
+The surgeon, after a careful examination of his patient, unlocked the
+heavy collar with which he had been restraining the over-anxious Vorkul,
+and supported him lightly at the communicator panel. As surely as though
+he had used those controls for years Kromodeor shot the visiray beam out
+into space. One hand upon each of the several dials and one eye upon
+each meter, it was a matter only of seconds for him to get in touch with
+Vorkulia. To the Terrestrials the screen was a gray and foggy blank; but
+the manifest excitement shrieking and whistling from the speaker in
+response to Kromodeor's signals made it plain that his message was being
+received with enthusiasm.
+
+"They are coming," the Vorkul thought, and lay back, exhausted.
+
+"Just as well that they're comin' out here, at that," Brandon commented.
+"We couldn't begin to handle that structure anywhere near Jupiter--in
+fact, we wouldn't want to get very close ourselves, with passengers
+aboard."
+
+Such was the power of the Vorkulian vessels that in less than twenty
+hours another heptagon slowed to a halt beside the _Sirius_ and two of
+its crew were wafted aboard.
+
+They were ushered into the Venerian room, where they talked briefly with
+their wounded fellow before they dressed him in a space-suit, which
+they filled with air to their own pressure. Then all three were lifted
+lightly into the air, and without a word or a sign were borne through
+the air-locks of the vessel, and into an opening in the wall of the
+rescuing heptagon. A green tractor beam reached out, seizing the
+derelict, and both structures darted away at such a pace that in a few
+minutes they had disappeared in the black depths of space.
+
+"Well--that, as I may have remarked before, is indisputably and
+conclusively that." Brandon broke the surprised, almost stunned, silence
+that followed the unceremonious departure of the visitors. "I don't know
+whether to feel relieved at the knowledge that they won't bother us, or
+whether to get mad because they won't have anything to do with us."
+
+He sent the "All x" signal to the pilot and the _Sirius_, once more at
+the acceleration of Terrestrial gravity, again bored on through space.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Spacehounds Triumphant
+
+
+Now that the hexan threat that had so long oppressed the humanity of the
+_Sirius_ was lifted, that dull gray football of armor steel was filled
+with relief and rejoicing as the pilot laid his course for Europa.
+Lounges and saloons resounded with noise as police, passengers, and such
+of the crew as were at liberty made merry. The control room, in which
+were grouped the leaders of the expedition and the scientists, was
+orderly enough, but a noticeable undertone of gladness had replaced the
+tense air it had known so long.
+
+"Hi, men!" Nadia Stevens and Verna Pickering, arms around each other's
+waists, entered the room and saluted the group gaily before they became
+a part of it.
+
+"'Smatter, girls--tired of dancing already?" asked Brandon.
+
+"Oh, no--we could dance from now on," Verna assured him. "But you see,
+Nadia hadn't seen that husband of hers for fifteen minutes, and was
+getting lonesome. Being afraid of all you men, she wanted me to come
+along for moral support. The real reason I came, though," and she
+narrowed her expressive eyes and lowered her voice mysteriously, "is
+that you two physicists are here. I want to study my chosen victims a
+little longer before I decide over which of you to cast the spell of
+my fatal charm."
+
+"But you can't do that," he objected, vigorously. "Quince and I are
+going to settle that ourselves some day--by shooting dice, or maybe each
+other, or...." he broke off, listening to an animated conversation going
+on behind them.
+
+"... just simply outrageous!" Nadia was exclaiming. "Here we saved his
+life, and I fed him a lot of my candy, and we went to all the trouble of
+bringing their ship back here almost to Jupiter for them, and then they
+simply dashed off without a word of thanks or anything! And he always
+acted as though he never wanted to see or hear of any of us again, ever!
+Why, they don't _think_ straight--as Norman would say it, they're _full_
+of little red _ants_! Why, they aren't even _human_!"
+
+"Sure not." Brandon turned to the flushed speaker. "They couldn't be,
+hardly, with their make-up. But is it absolutely necessary that all
+intelligent beings should possess such an emotion as gratitude? Such a
+being without it does seem funny to us, but I can't see that its lack
+necessarily implies anything particularly important. Keep still a
+minute," he went on, as Nadia tried to interrupt him, "and listen to
+some real wisdom. Quince, _you_ tell 'em."
+
+"They are, of course, very highly developed and extremely intelligent;
+but it should not be surprising that intelligence should manifest
+itself in ways quite baffling to us human beings, whose minds work so
+differently. They are, however ... well, peculiar."
+
+"I _won't_ keep still!" Nadia burst out, at the first opportunity.
+"I don't want to talk about those hideous things any more, anyway.
+Come on, Steve, let's go up and dance!"
+
+Crowninshield turned to Verna, with the obvious intention of leading
+her away, but Brandon interposed.
+
+"Sorry, Crown, but this lady is conducting a highly important
+psychological research, so your purely social claims will have to wait
+until after the scientific work is done."
+
+"Why narrow the field of investigation?" laughed the girl. "I'd rather
+widen it, myself--I might prefer a general, even to a physicist!"
+
+They went up to the main saloon and joined the melee there, and after
+one dance with Verna--all he could claim in that crowd of
+men--Crowninshield turned to Brandon.
+
+"You two seem to know Miss Pickering extraordinarily well. Would I be
+stepping on your toes if I give her a play?"
+
+"Clear ether as far as we're concerned." Brandon shrugged his shoulders.
+"She's been kicking around under foot ever since she was knee high to a
+duck--we gave her her first lessons on a slide rule."
+
+"Don't be dumb, Norman. That woman's a knock-out--a riot--a regular
+tri-planet call-out!"
+
+"Oh, she's all x, as far as that goes. She's a good little scout,
+too--not half as dumb as she acts--and she's one of the squarest little
+aces that ever waved a plume; but as for _playing_ her--too much like
+our kid sister."
+
+"Good--me for her!" and they made their way back down to the control
+room.
+
+Stevens, after his one dance with Nadia, had already returned. Brandon
+and Crowninshield found him seated at the calculating machine,
+continuing a problem which already filled several pages of his notebook.
+
+"'Smatter, Steve? So glad to see a calculator and some paper that you
+can't let them alone?"
+
+"Not exactly--just had a thought a day or so ago. Been computing the
+orbit of the wreckage of the _Arcturus_ around Jupiter. Think we should
+salvage it--the upper half, at least. It was left intact, you know."
+
+"H ... m ... m. That would be nice, all right. Dope enough?"
+
+"Got the direction solid, from my own observations; the velocity's a
+pretty rough approximation though. But after allowing for my probable
+error, it figures an ellipse of low eccentricity, between the orbits of
+Io and Europa. Its period is short--about two days."
+
+"Isn't it wonderful to have a brain?" Brandon addressed the room at
+large. "The kid's clever. Nobody else would have thought of it, except
+maybe Westfall. Let's see your figures. Um ... m ... m. According to
+that, we're within an hour of it, right now." He turned to the pilot and
+sketched rapidly.
+
+"Get on this line here, please, and decelerate, so that the stuff'll
+catch up with us, and pass the word to the lookouts. Stevens and I will
+take the bow plates.
+
+"That's a good idea," he went on to Stevens, as they took their places
+at main and auxiliary ultra-banks. "Lot of plunder in that ship.
+Instruments, boats, and equipment worth millions, besides most of the
+junk of the passengers--clothes, trunks, trinkets, and what-not. You're
+there, bucko!"
+
+"Thanks, Chief," ... and they fell silent, watching the instruments
+carefully, and from time to time making computations from the readings
+of the acceleration and flight meters.
+
+"There she is!" An alarm bell had finally sounded, the ultra-lights had
+flared out into space, and upon both screens there shone out images of
+the closely clustered wreckage of the _Arcturus_. But both men were more
+interested just then in the mathematics of the recovery than in the
+vessel itself.
+
+"Missed it eight minutes of time and eleven divisions on the scale,"
+reported Stevens. "Not so good."
+
+"Not so bad either--I've seen worse computation." Thus lightly was
+dismissed a mathematical feat which, a few years earlier, before the
+days of I-P computers, would have been deemed worthy of publication in
+"The Philosophical Magazine."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Director Newton was called in, and it was decided that the many small
+fragments of the vessel were not worth saving; that its upper half
+was all that they should attempt to tow the enormous distance back to
+Tellus. The pace of the _Sirius_ was adjusted to that of the floating
+masses, and tractor beams were clamped upon the undamaged portion of the
+derelict, and upon the two slices from the nose of the craft. A couple
+of the larger fragments of wreckage were also taken, to furnish metal
+for the repairs which would be necessary. Acceleration was brought
+slowly up to normal, and the battle-scarred cruiser of the void, with
+her heavy burden of inert metal, resumed her interrupted voyage toward
+Europa; the satellite upon which the passengers and crew of the
+ill-fated _Arcturus_ had been so long immured. On she bored through the
+ether, detector screens full out and greenly scintillant Vorkulian
+wall-screens outlining her football shape in weird and ghastly light;
+unafraid now of any possible surviving space-craft of the hexans.
+
+But if the hexans detected her, they made no sign. Perhaps their fleet
+had been destroyed utterly; perhaps it had been impressed upon even
+their fierce minds that those sparkling green screens were not to be
+molested with impunity! The satellite was reached without event and down
+into the crater landing shaft the two enormous masses of metal dropped.
+
+Callisto's foremost citizens were on hand to welcome the Terrestrial
+rescuers, and revelry reigned supreme in that deeply buried Europan
+community. All humanity celebrated. The Callistonians rejoiced because
+they were now freed from the age-old oppression of the hexan hordes;
+because they could once more extend their civilization over the Jovian
+satellites and live again their normal lives upon the surface of those
+small worlds.
+
+The Terrestrials were almost equally enthusiastic in the reunion that
+marked the end of the long imprisonment of the refugees.
+
+As soon as the hull of the _Arcturus_ had been warmed sufficiently to
+permit inspection, its original passengers were allowed to visit it
+briefly, to examine and to reclaim their belongings. Of course, some
+damage had been done by the cold of interplanetary space, but in general
+everything was as they had left it. Stevens and Nadia were among the
+first permitted aboard. They went first to the control room, where
+Stevens found his bag still lying behind Breckenridge's desk, where he
+had thrown it when he first boarded the vessel. Then they made their
+way up to Nadia's stateroom, which they found in meticulous order and
+spotless in its cleanliness--there is neither dust nor dirt in space.
+Nadia glanced about the formal little room and laughed up at her
+husband.
+
+"Funny, isn't it, sweetheart, how little we know what to expect? Just
+think how surprised I would have been, when I left this room, if I had
+been told that I would have a husband before I got back to it!"
+
+Breckenridge's first thought was for his precious triplex automatic
+chronometer, which he found, of course, "way off"--six and three-tenths
+seconds fast. Having corrected the timepiece from that of the _Sirius_,
+he immersed himself in the other delicate instruments of his
+department--and he was easy to find from that time on.
+
+Overcrowded as the _Sirius_ already was, it was decided that the
+original complement of the _Arcturus_ should occupy their former
+quarters aboard her during the return trip. To this end, corps of
+mechanics set to work upon the salvaged hulk. Heavy metal work was no
+novelty to the Callistonian engineers and mechanics, and the _Sirius_
+also was well equipped with metal-working machines and men. Thus the
+prow was welded; armored, insulating air-breaks were built along the
+stern, which was the plane of hexan cleavage, electrical connections
+were restored; and lastly, a set of the great Vorkulian wall-screen
+generators, absorbers, and dissipators was installed, with sufficient
+accumulator capacity for their operation. Director Newton studied this
+installation in silence for some time, then went in search of Brandon.
+
+"I hadn't considered the possibility of being attacked again
+between here and Tellus, but there's always the chance," he admitted.
+"If you think that there is any danger, we will crowd them all into the
+_Sirius_. It will not be at all comfortable, but it will be better than
+having any more of us killed."
+
+"With that outfit they'll be as safe as we will," the scientist assured
+him. "They can stand as much grief as we can. We'll do the fighting for
+the whole outfit from here, and anything we meet will have to take us
+before they can touch them. So they had better ride it there, where
+they'll have passengers' accommodations and be comfortable. As to
+danger, I don't know what to expect. They may all be gone and they may
+not. We're going to expect trouble every meter of the way in, though,
+and be ready for it."
+
+Everything ready and thoroughly tested, and stream of power flowing
+into the _Arcturus_ from the cosmic receptors of her sister ship, the
+passengers and their new possessions were moved into their former
+quarters. There was a brief ceremony of farewell, the doors of the
+airlocks were closed, the careful check-out was gone through, and the
+driving projectors of the _Sirius_ lifted both great vessels up the
+shaft, slowly and easily. And after them, as long as they could be seen,
+stared the thousands of Callistonians who thronged the great shaft's
+floor. Many of the spectators were not, strictly speaking, Callistonians
+at all. They were really Europans, born and reared in that hidden city
+which was to have been the last stronghold of Callisto's civilization.
+In that throng were hundreds who had never before seen the light of the
+sun nor any of the glories of the firmament, hundreds to whom that brief
+glimpse was a foretaste of the free and glorious life which was soon to
+be theirs.
+
+Up and up mounted that powerful tug-boat of space, with her heavy barge,
+falling smoothly upward at normal acceleration. Below her first Europa,
+then mighty Jupiter, became moons growing smaller and smaller. In their
+stateroom Nadia's supple waist writhed in the curve of Stevens' arm as
+she turned and looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
+
+"Well, big fellow, how does it feel to be out of a job? Or are you going
+over there every day on a tractor beam to work, as Norman suggested?"
+
+"Not on your sweet young life!" he exclaimed. "Norm thought he was
+kidding somebody, but it registered zero. It gives me the pip to loaf
+around when there's a lot of work to do, but this is entirely different.
+Nothing's driving us now, and a fellow's entitled to at least one
+honeymoon during his life. And what a honeymoon this is going to be,
+little spacehound of my heart! Nothing to do but love you all the way
+from here to Tellus! Whoopee!"
+
+"Oh, there's a couple of other things to do," she reminded him gaily.
+"You've got to smoke a lot of good cigarettes, I must eat a lot of
+Delray's chocolates, and we both really should catch up on eating fancy
+cooking. Speaking of eating, isn't that the second call for dinner? It
+_is_!" and they went along the narrow hall toward the elevator. To these
+two the long journey was to seem all too short.
+
+Long though the voyage was, it was uneventful. The occupants of the
+two vessels were in constant touch with each other by means of the
+communicators, and there was also much visiting back and forth in
+person. Stevens and Nadia came often to the _Sirius_, and were
+accompanied frequently by Verna Pickering, who claimed anew her ancient
+right of "kicking around under foot," wherever Brandon and Westfall
+might chance to be--and at such times General Crowninshield was
+practically certain to appear. And upon days when the beautiful brunette
+did not appear, the commandant generally found it necessary to inspect
+in person something in the _Arcturus_.
+
+Day after day passed, and even the new and ultra-powerful detector
+screens of the _Sirius_ remained unresponsive and cold. Day after day
+the plates before the doubled lookouts and observers remained blank.
+Power flowed smoothly and unfailingly into the cosmic receptors, and
+the products of conversion were discharged with equal smoothness and
+regularity from the forty-five gigantic driving projectors. The tractor
+beam held its heavy burden easily and the generators functioned
+perfectly. And finally a planet began to loom up in the stern lookout
+plates.
+
+Verna, the irrepressible, was in the control room of the _Sirius_,
+quarreling adroitly with Brandon and deftly flirting with Crowninshield.
+Glancing into the control screen she saw the planet in its end block,
+then studied the instruments briefly.
+
+"We're heading for _Mars_!" she declared with conviction. "I thought
+it looked that way yesterday, but supposed it must be only apparent--a
+trick of piloting or something about the orbit. I thought of course you
+were taking us back home--but you can't _possibly_ get to Tellus on any
+such course as this!"
+
+"Sure not," Brandon replied easily. "Certainly it's Mars. Isn't that
+where the _Arcturus_ started out for? Whoever said we were going to
+Tellus? Of course, if any of the passengers want to go right back the
+IPC will undoubtedly furnish transportation _gratis_. But paste this in
+your hat, Verna, for future reference--when spacehounds start out to go
+anywhere they _go_ there, even if they have to spend a year or so on
+minus time to do it!"
+
+Closer and closer they approached the red planet, swinging around in a
+wide arc in order to make their course coincide exactly with the pilot
+ray of check station M14, which was now precisely in its scheduled
+location in space. At the chief pilot's desk in the control room of the
+_Arcturus_, Breckenridge checked in with the station, then calculated
+rapidly the instant of their touching the specially-built bumper
+platforms of spring steel, hemp, and fiber which awaited them upon the
+Martian dock of the Interplanetary Corporation. Within range of the
+terminal, he plugged into it, waited until the tiny light flashed its
+green message of attention, and reported.
+
+"IPV _Arcturus_; Breckenridge, Chief Pilot; trip number forty-three
+twenty-nine. Checking in--four hundred forty-six days, fifteen hours,
+eleven minutes, thirty-eight and seven-tenths seconds minus!"
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Amazing Stories July,
+August and September 1931. Extensive research did not uncover any
+evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Spacehounds of IPC, by Edward Elmer Smith
+
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