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diff --git a/23831.txt b/23831.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5b7205 --- /dev/null +++ b/23831.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1558 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Seed of the Toc-Toc Birds, by Francis Flagg + +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: The Seed of the Toc-Toc Birds + +Author: Francis Flagg + +Release Date: December 12, 2007 [EBook #23831] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEED OF THE TOC-TOC BIRDS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: This e-text was produced from "Astounding Stories", +January, 1932. Extensive research did not reveal any evidence that the +U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + +[Illustration: _His clutching hands closed on something small and +hard._] + + + + +The Seed of the Toc-Toc Birds + + +By Francis Flagg + + + + +[Sidenote: Little did Prof. Reubens suspect what his atom-tampering +would set loose upon the world.] + +Talbot had been working that day, far up in the Catalinas, looking over +some mining prospects for his company, and was returning to the +Mountain View Hotel in Oracle when, from the mouth of an abandoned +shaft some distance back of that town, he saw a strange object emerge. + +"Hello," he said to Manuel, his young Mexican assistant, "what the +devil can that be?" + +Manuel crossed himself swiftly. + +"Dios!" he exclaimed, "but it is a queer bird, senor." + +Queer, it certainly was, and of a species Talbot had never before laid +eyes on. The bird stood on the crumbling rim of the mining shaft and +regarded him with golden eyes. Its body was as large as that of a +buzzard, and its head had a flat, reptilian look, unpleasant to see. +Nor was that the only odd thing. The feathers glittered metallically, +like blued copper, and a streak of glistening silver outlined both +wings. + +Marveling greatly, and deciding that the bird must be some rare kind +escaped from a zoo, or a stray from tropical lands much further south, +Talbot advanced cautiously, but the bird viewed his approach with +unconcern. Ten feet from it he stopped uneasily. The strange fowl's +intent look, its utter immobility, somewhat disconcerted him. + +"Look out, senor," warned Manuel. + +Involuntarily, Talbot stepped back. If he had possessed a rifle he +would have shot the bird, but neither Manuel nor himself was armed. +Suddenly--he had looked away for a moment--the bird was gone. Clutching +a short miner's pick-ax, and a little ashamed of his momentary +timidity, he strode to the edge of the abandoned shaft and peered down. +There was nothing to see; only rotting joists of wood, crumbling earth +for a few feet, and then darkness. + + + +He pondered for a moment. This was the old Wiley claim. He knew it +well. The shaft went down for over two hundred feet, and there were +several lateral workings, one of which tunneled back into the hills for +a considerable distance. The mine had been a bonanza back in the days +when Oracle boomed, but the last ore had been taken out in 1905, and +for twenty-seven years it had lain deserted. Manuel came up beside him +and leaned over. + +"What is that?" he questioned. + +Talbot heard it himself, a faint rumbling sound, like the rhythmic +throb of machinery. Mystified, he gazed blankly at Manuel. Of course it +was impossible. What could functioning machinery be doing at the bottom +of an abandoned hole in the ground? And where there were no signs of +human activity to account for the phenomenon? A more forsaken looking +place it would be hard to imagine. Not that the surrounding country +wasn't ruggedly beautiful and grand; the hills were covered with +live-oak, yucca grass, chulla, manzanita, and starred with the white +blossoms of wild thistle. But this locality was remote from human +habitation, and lonely. + +Could it be, Talbot wondered, the strange bird making that noise? Or +perhaps some animal? The noise sounded like nothing any creature, +furred or feathered, could make, but, of course, that must be the +explanation. However, it would be dark within the hour, with Oracle +still two miles distant, so he turned reluctantly away, Manuel +thwacking the burros from the grazing they had found. But that was not +to be the end of the odd experience. Just before the trail swung over +the next rise, Talbot glanced back. There, perching on the rim of the +abandoned mining shaft, were not one but two of the strange birds. As +if cognizant of his backward glance, they napped their gleaming, +metallic wings, although they did not rise, and gave voice to what +could only be their natural harsh cries, measured and, somehow, +sinister. + +"_Toc-toc, toc-toc._" + +Talbot went to bed determined to investigate the old Wiley claim the +next day, but in the morning an urgent telegram called him and Manuel +to Phoenix, and so the matter was necessarily postponed. Moreover, on +mature reflection, he decided that there was nothing much to +investigate. The days went by, the matter slipped his mind, and he had +almost forgotten the incident. + + +It was an Indian who first brought news of the jungle to Oracle. His +name was John Redpath and he wasn't the average person's idea of an +Indian at all. He wore store clothes and a wide-brimmed hat, and spoke +English with the colloquial ease of one whose native language it was. +It was ten o'clock in the morning, the hour when people gathered at the +local store and post-office to gossip and get their mail, when he came +driving into town in his Ford, his terrified wife and three children +crowded into the back seat. + +"What's the matter, John?" asked Silby, the constable. + +"Matter?" said Redpath. "I'll tell you what's the matter." + +He held the attention of the crowd which now began flocking around him. +"You know me, Silby; I'm not easily frightened; but what's happened at +my place has me scared stiff." + +He pulled out a handkerchief and mopped his brow. + +"When we went to bed last night, everything looked as usual; but this +morning...." + +He paused. + +"Something over night had grown up in my pasture. Don't ask me what it +is. The whole hillside was filled with it. I went to the pasture to +milk my goats--that's some distance from the house and over a rise; you +know how rugged my land is--and there was the stuff, acres of it, +twenty, thirty feet tall, like--like nothing I had ever seen before. +And Silby"--his voice was suddenly low--"I could see it growing." + + +At this remarkable statement, everyone in sound of his voice gaped with +astonishment. Had it been any other Indian they would have said he was +drunk--but not John Redpath. He didn't drink. + +"Growing?" echoed Silby stupidly. + +"Yes. The damn stuff was growing. But it wasn't that which stampeded me +out of there. It was the globe." + +"The globe!" said Silby, more mystified than ever. + +"It was floating over the growing stuff, like a black balloon. Just +over my place the balloon began to sift down a shower of pebbles. Like +beans, they were; seeds, rather; for when they hit the ground they +started to sprout." + +"Sprout?" The constable was capable of nothing more than an echo. + +"I'm telling you the truth," continued Redpath. "Incredibly fast. I had +barely time to crank up the car and get out of there. I never would +have done it if the strange growth hadn't left the way clear from the +garage to the road. Silby, I had the devil of a time getting the wife +and kids out of the house. When I looked back after going a quarter of +a mile the house had disappeared under a tangled mass." + +There was no time for anyone to question John Redpath further. Even as +he finished speaking a large automobile dashed up and out tumbled a +well-dressed and portly red-faced stranger. + +"What the devil's the matter with the road above here? Funniest thing I +ever saw. The road to Mount Lemmon's blocked. My family," he said +inconsequentially, "is at Mount Lemmon for the summer and I want to get +through to them." + +Blocked! The crowd stared at him wonderingly. John Redpath threw in his +clutch. "So long," he said. "I've a brother in Tucson, and I'm going to +his place until this blows over." + +As he left Oracle, John Redpath noticed several dark globes drifting +down on it from the hills. + + +The first inkling the outside world had of the terrible tragedy that +was happening at Oracle came over the phone to Tucson while John +Redpath was still en route to that city. + +"Hello, hello! Is this the police station? Silby speaking. Silby, town +constable at Oracle. For God's sake, send us help! We're being +attacked. Yes, attacked from the air. By strange aircraft, round +globes, discharging--oh, I don't know what it is; only it grows when it +hits the earth. Yes, grows. Oracle is hemmed in. And there are the +birds--b-i-r-d-s, birds----" + +There was a stifled cry, the voice suddenly ceased, and the wire went +dead. + +"My God!" said the chief of police of Tucson, "somebody's raving." He +lost no time in communicating with the sheriff's office and sending out +his men. They soon returned, white-faced and shaken. + +"Chief," said the officer in charge of the party, "you know where the +road to Oracle switches off the main highway? Well, it's impassable, +covered with stuff a hundred feet high." + +The chief stared. "Are you crazy?" + +"No. Listen. It's the queerest growth you ever saw. Not like vegetation +at all. More like twisted metal...." + + +But now the city began to seethe with excitement. Farmers and their +families flocked in from the Seep Springs district, and from Jayhnes, +telling weird tales of drifting globes and encroaching jungle. The +Southern Pacific announced that traffic northward was disrupted. Extras +appeared on the streets with shrieking headlines. Everything was in +confusion. + +A flyer from the local airport flew over Oracle and announced on his +return that he could see no signs of the town, that its immediate +vicinity was buried under an incredibly tall and tangled mass of +vegetation. "From the air it looks like giant stalks of spaghetti, +twisted, fantastic," was his description. He went on to say that he +noticed quite a few drifting globes and large birds with black, +glistening wings, but these offered no hindrance to his flight. + +Now the wires hummed with the startling news. All the world was +informed of the tragedy. The great cities of the nation stood aghast. +An aroused Washington dispatched orders for the aerial forces of the +country to proceed to Arizona without delay. The governor of Arizona +mobilized the state militia. All border patrol officers proceeded to +the area affected. And yet in the face of what was happening they were +powerless to do a thing. + +At two o'clock of the day following the wiping out of Oracle, the first +black globes approached Tucson. They floated down from the north, +skirting the granite ridges and foothills of the Catalinas, and were +met with a withering hail of lead from anti-aircraft guns, and burst, +scattering wide their contents. When some three hours later the first +squadron of the air fleet came to earth on the landing field a few +miles south of the city, the northern environs of Tucson, all the area +the other side of Speedway, and running east and west as far as the eye +could see, was a monstrous jungle a hundred or more feet tall--and +still growing. + + +Terrified residents fled before the uncanny invasion. People congested +the streets. Thousands fled from the city in automobiles, and thousands +of others thronged the railroad station and bus-line offices seeking +for transportation. Rumors ran from lip to lip that Russia was +attacking the United States with a newly invented and deadly method of +warfare; that it wasn't Russia but Japan, China, England, Germany, a +coalition of European and Asiatic powers. + +Frantically, the city officials wired railroad companies to send in +emergency trains. The mayor appealed to the citizens to be quiet and +orderly, not to give way to panic, that everything was being done to +insure their safety. Hastily deputized bodies of men were set to +patrolling streets and guarding property. Later, martial law was +established. The south side of Speedway rapidly assumed the appearance +of an armed camp. At the landing field Flight Commander Burns refueled +his ships and interviewed the flyer who had flown over Oracle. That +worthy shook his head. + +"You're going out to fight, Commander," he said, "but God knows what. +So far we have been unable to detect any human agency back of those +globes. They just drift in, irrespective of how the wind is blowing. So +far our only defense has been to shoot them down, but that does little +good; it only helps to broadcast their seed. Then, too, the globes shot +down have never been examined. Why? Because where they hit a jungle +springs up. Sometimes they burst of their own accord. One or two of +them got by us in the darkness last night, despite our searchlights, +and overwhelmed a company of National Guards." + +The flight commander was puzzled. + +"Look here," he said, "those globes don't just materialize out of thin +air. There must be a base from which they operate. Undoubtedly an enemy +is lurking in those mountains." He got up decisively. "If it is humanly +possible to locate and destroy that enemy, we shall do it." + + +Flying in perfect formation, the bombing squadron clove the air. +Looking down, the observers could see the gigantic and mysterious +jungle which covered many square miles of country. Like sinuous coils +of spaghetti, it looked, and also curiously like vast up-pointed +girders of steel and iron. The rays of the late afternoon sun glinted +on this jungle and threw back spears of intense light. Over the iron +ridges of the Catalinas the fleet swept at an elevation of several +thousand feet. Westward, numerous huge globes could be seen drifting +south. The commander signaled a half dozen of his ships to pursue and +shoot them down. + +In the mountains themselves, there was surprisingly little of the +uncanny vegetation. Mile after mile of billowing hills were quartered, +but without anything of a suspicious nature being noted. Here and there +the observers saw signs of life. Men and women waved at them from +isolated homesteads and shacks. At Mount Lemmon the summer colonists +appeared unharmed, but in such rugged country it was impossible to +think of landing. Oracle, and for a dozen miles around its vicinity, +was deserted. + +Though the commander searched the landscape thoroughly with his +glasses, he could detect the headquarters of no enemies; and yet the +existence of the drifting globes would seem to presuppose a sizable +base from which they operated. Mystified, he nevertheless subjected the +Oracle area to a thorough bombing, and it was while engaged in doing so +that he and his men observed a startling phenomenon. + + +High in the heavens, seemingly out of nothing, the mysterious globes +grew. The aviators stared, rubbed their eyes in amazement, doubted the +truth of what they saw. Their commander recollected his own words, +"Those globes don't just materialize out of thin air." But that +actually seemed to be what they were doing. Out of empty space they +leaped, appearing first as black spots, and in a moment swelling to +their huge proportions. + +One pilot made the mistake of ramming a globe, which burst, and he +hurtled to earth in a shower of seed, seed which seemed to root and +grow and cover his craft with a mass of foliage even as it fell. +Horrified, ammunition and explosives exhausted, the amazed commander +ordered his ships back to Tucson. What he had to tell caused a +sensation. + +"No," he said, finishing his report to the high military official who +had arrived with federal forces, "I saw nothing--aside from the +globes--that could possibly account for the attack. Nothing." + +But none the less the attack went on. Though hundreds of planes scoured +the sky, though great guns bellowed day and night and thousands of +soldiers, state and federal, were under arms, still the incredible +globes continued to advance, still more and more of the countryside +came under the sway of the nightmarish jungle. And this losing battle +was not waged without loss of human life. Sometimes bodies of artillery +were cut off by globes getting beyond their lines in the darkness and +hemming them in. Then they had literally to hack their way out or +perish; and hundreds of them perished. One company sergeant told of a +thrilling race with three globes. + +"It was a close thing," he said, scratching his head, "and only a third +of us made it." + + +Fear gripped the hearts of the most courageous of men. It was terrifying +and nerve-racking to face such an _unhuman_ foe--weird, drifting globes +and invading jungles whose very source was shrouded in mystery. Against +this enemy no weapons seemed to prevail. All the paraphernalia of +modern warfare was proving useless. And looking at each other with +white faces--not alone in Arizona, but in New York, Chicago, Los +Angeles--men asked themselves these questions, and the newspapers posed +them: + + "What if this thing can't be stopped?" + + "What if it keeps on and on and invades every city and state?" + + "It is only starting now, but what will it be like a month from + now, a year?" + +The whole nation awoke to a realization of its danger. The Administration +at Washington solemnly addressed itself to the capitals of the world. + + "If some power, jealous of the greatness of America, has perfected + a new and barbarous weapon of warfare, and without due warning and + declaration of hostilities has launched it against us, not only do + we denounce such uncivilized procedure, but demand that such a + power speak out and reveal to us and the world who our enemy is." + +But the powers of the world, as one, united in disclaiming any hand +in the monstrous attack being made on the United States. As for that +attack, it proceeded inexorably. On the fourth day Tucson was evacuated. +Then Winkleman awoke one morning to find that the drifting globes had +reached the river. The town was abandoned. California mobilized citizen +forces in cooperation with Nevada. The great physicist Miller was said +to be frantically at work on a chemical designed to destroy the +gigantic growths, specimens of which had been sent him. Such was the +condition of affairs when, at Washington, Milton Baxter, the young +student, told his incredible story to a still more incredulous Senate. + + +The Senate had been sitting in anxious session for five days, and was +little inclined to give ear to the stories of cranks. Fortunately for +the world, young Baxter came of an influential family and had taken the +precaution of having himself introduced by two prominent financiers, +who demanded that he be heard. + +"Gentlemen," he said earnestly, "contrary to current opinion, America +is not being assailed by a foreign power. No! Listen to me a moment and +I shall tell you what is attacking America." + +He paused and held the assemblage with compelling eyes. + +"But first let me explain how I know what I am going to tell you. I was +in London when I read of what is occurring in Arizona. Before the wire +went dead on him, didn't the unfortunate constable of Oracle say +something about birds?" + +The senators were silent. "Yes," said a press correspondent at length. +"If I remember correctly, he said, 'And there are the birds--b-i-r-d-s, +birds.'" + +"Well," exclaimed Senator Huffy, "the man was pretty well excited and +his words may have been misunderstood. What the devil have birds to do +with those globes and jungles?" + +"More than you think," replied Baxter. "Listen!" He fixed their +attention with uplifted hand. "The thing I have to reveal is of such +paramount importance that I must not be interrupted. You must bear with +me while I go back some months and even years in time to make myself +understood. + +"You all remember the mysterious disappearance of Professor Reubens. +Yes, I see that you do. It caused a sensation. He was the foremost +scientist in the country--it would not be exaggerating too much to say +in the world. His name was not as well known among the masses as that +of Miller and Dean; in fact, outside of an exclusive circle it wasn't +known at all, but ask any scientist about Reubens. He was a tall, dour +man of sixty, with Scotch blood in his veins, and was content to teach +a class in a college because of the leisure it afforded him for his own +research work. That was at the University of Arizona in Tucson. + +"The faculty of the college was proud to have him on its staff and +provided him with a wooden building back of the campus, for a private +laboratory and workshop. I understand that the Rockefeller Institute +contributed funds towards Professor Reubens' experiments, but I am not +certain. + + +"At any rate he had a wonderfully well equipped place. I was a pupil at +the University and attended his class in physics. A strong friendship +grew up between us. How can I explain that friendship? I was not a +particularly brilliant student, but he had few friends and perhaps my +boyish admiration pleased him. I think, too, that he was lonely, +heart-hungry for affection. His wife was dead, and his own boy.... But +I won't go into that. + +"Suffice it to say that I believe he bestowed on me some of the +affection he had felt for his dead son. Indeed I am sure he did. Be +that as it may, I often visited him in his laboratory and watched, +fascinated, as he pored over some of his intricate apparatus. In a +vague way, I knew that he was seeking to delve more deeply into the +atom. + +"'Before Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope,' the Professor once said, +'who ever dreamed of the life in a drop of water? What is needed now is +a super-microscope to view the atom.' + +"The idea thrilled me. + +"'Do you believe, sir, that an instrument will ever be invented that +will do that?' + +"'Yes. Why not? I am working on some such device myself. Of course the +whole thing has to be radically different. The present, method of +deducing the atom by indirection is very unsatisfactory. We can know +nothing for certain until direct observation is possible. The atomic +theory that likens the atom to our solar system, with planets revolving +round a central nucleus, is very interesting. But I shall never be +content, for one, until I can see such an atomic system in operation.' + +"Now I had every admiration for the capacity and genius of my teacher, +but I couldn't forebear exclaiming: + +"'Is that possible?' + +"'Of course it's possible,' he cried irritably. 'Do you think I should +be pursuing my experiments if I didn't think it possible? Only +numbskulls think anything impossible!' + + +"I felt rather hurt at his retort and a certain coolness sprang up +between us. The summer holidays came and I went away without bidding +him good-by. But returning for the new semester, my first act was to +hurry to the laboratory. He greeted me as if there had never been any +difference between us. + +"'Come,' he cried; 'you must see what I have accomplished. It is +marvelous, marvelous.' + +"In his workshop stood a mechanism perhaps three feet square and four +feet high. It was made of polished steel and looked not unlike an +Edison music box. + +"'You are the first I have shown it to,' he said excitedly. 'Here, look +into this.' + +"Stooping over the top of the box I peered into the eye-piece +indicated. It was so fashioned that it fitted the contour of the face +snugly. + +"'Now hold steady,' warned the Professor. 'This machine makes quite a +noise, but it won't harm you at all.' + +"I sensed that he was fingering and arranging dials and levers on the +side of the contrivance. Suddenly an engine in the box began to throb +with a steady rhythm. This gradually increased in tempo until the +vibration of it shook the room. + +"'Don't move,' shouted the Professor. + +"At first I could see nothing. Everything was intensely dark. Then the +darkness began to clarify. Or rather I should say it seemed as if the +darkness increased to such a pitch that it became--oh, I can't describe +it! But of a sudden I had the sensation of looking into the utter +bleakness and desolation of interstellar space. Coldness, +emptiness--that was the feeling. And in this coldness and emptiness +flamed a distant sun, around which twelve darker bodies the size of +peas revolved. They revolved in various ellipses. And far off--millions +of light years away (the thought came to me involuntarily at the +time)--I could glimpse infinitesimal specks of light, a myriad of them. +With a cry I jerked back my head. + +"'That,' shouted the Professor in my ear, 'was an atomic universe.' + + +"It never entered my head to doubt him. The realness, the vividness, +the overwhelming loneliness and vastness of the sight I had seen--yes, +and the suggestion of cosmic grandeur and aloofness that was +conveyed--banished any other feeling but that of belief. + +"'Inside that box,' said Professor Reubens quietly, 'and directly +underneath the special crystal-ray medium I have perfected, is a piece +of matter no larger than a pin-head. But viewed through the magnifying +medium of the crystal-ray that insignificant piece of matter becomes as +vast and as empty as all space, and in that space you saw--an atomic +system.' + +"An atomic system! Imagine my emotions. The tremendousness of the +assertion took away my breath. I could only seize the Professor's hand +and hold to it tightly. + +"'Softly, my boy, softly,' he said, smiling at my emotion. 'What you +have seen is but the least part of the invention. There is more to it +than that.' + +"'More?' + +"'Yes. Did you think I would be content with merely viewing at a +distance? No. Consider that revolving round a central nucleus similar +to our sun are twelve planets, any one of which may be inhabited by +intelligent creatures.' + +"I stared at him dumbly. + +"'You mean--' + +"'Why not? Size is only relative. Besides in this case I can +demonstrate. Please look again.' + +"Not without trepidation, I did as he bade. Once more I saw the black +emptiness of atomic space, saw the blazing nucleus with its whirling +satellites. Above the roaring noise of the machine came Professor +Reubens' voice. 'I am now intensifying the magnifying medium and +focusing it on one of the planets you see. The magnifying crystal-ray +is mounted on a revolving device which follows this particular planet +in its orbit. Now ... now....' + + +"I gazed, enthralled. Only one atomic planet--the size of a pea and +seemingly motionless in space--now lay in my field of vision. And this +planet began to grow, to expand, until beneath my staring eyes it +looked like the full moon in all its glory. + +"'I am gradually increasing the magnifying power of the crystal-ray,' +came the voice of the Professor. + +"The huge mass of the planet filled the sub-atomic sky. My hands +gripped the rim of the box with excitement. On its surface began to +form continents, seas. Good God! was all this really materializing from +a speck of matter under the lens of a super-microscope? I was looking +down from an immense height upon an ever clarifying panorama. Mountains +began to unfold, plains, and suddenly beneath me appeared a mighty +city. I was too far away to see it distinctly, but it was no city such +as we have on earth. And yet it was magnificent; it was like gazing at +a strange civilization. + +"Dimly I could see great machines laboring and sending forth glowing +streamers of light. Strange buildings rose. It was all bizarre, +bewildering, unbelievably weird. What creatures dwelt in this place? I +strained my eyes, strove to press forward, and in that very moment the +things at which I gazed seemed to rise swiftly to meet my descending +head. The illusion was that of plunging earthward at breakneck speed. +With a stifled cry, I recoiled, rubbed my blinking eyes, and found +myself staring stupidly into the face of Professor Reubens. He shut off +the machine and regarded me thoughtfully. + +"'In that atomic universe, on a planet swinging round a sub-atomic sun, +the all of which lies somewhere in a speck of our matter, intelligent +creatures dwell and have created a great machine civilization. And +Baxter,' he leaned forward and fixed me with eyes that gleamed from +under heavy brows, 'not only has my super-atomic-microscope revealed +somewhat of that world and its marvels to human vision, but it has +opened up another, a more wonderful possibility.' + + +"He did not tell me what this wonderful possibility was, and a few +minutes later I left the laboratory, intending to return after a late +class. But a telegram from Phoenix was at my rooms, calling me home. My +father was seriously ill. It was June before he recovered his health. +Consequently I had to forego college until the next season. + +"'Old Reubens is going dotty,' said one of my classmates to me. Rather +disturbed, I sought him out. I saw that there were dark circles of +sleeplessness under his eyes and that his face had grown thinner. +Somewhat diffidently I questioned him about his experiments. He +answered slowly: + +"'You will recollect my telling you that the super-atomic-microscope +had opened up another wonderful possibility?' + +"I nodded, sharply curious now. + +"'Look.' + +"He led the way into his workshop. The super-atomic-microscope, I +noticed, had been altered almost out of recognition. It is hopeless for +me to attempt describing those changes, but midway along one side of +its length projected a flat surface like a desk, with a large +funnel-shaped device resting on it. The big end of this funnel pointed +towards a square screen set against the wall, a curious screen +superimposed on what appeared to be a background of frosted glass. + +"'This,' said the Professor, laying one hand on the funnel and +indicating the screen with the other, 'is part of the arrangement with +which I have established communication with the world in the atom. + +"'No,' he said, rightly interpreting my exclamation, 'I am not crazy. +For months I have been exchanging messages with the inhabitants of that +world. You know the wave and corpuscular theories of light? Both are +correct, but in a higher synthesis--But I won't go into that. Suffice +it to say that I broke through the seemingly insuperable barrier +hemming in the atomic world and made myself known. But I see that you +still doubt my assertion. Very well, I will give you a demonstration. +Keep your eyes on the screen--so----' + + +"Adjusting what seemed a radio headpiece to my ears, he seated himself +at a complicated control-board. Motors purred, lights flashed, every +filament of the screen became alive with strange fires. The frosted +glass melted into an infinity of rose-colored distance. Far off, in the +exact center of this rosy distance appeared a black spot. Despite the +headpiece, I could hear the Professor talking to himself, manipulating +dials and levers. The black spot grew, it advanced, it took on form and +substance; and then I stared, I gasped, for suddenly I was gazing into +a vast laboratory, but depicted on a miniature scale. + +"But it wasn't this laboratory which riveted my attention. No. It was +the unexpected creature that perched in the midst of it and seemed to +look into my face with unwinking eyes of gold set in a flat reptilian +head. This creature moved; its feathers gleamed metallically; I saw its +bill open and shut. Distinctly through the ear-phones came a harsh +sound, a sound I can only describe by the words _toc-toc, toc-toc_. +Then, just as the picture had appeared, it faded, the lights went out, +the purring of the motors ceased. + +"'Yes,' said the Professor, stepping to my side and removing the +headpiece, 'the inhabitants of the sub-atomic planet are birds.' + +"I could only stare at him dumbly. + +"'I see that astounds you. You are thinking that they lack hands and +other characteristics of the _genus homo_. But perhaps certain +faculties of manipulation take their place. At any rate those birds are +intelligent beings; in some respects, further advanced in science than +are we ourselves. Perhaps it would be more exact to say that their +scientific investigations and achievements have been along slightly +different lines. If such messages I sent them had come to our world +from another planet or dimension, how readily they might have been +misconstrued, ridiculed or ignored.' The Professor shrugged his +shoulders. 'But the beings in this sub-atomic world interpreted my +communications without difficulty. + + +"In no time we were conversing with one another through means of a +simplified code. I was soon given to understand that their scientists +and philosophers had long recognized the fact that their universe was +but an atom in an immeasurably greater dimension of existence; yes, and +had long been trying to establish contact with it.' The Professor's +voice fell. 'And not that alone: they were eager to cooperate with me +in perfecting a method of passing from their world to ours! + +"'Yes,' he cried, 'much of what I have accomplished has been under +their advice and guidance; and they on their part have labored; until +now'--his eyes suddenly blazed into my fascinated face--'until now, +after months of intensive work and experiment, success is nigh, and any +day may see the door opened and one of them come through!' + +"Gentlemen!" cried Milton Baxter, "what more is there to say? I +staggered from Professor Reubens' laboratory that afternoon, my head in +a whirl. That was on a Monday. + +"'Come back Thursday,' he said. + +"But as you know, Professor Reubens disappeared on a Wednesday night +before; and stranger still, his machines disappeared with him. In his +laboratory were signs of a struggle, and bloodstains were found. The +police suspected me of a guilty knowledge of his whereabouts, in short +of having made away with my friend. When I told somewhat of the +experiments he had been engaged in, spoke of the missing inventions, +they thought I was lying. Horrified at the suspicion leveled at myself, +I finally left Tucson and went abroad. Months passed; and during all +those months I pondered the mystery of the Professor's fate, and the +fate of his machines. But my fevered brain could offer no solution +until I read of what was happening in Arizona; then, then...." + +Milton Baxter leaned forward, his voice broke. + +"Then," he cried, "then I understood! Professor Reubens had succeeded +in his last experiment. He had opened the door to earth for the bird +intelligences from the atom and they had come through and slain him and +spirited away his machines and established them in a secret place! + +"God help us," cried Milton Baxter, "there can be but one conclusion to +draw. They are waging war against us with their own hideous methods of +warfare; they have set out to conquer earth!" + + +Such was the amazing story Milton Baxter told the Senate, but that body +placed little credence in it. In times of stress and disaster cranks +and men of vivid imaginations and little mental stability inevitably +spring up. But the Washington correspondents wired the story to their +papers and the Associated Press broadcast it to the four winds. + +Talbot had just returned to Phoenix from New Mexico. He had been out of +touch with civilization and newspapers and it was with a feeling of +stunned amazement that he learned of the evacuation of Tucson and +Winkleman and the wiping out of Oracle. Reading Milton Baxter's +incredible story he leapt to his feet with an oath. Toc-toc! Why, that +was the sound the strange birds had uttered in the hills back of +Oracle. And there was the noise of machinery coming from the old shaft. + +Full of excitement he lost no time in seeking an interview with the +military commander whose headquarters were located in Phoenix and +related to him what Manuel and himself had witnessed and heard that day +at the abandoned mine. Manuel corroborated his tale. The commander was +more than troubled and doubtful. + +"God knows we cannot afford to pass up an opportunity of wiping out the +enemy. If you will indicate on a map where the old shaft is we will +bomb it from the air." + +But Talbot shook his head. + +"Your planes would have a tough job hitting a spot as small as that +from the air. Besides, a direct hit might only close up the shaft and +not destroy the workings underground. If the enemy be the creatures +Milton Baxter says they are, what is to prevent them from digging their +way out and resuming the attack?" + +"Then we will land troops in there somehow and overwhelm them with----" + + +Talbot interrupted. "Pardon me, General, but the enemy would have no +difficulty in spotting such a maneuver. What chance would your soldiers +have against a shower of jungle seed? You would only be sending them to +destruction. No, the only way is for someone familiar with those old +underground diggings to enter them, locate the birds and the machines +and blow them up." + +"But who----" + +"Myself. Listen. This is the plan. About five years ago my company +mined for copper and other ores about a half mile above the Wiley +claim. I was in charge of operations. That is how I know the ground so +well. One of our northern leads broke through into a tunnel of the +abandoned mine. When copper prices were shot to hell in the depression +of 1930 we quit taking out ore; but when I went through the place +eighteen months ago it was still possible to crawl from one mine to +another. Of course earth and rock may have fallen since then, but I +don't believe the way is yet blocked. If I were dropped in that +vicinity at night with another man and the necessary tools and +explosives...." + +The general thought swiftly. + +"An auto-gyroscope could land you all right. There's one here now. But +what about the second man to accompany you?" + +Manuel said quickly, "I'm going with the boss." + +"You, Manuel," Talbot said roughly. "Don't be a fool. If anything +should happen to me--well, I've lived my life; but you're only a kid." + +Manuel's face set stubbornly. "An experienced mining man you need, is +it not? In case there should be difficulties. And I am experienced. +Besides, senores," he said simply, "my wife and child are somewhere in +those mountains ... above Oracle...." + +Talbot gripped his hand in quick sympathy. "All right, Manuel; come if +you like." + + +A moonless sky hung above them as they swung over the dark and +jungle-engulfed deserted city of Tucson, a sky blazing with the clarity +of desert stars, and to the south and west shot through with the beams +of great searchlights. Flying at a lofty altitude to avoid contact with +drifting globes or betrayal of their coming with no lights showing +aboard their craft save those carefully screened and focused on the +instrument board, it was hard to realize that the fate of America, +perhaps of the world, hung on the efforts of two puny individuals. + +Everything seemed unreal, ghost-like, and suddenly the strangeness of +it all came over Talbot and he felt afraid. The noiseless engine made +scarcely a sound; the distant rumble of gunfire sounded like low and +muttering thunder. They had come by way of Tucson so as to pick up a +ten-gallon tube of concentrated explosive gas at the military camp in +the Tucson mountains. + +"This gas," the general had assured them, "has been secretly developed +by the chemical branch of the War Department and is more powerful than +TNT or nitro-glycerin. It is odorless, harmless to breathe and exploded +by a wireless-radio device." + +He had showed them how to manipulate the radio device, and explained +that in the metal tube was a tiny chamber from which gas could not +escape, and a receiving-detonating cap. "If you can introduce the tube +into the underground galleries where you suspect the enemy's +headquarters to be, allow the contents to escape for ten minutes, and a +mile distant you can blow the mine and all in it to destruction. And +you needn't be afraid of anything escaping alive," he had added grimly. + + +Talbot thought of his words as the dark and silent world slid by. He +glanced at the luminous dial of his wrist-watch. Eleven-fifteen. The +moon rose at eleven-twenty-four. He studied the map. High over Mount +Lemmon the craft soared. He touched the army pilot's arm. "All right," +he said, "throttle her down." Their speed decreased. "Lower." + +Swiftly they sank, until the dark bulk of hills and trees lay blackly +beneath; so near as to seem within the touch of a hand. Though he +strained his ears, no alien sound came wafting upward. "Keep circling +here," he directed the pilot. "The moon'll be up in a minute and then +we can be sure of where we are." The pilot nodded. He was a phlegmatic +young man. Not once during the trip had he uttered a word. + +The east glowed as if with red fire. Many a time before had Talbot +watched the moon rise, but never under stranger circumstances. Now the +night was illuminated with mellow glory. "Hit the nail on the head," he +whispered. "Do you see that spot over there? To the left, yes. Can you +land us there?" + +Without a word the pilot swung for the clearance. It was a close thing, +requiring delicate maneuvering, and only an auto-gyroscope could have +made it without crashing. Hurriedly Manuel and Talbot unloaded their +gear. + +"All right," said Talbot to the pilot. "No need to wait for us. If we +are successful, we'll send out the wireless signal agreed on, and if we +aren't...." He shrugged his shoulders. "But tell the General to be sure +and allow us the time stipulated on before undertaking another attack." + + +Standing there on the bleak hillside, watching the auto-gyroscope run +ahead for a few yards and then take the air, Talbot experienced a +feeling of desolation. Now he and Manuel were alone, cut off from their +own kind by barriers of impregnable jungle. And yet on that lonely +hillside there were no signs of an enemy. For a moment he wondered if +he weren't asleep, dreaming; if he wouldn't soon awake to find that all +this was nothing but a nightmare. + +But Manuel gathering up the tools aroused him from such thoughts. Not +without difficulty were the necessary things conveyed to the abandoned +mine back of the old Wiley claim. Their course lay along the bottom of +a dry creek, over a ridge, and so to the shaft half-way down the side +of a hill. A second trip had to be made to bring the gas tube. + +It was two o'clock in the morning when Manuel stood at the foot of the +four-hundred-foot hole and signaled up that the air was good. Talbot +lowered the tools to him, and the gas container, and lastly went down +himself. As already stated, Talbot had explored the underground +workings of the mine not eighteen months before. Picking out the main +tunnel and keeping a close watch for rattlers with electric torches, +the two men went cautiously ahead. In places earth had fallen and had +to be cleared away, but the formation for the most part was a soft rock +and shale. They went slowly, for fear of starting slides. + +At a spot taking an abrupt turn--and it was here that the newer tunnel +had broken through into the older gallery of the Wiley claim--Manuel +caught swiftly at Talbot's arm. "What is that?" To straining ears came +the unmistakable throb of machinery. They snapped off their torches and +crouched in Stygian darkness. Not a ray of light was to be seen. Talbot +knew that in following the ore stratum, the Wiley gallery took several +twists. Laboriously he and Manuel advanced with the gas tube. It was +stiflingly close. He counted the turns, one, two, three. Now the roar +of machinery was a steady reverberation that shook the tunnel. He +whispered to Manuel: + +"Go back and wait for me at the mouth of the shaft. Only one of us must +risk taking the gas tube any nearer the enemy. Here, take my watch. It +is now two-forty-five. If I don't rejoin you by four o'clock touch off +the explosive." + +Manuel started to protest. "Do as I say," commanded Talbot. "The fate +of the world is at stake. Give me an hour; but no longer--remember!" + + +Left alone in the clammy darkness Talbot wiped the sweat from his face. +Grabbing one end of the rope sling in which the tube was fastened, he +pulled it ahead. There was a certain amount of unavoidable noise; rock +rattled, earth fell; but he reasoned shrewdly enough that the roar of +the machinery would drown this. Beyond a crevice created by a cave-in +he saw an intense light play weirdly. He squirmed through the crevice +and pulled the tube after him. + +His mind reconstructed the mine ahead. He recollected that when the +lead of this mine had petered out, the owners had begun to sink the +shaft deeper into the earth before abandoning the mine. This meant that +the foot of the shaft, with the addition of an encroaching twenty feet +of the southern gallery, was deeper by some several yards than the +floor of the tunnel in which he stood. Here was the logical place to +set the gas tube, nose pointed ahead. + +With trembling fingers he loosened the screwed-in nose of the tube with +a wrench. A slight hiss told of the deadly gas's escape. It would +inevitably flow towards the shaft, drawn by the slight suction of +machinery, following the easiest direction of expansion. Now Talbot's +work was done, and if he had immediately retreated all would have been +well, but the weird light fascinated him. Here he was, one man in the +bowels of earth pitting his strength, his ingenuity against something +incredible, unbelievable. Beings from an atomic universe, from a world +buried within the atom; beings attacking his own earth with uncanny +methods of destruction. Oh, it was impossible, absurd, but he must look +at them, he must see. + +Scarcely daring to breathe, he squirmed, he crawled, and suddenly he +saw. He was looking down into an underground crypt flooded with +brilliant light. That crypt had been altered out of all recognition, +its greater expanse of roof supported with massive pillars, the light +screened away from the shaft. But it was not all this which riveted his +staring eyes. No--it was the machines; strange, twisted things, +glowing, pulsing, and--in the light of his knowledge--menacing and +sinister. + + +Talbot gasped. Almost at once he observed the birds, twelve of them, +two standing in front of what appeared to be a great square of polished +crystal, wearing metal caps and goggles, heads cocked forward intently. +The others also perched in front of odd machines like graven images. +That was the uncanny thing about the birds: they appeared to be doing +nothing. Only the occasional jerk of a head, the filming of a hard +golden eye, gave them a semblance of life. But, none the less, there +could be no mistaking the fact that they were the guiding, the +directing geniuses back of all the pulsing, throbbing mechanisms. + +Half mesmerized by the sight, forgetful of time and place, Talbot +leaned forward in awe. There was a great funnel, a shallow cabinet, and +out of the cabinet poured an intense reddish beam, and out of the +beam.... + +It was a minute before he understood, and then comprehension came to +him. Those dark spots shooting from the cabinet, no larger than peas, +were the mysterious drifting globes whose scattered seed was fast +covering miles of Arizonian soil with impenetrable jungle. From a +universe in a piece of matter no larger than a pin-head, from a +sub-atomic world, the weapons of an alien intelligence were ruthlessly +being hurled against man, to conquer, to destroy him. + +And now it was made plain to him why the drifting globes had seemed to +materialize out of thin air. Being infinitesimally small parts of an +atom, these globes were released from the cabinet and soon assumed the +size of peas; they were guided across the crypt, up the old Wiley +shaft, and high in the air, somewhere in space, enlarged to immense +proportions. How? Talbot could not guess. By some manipulation of +science and machinery beyond that of earth. + +Engrossed, he moved an inch forward, craned his head, and in that +moment it happened. Beneath his weight a section of earth and rock +crumbled, cracked, slid forward, and he plunged headlong to the floor +below, striking his skull with stunning force! + + +He came to himself, staring up into the dour-looking face of a tall +man. He recollected pitching forward among the birds and the machines. +But the birds and the machines had disappeared and he was lying in an +odd room without windows but lit with a soft radiance. Bewildered, he +sat up. + +"Who are you?" he demanded. + +The man's beard looked straggly, untrimmed. + +"My name," he said, "is Reubens--Professor Reubens." + +Professor Reubens! Talbot gasped. "Not the scientist who disappeared?" + +"Yes--as you've disappeared." + +"What!" + +"Through the machine." + +It was a moment before Talbot understood. "You mean...." + +"That you are a prisoner in a sub-atomic world." + +Talbot now realized with startling clearness what had happened to him. +When he had fallen into the crypt the weird birds had directly placed +him in the cabinet and transported him to their own world. In other +words, he and Reubens and everything he saw about him were infinitely +small creatures in an atom-world. He and the Professor were trapped! +And when Manuel blew up the only means of return.... + +"How long have I been here?" Talbot asked hoarsely. + +"Five minutes at the most." + +Then, at the shortest, the way to earth would exist twenty minutes +longer. Twenty minutes.... Incoherently he told Reubens of what had +happened in Arizona since his disappearance, of his own misadventure. + +"Aye," said the Professor, "I knew as much. Nor do these inhuman birds +intend stopping with the use of seed globes. More devilish weapons than +that they plan using against earth. Oh, they are fiends, fiends! +Already have they wiped out civilization and intelligent life on other +planets in this sub-atomic system and introduced their own." + + +He stopped, shuddering. "Nor is it to be wondered at that no birds were +seen after the first attack on Oracle," he went on. "They do not fight +in person, as do we ourselves, but through proxy, directing machines +from centers of control. In powers of destruction, they are +immeasurably ahead of man. Thank God you discovered their headquarters +in the deserted mine and have spread the gas for its destruction. But +the rage of the birds at such a defeat will be terrible. They will +undoubtedly torture me in an effort to make me reveal the basis of my +invention so that they can resume the attack on earth. So we must +escape." + +"But how--where?" + +"I have thought that out. It is one chance in a thousand. Undoubtedly +we will be killed. But that is better than being tortured or living in +this world. Look." + +He held up a pearl-handled pen-knife. "The birds are smart, all right, +but they don't quite understand clothes, wearing none themselves. They +found your revolver, but overlooked this." + +"Of what good is it?" + +"To cut our way out of this cell." + +Talbot laughed incredulously. The walls of the room were smooth, and +hard to the touch. "They're as solid as concrete," he said. + +"But cut like cheese under a steel blade. I found that out. Watch." + +To Talbot's amazement the point of the penknife sank into the wall and +in a moment a section of it was gouged out. The professor said tensely, +"I've been months in this place, been taken back and forth, and know +the lay of the land. This room is in a great building that houses the +laboratory from which the attack against earth is being launched. Would +you believe it, only the great scientist who picked up my messages and +helped me perfect my invention, and a few of his assistants, are +concerned in that attack, and they will be congregated at the machines. +Follow me, and whatever I command, do it promptly." + + +The Professor had been working feverishly as he spoke, and now he and +Talbot crawled through the hole he had made in the wall and found +themselves in a long gloomy corridor. "Quick," Reubens whispered. + +They darted down the passageway. Talbot had only time to see that the +gleaming sides of the corridor were beveled and etched with strange +designs, before they came to its end and where a curious device like a +huge five-pointed star was revolving noiselessly, half sunk in a great +hole in the floor. Without hesitation the Professor stepped onto one of +the flat-tipped star-points as it came level with where they stood and +Talbot did the same. Up, turned the star-point, to a dizzy height, and +over, but the tip swung on ball-bearings, maintaining its passengers in +a perpendicular position, and from its highest point of elevation +descended to another floor far below, where they disembarked. + +The huge revolving star-wheel was nothing but an ingenious movable +staircase. But the Professor gave Talbot no time to marvel, nor did the +latter try to linger. The corridor below was wider, more richly beveled +and carved, and the statue of an heroic bird stood perched in the +center of it. The lighting was soft and mellow, but Talbot could +perceive no windows or globes. Suddenly from an open doorway hopped a +bird. There was no chance to avoid it. Its wings were spread and from +its parted bill came a harsh cry, "Toc-toc, toc-toc!" + + +Knife in one hand, the Professor hurled himself forward and caught the +bird in the grip of the other. Instantly from the doorway sprang a +monstrous mechanism on stilts, flexible tentacles of metal reaching out +and wrapping themselves around the Professor. Talbot leaped to the +Professor's assistance. The mechanism fought like a live thing. In vain +he strove to wrench the tentacles free of the Professor. One of them +lashed out and took him by the thighs in a crushing grasp. But the +Professor had the bird by the throat. Both of his hands were free. +Back, he forced its head, back. The mechanism seemed to falter in the +attack, as if bewildered. Across the exposed throat the Professor drew +the gleaming blade. Flesh, tendons and arteries gave, blood spurted, +and in the same moment the tentacles fell away from Talbot and the +Professor and withdrew with a dull clang. The Professor released the +bird and it dropped to the floor. + +"It is the birds' mentality that directs those mechanisms," said the +Professor, pointing to the now harmless machine. + +Apparently the brief but terrific battle had passed unnoticed, no alarm +being given. Now the corridor twisted. The two men came to where a deep +well was sunk in the floor. To one side a star-wheel revolved smoothly. +Out of the depths came the steady throb of machinery. Cautiously +peering over the edge, Talbot saw a sight he would never forget. + + +He did not need the Professor's whispered words to tell him that here +was the source of the deadly attack being waged against earth. +Motionless birds perched in front of bizarre machines; lights waxed and +waned; a cannon-like device, or funnel, shot a column of light into a +screen, and through the column of light moved a steady procession of +round objects the size of plums. + +"The drifting globes being shot through to earth," whispered the +Professor, "and our only hope. Listen, the birds are intent on their +machines, their backs to the star-wheel. We will descend, throw +ourselves into the column of light, seize hold of a globe, and...." + +He did not need to finish. Talbot understood in a flash. They would be +dragged to their own world by the weapons hurled at it. + +"Of course that column of light may kill us," went on the Professor +tensely. "Or we may be blown up on the other side. Your Mexican friend +hasn't touched off that explosive gas yet, because--But we've not a +moment to lose. Follow me." + +The tip of the star-wheel went up, over, descended. The blood was +roaring in Talbot's ears. "Now!" hissed the Professor. "Now!" Together +they rushed forward. Talbot's foot slipped. The heart leaped into his +throat. He never remembered reaching the column of light; but suddenly +he was in it, blinded, dazed. His clutching hands closed on something +small and hard. + +The laboratory was a pinwheel going round and round. Through a sea of +darkness he floated. A distant glow grew, expanded, became the crypt in +the old Wiley mine. A moment he glimpsed the gleaming pillars, the +pulsing machines, the startled birds, and then--Oh, it was incredible, +impossible, but the dark, crumbling walls of the old shaft were around +him; the globe in his hand no larger than a pea was lifting him towards +life and safety. + +He wanted to shout, to sing, but even as the pale stars fell athwart +his upturned face, even as the cool mountain air smote his fevered +brow, the dark earth erupted beneath his feet, a whirlwind of smoke and +wind beat and buffeted him, and, in the midst of an overwhelming noise, +consciousness was blotted out! + +It was bright daylight when Talbot regained his senses. Propped against +a great rock the Professor regarded him whimsically. Reubens looked +badly bruised and battered; one arm hung loosely at his side. Talbot's +head ached and he knew that a leg was broken. + +"Yes," said the Professor, "we got through just in time--a few seconds +before the explosive gas was touched off. Thank God, my invention has +been destroyed. The world is safe." + +Yes, the world was safe. Talbot sank back with a sigh of relief. +Overhead a white plane was dipping toward earth. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Seed of the Toc-Toc Birds, by Francis Flagg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEED OF THE TOC-TOC BIRDS *** + +***** This file should be named 23831.txt or 23831.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/8/3/23831/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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