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diff --git a/29160.txt b/29160.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2160d29 --- /dev/null +++ b/29160.txt @@ -0,0 +1,618 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Operation Lorelie, by William P. Salton + +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: Operation Lorelie + +Author: William P. Salton + +Illustrator: William Ashman + +Release Date: June 19, 2009 [EBook #29160] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OPERATION LORELIE *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Illustrator: Wm. Ashman] + + +OPERATION LORELIE + +BY WILLIAM P. SALTON + + + _It was a new time and a vast new war of complete and awful + annihilation. Yet, some things never change, and, as in ancient + times, Ulysses walked again--brave and unconquerable--and again, the + sirens wove their deadly spell with a smile and a song._ + + +They came like monsters, rather than men, into the vast ruin of what had +once been a great city. They walked carefully, side by side, speaking to +each other by radio as though they were in deep space rather than upon +solid ground. + +The winding way they followed through the ruins was marked by blurred +footsteps in the dust and the two men, clumsy in their bulky suits, +found the going difficult. + +They stopped, and one of them held out an instrument. He studied the +dial. "All clear," and both men removed their helmets. They wiped sweat +from their faces and glanced at each other. + +The blonde man said, "The air's okay, Jarvis. Everything seems all +right. I don't get it." + +Jarvis, his dark eyes wary, scowled as he looked about. "It seems all +right. But we know it isn't. It can't be." + +"I'm shucking this suit." + +"Don't be a fool, Mark!" + +"But the dial read _clear_, man! And we know nobody is going to shoot +us. All life _had_ to be wiped out." + +"How about minor power installations?" + +Jarvis took a chocolate bar from his pocket, sat down on a piece of +broken rubble and began to eat. "You're too careless--far too careless, +Mark." + +Mark laughed. "You've always been cautious enough for both of us. Got me +out of plenty of scrapes back in school, too. Don't think I've +forgotten." Affection warmed his blue eyes as they rested on the face of +his friend. + +"Okay! Okay! But what happened to them? Where did they go?" Jarvis took +nervous bites from his second chocolate bar. Then he, too, peeled off +his suit. He sniffed the air distrustfully, as he wiggled his shoulders +to free them from the clinging, damp shirt. Then he took a few +experimental steps forward. + +"Seems all right, Mark. But how do you explain about Hank and Garland? +Never were two more careful guys." + +"Probably a simple miscalculation. Or an accident. We know it couldn't +have been enemy action. Tests prove conclusively that we wiped them +out--to a man." He took deep gulps of air into his lungs, and stretched +like a cat. "We'll find out soon enough. Boy, I feel great!" + + * * * * * + +They deflated and folded their safety suits and added the bundles to the +other equipment on their backs. Then, with their instruments held before +them, they probed their way into the twisted wreckage, still following +the faint, dust-filled footprints. + +Bent and rusted girders rose on all sides like the bones of prehistoric +monsters. Nothing stirred. The dust lay ages-thick on everything. + +"Gives you the spooks, doesn't it?" Jarvis was still tense, poised to +respond to the first signal of danger. "Feels like we're the last men +alive!" + +"Funny about Hank and Garland. There's nothing here to harm anyone." + +Jarvis looked at his watch. "Better contact HQ for instructions." + +The two stepped off the path, into the shade of a grotesque chunk of +broken masonry. Mark set up the radio and twirled the dials. "Team Four, +calling HQ. Team Four, reporting!" + +"HQ here." The voice from the radio blared loud in the stillness. "Give +your report, Team Four." + +"Looks like nothing's moved here in a thousand years. Safe as a baby's +dream. Rock-solid, air morning-pure. But--" He hesitated, trying not to +sound like a scared school boy. "No sign of Team Three. Or of Teams One +and Two, either. Over." + +"Look here, Team Four. It's your job to find out. The earth didn't just +swallow them. Final report from each team placed them well within the +city. It's been ten days since the last contact. Probe every inch of the +place." + +"Right!" + +"But be careful. We can't afford to lose any more men! Roger!" + +"Roger!" + +There was only one way now--ahead. It lay clearly marked. The dim +footsteps never strayed or faltered. Three hours of search revealed no +pitfalls, no dangers, and no trace of the missing men. Then night was +upon them and they bedded down gratefully. + +"Strange, isn't it? The war over. The invaders blasted from the earth. +All peril gone. And yet--men disappear." + +Jarvis stared at the ruins around them. "I can't take much more, Mark. +Twelve years of war is enough. Are we never to have a life--have our +home and women back, and--_peace_?" + +"Sure, it's been tough. But think of the women and children isolated on +that sub-satellite. It's tougher for them--just waiting." Stretched on +his back, Mark stared at the cloudless, evening sky. "But pretty soon +we'll get this planet cleaned up and bring them in. Christ! Four years +without even seeing a woman. I remember the last time--" + +"Okay!" Jarvis interrupted impatiently. "Let's get to sleep." + +"Sure, pal. Goodnight." + +They fell asleep to dream of green hills, corn ripening, apples roasting +over an open fire. Peace, and home, and girls, their firm legs flashing +in the sun. + +Soldierlike, Mark was suddenly awake. He lay without motion, sensitive +to some subtle change in the surroundings. From the corner of his eye he +could see Jarvis wrapped in sleep. The silence seemed eternal. + +Then, whisper-soft, came a murmur, a sound, a voice. A girl's voice, +sighing and singing, from deep in that devastated spot. + +A woman! + + * * * * * + +Instantly, Mark was on his feet. No need to wake Jarvis. Plenty of time +for Jarvis to find out--afterwards. But not yet! A miracle that a girl +had survived in all that wreckage. But a miracle he wanted to savour +alone! + +Ahead, the path turned and Mark followed it as it went forward again, +downhill, between the massed walls of rubble. Now the voice swelled, a +melancholy song. Well, she won't be melancholy for long, Mark thought. +Her solitary ordeal was over. + +"Mark!" Jarvis stood on an upturned lintel, ten feet above Mark's head. +As Mark jerked to a stop at the cry, Jarvis jumped into his path. "You +fool! Don't you know it's a trap?" + +"So that's how you want to play it? The noble friend, protecting me from +myself!" He slammed a fist into the side of Jarvis' head. "Well, I won't +bite! She's mine! I found her!" + + * * * * * + +In silence, in the narrow passage between the rocks, the two fought. +Suddenly, above the sound of fist on flesh, came the voice of the girl +again, clear, young. "She _is_ there," thought Jarvis. He could almost +taste her lips on his. The sensation came as a shock. How did he know? +He'd never had a woman. That's what came from listening to the tales of +Mark's exploits with women. Now he had to have that girl! + +The mounting tension of the fighting snapped something in Jarvis' +seething mind. Danger, friendship, duty, all meant nothing. Only one +thing mattered. The girl! Mark had had more than his share of girls. He, +Jarvis, was the one who should have her! He'd been deprived of his +manhood long enough! His frenzied brain hunted a trick to gain his ends. + +Mark's superior strength began to force Jarvis to give ground. Then a +final blow sent him reeling, he reached out to break his fall, his hand +closed on a rock. He threw it. Mark crashed to the ground, his knee +smashed, his leg useless. Then the tomb stillness of the dead city took +over. The dust settled slowly. Mark came to his feet. + +Jarvis was gone. + +Dragging his useless leg, Mark forced himself to crawl forward. Jarvis +had to be stopped. + +Ahead, a shadow moved, and for a moment the moon threw the silhouette of +a man against a cavernous opening in the debris. + +"Jarvis!" + + * * * * * + +An electric flash shattered the darkness. The jagged teeth of the bolt +spit tongues of fire. Cordite mingled with the raw, nauseant, revolting +smell of scorched flesh and hair. The figure tottered and fell into the +black mouth of the cave. Then, as the flame faded, it lit up small +bundles of charred bones near the fallen body. + +There was a whir and a click of a mechanism. Fifteen feet away, Mark +watched as the arm of a phonograph rose, moved slowly back to the +starting point. Then the record began once more to grind out its +death-trap melody. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ March 1954. Extensive + research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on + this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical + errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Operation Lorelie, by William P. 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